This Summer's Reads

This summer I've been doing a ton of reading, a ton. Despite having read so many books I've done a lot too like a 10 day trip to Texas, a 3 week jaunt through Spain, 2 days in London and some good times with the awesome folks in St. Louis. Basically I mention those trips just so you all don't think I'm just a super nerd who spends all his summer time reading.

Now for the list:
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
At first I had no idea what this book was about and had a hard time getting into it but then I decided that it was absolutely hilarious and laughed my way through. Still not sure if it was supposed to be so funny but I just found all of the coincidences and strange occurrences impossible to be taken seriously so I cracked up. Read most of it on the beach in San Sebastian and thought the mostly sun-drenched imaginary town fit very nicely on the beach.

This book is the saga of the Buendia family and the rise and fall of a village in Mexico. Every male child born in the family is named either Aureliano or Jose Arcadio but it isn't really too difficult to follow who is who. Colonel Aureliano Buendia started 32 civil wars and fathered 17 sons all named Aureliano...if you can't laugh at that absurdity, c'mon! Marquez won a Nobel Prize for literature so you know he can write.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I really want to like Neil Gaiman. The dude writes books, screenplays, comic books, articles and whatever else he wants to do. I respect that. However, his stuff just isn't that great in my opinion. I liked American Gods where all the local gods came over with every settler who came to America over history. The main character, Shadow, is a mortal who is being exposed to this other world peopled by the gods of yore for the first time just as we are being exposed as well making our guide through the saga have the same fresh eyes as the reader. There is a lot going on in this book and seeing the gods you've heard of, and many you haven't, brought to life and seeing them exist in corporeal bodies in our world is fun but the story just wasn't all that interesting. Seems like Gaiman had one really great idea, to bring the gods to life, but had no idea what to do with them once they had that life breathed into them.

The Kite Runner, Kalied Hosseini
Read this one on a recommendation and thought it was brilliant! Probably the best book I've read in quite awhile. There is an excellent portrayal of a place that doesn't exist anymore, pre-Taliban Afghanistan, that is richly brought to life in a nostalgic, vibrant, sad-for-its-ruin kind of fashion.
The story migrates over to the United States for a time but eventually moves back to Afghanistan. There is some of the Power of One tossed in here, which I love, as well as a beautiful love story and the tale of the love and kinship of friendship. The sentence that hooked me within the first 10 pages was, "There is a way to be good again." Brilliant.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
I won't say anything about what happened because I will never intentionally play the spoiler. All I will say is that this was a fantastic ride that I was thrilled to be a part of and the end was worth the journey. If you aren't into the whole Potter thing, give it a shot. Let the wonderful characters enter your life, you'll be happier for their presence.

World War Z, Max Brooks
First off...I'm a huge fan of the Zombie genre. Seen as many zombie movies as possible but never read a zombie book before. Found out about this one because of a newspaper article and felt compelled to pick it up, wise move! This is the oral history of the Zombie War. Set 10 years after the end of the war for mankind's very existence there is no main character. Instead, there are myriad "interviews" trying to develop the human element of this cataclysmic period. The result is harrowing, terrifying, powerful, haunting, horrible, fantastic, uplifting and ultimately hopeful. It is a political and social commentary for contemporary times that resounds with terrible clarity. Not only is it a tale of the rise of the undead but it is also a tale of political ego and the power of the human spirit. There are some amazing characters brought to life in this novel that do exactly what it sets out to do: present the human element in a terrible tale of history.

Heart Shaped Box, Joe Hill
Aging rock star and collector of the occult buys a dead man's suit that is purported to contain the ghost of its former owner. Scary as shit and I can't get those scribbly eyes out of my head! This is Stephen King's son and I can say that the gift of tale-weaving has been passed down another generation. BTW Hill actually knows how to end a story.

The Dark Tower Series, Stephen King
Briefly mentioned this series in a past blog just as I was setting out on the long hard road. Now I've been done for about two months and feel that the saga is one of my favorites. Any time you invest that much time to read a hefty seven book series it becomes part of you. The story is brilliant, the character of Roland will never leave my mind and I spend time thinking of ways to bring the story to celluloid form and reading the new comic books based on it called The Gunslinger Born. Food for thought: wouldn't this series make an incredible HBO series or mini-series? They never run too long and it could be as brutal as it needs to be because it would be on cable. Besides, HBO makes incredible shows that are rich and alive. Just something for me to muse upon.

Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
Never read it before and I love Hemingway. Picked it up, finished it in a day and only further cemented Papa Hemingway into my list as one of the best ever. The guy was just so good, so good.