Book recommendations?

[sistermagpie]

> Ali wrote:
> > If you're into translations, Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (Mabel
> Lee translation), winner of a Nobel for literature, is absolutely
> brilliant.  It's written in second person, which can be grating for
> long durations but manages to somehow not be in this ~500 pgs novel.
> <snip>
> 
> Carol responds:
> 
> Written in second person ("you")? How does that work? I don't
> understand how a novel could be about the person addressed. 
> 
> Carol, too confused to explore the question further

Magpie:
It's not unheard of to write a novel in the second person. Bright 
Lights, Big City is also written that way. It's not about the person 
addressed so much as telling the person addressed to imagine 
themselves in the place of the person speaking. The narrator is 
talking to/about himself:

"You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at 
this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that 
the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy."

And:

"You get down on your knees and tear open the bag. The smell of warm 
dough envelops you. The first bite sticks in your throat and you 
almost gag. You will have to go slowly. You will have to learn 
everything all over again." 

-m