Books To Jump Up and Down Over
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. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
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.
Personal Archive
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Los Angeles Review
Posted on March 25, 2006 | 1 CommentThe good folks at Red Hen Press have just put out the latest issue (#2 — 2005) of The Los Angeles Review, where a review of Kevin Starr’s Coast of... -
In Which Your Narrator Falls for the $48.50 Ruse
Posted on March 17, 2006 | 3 CommentsSnce it was indeed St. Patrick’s Day, and since there were friends who had requested his presence, your humble narrator decided to partake of these dubious festivities with trusted parties.... -
Recategorization
Posted on January 21, 2006 | 2 CommentsThe word sounds vaguely Orwellian, reminiscent of a major shift in current events. But it is necessary, given that categorizing the content here is the only way that anyone, least... -
Snowed Under
Posted on December 27, 2005 | No CommentsTied up through most of the day, but if you insist on a daily dose, you can catch me over here. Apparently, the good folks over at Bloggasm thought I... -
The Chair Update
Posted on December 26, 2005 | 1 CommentWe are pleased to report that the chair that was wounded during the course of engineering The Bat Segundo Show #16 has been replaced. (We had sentimental attachments for that... -
Happy Holidays
Posted on December 23, 2005 | No Comments -
Return of the Reluctant — The Year in Review
Posted on December 20, 2005 | No CommentsAnother meme from Mental Multivitamin: The first sentence of the first post of each month in 2005. RESULTS: Ladies and gentlemen, our research is done. We are, of course, beyond... -
Thanks for the Meme-ries
Posted on December 20, 2005 | 3 CommentsThe latest one is from OGIC: Four jobs you’ve had in your life: Paralegal, Disc Editor, Register Operator, Target Snack Bar Lackey. Four movies you could watch over and over:... -
Stranger Than Fiction
Posted on December 16, 2005 | 4 CommentsBus ride home. An ordinary route going through fairly safe neighborhoods. The 7. Kids sitting in the front seats laughing. Me reading book as usual. Long-haired man with smoky colored... -
Open Memo to the Pathological Woman Who Keeps Emailing and Telephoning and Otherwise Harassing Me
Posted on December 11, 2005 | 6 CommentsWe went out once. We didn’t click. And yet you persist in leaving me five voicemails a day (no, contrary to the pathological excuses you’ve been inventing to justify your... -
Holidays
Posted on November 21, 2005 | 1 Comment…in limn of existential meanderings and peripatetic journeys to urban locales (extra-SF), all concerning the inevitable turkey-stuffing grandcentralstat point, as presented on an X-Y axis shakily scrawled upon a napkin... -
#12 — condensed dating history (past four months)
Posted on November 5, 2005 | 1 CommentStimulus: Signs of love, paying attention, affection, multifarious consideration of other person. Responses: A) You’re too old. (She was two years younger.) B) Consolation prize: something private and ephemeral. C)... -
Shorter and Shorter
Posted on October 31, 2005 | 1 CommentDuring a particularly harsh bout of insomnia that involved carrying on a colloquy with my skull, I buzzed down my hair to the shortest length that it has ever been.... -
We Can’t Be Funny AnymoreWe Can Be Funny, We Just Prefer to Stay Sane So We’re Taking a BreakPosted on September 3, 2005 | 10 CommentsThe news is so fundamentally awful and depressing that we’ve now resorted to heavy drinking hanging with friends and disconnecting for a tad so that the profound rage, hopelessness and... -
Conversation at Cafe
Posted on September 3, 2005 | 4 CommentsA: I’ve never seen the beginning of A Clockwork Orange. Every time I see the movie on TV, it always starts in on the part where Alex is raping the... -
Break in the Storm
Posted on August 31, 2005 | No CommentsOkay, 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... -
Mike Leigh’s Naked on DVD
Posted on August 5, 2005 | 3 CommentsYears ago, when I was a gaunt student, I had the opportunity to pick up the Criterion laserdisc edition of Mike Leigh’s Naked (one of my favorite films from the... -
Bay Area Writers Group Forming
Posted on August 3, 2005 | 6 CommentsLike damn near every litblogger, we too have a novel that we’ve been working on that is progressing at a slow but steady clip. (Yes, we never sleep around here.)... -
They’re Pulling Us Away from the Internets!
Posted on August 1, 2005 | 1 CommentIn a few hours, we will reach the official point where we can’t be trusted. We’ll be back on Wednesday. -
Runners In My Hood
Posted on July 31, 2005 | No CommentsOn Sunday morning, I woke to the sounds of strange huzzahs. Turns out it was the San Francisco Marathon running through my hood. The cheers came from a throng gathered... -
I Need a Vacation
Posted on June 28, 2005 | 5 CommentsOkay, I fully confess (the dropoff in stats and Blogllines subscribers doesn’t lie!) that I’ve been biting the big one lately and that my posts these days leave much to... -
An Introduction
Posted on March 29, 2005 | 1 CommentIf you’re coming here from the New York Times article, welcome. This website is a dedication to the life of Edward Champion (1974-1998), who was unexpectedly beheaded by a samurai... -
How to Read When the Power Goes Off
Posted on March 27, 2005 | 1 CommentLast night, at Chateau Mabuse, the power went off. We were sorry to see our pages on the computer lost into the ether. But this did, nevertheless, lead us to... -
Unlawful Common Knowledge
Posted on February 20, 2005 | 3 CommentsI’m no historian. I’m just a guy who reads books with a layman’s ambition of being well-rounded. I can give you a brief overview of Ferdinand de Lesseps’ attempt to... -
The Drunk
Posted on January 7, 2005 | 1 Comment“I can’t breathe, motherfucker! I can’t breathe!” The drunk had only his voice left, but he was determined to fight. A neighbor and I called from the window. We begged... -
Gone FishingPosted on November 29, 2004 | 6 CommentsI’d initially posted some ballyhoo about taking a break. But announcing yet another hiatus strikes me as not only repetitious, but vaguely dishonest. This blog has always served as a... -
Momentary Sayonara
Posted on November 19, 2004 | 5 CommentsThere’s nothing really to say. And the last thing I want to do is lecture like Neal Pollack. So I’m going the hell away for a week or so. I... -
Status Report
Posted on November 9, 2004 | 6 CommentsI am badly in need of a vacation. I have been waiting for Thanksgiving to roll around, but alas even two weeks away is an eternity. Because of the general... -
And the Worst Thing is That He Can’t Stop Talking About the Fuckin’ Beatles
Posted on May 27, 2004 | 2 CommentsThere’s a guy from Liverpool in our apartment at the moment whom we haven’t seen in six years. (Yeah, we’re just as mystified as you are.) Between this and the... -
The Time Has Come
Posted on March 30, 2004 | 7 CommentsAt long last, I have figured this gambit out. The Life, only occasionally referred to here in Reluctant-Land, has become one of those things where one wonders how to maintain...