Over the years, the bulk of my reading has been non-fiction books. These have mainly been art-related books with a heavy emphasis on music. It’s really not been until recent years that I have gotten into the habit of reading fiction to any extent. In fact, fiction has made of about three quarters of my reading for the past few years as I play catch-up with a lot of interesting stuff.
Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo. This is the story of Eric Packer who is a financial industry billionaire living in New York City. Eric simply wants to go out to get a haircut. So, he gets into his limousine and heads across Manhattan. But, the trip is not so straight-forward. Along the way, he hops out of the limo for various interactions. Other times, he is stuck in traffic while at the same time dealing with others who have jumped into the car for meetings of different natures. Often hilarious and sometimes a bit frightening. Always involving.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I first read this book three years ago. Since that time, seeing it on my bookshelf has often beckoned me to re-read it. I finally decided that now was the time.
For some reason, this book seems to have a reputation of being a difficult read. It seems to wind up on lists mentioning the likes of Gravity’s Rainbow and Ulysses. But, other that being a very long book, it really isn’t a particularly difficult book to get into.
The three main plots involved include a tennis academy for young people, the residents of a rehab house and the search for an illusive media called the Entertainment. As the story unfolds, the three plots are seen to intersect at various junctions.
Probably the aspect of the book that is most at the forefront is the detail. Wallace is one to stack detail upon detail upon detail. It often makes for very dense passages of text. And there is another aspect of the book that also makes it even more dense. End-notes. At the back of the book there are nearly 100 pages of notes regarding the main text. The reader is expected to pause their reading and flip to the back of the book in order to discover the subtext involved as they hit the number of an end-note. And I highly recommend getting involved in the practice – at least the first time you read it – as it often does lead to a deeper understanding of what is happening (although some seem a bit superfluous).
Stick to it and you will find yourself with a highly rewarding reading experience. It’s just as good the second time around, as well.
Ulysses by James Joyce. OK. Now, this truly is a difficult one. It certainly makes Infinite Jest seem like a walk in the park. Ulysses has a reputation of being one of the landmarks of twentieth century literature. It also has the reputation of being a notoriously difficult book to read. Correct on both counts.
I recently picked up the Dover reprint of the 1922 version of this book. It has undergone several revisions in succeeding years but, this was the way that it was first published (in a form corrected by Joyce).
It is basically the story of an advertising salesman called Leopold Bloom. The entire volume covers twenty-four hours of his life. During this time, he meets up with friends, goes to a funeral, goes out to drink and dine and other seeming mundane activities. All the while, he does his best to stay away from home as he knows that his wife is having an affair.
While the book seems to start as a fairly straight-forward read, Joyce changes styles quite drastically from section to section. There are sections that read like a play and other parts which unfold as a dense run-on sentence.
Often perplexing, it is worth the effort to soldier on. I can’t say that it is an easy task to make it through to the end. But, I certainly did find it an intriguing read.
The King by Donald Barthelme. What seems to start out as a fairly normal tale of King Arthur eventually starts to take a turn in an unexpected direction. This comes when the characters start making references to photographs printed in the newspaper and listening to speeches by Winston Churchill on the radio.
For some reason, King Arthur and the others have found themselves living in England during the second world war. It’s best to just go with the flow and see how things progress. A very amusing read.
The Yips by Nicola Barker. I first became aware of the author from a Guardian article last year. It made me curious to check out her work. This was the first book that I found. The story mainly revolves around the golfer Stuart Ransom. His life – professionally, financially and personally – is on a downward spiral. His encounters with such characters as a female priest and puzzling barmaid take his life into often comic turns.
Despite the book’s length, the rapid unfolding of the various story elements seem to make the book whip by at an accelerated pace. Very enjoyable, indeed.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend. Adrian Mole has just entered his teenage years and like most people of that age is finding the going a bit rough. He’s a self-proclaimed intellectual and he seems to attribute that fact as to why he has a difficult time relating to other people.
Adrian’s daily journal entries follow his relationship with his parents, girlfriend and others involved in his life on a daily basis. It’s apparently not an easy life for Adrian and this leads to countless chuckles and many laugh-out-loud moments. It reads like a modern day take on the classic British book The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith from the 1890s (which is still in print and highly recommended!). A great read for some comic relief… especially in difficult times.
