Five Books

I hardly read these days (just look under the heading "Reading" to the right, which hasn't changed for ages...) but I want to get back into the habit and I used to read a lot a few years ago...so I guess I can continue the list of five weird books that Malin has created (reached me via Skolfröken).

So the theme is "weird" or "wacko" books. Name five books that you thought were the most curious, different, stranger or crazy in terms of content or language or both. They do not have to bad but made you raise your eyebrow or smile in pure astonishment.

1. A heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genious by Dave Eggers - One of the best books I have ever read! Don't miss reading the small print on the title page or even before that in the book, and look out for a picture of a stapler! It's also a biographical account which makes it all the more interesting. His second book about two friends travelling to Senegal is not as good but probably stranger.

2. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - Just saw the film last week and it was good but not as good as the book, of course. The Ukrainian guide's (ab)use of the English language is priceless! I haven't read his second book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close but it's sitting on the shelf waiting to be read.

3. The Narnia series by C. S. Lewis - Didn't really like them. I guess I'm not much for fantasy in general and I just thought animals with human heads and other weird creatures were scary.

4. Rabbit is Rich by John Updike - I think Updike can write the longest sentences; often more than a page long. The things Rabbit does or thinks are pretty strange too.

5. The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk - Pamuk starts telling a story but digresses so many times so the next part of the story comes a couple of chapters later. But I guess that's why he is a Nobel prize winner.