Sunday, January 30, 2011

1-30-11

Fiction/Memoir/Biography/History
  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
  • End Zone by Don DeLillo
  • The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  • The Savage City by T.J. English
  • Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe
  • Zulu by Caryl Ferey
Philosophy/Theology/Sociology/Mathematics
  • After You Believe by N.T. Wright
  • Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
  • The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Re-Reading
  • The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Sunday, January 23, 2011

1-23-11

Fiction/Memoir/Biography/History
  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
  • The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  • The Informationist by Taylor Stevens
  • The Savage City by T.J. English
  • Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe
Philosophy/Theology/Sociology/Mathematics
  • After You Believe by N.T. Wright
  • Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges
  • Everything and More by David Foster Wallace
  • God's Century by Monica Toft
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
Re-Reading
  • The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Infinite Jest

If you check the Must Read list featured on this blog, you'll notice that David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest is among top 10 favorite books of all time. I discovered Wallace late in the game (he had taken his own life by the time I read any of his work) and in a rather roundabout way (David Lipsky's road bio Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself1 convinced me that Wallace understood), but have, over the last year and a half, read every book he has ever published. I just finished re-reading Infinite Jest for my book club (meeting January 31st at BookPeople at 7pm; feel free to drop in).
I love this book even more the second time around. For such an epic tome (almost 1000 pages without the footnotes) it is one of the most intensely personal novels that I have ever read; as intimate as it is infinite. It's two protagonists, Don Gately and Hal Incandenza, are two of the most fully developed in fiction. Its themes, too numerous to list exhaustively, include fear and addiction and escape and connection and the things we'll do to avoid pain and the ways we grow when we face pain and how we always give ourselves to something and the point is to consciously choose the right thing to give ourselves to. Wallace captures the speech patterns of late 20th century America pitch perfectly. He is as funny as he is deep. He helps us understand what it is to be human and to face those epiphanies that we've been avoiding. His writing is prophetic and patient and kind and, sometimes, cruel. It is Wallace who once stated that "The truth will set you free, but not until it's finished with you." This book is about that. It's amazing. And I highly recommend picking it up.

1) I strongly suggest picking up Lipsky's book as a companion piece to Infinite Jest. It is a memoir/interview/road novel that captures Wallace on the last days of his IJ book tour. Wonderful stuff. Insightful and fun. And you can join us to discuss it (meeting the last Monday in February at BookPeople at 7pm)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Chinaberry Sidewalks

To enjoy most celebrity memoirs, you must first be a fan of said celebrity. Oftentimes, that doesn’t even help. But in the case of country music singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell’s Chinaberry Sidewalks, all that’s required is a love of a really exceptional story.
Raised in Houston in the 1950s and 60s, Crowell’s early years are a crazy mix of hilarious and harrowing, his introductory chapter a remembering of pointing a loaded rifle at his father in order to break up a party when Crowell was only 5 years old. His was a childhood rife with dysfunction, so that even the lighter moments are imbued with a certain degree of tension. By the same token, his was a family filled with humor, so that even the darkest moments have a certain hum. To put it a different way, if Rodney Crowell’s family hadn’t existed, Flannery O’Connor would have had to make them up… and then Johnny Cash would have had to sing about it.
Instead, Johnny Cash’s former son-in-law sings his own songs and writes his own story, and it is as solid a story as you may read this year. I’d also recommend having Crowell’s album “The Houston Kid” along as a sort of soundtrack. This is a story of love and remembrance, of struggle and survival, of family and forgiveness. Both wild and winsome, Chinaberry Sidewalks is a must read.

1-16-11

Fiction/History/Memoir
  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
  • The Savage City by T.J. English
  • Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe
Philosophy/Theology/Sociology
  • After You Believe by N.T. Wright
  • God's Century by Monica Toft
  • The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
Re-Reading
  • Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself by David Lipsky
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Monday, January 10, 2011

1-10-11

Fiction/Memoir/History
  • Chinaberry Sidewalks by Rodney Crowell
  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
  • The Informationist by Taylor Stevens
  • The Savage City by T.J. English
  • Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe
Philosophy/Theology
  • After You Believe by N.T. Wright
  • Common Prayer by Shane Claiborne
  • God's Century by Monica Duffy Toft
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
Re-Reading
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Monday, January 3, 2011

1-3-11

Fiction/Memoir/History
  • Chinaberry Sidewalks by Rodney Crowell
  • Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
  • The Savage City by T.J. English
  • Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe
Philosophy/Theology
  • After You Believe by N.T. Wright
  • Common Prayer by Shane Claiborne
  • God's Century by Monica Duffy Toft
  • The Importance of Being Foolish by Brennan Manning
  • The Kingdom and the Cross by James Bryan Smith
Re-Reading
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Tales of Old-Time Texas

You've seen it on bumper stickers, t-shirts, and mugs; "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could." Well, I'll always be a Yankee, city kid, and Chi-town raised, but I still appreciate the sentiment. I didn't expect to love Texas the way that I have come to, but the people, the places, the folklore, and the music make up one grand story, and I'm a fan of story. And, because everything's bigger in Texas, this story is bigger than most.

So, when my friend "No One Says Texas Like" Christopher J. Hoyt recommended Frank Dobie's Tales of Old-Time Texas as his pick for definitive Texas tales, I proceeded to procure it and am pleased that I did. Dobie is a master-storyteller and the tales he tells are part history, part mystery, part riddle, part rhyme, and part reason. They are never so purely factual as to be dry nor so purely fantastic as to be silly. They are the kids of stories we reserve the tag tale for, and those are some of my favorite kinds.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

The Wise Man's Fear

Anytime you begin a series of books or films and said film or, in this case, book is more than you could have hoped, it's difficult not to raise your expectations for the follow-up to unreachable heights. The wise man's fear, in this case, is that the book won't measure up to the first and, therefore, the wise man keeps from being too sorely disappointed.

Years ago I read a book titled The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Not one for fantasy, I picked it up per a co-worker's recommendation and did not regret it. It was storytelling in the grand tradition and did not rely too heavily on purple prose and goblins and elves. It was like Harry Potter for grown-ups and I was excited to read the sequel.

Turns out, I wasn't the only one. Rothfuss has been taking some time with his second book and many's the fan that awaited it with baited breath. After some time passed, some of those same fans wondered if Rothfuss had it in him to write.

Well write it he did and read it I just finished doing. And while it's no Name of the Wind, it is still a stunning good yarn.

Rothfuss' first book felt like he had taken his time, probably because he had, probably because he could. His second book feels rushed, despite how long fans felt they've had to wait. That is to say, the first third of  the second book feels rushed, and I worried that the entire thing would be one big disappointment.

Turns out, Rothfuss was just rushing to get to the good part and, while it still feels rushed, the good part is very good. The sequel, at its best, is as good as the best parts of the original work. That said, it is not always at its best.

But fans will not be disappointed. The characters we've come to love are all here and so are many welcome additions. Good stuff all around. I still wish Rothfuss has taken another 6 months on the first third, but what he ended up with is more than fine.