What I'm Reading
Last night as I sat down on the couch under my favourite new lamp with the pile of books I'm currently working my way through, it struck me as kind of an odd group. Normally, I try not to read more than one thing at a time, but lately my interests seem to be expanding and my reading list widens daily. And the books pile up. Here are a few of them.
The mainstay of the pile is The Yiddish Policeman's Union, the
latest novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael
Chabon. It's a fun, hard-boiled detective story which takes place in an alternate history where the State of Israel collapsed following WWII and European Jews fled to Sitka, an outpost settlement in Alaska. I've been following Chabon since Wonder Boys, reading back to his earliest work, Werewolves in Their Youth, and forth, and was eagerly anticipating his first full novel since The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, (which won the Pulitzer in 2001). The thing I like best about Chabon is that he seems to believe that reading should be fun. In between novels Chabon's been writing short stories, comic books, children's fiction, editing for McSweeny's and a whole bunch of other cool stuff, most of which seems to have a decidedly pulp-fiction (not the movie) bent. All good stuff.
Next up is The Losers, Ante Up the first in a series of graphic novels (long comic books, but usually with more R-rated themes and content). It's about a crack team of black-operatives
who take on the CIA after being betrayed and targeted for elimination by their superiors after witnessing something they shouldn't have. The Losers is everything I always wished and hoped comic books would/could become. The art is great, very cinematic (it is, of course, being developed as a feature film in Hollywood, slated for release in 2009). The writing is spare and terse and visceral. Without being, dare I say it, as cheesy as the comics from the golden age, which, lets face it, haven't aged very well. A number of modern comics seem to be going in this direction, like my beloved Amazing Spiderman.
And finally, the biggest book on the bottom of the pile (separated from the others by various comic books) is Garden in the Wilderness, Mennonite Communities in the Paraguayan Chaco, 1927-1997. This is an engaging historical account of the exodus of the Mennonites, my people, from Europe against the backdrop of the two most devastating wars in history, detailing their journeys and travails as they try to find a place where they can live out their lives, and more importantly their faith, unmolested by governments. And even though the book focuses on the Paraguayan Mennonites and how they transformed an inhospitable wilderness into a prosperous region, it ties all of the migrations of this stubborn, determined but humble and pragmatic people together nicely, including my own ancestors who came to Canada in the late part of the nineteenth century. Fascinating stuff.
The mainstay of the pile is The Yiddish Policeman's Union, the
latest novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael
Chabon. It's a fun, hard-boiled detective story which takes place in an alternate history where the State of Israel collapsed following WWII and European Jews fled to Sitka, an outpost settlement in Alaska. I've been following Chabon since Wonder Boys, reading back to his earliest work, Werewolves in Their Youth, and forth, and was eagerly anticipating his first full novel since The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, (which won the Pulitzer in 2001). The thing I like best about Chabon is that he seems to believe that reading should be fun. In between novels Chabon's been writing short stories, comic books, children's fiction, editing for McSweeny's and a whole bunch of other cool stuff, most of which seems to have a decidedly pulp-fiction (not the movie) bent. All good stuff.Next up is The Losers, Ante Up the first in a series of graphic novels (long comic books, but usually with more R-rated themes and content). It's about a crack team of black-operatives
who take on the CIA after being betrayed and targeted for elimination by their superiors after witnessing something they shouldn't have. The Losers is everything I always wished and hoped comic books would/could become. The art is great, very cinematic (it is, of course, being developed as a feature film in Hollywood, slated for release in 2009). The writing is spare and terse and visceral. Without being, dare I say it, as cheesy as the comics from the golden age, which, lets face it, haven't aged very well. A number of modern comics seem to be going in this direction, like my beloved Amazing Spiderman.And finally, the biggest book on the bottom of the pile (separated from the others by various comic books) is Garden in the Wilderness, Mennonite Communities in the Paraguayan Chaco, 1927-1997. This is an engaging historical account of the exodus of the Mennonites, my people, from Europe against the backdrop of the two most devastating wars in history, detailing their journeys and travails as they try to find a place where they can live out their lives, and more importantly their faith, unmolested by governments. And even though the book focuses on the Paraguayan Mennonites and how they transformed an inhospitable wilderness into a prosperous region, it ties all of the migrations of this stubborn, determined but humble and pragmatic people together nicely, including my own ancestors who came to Canada in the late part of the nineteenth century. Fascinating stuff.
2 Comments:
A rich and varied reading list. A reminder to a lapsed reader like me to seek out good books that aren't childrens' literature...
Thanks for taking the time to comment, franQ.
Ah, the age old dilemma of books made into films...
It's my contention that movies spawned by beloved books can't possibly live up to expectations. They're two totally different things, and shouldn't really be compared to one another. A great example of this is Big Fish, by Daniel Wallace... it's a good enough book, but (I think) it's an even better movie.
If you find that seeing the film ruins the book for you, then don't go see it, just read the book again. (I've lamented that no future reader of TLOTR will be able to see Frodo as anyone but Elija Wood.)
With regard to Mysteries of Pittsburgh and what Chabon did or didn't do... I don't have any insight there. One of the things I like about Chabon's writing is the refreshing treatment of sexuality, and it would seem to me that it would be very challenging to do his unique take justice on the big screen. But I'd love to see them try!
At any rate, Chabon is a great writer, whether or not he signed off on the movie rights/script or whatever. If Thurber makes a shitty film of it then that's his failing, not Chabon's.
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