leyendolibros

[leyendolibros]

MY TOP FIVE FAVORITE READS OF 2022

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Cary Grant: A Beautiful Disguise by Scott Eyman 

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdich 

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 

Euphoria by Lily King 

read under the cut for more information about books + my personal opinions.

TRUST BY HERNAN DIAZ 

Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth--all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.

Although this book takes a bit to really get invested in, once you are invested, you’re in for a treat. This story is split into four separate parts, with each part representing a different narrative on the same couple. You’ll find similarities between each story but ultimately it is up to you, the reader, to figure out what is real and what is not. Not only is this masterfully written, but the entire concept of it genius and I’ve never quite read a novel like it before. I think if you enjoy books like The Great Gatsby, you’ll really take a liking to this. I read this book many nights until 2am because I could not get enough of it.

CARY GRANT: A BEAUTIFUL DISGUISE BY SCOTT EYMAN

Born Archibald Leach in 1904, he came to America as a teenaged acrobat to find fame and fortune, but he was always haunted by his past. His father was a feckless alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum when Archie was eleven years old. He believed her to be dead until he was informed she was alive when he was thirty-one years old. Because of this experience Grant would have difficulty forming close attachments throughout his life. He married five times and had numerous affairs.

Despite a remarkable degree of success, Grant remained deeply conflicted about his past, his present, his basic identity, and even the public that worshipped him in movies such as Gunga Din, Notorious, and North by Northwest.

Drawing on Grant’s own papers, extensive archival research, and interviews with family and friends, this is the definitive portrait of a movie immortal.

I picked this up after watching Bringing Up Baby in early February and it successfully plunged me into Old Hollywood like nothing else could. I’ve always found it a bit hard to rate biographies but I think it’s safe to say that Eyman did a fantastic job at speaking about the man that was Cary Grant. For anyone worried that they might not enjoy it because you don’t know much about Cary or Old Hollywood, worry not. I went into this blind and it genuinely was one of the finest pieces of writing that I read this year. This about so much more than a movie star and his career; it’s about a man, his dreams, his desire, and all the  bumps along the way. I believe it’s good to throw in a couple non-fiction reads each year and I definitely recommend this one.

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN BY LOUISE ERDRICH 

Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.

I had to read this book for school but it became something that I genuinely enjoyed. Erdrich is a masterful writer that uses multiple perspectives to tell a story of a community being threatened in the 1950s. It is funny and witty, but also incredibly sad at times. It can get a bit heavy so I would take a look at the trigger warning before you plunge into this, but I do think everyone should consider reading it. I loved so many characters in this and I just think the way Erdrich writes is such a treat. She weaves these incredible tales with such humanity and she’s able to create such a feeling of community within her pages.

SEA OF TRANQUILITY BY EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL

St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal--an experience that shocks him to his core. Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She's traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive's best-selling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him. When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe. A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.'

Sea of Tranquility is a bit of a genre outlier for me. I don’t really stick to any one specific genre but I’ve never really read anything from the sci-fi category before this. It took me a little over a day to finish this book and let me tell you, I greatly regret not diving into this genre sooner because of it. This book is so insanely good and it uses the concept of time travel in a way that is so neat. The narrative spans over something like 300 years and though I will admit it did take me a little to get into the story, I really enjoyed it once I did. This is one of those novels were you have to commit to the ride and let the author take you were you need to go with trust, but you won’t regret it if you do. It was incredibly beautiful and it touched down on things like the pandemic in a way that wasn’t cheesy or cringe-worthy. In fact, it was quite insightful. 

EUPHORIA BY LILY KING

In 1933 three young, gifted anthropologists are thrown together in the jungle of New Guinea. They are Nell Stone, fascinating, magnetic and famous for her controversial work studying South Pacific tribes, her intelligent and aggressive husband Fen, and Andrew Bankson, who stumbles into the lives of this strange couple and becomes totally enthralled. Within months the trio are producing their best ever work, but soon a firestorm of fierce love and jealousy begins to burn out of control, threatening their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives...

I’m a huge, huge lover of Lily King and have been ever since I picked up Writers and Lovers in 2021, so I can say this is a bit of different thing for Lily King as a writer. The book is based off the anthropologist Margaret Mead and this love triangle she was involved in with her husband and the man who would go on to become her second husband. It isn’t a re-telling of that situation, because there isn’t enough information about the time to be able to recreate it; this is just what came to King after she had read a biography of Mead. I think it was a wonderful, griping story from nearly the beginning. It’s sad and funny and it gives a rich look at these three deeply human people in their very unique settings. It’s a unique concept and I think King really executed it well.

#misc. #top five 2022 #recs.

[leyendolibros]

People will always yearn for a simple solution to their complicated problems. It's a lot easier to have faith in something you can't see, can't touch, can't explain, and can't change, rather than to have faith in something you actually can.

Bonnie Garmus

#a: bonnie garmus #b: lessons in chemistry #lessons in chemistry #bonnie garmus #writing #write #book #books #quote #quotes #writings #novel #fiction #fiction reads #historical fiction #new reads #decade: 2020s

[leyendolibros]

The dead don't have the last laugh. It's the children left by the dead and the survivors who laugh last, and their laughter is not sardonic.

Sloan Wilson

#sloan wilson #the man in the gray flannel suit #books #book #novel #novels #writing #classic read #classic reads #fiction #fiction reads #classic book #quote #quotes #writings #a: sloan wilson #decade: 1950s

[leyendolibros]

'Believe me, I want you to have a good time,' he said gently, 'but people who have that primarily in mind rarely accomplish it.'

Sloan Wilson

#sloan wilson #the man in the gray flannel suit #books #book #quote #quotes #writing #read #readings #classic reads #fiction #fiction reads #author #classic book #classic novel #novel #novels #writings #a: sloan wilson #decade: 1950s #q.

[leyendolibros]

How smoothly one becomes, not a cheat, exactly, not really a liar, just a man who'll say anything for pay.

Sloan Wilson 

#sloan wilson #the man in the gray flannel suit #quotes #quote #words #word #writing #writings #novel #classic books #war #decade: 1950s #a: sloan wilson #reading #reads #read #q.

[leyendolibros]

Things happen, he had decided; they happen and they happen again, and anybody who tries to make sense out of it goes out of his mind.

Sloan Wilson

#sloan wilson #writing #writings #author #authors #quote #quotes #novel #book quotes #book #decade: 1950s #a: sloan wilson #fiction #fiction reads #b: the man in the gray flannel suit #the man in the gray flannel suit

[leyendolibros]

'We're all nuts!' Tom had said, with a feeling that he had at last discovered the great fundamental truth. 'We're all nuts, every god-damn one of us--we're all absolutely nuts!'

Sloan Wilson

#sloan wilson #authors #author #quote #quotes #writing #writings #classic book #a: sloan wilson #b: the man in the gray flannel suit #the man in the gray flannel suit #american dream #decade: 1950s

[leyendolibros]

How curious it was to find that apparently nothing was ever really forgotten, that the past was never really gone, that it was always lurking, ready to destroy the present, or at least to make the present seem absurd.

Sloan Wilson 

#sloan wilson #quotes #writing #classic book #war books #wwii #writings #quote #book #novel #decade: 1950s #1950s #the man in the gray flannel suit #b: the man in the gray flannel suit #a: sloan wilson

[leyendolibros]

'Dreams of glory,' he said, 'I've spent my whole life getting over them.'

Sloan Wilson 

#quote #novel #writing #book quotes #sloan wilson #the man in the gray flannel suit #writings #authors #war books #year: 1950s #1950s #classic books

[leyendolibros]

Only masochists can get along without editing their own memories.

Sloan Wilson

#sloan wilson #quote #book quotes #war books #book #writing #the man in the gray flannel suit #classic reads #year: 1950s

[leyendolibros]

'It doesn't really matter.' The words had a marvelous effect on him. He had often repeated them to himself, until they began to sound like some kind of revelation.

Sloan Wilson, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

#sloan wilson #novel #the man in the gray flannel suit #books #year: 1950s #quotes #book quotes #writing #war books

[leyendolibros]

The boy Prewitt loved the songs because they gave him something, a first hint that pain might not be pointless if you could only turn it into something.

James Jones, From Here to Eternity 

#quotes #james jones #from here to eternity #books #literature #writing #words #a: james jones #b: from here to eternity #decade: 1950s

[leyendolibros]

He understood suddenly why a man who has lived his whole life working for a corporation might commit suicide simply to express himself, would foolishly destroy himself because it was the only way to prove his own existence.

James Jones, From Here to Eternity 

#james jones #from here to eternity #quotes #literature #books #suicide tw #a: james jones #b: from here to eternity #decade: 1950s

[leyendolibros]

Isn’t that really all we’ve been saying to each other, generation after generation: Be careful of me? I am trying so hard to be careful with my children. I look at my father. I’m sorry, I say silently. I’m sorry we couldn’t be more careful of each other.

Lily King, Father of the Rain 

#father of the rain #lily king #novel #book #quotes #a: lily king #b: father of the rain #decade: 2010s

[leyendolibros]

GREGORY PECK’S READING LIST

A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF THE NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES THAT MANY OF GREGORY PECK’S MOVIES WERE BASED ON (with the movie title after)*

The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin (The Keys of the Kingdom) The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding (Spellbound) The Valley of Decision by Marcia Davenport (The Valley of Decision) Duel in the Sun by Niven Busch (Duel in the Sun) The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling) Gentleman's Agreement by Laura Z. Hobson (Gentleman’s Agreement) The Paradine Case by Robert Hichens (The Paradine Case) The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway (The Macomber Affair) Twelve O’Clock High by Beirne Lay Jr. and Sy Bartlett (Twelve O’Clock High) The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (The Great Sinner) The Happy Return, A Ship of the Line, Flying Colours by C.S. Forester (Captain Horatio Hornblower) Only the Valiant by Charles Marquis Warren (Only the Valiant) The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway (The Snows of Kilimanjaro) The World in His Arms by Rex Beach (The World in His Arms) The Purple Plain by H.E. Bates (The Purple Plain) The Million Pound Bank Note by Mark Twain (The Million Pound Note) Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (Moby Dick) The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson (The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit) Ambush in Blanco Canyon by Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (The Big Country) The Bravados by Frank O'Rourke (The Bravados) On the Beachby Nevil Shute (On the Beach) Pork Chop Hill: The American Fighting Man in Action by S.L.A. Marshall (Pork Chop Hill) Beloved Infidel by Sheilah Graham and Gerold Frank (Beloved Infidel) The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird) The Executioners by John D. MacDonald (Cape Fear) Captain Newman, M.D. by Leo Rosten (Captain Newman, M.D.) Fallen Angel by Howard Fast (Mirage) The Stalking Moon by T.V. Olsen(The Stalking Moon) Mackenna's Gold by Will Henry (Mackenna's Gold) Marooned by Martin Caidin (Marooned) The Chairman by Jay Richard Kenned (The Chairman) An Exile by Madison Jones(I Walk The Line) The Lone Cowboy by Will James (Shoot Out) The Omen (A Franchise) by David Seltzer (and many others) (The Omen) Boarding Party by James Leasor (The Sea Wolves) The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican by J. P. Gallagher (The Scarlet and the Black) The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes (The Old Gringo) The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin (The Boys from Brazil)

*I do not recommend nor condone most of the books on this list, simply because I've not read them and I'm unsure of the content. The only one I’ve read is To Kill a Mockingbird (which I do recommend). Please do not take this as my personal taste, or even that of Gregory Peck’s; these were merely the books his films were adapted from. 

#gregory peck #reading #literature #list #reading list #quotes #movies

[leyendolibros]

“ I admire people who can concentrate on a fish or a leaf and know more about them than most us can suspect about a human being.”

— Cary Grant, Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise

#cary grant #quotes #book: cary grant: a brilliant disguise #nonfiction. #b: cary grant: a brilliant disguise #a: scott eyman #decade: 2020s

[leyendolibros]

Scott Eyman, from “Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise.”

[Text ID: “‘Fate rarely writes the perfect ending

Eleanora Duse died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

John Huston died in Middletown, Rhode Island

And Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa.”]

#book #novel #q #quotes #cary grant #b: cary grant: a brilliant disguise #a: scott eyman #decade: 2020s #nonfiction.