Tuesday, January 18
Last five books
After reading several Big Important Novels and several other long epics ones over the last few months, I went to Farr Library's new books shelf looking for thin novels. That was the main criteria, judging not by cover but only by thickness, and oddly a theme emerged. First I read Checkpoint, then Visa for Avalon.
+ Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint: In May 2004, Jay has summoned his old friend Ben to a hotel room not far from the nation's capitol. During the course of an afternoon, Jay will explain in 115 pages of dialogue to Ben exactly why and how he is planning to commit a murder (of the current president). It's not a good novel, but the writing is crisp and Baker captures the passion of 49 percent of the country.
+ Bryher's Visa for Avalon: In this chilling futuristic 150 page novel, four men and women attempt an escape to legendary Avalon after "the Movement" threatens the liberty and comforts they have taken for granted in their unnamed homeland. First published in 1965, it resonates profoundly in the U.S. in 2004.
So then I went to our shelf and ran with the theme, pulling off Orwell's 'Animal Farm' (or Animal House, as I called it earlier today)(which I finished tonight), his '1984' and William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies,' which I set bedside to read soon (after two more Baker novels I pulled from the library yesterday after reading Checkpoint). It's like a minicourse in political theory and sociology, and while depressing, the parallels (in Animal Farm especially -- the sheep drowning out any/all political conversation/discourse with their repeated "four legs good, two legs bad" chants and the ever-evolving stories the pigs use to explain their actions and cover their mistakes) to what's happening in America today are fascinating and somewhat chilling.
And, for the record, the final two of the last five I've read are: David Sedaris' 'Me Talk Pretty One Day' (I didn't find it as funny as everyone said it was, or, rather, it didn't live up to my expectations) and Life of Pi author Yann Martell's short story collection 'The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios," which was interesting but unsatisfying. Read Life of Pi instead.
+ Nicholson Baker's Checkpoint: In May 2004, Jay has summoned his old friend Ben to a hotel room not far from the nation's capitol. During the course of an afternoon, Jay will explain in 115 pages of dialogue to Ben exactly why and how he is planning to commit a murder (of the current president). It's not a good novel, but the writing is crisp and Baker captures the passion of 49 percent of the country.
+ Bryher's Visa for Avalon: In this chilling futuristic 150 page novel, four men and women attempt an escape to legendary Avalon after "the Movement" threatens the liberty and comforts they have taken for granted in their unnamed homeland. First published in 1965, it resonates profoundly in the U.S. in 2004.
So then I went to our shelf and ran with the theme, pulling off Orwell's 'Animal Farm' (or Animal House, as I called it earlier today)(which I finished tonight), his '1984' and William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies,' which I set bedside to read soon (after two more Baker novels I pulled from the library yesterday after reading Checkpoint). It's like a minicourse in political theory and sociology, and while depressing, the parallels (in Animal Farm especially -- the sheep drowning out any/all political conversation/discourse with their repeated "four legs good, two legs bad" chants and the ever-evolving stories the pigs use to explain their actions and cover their mistakes) to what's happening in America today are fascinating and somewhat chilling.
And, for the record, the final two of the last five I've read are: David Sedaris' 'Me Talk Pretty One Day' (I didn't find it as funny as everyone said it was, or, rather, it didn't live up to my expectations) and Life of Pi author Yann Martell's short story collection 'The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios," which was interesting but unsatisfying. Read Life of Pi instead.
