How Do I
Miguel's Picks
 |
Döblin, Alfred A People Betrayed Fiction |
||
| This epic novel forms the first part of November 1918: a German revolution, a historical fiction of the failed socialist uprising in Germany of 1918. A spectacular exercise of the literary imagination of the long-neglected author Alfred Döblin, best known for his book Berlin Alexanderplatz, the story is told in a series of snapshots — photographic in idea, but purely literary in execution; a collage of portraits- and scenes-in-words builds a papier mâché wall upon which Döblin slowly pieces together a pointillist mural. The montage is an invaluable construction of one of those mysterious moments in history when the masses decide to take the reigns of power and pilot the state from the gutters of society. Döblin takes no pity on any of the characters who enter and exit the stage -- some fictional, some all too real -- and isn't attempting to toe a party line or remain faithful to any particular historical interpretation of the events. He merely wishes to preserve in a collective memory, utilizing a collective process, a series of specific events following the bitter and humiliating defeat of Germany in World War I, which led, eventually, to various of the most tragic and inhumane events of the twentieth century. The story is completed in its sequel, Karl and Rosa. Recommended May 2012 |
|||
 |
Poole, Ernest The Harbor Fiction |
||
| Ernest Poole won the first Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded in 1918 for a second novel, His Family. Most critics, however, assumed that the prize was awarded to Poole in belated recognition for the excellence of his first novel, The Harbor, published in 1915. This "proletarian" novel doesn't merely tell another story of the working classes, but attempts to describe the education of a middle class boy growing into adulthood, and the simultaneous transition from an individual to a social conscience that this development should imply. Oftentimes, these revealing literary glimpses into the unpleasant living conditions of the poor directly pitted uneducated masses against an impossibly stubborn oligarchy. Poole succeeds here by writing the gray areas of the ambiguous humanity strung out between a desire for security and an inability to ignore injustice. A unique story, the reader is not made susceptible to an overly sentimental vision, but is slowly taken along a path immediately recognizable -- the definition of the individual as a member of his community. Recommended April 2012 |
|||
 |
Asimov, Isaac Foundation Science Fiction |
||
| Isaac Asimov's original "Foundation Trilogy" of novels,
consisting of Foundation, Foundation
and Empire, and Second
Foundation, is an interesting meditation on building a society
and civilization upon the collapse of a previous one. Inspired by
Edward Gibbon's monumental The
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Asimov
plays an optimistic twentieth-century Hobbes, curious about the causes
and interpretations of the fall of the Roman Empire. Perhaps more
significantly, he investigates the ingredients that humans consciously
and unconsciously select and neglect in their aspirations and inspirations
for progress. While all this may sound too heady, Asimov's greatest
success lies in couching profound macrocosmic considerations in conjoining
stories, like dominoes, filled with action and intrigue, love and
lust on an epic scale (centuries! galaxies! psychohistory!), involving
all sorts of characters betrayed by their microcosmic perspective—one
the reader can immediately relate to, despite the "science fiction."
The trilogy eventually expanded to include a wealth of other books
that take place within its universe, but these three are the only
recipients (ever!) of the Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" of
fantasy or science fiction. Recommended February 2012 |
|||
 |
Tuten, Frederic Tintin in the New World: A Romance Fiction |
||
| In this meditation on adulthood, Frederic Tuten describes
the process of maturation as it might effect Tintin, the world-famous
boy reporter. This book provides a timely and important foil to Steven
Spielberg’s new movie. In flawless prose, Tuten attempts to describe
an intellectual adventure, rather than another pedestrian exploit
pursuing criminals that have won Tintin international acclaim. While
the main characters remain (Tintin, Captain Haddock, and of course,
Snowy), Tuten introduces a supporting cast of international types
from Thomas Mann's The
Magic Mountain, who alternately represent familiar ideas
and entirely confuse any discussion. It is not easy to say what exactly
is going on here. Ecology, history, sex, politics, art, economics,
dreams (and much more) are at least briefly considered. This novel
is, in a sense, "high" art (the rarified setting for much of the novel
is Machu Picchu). Yet its original cover art by the pop artist Roy
Lichtenstein suggests an experiment in appreciating the unexpectedly
profound depth of the most common terrains while highlighting a commonality
of the most sublime: take a beloved character, known and familiar,
and surprise us with how little we know. Recommended January 2012 |
|||
| Habe, Hans The Mission Fiction |
|||
| 1938: President Franklin D. Roosevelt extends an invitation
to the governments of the world to attend an international conference
at Évian-les-Bains, France, in order to address the growing problem
of refugees – particularly Jewish refugees – fleeing Nazi-occupied
Europe. While Germany officially boycotts the conference, the Nazis
secretly arrange to send a Jewish representative instead, with the
mission to offer up all of the Jews of Europe to the governments of
the world: salvation for sale, with a price list. According to the
author, only three newspapers bother to report the events. Hans Habe
was one of the journalists filing a report. In this novelization,
Habe provides an interior description of an international political
confrontation. Yet it is not a novel of history or politics, but a
novel about the opposition of the personal and the political, and
how this hostility defines our lives, and our living, every day—mostly,
with tragic consequences. Recommended December 2011 |
|||
 |
Yang, Belle Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale Graphic Non-Fiction |
||
| In this one book, Belle Yang writes and draws two parallel
stories about two places. First and foremost, it is the author’s own
story, set in California: a memoir of personal redemption. After moving
back home to live with her parents, following college and a traumatic
relationship, she faces the desperate challenge of living up to failed
expectations, both her parents' and her own. Also, it is her father’s
story of his own arrival, set in China — a family history of generations
struggling against history, and with each other. Yang is easy to relate
to, as an imperfect being grappling with herself and fighting with
her parents — particularly with her father — despite her prior unsuccessful
attempts to escape the environment she continues to think is part
of the problem. She can't uncover a constructive method of belying
her insecurities or safely expressing her sense of self. The various
arguments with her father, however, ultimately prove rewarding: stories
begin to break through, underscoring the combative words. Yang, intrigued
by apparent similarities despite differences of time, geography, and
culture, begins to pay closer attention to the stories than to her
sense of frustration. The family stories, which Yang and her father
eventually agree to share (without the necessity of a shouting match),
demonstrate to Yang the subtle continuity with and participation in
the wider world that she, in her isolation, has never felt. Ultimately,
the responsibility she feels toward preserving these stories — in
effect, her own story — leads her out of painful isolation. The family,
separated, unites in this narrative to bring Yang's two halves back
together, writing and drawing. A story of finding your place in the
world should always be shared. Recommended November 2011 |
|||
