No new books this week as I’ve been unusually restrained. Things have been quieter than usual here lately, I seem to have been stuck in a mild reading rut. Just not at all inclined to pick up a book. I don’t think anything in particular has caused it, just necessary to take a break and watch lots of Gilmore Girls. A Sunday afternoon spent in bed with Transmetropolitan graphic novels (and a “oh my God why alcohol why” sized hangover) may have yanked me out of my reading rut, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Do you have any suggested remedies for breaking out of a reading rut? Or do you just ride it out until the urge to read hits again?
Posts on Start Narrative Here this week:
- Recently Abandoned: August 2010 – the books I couldn’t get through last month.
- The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson – a quietly terrifying novel about a psychotically murderous deputy sheriff.
Last night I saw a documentary, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (Yony Leyser, 2009), which explored the life and work of, you guessed it, one William S. Burroughs. Despite being more of a Kerouac and Ginsberg fan when it comes to the Beats, I really want to read more Burroughs. Maybe not the best thing to dive into when reluctant to read at all, but eventually. I read Junky, Queer and Interzone many moons ago, in high school, but perceptions and approaches change, and I think I’d like to see how I would read them now.
My high school fascination with the Beats was so well known – by the school librarians who I endlessly bothered with requests for Beat books from other libraries (we were a part of the local library system) – that at the end of year 12 when it came to the graduation ceremony, I was given an award, basically, for showing an active interest in reading, writing and libraries. Nerd then, nerd now. Anyway, I was presented with a lovely hardback edition of Kerouac’s letters. When I went to thank the librarian (polite nerd then, not so polite nerd now), she asked if there had been anything in the book itself. Nope. Then she let poor graduating high school student me know that the prize was actually for $250, but they needed something to present it in. I eventually got the cheque, and the moral of this story is: crime may not pay, but reading sometimes does.
Book Loot, Jack Kerouac, September 2010, William S. Burroughs
I’ve gotten into reading ruts before too. It usually happens when you either have too much time or too little time on your hands or when a book you’re reading sort of fizzles out and you lose interest. Usually it picks up if something around the house or bookstore (particularly used bookstore) catches my eye.
I think you’re very right about too much, too little time Lauren. (And so many books catch my eye, I always have a dangerously leaning pile of books by the bedside, maybe I’m just overwhelmed by the choice?) I think I’m past it now, picked up an Australian novel by Kenneth Cook called Wake In Fright. It’s fantastic so far, just what I needed!
I really want to watch that documentary! I’ve known among my friends as the Beat obsessive too, but I was more Burroughs/Ginsberg. Kerouac was my introduction into the Beats but I have a love/hate relationship with his work. So glad you finally got your reading reward
(well, a reward besides the act of reading itself, of course!) If I was in Melbourne I would have totally let you borrow my Burroughs collection.
If you ever get to reread those books, I will be befuddled and amazed (I feel guilty about all the books I want to reread because there are so many amazing books out there I haven’t even heard of yet)
Ah! I always get the feeling like I’m supposed to have “grown out” of the Beats by now (totally Kerouac/Ginsberg myself
) but it just hasn’t happened. So amazing that despite his lifestyle Burroughs lived the longest of the three, must have had some iron-clad genetics going on there. But the documentary was very good, managed to cover all the important aspects of his life, including his 1990s musical career! And I loved his shotgun art too.
(Know what you mean about re-reading. Will need about four lifetimes if I want to get around to reading and rereading all the stuff I want to. Probably more than four.)
Speaking of music and The Beats, did you ever listen to The Fugs? I got one of their albums and found that one must be in a certain mental state to appreciate it, or it causes your ears to bleed slightly.
ALSOOOO Did you ever read Harvey Pekar’s graphic novel about the beats? Oh gosh, I should stop commenting now before this gets out of hand
And yes, I know what you mean about feeling like we should have outgrown them by now, but I think once I read a beat book and get absolutely nothign out of it, I’ll know I’ve outgrown it. Until then….
Hah, I don’t mind music that causes ears to bleed, but I will check them out.
I think your comments have re-energized my Beat fascination, I went through and updated my wishlist with all the Beat-y (!) books I want to eventually buy and the Pekar was definitely on the list. Seems to always be new bios or books being released, so maybe we’re not the only ones who haven’t grown out of them!
Awesome!! Yes given the amount of literature even ABOUT the Beats, I’d say there are others just like us out there…
PS, just bought “Howl: Fifty Years Later”, edited by Jason Shinder…a collection of essays about Howl. It kind of reminds me of a similar book about Naked Lunch (Collected essays of Burroughsians talking about why the book is so great fifty years later), and makes me think that people will look for any excuse to keep writing about their favourite writers.