I love movies, books, music, TV, good food, my wife, my cats, and my dog. (Not necessarily in that order.) I write about whatever's on my mind. For more, go here.
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Over at the Houston Press blog, I've got a round-up of new series premiering over the next few weeks that might not be that bad. I know that sounds horribly weak and noncommittal, but I've been burned too many times to have my hopes raised by a trailer.
I read 30 books this year, which is a pretty satisfying number for a man with several jobs and the various commitments that come with being newly married. I started and quit on three more, and though I get into the specifics on those below, the bottom line is that life is far too short to waste it reading bad books. Books require a time commitment unmatched by other media, so while I'll usually push through a film to see if it can redeem itself, there's a world of difference between losing two hours and forfeiting two to three weeks. It's remarkably liberating to live like this, too. I'll die not having read a tenth of the books I want to read or should read, so spending extra seconds with bad ones is foolishness.
Here's a chronological list of what I read this year (based on order read, not publication date), with more after the jump. As always, I'm open to suggestions about what to read next.
The Disappointment Artist (2005), Jonathan Lethem
A solid collection of essays and reflections, if not quite as good as his earlier Men and Cartoons.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006) (unfinished), Max Brooks
Brooks takes the Studs Terkel approach and creates an account of a zombie war told through the eyes of those who survived it. It's a neat idea, but it starts to fall apart after a while. For one, the people all talk in a kind of melodramatic prose that might've been more acceptable as narration, not dialogue. The book's also too long, and the fragmented narrative never really builds momentum. I quit reading when the choppiness of the presentation and lack of a propulsive story became too much. (Not to mention Brooks' melodramatic prose, which reads like hundreds of pages of jacket copy.)
Eating the Dinosaur (2009), Chuck Klosterman
Klosterman's one of the best pop culture writers out there, and his latest essay deals in fewer absolutes than earlier collections. He's more willing to explore causes and effects than finding support for impossible arguments, and the resulting work makes him feel more human.
Chronic City (2009), Jonathan Lethem
Lethem's a deceptively good writer. Much of Chronic City is told in first person through the eyes of Chase Insteadman, and I made the mistake of conflating the character's insubstantiality with Lethem's skill as a storyteller. Late in the book, when the action shifts briefly to a different viewpoint, Lethem's own style came roaring back, and I realized just how much work had gone into crafting an entirely different feel for his narrator. The story's a classic Lethem mix of pop culture and surreal fantasy, and definitely worth checking out.
Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip into the Life, Work, and Mind of David Foster Wallace (2010), David Lipsky
A friend of mine slipped me a review copy before this hit shelves, and I devoured it. Wallace is probably my favorite author, and I was so saddened when he committed suicide in 2008. Lipsky's book is one long transcript of his time interviewing Wallace over the course of several days at the end of the book tour Wallace undertook in 1996 to support Infinite Jest. The men talk about fiction, emotion, stories, love, family, music, everything. It's a fantastic volume because it captures the immediacy of the long talks that animate road trips, as well as the mundane details that come with schlepping across the country in an old sedan. Wallace speaks in the same rambling, aspirational style that marked his prose, and reading this book was like getting him back, if only for a few days.
Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood (2008), Mark Harris
One of the best books about Hollywood, period, as well as a fantastic examination of the way films affect culture and vice versa. Harris tracks the five films that contended for the best picture Oscar in the spring of 1968 from their inception through the awards and aftermath, and his copious research is supported by dozens of personal interviews. A fantastic look at the relationships and economics that drive art.
For Houston Press, I rounded up a Top 5 list of the best episodes of TV from 2010. That's a ridiculously small number -- you could do a list of the best 30 episodes if you really wanted to cover your bases -- and I know that there are so many shows I couldn't list. So basically I just picked five standouts. That's the way it goes.
Over at Houston Press, I've got a round-up of great Christmas episodes, just in time for the holiday break.
Some good performances, but the film itself was pretty weak. Not the worst thing the Coens have ever done, but probably somewhere a bit above the middle.
A predictably strong finish for the first season. I've enjoyed just about every minute of this show so far.
"Boardwalk Empire" 1x12: "A Return to Normalcy"
(Here's my weekly round-up, as well.)
A great episode that was sweet and funny but never preachy or overreaching.
"The critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising."
— Pauline Kael
"Film lovers are sick people."
— Francois Truffaut
"Let others praise ancient times, I am glad I was born in these."
— Ovid
