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Posts Tagged ‘books’

Back to Blood

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , on March 6, 2013 |

9781619698154_p0_v2_s260x420I spent most of January listening to the audio book version of Tom Wolfe’s newest novel, Back to Blood, during my commute to and from work.  It was 22 hours of pure joy.

Wolfe is our modern Mark Twain, our finest satirist and journalistic chronicler of our society as it really is.  As such, it’s only fitting that my comments here take the form of an interview with myself:

Q: What did you think of the narration by Lou Diamond Phillips?

A: Amazing.  I’ll never be able to read this book without hearing his voice now.  It was perfect.  Not only did he have to do characters of both genders and all ages, but several ethnicities, and even speaking fragments of four other languages!  If there’s some kind of industry award for audio book performance, he should get the highest honor.  Listening to him work was bliss from beginning to end.

Q: Didn’t all the sex scenes bother you?  Didn’t you think they were poorly written?

A: Wolfe catches a lot of flak for these two almost contradictory criticisms, but I think they work together.   (more…)

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2012: My Year in Books

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , on January 3, 2013 |

2012 was by far the worst year of my adult life for total number of books read: I only finished 17 books the whole year; my next worst year was 2001, when I finished 19.  Clearly, I need to tackle my problem with distraction.

Or, in terms of quality over quantity, it wasn’t bad at all: I gave five books a perfect ten for enjoyment; my worst year for that was 2008, which only had 2 perfect tens.

Below is the list, with dates finished, my 1-10 score for much I liked reading it, and either a brief comment or link to my review.

 

1. Comstock Lode, Louis L’amour (1/18, Western)–7.  Good, but no different from others of his I’ve read.

2. Cloak, James Goff (2/7, fantasy, young adult)–8.

3.  Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (4/6, literature)–10.  I can’t believe I never finished my review of this!  I made some notes: I jotted down my two favorite quotes:

“I always imagine divine mercy giving us back to ourselves and letting us laugh at what we became, laugh at the preposterous disguises of crouch and squint and limp and lour we all do put on.”

“There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient.”

I also wrote down that I loved her usage of Numbers 6:24-26.

4.  Mozart: His Life and Music, Jeremy Siepmann (4/14, biography)–9.  Innovative biography mixed life story with music appreciation to the benefit of both.

5.  Maphead, Ken Jennings (5/11, memoir, humor)–9.

(more…)

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Elric the Existential Emperor

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , on December 13, 2012 |

Elric_of_MelniboneThe Elric saga is a masterpiece of dark fantasy, a sword and sorcery epic that aches in existential angst, more indebted to Lovecraft than to Tolkien.

The first volume in the cycle, Elric of Melniboné, introduces us to the melancholy emperor Elric, a skeletal albino whose keen mind makes him a poor fit for the ancient kingdom of superhuman savages he rules.

We follow him on a quest to thwart a usurpation of his throne and rescue a blood-relative damsel in distress (an influence on George R.R. Martin, perhaps), while growing in power so much that an expanding epic is practically demanded by the denouement.

Even more audacious than the stark story itself is the pervasively dour prose, an exercise in contorted anguish, a French philosopher scribbling in the gloom after watching Reservoir Dogs:

And Elric stepped into a shadow and found himself in a world of shadows.  He turned, but the shadow through which he had entered now faded and was gone.  Old Aubec’s sword was in Elric’s hand, the black helm and the black armour were upon his body and only these were familiar, for the land was dark and gloomy as if contained in a vast cave whose walls, though invisible, were oppressive and tangible.  And Elric regretted the hysteria, the weariness of brain, which had given him the impulse to obey his patron demon Arioch and plunge through the Shade Gate.  But regret was useless now, so he forgot it.

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Michael Chabon on Finnegans Wake

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2012 |

Last month I found this issue of The New York Review of Books (courtesy of my awesome department chair), featuring an article by hipster wunderkind Michael Chabon about the year he spent reading Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.

While not exactly a gloss, it is a piece where Chabon creates a clever framework for viewing the text.  To wit:

Other than its simple unreadability (indeed its apparent hostility to being read), the principal knock against the Wake—what Seamus Deane in his introduction to the Penguin edition calls “the gravamen of the charge against Joyce”—is that, in Deane’s paraphrase, Joyce “surrendered the ‘ordinary’ world, the world as represented in the great tradition of the realistic novel, for a world of capricious fantasy and inexhaustible word-play.” Eliot, Pound, Stanislaus Joyce, Frank Budgen, and other early champions of Ulysses found disappointment in this apparent surrender, and the truth is that, for all the real, nutritious, and hard-won pleasure that can be wrested from the Wake—as from a bucket of lobsters, by a determined reader with a pick and a cracker—anyone who has first loved or admired Ulysses must, as Joyce himself anticipated, find disappointment in Finnegans Wake.

Seventeen years of tireless labor by a mind blessed with a profound understanding of human vanity, with unparalleled gifts of sensory perception and the figuration thereof, and with one of the greatest prose styles in the English language produced a work that all too often, and for long stretches, can remind the reader (when not recalling Yertle the Turtle) of the Spike-Milligan- meets-Edward-Lear prose tossed off by the Writing Beatle in five minutes between tokes and takes of “Norwegian Wood.” But to find disappointment in the Wake’s, and Joyce’s, supposed turn away from approved modernist procedure, derived from Flaubert, which subjects shifting states of consciousness to the same rigorous accounting as the bibelots furnishing a provincial lady’s sitting room, is to miss the point.

I also appreciate that he compares the Wake to Lovecraft’s Necronomicon.  I did the same thing in my article on the Wake several years ago.  =)

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How to Prune a Library

Posted in Language and Literature, Living well, tagged , , on June 15, 2012 |

For years, I’ve subscribed to a pretty Spartan philosophy about buying books.  A few weeks ago, as part of a larger effort to declutter, I decided to apply these rules to my existing library retrospectively.

Thus, I showed up to work one morning with a few cardboard boxes filled with about 150 books, which I gave away to my students.  (God bless the little bookworms where I work; every last book was gone by the end of the day.)

I only buy a book if it meets one of these conditions: (more…)

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Archimedes: Scholar, Teacher, Owl

Posted in Education, tagged , , , on April 3, 2012 |

It breaks every rule of modern teaching, but…

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Epic LOLs in Milton’s Paradise Lost

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 1, 2012 | 3 Comments »

I’m reading John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost, and what impresses me most (besides how aggressively macho Milton makes every detail—perhaps how Ray Bradbury would write if he were on steroids) is how funny it can often be.  Two scenes in Book 2 will demonstrate:

As the deposed demons discuss what to do about their infernal exile, Moloch (the John Wayne of the underworld) campaigns for another assault on heaven and an open war on God.  The more pragmatic Belial worries that the risks of God’s further wrath outweigh the rewards in that course, and says:

What if the breath that kindl’d those grim fires [ 170 ]

Awak’d should blow them into sevenfold rage

And plunge us in the flames? or from above

Should intermitted vengeance arm again

His red right hand to plague us? what if all

Her stores were open’d, and this Firmament [ 175 ]

Of Hell should spout her Cataracts of Fire,

Impendent horrors, threatning hideous fall

One day upon our heads; while we perhaps

Designing or exhorting glorious warr,

Caught in a fierie Tempest shall be hurl’d [ 180 ]

Each on his rock transfixt, the sport and prey

Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk

Under yon boyling Ocean, wrapt in Chains;

There to converse with everlasting groans,

Unrespited, unpitied, unrepreevd, [ 185 ]

Ages of hopeless end; this would be worse.  [emphasis added]

That’s great—yes, infinite torture for eternity would be a mite bit worse than exile.  Those last four words strike me as a supreme sort of understatement.

Later, they all agree to Satan’s plan to look into this new  project God’s been working on—creating creatures called “humans” and settling them on a place called “Earth”—and see if there’s some way they can stick it to him by messing it up.  (more…)

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Reviewed and Recommended: Cloak, by James Gough

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , on February 9, 2012 |

I have a secret.  It’s James Gough’s young adult fantasy novel Cloak.  It’s a terrific read and a solid entry in a trending genre but, thanks to Gough being a new author and Cloak being put out by a small press, you’ve never heard of it.  It’s a secret I’d love to have more people in on.

Cloak is one of those stories that’s so simple that its value may go unnoticed at first.  The novel’s main conceit—that many people among us throughout history are secretly human/animal hybrids, hiding the special abilities this gives them—is so clever that one wonders why it’s never been done before.

But of course it has been done before.  What sets Cloak apart is how much Gough delights in exploring a world in depth that has only been dimly illuminated before.  Animal-based fantasy novels often have mad doctors and super powers, but this is the only one I know of which has both.  Cloak is The Island of Dr. Moreau meets the X-Men.

(more…)

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More Stephen King-Inspired Media About Teens

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , on February 9, 2012 |

A few days ago, I noted that the plot for the movie Chronicle is very similar to the plot for Carrie.  That reminded me of another similarity.

I read The Hunger Games a couple of years ago and really liked it.  But the basic template was not new.

A tyrannical government in a future dystopia recruits teenagers to compete in a brutal game of elimination where only one person gets to survive.  This was also the plot of Stephen King’s 1979 novel The Long Walk. This was originally published under a pseudonym, and was actually the first novel King ever wrote, drafting it in college, before he started Carrie.  I haven’t read it since high school, but I remember liking it.  Maybe I’ll give it another look some time.

 

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2011: My Year In Books

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , on December 29, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I only read 26 books in 2011, but on the plus side, this year had the highest overall quality of any year yet–by far the most perfect tens.  And in my own defense, some of these were pretty long.  Mostly, this makes me realize how little I’ve blogged about my reading this year–I used to write more reviews.  I’ll try to do better. 

This year I read in entirety some books I’d only picked away at in part before (Bleak House, Zen), and some that have been on my to-do list for years (Flatland, Neverwhere, Speaker).  Before this year, I’d read Shakespeare’s Henry V, so I wanted to read the rest of the Henriad tetralogy–Richard II, and Henry IV, I and II.  Time well spent. 

As with the movies, there was a sharp drop off at the end of August, when school started.  The last four months have really been quite demanding.  Hopefully this Spring semester will be a little easier. 

1. Richard II, William Shakespeare (2/5, drama, literature)–10  As good as any of the tragedies, a study in self-magnified flaws leading to ruin. 

2. Bleak House, Charles Dickens (3/9, literature)–10  A tour de force of detective mystery, atmosphere and style, four dimensional characters, and withering social commentary (every law school student should be required to read chapter 1, at least).  Also, spontaneous human combution.  Seriously.  I’ve wanted to read this since PBS first aired the Masterpiece Theater serial in 2005 which, now that I’ve finally finished reading the book, I really need to see. 

(more…)

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Homer’s Iliad For Halloween

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , on September 1, 2011 |

Homer’s Iliad is great for the Halloween season.  I’ve been reading it, and I’m trying to finish so I can start on some easy, stress-relieving scary stories as summer ends, but I’m realizing now just how appropriate this ancient epic poem is for the new season.

I’m in Book 15 out of 24, and several recent passages have struck me with their grim, vivid obsession with the morbid. 

As Book 12 ends, the Trojans are invading the Greek headquarters, Hector urging them on:

They rushed to obey him,

Some swarming over the top at once, others streaming in

Through the sturdy gateways—Argives scattering back in terror,

Back by the hollow hulls, the uproar rising, no way out, no end—

To me, that conjures the kind of claustrophobic panic in the air felt in the Mines of Moria episode in The Fellowship of the Ring. 

But far more graphic horrors appear in the battles that follow.  Lines 655-666 of Book 13 describe the painful, gruesome death of Adamus at the hand of Meriones:

(more…)

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2010: My Year In Reading

Posted in Language and Literature, Living well, tagged , on December 30, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I’ve been keeping a list of every book I’ve finished for the last ten years now.  Below is my list for 2010.  After the title and author, I put the date I finished each one–notice that, since I tend to read several books at once, I go through long periods of not finishing anything, and then a few titles will all cluster together as I wrap up a batch.

The number after each one is how much I enjoyed it (not necessarily how good it is), on a scale of 1-10, though it’s really more of a 1-5 scale, since in ten years, I’ve only given one book a score lower than 6.  For me, 10=perfect; loved everything about it; 9=mostly excellent, definitely enjoyed it; 8=above average, worth reading, but not a favorite that I’d read again; 7=had many good parts, but needed improvement-probably worth reading, but often disappointing; 6=very disappointing, probably not worth reading-not awful, but not very good, either. 

2010 was a good year for reading, but not great.  The best thing I can say about this year is the quality of so many of the books I read–more perfect 10′s this year than any other so far–seven in one year!  Reading only 27 total is just average, though.  In the decade I’ve been keeping track, the best total I had was in 2005–38 books; the worst was 2001 and 2008–only 19 books in those years.  (2005 only had six perfect 10′s.)

Some of these books I reviewed or commented on here already; most I haven’t.  This year I seem to have read a lot of children’s stuff, and memoirs.  There’s no special reason for this.  I usually read a lot more genre novels, and there were no LDS books in 2010.  Other than continuing to pick away at classics, I have no specific goals for reading in 2010, so we’ll see what happens. 

Here’s the list for 2010:

  1. Sister Wendy’s 1000 Masterpieces, Wendy Beckett (2/6, art)–10
  2. Some Fruits of Solitude, William Penn (2/11, self improvement)–7
  3. The Black Cauldron, Lloyd Alexander (2/13, children’s/fantasy)–8
  4. The Meditations, Marcus Aurelius (2/19, philosophy)–9
  5. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (4/26, memoir)–7
  6. Tinkers, Paul Harding (4/30, literature)–8
  7. The Last American Man, Elizabeth Gilbert (5/11, biography, living well)–10
  8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney (6/1, humor, children’s)–7
  9. Analects, Confucius (6/4, philosophy)–7
  10. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo (6/4, children’s)–10
  11. Cirque du Freak, Darren Shan (6/19, children’s, horror)–6
  12. The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (7/1, politics)–10
  13. The Frogs, Aristophanes (7/8, Greek drama, humor)–9
  14. Dune, Frank Herbert (7/14, science fiction)–10
  15. A Lost Lady, Willa Cather (7/17, literature)–8
  16. The Tempest, William Shakespeare (8/4, literature)–9
  17. Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (8/17, current events, memoir)–8
  18. Peace Like a River, Lief Enger (8/24, literature)–9
  19. No Country For Old Men, Cormac McCarthy (8/26, literature)–10
  20. World War Z, Max Brooks (9/11, fiction, horror)–10
  21. The Ruins, Scott Smith (10/9, horror)–8
  22. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (11/2, children’s, science fiction)–9
  23. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving (11/30, literature)–9
  24. The Life of Our Lord, Charles Dickens (12/20, children’s/religion)–8
  25. My Reading Life, Pat Conroy (12/22, reading, memoir)–9
  26. America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, Sarah Palin (12/22, politics)–7
  27. Dreaming in Chinese, Deborah Fallows (12/26, language, travel, memoir)–8

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Someone Wants Me To Read This Book

Posted in Language and Literature, tagged , , , , , , on December 9, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Two weeks ago, I browsed through the Sunday paper, which included an article reviewing Pat Conroy’s new book, My Reading Life.  It sounded good, so I put it on hold at the library.  I picked it up yesterday and read the first few chapters last night while my last class took their final exam. 

Conroy’s book is very good so far, partly because he writes so enthusiastically about his favorites, including Anthony Powell’s 12-volume series A Dance to the Music of Time.  It sounds like a beautiful glorification of British culture. 

That impressed me enough, but earlier today I checked in with my favorite literary blog, A Commonplace Blog, which I hadn’t looked at for a while.  The second entry down?  A note about A Dance to the Music of Time, the first volume of which is currently available free from the University of Chicago. 

In all my years of reading, I’d never even heard of these books until yesterday.  Now, I come across two references in less than 24 hours. 

OK, Universe, I get it.  I got the first volume.  We’ll see what all the fuss is about.

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A Polygamous Reader Am I

Posted in Humor, Language and Literature, tagged , on November 22, 2010 |

Today I apologized to a colleague for not having feedback yet about a book she’d enthused about to me a month ago and which I’d started reading.  I explained that I was only halfway done as my scant reading time gets split between several other books also, as I’m usually in the middle of multiple books at once.  I added that I’ve even started and finished a couple of other books entirely since starting hers. 

She replied that she couldn’t do that, needing to stick with one book beginning to end until it’s done.  I silently applauded her for her mental monogamy.

Not me, though.  I’ve always lacked the discipline to remain faithful to any one book, no matter how much time I’ve already invested in it.  If another book comes my way and attracts my interest, I have to have that one, too.  I think I do pretty well at juggling all of these serial interactions, keeping various plots in the air at any given time. 

It’s probably best not to read too much into this…

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Spring Self-Improvement Report

Posted in Living well, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 25, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Last year, I started breaking down my list of lifetime goals into smaller steps and making those my resolutions.  Instead of just starting at New Year’s, though, I split the calendar up into the three major divisions that my life as a father and teacher naturally fall into: a Spring semester, summer, and a Fall semester.  To keep my summer at a useful three months, I schedule those goals to be done in the three months before I report back to school for the new year, which means that this year my “summer” is defined as May 22-August 24 (even though I still have two weeks left this school year). 

That also means that my Spring semester for self-improvement–January 1 through May 21–just ended.  I had set ten goals for myself to achieve during this time, each correlated to the larger “bucket list,” and it went surprisingly well.  For comparison, out of the ten goals I set for last Fall, I only accomplished…two.  A poor, piddling, puny little two.  This time around, out of these first ten goals for 2010 (including the eight I rolled over from last year), I finished seven.  Not bad. 

(more…)

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