A quick politics note to start. Apologies that the live blog didn’t quite have the full wall to wall coverage that I originally expected but I was having more fun on the phone than writing and as we all know: fun rules. Plus, since there wasn’t much drama as the night progressed I have a feeling that I would simply have resorted to insulting various states for several hours just to make things interesting. Though I am upset that I missed the CNN hologram news reporter, a sign that even CNN realized that there was no way they could fill that many hours of television.
I expect to have one last soapbox post and final analysis on Sunday. Part of it is I need a little distance to grasp the importance of the event. I also want to give this topic the attention it deserves. Mainly, I just have a really cool idea which, if it works, will make it one of my favorite posts ever. But overall I am feeling not really jubilant but relieved. I wasn’t dancing in my apartment when victory was announced. It is much more of a feeling that “Alright, that was step one. Now the hard work begins.”
So until we get to that I would like to do a book review.
“Somewhere in everyone’s inner city is a cemetery of old loves.”
That line appears early on in Jonathan Carroll’s new book “The Ghost in Love.” Reading it stopped me in my tracks as for the first time I envisioned all of my past relationships as graves in a cemetery. Some beautifully memorialized and immaculately kept, Others weathered and forgotten. It is an image that stays with you for a very long time.
I’ve been reading Jonathan’s work for years now almost entirely for moments such as this. He is at times one of the most wonderful writers I have ever seen. He crafts phrases and images in ways that make you put the book down so you could fully understand them. This isn’t because they are challenging, that there is some incredibly subtle imagery that requires a master’s degree to understand. It is mainly a result of lines that are so simple and beautiful that you have to take a moment to reflect on their meaning.
He is, for lack of a better term, a cult writer. Meaning that there are people like me who will buy everything that he has ever written and that allows him to continually publish knowing that he has a set fanbase. As a result I really feel like he has stopped trying to write a best seller and is now focused on writing what he likes to write. Within the first two pages of this book you are introduced to a ghost and a talking dog. It’s not your typical book.
The story is another in a line of his work in the realm of magic realism. It centers on the ghost and the dog as well as a couple dealing with the end of a relationship that neither wanted to have end. It also dwells on life and death and what it means to be who we are. There is a philosophical tone to the entire book, sometimes to the detriment of the plot. At one point it feels as if the narrator has stopped talking and the author has and it is rather jarring. Even so, there is one idea that is brought up that I want to examine here.
It is as much a philosophical proposition as anything. Let’s say I gave you the ability to go back to any moment in your life and stay there. Find that one day, that one hour, when you had no concerns in the world. You were in love, your life was at peace, everything was precisely the way you wanted it to be. That will be your life, that perfect moment on repeat. Or, I will let you continue to live your life with a better understanding of who you are and all the different aspects of your personality. Which would you choose? Would you take the perfect moment from your past or the unknown future?
It is such a tough question to answer. A few months back I had what I can only describe as a perfect day. Even now I don’t know what I would sacrifice to have that feeling again that everything is exactly the way I had dreamed it would be. But I also know that it was a fleeting feeling and that I truly feel that my best days are ahead of me. That is the real crux of the question. Have you given up on the dream of ever being as happy as you once were or do you still hope for a better future? I struggle with this a lot as I sit alone in my apartment in the dark wondering just where my life is headed.
This is what Jonathan’s books make you do. You spend days thinking about images and ideas. In the past I actually dreamt that I was a character in his book and lived out the first few chapters (with the other characters being populated by people from my life). I really consider him to be the best writer you have never heard of. Give one of his books a try. Without a doubt they will make you think.
And besides, you can never go wrong with a talking dog.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Been trying to think of a song that fits with this. Not sure why I came down to “So Alive” by Ryan Adams. Maybe it is just because I really like the song. Works for me.
I expect to have one last soapbox post and final analysis on Sunday. Part of it is I need a little distance to grasp the importance of the event. I also want to give this topic the attention it deserves. Mainly, I just have a really cool idea which, if it works, will make it one of my favorite posts ever. But overall I am feeling not really jubilant but relieved. I wasn’t dancing in my apartment when victory was announced. It is much more of a feeling that “Alright, that was step one. Now the hard work begins.”
So until we get to that I would like to do a book review.
“Somewhere in everyone’s inner city is a cemetery of old loves.”
That line appears early on in Jonathan Carroll’s new book “The Ghost in Love.” Reading it stopped me in my tracks as for the first time I envisioned all of my past relationships as graves in a cemetery. Some beautifully memorialized and immaculately kept, Others weathered and forgotten. It is an image that stays with you for a very long time.
I’ve been reading Jonathan’s work for years now almost entirely for moments such as this. He is at times one of the most wonderful writers I have ever seen. He crafts phrases and images in ways that make you put the book down so you could fully understand them. This isn’t because they are challenging, that there is some incredibly subtle imagery that requires a master’s degree to understand. It is mainly a result of lines that are so simple and beautiful that you have to take a moment to reflect on their meaning.
He is, for lack of a better term, a cult writer. Meaning that there are people like me who will buy everything that he has ever written and that allows him to continually publish knowing that he has a set fanbase. As a result I really feel like he has stopped trying to write a best seller and is now focused on writing what he likes to write. Within the first two pages of this book you are introduced to a ghost and a talking dog. It’s not your typical book.
The story is another in a line of his work in the realm of magic realism. It centers on the ghost and the dog as well as a couple dealing with the end of a relationship that neither wanted to have end. It also dwells on life and death and what it means to be who we are. There is a philosophical tone to the entire book, sometimes to the detriment of the plot. At one point it feels as if the narrator has stopped talking and the author has and it is rather jarring. Even so, there is one idea that is brought up that I want to examine here.
It is as much a philosophical proposition as anything. Let’s say I gave you the ability to go back to any moment in your life and stay there. Find that one day, that one hour, when you had no concerns in the world. You were in love, your life was at peace, everything was precisely the way you wanted it to be. That will be your life, that perfect moment on repeat. Or, I will let you continue to live your life with a better understanding of who you are and all the different aspects of your personality. Which would you choose? Would you take the perfect moment from your past or the unknown future?
It is such a tough question to answer. A few months back I had what I can only describe as a perfect day. Even now I don’t know what I would sacrifice to have that feeling again that everything is exactly the way I had dreamed it would be. But I also know that it was a fleeting feeling and that I truly feel that my best days are ahead of me. That is the real crux of the question. Have you given up on the dream of ever being as happy as you once were or do you still hope for a better future? I struggle with this a lot as I sit alone in my apartment in the dark wondering just where my life is headed.
This is what Jonathan’s books make you do. You spend days thinking about images and ideas. In the past I actually dreamt that I was a character in his book and lived out the first few chapters (with the other characters being populated by people from my life). I really consider him to be the best writer you have never heard of. Give one of his books a try. Without a doubt they will make you think.
And besides, you can never go wrong with a talking dog.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Been trying to think of a song that fits with this. Not sure why I came down to “So Alive” by Ryan Adams. Maybe it is just because I really like the song. Works for me.
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