Thursday, October 6, 2011

Booking Through Thursday: Odd

What’s the oddest book you’ve ever read? Did you like it? Hate it? Did it make you think?
One of the oddest books I've read in recent years has to be Bowl of Cherries, by Millard Kaufman. It's a picaresque about a young man who falls in love with the daughter of an eccentric scholar and follows her almost literally to the ends of the Earth- a dusty prison in a backwater of Iraq, where he awaits execution at the hands of his rival for her affections. It's written in an exaggerated literary style- you'll want to have your dictionary handy- and it's a comic masterpiece, really. Here's my full review. Kaufman was the creator of Mister Magoo and this was his first novel, published at the age of 92. After his death a second book was published, the crime novel Misadventure. Both came out in very attractive editions from McSweeney's. I enjoyed both books; I'm not crazy about picaresques but the characters in Bowl of Cherries really kept me engaged and reading.

More Booking Through Thursday here.

12 comments:

Sandy Nawrot said...

Sheesh, his first novel at 92? I guess it is never to late. This question is a tough one. I am thinking that perhaps it would be one of Uncle Stevie's books.

Anonymous said...

Here's my Odd Booking Through Thursday entry

Gigi Ann said...

I had a difficult time trying to think of an odd book that I've read, but finally thought of one, at least I thought it was a bit odd.

Anonymous said...

This was a hard question for me. I haven't really read Bowl of Cherries but I have, I think heard of it. Very cool...if odd!

Unknown said...

The oddest book I "tried" to read is "Little Big" I just could not get through it. It just seemed to go nowhere about stuff I didn't understand. It gets rave reviews.

Betty: Reflections with Coffee said...

Mister Magoo!!! Wow, sure loved those cartoons as a kid. Wonder if they would be banned nowadays because of political correctness (laughing at his eyesight).

Anonymous said...

Here's mine:

http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2011/10/booking-through-thursday.html

bermudaonion said...

It sounds like odd was good in this case!

Anonymous said...

The story sounds weird enough on its own, but the Mr Magoo conenction was totally unexpected!

Darlene said...

An odd book that I read would have been The Good Mayor by Andrew Nicholl but odd in a good way because I liked it. It was just anstrange story.

Jeanne said...

The oddest book I've ever read is The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. It's also one of my favorites. So I tend to try any book someone thinks is odd!

Zibilee said...

I think my oddest book was The Third Policeman, which was odd, but really, really fun. Personally, I like books that are weird because they always make me think. I need to check out Bowl of Cherries!