BLTN (Better Later Than Never): "Other" Books read in 2018

For the past few years, I've been tracking my reading, splitting it up into three categories:  Novels, Non-fiction, and Other.  The first two are relatively self-explanatory; the last one is more malleable, a hodge-podge categorization that allows me to dump whatever doesn't easily fit into the first two into it.  Books I've read under this heading include plays, collections of poetry or short stories, screenplays, novellas, even, this year, an illustrated children's story by a noted novelist.  It's a grab bag, and there's some great stuff to be found in "other."

As noted in previous posts, I've been trying to read works from authors who fall outside my personal demographic -- white, hetero, cis, male, American, in whatever order you choose -- and as I slide across my spreadsheet from left to right, I find myself veering farther away from this self-imposed mandate.  Which can definitely be seen as a failing on my part, but it is also an opportunity to do better this year.  Without having logged my reading, in this manner, I am certain that, anecdotally, I would believe I am doing very well with this aspiration; the data states otherwise.


Only 3 of the authors in this category are female.  Of the 15 men remaining, one is gay, that I know of, one is African-American, one is Japanese, and one is of Afghan descent.  Not stellar work on finding diverse voices, on my part.  But it gives me something to aspire to this year.


I read three plays in 2018 (one of them in two parts):

"All the Way" by Robert Schenkkan about LBJ's effort to push through civil rights legislation.  Having seen the film adaptation first, I was curious to understand how the playwright and director managed to switch between so many different settings.  It was a fascinating conundrum, and one they achieved through a minimum of set dressing, while utilizing a chorus section for the many players to go in and out of, utilizing the audience's imagination to fill in the details needed for the drama.  It's something I wish I could have experienced, myself.

"Angels in America" parts 1 & 2 by Tony Kushner.  The epic play about the AIDS epidemic in America, during the 80s and early 90s.  This was just an amazing piece of writing.  The dialogue, the characterizations, the settings and experiences of the characters.  A powerful play and something to aspire to.

"The Piano Lesson," by August Wilson.  This is the second play of Wilson's that I've read, and it was just as incredible as "Fences."  Set in early-20th century America, in the middle of the Depression, it follows an African-American family as they argue over their legacy.  What should they do with the piano that sits in the front room, unused.  A family heirloom, one member wants to sell in order to buy land, while another insists they must keep it.  The drama, and tension, surrounding this disagreement escalates until the threat of violence becomes all too real.  I won't spoil the end, but will only say:  seek out the work of August Wilson; you won't be disappointed.

Surprisingly, I did not get to any Shakespeare last year.  I need to remedy that, soon.

A couple of notable short story collections I read were Jhumpa Lahiri's "Unaccustomed Earth" and Mariana Enriquez's "Things We Lost in the Fire."  Both of these collections were incredibly satisfying.  Lahiri's deft use of language and ability to craft stories that, although steeped in her Indian heritage, are terribly relatable is, if not unmatched, at least unsurpassed.  Her writing is always engaging and enthralling.

Mariana Enriquez was an author I'd never heard of, but found in my search for female authors outside of the American/European mold.  An Argentine author, Enriquez's stories were affecting and engaging, infusing family dramas and teen rebellion with a spark of magical realism made popular by writers south of the American border.  This was a great collection.

Four Harlan Ellison books made it into this category, meaning I read six books from Ellison, last year.  Two of the books were short story collections, "Harlan 101," which also included a number of essays on writing, and "From the Land of Fear."  The other two included "None of the Above," an unfilmed screenplay and "Brain Movies v.6," a collection of his teleplays.  It may seem surprising, but, despite the fact that a teleplay or screenplay includes a basic description of the scene interspersed with dialogue, Ellison's screenplays are always enjoyable and have as much lyricism and verve as his finished prose.

My favorite from this selection of books read, in 2018, might be Richard Russo's "Interventions," a print-only collection of four chapbooks in a slipcase that reprinted two short stories and one essay of Russo's, along with a new novella, along with paintings for each chapbook from his daughter, Kate.  Russo's prose is precise and lyrical and insightful.  His Pulitzer for "Empire Falls" was no fluke.  The man can write, and the stellar heights of his writing is something I truly aspire to, even if I always find myself falling far short of the goal.


Other authors whose work I read last year, in this category, are Neil Gaiman, Gary Gerani (Topps Star Wars cards reminiscences), Haruki Murakami, Anna Akhmatova, and Khaled Hosseini.  Not a bad crop of writers.

-chris

Nonfiction read in 2018 (BLTN; better later than never)

It's been interesting for me, in just these recent handful of years, to find myself more engaged and excited about reading nonfiction, which was not the case for most of my life.  I had a prejudice against nonfiction -- it was too much like homework, its prose couldn't possibly be magical like the fantasy novels I read, it would probably put me to sleep.  That has definitely changed.  I couldn't pinpoint when or why, but I do remember the first nonfiction book I read that was as dramatic -- every page laced with propulsive, elegant prose -- as any novel I'd ever read.  That book was David Simon's "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets."

This past year I read 11 nonfiction books, one down from last year (surprisingly).  Sadly, though the subjects covered were wide, my breadth of authors was not as diverse as I would have liked:

COMPANERO by Jorge Castaneda
EUREKA by Edgar Allan Poe
HOME IS THE HUNTER by Hans Carlson
IN OTHER WORDS by Jhumpa Lahiri
LOST CONNECTIONS: UNCOVERING THE REAL CAUSES OF DEPRESSION by Johann Hari
PROPHETS OF THE HOOD by Imani Perry
SLEEPLESS NIGHTS IN THE PROCRUSTEAN BED by Harlan Ellison
STRANGE JUSTICE by Jane Mayer & Jill Abramson
THE COMPLETE ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu
THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS by Michael Finkel
THE TURQUOISE LEDGE by Leslie Marmon Silko


Only four of the nonfiction books were written by women, though each woman, or pair of women in the case of "Strange Justice," came from a different background:  one of Indian descent, one African-American, one pair was white, and one Native American.  Each of these authors offered a distinct perspective on the world that was new to me, which I found exhilarating as well as enlightening.  One thing that has come from reading more nonfiction, and trying reach farther afield with regard to the authors I read, has been the new eyes through which I can view the world and view humanity.  Sure, that can sound trite or cliched or overly simplistic, but it does not make it any less true.  Every one of these four books written by the above female authors stayed with me, long after I finished them.

 
With "Strange Justice," Jane Mayer & Jill Abramson wrote about the Clarence Thomas hearings, doing the reporting contemporaneously, as well as in the time shortly after, laying out the evidence that was not shared with the public, revealing the multiple other women willing to testify alongside Anita Hill, who were not offered that opportunity, all contemporaneously to the divisive hearings. 

Leslie Marmon Silko's "The Turquoise Ledge" was a memoir, wherein you not only learned about her writing, but also her art, and her spirituality.  It was a wonderful story about an important Native American author and the harmonious way in which she approaches living in the American southwest, with snakes, scorpions, and drought, among other hardships.

Imani Perry wrote about rap, dissecting and examining it in a way that was not only academic but also very real.  She made it relatable for everyone, delving deeper into the societal realities that helped birth this American artform, while also discussing the problematic aspects of rap.

Jhumpa Lahiri's "In Other Words" was magnificent.  She is an author whose work I have come to quickly revere, in recent years.  In this memoir, she wrote of diving headfirst into learning Italian -- of moving to Italy, bringing her family along, of speaking and writing only in Italian -- revealing her uncompromising will and intellect, through a dual-language book, wherein she wrote the Italian manuscript and then had someone else translate it.  Even in a second language, her prose sings with a beauty that few can match.  Possibly my favorite book I read last year.

Among the other nonfiction books, there were many enjoyable and engaging reads, but few as memorable as the four above.  One such book would be Harlan Ellison's "Sleepless Nights..."  Noted for his short fiction, and more likely for his television work, Ellison was a noted essayist, winning the Silver PEN award for journalism in 1982.  The essays in this work cover a wide range of topics and the electricity of Ellison's prose is always a guarantee for one to be entertained and engaged.

Others of Note:

"Companero" was an interesting look at the life of Che Guevara.  I only knew the broadest, simplest strokes about Guevara's life.  This book certainly filled in the life of this revolutionary.  I think it's fair to say that Guevara was an idealist, who worked hard for what he believed in.  But he was more complicated than that, eventually coming to believe, to a certain extent, the myths surrounding him, while failing many of those who loved him most because of his human failings, most prominently revealed in this book his appeal for beautiful women and the resultant infidelity that came of this.  This was a well done and even-handed book about an important figure in 20th-century world politics.

"Home is the Hunter" was a fabulously propulsive book looking at the James Bay Cree of northern Quebec, looking at their legacy and the manner in which their culture has been changed by modernity and the need for energy, in the form of a series of large dams for a giant hydroelectric project beginning in 1971, for the whole world and the compromises that come from the schism between cultural and governmental needs.  Living in Maine, I found this to be a fascinating book that revealed a reality I was unaware of, previously.  Hans Carlson's facility with language, as well as his open-minded approach to reporting on this topic, helped make this a memorable book.

"Stranger in the Woods" told the story of a man, Christopher Knight, who hid out in the woods of Maine for more than a quarter century, with nobody being the wiser.  Living alone, he braved Maine winters with nothing but his wits and what he could procure, doing so in as little an intrusive manner as possible.  It's an extraordinary story that many believed, and still believe, to be not wholly accurate.  How could a human, in this modern age, live for almost 27 years without contact with another human being, and survive?  It can't be done.  Except it was.  Though it manages to tell Knight's story in a comprehensive manner, this book breezes along at a breakneck clip, pulling you from chapter to chapter, until you reach the end, wondering how you managed to get through it so quickly.  A great read!


All right.  We haven't quite reached the middle of February, and I'm two-thirds of the way through my reading recap of 2018.  Next, all the rest of the books I read.


-chris

What It Is – week ending 19 April [2015]

With apologies to Dave the Thune (as well as Mike Baron & Steve Rude).

WRITING:

Every day.  1000 words.  That’s the goal.

At last check-in, two weeks ago, I’d completed the first draft of the novel.  Now I’m onto the pitch for my time travel “epic,” refining and rewriting it in anticipation of Oni’s open submission call next month.  I’ve got a solid premise, I believe, with an engaging four-issue arc that can work as a standalone story, but is also intended as the opening narrative of a much longer story, in the vein of Sandman and Queen & Country, two primary influences on this project. 

I don’t know exactly what Oni will be looking for, so I’m working up various items for inclusion, a synopsis of the opening story, a detailed issue-by-issue breakdown, character profiles, a final script for issue one (which I workshopped at Comics Experience, where I got some invaluable critiques that improved it immensely).  Some of these aspects, I already had written in a rough form and only need to revise, while others I am writing up for the first time.  The great thing about this is that I’ve discovered a lot about the story and been able to flesh it out more fully, so that when I do submit to Oni, I will have a far better understanding of where I am going with it, which, I hope, will improve the chances of getting picked up.  If I don’t, though, I may turn this into a novel at some point down the line. 

READING:

Finished up Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake this week, and I had two thoughts: 1) what an amazing and beautifully written book, 2) why am I even trying to write? 

That second thought is one that occurs a lot, especially when I finish a book as stellar as this.  The connections Lahiri makes, her use of language and the perfect balance of detail and metaphor, and the facility with which she opens and closes a scene—all spectacular.  If you’re looking for a moving, engaging read, pick this up. 

I also re-read Elektra: Assassin this week.  I didn’t connect with this work the first time I read it and subsequently sold my trade collection of it.  But I recently picked up the individual issues on ebay and am I glad I did.  Miller’s writing, specifically his dialogue and captions with their halting cadence revealing the truth over the course of dozens of bits of text, is superb.  And the art by Bill Sienkiewicz is just damn beautiful.  I love his art, and he is just on the top of his game in this book.  Amazing stuff.  If you like over-violent, satirical stories and are a fan of comics, and you haven’t read this yet, do yourself a favor and seek it out.  Now. 

WATCHING:

Watched Live. Die. Repeat./Edge of Tomorrow/I Don’t Know What Title I am? this past week, and I really enjoyed it.  (Sure, there’s a theme running through most of these “updates” about how much I enjoyed reading/watching/hearing something, but that’s because I tend to be picky, and I also don’t want to spend much time on anything that I found less than enjoyable)  The conceit of time travel, as a story engine, is difficult to “get right,” or at least to utilize in a manner that doesn’t pull the audience right out of the story (fingers crossed with my comic pitch above).  But with this film, they did a great job of engaging viewers with the visuals and the drama of the situation, while offering a plausible explanation for the time travel (though, to be fair, it wasn’t so much time travel as a temporal loop, wherein Tom Cruise’s character repeated the same day, over and over, until that chain is broken).  I really enjoyed how we got to see Cruise’s character learn from each jump back to the same day, as he died again and again but retained his memories of those previous days, and the manner that the filmmakers revealed this worked well.  It kept me interested, provided the right amount of drama and intrigue, and offered questions that demanded answers.  And, as the guys at Travis Bickle on the Riviera stated, we got to see Tom Cruise become Tom Cruise.  His character arc was really interesting, something you don’t necessarily get in most action films.  Fun stuff. 

MISCELLANY:

Sox are in first place!  I’ll take that.  I’m not expecting much from the team this year, their pitching could use a shot in the arm (pun intended), but the offense should/could be exciting.  We’ll see  At least I’m not a Cubs fan (sorry, Dan)

The new Star Wars 7 trailer dropped.  And it is magnificent.  The initial teaser did nothing for me.  It didn’t feel like Star Wars, and after the prequels I felt too burned to give in to the dark side.  But this one kicked me right in my nostalgic, five-year-old self’s heart, and I am all in now.  That opening shot is what did it for me—seeing such familiar imagery, the desert, the X-Wing, and the Star Destroyer shown in such a wholly new context, that was exciting.  Add to that, the fact that the “soccer ball droid,” BB-8, is a practical effect, a puppet, and not a CGI effect, that cements it.  Abrams knows how to rummage through my memories and pluck just the right strings to make my heart sing, and he’s doing it again.  Can’t wait for this now.

SIGN OFF:

As always, check out my friends – Brad& Matt and Darren Smith (with Bryan Young on accompaniment, when he’s available)  and Don McMillan, as well as Dan’s foray into podcastdom, the Potato League Podcast, for their own weekly recaps on things comic-y and geeky, and we'll see what's what in seven.  

-chris