Books

Somewhere in Central Pennsylvania on my second drive from Massachusetts to New Orleans, I decided that audiobooks are for me. Then, it was because I didn’t have to fight off the usual after lunch drowsiness. When I joined a gym, I substituted The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo for LA Fitness’ radio station, and found that I was much more likely to workout.  Here in Ecuador, I’ve listened to twice as many books as I’ve read. It’s gotten to the point that last week I restricted myself to only listening to books while I do chores or other manual labor. This also, probably not coincidently, coincided with the day I ran out of underwear, and resolved that I would do a little bit of laundry every day, rather than let accumulate, but not be able to wash for two more days because the clothesline is full of my neighbor’s baby’s diapers. It was also one of many days that I was exhausted because I had stayed up in bed the night before as I decided I needed to listen to “just one more chapter” 3 or 4 times.

A few thoughts on some of the books I’ve listened to or read since coming to Ecuador:

The Bonfire of The Vanities, by Tom Wolfe, is the single most conflicting book I’ve ever read (or listened to as the case may be). It was bizarre to come to the realization that the character I found least contemptible (none are likeable) was the Wall Street trader who thought of himself as a “master of the universe.” It was even more bizarre to come to this realization while reading daily updates about Occupy Wall Street.

I’ve never been more infuriated by a book than I was by Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. It’s the story of a Muslim contractor in New Orleans who went around saving people after the flooding until he was imprisoned by the authorities. I know better, yet I still found myself shocked every time the authorities (I forget which agency was holding him) oppressively and inhumanely violated the man’s rights. 

I’m not a big fan of the Rolling Stones, but I listened to Keith Richard’s autobiography, Life. He might be able to challenge the Dos XX guy for most interesting man in the world. Do true rock stars still exist? Also, it’s kinda cool to hear someone read their own work, particularly an autobiography, and particularly when they have an accent.

I use Audible.com to download books. Basically I get a book for $15 per month, plus take advantage of some pretty decent sales every now and then. The website commissioned Samuel L. Jackson to read Go the Fuck to Sleep, a spoof children’s book written by Adam Mansbach, and let members download it for free. It was an enjoyable 6 minutes.

Who would love spending 28 hours listening to the oral history of ESPN, as told by the people who worked there? That would be me. Those Guys Have All the Fun got me through being bedridden for two days a few months ago with a 103 degree fever.

Harry Potter, which I first read in college, opened my mind to reading young adult literature.  For the first time in my life I was ahead of a trend when I read The Hunger Games trilogy before it blew up – I’m assuming that is has blown up based on the movie being covered by the Yahoo! front page. The Book Thief, by Martin Zusak, is without question the best book I have read/listened to from this genre, and is most certainly one of the best in any Genre. I don’t have any specific comment, other than you should do yourself a favor and read it.

I finished reading (yes, actually reading!) Eva Luna by Isabel Allende a couple of days ago. I’m trying to sprinkle in some Latin American literature, being that I, you know, live in Latin America. I’ve previously read Love in the time of Cholera (loved it) and 100 Years of Solitude (meh) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’m rereading Love in the Time of Cholera in Spanish right now, but it’s a painstakingly slow process. If I read something by Mario Vargas Llosa I’ll have covered the three major Latin American authors that I can name. In Quito and Cuenca, and probably Guayaquil, books in English are available. Recommendations anyone?

A few months ago a former Peace Corps volunteer recommended comics as a great way to learn a language. You have a visual element that helps you understand what you’re reading, and the language is more colloquial and every day than what you get in classes. My neighbor has a collection of Condórito a short weekly comic that comes in one of the papers. They are pretty useful for language learning, but not particularly interesting comics. If one were to be thinking about useful presents for an upcoming holiday, the present paragraph could be used to inform his or her decision…