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What Is Everyone Reading? » 6 replies

Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood

I really liked this book as a science fiction novel. That could be seen as a slight, since it certainly has elements of social commentary and an underlying political stance, but to be honest, they really feel more like the background setting at times than a central part of the reading experience. Atwood, it turns out, is very good at setting up sci-fi scenarios (as in Blind Assassin), and somehow feels more natural the further she gets from everyday experience. When she drifts toward the world of the mundane, her humor can occasionally become a bit unintentionally farcical. Some books are meant to hit home, change the very way you see the meaning of life and your place in it, but this one is more a story to drift along with, in the pure escapist vein. As go ends of the world as we know it, this one is a strangely cheerful place, a nice place to visit for a few days...but not stay!

That Old Ace in the Hole
E. Annie Proulx

I tend to dislike political messages desguised in novelistic clothing (e.g., Ayn Rand, Ruth Ozeki) but Proulx does a great job of avoiding that pitfall in this underacclaimed book. What could have, in other hands, been a boring screed about the evils of massive corporate hog farms in the Texas panhandle turns into a funny and sensitive, slightly mocking, but heartfelt novel about a place with which most people have no familiarity. Proulx definitely pokes a little fun at what she sees as the rather extreme politics, strange traditions, and general idiosyncracies of the north part of Texas (about as big as New England, BTW), but she isn't cruel. You get the sense she has a great deal of respect, and a sincere amity toward them, rendering the book a travelogue with a message, told by a storyteller who understands how to take on a vernacular and mine literary gold from it.

The Fourth Hand
John Irving

Irving's most recent novel, about a man who loses his hand in a tragic on-camera accident, only to receive the offer of a transplant if he agrees to give its former owner's widow visitation rights, is in many ways a return to his past novelistic ways. The book is jam-packed with bizarre happenings, an Irving staple, but the protagonist is driven by pure testosterone, which these days seems a little willfully old-fashioned. Personally, I liked the effect, and found the story an enjoyable and sarcastically funny, if not particularly enlightening, read, but I can see how it could drive many a female reader nuts if they expect any sensitivity on the author's part. I think the lesson is that you need not like a protagonist to like a book, but you can't be turned off too frequently by him, lest his humor wear thin and the devices seem threadbare. Irving loves scamps; I have to agree here.

Chin Music
James McManus

Years before his WSOP exploits, McManus wrote this novel during the heyday of America's refound fear of nuclear doomsday in the 80's. The plot concerns a recently comatose White Sox pitcher trying to get home through Chicago, his newly lovestruck teenage son's last baseball game, and his wife's desperate search to find both, all of which happens as the missiles are on their way and chaos erupts in the street. Needless to say, the plot is secondary. The novel is extremely stream-of-consciousness, with all the joys and pitfalls inherent to such; some of the images work amazingly well, some fall flat. Consider it a bizarre reflection of the time, if you will, a glimpse into the paranoia of a previous generation, which could possibly enlighten us about similar obsessions of the current one. There has always been a boogeyman, he just changes geographical regions to suit the news. Try Amis's "London Fields" for a longer, darker, take on the issue with less redeemable characters.

The Dream of Scipio
Iain Pears

In "An Instance of the Fingerpost", Pears told the same story through four very different sets of eyes; here, he shows how classical philosophy enlightens analagous stories set in the 5th, 14th, and 20th centuries. The interweaving of the three tales is impeccably done, deftly switching centuries with a smooth touch, giving equal time to all three protagonists. The philosophical punch of the novel, on the other hand, comes as something of a revelation. Having foreshadowed his main theme in the philosophical treatise uniting the three leads, he very slowly develops their parallel tales of love and civil strife, until one might think he was running out of steam. In the denouement, however, he is masterful, as each character must face down their beliefs when forced to choose between principles and preservation. The end results are surprising, but thought provoking; no easy answers here.

Walking the Bible
Bruce Feiler

Feiler's initial idea was a brilliant one: to travel through the lands of the first five books of the Old Testament, (re-)discovering how the stories found within are tied to the land in a way that cannot be understood in any way but firsthand. His observations of how the landscape and its waters and deserts, mountains and valleys, helped to shape the perspective of the Israelites is impressively written, and opens up several interesting lines of thought. After millennia, the land is still much the same, so one can still experience much of what the Biblical forefathers did. Feiler is much, much worse, however, at relating how his newfound sense of spirituality is reflective of universal human experience. He shoehorns every conversation into his own caricature, and loses sight of the fact that in the end, God is in some ways inherently personal. It is the search that is universal.

The Quincunx
Charles Palliser

Given its Victorian influenced structure, theme, and even spelling conventions, it really isn't much of a shock that "Dickensian" is the adjective most commonly applied to this book. In some ways, it has both the strengths and weaknesses of a genre piece, even if the choice of genre is hardly en vogue in modern literature. While the characters are a bit two dimensional and the plot occasionally a tad bit contrived with too many complex interrelationships to seem perfectly legitimate, it is fun to read a story which pays such careful attention to developing a fiendishly intricate plot, whose mysteries grow ever more deeper before being untangled at the end. This is a book for people who like puzzles, but it helps to take notes as you read; a trip down memory lane, if you will, from a century before our time, to a world that seems so distant that it was made to be refictionalized.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Michael Chabon

Last one for a while, but have no fear, as long as Jason gives me space on the website I'm happy to use it.

A fantastic tale from the author of Summerland and Wonderboys, and screenwriter for Spidey 2. I don't know why so many younger American Jewish writers are turning their attention recently back to Europe, especially in the holocaust era, but it has led to some great fiction. With the exception of the penultimate Antarctic chapter, which both Shevah and I found to be out of place, this book does convey the energy of a comic book New York City, a world of (minor) heroism, moxie, and street-smarts. Chabon's talent seems to lie in great ideas for novels, and the opening sections here are as interesting a setup as I can think of (the Golem subplot would make Isaac Bashevis Singer proud); like the novelist in wonderboys, however, he has trouble closing them out. Still, this book captures magic in a bottle, and I can't wait to read the comic book it inspired.

The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon

As fans of postmodern fiction go, I am something of a heretic in that I absolutely hated Gravity's Rainbow, which I found overly long, often nonsensical, and painful to read. Lot 49, on the other hand, I liked the first time I read it, as well as the second. It doesn't make much sense, as one might expect about a novel whose central premise involves conspiracy theories centered on an underground rival to the world's postal systems, but it's generally a fun read, with enough humor and wackiness to keep the pages turning. In many ways, either many of the great conspiracy theory novels are in its debt (I suspect Foucault's Pendulum is in this category) or should have been (cough, Dan Brown, cough). As literary novels go, this one is light, forsaking any self-enlightenment I could see for frequent laughs, but it's painless, and with Pynchon, that is worth something.

Girl with Curious Hair
David Foster Wallace

Though they are often lumped together as young, brash, cheerfully ironic postmodernists, Davids Eggers and F. Wallace have nearly diametrically opposed styles of writing, which becomes extremely evident here. Wallace has writing talent nearly without limit, and can play with words like few others, but he can be extremely cold emotionally in his writing. Oftentimes, you get the feeling that he neither likes nor dislikes his characters at all, and has little emotionally invested in them, which can have the same effect on the reader. That said, several of these stories are momentarily brilliant, almost to the point where this book would be best if alternated with someone fluffier like Hornby. The highlights here are the fictionalized celebrities, esp. Alex Trebek and Lyndon Johnson; you'll never watch Jeopardy the same way again at the very least.

Big Trouble
Dave Barry

Popular humor columnist Dave Barry's first novel is an absolutely hilarious send up of the crime novel; a soft-boiled farcical caper story which wouldn't have seemed out of place as a wacky 50's movie (introduce the characters, set up the plot, and zaniness ensues!). Apparently, I forgot the fact that Tim Allen, Rene Russo, and many others were in the film version of this a couple years back, but I think, having not seen it, I'd recommend the book, either instead of or in addition to it. Barry's humor is based on quirky insights, the little bizarre things that make daily life so much fun to mock and laugh at (Bryson is similar, BTW); such things are better on the printed page and in one's own internal monologue. I rarely say this, except apparently this summer, but this is another classic beach novel and a really good one.

World's End
T.C. Boyle

This early Boyle novel is set in his own backyard, in a fictionalized version of Peekskill, NY in the Hudson valley. Rarely have I liked a book so much even though its central conceit falls rather flat. In theory, the book is supposed to demonstrate how its protagonists' lives are shaped by their forerunners, telling quasi-parallel tales of the same families in the 1960's, 1940's, and 1780's. Personally, it didn't do much for me in that respect, other than tax my suspension of disbelief about no one ever leaving town for over two centuries. Thankfully, Boyle can really tell a story. It doesn't hurt that the group here is in many cases more sympathetic than his other works, but regardless, when he is on a narrative roll he is one of the most fluid and clever authors I can name. If you will, read his books as fantasy novels anchored in mundane settings, it befits them.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Bill Bryson

Bryson (Walk in the Woods), upon returning to America after living 20 years in England, wrote a weekly column for a British newspaper about life in his birth country, collected here in book form. As usual he is hilarious. I find myself bringing up anecdotes from the book several times per day about the little things that make life so ridiculous. Much like Dave Barry, he has a talent for finding the humor in the otherwise mundane, while including a rather staggering amount of general trivia for a comedic columnist.

Besides its value as nearly ideal beach/summer reading, this is one of those books that manages to give you some new perspective on your own situation by looking at the familiar from a different (and amiably skewed) angle. Bryson loves America, in every sense of the world, and skewers life here as only a fan can manage.

The Robber Bride
Margaret Atwood

Lest y'all think I'm too uncritical a reviewer, here is one I really disliked (Shevah expressed many of the same sentiments, albeit a bit more diplomatically).

A shockingly bad book about three generally passionless and passive women who all lose their even more passionless and passive men to the same mutual college acquaintance; in this world, women have little control over their own lives, and men no power whatsoever to resist a femme fatale, or even maintain independent thoughts in her presence. The characters are described at great length but remain caricatures (The Intellectual, The New-ager, The Businesswoman), Atwood buys into every tired literary device she uses wholeheartedly (overly predictive tarot card readings, etc.), and I honestly think she had no idea whatsoever how to draw this mess to any form of vaguely satisfying conclusion. I get her point, that the honorable yet passive sometimes wish they were more active even at the cost of their own morals, but this is a poor attempt at the theme from an otherwise talented author.

Animal Dreams
Barbara Kingsolver

Got some catching up to do now that I'm back in the broadband world...I'll spare your inboxes by only doing one per day.

This story of a woman seeking peace with both her past and her future in her childhood hometown in Arizona is in many ways a smaller novel than Kingsolver's more recent works (Poisonwood Bible, Prodigal Summer), but it really works much better as a complete and polished work. The smaller scope (only one primary narrator) lets her focus on the heroine, allowing her empathy as a storyteller to flesh out her protagonist into a complex and interesting character. The subplots, which could have otherwise become overly melodramatic, are resolved in a rather minimalistic but well-proportioned way, letting the focus stay on the people in the book, who are its narrative strength. As psychological explorations go, this one feels dead on; that the setting is obviously deeply familiar to the author doesn't hurt one bit. If not a great book, it is definitely a deeply good one.

Devil in the White City
Erik Larson

Shevah read this one first, and also really liked it.
Two thumbs up!

A dramatized true history of Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition, and it's most notorious serial killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes. Larson spins an engrossing tale, capturing a vibrant Chicago at its fin-de-siecle finest, and most terrible. Throughout, he shows how a city known for being big managed for a summer to be grand as well.

A thought: Chicago is a much more modern city than most people (myself too) realize. The city burned to the ground in 1871, the fairgrounds (and Holmes' deadly hotel) in 1894. The famous landmarks, including the Sears and Hancock towers, are all recent. This is likely a good thing. Chicago was once a dark and dreary place; now the air is better, the city is cleaner, and there is so much more than soot and stockyards. That is has so much further to go (current murder capital of the USA) may indicate just how far the road it once faced was.

About a Boy
Nick Hornby

From the author of High Fidelity comes a story of a 12-year old outcast who basically adopts himself a happily unattached man as a father figure, with generally amusing results. The book is significantly better than the Hugh Grant movie, especially at the end, since it knows not to push too much redemption on the basically unredeemable. Overall, a breezy read, with some drop-dead hilarious passages, occasional insight, and a few emotional wrong notes. The latter might be unavoidable, since Hornby is British and like much Britcom the comedy borders on farce. Push your jokes constantly to the limit, and some are going to go a bit past the breaking point. I'll take the end product happily, however, since it allows Hornby the freedom to not take his subject too seriously, which reflects real life much more than the rigidly constructed comedy strangling American sitcom TV and most movies.