Happy Days

I'm back and I'm fully married now (call us Mr. and Mrs. Millions). It was great. We're off to the honeymoon shortly, and have a pretty full traveling schedule for the remainder of the summer, so, as I mentioned in my last post, expect to hear from me only every ten days or so until we reach Chicago. (If any of you eager readers wants to write in with book news, though, I will happily post it when I can.) But while I've got this free moment, let me mention a couple of book related things that have crossed my desk.

I finally, finally, finally finished Edith Grossman's wonderful translation of the Miguel de Cervantes classic, Don Quixote. To any younger readers or any older readers who might one day return to school to study literature, if you ever have the opportunity to read this book in a classroom setting, jump at it. There is so much to unlock in this book, in the techniques of Cervantes, in the tribulations of his characters, and in the historical backdrop of 17th century Spain. When I wrote, months ago, of my frustration at the character of Don Quixote, his brashness, his willful refusal of reality, I still had many hundreds of pages to go. Over the course of those pages, my feelings about Quixote mellowed. The more he interacted with people, the more it became evident that their mockery of him was more foolish than his futile quests. Still, even at the end, Quixote is a character who inspires frustration. I came to realize that there are Quixotes all around us. Those who reject simple explanations for their problems in favor convoluted excuses, conspiracies, and narratives, in which their mundane lives take on a aura of excitement, today's compulsive liars and humble neighbors with delusions of grandeur, these are modern-day Don Quixotes. And Sancho Panza is just as foolish as the rest of us who humor those who are touched with this special madness. As a work of literature the book is quite astounding, wrenching you out of the mistaken frame of mind that before James Joyce, before the "modern day," literature was uncomplicated and linear. Especially in Part 2 when Part 1, itself, becomes a sort of character in the book, one realizes that today's writers are not innovators so much as the great great grandchildren of Cervantes, and in fact Cervantes was the progenitor, the ur-novelist (and Don Quixote the ur-novel), from whom all novelists must necessarily borrow. The book is essential to all who wish to understand "the novel" as a literary form.

Politics

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror, anonymously penned by a longtime CIA agent, will make waves this week, as the New York Times attests. Also in the Times, Daniel Okrent addresses what was and wasn't appropriate about Michiko Kakutani's front page slam of the Clinton book.

- C. Max Magee @ 3:46 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

A Summer Schedule

Stockbrokers and art gallery owners take off for half the summer. Maybe bloggers should too. Due to my impending wedding (T minus 4 days), and a busy schedule of traveling and moving (for the second time in three months), I will have to cut back on my blogging for the next month and a half or so, at least until we get settled in Chicago. In the meantime, expect approximately one post per week, and also a more relaxed attitude as befits the time of year. You should try it, too, and maybe we'll run into each other among the gallery owners and stockbrokers in the Hamptons, on the Vineyard, or in the South of France.

- C. Max Magee @ 2:36 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Bubba and the High Seas

The reviews are beginning to come in for Bill Clinton's My Life, and Michiko Kakutani, at least, wasn't very impressed. Read the review here.

In other book news, I happened to catch a reading of a very interesting book on the radio last night. Here in DC we have C-SPAN radio, and they occasionally air the audio from their "Book TV" broadcasts (Yes, radio in DC is pretty bad, and that's why I end up listening to C-SPAN radio). The book was The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime by William Langewiesche and his account of the sinking of the ferry Estonia in the Baltic Sea was riveting. Also in the book: modern day pirates in Indonesia and the Department of Homeland Security's attempts to secure 95,000 miles of American coastline.

- C. Max Magee @ 11:04 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Some Good Stuff

Two great scoops were passed my way by the intrepid Brian, fresh from his European sojourn. The first is this so-wierd-it-has-to-be-true story about Newt Gingrich being an extremely prolific and friendly Amazon.com customer reviewer. Click here for the must-read gory details.

While in Spain, Brian read Robert Hughes' new book Barcelona: The Great Enchantress from the National Geographic Directions series and noticed on the back cover that Jon Lee Anderson, the New Yorker's Baghdad correspondent extraordinaire, has a book for the series coming out. It will be about Andalucia. This will be a busy year for Anderson. In the fall, his fantastic Baghdad pieces will be collected in The Fall Of Baghdad and he will also release Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, which ought to be quite good.

- C. Max Magee @ 10:57 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Happy Bloomsday

Dubliners and James Joyce fans are celebrating Bloomsday in the town that Leopold Bloom wandered through on that epic day exactly 100 years ago. Revelers, among other things, ate "Gorgonzola sandwiches and sipped Burgundy wine in the sunshine in honour of the lunch enjoyed by the novel's hero Leopold Bloom, midway through his momentous day." The novel of course is Ulysses. and you can read more about this remarkable literary festival here.

Ray Charles died last weekend. He made such soulful and happy music. Driving from New York to DC, we encountered several radio stations playing his music, some of them continuously, side after side of classic records. Now the tributes are over, and the radio stations are back to their regular rotations, so I was annoyed when I realized that I left my fantastic 5 cd set in storage in LA.

Spencer Reece and his book The Clerk's Tale got a sizeable write up on the front page of the Washington Post Sunday Style section. Not bad for poetry.

Bookspotting

How powerful is Oprah? I spotted Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina mixed in with a couple of romance novels in the rest stops along the New Jersey Turnpike. Also spotted: On the Washington DC subway: The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman, Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom; and in the back seat of my little brother's car: Our Posthuman Future by Francis Fukuyama

Finally, check out the trilogy of Alice Munroe stories in the New Yorker fiction issue. It's worth a look if only to read the stories that the New Yorker deemed worthy of such prominent placement. You'll have to pick up the magazine to read all three. Only the first story is online.

- C. Max Magee @ 5:07 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Ask a Book Question: The Twentieth in a Series (Getting Kakutanied)

Garth writes in with this question about Michiko Kakutani, the menacing daily book critic for the New York Times:

Honestly, what is wrong with Michiko Kakutani? I'm referring here to her unflattering review of David Foster Wallace's new book, but, just in general, what is her deal?

Kakutani seems to be one of those people who is feared and misunderstood more than disliked, though many profess disliking her. She is unknowable, reportedly something of a recluse, and yet twice a week she exercises swift justice in one of the world's most public forums. Her reviews can often seem mean-spirited, and authors and readers sometimes wonder if she holds some sort of mysterious grudge against much of the literary world. To get a taste of her importance in the literary world, this NPR story is worth a listen. In it, her penchant for going for the jugular is discussed, and the theory is proffered that Michiko Kakutani's "problem" is one shared by many reviewers. The book reviewer's plight has been touched upon by many writers: book after book shows up at the doorstep, deadline begets deadline and the reviewer begins to hate the idea of books rather than the books themselves. After reviewing hundreds of mediocre books they forget what it feels like to be surprised and refreshed by the written word, they dread that the joy of reading has been forever destroyed. So, perhaps Kakutani's mean reviews are just a form of occupational rage. On the other hand, Jonathan Yardley, the much warmer reviewer for the Washington Post, has been in the reviewing business for decades and his love for his work is clearly evident. To top it off, he was reported to have been "so unimpressed with Kakutani that when he heard she won a Pulitzer, he wanted to send his back." Still, given her consistent meanness, it is undeniably exhilarating when she bestows praise upon a new book, and I am always interested in reading this new book that managed to warm Kakutani's cold, unfeeling heart.

If you don't like my explanation, an old piece by Colin McEnroe on the McSweeney's website offers a different theory.

- C. Max Magee @ 8:43 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Getting Back on the Road

I just got back from the Baltimore Orioles game, my first at Camden Yards in several years. I had forgotten how close, compared to Dodger Stadium, the fans sit to the field. Even when I sat in the "Dugout Club" field level seats at Dodger Stadium, I didn't feel as involved in the game as I do at Camden Yards. It's much more a city park surrounded by tall buildings, compared to Dodger Stadium's desert crater feel.

Tomorrow I head up to New York on the train. There is wedding planning to be done with Miss Millions, but hopefully some diversions as well.

This morning, at a local bookstore, I saw McSweeney's 13. It's amazing looking. I've got a copy on its way in the mail. Also in book news, Bill Clinton's keynote speech at Book Expo was well-received, and retailers are salivating over the expected sales numbers for his memoir. And for the Brits, check out this awesome deal being offered by The Times. When you buy a copy of the newspaper you get a bestselling paperback for 99 pence. Now that's a great reading initiative. (Better than "One Book, One City" anyway)

- C. Max Magee @ 11:04 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

New Books and Excerpts

Shooting the Heart by Paul Cody -- review, excerpt
The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser -- review, excerpt
The Laments by George Hagen -- excerpt (being touted as a "hot sleeper")

- C. Max Magee @ 11:36 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Ask a Book Question: the Twentieth in a Series (A Guide to Yoknapatawpha County)

Edan and her beau have decided that they want read one of America's greatest writers, but they don't know where to start:

Neither my boyfriend nor I have ever
read any William Faulkner. We thought it might be fun to read one of his novels at the same time, so we could talk about it together, while sipping some bourbon on the porch. Do you, or any of your readers, have any suggestions? Most people recommend Light in August as the best novel to begin with...what do you think?

I'm no expert on Faulkner. In college, inspired by my discovery that Faulkner had once taught at my alma mater, I wandered into the local used bookstore and chose The Sound and the Fury at random from the shelf. I muddled my way through it, deciding then that I would need to approach Faulkner with a bit more rigor should I attempt to read his work again. As such, I am hardly qualified to answer this question. Luckily, when I turned to one of the world's foremost Faulkner experts, he was happy to answer the question for us. Dr. John B. Padgett is a graduate instructor at the University of Mississippi who has been studying Faulkner for years. In conjunction with his studies, he is the "sole owner and proprietor" of Faulkner on the Web. Here's what he had to say:

A good place to start reading Faulkner is The Unvanquished, I think, in part because it's fairly easy compared to some of Faulkner's more difficult work. The novel consists of six previously published Civil War stories which he reworked into a novel (he also added a final chapter that was not previously published). Faulkner himself recommended it as a good starting point.

Another good place to start, I think, is As I Lay Dying or Sanctuary.

I don't usually recommend beginning Faulkner with The Sound and the Fury or Absalom, Absalom! because of their difficulty; however, for those who are prepared for the challenges posed by these novels, they are well worth the effort.

Thanks Edan and John!

- C. Max Magee @ 11:51 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

New Books and a New Award

Some new books that are getting lots of praise, and some excerpts from those books:

• Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis -- review, excerpt
• Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt -- review, excerpt
• You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon -- review, excerpt
• Crossing California by Adam Langer -- review

Also of note: the creation of the Man Booker International Prize has been announced. From the press release, "Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize will be awarded once every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The first winner will be announced in mid 2005." Now Americans will finally be able to get their hands on a Booker.

- C. Max Magee @ 11:45 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Some New Books

The Washington Post raves about David Sedaris' latest book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Here's an excerpt. At the local chain store I noticed, prominently displayed, David Foster Wallace's new collection of short stories, Oblivion. Here's an excerpt from that one. Also in the news, Oprah makes her summer selection, and in keeping with her recent predilection for dead authors, she chooses Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: A Novel in Eight Parts.

- C. Max Magee @ 11:57 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Statistics and Commissions

There's an article in the New York Times today about a Princeton undergrad who used statistical analysis to illuminate the biases of New Yorker fiction editors. Katherine L. Milkman read 442 stories printed in The New Yorker from Oct. 5, 1992, to Sept. 17, 2001, and "one main conclusion was that male editors generally publish male authors who write about male characters who are supported by female characters." The 9/11 Commission will release its findings to the public in book form. It's available for preorder at Amazon. And now hitting shelves, the paperback edition of Edward P. Jones' Pulitzer-winning novel, The Known World. I highly recommend this book.

- C. Max Magee @ 11:28 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post