I loved his first book Fargo Rock City so I was very excited to finally read this one. I finally read it last June. It is a great book to start off the summer as Summer Dan. There are some great moments here, but Klosterman comes across as an elitist trying too hard to be a non-elitist.
The Guns n' Roses tribute band section is perfect but there is also some really dull stuff in here. The book is almost as entertaining as this vile piece deriding Klosterman in the Ny Press. If you haven't read this article, prepare yourself for some of the ugliest journalism you'll ever see.
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
I borrowed this from my grandparents a few years ago and this summer I finally got around to reading it. It is Mailer's first novel and I can't quite say that I loved it as much as I thought I would. It is a long, long book that feels like a long, long book. However, that being said, it is a very interesting fictional World War II account from the perspectives of many different soldiers from the general all the way down to the lowest grunt in the Pacific theater.
The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
I read this book in between reading other books over the past two years. It is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it to anyone. It made me realize that the bullshit we are facing today is nothing new- it is what our country was built on. As an added bonus, AJ on The Sopranos is a big fan.
Foul Ball by Jim Bouton
Former 20 game winner and the writer of the classic Ball Four self-published this interesting book about the evils of owners of professional teams forcing cities to build stadiums for them. Bouton's book is a diary of his and his friend's efforts to renovate the existing Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Mass. But the powers that be (including the local paper) want a new park to be built instead so new fatcat out of town owners can swoop in with a new team. The marriage between the media, the politicians, and the rich owners don't sound much different than what's going on right now in Brooklyn and Washington D.C.
The Bad Guys Won! A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo-chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, The Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform--and Maybe the Best by Jeff Pearlman
Why did they leave "blow" out of the title of the book? Otherwise, the title says it all.
Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
I've wanted to read this book for a long time. Maybe I had unreal expectations, but I was disappointed with this book. I wonder if I was 24 and right out of college, I would have enjoyed this book more. It does capture the post collegiate wistfulness of it all, but I had a hard time relating to the characters. And the organized crime stuff just doesn't seem to fit. If I had read this book before I had read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay maybe I would have enjoyed it more. I don't know, I almost felt like I was reading The Water Method Man right after reading The World According to Garp or A Prayer for Owen Meany. John Irving's first novel just doesn't compare to his later work and based on the two books I've read, that might be the case with Chabon. How is Wonder Boys?
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to read next but I don't think it is going to be the 1,100 page Robert Caro book about Robert Moses. That book intimidates the hell out of me sitting there on the bookshelf looking all menacing and shit.
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7 comments:
It does a retired reading teacher's heart swell with pride to see your love of reading.
i assume you've been reading a lot of books in your retirement?
i read "mysteries of pittsburgh" on the trip back from virginia. it's great for a train ride. on the way to virginia i read "the fortress of solitude." i liked it more than lethem's "motherless brooklyn."
I didn't like Mysteries of Pittsburgh either, but like you I read it after Kavalier & Clay, so that definitely makes a difference, I think. Wonder Boys I liked much more than Mysteries but, again, nothing could compete with Kavalier.
I am just starting to read Fortress of Solitude. I hated Motherless Brooklyn, but I'm hearing lots of good things about this one.
Some books I've liked lately: The Namesake, Middlesex, Oryx & Crake, Life of Pi...
mysteries of pittsburgh was the first chabon book i read. i think i was about 24 or so when i read it and it remains one of my favorite books, still. it's unfair to compare it to kavalier and clay though, chabon had a lot of practice between the two. kavalier and clay is in a class of its own.
p.s. you did an excellent job of illustrating this post.
i would like to borrow Foul Ball, please.
Dan, love the photo usage in your blog. And you are on fire with the writing too. You are a champion.
Kavalier and Clay is one of my favorite books ever. Top 10, easily. I read Mysteries of Pittsburgh recently. I went into it knowing that it was Chabon's first novel. I didn't expect it to be anywhere near as mature or complex or satisfying as K and C. My expectations were rather low, in fact. And I ended up liking it a lot. It's a great first novel, inventive and funny and sad. I thought it captured a feeling of being in your early 20s very well; and that's all it should be required to do, as MC was that age when he wrote it.
Question: does anyone know for sure how to pronounce his last name? I still don't. It's awkward anytime I want to bring his name up in conversation.
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