What is Your Title?

I'm a little over halfway through Native Son right now, and it's fantastic. Right now, it would be in my top five books from the list. But while I've been reading it, I keep finding myself thinking back to my last book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. What I keep thinking back to though, is on line I read, on the 160th of 193 pages; specifically, the line "They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God."

Whenever I read the title of a book, in the book, I can't help but think of the "Family Guy" episode where Peter says he "usually only gets this excited when they say the title of the movie, in the movie." We then see Peter watching "Clear and Present Danger," "As Good as it Gets," and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace." I must admit it does excite me in some small way as well.

Reading the title of the book in the book this time, started me thinking of what other books from the list have had this happen. However, unlike references to other books on the list, I haven't been keeping track of every instance, so I'm forced to go by memory.

#25 - "Herzog" by Saul Bellow

So I finally finished my 25th book and I'm now a quarter of the way through the list.  Herzog took me a little longer to read then planned, but I'll blame that on the Christmas season, which has not only occupied my reading time, but obviously also my blogging time, as I haven't written anything since the 4th of December.  However, I was able to get some reading done over the Christmas weekend, relaxing in B.C.  As I already mentioned, I finished Herzog, but I was also able to read Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion on Christmas Day (that's right, old molasses read an entire book in a single day...).  So actually, I've already read 26 books, and am fifty pages into the 27th.  But I digress, back to number twenty-five.

Moses E. Herzog is forty-seven and a father of two, who is newly divorced (again), unemployed, more or less homeless, and unsure of where life is taking him.  Or rather where he's going to take his life.  He spends his time writing letters, usually to people he doesn't know, to complain about things they may have said or written, but really he's writing the to merely pass the time and vent his frustrations.  But despite so many things in his life spiraling downward, he remains oddly upbeat through everything he faces.

When I first picked this book up from the library, I had a feeling, for unknown reasons, I would enjoy it.  There wasn't anything exciting on the cover to make me think one way or another.  Nor, did I know anything about the story or the author.  But none the less, it was an instinct I had.  Now that I've read it, I'm not sure what I think.  At times I found it funny, other times suspenseful.  Some parts were interesting, others were, a little on the dull side.  There were times I simply became disinterested in the plot.  Because of the ups and downs of the story, it ended up being the characters that held my interest in the book, and ultimately, were what I enjoyed the most.  Herzog himself is a likeable man, who it would be difficult for somebody not to like (his two ex-wives notwithstanding.)  His most recent wife, Madelaine, who serves as the book's antagonist, is an annoying, yet intriguing character brought to life, like all the others, with Bellow's wonderful descriptions and excellent dialogue.  I found myself simply enjoying reading the exchanges between the characters more than the pesky plot.

I'm curious as to what the reaction would be to a book like Herzog, if it were released today.  In 1964, many of Herzog's situations were probably a little edgier than they are today.  Having two ex-wives, children from different women, career changes, or sleeping with a woman out of wedlock, are no longer even remotely taboo.  In fact, I'd argue they're more the norm than the exception.  With so many of Herzog's 'predicaments' being so common place, I wonder if this book would have even close to the same impact today that it had so many years ago.  Of course having said that, good writing is good writing, regardless of the era.  Good books stand the test of time because they are well written and because ultimately, they have good stories, even if some of the background are a little old fashioned.




You can read the original TIME magazine review from September 24, 1964 right here.


My next book will be--sorry, my next book was Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion.  I'll post my review tomorrow.



Notes:  I returned yet another book I had borrowed from the library, but never read, Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon.  I first took it out almost three months ago and have been subconsciously avoiding it ever since.  Last week, after having already renewed it four times, I was forced to return it.  I believe that's the library's way of making sure I haven't lost or destroyed it.

#24 - "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac

My 24th book from The List was Jack Kerouac's On the Road, which I actually finished almost two weeks ago, but whilst on the road myself, did not have the time to write a review.  Without further ado, here it is.

Despite knowing Jack Kerouac to be one of the prominent beat writers of that generation, I didn't know what this novel would be.  I didn't know if this would be to beatniks what Naked Lunch was supposed to be to drug addicts, or if this would be a great story of a road trip, like The Sun Also Rises set in middle America in the late 40's.  As I began reading, it seemed to be pointing at the former, but slowly the pieces came together, creating a story for sure, but really creating a cast of characters who were not easily forgotten..

Almost autobiographical, Kerouac is represented by Sal Paradise, recent college graduate and budding author, who lacks any kind of direction or purpose, but wants to find himself, on the road.  He's accompanied by his hero, Dean Moriarty, son of a wino, who has evenly divided his time between pool halls and prison, but who greets every person and event with more enthusiasm than most can ever muster.  The two, often accompanied by series of secondary characters, take a series of adventures across the country; finding odd jobs, shacking up with strange women, and 'living life.'

At the time it was first published, Kerouac was seen as the voice of a new generation; the Hemingway or Fitzgerald of post-war America.  On the Road looked at America in a way many previous works didn't or wouldn't.  It's reception was often frosty from mainstream media, one reviewer describing it as a 'barberic yawp of a book'.  But it did indicate that his new generation wasn't silent either, and that while classic writers might not be voicing their experiences, new writers were.

Today, the sex, the drugs, and the carefree attitude aren't as cutting edge as they were in 1957, but it's story of friendship and adventure are as relevant today as ever, if not more so.  What seemed like a foolish journey then, travelling across the country for the sake of travelling, today is seen as something everybody should do in their formative, post-college days; almost a right of passage.

I found myself getting more and more involved with the characters and their adventures the more I read.  I found myself identifying with their problems, being it their longing for some direction in life, or their fear of facing the consequences of their misadventures.  As the years passed, they slowly recognized the need to settle down and take responsibility for their actions.  They recognized that eventually one has to 'grow up'.  Of course it isn't easy to come to this conclusion, but eventually everybody has to, no matter how reluctant they may be.

You can read TIME's original review from September 16, 1957 here.

I've started book number twenty-five, Herzog by Saul Bellow, and when finished will have reached the quarter pole of my journey to one hundred.

But then renew I could not, like the moon;

I'm heading out of town tomorrow, to spend a week in New York and Philadelphia watching hockey.  In my preparation, I'm first off, trying to finish On the Road, which I should be able to do today as I only have about fifty pages left.  Secondly, I've been making sure I don't have any overdue books out and that everything is renewed until I get back.

When I went online to do this, I discovered Gone with the Wind has a hold on it, and therefore cannot be renewed.  That's okay, as I didn't plan on reading it for at least a month, as it is scheduled to be my 30th entry.  And, since I was heading to the library anyway, I decided to return The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.  As I mentioned in my last post, I'm not going to read two books from by the same author in the same half.  I've already read a Faulkner book, Light in August, and I'm planning to read Herzog, by Bellow, after I've finished On the Road.

I'm taking two books with me (unless I don't finish On the Road, then it'll be three books), while I'm away, as I can usually get quite a bit of reading done on a trip.  I'll start with the above mentioned Herzog and then move to Play it as it Lays after that.  Neither look too daunting, so hopefully I can finish the first and put a good dent in the second before I return to Calgary.  After that, I'm thinking I'll finally tackle Gravity's Rainbow, which I've had on loan from the library since September.

#23 - "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson

With only two days left until the unofficial one year anniversary of my starting this list, it doesn't look like I'm going to reach my goal of 25 books in the first year.  But, I have finished Snow Crash, my 23rd novel.  I've learned a few things, and I'm confident I can read 27 books in the next year, to make up for this year's short comings.

Snow Crash is the first Sci-Fi book from The List I've read, and one of only a couple on The List.  While I enjoy the odd Sci-Fi movie, I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of the books.  For that reason, I was a little nervous going into this one; worried that I'd become disinterested like I did with Neuromancer, and that it would take me forever to read.  I'll be the first to admit it, that wasn't the case, and I actually enjoyed reading this book quite a bit.

The protagonist, or hero, is aptly named Hiro Protagonist (I'm not making that up).  He's a computer hacker who delivers pizza to make ends meet, and is known as the greatest sword fighter in the world.  He spend his time in the Metaverse; a virtual-reality world that people hang out in, socialize on, run businesses, own homes, travel, communicate and learn.  After meeting a young female kourier (there is no post office in the not-too-distant future) named Y.T., they become entangled in a plot to spread a deadly virus known as Snow Crash.  This virus not only disables the computer it's opened on, but also the mind of the person who opens it.  Hiro and Y.T. must find the source of the virus and help destroy it, before it destroys them and their world.


The world they live in, in this not-too-distant future, does contain many of the elements that tend to drive me crazy about Sci-Fi novels.  Why does the future have to be so bleak all the time!?  Why can't it just be like today, with more technology?  But despite the world Hiro and Y.T. live in not having countries (they've been replaced by privately run 'burbclaves') or laws, or seemingly any order, it doesn't come off as bleak as other books I've read or movies I've seen.

While the time period is never specified, I get that feeling that since the book was written in 1992, the story takes place sometime in the early 21st century, or to put it another way, what is currently referred to as "the past."  And it is this I found so interesting about the book.  Many of Stephenson's descriptions are very accurate for his future, our past.

The Metaverse, the virtual-reality world so many spend their time in, isn't much different from the Internet today.  While there isn't any real reference to a similar type of social networking, the Metaverse is a place where people meet from anywhere in the world, not unlike Facebook.  Relationships tend to be less personal, like Facebook, but often more informative, also like Facebook.  One of Hiro's ex-girlfriends hates using the Metaverse for relationships, complaining they "...distort the way people talk to each other, and she wants no such distortion in her relationships."  It fits Facebook and Twitter friendships to a tee if you ask me.

Another program frequently used throughout the book is the Librarian, which I have equated to Wikipedia or even just Google.  The Librarian is simply a computer program in the Metaverse that is there to answer questions.  From anywhere in the world, one can access the Librarian to find out the information they need.  When Hiro needs to learn something about ancient societies or if he needs the blueprints of a famous cargo ship, he heads to the Librarian to find the answer.  Like most answers found on-line, the Librarian's information is merely a compilation of information entered by various different people, from all over the world.  But, unlike Wikipedia, it seems it doesn't need to be taken with a grain of salt.

And perhaps the most similar program Hiro uses to today's actual programs is called 'Earth.'  Basically, it's Google Earth, providing satellite imagery of the entire planet and directions on how to get anywhere from anywhere.  It even provides street views to the more prominent locations and lists businesses and attractions; exactly like the program so many people use everyday now. The only difference between the Metaverse version and the Google version might be that in the Metaverse the images are only a few minutes old, where as on Google Earth they can sometimes be a few years old. (The horrors!)

For all his accurate descriptions of future technologies, there were a few misses.  While everybody in this future records video of nearly everything, they do it on 'videotape.'  And while people in the future listen to music everywhere they go, they still use Walkmans.  Ironically, these were officially discontinued by Sony last week, where I would have thought they had been discontinued ten years ago.  Who has been buying Walkmans the past ten years to warrant their continued production?  Lastly, not really a technological miss, but I found it funny; Hiro describes how it is possible to stop a viral idea, then says, "...as happened with Nazism, bell bottoms and Bart Simpson t-shirts."  I guess Stepheson could never have imagined that a show only two or three years old at the time this book was written, would still be on 18 years later, so I'll cut him a little slack.


When trying to decide what to read next, I picked On the Road by Jack Kerouac.  I currently have 18 books from The List, sitting on my desk; 13 from the library, and two that I own.  As a result, I recently incurred three fines, $0.70 each for On the Road, Gravity's Rainbow and Herzog.  Since I've had these books for over a month, I figured I should start reading one of them instead of going to one of my more recent checkouts.