78 posts from 2007

BOOKS BOUGHT:

• McSweeney's #25--Dave Eggers (editor) 
• Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, etc.--Ted Thompson (editor) 
• Silence of the Grave--Arnaldur Indriðason
• Voices--Arnaldur Indriðason
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey--Thornton Wilder

BOOKS RECEIVED FOR CHRISTMAS:

• Tree of Smoke--Denis Johnson
• Pictures Showing What Happens on Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow--Zak Smith
• Jimmy Stewart and His Poems--Jimmy Stewart
• Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting--Jimmy Webb
• Infinite Jest--David Foster Wallace
• Gentlemen of the Road--M-----l Chabon
• The Apocalypse Reader--Justin Taylor (editor)
• Zeroville--Steve Erickson
• Deadeye Dick--Kurt Vonnegut
• Death and Restoration--Iain Pears
• Julius Winsome--Gerard Donovan
• Icelander--Dustin Long
• A Child Again--Robert Coover
• The Best American Comics 2007--Chris Ware (editor)

BOOKS READ:

• A Bend in the River--V.S. Naipaul

A Bend in the River is a good book.  It probably even deserves its reputation as a modern classic.  Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily mean I enjoyed reading it.  I actually found it kind of boring.  Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a book about post-colonial Africa.  That's a topic that rarely interests me.  I enjoyed the last couple pages and was better able to appreciate the book once I'd finished it, but reading A Bend in the River felt like a chore to me.  I just wanted to finish it and get into something else.           

• Story of the Eye--Georges Bataille

One of my favorite songs this year was Of Montreal's "The Past is a Grotesque Animal".  There's a line in the song that mentions George Bataille and Story of the Eye, so I thought it would be a good idea to read the book.  My logic went like this: If a book is mentioned in a song I like, then I'll like the book.  Things started off well.  In fact, one of my favorite lines of the year began the second chapter:

That was the period when Simone developed a mania for breaking eggs with her ass.

Sure, that's kind of raunchy, but it's also humorous at the same time.  Unfortunately, the book soon lost its humor and Simone and the narrator escalated into unmentionable perversions that made me sick to my stomach.  I somehow made it through the book, but I ended up feeling scraped and numb for the next two days.    

• Young Lonigan--James T. Farrell

Young Lonigan is the first book in James T. Farrell's Studs Lonigan Trilogy.  It tells the story of a young Irish ruffian growing up in Chicago in the early 1900s.  The events of the first book take place on the day Studs graduates from Catholic school and during the subsequent summer.  How does Young Lonigan spend his last summer before high school?  Falling in and out of love, getting into fights, smoking cigarettes, checking his look in the mirror, and screwing fourteen year old prostitutes.  You know, the usual.

I'm not sure how the rest of the trilogy will play out, but Young Lonigan was a fun read that really made me want to plow through the other two books.  The Studs Lonigan Trilogy has the makings of a personal favorite, but I'm going to reserve judgement until I've finished the remaining 800 pages.  So far, so good, though.  

• The Breast--Philip Roth

Julie recommended The Breast to me after reading my recent review of Goodbye, Columbus.  The Breast is similar to Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis except that the protagonist turns into a gigantic breast instead of a dung beetle.  The other difference between the two novellas is that The Metamorphosis ended with one of my favorite lines in all of fiction and The Breast ended with a poem I didn't understand.

• Silence of the Grave--Arnaldur Indriðason
• Voices--Arnaldur Indriðason

Silence of the Grave and Voices are the second and third books in Arnaldur Indriðason's Reykjavik Murder Mystery series.  I had no intention of reading Silence of the Grave anytime soon, but I noticed that Voices took place at Christmas, so I quickly read the first book so I could read the second at Christmastime.  In Silence of the Grave, Inspector Erlendur and his team work to identify a skeleton buried for half a century.  The best line in Silence of the Grave is the very first one:

He knew at once it was a human bone, when he took it from the baby who was sitting on the floor chewing it.

In Voices, Erlender works to solve the murder of a former child star who has spent the last twenty years working as the doorman at a Reykjavik hotel.  The best line in Voices is the following:

He knew that the hotel would never be able to shake off the murder.  It would never wipe away the smear.  After this it would always be known as the hotel where Santa was found dead with a condom on his penis.

Inspector Erlendur seemed a bit slow on the uptake in Voices, but it was still a good mystery.  Both books were enjoyable, quick reads.  I'd recommend them to anyone interested in the crime genre or contemporary Nordic fiction.

•  Comedy by the Numbers--Eric Hoffman & Gary Rudoren

This is the full version of the book that was published in pamphlet form and given away free with McSweeney's #23.  All the funny parts were in the pamplet, so I really shouldn't have bothered buying the full book.  There's a saying about giving away the goods for free that concerns virgins and sex and marriage (and maybe even cows), but I can't remember what it is right now.  I'm sure it's appropriate, though.     

• "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story"--Paul Auster
• "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor"--John Cheever

I also read the two Christmas-related short stories mentioned above.  If anyone out there got that Caroline Kennedy Christmas story collection as a gift this season, you should probably return it and track down these two stories instead.  That's just my opinion, of course. 

CURRENTLY READING:

• The World Without Us--Alan Weisman
• The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan--James T. Farrell
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey--Thornton Wilder
• The Best American Comics 2007--Chris Ware (editor)

Ellery is a local duo made up of Tasha & Justin Golden.  They put on an in-store performance at the Joseph-Beth Booksellers a couple nights ago.  I'd never heard any Ellery songs until the day before when I'd picked up a used copy of last year's Lying Awake.  It's an enjoyable CD that bears absolutely no similarity whatsoever to the music of Ben Folds.  (Ellery is compared to him on Wikipedia and the All Music Guide.)  I liked it enough that I thought it would probably be worth it to walk to the bookstore in the cold to see them perform.

Ellery put on a good show.  I thought their 17 song setlist was way too long for an in-store performance, but too much good music is still a good thing and I shouldn't complain.  I could've left early, but I'm one of those who always sticks around to the end of shows.  It's just a habit.

Ellery played the majority of Lying Awake, all three songs from their December Days EP, a cover of Stephin Merritt's "The Book of Love", "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", and a few other songs.  Ellery's originals were all high quality, but I found that I enjoyed the Christmas songs and the Stephin Merritt song the most.

Here's a video of Ellery performing "Song for Lovers" at WNKU:

Ellery's December Days EP is currently available for free download at ellerychristmas.com.  It features two Ellery originals and a cover of "Christmas Time is Here" from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

What were your top 10 favorite albums or songs of 2007?  

I wrote a similar post back in October and came up with my Top 9 albums.  They were as follows:

• the National - Boxer
• Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• Teddy Thompson - Upfront & Down Low
• Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
• Utah Carol - Rodeo Queen
• the Long Blondes - Someone to Drive You Home
• Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Once
• Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge 
• Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

To those original favorites, I would like to add the following:

• Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
• Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala
• Wussy - Left for Dead

Here are my official Top 10 songs of the year: 

• Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost
• Blitzen Trapper - Wild Mountain Nation
• Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - Falling Slowly
• Maxïmo Park - In a Fortnight's Time
• Jens Lekman - A Postcard to Nina
• the Bird & the Bee - Fucking Boyfriend
• Utah Carol - Rodeo Queen
• Wussy - What's-His-Name
• Of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal
• Richard Hawley - Tonight the Streets are Ours

And here are a few other songs that I enjoyed this year (that weren't necessarily released in 2007):

• the Devastations - Terrified
• Guy Clark - Dublin Blues
• Firefox AK - What's That Sound
• the Format - Timebomb
• the Young Fresh Fellows - When the Girls Get Here
• Devo - Girl U Want (original, not that Tank Girl version)
• the Waxwings - Keeping the Sparks
• Zumpano - Rosecrans Boulevard
• Sally Shapiro - I'll Be By Your Side
• Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World
• Robyn Hitchcock - Beautiful Girl
• Robyn Hitchcock - All I Wanna Do is Fall in Love
• the National - Mr. November
• Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment
• Little Esther Phillips - Mojo Hannah
• Creed Bratton - Spinnin' N Reelin'
• the Libertines - Don't Look Back Into the Sun
• the Stone Roses - Sally Cinnamon
• Annie - Crush 

[WARNING: This concert review features the word "asshole" quite a few times.  It originally featured much harsher language, but I toned it down so as not to offend those with tender ears.  For example, there's a place where I really wanted to write "drunken fucks", but I went with "drunken assholes" instead.  It doesn't quite have the charm of the original, but it gets the point across anyway.]

Intro: Why I Went To A Hall & Oates Concert

I'm a casual Hall & Oates fan at best.  I bought a $3 copy of their greatest hits a couple years ago.  I only know the twelve songs on that CD and "Out of Touch".  So why did I drive 200 miles to see Hall & Oates perform at the Palace Theatre in Columbus?  To answer that question, we have to take a trip back to 1991.

The second concert I ever saw was the Moody Blues at the Timberwolf Amphitheatre.  The opening act for that show was scheduled to be Hall & Oates.  It was even printed on the ticket stub: "the Moody Blues w/Hall & Oates".  For reasons I never was able to figure out, Hall & Oates didn't show up.  Instead, a horrible hair metal band called Neverland took their place.  It was all strutting and leather pants and hairspray and lame balladry.  Neverland remains, to this day, the worst thing I've ever seen live on a stage.

So I was left with a ticket stub that made it look like I'd seen the Moody Blues and Hall & Oates.  I didn't think much of it at first, but as the years went by and my ticket stub collection grew, I began to find this incredibly annoying.  The only way I could fix this inconsistency was to actually track down Hall & Oates and see them in concert.  (It occurs to me now that I could've just thrown the old ticket stub in the garbage or found something more important to worry about.) 

Christmas Set: The Good

The current tour is called the Home For Christmas tour.  Hall & Oates perform a set of Christmas songs, take a brief intermission, and then come back for a second set of hits.  I was a bit suspicious of this format, as I'd never heard the guys sing a Christmas song before.  It turns out they do a pretty good job.  They played nine Christmas songs, four of which would qualify as "classics".  My favorites were "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" and "The Christmas Song".  The remaining songs were originals or covers written by contemporary musicians.  Who knew Robbie Robertson had a Christmas song...and a good one at that?!  The Christmas set was enjoyable throughout and really got me into a festive mood.     

Christmas Set: The Bad

It's a good thing I don't have the ability to murder people with my brain.  If I had that power, then the obnoxious assholes sitting behind me wouldn't have made it out of the Palace Theatre alive.  In all my years of concert-going, I don't think I've ever seen audience members as inconsiderate as these.  How inconsiderate?  One of them was so oblivious to social graces that he saw fit to shout into his cellphone while Hall & Oates were onstage singing "O Holy Night".  I'm sorry...I'm not a religious man by any means, but even I think a song about the birth of Jesus deserves more respect than that.  Oh, and "Maneater" isn't a Christmas song, so there's really no need to shout for it during the Christmas set, you drunken assholes!!

Greatest Hits Set: The Good

Hall & Oates haven't always been the coolest guys around, but there's no denying that they've had some great songs through the years.  Even the most ardent music snob would have a hard time saying anything against "She's Gone" or "Sara Smile".  Those two songs were performed back-to-back and were definitely highlights for me.  In addition to those, they played "Out of Touch", "Say It Isn't So", "I Can't Go For That", "Rich Girl", and "You Make My Dreams".  The best part--and something that had worried me going in--was that their voices have both aged very well.       

Greatest Hits Set: The Bad

The assholes behind me began throwing their drink cups.  The back of my fleece now smells like whiskey.

Encore: The Good

Hall & Oates finished the night was a version of "Jingle Bell Rock".  Fake snow fell from the ceiling.  It was festive and fun and made a wonderful ending to a thoroughly enjoyable evening of live music.  I was surprised I enjoyed myself as much as I did.  I'm glad I went. 

Encore: The Bad

Of course, I couldn't get out on a highlight.  As soon as the houselights went on, the loudest of the assholes behind me shouted out, "I can't believe they ended with that shit!"

As always, here's the setlist:

BOOKS BOUGHT:

• Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans
• Story of the Eye--Georges Bataille

BOOKS READ:

• Jar City--Arnaldur Indriðason

I spent some time in Reykjavik a few years back, and came away with an interest in Icelandic culture that remains to this day.  I've read Icelandic authors as diverse as Halldór Laxness (yeah!!) and Hallgrímur Helgason (boo!!).  SteveP mentioned Arnaldur Indriðason's Jar City a couple months back, and I knew I had to track down the book and read it.  I'm glad I did; it's one of the best crime novels I've read in a long time.  I look forward to reading the rest of the Inspector Erlendur books.      

• Goodbye, Columbus--Philip Roth

I originally purchased Goodbye, Columbus as a present for my brother's birthday.  Then I remembered he hadn't bothered to give me a present for my birthday, so I ended up keeping the book for myself.  Of course, keeping the book meant I had to read the thing.  I was a bit hesitant as I haven't always enjoyed the Roth I've read.  I liked Goodbye, Columbus a lot, though.  The titular novella was excellent.  The remaining five stories were also impressive.  They all dealt with Jewish culture and the problems of assimilating into post-war America.  It's not subject matter I thought I'd find interesting, but I did.

My favorite was "The Conversion of the Jews" which had a young boy named Ozzie questioning some of the illogical tenants of his religion.  I don't want to spoil it for you, but Ozzie ends up on the roof of his synagogue while his classmates down below encourage him to jump off.   

• Pastoralia--George Saunders  

I first became interested in George Saunders when I watched the second season Christmas episode of NBC's The Office.  In it, Ryan buys a Saunders book to give to Toby for Secret Santa.  I thought to myself, "What kind of book would Ryan buy for Toby?"  I had to find out.  Unfortunately, the episode wasn't clear as to which book Ryan actually bought.  I picked Pastoralia because it was short and had a deer and a caveman on the cover.

Pastoralia is a collection of six short stories.  They were all hilarious and weird.  (The stories reminded me a bit of the work of T.C. Boyle.)  In the first story--also named "Pastoralia"--a man and his co-worker while away their days in a live caveman exhibit.  The thing is, no one ever comes to see the exhibit.  Would you act like a normal person if no one was looking, or would you spend all day in character just in case someone showed up?!  These are among the questions Saunders asks the reader.

Oh, while I'm writing about Pastoralia, I feel I must quote from the story "Sea Oak".  In it, some of the characters watch a television program called The Worst That Could Happen.  The show is described as follows:

...a half-hour of computer simulations of tragedies that have never actually occurred but theoretically could.  A kid gets hit by a train and flies into a zoo, where he's eaten by wolves.  A man cuts his hand off chopping wood and while wandering around screaming for help is picked up by a tornado and dropped on a preschool during recess and lands on a pregnant teacher.

If you can find the humor in that, then you'll probably enjoy Pastoralia.        

• Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans

The full name of this book is Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's Humor Category.  As the name would suggest, it's a collection of humorous bits from the McSweeney's Quarterly Concern and website.  I bought this collection because it made me laugh outloud in the bookstore four times.  The collection of lists at the end of the book was particularly funny.  The best part, though, and the part that made this book worth purchasing, was the essay by J.M. Tyree called "On the Implausability of the Death Star's Trash Compactor".  Yes, this guy wrote four whole pages on why it didn't make any sense for the Death Star to have a trash compactor.

• I Am Legend--Richard Matheson (reread)

All the kids are talking about the upcoming movie version of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, so I thought it would be a good time to revisit the book.  For a science fiction/horror story originally published in the 50s, I Am Legend stands up better than most.  (It occurs to me now that I have no frame of reference here.  I Am Legend is probably the only science fiction/horror story from the 50s that I've ever read.  I'm just assuming it's aged well.)

I had a couple issues the first time I read I Am Legend, and those issues remain even after the second read.  First of all, I think Matheson did a poor job of explaining the differences between the two types of vampires.  This comes into play during the story's ending and left me a bit confused.  Second of all, the parts where Neville tries to scientifically explain the vampire phenomenon are just flat-out boring.  Other than those two issues, I Am Legend is an exciting and interesting take on vampires and one of the best post-apocalyptic tales out there.

My copy of I Am Legend features some of Matheson's short stories tacked on at the end.  I read the stories the first time I read the book and hated them all.  They are among the worst stories I've ever read.  I didn't bother reading them a second time.      

• Angle of Repose--Wallace Stegner

I was on a reading roll at the beginning of November.  In fact, all the books mentioned above were read in the first ten days of the month.  My roll promptly crashed to a halt when I picked up Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose.  It took me twelve days to read the first chapter.  At that rate, it would have taken me 416 days to finish the book.  Most people would have dumped the book and moved on to something else.  I'll quit jobs and relationships without a thought, but I've never quit a novel once I've started reading it.  I plow on through.  It's what I do.

I'm glad I didn't quit.  Angle of Repose turned out to be one of the top two or three books I've read this year.  It tells the story of Lyman Ward, a historian struggling with the results of a divorce and a bone disease that have left him crippled and immobile.  He settles into his grandparent's old house and begins writing the story of their marriage.  He uses his grandmother's letters, old newspaper articles, and his own childhood memories.  The story that results is sad and beautiful.

Here's one of my favorite lines (it's Lyman speaking to Shelly, a neighbor who works as his secretary):

How do I know what you should do?  You'll do what you think you want to do, or what you think you ought to do.  If you're very lucky, luckier than anybody I know, the two will coincide.

I like that.

Angle of Repose won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972.  I'm not exactly sure what other books were up for the honor that year, but I'd have to say the board got it right.        

CURRENTLY READING:

• The World Without Us--Alan Weisman
• A Bend in the River--V.S. Naipaul

Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men is one of my favorite books of the last few years.  The Coen Brothers are my favorite filmmakers working today.  Unfortunately, The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) was the last of their movies that I actually enjoyed; I thought the two movies that followed were uncharacteristic duds.  I was hoping that their screen adaptation of No Country For Old Men would be a return to form.  The movie was released here yesterday and I saw it this afternoon.  I absolutely loved it.  It's everything I was hoping it would be...and more.  I want to see it again right now.

Unfortunately, I have to go eat turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and green beans and cranberry goop and a whole pumpkin pie.  Maybe tomorrow.

I've never been a fan of YouTube.  As far as I'm concerned, over 99% of the videos on the site are garbage.  (Do I really want to see a grainy video of your puppy sneezing?  No!  I'm sure he's a cute puppy, but he doesn't interest me at all.)  Fortunately, there are some great music videos hidden in amongst the junk.  I found a few of them recently and thought I'd post them here.  Why?  I've got nothing better to do right now.      

I bought Jilted John's True Love Stories a couple years ago after hearing the single "Jilted John".  It's one of those rare songs I can listen to over and over and over again.  Here's Jilted John singing the song on Top of the Pops.  I wonder whatever happened to that announcer.        

You wouldn't think a bunch of American Apparel models without any musical talent would be able to make a song I like, but CSS did exactly that.  I ripped this song off Pitchfork last year and it's been disintegrating part of my brain ever since.  It makes me want to bust out moves I don't actually have.

Oh, Annie, I still regret the night I went to a Pearl Jam concert instead of going to your show.  Had I seen your video before that night, I would've certainly skipped Pearl Jam. 

Luke told me about "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" over the summer, and it quickly became one of my favorite songs of the year.  The LP version is much better than this acoustic one, but I like this one anyway.  You can't dance to it, but it's easier to understand the lyrics. 

I once bought a used Starbucks compilation CD called Senses Working Overtime.  Track 17 of that compilation was "Trams of Old London" from Robyn Hitchcock's 1984 album, I Often Dream of Trains.  I'd been a fan of the Soft Boys for years, but had never bothered with Robyn's solo releases.  I thought "Trams of Old London" was a great song, so I looked around to see if I could find a copy of the original album.  It was out-of-print, so I engaged in a bit of dubious downloading to acquire a copy.  It was good stuff.  Before I knew what was going on, I was a Robyn Hitchcock fan.

When I heard he was coming to Newport to play a solo show, I rushed out and bought my advance ticket.  I also rushed out and bought a few Robyn Hitchcock solo albums to better prepare for the show.  I've become slightly jaded with concerts, but I found myself very excited about this one.  I literally counted down the days on my calender.

I got down to the Southgate House a few minutes before Sean Nelson began his opening set.  I'd never heard of Sean Nelson until last night, but I must admit that I was impressed with his performance.  Any singer who opens his set with "This is Where I Belong" by the Kinks is alright in my book (that's not just a phrase--I really have a book).  He played a couple other covers during his performance, but most of his set was made up of originals.  They were all quality songs, but I think I enjoyed "Exile on Baker Street" and "They're Kicking Me Out of the Band" the most.

After a brief intermission, Robyn Hitchcock came out and took the stage.  It was him, his hideous purple outfit, and an acoustic guitar.  He started in on a rambling monologue about the sexiness of Bill Clinton.  Now I know that Robyn Hitchcock has a reputation for being something of an eccentric, but I think some of his monologues may have gone beyond the realm of the eccentric and into the land of the flat-out crazy.  He told long, detailed stories about landclams, fig trees, harmonica fetishists, and the amount of loam Brian Eno has in his boots.  It was absurd.

Robyn opened the show with "Chinese Bones".  He followed it up with "Balloon Man".  Both songs were originally on 1988's Globe of Frogs.  I silently congratulated myself for dropping $3.99 on a vinyl copy last month.  I hate it when I go to a show and don't know any of the songs.

The next song was a touching rendition of Bob Dylan's "It's Not Dark Yet".  It's strange how beautiful Dylan's songs can be when the singer is actually pronouncing the words properly.  Robyn talked a bit about Dylan and then dropped another gem on us:

Most babies come from Manitoba.

I could meditate on that for days and still have no idea what he meant.

"Olé! Tarantula" came next.  It's one of my favorites, but I wish he hadn't played it.  I've had the line about the "three-legged chinchilla" stuck in my head since last night, and it's slowly driving me insane.  To make it worse, I keep misremembering the line.  In my head it's "I feel like a half-eaten chinchilla" which turns a disturbing image into a disgusting one.  Thanks a lot, Robyn.

"Autumn is Your Last Chance" came next.  It was followed by "English Girl", "Only the Stones Remain", and "I Something You".  After a brief discussion of Elvis and Led Zeppelin, Robyn played a song called "The Devil's Coachman"  I'd never heard it before, but I liked it anyway.  The last line was (and I'm paraphrasing here):

I saw the Devil in our bed.  I could have strangled him, but didn't.  I'm English, so instead I made him tea and toast. 

That's Robyn Hitchcock for you.

Robyn then asked Sean Nelson to join him onstage for backup vocals.  The first songs they played together were "Cynthia Mask", "Queen Elvis", and "Full Moon in My Soul".  Although I enjoyed Robyn solo, I thought Sean Nelson did a good job fleshing out these songs.  He stuck around for the rest of the evening.

After finishing "Never Stop Bleeding", Robyn picked up an electric guitar and made my night by playing "I Often Dream of Trains".  He stuck with the electric for the rest of the main set.  It consisted of "Queen of Eyes", "Creeped Out", and an inspired take on "Are You Experienced?" by Jimi Hendrix.  The last song of the main set was "Adventure Rocket Ship".     

The encore set started out with a discussion of rodents and then morphed into a story about Donovan before finally turning into an acoustic cover of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence".  I guess Robyn was in a Beatles mood because he went right into "Glass Onion".  Both were awe-inspiring.

The last song of the night was a rousing rendition of "(A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs".  It's one of my favorites of the newer songs, and it was a perfect way to end the evening.  

Here's the setlist from the show:

For those of you not interested in deciphering my scrawl (all writing was done in the dark), I have typed it out properly here:

Main set:  Chinese Bones/Balloon Man/It's Not Dark Yet/Olé! Tarantula/Autumn is Your Last Chance/English Girl/Only the Stones Remain/I Something You/The Devil's Coachman/Cynthia Mask/Queen Elvis/Full Moon in My Soul/Never Stop Bleeding/I Often Dream of Trains/Queen of Eyes/Creeped Out/Are You Experienced?/Adventure Rocket Ship

Encore set:  Dear Prudence/Glass Onion/(A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs

Robyn Hitchcock stuck around after the show and signed autographs at the merch bar.  I bought the I Wanna Go Backwards box set (which features my own legit copy of I Often Dream of Trains) and got him to sign the front of Black Snake Diamond Role.

[NOTE: Fellow Voxer Scott was at this show, but we failed to meet up.  His member image is too tiny and grainy for me to recognize him in an audience consisting largely of dark haired men...especially with the house lights off.  I thought I saw him at the bar, but it turned out to be his stunt double.  Oh well.]

Book: Show us a book you've read more than once.

I read a lot, but I rarely read the same book twice.  I think there are too many good books out there that I haven't read for me to waste time re-reading the same ones over and over again.  I've disregarded that policy a couple times, though.  Here are the books I've read more than once:

• Nine Stories--J.D. Salinger (2)

I've read Salinger's short story collection twice, but I've read the first story, "A Perfect Day For Bananafish", three or four times.  No matter how many times I read it, I still can't figure out exactly what's going on at the end.  I'd read it again, but I've got a bootleg copy of Salinger's uncollected stories sitting around here somewhere that I really need to get through first.

• The Catcher in the Rye--J.D. Salinger (3)

I originally read The Catcher in the Rye in my grandmother's basement when I was 12 or 13.  I revisited it in high school and then again as an adult.  I ended up keeping my grandmother's copy, but it went missing for well over a decade.  I found it crushed behind a drawer just last year.

• V.--Thomas Pynchon (3)

I zoomed through V. when I read it the first time.  I realized at the end that I had absolutely no idea what the book was about and hadn't understood anything I'd read.  I started over and paid more attention.  I ended up loving the book so much that it earned a third read for pure enjoyment.

• Wait Until Spring, Bandini--John Fante (4)

The record goes to John Fante's Wait Until Spring, Bandini.  I originally read it for a literature class in college.  I re-read it a couple years later once I'd forgotten all the intellectual junk my professor had taught me.  It's a quick read and one of my favorites, so I revisit it every few years.  I'm going to try to read it again before the year's end.

I read too much in October, so I broke my "Stuff I've Been Reading" column into two posts.  The first post covered my book-related activities from October 1st through October 20th.  This post covers the rest of the month.

BOOKS BOUGHT:

• Now & Then--Robert B. Parker
• What Narcissism Means to Me--Tony Hoagland
• Goodbye, Columbus--Philip Roth

BOOKS READ:

• The Middle Stories--Sheila Heti
• Ticknor--Sheila Heti

I first read Sheila Heti's short stories in McSweeney's #4 and #6.  That was a long time ago and I proceeded to forget all about her.  Then she wrote a brief essay in the September 30th issue of The New York Times Magazine.  I liked the essay, but more than that I liked the three pictures of the author that went with it.  She had super-short bangs that made her look like one of those Fisher-Price "little people" from the 70s.  I thought that was cute, so I wrote down her name and decided to look for her short story collection and novella.

I didn't have any difficulty finding used copies of the two books.  The Middle Stories is a pocket-sized collection of 23 short stories.  Whereas Amy Hempel can pack an incredible amount into a 2-3 page short story, many of Sheila Heti's stories felt like they were unfinished.  They weren't bad stories, but many of them should have been fleshed out a bit prior to publication.  A few of them were perfect as published.  If you ever see a copy of The Middle Stories, open it up and read "The Man From Out of Town".  That was my favorite.  I didn't realize I'd already read it until that gut punch of a last sentence.

Ticknor is a brief novel about a man who is overcome with jealousy for his more successful childhood friend.  There was some poignant writing on page 81 about blind people trying (and failing) to make marketable items to raise money for their asylum.  That was the only page I enjoyed.  The rest of the book didn't do anything for me.

It's okay to judge a book by its cover, but never judge an author by the cuteness of her bangs. 

• Now & Then--Robert B. Parker

Robert B. Parker's 35th Spenser novel came out a couple weeks ago.  I bought it and had to fight the urge to read it all in the same day.  I managed to stretch it out over four days.  It's difficult for me to give an unbiased opinion on a Spenser novel.  I love them all.  I even love the ones like Now & Then that feature too much Susan Silverman and not enough Hawk.   

• The Walking Dead: Vol.5--William Kirkman  

I promised a couple months ago that I'd stop reading The Walking Dead series of graphic novels due to their horrible writing and poor artwork.  Well, it was getting to be Halloween and I was in the mood for some zombies, so I broke my promise.  I wish I hadn't.  The Walking Dead: Vol.5 is, by far, the worst in the series.  It was a waste of money and time.  Of course, I doubt that'll keep me away from Vol.6.  There are so many annoying characters in The Walking Dead that I feel I have to stick with the series just to see them get their brains eaten.  I'm not proud of myself. 

• What Narcissism Means to Me--Tony Hoagland

What can I say about poetry?  Half the time I don't even understand what I'm reading.  I liked Tony Hoagland, though.  I found his poems to be straight-forward and easy to comprehend.  Of course, that doesn't mean I feel like writing about them.  I'll just say that my favorite poems in What Narcissism Means to Me were "Leaving Yourself Behind" and "Parade" and leave it at that.

CURRENTLY READING:

• The World Without Us--Alan Weisman
• Jar City--Arnaldur Indriðason
  

  October books (part 2)