Book on repeat.
Yep, it's book meme time again, and I'm glad because I get to ramble on about a book I really love.
Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve watched read [I think this is the correct interpretation] more than five times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your “comfort” book
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?
One book I have re-read extensively as an adult is James Robert Baker's last novel, "Tim & Pete". The book absolutely obsessed me for a while, and as a polemic it genuinely succeeds; Baker's wish to write a book which would make its readers march out to the gun store so they could provide their own ending is nearly successful - although, of course, Baker's targets are in some obvious ways quite far from me, while in other ways they're quite near.
In brief, the plot involves the protagonist, Tim, a middle-aged gay man who works in the film industry (channeling Baker quite obviously there), getting stranded without a car outside LA and ending up on an increasingly dark and surreal quest with his ex-boyfriend, Pete, for whom he still has Feelings. But it's really an extended meditation on the shattering experiences of that generation of gay men who came of age in the 1970s and lived (some of them) to see their lives and communities ripped apart while they were blamed for it. Inevitably, it's shockingly painful at times, and it doesn't have any saints: gay men are shown as being racist, classist, body-fascist and frankly nuts, but it's still easy to understand their rage, and the gay terrorists are inevitably sympathetic. Oh yes, because the latter part of the book considers the question of political terrorism and its efficacy, and it toys nicely with the continuum between violent art and real-world violence, and the vexed ancient question of revenge.
This is a book which used to reduce me to tears when I read it, but it's not a gloomy manifesto; it is in fact very funny and occasionally hilarious (keen film-lovers may notice a certain similarity of sensibility with the works of Gregg Araki, particularly 'The Living End'). It's not easy to read lightly, though, because it's a work of fiction which continually points to the non-fictional - not least the simmering aftermath of the LA Riots. At the time, it made a good companion piece with Poppy Z. Brite's 'Exquisite Corpse', another excellently-written howl of despair at America in the age of AIDS. And the real certainly intrudes. Publication of 'Tim & Pete' caused a lot of controversy, after which Baker could not get his work published. In 1997 he killed himself. Another dead queer, eh? How topical. I didn't know about his suicide until many years after reading the novel, and it also made me furious. I generally get pretty conflicted about suicide, because I'm an extremely strong advocate of people's right to end their own lives and how that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there's no doubt that the impetuses behind those deaths are often hateful and downright wrong. I suppose the most hopeful one can be is to say, a la Dan Savage, "it gets better". Which it does, because America & Europe are undeniably better places now for LGBT youth than they were in 1982, but it's still too late for their predecessors in many cases. The damage is done, and it's not as if it's really ended either.
I realise I've probably made this sound like a very depressing book, but it isn't. I love it deeply and think it's a wonderful, witty work which should be read by many more people, even as a historic snapshot - 17 years have passed since the book's publication, and a hell of a lot has changed. But 'Tim & Pete' still has plenty to say. I have wished since reading it that it could be filmed, but considering the fate of Baker's other filmed work, maybe it's for the best that it hasn't been.
For lighter fare, my childhood re-read was Susan Cooper's 'The Dark Is Rising' sequence, which I'm sure most people reading this have also read. I particularly loved the fact that it was quite creepy and scary at times, and that "goodness" was clearly shown as not always being particularly awesome. Of course, it's one of the works Michael Moorcock poked (quite rightly) in 'Epic Pooh', but he dislikes a lot of things, and that alone doesn't make it without merit.
This entry was originally posted at http://nanaya.dreamwidth.org/336110.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve watched read [I think this is the correct interpretation] more than five times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your “comfort” book
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?
One book I have re-read extensively as an adult is James Robert Baker's last novel, "Tim & Pete". The book absolutely obsessed me for a while, and as a polemic it genuinely succeeds; Baker's wish to write a book which would make its readers march out to the gun store so they could provide their own ending is nearly successful - although, of course, Baker's targets are in some obvious ways quite far from me, while in other ways they're quite near.
In brief, the plot involves the protagonist, Tim, a middle-aged gay man who works in the film industry (channeling Baker quite obviously there), getting stranded without a car outside LA and ending up on an increasingly dark and surreal quest with his ex-boyfriend, Pete, for whom he still has Feelings. But it's really an extended meditation on the shattering experiences of that generation of gay men who came of age in the 1970s and lived (some of them) to see their lives and communities ripped apart while they were blamed for it. Inevitably, it's shockingly painful at times, and it doesn't have any saints: gay men are shown as being racist, classist, body-fascist and frankly nuts, but it's still easy to understand their rage, and the gay terrorists are inevitably sympathetic. Oh yes, because the latter part of the book considers the question of political terrorism and its efficacy, and it toys nicely with the continuum between violent art and real-world violence, and the vexed ancient question of revenge.
This is a book which used to reduce me to tears when I read it, but it's not a gloomy manifesto; it is in fact very funny and occasionally hilarious (keen film-lovers may notice a certain similarity of sensibility with the works of Gregg Araki, particularly 'The Living End'). It's not easy to read lightly, though, because it's a work of fiction which continually points to the non-fictional - not least the simmering aftermath of the LA Riots. At the time, it made a good companion piece with Poppy Z. Brite's 'Exquisite Corpse', another excellently-written howl of despair at America in the age of AIDS. And the real certainly intrudes. Publication of 'Tim & Pete' caused a lot of controversy, after which Baker could not get his work published. In 1997 he killed himself. Another dead queer, eh? How topical. I didn't know about his suicide until many years after reading the novel, and it also made me furious. I generally get pretty conflicted about suicide, because I'm an extremely strong advocate of people's right to end their own lives and how that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there's no doubt that the impetuses behind those deaths are often hateful and downright wrong. I suppose the most hopeful one can be is to say, a la Dan Savage, "it gets better". Which it does, because America & Europe are undeniably better places now for LGBT youth than they were in 1982, but it's still too late for their predecessors in many cases. The damage is done, and it's not as if it's really ended either.
I realise I've probably made this sound like a very depressing book, but it isn't. I love it deeply and think it's a wonderful, witty work which should be read by many more people, even as a historic snapshot - 17 years have passed since the book's publication, and a hell of a lot has changed. But 'Tim & Pete' still has plenty to say. I have wished since reading it that it could be filmed, but considering the fate of Baker's other filmed work, maybe it's for the best that it hasn't been.
For lighter fare, my childhood re-read was Susan Cooper's 'The Dark Is Rising' sequence, which I'm sure most people reading this have also read. I particularly loved the fact that it was quite creepy and scary at times, and that "goodness" was clearly shown as not always being particularly awesome. Of course, it's one of the works Michael Moorcock poked (quite rightly) in 'Epic Pooh', but he dislikes a lot of things, and that alone doesn't make it without merit.
This entry was originally posted at http://nanaya.dreamwidth.org/336110.html. Please comment there using OpenID.