Another Round Down, One to Go

Just in case any of you might have forgotten to check, the Booker Prize Shortlist was announced on Tuesday. As you can see, Cloud Atlas, my hopeful champion from before the longlist was even announced, made the cut and is still the runaway favorite to win. However, I do want to read Mitchell's closest competitor, The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. It sounds like a fascinating and well-written novel. I can only count the days 'till the winner is announced on October 19. In other words, I gotta get reading. I suggest you all do the same. :-D

What a Great Pomo Novel

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
In number9dream, David Mitchell as much as admits that Norwegian Wood was the inspiration for his novel. I can see why. This is probably the most powerful and elegantly told novel of its kind short of The Catcher in the Rye. Major themes include death, isolation, and absence, but also devotion and love. It may be "just a love story" as some complain, but it is the most interesting and fascinating love story and postmodern coming of age tale I have ever read. I love this book.

Simply Complex?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is a truly great novel. It's well-written, engrossing, poignant, and takes on a lot of the big issues. The difference is, it is comparatively up front about its issues, something many authors cannot do without keeping the story intact. It is at once complex yet simple to understand. I can see why it ranks so highly on the Radcliffe Top 100 Novels list. At the same time, I can also see why it doesn't even appear on the Modern Library's Top 100 Novels list. It doesn't have that sense of deep untertone and vast implications one often associates with great literature. So where do I stand on it? I respect Harper Lee's achievement in writing a true and important classic. At the same time, I often find myself more drawn to more challenging works. I'm glad I read it—I liked it—but it didn't give me that feeling of a mental workout that I enjoy.

Better Than I Expected

Shopgirl by Steve Martin
This book surprised me a little. It was actually probably a little more enjoyable for me than the better-regarded The Feast of Love (see below). Martin's writing is a sort of large vocabulary minimalism. It's underwritten if anything—a pleasant contrast to Baxter's overwriting. And, while it may not be nearly as polished as Baxter's book, it is far more earnest. You can tell Martin isn't trying to impress anyone; he's just writing. That carries weight with me. That said, I probably won't pick up another book of his on my own, I may try him again if something is strongly recommended.

"The Bittersweet Lies of Bokonon"

Frankly, I find it hard to believe in much. However, it's also interesting that there isn't much that I am unwilling to believe in. Rather, I prefer to hold no opinion in pretty much whatever matters in which it is more or less simple to get away with such sophistry.

Take, for instance, relious belief: I have none. However, I don't rule out anyone's beliefs. I mean, if pressed, all I would say about God and the universe is that, if there is a God, I honestly doubt anyone on earth is correct in their conception or worship of Him/Her/It. Considering the difference of opinion, it's almost inconceiveable that anyone has it exactly right. I figure that if I'm ever meant to know the truth, I will when I die or when God comes down to me in all His/Her/Its glory and personally explains&mash;even then, I may pass it off as my own insanity—that's always a possiblity. However, regarless, I don't really care what the truth is.

Hence, with the exception of day-to-day matters of life where an opinion is warranted, I have few firm beliefs. Instead, I find myself fascinated with learning as many points of view and schools of thought on each subject as possible. However, not every area of interest receives an equal amount of interest. In order I would rank my interests as follows:

1. Literature and Classics


2. Literary Criticism and Theory


3. Mythology


4. Philosophy


5. History


6. Anthropology


7. Religious Studies


8. Psychology


9. Sociology


10. Mathematics


11. Political Science


12. Physical Sciences

As you can see, I'm a true whore for the humanities. I feel like the humanities are more interested in expanding the mind to all various points of view while the physical sciences are focused on narrowing all possible points of view into one "truth." How logical does that really seem? No, seriously. If you don't see what I mean, I recommend The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn.

It is rare when I actually have an opinion on a current event that is strong enough to impell me to action. The only thing I can currently think of as such an action item is the presidential race. I will vote for Kerry, because he is not Bush, who I think of as a moral and intellectual wasteland of a human being—a perception with which Kerry does not leave me.

However, I know that my opinions and beliefs are exactly what they are: not the truth. I sincerely doubt anyone knows the whole truth on any subject. In fact, the biggest complement I think I have ever received I received this past weekend; my best friend—oddly enough a devout, uber Mormon—told me he thinks my system of neutral belief is what he considers possibly the human ideal, and that he highly respects me for being able to stick to it, though he can't. What more can a person ask than that his diametric opposite praise him for that which he opposes?

Well, really, I can't say that I oppose other beliefs. Rather, I am more than happy to see anyone practice whatever system of beliefs they feel morally bound to. I may not believe what they do, but since there is little in which I believe, I would be grossly out of line to throw out the beliefs of anyone else. That would be hypocracy at its very highest level for me. I can't recall who said it first, but there is no saying I can say I adhere to more than, "to each his own." To an extent you can call that my belief...or nonbelief if you prefer. It's all the same to me.

"No Damn Cat, No Damn Cradle"

"I once knew an Episcopalian lady in Newport, Rhode Island, who asked me to design and build a doghouse for her Great Dane. The lady claimed to understand God and His Ways of Working perfectly. She could not understand why anyone should be puzzled about what had been or what was going to be.

"And yet, when I showed her a blueprint of the doghouse I proposed to build, she said to me, 'I'm sorry, but I never could read one of those things.'

"'Give it to your husband or your minister to pass on to God,' I said, 'and, when God finds a minute, I'm sure he'll explain this doghouse of mine in a way that even you can understand.'

"She fired me. I shall never forget her. She believed that God liked people in sailboats much better than He liked people in motorboats. She could not bear to look at a worm. When she saw a worm, she screamed.

"She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing, [writes Bokonon]."

Another One Down

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Wow. I'd been hearing a lot about Saramago in the last few years, and I can't say I'm disappointed. This is an amazing novel about blindness on all levels. It is a brilliant allegory about fear, selfishness, and redemption. I can't think of a novel I've read lately that is more intellectually rewarding. However, if you don't much care for heavy intellectual effort in reading, take a pass. Otherwise, Blindness gets my highest recommendation.

Booker Prize Validation

Well everyone, it is once again time to get revved up for one of my very favorite events of the year...that's right, it's Booker Prize time!

That's right, the Booker's Longlist has been released. For those of you not in the know, the Booker Prize is the better version of the Pulizer Prize for Fiction or the National Book Award. The difference is that, while the two latter are U.S. only, the Booker is basically the entire English-speaking world except the United States. Moreover, it's picked solely on literary merit.

This year the Longlist is 22 novels. One of those novels happens to be the best novel I have read that has been published in the last five years, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Not only is it nominated, but the oddsmakers (yes, you have to love any country where betting on who will win a literary award is a big deal) have put Cloud Atlas as the biggest favorite to win ever as of the publication on the Longlist. Needless to say, I feel validated. My pick for the "next big author" over three years ago looks like it's going to pay off.

Anyways, they'll be announcing the Shortlist (final six) on Sept. 21. So, if you're a.) a book whore, or b.) a David Michell fanatic (as I am both), then mark that date on your calendar. I know I will.