Quote of the Week

"Take something you love, tell people about it, bring together people who share your love, and help make it better. Ultimately, you'll have more of whatever you love for yourself and the world."

-DC Comics editor, the late Julius Schwartz

Schwartz almost singlehadedly ushered in the Silver Age of comics at DC where he oversaw the late '50's/early 60's revitalization of such iconic titles as Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, The Atom and Adam Strange. It's a pretty good philosophy for any line of work.


Happy New Year, fellow Readers!

J.D. Salinger

Noted recluse and occasional author J.D. Salinger was born on this date in 1919.

He is probably best remembered, as an author, as the man who wrote The Catcher in the Rye. I read it for the first time when I was in college; I bought a nice hardbound retro-esque copy of it 10 years ago but still haven't read it. He went on to write numerous other short stories, many of which focus on the Glass family. I'm looking forward to re-reading Nine Stories this year.

He is probably best remembered, as a person, as the old man most likely to tell you to get the hell off his front lawn.

Salinger died last January. I keep hoping that he wrote more stories that were never published, and that they will one day; I consider that possibility less likely by the day.

Connie Willis

Another favorite author of mine is Connie Willis. Today is her birthday.

She writes mostly science fiction, although I have seen some straight-up historical fiction and a book of holiday stories to her credit. She doesn't shy away from big ideas and the style of her prose makes her works easy to read.

My favorite book by Willis is called Bellwether. It is a science fiction story in the sense that the protagonist - Dr. Sandra Foster - is a scientist who studies fads. Everyone who comes into contact with her seems to be a bit loopy, as she looks for solutions to her personal and professional problems. That's a long way from the laser beams and forehead aliens most people associate with sci fi. It has more in common with 30 Rock than Star Wars.

"Schwartzchild Radius," "The Last of the Winnebagos," "A Letter from the Clearies" and "And Come from Miles Around" are all pretty great. Her short story "At the Rialto" is the perfect blend of story (a PhD finds herself unable to get a room for an academic conference) and subject matter (the instability inherent in the rules of particle physics).

I've read a lot by Willis - mostly the short stories, and Bellwether. The Doomsday Book is what I'd like to read next, but most of her works are on the shelf waiting.

Happy Birthday!

The State I'm In

Today is Brian's birthday. He is the creator of The State I'm In blog, as well as a frequent commenter at the Reader.

Truth be told, he's one of the the oldest friends I have, having first met him in the early 1980's when we attended the same grade school. He had recently obtained the Pac Man game cartridge for the Atari 2600, and I was lying about having recently obtained the Pac Man game cartridge for the Atari 2600. And a friendship was born.

Keeping with the writer's theme, he is today a successful playwright and dramatist in his own right.

Stop by his web page and say hello, won't you?

Best Reads of 2010

Welcome to my Best Reads of 2010 entry.

Most people do a top 10 list; mine is only a top 5. "Why?" you ask. Well, for years I have kept a journal of everything I read. Unfortunately, my journal went into storage inadvertantly in about September 2009. I failed to keep track of my reads in any other journal, and work was busy until mid-May. So there was a lot of lost data. Also, to be fair, if I fleshed it out to 10, half of them would be Philip K. Dick books, and I've written enough about him already (and I'm sure I will write more!)

To shorten up an already too-long story, I could do a top 10, but it would be composed of basically everything of book-length I read this year. So I'm only doing a top 5 this year.

Without further delay:

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba - This is the true story of a young boy from Malawi. Too poor to afford basic schooling, he taught himself the science necessary to build his family a windmill. (Out of scavanged parts and a bicycle generator, no less.) With the windmill, he brought electricity to his central African home, and helped keep excess water out of his father's fields. It is a little slow at first, but it really picks up about Chapter 9. This story is a heartwarming tale of the triumph of the human spirit.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Crime fiction of the highest order, this book by the late Larsson is a pageturner of the best kind.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - If I had to classify this one, I suppose it would be cyber science fiction. It is about 14 years old, but has aged really well. (Mostly. It's take on the internet is ambitious for its time, but does manage to resemble the online world of Half Life, World of Warcraft, etc.) This book takes place 20 minutes into the future - again, my favorite kind of sci fi - and it is a really insightful take on the power of language. It's also a real pageturner. A+. (PS - I love my Cosa Nostra Pizza t-shirt.)

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein - First, forget the Paul Verhoven movie. Absolute crap. The book gets a bad rap in some quarters as a fascist, pro-military jingoistic orgy. I suppose. I liked it though, and thought it was very well written, and well thought-out. You may not agree with his politics (and I probably don't) but you can't say it isn't philisophically consistent. I wish he had written ten books like this.

1984 by George Orwell - easily my favorite book. You can read why here.

Honorable Mention:
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson

Currently Reading: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

After considering a whole shelf of possible next reads, I decided to take some of my hard-earned Christmas cash (I didn't earn it! That's the joke!) and buy Charles Yu's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe.

I've read the first six chapters, and am not disappointed thus far. It does appear to be mind-bending fiction, which is of course, my favorite kind.

Sarah Vowell

Happy birthday to Sarah Vowell, author of The Wordy Shipmates and a favorite here at the Reader!

A favorite quote: "Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know."
Sarah Vowell
The Partly Cloudy Patriot