#68. "Ragtime" by E.L. Doctorow

There is a romanticization that comes for a past that we all haven't lived. It is a time so unlike ours that it seems simpler, has fewer problems, and is overall greater. There is a desire to escape from the present and wander those streets. While E.L. Doctorow doesn't set out to burn down that notion, he seeks to turn fiction into a historical look at what America looked like at the turn of the 20th century. As chintzy as it has become through media manipulation, often set to Scott Joplin's titular music style, it was a dangerous time. In a time prior to World War I, America was a land of spectacle but also of murder, racism, corruption, misogyny, and xenophobia as they tried to make the melting pot into something more palatable. The reality was far more complicated than that and what Doctorow does is tear down the veil, creating something more realistic, and giving audiences one of the most entertaining points of view imaginable. Its history brought to life, placing the reader at the ground level in ways that only the best writers can.

#67. "Gravity's Rainbow" by Thomas Pynchon

Nothing feels screwier about "Gravity's Rainbow" than known that its author Thomas Pynchon is one of the most notoriously reclusive authors. If a text ever demanded every last paragraph and ellipses to be explained, it was this one. The story infamously was so confusing upon release that while it qualified for The Pulitzer Prize, it was rejected for being at times too unreadable. The book is an enigma, a masterpiece of post-modernism that holds all of life's answers in passages that are sometimes too juvenile and gross to be taken seriously. It's a novel of precise details and dirty limericks, asking the question: what is this all worth? Many have read interpretations of World War II that have been abstract and entertaining ("Slaughterhouse-Five," "Catch-22"), but they can't compare to the massive experience of Pynchon's world. It doesn't make sense, and maybe that's the point? Who knows. 

#66. "Fetch-22" by Dav Pilkey

After eight entries over three years, the "Dog Man" series is no young pup anymore. In fact, the world that the average book inhabits continues to grow both in the scope of absurdity and deeply rooted emotional catharsis. Dav Pilkey has kept his gift for making stories presented through the lens of childlike wonder, presenting worlds that both satirize the more serious trends of modern culture (in this case police procedurals and superhero comics) and find the humanity within them. In recent entries, Pilkey has had the gift of making every story ends with a crescendo of heartwarming sadness that is surprisingly effective in use. While "Fetch-22" is largely the series' silliest book in some time, it continues the trend of finding adventure on every page, filling the reader's imagination with a world of nonsense that all seem to matter by the end. This may be one of the more overwhelming entries, but it still delivers when it needs to. 

#65. "Saturday" by Ian McEwan

A lot can happen in a day. For Ian McEwan, he took it as a challenge to explore the importance of living in a post-War on Terror world, where endless war has become the backbone of history and protagonist Henry Perowne's perfect life is about to be uplifted and changed. All it takes is a stroll through the park, one protest, surgery, and the news of a family pregnancy to fill his life with a lot to think about. While this sounds like it would make for a decent novel about the little things in life filling our hearts with meaning, McEwan isn't capable of making it into an essential novel. Instead, it's a meandering one that never gets to the big revelations that it thinks it should. It's fine as far as a day in the life stories goes, but those wanting something profound need look elsewhere.

My Wishlist of 100 Books (2019 Update)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to celebrate the start of the Christmas season. For those who are looking to this blog and wondering "Thomas, what can we get you?" It only makes sense that Willett Reads would be dedicated to sharing all things that interest me in literature. Well, if you're one of those kind people who want to send me a book, here is a recommendation list of 100 books ranging from different genres and centuries. I am not too picky on quality of the book, save for my desire that the book not be filled with personal annotations. Beyond that, I hope that this list will help you prepare gifts that I not only want, but can often be found at a reasonable price. Click on to discover the list and where to send any comments regarding this list.

#64. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer

 

The world of literature has been grappling with a way to discuss September 11, 2001 (The World Trade Center Attacks) for close to 20 years. While there have been certain takes that have resonated more, there has not been a definitive text yet that has rocked the zeitgeist. The closest has likely been the one with the least likely protagonist: a young boy with presumed Aspebergers searching through the five boroughs of New York for the answer to a question his deceased father left behind in the symbol of a key. What is discovered isn't so much the exploration of one child's personal grief, but an entire community coming to terms with the past both recent and long gone. The issue with Jonathan Safran Foer's text isn't its emotional ambition, but that it throws readers into the head of people both likable and downright annoying. As much as it's the story of how grief impacts us all, it also does so with an occasional cloying sense of endearment.

#63. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon

The world of detective fiction has been crowded for centuries now with authors who try to make sense of this crazy world. The greats often have an easy time making every tale into a bestseller, finding ways to tap into our shared psyche of a good reveal. However, there have been few stories that have quite the turns of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon, which starts with the murder of a dog and slowly comes to be an exploration of protagonist Christopher's personal life. It isn't just a story about crime, but one that Haddon seeks to make about understanding what goes on inside Christopher; an autistic in everything but actual wording. Few books convey the inner struggle of autism with as much clarity and empathetic wording than this, and it makes for one of the more entertaining crime books of the young century so far.