the summer is here and i have revived the art of the summer reading list. inspired by free time and johnathon lipps’ facebook application, here is my current list:
CURRENTLY READING
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Umberto Eco)
RECENTLY FINISHED
A Private Hotel for Gentle Ladies (Ellen Cooney) - if your dime store soft core novels do not have enough subtle turn of the century feminism thrown in, then this might be just the fluff reading you need to start your summer reading list.
Pattern Recognition (William Gibson) - i enjoyed it. which is surprising with the amount of baggage i brought to the novel. i was aware of the basic storyline. a young woman with the mysterious ability to judge successful branding strategies searches for the source of an internet movie phenomon. i began the book hoping to place myself in the main role. it was the first fiction that i had read in months, and i suppose i wanted too much to start. because of these expectations, i originally disliked the protagonist; she was nothing like the woman i wanted to be and frankly, her desperate need to remove labels (literally and figuratively) from her life seemed excessive and ridiculous. but as the book continued and the narrative became a twisted current cyberpunk thriller, i gave up on projection and succumbed to gibson’s convoluted style. in the end it was a simple story with an excellent reflection on the current state of new media and its ability to transcend personal, social, global, and cognitive boundaries.
Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami) - i was blown away by this book. i had read some murakmi (upon recommendation of a cute boy - what a surprise) years ago, “hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world.” i recall enjoying it, but i don’t have exact recollections. recently on a trip to london, my lovely old roommate dan abramson (who is currently “devouring murakami”) got me back into it. the book feels somewhere between catcher in the rye, catch 22, and the bell jar, and a coming of age novel that follows the journey of two men years apart. of course, written in what i can only assume is a poetic japanese style. i love post globalization coming of age fiction…
Lullabye (Chuck Palahniuk) - i enjoyed it, a great story regarding the worth of life and death as well as issues of power. but i think that’s trying to be a little too profound for what, in the end, was an interesting story about a rag-tag family trying to end sudden infant death syndrome. i suppose DREW CASPER would analyze the story as a fairy tale featuring the alternative family so often present in postmodern fiction and our search for the family unit. a man searching for meaning in the world must leave his home and comfort zone on a journey wherein he meets a variety of characters, some friends, some foes. and somewhere along the line, he grows as a man and learns to deal with his new self.
Convergence Culture (Henry Jenkins): its like having a conversation with henry. unfortunately, books about new media tend to become outof date by the time they are published. this is particularly evident regarding his analysis of harry potter and reader interest. youth readers have created their own worlds and fan sites promoting fan fiction and an integration into the wizarding world. media conglomerations have attacked these fans, thus promoting a healthy skepticsm regarding media ownership and mis-information. a topic directly addressed in the fifth book, “harry potter and the order of the phoenix,” published *after* completion of the book…
The Last American Man (Elizabeth Gilbert): i had forgotten how simple and entertaining biographies are - one cannot expect the trite plot twists of standard fiction. just when you think you know where the story is going, it doesn’t.
the life of eustace conway is a difficult one to process but it seems rather easy to relate to. a man turned off by various aspects of society seeks to create a utopian sanctuary while teaching the tenets of simple living to anyone who will listen. i think that this utopia can be related to living off the earth, or learning to live in our hyper mediated environment. unfortunately, the reason that one is turned off by society can make it difficult to change it. furthermore, you can’t expect the society that you despise to produce a perfect individual. eustace conway is far from perfect, his mate will be far from perfect, as each and every one of us.
the book is an excellent analysis of the romantic mythology of the american frontiersman, although i don’t think that the title is entirely appropriate. but then again, the perfect american man is subjective. i think my perfect american man is both urban and rural, isolationist and social, private and public. american culture is an oxymoron, and the perfect american man is too.
BOOKS TO READ
Sandman (Neil Gaiman)
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (Umbertdo Eco)