Stuff I've Been Reading: A Monthly Column (1/08)

BOOKS BOUGHT:

• The Time Traveler's Wife--Audrey Niffenegger
• The Book Concerning Piers the Plowman--William Langland
• Heimskringla: Sagas of the Norse Kings--Snorri Sturluson
• Heimskringla: The Olaf Sagas, Vol.1--Snorri Sturluson
• Heimskringla: The Olaf Sagas, Vol.2--Snorri Sturluson
• The Saga of Grettir the Strong
• The Story of Burnt Njal
• The Laxdale Saga
• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit--Jeanette Winterson
• The Good Terrorist--Doris Lessing
• Richard Matheson's I Am Legend--Steve Niles & Elman Brown
• The Best American Comics 2006--Harvey Pekar (editor)
• The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest--Dashiell Hammett
• The French Lieutenant's Woman--John Fowles
• The Drunken Forest--Gerald Durrell
• For Whom the Bell Tolls--Ernest Hemingway
• How Late it Was, How Late--James Kelman
• Stories in Another Language--Yannick Murphy
• Great Ideas--John Massey (editor)
• Twentieth Century Eightball--Daniel Clowes
• Unlikely--Jeffrey Brown
• The Invention of Everything Else--Samantha Hunt

BOOKS READ:

• The Best American Comics 2007--Chris Ware (editor)

The Best American Comics 2007

I've never been a fan of comics.  I was more of a baseball card kid growing up and never got into them.  It was only after receiving McSweeney's #13 for Christmas a few years ago that I took any serious notice of the medium (although I'd read a couple Daniel Clowes books).  There's enough nerdiness in my life as is; I don't need to add more by regularly buying comics or graphic novels.  I prefer to wait for the end of the year and pick up a collection like The Best American Comics.  I'd rather let someone else weed through all the garbage.

The Best American Comics 2007 is a great book and the majority of it is well worth reading even for people who have no interest in comics.  Alison Bechdel's The Canary-Colored Caravan of Death is one of the most poignant things I've read in a long time.  Jonathan Bennett's Needles and Pins is a disturbing tale of pigeons and nervous habits that I won't forget anytime soon.  Dan Zettwoch's Won't Be Licked!: The Great '37 Flood in Louisville was another highlight for me.  I'm also quickly becoming a fan of both Ivan Brunetti and Jeffrey Brown.  I almost feel embarrassed to admit it.

Still, the collection doesn't entirely live up to its title.  A better one would be The Best & Worst American Comics 2007.  As far as I'm concerned, the comics by Gary Panter, C.F., Paper Rad, and Sophie Crumb should have been left out.  I don't care if they're famous or hip, their efforts didn't do anything for me. 

• The Bridge of San Luis Rey--Thornton Wilder

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

The Bridge of San Luis Rey was published in 1927.  It won Thornton Wilder the Pulitzer Prize the following year.  The book first came to my attention when it was ranked #37 on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list.  Having finished the book, I'd say that ranking is a bit high.  Still, it's a good book and I'm glad I read it.  At only 117 pages, it's especially good if you're looking for a quick classic to punch up your reading list.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is about a priest who tries to determine why tragic events happen to certain people and not others.  Does tragedy strike us at random or does God dish it out based upon the lives we've led?  In order to answer these questions, the priest closely examines the lives of five people who fell to their deaths in a bridge collapse.  Things don't work out too well for the priest, but the interconnected lives of the dead make for interesting reading.

• The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan--James T. Farrell
• Judgment Day--James T. Farrell

Studs Lonigan Trilogy

The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan and Judgment Day are the second and third books in James T. Farrell's The Studs Lonigan Trilogy.  The former covers the events that take place in Studs' life from 1917 to 1929.  The latter covers the early 1930s.

A lot happens to Studs in the second book.  He drops out of school, tries to get into WWI to impress a girl, picks up a dose of VD, becomes an alcoholic, and grows a huge belly to match that of his father.  This book also sees Studs' neighborhood fall apart.  Although a lot changes for Studs in this book, there are some things that stay constant.  Racism, sexism, and religious intolerance still run rampant in Studs' world.  Honestly, I don't think there's a character in the book that isn't a blatant bigot.  Even the Catholic priests are guilty.  The other constant for Studs is his vibrant imagination.  He's always daydreaming and imagining himself in heroic situations where he's impressing people with his athleticism and bravery.  While he's off dreaming about the way things should be, he forgets to take the steps to make his dreams a reality.  The book ends with a tragic New Year's Eve party that must rank as one of the worst parties in literary history.  Some characters end up in jail, others in the hospital.

The New Year's Eve party has serious ramifications for Studs.  In fact, certain aspects of his life are in shambles as a result.  Judgment Day sees Studs trying to pick up the pieces.  Unfortunately, the Depression is in full swing and it's not just his life that's fallen apart.  At the same time, though, he's able to get into a semi-healthy relationship with a girl named Catherine.  To say more would be to give too much away and possibly spoil the book for anyone who might end up reading it.

Now that I've finished the entire trilogy, I can say with confidence what I've been thinking since I was about halfway through the first book...Studs Lonigan is one of the best books I've ever read.  At over a thousand pages, it's a hefty undertaking, but it's well worth it.  Forget The U.S.A. Trilogy.  Forget The Grapes of Wrath.  Sorry to say it, forget The Great Gatsby, too.  Studs Lonigan might just be The Great American Novel.

• The World Without Us--Alan Weisman

The World Without Us

I noticed that if I forget to do my edging for a few months, ivy will shoot a foot or two into my driveway.  I also noticed that a small leak in my roof quickly did a lot of damage to my house's structural integrity.  That got me thinking about how long it would take for my house to completely fall into a wet, ivy-covered heap if I just ignored everything and didn't do the upkeep.

Alan Weisman's book looks at similar questions, but goes even further.  As the title would suggest, The World Without Us asks what would happen to the planet if all of humanity just disappeared one day.  What would happen to our buildings?  What would happen to the animals (wild and domesticated) that we left behind?  What about our works of art and our garbage?  Weisman's conclusions are intriguing and sometimes downright scary.

The World Without Us is essentially an environmental science book.  It's been years since I've read anything like that.  It took me awhile to get my brain back into shape for that kind of reading.  I got bogged down in places, but I pushed through and found the book to be ultimately rewarding.  I'd recommend it to anyone interested in environmental issues or to anyone who wishes they were the only person left on the planet. 

• Julius Winsome--Gerard Donovan

Julius Winsome

Julius Winsome lives in a cabin in the northern woods of Maine.  His cabin is insulated from the cold by 3,282 books.  He lives in relative isolation.  Although he occasionally goes into town for work or supplies, most of his time is spent with his books and his pit bull/terrier mix, Hobbes.  On the very first page of the book, Julius Winsome's pet and only friend is shot and killed by hunters.  His life is shattered. 

I don't think anything I've written so far will spoil the book for any potential readers.  Most of what I've written appears on the back cover of the book.  It even says that Hobbes dies.  The interesting part--and the part I won't reveal--is how Julius deals with his loss.  That's really what the book is about.  It examines the nature of loss, friendship, justice, and revenge.

Julius Winsome made for a gripping, quick read.  It was one of those books that I plowed through in little more than a day.  I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the themes I mentioned above or to anyone who is best friends with their pet. 

• Grace After Midnight--Felicia "Snoop" Pearson (w/David Ritz)

Grace After Midnight

It's been suggested that I need to read a more diverse variety of authors.  The vast majority of the books I read last year were novels written by white men.  I decided to ditch my comfort zone entirely and read a non-fiction book written by an African-American lesbian.  I don't know if this is exactly what my critics had in mind when they made the suggestion, but it seemed like a good place to start.

The author was born a cross-eyed crack baby in East Baltimore.  She lived a rough life on the streets slinging drugs and being an all-around bad ass.  She eventually got thrown in jail for shooting and killing a woman (an event that's given a glossy spin in the book).  After serving her time, she tried to live a straight life, but the call of "the Game" was too persistent.  The only thing that got her straightened out was running into Michael K. Williams in a bar and eventually getting cast on HBO's The Wire as one of Marlo's minions.  Grace After Midnight is the story of Snoop's childhood, her time on the streets, her stint in jail, up to the time when she began playing herself (essentially) on one of the most critically acclaimed television shows ever.

I enjoyed this book too much.  I doubt it would appeal to people who aren't familiar with Snoop's character from The Wire, but I loved it.  I did have one problem, though.  I noticed an inconsistency in the part of the book dealing with Snoop's prison dildo enterprise.  On page 128, Snoop writes that she "crafted them in four sizes--small, medium, large, and extra large."  However, on page 146, she writes she needs to learn "something besides making dildos in three different sizes."  C'mon, Snoop, how many dildo sizes were there...three of four?!

• Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit--Jeanette Winterson

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.

As strange as it may seem, Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit dealt with some of the same issues and themes as Grace After Midnight.  Both are coming-of-age stories told by lesbians growing up in oppressive cultures.  While Snoop grew up among Baltimore's gangstas, prisoners, and drug users, Jeanette Winterson's main character (also named Jeanette) grew up among England's evangelical Christians.  Jeanette's Christians were often worse than Snoop's criminals.

Jeanette is adopted into an evangelical Christian family.  From day one, she is groomed to become a missionary.  Her world revolves around her religion 24 hours a day.  She hands out the pamphlets, sings the songs, and even scares her public school classmates with tales of eternal suffering in hell.  There's one problem, though...Jeanette likes girls.  This doesn't go over too well with her ultra-conservative family and religious community.  They starve Jeanette for awhile and then subject her to an exorcism.  She tells them what they want to hear and decides to hide in the proverbial closet.  Eventually the conflict between religion and sexuality comes to a head and Jeanette is forced to choose between her family and community and being true to herself.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit wasn't a book I'd normally read and certainly not a book I thought I'd enjoy.  Nothing interests me less than books about evangelical Christians.  Krissy recommended the book to me, though, and I thought I'd give it a try.  I'm glad I did.  

• Jimmy Stewart and His Poems--Jimmy Stewart

Jimmy Stewart and His Poems

I love Jimmy Stewart and treasure many of his movies, but the man's poetry wouldn't be out of place in an elementary school's student publication.  As far as celebrity poets go, Jimmy Stewart makes Jewel look like Emily Dickinson.

Sorry, Jimmy.

CURRENTLY READING:

• Stories in Another Language--Yannick Murphy
• The Invention of Everything Else--Samantha Hunt