Thursday, May 8, 2008

Sebastian Faulks: 40 recommended books

The bookstore Waterstone's invited Sebastian Faulks to select forty books for them to feature in-store; the headline writer for the Times (London) tarted-up the theme as "Sebastian Faulks reveals the 40 books he can't live without."

A couple of titles to make Faulks' list:
THE BLUE FLOWER by Penelope Fitzgerald

A short novel of mysterious power about the poet Novalis (1772-1801) and his love for a plain 12-year-old girl. Art of such refinement that it defies attempts to explain how it works.

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING by Milan Kundera

I remember the exhilaration with which I read this novel for review when it came out. I had never before seen big ideas so excitingly integrated into human lives.
Read about all 40 books.

--Marshal Zeringue