Literature

This summer has been an auspicious time for readers -- a real treasure trove, timed perfectly for some summer reading.  First and foremost, we were given Harper Lee's second novel, and although controversial, I enjoyed the book immensely. I was careful not to read any reviews in order not to prejudice myself (no pun intended), and the only post-novel reading I have done is to explore briefly the state of Harper Lee's affairs, a topic that is so alarming I won't pursue it further. At any rate, Go Set a Watchman is to literature what a sequel to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band would be to music.

Next, we were given the unbelievable gift of The End of the Tour, a movie based on the interview of David Foster Wallace at the end of his press tour for Infinite Jest.  Although this movie has not been released in my city (Yet? Is it going to be? I'm becoming impatient.), I immediately shut down any chatter about the reviews to avoid forming preconceived ideas about the movie.

At over 1,000 pages, Infinite Jest is bulky. I read it in the late 90's, and with the exception of work, I read almost exclusively for three weeks to complete it. And, it's not just the volume that is challenging... it's pages on end without paragraph breaks... and a couple of hundred pages of footnotes... and footnotes within the footnotes. The content itself is behemoth.  Since he is my favorite author, I have consumed his entire published catalog, even the out-of-print Broom of the System that he completed for his MFA. Importantly, being familiar (and actually pretty well-versed) with his work doesn't make me qualified to deconstruct DFW, the person, and rate his sincerity, humility and genius, and that's what the couple of reviews I began attempted to do.  So while I very much want to talk about this movie... this movie I have not seen and refuse to read about and/or watch/listen to reviews... I cannot, until it makes its way to my city.  But when it does... oh, it will be wonderful.

While I love Jesse Eisenberg, I was very skeptical of Jason Segel's performance (like Ashton Kutcher's attempted portrayal of Steve Jobs - yikes!), until I watched this interview, in which he seems to be continuing to channel DFW. After watching the interview, I'm keeping an open mind.

Here is the trailer:





Finally, Franzen's Purity was released last week. Although he is not one of my top-five favorites, I am very much looking forward to plowing through this new gem.  So far, I find the characters unlikable, and the cover is so bad (I know, don't judge) that it seems designed to repel the reader. There is a significant difference between flawed characters and unlikable characters, and this lack of distinction is why Franzen is less than a favorite.  Still, it isn't every year that we have one of his new novels, and I particularly liked Freedom so I will stay with it.

For the record, Franzen's Pip is no Scout.

What are you reading this summer?