Yeah man I only like highbrow stuff and not spy and assassin movies. I totally haven't read all the Bourne books and seen all the movies and even tracked down lists of the real spycraft alluded to in both (most of it is made up) ir anything like that. Nope.
Great essay, especially the paragraph about not having a book is like a headache, the peripheral awareness. If I don't have my next library book, or even if I just love the book I'm reading, I slow down so that my brain's friend is still there.
When family & friends are impressed by my armchair performance during "Jeopardy!" I tell them my secrets of success are (1) I'm old, and had a liberal arts education (2) I read a lot — books, magazines, newspapers, interesting people online, and all the little information cards in museums.
I think of you as a writer, so when's your next book?
My friends are telling me I should read Dungeon Crawler Carl, but my beach reads are typically either Connie Willis Sci Fi romances like The Road to Roswell or Japanese Akutagawa Prize winners where the conflict is mostly internal like Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen where the main character and her childhood friend are supporting each other through the deaths of their parents. The Japanese novels also often contain a lot of food imagery which is comforting.
I will also save some Daniel Silva and Lincoln Lawyer novels to my library on Spotify. Thanks for mentioning spy novels and legal drama I don’t know yet if I like but might introduce me to a different mode of thinking.
This is why I so especially love my kindle. ALL my books - dozens, hundreds even - stuffed in my backpack or back pocket to be enjoyed anywhere at any time. Have you ever noticed that several of your library holds become available at the same time? But that's a GOOD thing. Put them all in the little black bookshelf and read them all at once!!
I have the excuse of running a book festival (as a job!) to read all the time. Right now, TJ Klune is just exactly perfect. I’m planning to devour his entire oeuvre.
Is this from the 80’s (or any time before ebooks)? I’ve been a reader for a long time and I’m so glad I don’t have try to keep a book open anymore. Or have enough light etc…yeah I get it “I just like a real book”. I can select any word for the meaning and always have enough light and don’t have to fumble with an unwieldy book. And some of the paper is really dry , I could go on. Coffee table books are ok. Thanks for taking me back to that terrible time. Haha
I enjoy reading on a device quite a lot. Especially on the elliptical. But Im trying to go old school, hard copy books only at bedtime as a part of sleep hygiene. It works. I often fall asleep with my book in my hands and my 👓 still on!
I am literally reading your book now! Almost done, the one you wrote for your son. Its brilliant! My child will be in grade 11 this coming year and I've started a book/memoir for them. You inspired me to weave life advice in there, as well as personal experiences and journeys from myself and my family. Thanks again for your inspiration!
Of course, Michael Ian Black followers love books too! I get a little depressed if I don't have a healthy stack of books on my bedside table waiting in line to be read. I read while on the elliptical and again right before bedtime. Enjoyed your piece and all of the comments so far too.
Summer Reading. "When a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell. The guy said, 'Screw you, buddy,' yanked his Chevy back into the stream of traffic, and roared on down to the tollbooths. Parker spat in the right-hand lane, lit his last cigarette, and walked across the George Washington Bridge."
The first three sentences of a book by Richard Stark called 'The Hunter,'* published early in 1962 when I was 16. I found it in among a box of used books I bought for 50 cents at a neighborhood auction that summer. I was hooked. I didn't know books could do that! The schools had me totally brainwashed, blinkered, and blinded. Books were 'The Great Gatsby,' 'Moby Dick,' 'Oliver Twist.' Those are the books I was given, so those were the books I read, and I had never read a book that started even remotely like 'The Hunter.'
Even as a tender youth, I knew that Parker hadn't really said "go to hell" and that the other guy didn't say, "Screw you, buddy." As an up-and-coming hitchhiker myself, I had a pretty good guess what a "fresh-faced guy" might be. Wow!
Last night I read a book that starts: "When he saw that the one called Harbin was wearing a wire, Parker said, 'Deal me out a hand,' and got to his feet."
Yes, more than 40 years and two dozen novels later, Parker is still at it. By the end of graf two, he's garroting the hapless Harbin. A delightful summer read!
I've changed, but my reading tastes apparently haven't. Nowadays Stark can let his characters use the real words, but the whole rest of his shtik is there unchanged in all its glory. Parker is one mean sonofagun (if you know what I mean.)
Sometimes I imagine teaching a course in Noir Crime Fiction, starting with 'The Hunter' where it all started for me, but my inner snob recoils and reminds me that 'The Hunter' is not a real book. 'The Great Gatsby' is a real book; 'Moby Dick' is a real book. Serious people do not read 'The Hunter' and they certainly do not pay college tuition to find out what happened when Parker got to the Manhattan end of the George Washington Bridge. And if you don't like that, why then you can just go to hell, buddy.
* also published at different times as 'Point Blank' and 'Payback'
This one was funny. Not that the others I’ve received from you via email weren’t funny, but this stood out enough for me to open Substack to leave a comment…not just nod in agreement at it then tap the trash can icon after I’d *mostly* finished it (sorry!). Perhaps it’s also that I’m in a summer reading mood, willing to let other things wait while I put up my feet and read something till I’m drowsy, just like you mentioned. This was a good read. Nicely done!
My current go-to this summer is Fannie Flag. With her stories, I feel transported to another time and somewhere I’d rather be, with amusing characters who seem familiar. Her humor is woven into every paragraph. She was always my favorite on Match Game reruns because she had the seemingly rare quality of being witty and also genuine, and that carries over in her books.
It’s summer and beach reads are upon us. I don’t know why it seems so special, seeing as I never go on vacation and, if I did, it certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near a beach. Also, I am never without a reading list and a number of library holds waiting in the wings. But I always fantasize about throwing a book in a sandy beach tote with a towel and some sunscreen when the summer reading lists come out.
Unrelated to reading on the beach, but I did go to a beach one time. It rained torrents, soand we watched tv in the condo rental. They played every single Jaws movie ever made, and we watched them all back to back. It was glorious.
Do you read Ken Follett? I have a feeling you would like his Century Trilogy. War, spies, drama, intrigue following the same five families throughout the 20th Century. I couldn't put them down.
if the beach you're on is in greece and you're not reading the colossus of maroussi by henry miller, you are reading the wrong book haha
Yeah man I only like highbrow stuff and not spy and assassin movies. I totally haven't read all the Bourne books and seen all the movies and even tracked down lists of the real spycraft alluded to in both (most of it is made up) ir anything like that. Nope.
Great essay, especially the paragraph about not having a book is like a headache, the peripheral awareness. If I don't have my next library book, or even if I just love the book I'm reading, I slow down so that my brain's friend is still there.
When family & friends are impressed by my armchair performance during "Jeopardy!" I tell them my secrets of success are (1) I'm old, and had a liberal arts education (2) I read a lot — books, magazines, newspapers, interesting people online, and all the little information cards in museums.
I think of you as a writer, so when's your next book?
My friends are telling me I should read Dungeon Crawler Carl, but my beach reads are typically either Connie Willis Sci Fi romances like The Road to Roswell or Japanese Akutagawa Prize winners where the conflict is mostly internal like Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen where the main character and her childhood friend are supporting each other through the deaths of their parents. The Japanese novels also often contain a lot of food imagery which is comforting.
I will also save some Daniel Silva and Lincoln Lawyer novels to my library on Spotify. Thanks for mentioning spy novels and legal drama I don’t know yet if I like but might introduce me to a different mode of thinking.
This is why I so especially love my kindle. ALL my books - dozens, hundreds even - stuffed in my backpack or back pocket to be enjoyed anywhere at any time. Have you ever noticed that several of your library holds become available at the same time? But that's a GOOD thing. Put them all in the little black bookshelf and read them all at once!!
Yep. Some books rate slightly above playing solitaire on your phone.
I have the excuse of running a book festival (as a job!) to read all the time. Right now, TJ Klune is just exactly perfect. I’m planning to devour his entire oeuvre.
I don’t know the last time I went to the beach, but I love sitting on my porch in the summer with whatever book I’m currently reading.
I cut my teeth the summer I turned 12 (1972) on a copy of Gone With The Wind that I found in the bookcase among the Readers Digest Condensed Books.
If a book grabs me in the first page, I know I’m in for a treat!
Is this from the 80’s (or any time before ebooks)? I’ve been a reader for a long time and I’m so glad I don’t have try to keep a book open anymore. Or have enough light etc…yeah I get it “I just like a real book”. I can select any word for the meaning and always have enough light and don’t have to fumble with an unwieldy book. And some of the paper is really dry , I could go on. Coffee table books are ok. Thanks for taking me back to that terrible time. Haha
I enjoy reading on a device quite a lot. Especially on the elliptical. But Im trying to go old school, hard copy books only at bedtime as a part of sleep hygiene. It works. I often fall asleep with my book in my hands and my 👓 still on!
I am literally reading your book now! Almost done, the one you wrote for your son. Its brilliant! My child will be in grade 11 this coming year and I've started a book/memoir for them. You inspired me to weave life advice in there, as well as personal experiences and journeys from myself and my family. Thanks again for your inspiration!
I also finished the book and recommended it to a friend who has a son
Of course, Michael Ian Black followers love books too! I get a little depressed if I don't have a healthy stack of books on my bedside table waiting in line to be read. I read while on the elliptical and again right before bedtime. Enjoyed your piece and all of the comments so far too.
Summer Reading. "When a fresh-faced guy in a Chevy offered him a lift, Parker told him to go to hell. The guy said, 'Screw you, buddy,' yanked his Chevy back into the stream of traffic, and roared on down to the tollbooths. Parker spat in the right-hand lane, lit his last cigarette, and walked across the George Washington Bridge."
The first three sentences of a book by Richard Stark called 'The Hunter,'* published early in 1962 when I was 16. I found it in among a box of used books I bought for 50 cents at a neighborhood auction that summer. I was hooked. I didn't know books could do that! The schools had me totally brainwashed, blinkered, and blinded. Books were 'The Great Gatsby,' 'Moby Dick,' 'Oliver Twist.' Those are the books I was given, so those were the books I read, and I had never read a book that started even remotely like 'The Hunter.'
Even as a tender youth, I knew that Parker hadn't really said "go to hell" and that the other guy didn't say, "Screw you, buddy." As an up-and-coming hitchhiker myself, I had a pretty good guess what a "fresh-faced guy" might be. Wow!
Last night I read a book that starts: "When he saw that the one called Harbin was wearing a wire, Parker said, 'Deal me out a hand,' and got to his feet."
Yes, more than 40 years and two dozen novels later, Parker is still at it. By the end of graf two, he's garroting the hapless Harbin. A delightful summer read!
I've changed, but my reading tastes apparently haven't. Nowadays Stark can let his characters use the real words, but the whole rest of his shtik is there unchanged in all its glory. Parker is one mean sonofagun (if you know what I mean.)
Sometimes I imagine teaching a course in Noir Crime Fiction, starting with 'The Hunter' where it all started for me, but my inner snob recoils and reminds me that 'The Hunter' is not a real book. 'The Great Gatsby' is a real book; 'Moby Dick' is a real book. Serious people do not read 'The Hunter' and they certainly do not pay college tuition to find out what happened when Parker got to the Manhattan end of the George Washington Bridge. And if you don't like that, why then you can just go to hell, buddy.
* also published at different times as 'Point Blank' and 'Payback'
This one was funny. Not that the others I’ve received from you via email weren’t funny, but this stood out enough for me to open Substack to leave a comment…not just nod in agreement at it then tap the trash can icon after I’d *mostly* finished it (sorry!). Perhaps it’s also that I’m in a summer reading mood, willing to let other things wait while I put up my feet and read something till I’m drowsy, just like you mentioned. This was a good read. Nicely done!
My current go-to this summer is Fannie Flag. With her stories, I feel transported to another time and somewhere I’d rather be, with amusing characters who seem familiar. Her humor is woven into every paragraph. She was always my favorite on Match Game reruns because she had the seemingly rare quality of being witty and also genuine, and that carries over in her books.
I LOVE Fanny Flagg...even her sad tales make you laugh out loud.
It’s summer and beach reads are upon us. I don’t know why it seems so special, seeing as I never go on vacation and, if I did, it certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near a beach. Also, I am never without a reading list and a number of library holds waiting in the wings. But I always fantasize about throwing a book in a sandy beach tote with a towel and some sunscreen when the summer reading lists come out.
Unrelated to reading on the beach, but I did go to a beach one time. It rained torrents, soand we watched tv in the condo rental. They played every single Jaws movie ever made, and we watched them all back to back. It was glorious.
Do you read Ken Follett? I have a feeling you would like his Century Trilogy. War, spies, drama, intrigue following the same five families throughout the 20th Century. I couldn't put them down.
I concur and Ken's spy stuff is reasonably portable but his historical works may require a wagon or toboggan to get them to the beach,