My Top 5 Novels
- Still Life with Woodpecker, written by Tom Robbins
“When we’re incomplete, we’re always searching for somebody to complete us. When after a few years or a few months of a relationship, we find that we’re still unfulfilled, we blame our partners and take up with somebody more promising.”
Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins was published in 1980, yet the topics Robbins’ work discusses are still incredibly relevant today. Robbins tells the story of a princess with a passion for the environment who falls in love with an outlaw that goes by the name of Woodpecker. The princess and her family have been expelled from their home country, and now live in Seattle as American citizens. The most significant question that the author asks in the novel is how can one make love stay, and Robbins shows readers that love has no rules. The chaotic nature of this story reflects the chaotic nature of love. The author fills the story with aliens, redheads, and Camel cigarettes. Overall Robbins’ book discusses many important social issues while also creating a fun and interesting modern fairytale.
2. Homesick for Another World, written by Ottessa Moshfegh
“And anyway, there is no comfort here on Earth. There is pretending, there are words, but there is no peace. Nothing is good here. Nothing. Every place you go on Earth, there is more nonsense.”
Homesick for Another World is a collection of fourteen short stories written by Ottessa Moshfegh, well-known for her novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation. However, it is significantly better. Each of Moshfegh’s short stories follows a single person as they awkwardly try to find what they believe is missing from their lives. Some of these individuals are unsure about what that thing is. All suffer loneliness and dissatisfaction. Moshfegh is incredible at pushing the reader into the scene, and it is so easy to get lost in her books. The author’s bluntness is what makes these stories work so well. Her characters do not skate around anything–they are completely unfiltered. Most of these short stories will make readers cringe, but sometimes lust is embarrassing.
3. Men Without Women, written by Haruki Murakami
“It’s quite easy to become Men Without Women. You love a woman deeply, and then she goes off somewhere. That’s all it takes. Most of the time (as I’m sure you’re well aware) it’s crafty sailors who take them away. They sweet-talk them into going with them, then carry them off to Marseilles or the Ivory Coast. And there’s hardly anything we can do about it.”
Men Without Women, also a collection of short stories, was published in 2014, and translated into English in 2017. The stories, narrated by men, focus on men that have lost women either to another man or to death. Once again, similar to the last book, these men appear lonely and dissatisfied with their lives. The stories are told with little emotion, and this is done to further enhance Murukami’s theme of the work. There is a sense of yearning in all of the stories for relationships lost. While this collection lacks the humor that Homesick for Another World possesses, Murukami’s work makes up for its lack of humor with its thoughtful sentences and storytelling that will have readers devouring the entire book in one sitting.
4. The Age of Innocence, written by Edith Wharton
“There they were, close together and safe and shut in; yet so chained to their separate destinies that they might as well have been half the world apart.”
The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s eighth novel, and it was first published in four parts, first appearing in the magazine Pictorial Review. Later the work was released as a book. Wharton is one of my favorite authors, and everything about her books, diction, and syntax exudes elegance. This novel takes place in New York in the 1870s and tells the story of a dangerous love triangle. Newland Archer is all set to marry May Welland, until he meets her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. After Archer falls in love with May’s cousin and has to make a choice, all the members of high society watch as Archer tries to find real love. Wharton’s tale explores marriage and commitment, the rules of society, and the struggle between an individual and a group. The famous director Martin Scorsese created a movie version of this book, and while the movie is good, the book immerses the reader and must be read prior to watching the film.
5. Travels with Charley: In Search of America, written by John Steinbeck
”And it was true what I had said to Johnny Garcia–I was the ghost. My town had grown and changed and my friend along with it. Now returning, as changed to my friend as my town was to me, I distorted his picture, muddied his memory.”
Travels with Charley: In Search of America is the true story of John Steinbeck’s road trip during the 1960s across America with his poodle Charley. In Steinbeck’s memoir, the author tells readers that as he grew older he realized he was writing books about a country that he no longer felt connected with, so the author bought himself a van and decided to take to the roadways of America. On his journey, Steinbeck observes many significant events and changes. The book depicts themes of aging and adapting to a changing world, the concept of a journey, and the toughness of the character. My favorite passage and I think the most important part of the novel, occurs when Steinbeck returns to his childhood home in Salinas, California. Steinbeck is very critical of the world, yet he can still appreciate its beauty which is what makes this book such a powerful read.
