Slight change to this. Saturday I'm just going to do books, both fiction and non. Sunday I'll do music. Rules remain the same: I'll put down what I'm reading/listening to, comment on it, and you'll do the same.
Victor S. Navasky's A Matter of Opinion: Navasky, the longtime publisher of The Nation, has written his memoirs on the magazine industry. I thought the book would be a bit broader than it is -- this is really about the nuts and bolts of running a journal of opinion -- but it's still an interesting read. Navasky's engaging, his early run-ins with folks who later became great are entertaining, and for an aspiring magazine writer like myself, the technical stuff is fairly interesting. But don't go here looking for a political memoir; it's not one. It has reminded me to read Charlie Peters Tilting at Windmills, though.
Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down and The Polysyllabic Spree: I think I've blown through the guy's whole ouvre in the last two weeks. High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down all got swallowed up (I'd previously ready How to be Good). A Long Way Down is fun stuff, certainly. You don't spend three hours at Borders polishing off anything that's a pain-in-the-ass. But About a Boy and High Fidelity had a feeling that they needed to be written, that Hornby had something he desperately needed to say about life. Not so here. This one looks more like he thought of a clever plot device (four strangers go to a popular suicide spot on New Year's Eve, awkwardly meet, and decide to come down and stay in touch) and wrote a book to spin it out. Enjoyable stuff, certainly, but nothing profound, nothing raw, nothing that really touches on your own life or gives you insight into another's.
As for the Spree, it's a collection of Hornby's essays from The Believer, all of which focus on how successful he's been that month at getting through the books on his reading list. The general answer? Not very. As I have more sympathy for that condition than just about any other I know of, it's a book well worth having. Proceeds from it also go to benefit 826, McSweeney's multicity nonprofit that teaches reading, writing, and everything else to kids who need the help. As 826LA put on a bang-up reading last night (featuring my friend Josh Bearman and his shockingly good piece on The Metaphysics of Pac-Man) that included two free glasses of sangria, I feel all the better about the purchase.
As you can see, it's not been the most productive week I've ever had. Blame school and the Supreme Court. On the bright side, I found a book I desperately do want to read. So if anyone out there would like to pluck The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism out of my wish list, I'd be much obliged.
Your turn.
