“I can’t remember the words of things. The words for words. I have lost my words. What’s this from? Is is the Internet?” – Aimee Bender, “Wordkeepers”
It’s now been ~two years of reading one or so book per week. The good news is, the number of “haven’t gotten to that yet” on my shelves is drastically decreased. Lately, I feel like I’m learning the importance of re-reading. Sometimes, that’s “oh, wow, a decade went by, and I haven’t read this in a while.” Sometimes, that’s “need to give this another go.” Sometimes, it’s just me treating myself.
What I’ve Been Reading This Week:
Really, if you’re going to set a goal of reading at least a book a week, you should treat yourself, often. Not just treat yourself, but re-read your favorite writers, take their work in more deeply. The more Protestant way to describe it is “reading the writers you love more deeply.” Plus, at the end of the year? We gotta finish strong, right? So I read not one but two great books this week. One I haven’t been able to stop thinking about, and another I don’t know nearly as well as I should, and haven’t read since it came out. I’m talking, of course, about Trouble Finds You by Joshua Marie Wilkinson and The Color Master by Aimee Bender.
Trouble Finds You by Joshua Marie Wilkinson: man, it felt good to spend more time with King Stupidhead Harry Stables and “guy with wild eyes, claims to have boxed a kangaroo or had a menage a trois with Playboy Bunnies” Calvin Hogan. Those two are just plain fun—one’s accidentally pouring bleach into his bleeding dog bite, the other’s got diner pancake syrup in his mustache. This book is such a great reminder of precariousness of life, how broken our policing system is, and to think twice—hell, think once—before you act or speak. That might sound like something you’d say to a six-year-old. Well, I’ve spent a lot of time around my six-year-old and Harry Stables, and I know who’s smarter. Mostly, though, it’s a novel that is in love with language, a novel that doesn’t let a single sentence become skimming fodder. You can write about just about whatever you want if you do that. Hey, speaking of—
The Color Master by Aimee Bender: talk about loving language! Talk about making every sentence sing! It seems impossible—this is my absolute favorite writer, after all—to have only read this book once. Well, I’ve read “The Devourings” twice, and “Appleless” when it was originally published in The Fairy Tale Review. Cover to cover, it’s nothing but bangers. This is her third book of short stories, and she seems so comfortable in her project, every word choice so delectable. This is a book with recurring themes and obsessions, such that it’d be fun to make an index. Also—Aimee Bender is one of our most interesting writers about sex? Sex is never just sex with her, the same way getting invited into an old lady’s house in the middle of the woods in 19th century Germany is never just getting invited into an old lady’s house in the middle of the woods in 19th century Germany.
LINKS!
In honor of my dear friend and former bandmate, Spencer Blake, coming out with a new album—his band Pinch Hitter’s Age Of The Roach just dropped—let’s listen to some good music this week, huh?
Let’s start with Pinch Hitter! Here’s the video of “Age Of The Roach.”
New Jazz Underground is incredible—I think I’ve linked to their MF DOOM suite before, but just in case I haven’t, here it is. What I’m putting here, though is this video called “Harlem to Havana- Afro-Cuban Modernism Vol 1.”
Can’t stop listening to E L U C I D’s album REVELATOR. It gives me the same feeling as Los Crudos or some other noisy, aggressive punk band. It’s strangely GREAT music to write too. And the live drums—my dudes, the live drums.
For as much music as I listen to, there’s a lot I never have. Whole swaths of music history that I have barely a passing knowledge of. So maybe it’s weird that my first experience with TV On The Radio is their Tiny Desk concert. Hey, they say there was a miscommunication 15 years ago—but that can’t be it, I wasn’t watching Tiny Desk concerts 15 years ago. The moral is, you get to art when you get to art.
H/T to Miles Gray at Daily Zeitgeist for putting me onto this performance. It’s magic, watching these men jam together. Saw a post on Instagram just yesterday captioned “I’ve never had this much chemistry with someone I’ve dated.” Favorably compare to D’Angelo. This is Dijon, featuring Mk.gee – Big Mike’s.
What’re you still doing here? The year’s almost over, go read Vine one more time!
If you work in the service industry, may you clean up in tips this weekend. You, like the Color Master, are unappreciated by your customers. But you’re not unappreciated by me.
Sorry you got an email,
Chris