BAN Books

Clever, no?  Okay, that was rhetorical.  So, opening up new sections for Music and Television, I had to go ahead and do a Books section too.  I feel a little bit like this is my response to the facebook application onslaught of late, but a very Brandon-oriented iRead, iLike, and whatever that TV application is called.  I wouldn't expect this one to get too many updates, but I needed a place to discuss my favorite books and comics anyway.  In fact, this is much more of a written works section than strictly books, hopefully weeks away from filling up with blogs, magazines, and newspapers to supplement my High Literature. 

Just Finished
	Cannery Row by John Steinbeck 10 out of 10
	King Lear by William Shakespeare 10 out of 10
	Maus by Art Spiegelman 8 out of 10
What I'm Reading (ish)
	Atonement by Ian McEwan
	Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
	The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower Book 1) by Stephen King
	On the Road by Jack Kerouac
On the Docket
	All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
	Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
	The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
	Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
	Ulysses by James Joyce

Subsections:

Book Blog

Here I will record my thoughts on all the books I read from now on.  Or at least the ones I remember to write about. 

5-18-08

Maus by Art Spiegelman

Ever since I read that Maus is the only graphic novel to receive the Pulitzer Prize, I have been intrigued.  I finally got it for Christmas last year (so for those counting, yes, it's been a year and a half between getting the book and reading it), and finally-er, I sat down to read it.  It's divided into two books, although it originally premiered like a Dickens novel, a chapter at a time appearing in various magazines from 1973 to 1991, during which time Art's father and the protagonist of the story passed away.  After it was completed, in 1992 it received a special Pulitzer Prize (the same year as The Kentucky Cycle, for those tracking my past), and it sounds like they recognized its greatness but didn't quite know what to make of it.  A serious graphic novel?  The story itself notes the discrepancy in presenting the atrocities of the Holocaust as cartoons, but that's the whole point. 

Part 1, "My Father Bleeds History" throws us into the story of a young New York cartoonist interviewing his father in order to tell his story as a graphic novel.  So each chapter opens with Art visiting his cantankerous father Vladek, in the process of souring his relationship with his second wife Mala, and moves into Vladek's tale, as he rose to power in Poland, then suffered through the various ghettos while his family and friends are torn apart, most of whom never survived the Holocaust.  Part 2, "Here My Troubles Began," (an ironic title from an actual quote used by his father, as if the ghettos and poison pills and suicides and random shootings weren't troubles) brings Vladek and his first wife (and Art's mother) Anja to Auschwitz in 1944.  Through a combination of extreme resourcefulness, friendliness, and luck, Vladek survives almost a year there, and even after the war, when he and his fellow Jews were dropped off in the middle of nowhere, getting back to civilization was not easy.  The world has plenty of Holocaust stories, as characters in Maus point out, but a story as miraculous as Vladek's is worth telling.  How he made it through is amazing, and you get the feeling nobody else could have done what he did.  However, the novel is adept at pointing to Vladek's flaws as a human.  During the Holocaust he's like a superhero, albeit a frail, dying superhero, but in the present day scenes, he is miserly and shrewish, and the novel goes out of its way to say that Vladek wasn't made that way by his history, because plenty of others came through the Holocaust without sacrificing their generosity.  I just have one more thing to mention, and it's that in the beginning, during the time of ghettos in Poland, the Red Cross delivered food to the Jews and issued identity papers, and it pissed me off.  Never have I been more certain that cooperation is as bad as perpetration.

Grade:  8 out of 10

Scribblings

11-5-07

I don't expect to have too many entries here, but I do have an interesting idea that had nowhere else to go.  I'd like to share my personal library, which consists of two bookcases.  Normally my ladder bookshelf is full of National Geographic magazines, National Geographic books, and various "artifacts" from my travels.  Also a rope I made at summer camp.  But in the Station, it is the keeper of all my favorite books, as you can see from the picture. 

Let's work our way up, shall we?  I love rhetorical questions.  They're like mini-power trips.  As you can see, below my bookshelf, I have piles of books and magazines that didn't make the cut.  Actually, it's just easier to keep all of them in piles, because one is oversized Rolling Stones, one is my National Geographics, one is for the books I just bought (Cat's Cradle and the New Dinotopia) and the books I'm reading (Watchmen), and the final one is a binder for our sci-fi project atop two Star Trek guides.  

So the bottom shelf of my bookcase (here and in the Wood) is full of magazines, which means mostly Entertainment Weekly and Time, but the occasional Empire works its way in.  I also save space on the bottom shelf for books that are too large to go elsewhere, usually my big reference books.  DK makes the greatest reference books these days, from their image-abundant travel guides to their larger science books to their kids books, you know, ones on birds or rocks or dinosaurs.  My large reference books are mostly about space, but I included my Dinotopias and my childhood Myths and Legends hardback as well.   

The next shelf had my school books last semester, but this time through I cleared 'em out.  Instead I have my letter-writing equipment (wax, an envelope, and what I've decided will be my House seal for all eternity), my travel guides (Prague, New Zealand, and Europe), and last, but not least, the entire series of the Twilight Zone on DVD.  I needed a place where the box wouldn't get banged up (hence my clearing out my schoolbooks from the shelf), and this way, they're closer to my laptop. 

The middle shelf is the perfect spot for my portables--my keys, sunglasses, and phone--so I don't have much room for books.  Thus, it's the paperback shelf.  The bookstop is an Italian leather journal, no big, but I have yet to baptize it.  However, for those who can't get enough, I have decided that it will not be a diary, per se, but more a cross between a sketchbook, my Picture of the Day scrapbook, and a...journal, I guess.  What I'm trying to say is it won't have entries like "Dear Diary, this is what I did today and this is how I felt," but like, a list of our recent quotes of the day or a drawing or something.  Anyway, my paperbacks include my Cormac McCarthy collection (No Country for Old Men, The Road, and All the Pretty Horses), the His Dark Materials trilogy, and a couple books I started over a year ago (The House of God, Good Omens).  And never forget Finding Serenity, a brilliant collection of essays that serves as both proof of the art of television and a souvenir from our spontaneous Disneyland trip.  Partially obscuring these books is my sheriff's badge, my Harry Potter wand, and a picture of Robin Darjeeling from our short film. 

And the top books remain on the top shelf.  At home this is my fantasy saga shelf (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, His Dark Materials, and Dinotopia fit just perfectly together), but here I have a limited collection.  The final three Harry Potters are an excellent bookstop, and the left side is for my graphic novels (Maus, Watchmen, Stardust, Southland Tales, The Dark Tower comics).  In between I have some sci-fi short story collections, the beautiful and haunting Lovely Bones, my guides to life by Chuck Klosterman, and, inexplicably, the beginning of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga, which I will probably not start until at least Book 5 is out.  And over on the right is the perfect slot for Steph's graduation gift to me, a picture of herself with white-out descriptions. 

Similarly, the highest shelf is too small for books but just right for souvenirs.  The centerpiece is, fittingly, a bronco buster.  I also have my Halloween ring, a picture of my Germany trip group, a mini-book my mom made of our Disneyland adventure, and a sweet home-made Valentine.  Overall, I'd say my bookcase is pretty representative of its owner, and I think it says something that my school books have been excommunicated from it. 

My Bookshelf

This is essentially my literary Hall of Fame.  It's a place where I'll display my favorite books and give brief explanations as to why.  Not surprisingly, I'm starting it with my 10 essentials, which are not necessarily my 10 favorite books of all time, but certainly 10 of my favorites.  And to make it clear, I will be adding to this list every once in a while. 

Normally I'd give you the latest addition here, but I started with 10, as I said, so just click on the header and see for yourself. 

Return to home page.