I've Got the Golden Ticket- Salman Rushdie

This is what happens when you go to enough events- you finally get put on the "special" mailing list. Hell yes, I'm going. Hell yes, I feel special. And hell yes I'm going to make sure I don't look like a homeless person that day in case I end up on tape.

Junot Diaz Reading

[Crappy Instagram picture]

Last night I once again made the 60 mile drive out to LA to see an author talk- this time Junot Diaz, author of Drown, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and his most recent collection, This is How You Lose Her. Luckily enough a friend joined me, so tackling the Art Walk traffic wasn’t too terrible. The event was put on by new-to-me Writers Bloc (they’re fall programs are amazing- Martin Amis is being interviewed by Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner next week, and then later in October Nick Hornby will working with them) at the Los Angeles Theater Center. The place ended up being packed- they actually started thirty minutes late in order to accommodate the crowd. The delay was worth it- Diaz is one of the most articulate, intellectual, culturally aware (and profane) authors I’ve ever listened to.

Since he was obviously there to promote his new collection of short stories, I found it odd that he didn’t actually read from them. Honestly, I liked this- I don’t really feel the need to hear someone read a book I’ve either already read or have never even opened. I much rather hear what the person has to say and observe his interactions with the moderator and audience. Speaking of the moderator, Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like, kept the night moving, serving as a sharp contrast to the racially-charged Dominican writer.

A great deal of the night was dedicated to the discussion of race- Diaz is extremely informed and involved in the Dominican community. He claims that he is a part of a “disappearing” race- he feels that while Latino numbers are increasing in the United States they are still not being heard socially or politically. He brought up some valid points, claiming that if all of the white people were “voted off the island” this idea of “white supremacy” would still exist- a new hierarchy would form and minority groups would still be plagued by the troubles they experience. His perception of race, despite that fact that he was definitely pointing out the flaws of my people, were realistic- he doesn’t expect a drastic, immediate revolution any time soon. Part of the problem, he claims, is that white people aren’t afraid of minorities, like they were in 1960s with African Americans and the Civil Rights movement. There are problems that need to be fixed, and Diaz seemed hopeful that younger generations would help bring about change.

Diaz also spoke about his life as a writer and his three works, especially during the Q & A portion of the evening. He covered the basics like masculinity and race in his books, as well as obstacles his characters face growing up. He spoke on the actual act of writing- it has taken him over a decade to write each of his novels, something that is evident in the careful crafting of both the characters and plot. I think something that I greatly appreciated, and have been struggling to get through to my students, is his brief discussion on how readers need to interact with the text. Reading literature should not be done in the same way you read the back of the cereal box or an article on who Blake Lively married last weekend (they are going to have the ugliest babies, by the way). Reading is a conversation between the author and the reader with plenty of room for interpretation. He also provided several titles of Latin American works to read- we’ll see if this white girl can decipher the titles.

I’ll end with my favorite quote of the night: “Talking about art is like kissing- you rather fucking do it.”

Top Ten Tuesday- Open Your Eyes

The Broke and the Bookish ask us to list the top ten books that make us "think about the world/people/life." Oh yes, let's do this.

By the way, if you're easily defensive you may not want to proceed.

1. Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James

I'm thinking...

- the world likes to read poorly written books

- people need to stop repressing their sexuality and embrace it- stop reading this and go get some (responsibly)!

2. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers

I'm thinking...

- the world likes to read poorly written books

- the world should be prepared if we are in fact attacked by vampires

- that my whole life I have been confused about the whole "vampires not being allowed to go out light" issues (can they or can't they, dammit?)

3. Harry Potter by JK Rowling

I'm thinking...

- people are obsessed with magic because we love the idea of fixing things we can't control

- Some of us may be in need of a father figure (ahem, Dumbledore)

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I'm thinking...
- we all fantasize about killing people
- people are suckers for quick stories with little character depth

5. The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

I'm thinking...

- the world appreciates writers that can churn out books faster than I go through a pair of contacts
- people are suckers for saps

Okay, I can't do this anymore. A few legit ones:

6. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I'm thinking...
- I have no idea what I would do if I had lost everyone and everything
- the Mormons may be onto something with their massive overstocking of canned goods...

7. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

I'm thinking...
- I'm to this day happy that I stopped eating meat
- people need to be aware of where their food comes- ignorance is not bliss

8. Antibiotic Resistance by Karl Drlica

I'm thinking...

- most people on this planet will be wiped out by a massive super-bug due to antibiotic overuse
- I will not be included in said super-bug wipe out because I use antibiotics maybe once every two years. Booyah. See you in the afterlife

9. Maybe Baby edited by Lori Leibobich

I'm thinking...

- it's interesting to hear different perspectives on whether or not people decide to have children
- women my age take their fertility for granted

10. Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevskiy

I'm thinking... 
- we're all affected by guilt in different ways
- people often decide a book we read in high school is our favorite and need to spend some time rereading it

Bookish Thoughts

1. There are two movies coming out based on novels I truly love and both author's are signing off on the adaptations. David Mitchell is supporting Cloud Atlas, and Salman Rushdie wrote the screenplay, produced, and did voice-over for Midnight's Children.

The New Yorker ran a piece recently by Alexander Hemon, who interviewed the Wachowski's on their process of converting the complexity of Cloud Atlas into a screenplay. I have to say, after reading the article I actually kinda sorta felt that they truly cared about the novel and Mitchell's opinion. I suppose if they don't Matrix-ify the thing (and I can get over stupid Halle Berry playing someone I thought was Mexican) I might like it. Nonetheless I know I'll be seeing it since my husband is an even bigger Mitchell fan that I am. 

[source]

2. Last night I found something that may possibly be incredibly awesome- it's called Building Stories by Chris Ware. It's labeled as a graphic novel, but it's more than that- it's a box full of blueprints, pamphlets, cards, and other paper goods that tell the story of a group of people that live in an apartment building. I think part of the reason I'm so drawn to it is because of this idea of this evolution that's slowly coming along in print- people are finding new ways to innovate the medium without going digital. It's a little pricy at $29.93 (on Amazon; regularly $50), but I be no means think it's a rip off.

3. The number of books (and hopefully readings) on deck for this fall continues to blow my mind every single day. Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz, John Banville, Barbara Kingsolver, JK Rowling, TC Boyle, Michael Chabon, and Ian McEwan, just to name a few. I'm going to try to be patient and hold off to put some of them on my Christmas List, especially since I probably won't be reading them for months, but I don't know if I can. I'm going to pick Diaz's new one up this week so I can try to get through it before I attend his reading on Thursday night. While the sheer volume and time needed to read them all scares me a little, the fact that all these amazing authors are releasing this season just seems like a giant "fuck you" to all these less-than stellar authors who have swept the headlines this year. Take that, EL James. 

4. I've been loving seeing the books my students are reading for outside reading these past few weeks (or pretending to read, anyway). I had a student told me how much he's enjoying A Farewell to Arms and another already finish her first book.

5. I'm so ridiculously sick of Antigone- we're wrapping it up in a few days and moving on to A Chronicle of  Death Foretold, a book I'm extremely excited to reread and teach. I remember liking it when assigned it the summer between eighth and ninth grade. I was a a little taken aback when the reader learns that the sheets containing the evidence of stolen virginity are flown outside after wedding nights- we were going to talk about these things in class??? High school was going to be awesome! Little did I know the next year we'd read a book that has a lady having sex with a donkey in it (good old Allende... gotta love the South Americans). 

6. I'm reading two books right now, plus listening to a third and teaching a fourth. This is a huge change for my usual monogamous reading habits- I'm not sure if I like it. I started reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver but started craving some fiction (yes, I realize how nerdy that makes me sound), so I started The Woman Who Walks Into Doors by Roddy Doyle. Meanwhile I'm listening to A Prayer for Owen Meanie (which I've read before) and working with Antigone at work. They're all quite different, so it works for now.

 

Because I Need Another Hobby

Sometimes I get these random ideas that are just barely inside or outside my scope of ability and become really fixated on them. You know, like going to Italy, running half marathons, skydiving, climbing Half Dome twice, getting a new puppy the day I decided I wanted one, and trapezing. I just do things.

Well, it's happened again, but this time with something, dare I say, crafty. Augh. I hate the word. Crafty. Unless you're using it to describe me in a mischievous manner, I really would prefer the label not being attached to me whatsoever. Not that there's anything wrong with it- some people can do wonders with hot glue guns, colored paper, and that little machine that cuts out shapes. Personally, cruising the Michael's aisles and contemplating the differences between [insert crafty items I know nothing about here] is just not something I have the patience for. 

Exception:

I've decided in the last two or so weeks that I want to start making quilts. Why? After some careful psychoanalysis I think that it's a combination of wanting to produce something useful, a desire for something kind of monotonous yet attention grabbing, and the nostalgic connection to my youth when I started (but never finished) many blankets.  

So, naturally, I bought a book:

You can learn how to do anything if you read about it, right? Unfortunately, the machine itself came with a pretty crappy instruction book so I had to call my master-sewer mom several times for help setting it up (it got down to me texting her pictures of the huge mess that resulted in my first attempt at threading the machine failing). Anyway, the book, Your First Quilt Book, by Carol Doak, has gotten rave reviews, so I bought it used from someone far more knowledgeable than me who no longer needed it. I know how to do the basics, believe it or not, I just really need some help on the finishing, especially when I decide tying off the squares or the ever-popular "stitch in the ditch" techniques are too easy (so in like three years). My progress right now is limited- I cut out the squares and sewed together two rows. Aaaand then I quit to go swimming. So in approximately three months when I finish the first quilt I'll be sure to let you know. And you can bet your damn ass I'm trying to come up with some sort of ambitious, over-my-head, book quilt (although this Scrabble one is pretty kick ass).

Next up: cycling the 72-miles around Lake Tahoe (I haven't ridden a bike in over ten years and have exactly 4 slightly irrational fears preventing me from buying one)