July, 2011 reading: cool books for the hottest part of summer

What do you have on tap this month, reading-wise?

I'm currently tackling Neil Gaiman's MR. PUNCH (illustrated by Dave McKean). I've never understood the Gaiman phenomenon--this graphic novel is okay but, as usual, the story is overwhelmed by the imagery.

Matt Debenham's The Book of Right and Wrong.

Very non-snobby Wildefire is my current read (and I'm almost done with Miss Ravenel's Conversion!). Wildefire would be a decent read if the high school sophomore-age characters didn't act like they're twenty.

I picked up Zazen by Vanessa Veselka from Red Lemonade...it's awesome.

Red Lemonade looks like a fascinating venture, a partnership between publisher and author and reader. Look forward to seeing how the experiment fares.

Still meandering my way through Montaigne's Essays.

5, hi Cliff, I thought that was you in the line up of new members.

I'm all for experimenting with a new paradigm in publishing since the old ways are getting long in the tooth...I say, shake it up, see what happens, right? Anyway, I feel like a stray cat that found a generous person willing to put down a bowl of food...and it's damn good food. :)

You're right, Laura, I signed up but I've barely stuck my nose into the Red Lemonade site. When I'm done the novel I'm working on I might post an excerpt on Red Lemonade. I made a note when it came on-line and, natch, I am a fan of its founder...so I'll see what time constraints allow.

I'm still trying to scrounge the classical education I never got. I'm reading selected plays in Euripides I -- and II...and III...and IV...and V.

Considering all the incriptions on these old Latimore & Grene paperbacks, I'm sure many of you had groaned over these, as college sophomores.

#9 If you get tragedied out try some Aristophanes for light relief, that's what I did during Classics A-Level. Ah pea soup......

They're next, Kay. I am looking forward to them.

Reading Terence McKenna's THE ARCHAIC REVIVAL. Wild ideas, man. But there are even crazier notions to be found in most, if not all, of the organized religions so I'm willing to suspend my disbelief (at least thus far)...

I've picked up Madame Bovary, since I received Madame Bovary's Daughter for review and want to be able to see the differences between the two.

Susie> Madame Bovary is in my July TBR too, but it will have to wait until I'm done reading For the Love of the Dog and Spanish Short Stories 2.

I havn't read Madame Bovary, it's on my classics I have to read list, you must tell us what you think of it.

Still reading The Double Life of Alfred Buber For fans of Nabokov, check it out.

I may have gushed about Bovary before, but if you haven't read it yet you're in for a treat. I'm planning on tracking down more Flaubert eventually - maybe A Sentimental Education?

I actually am starting to make some progress in At Swim-Two-Birds thanks to a long weekend; unfortunately, the fiancee has been sick the whole weekend, and she kinda comes first. Sorry, books...

17: I love Flaubert, although I've read only his lesser known works, November -- a novella about a love affair with a prostitute -- and Salammbo -- a decadent carnival ride -- and finally The Temptation of Saint Anthony -- a hallucinogenic exploration of heresy and desire written as a stage play (and very influential on Joyce's "Nighttown" chapter of Ulysses). I'll have to check out Sentimental Education, also because I've had a thing for older women seducing impressionable young men since I first watched The Graduate

Reading Sin-A-Rama about the sleaze paperback biz of the 60s. Fascinating as hell!

Matt Debenham's The Book of Right and Wrong, which won the Ohio State U. Fiction Prize a couple years ago.

On an unrelated note: A.J., if you're following this thread, one of the doyennes of the Constant Reader group (1300+ members) over on Goodreads just praised your book.

17: This is my first Flaubert, and at a little over halfway through I'm enjoying it. My copy is a 1904 omnibus edition, though I'm not sure it's his completely complete works, just his most famous.

I read Badiou's Wittgenstein's Antiphilosophy. Not really interesting to anyone who isn't already into Wittgenstein, and even as a Wittgenstein 'fan' most of it seemed pretty irrelevant.

That said, it was refreshing to read a commentator who takes Wittgenstein's Christianity seriously, and some of Badiou's points are compelling.

18: Salammbo looks like a lot of fun. I'll have to check that out.

Finished The Thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet and enjoyed the story once we got past the long opening with all the financial corruption. Still, a bit of a mess plot wise and I often got the characters muddled (my bad, I'm sure) but I had fun reading it.

About to start Alison Wong's As the Earth Turns Silver.

Read The Year of Our War, Steph Swainston, which was June's (delayed) book for my 2011 reading challenge. Will be writing a post on the blog about it this weekend.

Then read Hav by Jan Morris, a travel book about a ficitonal city. Thoroughly enjoyed it, recommended. A review of it will be going up on SF Mistressworks this weekend.

Currently reading Bluebeard's Egg, a collection of short stories by Margaret Atwood.

Did I mention that in July I'm only going to read books written by women?

Reading more in Mythologies by Barthes. Great stuff. The link in critical theory between Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault (I wonder how many people I put off with that sentence?)

Rereading Borges's Ficciones.

Brain-twisting lit of the best kind. Have at it, Geoff.

Reading LAST STAND: George Bird Grinnell, the battle to save the buffalo, the account of how George Bird Grinnell fought to preserve the American bison from extinction. Sobering and effective history, well told...

Trying to finish The Tiger's Wife. Not liking it. Parts of it feel like one of these saccharine European art house movies they used to make. (Is it me or they don't make that many saccharine European art house movies anymore?)

Finished At Swim-Two-Birds and, as with some other books, came away enjoying it but not quite understanding it. Oh well, one step closer to Ulysses, I suppose.

Time to hunker down on David Copperfield. And maybe I can finish The Stand before the new GRR Martin is out this Tuesday...

I'm reading Patron Saint of Liars. I love Patchett, but I never read this one before. It's nice, but it's not Bel Canto.

A quick read: Roger Martin's Racing Odysseus.

Did anyone here go to St. John's College?

#28: That looks interesting; I have a book by Grinnell, Blackfoot Lodge Tales.

Yes, in the latter part of his life, Grinnell collected Indian stories and legends--he was especially fond of the Blackfeet people and often spoke on their behalf. Eventually he was made an honorary member of the tribe.

As the Afterword of LAST STAND notes, not too many people are familiar with the efforts of George Bird Grinnell to preserve America's natural spaces and indigenous animals. The folks in the US of A owe a lot to the man.

This Yankee Imperialist Bastard is currently reading Nothing to Envy.

chamberk,

I recently finished At Swim Two Birds also. For some reason, it reminded me of Roger Rabbit. Characters getting revenge on their author and all. This one reminded me that sometimes you just have to let go, let the craziness flow, and enjoy the ride.

Now working on The Name of the Rose. Fortunately, I have The Key to the Name of the Rose. This is proving very useful as, alas, I never learned Latin.

Gave up on Benjamin Percy's Refresh, Refresh after four stories. The first (title) story is good--though not as good as its publication in The Paris Review would suggest--but things go sharply downhill from there.

Finally got to a good story in Alistair MacLeod's Island, "Winter Dog."

Finished DEATH IN YELLOWSTONE, by chief historian for the park, Lee Whittlesey. There have been over 300 deaths in Yellowstone since its creation in 1872. Some of them (falling into geysers, bear attacks) were particularly gruesome.

Taking a break from my research and reading Henno Martin's THE SHELTERING DESERT. True story of two German nationals in South Africa who were facing internment during WWII and fled into the Namibian desert. Gripping, manly stuff about surviving in the wild for years, killing to subsist and living like an animal. Hard to find this book; my inter-library loan request fulfilled by the University of Waterloo library, a thousand miles from here...

Finished Mythologies by Barthes. Starting up Sade Fourier Loyola, also by Barthes.

I'm going through a mythology/folklore/retelling binge - read Grendel and the YA novels Golden and Beastly yesterday, now reading The Mabinogion and Percival's Angel.

Still wading through Porius which is unlike anything i've ever read before. The pace is weird and meandering but seems to me to be very authentic to how a dark age tale would have felt to the protagonists.

Tossed off Babbitt this weekend - must read more by Sinclair Lewis. It was so very over-the-top banal yet so very sad.

Trudging my way through War and Peace. I have the recent P&V translation. It took me a while to get into the story, and distinguish between the many characters, but I'm enjoying it now.

Currently reading Packing for Mars and annoyed at its inaccuracies.

Stick with Robert Zubrin, mate:

http://www.marssociety.org

He be THE man on Mars...

I have his The Case for Mars and his novel, First Landing. Both are signed, of course.

Hoping to finish 100 years of solitude in the next week or so.

Enjoying Sade Fourier Loyola by Barthes. Have to find my copy of Spiritual Exercises by Loyola This is Barthes working in literary criticism, remaining faithful to his "structuralist" roots. And the similarities between the writings of DAF Sade and Loyola is fascinating and not at all blasphemous or sensational, although the book title might betray that.

The Double Life of Alfred Buber is also excellent.

As promised, here's my review of God's War.

Started Between Past and Future by Arendt. Wonderful first essay.

Reading The Swarm by Frank Schatzing. Was shocked when I picked it up at the library (it was transferred from another branch) to discover it was 900 pages. I wish that page count was mentioned on the online library catalogue!

But I do have to say that once I've gotten past the first 150 pages that were mostly set up (so much clunky exposition!) that I'm finding it hard to put down.

Finished Ficciones and Island: The Complete Stories.

Just started A Dance with Dragons.

I'm still enjoying Aristophanes Three Comedies. The translations are not particularly loyal to the ancient Greek (whatever that is), but they are very enjoyable and full of notes and glossaries.

On the Fourier section of Sade Fourier Loyola What a wacky French utopian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fourier

Almost done with The Double Life of Alfred Buber Highly recommended for those looking for a sensual intellectual tale of love and loss in under 200 pages. (Definitely shorter than Game of Thrones)

Just read Puss in Boots by a German playwright whose name escapes me and starts with an L. It is on Google Books and I read it on my computer screen. It was very funny, with lots of comments from the gallery interspersed with the story. I'd love to see it presented on stage! And I bet it is much funnier in German - the translation seemed very stilted at times.

ETA: Author is Ludwig Tieck and it is on Project Gutenberg's archive.

Started Pratchett's The Color of Magic (after reading so many discworld books, how is it that I never read the first one?) and I'm making my way, slowly, through David Copperfield. The characters are great, but the pace is glacial.

Finally worked up the gumption to start A Moment in the Sun. Very good so far and I've developed muscles I didn't know I had.

I finished reading my ER novel, First Descent. It is an excellent YA novel about a Canadian teen who goes to Columbia to kayak a river, but finds himself in the middle of what could best be called a civil war, or a genocide of the indigenous people. It has a pretty good picture of the politics, but never loses sight of the fact that it is an adventure novel as well.

Next, who knows. I may go back to my Spanish language short stories, may pick up Madame Bovary or I may go slumming with a kooks & spooks title, Animal Ghosts.

Michio Kaku's Physics of the Impossible--a layman's guide to how things like teleportation and interstellar travel might (or might not) one day be possible. The section on anti-matter is freaking me out.

Currently onto the short, wonderfully neurotic,Indignation.

#60 That's what anti-matter does best. ;)

Started A.J.'s Combat Camera.

Also reading Sebald's On the Natural History of Destruction.

This week has been a bunch of young adult stuff: The FitzOsbornes in Exile, Enclave, and Following Christopher Creed. I also read Selene of Alexandria. I'm trying to read a lot now because school starts back in less than two weeks...

Bones Beneath Our Feet is splendid!

When Presidents Lie by Eric Alterman is also very good. Both a scathing indictment of the Presidency and the warmongering, easily impressed, slightly dim American electorate. And by slightly dim I mean a millimeter away from being labeled "developmentally disabled." Then again, America loves Ayn Rand and Michael Bay We deserve the idiots and egomaniacs we plunk into power. But hey! Best system in the world.

Warning: Above post may contain cynicism.

I put my nose to the grindstone (ow) and finished The Swarm. It had some great bits, but also some slow bits. What I mostly liked though is that it seems to have changed how I view the world, which is a great achievement. For me, it really rammed home the interconnectedness of nature, and our precarious position on the planet. I was always aware of green themes, but it put it into perspective, I guess. (Now let's see if it's a permanent state of affairs...)

Just picked up The Tiger's Wife. Early days, but I'm liking it so far.

Recent readings:

Packing for Mars, Mary Roach - didn't like: here's why.

Beirut Blues, Hanan al-Shaykh - not as successful as al-Shaykh's Women of Sand & Myrrh but still worth a go.

The Goda War, Jay D Blakeney - reread of space opera mind candy for SF Mistressworks.

Desert Governess, Phyllis Ellis - English woman is hired as English teacher for teenage kids of Saudi prince, but seems unable to accept some aspects of Saudi culture.

Resurrection Code, Lyda Morehouse - interesting sf novel, will be writing about it soon-ish.

City of Veils, Zoë Ferraris - Jeddah-set murder-mystery and Ferraris' second novel, much more satisfying than her first book.

Currently reading: Zoo City, Lauren Beukes, and it's very good.

Recently read: THE SEARCHERS by Allan LeMay (superb, quite different from the classic movie); THE WORLD JONES MADE (PKD); not among Phil's best work but tricky and entertaining, better than I expected.

In progress: WHAT HAVE YOU LEFT, gripping trilogy of crime novels by a new favorite, James Sallis.

Ian Sales' most recent author's photo bears a startling resemblance to a baboon's puckered pink bottom.

God, it's good to be back.

P.S. Canny review of the Roach book, Senor Sales...

Not being as familiar with baboon's bottoms as you so plainly are, Cliff, I couldn't comment on the resemblance.

Clearly you've never seen a group photo of the House of Lords.

Finished On the Natural History of Destruction--engaging for anyone, I think, but especially for people trying to write and thinking about what their cultural responsibilities (as writers) are.

Started Zaat, really good through the first chapter.

72: I guess that leads to the question: "Does the writer bear responsibility to anyone but his/her Muse?" A book can be good without having some lesson in it. It seems a very Victorian notion that literature impart some didactic moral lesson on the reader. For me, reading is about pleasure, not about morality. I leave that to the morally bankrupt thug-divas in the pulpits and on the campaign trail.

When it comes to what Germany (blaming just the Nazis seems disingenuous) did to Europe, the Dresden Fire Bombing and the Soviet conquest of Berlin lets them off easy. "You invaded Russia. What did you expect would happen, ya idiots?"

Pioneers of Martins Bay - Alice MacKenzie
A Life on Gorge River : New Zealand's remotest Family - Robert Long

2 books about life in the remote South West corner of New Zealand. A seriously rugged place with sandflies and huge weather. Fascinating.

#73> For me, reading is about pleasure, not about morality.

Says the reader who recently tortured himself with Atlas Shrugged. I didn't see much pleasure happening there.

I'm currently a little way into The Tiger's Wife. Enjoying it so far, but not as gripped as I'd hoped I would have been.

#75 I'm thinking of buying Atlas Shrugged for my friends new right wing bourgeois capitalist husband as a wedding gift. Does this sound suitable?

Das Kapital would be a better gift, I think.

Last day of July, finished Jim Thompson's A HELL OF A WOMAN. Second rate Jimbo, not up to his usual standard.

Says the reader who recently tortured himself with Atlas Shrugged. I didn't see much pleasure happening there

Reading for pleasure all the time would diminish its value. Can't eat chocolate all the time. Not healthy. Then again, the pleasure I gained was purely sadistic in nature. I'd read Rand's atrocious prose than take it apart with a claw-hammer, giggling while the Objectivist hordes squirmed in their gold-encrusted seats. Every critic needs a little Schadenfreude every so often, especially to a book so undeserving in admiration by wannabe individualists who act like Scientologists, but are actually more greedy and more deluded.

Working on The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Parts of it are great. Parts of it are exasperating.

72: It does in fact raise that question (i.e., whether a writer has a "responsibility" to his society), and for me the answer to that question isn't an easy one. I certainly didn't mean to imply that a book needs to be didactic or have a 'moral lesson'; I don't think Sebald is saying that either. Dealing with WWII wouldn't necessarily mean pontificating, teaching, moralizing (pick your term); but if 131 German cities are firebombed (and 600,000 killed) and nobody writes about it, it's at least fair to ask the question whether German writers of the 50s and 60s were abdicating what might be taken as one of the writer's core functions: to consider and report on the time he lives in.

#77 I think I'll read them both and encourage him to do the same- then let the heated discussion begin!

81: It would interesting to read On the Natural History of Destruction and Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke It would also be advised to Michael by Joseph Goebbels, since it is Ayran military-martyrdom porn -- imagine a Sorrows of Young Werther if written by Franz Liebkind -- got the German people into the whole mess to begin with. Luckily Americans have proven ethically superior and have not used populism and deception to rush into poorly planned wars like Vietnam and The Iraq War, er ... never mind.

For the upcoming month, July, I've set out to read the following books:
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
the classic novel Satantango in its original Hungarian by the renown and talented Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai
J.W. Dunne's An Experiment With Time
And, as a potential means of integrating my autodidactic studies in economics and mathematics, I'll be adding Silberberg's apparent undergraduate text The Structure of Economics: A Mathematical Analysis along with the more opaque Real Analysis with Economic Applications by Efe A. Ok to my bookshelf for studying over the course of the next couple of months.

In the mean time, I'll be finishing up my studies with the first of the two volumes of Kurtuluş Öztopçu's excellent Turkish course books Elementary Turkish.