Had we but world enough and time, we might spend the rest of the winter hibernating and racking up some substantial page counts. None of us have the time, I know, but you might enjoy a good thick book anyway. Consider it a vote of confidence in your recipient's reading abilities or a way to say, "I love you so much I don't want you to be bored, ever." I set the cut-off line for these completely arbitrarily at 500 pages, though your scale for what makes a long book long may be slightly different.
THE COLLECTED STORIES OF LYDIA DAVIS. This is on
my list because after reading
James Wood's essay on her I'd really like to get into her work. Despite tipping the scales at over 700 pages, the edition is as relatively compact as her stories.
Roberto Bolaño, 2666. Just in time for
Infinite Summer's group read starting in January! I have come to terms with my shame that this book could not go on my best-of-the-noughties list (as commenters far and wide demanded). That it's in paperback now is a bonus for carrying it back from wherever you are spending your non-denominational holiday time.
Hilary Mantel's WOLF HALL (also a write-in from
Wade Garrett) was named
Time's top fiction book of the year and won the Booker Prize. I haven't read it yet but a common theme running through the reviews I've read is how
immersive it is for a book about such well known figures as Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII. And while we're making ill-informed judgments, I love its
cover design.
Stieg Larsson, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO/ THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE. The message of this pair of Swedish crime thrillers starring a disgraced journalist and the country's best hacker is, "I love you but I more or less don't want you to get any sleep until you finish these." Need to make it better? If your recipient once saved your life or something, try getting hold of a copy of the third book in this series, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST. It won't be published in the U.S. until May but can be had on Amazon for, as of this writing,
$22 used.
ETA: I was on the phone with my mom this morning and she revealed that she just bought HORNET'S NEST, confounding my good gift intentions for her but giving me yet another reason to look forward to coming home. I don't say this lightly, but: OMG. Glen David Gold's SUNNYSIDE. Recently I had to name my top two books of 2009, and SUNNYSIDE (which I
reviewed for the AV Club back in May) missed that bracket by a hair. Sprawling novels evoking the spirit of an age through a string of unrelated characters who are destined to somehow be connected are in vogue right now, but this one does it right, and gloriously.
David Foster Wallace, INFINITE JEST. How can I not recommend this after
spending three months with it? I realize now I never wrote a concluding post on that experience, and I guess my only defense could be that in some way I feel as though I'm not finished with the book -- that its effect on me is still taking hold. I know it's daunting, but you're up to the challenge. It's not too late.
FTC cover-assery: With my work for the AV Club I received copies of SUNNYSIDE and the two published Larsson books from Knopf to review. I bought my copy of INFINITE JEST three years ago, even though I let it incubate on my shelf after that.Photo: it's my own invention via fyeahreading
