Reed Next's Next Read

Howard Jones asked the musical question...

2012-02-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

...What Is Love? and since it's Valentine's Day, I thought I'd offer a few suggestions for some great love stories.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Rob loves Laura, no doubt, but unless he grows up, he'll never really know the depths of love. Hornby hits a homer here.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I've said it a million times but I think this is the most romantic book, perhaps ever, and it made me want to hug Mrs. Next. Ignore the movie (even though I find it most difficult to ignore actress Rachel McAdams--yowza!) and read this stunning debut novel.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

One of my absolute favorites of the last twenty years, I can't say enough about Krauss or this challenging read but the payoff is gigantic. There is great love, loss, and pain in these characters. Be patient and you will be amply rewarded.

Now go love a book.

Of Office Girls, Honey Badgers and How To Be Black

2012-02-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

There are several new books about which you should be aware. Most have just published and one is forthcoming but they are all likely to be of interest to 'reeders' of this blog. And so:

Out now

How To Be Black by Baratunde Thurston

http://www.baratunde.com/

Several years ago, while I was promoting a book entitled Your Negro Tour Guide, I had the good fortune to meet Baratunde, at the time a self-published author, stand-up comic and political blogger. He continues to blog and perform stand-up but he has gotten bigger, especially since becoming digital director of The Onion and making himself a presence on Twitter, on campuses, on TV and all over the Web. Imagine how thrilled I was to hear him interviewed on Fresh Air this week to discuss How To Be Black from bigfamouspublisher, Harper Collins.

(Listen here: http://goo.gl/ILnMu)

His history is an amazing amalgam of culture clashes--raised in DC during the heyday of crack by a crunchy, pan-Afrikan mother, his father killed in a drug deal, Baratunde attended the tony Sidwell Friends school and later Harvard. Needless to say, he is smart and insightful and, best of all, funny. I so look forward to reading the book in its entirety. The author photo alone is worth the price of the book.

Honey Badger Don't Care: Randall's Guide to Crazy, Nastyass Animals

YouTube phenom Randall has had millions of hits since last spring with the hilarious Honey Badger video. Now comes the inevitable, cross-platform book. Dangerous waters here since how is a video with narration going to succeed as a book?

Voice, baby. That distinctive Randall voice. You can almost hear the lisping, dramatic Randall describing the assemblage of strange creatures through words and color photos. It's funny and informative and a great gift for the legion of Honey Badger devotees. (Thanks to the good folks at NetGalley and publisher Andrews McMeel for online access to the book)

The Coincidence Agent by Sam Leith

From the sound of the summary, this could be a Jasper Fforde-like romp and I am all for Jasper Fforde-like romps. We need all the Jasper Fforde-like romps we can get these days. So let's romp, Fforde-like or otherwise.

http://www.akashicbooks.com/officegirl.htm

Coming Soon:

I love Joe Meno and you should, too. He writes with an honesty and a sadness I find remarkable. Office Girl won't be out until this summer but check out his other work in the meantime, especially The Boy Detective Fails. The good folks at Akashic Books will be glad to help you out.

What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes

2012-01-27T18:44:00.000-05:00

I have never had to serve my country nor was it something I ever considered. When I was of age, the Cold War was winding down and the pain of Vietnam was still divisive and hurtful. Unlike veterans of previous generations, these men were disparaged and misunderstood and left to the fringes by a society that was embarrassed and lacked the appropriate compassion and understanding to help them heal.

Fast forward to the current era when we have recently fought two wars on two fronts. Suddenly, young men were going off to war again with some returning home whole, others maimed, still others not at all. It is a rare person who hasn't been touched by this recent round of national service. Perhaps it is my age that allows me to consider matters differently but these young soldiers were fighting a very different war than my father did in the 1940's.

In his book, Marlantes examines the warrior as both an ideal and an all-too-real figure. Through his own experience and insight, he explains who the warrior is, how the warrior must prepare and how he or she must be brought back into the fold of non-military life after their service. This book has great power and important lessons. It should be required reading for soldiers, their superiors, politicians, and the American people.

In the parlance of rap duo Eric B. & Rakim, Karl Marlantes "ain't no joke". He went to Yale, was a Rhodes scholar and a highly decorated combat veteran of Vietnam. Those decorations include the Navy Cross and the Bronze Star among others. His first novel, Matterhorn, was championed by both the critics and the bookstores when it was published in 2010. His non-fiction follow-up is remarkable.

It has been at least six weeks since I finished the book but hardly a day has gone by that I have not found myself still ruminating on it. Marlantes is so unflinching in his honesty, so straightforward about his own mistakes, including his participation in what he describes as a "massacre", it has left me haunted. After reading What It Is Like To Go To War, I have gained an even greater respect for those who choose to serve primarily because Marlantes makes me understand not only how awful it can be but also how glorious it is for a soldier who can finally put into practice all they have been trained for.

At the beginning of the first Gulf War, when Tom Brokaw announced on the nightly news that AWACS were in the air, my friend, who had spent years in the naval reserve, wanted to re-enlist because he had been trained to be a warrior but never got to use what he learned. It boggled my mind. "You want to go to war? Why in hell?" After reading What It Is Like To Go To War, I think I can begin to understand.

3 Books, A Tune and Michael Kun

2012-01-12T18:44:00.000-05:00

Happy 2012. I'm deep in the throes of several books but to start the year off, I'm alternating my attention on three music books: Horace Panter's Ska'd For Life (which I posted about right before Xmas), I Want My MTV: the uncensored story of the music video revolution and Everything Is An Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson.

Panter's Ska'd For Life is a look back on his time with The Specials and I'm at the part that is familiar to all the viewers of VH1's Behind the Music--the constant touring is starting to create rifts within the band. Obviously, I know how the story ends but I've learned a ton about a band whose work I've always admired and look forward to reading Panter's take on it

I Want My MTV is an oral history from everyone involved in the creation of MTV and the whole video explosion--execs, musicians, directors, VJs, the whole bit; lots of behind-the-scenes stuff, sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll (of course). Not only am I going to YouTube to watch videos I'd forgotten about but authors Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum make clear the huge cultural effect music videos had not only on TV but commercials, movies and the music industry. What I didn't know was how MTV and videos as an art form gave a lot of women music biz opportunities they never had before.

As for Paul Nelson, I never knew I knew his work until Everything Is An Afterthought arrived as a gift from my dear friend Rocky. Thirty years ago, I read a piece in Rolling Stone about Warren Zevon that I thought was among the finest pieces of journalism I'd ever read (and I still do). Turns out it was written by Paul Nelson. Another one on Neil Young has stayed with me all these years. Yup. Penned by Paul Nelson. I'm absolutely fascinated by The New York Dolls. Who signed them to Mercury? Paul Nelson. Naturally, I'm eager to read on.

Another book I'm about to begin (because I need to be reading even more books simultaneously!) is Everybody Says Hello by the delightful and insightful Michael Kun. It is a follow-up to The Locklear Letters, a hilarious epistolary novel starring Sid Straw who is as schleppy as he is endearing. I can't wait to see where we find Sid these many years later. The book doesn't pub until April so it will be a while until I post my thoughts but please put this on your Spring reading list. Better still, get a copy of The Locklear Letters now so you're up to speed.

Ska'd For Life: A Personal Journey with The Specials

2011-12-20T14:25:00.001-05:00

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! On my trip to the record store to purchase a little Xmas something for Mrs. Next (shhh. Don't tell), this little black and white gem caught my eye: a memoir by the bass player from one of my 80's faves, The Specials.

While I know their music quite well, I must confess to knowing little about the inner workings of the band aside from the basics--originally called the Coventry Automatics, they helped launch the English ska revival and created the upstart 2 Tone label. The problem with most musical memoirs is that musicians simply aren't writers so they are teamed up with a rock journalist who does the heavy lifting but mixed results are usually the end product. In this instance, Sir Horace is listed as the only author so I'm being cautious with my expectations and hopeful he passed his A levels.

Still, The Specials were an influential outfit whose mix of pop and politics (thank you, Billy Bragg) not only topped British charts but have remained somewhat intact through the years with several different names (Special AKA, the Special Beat, and others) and line-ups. I'm sure their youthful angst has gone the way of the Thatcher administration but I'm eager to learn what it was like to be Special during such a tumultuous political and inspired musical era.

Fingers crossed as I turn to chapter one.

My Top Ten of 2011

2011-12-12T19:47:00.000-05:00

Below are my favorite books from the past year. A good mix I'm happy to have read and pleased to recommend--seven fiction, three non-fiction, a mix of male and female authors, contemporary and historical settings, debut and established authors.

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Great House by Nicole Krauss

The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Bullfighting by Roddy Doyle

Life by Keith Richards

Just Kids by Patti Smith

What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

2011-12-09T17:00:00.000-05:00

This was such a wonderful surprise of a book and will make my top ten for 2011.

Harrison Opoku is a most memorable character just on the edge of puberty and his naivete is captured perfectly and without affectation. He struggles with the murder of an older classmate from his London neighborhood (the novel's centerpiece) and seeks to find the killer in a young-boy-who-watches-too-much-CSI manner.

Harri is a young man with a foot in two worlds: that of an immigrant in a new land, a wide-eyed schoolboy turning into a teenager (his budding romance is one of the best accounts I've read in ages), and from childhood to manhood.

Initially, the pigeon motif confused me but once I caught on, it added a layer to the story and to Harri's character that I found quite beautiful. Harri's use of slang terms (his own pigeon English) was also a little tough to follow at first but it was a realistic depiction of a boy of that age. It was a pleasure to read and has stayed with me since.

The Best Books I Didn't Blog About

2011-12-07T17:30:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the books I read that I never got around to writing about over the course of this year. There are some real gems here.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

A novel centered around the music biz? I'm in and was more than impressed. Good Squad won the National Critics Book Circle award last year and the Pulitzer Prize this year and I believe was deserving of both. The multiple perspectives stood well by themselves but woven together made for an absorbing novel. And yes, the Powerpoint chapter was absolutely fucking brilliant. Don't miss this one.

Room by Emma Donoghue

This book got a LOT of press and while it's very compelling, it's unceasing creepiness and the fact that the main characters are so unlikeable led me to write this one off. Others will disagree but I'm sticking to my guns.

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

The epistolary format is a fave of mine and Fergus pulls it off pretty well. However, the characters--the strong, beautiful heroine, the by-the-book Army officer, the racist Southerner, the plucky German hausfrau, the cheeky Irish sisters--grew more cliche as the story went on. It's a very cinematic book that even with an ensemble cast of good actresses would make a bad movie for the theaters. Now a Lifetime Movie channel movie, I could see. Still, a good vacation read.

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill

The best thing about Tabloid City was re-discovering what a terrific writer Hamill remains. Especially good was his ability to weave into the story the memories of what it was really like in the newsroom of a large, metropolitan newspaper, back when such things existed. However, this thriller told from the viewpoints of the many inter-related characters was just a bit too neat for it to succeed fully.

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto

Absolutely charming. The rise and rise and rise of Julia Child told through her letters to one woman who started out as a stranger and became her best friend. Published collections of a person's letters used to be quite common and provided depth and background as well as a glimpse behind the public persona. (Sadly, this type of book is a dying breed since we no longer write letters and a collection of emails just isn't the same.) For the foodie in us all.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower

This inventive, rambunctious collection of stories is filled with love and loss and Vikings. Comparisons to George Saunders always crop up when stories by Tower appear but I think it's apt and should be taken as high praise. Both write from the heart and often find beauty in the most absurd circumstances. Among the many accolades he was already received, Tower was awarded the NYPL Young Lions fiction award and two Pushcart prizes. In a time when the short story is getting short shrift, it gives me great pleasure to see writers continue to utilize this
format and succeed so well.

The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs

Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All, in which he read the 32-volume Encyclopedia Brittanica in its entirety, and is Esquire's Answer Fella, decided to take on religion by trying to live the Bible literally for one year. It was an eye-opener for the author and is for the reader. Modern times make this difficult but not entirely impossible though very inconvenient. I had some small hope it would enlighten me spiritually (who couldn't use that?) but on finishing the book I found that likely wasn't the point. Despite the author's immersion in the subject matter, he somehow remains a skeptic though one who has a far better understanding than before he began. Very entertaining.

I'd also like to mention a few titles that I didn't read but which Mrs. Next liked immensely:

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Reed Next, tastemaker?

2011-12-01T16:27:00.001-05:00

Not bloody likely but it was kind of cool that the day after I post about author Karen Russell, her latest book, Swamplandia!, is lauded as one of The NYT's Top Ten books of 2011.

Her publisher posted a link to an interview with her where she discusses the HBO adaptation of the book. It might make a bit more sense to me now (and I love her idea of casting Bill Murray as The Chief) but for now, I remain a skeptic. You can read it here: http://goo.gl/Au2sp

The Times and The Swamp

2011-11-26T16:49:00.001-05:00

http://goo.gl/I1kdq


Author Karen Russell and friend

Here the NY Times weighs in with their notable picks of the year. It is a good solid list though with few surprises.

I was pleased to see Swamplandia! by Karen Russell make the cut.

My two cents on that book can be read here:

http://goo.gl/a3Bi9. Don't miss out on this book or her first short story collection, the brilliant St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Russell is an immense talent.

Oddly, the book is to be adapted by HBO and producer Scott Rudin as a "half hour comedy project"(!) with the author consulting. While HBO has created some real magic, this leaves me baffled. If it ever makes it to the screen, my high hopes for it will be matched with low expectations. Then again, I would love to see HBO prove me wrong.

Another Best-Of List

2011-11-17T10:18:00.001-05:00

This also gets my pick for best book cover of 2011

Here's another Best-Of (http://goo.gl/lXc97), this time from Publishers Weekly. Unlike the Kirkus Reviews list, I'm much more in step with PW's fiction picks.

Readers of this blog will see two books I raved about making the cut; the charming The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt and the unsettling The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock.

Should you choose, you can read my respective posts here: http://goo.gl/dXclJ

and here: http://goo.gl/3Y5B3

DeWitt has won the Governor General's Prize in Canada and I just read John C. Reilly bought the right to make the film. I can certainly see him as a Sister.

Don't Tell Me What The Poets Are Doing

2011-11-17T08:02:00.001-05:00

Our friends at Shelf-Awareness ran this photo from the Fifth Annual Poets Forum, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. Pictured prior to the Chancellor's Reading are the poets Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds and Ron Padgett.

Wonderful writers, all, who know how to plumb the very depths of the soul. Sadly, the same cannot be said for their abilities in making fashionable footwear choices.

Ah, the life of the mind.

Speaking of Shelf Awareness, you can see I've added a widget on the right side of this page where you can sign up for their bi-weekly newsletter, Shelf Awareness For Readers, and enter to win a signed, first edition of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography. I have a huge fan-crush on the good folks at Shelf and hope you'll avail yourselves of their excellent newsletter which is packed with news and reviews you can really use.

The Best Books I've Never Read

2011-11-15T07:07:00.001-05:00

As the year end Best-Of lists start to roll in, here's one from the esteemed Kirkus Reviews that struck me, not because I agree or disagree with their choices, but that I haven't read a SINGLE one of them. Many I'm familiar with, some I hope to read, others I don't know a thing about. Shows you how vast publishing still is and that makes me happy (or are just too damned many books being published each year?).

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2011/fiction/

As for Best-Of Lists, I'll pass them on in case you're interested and I'll also start to put forth my own faves from 2011, some of which I haven't blogged about yet.

Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith

2011-11-04T17:19:00.001-04:00

I believe I have mentioned here before that my beloved Father told me when I was young the legacy he would leave me wouldn't be financial; it would be an appreciation for books, music, and films. I have scads of fond memories of watching movies with him, Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train among them. Watching those same films without him always takes me back to my childhood and presents a happiness and sadness all its own.

There was something about Hitchcock's movie: Robert Walker alternately oozing easy charm and icy menace while Farley Granger was all curly-headed, desperate and decked out in tennis whites; the murder scene shot as though through eyeglasses on the ground, appropriately distorted; the merry-go-round scene where the story, quite literally, comes crashing down.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I learned Patricia Highsmith had worked on the screenplay but it was a novel well before that, her first. In fact, I knew very little about Highsmith until recently.   I knew of her Ripley character (I had seen the Matt Damon film) but that was about it, despite years as a bookseller and even more as a devout reader. My friend Susan was kind enough to set me straight, lending me Patricia Highsmith: Selected Novels and Short Stories. The bio in the introduction is that of a saucy Southerner well ahead of her time and answering to no one's definitions of normalcy, especially in 1950's America.

That said, the novel Strangers On A Train bears only a passing resemblance to Hitchcock's film so I was really torn at first. In the book, Guy Haines is an architect, Bruno is the character's last name, there's no tennis, no potentially incriminating cigarette lighter, no merry-go-round. However, if you can get the film out of your head, the novel is a well-written, taut story of crime, punishment, and self-punishment. She writes with a hard-bitten tightness reminiscent of Chandler or Jim Thompson, like when she describes how Bruno becomes resolved to kill Guy's soon-to-be ex-wife, "Miriam had become an object, small and hard" and how quickly he grew to hate everything about her ("The red socks with the red sandals infuriated him"). There is a strong homo-erotic subtext between Guy and Bruno throughout the novel that must have been practically scandalous in 1950.

I do think the second half of the novel dragged a bit and the events leading up to the second murder were less believable but she does manage to get it back by the end. The collection includes another non-Ripley novel, The Price of Salt, and over a dozen short stories. There is a great deal to this author's work and the woman herself and I plan on reading more.

2011-10-26T13:07:00.000-04:00

By end of day (as opposed to End of Days), I will finish The Last Testament: A Memoir by God, co-written by David Javerbaum which Simon & Schuster will release November 1st. Javerbaum is a former writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and was involved in both Daily Show books, America and Earth. It is, indeed, the Big Guy's memoir. In it He tells us how He has done what He's done (Creation, Noah's Ark, plagues, etc.) and why as well as giving us a glimpse of the future. It is clever, funny, and timely, which I hope won't date the book too quickly.

Of course, there are those who may take offense but they are a singularly humorless lot who are looking to be offended. If that is you, don't read this book and go back to preachy Ziggy cartoons or the Family Circus for your chuckles. I found this book to be more along the lines of Christopher Moore's brilliant Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Instead of being profane for the sake of doing so, both authors approached their subjects with considerable respect and knowledge. What comes through on the page is that the authors have done their homework before unleashing their potentially controversial humor and barbed wit on the world.

Here is a book trailer that will give you a good idea of what's inside the book: http://goo.gl/fOf3h

I do hope The Holiest of Holies does a book tour.

In other news, Julian Barnes won the Man Booker Prize last week for his latest novel The Sense of an Ending. I read a novel of his a few years back and found it capable but unrewarding (http://goo.gl/PEyIG). As a result, I'm in no rush to get to his latest though I probably should since it won the Man Booker Prize.

Finally, I have to say that I'm just chuffed to have been spoken of so kindly here: http://goo.gl/6U5Xw

Man of the House is a very useful blog that speaks to men, specifically Dads, who could use some practical advice, tips or a few minutes to catch up on info they need, all under one web site. Best of all, you don't have to be a Dad to enjoy it.

You Made the List

2011-09-27T17:27:00.003-04:00

Salman Rushdie, Jeffrey Archer and Julian Barnes out on the town.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/datablog/2011/sep/23/books-power-100-list

Bless their hearts, the British really do make me smile. The link above is a power ranking of the top 100 "people exercising the greatest influence over the UK's reading habits - right now" as compiled by two non-tabloid papers, The Guardian and The Observer. Better still, a portion of the British public actually care. Certainly not all of them but it is heartening to see that this list even exists in a mainstream publication, let alone two. Then again, Britain is also a country whose bookmakers post odds on the shortlisted authors for the Man Booker Prize.

Here in the US, we'd be far more likely to compile the top 50 nip slips seen on network television or the biggest blunders on Dancing With Survivors at the Bachelor Pad while Hoarding and Hillbilly Handfishin' with an Ice Road Trucker.

Now I'm not idealizing the Britons, as they certainly have their ways and stays, but can you imagine The New York Times and US Today compiling such a list and the American public giving a shite?

Now THAT would make me smile.

Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra

2011-09-22T08:40:00.000-04:00

In 1953, GeorgeJacobs became Frank Sinatra's valet, when Sinatra'stole' him away from super-publicist Swifty Lazar. To be 'valet' toSinatra meant being more than his butler. It encompassed beinghis aide de camp, his enabler, his babysitter, his beard, his bitch,his alibi, his whipping boy and perhaps his closest friend whilekeeping in mind he was always and ever Sinatra's employee. Atightrope at best but by Jacobs' account, he loved his job and hisboss and was adept at wearing the many hats it took to be that closeto Mr. S. He stayed with Sinatra for fifteen years until 1968 whenhe was shown the door because he danced with Mia Farrow, thenSinatra's wife, at a club in Los Angeles.

Thosefifteen years saw Sinatra at the absolute height of his considerable powers,beginning with a career rebirth in '54 with his Academy Award forFrom Here to Eternity. Asyou might imagine, Jacobs saw it all--the fabulous wealth andsplendor of Palm Springs and Reprise Records alongside the vanity andhypocrisy that was Frank Sinatra, he of the shoe lifts and hairpiecesand hookers (man, were there a lot of hookers!). Often whilereading Mr. S,it seemed asthough a dumptruck pulled up and left a load on my lawn littered withKennedys, mobsters, showgirls, and many of the biggest names inHollywood.

Consideringthe wealth of existing biographies about Sinatra, what I found mostinteresting about Mr.S wasthe first-person account by Jacobs. He was there when BobbyKennedy boxed Mr. S out of Camelot and Jack stopped returning hiscalls, when Sam Giancana 'relieved' Sinatra of his precious Mobconnections, when Ava and Betty Bacall and Marilyn all were in thepicture and then abruptly out of it.

Ashas been written in the past too, Sinatra was two people much of thetime: the bully who loved to pull sophomoric pranks on his friends(cherry bombs were a Frank favorite) and the Sinatra who boughtpeople cars because he genuinely appreciated their talent orfriendship. This was the guy who thought he'd have access tothe White House but whose casino was as mobbed up as the Copa scenein Goodfellas.

Jacobs also shows the failure of Sinatra'spersona, a man afraid to be alone but who had to be the life of theparty, an outright bigot but who felt persecuted for being a "Jerseydago" among the Hollywood elite. Jacobs also describes just howcruel and cowardly Sinatra could be and his description of his ownex-communication by Mr. S. is just heartbreaking.

Mr.S is aquick and dirty read with heavy emphasis on the dirty. Ring-a-ding-ding indeed.

The shortlist for this year's Man Booker Prize

2011-09-07T15:30:00.000-04:00

Here's the shortlist for the Booker:

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Snowdrops by A.D. Miller

I've read two of them and loved both. The Sisters Brothers was such a surprising read. Here's what I thought of it: http://goo.gl/fozJQ

Stephen Kelman's Pigeon English was as delightful as it was haunting. I still need to post about this but don't let that stop you from reading it.

I've no idea what kind of odds the British bookmakers are putting on these books but I'm guessing they are longshots. The winner will be announced on October 18 in London.

The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

2011-09-06T20:12:00.004-04:00

I have procrastinated on this post because I want to write it perfectly. The problem is I simply can't. There is nothing in my tiny writing arsenal that will do justice to how good I believe this book is. Instead I will gush.

This was one of the big buzz books, post- BEA. Advance copies, rumored to exist in obscure places, were nowhere to be found and ultimately went the way of the dodo as Viking ran out. Friends were asking if I'd read it, telling me how much they loved it but I couldn't get my mitts on a copy. Another friend, one of the finest booksellers I've ever known, was so impressed, she pre-ordered 10 copies so she could hand them out to people the day it pubbed. I was enthusiastically recommending it to people and had yet to read a word.

Fortunately and for once, I don't look like a complete ass because The Rules of Civility is that good.

At least to begin, all you need to know is that it is New Years Eve, 1937 in a Manhattan jazz club when a coupleof regular gals from the secretarial pool, Kate Kontent (accent on the second syllable) and EveRoss, meet a handsome, well-heeled, cashmere-coated banker, Theodore Grey. But "my friends call me Tinker. Couldn't you have just guessed it? Howthe WASPs loved to nickname their children after the workaday trades: Tinker. Cooper. Smithy. Maybe it was to hearken back to their seventeenth-century New England bootstraps--the manual trades that had made them stalwart and humble and virtuous in the eyes of their Lord. Or maybe it was just a a way of politely understating their predestination to having it all."

That's from page 19! Kate's description of Eve on page 14 is so perfect, I read it four times and twice aloud to Mrs. Next.

This debut novelist (whose names sounds like Chico Marx making a room service request) will have a high mark to meet in any subsequent work as the prose is exquisite throughout, the use of alliteration artful, the characters believable and endearing. It is a Gatsby-esque tale extremely well-told that will tug at your heart and your conscience and will leave you wanting more. Is it a "classic"? I'll leave that to time and taste. Is it one of the best novels of recent memory? I think so.

As if I weren't wonderful enough already...

2011-08-25T09:22:00.001-04:00

A new study from the University of Toronto suggests readers of fiction can better socialize and better empathize with others.

You can read more here:

http://goo.gl/aaapx

You may now give yourself a little hug and go back to reading your novel.

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

2011-08-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

Talk about twisted. This book is chock full of desperation, degradation, and depravity. It is not for the faint of heart. It is repugnant in its violence, shameful in its sexual perversion and almost completely devoid of redeeming qualities in its characters, among whom are serial killers, religious zealots, bent lawmen, dying cancer patients, and preachers of the gospel according to Caligula.

That said, The Devil All the Time is an exceptional book. Pollock, whose first short story collection Knockemstiff was also quite bracing in its portrayals of the residents of a small southern Ohio town, doesn't shy away from anything in this, his first novel. The book begins with a savage beating and never looks back. It is an unflinching portrait of loss, pain and sacrifice bound together by ignorance and blind faith. Together these elements can only lead to doom.

Yet out of all these grotesque characters, there is one, a young man named Arvin Russell whom we follow from beginning to end. He is the only character who might be able to escape the utter ruin that surrounds him and shed his unfortunate birthright, the cycle of violence, poverty and ignorance. It is through Arvin that any of this takes on any humanity at all.

Pollock grew up in Knockemstiff, Ohio, where he worked in a meatpacking plant and a paper mill for years before he took up writing in his 50s. What he writes is the darkest of the dark, tinged with humor so black you can miss it because you just got punched in the face again by the story. Yet somehow, while we recoil at the acts we read about and the pain all the characters feel, it is through Arvin that Pollock manages to bring to light the smallest sparks of redemption and hope.

Where the hell I've been

2011-08-17T18:50:00.001-04:00

Surprised to hear from me? Thought I'd chucked it all and gotten a paying gig? Perhaps a better offer? Goodness no. I wouldn't leave you though I am apt to disappear from time to time. Turns out I took the summer off and hadn't even expected to do so.

You see, for the first time since she began teaching, Mrs. Next allowed herself to relax. She took no classes, attended no seminars, studied no new theory and simply let her mind alone for the better part of three months. So I joined her and it was delightful.

We took it easy, worked on our home, enjoyed time with friends, ate entirely too well and traveled a bit. We read and read and read and I even had a little work done--fingertip implants. (All the bloggers are doing it but let's keep it between us for now, shall we? You're a doll).

So that's why ol' Reed has been out of touch. However, that's about to change. As mentioned, lots of reading and therefore, lots to talk about. In the near future, I'll post on several books worth a look, including:

The Rules of Civility, an absolutely marvelous debut that's been out for only two weeks but will be read for years and years to come,

Donald Ray Pollock's disturbing, Ohio Gothic novel, The Devil All the Time,

One Thousand White Women, Jim Fergus' cinematic epistolary novel from 1998,

and the absolutely charming Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman. Main character Harri will stay with you long after the last page.

There will be more and soon. Do stay with me.

88 Lines about 44 Sherwoods

2011-07-12T17:35:00.000-04:00

This was far too coincidental to run across the same day Gilligan's Island and Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz passes away.

This marvelous homage to classic TV is by Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs Of Babel among other fine works. You should read her or check out her site:

http://carolynparkhurst.com/site/

As for Sherwood, sleep well.

88 Lines About 44 Sitcoms

Alice worked with Mel and Vera; Flo would let you kiss her grits.

Hogan’s Heroes had dumb Nazis, finding humor in the Blitz.

Eddie Haskell was a suck-up: “You look lovely, Mrs. Cleaver.”

WKRP’s best deejays? Venus Flytrap, Johnny Fever.

Samantha twitched her nose to summon Agnes Moorehead and Paul Lynde.

Mary Tyler Moore was spunky, tossed her hat up in the wind.

Archie Bunker was a loudmouth, had a good chair and good heart.

Bosom Buddies serves to show us Tom Hanks had a goofy start.

Diff’rent Strokes was cautionary: Don’t let your kid be a star.

Major Nelson was the master of a Jeannie in a jar.

Murphy Brown’s non-wedlock baby made some politicians quail.

Favorite random line from Cheers? ”You can really taste the kale.”

Gilligan’s an archetype, the trickster-fool, the dopey mate.

Seinfeld may have been the first to let characters masturbate.

Mork and Mindy gave us Robin Williams and “Nanu Nanu.”

The Golden Girls gabbed over cheesecake: “Picture it, Sicily, ’22.”

Lucy had some wacky plans, gave her lots of things to ‘splain.

Seattle’s full of caffeine addicts, listening to Frasier Crane.

Ralph Kramden to-the-moon’ed whenever Alice gave him flack.

Sweathogs were unlikely heroes, welcomed Mr. Kotter back.

Raymond’s family lived too close, made his wife a tad uneasy.

Florence was a sharp-tongued gal, moved on up with George and Weezy.

Jed found black gold, Texas tea; Hollywood now welcomes rubes.

Janet, Jack and Chrissy knew a thousand different words for boobs.

Fonzie jumped a shark but still remained the very soul of cool.

The Fresh Prince had a fight while playing b-ball outside of the school.

Maude’s abortion broke new ground; wow, her neighbor sure was snooty.

Mrs. Garrett cracked the whip over Jo and Blair and Tootie.

Rob Petrie worked with Mel and Sally, writing Alan Brady’s jokes.

I’m guessing here: is there a very special Blossom where she smokes?

Green Acres’ couple traded Saks for a podunk country store.

M*A*S*H’s turmoil in Korea lasted longer than the war.

Laverne’s L’s were all-pervasive, maybe even on her bra.

Latka fixed the cars on Taxi, spoke in terms like “Ibi da?”

Benson worked hard for the governor, handled Ms. Kraus with aplomb.

Charles’s charges kept him busy; somehow, he knew Chachi’s mom.

Night Court’s hipster judge did card tricks, was a fan of Mel Torme.

Joey had a brain transplant while playing Dr. Remoray.

Webster was a charming urchin; he was black, his parents white.

Good Times showed that in the projects, you can still be dyn-o-mite.

The Cosby Show was at its best when the kids were acting sneaky.

The Brady Bunch went to Hawaii, met Don Ho and found a tiki.

Roseanne’s last season was nuts; everything is just a twist.

Bob Newhart, here’s a kiss: I chose you to end this list.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

2011-05-15T17:58:00.000-04:00

Should one ever decide to buy a book for its cover, this is the one. Not only is it graphically cool, clever, and terrifically eye-catching but it lets the reader know what to expect: cowboy types with guns, the lure of big money looming over the shoulders of the Brothers, the mysterious fingerprint whorls, and the shade of red reminiscent of blood and violence.

Even better, the story is marvelous and more than lives up to the promise of the cover.

Two brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters, do dirty work for a man we know only as the Commodore. Under his orders, they are making their way from Oregon to a gold-mining claim near Sacramento to kill a man named Hermann Warm. Along the way, Eli, the more introspective of the brothers, considers the possibilities of a "quiet life" after this deed is done.

I can only describe it as Western Noir and I believe it stays true to both genres. There are horses and hookers, greenhorns and gunsels, as well as punch-ups, double-crosses and even, dare I say it, redemption.

Despite their dastardly vocation, the Sisters are surprisingly likable (Eli moreso than Charlie) and Eli is a narrator you quickly come to like and trust. His sensitivity and insight are unexpected at first but give the story a sense of lonesome honor. The brotherhood dynamic is also very realistic with each Sister knowing just which buttons to push and knowing when each has gone just too far.

The writing is fast and clean, the dialogue keen and the author's respect for the Western and the hard-boiled is honest with just a hint of the dime-store tawdriness that often accompanied both. His description of a grubby San Francisco restaurant called the Black Skull as "...a charmless garbage chute of a lopsided shack..." had me laughing out loud.

As well, there is insight: "Warm stood before me then, looking into me; his manner conveyed several things at once: Sturdiness, wariness, fatigue, but also an energy or glow--something like the center of a low flame. Is this what they call charisma? I do not know, exactly, except to say Warm was more there than the average man."

I think The Sisters Brothers is more there than many, many books I've read.

As if I didn't love John Waters already...

2011-04-29T17:05:00.000-04:00

Here is some sound advice from the Prince of Trash (with a tip of the hat to Jeremiah's Vanishing New York and The Strand bookstore in NYC).

In Memoriam: Madelyn Pugh Davis

2011-04-24T15:00:00.001-04:00

Over the years, I worked with hundreds of authors but the
news that Madelyn Pugh Davis has passed away brought me to tears. I had the distinct privilege to work with her to promote her 2005 memoir, Laughing With Lucy: My Life With America's Leading Lady of Comedy. A proper obituary can be read here: http://goo.gl/i5jw0

She was one of the great television comedy writers, penning over 100 episodes of I Love Lucy and a genuine pioneer in her field. Madelyn liked to say, when she started out, "you could have held a meeting of all the women television comedy writers in a booth at McDonalds". All these years later, she marveled at the amount of fan mail she continued to receive and the unbridled enthusiasm people had for shows she'd written 50 years earlier.

We spoke often enough that she would ask after Mrs. Next. Often enough that I knew she got her hair 'done' every Thursday morning and when I decided to leave publishing, she was among the first authors I called even though we hadn't been actively promoting the book for a few years and she and I were out of touch.

Oddly, I never met her face-to-face but the photo above is how I like to think of her. She was a woman of class and gentility, of charm and kindness, of warmth and humor. I will miss her.

Bullfighting by Roddy Doyle

2011-04-20T08:53:00.001-04:00

I received a wonderful gift from my dear friend, Ms. Chicken Lips: an advance copy of Roddy Doyle's forthcoming short story collection, Bullfighting.

It is a book about men. Empty-nesters still in love with their wives, guys who are no longer 'lads' but aren’t yet ‘oul ones’, all of whom remember the Ireland before the economic boom of the Celtic Tiger and its more recent aftermath. It is a collection of mid-life crises, of decline, of having the scent of death grow stronger and come nearer than it ever has before.

Moreso, it is a book about men who, having reached the middle, find themselves uncertain of both their pasts and their futures and torn by questions: When did the fun end? Why did I lose interest? Why do I feel so useless? When did I change? Thankfully, these are not broken men. They know full well they are capable of answering these questions with actions and answers that will right their own ships. Still, the questions linger and hover and persist. Some find resolution in small places; in a conversation with a school-age girl awaiting her Mum at a bus stop. Others find solace in doing their jobs well or in the company of friends and family. Still, some remain at sea.

This is not the Doyle of The Commitments or Paddy Clarke, nor, thankfully, of the Henry Smart trilogy. This is an author in autumn, approaching winter. In the hands of another writer, Bullfighting could easily be a dreary affair but, as ever, Doyle is deft, sprinkling humor and pathos across the pages. Throughout his career, Doyle has always allowed us, entreated us to join him for the ride but now, as the ride gets closer to the station, what is important has changed and he asks us to stay strong and stay true to ourselves. In The End, it will all work out.

A Long Story Short

2011-04-12T15:48:00.000-04:00

Our short story club will meet soon and it is my wife's turn to make the next selection. When it is my turn, I take to it with glee and abandon and read and read and read but, bless her heart, having to choose a story makes Mrs. Next rather anxious. In an effort to calm her nervous heart, I bought a few collections and pulled out a few other suggestions from the bookshelves.

She is enjoying A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler and Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (who I once saw in person and couldn't believe an actual human could be so strikingly beautiful).

In an effort to help her cover more ground, I'm reading Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by the wonderfully-named Wells Tower and revisiting Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine by Tom Jones (no, not that Tom Jones). Tower has the goods and it is a wild ride of a read. Jones' third collection isn't holding up as well as I'd remembered but he can still stop me in my tracks.

Esquire recently ran Twin Forks by Daniel Woodrell, which I found quite powerful. My beloved One Story recently published Surprise Party by the marvelous Etgar Keret. I found it hilarious and sad though I must admit it's not likely to be Mrs. Next's cup of tea.

I also suggested two from recent issues of the New Yorker, the confounding Going For a Beer by Robert Coover and The Other Place, a dark and frightening story by Mary Gaitskill.

She will make her choice soon but it's been such fun to "cram" all these short stories.

Look for upcoming posts on Emma Donoghue's ROOM and Stephen Kelman's forthcoming novel, Pigeon English.

So much for keeping it short.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

2011-04-04T15:57:00.001-04:00

My how the month has flown. Reading and writing have taken a back seat recently to a marvelous trip to New Orleans with Mrs. Next. It was my first visit and I admit to having a rather serious crush on the Crescent City.

At last I finished Karen Russell's Swamplandia! and I must say I wholeheartedly agree with Joseph O'Neill's backcover blurb:

"A wonderfully fertile novel by an unfairly talented writer." Russell is only 29 years old and her writing makes my head spin like a radar dish. In a good way.

Swamplandia! itself is a down-at-the-heels theme park (the theme is alligator wrestling) on an isolated island in the Florida Everglades. The story begins with the death by cancer of Hilola Bigtree, the park's main attraction and matriarch of the Bigtree clan. Told alternately by Ava, the youngest of the three children, and her older brother, the fussy Kiwi, the novel Swamplandia! is a moving story of family, of deep love and crushing loss, of gators and ghosts.

As Janet Maslin suggested in her NYT review, some readers might be turned off by the offbeat family and their strange exploits but I found them charming, maddening, upsetting, and lost in their own worlds. Much like real families.

The novel isn't without a few faults. Without spoiling anything, I can't quite understand the need to put Ava through a terrible ordeal within an already painful ordeal. As for the ending, I suspected there might be problems but the author pulled it off well enough that I was satisfied.

Karen Russell is an immensely gifted writer and one deserving of a readers' time and full attention. She has the ability to make the mundane fascinating and the arcane seem like common, though worthwhile, knowledge. Because of her youth, there is also the promise of so much more to come.

And The Nominees Are...

2011-03-03T09:58:00.003-05:00

Two awards that really matter to me as a reader have just been announced: the 2011 Indies Choice awards and the 2011 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction. (Many thanks to Shelf Awareness for the heads-up)

The shortlist for the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award includes:

A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Knopf)
The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg by Deborah Eisenberg (Picador)
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (McPherson & Co.)
Model Home by Eric Puchner (Scribner)
Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives by Brad Watson (Norton)

The adult fiction nominees for the Indies Choice Awards:

Great House, by Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton)
How to Read the Air, by Dinaw Mengestu (Riverhead)
Room, by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown)
The Surrendered, by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, by David Mitchell (Random House)
A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (Knopf)

The nominees in other categories can be found here:

http://news.bookweb.org/news/voting-now-open-2011-indies-choice-and-eb-white-awards

I have read a few of the titles and am happy to see them included. Though I have yet to post about Donoghue's Room or Krauss' Great House (I will), both are startlingly original novels. An excerpt from How To Read the Air ran in the New Yorker and my short story club chose it a few months back. It was the subject of some lively debate and we all agreed Mengestu shows remarkable ability as a storyteller. My friend Peter thinks Jacob de Zoet is the best David Mitchell yet.

I keep hearing about Goon Squad, the only title up for both awards, and have added it to my list of titles to read. Aside from the accolades it has already received, I find I MUST read a book that recalls track 1, side 2 of Elvis Costello's third record, which the nascent Reed Next received as a bar mitzvah present all those years ago.

Finally, while I'm discussing accolades, I got the kindest shout-out in ages from ThisIsMyBasic.com. Wendy writes a daily blog about matters that matter--health, happiness, exercise, diet and a healthy dollop of opinion (okay, more than a dollop).

In the post below, she plugs Eggers Best Non-Required Reading, discusses her love of books and makes her case for having so many in her home. She also threw us a most beneficent blog bone. (Quite honestly, there was considerable blushing going on here at Chez Next.)
Check her out.
http://www.thisismybasic.com/2011/03/nonrequired-but-essential.html

West of Here by Jonathan Evison

2011-03-01T10:04:00.002-05:00

In days of yore, and before the new austerity in which publishing finds itself, it was not uncommon for publishers to create clever ways to promote their books, among them by providing swag. The good folks at Algonquin were always particularly adept at this, even sending salamis to accompany the publication of one of their titles (anyone remember Laurie Gwen Shapiro's charming first novel?).

Last week, I had the good luck to be chosen among five winners for a "boxed" version of the new novel from Algonquin, West of Here. Expecting a slipcased edition of the book, you can imagine my absolute delight when the package arrived in yesterday's mail, containing:

A sturdy wooden box with a sliding lid revealing a hardcover copy of the book with a signed bookplate. Is the dust jacket Tyvek? What a wise move.
A note on High Tide Seafood Company letterhead from executive editor Chuck Adams extolling his love of the book. (It was addressed to Dear Reader but I'll forgive him for getting my name wrong. It's 'Reed', Chuck)
Five old-timey postcards depicting people and places from the era in which the book is set
A map of the Washington Territory from 1879
A reproduction of a newspaper piece decrying how land barons and railroad magnates were carving up the Territory for their own needs instead of use by "settlers and homebuilders" per the original land grant
A one-sheet with bookseller blurbs and news that West of Here is a #1 Indie Next Pick

The book, published February 15, was well-hyped and has been well-reviewed and it's obvious the publisher is behind it, going to some considerable expense to create this fine package. More importantly, the goodwill this generates and the obvious love and care, thought and planning, makes me think the financial outlay will be well-justified soon enough. Bravo, Algonquin.

Once my travels in Swamplandia! conclude, I will travel West of Here happily.

A free Roddy Doyle story

2011-02-28T17:19:00.001-05:00

Regular Reed readers know how I respect and relish Roddy. Here is a new short story he was asked to write for the upcoming St. Patrick's festival in Dublin.

http://goo.gl/jzdmu

Just Kids by Patti Smith

2011-02-23T15:50:00.000-05:00

Talk about your dark horses. Patti Smith writes her first non-fiction book and she succeeds beyond expectation, ultimately winning the National Book Award. As you may know, Just Kids is a love letter to Robert Mapplethorpe, her dearest friend, lover, and constant companion. Knowing Mapplethorpe primarily for his work and the controversy it created two decades ago here in CinciTucky, I was happy to learn more about the man. Patti humanized him and was honest about his faults. How she described their lives, together and apart, was constantly touching.

More than just the Patti-and-Robert show, Just Kids is also a love letter to her art. Admittedly, I couldn't always follow her when she talked about art--hers, that of others, and art as a philosophy--but it was obvious to me how much it means to her and how much faith she has in its power.

The other recipient of a Patti-penned mash note is New York City. As in good fiction, she portrays the City as its own character throughout the book. Were I to happen across a time machine, one of the first places I would travel would be to New York when you could be poor and still live there, a condition that is almost unthinkable now. Clearly, the City and the ability to live in it while struggling to make a living, to make art, to make a life, had long, lasting effects on for Patti who has continued to succeed on her own terms for the last 40 years.

I was terribly pleased to receive my copy of Just Kids from my dear friend Rocky who had Patti inscribe it to me "with all good wishes". Many thanks and many happy returns.

Life by Keith Richards

2011-02-18T09:06:00.000-05:00

Considering the, ahem, life Keef has lived, you wouldn't expect him to remember anything from the last half century of being "Keef". Remarkably, he remembers damn near everything and recounts his colorful life as rock 'n' roll icon/'this-is-your-brain-on-drugs' posterboy in very lively detail.

Ultimately, Keith is Keith. There are no apologies and few regrets. He is true to himself and fuck off if you don't like it. Amazing as it is that he's lived at least nine lives, Keith really isn't all that surprised. He maintains he has been blessed with a "strong constitution" and a "high tolerance".

As for the Stones, Keith dismisses Brian, loves and respects Charlie, has surprisingly little to say about Bill, and feels kind of sorry for Ronnie. He misses Ian Stewart, adores Bobby Keys, and was happy to be done with Billy Preston. He lets Mick have it pretty good. Despite the long road, Keith understands how they have grown together and grown apart. He refers to them as brothers though no longer friends. Where Keith believes he has stayed true to himself, he paints Mick as a control freak and a social climber. Despite all this, he considers Mick the greatest singer, greatest dancer, and greatest front man in rock 'n' roll.

As expected, Life is rife with dirt and drugs and guns and girls, silly scrapes and narrow escapes, love and hope and sex and dreams. As Keith tells it, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Book mix

2011-02-16T07:24:00.000-05:00

The only thing I love as much as reading is music so I've been toying with making this music mix for some time.

Every Day I Write the Book – Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Obvious? Sure but I have loved EC's music and wordplay for more than thirty years. And because he writes every day and that's something I can't seem to manage.

Book of Poems - Old 97s

I don't usually get poetry but I think Rhett and the boys could persuade me.

Paperback Writer - The Beatles

A young writer without delusions of hardcover grandeur? Bullshit. Still, if the first one does well, another house will pick you up and offer you a three book deal.

Poets - The Tragically Hip

Don't tell ME what the poets are doing because I can't figure out what they're doing. Do YOU know what they're doing? (Did I mention I don't usually get poetry)

Read About It - Midnight Oil

Actually I think he's talking about newspapers but it's a powerful song by a powerful band.

Miss Teen Wordpower - New Pornographers

I'm not one for pageants but were I crowned Miss Teen Wordpower, I'd wear the sash and tiara with great pride and carry out the requisite duties most dutifully.

Book I Read - Talking Heads

David Byrne is embarassed to admit it but there's a soft spot in his heart. I just love that.

Books Are Burning - XTC

The worst-case scenario made only slightly less terrible-sounding when sung by the pop-py deliciousness of Andy Partridge.

When I Write the Book - Nick Lowe

A tale told by Nick is always a good story. Imagine a whole book.

Amsterdam - Guster

They're "gonna write you a letter". They're "gonna write you a book". That's all I need to hear. Plus Mrs. Next has a mad crush on the drummer.

Jacqueline Susann - Pernice Brothers

The perpetually literate Joe Pernice-penned paean to the girl on the train and the books in her lap. Any song that name-checks Ford Madox Ford AND Jacqueline Susann has to make the list. Plus, Joe pubbed a novel called It Feels So Good When I Stop I quite enjoyed.

Here Is Where the Story Ends - The Sundays

Pretty much a perfect pop song and a good closer.

Any suggestions or additions are welcome.

Selected Shorts

2011-02-08T15:51:00.002-05:00

I listen to Selected Shorts from WNYC and thought I'd pass along the link.
http://www.symphonyspace.org/shorts

They always do interesting works read by talented actors. The website isn't great and it's kind of hard to actually get to the downloadable part but have patience because the payoff is well worth it.

The most recent show has a marvelous version of 'Boys' by Rick Moody, performed by actor B. D. Wong.

To make a good thing even better, Selected Shorts partners with my beloved One Story and with the good folks at Houghton Mifflin and their Best American Short Stories series, which is also quite beloved by me. (There is much beloving going on here at Chez Next.) Indulge yourself and enjoy.

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-03T14:49:00.003-05:00

Chinese New Year? Already? I just took down the tree. So it goes. The Year of the Rabbit is upon us. With that in mind, here are a few books by Chinese authors or about China.

First, the slim novel, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. Sijie is a filmmaker who was 're-educated' by the Mao regime and this tale of love and books will move you.

Next, two memoirs of growing up during the Cultural Revolution both by Da Chen. Colors of the Mountain is the story of how Chen went from rural farmboy to being the first from his village to attend university. Sounds of the River picks up as he arrives at the Beijing Language Institute. Expecting a new and easier life, he encounters hardships of a far different kind. His strength, wisdom and belief in himself allowed him to succeed. He went on to study at Columbia University and lives here in the States. These are great rags-to-riches stories and Chen writes with a beautiful voice.

Daniel Levy's Two-Gun Cohen was my kind of guy. A Cockney pickpocket and con artist, he fled England for Western Canada where he was appalled by the treatment of the Chinese hired to build the railroads. He became such a friend and advocate, it led to Cohen becoming no less than the bodyguard of Sun Yat-Sen, the founding father of the Chinese Republic. Morris Cohen's later life turned for the worst but Levy has written a fascinating book about an unlikely hero.

Matthew Polly's American Shaolin was great fun when I read it in 2007. You can read my post about it here: http://goo.gl/qESVN

And since it is the Year of the Rabbit, perhaps it's time to re-read Watership Down and watch a few Bugs Bunny cartoons.

Gong xi fa cai

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto

2011-01-28T15:35:00.011-05:00

Yesterday I received a care package from a dear friend at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt filled with some magnificent books. Today I began As Always, Julia and can only marvel at what a gift I've been presented.

Merely twenty pages in and I've already welled up with tears at seeing a friendship blossom, initially over kitchen knives. In just a few letters, the stilted civility of the 1950's quickly gave way to warmth and mutual admiration and became a deep, lifelong friendship.

In a wonderfully prescient letter, Julia describes the French cooking school she founded as "...a real and satisfying profession which will keep me busy well into the year 2000". Just wait, Julia.

More to come. Go buy the book.

Swamplandia! approaches

2011-01-27T07:23:00.010-05:00

Just a heads-up on a title I'm more than a little excited to get my hands on. Swamplandia!, by the frighteningly talented Karen Russell, hits bookstore shelves February 1.

Here's an author who demands your attention. A few years ago, The National Book Foundation named Russell one of their '5 under 35' authors to watch and the New Yorker included her in their '20 under 40' list this past year.

I was bowled over by her marvelous first collection, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, and one of the stories from that collection, Ava Wrestles the Alligator, is the starting point for the new book.

Here is what I wrote about St Lucy's: http://reednext.blogspot.com/2008/01/st-lucys-home-for-girls-raised-by.html

You can also read a recent interview with Russell from Powells.com here: http://goo.gl/osI61

Put down the Girl Who Ate My Lunch books. Cast aside the graying Grisham, the predictable Patterson and the insipid Sparks. All hail Karen Russell. All hail Swamplandia!

Should I stay or should I go?

2011-01-24T16:29:00.007-05:00

I am at a crossroads with this blog. One brief visit can tell you I don't spend enough time on it or write well enough to make this a site people return to repeatedly. It's nice to believe people come here and learn about a book or two but it's never been my intention for this to become anything more than my opinion about what I read. This has always been for me.

So I'm thinking I've had enough of this. It has become a tiny drudgery. There are days when I finish a book and feel obligated to do a book report. It hangs over me and I procrastinate and then I finally write something and post it and then I pat myself on the back. For what? To write something few people but me read? Vicious circle so what's the use, right?

Yet every time I come here to write my farewell post something stops me and so I am trying to make a decision about what to do. Keep at it or let it go? Change the format? Enlist others? As yet, I'm not sure. I'll never be a great writer or a great critic but I'm a good reader and perhaps that's what this blog should be about. Me reading and then writing. As simple as that.

A decision is forthcoming. Should you choose to come along, you're most welcome.

An old friend visits

2010-11-05T14:33:00.008-04:00

The work of James Thurber has meant a great deal to me since I paid a quarter for a copy of The Thurber Carnival at a thrift store almost 25 years ago. Most people had to read "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" or "The Catbird Seat" as part of a college collection or as an assignment in high school. Maybe that's all the Thurber most people need but his work spoke to me immediately and with immediacy. It was smart and funny and literate and snobby and drunken and sad--all qualities to which I aspired. For many years, I would bore most anyone who would listen to me go on (and on and on) about James Thurber. His work turned me on to Perelman, Runyon, Benchley and the rest of the Harold Ross/New Yorker set and changed how I read.

The other night, for the first time in several years, I picked up The Thurber Carnival and am delighted to report it is STILL smart and funny and literate and snobby and drunken and sad. Certainly it is dated and some of the pieces have little in common with our present world nor how humor has evolved since but the writing holds up as truly classic American literature.

The selections, especially those from The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze, knocked me out all over again: Elliot Vereker from "Something To Say", Barney Haller's accented speech and Thurber's fear of 'grotches' from "The Black Magic of Barney Haller", Charlie Deshler 'coming out of the anesthetic' of his wife's charms from "The Curb In the Sky". Still funny, still clever, still beautifully written. I was also quite moved by the longing and loneliness in both The Evening's At Seven and One Is A Wanderer. Thurber is remembered as a writer of humor but he was a hell of a writer, period.

I could go on (and usually do) but instead suggest you, too, dig out your old copy of The Thurber Carnival and give it a read. Or should you come across a copy in a thrift store, spend the quarter. My guess is you will be rewarded and delighted.

Two Coming of Age Tales

2010-08-10T09:48:00.019-04:00

Coming of age.

The best and worst of times, though only in hindsight. Pure Id: everything is the happiest or saddest or most fun or most boring thing ever. Carbonated glands and nowhere to go with them, in my case, at least.

Though some might question my level of maturity--puckishness, my dears, and an irrepressible boyish charm!--I’m fairly certain I came of age years ago. Years and years ago. So why am I still reading about it? Is there a point when I’ll be too old to read and relate to coming of age novels? Is it a timeless genre or is it telling the same story over and over AND OVER again, in different hands with a slightly different perspective? Holden and Huck, Scout and Siddartha. The eventual outcome--isn’t it the same? Losing the child for the adult. The lifelong look back. Loneliness, lewdness (if you’re lucky), liberty.

To wit, two books--one fiction, one non-- that have me thinking about all this. Neither is great, but both are pretty good.

First, Cardboard G-ds: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards by Josh Wilker. Snapshot: small urban 70's family, artsy Mom, ineffectual Dad, beloved older brother. Mom takes on a boyfriend who moves in with the family. Family moves to Vermont to get 'back to the land' and then finds it neither easy nor very rewarding. Big brother tries to grow up, parents and boyfriend fall apart, kid clings to his baseball cards as the only constant in his life.

This is a very sentimental memoir and had I not grown up at the same time collecting the very same cards, I would never have gotten through the book but there was something I could appreciate despite the fact that my own circumstances were nothing like his. My family never divorced, my mother never took on a boyfriend, etc. At the time, I did find a certain sanctity in baseball cards. I traded and flipped with friends. We lusted after cards we needed to complete our teams and speculated how our teams would do and we memorized stats and recited them as we shagged fly balls and played catch for hours in the side yard.

Then something happened. Cards were less important and were replaced by music. Baseball, which had been our social currency, took a backseat to rock, especially punk rock. The Grand Old Game versus Young, Loud and Snotty.

Which brings us to Joe Meno’s Hairstyles of the Damned. I was just crazy about Meno’s novel, The Boy Detective Fails about which I gushed in a horrible run-on sentence of a post (http://reednext.blogspot.com/2007/01/boy-detective-fails-by-joe-meno.html). Hairstyles is actually the book before Boy Detective. Truth is, it's a pretty stock coming-of-age tale: Brian, an unremarkable adolescent boy, 'in love' with his best friend, a punk chick who fistfights other girls and parents whose marriage is falling apart around him. Punk rock becomes his life preserver.

However, it succeeds because Meno has a tremendous sense of what, in Yiddish, is called rachmones. (It’s pronounced rachMOness. It doesn’t rhyme with Ramones.) While it defies a literal definition, I’ve always thought of it as where empathy and sympathy meet. Meno gets the sadness inside his characters, the scars they have and their inability to verbalize them despite wanting to scream, “help me! I hurt!” For that alone, I love his work.

I graduated from baseball cards to punk rock, too, so these works struck me between the ears.

Straight Man by Richard Russo

2010-06-23T12:26:00.009-04:00

Simply, Straight Man is superb.

To wit, a few examples that left me breathless. Then I will leave you to get your keys, drive to the bookstore (an indie, please), purchase your own copy and get down to reading a brilliant, funny, sad and rewarding work.

This, from page sixteen (!) from a novel almost four hundred pages long about a minor character:

"Looking at Gracie now, you had a hard time remembering the effect of her hiring twenty years ago. She had been like one of those dancers in black fishnet stockings and tails and a top hat, being passed from hand to sweaty hand over the heads of an otherwise all-male revue. As Jacob Rose, then our chair and now our dean, was fond of observing, every man in the college wanted to fuck her, except Finny, who wanted to be her. That was then. I doubt we could hoist her over our heads now. We're not the men we used to be, and Gracie is twice the woman. The sad thing is that anybody has only to look at Gracie (or, in my case, catch a whiff of that perfume) to know she still wants to be that woman. And, hell, we understand. We'd like to be those men."

Four pages later he writes this:
"I had not intended to belittle Gracie. At least not until I got started, after which it felt like the natural thing to do, though I no longer remember why. I don't dislike Gracie. At least I don't dislike here when I think about her. When I'm in one place and she's in another. It's when she's near enough to backhand that backhanding her always seems like a good idea."

I had forgotten what a masterful writer Russo is and I hope I never do again.

Now, go find your keys.

What Is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman

2010-05-27T15:03:00.005-04:00

Some authors write beautifully. Others write sparingly or in a flowery fashion or have a style you can't quite name. Howard Norman writes simply and it works well for his latest, What Is Left the Daughter.

Set in a small Nova Scotia town during World War II, What Is Left the Daughter is really two love triangles laid atop each other and peopled with a small cast of odd but likable characters (the always-blunt Cornelia McTell was my favorite). The author could have written a 'village' novel, one in which we get to know and love the quirky characters of some little town along with their faults, foibles and families, their hopes and heartbreaks. To his credit, he didn't. What he wrote was a story of murder, obsession, and suicide that is engaging, sad, and funny. It's a story of how people get lost and how they find themselves again.

There were times where it was a little hard to believe--the main character's occupation near the end and the series of coincidences that help shape events were a little too coincidental. Still, this is small beer because the story works. I will be certain to read Howard Norman again.

Favorite line:
"I could write a book--if I could write a book"

James Beard, Sid the Kid, and Damon Wayans walk into a bar and order a pastrami sandwich...

2010-05-09T12:59:00.001-04:00

*A great big mazel tov to author David Sax whose delightful book, Save the Deli, won a James Beard award. Here's his acceptance speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esBETl_OOSI
My two cents, or two cents plain, as it were, can be found here: http://reednext.blogspot.com/2010/03/save-deli-by-david-sax.html.

Besides, any author who checks the email on his website and then actually replies is okay with me.

*With all the talk about Ipad, Kindle, e-books and their effect on book publishing, let's not forget Google. I thought this informative article gives an idea what's just ahead: http://bit.ly/9q5GKb

Despite my deep disdain for Messrs Bezos and Jobs, I'm okay with Google taking over the world. Google founders Larry & Sergey just seem less bloodthirsty. Maybe I'm a sucker.

*Got a wonderful care package from my friend, Jen, filled with books about hockey and baseball. Especially since my team, the brilliant Pittsburgh Penguins, are one game away from clinching the second round of the playoffs, I'm all over the hockey titles (More about the baseball books in another post):

First off, a novel by Bill Gaston entitled The Good Body, due out in August from House of Anansi Press. Hockey-themed and well-blurbed, I'm looking forward to starting it.

Hockey Night in Canada has put out two absolute beauties: By The Numbers: From 00 to 99 and My Greatest Day: 50 People, 50 Great Moments, both by Scott Morrison. These are fantastic, four-color books loaded with photos, facts, trivia and opinion. My hockey knowledge increases with each trip to the bathroom.

The Year of the Penguins by Andrew Podnieks is a chronicle of, you guessed it, the winning season that led to their Stanley Cup Championship. This is a game-by-game analysis of all eighty-two regular season games, as well as a look at the entirely-too-long playoffs and finals.

The capper is My Day With the Cup by Sidney Crosby, captain of the Pens and arguably the greatest hockey player on the planet. After a team wins, the members of the team get to "take the Cup home", and this is a photo chronicle of Sid the Kid's return to his hometown, Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. I can honestly say what should have taken 20 minutes to page through took me three days because I kept getting so choked up with emotion. There is something about Crosby and the team and their incredible season that just gets me right in the ganektagazoink. Reed Next? Sentimental? Who knew?

Go Pens!

*I leave you with an item of deep concern. Could this be the fourth horseman of the apocalypse? If not, it's gotta be damn close: http://bit.ly/bk74yT

Books and Bands

2010-04-29T10:45:00.000-04:00

If you're like me, and I know I am, I love the rock 'n' roll so here's a marriage of two of my favorite things--the music and the books:

http://www.coudal.com/bookingbands.php

Tuesdays With Morrisey!

The Ben Folds Five People You Meet In Heaven!

HA! And those are just Mitch Albom titles.

Got this from my dear friend, the real Joe Pope, fans of Ferris, and thought I'd pass it along. May you larf long and hard.

A Reed Next Round Up

2010-04-14T11:44:00.002-04:00

Greetings all. I took a couple of weeks off as Mrs. Next was on Spring Break and we spent considerable quality time together. Lovely, of course, but I'm behind so a couple of quick hits before I post on Howard Norman's upcoming What Is Left the Daughter.

* I Tweeted this just the other day but just love the idea of Keef being at the library. He would certainly bring a bit of swagger to any collection

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1263492/How-hell-raising-Rolling-Stone-Keith-Richards-wanted-librarian.html

* Sherman Alexie won the PEN/Faulker aware for War Dances, his last book for Grove, against some serious competition (http://www.penfaulkner.org/news_media.php?id=596) As an avid Alexie admirer, I enjoyed it though it was obvious he was moving on to another house. The short stories collected alongside his poems and lists seemed a mix of contractual obligation and permission to "let the kid do as he pleased" as though this was his last summer at home before leaving for school. Still, that's not to say I didn't love parts. He can still a turn a phrase and tell a story with the best of them and his ability to create and flesh out little vignettes of human desperation reminds me of Carver, if Carver were funny.

* Went to a used bookstore for the first time in what seemed like ages. I had almost forgotten how enjoyable it was to roam the aisles with no real agenda and just allow the books to present themselves. While I could have spent far more time and money, I was stingy with both and left with Joe Meno's Hairstyles of the Damned, and two Richard Russo titles, Straight Man and Nobody's Fool.

* Happy to report that Reporting At Wit's End is a delight. St. Clair McKelway's collection of New Yorker pieces from the 1930's through the 1960's show their age at times but the stories are of a time and place we'll never see again told in a way that captures the spirit, soot and savvy of a New York about which we can only smile and reminisce.

Dreaming Deeply with Richard Russo

2010-04-12T15:57:00.003-04:00

Just got back from a lovely little affair: a discussion with Pulitzer prize-winning author Richard Russo. The school where Mrs. Next teaches assigned the brilliant Empire Falls to the eleventh grade and then had him at the school to speak to the kids. Sadly, I missed his presentation but was able to attend a lunch attended by eight faculty/staff types and Mr. Russo. While he was peppered with questions, the esteemed author ate a turkey on wheat and pasta salad.

A few high notes:

*He just finished editing the next edition of Best American Short Stories. He spoke highly of work by Wells Tower, Steve Almond, Lauren Groff and Brendan Mathews.

*Work on his next novel begins soon. That said, it could take him anywhere from a year and a half to six years until it's completed if his track record is examined.

*His daughter is a bookseller at an indie bookstore. I wish I could explain why this makes me so happy.

*He never pictured Paul Newman as Sully in the HBO adaptation of Empire Falls but as soon as Newman walked toward him on the set, limping in character, he knew it would work out well.

*A Kindle is a likely purchase for him in the near future. He's never read a book on one but thinks the ability to have all the books, magazines and papers he reads with him on an upcoming trip to Italy makes sense.

*After our discussion, he was headed to a local NPR station to be interviewed by Bob Edwards whose featured topic this week is The Future of the Book. http://www.bobedwardsradio.com/

*Favorite quote du jour: "When I read, I want to dream deeply."

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

2010-04-08T11:52:00.005-04:00

I was but a young bookseller when I was given a copy of High Fidelity and was sold immediately on the author's talents. There have been some peaks and valleys since but I am happy to say Juliet, Naked is my favorite Hornby book since About a Boy.

Hornby has always been adept at, and has become expert in, portraying his characters with depth despite their shallowness, honesty despite their self-deceit and the ability to change after hitting bottom. He has a way of imbuing his characters with a marvelous sense of humanity while also keeping them normal and real and even mundane. I believe it is this sense of the mundane that makes them so readily identifiable. Not only do I know Rob from High Fidelity or About a Boy's Will, I am Rob, I have been Will and, in this instance, Duncan and Tucker AND Annie. (here's a question I've always had: does Hornby write women well? After all these years, I still can't decide.)

So, to Juliet: in short, Duncan, a university teacher, worships an obscure American singer/songwriter named Tucker Crowe, whose retirement from music is shrouded in rumor and innuendo, much of it fueled and speculated on by Duncan and his like-minded Internet cohorts. Duncan and girlfriend Annie long ago lost sight of each other and muddle through life as DuncanandAnnie, a sort of loveless blob, together more by habit than affection. When Annie strikes up an unusual email correspondence with the reclusive Crowe, everything comes unglued though it doesn't become the sitcom it could in less capable hands. Fortunately for the reader, Hornby tells a story that is entertaining and emotionally honest and is filled with warmth, growth and humor.

Remember all the hubbub about Hapworth?

2010-04-08T11:11:00.002-04:00

Here's how it happened:

http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/65210/

This fantastic piece from New York magazine tells how a small publisher caught the biggest fish of all, J. D. Salinger, and, despite his best efforts, somehow still managed to let him get away.

Heartbreaking but true to form, I suppose.

Awards, award-winners, hockey

2010-03-17T10:17:00.002-04:00

Just a couple of quickies before I go laptop shopping so I can blog on the back deck or in coffee shops or in the middle of a forest or wherever the kids blog these days. Got to stay hip, you know.

--Save the Deli author David Sax sent me a very kind note about my recent posting on his book. It's nice to know authors actually check their own websites. Thank you again, David.

--The National Book Critics Circle award winners were announced. Fiction award goes to Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall. If memory serves, when the book won another award a few months ago, I posted that I needed to read her. I've still no idea who she is but I had better get on it.

http://bookcritics.org/awards/

Finally, had you told me I'd ever utter a phrase with 'Margaret Atwood' and 'goalie' in it, I'd have never believed you. Check out this absolutely delightful video of the Man Booker prize winner in the crease:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkkwEXi-zZI&feature=player_embedded

(While I'm at it, check this vid from America's favorite all hockey rock 'n' roll band, the Zambonis:

http://www.cnchockey.com/videos/hockey-monkey)

Save the Deli by David Sax

2010-03-10T14:40:00.003-05:00

The other day, I caught the end of Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose. If you haven't seen it or don't remember, it's a bunch of comedians sitting around the Carnegie Deli recalling stories of talent agent, Danny Rose, and the lengths he would go to for his roster of marginally talented performers, among them a stuttering ventriloquist and a blind xylophone player.

The film was one of my father's faves and he and I watched it together a number of times and recalling that made me happy. Too, the Carnegie Deli makes me happy and giant deli sandwiches make me happy, as does the idea of old comics sitting around telling stories in the Carnegie Deli over giant sandwiches. So I burst into tears. Deep sobs, actually. That day was my father's birthday. He's been gone since 2006 and I miss him. My father had an appreciation of those things and passed that appreciation on to me. Bless him.

After reading Save the Deli, I think author David Sax would understand the sobs. He treats the topic with a lot of love and respect and while I have no idea if his father is alive and well (I certainly hope so), he gets the idea that deli is just kind of in your blood. As Ken Kesey said, you're either on the bus or off the bus and I'm on the bus. So much so, that I was hell-bent on visiting Schwartz's in Indianapolis on a recent weekend trip--they didn't disappoint--and I've been looking into flights to Montreal since Sax' description of a smoked meat sandwich has me more than intrigued. Pair that with a recent Calvin Trillin New Yorker piece on a dish called poutine, said also to be born of Montreal, and I've got a weekend in the works.

Sax gives readers a history of the deli, really an American culinary and cultural phenomenon heavily influenced by Eastern European Jews, the current state of the delicatessen and a glimpse of the future for the deli. What was once a thriving food culture has struggled for some time and tastes have changed a great deal but he leaves the reader with the hope the cuisine may be poised for a comeback. However, without some reinvention and real love, it could just as easily go the way of the dodo. Eating at a deli isn't meant to be a nostalgia trip or a tourist stop. It's an experience that should be shared, perhaps over a very large pastrami on rye with some Guldens brown mustard and a Dr. Brown's soda. Save the Deli captures that feeling very, very well.

What Is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman

2010-03-09T12:03:00.006-05:00