Michael Chabon: American Author Challenge

Born on May 24, 1963 in Washington, D.C., Michael Chabon, (pronounced- shay-bahn) developed his craft as a writer, with his debut The Mysteries of Pittsburgh becoming a bestseller. His 1995 novel, Wonder Boys, was turned into a film, and 2000's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay won the Pulitzer Prize. He has published many other novels, stories and essays. Chabon explores a variety of ideas in language that's expansive in its scope, drawing from various genres and experimenting with storytelling structures. His ethnic/spiritual heritage, Judaism, has been a reoccurring theme in his work as well.

He is married to fellow writer Ayelet Waldman. They live in Berkley, CA.

**This is part of our American Author Challenge 2016. This author will be read in October. The general discussion thread can be found right here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/209611

I read Kavalier & Clay shortly before joining LT. It was an excellent, incredibly ambitious novel. I followed that up, a few years later with The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which I also really liked. Sadly, I have not read him since, so this gives me the perfect opportunity. I hope to read Telegraph Avenue and possibly a second one.

What do you think of Chabon and what will your choices be?

I'll be pulling Kavalier & Clay from the shelf, it's been there some years.

Well, Mark, we have identical Chabon histories! I read Kavalier & Clay before joining LT and since then listened to The Yiddish Policeman's Union. I'm toying with the idea of picking one of my Chabon tbrs to read for October.

Wow how serendipitous. First I love Chabon, could/will read anything he writes.

Secondly, was just at the library this weekend and pulled Final Solution (subtitle : a story of detection). Its a short little novella that is probably considered a juvenile. I'll probably finish it before Saturday, but I'll still count it.

My reading selections are usually spur of the moment and I very rarely do any of these scheduled reads. So nice to sync up with the rest of you all. :)

I don't have a good record this year when it comes to reading AAC books but I am hoping to get to The Yiddish Policeman's Union in October.

I've also not done the AAC but I enjoy Chabon's books, read quite a few of them and I've been wanting an excuse to pull Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands off the shelves.

Short and sweet The Final Solution, 131 pages. I'll start it October first.

Gentlemen of the Road will be what I read.

I've already read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, ...Kavalier & Clay, and Telegraph Avenue. Oh, and Maps & Legends. I love Chabon's stuff; too bad he doesn't create more quickly. *sigh*

I'll be reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union, which has been languishing on my shelves for yonks. I may also read selections from Werewolves in Their Youth

>10 weird_O: I'm leaning toward Gentlemen of the Road, too. I read it when it was serialized in the NYTimes years ago, but I think a reread of the entire thing sounds like fun.

Karen O.

I think I'm going to read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, which a friend recommended years ago. I've read Kavalier and Clay, The FInal Solution, and Gentlemen of the Road and liked them all, especially the first and last.

I also read and enjoyed Kavalier and Clay a while back. I plan to read The Yiddish Policemen's Union this month if I can get to it. I'm drowning in library books.

This day I finished reading Gentlemen of the Road. It was good. My work here is done.

I found Wonder Boys available now through the library's e-book collection. I've got one book ahead of it (in print) but I should get to it soon.

>14 EBT1002: I'm thinking the same. I'd been hoping to get to The Yiddish Policemen's Union this month and then 7 library books came in. We'll see...

^I just started Telegraph Avenue. This is Chabon's last novel and I have wanted to read it since it came out. It is also narrated by the wonderful actor Clark Peters, from the excellent HBO show, The Wire. I am not sure if he has narrated anything else but he is a good fit for this.

Early on, the book reminds me of High Fidelity, with all the great music references.

I would probably have never picked up this author if not for AAC. I finished Gentlemen of the Road and really, really liked it! Great pick, Mark!

I started The Yiddish Policeman's Union a while back and didn't get very far. I am going to give Kavalier and Clay a try, most people seem to really like it.

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon 4.2 stars

“They were little more than boys, and yet while they differed in race, in temperament, and in their understanding of love, they were united in this: The remnant of their boyhood was a ballast they wished to cut away.”

“The past was irretrievable, the league of lonely men a fiction, the pursuit of the past a doomed attempt to run a hustle on mortality.”

Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe are longtime friends and they run a funky little record shop called Brokeland Records. It is located on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. Archy is thirty-six and expecting his first child. A big-shot, businessman wants to buy out their store and open a megastore. It is tempting, since the store is a fading relic and they struggle to survive but there are plenty of conflicting forces, keeping them from pulling the trigger.

This novel is a mosiac of pop culture, filled with music references, mostly classic jazz and soul, films from the 70s, Blaxploitation and Bruce Lee movies. A Tarantino tapestry, told in smart, fast-paced prose, that Chabon makes looks so smooth and easy. The characters are vivid and memorable. A nice companion piece to High Fidelity and it is refreshing to see African Americans characters, front and center.

**I read this for the AAC and the audio version was excellent, narrated by the terrific actor Clark Peters.

Change of plans: I picked up Manhood for Amateurs on audio and started that. It's a series of essays about being a father, husband and son, and quite good so far.

>17 lindapanzo: Exactly!

I posted this on my thread, and to the book page, but here's my "review" of my Chabon book for the month. I read The Final Solution, sure it was a novella and a quick read, but I've read just about all his other stuff....

Near the end of WWII in the English countryside, a boy is walking along the railroad tracks with a parrot on his shoulder. An old man looks up from his bee-keeping journal to see that the boy is dangerously close to touching the live "third rail" of the tracks. The old man drags is 89 yr old frame out of his chair and out of his house to stop him. He discovers that the boy doesn't talk and the parrot is talking, but only in numbers, and in German.

Thus begins a quaint little novella that brings the old man (who the locals know once used to be a detective of some renown) into a mystery with nazi spies, a missing bird, and secret codes. Is the old man up to the challenge? The game is afoot.

I'm jaded because Chabon is one of my favorite authors, but this was a fun little read. When I first picked it up, I thought it was the basis for the movie; Mr. Holmes. But I was wrong, at any rate, it was a very enjoyable read.

8/10

S: 9/25/16 - F: 9/30/16 (6 Days)

I bought Summerland in my September binge buying. Finished it last night and it was a great read! Fantasy, a bit of mystery and a classic tale of good and evil. And did I mention baseball? Echoes of Shoeless Joe and Field of Dreams.

>24 mahsdad: Chabon is also a favorite of mine but I haven't gotten to The Final Solution yet.

I am jealous of those reading Telegraph Avenue for the first time. It was Chabon at his best: music, story, friends, nostalgia, all woven together. Slate put together a Spotify playlist with most of the songs except, of course, those by Cochise Jones.

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon

This is a delightful collection of essays ruminating on both childhood and adulthood and the various roles we play in others' lives. Chabon is particularly wonderful at evoking the magic and wonder of childhood, and several of the essays detail incidents from his growing up. He is also very funny, as in the excellent "I Feel Good About My Murse," as well as deeply thoughtful as in the moving "Xmas." Dealing with a wide array of subjects, from circumcision to cooking to Legos, Chabon is a wonderful chronicler of his own life and makes unexpected connections to his readers' lives along the way.

I would also note that the audio is read by Chabon himself, and is very, very good.

4.5 stars

Enjoying Kavalier and Clay but have had to set it aside for a few days to read my book group read.

I'm not actually sure I'd read another Chabon for a while though, my sense is that they have a similar nostalgic formula.

Finished my reread of Gentlemen of the Road and enjoyed it a lot! I'd read it for the first time when it was serialized in the NYTimes (2007!) He has such a gift with language.

Karen O.

There is no way I will finish Kavalier and Clay by the end of today but I am more than halfway through and really enjoying it. I will read more by Chabon in the future. Thanks for introducing me to his writing, Mark.

>29 Familyhistorian: ditto. Put it down to read local book group book, then got distracted. Will get back to it though.

>30 Caroline_McElwee: My excuse is the holds that kept coming up in the library and a humongous Len Deighton book that I am reading for November's BAC. What is with all these doorstoppers for the challenges?