What I've Been Reading....

Not enough. Although never enough is  probably the status quo with me. Still, I'll try to provide some highlights from my summer.

Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer by John Leake

My secret brain candy is true crime and this one came recommended to me by my Page-A-Day Book Lover's Calendar -- an eclectic but excellent source of titles. This is the true story of Jack Unterweger, a murderer who becomes the pet of the Austrian literati upon his release from prison only to begin again. He even poses as a journalist and visits the police to investigate his own crime spree! A good example of truth is stranger than fiction.

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

There's little I enjoy more than a bit of Pratchett. The perfect anecdote to heavy-duty literature and haunting crime. Pratchett makes me laugh in every paragraph. Pratchett's witch trio Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax and Agnes Nitt are the central champions of the story of Lancre, a town poised to be taken over by modern vampires -- ghouls that have trained themselves to be impervious to garlic, holy water and sunlight.

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

Am I really listing two vampire novels? Guess so. Moore and Pratchett's titles are more spoofs of vampire novels, however. Moore's is certainly adult humor all the way and not something the prudish will enjoy. Still this love story set in San Francisco is hilarious. My personal favorite along with his other vampire tale, You Suck.

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

My vanity insists I include some serious literature on this list and can I say that revisiting Greene's novel of the Catholic oppression in Mexico last century is musical and remarkable. This title, to me, is reminiscent of Steinbeck in that seemingly simple incidents and dialog suggest powerful and thought provoking philosophical discussion.

In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck

I can't remember how this title came across my radar, but whoever put it there included the observation s/he deemed it Steinbeck's best. Steinbeck's best? And I didn't even know about it. Well glad I rectified that. I love Grapes of Wrath -- so much that I can still make an argument for including it on a high school curriculum. That said, here's the first title I'd consider substituting in lieu of Grapes. Here, Steinbeck tells the story of labor unrest from the organizer's perspective which allows him to cut to the chase in much of what he considers from the working man's point of view in Grapes. Surely less epic in scope, but Steinbeck is a magician at hiding big ideas behind spare dialog and events. 

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

The only regret I have about Joyce is that reading him in short spurts -- which is usually all life permits me -- does not afford his language the attention it deserves. Flocks of good writers can compose music out of words, but Joyce, I think, is among the few that manages a symphony. Putting the lyrical qualities aside, Portrait is also a coming-of-age story everyone should read.

Gone too long...

Not only have a few great books re-inspired me to get my blog going again, but a few great conversations about books, too! Addressing the latter first, my first great conversation was my school's second annual ReCreate Reading Day -- a day in which everyone at school participates in small reading discussion groups. Anecdotal information and post-ReCreate Reading survey results confirm a resounding success! Highlights include a Skype session with author Dave Cullen (Columbine) and approximately 60 students. Our head of school came by to tell me that is was excellent. When the bell rang to end the session, no one moved. Surely, the ultimate teen-endorsement of a reading experience. My only regret was that I missed it because I was facilitating a discussion on Lev Grossman's The Magicians -- hardly a hardship since the kids loved this book as much as I did and it was so wonderful talking about it. Conversation quickly got to discussion of ethics of leadership and morality of power and such. Also, the kids tell me Grossman has a sequel due out summer 2011. Let's hope it's on time!

The second conversation about books happened just yesterday in my school library's reading club -- which we call the Non-Required Reading Reading Club. The basis is that we don't require reading of anything in particular. Students just come in and talk about whatever they've read lately. It's a small group, but wonderful. A student shared his recent discovery of C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. I'll come clean and admit I didn't even know about this, but have already ordered copies for my library. He was put on to it by one of our Latin teachers. Another student is part way through Neal Stephenson's Anathem. I gave this a shot last year and found it tough going. But another student had read it with a Physics teacher in our ReCreate Reading program last year. I was mostly proud to be sitting in a room with two people who successfully tackled this title. Anyway, conversation got on to the relationship between science and science fiction, if the literary cannon will include fantasy in the future -- since it dominates not only our fiction but many forms of contemporary entertainment these days -- and whether or not the Apollo 11 mission was the peak of scientific human endeavor. We all tend to leave these meetings feeling like there's so much more reading to do. But agree that if ever comes a time when there isn't will be the truly unhappy hour...