she was a wicked thing sometimes ... all full of want

This is the next of several (six?) posts that springs from an article, essentially listing "the most [x] book I've read." Fair warning, I'm approaching it as Free Association, because analyzing everything I've ever read to find the absolute most... whatever... is going to spin me into indecision.

The most intuitive book I read: Finny by Justin Kramon (Random House, 2010)

    This is another example of judging a book by its cover, at least to start. While selecting titles for purchase at the library, I was caught by a bold yellow paperback, with feathers. The analysis convinced me it was right for our collection, so I ordered it.

    "We meet Finny Short as an observant, defiant fourteen-year-old who can’t make sense of her family’s unusual habits: Her mother offers guidance appropriate for a forty-year-old socialite; her father quotes Nietzsche over pancakes. Finny figures she’s stuck with this lonely lot until she meets Earl Henckel, a boy who comes from an even stranger place than she does. Unhappy with Finny’s budding romance with Earl, her parents ship her off to Thorndon boarding school. But mischief follows Finny as she befriends New York heiress Judith Turngate, a girl whose charm belies a disquieting reckless streak.
    Finny’s relationships with Earl and Judith open her up to dizzying possibilities of love and loss and propel her into a remarkable adventure spanning twenty years and two continents. Justin Kramon has given us a wickedly funny odyssey with a moving and original love story at its core. Finny introduces us to an unforgettable heroine, a charmingly intricate world, and an uncommonly entertaining and gifted young novelist."

    After I read it the first time, I bought a copy for myself. I have also given this book as a gift probably a dozen times. It is something special and delightful.

 

The most Scottish book I read: I have never read a book that could be described as "the most Scottish" with any criteria, so this as a free space; I replace it with my own category. 

    The most romantic book I read: Alisa Kwitney's Sex as a Second Language (Atria Books, 2006)

    All of Kwitney's novels are terrific, and it's hard for me to choose which fits this category the best. I decided on this one because the main character, Katherine, is fully grown up. She's gone through some hard times, and she's just starting to come out the other side. This book is about a lot of things, but my favorite is that it's the triumph of hope over experience.

    "A teacher of English as a second language, forty-year-old Katherine Miner is an expert on idiomatic phrases and subtle verbal cues. When it comes to the opposite sex, however, she's baffled enough to choose early retirement from the dating game. It's not that she hates men, it's just that she doesn't trust them. After all, her soon-to-be ex-husband has dropped all contact with their son, and her own father disappeared from her life thirty years ago. And then Kat meets Magnus Grimmson, a tall, good-looking, tongue-tied Icelander in the front row of her class. Magnus doesn't appear to pose any threat—in fact, he seems to understand less about women than Kat does about men. But just when Kat considers risking a little intimacy, her father reappears in her life, causing unexpected complications. Emotionally torn, Kat is left to question whom she can trust—and to realize that she still has a lot to learn about men and the kind of communication they don't teach in school."

 

The most technically elegant book I read: Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith (Tin House Books, 2012)

    A pick straight from the library journals, this is a unique novel—even for me—to read. Short, spare, and limited in scope, it manages to pack a deep punch.

    "Isabel is a single twenty-something in Portland, Oregon, who repairs damaged books in the basement of the local library, dreaming of a life she can’t quite reach. She is filled with longing―for a life in Amsterdam even though she’s never visited, for the unrequited love of a coworker, for a simpler time from her childhood in Alaska among the threatened glaciers she loves, and for the perfect vintage dress to wear to a party that just might change everything.
    Unfolding over the course of a single day, Alexis M. Smith’s shimmering debut finds Isabel looking into her past―remembering her parents’ separation, a meeting with an astrologer, and a life-changing encounter with a glacier―and shows us how fleeting, everyday moments can reveal an entire life. In classic movies, in old photographs and unsent postcards, rare books, and thrifted gems, Glaciers tells the story of a young woman’s love of the past and a hope to make something new and all her own."

    Glaciers is a wonderfully meditative and sad book, reading like a short story.

 

The queerest book I read: Sarah Waters' Tipping the Velvet

    Frankly not too sure how to take this prompt, I am guessing that it means "the book with the most obviously Queer subject matter." This book was recommended to me by a colleague at the library—someone with a much wider reading interest than mine.

    "Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty’s dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins."

    The book was surprisingly graphic but also 'clinical' in regards to descriptions of sex. In other words, it doesn't seem fun, but rather ... mechanical. Overall I found the book depressing and slow—which does not reflect on its genre, quality, or value, but simply on my reading preferences and response at the time.

 

The most exotic book I read: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW Books, 2007), book 1 of the Kingkiller Chronicle

    Another gift from my Monkey Man, this is also way out of my ordinary reading taste. And, once again, he was right—I found it completely enthralling. It falls into the category of 'heroic fantasy', a.k.a. 'Sword & Sorcery'.

        "'My name is Kvothe. 

        "'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
        "'You may have heard of me.'
    So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend."

    An epic story, this is a 'slow' book, building detailed characters who live morally complex lives. Nothing about it is easy, falling into black-and-white or simple categories or activities. There is something deep, meditative, and entrancing about it...like another, exotic world.

 

The most smokin' book I read: Joe Lansdale's Lost Echoes (Subterranean Press, 2007)

    Given to me by a high school friend's wife, who holds this author in highest esteem, this is another very-far-out-there book for me. It's violent, strange, and compulsively readable.

    "Since a mysterious childhood illness, Harry Wilkes has experienced horrific visions. Gruesome scenes emerge to replay themselves before his eyes. Triggered by simple sounds, these visions occur anywhere a tragic event has happened. Now in college, Harry feels haunted and turns to alcohol to dull his visionary senses. One night, he sees a fellow drunk easily best three muggers. In this man, Harry finds not only a friend that will help him kick the booze, but also a sensei who will teach him to master his unusual gift. Soon Harry’s childhood crush, Kayla, comes and asks for help solving her father’s murder. Unsure of how it will affect him, Harry finds the strength to confront the dark secrets of the past, only to unveil the horrors of the present."

    It can be a tough thing to suggest books to a book lover. I'm glad that my friends trusted their guts and gave me this out of character, twisted book.

 

[based on this post; the title quotation is by Patrick Rothfuss, from The Slow Regard of Silent Things, and reads in its entirety as below]

"She was a wicked thing sometimes. 

All full of want. 

As if the shape of the world depended on her mood. 

As if she were important.”