Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday. So this week, my book The Fault in Our Stars
is at number one on USA Today and New York Times best seller list, which is bananas,
and it's made me think about all the books I've loved that aren't best sellers. So Hank today I want to introduce you to 18
books I've loved that you haven't read and probably very few people watching this video
have read. And then Nerdfighters, in comments, if you
could leave names of books that you love that I probably haven't read, I'll read 18 of them
and review them in a future video. Okay, let's get to it! Okay, let's start with sports! This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own by
Jonathan Rendall. Best book title ever! Also my favorite boxing book ever. Speaking of unusual areas of my expertise,
One of Us by Alice Domurat Dreger, which is by far the best non-fiction book ever written
about conjoined twins. It's also just an amazing book about disability
and unusual anatomies and how people in power tend to essentialize and marginalize the other. Okay, couple of funny books: Round Ireland
with a Fridge by Tony Hawks, not Tony Hawk. It's about a guy who hitchhikes around the
circumference of Ireland with a refrigerator; it is one of the funniest things I've ever
read. Also excellent, Tony Hawks' follow-up book,
Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, in which he plays tennis with every member of the Moldovan
National Soccer team. The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by,
yes, that is Zach Braff's brother, Joshua. Great coming-of-age novel, worth the price
of admission just for Jacob Green's Bar Mitzvah thank-you notes. Now you may have read MT Anderson's The Astonishing
Life of Octavian Nothing, one of the best novels of the past decade, but you probably
haven't read MT Anderson's surprisingly brilliant vampire novel, Thirsty. And speaking of great YA novels, Cecil Castellucci's
book, Boy Proof came out in 2005, and the haunting and beautiful story of this outcast
girl named Egg, has stuck with me ever since. Also E Lockhart's Fly on the Wall, a brilliant
feminist reworking of Kafka's Metamorphosis, ugh, it's so hard to say metamorphosis, [to
himself]: they're gonna know about your lisp now; they already know about your lisp now,
no, just...moving on! Tayari Jones is most famous for her book Leaving
Atlanta, which is great, but this book, The Untelling, captures the precariousness of
working-class life just beautifully. Speaking of beautiful, The Golden Rule by
my mentor, Ilene Cooper. If you have a child you may have noticed that
they don't, like, inherently excel at empathy. This book has been huge for us in talking
to Henry about imagining how other people are feeling. One more picture book: Show Way by Jacque
Woodson, one of my all-time favorite picture books and also one of Henry's favorites. E.E. Cummings' first book, The Enormous Room. I don't know why this isn't famous. It's Cummings' memoir of being imprisoned
and falsely accused of treason during WWI, it's also a brilliant examination of, like,
the relationship between the individual and the collective. Hugely influential book: Susan Sontag's Regarding
the Pain of Others which made me think a lot about the difference between representing
and exploiting pain in art. Also in an image saturated age, this is absolutely
required reading about the unreliability of the image. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
may be the most important novel about American religion. Why doesn't every American high school student
have to read this? I don't know. A book I'm almost sure you haven't read, This
Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun, I'm probably saying his name wrong, I apologize. It's that, that, that name! This book fictionalizes the story of real
political prisoners who lived for decades in complete darkness in 6' x 3' rooms. It's a little intense but it's really, really
good. Speaking of which, Kendra by Coe Booth. Her first book Tyrell is more famous, I like
this one just as much. The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty. Out of fashion these days, but I think the
best book by one of the best 20th century writers. Speaking of the South, Will You Miss Me When
I'm Gone: The Carter Family and their Legacy in American Music. This book inspired an early VlogBrothers video,
link in the dooblydoo, but it's also just excellent! And finally The Last Summer of Reason, a novel
about a bookstore owner who lives in a country overtaken by extremists who believe that art
is evil. So there you have it, 18 books I loved that
aren't bestsellers but should be; I look forward to your suggestions, Nerdfighters - I will
see you in comments. Hank - I'll see you on Friday.
It won't let me comment on youtube so I'll just put my rec here:
As someone who can't comment on YouTube because of Google+ I'll just suggest some books here. Who knows, maybe John will look in here.
1) It isn't translated into english but I will still mention it here on the off chance, it will be translated at some point, and someone will remember it being mentioned: Kamera obskura (sic!) by JΔnis LejiΕΕ‘. A historical novel set during the both World Wars. It is a story of a Baltic German noblewoman experiencing both World Wars and corresponding gain and loss of Latvian independance. It is quite relevant as the highly chaotic events of that time are very much a topic in Latvia's current political life. Also a beatifully told story of personal tragedy and struggle.
2) This one is published in english: Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor) by Sergei Lukyanenko. A nice piece of urban fantasy exploring typical fantasy tropes like the strugle between good and evil, secret societies and incredible power in a more interesting way than the usual fantasy literature. It also touches on very human things like relationships and self esteem through this magical lense. It also is very Russian. Seems to be quite badly recieved in the US so it would be a shame not to mention it.
:)~<
Where were the "in your pants" jokes?