Readers first: Which one book by a "go to" author will be difficult for that same author to top in your mind? You will continue reading this author but - in your mind - this book has become a kind of gold standard. I'm not looking for a "best of" by that author or even your "favorite", necessarily. Try to avoid using those labels as you consider this question carefully. Instead, I'd like to know which one book by that author excited you enough that returning to their work repeatedly was never in doubt. Before moving on to #2 and #3, please note: All of us are destined to be disappointed from time-to-time, gold standard aside. I mean, the Beatles released Why Don't We Do It in the Road. On the other hand, I've been upended more than once by an artist topping something I thought of as unsurpassable. Haven't you?
Music lovers: Same question, replacing "book" with "recording/album". For information purposes, please also note the name of the musician or band or performer.
Cinephiles: Replace "book" with "film". Again, be sure to identify the director's name. Source material would be a nice bonus, if relevant. Would be cool to get a good book out of this third entry.
I'm standing by. Others may also be on the lookout for hidden treasure; share the wealth, please.
The Overstory by Richard Powers is an all-time favorite. I really liked Bewilderment but not to the same extent. I am currently half-way through Playground and to put it mildly I am blown away by it. His prose is the best and his story line intriguing, informative and timely. He is an amazing writer!
ReplyDeleteInes; As with my new friend Jim (below), I'm totally aligned with you on the gold standard for Richard Powers being "The Overstory". I've read (and greatly enjoyed) several of his other novels since but have no expectation that another book of his will ever hit me as hard as "The Overstory" did. I've frequently referred to finishing that book as a transformative reading experience, much like I felt when I finished Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the Goon Squad". Thanks for the comment.
DeleteI have now finished Playground and it is every bit as transformative as The Overstory. As with The Overstory, I want to read it again!
DeleteInes; Thanks for revisiting this post and confirming that is indeed possible for an artist to exceed what we had previously considered unsurpassable. Now I'm really looking forward to reading "Playground".
DeleteWithout doing a deep dive on my bookshelves, which are sorely depleted as we get ready to move to a retirement community, I will go with DISGRACE by J.M. Coetzee. Much of his other stuff is quite appealing, but DISGRACE knocks my socks off. For music I'll go with "Hitchcock Railway" by Joe Cocker and "Coyote" by Joanie Mitchell, especially the live version on "The Last Waltz" with members of The Band. As for movies, John Huston made some remarkable films, including "The Maltese Falcon" and "The African Queen," but it is "The Man Who Would Be King," that I keep coming back to. Sean Connery and Michael Kane going off the become kings of Kafiristan, with Christopher Plummer playing Rudyard Kipling. Just great storytelling with no frills.
ReplyDeleteJim; Uncanny that both you & Ines (above) picked two different authors but both picked the one book of each that I would have selected as my gold standard for that author. "Disgrace" hit me so hard when I read it near its publication date that I selected it for my own book club almost twenty years later just so I could have an excuse to re-read it. And it didn't disappoint on the re-read, in my experience, an unusual thing. Like Richard Powers, I've read several other books from Coetzee's catalog since - and not been sorry once - but I have no expectation he will ever surpass "Disgrace" in my mind. I hope I get surprised because I don't plan to ever stop reading his work (or Powers' either.) Thanks also for weighing in on the music and film front. Both tunes you mentioned therein hit the mark for sure, although we don't mesh as well on those (for Joe or Joni) as we did with Coetzee. Finally, I have never seen "The Man Who Would be King" so now I have something to look forward to, the exact point of this post. Thanks for that.
DeleteFor me, "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett blew me away. Other books came close ("Tom Lake", "State of Wonder") but I have to say "Bel Canto" is the bees knees.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous; Thanks for weighing in on this. To date, I've read three of Patchett's books - including two you mentioned in your comment ("Bel Canto" & "State of Wonder") - and have enjoyed all three to varying degrees. Most readers I know who have read a great deal of her work would agree with you about "Bel Canto" being the gold standard. I haven't read enough of her to make up my mind yet. Stay tuned.
DeleteSorry anonymous was me !
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