geekery
Had to post about two great books I finished in the last weeks.
The first one, Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is a good book that I would recommend to anyone just on the freshness and wit of the prose. However I have to demand that you read it if you grew up either a geek or a Latino. I will probably buy you a copy myself if you grew up with both maladies!
The book follows Oscar, a hopelessly nerdy Dominican boy growing up in a New Jersey ghetto. There are also extensive and footnoted flashbacks telling the story of his mom's life growing up in the Dominican Republic under the infamous fuckface Generalissimo Trujillo, one of the 'dictatingest dictators that ever dictated'. The author must himself have been a genuine morlock of a geek because the book is packed with cultural references. Many are to traditional English Lit, but the bulk are to Tolkien, Trek, Asimov, X-Men, Robotech, Dungeons & Dragons, Dune and many other worlds and settings familiar to anyone who grew up reading or gaming in the genres. At the same time the narration is heavily sprinkled with all those Spanglish terms you heard on the street, or from tio or abuelita growing up. Colorful labels abound for every kind of character and curse on the menu in the hood. If the description of Oscar the Latino ghetto-nerd even vaguely sounds like you, or your strange little brother, or that kid next door (you know, the pariguayo) then pick the book up. I'm sure it will bring the 80s, Saturday mornings, and la calle you grew up on back to life for you in a bittersweet way.
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The other book is one Junot Diaz mentions many times in Oscar Wao's tale, and even has a plot tie-in with his novel. WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is one I've been hearing about since I was a little snot-nose. This book is near the top of the geek canon, and supposedly has influenced most every comic book since it was released. There is no shortage of critical acclaim for it. I can't really add much to all that has been said. It didn't fall short of the praise, and it is shameful that I would come across it 20 years late. Before WATCHMEN I hadn't ventured into a comics store for years maybe. Since finishing it I have wandered the shelves like a zombie, haunted and wondering if anything I could bother with would match it. I have a feeling I won't find anything quite as good, but along with Oscar Wao it lit an old flame inside me. It's nice to remember what it felt like to be caught up in fantastic fiction ... just because.
The first one, Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is a good book that I would recommend to anyone just on the freshness and wit of the prose. However I have to demand that you read it if you grew up either a geek or a Latino. I will probably buy you a copy myself if you grew up with both maladies!
The book follows Oscar, a hopelessly nerdy Dominican boy growing up in a New Jersey ghetto. There are also extensive and footnoted flashbacks telling the story of his mom's life growing up in the Dominican Republic under the infamous fuckface Generalissimo Trujillo, one of the 'dictatingest dictators that ever dictated'. The author must himself have been a genuine morlock of a geek because the book is packed with cultural references. Many are to traditional English Lit, but the bulk are to Tolkien, Trek, Asimov, X-Men, Robotech, Dungeons & Dragons, Dune and many other worlds and settings familiar to anyone who grew up reading or gaming in the genres. At the same time the narration is heavily sprinkled with all those Spanglish terms you heard on the street, or from tio or abuelita growing up. Colorful labels abound for every kind of character and curse on the menu in the hood. If the description of Oscar the Latino ghetto-nerd even vaguely sounds like you, or your strange little brother, or that kid next door (you know, the pariguayo) then pick the book up. I'm sure it will bring the 80s, Saturday mornings, and la calle you grew up on back to life for you in a bittersweet way.
*
The other book is one Junot Diaz mentions many times in Oscar Wao's tale, and even has a plot tie-in with his novel. WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is one I've been hearing about since I was a little snot-nose. This book is near the top of the geek canon, and supposedly has influenced most every comic book since it was released. There is no shortage of critical acclaim for it. I can't really add much to all that has been said. It didn't fall short of the praise, and it is shameful that I would come across it 20 years late. Before WATCHMEN I hadn't ventured into a comics store for years maybe. Since finishing it I have wandered the shelves like a zombie, haunted and wondering if anything I could bother with would match it. I have a feeling I won't find anything quite as good, but along with Oscar Wao it lit an old flame inside me. It's nice to remember what it felt like to be caught up in fantastic fiction ... just because.