The rest of summer reading

When I started this blog, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted it to be. I didn't want to write book reviews, I didn't want to praise or condemn any books, I just want to write about them. I guess what I find most fascinating are the things that I come across and decide to read, whether I enjoy them or not. I just think it's interesting why somebody chooses to read something, and I hope that my choices are interesting to you too.

These are the books that I read this summer which haven't been previously featured:

On Writing - a memoir about writing by Stephen King
Reckless - a play by Craig Lucas
Prelude to a Kiss - another play by Craig Lucas
Our Town - Thornton Wilder

"That's what it was to be alive. To move about in a cloud of ignorance; to go up and down trampling on the feelings of those...of those about you. To spend and waste time as though you had a million years. To be always at the mercy of one self-centered passion, or another. Now you know--that's the happy existence you wanted to go back to. Ignorance and blindness."

- Our Town

Currently I am enjoying short stories by Ray Bradbury, who truly is an amazing writer. I bought one of his collections, The Vintage Bradbury, a while back, and it is now one of the best books I own.

I read a lot of interesting short stories this summer, old and new. I might write about them in the next entry.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles

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What I love about Greek drama is that, even though it predates English literature, it has so much better female representation than in most English works before the Victorian era. Oedipus the King or Oedipus Rex is a fantastic Greek tragedy by Sophocles. It is the first (chronologically) of his three Theban plays.

A painting of Oedipus and the Spinx by Gustave Moreau, not a scene from Oedipus the King.

As Oedipus the King seeks to find the cause of the curse that befalls in his land, he is led to discover the truth about his birth and the horrendous fate that awaits him.

"But I say that you, with both your eyes are blind:
You can not see the wretchedness of your life,
Nor in whose house you live no, nor with whom.
Who are your father and mother? Can you tell me?
You do not even know the blind wrongs
That you have done them, on earth and in the world below."

This is one of the most prominent works in the world of literature. And, lucky for those of us who feel the need to read anything prominent, it is so well written and so much fun to read. However, just like everything translated, choosing the right translation is very important. There are so many out there, and it's hard to trust anybody. I chose the one by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald because I have read and loved Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey.

Good ol' Sophocles

The other two plays of the three are Oedipus and Colonus and Antigone. I'll probably get to them pretty soon.

Face - Alice Munro

I read a lot, and I like most of the things I read. Partly because I usually choose to read works by authors that either have been revered for at least fifty years, or works by new authors that are highly acclaimed. I would say there is only about one in ever ten works I read that I don't like.

But once in a while, about one in fifteen or twenty, do I come across a work that reminds me why I read.

I subscribed to The New Yorker a couple of months ago, but I don't really have time to read it. I try to at least catch all the fictions, but usually I wouldn't get to read them until a couple of issues later. Last night I read Alice Munro's Face, which was published in the September 8th issue. (I'm not sure if it has been published before; Munro is a regular contributor to the magazine.) And it was just that kind of work. The story is about a boy with a birthmark on his face and is childhood friend. It is bittersweet and heartbreaking. And it reminds me of the magic of fiction, the magic that makes me love to read and write fiction.

Alice Munro

The only other story by Munro that I have read is How I Met My Husband. I enjoyed that one but don't think is half as impressive as Face. If you like Munro, or are looking for something amazing to read, Face is available to read for free on The New Yorker website.

Angels in America - Tony Kushner

Lately I have been reading plays a lot. They're quick and easy to finish, and they give me the escape I need from this harsh, cruel world. Among those plays, two of the best were two parts of the epic Angels in America a Pulitzer Prize winner by Tony Kushner.

Prior to reading these plays I have seen the HBO adaptation of it three times. I loved it so much despite how long it is (6 hours). I decided that it was time to actually sit down and read the plays. And they are fantastic.

"I usually say, 'Fuck the truth,' but mostly, the truth fucks you" - Millennium Approaches

"The white cracker who wrote the national anthem knew what he was doing. He set the word 'free' to a note so high nobody can reach it. That was deliberate. Nothing on earth sounds less like freedom to me." - Perestroika

There is much wisdom in these plays. All the main characters are some of the most complex, most compelling characters in drama. You read it and you want to know who they are. You feel compassion for them from the moment they appear. Reading these two plays gave me some of the most cathartic experiences.

A stage production of Angels in America.


A scene from the HBO adaptation.

Pretty much I love these plays, and so should you! Read them, and then check out the HBO adaptation.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

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Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray is about a young man who "sells his soul to the devil" in exchange for eternal youth. It is one of those novels I hear mentioned all the time. I think it is well written as a whole, and even though the supernatural element is not clearly explained, the rest of the novel is so well developed that it makes up for what isn't there. If the novel is categorized as gothic, then it would be the first gothic novel that I like.

The dashing Oscar Wilde was arrested for being gay. The novel has a really overt homosexual theme. Though the male characters have wives and stuff, the way they feel about each other is unmistakably romantic and sexual. In fact I think it would be ignorant to even attempt to read it any other ways.


This is a Rembrandt paiting of Faust, the German legend about a man who sells his soul to the devil. The story of Dorian Gray plays off of the same theme and structure.

It's not that long, and it's a good read, so check it out!

In a few days...

I don't want to update every time I finish reading something. That might be a bit too much. I've been reading several really interesting things. Be expecting these:

-More classics
-Some drama
-Short stories, old and new

Consider this a teaser :)

The Classics

For many reasons I think everybody should read the classics. But the term "classic" itself is pretty problematic. It's just as problematic as the term "masterpiece." How should something be defined as a classic? I don't think there's one right answer. In any case, I have read several works this summer that I consider to be classical. And here they are:



Macbeth by William Shakespeare. I have read and loved many of Shakespeare's plays. Macbeth, however, wasn't one of them. I thought it was far from being one of his best. But to be fair, I much prefer his comedies to tragedies.



To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I thought this one was beautifully written. I was completely enamored by it. Woolf is famous for playing around with streams of consciousness, and for being the suicidal genius portrayed by Nicole Kidman in The Hours. It took me a bit of effort to get into the text, but once I was there I never wanted to leave.



A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen is one of the masters of drama, and a revolutionary one of his time. This particular work discussed the inequality of gender roles with complex characters.



The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This one has definitely become one of my favorite novels. Sometimes you read something and it feels as if it was written for you and you enjoy every page of it. This is one of those novels for me.



The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. This is a gothic novel. I thought the plot was thin, the characters not well developed, and the writing style unpolished. Like Shelly's Frankenstein--which I also don't like--this novella seems to indulge in its spooky elements and ignore the other aspects that would make the work a good work of literature like, I don't know, plot and characters? Needless to say I did not like this one.



Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I thought it was beautifully written, almost like music. It moves so subtly and has this melancholic tone all the way throughout. I simply loved it. I also recommend Wharton's short story called Roman Fever.

Summer 08

I'm not really in the mood to write book reviews or criticize anything, but here are some of the books I read this summer:


I read a short story by Farris in The New Yorker and thought his style was very much like mine--he tells a tragedy with humor. I immediately checked out this first novel of his.It is hilarious, insightful, and a real page-turner. It gives a glimpse to the bitter world of advertising business during layoffs.


I met Phillip Margolin when he came to give a lecture about novel writing at school. He was a very nice guy, and I found his lecture really helpful. This novel of his is the one recommended for those who aren't familiar with his work, which was why I bought it and got it signed by him. Like most mystery/thriller pulp fictions what-do-you-call-it, it moves at a fast pace and keeps you entertained. Maybe in the future I'll write about what I learned from his lecture.


I loved Anne Rice's The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, which was why I wanted to give her vampire chronicles a chance. I thought it was a bit slow, and her writing isn't nearly as good as it would become many years later, but the novel was still interesting, raising a lot of questions about spirituality and immortality.



A professor asked during one of my classes if anybody had read this Latin-American masterpiece, and half the class raised their hands. I knew right then that I had to read this book soon. Judge me all you want, throw shit at me if you must, but I thought it was boring as fuck.



Augusten Burroughs has never disappointed me. I enjoyed his memoirs Running with Scissors and Dry. This one is a series of short, autobiographical essays that are hilarious and highly entertaining. Read it yourself, or check out the audio version and listen to Burroughs read it to you.


You can probably tell that the books I've listed here are really different from each other. I categorize them as the non-classics, as opposed to the classics, which I will talk about in the next post.

COMING UP:
Virginia Woolf, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, Henrik Ibsen, and William Shakespeare.