I Love You, Beth Cooper

Book #26 was a re-read. Eventually I’ll review it here, and possibly on Thursday. Get excited. Or not.

I Love You, Beth Cooper is one of my favorites, and was just as funny the second time around. There’s enough here for multiple reads/listens. This time it was read to me, by Paul Rust, the guy who will play Denis Cooverman in the movie that comes out next week. I swear, it did wonders to make my voyage home bearable.

This also marks THE HALFWAY POINT for my 2009 year in books, with less than thirty minutes to spare.

6 MONTHS IN. 26 BOOKS DOWN. 26 TO GO. I’m probably a better man because of this, right? Expect a brief summary complete with observations sometime in the next couple of days. Understand this is primarily for my own benefit.

The Wild Things

This also looks pretty cool.

The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster

#25 marked our first poetry book of 2009. 

It’s easy to see why people call Richard Brautigan a genre in himself. The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster is a collection of 98 of his poems. The language is simple, and every now and then profound. Can’t say I loved them all, though a few really buttered my waffles.

Think I’ll also read In Watermelon Sugar, before the year is over.

Sorry this post is so short. I’m trying to catch up on some other things in this Brooksville, Florida coffee shop. It’s also early. The table I’m currently sitting at was once my makeshift office. My, how life has changed.

Are You There, God? It’s Me. Kevin.

This was posted in a slightly different form at Some New Trend:

I found it necessary to read #24 for obvious reasons (you needn’t go further than the title). Little did I know how enjoyable it would be. I first heard about it from a mini-review on Goodreads written by yet another guy sharing our name: the kind and talented author/publisher Kevin Sampsell.

Keck might be too much of a misfit for most readers, but I’m a sucker for humor. If we can start referring to “lad lit” as something less-bothersome (and if we can get more books like this one, King Dork and I Love You, Beth Cooper) the genre will be on it’s way to becoming my favorite.

Are You There, God? It’s Me. Kevin. is nothing like the young female-oriented classic. I was waiting for Kevin to call out to the almighty for help like Margaret did, but instead he settled on naming each chapter after a book of the bible, and scriptural themes were spread throughout. Keck breathes wit into every every anecdote from his pre-30s life, whether he’s explaining the horrors of camping, dating, teaching Sunday school, or giving birth to twin daughters. Before you get too comfortable with one part of Keck’s life, he takes you to another, while managing to kill off the usual fluff and sentiment you might expect from a highly personal memoir. 

Welcome to the Monkey House

Welcome to the Monkey House was #23 in my 2009 book-a-week project.

I listened to Kurt Vonnegut’s earliest collection of short writings on audio. My favorites were the satirical ones. There was a great story about small-town actors falling in love, one that took place, prophetically, in a suicide clinic, and one where a boy tries to rescue his neighbor’s marriage by requesting a song to a radio show host. My favorite might’ve been “Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog,” which takes place in Tampa, and has a little to do with that very topic.

Some of the humor I’d expect from Vonnegut seemed to be absent in many of these stories, but they were still lighthearted. And of course his creativity and unmatched use of language stood intact.

I’m a couple pages away from finishing the next book—one with a really funny title that, eerily seems to have a little too much in common with myself. You’ll see what I mean. Sorry this review blows. Think of it more as a legal document archiving proof for myself so one day I’ll remember how I spent 2009. Time for bed now.

Zeitoun

This looks pretty cool.

The Reason for God

If I don’t write about #22 now, chances are it’ll take forever to happen.

Here goes:

The Reason for God is an intellectual, thoughtful exploration presenting a solid case for Christianity. Until now I was unfamiliar with Timothy Keller, the respected speaker and minister of Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan. I checked this one out from the library and spent my sweet time reading it, and now a friend has lent me some of his sermons I’ll now be listening to at work.

Much of this material originates from question/answer sessions Keller once gave after sermons. Early on, we’re presented with cultural and philosophical observations on the modern secular and churchgoing world, and given an alternate view to some of Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion arguments. C.S. Lewis is quoted in every chapter, and the ideas here correspond pretty close to those from Mere Christianity. (Re: “The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”) 

One of his aims is to answer hang-ups scholarly people have on certain issues. The approach definitely comes as a breath of fresh air in the world of Christian literature. Where other books are written primarily for skeptics, seekers, or believers, this one isn’t for one particular type of person, and also works for those who don’t fit into one group so neatly.

New York Magazine said : “(He’s) the most successful Christian evangelist in the city by recognizing that young professionals and artists are ‘disproportionately influential’ in creating the country’s culture and that you have to meet this coveted demographic on its own terms.”

Trout Fishing in America

This was book #21, cross-posted in a slightly different form at Some New Trend:

Bottom line: Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America is one of the strangest novels you’ll ever read. The story begins with some commentary regarding the photograph featured on the cover, and as the narrator promises earlier on, ends with the word “mayonnaise.”

You have to admire Brautigan for writing the eccentric book he wanted to, and then for actually getting famous as a result. Poetic language plays a major role in Trout Fishing, as this would be the author’s first foray into fiction. The story is certainly driven more by wordplay than plot or characters, like reading a counterculture-era James Joyce. At times the nonsensical humor reminded me of later-era stuff I’ve enjoyed from guys like Woody Allen and John Swartzwelder. 

One reviewer said: ”The book isn’t really about anything, in the conventional sense.  It’s chapters are loosely unified by a repeated reference to fishing for trout in America (mostly Brautigan’s native Pacific Northwest) and to a character named Trout Fishing in America, and a hotel named Trout Fishing in America, and a book titled Trout Fishing in America, and so on…”

Apparently it was written while camping with his wife and daughter beside various creatively-named creeks and streams in Idaho. Trout Fishing made Brautigan one of the rising voices of the sixties. His popularity would be short-lived, as many contemporaries would later denounce him for never “growing up.” The man suffered through alcoholism, paranoid schizophrenia and clinical depression, and most unfortunately, would would die in 1984, joining the list of authors whose lives have been cut short by suicide.

There’s not much else to say about this enjoyable book, so if you’re curious, dive into it. I’d recommend it for anyone in the mood for something incomparably weird and fun.

The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about the books I’ve been reading. The truth is, I haven’t given up. Just reading at a slower pace, and waiting too long to blog about it. This week I’ll be trying to play catch up to get where we’re at.

The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky was #20 in my book-a-week conquest for 2009. I started reading it by the pool, then with my dog in the park, then gradually finished the thing on short breaks at work. It’s difficult to read landmark Russuan fiction while listening to coworkers compare crazy weekend stories, but you do your best. I chose the famous author’s definitive short works over The Brothers K and Crime and Punishment, because, obviously, it seemed more manageable. I also got plenty of comments lugging Dostoevsky around. For a solid week I felt like an intellectual, if only a pretentious one.

On a more serious note, “White Nights” might be one of the most tender things I’ve ever read. I think there’s a bit of the honest dreamer protagonist in everyone. Just don’t ever name your daughter “Nastenka,” even if you’re convinced she’ll turn out warm and beautiful. Other than that, “A Christmas Tree and a Wedding” was enjoyable, and “Notes From the Underground”… (what can I say about “the first major work of existential literature?” I found it enlightening?)

My mind started wandering in the last few stories, which seems to be the common case these days. It’s always good to follow some American and Finnish children’s with 19th century psychological fic. Remember we’re supposed to keep it diverse. One day I’d like to look back on 2009 as my literary cocktail year.

Later this week expect something more recent. We’ll talk about a strange yet popular book that (sort of) has to do with trout fishing.