Season's Readings, Summer 08-Fall 09

It is astounding to me how much I haven't read in the past seasons. By a combination of not having the time (the brewing and birth of our third child; a teaching career, which is inherently parasitic to one's time in the early years of its practice) and not taking the time (the pervasiveness of other interests: video games, film, worthwhile television (Lost, Mad Men, Heroes, The Wire, The Office), I have only managed to finish the following works.

Summer

"Pincher Martin" by William Golding. This was better in retrospect that during its reading. While I was engaged in it I was confused most of the time. The inner workings of the character were hard to follow comprehensively, and it wasn't until the final "twist" of the story at its end, that I appreciated the story as a whole.

"Roughing It" I started this in the Summer of 07, and didn't finish it until Summer 08 - as I took the myriad anecdotes a piece at a time. It was excellent, as Mark Twain is always excellent. The story of the old dog at Mono Lake had me howling with laughter. Though his mining camp chapters were given a darker hue than he infused them with from my experiences watching "Deadwood".

"Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin. Despite my never having been too great a fan of Steve Martin's stand up, I enjoyed this book's chronicling of Martin's career from inception to over-ripening. I loved everything about his chapter at Disneyland - sharing in his perception of beauty and attention to detail in the park; the story of his simply riding up on his bike at getting a job there. Fantastic.

Fall

While I was waiting for the audiobook of the next Aubrey-Maturin book to come in from the library, I browsed through and picked up "The Mistress of Magic" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I enjoyed this lush retelling of the Arthur legend from a woman's perspective - but not enough that I postpone my progress through O'Brian's naval adventures to continue Bradley's series. Perhaps later in 2009...

Patrick O'Brian's book, "The Letter of Marque" can in, and was just as good as his other tales. It only suffered from that fact that the library didn't have the audiobook version recorded by Patrick Tull.

Then, again waiting for the next book in the series to come in - and as it had become football season - I picked up John Grisham's "Playing for Pizza" which was an entertaining departure from his law thrillers.

I then finished my Fall reading with David Sedaris' "When You are Engulfed in Flames". While I missed hearing about his family more in these new essays, he was at his usual hilarious/insightful best; and the titular essay was exquisite.

Audio-file Accessibility

The good folks at The First Line have put the WKCR (Columbia University) Art Waves performance of my story From Mamma to Mother and Back as Episode 22 of their TFL on Tape Series.

Go check it out here:
http://thefirstline.com/tfltape.htm

Wayward Celebs

I have decided to discontinue attempting to acquire an agent to represent my first novel, "Alexander Murphy's Home for Wayward Celebrities" and self-publish it in the form of a blog (as the "printing price" of that medium is aligned with my budget).

At this point, I am only really interested in having the flawed, but beloved, thing read.

So please go read it.

http://waywardcelebs.blogspot.com/

Season's Readings Winter 2007-Spring 2008

Ah, summer vacation. At last I find the energy and motivation to blog again.

No forthcoming publications to speak of, and so I will continue my correspondence with the web-ether by relaying the poor history of my reading over the course of the year so far.

I closed 2007 by reading...

"The Prosperous Peasant" by Tim Clark and M. Alan Cunningham. I enjoyed this curious work immensely - though it's hard to define: not quite self-help, but a sort of quasi-fictional anecdotal wisdom of Japanese folklore to be applied to our culture. Anyone with an interest in feudal Japan would enjoy it for its stories alone, but those who choose to look beyond entertainment will find fuel for evaluation and application.

and continuing my progress through the Aubrey-Maturin series of Naval fiction with "The Ionian Mission" which trickled into 2008, where followed "Treason's Harbour", "The Far Side of the World" and "The Reverse of the Medal". All continue Patrick O'Brian's fine briny storytelling, and fantastic characters. I have had the added pleasure of having these stories narrated to me on audiobook by the brilliant Patrick Tull, and I am heartbroken that the next book in the series is not available at my library in audio with him as narrator.

and slowly continuing my progress through Mark Twain's "Roughing It", which I did enjoy, but suffered most cruelly from my other interests, requirements of time, and energy. In the end, finishing it became a labor that few authors other than Mark Twain could have maintained some semblance of enjoyment.

Also in the realm of audiobook, I adored Neil Gaiman's "Coraline" and "Stardust". both performed by the author. I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Gaiman's graphic novel work on "Sandman", but these two books finally gave me the opportunity to illustrate his rich works in my own mind. Gaiman is a master of darkness with beauty, and I will devour any other audiobook I can find read by him.

Thus ends my collection of first readings. During these season's I also reread "The Hobbit", on audiobook. See a pattern here? Unless it was in audio or I was teaching it, or it was consumed on a school vacation, I did little reading. As I have previously suggested, much of this was due to a lack of proper reading time. But then, as I finished my teaching credential concurrent with my first year of teaching, time I could have devoted to reading I spent on other interests - particularly video games. I have speculated on the reasons for this, and come to believe that it was a mixture of intellectual fatigue - with such a high percentage of my mental resources devoted to my teaching and credential coursework - and wanting to entertain myself with a medium that afforded me more control of the experience than literature. As the director of the film of my reading I have some say in the casting, art direction, and cinematography; but I don't control where the story is going. Video games gave me the control I craved in my escapism during this period. Now that I am truly free from lesson plans and credential requirements for a spell I am quivering with reading possibility and enthusiasm, and look to have a more substantial account for my next installment of Season's Readings.
Until then...

Seasons' Readings, Fall 2007

Only managed a paltry four books read this season, as the majority of my time was consumed with my new full-time teaching gig. In fact, the only reason I was able to read these books was that they were on audiobook on the way to school (or rather, schools - one I learn at, and one where others learn from me).

But now that I am on Winter Break from both schools I am hoping to play some reading catch-up.

Ah well, on to what I read:

I continued Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, reading "The Fortune of War" and "The Surgeon's Mate." Both continued O'Brian's tradition of stirring sea tales with characters to invest in; I particularly enjoyed "The Fortune of War" for it's descriptions of early 1800s Boston.

Then I read the first two travel books by Monty Python alum Michael Palin, "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Pole to Pole." I preferred "80 Days" for its wealth of exotic locales, but both were excellent for Palin's humorous perceptions, relating his curious experiences in circum( and semi-circum)navigation.

In addition, I read several short stories by Guy de Maupassant, Leo Tolstoy, and others, in order to have an idea of what I was talking about when I taught them.

Seasons Readings, Summer 2007

A healthy ten books comprised my summer readings. This season I particulary followed my prediliction toward existing upon a school year schedule, where summer readings were for the most part fun, genre reads - nothing too emotionally involving or academic: a mentally necessary summer vacation from the intellectually engaging labor of the books I "Should" be reading, in favor of books that exist for me solely as entertainment.

And I'll start with the Big Momma of Summer Reading for the majority of the world's readers, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Utterly fantastic, exceeding my expectations. J. K. Rowling deserves her booksales - indeed she deserves every accolade for offering us four thousand-one hundred pages of exquisite characters who evolved before us - characters I could love, despise, pity, and mourn; breathtaking events in expertly realized places; a breathing world populated with creatures of imagination. If you haven't read the Harry Potter series get over yourself and do it.

Now I'll continue this document of reading by genre:

Horror:
Stephen King's, "Gingerbread Girl" - Now it's been a while since I read Stephen King, so I don't know if his tone has changed or if I am just imagining it, but this novella seemed singular stylistically for King. I can't entirely articulate how - that it's more jocose than I remember is the best I can come up with. Oh yeah, and I enjoyed it. Being a novella and during summer vacation, I was able to experience King as he should be: a one sitting, in the night.

Thomas Harris, "Hannibal Rising" - Harris remains the most psychological and erudite of horror writers with this logical origin story for Hannibal Lechter, but has yet to match his previous masterpieces "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs."

Thrillers:
Jeffrey Archer, "A Matter of Honor" - entertaining, but ridiculous.

David Baldacci, "Absolute Power" - very well done. Disappointed with the Clint Eastwood adaptation now after reading the source book.

Naval Fiction:
Patrick O'Brian's "The Mauritious Command" and "Desolation Island" continued the vastly entertaining Aubrey-Maturin series. "Mauritious" took perhaps a bit too long to get going, but otherwise offered fascinating naval lore, action and intrigue; "Desolation" in particular had some amazing tension.

English Mystery:
Agatha Christie's "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", which introduces Hercule Poirot was quite enjoyable, but her "And then there were none" was a masterpiece of plotting.

And, finally, for something completely different, I read Lou Anne Johnson's "My Posse Don't do Homework", which was an excellent memoir of her first years teaching (and the basis for the film "Dangerous Minds"). In turns frustrating and inspiring, but always true. A resource for all potential teachers, especially in English.

Other than these, I continued crawling through Mark Twain's "Roughing it" - enjoying it anecdote by tall tale.

Till next season - keep on readin'

Bibliographical Augmentation

Hail readers! My first foray into worlds nonfictional is available, namely my essay on the first line of Maurice Sendak's classic Where the Wild Things Are, published in the Fall 2007 issue of The First Line (www.thefirstline.com).

It concerns reading as formative experience, memory, and mischief, and is a particular favorite of mine.

Enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.