Dave Matthews, Terminator, and Dan Brown vs. Medeski, Martin, Wood, and Joyce

It recently occurred to me that I have never written about a book on this blog. For the majority of my life (until some point in college, actually, I think), I avoided talking about the fact that I like books with most people. I don't think anyone else I went to high school with had ever read a book. As I recall it, attending Stillwater Area High School involved a lot of having books assigned to us, which no one read, and which someone would find the description of on the internet and then explain to other people immediately before English class started. And that was AP English, which actually made it easier to learn stuff off the internet, because we read things like "The Scarlet Letter" and "The Grapes of Wrath," and it was easy to find descriptions of those on the internet, even in the early oughts.

Those are examples of two books I have never read, but which I wrote some pretty good essays on, in English class. I never cheated in any way - instead of reading descriptions of the books on the internet or asking the other kids in the class before the electronic chimes signaled class was beginning, I would skim the chapters of the boring books quickly, reading the first couple paragraphs and then the last couple paragraphs, mostly to figure out if anyone died. This was more than most people did, so I managed to write better essays. I also read the books I liked, such as The Great Gatsby and... well... I'm certain that there had to have been at least one another book I was assigned in high school that I read, but the title escapes me right now.

Joke. I'm joking. Laughter, aloud.

Anyway, I enjoyed reading Vonnegut, Palahniuk, Chabon, TC Boyle, and other disillusioned American male authors who wrote novels about disillusioned American men. Also, a couple of disillusioned British male authors who wrote novels about disillusioned British men, although they tended to not be so disillusioned, mostly because I don't think the British are ever illusioned enough to become disillusioned.

Also, I eventually realized that I am not the only person in the world who reads books, and that there are other people who not only read, but they are comfortable enough with the fact that they read, that they are willing to discuss it aloud. Once I discovered this, I began to read all sorts of things, because people would recommend them.

I just finished reading the book of essays "Housekeeping vs. The Dirt" by Nick Hornby, a semi-illusioned British male. I have had this book on my bookshelf for roughly three years, but I have avoided reading it because I thought the title was confusing and awkward, and because it's about nothing but reading and I can't imagine why anyone would want to read about anyone else reading books. Instead, it has turned out to be rather inspiring... the entire book is just him talking about the books he read over the last month, which he cleverly discusses without ever actually "criticizing" or "reviewing" the books.

Unlike Nick Hornby, I am not someone who is important enough for other people to really care about what I read. However, the good news being that no one has ever read this web-log and no one will make it this far into this post, so I can use this as a way to keep track of my books. From here on out, I intend to, once a month, describe what I have read over the last month, my thoughts on it, et cetera.

Beginning with "The Housekeeping vs. The Dirt": "One of the problems, it seems to me, is that we have got it into our heads that books should be hard work, and unless they're hard work, they're not doing us any good." He goes on to refute this snobbish idea that there are books that people should be admired for reading, and books that people should be mocked, either to their face or behind their back, for liking. This idea that people who like Dan Brown deserve to be mocked, while people who have read Finnegan's Wake or Infinite Jest are people worth knowing.

I hate music snobs who make me feel bad for unironically liking Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson and Lil Wayne, just as I hate it when people imply that I don't appreciate film because I think the new Terminator is spectacular. And it pisses me off when people have laughed at me because I have said that Bret Easton Ellis is my favorite author... somehow, that has actually occurred, and it didn't cross my mind, as it occurred or afterward until right now, that I was being mocked by the kind of pricks who I am in league with when I turn around and laugh at someone whose favorite book is The Firm.

So it's time for me to stop being a book snob, but, at the same time, to begin keeping track of what I read and putting it up here. I was originally going to do that, within this post, but this got so out of control that I will make my next post about the books I read recently and my thoughts on them.

But last of all, this great thought from Hornby, regarding the idea of attempting to read a book because it's "good" or a "classic" or "important," rather than because you think it's fun to read it: "Please, please: put it down. You'll never finish it. Start something else."