Sometimes good literature sticks together in the reading pile. Elizabeth Crane's All This Heavenly Glory blew me out of the water only for me to then a couple days later land in the cold snow of Ander Monson's Other Electricities. Two very different books you really should read.
It's a funny thing, books, that are good or bad; I don't know how much you're like me when you read but I often have my mind made up pretty early on in a book: this is a good book, I'll think, and then it stays good; or this is a dull book, and etc's, with many pages left to go. Elizabeth Crane's book pretty much staked out its ground as a very good book from the get-go: that first sentence/paragraph/story is just awesome. And the rest of the book delivered on the promise of it. But it kept surprising me; it never really fell into the doldrum of being just thoroughly good. It kept catching me off guard. I laughed out loud, a lot. (Seriously, best use of Christina Applegate outside of Donnie Darko ever.) I kept reacting. It kept me there, the whole time.
Ander Monson's Other Electricities, I honestly think maybe I didn't think I was going to like the book much, once I started it. Don't know why. Sort of like I was thinking it was just another book like "that kind of book". It was okay and all but, it was following a tough act. But dammit, the book won me over. Just...damn. Damn. That's some writing right there. (The "Elsie and Henry" story is as life-affirming a piece of story-telling as I think I've read in a long time, and is surely not to be missed.)
So, the next time someone insists literature is dead, send them my way. I'd like to tell them to go to hell. Because, seriously: it's not. So very not.
1 comment:
...also I noticed you have on your list 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' by Haruki Murakami - I loved that one - it was so 'dream-like'
I have so much stuff on deck to read it's almost daunting - next up for me is:
'House of Leaves' (you know that one - and you know the next one too):
'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'
...no, literature is not dead - I think a lot of people are (inside) - if you know what I mean - to me there is so much I WANT to read and I just don't have the time - I dream of a 'fantasy life' where, instead of 'Fantasy Island' it would be 'Fantasy Cave' where I'd be surrounded by books to read (anything I wanted literature-wise), incredible music, and films - and of course great food/drink - and 'time' would somehow slow down in the cave so as to allow me to do all the reading, listening, viewing I wished to do and still have time for my 'normal day-to-day' life - stupid eh? (LOL and obviously I really *need* a life to have this as a fantasy...)
Good luck with your writing my dear - I hope a publishing house picks you up and runs with you!
^_^
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