This post by Karl about the Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels list got me thinking about what I’ve been reading lately, what I have yet to read but want to, and what it seems like I’ve been reading for years (I have kind of a problem with having five or six books in process at any given time).
So anyway, first installment, is stuff I’ve read (and finished) of the fiction variety in the past year or so:
Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate: An entire novel written in verse, about a group of friends living in the Silicon Valley in the 80′s. A friend of mine bought it for me since she knew I lived there in the late 80′s as well, and I was hoping for a gripping tale of 72-hour amphetamine-fueled hacking binges and motorcycles and tattoos and punk rock (is there anything else in the Bay Area?) and instead got a sweet tale of heartbreak and loss and forgiveness. Doing the entire 300 pages in rhyming couplets was cute mostly, brilliant sometimes, but often tiring and affected. Still, a nice story.
Roger Zelazny, A Night In The Lonesome October: OK, Doxy is gonna kill me if she finds out, but I was bored to tears reading this. Doxy recommended reading it to your kids, one chapter a night through the month of October, but I started it the last week of September and didn’t finish until almost Thanksgiving. I catch all the references to Lovecraft, etc. It just didn’t hook me. In the end it was just a light fantasy book.
Chuck Palahniuk, Choke: The first book I’ve read by him, and I almost put it down after the first chapter because of what I thought was its overwhelming negativity (I don’t like negative when it’s just a cheap “edginess” tactic) but I’m glad I stuck with it. The story follows a guy who goes to sexaholics anonymous meetings to pick up chicks and who slowly goes insane while his mother lay dying in the hospital. Like books by people like Hubert Selby, it gets pretty raw in the details of how far down in the gutter people can get, how much they can debase themselves because of their own compulsions and mental lapses, but unlike Selby’s books, which always just seem like pointless flogging of the soul, this one ends on a note of acceptance and renewal.
Dan Brown, Angels & Demons and The DaVinci Code: Yeah, I know, I know. Pretty much fluff, but I like puzzle-plots and conspiracies and I like stuff about the ancient history of Catholicism, and these were great to read back at the beginning of the year when I was travelling a lot.
Greg Bear, Darwin’s Radio: I’ve been looking for another sci-fi author to get obsessed over since William Gibson isn’t prolific enough and Philip K. Dick is dead, and I think I’ll keep looking. An OK read, but if you don’t have a degree in biochemistry you’ll have trouble following a lot of the details, and there’s a lot of that Heinlein tactic of having some character engage in a pages long monologue to provide background to the reader that always seems so fake.
So that’s it? A whole year’s worth of reading?
Well, as it turns out I read a lot more non-fiction than fiction. And this list also doesn’t include the stuff that I’ve reread for the umpteenth time (LOTR, Dubliners, Catch 22,…)
I’ll get to the non-fiction later on.
Fiction I’ve read recently
Posted in books
Just got the Choke book on ebay; looking forward to reading it.
Sex, insanity, soul flogging…yee-haw!
I tried hard to read A Night In The Lonesome October but I could not get past the first chapter. As much as I like Zelazny and as much as I love Doxy, I had trouble. But you know, I was in Fiji when I read it and was also reading deep, dark, depressing short stories by Bukowski and Ray Carver, so it might have been to light by contrast. I figure I’ll try it next October and see.
As to a Sci-Fi author, you should try Tim Powers. Ok, he’s not pure sci-fi, he’s actually what you’d call contemporary fantasy, but he’s fucking brilliant, and he was pals with PK Dick. I’ll send you a copy of his best book, Last Call, if you promise you’ll read it.
Another author you really must try since I know you do Bukowski – Dan Fante, sone of the great John Fante. He starts where his father and Bukowski leave off and — well, you have to read it. He’s fucking brilliant. Better than Bukowski at Bukowski’s game, in my opinion. Start with Chump Change.
And go read Mystic Pig. One of the best books I’ve ever read and I am not kidding. I’ve gotten two people to read it and they were both completely blown away.
I’ll read the Powers if you send it.
I looked for Mystic Pig at Book People today but they didn’t have it. I bought a big haul of books, though. Subject of another post.
I need to be careful around the Bukowski and things like it. I re-read parts of Notes of a Dirty Old Man while I was up in New York last summer and it was surprisingly hard on my sobriety.
Ah yes, let’s wait another year on Fante. But trust me me, you’ll want to read him.
I need you wishlist or mailing list and I’ll get that Powers book to you.
Ray, stop apologizing for reading books that are big in the pop culture. Sometimes it’s OK to read simply because it’s a fun book (Da Vinci Code). Another one for you: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Read my private mail to your Yahoo account.
Karl: Only a true drunk could read Bukowski and think “Man, that sounds good. I want a few beers.”
Darrell: Not really apologizing, per se, but on the other hand I don’t want to be mistaken for one of those people who takes all that Knights of Templar stuff seriously. (I’ve been mistaken for one before…subject of another post, maybe tomorrow…it’s kind of funny.)
Where you’re actually more one of the knights of the garter types, or more specifically, knights of the garter-belt.
Karl, how come you’re sending Ray a book and not sending me a book? You secretly like HIM better than me, don’t you? Huh? Huh? Huh? If we were in a sinking boat and you could only save one of us, it’d be RAY,, wouldn’t it? Ray-Ray-Ray!
Sulk!
(xoxox)
Circe, send me your address and I’ll send you a book or two.
Cool. And I’ll send you some kittens. It’ll be great!
XXXXXXXXX
like Gaiman and Pollies aren’t good enough.
Fine. Last Call for Everyone.
Love you, baby!
XXXXX
I just got the first email from Circe that I’ve seen in months. Because I told her if she sent me her address, I’d send her free stuff.
I feel so used.
Yep. I’m such the whore.
Book me, big guy. I love you long time…
XXXXXXXXX