Chuck's Reading Room

[Bklyn]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninsca ... tman_a.php

[Johnette's Daddy]

Since we have no TV thread (or I'm too lazy to hunt for it) I will confess that I miss the short-lived Sci-Fi Channel series "The Dresden Files" and have subsequently began reading Jim Butcher's books about the title character, who was Chicago's only publicly practicing wizard.

[T Dot O Dot]

Television and Film - Coca for the Kiddies

[Bklyn]

Either way, it still works for the book thread.

[Hizzy III]

Speaking of books, something I've been meaning to up for a while now is Percival Everett's Erasure. It's actually some years old (2002 or so) but the satire it presents is quite compelling. Makes a statement about so-called contemporary African American literature with which I've agreed for a while now.

[Bklyn]

Interesting synopsis...

Everett's (Glyph; Frenzy; etc.) latest is an over-the-top masterpiece about an African-American writer who "overcomes" his intellectual tendency to "write white" and ends up penning a parody of ghetto fiction that becomes a huge commercial and literary success. Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called "ghetto prose" that would make him a commercial success. He finally succumbs to temptation after seeing the Oberlin-educated author of We's Lives in da Ghetto during her appearance on a talk show, firing back with a parody called My Pafology, which he submits to his startled agent under the gangsta pseudonym of Stagg R. Leigh. Ellison quickly finds himself with a six-figure advance from a major house, a multimillion-dollar offer for the movie rights and a monster bestseller on his hands. The money helps with a family crisis, allowing Ellison to care for his widowed mother as she drifts into the fog of Alzheimer's, but it doesn't ease the pain after his sister, a physician, is shot by right-wing fanatics for performing abortions. The dark side of wealth surfaces when both the movie mogul and talk-show host demand to meet the nonexistent Leigh, forcing Ellison to don a disguise and invent a sullen, enigmatic character to meet the demands of the market. The final indignity occurs when Ellison becomes a judge for a major book award and My Pafology (title changed to Fuck) gets nominated, forcing the author to come to terms with his perverse literary joke. Percival's talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Wright and Ellison as he skewers the conventions of racial and political correctness. (Sept. 21)Forecast: Everett has been well-reviewed before, but his latest far surpasses his previous efforts. Passionate word of mouth (of which there should be plenty), rave reviews (ditto) and the startling cover (a young, smiling black boy holding a toy gun to his head) could help turn this into a genuine publishing event.

[Hizzy III]

In what should be viewed as a poignant example of what Everett was specifically trying to convey with this particular novel, it should be noted that he hasn't come close to the commercial success that other popular African American novelists have, even with this well-received and fairly successful (sales wise) offering. His subsequent works have done lukewarm in terms of sales (some have flat out bombed) but the writing trumps 95% of the fiction you see hoisted up on the shelves in so-called African American Literature sections at all of the major stores (Borders, in particular). Hell, go to Amazon and type the name of a prominent contemporary African American novelist and the string of "suggested" readings tied to it will make your monkey lip hang just as low as your hairy knuckles dragging the ground.

Ooga-fucking-ooga.

Ugh!

I may come across as a literary snob but at the same time, 52 different titles with the same, recurring, braindead theme and with the same sixth-grade writing style is pretty nauseating. And, yes, I know, mainstream fiction, regardless of race or demographics, can be downright dumb but the standards for Af-Am fiction seems to be especially low nowadays.

Of course, in sales, you offer what the people want most, I suppose.

That said, I eagerly await my boy Colson Whitehead's next joint: Zone One.

[Bklyn]

I think I have one of his books. One about the Vineyard, or something like that (I think).

[Hizzy III]

Sag Harbor?

[Bklyn]

Yep, that was it.

[Bklyn]

My boy gave me a drive with about 200 eBooks on it. So, I'm starting with this Steig Laarson (or however it's spelled) book..."The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" because people have been raving about it forever.

After that one, I'll check out one of the authors I have never heard of and give it a shot. I'm going to wind up doing just as much research on the books (trying to figure out my order) as reading them.

[AugustWest]

My boy gave me a drive with about 200 eBooks on it

the traditional book store is dead. I used to buy books all the time, until I tried to sell some of my used books to a local used book store including books that would have completed series for them and they offered me $1.25 for 25 books. then I went on demoniod and downloaded 10,000 books for free in half an hour. eff 'em.

[T Dot O Dot]

when it comes to news & editorials, I'm good with the web

but on my lunch break at work I'm always looking for a paper and I love a hardcover novel

that's just me

[Bklyn]

If I really like a novel/book, I'll buy it hardcopy and keep it at the crib. That's the conspiracy theorist in me. I don't want anything I truly value to only be housed as eContent. I'm the same with music. I will buy a physical CD in a heartbeat if I love the album.

My fear is one day some "power" will decide to "Huck Finn" some novel and I will never be able to read the original version without working real hard to find it (if I even realize that I'm reading some censored product). As a result, some shit I HAVE to keep a physical copy of.

It reminds me of an article I read that came out right around the Beijing Olympics. One of the young Chinese kids in the article was talking about how he doesn't trip off of the government censorship he experiences in his country. If there is a blocked website, he just has to spend an extra second or two circumventing the censor via a proxy host in Europe that he accesses. His statement was in effect, "at least in my society I know I'm getting censored information/propaganda. It makes me read everything with a careful, skeptic's eye...and I find other sources to help my understanding of the real story. In so-called 'free societies' it seems like many don't think they're getting censored information/propaganda, so they accept anything." I was like "Amen."

[Jungle Rat]

Call Scully.

[Bklyn]

Maybe...something tells me under those conservative suits was a freak!

[Bklyn]

My neighbor's new book...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/books ... &seid=auto

[It's me Karen]

Impressive. I will look for this book.

[Bklyn]

The recluse in plain sight...

http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/books/features/48268/

[StephieO]

Or it COULD be ....a real ghost....and maybe we cant see IF or What hes wearing. This is in the Basement and does have windows that are at Ground Level. Very hard to explain who would be in the Reading Room..at that time of morning. As I understand, Ghosts dont always look human.........