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Books Worth Checking Out

I just finished my fourth book of the new year--"Summertime" by J.M. Coetzee. I've seen his books in the library all the time, and they always looked interesting, but I let the fact that I'd never heard anything about him stop me from actually reading anything by him.

Now I realize how foolish that was. He's a fantastic author with spectacular ideas. "Summertime" is a biography of him (Coetzee) after his death, in which a biographer interviews people from his life who proceed to talk shit about him and criticize his work.

It's a brave book, but it's also funny and thought-provoking.

My favorite line--which I'm paraphrasing--is as follows:

"Writers should fall in love with other writers. Then they can spend all day making love to their ideas of each other."

That sentence was worth the time it took to read the whole book.

A quicker, but just as interesting, read is the latest in the series of PostSecret books: PostSecret--Confessions on Life, Death, and God edited by Frank Warren.

Considering I'm trying to write a solo piece about God, this book was...well...a Godsend.

(Ba dum bum.)

My book club (Yes, I have a book club--I even have little stickers that I put on the books I read) started out the year by reading "Telex from Cuba" by Rachel Kushner.

I really, really wanted to like the book. I thought the idea of a novel about expatriates in Cuba around the time Castro came to power was the perfect match for a historical fiction nut like me.

Instead, it was sprawling--and not in a good way. Too many characters, too many subplots, not nearly enough history, and two narrators that sounded exactly alike.

I wish I could say I thought as highly of it as the critics did, but sometimes I think critics have an easier time enjoying books because all they have to do is read them. It's a lot harder to make an impression on someone who has to fit you into about an hour of free time a day.

The final book I'm going to tell you about is a definite recommendation: It's a graphic novel called Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli. Entertainment Weekly voted it one of the best books of last year, and I agree.

The story itself isn't that groundbreaking, but it plays with the idea of a graphic novel and the writing doesn't suffer so that the drawing can stand out, which is something I really appreciate.

So there you go--four totally different books. Check out three, leave the other on the shelf.

Gotta go--more reading to do.

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