Books: June 2006 Archives

There is something about the 2nd Ave. subway platform in summer that sends my imagination off to vacation-land. Perhaps it's the unique odors of urine, vomit, trash, and sweat all coming together in one humid, hot stench of New York.  Between silently cursing the  late-night schedule and  those moments of refreshment as the doors across the platform open and cool air rushes out, I tend to drift off--imagining the smell of seashore and roasting asphalt instead. And whether the spike in guidebook sightings are a result of such far-flung fantasies or practical study by those far more fortunate, this week's Subway Reads is in honor of the travel guide.

Sometimes you are too hot to move. Like on the first day of 90 degree weather. In celebration of ice-cold showers and popsicles, this week's Subway Reads.

Art School Confidential
by Daniel Clowes

The Holy Bible

Homebody/Kabul
by Tony Kushner

The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel
by Lauren Weisberger

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life
by John G. Miller

As always, send us your own sightings and support your local bookseller.

"I want now to affirm that what I am saying here is the truth, even though under torture I might later be forced to say the opposite."

You read Before Night Falls because Reinaldo Arenas is one of the great Latin American writers. You read it because his life inside Cuba goes far beyond anything taught in your high school textbook. You read it because you are not afraid of sex and lust and betrayal and blood and darkness and cruelty and beauty.  You read it because you cannot refuse.

Reinaldo Arenas began writing his memoirs in 1974 while hiding from police in Lenin Park, Havana, using the precious daylight to record his life as a writer, a free-thinker, a gay man, and a lover of freedom. (Four things Fidel Castro is not overly fond of.) The original notebook was lost upon his capture, but in 1990 as he lay dying, he wrote again of his life, the Revolucion, and the Cuban people. The introduction begins with the words "The End," and for a man obsessed with living, he remained dogged by death and destruction from childhood.

Written with a matter-of-factness that defies comprehension, it's really more of a conversation --  little snippets of story that reveal the magical hold his small island exerted upon his own identity and that of so many others, a bond of love, despite the price exacted. If there is anything that comes through from this book, it is both his love and his anger. Love for patria, community, sex, and literature. Anger for the obliteration of, as he calls it, a generation of youth--lost in prisons, executions, extracted confessions, and fear. Anger, also, for the complicitous silence of the world outside his island, a world that continues to turn a blind eye to the human rights violations that occur every day.

It's not exactly a light summer read, but Arenas's deft tone conveys a humor and passion that keep you from utter despair -- a fate I must assume they shielded his own self from as well. Before Night Falls is a quick, obsessive read that shocks and amazes in equal measure. Pick it up to discover not just what becomes of others, but what we are all capable of becoming.

After the jump, this week's F train treasures.

In the excitement of a week(end) that was summer, I've been a little lax about posting. However, as Adam reminded me yesterday, there are people out there who actually read this thing, and yes, The Kite Runner is an excellent novel. I finished Paul Malmont's The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril last week. If pirates were not considered necessary to the definition of swashbuckling, well, then it'd be a swift, swashbuckling, white-knuckled yarn. If you like your men square-jawed, your women passionate, and your adventures impossibly resolvable, then you'll need to make room in your beach bag.

In other subway news, Voodoo Lounge is staking a claim for itself with multiple sightings in the past two weeks. According to a Booklist review,

"The term voodoo lounge refers to the machine-gun nest on the port bow of a ship. Reading this startling novel is the literary equivalent of standing watch on that perch."

Author Christian Bauman is a contributor to All Things Considered and former soldier, whose first book The Ice Beneath You received some nice praise as well. Something to check out in the weeks to come.

After the jump, the top five for the week and a brief plea for your summer favorites.