Red Chuck

New Murakami Novel

Haruki Murakami has a new novel called Kafka on the Shore. Why didn't someone tell me! Man, I am so out of it. Anyway here's David Mitchell's take on it from the Guardian. I particularly like this bit:

For sheer love of a thumping narrative, the novel delivers gloriously. The author's trademark kookinesses, particularly his talking cats, maybe-phantoms of army deserters and the appropriation of Colonel Saunders, Kentucky Fried Chicken King, add smartness and colour.

So this is next on my list after I finish David Mitchell's novel, Cloud Atlas.

Larry Brown

Well damn, this news sure is sad. Joe is one of my favorite novels. I'm very sad to hear this. 53 is too young.

Busy Busy

Busy busy around here before the holidays. Little time for posts. I also just found junk mail in some old comments entries. Blech. IP banning now in place. We'll see how well it works.

Oh and I lifted the Red Chuck description from an old piece I wrote about Will Self who is even more grotesque, ticklish, and daft than me.

Children's Books

NYT's 10 Best Illustrated Children's Books 2004

Alice Munro

This is a stunningly original book review by Jonathan Franzen. He lovingly praises his subject, Alice Munro, while hollowing out the whole book review thing. My favorite line:

This is not a golfer on a practice tee. This is a gymnast in a plain black leotard, alone on a bare floor, outperforming all the novelists with their flashy costumes and whips and elephants and tigers.

BTW, get it while its hot. After an NYT article slips into the archives (a week maybe?), you have to shuck bucks to get it back.

Its a Doll Revolution

Last spring, the 'rents sent a box of books. They were cleaning out their attic. Most of the books were children's classics — "Charlotte's Web", "Goodnight Moon", "Mother Goose". But they also sent a real curio called "Holiday for Edith and the Bears". Flipping throught it, I was initially amused. It seemed kitschy. I've since learned there's a lot more to this book.

"Holiday for Edith and the Bears" features a blonde doll, Edith, and two teddy bears. Photographed in black and white, these three friends are posed playing at the beach. Edith's long hair blows in the ocean breeze. The bears wade in the surf. Its quietly surreal.

Maybe its the medium. Black and white photography ain't the current norm for children's books. But also its something about the dolls. These days we, as readers, are used to vivid animation in children's books. In comparison to Little Miss Spider, for instance, Edith is a stuffed shirt.

Also in Wright's book, set changes drive the narrative. Mis-en-scene is extremely important. And overall I think that's the key to what's so strange. Its the author's attempt to create a believable microcosm that's so haunting. After looking through the book a second time, all I could think was, who created this?

Fast forward to this weekend. While wrapping picture frames in newspaper, I stumbled upon this article from last Sunday's NYT. In September, Henry Holt published a biography of "Holiday for Edith and the Bears" creator Dare Wright. Also in the past 5 yeras, Houghton Mifflin has brought several Wright title's back into print, "The Lonely Doll", "Edith and Mr. Bear: A Lonely Doll Story", and "A Gift from the Lonely Doll". Its a doll revolution.

Obviously over the past two days this subject has become a minor obsession. From what I've learned, Dare Wright was a fashion model and photographer. Alternatley bullied and ignored by an eccentric mother, Wright began creating "The Lonely Doll" books in the late 1950s. Was this troubling relationship the key to Wright's creativity? I guess I'll have to read her biography to find out. The main question now is why the hell did my parents send me this book?