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MATTHEW MERENDO
HBC Staff Writer
My favorite
books and I have a relationship: I take them places, I talk
to them, and they talk back. We have fun together. We interact.
In fact, some of the best friends I have live on my bookshelves.
Friend
#1: Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson
He's mysterious and he's ambiguous and he never gives a straight
answer. The reason I keep him around, though, is because of
the way he sees things. No matter what we're looking at, even
if it's the most mundane thing in the world, he sees it in
some new, fresh, shocking way.
 Friend
#2: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
She's pretty old, and sometimes, the way she talks belies
her age, but she is still the lightest, brightest, and most
sparkling friend I have. She's got quite the acid-tipped tongue,
and I like that—sometimes, she and I go out just to find
stupid people and make fun of them. If I'm ever feeling down
in the dumps, I call her up and she comes running, her arms
full of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, double fudge brownies,
and cheesecake.
Friend
#3: Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine
de Saint-Exupéry
I grew up with him, and he taught me about responsibility
and love and even death. So yes, he's got all the answers,
but what's great about him is that he doesn't flaunt that
fact in your face. He's just about the most innocent person
I know, but in a very mature way, like he's been through the
ringer and he still has hope that things will turn out all
right. And that's where his beauty really shines, because
it's true: he really does want everything to turn out all
right, for everyone. And he has a pet sheep that is super-cute.
Friend
#4: The Complete Poems of Dorothy Parker by Dorothy
Parker
She's the girl I go to when I want nothing more than to revel
in my depression or my misery, because let's face it: sometimes
it feels good to dwell. She's the girl who chooses not to
kill herself, only because suicide is too much work. But what's
great about her is that she makes sure you laugh about it,
too, and in the end, shows that laughter is usually what gets
you over it.
Friend
#5: Selected Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay
This friend lives every emotion like it's the only emotion
there is, and I go to her when I'm feeling really emotional
and I need someone to revel in it with me. Whether I'm broken-hearted
or madly in love, whether I'm mourning or celebrating, whether
I'm thinking about the self-destruction of the human race
or trying to remember the name of that guy I left the club
with last night, Selected Poems knows exactly how I'm
feeling and exactly what I need to hear. With her, I always
feel held, like she's cradling my head in her arms, going
through every gut-wrenching twist of every soul-shattering—the
good kind and the bad kind—with me, saying "Been there,
done that, bought the shirt. And survived."
NED VIZZINI
Desert
Island Book List:
1. Extremely
Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
What surprises me is that others almost universally praise
Foer's debut novel while slamming this work. That's not fair.
While it isn't better than Everything is Illuminated,
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is daring and
rewarding. This book features, among other things:
- A
chapter consisting entirely of numbers typed into a phone
keypad, as if the narrator were communicating by text message.
- A
section in which the lines of each sentence get closer and
closer together until the page becomes totally black.
- A
flipbook at the end that shows a man falling up the WTC.
(Sorry to ruin it, but you'd probably notice on picking
up the book anyway.)
Should
we really punish people who try to do new things to grab the
attention of readers? There are plenty of writers out there
(Philip Roth, Jonathan Franzen) who do traditional prose exceedingly
well. Can't a guy have a little fun?
 2.
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
I'm in that unadventurous camp who agrees that Philip Roth
is our best living novelist. I think this might go down as
his greatest work. He just keeps kicking ass.
3. The
Condemned by Noah Cicero
Noah Cicero is a 26-year-old from Youngstown, OH, who criminally
still puts out his books on print-on-demand. Thankfully, he's
earning the attention of the indie press now and, God willing,
he's on his way to the success he deserves. An exciting new
chronicler of American urban decay and despair.
4. Hatchet
by Gary Paulsen
If I'm really on a desert island, I'd like a book about survival.
Doesn't hurt that it's the first YA book I would show anyone
who holds that young adult literature isn't as important or
fulfilling as literary fiction—and that's a dwindling
camp, anyway.
5. Teen
Angst? Naaah... by Ned Vizzini
Fuck, I'd bring my own book. Remind myself of where I came
from; and it might be useful to burn.
Ned Vizzini
is the author of Teen Angst? Naah.. . (Random House,
2002), Be More Chill (Miramax, 2004), and It's Kind
of a Funny Story (Miramax, 2006). His website is http://www.nedvizzini.com
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