I pulled all the old books out of storage to find a few gems:
Ugh. Kinda gross. Anyway I thought I’d take this opportunity to dig through muck and find a few modern classics that I never completed. Let the failure begin!
Man, I must not have gotten far in this one cause save for a small fold on the upper right corner my copy of this book looks like it came right off the shelf of the book store. I’d always heard Boyle was supposed to be one of the funniest writers of his generation. I guess that’s what motivated me to pick up Drop City in the first place. When I think of funny I don’t think of spending a few dozen pages setting the scene of the novel: a group of 1970’s hippies on a commune setting out to colonize Alaska. That, and I think around the time I picked up this book I had jsut finished reading an issue of Vice that was devoted to destroying the baby boomer generation, so I was all, “fuck these self-diluted people.”
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I think I picked this one up cause it seemed like a good book to have under your belt to talk about with girls. I’d say the same about 100 Years of Solitude, which I enjoyed the shit out of. I thought to myself, “For some reason babes love the fiery latin rhythms that GGM is capable of throwing, so why not familiarize yourself? You might learn something.” Turns out the only thing I learned was that unrequited love has never been so boring. Thing about Marquez is he’s real hit and miss. 100 Years of Solitude may be one of the best books I’ve ever read, but Love and Other Demons? Holy shit, what a stink pile.
Humboldt’s Gift by Saul Bellow
I’ve no excuse for not finishing this one other than being downright lazy. It had everything going for it: set in Chicago (a town I was in love with at the time), a narritorial voice that gripped you like an old friend putting his arm around you and walking you to the bar to buy you a drink, and Saul Bellow, master storyteller. I need to read this one. I will read this one. Lemme just check out these lolcats first. Goddamn internet.
