February 6th, 2007
Zora Neale Hurston and Writer’s Top 10s
“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing, until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time.”
This is one of my favourite opening lines ever, and comes from a much-cherished novel, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. A post by Mark at The Elegant Variation alerted me to the fact that Harper Collins have set up an official Zora Neale Hurston site. If you click through, you’re greeted by Ruby Dee reading those very opening lines.
Also courtesy of The Elegant Variation, is news of a new book, The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books. I’m a sucker for lists of what other writers read and recommend, and this collection edited by J Peder Zane asks 125 writers what their Top 10 favourite books are. Mark, a diehard Banville fan, includes Banville’s list, which includes a book I only picked up in the library last week, WG Sebald’s Austerlitz. Peter Carey, Julian Barnes and Lorrie Moore pick Madame Bovary by Flaubert and there are contributions from Paul Auster, David Mitchell, T.C. Boyle, Douglas Coupland, Joyce Carol Oates, Jim Crace, George Saunders, Michael Cunningham, Jonathan Raban, Margaret Drabble, Jonathan Franzen, Mary Gaitskill, Carl Hiaasen, David Foster Wallace, John Irving, Ann Patchett, Thomas Keneally, A.L. Kennedy, Sue Monk Kidd, Stephen King, Annie Proulx, Wally Lamb, David Lodge, Norman Mailer, Claire Messud, Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Wolfe.
The book includes summaries of all 544 books mentioned and collates various other lists based on the author choices: Top Ten Books of All Time, The Top Ten Books by Living Writers, The Top Ten Books of the Twentieth Century, The Top Ten Mysteries, The Top Ten Comedies , Top 10s by Century, Nationality, etc.
Incidentally, the Guardian book blog is also seeking Top 10 books you can’t live without from celebrities…
You’ll never be stuck for a good book recommendation again…
Links
Zora Neale Hurston on Wikipedia
More detailed info on The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books and the complete list of nominated books.
February 8th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Thanks Sinead for this useful post. As you say, I need never be stuck for something to read again. I look forward to brousing through this book.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
I love those lists too, but only because I’m a nosey bastard. There’s a good thread on the Guardian about writers that people hate. Harry James bores me senseless.