Okay, like you, I haven’t been sleeping. This Katrina thing depresses the hell out of me. And yet I am drawn to these horrible events because I have been obsessed with apocalypse since the age of four, which was when, I believe, I first learned about the Holocaust. Perhaps the much beloved churchgoer who once told my mother, “There’s something of the devil in that boy” (when I was five, no less) had a point. Although in my defense, I suppose this was probably because I dared to bring up the concept of reincarnation in a Sunday school classroom.
But I don’t want to become some fearmonger like Lileks or a warmonger like Reynolds or a hatemonger like Malkin or LGF. And I also don’t want this devastation, as severe as it is, to transform this blog into a place without humor or hope. So I’m going to limit “Katrina Headlines” to a once-a-day offering so that I can maintain my sanity. There are several other fine places to go if you really need the goods.
Because it boils down to this: Like B, I feel like the luckiest bastard on Earth. And you should too. Just be sure to donate to the Red Cross while you’re at it.
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.