Book Recommendations

For Your Consideration: Christmas Gift Suggestions 2008

Still trying to figure out what presents to get a friend or a family member? Here’s a convenient list that I dreamt up made entirely out of books old and new that have at some time caught my attention during the course of the year. I don’t own them all, and it should be obvious which I do and which I don’t, but if I don’t, it’s simply because they’ve been generating a good buzz and are proving to be hot books for the holidays.

Prices and links are taken directly from Amazon (obviously). They’re merely for convenience. Prices are in US Dollars, and are there to give you a rough idea of how much each book costs. I’m sure you can find better prices if you poke around. Also note that prices will change. Offers and exchange rates and stuff.

Where available, I’ve included local prices from Kinokuniya. Local prices. In Singapore Dollars. Before any sort of promotional discount they might be having. Some of those where I don’t list the prices are just not in stock and will probably be in if you check at a different time. And I’m sure if you’re a local shopper there are a few other bookstores you can be looking around at too.

They are not in any particular order because I thought it would be more exciting this way. Included are coffeetable books, comic books, fiction and non-fiction.

Here we go:

The Savage Detectives
Roberto Bolaño

The best contemporary book I’ve read all year. A visceral, semi-autobiographical epic of two modern-day Quixotes and their upstart literary movement, this is quite simply a gem of a book.

[USD10.20 from Amazon]
SGD27.70 from Kinokuniya

2666
Roberto Bolaño

And while we’re on the subject of Bolaño, I hear that his latest (and last) may be the best book since the turn of the century. Based on the evidence of The Savage Detectives, I think that might not be an exaggeration. Bolaño’s magnum opus is described as “a landmark in what’s possible for the novel as a form in our increasingly, and terrifyingly, post-national world” by Jonathan Lethem.

It comes in two editions, a hardcover and a three-volume paperback set. (Personally, I should be getting the three-volume boxed set.)

[Hardcover, USD18.00 from Amazon]
[3-volume paperback set, USD18.00 from Amazon]
Both SGD53.95 from Kinokuniya

The Road
Cormac McCarthy

The movie is coming out during the winter, so I guess it’s a great time for folks to pick up on McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic tale. This slender novel features a father and son in their sturggles to survive in the wasteland, and with remarkable poeticism and precision, serves as a testament to the goodness of Man. While the condition of my copy (yellowed, slightly battered) might not reflect it, this is a book I love a lot.

If you’re the sort who looks out for prizes (and I know a few), this won the Pulitzer and was on Oprah.

Edit to say that I just learnt the film got pushed back a second time. Still a great time to get the book.

[USD10.17 from Amazon]
Film tie-in edition, SGD17.07 from Kinokuniya

The Rest Is Noise
Alex Ross

The New Yorker‘s music critic Alex Ross’s acclaimed twentieth-century music history book sees a paperback edition, just in time for the season. I’ve not read it (it’s one of the many books that put my Roth Winter plan to sleep) but I’ve only heard good things.

[Paperback, USD12.24 from Amazon]
SGD30.43 from Kinokuniya

A Mercy
Toni Morrison

Morrison’s latest has been garnering praise in every imaginable way. Described as a powerful, tragic fable that explores the early slave trade and the nature of mercy, I’m sure this is one of the biggest books of the season.

[USD14.37 from Amazon]
SGD34.94 from Kinokuniya

The Dead Fish Museum
Charles D’Ambrosio

The best contemporary short fiction anthology I’ve read, and definitely one of my favourite books of all. Remarkably, D’Ambrosio works purely with characters and somehow manages to pull off what one would call a consummate performance.

[USD11.16 from Amazon]
SGD24.61 from Kinokuniya

All-Star Superman
Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant

I always think of Grant Morrison’s work as hit-or-miss. When he misses, it tends to be because his ambition overtakes him. But when he scores a hit, it’s usually something quite extraordinary, and I think this take on Supes is probably deserving of that superlative. It’s helped in no small part by Frank Quitely’s magnificent art. A remarkable mythic reimagining that stands as one of the very best representatives of the comic book form.

The first half has been released as a trade paperback, with the second volume to turn up later.

[Volume 1, paperback, USD10.39 from Amazon]
SGD17.41 from Kinokuniya

Acme Novelty Library
Chris Ware

Chris Ware’s excellent series continues with Rusty Brown. The latest volume is the hardcover volume 19. If you’re not sure of what it is, I think the wiki is clearer than I’ll ever be:

Acme Novelty Library is a singular and artistically adventurous comic book created by Chicago cartoonist Chris Ware and published first by Fantagraphics Books, then Drawn & Quarterly. It is considered a significant work in alternative comics.

Issues are printed in different sizes and formats, sometimes a small paperback, sometimes a standard comic book, and sometimes a large “poster book” measuring 17 inches on a side. Each issue is typically composed of multiple stories with their own style and recurring characters, suggesting a compilation of strips, although all the work is done by Ware. A meticulous attention to detail is evident in every issue, making each volume a unique artistic work, with virtually nothing in common with traditional comic books.

[via wikipedia]

[Volume 19, USD10.85 from Amazon]
Not listed in Kinokuniya’s database, but other volumes might still be available there

How Fiction Works
James Wood

When I tried James Wood’s recent book earlier this year, I found it engaging, accessible and erudite, and it’ll definitely make a good gift for anyone interested in the nature of the form.

[Hardcover, USD16.32 from Amazon]
Hardcover, SGD42.02 from Kinokuniya, and I think the paperback goes for about SGD35

Diary Of A Bad Year
J.M. Coetzee

Now available in paperback!

Coetzee’s latest is described as such in wikipedia:

The protagonist, called Señor C. by the other characters, is an aging South African writer living in Australia. The novel is composed of essays and musings by the writer, in addition to diary entries by both Señor C. and Anya, a neighbor whom he has asked to type his essays. The essays, which take up the larger part of each page, deal mostly with contemporary issues like George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Guantanamo Bay, and terrorism. The diary entries appear beneath them and reflect the relationship that develops between the two characters.

[via wikipedia]

[Paperback, USD11.20 from Amazon]
SGD17.12 from Kinokuniya

Death With Interruptions
José Saramago

Saramago’s latest is about a time where everyone just stops dying. Ron Charles of the Washington Post says:

If this sounds campy, it is, but Saramago is always ten steps ahead of us, subverting cliches, interjecting ancient philosophical concerns into his gags and scattering grenades of bitterness among the laughs…This is a story that can’t possibly work or affect us, but it does, deeply, sweetly. It’s a novel to die for.

Sounds good to me.

[Hardcover, USD15.57 from Amazon]
At the time of writing, not available at Kinokuniya, but I saw it at Borders once

The Absolute Sandman
Neil Gaiman

Pamper the Sandman fan in your life with these luxurious remastered editions. I have them. All thirty kilograms (or something). The recoloured pages are quite glorious (particularly the early issues). And your Sandman fan friend will adore you for this.

[Volume 1, USD77.62 from Amazon]
SGD132.58 from Kinokuniya
[Volume 2, USD62.37 from Amazon]
SGD128.50 from Kinokuniya
[Volume 3, USD62.37 from Amazon]
SGD132.58 from Kinokuniya
[Volume 4, USD62.37 from Amazon]
SGD132.58 from Kinokuniya

Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004
Richard Avedon (Editor: Michael Juul Holm)

As far as coffeetable books go, I’m going to recommend a few, and this, coming from one of my favourite photographers, looks like a sure-bet.

[USD44.10 from Amazon]
SGD126.48 from Kinokuniya

The Americans
Robert Frank

Robert Frank’s masterpiece has been re-released by Steidl for its 50th anniversary. A cultural touchstone and a photography classic, I’ve no doubt this makes a good gift.

[USD26.37 from Amazon]
It sold out at Kinokuniya, it seems.

Leaves Of Grass
Walt Whitman

Recently, I bought myself a copy of Leaves Of Grass to add to my library. It had been quite a while since I first read it, and I took the chance to explore it once more. I think the one thing that didn’t change between my first reading and the recent one is the recognition that I was a really tiny man standing in the tall shadow of a genius.

In his introduction to the 150th anniversary edition, Harold Bloom describes Whitman’s most famous work as a thing of beauty comparable to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel work; and I suppose it would be fair to say that that a work of art of such magnitude would always make a great gift.

[150th anniversary edition, 1855 version, Harold Bloom introduction, USD10.20 from Amazon]
SGD23.49 from Kinokuniya

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami

For the Murakami fan(s) in your life, this volume is a collection of essays by the Japanese author. Currently available in hardcover.

[USD14.28 from Amazon]
One of the editions is SGD 32.95 from Kinokuniya

Netherland
Joseph O’Neill

Joseph O’Neill’s third novel is about a Dutchman in post-9/11 America. It’s been generating a tremendous amount of buzz and has been likened to a more fiery The Great Gatsby. Siri Hustvedt of The Washington Post says:

Always sensitive and intelligent, Netherland tells the fragmented story of a man in exile — from home, family and, most poignantly, from himself.

[USD16.29 from Amazon]
SGD42.95 from Kinokuniya

Maus
Art Spiegelman

It probably isn’t the brightest idea to celebrate Christmas with a book on the Holocaust, but Art Spiegelman’s classic is at its heart a profoundly moving tale about a son and father and the difficult relationship that they share.

There’s a cheaper paperback edition available in two volumes too, but I’m listing the one-volume hardback.

[Complete collected edition, hardcover, USD23.10 from Amazon]
SGD58.22 from Kinokuniya

It’s A Bird!
Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen

This is a Superman comic that isn’t about Superman. It’s about the writer’s struggle with mortality, framed against the invincibility of Clark Kent. It’s about life, death, and the forces that good literature tries to wrestle with. One of my very favourite Superman books.

[Paperback, USD14.39 from Amazon]
SGD23.36 from Kinokuniya

American Music
Annie Leibovitz

The last book I’m going to recommend marries my love of photography with my love of music. No matter your opinion of Leibovitz’s work, I think this is a lovely book that will delight anyone with an interest in either field, and certainly those who have a passion for both.

[USD29.67 from Amazon]
Not in stock at time of writing in Kinokuniya

And that’s it. I hope it proves helpful.

Give the gift of art. It’s a good gift.

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© 2008 a modest odyssey.