Hey, let's start a bookclub.
Michael Chabon is a wicked writer. Sometimes I go into bookshops and get consumer fatigue - all these titles and genres and glossy covers shouting at you, but there's nothing you want to pick up and then you drift out again and have nothing to read and have to read Cherry again.
But the other day I passed a bookshop window filled with his latest - it has a great cover and an irresistible title - The Yiddish Policemen's Union, plus he is one of those authors whose books I'd buy straight away without knowing anything about it.
The man can write. (He's pretty cute too. ) If you like Raymond Carver ("She was a blonde who'd make a Bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window"), and Paul Auster, and thrillers, and Jewish wit and fine prose, you'll really, really like it.
I found him when working as a book buyer and getting proofs was one of the few perks of the job. (Missed that original Harry Potter Bloomsbury proof, goddamit! Who'd want to read some lame children's book about wizards and boarding school, I thought?)
The book was called The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and the blurb contained some trigger words for me - New York, 40s, comic books... enough to make me pick it up and take it home.
And he'd thought up this brilliant conceit - at a time when the Jews were being persecuted in Europe, two young Jewish comic book writers invent this invincible Nazi-fighting superhero who'll save the world. A modern version of the Golem in the Warsaw ghetto.It is pure wish-fulfillment - one of them has just escaped from Prague, and doesn't know what's happened to his family.
He also wrote the slacker comedy The Wonder Boys, made into a film with Michael Douglas, Hollywood's most punchable actor (though he's not bad in it, to be fair.) And the short stories in Werewolves in their Youth really pack a punch - one, Son of the Wolfman, is about a couple trying for a baby unsuccessfully, when the woman is raped and gets pregnant. Told from the husband's point of view, it was really bold and beautiful writing, going where most people don't dare (or can't bear) to go...
(Have also been reading Tim Guest's excellent Second Lives, which I reckon Tim and Patroclus would like a lot . If you'd like to read it, drop me a line and I'll send it to you.)
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11 comments:
Ooh that sounds great, ta. But I've got a mountain of print that I've been meaning to read for months (including Kavalier and Clay, I'm ashamed to say), so do let Patroclus have it.
And I know what you mean about Michael Douglas. A git, but every five years or so he seems to channel his dad's genes and turn in a magnificent performance. Is it worth sitting through 17 Basic Instincts to get one Wall Street?
The lovely Mr BC is well into Michael Chabon - I read the first few chapters of 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union' the other day and thought it was great, but due to my general literary torpor I haven't been back to it since.
I've got 'Second Lives', which as you say ought to be right up my street, but I found Tim Guest's writing style to be so irritating I couldn't get much beyond the, er, first few chapters. I'm doing better with Clay Shirky's 'Here Comes Everybody', which has some brilliant anecdotes about how Web 2.0 has radically changed the (developed) world.
Are you serious about starting a blog book club? If yes, I'd definitely be interested.
I love Chabon a lot - K&C is great, if a touch overlong. However, I am on a serious Kate Atkinson kick at the moment. It's shocking how well that woman can write.
I LOVE Kate Atkinson's first three books (I couldn't put Behind the Scenes at the Museum down) and her collection of short stories, but I'd avoid her more recent stuff (Case Histories, One Good Turn). Unless that's what you're reading of course...
Oy, I can't give it away.
Tim, my favourite is 'The War of the Roses' when Kathleen Turner as his wife says 'Every time I see you, I just want to smash your face in.' Hear hear.
Patroclus, it didn't bother me that much, (though it was probably written more for technophobes & ignoramuses like me.) I found some of it really mind-blowing, especially the stuff about the army building a virtual SCALE MODEL OF THE ENTIRE WORLD in order to rehearse conflicts online. And about disabled people being taught to move their wheelchairs with their minds by practising in a virtual environment... Amazing stuff.
Marsha, rather than writing about books I was imagining more of a book swap or book crossing, eg posting 'I've got this, it's great, do you want it?' (I'm guessing most people aren't really into reading detailed book reviews, unless it's on an actual book review blog.)
Wyndham, right, it lost the thread a bit when he went off to Alaska. I haven't read any other apart from Behind the Scenes at the Museum, I'll have to check her out.
I've got Yiddish Policeman to read at the moment. Very good so far
"Yes" to book swapping. I'm always interested in recommendations. Only problem that I can forsee is that I might not have much that anyone else is interested in!
But, yes, I'd like to give it a go.
It is good stuff Billy. Kind of dense writing, so I'm reading it slowly.
Marsha, drop me a line if you want me to send you anything.
I loved Yiddish Policemen - very thoughtprovoking too. I've just finished One Good Turn - enjoyed that too. I haven't read any other Kate Atkinson though.
I might flick through Billy's copy, but for some reason Jewish humour leaves me cold. I didn't enjoy Gary wossname's Absurdistan or The Russian Debutante's Handbook (actually gave up on the latter after fewer than 50 pages). I just couldn't empathise with the characters and the agonising. If Chabon is anything like that then it's not my cup of tea.
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