I knew how to read prior to this summer's Book-a-Thon[1] and I did use that skill before writing about it on the World Wide Web.[2] Here's a list of a few of the books I remember enough that I must've enjoyed them. Unlike other posts, I'm not going to go back to the source material, so there's a good chance that most of what I say about these will be outright false.
- The Visible Man by Chuck Klosterman. It's his second novel and it's much better than the first.[3] It's about a guy who has a special paint that makes him invisible, and he uses it to watch people. He'll go in your house, sit in the corner for like four days, and watch your life. I read it over a week during senior year, concurrent with working -- real creepy story and the pages turn quickly.
- I Drink For A Reason by David Cross[4]. I looked at that link just now and you can get it from Amazon for $5.60, which is a total steal. It's a series of essays and memoirs and fictional satirical memoirs written by one of the more daring comics in the biznizz. The true masterpiece is his open letter to Larry The Cable Guy, available on YouTube in two parts HERE and HERE. It's one of the best takedowns in recent memory. Apply a cold rag to the burned area, "Larry."
- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman is a really neat look at one of the world's brightest minds. He reminds me of my grandfather, if my grandfather had a Ph.D in physics and worked on the Manhattan Project. Watch him talk about magnets. Now imagine that style of explanation applied to telling neat stories about his time in college picking up women[5] and pleding a fraternity. There's really neat historical stuff about the making of The Bomb, too. I dunno. Guy's one of my Science Heroes.
- Simon Pegg's Nerd Do Well. Simon Pegg is my favorite comedic actor -- Spaced[6], Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, the upcoming The World's End -- and he (co)writes every good thing he stars in. Makes sense that I'd like his book. It wasn't great -- his professional acting career (i.e., his life from 1999 to the book's present) gets maybe 10% of the page space in favor of more childhood reminiscences -- but it's definitely worth a read if you're curious about Pegg's early life. The bit where he meets George Romero[7] is a neat I-admire-your-work-no-I-admire-YOUR-work moment.
I'm still reading Infinite Jest and I'll write about it eventually. Things are happening.
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[1] More of a Book-a-Sisyphean-Trudge now, thanks to Infinite Jest.↩
[2] Trenchant!↩
[3] Downtown Owl is okay, and I say that as a fan of his. "Owl" has a huge problem where all of the characters -- high-schoolers, mostly -- talk in exactly the same detached, ironic fashion; they sound like the author. The Visible Man doesn't have that issue because (A) there are far fewer characters -- the story revolves around the Visible Man and his psychiatrist -- and (B) literally everyone shouted at Klosterman about the problem, so he consciously changed his style.↩
[4] Perhaps best known as Dr. Tobias Funke on Arrested Development.↩
[5] SPOILER ALERT: Feynman was a total ladies' man. (Also let me randomly plug Father John Misty's "Only Son Of The Ladiesman.")↩
[6] This is my favorite show. TV in the UK works differently (and I'd say better) than in the US, so they "only" did 14 episodes, but it's a perfect series about "life-wasting" Gen Xers. Pegg and Jessica Stevenson wrote it and star in it, Edgar Wright (who directed those three movies, too) directs it, Nick Frost is another main character, it's just great. Shaun Of The Dead is its like spiritual successor.↩
[7] Director of the old ". . . Of The Dead" films, father of the Zombie Movie.↩
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