Chamber Four

Put aside everything you’re doing and read The Knife Thrower and Other Stories, by Steven Millhauser, immediately. (See the other entries in this series here.)

For the record,  my favorite, favorite book ever and a book I truly think any reader should drop everything for is Lolita. But I’ve harped on it on this site again and again already. I read a lot of books, though, and there are a ton I think every reader should read. Steven Millhauser has written a number of these and The Knife Thrower and Other Stories is my favorite of his. Read it now.

Millhauser was one of a handful of excellent professors I had in college, so I’m a little biased. If you’re reading this site, I’d be a little surprised you’ve never heard of him. But if somehow you haven’t read him, you should. He is undeniably one of the most precise and imaginative writers writing today. He is a fabulist and a natural storyteller with a knack for writing stories that are at once cerebral and accessible. …
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Put aside everything you’re doing and read The Emigrants, by W.G. Sebald, immediately. (See the other entries in this series here.)

I was waiting for a professor of mine who was meeting me for lunch.  He was running a few minutes late, but I hardly noticed or cared.  I had The Emigrants open in front of me.  I’d just started it on the bus that morning, so I didn’t quite know what I was in for yet.  The slow unfolding of the first chapter, the long paragraphs, liquid with shifting voices, and the curatorial attention to detail all gave me the feeling of floating through a small British village submerged in saltwater and preserved in light.  I didn’t realize my professor had arrived until, standing right next to me, he said, that’s a great book. …
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This is the second installment of our new series, “Read This Book Now.” Put aside everything you’re doing and read Reap immediately. (See the other entries here.)

Reap, by Eric Rickstad, is a coming of age story set in rural Vermont, where life is bleak and there is little hope of a future.  Jessup Burke, an easily distracted, over-trusting youth stumbles into the company of Reg Cumber, a callous ex-con who introduces him into a ruined and paranoid world of drug trafficking.

Reg and Jessup’s worlds intersect when Reg nearly runs down Jessup with his car.  Reg, a mechanic by trade, pledges to resurrect Jessup’s inoperable Vega.  Lured by prospect of finally being able to visit his out-of-state girlfriend, Jessup agrees to work for Reg, unaware at first that he’s getting paid for harvesting and transporting drugs.  Despite sudden moments of fear and unease, Jessup welcome’s Reg’s company, and soon the older man is introducing him to abusing booze and weed.

Rickstad captures the youth and innocence of Jessup, his habit of daydreaming and mooning over his girlfriend, Emily, without being sappy or sentimental.  Jessup’s character undergoes complex changes as he is gradually corrupted.  As Jessup sheds his adolescence, Rickstad (with wonderful directness and careful prose) allows him to grow increasingly aware of some of his circumstances while retaining a boyish obliviousness to others. …
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This book has been chosen as  a Great Read

Author: Anthony Pagden

2008, Random House

Filed under Nonfiction, Historical

So I’ll say right away that I really enjoyed Worlds at War (I’ve nominated it a Great Read). I don’t have much experience with history books, so writing this review was a tad tricky. It would take 3000 words to summarize this book even cursorily, so I can’t do that.  Therefore, this review is pretty short, but please don’t mistake my brevity for disregard. …
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This is the first part of our new series, “Read This Book Now.” Each week, for the next few months, one of our contributors will recommend a single book. Put aside everything you’re doing and read it immediately.

I found The Autobiography of Malcolm X on the sale table of an Orlando bookstore. Years earlier, a friend of mine had read it for class—he called it the greatest thing he ever read—and told me it should be at the top of my reading list. I took his reaction for hyperbole, and ignored his suggestion. But when I saw The Autobiography of Malcolm X on sale, I thought, “What the heck? For $4.99, why not?”

I like books, but I have never reacted to a book the way I did to The Autobiography of Malcolm X. It was all I could think about. For weeks, my conversations with co-workers all started with the phrase “When Malcolm X was….” I carried the book in my back pocket and read it whenever I had a free minute. It took over my life in a way that no book ever had, or has since.

I wasn’t sure why the book captivated me the way it did. There are very few similarities between Malcolm X and I, and he doesn’t seem like a person with whom I would immediately identify. Yet I did.

In retrospect, I believe that my love for this book came from my background in literature. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the closest thing to an epic we have in American literature, and Malcolm X is the closest we have to an epic hero. (I know, you’re going to make the case for Moby Dick or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and you may have a point. But this is my review, so I stand by my assertion.)

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This is the seventh and final installment in our Best Books of 2009 series. Read the other six here.

AKA, The Aaron Block Awards For My Favorite Comics of 2009, Presented By Aaron Block

Rather than pretend to claim any kind of comprehensive look at the best comics of the past year, I thought I’d give out special awards to the books that I most enjoyed. There are likely better books than what I’ve included here (Asterios Polyp anyone?) but these are the five closest to my heart.

“Fulfillment of Potential” Award — Detective Comics #854 — present, written by Greg Rucka; illustrated by J.H. Williams III

The critics who assailed DC for playing up the modern Batwoman’s sexuality, or who argued that a reviving her as a lesbian was mere tokenism, were silenced when writer Greg Rucka gave her the spotlight in Detective Comics 854. No mere token or object of fanboy fantasy, Batwoman is a strong, nuanced lead character, and Detective contains easily the most satisfying character work in mainstream comics. Though much of the story-so-far is familiar (particularly in the Bat-world: struggles with dual identity, loss of family members, bittersweet victories), Rucka manages to pull fresh ideas from those conventions, and all without irony or cynicism.

Artist J.H. Williams III deserves much of the credit for the book’s unique feel. More than a gifted storyteller, Williams continues to reinvent the architecture of mainstream comics, employing unconventional layouts that often stretch across two pages, but still reveal the scene gradually. And he continues to experiment with style, using a stable, Alex Toth-like line for flashback scenes and switching to an ethereal painterly style for the present. Credit is also due to colorist Dave Stewart, who’s vibrant reds stand out in nearly ever panel, particularly in Batwoman’s close-ups; her red hair and lips, contrasted with the otherworldly white of her skin and dark black costume suggest all of the emotional complexity of Rucka’s script.

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Keep up with the rest of this series here.

I distrust the idea of books/movies/albums “of the year” because the fact of something being published/released/produced in a particular calendar year seems pretty irrelevant. Each year-end finds us with lists of books that are supposed to represent the previous year period in some way, but even the most reflexive author has a pretty slim chance of writing and publishing a book within one year. Most of my “books of the year” were probably completed in 2007, at the latest (and in case of translations, were written much earlier).

The idea that any reader can find the “top books” of a year suggests that they have read and evaluated every book that has been published, has always seemed pretty is impossible, too. So, in the end, we are left with a random and subjective list of books one person happened to enjoy, and my addition to the “best of ‘09″ genre is certainly made in that spirit. …
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Read the other installments in our Best Books 2009 series here.

While the archives show that I reviewed only one, I read seven books published in 2009. Not even the smoothest-fielding shortstop can stick around the Majors if he hits .143, but for some reason these C4 guys are keeping me in their stable. I’ll be the first to say it—the emperors are wearing no clothes. And believe me, folks, being a former roommate of theirs, it ain’t a pretty sight. Lots of pasty white skin.

A natural number for any Best Of list is five, but all seven of these books met or exceeded my expectations, and discarding two proved too difficult. Any list comprised of all possible entries is, by logic, both a Best Of and Worst Of. So here, in order by author’s surname, are my seven best and worst (and middling) 2009 books.

The Thing Around Your Neck, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie, one of Nigeria’s (and humanity’s) best young writers, has spent much of her life ping-ponging between Nigeria and the U.S., so it’s little surprise that the stories in this collection do the same. What is surprising is the consistency of her tone and delivery between these settings. Nigerians living in their own homeland feel no more comfort in their surroundings than do Nigerians in the States. All are adrift, steadily being weighted down by their own personal thing around their neck.

The intent here is to show both halves how the other lives, and Adichie accomplishes this with grace and style. If she expands the final story, “The Headstrong Historian,” into a novel, she’ll win the Booker, the Orange, the this, the that …

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Here’s the fourth installment of our Best Books of 2009 series, all about nonfiction. Keep up with the rest of the series here.

And now for something a little different…

Yes, the books I’m about to recommend all came out this year (at least in paperback), and, yes, I can absolutely recommend these books to interested readers without any hesitation on my part.  But before reading on, you might just want to consider one word of warning: poetry.

It’s not a subject we’ve touched on much here at C4, but it is a subject we (or at least I) would like to address more in the coming year since digital publishing has implications for this form, too.  For now, I’d simply like to offer, in no particular order, four new titles from four of my favorite poets as a reminder to anyone out there who might care to know it that good poetry is still being written today. …
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Here’s the third installment of our Best Books of 2009 series, all about nonfiction. Keep up with the rest of the series here.

Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

Perhaps you know Eggers for his earlier work—his memoir, his first novel, his story collection—each brilliant, but each also a product of a writer willing to let attempts at amusement get in the way of storytelling. Zeitoun is not of that lineage. Here, Eggers realizes the strength of the story, and allows it carry the load.

The book’s central figure, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, is a Syrian immigrant and business owner who has built quite a comfortable life for himself in New Orleans. He has an American wife, three children, and is a responsible and hardworking citizen. When his wife and children evacuate the city in anticipation of Katrina, Zeitoun stays behind to look after their house and a few of their properties. In the storm’s aftermath, Zeitoun paddles around the streets in a canoe to help other stranded residents. Then he mysteriously disappears.

What happens to Abdulrahman Zetioun is unjust and sickening, and Eggers does an excellent job of letting that story speak for itself. This book is a terrific piece of journalism, revealing an appalling aspect of Katrina recovery. Eggers has a point to make with this book; he does so without being preachy. In a way, his point seems to make itself. As readers, we can only hope Eggers’s future projects are similar to this.

[McSweeney's page about Zeitoun]

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