California Sun

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

We’re knocking ‘em off, one by one—all the books I’ve been meaning to read. Eats, Shoots & Leaves is in this family, maybe like the weird but hip great-aunt. I figured an entire day spent in the air and sitting in airports would be an ideal time to brush up on my punctuation. After all, I am trying to be a better writer.. and stuff.  

Many of us would wish to banish the hyphen or the semi-colon, to send them both into extinction (I’m not like this, but somewhere somebody is). Lynne Truss’s well-stated argument  is to keep the punctuation marks we have since there’s so few to begin with. She would challenge us to learn how to use it properly, instead of changing it.

And can you believe how idiotic a company like Lands’ End is? Can more than one land have ownership over a single ‘end’? You’d think brightly-dressed rich people have better sense. I like the history of language and typesetting she includes, and also her wit and humor. I flew through this one, which is good because it’s due back tomorrow.

I’ll stop whining eventually, but it’s troubling to consider how little from these books my mind is really attaining. Taking in so many in a short amount of time can feel pointless in this way. But still, it felt natural hanging on to most every word in this one, even reading quickly. Perhaps I’m improving? The next should go fairly quickly, too.

This was book #14. #15 is not that far removed, considering it was written by a deceased author Lynne Truss likes to quote.

Venn Diagram

[via] Indexed

Maps & Legends

I’ve never read Michael Chabon. Last year, after so many people seemed to enjoy The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, I took it on myself to buy a used copy at Mojo Books, then a week later found myself sendinf it off to a friend. The only reason I can remember for doing this was that the hardcover edition was too bulky to fit in my backpack on a plane ride to Boston, and I was already packed to move.

Ever since, upon visiting bookstores, the cover designs for both the hardcover and paperback copies of Maps & Legends have been calling out to me. This time I had a gift card, and decided it was time to give it a go. When one has adequate resources, buying books always trumps checking them out. And then there was the Acknowledgments section: instead of being a list, I flipped to find a topological map of authors Chabon has found influential and helpful. 

For a book categorized under Literary Criticism, this was anything but negative. Chabon praises the authors and comics he loves the most. He writes about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and genre fiction. Some of the chapters were good but interested me less. Maybe since I knew so little about the subjects being praised. But the latter sections of his experiences grappling with and sometimes enjoying writing wrapped me back in again. I liked how he spared the unnecessary details, and left me thirsty and curious for more.

Some books perfectly coincide with what you need at a particular time. And then others come along and fail to relate to you this way. You pretend to love them as if they did, and hope that maybe you’ll cross paths at a later date. It’s a bit like dating, I suppose. In this way, book #13 was good to me. Book #14 (or #15, depending on how we feel tomorrow) will be a famous and entertaining (!) British one about grammar. If that doesn’t make it obvious enough, let it be said there are pandas on the cover.

Some New Trend

After about a year of pre-planning, Carrie Rollwagen and I are “going public” with our new project. In the spirit of collaboration, and a mutual love for books of the YA genre, comes Some New Trend. It’s a novel in blog form, and will be published one chapter a week beginning April 6th.

People have asked about the story. We’ll go ahead and say it involve teenagers hanging out at a shopping mall in north Florida.

The site is now up, and was designed (along with the logo) by Drea Zacharenko. Check it out. Click around. Let us know what you think.

And speaking of friends, this video was filmed by Seth Newell of Green Block Productions, and should provide a little insight on the writing process:

When You Are Engulfed In Flames

I love this guy! Who doesn’t, right? Originally I had planned to wait for the latest Sedaris book to be released in paperback. But since I spend so much time working in a stock room with an iPod I figured, why not get a copy from the library on audio? (I’ll be doing this more and more, which is not cheating, at least according to some new-ish rules alluded to in this post.)

When You Are Engulfed In Flames reminds me of the reasons behind Sedaris’ universal popularity. As funny as he is, he’s also an incredible storyteller. This time around I was both in awe of his subtle touches, and the incredible control he has in getting you to switch feelings in a matter of moments. I got the impression with the last one that he might be running out of steam, but WYAEIF proved these predictions wrong. Most of the stories here are taken from his adult life, and in many we find him riding the wave of fame. It’s a rare place to be for writers, and even less often capitalized upon. My favorite was probably the story about the plane ride where his cough drop falls in a passenger’s lap. There’s a couple I wouldn’t listen to if my parents were in the car, if that means anything.

Doing this project can be a sort of catch-22 (no pun). On the surface it’s ambitious and fun, but the blogging part poses a new problem. Reading all these great books makes me feel required to add something to them, but more often than not I don’t know what this should be. It feels impossible to not sound like a goober. My only response is, to hell with it. Nothing to do but keep going.

This was book #12 for 2009.

Ask The Dust

I started this one to break up the monotony of the early Dickens book I haven’t even made it a quarter through yet. It worked, so now the big test will be in seeing how long it takes to actually finish the Dickens one. If I keep reading other things, and whittle away at more chunks from the ~800 page one when feeling motivated, I might be done before the year’s over.

We’ll go ahead and call the book on the left #11. Ask the Dust is the third novel in a quadrilogy (or should I just say series?) revolving around the life of lonely writer Arturo Bandini. I’m not sure if I’ve missed anything by reading these out of sequence, but it felt very natural jumping in where I did. According to Bukowski’s introduction, it’s the first one he read, and it definitely didn’t seem to bother him all that much. 

Last year I got a copy of The Brotherhood of the Grape at the advice of a writer-friend at the bar. I loved the mean and wonderful Italian-American family, and wanted more. In this one, struggling writer Bandini falls in love with an unstable Mexican waitress named Camilla, who in turn ends up falling for someone else. It’s a sort-of love triangle turned love square turned back to love triangle turned to inevitable love decay type-of-thing. Unlike that last sentence, Fante’s style is comfortable and flowing. For a 70 year-old book, the language and themes ring mighty true. Get past the small bits of racism and sexism and you’re golden.

*Progress update: 9 1/2 weeks so far.. 11 books.. Still barely ahead of schedule. See you soon.