I could write a great novel if my neighborhood weren't so upscale (book thread)

[elpollodiablo]

*shudder*

I'm reading Barbara Demick's book on North Korea, Nothing to Envy. Insofar as a book about totalitarianism and famine can be light, it's pretty light; she's got a very simple, straightforward style. The book's almost entirely anecdote, too.

[davy]

I take it you're no fan of Love Is a Mixtape?

[elpollodiablo]

If I were trying to write a parody of the sentimentalized nostalgia for the late '80s/early '90s that trades largely on overdrawn remembrances of zines and mixtapes and middling Matador bands, I doubt I could do any better than that.

*That being said, I didn't want to start a thing, and the adult thing to do would've been to excise the *shudder entirely, but stuff that like does genuinely make my skin crawl a little. Sorry!

[Thermofusion]

That stuff skeezes me out too.

[davy]

Wow, I read it on an entirely different wavelength. The heartbreaking one, mostly.

Are you sure you're not thinking of Perfect From Now On? That one was released around the same time, actually was terrible in all the ways you're describing, and you know, it's not mostly about his wife's sudden death from a pulmonary embolism.

[Thermofusion]

I can't speak for pollo, but I'm prejudiced on a broader level. Like I see that Matador thing in Vegas as a hilarious deathbed gathering to administer funeral rites to an expiring subculture (or just the most insufferable high school reunion one could ever imagine)

 

[Bernard]

I was at a bookstore the other day looking for a  gift for a twelve-year-old, and noticed that there was a book by Mark Haddon in the YA section. I know Mieville did a YA book. Is this a thing, now? I bought the Haddon book, couldn't find the Mieville YA title ('Un Lun Dun', I think) so I bought 'Perdido Street Station'.

People generally like Mieville but think some of the early Will Self & Jonathan Lethem are trying too hard, is that right? I think I feel the opposite way. I liked 'Quantity Theory of Insanity' and 'Gun With Occasional Music'. 'King Rat' and so far, 'Perdido Street Station' are both a little strained. I'm not saying the author is insincere or anything, just that the whole insect thing is just not doing it for me.

[alex]

I was at a bookstore the other day looking for a  gift for a twelve-year-old

Do you still need another idea for a present? I think this is the book every twelve year old dreams of!

S. and I found this (in the Dutch version) on display at a bookshop today and of course couldn't help spending some time with it. (To be precise, S. found it, and then found me in another section of the bookstore and lured me over to where it was display, telling me "I just found the perfect book for you!") It is really the most amazing thing: a book, written by André Rieu's wife and published by  André Rieu Productions, about a twin pair of adorable, blonde girls who have been huge fans of André Rieu for some time and one day receive an e-mail inviting them to come hang out with him at his castle/during practice/backstage at a concert/etc. I swear to you, I read the first page or two of the book, which begins with the e-mail, and then skipped some 25 pages ahead to read another excerpt. I can't seem to have missed much plot there, because 25 pages in, we still found the twins exclaiming in excitement "an e-mail from André Rieu?? No way!!" (quoted from memory, and in a different language, but there were indeed lots of question marks and exclamation marks involved). There are lots of colour pictures, of course; most of them feature André Rieu lookin' all dreamy.

It is pretty much the best thing. I still cannot believe that this thing exists, nor can I fathom the amount of vanity that must have gone into the genesis of this exceptional piece of literature.

(I am not sure how well-known André Rieu and his brand of schmaltzed-up, dumbed-down, waltzy "classical" music is in other parts of the world -- he is huge hereabouts: my grandparents' only exposure to my adopted hometown of Maastricht, which also happens to be Rieu's home, is that they watch a televised version of one of the huge outdoor concerts he gives on the town square every year, and then tell me "oh, we saw your city on TV! We thought we might be able to find you in the crowd, but couldn't see you" -- but I figure you must be able to appreciate the self-adulation that is involved in conceiving of such a book project in any case.)

[alex]

Anyway, since S. refused to buy above-mentioned book for me (he promised instead to get in touch with André Rieu productions about the possibility of having a version that would feature me, instead of the pair of twins, meeting my biggest idol), I am stuck reading Calvino's Cosmicomics.

[G.C.R]

That book sounds AMAZING. I think we should all read it, passing it on like some kind of slumber party book club.

[hannah]

Ha! That sounds like when my friends and I read Pat Boone's Twixt Twelve and Twenty: Pat Talks to Teenagers to one another. We were eleven, so I guess not his target audience.

[Bernard]

I know a different twelve-year-old, a pretty fine violinist, who would laugh his face off at that. Thank you for the link!

[Thermofusion]

Andre Rieu is a festering colon polyp in classical music's intestine

[diesel_powered]

TRUTH.

[FreddyKnuckles]

I want to send a book to a really bright 15 year old to inspire him to get back into reading. Anything ass kickingly good?

[Anne the Man]

It's quite odd reading The Pursuit of Love; it's so obviously autobiographical, and several stories from Hons and Rebels are paralleled in there. Good enough though. Only problem is from vaguely watching an adaptation years ago I remember how Love in a Cold Climate ends. My stepmother's sister told me a tale of meeting her mother-out-law for the first time while staying with her in Tahiti or something, and asking "Have you ever read Love in a Cold Climate?" The woman looked sort of affronted and said "I don't know...England, I suppose!" because she'd heard it as "Have you made love in a cold climate?"

[davy]

What's the deal with Neal Pollack? He's one of those guys I feel like I should know more about but I just read him for the first time this morning. Seems like I've been hearing his name on a somewhat regular basis for years.

The thing I read was an essay about how he's happy with the decision he and his wife made to have just one child. It was pretty excellent, so now I'm wondering if I should try something else.

Anybody have any strong opinions or insights on this guy?

[Greg Nog]

Oh, I'm a little over halfway through Iain M. Banks's "The Player of Games" right now, and it's a lot like hearing some guy describe his current game of Evony to you for about three hours.

[elpollodiablo]

Lots of sweaty boobs?

[Greg Nog]

That's the thing about Evony!  There's no sweaty boobs at all!  Just grinding and building little castles!

[elpollodiablo]

What! I was almost certain there'd be plenty of damp, muslin-swathed breasts!

[Ah_Pook]

I want to send a book to a really bright 15 year old to inspire him to get back into reading. Anything ass kickingly good?

maybe the his dark materials trilogy? i know would have loved that at that age.

based off personal recollections of that time in my life, a best of HP Lovecraft collection might be a solid choice too.

[davy]

I've been rolling that question around in my head for a few days, but without knowing the kid or what he's into, it's hard to say.

Pook's recommendation is a good one, though, obviously. That series is one of the best things I've read in years, regardless of the intended age.

[hannah]

ayn rand

[ellaguru]

I've been Ayn Randed
Nearly branded
                      a communist
'Cause I'm left-handed