The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life (34 page)

Masquerade
– Kit Williams

Gulliver's Travels
– Jonathan Swift

The Little Stranger
– Sarah Waters

Journey to the End of the Night
– Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Tarantula
– Bob Dylan

Middlesex
– Jeffrey Eugenides

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
– Milan Kundera

The Woman in White
– Wilkie Collins

Stoner
– John Williams

A Brief History of Time
– Stephen Hawking

Gravity's Rainbow
– Thomas Pynchon

The second half of
Daniel Deronda
– George Eliot

The Man Without Qualities
– Robert Musil

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
– John Boyne

As I Lay Dying
– William Faulkner

Wolf Hall
– Hilary Mantel

Bring Up the Bodies
– Hilary Mantel

Stalingrad
– Antony Beevor

Life and Fate
– Vasily Grossman

The World as Will and Representation
– Arthur Schopenhauer

Autobiography
– Morrissey

Inferno
– Dan Brown

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders, where appropriate. Any errors or omissions will be corrected in future editions.

The book's epigraphs are taken from
The Odyssey
by Homer, translated by E.V. Rieu, Penguin Classics 1946; and from ‘Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield', an episode of
The Simpsons
written by Jennifer Crittenden, first broadcast on 4 February 1996.

The Introduction (‘A Word of Explanation') contains an excerpt from Malcolm Lowry's letter to Jonathan Cape, 2 January 1946, reproduced in the introduction to
Under the Volcano
, Penguin Modern Classics 1985, copyright © Margerie Bonner Lowry 1965.

The epigraphs to Part I are taken from
Whatever
by Michel Houellebecq, Serpent's Tail, 1999, copyright Maurice Nadeau 1994, translation copyright Paul Hammond 1999; and from Vladimir Nabokov,
Lectures on Russian Literature
, Picador 1983, copyright Estate of Vladimir Nabokov, 1981.

‘Book One' contains extracts from ‘I Start Counting' (Basil Kirchin/Jack Nathan/James Coleman/Patrick Ryan), copyright © United Artists Music Ltd 1969; from
Mr Small
by Roger Hargreaves, World International Ltd. 1998, copyright © Mrs Roger Hargreaves 1972; and from
The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov, translated by Michael Glenny, Vintage 2003. Copyright in the English translation © the Harvill Press and Harper and Row Publishers 1967.

‘Book Two' contains extracts from
Middlemarch
by George Eliot, Penguin Books 1965, edited by W.J. Harvey; from ‘The Bedsitter' by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, an episode of the BBC television series
Hancock
first broadcast on 26 May 1961, copyright © Galton & Simpson 1961; and from ‘On Reading and Books' by Arthur Schopenhauer, reproduced in
Essays of Schopenhauer
, translated by Mrs Rudolf Dircks.

‘Books Three to Five' contains extracts from
The Communist Manifesto
, Penguin Books 2004, and
The Holy Family
by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Penguin Books 1967; from
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
by Robert Tressell, Flamingo 1993; from
Post Office
by Charles Bukowski, Virgin Books 1992, copyright © Charles Bukowski 1971; and from
Uncle Vanya
by Anton Chekhov, translated by Pam Gems, Nick Hern Books 1992, translation copyright © Pam Gems 1992.

‘Book Six' contains extracts from
The Sea, The Sea
by Iris Murdoch, Vintage 1999, copyright © Iris Murdoch 1978; and from
Cooking with Pomiane
by Edouard de Pomiane, translated by Peggie Benton, Modern Library 2001, copyright © 1976 by Faber and Faber. The quote from Charles Monteith is taken from the BBC
Arena
documentary
Joe Orton: A Genius Like Us
, first broadcast on BBC2 on 9 November 1982.

‘Books Seven to Nine' contains extracts from
A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole, Penguin Books 1981, copyright © Thelma D. Toole 1980; from
Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky
by Patrick Hamilton, Vintage 1998, copyright © The Estate of the late Patrick Hamilton 1987; from
The Unnamable
by Samuel Beckett, in the
Samuel Beckett Trilogy
, Calder 1994, copyright © The Samuel Beckett Estate 1994; from notes by John Calder accompanying the Naxos audio recording of
The Unnamable
by Samuel Beckett, copyright © John Caldes 2005; from ‘No Place Like London' by Stephen Sondheim, reproduced in
Finishing The Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954–1981)
, Alfred A. Knopf, copyright © 2010 by Stephen Sondheim; from ‘Love Letter to London' by Luke Haines, from the album
21st Century Man
(Fantastic Plastic Records), copyright © Luke Haines 2009; and from ‘Unhappy Hour' by Dan Rhodes, the
Guardian
, 13 March 2004.

‘Book Ten' contains extracts from
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville, edited by Harold Beaver, Penguin Classics 1972; from
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown, Corgi 2004, copyright © Dan Brown 2003; and from ‘976-LOVE' by Dan Brown, from the album
Dan Brown
, copyright © DBG Records 1993. The quote from Brian Eno is taken from
On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno
by David Sheppard, Orion 2008. The quote from Stephen Fry is taken from ‘Combustion', an episode of
QI
first broadcast on BBC2 on 16 December 2005.

‘Book Eleven' contains extracts from
Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude, Wordsworth Classics 1995.

‘Books Twelve and Thirteen' contains extracts from
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen, edited by Tony Tanner, Penguin Classics 1972; from
Of Human Bondage
by W. Somerset Maugham, Mandarin Paperbacks 1990, copyright © by The Royal Literary Fund; and from ‘Bookshop Memories'
by George Orwell, reprinted in
Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays
, Penguin Books 1964, copyright © George Orwell 1936.

The epigraphs to Part II are taken from ‘Riding Down from Bangor' by George Orwell, reprinted in
Essays
, Penguin Books 2000, copyright © George Orwell 1946, reprinted by permission of Bill Hamilton as the Literary Executor of the Estate of the Late Sonia Brownell Orwell; and from ‘And I Was A Boy From School' by Hot Chip, from the album
The Warning
(EMI), copyright © Hot Chip 2006, reprinted by permission.

Part II contains extracts from
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa, Penguin Books 1973, translation copyright © Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. 1970; from
The Tiger Who Came to Tea
by Judith Kerr, PictureLions 1992, copyright © Judith Kerr 1968; from
H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life
by Michel Houellebecq, translated by Dorna Khazeni, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2006, copyright Michel Houellebecq 1991, translation © Dorna Khazeni 2005; from
Moominpappa at Sea
by Tove Jansson, translated by Kingsley Hart, Puffin Books 1974, copyright © Tove Jansson 1965, translation © Ernest Benn Limited 1966; and from
Absolute Beginners
by Colin MacInnes, Allison & Busby Limited 1980, copyright © 1959 The Colin MacInnes Estate. The quote from Scott Walker is taken from an interview with
Mojo
magazine, May 2006.

The epigraphs to Part III are taken from
Correspondance
by Gustave Flaubert, Folio-Classique 1998, translated by the author; and from ‘Little Gidding' by T.S. Eliot (1942, from
Four Quartets
), reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber for the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the USA, copyright © the Estate of T.S. Eliot.

‘Books 28, 29 and 31' contains extracts from
The Diary of a Nobody
by George and Weedon Grossmith, edited by Kate Flint, Oxford University Press 1995; from
Beyond Black
by Hilary Mantel, Fourth Estate 2005; and from
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
by Charles Dickens, edited by Peter Preston, Wordsworth Classics 1998.

‘Books 41 and 42' contains extracts from
The Dice Man
by Luke Rhinehart, HarperCollins 1999, copyright © George Cockcroft 1971; from
The Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 1
by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Marvel Comics 2005, copyright © 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 2005 Marvel Characters Inc.; from
Krautrocksampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik – 1968 Onwards
by Julian Cope, Head Heritage 1995, copyright © Julian Cope 1995; from
Repossessed
by Julian Cope, Thorsons 1999, copyright © Julian Cope 1999; from ‘I Have Always Been Here Before' by Julian Cope, from the album
Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson
, copyright © Julian Cope 1990; and from ‘The Stages of Life' by Carl Jung, from
Modern Man in Search of a Soul
, Routledge Classics 2001. Unless noted, other quotes from Julian Cope are taken from his website at headheritage.co.uk; from an interview with Jon Savage (‘Stone Me!',
Observer
, 10 August 2008); and from
The Modern Antiquarian
, a documentary first broadcast on BBC2 on 24 June 2000.

‘Book 45' contains extracts from
Public Enemies
by Michel Houellebecq and Bernard-Henri Lévy, translated by Frank Wynne, Atlantic Books 2011, copyright © Flammarion/Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 2008, translation Frank Wynne © 2011; from
Atomised
by Michel Houellebecq, translated by Frank Wynne, William Heinemann 2000, copyright © Flammarion 1999, translation copyright © Frank Wynne 2000; from ‘Neil Young' by Michel Houellebecq and Michka Assayas, from
Dictionnaire du Rock
, Bouquins/Robert Laffont 2000, translated by the author, copyright © Michel Houellebecq and Michka Assayas 2000; from
Against Nature
by Joris-Karl Huysmans, translated by Robert Baldick, Penguin Classics 2003, translation copyright © Robert Baldick 1956; from
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
by Douglas Adams, Pan Books 1980, copyright © Macmillan Publishers for the UK, Random House Ltd for the USA; and from Vladimir Nabokov's introduction to ‘The Vane Sisters',
The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1996, copyright © Estate of Vladimir Nabokov. The quote from Mark E. Smith is taken from
John Peel's Record Box
, a documentary first broadcast on Channel 4 on 14 November 2005.

‘Books 49 and 50' contains extracts from
The Code of the Woosters
by P.G. Wodehouse, Penguin Classics 2001, copyright © P.G. Wodehouse 1937; from
The Buildings of England: North East and East Kent (Third Edition)
by John Newman, founding editor Nikolaus Pevsner, Penguin Books 1983, copyright © John Newman, 1969, 1976, 1983; from ‘On Noise' by Arthur Schopenhauer, reproduced in
Essays of Schopenhauer
, translated by Mrs Rudolf Dircks; from
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude, Everyman's Library 1992; and from
Public Enemies
by Michel Houellebecq and Bernard-Henri Lévy, translated by Frank Wynne, Atlantic Books 2011, copyright © Flammarion/Grasset & Fasquelle, Paris 2008, translation Frank Wynne © 2011.

The epigraphs preceding the Epilogue are taken from
The Books in My Life
by Henry Miller, Peter Owen 1961, copyright © the Estate of Henry Miller; from
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas Adams, Pan Books 1979, copyright © Macmillan Publishers for the UK, Random House Ltd for the USA, reprinted by kind permission of the Estate of Douglas Adams; and from
Under the Volcano
by Malcolm Lowry, Penguin Modern
Classics 1985, copyright © Malcolm Lowry 1947. The Epilogue itself contains extracts from
Repossessed
by Julian Cope, Thorsons 1999, copyright © Julian Cope 1999; from Malcolm Lowry's letter to Jonathan Cape, 2 January 1946, reproduced in the introduction to
Under the Volcano
, Penguin Modern Classics 1985, copyright © Margerie Bonner Lowry 1965; and from ‘Publishing', an episode of
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future
, presented by Douglas Adams, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 April 2001.

• How many titles from the List of Betterment have you read? Which were your favourites?
  
• ‘Everyone is entitled to an opinion.' True or false?
  
• Do you need to have finished reading a book before posting a review online or discussing it with your book group?
  
• Would you describe your book group as middlebrow?
  
• Throughout
  The Year of Reading Dangerously
  , Andy Miller has employed recurring motifs of the tiger and the monkey.
  What do the tiger and monkey symbolise? Anything?
  
• On
  page
  a former colleague of Andy Miller's describes him as ‘one of the angriest men I have ever met'. What do you think Andy Miller is so angry about?
  
• Andy Miller has painstakingly threaded images of duality through the text of
  The Year of Reading Dangerously
  . In your opinion, was it worth it?
  
• Did you understand what Andy Miller was trying to achieve in
  The Year of Reading Dangerously
  ? If not, whose fault is that? Yours or his?
  
• Like Malcolm Lowry, Andy Miller has stated that he hopes people will read
  The Year of Reading Dangerously
  at least twice in order to engage with the text, delve into the book's many allusions and resonances, and fully appreciate its architecture and design. Can you be bothered?
  
• After reading an early draft of
  The Year of Reading Dangerously
  , a former member of the author's book group (see Chapter IX) commented: ‘Andy [Miller] exhibits symptoms of clinical depression, repressed homosexuality and undiagnosed Asperger syndrome.' Do you agree?
  
• Andy Miller obviously has a unique mind and a fierce intelligence. But would you want to go down the pub with him?
  
• Which of the following Andy Millers is your favourite? The author of
  The Year of Reading Dangerously
  ; Andrew Miller, the award-winning serious novelist; Andy Miller, guitarist with the group Dodgy; or the Andy Miller who likes women to bring him sandwiches?
  
• It doesn't matter anyway, because it's all a load of shit. Do you agree?
  
• Are these discussion notes meant to be taken seriously? Discuss.