Books

I shamefully admit to have not been reading much lately...

2666
The highly praised final work of Roberto Bolaño. It’s an engrossing, slow burn of a read, that I was drawn into, but somehow got sidetracked. Divided into four parts, I only reached the middle of the third section which chronicles the grisly deaths of young girls. I think that’s what did me in. I was reading the book in the evenings before bed and this section really fucked with my head to the point where I couldn’t sleep and had to stop reading. I need and want to finish the book, which I’ll try to undertake next week.

Naked
I’ve been in dire need of catching up on the genius of David Sedaris so started with this one. How can he so masterfully portray his life of quirky, dysfunctional behavior in such an entertaining, humorous way? I feel that if I undertook this, I’d just come off as sad and disturbing.

The Fountainhead
Another in the long line of books that I just inexplicably missed out on in my past. This book was actually the perfect thing for me to read when recently laid off. The exploits of an artistic genius who unflinchingly faces obstacles and adversaries, and comes out triumphant with his soul and integrity intact definitely inspires a person like me. I’ve fought several artistic battles in previous jobs and have always suffered with the mediocre compromised “solutions” so can cheer on a character like Rourke, even though he’s an obviously idealized image of man. As romantic as the story is, I have to wonder how successful his approach would be in the real world. This book merits multiple readings, especially at times of waivering on my beliefs and goals.