I want to be Fleshy and Comfortable.

I haven't done a book review in a very long time and I probably won't get to do one, at least not one purely based on my own fancy, for a while. I *like* what I'm reading in Grad School but it's not the same as the complete euphoria I felt at getting to collect my own library and read whatever I wanted, really, for the first time ever.

I've read a lot of stuff since my last book post, but a lot of it was for my book club. Fully 50% of the people who read this blog (I imagine) are in that book club, so I'm not going to bother reviewing those books. The book club is a totally odd creation because we always go into it with such enthusiasm and try to stick with it, but without the wine and cheese and good company it sort of fizzles out (let's be honest).

This year we read, or at least attempted to read, the following books + (Three Word Review):
The Enchantress of Florence, by Salman Rushdie (Not His Best)
The Witches of Eastwick, by John Updike (Movie Ends Better)
My Lobotomy, by Howard Dully (Lobotomies are Fascinating)
and
Pygmy, by Chuck Palahniuk (Talk Funny Terrorist)

The problem now is that I have a read a lot of books in the time since I last posted and I have a lot to choose from, but I won't overburden you with silliness. Some things will just have to go into the vault. Now, the the wheat (as opposed to the chaff).

East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
First let me say that I have never read something by John Steinbeck that didn't reach into the very roots of my soul and take up residence there. With that out of the way, this book is so wonderfully American. It is the story of families and individuals in relation to the Salinas Valley in California (of course), but what's wonderful about it is the multitude of vignettes and character studies that fill the book. The overarching story of the Hamiltons and the Trasks is grand, but I absolutely love the amazing little stories he tells about the characters. The book is very fleshy and comfortable. It's serious and sad and sweet, but Steinbeck drives me completely crazy because I find myself saying, "God, that is so true. There is so much truth in this."

"In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influences and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of though or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world." p. 412-413

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
This is a rediscovery. Over the Fourth of July I got into the habit of calling Tim "Huckleberry", and in Colorado I picked the book up and started reading the Modern Library Classics introduction to the text by George Saunders, which has section headings like, "The Ending, OH MY GOD, the Ending" and "Let's Burn It, Then Ban It, Then Burn It Again." To me, if you cannot laugh at Mark Twain, or with him, rather, your days must be very stressful indeed.

I highly prefer Huck Finn to Tom Sawyer (although, honestly, if I was one of them I'd probably be Tom) because Huck looks at the world the way it is and reacts to it normally. Tom lives in a book and, to the detriment of those around him, tries to squeeze the world to fit his fantasy. As a 13 year-old high school kid reading this for the first time, I didn't get any of this, and I didn't care. Ok, ok, there's a raft on the Mississippi and this crazy kid who's naked all the time, and this guy Jim, whatever... but read it again. It's so much better now.

The Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
This too, I re-read for probably the third or fourth time. I picked it up because I felt like my life was completely insane at the time and like everyone I knew was trying to throw everyone else I knew off of a cliff. After re-reading this, I'm sort of astonished and maybe proud that we hand this American middle schoolers and say, "here, process this in your wee brains." If the book was not required reading in your middle or high school, know that it is the story of an airplane full of young boys, about 4 years to 16 years old who crash land on a tropical island with no surviving adults and only Piggy to serve as their slightly tubby and asthmatic voice of reason. If I would be Tom Sawyer, I would also be Simon. Which would not work out so well for me.

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
by Michael Ondaatje
This is a very short collection of poems from the author of The English Patient. The different styles and points of view, the photographs and even interviews put together a fascinatingly jumbled, but also, sometimes, deceptively crystal clear portrait of this larger-than-life figure and also of Pat Garrett--because you can't have a hero without a villain and vice versa.

It's not an easy read. The poems aren't simple or "fun." But they're intriguing. Also, I'm in love with the cover.



Blindness
by José Saramago
The very definition of "not simple, fun, or easy to read." The words are easy enough, sure (despite the fact that the style will make you feel the urgency of the story, with its almost utter lack of periods and paragraphs). But this is surely one of the most disturbing pieces of contemporary fiction I know. The premise is simple: one day, everyone in the world begins to go blind. But because the process is gradual (over the course of a few weeks, rather than instantly or over a few years), those with sight throw the rapidly increasing population of the blind into quarantine. This is mainly the story of one group, in quarantine in an abandoned mental asylum, stricken by the horrors not only of a world totally without sight, but without any sort of real provisions.

Like American Psycho, I have to say that the book is a good book. I'm fairly certain there's something about the style and concept that borders on brilliance--it won the Nobel Prize for God's sake. But there are parts of the book that are so disturbing. You will want to scrape your mind clean with a brillo pad, but unfortunately, it's very hard to unlearn something once it's been learned.