Other People's Postings And Stuff
The best article yet on Achewood, my favorite webcomic! (Also talks about free ink available in Portland, OR.)
The October Harper's has an excerpt/abstract from Naomi Klein's new book. (Links to Harper's homepage; article available on newstands and behind a paywall for subscribers.)
Just finished George Saunders' new book, The Braindead Megaphone. (Oh, snap! Saunders got David Rees on board! I've just found that out! Match made in heaven.) It's worth at least an attempt to read through cover to cover, although if you get frustrated with some of the short "experimental" pieces (which, frankly, come off like his fiction with most of the charm and warmth removed -- which arguably may be the point) please do yourself the favor of reading his appreciations of literature (Johnny Tremain, Vonnegut, Huck Finn, a Barthelme short story he workshops) and the three reportage pieces. The third of those -- about a young monk meditating for months on end in Nepal -- is really good, and I think I liked it more for having gotten through the entire book to get to it. There's a good balance between a sort of cheerful cynicism (thankfully not the other way around) and awkward optimism (especially in the face of the awe-inspiring, and even in the face of what inspires awe in the other) in his thinking, which is what I really like about him, over and above all the consumerist satire that hooked me in the first place.
The October Harper's has an excerpt/abstract from Naomi Klein's new book. (Links to Harper's homepage; article available on newstands and behind a paywall for subscribers.)
Just finished George Saunders' new book, The Braindead Megaphone. (Oh, snap! Saunders got David Rees on board! I've just found that out! Match made in heaven.) It's worth at least an attempt to read through cover to cover, although if you get frustrated with some of the short "experimental" pieces (which, frankly, come off like his fiction with most of the charm and warmth removed -- which arguably may be the point) please do yourself the favor of reading his appreciations of literature (Johnny Tremain, Vonnegut, Huck Finn, a Barthelme short story he workshops) and the three reportage pieces. The third of those -- about a young monk meditating for months on end in Nepal -- is really good, and I think I liked it more for having gotten through the entire book to get to it. There's a good balance between a sort of cheerful cynicism (thankfully not the other way around) and awkward optimism (especially in the face of the awe-inspiring, and even in the face of what inspires awe in the other) in his thinking, which is what I really like about him, over and above all the consumerist satire that hooked me in the first place.
posted by PearJack at 6:05 PM
4 Comments:
I'll have to check that out. I think the opening page of myspace had a write up on Suanders comparing him to KV. I hear you are gonna hang around Boston for awhile. Badass! Enjoy!
I just got the new Naomi Wolf book (did you see her on "the Report"?) I worship her.
Whoops, you said Naomi Klein. I knew I wouldn't have missed N. Wolf on the cover of Harpers. I heard somebody slammed N. Klein's new book really hard somewhere...where would that have been?
I don't know who would've slammed _Shock Doctrine_, unless it was one of the usual suspects. I actually made the same mistake, in reverse, that you made with Klein/Wolf while commenting on someone else's blog!
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