*One of my favorites
2015
The First Bad Man – Miranda July – Austin – January
I’ve never spent that much time with a character like her before. A middle aged woman a little too comfortable in her aloneness. Sexually repressed. I’m worried I could end up like her, which is not all bad, she makes her way through the world. I have a cat. I may be ahead of schedule.
2014
Not That Kind of Girl – Lena Dunham – Home – December
I’m not sure what to think about this. Definitely made me examine my relationship to woman. It’s gotten better, for sure, but I’m not fully there yet. I still allow myself to enter into relationships under the delusion I’m actually capable of being in a relationship. This is not fair. Next time I’ll be ready. For reals.
Under the Skin – Michel Faber – Austin – November
Since it was my favorite movie of the year I figured I should read the book for more insight. I was expecting much more explanation of what the aliens were doing on earth, but actually I think it was a pretty faithful adaptation. Most of the book is her just driving around in a car pickin up hitchers. My favorite thing was how distinct of a voice each guy had.
Frankenstein – Marry Shelly – Austin – October
Some classic horror approaching Halloween … For starters why did the doctor have to be such an asshole. Was his creation THAT ugly. Maybe this is why it works better as a book than a movie. The monster never looks repulsive enough in the movies. SOMEBODY would give him a chance, right?
The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion – Austin – October
Not many books have made me cry. It all builds and you feel like you feel removed until the towards the end when it hits you too. The grief’s inevitable. So is death.
Chronicles Vol. 1 – Bob Dylan – Austin – September
Some good insight into how he sees the creative process … at least for him. You don’t have to worry about being influenced too much or what you take from where. All you are is a filter of your experiences anyway. You can’t help but be unique. Draw from whatever moves you. Something’s gotta get you going.
The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon – Austin – August
Have been hoping to get into Pynchon for awhile and thought this might be easier to get through than V, which I started a few times and burned out on. I certainly appreciate the paranoia and wild tangents but overall didn’t do much for me.
Word Freak – Stepan Fatsis – Florida – August
Man the gap between the complete novice Scrabble player, the person who thinks they know a few tricks like two-letter words, and the truly obsessives out there is insane. Has motivated me to improve my anagramming skills but now I’m realizing I don’t know the words, so how can I recognize them. It did improve my WWF game though. Now I put a lot more energy into setting up bingos than I did before. Mostly pays off … would pay off a lot more though if I knew the words. Anyway, the level of detail he applied to these characters actually reminded me of DFW, so I obviously liked that.
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself – David Lipsky – Austin – July
The one thing he would admit being proud of and happy about was the work. Hard work, again. You have to relish the work.
Mary – Vladamir Nabokov – Austin – June
Pretty, pretty language. Maybe that’s why I love Lolita (the book) so much … because he’s indulging in his love of language and the way words sound and flow and can even combat each other.
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers – Austin – May
Deeply sad, deeply felt. Music was her only way out.
The Fly (short story) – George Langelaan – Austin – May
Totally different structure from movie. Starts at the end, pieces together what’s happened. Different way of building the suspense. Both work well. The transformation certainly lends itself more to movie version, so that makes sense.
White Noise – Don DeLillo – Austin – May
The rhythm, the flow, the lull lull lull.
Dune – Frank Herbert – Home – April
Precious precious water.
Spurs (short story that inspired Freaks) – Tod Robbins – Asheville – February
No sympathetic characters. The Freaks are assholes too. Not like the movie.
Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story – D.T. Max – Asheville – February
Perceived so much, worked really hard, had the mental capacity to process it and then some, until it was all too much…
The Circle – Dave Eggers – Asheville – February
Hard to write about present day technology without coming off as goofy and making everyone into caricatures, apparently, very disappointed.
*Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace – Denver & Home – January
Oh boy … I can say now it was hard and totally worth it and there is definitely a relationship between the amount of work or effort you put into something and what you get back in return. That’s assuming, especially when you’re talking about art, that there was something real and substantive there. There is here. What he does so well is drill deeper and deeper into a subject in a way that never gets olds and forces you to live in the experience. This book is definitely an experience.