World Traveling

As some of you may know, my very good friend Cem has been travelling through some remote parts of the world. The other day, in a very long email, he asked me whether or not I thought he should stay in northern Thailand or keep on moving toward the Middle East which is, ostensibly, his final destination... here is my advice (plus a little plug for the record label, which he had asked about):

Sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner, your email took me 4 days to read. Seriously though, what I wouldn't give to be in your place with your dilemma... should I go to this frighteningly exotic place or this other one? My jealousy aside, I'm not sure I can make this decision for you, but I might be able to give you a little insight. First, you have to decide, irrespective of the girl or whatever gig you have set up in Thailand, whether this adventure is all about getting to the destination (i.e. Cairo and the Middle East) or allowing yourself to be follow the whims of the world and just be wherever you end up... like Maqroll. I think both are perfectly admirable plans, but you have to pick one or the other. Secondly, I don't know how tuned in you are to world events right now given your isolation, but American soldiers are dying every couple of days in Iraq, and the situation seems, to me anyway, to still be very much up in the air, with a guerilla war still a possibility, however remote. I'm sure that Cairo and Istanbul and Amman are all plenty safe, but I guess you should figure out if you prefer to be in the Middle East soon (while there is still uncertainty) or later when things have calmed down. So there you have it... no easy answers just more dilemmas. I love what you're doing, and if and when you get settled somewhere, I am coming to visit.

In other news, the website for my record label is www.realisticrecords.net so tell all your indie friends to check it out. There are mp3s up and pictures of the recoys reunion show/record release party. You can also buy the album there (It's called Recoys Rekoys) and it's a vinyl only run of 1000. Since that is almost sold out though, we'll probably get a cd together soon enough.

Now if there are any world travellers out there who are aspiring to do the sort of thing that my friend Cem is doing, I suggest you pick up The World's Most Dangerous Places by Robert Young Pelton. It's a very informative and wildly entertain look at some of the more hazardous corners of the planet. As if to underline his fealty for sticky situations, Pelton himself was kidnapped by leftist rebels in Columbia earlier this year. He was later released.

- C. Max Magee @ 3:26 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Baseball... will it ever end?

So, while I was at work yesterday, I finally picked up Moneyball by Michael Lewis. This book has been in stores for a while, and yet people continue to talk about it in glowing terms, so I decided I ought to take a look. Considering that this is a book about baseball, I was surprised that people have continued to talk about it even though it's been out for two months. Usually baseball books interest only the baseball fans who read them, and that's that. Moneyball, however, appears to transcend the ghetto of sports literature. I manged to breeze through about a hundred pages yesterday, and I have to say, I can't wait to get back to reading it. The interesting thing about this book is that in discussing the mini revolution that has occurred in the business of baseball, it touches upon a variety of disperate topics. This book is a must read for baseball fans, but it should also be read by anyone who is interested in economics and psychology, as well as by anyone who enjoys a good character-driven, non-fiction book. It's good stuff.

- C. Max Magee @ 1:58 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

War Book

One of the good things about working at my bookstore is that I can peruse any magazine I want without having to pay for it. Today's unlikely canditate was Vogue which I was skimming looking for anything by my favorite food writer Jeffrey Steingarten. No dice. Instead I came across an article about NPR's Anne Garrels who NPR listeners will recall from her gut wrenching reports from Bagdhad during the war. According to the writer of the article Farrar, Straus & Giroux will be releasing Garrel's book about the war, Naked in Baghdad, this September. Something to look forward to. In other news, I'm about to get my phone number put on the new nationwide do not call list because there are few things that I dislike more than telemarketers. Have a good weekend...

- C. Max Magee @ 9:30 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Leon Uris RIP

I've been meaning to post for a couple of days, but as those in the blog world have probably noticed, blogger was down for a while. But it's back, and so am I. In the meantime, there was a piece of sad literary news. Once hugely famous, but now somewhat forgotten novelist Leon Uris passed away. When I was about fifteen and too young to know that my taste in literature wasn't particularly cutting edge, I happened to pick up a copy of his book Trinity. It is a historical novel about the strife in Northern Ireland, and even then, when I was a youngster, I knew it was a masterful book. People are no longer used to the sweeping period pieces set in exotic locations that used to be so popular. They have fallen by the way side and been repaced by realism, flashiness, and dry modernity. Alongside all the stark reality that masquarades as fiction these days, a Uris book can be comforting in its ability to fix you in a distant place and time and to compell you to feel a visceral connection with his antipodean characters. If you like Uris at all, you will also like his contemporary James Michener. I still remember listening to Hawaii on cassette on one of the many interminable car trips of my youth. I'm not sure what compelled my parents to choose this form of entertainment, since I had never known them to be audiobook fans or Michener fans. Against all odds (or so it seemed at the time), I loved Hawaii in much the same way that I would later love Trinity. It's the power of a really good story. That's all for now... More soon I hope.

- C. Max Magee @ 8:42 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

I'm Back mmm hmm

I got back from New York yesterday. The Recoys show was unforgettable. Look for pictures here and here. Everybody packed into the sweaty back room of the Kingsland Tavern, and the Recoys became, for the last time, an underappreciated and raucous band from Boston. This time plenty of people knew better. In the years since the Recoys split, I've heard several people say that they are far better than many of the big name bands that they presaged. I agree with them, and so do a lot of folks, it seems. It looks like the record (Recoys Rekoys) is pretty much sold out, so hopefully we'll be able to get a cd out soon. I was definitely digging New York this time around. I haven't been in a while (about nine months I think). I rode the subway a bunch. At one point I noticed a girl reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel and I thought to myself... wouldn't it be great if I could sit and read on the way to and from work each day, or on the way anywhere really, and I could check out what my fellow citizens are reading as we lumber along in our rolling athenaeum. Instead I gas and break my way around like everyone else in L A, and I have less time to read and everyone here has less time to read (assuming they would want to read anyway). It's a shame. On the other hand, the radio here is really good.

Watch out Harry Potter gonna kick yo ass

Isn't it annoying when a writer is writing about some really popular nugget of pop culture and he opens his snarky article with "Unless you've been living in a cave (are a yak-herder in Khazakstan... have been trapped under a large pile of potatoes, etc. etc.) you've heard of Harry Potter (The Matrix... The Lord of the Rings, etc. etc.). Yes... ha ha ha, we all know about this very popular thing, oh snarky commentator, now get on with your witty dressing down of popular culture. Well, for the weekend anyway, I made like that yak-herder and forgot all about Harry Potter for a couple of days. I forgot he ever existed and then I stumbled sleepily and still a little bit drunkenly into JFK where they had a towering heap of yet another J. K. Rowling juggernaut Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You'll notice on the Amazon page that it says "in stock June 25." That's because Amazon shipped a million copies on the first day! In fact, it turns out that the full 8.5 million copy first run was pretty much sold out before it ever hit the shelves due to the preorders alone. Through some serious finagling (like the buyer buying a few hundred copies from Costco on Saturday) my book store has managed to keep this 870 page behemoth of a book in stock so far. And since midnight on Friday we've gone from general book store to Harry Potter store. In the past 3 days we've probably sold more of this book than all other titles combined. This is all the more shocking when you consider that my store, due to location and clientele, has a meager childrens' section and typically very few children ever come in. I just hope Rowling has enough room for the dump trucks full of money she's making. As for the book itself, I doubt I'll be reading it any time soon, but here's what Michiko Kakutani had to say on the front page of the New York Times, above the fold no less.

A Tasty Book

I have a soft spot for food writers. Maybe it's because I enjoy a good meal, perhaps too much, but I think it's because I've found food writers to be charming in their obsession with food related minutiae. No one is more charming than Calvin Trillin whose "register of frustration and deprivation" leads him to travel the world seeking those foods that he can't live without. the result of this is Feeding a Yen I can't put this book down. He's like an adventurous and kindly uncle. It's a treat.

- C. Max Magee @ 12:34 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

A Travesty

One more thing, I almost forgot. Oprah's Book Club reappeared today with the odd selection of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. As always, there is a special new "Oprah" edition of the book. I think the cover for this one is by far her most self-aggrandizing yet, especially when you consider that this is a classic of American literature. Oprah's cultish Book Club has, from the start, been offputting to real readers, and, despite the hiatus, it's clear that little has changed. Maybe Oprah is trying to take the moral highground here by picking a book by a dead writer for whom winning the Oprah lottery could mean nothing (Steinbeck won't be rocketing from obscurity to fame like some of Oprah's previous annointed ones). Another plus: Steinbeck can't pull a "Franzen" and complain about being selected. Furthermore by calling Steinbeck's masterpiece "The book that brought back Oprah's Book Club," she can freely imply some kind of intellectual parity between the book and the Club. The phrasing of the blurb, as well as it's huge font and placement on the cover, is just shocking, as though East of Eden. is some blockbuster of Oprah's creation and not the staple of American fiction that most folks read in high school. It seems that Oprah is quite smug in her assumption that not only has the American public never read this great book, but we'd never even heard of it until Oprah was kind enough to bring it to our attention. Wonders never cease... Coming next week, another healthy dose of Harry Potter Mania. Open Wide.

- C. Max Magee @ 1:03 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

A Brief Interruption

Probably won't be able to post for the next day or two since I'll be in New York at the Kingsland Tavern celebrating the Realistic Records release of the Recoys album. Have I mentioned this? Should be a blast. But don't worry, I'll be back with many more books to talk about, and hopefully some added features for this little blog of mine. Bye for now.

- C. Max Magee @ 9:23 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Mother Russia

Over the past couple of weeks I've been reading two illuminating books about the Soviet Union. Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum is the first compresive account of the Soviet system of forced labor and random terror. Now that the shroud of secrecy and propaganda is lifted, the reality of twentieth century Soviet Union, and especially the period of Stalin's rule, is of a catastrophically malfunctioning totalitarian state. At times the horror of the Gulag is almost unfathomable. Applebaum's research here is clearly very thorough. She makes ample use of survivor memoirs, recently opened Soviet archives, and interviews. Gulag is an unwavering look at a piece of human history that is difficult to behold. Any inclination to sympathise with the Soviets is dispelled by this remarkable book. If Gulag is a book about the rot at the center of the Soviet system, then Lenin's Tomb by David Remnick chronicles the point at which the rot became more powerful than the Communist Party's iron fist. Remnick is a storyteller telling the story of a riveting period in history. As he writes, "To live anywhere between Bonn and Moscow in 1989 was to be witness to a year-long polical fantasy. You had the feeling you could run into history on the way to the bank or the seashore." Lucky for us, Remnick spent 1989 (as well as the years before and after) in Moscow. Reading these two books simultaneously has provoked in me a minor obsession with 20th century Russian history, which is fantastic because in the last year alone several compelling books about the subject have come out. I'll let you know if and when I read them.

Some Good Bookfinding

Today, on my day off, I went by a nearby Goodwill store and found a mini treasure trove of good reading. The best find was 7 old issues of Granta, each one chock full of fantastic writers, including some of my favorites like Ryszard Kapuscinski, T. C. Boyle, and Haruki Murakami. Flipping through the tables of contents, I can see I'm in for some great reading. I let you know what I find. I also bought an old issue of Story magazine from 1997 featuring stories by Heidi Julavits and Bobbi Ann Mason among several others. I don't know who is giving away old literary magazines but I was more than happy to find them. I also found two history books that look pretty great: Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan which is about Eastern Europe and The Price of Admiralty by John Keegan, a history of naval warfare. And just in case all these books are too serious I found a copy of The Essential Calvin And Hobbes for only two bucks... yes!

Don't Forget

Go to Realistic Records to get a copy of the Recoys album. And go see them play Friday June 20th 9pm... Kingsland Tavern at the corner of Kingsland and Nassau in Greenpoint (that's Brookyn by the way). I'll be there!

- C. Max Magee @ 6:26 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Some Non-book News

One of my many side projects is coming to fruition right now. A while ago my friend Derek and I started a record label called Realistic Records. After planning for almost a year, we have released our first record. The Recoys are the former band of current members of The Walkmen and The French Kicks This is an album that never was, but probably should have been, so we've put together a vinyl only run of 1000. It's called Recoys Rekoys. The record is fantastic and if you like the Walkmen or the French Kicks or any of the great new rock that's out right now, then you'll love this album. You can buy it either here or here and hopefully it will soon be available in your local record store. Also, the Recoys will be reuniting for one night only to celebrate the long awaited release of this album. Here are the details:

Friday June 20th
kingsland tavern
corner of kingsland and nassau in greenpoint

Hopefully I'll see you there.

- C. Max Magee @ 6:19 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

I'm Back....

So, I just landed about three hours ago, and it's good to be back. Travelling is great fun, but it wears you out too. I am looking forward to my own bed and getting rid of my suitcase for a while, plus, I was running out of books. I read a bunch while I was in Ireland, but I didn't get a chance to post here. (Sorry). Surprisingly, the internet cafes in Ireland all had fast connections and good computers, but I was never able to sit at one for than fifteen minutes. There was too much to see and do. So.... where was I? Before I left Barcelona I read The Lonely Hearts Club by Raul Nunez, which took only about a day. First and formost, the book suffers from a poor translation by a gentleman named Ed Emery. The text is littered with annoying British drivel like "he wondered what colour knickers she wore" and "I'm also very fond of this girl with a squint." To be more precise, it wasn't just a regular BBC British but more of an in your face Guy Ritchie movie British. I had to make an effort to keep the British accent from creeping into my head while I was reading, which was annoying because I was trying to relish the experience of reading this little novel set in the sweaty apartments of Barcelona while I was sitting in a sweaty apartment in Barcelona. The whiny British voice in my head just didn't fit the scene. To be fair, Serpent's Tail, the publisher, is a British press so I guess they're just serving their audience. The book itself is very brief and somewhat derivative in a John Fante or Charles Bukowski sort of way in both style and theme. There are especially parallels to Fante's Ask the Dust. Nunez's hero, Antonio aka Frankie, shares with Fante's Arturo Bandini a rooming house lifestyle, girl troubles, and a drinking problem. Bandini, though, is a noble character. He is struggling to be a writer, and he wants to find love. Frankie is just down on his luck, and this little book merely recounts a bizarre episode in his life. With spare prose, Fante manages to go deep into the psyche of his character. Nunez substitutes shock value for depth of character with predictable results. For a book that can be read in an afternoon, though, I'd say it's worth a look, if only because it is entertaining in an enjoyable voyueristic sort of way. More later....

- C. Max Magee @ 11:04 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Still on the road

I stepped into a book store in the old city of Barcelona. It was spacious and well lit with dark wood shelves and floors. Many langauges were well represented including a wide selection of English language books. It is very easy to take a shot at American bookstores when comparing them to bookstores overseas, and it's really remarkable to see the difference in person. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be an expat, estranged from my country, but sometimes yearning for contact. I think I would spend a lot of time in a bookstore like that and it would fill the void for me.

With the jet lag and all that, I was having trouble diving into another book. I guess I needed a change of pace to reflect the change of scenery, so I fished into the bag of books I brought with me and came up with this beauty: Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. I have always been drawn to certain of the visual story telling forms: typically not so much the action hero stuff, but certain "graphic novels" have caught my attention. I also like to flip through a collection of "newspaper funnies" from time to time, Calvin and Hobbes, for example, is always a delight. Rarely, however, have I encountered a book that transcends the genre like Jimmy Corrigan. This book has already received a chorus of praise and numerous awards. In a lot of cases, in fact, no one had ever considered that a graphic novel might be eligible to win certain of the awards, but this one was just too good to be ignored. I have been on a good stretch with books lately; I haven't been disappointed in while, but my next book is a bit riskier: The Lonely Hearts Club by Raul Nunez... I'll let you know how it goes...

I'm off to Ireland tomorrow, and there might not be internet there, but I will try my best; if not, we'll catch up when I get back to the states.

- C. Max Magee @ 7:11 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

Greetings from Europe

I'm sitting in a Barcelona internet cafe in the completely empty non-smoking section... The smoking section is packed. It's only noon though, so it seems like most of the city isn't really awake yet. We are staying about four blocks from Gaudi's Sagrada Familia. It is under construction as it has been for decades, and it is a bizarre building to look upon. Over the next couple of days we will see some of Gaudi's other work. Today: art museums and La Boqueria, Barcelona's massive open air food market. I had hoped to get a lot of reading done on the plane, but the trip was so grueling that I didn't accomplish much. I worked my way through the first issue of The Believer, McSweeney's magazine about books and other fluff. Heidi Julavits' article about the lost art of book reviewing is the high point, after that it's mostly uneven to dull. But, hey, at least the folks on Valencia keep churning out new and interesting projects. Til next time...

- C. Max Magee @ 6:29 AM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post

 

To My Devoted Fans

Thanks to the shoddy service of my DSL provider, I haven't been able to post new reports for you. This is sad because I have many great books to tell you all about. But now it is too late since I am off to Europe this afternoon and I have far too much to do before I leave. If the facilities are adequate and I have the time, I will try to update from Europe. If not, please check back in two weeks when I will pick up right where I left off. Bye bye everyone!

- C. Max Magee @ 12:58 PM ~ comments: 0 ~ Links to this post