These days, it can seem as though almost everyone who reads books is also a writer. There’s not much plot here, but somehow the voice Moshfegh has created is compelling enough to make you miss your subway stop-I did, twice-or, if you do take this novel to the beach, keep you resting and relaxing and turning pages obsessively until you’re burned to an absolute crisp. Like many of us, she thinks her life would be vastly improved if she could manage to chemically hibernate for a year. Even when she poops on the floor of an art gallery. It’s narrated by an arrogant, beautiful (we are constantly reminded) woman who is traditionally “unlikeable,” but is so completely out there that you can’t help but be charmed and delighted by her on every glorious deadpan page. Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation (Penguin Press, July 10)įirst things first: this book is very, very good. Finally, so as not to go too far off the rails, all of the books below were published this year, or will be published this summer (I wouldn’t leave those late vacationers hanging). No snobbery is meant this list is for people who want recommendations for recent books that will be engaging and exciting and readable on vacation but which have more literary value than the typical “beach read.” What does that mean, exactly? It’s like any kind of art-I know it when I see it. Luckily, there is a middle ground: great books with distinctive literary and artistic value that are also fit for the beach.īy the way: people on the internet love to caterwaul about the injustice of lists like this-the snobbery of suggesting there’s anything wrong with a regular beach read! The reverse snobbery of talking about how boring literary novels can be! The general insufficiency of book lists of any kind! Honestly, I am. As someone who has a hard time investing in a book if it doesn’t at least tick off a few literary boxes, I tend not to have much tolerance for the purely fun and easy-but I don’t want to bring Proust to the beach either. She can be reached at or 73.It’s already July, which means that by now you’ve probably gotten a million and one recommendations about which books you should bring to the beach (or lake or woods or park or air conditioned bedroom) this summer. But summer book recommendations in the literary and general fiction space tend to fall into two categories: Fun Easy Beach Reads!!!! and well, everything else. McMurray-Helen Bennett Endowed Chair in the Humanities at Monmouth University, Dr. Lowbrow, Middlebrow, Highbrow and Ink and Electricity are sponsored by the Wayne D. But following the second talk in the series by Skidmore College professor Janet Casey in spring 2017 on “Readers as Writers in American Periodicals, 1900-1940,” Monmouth strengthened its claim to being a hub for serious study of popular arts-the arts that have engrossed, thrilled, and delighted readers for over a century. Popular literature like this is often maligned by academics as “lowbrow” or “middlebrow,” while “highbrow” art and literature are supposed to be the stuff of university life. Macdonald’s talk explored the ways Buchan’s popular novel (which was adapted into a play for radio, stage, and film) impacted society, politics, and even the shape of the British empire. Focused on the writer of the famous adventure mystery, The Thirty-Nine Steps, Dr. Her talk was titled “The Scots Are Invading: John Buchan’s Version of How Scotland Conquered the World,” and it set the stage for the series talks to follow. In April 2016, Kate Macdonald of the University of Reading delivered the first lecture in a series on cultural hierarchies in the arts and literature.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |