Essential Joyce Carol Oates Books
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- If you've never read Joyce Carol Oates before here is a group of essential books to get to know this prolific author. Click ‘Show More’ for info & links.
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The New Yorker article: www.newyorker....
Top 10 Joyce Carol Oates Novels: • Top 10 Joyce Carol Oat...
My interview with JCO on the Reading Life: • Interview with Joyce C...
My interview with JCO on the Writing Life: • Interview with Joyce C...
A chat with JCO on her novel Breathe: • A Chat with Joyce Caro...
A chat with JCO on her book Zero Sum: • A Chat with Joyce Caro...
A chat with JCO on her novel Babysitter: • A Chat with Joyce Caro...
Books discussed & purchase links:
Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
High Lonesome by Joyce Carol Oates
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The Granta Book of the American Long Story edited by Richard Ford
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I Lock My Door Upon Myself by Joyce Carol Oates
them by Joyce Carol Oates
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
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The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates
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I read Bellefleur decades ago and found it arresting. That I still recall moments of it is a testament to its strength for me. Much later, I read Them. It was a good, quick read but didn't leave a lasting impression upon me. I may have stumbled across other JCO books over time but she hasn't stood out for me as a writer whose work I want to follow. I just noticed I have Man Crazy on my shelf. I must have read it but have no recollection of the story. What I admire so much about JCO is her fierce commitment to writing everything she wants to write.
Great video, Eric. I've adored Oates and her writing for about 45 years now and my love for her is unabated. Hoping for more Eric/Joyce interviews soon? Any time soon?
I adore her too. No one writes like her.
My favorite so far is “missing mom” - I cried throughout and made me rethink the relationship I have with my own. We’ve been pretty tight for a few years now
My daughter bought me Blonde a few years ago asca birthday :I really loved the book, especially the beginning which I found extremely moving and gave me a totally new way of apprehending Marilyn monroe, I loved the way JCO told her story, the way the got into her character, her harrowing moments... I have read several other novels and novela from her too...thank you for this great video !
Dear Eric. One thing (of many) I've always admired in you is your advocacy of the works of my beloved JCO. I recently had the incredible privilege of reading, for (I think) the fifth time, my personal favourite, 1973's "Do with Me What You Will." In it, Oates explores and details what it means to be hopelessly out of step with the world at large with the grace, incisiveness, and humour of Kafka, all the while maintaining a faith, worthy of D.H. Lawrence, in the ultimate supremacy of love: in this case, of both "eros" and "agape" love in equal measure. To me, it is the culmination of her brilliant early period - and, as a transplanted Detroiter myself, I love the extent to which (here as in "Them," which you discussed) the city is itself a character, and even something of a driving force, throughout this splendid novel.
Thank you. Joyce is my all time favorite writer.
Oates is an amzing and prolific writer. I am taking her writing course on Master Class.
Read Stephen King 'On Writing'. That's all you need to know.
I have read We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates and loved it... Want to read The Gravedigger's daughter....
Hi Eric. A JCO favorite story of mine is "Night-Side" which is about researchers trying to prove the existence of life after life. The story was inspired by real-life research done by William James and others. I can't remember if James actually appears in the story or not. I've been haunted by the story ever since I read it many years ago.
Yes!!! Love JCO!
Hi Eric I have just reserved The Gravediggers Daughter. This will be my first JCO. I am also reading my first Toni Morrison. 2025 is going to be a year where I read at least one book by authors I have always meant to read.
That’s wonderful to hear! Morrison and Oates were colleagues for a time at Princeton, I believe, and of course Morrison was also a genius.
Great video Eric. I'm quite new to Joyce Carol Oates work, but so far I've loved everything I've read by her, & i already adore her writing style. I've read We Were The Mulvaney's, Zombie, her memoir The Lost Landscape, & Where Are You Going/Where Have You Been. Both We Were The Mulvaney's & Zombie are now in my top 20 favourite books of all time. It's incredible how she can so effortlessly go from writing heartbreaking drama, to one of the most disturbing horror novels I've ever read.
Thank you for bringing much needed attention to the most underrated author of our and of all time. I am always perplexed as to why more people don't know of her. These are the 10 books I recommend:
1. Solstice
2. We Were the Mulvaneys
3. Mysteries of Winterthurn
4. Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque
5. Zombie
6. Where is Here?
7. Sexy
8. The Doll-Master: And Other Tales of Terror
9. Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart
10. My Life as a Rat
Joyce Carol Oates and I share the same birthday. We met in San Francisco during a public library fundraising event. Interesting essential list. I would add We Were the Mulvaneys to the list.
Currently reading Little Bird of Heaven. Interesting that is has a nicely developed whodunit aspect to it.
Blonde completely blew me away!
Yes! It’s epic!
I've been meaning try Joyce Carol Oates and I recently bought Blonde.
Fab, hope you enjoy it!
I’ve read quite a few. My favourites are the big family saga type ones - Night. Death. Sleep the Stars, Book of American Martyrs - type. I find the way she writes about teen or vulnerable women really so close to the bone, it makes me quite uncomfortable. I guess that is a testament to how well she writes but doesn’t always make for an enjoyable read. Some of them, I still enjoyed like Gravediggers daughter or Mulvaneys, even Blonde. I tried Babysitter recently though and I actually had to give up about three quarters in because it was so violent. I may try Them next time I am in the mood for a big book.
Reading "Mudwoman." All I can say is wow.
I read:
Blonde
A Book Of American Martyrs
Carthage
Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.
Butcher
Mudwoman
Daddy Love
The Sacrifice
Often very good, sometimes not so good. My favourite: Blonde: fabulous!
I've read 4 of her books including the Gravedigger's Daughter (which was great) and so far Butcher is my favorite. What do you think of Broke Heart Blues? I just got a copy but I don't think it's considered one of her better ones
I finished Broke Heart Blues recently and loved it! I can see the book can be a bit confusing narrative wise, however the audiobook really helped with a whole cast of different narrators, and I thought it was effective & the ending was amazing. It’s definitely one of the most overlooked novels of hers
I was hoping that my personal favorite We Were the Mulvaneys would make the Essentials list.
That novel is definitely also one of her greats!
First, I love your channel and I appreciate the kindness and gentleness of spirit that comes through in how you present yourself. We could use much more of that in our world.
Second, I went through a big JCO phase. I found it rewarding but I ultimately felt she has only some work that warrants the rapturous praise she gets. I feel that she often taken brilliant ideas and over-writes the content of her books to the point where I could not finish some of her books. They felt like repetitions of ideas ad nauseum, and repetitions of core emotional truths to a point where I felt like I was being pummeled as a reader.
All that being said, her most brilliant writing is, in my opinion, Nobel prize worthy. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" is one of the most brilliant pieces of writing of all time. It is an extraordinary story, maybe the best written story I've ever read. My favorite JCO novel is Carthage. I feel that's an under-appreciated masterpiece. I tried to read Missing Mom, I think it's called, and found the plot development so gratuitous and stretched to an absurd level of pathos that I just could not get into it. We Were the Mulvaneys is a book I really loved, and I felt it was justifiably acclaimed.
The Tattooed Girl is a book I just could not get behind. I really did not like it! I stopped after just a short time trying to read it.
I have never had so many conflicting feelings about a novelist. I recognize her genius and significance as a writer. But I only like about half her books. I should probably give her another try!
In all candor, I partly had this reaction to JCO when I read her work because many of her books featured characters I often met in real life in my work in the social services field. I found her writing about some of these characters on the margins to be a tad too tragedy porn-feeling. And I was working with people who were a lot like the people in her books. But I felt that the reality of people's lives was far more than tragedy. Yet At the same time, I felt.she was unrelenting in her insistence upon centering characters who did not ever get represented in the mainstream.
So much more I could say. I'll stop there for now! Thanks again for the wonderful content. I'll have to give JCO another try.
Thanks so much for the compliment! That’s very kind of you to say and heartening to hear. Also, great to hear about your conflicted feeling on JCO’s books - especially in relation to your work and representation of often marginalised individuals. It’s true she focuses more on the tragedy rather than celebrating the joyous parts of people’s lives. I was also disappointed with “Missing Mom” and the style of that book was quite unusual for Oates since she self consciously wrote a novel she thought her mother would have liked. I really enjoyed “Carthage” as well though found some of the names used to be overly symbolic.