Why didn't anyone stop me?

Clearly this was a terrible idea. I'm enjoying reading The Odyssey (again) about 50x more than I am slogging through the first chapter of Ulysses (again). And I'm itching to get back to my stacks...still haven't touched Rivka Galchen's Atmospheric Disturbances or the short story collections from Lauren Groff and Pasha Malla that I've been waiting to read since last semester. Listening to Chris Bachelder read some new stories a few weeks ago also made me want to finally sit down and finish U.S.!, but, alas, I have lent out my copy for the summer. Really what I'm finding is that, one week in, I am already losing heart in my battle to conquer Ulysses once and for all.

When the great Nick Hornby was still writing for The Believer, he scoffed (good naturedly?) at the idea that we should read books because "we're supposed to" or because they're classics or because other people talk about them, and we want to join in the conversation. I believe his opinion was something along the lines of: forcing yourself to read a book when you don't want to just because you think you should be reading it is not only unpleasant, but you don't actually get that much out of it anyway.

I find myself sort of trapped in the middle ground of the two arguments Hornby represented in that piece: need to finish Ulysses for school; don't want to do it because it's summer; will most assuredly not have time in the fall.

I am very, very tempted, à la the Nick Hornby school of reading, to put U down again to get to all the fun stuff I've been stockpiling. I'm just afraid I won't pick it back up...

***

In other news, I'm back from Pennsylvania with new running shoes and fresh laundry. Home is beautiful as always, but getting slightly more depressed as the recession kicks in. Saw both sisters--one is pulling more money as a waitress than I might this whole summer, the other is fresh back from Penland, where she made and sold some fantastic pieces for charity. She's really settling into her own as an artist, I think.

***

As promised, some summer music suggestions:

For running and other frantic activities, including driving:

Passion Pit, Manners
Columbia (2009)

With particular favorite tracks being "Moth's Wings" and "Little Secrets."




Miike Snow, Miike Snow
Downtown (2009)

The single, "Animal," may still be my favorite track off the album, which fizzes in and out of a solid listen.




For all-around good pop sensibility:

Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca
Domino (2009)

Amazing.





Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz!
Interscope (2009)

Still one of my favorite bands. A departure from the (for whatever personal reason/disposition) earth-shattering Show Your Bones, but still solid.



For best new Beirut/Arcade Fire hybrid and/or lost-at-birth sibling:

Fanfarlo, Reservoir
self-released (2009)

Category says it all. Still enjoyable.





For writing endeavors:

Elvis Perkins, Ash Wednesday
XL (2007)

Dear god, please skip "May Day," if you know what's good for you.




Jeff Hanson, Madam Owl
Kill Rock Stars (2008)

Poor Jeff Hanson. Hopefully in Dead Rock Stars heaven.

Let's go find summer.

Yes, Heidi Swanson, yes let's.

So far, summer has been alternately lazy and hectic. Roller coasters and concerts jostle with libraries and placement tests. My CSA share is yielding all the lettuce I could ever dream of. And delicious strawberries almost better than the occasional ice cream cone. I tore right through Jedediah Berry's The Manual of Detection last weekend and am excited to start working at Small Beer Press with Jed and Gavin and Kelly (and fellow interns!).


So far, I've seen Thao Nguyen rock The Iron Horse and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists blow up the Easthampton High School gym (an interesting change in venue, for sure). Missed what was probably an amazing TMSR show in Boston, but am looking forward to their new album, due out July 14. Bowerbirds are playing Northampton in a few weeks, and though I don't think anything can top when they played an opening set for Bon Iver last summer in Philadelphia, I'm planning on heading over. Slightly weirded out by the death of Michael Jackson, but John Richards's amazing kickoff to The Morning Show yesterday celebrated the spirit of a pop genius in exactly the right way. The whole first hour of that show was top-notch, and if you feel like you need a summertime pick-me-up, you can stream the show over at KEXP.org.

Headed to the home region for the 4th of July weekend. Starting Ulysses as of July 1. These are probably bad concurrent moves to make. If I fall behind, I suppose there's always the new (and beautifully drawn) Ulysses SEEN project by Throwaway Horse to keep me motivated.

Tonight: final reading of the Juniper Summer Institute: Chris Bachelder, Arisa White, and Matthew Zapruder (oh my).

To come: playlists!

"Daylight" on a rainy day

Between the gloomy weather and struggling through research for work today (a book-length scholarly study on the cultural importance of tea in Victorian England), I was in need of motivation from the new-ish Matt and Kim single, "Daylight." Their new album Grand is poppy as ever, but I enjoy their new stuff much more than tracks like "Yea Yeah," which seems less complex and flat in comparison to their latest efforts. I must admit, though, that I enjoyed the continued theme of food fights in this video, though Matt and Kim seem to have downgraded, trading a cardboard cut-out kitchen for a garbage dumpster...



Is anyone else not surprised that Matt threw out his back and had to cancel tour dates this spring?

Vermont Summer Round-Up

Vermont was cold. Beautiful, but cold. This might have something to do with being on top of Mount Mansfield, where the temperature dropped about 10 degrees just going up the mountain.

To remind myself of the season, here are a couple of sweet links (sweet=summer? warmth? something.):

• The fledgling issue of Jellyfish Magazine premiers
  
• The Morning News hosts "Infinite Summer," a three-month challenge to read DFW's tome Infinite Jest in its entirety.
  
• A new story by Lauren Groff is now online at Open Letters
• Hobart gives Brady Udall (an F&M alum!) and Pasha Malla the thumbs up
• Cool factor: a Rubik's Cube font generator

In other (personal) news, I started my new job as a proofreader of an academic manuscript today. Between that, spending some time on the farm, and my own reading/writing, this summer should be busy--a good thing, since I need a schedule to keep me from devolving into a full fledged couch potato/insomniac caffeine addict.

Because sometimes you just need someone who will throw knives at you

I enjoyed La fille sur le pont way more than I thought I would. After reading the description on the Netflix sleeve, I despaired: what on earth had made me request a film about a suicidal, sex-crazy French woman who falls for a gambling (possibly telekinetic) knife-thrower (played by the great Daniel Auteuil)?

I still don't have an answer for you, there. But, I can tell you that La fille is a great, fun summer film: it pokes fun at its own noir-ish ambitions and, amidst all the lusty jokes (somewhat irritatingly at the female character's expense), the movie somehow succeeds in portraying a love story based on mutual need rather than overwhelming physical desire.

It strikes me that this clip is a little Moulin Rouge-ish, though the film itself is not. Allez-y.

Summer like a fire sale -or- I'm feeling kind of list-y

Summer means big books and ridiculous pop music...as soon as I can pay attention long enough to do anything about the pile of novels I've been meaning to read and (imaginary) CDs I've been meaning to crank through my nifty globular speakers. Also on the summer agenda:

• vegetables
• Zumba
• Research Assistant-ing
• apartment hunting
• my Southern Odyssey (Lancaster/Philadelphia [whatever; it's the Mason-Dixon line], Virginia, and Florida [twice!])
• silly French movies

Since I can only seem to think in lists right now, here's the line-up for summer reading here at paper alphabet:

The Fortress of Solitude
Jonathan Lethem

My friend Jessica swears by this book, and I love Jessica, so I'm reading it. Despite my reservations about the whole Brooklyn publishing phenomenon. Also, I like superheroes.




A Fraction of the Whole
Steve Toltz

Recommended months and months ago by the great Maud Newton (who also lives in Brooklyn...). I've been itching to read it all year. Jail. Australians. I have to do something now that House isn't on anymore.




The Manual of Detection
Jedediah Berry

Jed Berry is a UMass MFA alum, so I've had the opportunity to listen to him talk a few times since being here. He was especially encouraging about working with/for small presses, which I think is admirable and exciting. Also, Jensen wants people to read this book, and I love him, so I will.


Delicate, Edible Birds And Other Stories
Lauren Groff

I've sort of had a girl crush on Lauren Groff ever since I met her at the Emerging Writers Festival in Lancaster two years ago. Her novel, Monsters of Templeton, hadn't even come out at that point; I've been following her ever since (you know, on foot, and everything. [I probably shouldn't joke about these things on the interwebs.])


Pretty Monsters
Kelly Link

I've been meaning to read Kelly Link for two years now, and I think I'll start with her YA collection of stories, since the summer makes me want to write stories with magic and monsters and people carrying their own heads. Her other collection, Magic for Beginners, is available for download (for free!) over at Small Beer Press--also where Jed Berry works as an assistant editor (the world is a small place.).


The Withdrawal Method
Pasha Malla

I think Pasha Malla is great. I think this interview with Pasha Malla, conducted by his mother, is possibly greater.

Did I mention that I love Canadians?




Super Natural Cooking
Heidi Swanson

Heidi Swanson knows how to make great food--and how to take beautiful photographs of the great food that make cooking look glamorous instead of time-consuming, and, if you're me, kind of a messy, tasty disaster. What I've read of this book has since become an indispensable resource for many of my cooking endeavors. A lot of these recipes are available for free on her website, 101 Cookbooks, but the book is worth getting--even if I don't think I'll ever purchase quinoa flour, she makes developing a pantry sound like quite the adventure.

I also plan to read lots of George Eliot. And Virginia Woolf. And July will be devoted to finally reading Ulysses cover to cover. Because I wouldn't be in grad school if I weren't a huge, huge nerd.

Bicycle Cure-All

On Sunday I went for a bike ride in the best kind of weather: the gray skies of almost-rain that make the whole world explode with color. I had no idea that the little town I live in extends so far to the west of the north-south road I travel everyday. Although at times it felt like I was in Amherst suburbia, there were also old farmhouses, tilled fields, horses, chickens, rabbits.


And the roads were quiet and flat, good for a jaunt. In many ways it felt like riding through a shrunken version of home: town and country all in a few square miles.

Biking cleared the air in my head, let some bugs out. This week still looks like: grading free-for-all seminar paper seminar paper presentation collapse repeat.