Hello New York, I'm Home.

Freshly arrived up in this city. I had Ann Beattie keeping me company on the plane with her enthralling book The New Yorker Stories. Miss Beattie wrote for The New Yorker in the 1970s and this book is a collection of her fictional tales. She has such a unique way of writing about relationships and capturing the odd quirks of our lives. Despite the book revolving around people in that time period, it is very much relevant and the writing feels fresh. It's the best thing I've read since Half The Sky (which is probably the most important book I have ever read and urge everyone I know to read it!) by Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn.

"A Literary Fetish Is The New Black"

Sharing some summer reading that I've enjoyed. I've kept it light for some fun beach reads. Handler was hysterical, Ganek was light and fun, and had to read Rice, the originator of the Vampire trend. Soak up the sun and enjoy what's left of summer! (hopefully with a good book, your toes curled in the sand, with friends and lovers, and a good margarita).

Drown

I recently finished the book Drown by Junot Diaz. Diaz's collection of short stories talk about adjusting to life from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey, abandonment, and sexual desire. I don't think it's as good as his other book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but it was still an enjoyable read. Diaz is known as being a Dominican-American writer and teachers creative writing at MIT. I heard him speak when he came to Oberlin in the fall and I remember this joke he made when he was addressing the fact that he is known as a Dominican-American writer. He said something along the lines of the fact that his students are always asking him "where did you get your inspiration from/who is your favorite Dominican/Hispanic author?" Diaz replied "well who is your favorite white author?" I thought that was really amusing and clever.

"Are you quite finished, or shall I fetch my Stradivarius?"

I just finished reading Losing Mum and Pup, Christopher Buckley's charming memoir about losing both of his parents, New York socialite Patricia Taylor Buckley and famous Right Wing conservative William F. Buckley, within 11 months of each other. The book is well written and humorous, leaving the reader with a longing to have known these two great figures. I'd highly recommend it and am planning on reading Christopher Buckley's other works, among which include Thank You For Smoking and Boomsday.

Visiblity Unlimited

Aside from all the reading I have to do for classes, sigh, I still am managing to read a book for myself on the side. I'm currently reading, and loving, Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. The book is about a man living in Manhattan who loves drugs, partying, women, and the finer things. The story starts out with:

"You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head. The club is either Heartbreak or the Lizard Lounge. All might come clear if you could just slip into the bathroom and do a little more Bolivian Marching Powder. Then again, it might not."

Read it!

Bad Behavior

I just finished reading the collection of short stories from the book Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill. It was so unique and fresh, despite the fact that it was written in 1988. The way Gaitskill captures the perversity of human nature and relationships is stunning. This was Gaitskill's first book that established her reputation as one of the "sharpest, erotically charged, and audaciously funny writing talents of contemporary literature...Gaitskill delivers powerful stories of dislocation, longing, and desire that depict a disenchanted and rebellious urban fringe generation groping for human connection."