The Broke And The Bookish have been hosting Top Ten Tuesdays for a while now. This week, they've been giving a chance to the late guests to have a shot at one of the early subjects, under the theme of "Rewind". I chose subject #10: "Ten Books I Can't Believe I've Never Read" and decided to give it a personal twist. It's going to be "Ten Books That Have Been Eluding Me Forever". You know, those books you've been meaning to buy and read for years, but for some reason, they keep slipping your fingers when you hit the book store. They're not there, your attention has shifted to something else, you forget about them or you just always decide to buy something else. Here are the ten novels that have been eluding me like a greased up midget. Maybe building and keeping this list will help me get my hands on them.
1-Robert Stone - Dog Soldiers: This book has been a complete mystery and an obsession to me. Stone, especially Dog Soldiers, was the main influence of Dennis Lehane and I HAVE TO READ IT. Chapters seems to be pouting Robert Stone though. He's virtually absent from their shelves and it's driving me nuts. And guess what happened last time I ordered from Amazon? Damn right. I forgot about it.
2-Jim Thompson - The Getaway: Noir writers point and laugh when I tell them I had no idea Thompson even existed in 2010. I mean, I must've. But his name alone has never triggered any curiosity. Now that I know how important he was to writers I admire. I want to read him pretty bad, starting with The Getaway.
3-Richard Matherson - The Short Stories: In boxing, the Eder Jofre Award rewards the most talented boxer nobody has ever seen. The equivalent in literature would be the Richard Matherson Award, for the most talented and influential writer nobody has ever read. I don't know anybody who has read Matheson, but he's quoted like hell.
4-Stanley Elkin - The Dick Gibson Show: This look right up my alley. A strange contemporary novel, like a deforming mirror at the Circus. I am not familiar enough with Stanley Elkin to remember him when I go shopping and it's bugging the hell out of me. I mean, why would I do this to myself? I read horrible things like William Makepeace Thackeray novels out of boredom, but I pass by Stanley Elkin. I need to use my iPhone's notepad app more.
5-Richard Brautigan - Trout Fishing In America: Ages ago, I went on a quest to read every writer that Haruki Murakami liked and defined his style after. I have read Fitzgerald, Conrad, Chandler and Carver, but I have yet to read Brautigan. Not sure why. He disappears from my mind when I step inside my local Chapters store.
6-Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting: This look like something I would thoroughly enjoy, but I have been chickening out of it for years. I have heard horror stories about the difficulties of language and idioms Welsh uses. The Scottish English is an kind of English very far from American English I'm used to.
7-Stephen Baxter - Voyage Trilogy: OK, I've been meaning to get this one for a while. Only problem? I was late to the party and it's out of print. And I am really DYING to read this. It seems to be one of the good spiritual successors to Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series, who was the alpha and omega of science fiction to me.
8-Hubert Selby Jr. - Requiem For A Dream: Like many, I have watched the movie. I have been told the novel is earth shattering, but my hand suddenly gets veeeerrrryyy heavy when I pick it up for the shelf. Those who have seen the movie will know why. It's only two hundred something pages, but it's one hell of an emotional involvement.
9-Raymond Chandler - High Window: I have a shitty relationship to this novel and I have yet to read it. When I want to read it, it's not there. When it's there, I always find something better to read. So it decided to play hide and seek with me.
10-Roderick Thorp - Die Hard: C'mon, why is this even out of print? Every male reader needs a copy of a Die Hard novel. How sweet would be to read two hundred pages of John McClain action? To read the terror in Hans Gruber's face as he falls down the Nakatomi Plaza for two pages? Let's be serious. This needs to happen.
