Writer. Contributing Editor at The Discarded Image. Digital Content Strategist. Here's where I publicly explore the books I'm reading, the projects I'm working on, and other current interests. Rapid review
Two weeks ago I finished Richard Powers’ The Echo Maker, winner of the 2006 National Book Award for fiction. I reviewed it for the May/June Modern Reformation, so watch for that if you’re interested in my take on it.
And last week I finally sat down with The Sand Café, a book that’s been on my reading list since last spring, when I heard an NPR interview with the author, Neil MacFarquhar. He’s a journalist with years of Middle East reporting experience, including the Gulf War. From the interview, I got the impression that the book would portray the life of embedded reporters and the rivalry between print and television journalists. So I was terribly disappointed to discover the book is really about the protagonist trying to score with a female rival! And the writing is simply awful. I couldn’t even follow the rule of 50—by page 17 I absolutely could not go on. For instance, chapter one opens with the reporter Angus waking up in his Kuwait hotel room to a horrible stench. To establish setting, MacFarquhar has Angus ruminate on where he is, how he got there, what’s wrong with foreign hotel managers, etc. Then Angus moves around the room touching stuff, each item reminding him of some recent experience. Finally, he tracks down the source of the smell—a human finger stuck in the treads of his boot. Oh right, he remembers, he was out with soldiers the day before while they were cleaning up a killing field! That must be how it got there! It seems obvious to point out how much more powerful that opening chapter would have been if MacFarquhar had started with finding the finger and letting that revolting discovery establish the setting instead of Angus’ boring explanation. And the body parts continue like a juvenile theme—Angus eyes a lot of breasts (using night vision goggles to spy on showering female soldiers) and considers his testicles conversational ice-breakers. Haven’t dropped a book so fast in a very long time.
I’m now reading Julia Alvarez’ How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and picked up Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma at the library. I’ll be posting on both of them in the near future.
What are you reading these days?
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