like, when you pick them up the whole world kind of drops away
mine:
In the Country of Eight Islands, Burton Watson & Hiroaka Sato, eds. (because it is thousands of years of lovely sexy earthy ethereal impeccably translated Japanese poetry)
Imaginations, William Carlos Williams (because it has a lot more freaky-ass truth in it, expressed in a way I've never seen anywhere else)
The Palm-Wine Drinkard, Amos Tutuola (because it is the best novel ever written)
The Dream Songs, John Berryman (because it the second-best novel ever written[/i]
― Dimension 5ive, Saturday, 28 April 2007 18:02 (eighteen years ago)
Well some are definitely less magical than others .... so in the spirit of the thread: Salinger used to magical for me, I read all his over and over (2 1/2 decades ago now I admit) now only the occasional poem has what I would describe as a 'phosphorescence'.
― sandy mc, Sunday, 29 April 2007 08:40 (eighteen years ago)
okay nevermind, dumm thread idea
― Dimension 5ive, Sunday, 29 April 2007 22:01 (eighteen years ago)
The Palm-Wine Drinkard, Amos Tutuola - don't know that it's the best novel ever wrtten, but probably the one I've read least like ANYTHING ELSE EVER, and thoroughly engaging with it
― James Morrison, Monday, 30 April 2007 00:28 (eighteen years ago)
Damn, Chris - I'd give anything for the world to drop away for a bit!
Probably the last book that made the world fade for me was Helprin's
Winter's Tale - I was so submerged in that cosmos he created that I'd find myself literally shaking my head when called back to the reality of this world. I had moments of this with Chabon's
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and on and off in Irene Nemirovsky's
Suite Francais.
Actually, come to think of it, there was an article that I read while waiting in an exam room at my vet's office, by Tim Zimmerman in
Outside magazine, about a cave diving accident - the immediacy of the writing (hope that makes sense) had me so completely sucked-in that I literally yelped and jumped when the exam room door opened. Wow,
here's a link to that article - I'm not saying it was exceptional writing, but I was completely oblivious to the world while reading it.
Anyway, when I was younger I could lose myself in pretty much any book within a couple of pages, but now I struggle to get the outside world to turn-off (and my brain to stop mulling things) so that I can escape into the world of words.
― MsLaura, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 05:54 (eighteen years ago)