On reading gigantic books

Will I lose these 10 pounds by springtime?

I bumped into my good buddy Cliff a couple of weeks ago, and he got me thinking about "giant books."  He said that he has a list of large-form novels he's wanted to read for years, but he's been intimidated by their size and scope.  But now he finished one and loved it, and he's hungry for more.

I don't know if the change of the seasons inspired me somehow, but I too am excited about giant novels since this conversation. I decided to read some giant novels I've missed over the years and re-read a few I haven't read since college.  So I've stocked up on giant books for winter, like some kind of alopecic indoor squirrel.

Here's my list for the season:

William Gaddis - The Recognitions.  Never read it.  If I end up liking it, I'll add JR to my list, too.
William Gass - The Tunnel.  Never read it, but I'm impressed with the 30-year backstory on its composition.
James Joyce - Ulysses.  Read it in college, but it's been a while.
David Foster Wallace - Infinite Jest.  Read in college, loved it, looking forward to entering that world again.
Joseph McElroy - Women and Men.  Never read.
Malcom Lowry - Under the Volcano.  Never read but heard it described as "a Mexican Ulysses."  Sounds great!
Richard Powers - The Gold Bug Variations.  Never read it, but I've read some other books by Powers that I really liked.

Along with some other reading I'm already doing, I imagine these will be more than enough for the season.  But if I finish those, I'll add:

Gilbert Sorrentino: Mulligan Stew.  Never read.
David Markson: Wittgenstein's Mistress.  Never read.

When I was talking with Cliff about huge books, I remarked how I would highly recommend reading them straight through, instead of feeling like you need to stop and look up every reference you don't already understand, keep track of every detail, etc.  Just get in the flow and read, and if you admire the overall work enough, you can always go back and read again to pull out more details.

I've heard lots of folks talk about how intimidating Ulysses and Infinite Jest are over the years, and I always got the impression they felt like they had to pull in every detail and layer as they read.  Indeed, that could make for an unpleasant and time consuming assignment.  But I guarantee you that if you like reading, simply reading the books straight through, staying with their internal pace and flow instead of hesitating, they're incredibly fun to read.

Huge books are like little universes all their own.  And no one expects you to "understand" a universe as a prerequsite to enjoyment or participation in it.  All of those details have to be there to create the universe, but just like getting through a typical day can be a complex barrage of sensory input, your brain can filter out the parts that aren't critical to your immediate experience.

But don't take my word for it.  Consider this great observation by William Gass from his introduction to Gaddis' Recognitions, which I think could apply to the reading of any large book:

"There's no need for haste, the pages which lie ahead of you will lie ahead of you for as long as you like them to; it is perfectly all right if some things are at first unclear, and if there are references you don't recognize; just go happily on; we don't stay in bed all day, do we? just because we've mislaid our appointment calendar.  No, we need to understand this book--enjoy its wit, its irony, its erudition, its sensuous embodiment--the way we understand a spouse we have lived with and listened to and loved for many years through al their nights.  Persons deserving such devotion and instinctual appreciation are rare; rarer still are the works which are worth it."

Or consider Mortimer Adler's perspective, co-author of the classic How to Read a Book:

"Dear Dr. Adler,

To tell you the truth, I find the so-called great books very difficult to read. I am willing to take your word for it that they are great. But how am I to appreciate the them if they are too hard for me to read? Can you give me some helpful hints on how to read a hard book?

---

THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE about reading is one that I have told my great books seminars again and again: In reading a difficult book for the first time, read the book through without stopping. Pay attention to what you can understand, and don't be stopped by what you can't immediately grasp on this way. Read the book through undeterred by the paragraphs, footnotes, arguments, and references that escape you. If you stop at any of these stumbling blocks, if you let yourself get stalled, you are lost. In most cases you won't be able to puzzle the thing out by sticking to it. You have better chance of understanding it on a second reading, but that requires you to read the book through for the first time.

This is the most practical method I know to break the crust of a book, to get the feel and general sense of it, and to come to terms with its structure as quickly and as easily as possible. The longer you delay in getting some sense of the over-all plan of a book, the longer you are in understanding it. You simply must have some grasp of the whole before you can see the parts in their true perspective -- or often in any perspective at all."

__________________________________________________________________________________

You can read the rest of Adler's commentary here.

My only concern now is keeping my bike upright as I transport these mammoths around while reading them!

Books on creativity

I've had the "writer's block" bug toward working on music for a while.  In my case, I think that most of the problem is simply angst about learning new software, but while I'm gearing up to enter a new phase of musical productivity, I've been revisiting some books about creativity and finding/maintaining inspiration.  Here are some mini-reviews of creativity-oriented books I've found useful at different times, loosely divided by angle of attack (art versus philosophy versus "pop"/business):

From the perspective of art

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg.
Probably like many folks, I was required to read this book for a college class, but it's one of the best required books I've ever read.  Goldberg's advice is generally directed at stimulating creative writing, but I've found that the basic ideas apply to all kinds of creative pursuits.  As a young ruffian, I found her advice at writing in restaurants really useful for developing relationships with places that will let you linger a while: treat your time there tip-wise like a "booth rental" instead of leaving a tiny tip on a cup of coffee, for example.  And I was pleased to discover the work of Russell Edson in her chapter on his brand of strange literary transformations.

The only negative aspect of this book is that I think the ideas generally apply better to short forms of creativity: poems, short stories, song lyrics, etc.  And it's good for ideas to generate new creative material.  However, it doesn't spend much time addressing the different skill sets needed to organize these creative impressions into larger kinds of formats like novels.  To be fair, that really applies to most of the books in this post, though--it seems that books on creativity are largely designed to get you "in the zone," and you can consult more formal resources if you need helping making sense of these ideas in a more ambitious format.

The Art Spirit by Robert Henri

Nebraska's own painter, thinker, and leader of the Ashcan School of painting, Henri's book focuses mostly on the act of painting.  A good portion of the text gets somewhat technical in terms of visual art.  However, quite a bit applies to creativity in general.  The reader can pull what amount to aphorisms out of many sections of the work:

"Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them."


"We are not here to do what has already been done."


"The study of art is the study of the relative value of things."


"No vacillating or uncertain interest can produce a unity."

Good stuff.  It's great to have such a heritage from nearby.

A Book of Surrealist Games, by Alastair Brotchie and Mel Gooding

The concepts in this book are absolutely essential for all artists to explore, in my opinion.  The surrealist games highlight various different modes of finding associations between seemingly disparate items in art, and in the world.  New relationships are discovered both between items in-the-world, and between different artists/people who might collaborate on the games.
I have played surrealist games since college in a variety of formats, and with people from many walks of life, and the results never fail to amaze me in the specific, or inspire me more generally.  I have played most of the games in this book, and also designed some games using music (recorded and performed) that are analogous to the original literary and visual art-based games.  I'll get into these in detail, including some resources to run your own surrealist game-based parties, in a later post.

From the perspective of psychology/spirituality

Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson

Wilson's book generally explores various ways that our minds work, as well as the limits to relatively traditional interpretations of logic.  I could see this book as a valuable resource for the general public as well as those creatively inclined, as its contents help to put various kinds of "normal" suppositions into a larger context.  For creative folks, though, the "exercizes" following each chapter help make the concepts introduced throughout the book into concrete, useful experiences.  In particular, speaking in Korzybski's "E-prime" for a couple of weeks can truly transform your feeling of place in the world (though some of the language shortcuts you'll be compelled to use also have a habit of turning opinions into facts).

books by James Hollis: The Archetypal Imagination, Tracking the Gods, and Creating a Life: Finding Your Own Individual Path

I've only been reading Hollis for a few years, but I've been helped tremendously by his work, especially his "Tracking the Gods" book.  Hollis is a Jungian psychologist and instructor, and his books help to contextualize the power of myth in everyday life toward the formation and nurture of a "personal mythology."  Once you have a grip on some of the things most important to you every day, you have a powerful understanding of your creative priorities.  The books can be a little dry in places, but they're short, potent reads around 150 ass-kicking pages each.  Highly recommended not only for creative motivation, but for balance and context within everyday life.

The Principia Discordia

This book is essentially a religious document for a made up (?) religion, but like the Robert Anton Wilson book (who himself has ties to the Discordian movement), this text help to turn your preconceived notions on their many heads.  Banishing the Curse of Greyface from your life can't hurt in the quest for creativity and fun.  We Discordians, though, must stick apart.

Zen Without Zen Masters by Camden Benares

Benares is another member of the Discordian movement, and his book is formatted as a set of "Western-Zen" aphorisms/koans that help to cut through some of the artificial elements of modern consumer-culture life.  It's a great supplement to the Principia and the RAW book.

From the perspective of "pop" and business literature

Astonish Yourself!  101 Experiments in the Philosophy of Everyday Life by Roger-Pol Droit

This book disposes of the chapter-contents in Wilson's book and goes straight to "excercizes."  Each of it's "experiments" gives a setup describing the anticipated time, props, and effects related to the experiment, followed by instructions and general observations.  Many of the experiments take very little time and energy to attempt while providing some unique insights into our everyday behaviors and expectations for "reality."  These might be fun to incorporate into a surrealist game party...

A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink

This is another book I had to read for a class, but I honestly didn't find it very good.  While it's an interesting survey of how creative (Pink calls it "r-directed") thinking can be incorporated into everyday life and business endeavors, it's only skims the surface compared to many of the books listed below.  However, it does have some good ideas, and it's very easy to read, so if you find some of these other materials headache-inducing, this might be a useful book for you.  I did especially like the last section, dedicated to the notion of "meaning," which largely focuses on incorporating joy and happiness into your life.  In many cases, folks look at "serious" art as generally having a somewhat sad/morbid/depressed disposition, but it's important to remember that being happy doesn't have to equate to being shallow.

The Brain Workout Book by Snowdon Parlette

This book splits the difference between Daniel Pink's book and Roger-Pol Droit's book, containing some general information on modes of thinking and acting interspersed with exercises to try yourself.  Like the Pink book, it's a little on the light side for my tastes, but the contents are nutritious.  I like that it seems to have more of a pop psychology angle compared to Pink's book, which is clearly marketed more to business folks.

A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech

This book is probably the most well-known "classic" of the pop-creativity genre, but it's a good one.  Like Pink's book, it seems to be marketed toward business folks who want more creativity in their work and lives, but it does have some interesting observations.  I like the ways in which it takes seemingly "weird" ideas and puts them into contexts that might actually be useful to more straight-forward folks, and some of those basic ideas do apply to purely creative endeavors, too.  In particular, I think many artists could benefit on the "Avoid Ambiguity" section, which also might help toward the creation of a clear voice and discipline for longer forms of art.

Read on, and Create on!  If you have any more recommendations, I'd love to hear them in the comments...I left out some music-centric books I was thinking of, too, so maybe another creativity book post should happen in the future...

Playlist from 9-19-10

1. Subliminal by They Might Be Giants.  John Henry, 1994 Electra.

John Henry was released following TMBG's most commercially successful record, Flood.  Though I don't get the impression from others that it's a fan favorite, I've always admired this record the most.  Like other TMBG albums, many styles/genres are pulled into the recording, but I really loved how much fuller the arrangements on this full-band recording became.  My favorite Giants song of all, "No One Knows My Plan," would make this my favorite record alone, but it's truly a solid play all the way though.





By the way, this song leads the playlist this week in tribute to the person or persons putting up the cell phone conspiracy posters downtown, such as this gem:

2. Here is Why by Mike Keneally.  Hat, 1993 Guitar Recordings.

I really adore this first "solo" album by Mike Keneally.  The songwriting is great, his guitar and piano playing and singing are technically impressive and deeply emotional, and then he still manages to interject some more abstract/goofy music like this track into the sequence.  I think it's great that folks like Keneally got to work with Frank Zappa, absorb some of his vibe directly, and then continue to evolve beyond the Zappa style as their careers continued.  Keneally might have been one of the last folks to make that journey, but he had great company like Steve Vai and Adrian Belew.

Here's a little taste of Keneally's more recent music, taken from his most recent album, 2009's Scambot:






3. Hymn by Cerberus Shoal.  Tailor of Graves/Hymn 7,’’  2010 Eternal Otter Records.

We covered Cerberus Shoal a few weeks ago, but I'll add that this track is part of a new 7'' release by Eternal Otter this spring.  Both tracks on this release are from the as-yet-unreleased "An Ongoing Ding" recording, which I'd sure love to hear in its entirety!

4. Quaalude to a Kiss by Stolen Kisses.  Motionless and White, 2003 self-released.

Stolen Kisses were an Omaha-based band in the mid 00s whom I really miss.  I first saw them play as "The Matt Foley," and a couple of tracks from that era made it to this full-length release.  Kramer has a great writing style, reaches for interesting melodies, and generally writes some of the best lyrics I've ever encountered in the Midwest.  Fortunately, he's still at it, though he's moved to Chicago and tearing through band names there:  his Kramer vs Kramer just became Slushy.

5. Working for the Man by PJ Harvey.  From To Bring You My Love, 1995 Island.

My favorite track from my favorite PJ Harvey album seems very minimal at first, but there are layers hidden in the near-silence.  Listen for subtle background guitars, some parts "picked" with paint brushes, and distorted tones that take basic blues ideas in new directions.  This track creates an incredible film noir kind of atmosphere, building tension higher and higher with, ultimately, very little in the way of release.  Which I love--not every song has to take us into rising action and lay us to rest just beyond denouement.  This one pulls you onto your feet, and you have to go out and finish the story on your own.

6. Forbidden Fruit (Variations for Voice, String Quartet and Turntable) by John Zorn.  From Spillane, 1987 Elektra Nonesuch.

One of my favorite compositions from my favorite composer John Zorn, Forbidden Fruit dates from Zorn's classic "file card" era, where many of his compositions were created as a series of related "images" or brief impressions set to music.  For the formalists among us, this piece does have a somewhat formal theme and variation format if you listen hard enough.  According to Zorn, there are four sets of 12 variations on 12 themes--a lot of activity for a ten minute composition. But some of these variations appear to happen stacked atop one another: The Kronos Quartet might be playing one set while Christian Marclay's turntable spins several others above them, or scratches them between them.  In many spots, it is difficult to decide what is "real" and what is pre-recorded, an idea that was probably more interesting in 1987 than it would be to listeners today.  Fortunately, the piece is simply amazing aside from those extramusical considerations, bouncing wildly from meditative to violent passages.  In contrast to the PJ Harvey track we just discussed, this composition takes the listener through a rapid, almost disorienting, series of tension and release arcs, more times than most folks are prepared to handle in a day.  I first heard this in high school, and it left a lasting impression that I still can't fully put into words.  Just listen.

7. Grow Sound Tree by OOIOO.   From Gold & Green, 2005 Thrill Jockey.

OOIOO is another wonderful Boredoms side project, this one run by percussionist Yoshimi P-We.  Like the Boredoms themselves, and other side projects like Omoide Hatoba, this group's music has evolved over time from a somewhat punk/noise-influenced beginning to more of a psychedelic/trance approach.  This album sits squarely in the center of that transition, with a few moments of aggression, but elements of long compositions with gradual transitions dominating the approach.  I especially like the moments of harmony singing on this album, including a few that happen in this song, as they're some of the most transcendent moments--well placed releases of tension--in any music I've heard.


Lucky us, there is an official video for this track!





Zip file of the playlist.