--{
read04
}-----03---
02---
01---
00---
99---
98---
97---
i---
Reading: I am finally catching up! Soon my book-buying moratorium
might actually be over!
Outside of the stuff I'm currently reading, there's also still
that ever-growing to-read list.
yes
- The Coffee Trader, David Liss
- Very very enjoyable, but ultimately a little disappointing. The
"betrayal" (whose existence is telegraphed early on, so I'm not ruining
much) is not nearly as momentous as it's built up to be. But the
descriptions are quite beautiful.
- Paradise News, David Lodge
- So the ending is a bit cutesy. But hey. It's nice, enjoyable stuff,
with some interesting observations about the nature of faith.
- The British Museum Is Falling Down, David Lodge
- It was weird reading this different perspective on sex---a
humorous look at tensions involved with traditional Catholicism and birth
control, in the late 1960s. Though everything did wrap up a little too
neatly. Still, it was mellow and humorous, which is what I look for in
David Lodge.
- The Tin Drum, Gunther Grass
- Wow, this book was pretty awesome. I mean, it's weird to describe,
because the life of Oskar (the protagonist) is so odd, and his narration
is so untrustworthy, even from the beginning, what with his
self-centered (and perhaps crazy) perspective on the world and all. But
the adventures were fascinating, and the descriptions were amazing. And
it was so neat and weird how really important things happened in an
extremely understated manner. Also, the idea of the Onion Cellar (where
people paid to be able to peel and chop onions that made them cry) was
just incredible.
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon
- A nice, simple read. I can't say much about the accuracy of the
book's depiction of autism, although I have (like most other readers) read
about Haddon's background taking care of an autistic child (or children, I
don't remember). Still, the story unfolded nicely, in a surprisingly
surprising way.
- The Twenty-Seventh City, Jonathan Franzen
- Gah! I really found this book to be engaging, even though Franzen (at
least from his media appearances) really annoys me! (I bought the book
well before I knew he annoyed me, by the way, well before the whole
Oprah/Corrections stuff all happened, and let it linger on my bookshelf
because I had other more pressing stuff to read.) The thriller-esque
conspiracy plot was amusing, the depiction of a mid-sized sprawling city
reminded me of my own mid-sized sprawling city, Memphis, and the prose was
vivid, but not overly wordy.
- The whole politics of the Indian developer theme did bother me,
though, drawing a little too much from the orientalist "inscrutible Asian"
stereotype for my tastes. So that put me on edge. And I really couldn't
figure out why Jammu even felt compelled to go to those lengths. And a
lot of the characters' sex drives just didn't ring true. Still, it was an
enjoyable read. Sigh.
- From Karamzin to Bunin: An Anthology of Russian Short Stories, Carl
Proffer (ed.)
- I have to say, I picked this up mostly because D likes Russian novels
so much, so I figured I'd go for a quick refresher on Russian authors.
(I've read a bit, but it was so long ago. And the stuff I've read
recently is all contemporary.) To begin with, the "Practical Criticism
for Students" part at the beginning is nice for framing the stories, by
the way. Makes me feel like I'm back in school again. Stuff like "James
Woodward has carefully catalogued a number of specific devices which Gogol
uses to blur reality, to make things indefinite: affirmative statements
which are immediately made dubious by qualifications, a plethora of
adversative conjunctions (but, however, nevertheless, etc.) used to
introduce comments which cast doubt on the veracity of statements in
previous clauses, negative statement ("not without pity," "not without
terror"), direct and indirect questions..." Very detailed and useful.
- Anyway, I was glad to have read Gogol's "The Overcoat" if only because
now I can get references to it. Not so fond of Leskov's "A Lady Macbeth of
the Mtsensk District"---too full of female stereotypes (same goes for
Kuprin's "The Garnet Bracelet". Dostoevsky's "The Dream of a Ridiculous
Man" was interestingly sci-fi, like something Stanislaw Lem would write.
- Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych" is depressing. The amusing thing
is the commentary says "Students tend to react to Tolstoy's most famous
stories in one of two ways: some are affected by it . . . and get sick and
depressed; but the majority roundly abuse it, accusing Tolstoy of being
didactic, unrealistic, arbitrary, and heavy-handed. I felt like both of
these. Even more amusing is the notations in my book (because I bought
this book used): scribbled at the end of the story is "Well this is
probably the world's most depressing story." Hah!
- Korolenko's "Makar's Dream" was a somewhat goofy fantasy story. And
oh, as D predicted, I like Chekhov the most of these authors.
"Heartache," "Anna on the Neck, "Gooseberries," and "The Darling" are all
nice little portraits of people. Gorky's "Chelkash" was a little too
melodramatic for me. And Bunin's "The Gentleman from San Francisco"
didn't connect with me---was it just written to show meanness getting its
comeuppance? Even reading the "Practical Criticism" doesn't help. (Also
the bit about the guy that the daughter likes being ugly because he had
"Mongolian" features didn't help, though yeah yeah, product of the times
yeah yeah.)
- Great Apes, Will Self
- Hilarious. Hi-larious! At first I thought this book would be too
gimmicky (I mean, haven't Kafka and Stoppard done it already?) but Self's
wonderful descriptions really made the book work for me. Like the
contrast between human sexuality v. chimp sexuality. The lap ponies! The
amusing phrases (signlence for silence, because in chimp-world, everyone
signs rather than vocalizes.)
- Summer Blonde, Adrian Tomine
- Languid and melancholy and nice. The pictures were beautifully drawn,
and I really identified with "Hawaiian Getaway" and "Bomb Scare."
- Private I. Guana, Nina Laden
- Haha, cutesey children's book that Frank and Son bought me. Because I
have Spiro. Anyway, the book was amusing, and had a surprising
gender-bending twist.
- The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa
- Pessoa does this delicate melancholy thing quite amazingly, in a way
that floats me along, rather than causes me to want to slap him. It's
quite a feat. And some of the ideas are just beautiful, echoing
philosophy and literary criticism and poetry all at once. It helps that
it raised some of the themes I tried to address in my s-c.n.
- The Acme Novelty Date Book 1986-1995, Chris Ware
- Pretty incredible, the range he had. And it was neat to see Ware's
wafflings back and forth about what he should do about his comics. Plus
he scribbled a little note on Street of Crocodiles!
- At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien
- So much better the second time around! I mean, wow, the characters
came together and everything. And I really got into the humor of it all.
It's incredible what a better font will do. The other copy I'd read was
cramped and narrow, while this---the 1998 Dalkey Archive version---this
was a joy to read.
periodicals
- The Athenian Murders
- Every bit of the ending was too strongly telegraphed! Yet it wrapped
up way too tidily! And in too much of a deux ex machina way, if that
makes any sense---you couldn't figure it out on your own, for example,
although you knew the type of "solution" that would be provided.
But it was still a fun read, if a bit too transparent. There is gore,
there are dead bodies, yay.
periodicals
- McSweeney's 12
- Things that struck me: Rachel Sherman's "The Neutered Bulldog" was
creepy. Wythe Marschall's "Cold France and Other Permutations" reminded
me of Invisible Cities, perhaps a little too much. Ben
Ehrenreich's "After the Disaster" was sad and great. Stefen Steifel's
"Charities" was kinda funny, though I think it was meant to be more
poignant. Chad Simpson's "Peloma" was poignant. James Boice's "Pregnant
Girl Smoking" was more interesting than I expected. Roddy's Doyle's story
was okay. Of the twenty-minute stories, I liked the stories of J. Robert
Lennon, David Ebershoff, Steve Almond ("The Chicken Killer's Remorse"),
Aimee Bender, and Laird Hunt the most.
- McSweeney's 3
- This issue didn't jump out at me so much. The anecdotes ("Three of
Them") by J. Robert Lennon were cute, but maybe too much so. Judy
Budnitz's "Flush" was one of the more powerful stories of the bunch, and
it made me sad and a little frightened. So did Magnus Mills' "Hark the
Herald," but in a different way.
- The Believer 11
- Quick thoughts. Paul Collins' "You and Your Dumb Friends" made me
reevaluate Black Beauty. Karen Joy Fowler's "Jane and Me" still
didn't make me want to reread Jane Austen. Douglas Wolk's "Notes on Art
so Bad It's Good" was incredibly fun. I WAS SO HAPPY BEN GREENMAN PUT
TOGETHER THAT SCHEMA ON THE HISTORY OF THE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR.
After having read Angela Starita's "The Acropolis of Northern New Jersey,"
I want to send her the link to the livejournal community ljexplorers,
because there are some fabulous pictures of urban decay in there. And
after reading Sarah Manguso's "Why The Reader of Prose Poems Is Never
Sad," I really want to read some Russell Edson. Also, wow! Ben Marcus
interviews George Saunders, who I've never read but now I really want to
because he comes across as incredibly thoughtful, wise, and insightful.
And the interview with Amy Sedaris makes me want to watch her stuff. And
the interview with Daniel Dennett was fun, if only because he seemed less
pompous than he often comes across, and more conciliatory.
- The Green Bag, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Winter 2004)
- I'm still not convinced even numbers are a big problem, though I
suppose I'm more convinced than before I read Robert Bennett's "Even
Numbers and the Electoral College." I thought Paul Carrington's "The
Evils of Lawyerly Longevity" was quite funny. And David Currie's "The
Bridge-Burners," about the resistance of anti-Civil-War Southerners and
the conflict between the Confederate military and the Conferederate
judicial system was incredibly eye-opening. R.H. Helmholz's "The
Mitior Sensus Doctrine" I read as an exploration of how far-out
some lawyers can be (me, I tend to be much more conservative, in a
practice way, not a political way). And John Wright's "Wife Sale,"
describing the English/American practice between 1750 and 1850 of selling
wives to get around harsh divorce laws, was creepy.
- McSweeney's 11
- Tom Bissell's "God Lives in St. Petersburg" was well-written and . . .
creepy. Alison Smith's "The Specialist" had a cold (no duh) airy feel
that I really enjoyed.
- McSweeney's 2
- Okay, so I was quite taken in by the choose-your-own adventure in the
book. As well as the graceful and touching "Fat Ladies Floated in the Sky
Like Balloons" by Amanda Davis (who has, alas, since passed away).
Brian Kennedy's "I Know What You Did Two Moons Ago (The Revenge)" was a
bit of a one-joke story, though, even if that one joke was amusing. Same
goes for Jim Stallard's "No Justice, No Foul" and John Hodgman's "Fire:
The Next Sharp Stick?" with the last being the funniest. Heidi Julavits'
"The Mineral Palace: The Lost Chapters" was, I'm afraid, lost on me---did
I need to read the book to get it or something? And oh, I liked the
interview with the mathematician Paul Duchateau.
- McSweeney's 10, "Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales," (ed. Michael
Chabon)
- Good genre fiction fun, though some of it was too much. Here are the
highlights: Glen David Gould's "The Tears of Squonk and What Happened
Thereafter" (a fun old-time mystery), Dan Chaon's "The Bees" (a ghost
story, sorta), Kelly Link's "Catskin" (a great surreal fairytale! wow! I
love her!), Carol Emshwiller's "The General" (kind of sad and poignant,
actually), Neil Gaiman's "Closing Time" (more creepy ghost-storiness),
Nick Hornby's "Otherwise Pandemonium" (freaky prophesying story with a
sense of humor), Aimee Bender's "The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers"
(nice portrait of a couple, in the framework of a mystery), and Rick
Moody's "The Albertine Notes" (amazing, I thought, amazing amazing
amazing, all pharmapunk and time-travelly. I loved how everything wove
together). Surprisingly, I wasn't as into the pieces by the big names
here (well, except Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman): Stephen King, Michael
Crichton, Dave Eggers, Michael Moorcock, Harlan Ellison, or Michael
Chabon. Oh well!
- McSweeney's 1
- The most enjoyable of the lot: Neal Pollack's "Learning to Love Again,
A Story in Three Parts" (silly and spoofy and funny), David Foster
Wallace's "Yet Another Example of the Porousness of Certain Borders
(VIII)" (interesting depiction of litigation and other odd concerns), and
Courtney Eldridge's "Young Professionals" (an amazingly detailed and
humorous yet sympathetic look at obsessive compulsive disorders---my very
favorite of this collection).
- The Believer 10
- I learned a lot about Yukio Michima in Marcela Valdes' "Yukio Mishima
and the Dream of the Holy Explosion." David Amsden's "The Perpetual Debut
Novelist" was really rather depressing. I liked the interviews
with Tibor Fischer, Elaine Pagel, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Also, Nick
Hornby had an interesting excerpt: "The most irritating book of the month
(can't you feel the collective heart of the Spree beating a little
faster?) was Joe Pernice's Meat Is Murder. One can accept,
reluctantly, Pernice's apparently inexhaustible ability to knock out
brilliant three-minute pop songs---just about any Pernice Brothers record
contains half a dozen tunes comparable to Elvis Costello's best work. But
now it turns out that he can write fiction too, and so envy and bitterness
become unavoidable."
- McSweeney's 8
- Lots of stories, too many to summarize. Ones that stood out as great:
Aleksandar Hemon's "The Kauders Case;" Lawrence Weschler's "Convergences:
Tina Barney Portraits;" Ben Marcus's "The Name Machine" (though I've
already read it in Notable American Women); Gabe Hudson's
"Cross-dresser: The Written Testimony of Captain Jeffrey Dugan, 418th
Squadron Bandit #573;" Rick Moody's "Inerrancy: An Interview with Dewey L.
Johnson, IV" (if only for the nerve it took to interview someone who hates
what you stand for); Steve Tomasula's "The Atlas of Man" (because I love
that kind of thing); Kevin Shay's "This War Never Happened: An Interview
with Sandow Birk" (I really want to make D read this, I think he'd get a
kick out of the art-play, though maybe he'd hate it, I dunno); Stephan
Chapman's "Three Obscure Animators" (because I love this kind of thing
too); Darin Strauss' "Omnipresent and Uncertain" (for the same reason I
liked Rick Moody's piece); and Michael Martone's "Four Factual Anecdotes
on Fiction" (because if it really is factual---though I still can't tell
if it is, and maybe it doesn't even matter---it was pretty enlightening,
seeing the process---or at least Martone's take on the process---of it
all).
- McSweeney's 9
- I am slowly catching up on my backlog of McSweeney's. I really
really enjoyed the mappiness of Nathanial Minton's "A Threefold Cord," and
the high school emotionality of K. Kvashay-Boyle's "Saint Chola." Also, I
liked the humor in Gabe Hudson's "Notes from a Bunker along Highway 8,"
and---though I am still mixed about tourism---enjoyed reading Roy Kesey's
"Pacazo." I was so-so about Denis Johnson's "Soul of a Whore," and
thought William Vollmann's "Three Meditations on Death" wandered a little
too much.
nonfiction
- Latin and Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified
- Wow, what a helpful guide. I mean, it's not perfect (there were a few
items I wanted to look up in this book but couldn't find), but it's pretty
darn good. It will certainly give me more confidence to shop around.
- Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler
- A portrait of the Museum of Jurassic Technology, with referents to
cabinets of wonder and the history of collection, all written in beautiful
prose.
- Backyard Bugs, Robin Kittrell Laughlin
- A birthday present from Ed. Cute! Cute pictures! Cute!
- Breaking New Ground, Gifford Pinchot
- What an enlightening look at the history of the Forest Service, as
written by the first Chief of the Forest Service. Though I don't entirely
agree with his approach (that all natural resources should be open for
some use), I understand it, and Pinchot gave a great argument for
it (his argument is that by allowing minor, conservation-minded uses, you
end up preventing the really bad exploitative uses----without minor use,
the pressure builds too high). Also, his language was funny and a little
antiquated. Now I want to say "tramping" and "squirt" all the
time.
(This book, by the way, was a nice present from my clients at the Forest
Service. So much better than chocolates.)
essays
- Academic Instincts, Marjorie Garber
- An interesting discussion of the incoherency and changeability of the
dichotomies of academics/professioals, various academic disciplines, and
jargon/plain language. I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but it
presented a lot of good insights that I'll need to think further about.
humor
- Me v. Everybody, Dahlia Lithwick and Brandt Goldstein
- A humor book, by my idol, Dahlia Lithwick (and Brandt Goldstein).
Amusing little fake contracts, except that the male/female thing
(especially since I myself don't identify strongly with either gender) was
a little bit too much. But hey! Mine's autographed!
unfinished
- The Pope's Rhinoceros, Lawrence Norfolk
- Ugh, I can't finish this. It plods too much, and I just can't get
into the story. And I've tried, on and off, since the summer of 1999. It
tires me to even look at it sitting there, on my unread bookshelf. So I'm
giving up. Which is too bad, because I really liked Lempriere's
Dictionary.