I saw the new Disney Pixar film last night. Coco. Hated every minute of it. It looked pretty, but there was no heart beating beneath those coloured clothes. To be honest, I left the cinema feeling insulted. Like I got duped out of $18 to see a poor-man’s Inside Out.
I know I’m in the minority here. I loved the way it looked, the representation of Mexican culture, and the idea (the Día de Muertos idea is inspired). But with a story that formulaic, characters that forgettable (ironic given the main song), I do not rank Coco up there as one of the best Pixar films. That’s what a lot of people are saying. Sorry. It’s not as groundbreaking or emotionally compelling as Wall-E, Toy Story, or Inside Out.
Needing a remedy for the ennui I felt leaving the cinema, I decided to rewatch Inside Out to enjoy a decent Pixar film. And it gave me an idea (one that many booktubers and book bloggers had way before me)…
Wouldn’t it be cool to recommend a bunch of books following the Inside Out theme?
So here we are. I’m going to give you a book recommendation for each of the emotions in that movie. You’ll get a book that will make you joyful, one that will make you disgusted, one that will scare you, one that will make you sad, and one that will make you mad. At least, these recommendations aroused those emotions in me!
A book to make you happy: The Peregrine by J. A. Baker
The book that brings me the most joy has to be J. A. Baker’s The Peregrine.
This is a pretty obscure book (recommended to me by Werner Herzog – affiliate link) by a writer who is predominantly a bird watcher.
The Peregrine is this bird watcher dude’s books and diaries compiled from his long hours in the field watching birds. He’s particularly obsessed with the peregrine, which a very mighty regal bird.
It’s the writing style in this book that brings me the most joy. It’s just so beautiful.
Fear releases power. Man might be more tolerable, less fractious and smug, if he had more to fear. I do not mean fear of the intangible, the suffocation of the introvert, but physical fear, cold sweating fear for one’s life, fear of the unseen menacing beast, imminent, bristly, tusked and terrible, ravening for one’s own hot saline blood. – J. A. Baker
It’s so poetic. Perhaps some of the most poetic prose you’ll find anywhere.
The Peregrine deals with such an niche topic, something I’m personally not interested in (I’ve never bird watched), and yet the beautiful prose makes you want to take to the fields with a set of binoculars yourself.
Approach him across open ground with a steady unfaltering movement. Let your shape grow in size but do not alter its outline. Never hide yourself unless concealment is complete. Be alone. Shun the furtive oddity of man, cringe from the hostile eyes of farms. Learn to fear. To share fear is the greatest bond of all. The hunter must become the thing he hunts. – J. A. Baker
You can check out The Peregrine here.
A story to gross you out: “Guts” by Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk’s (of Fight Club fame) short story “Guts” is the story that made me the most disgusted.
This short story was published in Playboy Magazine, in a collection of just over 20 short stories called Haunted, and is available to read free on his website.
“Guts” really made me want to vomit.
Some deeds are too low to even get a name. Too low to even get talked about. – Chuck Palahniuk
At live readings, audience members frequently pass out.
Everyone who reads this story wants to be sick.
It’s about a boy who has some very “exotic” masturbation habits. So he pursues greater and greater risks to try and bump up the pleasure.
But one of these risks is when he goes down to the bottom of a swimming pool, underneath the water, and he puts his ass over the little suction nozzle.
He gets caught and his intestines…
The suction is like taking a dump that never ends. – Chuck Palahniuk
Well, I’ll let you read it and find out for yourself.
You can read “Guts” here.
A book to scare you: Locke & Key by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodríguez
I don’t get scared that easily.
I could say a bunch of Stephen King books like The Shining or Misery.
But the story that unnerved me the most, whilst also entertaining me, was a graphic novel called Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez.
It’s about this family who relocate to a new house after the father is murdered.
But the house has a ton of ghostly portals that can separate the spirit from the body.
Joe Hill is fantastic as the writer. I read Heart-Shaped Box and found that very creepy and unnerving. His narrative style is amazing.
Gabriel Rodríguez is fantastic as the artist.
But both of them together are a super team. They really compliment each other really well.
The way Rodríguez does the panels and how he chooses to show the story. Everything about his art style is unnerving but also funny at the same time.
Obviously one of the best ways to scare someone is to make them laugh right before you scare them. Rodríguez does that really well.
If you’re looking for a great scary comic that has a good story and is well drawn, I highly recommend Locke & Key.
You can check out Locke & Key here.
A book to make you cry: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
I don’t cry when reading a book. But I can feel sad.
I could recommend anything written by Svetlana Alexievich. She’s the Nobel Prize winner who wrote Voices from Chernobyl and Zinky Boys, two of my favourite books.
War stuff makes me cry.
But my recommendation for you is to check out Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
It’s a book about suicide and mental illness.
It’s very sad and I think the main reason it’s so sad is because Murakami is really good at leaving stuff unsaid.
He puts the thought in your mind, but doesn’t express it.
There’s something about that holding back and not being able to verbalise that makes it even sadder.
You can check out Norwegian Wood here.
You can read my Norwegian Wood book review here.
A book to make you mad: Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer.
I don’t know if you’d class this as a book or just a really long poem, but the book that pissed me off the most was Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Really big damn book. Too big.
It’s written in, like, real old English or something.
Chaucer did his thing about a thousand years ago.
I had to read it as part of my studies at Oxford.
It’s kinda like Romeo and Juliet, but shit and boring.
The main guy is just this massive loser. Just weeping over this girl for the whole thing.
Ah… I dunno…
I don’t wanna talk about it.
Pissed me off too much.
Don’t read it.
Fun fact: Oxford treated me to a free copy of the Complete Works of Chaucer with my college crest embossed in gold in the insider cover with my name because I was such a good boy and got good marks on my exams… Thanks, guys.
Let me know your book recommendations.
What book gives you the most joy?
What book makes you disgusted?
What book scares you?
What book makes you cry?
What book pisses you off?