Yeah, OK. I’ve already made a summer reading list this year. I get it! But, here’s the thing. I’m doing a lot of reading these days. Reading and walking occupy far more of my time than I’d have ever expected back in January. Admittedly, it’s one of my favorite parts of our unique situation.
I’ve also gone on a bit of a vinyl record kick. And so, here are some books and records I’ve been into lately.
Books
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
I suspect most of you have heard of Atwood’s novel about the future totalitarian state of Gilead. It’s a dystopia, and Atwood wrote it well before the resurgence of dystopian work in the past 5-10 years. I think there’s probably a bit of value in stretching back and reading an earlier dystopia.
John Muir – Wilderness Essays
Americans know Muir as the “Founder of the National Parks.” There’s a lot built into that. Some of it good and some of it bad. This is a collection of his nature writing. What stands out most is his endless awe of – and appreciation for – the American West. He clearly draws spiritual significance from nature.
John Williams – Stoner
If someone were to describe Stoner to you, it wouldn’t sound all that impressive. It’s a novel about an academic who suffers a series of minor disappointment in life. His rural childhood is dull, and his career as a professor is listless. His marriage doesn’t work. But when you put it together, it’s a fantastic story about a 20th century American life. It’s honestly one of the best constructed novels I’ve ever read.
It doesn’t make me regret leaving academia.
Records
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
There’s not really much I can say about Bitches Brew that would frame it for you other than to point to its place as arguably the best and most important jazz album ever made.
What might be most noteworthy about it is how much ground it covers. Yes, it’s a jazz album. It’s also sort of a rock album and sort of a funk album. It more or less defined the ‘jazz-fusion’ genre, and hundreds of albums after it tried to recreate it.
Dead Can Dance – The Serpent’s Egg
Nobody knows exactly what genre Dead Can Dance is supposed to be. Wikipedia calls them ‘neoclassical dark wave‘, which raises more questions than answers. They incorporate very Catholic-sounding chanting and medieval European influences. There are bells. They never fail to bring something new to the table.
Give them a listen.
Frank Zappa – Hot Rats
In his 1960s incarnation, Frank Zappa was best known for combining thoughtful and/or psychedelic music, frat boy antics, and hard-hitting criticism of hippies.
I mention this to point out that it’s not what’s going on in this 1969 release. In fact, Hot Rats marked a major turning point in Zappa’s career. He moved into longer, jazz-based compositions. Extended guitar and/or violin solos were another major feature. It’s arguably the best phase of Zappa’s career.
Zappa’s and Jean-Luc Ponty‘s work on the song “Willie the Pimp” is reason enough to buy this one.
Reading List Series
As I mentioned, I’ve been doing a reading list series for some time. Here are the others.
Summer 2019: Part 1 and Part 2
Winter 2020
Spring 2020
Stay-at-Home
Summer 2020
