Max: Must Have Been Something I... Read
It is amazing how effective a good book can be at helping one to get through this thing we call life. I have just torn through four good uns.
Cloud Atlas is one of the oddest (novels? short story collections?) I have read. It starts off in the late 1800's, with the journal of a notary from Frisco. It details his voyages in the South Pacific and the troubles he has with the heathen natives and corrupt crew of the ship he is traveling on. Suddenly, the journal cuts off in mid sentence.
The next thing we know it is the 1920's and we are reading the letters of an aspiring composer and general low life to his friend, a physics student at Oxford. The letters detail how the young composer insinuates himself into the household of an aging, disabled composer and becomes elder composer's student and secretary while secretly ripping him off and having an affair with his wife. What does this have to do with the journals we had just been reading? In the course of looking for things to steal from his employer, the author of the letter comes across and reads the very fragment of the journal that started the book. The letters end almost as jarringly as the journal with just as little closure.
Next it is the 1970's and a young gossip columnist who aspires to being an investigative reporter finds herself stuck in an elevator with an elderly scientist who just happens to be the recipient of the letters that comprised section two. He gives her the tip of a lifetime and she finds herself wrapped up in a concierges to hide the dangerous flaws in a nuclear power plant that is about to come online. Again the story cuts off.
Suddenly it is modern day London and a somewhat shifty owner of a vanity publishing house somehow finds himself the publisher of a massive best seller. Unfortunately, his success makes him the target of some less than non-violent criminals and he finds himself on the run. Just before he hits the road he receives a submission to his publishing house, a mystery adventure about a gossip columnist who aspires to be an investigative reporter and who receives the tip of a lifetime from an elderly scientist in an elevator. Once again the story cuts off.
The scene shifts to a futuristic Korea, ruled by Corpacracy, an absolution oligarchy of corporate leaders. In this society, most of the dangerous and menial tasks fall on the shoulders of vat grown clones who are kept compliant with the help of drugs an religion. One, however suddenly starts to notice how poorly she and her clone brethren are being treated. The next thing she knows, she is whisked off to a university lab. When the graduate student who was supposed be studying her uses her as a servant and a target during a drunken game of William Tell, she is taken away from the lab and is promoted from test subject to student. She soon finds herself mixed up with an abolitionist group who are fighting for clone rights. Once again, the story cuts off, but not before our clone sees a movie about a shifty owner of a vanity publishing house who... Well, you know.
The scene shift to a distant, post-apocalyptic Hawaii. The agrarian society, which just so happens to worship an ancient, Korean clone as a goddess, would almost seem paradise were it not for a warlike tribe determined to make everyone else's life nasty, brutish and short.
This is an odd, but very well written, book. It sucked me in from the start. It was not perfect. The overly stylized language of post-apocalyptic Hawaii took some getting used to, but on the whole it succeeded in taking me for a mind-fuck of a ride.
Next up was Traveling Music, the latest travel narrative from Rush drummer Neil Peart. On the surface, this would seem to be his least adventurous adventure, a quick drive from his home in California to an national park in Texas and back. However, his car's CD player is loaded with some of his favorite music and along the way, we get some fascinating reflection on music and the role it has played in his life. Peart is revoltingly talented. He is one of the greatest drummers in history, he writes some of the best lyrics ever penned and does both for one of the best bands in rock. On top of that, he has hit three home runs, written three top notch travel narratives, allowing us homebound peons to take part in a few of the adventures life has afforded him. Not that I could in any way ever envy the man, not after reading his last book.
Next up was a book that may not be of interest to everyone, Me and My Bass Guitar. It is called a biography, but is really a tribute from a friend to one of the most generous and talented human beings on the planet, Victor Wooten. It was special to me because I got to get a taste of some of that generosity and talent recently. It was interesting to get some insight into someone who has been such a major influence on me.
Finally there was Contents Under Pressure, which dovetailed nicely with the last two. It is a chronicle of Rush, which has been one of my favorite bands for quite some time. This is another that is for fans only. It was interesting to hear what the band thought of their own work and they went over their history album by album, tour by tour.
Read any good books lately?
Cloud Atlas is one of the oddest (novels? short story collections?) I have read. It starts off in the late 1800's, with the journal of a notary from Frisco. It details his voyages in the South Pacific and the troubles he has with the heathen natives and corrupt crew of the ship he is traveling on. Suddenly, the journal cuts off in mid sentence.
The next thing we know it is the 1920's and we are reading the letters of an aspiring composer and general low life to his friend, a physics student at Oxford. The letters detail how the young composer insinuates himself into the household of an aging, disabled composer and becomes elder composer's student and secretary while secretly ripping him off and having an affair with his wife. What does this have to do with the journals we had just been reading? In the course of looking for things to steal from his employer, the author of the letter comes across and reads the very fragment of the journal that started the book. The letters end almost as jarringly as the journal with just as little closure.
Next it is the 1970's and a young gossip columnist who aspires to being an investigative reporter finds herself stuck in an elevator with an elderly scientist who just happens to be the recipient of the letters that comprised section two. He gives her the tip of a lifetime and she finds herself wrapped up in a concierges to hide the dangerous flaws in a nuclear power plant that is about to come online. Again the story cuts off.
Suddenly it is modern day London and a somewhat shifty owner of a vanity publishing house somehow finds himself the publisher of a massive best seller. Unfortunately, his success makes him the target of some less than non-violent criminals and he finds himself on the run. Just before he hits the road he receives a submission to his publishing house, a mystery adventure about a gossip columnist who aspires to be an investigative reporter and who receives the tip of a lifetime from an elderly scientist in an elevator. Once again the story cuts off.
The scene shifts to a futuristic Korea, ruled by Corpacracy, an absolution oligarchy of corporate leaders. In this society, most of the dangerous and menial tasks fall on the shoulders of vat grown clones who are kept compliant with the help of drugs an religion. One, however suddenly starts to notice how poorly she and her clone brethren are being treated. The next thing she knows, she is whisked off to a university lab. When the graduate student who was supposed be studying her uses her as a servant and a target during a drunken game of William Tell, she is taken away from the lab and is promoted from test subject to student. She soon finds herself mixed up with an abolitionist group who are fighting for clone rights. Once again, the story cuts off, but not before our clone sees a movie about a shifty owner of a vanity publishing house who... Well, you know.
The scene shift to a distant, post-apocalyptic Hawaii. The agrarian society, which just so happens to worship an ancient, Korean clone as a goddess, would almost seem paradise were it not for a warlike tribe determined to make everyone else's life nasty, brutish and short.
This is an odd, but very well written, book. It sucked me in from the start. It was not perfect. The overly stylized language of post-apocalyptic Hawaii took some getting used to, but on the whole it succeeded in taking me for a mind-fuck of a ride.
Next up was Traveling Music, the latest travel narrative from Rush drummer Neil Peart. On the surface, this would seem to be his least adventurous adventure, a quick drive from his home in California to an national park in Texas and back. However, his car's CD player is loaded with some of his favorite music and along the way, we get some fascinating reflection on music and the role it has played in his life. Peart is revoltingly talented. He is one of the greatest drummers in history, he writes some of the best lyrics ever penned and does both for one of the best bands in rock. On top of that, he has hit three home runs, written three top notch travel narratives, allowing us homebound peons to take part in a few of the adventures life has afforded him. Not that I could in any way ever envy the man, not after reading his last book.
Next up was a book that may not be of interest to everyone, Me and My Bass Guitar. It is called a biography, but is really a tribute from a friend to one of the most generous and talented human beings on the planet, Victor Wooten. It was special to me because I got to get a taste of some of that generosity and talent recently. It was interesting to get some insight into someone who has been such a major influence on me.
Finally there was Contents Under Pressure, which dovetailed nicely with the last two. It is a chronicle of Rush, which has been one of my favorite bands for quite some time. This is another that is for fans only. It was interesting to hear what the band thought of their own work and they went over their history album by album, tour by tour.
Read any good books lately?
posted by Max Dobberstein at 10/12/2004 06:53:00 PM
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