Note.
For my “Best of…” series, it should be said that the lists are simply NOT the best overall in each category [comics, movies, tv, books or music] but the best things I read, watched or listened to in the designated year.
Just so we’re clear.
I’ve read a ton of books this year and way too many uninteresting ones for grad school. I’ve read Terry Eagleton’s Ideology, Persuasion by Jane Austen, The Godfather, Exit Strategy by Douglas Rushkoff, Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois, The Disinherited by Jack Conroy, No-No Boy by John Okada, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko, and virtually all the complete works of William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and various other women poets. Its been a tough year for reading for me, and I was afraid of this, that it would become a chore more than a pleasure and that’s when reading is no longer fun. So, I shook up the required reading with David Benioff’ City of Thieves, and upon his death, dived head first into the David Foster Wallace pool.
A lot of the stuff from this semester was utterly forgettable and/or arcane to the point of boredom. Which is probably one of the reasons why I think I’m going to dump this program at Brooklyn College, because when I think about it I want to get my masters degree in something that will actually improve skills that I already have. And discussing the meaning of Proletariat Literature is not something I consider will advance me as a person. In the end, I want to get something more than just a sheet of paper, which I fear is the only thing Brooklyn College can provide.
However, this semester wasn’t a total loss. I had a fucking brilliant class in Literature and Society where we read notable things not Great Depression non-fiction and Romantic (aka Vapid) literature. We read books that have modern cultural meaning and commented on modern society in the form of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition and Douglas Rushkoff’s Exit Strategy. I’m actually ashamed of myself for not reading The Godfather, but Pattern Recognition I bought last year, started it and then walked away from it. I’ve seen Rushkoff speak on a number of occasions, and he’s a fascinating as shit guy so I knew his book wouldn’t disappoint.
However, Gibson fucking hooked me, line and sinker. And I fully intend on using my $50 Borders Gift Card to pick up a bunch of his stuff. Pattern Recognition is easily one of the most forward-thinking novels I’ve ever read. Gibson is carefully precise with his writing. He has an almost Philip K. Dick science fiction mentality mixed with James Ellroy-like prose. If that style doesn’t make you want you want to read him, then the story behind this novel will.
Cayce Pollard is a new kind of prophet-a world renowned ‘coolhunter’ who predicts the hottest trends. While in London to evaluate the re-design of a famous corporate logo, she’s offered a different assignment: find the creator of the obscure, enigmatic video clips being uploaded to the Internet…still haunted by the memory of her missing father-a Cold War security guru who disappeared in downtown Manhattan on the morning of September 11, 2001-Cayce is soon traveling through parallel universes of marketing, globalization, and terror, heading always for the still point where the three converge. From London to Tokyo to Moscow, she follows the implications as disturbing-and compelling-as the twenty-first century promises to be…
Framed as a thriller, this book is a commentary on the current Twenty-First century mentality of paranoia, internet usage and conspiracy. It is so smartly written, that this book has quickly climbed to being one of the two books that I would most likely recommend as the highest form of modern writing. This book and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay are now one and two on books I most recommend.
After Gibson, at the tail end of this year, I’ve been devouring everything David Foster Wallace has written. When he died, I read all of the articles on him and read some that were posted online. I previously read “The View from Mrs. Thompson’s,” in Rolling Stone when it came out, because I was a subscriber in college, and was incredibly moved by it and some other bits of writing of his. The one that most impacted me was that commencement speech that everyone seems to know from Kenyon College’s graduation ceremonies in 2005. So, after his death there was an upswing of people reading his stuff and I was one of those people, which I’m ashamed of. One of the things I most appreciate about being a Hunter S. Thompson fan was I read him when he was still alive and still putting out work. Now that he’s gone I feel his loss more personally because I so appreciated his writing during a formative period of my life. I mean: I couldn’t stop thinking to myself throughout this election period what the Good Doctor would have written about. I’m sure I’m one of hundreds of thousands of people who thought the same thing so forgive me for being un-original but its something I do best.
So, when Wallace died and I read the articles and more things. Read his profile on David Lynch, and the Adult Film industry and decided to dive head first into his masterpiece, Infinite Jest. What I came away with, and why I’m saying I feel ashamed, is his honesty which just comes through with every word he writes. And I think that’s why I’m writing it as if I’m ashamed-it has gotten me to be more honest with things I observe about my own nature as a human being. Which I feel like is Wallace’s legacy.
But the thing that I am so impacted by his writing is specifically his honest nature that comes through, but also his ability to just write about life in a clear way. He just fucking gets it in ways that others do not. Frankly, David Sedaris, Chuck Klosterman and the rest owe him their careers.
