by osmosis

In the past I've done a book/song list where i pair up a book I'm currently enjoying with an appropriate song. This time around I think I'll just make a list of books on my mind at the moment.

Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means by William Vollmann

This book took Vollmann twenty years to write, but it was well worth the wait. RURD is a 7 Volume treatise on the nature of violence. I pick a copy of Vol I and II at the library (the boxset is out of print and about $600), but he also published a much condensed version of the text for easier access. It's currently on Amazon for 7 dollars, which is about a penny a page - pretty good deal.

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

Bolano spent the last decade of his life slowly dying of kidney failure. During that time (the 1990's) he wrote the bulk of his work, including his most widely read and arguably best work of fiction, The Savage Detectives. It tells the oral history of two Spanish literary Quixotes in search of a lost poet. The book is full of youth, humor, and freedom. Thanks to his suburb translator, all his works are now available in English.

The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

The Ghost Writer marks the beginning of Roth's decade long Zuckerman Bound Trilogy. It's a great starting point for anyone unfamiliar with Roth's massive catalogue of fiction. Nathan Zuckerman is an alter ego to Philip Roth, and shows up in many of his best works, including American Pastoral and The Human Stain. At under 200 pages, The Ghost Writer is a great weekend read.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Easily one of the greatest living authors, McCarthy is currently in a Renaissance of sorts (not that he ever had a low period). In 1985, Blood Meridian was McCarthy's fifth novel and it's initial reception was mild from both critics and readers; however, it is now known as his masterpiece and the beginning of his time as a household name. Meridian is a dark and brutal tale of Indian hunters in the border towns of Mexico in the mid 19th century. It reads like a Western-Horror story written by Milton. If they ever need someone to rewrite the Old Testament, Cormac McCarthy would be the first choice for the job.

Das Kapital by Karl Marx

It's unfortunate that the name Marx strikes people with such visceral reactions. Especially since most people have never read the work they are hardwired to hate. The Communist Manifesto is a quick, passionate, drunken treatise that caused a chain reaction that no one could have expected. I don't really have much interest in it; however, Captial has so far (I'm just diving into it) proved to be a pretty dynamic economic education. I have Adam Smith's Wealth of the Nations cued up right after, so I should have two sides of the same coin pretty well examined by the time I'm done.

Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

Edgar J Watson is a complicated man, and that's what drew Matthiessen towards him thirty years ago. Set in Southwest Florida during the late 19th century, Shadow Country is a retelling of Matthiessen's trilogy on the semi-historical outlaw and murderer, EJ Watson. The sort of folks who would choose the isolated existence of the undeveloped Everglades marshland during that time, come to life under the command of Mattheissen's writing. Those who read the trilogy probably don't have much reason to go back, but to new comers like myself Shadow Country has been a great journey.