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What Have I Been Reading? (2019 batch #6)
Aug. 13th, 2019 08:31 pmPositively Izzy by Terri Libenson - A middle-school drama graphic novel with alternating chapters about Bri and Izzy, whose stories seem to interweave around a talent show. (With similar themes about retaining friends and finding your place during middle school.) There’s a cute twist at the end regarding the relationship between the two girls.
Paradox Bound by Peter Clines - While this didn’t drag me in the way The Fold did, it still had a number of very intriguing ideas. It’s got a very soft sci-fi feel which combines a limited sort of time travel with road-tripping across America. While the ending got a bit timey-whimy (there’s a “before” and “after” to a place where everything explicitly happens simultaneously) it ended up fitting together nicely. Also, there’s a good explanation to why the hero is special and why the villains recruit a specific foil for him.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks - This was actually much more academic than I expected—for some reason, I thought it was more pop-sci. He constantly refers to earlier work by Hughlings Jackson, who I’m sure is very smart, but is most certainly not Hugh Jackman, who my brain substituted EVERY SINGLE TIME. I was less enthused by the philosophical digressions and debates about the nature of the soul relative to the brain, but the general (if outdated) look at what damaged human brains can do is fascinating and terrifying.
The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out by William Dameron - A gay man tells his life story, centering around his coming out and subsequent divorce, framed by the discovery that his photo was a particularly popular one for online catfishing. The chapters are emotionally episodic—as in most true stories, the various players often receive one-dimensional treatment according to that piece of the story, without any through-line. I would really have been interested to read his ex-wife’s account of these events, because it’s hard to find a real person in her role as fainting damsel, useless parasite, vicious monster or innocent victim (depending on the chapter).
Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by Robert S. Bader - He’s clearly attempting to be definitive and did a lot of in-depth research. He’s very dismissive of several other biographies that didn’t do any research beyond trying to tie together stories the Marxes themselves told over the years. (And the Marx brothers never let the truth get in the way of a funny story.) It’s interesting how little I knew of the actual chronology of events, despite having been a fan since I was very small and having read two of Groucho’s books previously. Of specific interest to fans, of course, but also an interesting read for anyone interested in the last decade of vaudeville and the advent of talkies.
Go Phish by Dave Thompson - A history of the band, written in the late 90s. (Which I found particularly amusing in that I was introduced to them in 1999 by my freshman year college roommate.) It gets a bit into the weeds of specific concerts and setlists to pad out the page count, but also has a decent collection of anecdotes gleaned from various fans and interviews. I suspect an actual Phish Head would find it unsophisticated and sensationalist (the writer is a music reporter by trade, not an archivist or a Phan), but I found it entertaining.
The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman - I had managed to miss this when it first came out, but I corrected that error. It’s nominally a prequel to the original story, but is clearly intended to be read afterwards and feels more like a “visiting old friends” than a particular revelation in storytelling. (Though I suppose it ties up a few loose ends from the original series.) And now I want to dig out the original series and re-read that.
Paradox Bound by Peter Clines - While this didn’t drag me in the way The Fold did, it still had a number of very intriguing ideas. It’s got a very soft sci-fi feel which combines a limited sort of time travel with road-tripping across America. While the ending got a bit timey-whimy (there’s a “before” and “after” to a place where everything explicitly happens simultaneously) it ended up fitting together nicely. Also, there’s a good explanation to why the hero is special and why the villains recruit a specific foil for him.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks - This was actually much more academic than I expected—for some reason, I thought it was more pop-sci. He constantly refers to earlier work by Hughlings Jackson, who I’m sure is very smart, but is most certainly not Hugh Jackman, who my brain substituted EVERY SINGLE TIME. I was less enthused by the philosophical digressions and debates about the nature of the soul relative to the brain, but the general (if outdated) look at what damaged human brains can do is fascinating and terrifying.
The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out by William Dameron - A gay man tells his life story, centering around his coming out and subsequent divorce, framed by the discovery that his photo was a particularly popular one for online catfishing. The chapters are emotionally episodic—as in most true stories, the various players often receive one-dimensional treatment according to that piece of the story, without any through-line. I would really have been interested to read his ex-wife’s account of these events, because it’s hard to find a real person in her role as fainting damsel, useless parasite, vicious monster or innocent victim (depending on the chapter).
Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by Robert S. Bader - He’s clearly attempting to be definitive and did a lot of in-depth research. He’s very dismissive of several other biographies that didn’t do any research beyond trying to tie together stories the Marxes themselves told over the years. (And the Marx brothers never let the truth get in the way of a funny story.) It’s interesting how little I knew of the actual chronology of events, despite having been a fan since I was very small and having read two of Groucho’s books previously. Of specific interest to fans, of course, but also an interesting read for anyone interested in the last decade of vaudeville and the advent of talkies.
Go Phish by Dave Thompson - A history of the band, written in the late 90s. (Which I found particularly amusing in that I was introduced to them in 1999 by my freshman year college roommate.) It gets a bit into the weeds of specific concerts and setlists to pad out the page count, but also has a decent collection of anecdotes gleaned from various fans and interviews. I suspect an actual Phish Head would find it unsophisticated and sensationalist (the writer is a music reporter by trade, not an archivist or a Phan), but I found it entertaining.
The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman - I had managed to miss this when it first came out, but I corrected that error. It’s nominally a prequel to the original story, but is clearly intended to be read afterwards and feels more like a “visiting old friends” than a particular revelation in storytelling. (Though I suppose it ties up a few loose ends from the original series.) And now I want to dig out the original series and re-read that.
