This is an essential reads list for fiction written in the last 10 years. The last selection is actually a short story and not quite a book as the title claims. Short stories deserve distinction just as much as the novel. But, before I take that tangent further, this list needs to apologize to JM Coetzee and Haruki Murakami among others.
Ok, I'll stop, here's the list of fiction books you must read:
Debut from Author Porochista Khakpour
It's always nice to find an author just at the start of their career.This book, Sons and Other Flammable Objects by Porochista Khakpour is the debut novel from a writer we should all hope to hear more from.
The story, which mostly follows a boy named Xerces as he forges through childhood and adulthood with his comical and hardheaded Persian father Darius.
Insightfully funny, Khakpour tangles her characters inside American culture exposing its tragic and endless misunderstandings. That skill reminds me of the contagious William Saroyan.
Machievelli is Taught in Public School
In light of recent political changes, I've decided to read more non-fiction. Stuck in the airport for a few hours, I decided to make it through the recent printing of Ernesto Che Guevara's Guerilla Warfare . The book is a very well-written handbook on how to succeed in, as the title spells out, guerilla warfare. Needless to say, I learned quite a bit about traveling as a guerilla, eating as a guerilla and sleeping as one too. Che doesn't speak at all about the history up until the 1960s when the book was published. I tried to highlight the key events using Papervitamins' Historical Reference information.
Che's book did remind me of Niccolo Machievelli's The Prince . Which, is a bit of a political power handbook itself. Although The Prince is better knownfor it's personal philosophy (re: it is better to be feared than loved), I imagine that Che's Guerilla Warfare will soon be also. That is, if it is read with a generalist mindset.
Paradise of Books
Papervitamins is proud to host full copies of books. This ranges from the up and coming writer trying to get a break in the publishing world as well as stories that have no copyright.Take for example, This Side of Paradise by F Scott Fitzgerald. Here's your chance to read this classic fiction for free.
This book starts with a quote from Oscar Wilde which reads: "Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes."
I wouldn't have guessed Fitzgerald a fan of Wilde. But, I suppose I could see them sharing a drink.
Anyway, enjoy your free read.
New Reads (aka New Recommendations)
Although, I will try not to harp on my previous post which probably should have discussed the real limitations of print, I did have to seek out unusual methods in order to purchase Tom McCarthy's latest novel Men In Space. I haven't yet read it but, if it comes anywhere close to his first novel Remainder, I think I'll be thrilled.
Zbigniew Herbert's The Collected Poems: 1956-1998 has finally come out on paperback. As someone who doesn't read that much poetry anymore, I am noting this because it is the one poetry book you should own (sorry Bill Shakespeare). If you don't believe me, take it out at your library and drop a comment.If you are really scared of the fact that you cannot pronounce Herbert's first name, you are suffering from the fact that you aren't a native Polish speaker. Neither am I. Here's a native speaker saying his name : (play)
I would include my voice saying "read Zbigniew and Tom McCarthy already" but, I think you all got that already.
Books should be free online.
New York Magazine has most recently calimed The End of book publishing. I entirely disagree. Mostly because I see technology as a means of better distribution. People now can find what they want through more channels.
Papervitamins believes that publishers should make their books available for free online.
Let's think seriously about that. Are you still going to buy the print version of a book? Would you start to read more as a result of free books?
Papervitamins believes that publishers should make their books available for free online.
Let's think seriously about that. Are you still going to buy the print version of a book? Would you start to read more as a result of free books?
Because Reading Will Become Popular Again
We are really looking forward to making reading popular again. This is what this project is all about. We are Papervitamins. We are all the people who cannot live without reading.
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