What I’ve Been Reading - The Best of 2008

December 31, 2008


Did I even read 10 books total this year?

(Barely.)

As always, this spans from December 2007 through November 2008.

Fun HomeAlison Bechdel – Fun Home (2006)
Reviewed January 2008

This year’s graphic novel inclusion has a lot of ground to make up in order to be considered in the same league as last year’s Jimmy Corrigan, but Fun House was a legitimately good story – touching and raw and real. Best of all, it was the perfect tonic for a few breathless months of low reading output. (In other words, I should probably grab a graphic novel with my Christmas money to knock me out of these doldrums.)

HeatBill Buford – Heat (2006)
Reviewed November 2008

What began as curiosity after reading Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential turned into all out longing with Heat. I was a fan of cooking, but now I feel like I’m ready to become a critic – a paid columnist for Top Chef Times or a program director for Food Network. I mean, if either of those positions actually existed.

DeadwoodPete Dexter – Deadwood (1986)
Reviewed November 2008

Pete Dexter is the only repeat author from last year’s list, and there’s a good chance that next year could make it a three-peat. (Admittedly, the book I have wanted to read the past two years – Dexter’s Paris Trout, his award winning and most critically renowned book – has always been curiously absent from the sales tables at the South Dakota Festival of Books. Probably chance more than blacklisting – I always end up buying my books too late.)

The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007Dave Eggers (editor) – The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 (2007)
Reviewed January 2008

I bought this because Conan O’Brien had a commencement speech included. It directed me to Fun House (an excerpt was also included) and led me to strike into the world of essays and short stories again (though only for a few weeks).

Free Darko Presents…Free Darko – The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today’s Game (2008)
Reviewed November 2008

I heart basketball, and I heart this book. It’s a brilliant combination of design and quality writing: one of those books that you’re proud to have read and proud to have displayed. Seriously. If you’re a basketball fan and you haven’t picked this up, you’re a moron, and you should have your NBA Season Ticket privileges revoked.

Fortress of SolitudeJonathan Lethem – Fortress of Solitude (2003)
Reviewed December 2007

I had forgotten all about this book until I went back through the books I’ve read. And that’s a shame, because this might qualify as the best novel I read all year. Now, I can’t hear about the gentrification of Brooklyn – or about music criticism – without thinking of this novel. I’d read it again if I wasn’t so far behind already.

The Wind-Up Bird ChronicleHaruki Murakami – The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1992)
Reviewed September/October 2008

Murakami was on my list of “Essentials,” back when I was paying attention to that sort of thing (so was the next book, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried) and I feel like I really accomplished something by finally reading it. And I say “finally” in two senses – it took me a while to pick it up, and once I did it took me two months to finish it.

The Things They CarriedTim O’Brien – The Things They Carried (1990)
Reviewed April 2008

I’m always surprised at how powerful Vietnam stories can be, no matter how many times it seems like I’ve read the same recount. O’Brien adds something different, however: the recollection of someone who may not be proud of what happened, of the ghosts still hanging over his head and of the difficulties in revealing the stories that he would just as soon forget. It’s the aftermath of war, the humanness of suffering and the agony of secrets, all rolled into one.

1 Dead in AtticChris Rose – 1 Dead in Attic (2007)
Reviewed May 2008

Speaking of suffering, if 1 Dead in Attic doesn’t get your blood boiling about the botched rescue efforts following Hurricane Katrina, or about the inhumane living conditions, or about the massive loss – of both life and livelihood – than I don’t know if you’re human. It’s even more striking knowing that, for me, New Orleans represents one of the happiest moments of my life – our honeymoon – and that in the very places these people continue to suffer lies a small section of my happiness.

And that’s it. Nine. Not ten (plus a handful of honorable mentions) like years past. Just nine.

No Michael Chabon (I found The Yiddish Policemen’s Union to be kind of a drag with a lame-o ending, though I’m excited to see the Coen Brothers treatment). No Special Topics in Calamity Physics (too cute, Marisha) or Divided Kingdom (too forgettable). I didn’t add my McSweeney’s Quarterly Concerns because none of them really stood out.

The problem is that any of those books could have taken the 10th spot, but none of them deserved it. In a year with a higher reading output, I doubt any would make it further than the Honorable Mention, if even. Given more choices, they’d have been pushed down.

It was a down year in terms of reading. But the books I enjoyed, I really enjoyed.

Quality over quantity, right? Have I said that before?

(Yes.)

Tags: Books, Literature, What I've Been Reading, Writers |

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BMOWP’s Top 10 Albums of 2008, kind of

December 30, 2008


New music, to me, is a foreign concept. Being outside of the music release scene, I rarely grasp onto new music during the year it’s released. Instead, I discover and rediscover music only after I’m unable to forget it. After three singles have washed through the Sirius XMU cycle, or after a book reminds me of its relevance.

Which makes a “top 10 albums of 2008” list a little difficult.

What I’ve done in the past with my end of the year reading lists (coming tomorrow!) is review my year in listening. I dive into the entire catalog, bringing up new favorites, discovering forgotten gems, finally getting around to listening to something I picked up last years. My favorite books of 2008 weren’t actually published in 2008, for the most part, and my favorite music follows that same

Which is to say, in an off-handed way, that years do nothing for me. I understand the value of a top albums of 2008 list, but that’s not how I listen to music; year by year, with a conscious knowledge of when an album came out. Instead, I know of three types of music: music I just got, music I’ve had for a while, and music from a long time ago.

With that said, my top 10 albums of 2008 are all over the place, from all sorts of years, and they prove two things:

1. The nature of shuffling an iPod. It brings back old favorites, and, like my personal tastes, it knows no time frame. One song on shuffle might lead me to finding the entire album, listening to it several times and, without fail, wondering how I had ever forgotten about it.

2. My lag in discovering new music. Regardless of how religiously I read Largehearted Boy or Paste, I am desperately behind on discovering new music. Chances are, if a great album came out in 2007, I’m just finding out about it now. Or, more importantly, just caring about it. (Not always the case, but indeed common.)

Those albums:

Band of Horses – Cease to Begin (2007)
As is the case with a good majority of the albums on this list, Band of Horses forced me into submission after numerous plays on Sirius XMU. Something about the guy’s voice reminds me of Doug Martsch’s dreamy alto stylings, and the reverb sends me back to last year’s awesome Neon Bible. I had always loved “Is There A Ghost,” but it wasn’t until I heard the entire album (twice) at Michelle’s in downtown Sioux Falls that I made it my own.

Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (1989)
Pixies – Doolittle (1989)
Through research for a book proposal for Continuum’s 33 1/3 book series, I picked up four of the series’s most interesting selections. Before reading each book, I went back and lightened to the album again and – lo and behold – found myself completely re-in-love with both Paul’s Boutique and Doolittle. They’re brilliant albums, and the insight gleaned from the books make both albums even better, creating a nagging longing for a re-do back in 1989: as I was listening to Def Leppard and Poison, this ridiculously great underground (and not so underground) music was being released. I missed out.

Ween – Chocolate and Cheese (1994)
And, in listing the two albums most affected by 33 1/3 research, I’d be remiss in leaving out the actual 33 1/3 research subject – Chocolate and Cheese, Ween’s most sprawling and brilliant album (though, for the record, not my favorite – The Mollusk, thanks.) To say that this research got me back into music would be an understatement. I’ve re-learned more about music writing – and about music itself – over the past two months to qualify for reintroduction into the scene.

(Just kidding. I went to a show the other night and felt more out of place than ever.)

Beck – Guero (2005)
I’ve gone back to Guero a few times, but this time it’s for keeps. Better than Odelay, more fun than Modern Guilt and more accessible than Sea Change. It’s the perfect Beck album because it’s totally awesome.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
Okervill River – The Stand-Ins (2008)
I guess I’m showing my indie rock love by putting these two albums on the list, and one might think I’m doing so in order to claim whatever small piece of relevancy is left in the Best of 2008 market. But I really like both of these albums for their killer songwriting – Bon Iver writes from the insides of an abandoned whale, and Okervill River is as meta as you can get – songwriting about songwriting, I guess.

Girl Talk – Feed the Animals (2008)
Me likey mashups * giggle *

Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007)
“The Underdog” is song of the year for me – both because I love it and because iTunes refuses to make a Genius play list without it.

They Might Be Giants – Flood/Apollo 18 (1990/1992)
It’s not cheating if I give each album only ½ of a place on the list, right? I went through this nostalgic 1990s alternative kick this past summer, led by the geekitude that is They Might be Giants. They’re irrelevant and silly and not something an adult should listen to, but Sierra loves them and, I guess, so do I.

Tags: Music, The Top... |

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A meaningful game, for once

December 28, 2008


The Miami Dolphins haven’t had a winning season since 2005. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2001.

Last season, I rooted for them to lose. I stayed mum about their only win. I watched Minnesota Vikings games because they wouldn’t show Dolphins games. Which is okay, because I’d probably have watched Minnesota Vikings games anyway. The Dolphins were that bad.

I came into this season without a peep, uncharacteristically, figuring they were already sunk. After all, they entered the season with someone else’s discarded quarterback, with the same team that won only one game the year before only without the Pro Bowl players they had depended on for so long.

I felt no need to write about them. Despite my blind loyalty to the team, I had nothing to say. Nothing to say that hadn’t been said before, that is.

They began the season 2-4. The NBA season was ready to strike up the band. And so my attention waned.

But they won against a hot (at the time) Buffalo team.

And they won again.

And again.

Going 8-1 over the next nine games, they found themselves back in the playoff race. Not just the playoff race, but the division race, holding tiebreakers over the hated Patriots and needing just a win against the hated Jets – the team that handed the Dolphins their first loss in the first game of the season, at home, in Miami.

It was Brett Favre’s first game in Jets Green. It was Chad Pennington’s first game against his former team. And now, the two quarterbacks meet again, their fortunes reversed, the Dolphins riding a wave of success while the Jets have watched their division lead boil away to nothing.

To this game. To this win.

It’s on television, which means this is the first Dolphins game I get to watch. It’s the first meaningful game since 2001, which means there’s something to play for.

It’s a chance for the playoffs, which means it’s the first time I’ve been able to sit down, shield my eyes, and hope for the best since Dan Marino was throwing the ball.

It’s kickoff. And I’ve got a game to watch.

Tags: Football, Miami Dolphins, Sports |

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Merry Christmas, everyone

December 25, 2008


The gifts have been opened, their paper thrashed and bows left abandoned.

The basketball games have begun. The fudge has nearly disappeared. The food is starting to wind its way into our minds and Sierra is finally taking a nap.

We’re happy to have our family together, and we’re happy to have the house picked up.

Most of all, we’re happy it’s Christmas - we’re happy to have this excuse to simply be together. An excuse we don’t need, but gladly accept.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Don’t shoot your eye out.

Tags: Friends, Vilhauer |

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Four slashed tires and 24 hours of doubt

December 23, 2008


I awoke this morning to four flat tires.

Four slashed tires.

Four cut tires, with no motive, no reason. No malice intended, no perceived slights. Nothing to suggest that it was deserved.

Just four meaningless tires, rendered useless.

It bothers me. A lot.

It isn’t the damage that throws my mind in circles – we have insurance, and they’re just tires. It’s the action – the willful destruction. Both of the tires and of my time.

Was it something we did?

I spend a lot of time taking stock of how others perceive me, constantly readjusting my speech and actions in order to keep clear of my natural ability to be overbearing and pompous. At times, I find myself lapsing into an elitist, sarcastic monster, my ego rising above accepted norms and spilling around me, splashing vitriol onto those close to me, a weak side developed through years of defending my geekitude and fighting for acceptance.

It’s this monster that gets the best of me, that can make me an unsavory person to be around. It’s the Corey that grouses about perceived slights, that fights for completism, for an expert status that says “I’m the best.” It’s pure ego, and I often hate it.

So when seemingly random attacks – like the slashing of our tires – occur, they send my mind into overdrive. I think back at who I could have pissed off, apologizing to myself and to my past. When I can’t think of anything, everything goes haywire. Who am I forgetting? Why did this happen?

I search for meaning in actions that have no meaning.

And with all of this in mind, it makes me even more perplexed to the idea that it was done by random – that the destruction of personal property and the stealing of precious time and, in some cases, personal dignity is justified by a wonton recklessness – that smashing that pumpkin, that kicking over that plant, that causing any kind of grief is really worth the heavy conscience or the danger of being caught.

It’s that – the thrill of destruction and pain – that I’ll never get.

I’ve been asked, jokingly, whether I had any enemies who could have done this.

What makes me more frustrated is that, in the case of enemies, I’d be accepting it. I’d be angry. But I wouldn’t be hurt. I’d know that I probably deserved it – could pin point a culprit and assign blame.

But this is frustrating. It’s random. It’s not meant as a question of my character, or of my hidden demons. It’s thoughtless and meaningless. And that’s what gnaws at me.

That it could have been anyone, and instead it was us.

Tags: Annoyances, On..., Sioux Falls, Vilhauer |

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Cold amnesia

December 22, 2008


They say that when a woman goes through labor, part of her mind acts in a state of amnesia, working as hard as it can to both process the experience and, at the same time, forget it entirely.

It’s mechanism for both coping and surviving. The pain can be so intense that it’s all you focus on, and if that focus stuck with a person for years, they would be hard pressed to agree to pregnancy a second time. The population would lower, survival of the fittest, etc.

If someone told me that the human body dealt with extreme cold in the same way, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Sitting here today, after experiencing a solid week of below freezing weather, I can vividly recollect what it feels like to be warm. I can imagine the heat bearing down from a 95-degree sun, what the sweat feels like as it drips off of my forehead and how hot grass and warm soil smell.

But six months ago, in the blazing heat of summer, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about being cold. I had completely forgotten the feeling of helplessness as a 30 mph wind cuts through your winter coat, hardening your muscles and whisking the breath from your lungs. I couldn’t remember how my hands cracked from the dry air, how my nose hairs froze, how every trip from house to car caused my eyes to well up with tears that found themselves dangerously close to freezing into salt-encrusted icicles.

Even from day to day, I forget. I leave the house without a stocking cap, forgetting the number each blast of wind did to my ears. I head outside to blow snow, ill-equipped, with gloves that have nearly worn through and no scarf.

I know better. Yet, I don’t.

I am eternally thankful for my home. For warm clothes. For having a reliable vehicle and for the first few cups of coffee every morning.

But I know in a few months, when the snow has puddled up and the grass is starting to show signs of life, I’ll have forgotten it all again.

Amnesia from the cold, I guess.

Tags: Sioux Falls |

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Lessons from french fries

December 19, 2008


Today, while helping Kerrie eat an “anything but routine” McDonald’s dinner, Sierra grasped a french fry with a clenched fist, routinely dipped it in ketchup and shoved it in her mouth.

I thought nothing of it. That is, until Kerrie pointed it out.

“She just dipped her french fry in ketchup,” Kerrie said.

“Where did she learn that?”

For a while, we were probably a little too crazy about what we allowed Sierra to eat. No hot dogs. No pop tarts. Especially no french fries. We’ve since slacked off a bit (still no pop tarts, though – that’s sugar for breakfast, and even I know better) but we don’t actively feed her anything we wouldn’t feed ourselves.

However, here she was. Grasping and dunking. The surprise wasn’t the act itself, but the offhanded nature of it – as if it was simply natural, that she’d been doing it for years.

And it hit us.

She’s learning without us.

There are a lot of things Sierra learns. Every day, she picks up new habits – thing she sees from other kids, things we do without thinking, our bad and good and forgettable (and regrettable).

Regardless of what we try to keep her from – the habits we’d hope she could stay away from until she’s old enough to know the consequences – we are slowly coming to the realization that she’s going to learn things without our guidance.

That she’s going to be exposed to things we might not want her exposed to.

That, eventually, she’s not going to simply surprise us with French fries, but with something more serious, with the things that scare us – the nightmares every parent has. As much as she depends on us, she’s an independent person with an independent train of thought that soaks up as much influence as it can muster, filtering only based on need and desire, with little recognition of the ramifications that could occur.

She’s going to be exposed.

And the question becomes, do we worry about it every second of the day – worry about whether our little girl is being exposed to the right things, and over-analyze every moment of her day – or do we take one thing at a time, realizing that, ultimately, she’s going to grow stronger from each experience?

Do we cling for dear life? Or do we let her stumble on her own?

Tags: On..., Sierra |

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