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June 26, 2003
Books
Froman email I wrote recently:
"You should read Murakami. _Wind-up Bird Chronicle_ is my favorite. _Underground_ is a book every American today should read. It grapples with terrorism, facing an enemy that looks like you, and having no way of explanation of how a portion of society could have gone so wrong. Non-fiction.
_After the Quake_, similar in vein, grapples with how people react after a horrible event. This is explored through short stories focusing on characters through out Japan after the Kobe Earthquake. Also required reading. Most of the stories appeared first in the_New Yorker_ and _Harpers_.
The Zaide Smith is quite good, too. Her first book _White Teeth_ was great, suffered a little from it's scope, but anything that deals with Jehovah's Witnesses and the end of the world is obviously for me. _Autograph man_ is much more conventional, but really fun. A short description wouldn't do it justice.
On problem, though, not unique to Zadie Smith. I feel like I'm not part of a club or something. I've read many books recently, Like Jonathan Safran Foer's _Everything is Illuminated_ (which I found to be entertaining), where the author is Jewish, and is writing about Jewish culture, history and religion, and I feel like I'm just not getting everything. Perhaps a religious studies class focusing on Judaism is in order.
I shouldn't feel weird, because I enjoy other types of art and writing where I have little or no insight into the time, culture or experiences of the author. Jenny said she experienced similar feelings reading Eco.
You bring what you bring to at text (book or otherwise) and you make it your own. You could curse it, or just take it for what it is."
Posted by tdotjay at June 26, 2003 03:35 AM
