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O’Hara – Appointment in Samarra

21 Oct

Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara (1934)

The decline and fall of Julian English.  Merry Christmas!

This was my first experience with John O’Hara and it was a good one.  This book came highly recommended to me by my father who read it some years ago.  I admittedly did not know what to expect based on the title.  I figured somebody made a dinner date in Iraq; sort of like when I picked up Catcher in the Rye as a teenager thinking it was going to be like Field of Dreams.  The cover of my edition (as seen above) shows the silhouette of a wasted looking dude slumped in the passenger seat of a Cadillac.  That is what I should have been expecting.

The story surrounds Continue reading →

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The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures

16 Oct

by Dossie Easton, Janet W. Hardy (2009)

“For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. Experienced ethical sluts Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy dispel myths and cover all the skills necessary to maintain a successful and responsible polyamorous lifestyle–from self-reflection and honest communication to practicing safe sex and raising a family. Individuals and their partners will learn how to discuss and honor boundaries, resolve conflicts, and to define relationships on their own terms. “

Sounds nice, right? Continue reading →

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Spreadsheeting

3 Oct

It’s not a hobby.  I have an unhealthy obsession with spreadsheeting.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a disorganized, dumpy piece of shit.  That is true for the most part; however, I spend a lot of time organizing the things that I actually care about (i.e. music, movies, books, video games etc…)

My DVD’s are organized alpha by title and sequestered into movies, box sets, television, documentaries and music.  In similar fashion, my books are Continue reading →

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Egan – A Visit From the Goon Squad

3 Oct

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)

Time is a goon…and so is this novel.

Whatever happened to the conventional novel as opposed to the contemporary novel-ty novel?  I’m all for creativity and trying for something new, but a chapter done in Powerpoint?  What’s next…Chapter 14 is displayed at night in the lit windows of a Manhattan skyscraper (hmm…maybe I’m on to something).  I am getting a little tired of contemporary literature that lets the story/characters take a back seat to Creative Writing 101 toying.

The novel is Continue reading →

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Hesse – Steppenwolf

28 Sep

Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse (1927)

Der Steppenhipster

Our protagonist, Henry Haller, is introduced in a brief preface by Haller’s landlord’s nephew.  The preface is largely expository and not all that interesting.  This novel takes a good 100 pages before it really drags the reader in; that’s when I start finding more and more notes and dog-eared pages.  Haller is plagued with a “sickness of the times.”  At the end of the preface, the nephew tells us that the story is “an attempt to present the sickness itself in its actual manifestation.  [It] means, literally, a journey through hell, a sometimes fearful, sometimes courageous journey through the class of a world whose souls dwell in darkness, a journey undertaken with the determination to go through hell from one end to the other, to give battle to chaos, and to suffer torture to the full.”  I learned from Hesse’s 1961 forward to the novel that Continue reading →

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Greene – The Quiet American

1 Sep

The Quiet American by Graham Greene (1955)

Innocence

The term “innocence” continues to appear in The Quiet American and we learn very quickly that Fowler has his own definition.  “Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering around the world, meaning no harm.”  Innocence is also dangerous according to Fowler.  He considers Pyle to be the most dangerous man he knows.  Fowler knows that Pyle is intelligent (a Harvard boy), and has good intentions at heart, but he is entirely ignorant with regard to the local politics.  Continue reading →

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Amis – Dead Babies

24 Aug

Dead Babies by Martin Amis (1975)

Those books.

Martin Amis is a master of debauchery, depravity and douchebaggery.  Amis’ second novel, Dead Babies, is well-written, dark and hysterical at times.  That being said, his novels often contain characters that though wildly entertaining, elicit little or no sympathy from the reader.  Dead Babies is no exception.

Perhaps Lucy Littlejohn, the “golden-hearted whore” as we are told even before the novel starts, is deserving of sympathy.  She at least has a heart as evidenced by her Continue reading →

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Nabokov – Pale Fire

23 Aug

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (1962)

Though Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire could be challenging and indeed trying at times with its intentional incoherence, I found it to be absolutely fascinating.  It is a novel strewn with endless Easter eggs of clarity left for the reader to tinker with.  And “novel” is a term to be used loosely; the reader is given a forward by a fictional scholar to a 999-line poem by another fictional poet, followed by notes and a corresponding index by said scholar.  Not to mention the fact that he is insane.  The story is constantly jumping from forward to poem, note to poem, note to note.  I’m fairly certain that the unabridged version of Pale Fire would be well over 999 pages…or index cards.

Pale Fire is only the second Nabokov novel that I’ve read, Continue reading →

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