13 Comments

I could not feel you harder on The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Undeniable influence, but of no interest to me. Maybe I’m a world building skeptic?

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Tropic of Capricorn

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Dear John, Thank you for sharing. It is not my disposition to share and so I always feel grateful to others do. Books help you to use your imagination, to develop that part of you that, in a mundane world, is simply not necessary to exist; indeed, perhaps it might be seen as a threat by others to their own. The French lieutenant's woman or, At swim two birds are two examples of works that certainly suffer to do the obvious: engage and delight; but consider their use of time as seen by the authors, Fowls and O'Brien. Delighted.

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Dec 12, 2021Liked by John Warner

Thanks for the recommendation. I also voted for Charlotte's Web.

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Dec 19, 2021Liked by John Warner

I ultimately voted for the three books on the list which still resonate the most for me even today (had I simply chosen my favorite reads from the list, "Lonesome Dove" would have made it and possibly Owen Meany, although I should confess that I was a little embarrassed at how many of the books I either hadn’t read or couldn’t meaningfully remember). Anyway, my three votes went to:

- The Great Gatsby: While I would not say I love Gatsby as a whole, the description of Tom and Daisy as "careless people" is one of my favorite lines in all of literature. Subtle yet devastatingly insightful.

- Lolita: Nabokov's transgressive work is brilliant (and it's still unbelievable to me that he was able to write a novel like that in a language that was not his first), but it makes my list for one very specific reason. Humbert’s heartbreaking (at least to me) description of Lolita's tennis game, which combined perfect form with an inability to ever win. The best metaphor for hidden brokenness in people I have ever read.

- The Fellowship of the Ring (although really “Lord of the Rings” since the three books are one work): Will just say a couple of things. While I can (mostly) understand why it’s not for everyone, there is no book that has affected me more. Read it first when I was seven years old and probably around 50 times since then. Second, while I get why it’s grouped with Harry Potter by people who have read neither, they are really about as similar as Catcher in the Rye and The Odyssey.

Having shared my votes, I’ll add that I'm definitely cranky about the list. And while there are many books I would have nominated ahead of most of the 25 they selected, here are the two others that would have my personal top 3 (Lord of the Rings would have made my list regardless):

- Midnight's Children: Rushdie is wild and over the top, but he writes with such incredible gusto and verve! The Grand Inquisitor chapter of The Brothers Karamazov is, I believe, the absolute peak of literature; it literally makes my heart race faster when I read it. The last section of the first half of Midnight’s Children (cresting in the birth of ) is the only thing I have ever read that has provoked anything like that kind of visceral reaction in me. (Side note: For people who haven’t Rushdie, the intro I would recommend is this wonderful essay about the Wizard of Oz, which I actually used to woo my wife:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1992/05/11/out-of-kansas).

- Remains of the Day: I'm a huge Ishiguro fan in general, but Remains of the Days is clearly his crowning achievement, and it is always the first book I recommend to someone who is looking for a great next read. Simultaneously moving, hilarious, and heartbreaking, it is the most perfectly written book I have ever read.

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Oh. OH. OHHHH! YOU.SAID.CHARLOTTE'S.WEB. Dude, it's OK that you don't dig LotR, which is one of my other favorite books of all time, or War and Peace (I realize you were talking about the 20th century, but it's my OTHER favorite book of all time) or Barbary Pym or Elizabeth Strout, etc. etc. etc. You put Charlotte's Web first. You, sir, have a golden pass for the rest of my life. Thank you.

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Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to you and yours. You are my favorite column in the Sunday Chicago Tribune and also enjoy your newsletter tremendously.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

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