May I suggest some reading material?
Hey, ya’ll, these are some kick-ass books I’ve read that have helped formulate who I am today and have perhaps influenced my writing (although not necessarily). Here’s the deal. I give you a little synopsis of the book. If it sounds wicked cool and you think you would be better off owning a copy, you can click on the book and order it from Amazon.com, the world’s largest bookstore online. It’s pretty simple. And remember the words of Cicero: A room without books is like a body without a soul. (Not to be confused with George Clinton’s immortal saying, “A tune without a groove is like a booty without soul.”) For many of these, I give you the option of hardcover (usually the most expensive edition), paperback (usually the cheapeast edition), and sometimes in audiocasette if I think that a book might be more easily digestible if done in chapters on the freeway to and from work.
Fool on the Hill, by Matt Ruff. This is a wonderful modern fairy tale set in Ithaca, New York. The cast includes a beautiful woman (the most beautiful woman in the world -- only she looks different to each man who sees her!), a poet-who-would-be-knight-in-shining-armor, a bunch of Bohemians, pixies, talking animals, an evil worm, and a whole lot more. A really fantastic piece of work that has me dying to make a road trip to Ithaca.
Sewer, Gas, and Electric, by Matt Ruff. Can you tell I like Matt Ruff a lot? Too bad he’s only written two books! This one includes a one-hundred eighty year old one-armed female veteran of the Civil War, a cybernetically resurrected Ayn Rand, a mutated sewer shark, a group of eco-terrorists who intervene against ecological destruction by hijacking corporate vessels and bombarding the crews with pies while broadcasting the piracy worldwide, and too many others to mention. This book is absolutely hysterical... he refutes a lot of the Objectivist ideals without actually damning Ayn Rand or her followers, and throws in tons of humor for good measure, including a number of takes on Thomas Pynchon (the latter is something he started doing in Fool on the Hill, in which the local bar band is "Benny Profane and the V-Necks").
Lies My Teacher Told Me. In hardcover or paperback. This is a wonderful academic piece not only about what is historically inaccurate in the historybooks from which elementary and high school students are taught, but also why the entire method in which history at the pre-college level is simply ineffective if not outright contrary to learning.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. In hardcover, paperback, or audiocasette. For many years, this was absolutely my favorite book. I can no longer remember if my first read of it was in Mrs. Dann’s seventh grade advanced English, or in Mrs. Blake’s ninth grade honors English; I only remember how powerfully this book resounded through me, without being heavy-handed or preachy. Basically, it’s several stories in one. On one hand, it’s a story about childhood and innocence. On the other hand, it’s about prejudice and the many levels on which it operates. This is a must-read for anyone over twelve.
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. In hardcover or paperback. Ah, c’mon, waddya expect? I was a teenage waif! This story chronicles the mental breakdown of a teenage prep-school student who cannot deal with the falseness and superficiality of the world in which he lives. Perfect for any teenager who is already disillusioned with the bullcrap that life feeds you.
Franny and Zooey, by J. D. Salinger. In hardcover or paperback. I actually prefer this to Catcher in the Rye, because it examines the interpersonal relationships between family members. Franny and Zooey are child prodigies who find themselves utterly incapable of coping with their mundane adult lives.
As I Lay Dying, by Faulkner. This is the first (and so far the only) Faulkner I’ve ever tackled. Faulkner is brilliant, but incredibly difficult, complicated... I’ll only attempt Faulkner in a classroom setting so I can ask questions. Basically this novel revolves around the death of a southern matron and the events surrounding her burial and such. I know, it doesn’t sound interesting at first, but the thing is, you get multiple perspectives; narrative shifts from character to character, including the dead woman. This actually has had a tremendous impact on my poetry and the Calvary Submerged cycle I’m still trying to complete. However, I’ve given you a volume that also includes Sanctuary and Light in August, and is a much cheaper buy than most of the other single volume editions they carry. Ain’t I considerate?
Live from Golgatha, the Gospel According to Gore Vidal. Oh my Gawd, this cracks my ass up! This book is so funny. It’s like the modern equivalent of Aristophanes -- funny as Hell and fully of both the sublime and the utterly crude. Basically, our present is in the midst of a worldwide religious crisis because the Gospels are being erased, so several major corporations (media) go back in time in an attempt to commission Saint Timothy to re-recreate the life of Christ as well as he recalls. It’s a real play on the media as well as the public’s eagerness to believe in something, however ludicrous. Takes on leftists, rightists, feminists, Zionists, and everything in between.
Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov. I know, I know, everyone knows Lolita, but I’ve never read this. Begnal made me read it for a 400-level English course, and I don’t think I ever stopped laughing. The book is brilliantly funny. All about personal delusion and the subjective nature of truth (because the truth is only true insofar as one’s ability to perceive it). The narrator is obsessed with his colleague and deceased neighbor, a Robert Frost-esque poet, and with his final poetic opus, which he ultimately steals and "interprets" as an homage to himself. The whole novel is his academic evaluation of the poem and how it relates to him as (supposedly) the deposed king of some small kingdom in the Ukraine, although it is clearly not.
If You Ask Me, by Libby Gelman-Waxner. Libby inspired my Aunt Sylvie Golden-Shapiro to write her own columns about women in music video, so as not to encroach upon Libby’s territory, which is celluloid (that’s film, not fat). Her hilarious reviews and interpretation of contemporary film revolve more around her own life, or at least fashion, than the films themselves. If you meet a nice Jewish boy for Libby’s dear friend Stacy Schiff, you might want to write her and let her know.
Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth. This is a great book about a man trying to reconcile his Jewish identity in America. On one hand, he finds himself incredibly full of pride (after all, let’s deconstruct the goy ideal of a woman -- a cheerleader, all tits and hair and baton twirling, no brain or personality!); on the other, he feels that Jewish culture is incredibly f***ed up. Very crude and funny, full of sex and pathos. I wrote my final paper for Begnal’s class on this book and got an A. Although I don’t think Begnal liked me at all. I was a smart-ass and wrote my paper as a spoof of everything we’d read.
Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn. Hard to explain this one. A family of circus freaks; the parent generation simply strange by choice, the children the result of deliberate genetic manipulation through experimental drugs and chemical concoctions. A son with flippers; Siamese daughters with one set of legs to share between two torsos; one midget; and a telekinetic. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s really not. It’s about interpersonal relationships, societal fringes, blind faith, and the non-innocence of “innocents.”
House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton. This is a turn-of-the-century novel about upper class American society. It’s full of Victorian back-biting and betrayal, the story of a young woman whose youth and social standing are slipping out of her grasp. She refuses to marry beneath her intellectually and emotionally simply for the sake of money; and yet she cannot bring herself to fall for the man who is right for her, because he is not wealthy enough. There’s also a hardcover edition that includes Ethan Frome (a very short, but incredible, novel about a group of dysfunctional New Englanders) and Custom of the Country.
V, by Thomas Pynchon. God, this one is almost impossible to describe. All about narrative perspective... plot lines leap back in forth for time, albino allegators in metropolitan sewers pursue Stencil (a narrator), and all sorts of historical atrocities which are simply inexplainable on a rational level are explained away as the grotesque consequences of individual perversions. Whew! That is one hell of a synopsis, but really, I strongly recommend buying this book... and taking a class on Pynchon so you can figure it out!
Well, that’s it for now, but more are coming, I promise! I have like a two-page list of book titles that have meant a lot to me; the only problem is finding the time to sit down and add them to the list.