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2006:06:24:20:02. Saturday. SOME RECOMMENDATIONS.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:01:17:17:08. Tuesday. BREAK BOOKS. When school is in session I don't get to read to consume, only to examine. So during semester break, I try to read a book or two that has little or nothing to do with communications research, political science, new media anthropology, etc. This year I read these:
Franken is a full-fledged political actor these days; my guess is that we've seen the last of him as a pure comedian. He is in many ways the face and voice of the liberal grassroots, and if he doesn't run for Senate in 2008 I'll shit my pants. Viewed as just another Al Franken book, The Truth is enjoyable but unexciting. Viewed as a campaign book, it's groundbreaking.
Foer tries too hard at times to make Oskar's behavior idiosyncratic, occasionally dipping into an obvious picture of an adult inventing a child. Otherwise, though, Extremely Loud is an incredibly moving portrait of several generations of a family often afraid to live. I haven't read anything quite like it in years, maybe since I first read J.D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day For Bananafish." I've got Foer's first novel, Everything Is Illuminated, on hold at the library, along with Max Barry's Company, so hopefully I'll be able to find some time in the next few weeks for a little more recreational reading.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2005:02:15:13:35. Tuesday. THOSE FUNNY FRENCH. Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Haunted, is a collection of 23 interwoven short stories which will be released on May 17. One, "Punch Drunk," is presented in this month's Playboy; another, "Guts," can be read at ChuckPalahniuk.net:
People in France have a phrase: "Spirit of the Stairway." In French: Esprit de l'escalier. It means that moment when you find the answer, but it's too late. Say you're at a party and someone insults you. You have to say something. So under pressure, with everybody watching, you say something lame. But the moment you leave the party...
As you start down the stairway, then -- magic. You come up with the perfect thing you should've said. The perfect crippling put-down. That's the Spirit of the Stairway. The trouble is even the French don't have a phrase for the stupid things you actually do say under pressure. Those stupid, desperate things you actually think or do. Some deeds are too low to even get a name. Too low to even get talked about. Don't let the philosophizing fool you -- it's mostly about jerking off.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |