Best books...chosen by Benjamin Anastas
Benjamin Anastas’s Too Good to Be True is one of the most acclaimed memoirs of 2012.
Benjamin Anastas’s Too Good to Be True is one of the most acclaimed memoirs of 2012. Below, the Massachusetts-born novelist lists six favorite books by one of his literary heros, Martin Amis.
Money: A Suicide Note (Penguin Ink, $16). Open this relentless reality grab of a novel to any page and you’ll find Amis doing things to the language—and to early-’80s New York City—that you didn’t think possible. John Self, the most breathtaking lout in the Amis criminal lineup, is a vulgarian so complete that only Hollywood (and Selina Street, his live-in vixen) can outdream his appetite for wealth and all it buys.
The Pregnant Widow (Vintage, $16). The scene: a crumbling castle in Campania, Italy. The time: 1970. Keith Nearing, while lying poolside with his sexless English novels, must choose between Lily, his plain, newly awakened girlfriend, and Scheherazade, a beauty who draws crowds. This 2010 novel is a farce of the sexual revolution and a remembrance of lost time.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Experience: A Memoir (Vintage, $19). Probably my favorite Amis book: My copy has swelled from re-readings. Aside from the loving portrait of Kingsley Amis, who emerges whole, with all his flaws, Amis gets revealingly emotional about his sister, his children, and a cousin, Lucy, who was murdered by a serial killer.
The Information (Vintage, $17). The novel that launched an Amis backlash in the mid-’90s only gets better with time: Richard Tull, a book reviewer of no repute and a novelist of even less, follows his hugely successful frenemy Gwyn Barry on a U.S. book tour. “What happens when galaxies collide?” Nothing good for Richard.
Yellow Dog (Vintage, $15). The least loved book in the Amis canon has never recovered from its initial critical drubbing. That’s too bad: Underneath its broad satire of the British royals and the porno and the puns, this 2003 novel has some of Amis’s sharpest and most pitiless writing on childhood and innocence, violence and media culture. Definitely a mind-bending read, but worth every chapter (well, almost every chapter).
The War Against Cliché (Vintage, $20). Amis has been mucking around in literature’s garden since his early 20s, turning out reviews on everyone from J.G. Ballard to Robert Bly, from Iris Murdoch to Philip Roth to Don DeLillo. This collection is proof that he never wavers from his first commandment: Thou Shalt Never Be Boring as a Critic.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Baltimore bridge disaster: Who is going to pay and how?
Today's Big Question Politicians, legal experts, and the insurance industry are all grappling with the financial fallout of America's worst infrastructure tragedy in years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Melting polar ice is messing with global timekeeping
Speed Read Ice loss caused by climate change is slowing the Earth's rotation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Stick guitar
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
Keith O'Brien's 6 must-read books about significant moments in sports history
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Laura Hillenbrand, Jonathan Eig and more
By The Week US Published
-
Lauren Oyler's favorite collection of essays that will leave you deep in thought
Feature The author recommends works by Elif Batuman, Mark Greif, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Rebecca Serle's 6 favorite books about interpersonal relationships
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by J.D. Salinger, Dolly Alderton, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Cristina Henríquez's 6 popular books with historical themes
Feature The novelist recommends works by Min Jin Lee, Kurt Vonnegut, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Mark Greaney's 6 favorite suspenseful books about espionage
Feature The author recommends works by Tom Clancy, John le Carré, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Hisham Matar's 6 favorite books that are part of a collection
Feature The Pulitzer Prize-winning author recommends works by Jean Rhys, Michael Ondaatje, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Yangsze Choo's 6 favorite works about love and human connection
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Cho Nam-Joo, Hiro Arikawa and more
By The Week US Published
-
Kwame Alexander's 6 must-read books about the art of poetry
Feature The poet recommends works by E.E. Cummings, Clint Smith and more
By The Week US Published