Color me excited!
Since I got to watch Lost live this Tuesday (My thoughts? What he said.), I really had no incentive to crank out an obligatory blog entry which may not have been the worst thing because reaction to the last few has been mixed. So instead of beating the dead horse that is my obsession with new media (ZOMG! HULU! IPADS! KEVIN SMITH'S WAISTLINE!), I thought I would catch my faithful readership (Still only this guy) up with what I have been reading.
Yes, I have been reading books....B-O-O-K-S. I know it appears sometimes that I sit around all day and beat off to Jack Bauer beating up a terrorist on 24 while Green Day blares from my iTunes, but believe it or not I partake in other forms of entertainment. I hate to sound cliche here (no I don't) but there is something to be said for holding printed entertainment and culture in your very hands (go get the newest issue of Backdrop now). Plus, how is everyone going to know you're smart if you don't have a classy looking paperback in your hand? I suppose you could just start a pretentious blog and write about how much you love The Wire, but that isn't for everyone. In that vein, let's take a look about the fine works of literature I have gotten my nose into lately - beginning in chronological order from the beginning of the summer through yesterday.
The Curse of Rocky Colavito - Terry Pluto
This is a non-fiction book from Cleveland/Akron sportswriting legend Terry Pluto about the Cleveland Indian's trade of fan favorite Rocky Colavito to the Detroit Tigers for the chumptacular Harvey Kuenn in the 1960s. The Tribe has been "cursed" ever since. My favorite moment from reading this book was sitting in the lovely Twinsburg Starbucks and holding a half-hour conversation about the 1960s and 70s Indians with a Northeast Ohio old-timer.
Spook - Mary Roach
The first book I ever read from the wonderful Mary Roach was Stiff, an exploration of everything you would ever want to know about a human cadaver. The next was Bonk, a book about the scientific study of sex. Both of these books straight up rocked (I now know that the female monkey orgasms within about 8 second), so I picked up Roach's second book, Spook, from the handy-dandy Twinsburg library. I can safely say that this was the worst of all of Roach's efforts. The problem: Spook is about the scientific exploration of the afterlife. Well guess what: science doesn't have much to say about the afterlife...turns out it is fairly implausible and we have very little empirical data on the subject. Kudos to Mary Roach for wringing 300-some pages out of near-death experiences though.
Fargo Rock City - Chuck Klosterman
Those who read the Collective(ly) Unconscious closely know that Mr. Klosterman is a big influence on my writing. Sex Drugs and Cocopuffs is one of the greatest things I've ever read. Killing Yourself to Live is undeniably brilliant. So I decided to read Klosterman's first book, continuing my tradition of reading author's catalogues in the wrong order (see Roach, Mary). Unfortunately, Fargo Rock City is boring. Not bad, not without its merits...just boring. Apologies, Chuck, I am just not a fan of metal and I was born in 1990. I'm sure everyone else loved it!
Y: The Last Man, Book One: Unmanned - Brian K. Vaughn
It turns out that Brian K. Vaughn is as awesome as I thought he would be. I had wanted to read this ever since I found an appreciation for the graphic novel novel. I knew I had to read it once I found out that Brian K. Vaughn now writes for Lost. Win! Good science fiction reveals something about ourselves that we never even realized. In the instance of Y, it's that being the last man on Earth isn't all it's cracked up to be. Surprisingly, women won't want to have sex with you...they will want to kill you for being the last remnant of a patriarchal society. Bummer.
IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas - Chuck Klosterman
I have now read everything Chuck has written aside from Dowtown Owl and Eating the Dinosaur. IV is much better than Fargo Rock City in my eyes, but slightly worse than Killing Yourself to Live and much worse than Sex, Drugs and Cocopuffs (then again, what isn't?)
Next up on my docket is A Heart-breaking Work of Staggering Genius. Hopefully, I can knock that out over Spring Break.
By the way, Marisol was veeeery trippy. I never thought I would see a man give birth on stage. Now my bucket list is nearly complete.
1 comment:
Nice to see you can still read a book and ejoy it.
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