Updike makes a Five Great Books reading list

In a Husteust.com article that begins with a quote from Game of Thrones‘ Tyrion Lannister (“A mind needs books as a sword needs a sharpening stone”), “Five books you should read this year” are recommended:

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

Of the Updike selection, the site says, “In terms of sheer skill, Updike is the ultimate master of the late 20th century. His sentences are astonishingly brilliant and his command of the language is almost nil.”

Clearly, the last part of that compliment doesn’t express what the author thinks it might. Which reminds us: the actual quote from Tyrion Lannister is, “My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind . . . and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. That’s why I read so much. . . .”

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