We're back now with regular reporting following the five report blast that was the Final Countdown. Some of you responded with delight at the refresher on all your favorite Arrested Development characters, moments, and jokes. Others did not understand the reports and did not respond. But now, back to a more standard Report.
You may recall that several weeks ago in the Report "Reading By Flashlight," I solicited quick book recommendations from any interested contributors. Several of you contributed your suggestions, some serious, some less so. Regardless, with summer reading season upon us, I thought I would send out these recommendations now.
Grendel by John Gardner - A crash course in philosophy from the perspective of one of the Western canon's most famous baddies.
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad - A book about politics, terrorism, and the politics of terrorism written a century ago but still, especially in light of the Boston Marathon bombing, painfully relevant.
The Old Testament - This first of an exciting and controversial trilogy is jam-packed with familial violence, familial sex, and plain-old conquering, with a little bit of legal mumbo-jumbo thrown in.
The Talmud - Really fun, if you can get past the ancient Hebrew.
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pulman - Whether or not you love or hate the glaringly apparent religious over and undertones (that only became apparent to me later in life), at a young age this trilogy taught me unforgettable lessons about imagination, fantasy, love, loss, and the power of storytelling. I've returned to it every so often ever since.
Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys - Simply and clearly drawn, with a quiet magnetism, it follows a teenage girl and her Lithuanian family as they are deported to a Siberian work camp at the outset of World War II.
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls - It made me more furious than any other book.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - One of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I cannot think of how to describe it and except to say READ IT.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace - A sprawling, difficult, and dense novel about tennis, addiction, and entertainment, but ultimately worth the work, rewarding readers with humor, heartbreak, and an unbelievable sense of accomplishment.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - The tragic and fascinating story of the suicides of the five Lisbon sisters, told from the reflective and collective perspective of the boys who loved them.
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon - A perfect summer read, particularly for recent graduates, as it tells the post-graduation summer adventures of Art Bechestein. Chabon's prose isn't as polished here as it is in his later work, but the web of character relations more than compensates.
Read on! And let me know what you choose!
“When I remember that dizzy summer, that dull, stupid, lovely, dire summer, it seems that in those days I ate my lunches, smelled another's skin, noticed a shade of yellow, even simply sat, with greater lust and hopefulness - and that I lusted with greater faith, hoped with greater abandon. The people I loved were celebrities, surrounded by rumor and fanfare; the places I sat with them, movie lots and monuments." - Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
