The Only “Best Of” List You Need

One of a Kind

Weighing in on The Known World

Back in November, Nitro posted on The Known World by Edward Jones. The book won a Pulitzer and a National Book Critics Circle Award. Nitro seemed to back those calls without explicitly saying so. Dr J was merely whelmed by the book. It was sitting in my “to read” stack, so I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about.

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2005: A Year in Books Quiz

The Guardian has a year-end quiz to see how well you’ve been paying attention. It tends towards the Brit-centric. Here’s my score:

You scored 10 out of a possible 20. Frankly, you could do better. Try reading the books rather than just looking at the pictures in 2006.

Thanks, The Guardian. Anyway, I am back from travelling for the holidays and have more catching up to do before the end of the year. A flurry of posts coming soon.

A Million Little Pieces

I just finished A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey.

The book tells the author’s story of his six weeks in a rehab facility in Minnesota to overcome addictions to alcohol and just about every drug you can think of. As mentioned on the back cover, the book opens with the author waking up on an airplane with his four front teeth missing, his nose broken, and a hole in his cheek, with no idea how he got on the plane, where it’s going, or what he’d been doing for the past couple of weeks. I’ve had my share of blackouts and mystery bruises, but this was a doozy.

As the author begins to tell his story, through a recounting of his daily activities with a sprinkling of flashbacks thrown in, neither he nor his story is particularly endearing. He writes with a very stream-of-consciousness style (reminiscent of the writers of the beat generation), I suppose to reflect the disorganized state of his mind and the lack of control he has over himself, and he doesn’t follow many standard conventions of English prose (for example, I don’t think a single quotation mark appears anywhere in the book), and he often repeats himself. The adjustment to this writing style, as well as the realization early in the book that he is pretty obnoxious, presents a hurdle to wanting to continue with the book, and certainly with respect to “rooting” for our author.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, and I can’t really understand how it happened, but at some point prior to my saying “I’ve had it — this writing is hard to follow and I don’t even like this guy — I quit”, I found myself wrapped up in this one. Frey somehow managed to bring me over to his side and make me want to read the rest of his story (and hope for a happy ending). There are some downright heartbreaking stories about some of the people who populate this rehab facility, and at some point, you realize how heartbreaking Frey’s life has been — despite your inability to place blame for what he’s gone through on anyone but himself. And you root for him. And when you get close to the end, you’ve forgiven him for everything he’s done, even after he hits you with some stuff that he hadn’t shared earlier in the book and that you wouldn’t think you would ever forgive someone for.

Strangely enough, this was a former selection in Oprah’s Book Club. I have no idea why. Not that I’m intimately familiar with said Book Club, and not that I have anything against Ms. Winfrey (who I admire as much as the next guy), but this just doesn’t seem like her bag. I guess because it’s a story of struggle and redemption, it came up when she was Googling around looking for her next selection, using those search terms. And I think she picked a winner.

Safe Area Gorazde

What’s up slackers? I can only assume that the dearth of posts lately is due to everyone last minute shopping and then curling up in the evenings with their books and mulled wine. I haven’t been getting much reading done lately myself due to holiday mania and work travel. Luckily, I have a backlog of books that I still need to tell you guys about that will take up some of the slack. Next up is Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Bosnia 1992-1995 by Joe Sacco.

Remember that war? Remember how Republicans in Congress provided succor to our troops by rallying behind President Clinton during a time of war, providing him with their unwavering support? Me either. Luckily, this book isn’t about us. It is on the ground reporting of the impacts of war on real people in an UN-designated “safe area” during the war in Bosnia. Oh, and it is told in comic form. Read on below the fold.

I was not a big comics fan growing up, and I really had not read much of the adult-oriented graphic novels until this year. I read art Spiegelman’s Maus when it came out, and I think that it is something that everyone should read. After Maus, though, I quickly reverted to text-only snobbery. The attention that comix started to get over the last few years with Persepolis, the new Spiegelman, the McSweeney’s collection, and other titles, got me to have a second look. I am sold for the most part. I am convinced that there are some stories that are best told in this way.

Sacco’s war stories, I think, would have suffered if relayed in typical journalism or war-memoire styles. Any explanation of the players in the Bosnian war would require you to draw your own figure on a napkin outlining the ethnic and national groups and their relationship with one another just to keep them straight. Then there are the geographic regions and their alliances to keep straight. You’d need a chalkboard to keep going back to. Having Sacco’s images to go along with the text is so much more visceral and immediate than a column from the front lines. In relaying the horrors of war, it is also much more direct and honest. The author does not allow you to conjure a rose-colored sepia-toned romantic image of Gorazde, he supplies you the reality as he saw it on the ground.

Going into this book, I really had no idea what the whole Bosnian war was about. This book provided a basic back story of the break up of Yugoslovia, although it is principally about the war as it happened in a specific place. For more information, a big picture history would be the way to go. Sacco provides a “suggested reading” list at the end of the book. I enjoyed the book and felt better informed as a result of having read it.

Sacco is a war correspondent who has a few other books on the Bosnian war and a book about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. I will be checking some of those out in the new year.

2005 Cultural Elite

New York Magazine has compiled their 2005 Cultural Elite Awards. Their book awards are interesting with sections like “The best first sentence” and “best blurb”. They also speak highly of The Tender Bar. The Magazine, and several other publications, offer huge praise for the Year of Magical Thinking. Accordingly, I reaffirm that I will never read that book under any circumstances.

A “best of” List with a Longer View

Time magazine came up with a list of the 100 best books since 1923. Interesting. The list includes potential surprises like a Judy Blume book and comix.

Back to the Scatological

So the potty has been on the brain lately, as our child has just begun to try hers out. We have lots of interest and some actual “leavings”. So far, so good. I was intrigued then horrified when I came across a link to reviews of two books that are geared towards “a diaper free” baby. The gist is that children in other (i.e., third world) cultures don’t use diapers. Therefore, their methods of training are better than ours, which leave children marinating in their own filth. These methods also reportedly build a closer bond between parent and child and lead to quicker training. And its environmentally friendly. Sounds great.

Here are a few red flags:

• It “requires a pretty big commitment of time (natural elimination does not work in full time day care), and a different way of thinking (pee is sterile, not dirty)” – No jobs for you moms, but you knew that already.
• “It’s going to be a long struggle to get folks used to carrying chamber pots around, or having their baby pee on your lawn, but I think it will happen in small numbers”. Not on my prize-winning begonias!
• It will take a “re-education of the modern public to accept”. And then some. I can see this happening on a future episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry becoming irate.

Here’s my favorite: “Our family is long past the diaper age, but if we were doing it again, this way makes a whole lot of sense”. So there you go. My children won’t be taking a dump in the Target parking lot, but you should seriously consider it.

Crunks (?) of 05 List

Regret The Error has year end awards for the “best” in newspaper corrections and errors. It includes such popular typos as “Jew Jersey” and “beef panties”. I’m not sure about the use of the word “Crunks” in the title though. I’ll admit that I have no idea what the word actually means, but it appears misused all the same. I am convinced that the word “crunk” was invented to make those who are over 30 feel out of touch with the younger crowd. And stay off my lawn!

The World Is Flat and this book is too long

Okay, in my attempt at setting the record for the longest consecutive streak of books started and bailed on, I just gave up on The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thomas L. Friedman, about halfway through. (By the way, if you get credit for the number of pages in the books you bail on, I’m sure bailing on Atlas Shrugged clinched the title for me.) Anyway, since I’m sure you all miss me, I thought I’d post on this one anyway just so’s I can write something. [more after the jump]

While I give Friedman credit for pointing out an interesting insight, I penalize him heavily for doing so in such a dragged-out manner. This book is not “Brief” in any respect. For those of you who haven’t read this one or aren’t otherwise familiar with it, Friedman takes a neat little metaphorical statement and beats the hell out of it for way too long. See, his main point is that the level of access to information and the ability for people all around the world to connect to one another is evening out because of advances in technology (including the very technology that is allowing me to convey this information to you). He likens this “evening out” or leveling of the playing field to “flattening”. And he starts the book with a recounting of a trip to India to study outsourcing. Get it? Like Columbus tried to go to India and ended up proving the world was round, Friedman uses his trip to India to prove that the world is “flat”. A mixed metaphor, and wrongly applied, if you think about it (see, if the world was actually flat, it would be more difficult for people in opposite corners of the world to connect to one another, or at least to deliver goods and services to one another, whereas when the world is round, the distance between any two people is always going to be at least as short if not shorter).

Anyway, the point is the point, and in retrospect, it seems so obvious that I can’t believe Friedman was the first to point it out (and perhaps he wasn’t, but I don’t feel like researching it). But Friedman belabors the point by (in addition to beating the hell out of his metaphor and trying to force his ideas into line with it) trying to come up with his own list of “flatteners” and “convergences” that have leveled the playing field. And I guess that’s what writers get paid to do — to take things and make them their own. But I think I learned everything he wanted to tell me in the first half of this book. Thank you, Internet. [read Nitro’s thoughts on the book for another opinion- ed].

Freddy and Fredericka

So, that time that I got locked out of my office and worked at the library and they were having a used book sale — I also picked up Freddy And Fredericka by Mark Halpern.

I will be completely honest here. I picked this book up entirely because of its name and the faux royal crest on the cover. The name is a funny inside joke, and the royal seal made it funnier. Plus, it’s 550+ pages were priced to move at $1.50. Sure, you might argue, that since I was in the library at the time, I could have taken the book home for free. Clearly you have no understanding for the depths of my bookolepsy illness. Anyway, if you want to know more about this one, hit that” more” link.

The blurb on the inside flap says that the book is “an extraordinarily funny allegory about a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the individuals caught in its lonely absurdities.” And I suppose that’s true. I think the word “allegory” might be a tad off. It’s more of a farce or satire, which quickly becomes apparent when characters such as the prince’s mistress have names like “Lady Boylinghot”. A palace is called “Moocock”. Not much allegory there, but make sure your satire helmet is firmly buckled.

The story is about a noble, but isolated Prince of Wales who is biding his time to become king. The Princess of Wales is shallow and materialistic. They don’t care much for one another, and the first third of the book is about their absurdly comic lives. Freddy, the Prince, learns that a secret test of his worthiness to the throne has found him wanting. An ancient advisor to the Throne, Mr. Neil (an anagram for “Merlin” we learn later) is summoned. He devises a test for Freddy to prove his worthiness. Freddy and Fredericka are to be airdropped on the former colonies with nothing but loin clothes. Freddy must then reclaim the United States for the Crown to prove his worthiness.

Once the book moves to the US, Freddy and Fredericka undergo a series of adventures and soon learn the nobility of the common man. Through some accidents of fate, Freddy finds himself immersed in American politics where he becomes wildly popular. I won’t give the ending away, but hilarity ensues and lessons are learned.

As much as the book is supposed to be “deeply mocking” of the monarchy, it sure seems to go out of its way to show the inherent nobility of royalty and how they are, in fact, better than most of us. Strangely, the book makes a point of showing Freddy and Fredericka getting in touch with their true noble characters in the United States, “where every man is a prince”. Puh-leeze. That is some truly biting satire, no?

I don’t know Mr. Halpern’s nationality, but the author blurb says that he “was educated at Harvard, Princeton and Oxford, and served in the Israeli Army, Israeli Air Force, and British Navy”. Slacker.

I didn’t hate this book. I’d put it firmly in the “OK” column. If you’ve got this book and another possibly good book in your hands, go with the other one. If you find this book at a sale for $1.50, there are worse ways that you could go. I guess my overall impression was “meh”. I guess the lesson learned, and who could have foreseen this, is that a book bought with little foreknowledge of its merit and largely on the strength of its title and cover may not have been bought with the best purchasing criteria for an enjoyable read in mind. Live and learn.

Suttree

On a good recommendation, I decided to read Suttree by Cormac McCarthy.

My copy of the book compares Suttree to works by Southern writers William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Mark Twain. Being a southerner, I take that kind of thing pretty seriously. And BGB’s Dr J says that at one time he considered handing out copies of Suttree on the street corner to strangers. If ever there was a book in danger of having my expectations set too high, then this was definitely it. Did it measure up? After the jump…

The book is set in Knoxville, Tennessee during the 1950’s. Cornelius Suttree is living in a ramshackle houseboat on the Tennessee River making his living as a fisherman. Really, we would consider him homeless. Over the course of the book the reader learns that Suttree has a family of priviledge that he has turned his back on, that he has gone to college, and that he has found himself living as a homeless person by choice.

The book portrays the seamy underbelly of Knoxville with grim but often amusing tales of poverty and degradation. For example, early in the book there is a scene that mirrors a recent news story – only it was watermelons. And then things get worse. Then they get even worse. Then briefly better. Then worse. Can things get any worse? Yes, they can. Then they get less amusing. Finally, there is hope, if not redemption. Whew. The book is supposedly semi-autobiobraphical. I sure hope that it isn’t.

Suttree is firmly in the Southern Gothic school of literature, which is not a bad place to be. Its debt or homage to Faulkner is evident throughout. The book begins with a dour but baffling “Dear Friend…” intro that sets the gothic stage. The first two or three paragraphs also confuse the reader – we’re not sure who’s talking, what they’re doing, where they are, how, or why. Very Faulkner.

In perusing the web site for the Cormac McCarthy Society (with a scholarly journal and annual convention), I came across the phrase “the violence of change”. That’s a great way to summarize the themes of the McCarthy books that I’ve read (this one and the Border Trilogy). Where the Border Trilogy might be said to be about the violence inherent in changing the nature of the west, Suttree seems to be about the violence of personal change. In both works, there is no undoing the past or going back to a “before”.

The WikiPedia page for Cormac McCarthy includes a quote from a critic who says that McCarthy is part of an elite pantheon of living American novelists, along with Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, and Phillip Roth. Sure they’re all white men, but whatever. I’m not sure that I am willing to back that call entirely. I did feel smart reading this book, however.

I was in Knoxville today for work, and I had hoped to use this handy Suttree map to pick out some of the scene locations, but it was rainy and cold. Also, I had things to do.

“Best of ‘05″ Round-up

The NYT, not resting on their laurels for creating a Top 100 notable books list for 2005, now narrows it down to a top 10.

The Christian Science Monitor has a best fiction of 2005 list.

The Guardian posts lots of British-people-who-may-be marginally-known-to-you’s selections for the best of 2005.

The Sunday Times (UK) has a Brit-centric best of 2005 list.

And the LA Times weighs in with their best fiction of the year.

Peace Out

I always figured that the members of Skull and Bones determined each year’s nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. But according to a recent story on NPR, elected officials from various nations including this one, as well as professors of history, philosophy, political science, theology and international law are eligible to nominate away to their hearts’ collective content. For instance, this year that august pool has nominated, among others, Oprah Winfrey and Stanley “Tookie” Williams, founder of the Crips. (Or is it the Bloods? I get them confused. Oh, Tookie.)

Dr J happens to be employed in one of the above fields (barstool philosopher), and is willing to forward ideas to the prize committee. The Suggestions Window is now open.

Peenie and Poopie with Alternadad

Writer/blogger Neal Pollack has a new memoir coming out about hipster parenting to be called Alternadad. I’d be hard pressed to qualify as a hipster, but I’m a parent – and I think it is going to be a hilarious book. Check out Neal’s blog entries about potty training: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Potty training is right down the road for me, so I am sweating bullets.

Update: Part 5.