I’ve heard of this guy. He has a reputation — one for which I’ve avoided him. But now I see that he’s one of only four authors who have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction twice (along with the Nobel Prize for literature), and the book I chose — which won the Prize in the year of my birth — is supposedly not entirely of his normal style.
So next up is William Faulkner’s, The Reivers: a Reminiscence. I’ve never heard of it, but a quick look shows me that it was made into a movie (1969) that featured Steve McQueen, the music of John Williams (of Jaws and Star Wars fame), and the first African-American Oscar nominee in the Supporting Actor category, Rupert Crosse. Still, I can’t think that I’m going to watch it, unless I really like the book.
And so far, so good. A lot different than the one I just finished, Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny (which I liked very much), but still, rich language and interesting characters. And I’m only a few pages in.
I’ve recently picked up another book (in audio form) based on an interview I heard a few days ago. The book is called Collective Illusions, by Todd Rose, and it, too is quite fascinating. I’ve long maintained the basic premise of the book (as I understand it so far) — that we often overestimate others significantly in their differences with us. Our perceptions of what people think, and what they actually think are surprisingly different in reality. We also are unduly influenced by those misperceptions. We are socially conditioned to go along with what we believe to be the overall general opinion of others, even if we are wrong about those opinions. And so there’s this tendency for us to be collectively wrong about things.
So, for example, most people have no problem with a woman as president, but because we all think that other people won’t vote for a woman, and since we want our side to win, we go with who we think everyone else will be voting for. And so you get Joe Biden instead of Elizabeth Warren, even though people would have been willing to vote for Warren…but for their belief that no one else would vote for her.
Here’s the problem with audiobooks in this genre though — you can’t go back and refer to stuff, so my examples might be a bit off, but if I like it enough, I may buy a copy so I can take notes and highlight.
While I was looking for multiple Pulitzer winners, I noticed that Robert Lowell had won the prize twice for poetry (1947 and 1974). I’ve long joked that I was named after Lowell — my full name being Robert Lowell Fraleigh. The reality is much less glamorous, but satisfying nonetheless. I have an uncle Bob and an uncle Lowell, and they are the ones for whom I’m named…I assume. Then again, Lowell (the poet) was big up to and past the year of my birth. Perhaps my parents drew the parallels and went for both.
In any case, it’s got me looking for his work. I’ve not been one to spend a lot of time in poetry, but it can be interesting. Maybe I can find something for which I can claim Lowell as a favorite. It might make a good story someday…
I’ve heard Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner is good. I haven’t read it yet.
Excellent. The library here has it. I’ll pick that up right after the Reivers.