Counterbalance

Lit Bits and A Bit About Big Red (or Blue or Gray) Books

• Kindle offers lending and a Facebook group springs up to swap Kindle books with strangers. Will be interesting to watch this develop.
• How many things can you find that are wrong with this 5 E-Book Trends that Will Change the Future of Publishing post? I'd say way more than five, but that's just me. Days later, this still irks me.
• I'm so focused on the reading I didn't finish in 2010 that I'm a bit slapped up side the head about how good 2011 reading is looking. Colm Tóibín, DFW, Chris Adrian, Joanthan Evison, Donald Ray Pollack, Julian Barnes, Nicholson Baker, Marisha Pessl, Haruki Murakami, Péter Nádas and so many more. To simply scan The Millions' list of writers with something new out this year is...whoa.
• I'm still working my way through the NYT Why Criticism Matters piece. You?
• I'll be starting The Instructions tonight as part of the roundtable discussion we'll have here in the coming weeks. I can't help but feel I (and by extension, you) have bitten off more than intended. But it's the beginning of the year, and if we can't find the momentum for this feat now, will we ever? I'll be posting intial thoughts and some broad outlines of what we could do for discussion and posting if we choose. It's up to you.

Summer Reading Lists Aren't as Dim as Expected

It is that special time of year once again: that bright beachy time in which we are asked to carefully check our brains at the parking lot and carry our girlish, clothes-horse-y selves onto the sand and escape into mindless fiction of boys and bikinis and Birkin bags. Yes, that's right, it is Summer Reading time once again.  I've registered my distaste for this bizarre list-making season before. I will never - ever - understand the desire to read fluffy fare simply because the weather is warmer. I just don't get it. I still contend that this is a holiday conjured by publishers to speed otherwise lagging sales before the big, "literary" books hit in the fall. But that's just me.

My documented irritation with this irrelevant season has no effect on the Summer Reading lists that are de rigeur once the first heat wave hits and this year is no exception. Every publication under the sun is now unfurling their brightly colored/SPF-inclusive beachy reading recommendations and as much as I was prepared to get snarky and annoyed and overly pious, I have to say that a few of these picks are far less flinty than I expected. A few books, in fact, seem so perfectly "summer" that they appear on several lists.

Here's the rundown so far, with more lists likely to drop in the coming weeks:

• NPR's list of '08 Summer Reads wins an early place in my steely heart with the inclusion of Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else.  Other decidedly non-beachy picks include the short story collection Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan and Nam Le's collection (and it is here that I must remind you, in light of my own recent folly, that this is, in fact a collection), The Boat.

• The LA Times has a lengthy Summer Reading list that is more than any reader (fluffy or no) can really think about in the heat. It offers a range of essays and reflections and fiction and friction. Notable picks include:  This is Their Land by Barbara Ehrenreich, All About Lulu by Jonathan Evison (bravo!), The Lemur by Benjamin Black, Real World by Natsuo Kirino, Shining City by Seth Greenland and The Road Home by Rose Tremain.

• Salon has prefaced their summer reading series of lists by defining precisely what beach reading means to them: "summer books that transport you to new places without making you go through airport security." So is that the definition, then? Summer reading = books that make you feel like you're taking a vacation even though your sorry ass can't go anywhere for months?  Hmmm. Interesting.  I'll skip entirely over their "chick lit" summer reading list (yes, all the usual suspects are represented) and their "true confessions" list as neither offers anything of interest to me.  Their "killer thrillers" summer reading list, however, offers weightier tomes to drag around in your beach bag: Obedience by Will Lavender and Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith.

• The NYT's June 1st book review section is dubbed Summer Reading, but all of the "picks" seem to be the books they would have reviewed anyway. Call me crazy. Too bad they didn't highlight one of those beachy reads on June 3rd instead so we could be spared two separate reviews of the same damn book. A crime in my estimation, no matter how divergent the opinions (which in this case, were nil), given the dwindling space in book review sections.

Common denominators: Several lists have included Ethan Canin's America America and the completely obvious pick When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.

I'm with Laila on this one, though...I often like to use those beachy summer months (where, honestly, I burn so quickly there is no point for me to even go until it's at least 6pm and the BBQ and drinks are well under way) to go back in time and re-read old favorites or finally, finally get to those classics that I've not yet enjoyed. Revolutionary Road, here I come.

When the Queen Says No: The Words, They Go

Lake Superior State University has released their 33rd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.  As you read through this goodness the folks at LSU would like you to remember that "Over the years, some copycat lists have made an appearance, but LSSU's list was first."  Furthermore, the folks at LSSU obviously consider themselves quite funny, as their prelude to the list of overused words includes this cliche-laden sentence: "In this spirit, LSSU presents its 2008 list, a perfect storm of overused and abused words and phrases that pops organic, to a post-9/11 world decimated by webinars."  Duly noted.

Here, then, are the words that the Queen's English says no to this year:

• Perfect Storm
• Webinar
• Waterboarding
• Organic
• Wordsmith/wordsmithing
• Author/authored
• Post 9/11
• Surge
• Give Back
• Blank
• Black Friday
• Back in the Day
• Random
• Sweet
• Decimate
• Emotional
• Pop
• It is What it Is
• Under the Bus

Some of these I understand and hear way too much myself (webinar being at the tippy top of the list in my day to day work) but others I don't get at all.  Under the bus?  I've rarely heard this used...ever. Perfect storm? Other than the book and then the horrible film that followed, I've never heard this used on a regular basis. Have you? And while I'll agree that "it is what it is" may be used too much or is perhaps a non-sequitur, I firmly believe it captures  the very essence of zen buddhism and so I reject this addition to the list. I reject it wholesale.

For some rather funny explanations and voter-provided reasons behind the selected words, go see the list and enjoy.

Ah, 2008 is off to a precarious start!

LAist Editors Pick their Favorite Books of the Year

Another list I can get behind because, well, I created it. Or, prompted it. The Editors at LAist share their favorite books they read this year.

Mine is in the bunch and will be no surprise: Tom McCarthy's Remainder.

But: there were several lurking just behind and I want to make mention of the books that really got to me this year (even if they weren't published this year) for a range of reasons. In short, every one of these books has inspired me to continue writing fiction. I can't think of a better reason to admire them than that:

• The Interloper by Antoine Wilson
• Jamestown by Matthew Sharpe
• Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
• The Unforeseen by Christian Oster
• All Over by Roy Kesey
• Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
• Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño
• Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis

A List I Can Get Behind

The book critics at LA Weekly have their end-of-year book list out and I like it. The theme is "undernourished" books and for once, out of all the list madness and all my irritations with lists that look the same (Chabon, Diaz, Johnson) and do little to embrace smaller presses, I'm pleased.

Who's on their list?

• The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
• The Long Embrace by Judith Freeman
• Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron
• Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Patterson
• The Exception by Christian Jungersen
• Radiant Days by Michael Fitzgerald
• Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
• Creem: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine by Robert Matheu and Brian J. Bowe Collins
• What We Say Goes by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian
• Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics by Rebecca Solnit
• Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music by Eric Weisbard
• My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming

Bravo LA Weekly, b-r-a-v-o. A list that isn't too safe, that doesn't pander, that doesn't try to run with the big boys and water down all reading in the process.

Go check it out - the comments from the contributors are just as good as the list itself.

Whither the List That Matters?

I've never been a fan of year-end lists. I've made this known.  It has come time to say it out loud: I'm uber-tired of it this year.

Why? Short of The Millions and EWN and a tiny handful of blogs and pubs, who have the sense to run "lists" of books that authors (the keyword in all of this as I make my case: authors) liked this year (and which therefore results in interesting lists, lists that consist of something other than the top three or four or seven books that are now so ubiquitous I feel I should refuse to read them on spec or at least out of some unresolved issue I have with authority and being told what to do and what to read), it seems that everyone is cheating off of everyone else. There's only one best-books-of-the-year crib sheet and everyone's got it. Everyone's looking over the same damn shoulder when the teacher's got her back turned.

With the many weekend articles decrying book reviewing (again!) and the lack of reader interest in those book reviews (again!) and how dismal a year it was for books (again!), I feel like screaming: is it any wonder when you all pick the same books and tell the would-be readers you seem so intent on keeping to read them, read them, read them, or else!?!?!!?

Where are the works in translation? Where are the books by small presses? Where are the books by first time authors? Where are the short story collections? You cannot whine about the state of affairs if you're all asleep at the helm. You simply cannot.

LA Times Unleashes Their Lists

And the lists keep coming: The LA Times has published their Favorite Books of 2007 lists with this note from David L. Ulin:

"This year's Favorite Books issue has a retrospective feel. Inside, you'll find pieces on the pioneering comics artist Winsor McCay and children's author Beverly Cleary, as well as a reflection on rereading and a look at the lingering influence of the chapbook."

I like that they've got more than one list: Fiction and Poetry & Nonfiction. A quick glance reveals that these first two lists might be less safe than others in the same categories. I'm thrilled to see Matthew Sharpe's Jamestown mentioned and of course, any inclusion of Lydia Davis makes me want to dance a jig. 

Can we conclude that some of these names will make it to the Los Angeles Festival of Books in April? Might one of these be an LAT Book Prize winner?  Time will tell.

There's more goodness: Sarah Weinman's Favorite Mystery Books of 2007 and Ed Park's Favorite SciFi Books of 2007 and Sonja Bolle's Favorite Children's Books of 2007. Wow!

I'll have more after I've properly digested the deluge of lists.

McCarthy's (Tom not Cormac) Modernists

Since everyone is now ga-ga over Tom McCarthy's Remainder (which, hello, where were you people when I lauded it months ago?  Seriously. According to Ed's measures, that means I'm a "cool kid" -- a badge I'll proudly wear), it would be remiss not to point you toward a list many of you have no doubt read and committed to memory already: Tom McCarthy's Top 10 European Modernists for The Guardian.

The quick take-away version, minus the detail goes something like this:

• James Joyce
• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (embarassed to say I've not read a single sentence)
• Martin Heidegger
• Paul Celan
• Franz Kafka
• Georges Bataille
• Fancis Ponge
• Maurice Blanchot
• Samuel Beckett
• Alain Robbe-Grillet (read Djinn in the original French and you'll understand the unique pain of modernism in it's original language...but I believe that's the point, no?)

McCarthy's explanations of his picks are interesting and worth a read. I've buried my much-scribbled-on copy of Robbe-Grillet's Djinn and the mere thought of digging it out and revisiting it makes me want to take a nap.

Beachy Reading Bugs Me

Yes, yes, another list. It is the time of year when every magazine, online or otherwise, churns out its "beach reads" list. Why oh why oh why? Why is a book more suited for the beach than for one's porch? One's roof? One's bed? Why is it assumed that because I'm bikini-clad and lolling about in the sand, I'm in the mood for a different kind of book than if I were anywhere else on my free time? The assupmtion is that if I'm at the beach, I'm on vacation from all intelligent thought. As if the surf and sand will render my mind mush and I should likewise fill it with more mush.

Salon's new "beachy reads" list includes a heavy dose of froth and thrill including Peter Abraham's Nerve Damage, Peter Temple's The Broken Shore, and Val McDermid's The Grave Tattoo among the more substantial "light" delights of Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know.

Somehow, these listmakers have decided that while on vacation, one would rather give their mind a rest and read something frothy and light or mysterious and adventurous.  The thriller seems a permanent part of "beachy" reading lists every year. Why would our reading tastes change with the scenery? Mine doesn't. Does yours? 

UPDATE: A far better beachy-read list from, of all places, NPR...

UPDATE 2: And...upon further investigation (and several reader emails!)...an even better beachy read list that has none of the beachy and all of the qualities of good writing.

A List I Can Get Behind

Another list. Another round of should reading. Another pile to add to the pile to add to the pile. New York Magazine gives us sixty-one underrated titles in their "The Best Novels You've Never Read" piece.  Usually these things fall flat for me. Make me roll my eyes as I gear up to say something inane like "duh, this has been done before and better" or sigh under the pressure of all these books I've not read weighing down upon me. Instead, this list feels fresh. It's long - especially when I frequently say a list of 25 is long. It doesn't focus on writers, but on specific novels, which provides some room to rally. Freshens them up. Makes it seem somewhat manageable. Not everything an author has written, just this one book.

The main reason this list has street cred for me: Benjamin Kunkel's mention of Norman Rush's Mortals. Which, I 100% agree, is overlooked. Under-discussed. Under-appreciated. All of that and more.  I also agree with Kunkel that Mating is even better. I've always marveled at Rush and his seeming lack of appeal among the reading audience. Why don't more people talk about these books? With all they have to say about setting up new civilizations and all the problems inherent within such grand plans? Is he not prolific enough? Not a media darling? I've never been able to figure it. These two books are dense, intense, grand in scope, yet minute in detail. Superb writing, wonderful characterization - you get the big sweeping themes but the intimate details of personal insight are perfectly rendered as well.  Few books have blown me away in quite the fashion that Rush's books have and I'm glad to see he warranted a nod.  His short story collection, Whites, is also excellent. 

Other picks I was delighted to see & whole-heartedly vouch for: By The Lake by John McGahern, The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester, Do Everything In the Dark by Gary Indiana, anything by David Markson and of course, my true love, Last Night by James Salter.

Picks that I will simply HAVE to add immediately: Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willett, Grief by Andrew Holleran, Experience by Martin Amis, Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen, Samedi The Deafness by Jesse Ball, Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link, What Salmon Know by Elwood Reid, The Amalgamation Polka by Stephen Wright and of course, The Last Novel by David Markson.