Category Archives: Book Smarts

you better get on it…according to the Times you are already too old.

Adolescence is never easy…so with Saïd Sayrafiezadeh having divorced parents, one Jewish and one Iranian, life was chaotic and interesting…of course this could not be the easiest familial, religious and cultural background in which to grow up…oh, wait…did I mention that both of his parents were radical socialists heavily involved in the Socialist Party in the U.S and Iran?  And this is the background in which Mr. Sayrafiezadeh tells us his tale of growing up, attending socialist rallies, being scolded for eating grapes and learning of U.S Imperialism.  An excellent book and quick read, this touching book shows that no matter what your background, the challenges of growing up in a wacky family are universal. ( Saïd Sayrafiezadeh also has an excellent short story in the March 1, 2010 issue of the New Yorker)

David Foster Wallace was invited to speak to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College on the subject of his choosing.  This book is the speech in its entirety.  It is very short (a few hundred lines at best…I literally read the entire thing while standing in the Literary Non-Fiction Section in the back of Strand) and is also one of the most moving book/essay/speeches that I have ever read.  Infinite Jest, Foster Wallace’s opus, is my mistress and the bane of my existence, it is a book that one must come to and conquer on one’s own, but this speech will take 20 minutes of your time and it may be the best 20 minutes that you spend this year.  Even without considering the tragic death of David Foster Wallace in 2008 this is a truly moving piece of literature.  I HIGHLY recommend purchasing the book but you can also read the speech here.

I just finished David Wessel’s excellent new(ish) book, In Fed We Trust, and while it’s not the kind of book I normally read, I fully recommend it.  An excellent take on the power of the Federal Reserve and its lack of oversight and the real (maybe) events behind the bailout.  (Excellent side note is the analysis of Alan Greenspan, who somehow achieved cult status as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and whose policies and action (or lack thereof) really fucked us.)

Today marks the death of a true hero of mine, and one of the greatest writers (American or otherwise) to have ever lived.  Salinger, the author of two of my three favorite books, had the unbelievable ability to cut through the bullshit and tell a story from the inside out.  No book, story, fable, tale, article or piece of literature has ever moved me like Catcher in the Rye or Franny and Zooey .  Whether that is cliché or not I really don’t give a fuck.  I, for one, will pay tribute by reading the only popular Salinger story that I have never read, Teddy, which is the last of the Nine Stories.  I had never read it before because I feared that once I did I would never have the joy of reading any new Salinger again.  I think today is the day to let that go and pay homage.  Rest in Peace, J.D. Salinger.   

   “It’s everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so–I don’t know–not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid, necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless–and sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you’re conforming just as much as everybody else, only in a different way.”
- J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

When I first read that Mr. Lethem was moving his next book, Chronic City, out of Brooklyn and into Manhattan, I had mixed emotions.  On the one hand, I live in Manhattan so I was eager to see how one of my favorite contemporary writers would use the island as the centerpiece of a story.  On the other hand, I have a preternatural disposition toward books that take place in the BK (or books involving depression, drugs or Jews).  Throw in some mixed early reviews and I started to feel depressed, began using drugs, converted to Judaism and moved to Brooklyn.  Then I read the book.  While it is not Fortress of Solitude, a book I hold dear to my heart, I enjoyed every moment of Chronic City. I was shocked at Lethem’s take on Manhattan.  I would have thought that Lethem (a born and bred Brooklynite) would have focused on the utter loss of grit and character that has altered Manhattan over the last 20 years.  I would have thought wrong.  Lethem runs through a myriad of odd characters and storylines, from a cinephile freak with crippling headaches to a character whose fiancé is stuck in outer space on a space station.  Lethem’s point in all these wacky peeps and plots?  In this borough that has become so vanilla, where the Bowery is home to $2 million apartments and the Meatpacking district has no meat (except for the hoards of Ed Hardy wearing Murray Hill tribesmen that head to Bagatelle on the weekends), you can still find people and stories that are anything but generic.  Lethem reminded me that for all the bullshit political, Wall Street whitewashing, we still live in the greatest city on the planet.  I, for one, appreciated the reminder.

John Cheever is one of those authors who has always slipped through the cracks for me.  I don’t remember any substantial study of Cheever in any literature survey nor can I remember anyone dropping a Cheever reference into a conversation or telling me that I ”had to” read any of his novels.  Earlier this year I ripped through Blake Bailey’s fantastic Cheever bio “Cheever: A Life” (and I am not a man who reads 800 page books with weak titles) but I didn’t delve deeply into his work until I read Bullet Park, Cheever’s 1969 novel that takes a look at “ordinary” lives in the suburbs.  The book is an absolute “have to” read (and I don’t give that grade out often).  I command you to go to Strand and purchase this book tomorrow (since only 3 people actually read this I can probably loan it to each of you if you guys work out a rotation).