Inherent Vice (2009)

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my first Pynchon and I may have been reading it at the wrong time. I ended up putting it down for a while and I know I have overdue fines at the library!

It is beautifully written if you can say that about a story involving a 60s hippie druggie PI who lives on the edge and sees a world that may be slightly off-kilter with reality for the rest of us.

Clever and funny, I thought of Fletch more than once although this is more literate. References to 60s music and culture are 'groovy' and you will feel like you've been on a trip with Larry "Doc" Sportello and maybe a little confused. But it's all good, man.

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Google Book Oddity

Here's something strange.

Avi Solomon says: "If you search Google Images for "Google books fingers" you get poignant images (to my lights) of scanner worker bee hands. Makes me value the massive, anonymous and underpaid effort that goes into maintaining the 'digital' economy." Here's an example.

Read the source blog by clicking here.

"Independent book retailers hit by hard times, tough competition"

For those of use who love browsing in bookstores, the article in today's Jackson Citizen Patriot is another disturbing look at how the world is changing. Our wonderful bookstore the Nomad Bookhouse closed about a year ago and a similar story is being retold throughout Michigan and the rest of the country. What will we do without our independent bookstores? And after they are gone, what will happen to the big chains. Will they follow as well?

A Confession

I went to the library yesterday not to get books but to return them. I parted with two books that I have not read: Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife and David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. The worst part is that they aren't even due until next week.

I pledged to read these books, which were on the Entertainment Weekly Best Fiction of 2008, before the end of the year. Maybe I still will. The other eight titles I read were all wonderful - each in its own way - so I don't think that's the problem.

What has caused this slump? I'm even stalled with my current read (Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice) and haven't picked it up in days. It's not on the list but is an author I thought I SHOULD read. My guess is that reading assigned books, even when self-assigned, seems more like work than fun.

Watch this space to see if I regain my will to finish the last two books on the list. So close and yet so far. (Did I mention the heft of those two titles?)

Banned Book Week 9/26 - 10/3 2009

Even though Banned Book Week is officially over for this year, the map showing locations of challenges to a variety of titles from 2007 - 2009 is worth a look. I was surprised to find Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper under Clawson, Michigan. Click here to see if your favorite book is on the list!