Irreverent!

My good friend and respected collegue Chris Akers has opened a blog of his own. You may get to it by clicking on the title of this entry.

"Michael Moore Hates America"

Thanks to Carol (I think that's who it was) who sent this to a buddy list I'm a member of. Click the title to go to the web page of a new documentary titled "Michael Moore Hates America." Check out the trailer!

Cool Discovery for People who Love Books

I found an interview with Don DeLillo speaking about "Underworld" which is one of my favorite books. They also have interviews with several other interviews with writers such as Jhumpa Lahiri who I am reading now. Good stuff. Click on the title of this post to go to KCRW's "bookworm" page where these interviews are done.

"The Body Artist" A Mixed Review

Okay. Just finished "The Body Artist" by Don DeLillo. The title of this blog says it. Infact, the jury is still out on whether or not I liked this book at all. I'll start with what I like, then what I don't and maybe by the end of this entry, I'll have my answer.

I love DeLillo's prose style. I have often copied it myself (quite by accident, but I have none-the-less.) He is very aggressive, plowing through the plot so quickly that he often skips elements forcing you to fill in chunks of story. And he does it skillfully so that you know what must be filled in. At the same time, he will slow down every day actions so that, suddenly, the subtext in turning on a light switch can tell a life story.

I enjoy the way his narration reads like the inner-diologue of the characters. He uses repetition and dwells on small things the way a character would in his or her mind. It comes across as being very raw, without being clumsy. This style is why DeLillo's "Underworld" id one of my favorite books.

So what does "Underworld" have that "The Body Artist" does not? In short: story. In this novella (it calls itself a novel but is only 120 pages soaking wet) the character called "Mr. Tuttle" is a retarted man with a nack for repeating phrases he hears. The stories main character Lauren is so drawn to him that she feels sexually drawn to him and motherly toward him at the same time. She has long convesations with him (much of what he says has no meaning) and she attempts to teach him. The problem is, we the readers are only shown a very small number of them. We never get to know the character of Mr. Tuttle. DeLillo has forgotten Dotty Frye's first rule; show, not tell.

Also, Lauren really doesn't go through any transition. No one changes. I was never hurt ot touched or moved at all by these characters because I never watched them grow. Therefore, I could never grow with them, closer to them.

So if I have to decide, I can only say this: I'm glad I read it but I won't miss anybody when I put this book on the graveyard of my shelf. And that is the tragedy.

Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides

Sing, muse, of it taking me so long to finish reading this book! Because of my ever tightening schedule, this book took me as long to finish reading as Anna Karenina (and I started it over almost as many time) And all I can say is that it was totally worth it.

Middlesex is the story of a Greek girl who finds out a fourteen that she isn't a girl at all, but a boy. The confusion has to do with the fact that she is a hermaphrodite. In tracing the defecting gene that manifested itself in his body, the narrator tells the story of three generations of the Stephanides family (a family tree with fewer branches than it should have), through war torn Greece during the war with the Turks, into depression era Detroit, WWII, Korea, the sixties and all that decade had to offer, up to the current president who is popular because his name has only one syllable.

The appeal in the book to me was the constant terror I was in. I don't mean a Stephen Kind kind of terror that gives you nightmares about goulish monters. This is an emotional terror. The kind when one sits on the edge of one's seat knowing that he is about to be hurt, hurt because the characters are hurt. Eugenides makes you love this family, and because he is Greek, you know that some of them will die unnaturally and some will go through tremendous emotional distress. And Euginedes certainly delivers, but in a way that the reader is okay with it in the end.

The reader comes out of the book feeling as though he has gone through a journey through the life of this family. He feels he is better for it.

One of the things I have noticed about great books is that I always feel a tinge of melencholy when I close the cover for the last time. I have spent the past few months with these characters and they have become my friends (a statement of my introvertedness I know). I close the book knowing that I will likely never visit these friends again and knowing that I shall miss them. I know that I will think about them from time to time and consider picking the book up again to visit my old friends.

But, alas, a Don DeLillo novel awaits, sitting on my coffee table waiting for me to finish this blog. Stay tuned for that review.

A Short Note on Scott Peterson and Abortion

Well, one of the jurors has been dismissed for doing her own research on the case. THe judge has instructed the jury to start over again in deliberating the double murder trial of Scott Peterson....

I'm sure I'm not the first person to bring this up, but....double murder? Peterson's not only being tried for his wife's murder but also of the murder of her unborn child. That's as it should be. He robbed the child of a life it could have had.

So, where do we draw the line between murder and abortion? If a woman says, "it's my body," and aborts the baby, it's okay. If a man takes the baby's life, it's Murder I. Seriously, people, what's the difference? A dead fetus is a dead fetus! Why the double standard?

Does a mother rob her baby of life any less than a father does? All I ask for is a little consistency. Either start charging mothers for Murder when they rob a child of its life, or drop a charge against Peterson to only one count of Murder. And remember, it might be the woman's body, but its God's child. His own creation into which he alone breathes life.

Oops. I'm talking politics again...and religion.

The United States of Canada?

http://idisk.mac.com/glwebb-public/new_map.jpg Follow that URL to see a map of the proposed division between the "United States of Canada" and "Jesusland." Also, click on the Title line to read an editorial by Howard Gensler of the Philidelphia Daily News. This map is reported to have come from Michael Moore's website.

Read the editorial. You will find it fascinating. I find it disgusting. Well, Blue States, if you really do want to go join Canada, all I have to say is "Good Riddance." We here in "Jesusland" don't want a bunch of whinning sourpusses anyway.

It's no secret that we didn't much like Bill Clinton, but we never talked about moving away or making our states part of Canada. I know it's just a joke but come one! Canada reports that inquiries into immigrating to Canada have tripled since the election. New Zealand reports a similar trend.

Absolutely reprehensable! You liberals have shown yourselves to be a bunch of ten year old boys, who when they get behind in the ball game are instantly ready to take their ball and go home. Well, welcome to democracy. You don't always get to win, and if losing really makes you want to leave, then take your socialist policies and your welfare cases with you. Go have your socialized healthcare. Take Hollywood. And we'll just keep the pioneering never die attitude and spirit that made this a great country in the first place.

I say what I want because I have a Mandate

I know that it has been a little while since I posted and I desperately hope that I didn't lose everyone during my absence. Between going on vacation, the world series and the election, I have been either out of town or watching TV for the past few weeks.

I have some really sneaky stuff in the works. Some of you will be delighted, some of you will think me a villian, but all of you will want to tune in to see what it is.

Also, I am almost finished with the Pulitzer prize winning novel "Middlesex" and when I am finished I will promptly post my review.

Welcome home to Adam Williams from the desert. We are all very glad you are home safe. Especially your wife, who we all agree is too good for you. Can't wait for the paintball game to ensue!!!