Something I seriously love is summer reading.
Summer has always been when I get most of my reading done. During the school year I'm usually too stressed to really sit down and dig into a good book, I'd rather spend my free time splattering Nazi zombie gray-matter on the walls with the old Xbox-360. But now that summer is in full swing I can finally do some serious kick-ass reading. In fact, I spent ninety percent of today sitting outside with my shirt off (my poor Irish skin!) reading and drinking Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade (you don't need to tell me how manly I am).
Unfortunately, I didn't get off to the greatest start. One of the first books I picked up was The Gunslinger by Steven King. I will say, right now, the first forty pages of this book are great. They pull you in with this mysterious main character and a world similar to our own but with a strange Western/Fantasy/Post-apocalyptic edge. But after those forty pages are done, so am I. King has such strange word choices that, after a while, I can't stand reading his work. And all of his characters sound annoyingly similar.
A fun book I found is Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner. Each story is short and hilarious. Garner takes the fairy tales we've grown up with and satirizes them through an overly politically correct lens.
I also took on The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It's a children's book which, despite reviews that said it was the next Harry Potter series, proved to me to be somewhat hollow and laking the heart that makes a good children's series.
The best book I've read thus far is by one of my heroes, Anthony Bourdain. If you haven't watched his show, No Reservations on the Travel Channel, you're missing out. This guy is a serious badass chef. In his book, Kitchen Confidential, he describes working in the underbelly of professional restaurants, struggling through heroine addiction, and coming out in one piece on the other side. This guy rocks! I think part of the reason I idolize him so much is because I can't cook to save my life. I wish I had the balls he does. I also want his job. On his TV show he travels around the world experiencing different cultures. He never does the touristy things, like "Hey, let's go visit the Eiffel Tower!" But he shows you what it's really like to immerse yourself in a foreign land. I want that.
I've traveled more than most. I've been around the UK, Italy, and even China--but that's just given me the thirst for more. Traveling out of the country is something everyone should do. There are many places I still want to visit: France, Japan, Australia, India, etc. etc.. Hell, there are places in the US I'd love to see as well. I've always wanted to take a trip to Seattle (Bahn, Gary, Mikey, and I almost did one summer) and I'd love to visit my best friend in Salt Lake City (I have no idea what we would do, but I'm sure it would be interesting. Maybe ransack a Mormon church, just for kicks).
But, alas, the real issue. Money. I need money for school. That's one of the main reasons I'm living here in Coon Rapids for the summer, because the last semester almost drained me. I need to make some green at Costco so I can enter back into the wilderness of academia in the fall and hopefully come out with an English BA (I'd love to say that stands for Bad Ass, but sadly, no). So for now, all travel plans must be put on hold. I wish I was more adventurous. I wish I could say, "To Hell with it, I'm flying to Tokyo and no one can stop me." But it doesn't work that way. These things take planning, and most importantly, money.
Getting back to summer reading, I loved Bourdain's book. I'd recommend it to anyone who's seen the show and interested in how he got his job. The next book I plan digging my teeth into is Enemies and Allies by Kevin J. Anderson. It's set in the paranoid Cold War era with Batman and Superman as the main protagonists. I've seen this done well in comic books, I hope Anderson can pull it off in novel form. I'll let you know how it works out.
I'd love to hear what you guys are reading this summer. I'm always looking for the next good book. Aren't we all?
I'm in the middle of The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon right now, and it's pretty good so far. It's a bit of a slog to get through at first, as there's very little action, but it starts to pick up eventually.
ReplyDeleteUSDA would go apeshit if they saw a cook doing what Mr. Bourdain is doing in that picture. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you should try your darndest to come out here. If I can help matters in any way, let me know. Whether its financially or just giving you a list of my 5-day weekends for the rest of the year- I'm more than ready to do so.
And another excellent post, my friend. I think I already told you, but the two books I'm going to be tackling are Sirens of Titan and A Wrinkle in Time. Two books I think I probably should have read by now. After that, I've had my eye on The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie for quite some time. You've read that one, right? If so, how was it?
Pleeeeease let me know how "Enemies and Allies" turns out, it sounds *so* exciting!
ReplyDeleteAnd we should have a more at length conversation about summer reading, because I have a TON of coupons and special credits to get audiobooks from Audible.com, and no idea what to use them on.
I began reading Kavalier and Clay last summer. You're totally right, Christian, it's a hard book to get through, but there were things I really did like in it. Unfortunately, I have yet to finish it...
ReplyDeleteBahn, if the USDA read Bourdain's book they would ban him from every restaurant in America. And, I've not read The Gun Seller but it looks like it could be really good.
About Enemies and Allies, I'm almost half way through and I'm really into it. It doesn't have nearly the depth of something like The Dark Knight, but it's still really really fun. If you like Batman The Animated Series you should read this book. It's kind of cheesy but I'm starting to love it for that.