GOODREADING 2025
Whenever I neglect this blog for any length of time, I experience the most curious resurgence of a feeling I used to endure regularly as a delinquent college student. It's a feeling of not knowing how I can walk back through that classroom door when I didn't show up for a month. I have indeed been remiss in my duties here at Antagony, so I guess I'll do what I did back in the 90s when a girl or a drinking binge kept me away from the books for way longer than any excuse could explain: grit my teeth, rush through the door, and get busy. Since we're on Goodreads, let's get busy talking about books. Specifically the books I've read so far as part of the yearly Goodreads Reading Challenge.
As you know if you visit this place regularly, my taste in books runs the gamut. I will read literally anything that is written well, and failing that, which tells a good story (one does not have to be a skilled writer to be a first-rate storyteller). In recent years I have shied away from novels more than I should have, finding history, autobiography, and memoir to use less of my imagination and therefore less of my energy, so I'm making an effort to read five per year regardless of how many other books I chalk up in the "read" column. Anyway, here is the unusually random selection (even for me) of what I've read to date:
"The Garner Files" by James Garner. I generally really like actor's autobiographies, because actors tend to have great backstories as well as plenty of interesting anecdotes from their professional lives. And the interesting parts of this book are very interesting. Garner, who is best remembered for his roles in "Maverick," "The Rockford Files" and "The Great Escape," was a Depression-born kid who walked away from Korea with two Purple Hearts and ended up, almost accidentally, as a contract player in Hollywood. His rise to fame and fortune came as much from his scrappy, principled, workmanlike attitude as his talents, and once he had established his success, he used it to indulge his hobbies (golf, racing) and fight for his causes (civil rights, fair play), never forgetting the little guys on set, either. Having worked in Hollywood myself in a pencil-sharpening capacity, I found his egalitarian, anti-bullying attitude refreshing. But the book can be a slog at times because, well, I don't give a shit about golf and if this age has proven anything, it's that a man's politics tend to be boring when discussed in public. Still, you can't put this book down without coming away with a healthy respect for Garner and the improbable and decent life he lead.
"On A Chinese Screen" by Somerset Maughm. I read this book because Orwell repeatedly mentioned it in his writings, and I'm glad I did so. Maughm was a high-level British spy in two wars, whose formal occupation was writing novels and travelogue. He did not both very well. "On A Chinese Screen" is a series of fifty-seven character and scene-sketches he drew up while living in China in the 1920s. It is beautifully written and paints lovely and brutally honest portraits of Chinese culture, British colonial culture, and all manner of eccentric individuals -- philosophers, rickshaw drivers, petty officials, businessmen, sailors, soldiers, wanderers and wives. It is a terrific book, full of weighty but easily readable insights into human nature and all of its absurdities and beauties and paradoxes. Maughm is one of those writers who allows his subjects to hang or exalt themselves, and doesn't tell the reader what to think. A few of the sketches bored or confused me but the majority are simply wonderful and I can't recommend this book highly enough as a kind of literary photo album of an extinct world, but a world whose existence can be plainly felt today.
"The Wager" by David Grann. This is what I call a Christmas Book, meaning not merely that I got it as a Christmas gift but that it's the type of book I'd never have read if it weren't handed to me free of charge by someone else, as it's not quite in my usual area of interest. I found it a superb read, better than many novels though it is pure history. It is the story of the HMS Wager, which shipwrecked in the 1700s in the treacherous waters between South America and Antarctica, and the almost unbelievable story of what followed -- the survivors found themselves on a near-barren rock without food or water or clothing, yet somehow managed (mostly), to survive for months despite a mutiny which broke the group into two warring factions a la "Lord of the Flies," and on top of that, to escape in jerry-rigged boats and make a perilous second voyage to Brazil...only to face court martial when the few who remained finally returned to England, because mutinity. These poor bastards survived rogue waves, storms, plague, scurvy, shipwreck, civil war, starvation, thirst and a Hail Mary journey over murderous seas on what amounted to a raft, and it's a shining testament to human ingenuity and the will to live. Grann does a lovely job of explaining what seafaring life was like in the 1700s (brutal, hazardous), and also delves into Byzantine Royal Navy politics and ocean combat. A terrific book.
"Over the Front in an Aeroplane" by Ralph Pulitzer. The name "Pulitzer" is an esteemed one in letters, and indeed, Ralph was the brother of Joseph Pulitzer, the man for whom the great prize is named. This forgotten little book, which I bought at a book fair in Miami when I (cough) was there to get the Reader's Favorite Gold Medal for "Sinner's Cross" (coughs again), is an account of Pulitzer's tour of the Western Front during WW1, specifically 1915 in the French sector. I found it quite readable and very detailed and interesting, because it gives a fascinating look at the mechanics of warfare at that time. Ralph flies over the front in a two-seater, visits the trenches and various headquarters and a training school, hangs out with artillery batteries and supply troops, and wanders devastated towns and villages which are still under fire. It's obviously pro-French and pro-Allied, presenting only their points of view, and there is a faint touch of naivete in some of his conclusions, but very little. He tries to be purely journalistic and mostly succeeds, and his general predictions for the war's future course were accurate. I found it a very interesting time capsule of a terrible time in history, and I was struck by some of the included photographs -- men dead 100 years at this point but whose humanity shows in the weariness of their faces.
"Post Office" by Charles Bukowski. I read this evil gem of a book in a single day. It was my first encounter with Bukowski's work but will not be my last. In this mostly autobiographical novel Bukowski, via the character of "Henry Chinalski," recounts the 14 1/2 wretched years he spent in the Postal Service in Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s, while simultaneously indulging his passions for the ponies, women, and most importantly, booze. Imagine Hemingway slamming into Henry Miller, and the two of them falling headfirst into any good pulp novel you care to name, and you have Bukowski: witty, immoral, contrary, lascevious, misogynistic and irresponsible, with just enough unwanted decency and sensitivity to make him (mostly) sympathetic. Bukowski uses that relaxed sort of style, a kind of stylishly sloppy prose, which is so easy to employ as a writer and follow as a reader, but he is also a keen if ruthless observer of human nature and modern society -- it's inhumanity, its pointless ugliness and mindless routines. Anyone who has suffered through bullying bosses and soul-crushing work routines will relate to his misery and his perpetual desire for escape through horseracing, sex and drunkenness. I loved this book, wicked though it is.
And that is where I have landed so far in the GRC of 2025. I don't use this platform anywhere near enough to talk about books, so I am recifying that mistake starting now. Among those slated for finishing or possible reads this year include:
Jackboot - James Laffin [currently reading]
Ashes to Ashes - Tami Hoag
Soul Boom - Rainn Wilson*
The Eldorado Network - Derek Robinson
Faust - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Undisputed Truth - Mike Tyson
True at First Light - Ernest Hemingway
Harry Sullivan's War - Ian Marter
The Infernal Machine - Steven Johnson
* When I met Rainn Wilson two years ago after his one-man show, I promised to review his book, which, since I haven't finished it, is a promise I've yet to keep. But I will.
Of course, like most bibliophiles/bibliomaniacs, I have far more books on hand than I will ever read, because I both buy books on a fairly regular basis and receive books yearly as gifts, and this in addition to the huge trove of books I inherited from my father, who was a voracious reader of history, biography and political science, and also read many historical novels. And on top of this, as if it weren't enough, there are the stacks of mysteries which are to be found everywhere in my mom's house. So this little list is neither inclusive nor definitive. The important thing is that I have managed, with some effort, to restore my habit of reading reflexively in my spare time, something I lost for several years. Interestingly enough, the reading muscle is like any other -- if you exercise it, it will stay healthy and strong, and will also twitch unpleasantly if you don't get it to the gym. If you let it atrophy, it will take some doing to get it back into form. So here's to me getting back in the ole reading chair. I hope you never left.
As you know if you visit this place regularly, my taste in books runs the gamut. I will read literally anything that is written well, and failing that, which tells a good story (one does not have to be a skilled writer to be a first-rate storyteller). In recent years I have shied away from novels more than I should have, finding history, autobiography, and memoir to use less of my imagination and therefore less of my energy, so I'm making an effort to read five per year regardless of how many other books I chalk up in the "read" column. Anyway, here is the unusually random selection (even for me) of what I've read to date:
"The Garner Files" by James Garner. I generally really like actor's autobiographies, because actors tend to have great backstories as well as plenty of interesting anecdotes from their professional lives. And the interesting parts of this book are very interesting. Garner, who is best remembered for his roles in "Maverick," "The Rockford Files" and "The Great Escape," was a Depression-born kid who walked away from Korea with two Purple Hearts and ended up, almost accidentally, as a contract player in Hollywood. His rise to fame and fortune came as much from his scrappy, principled, workmanlike attitude as his talents, and once he had established his success, he used it to indulge his hobbies (golf, racing) and fight for his causes (civil rights, fair play), never forgetting the little guys on set, either. Having worked in Hollywood myself in a pencil-sharpening capacity, I found his egalitarian, anti-bullying attitude refreshing. But the book can be a slog at times because, well, I don't give a shit about golf and if this age has proven anything, it's that a man's politics tend to be boring when discussed in public. Still, you can't put this book down without coming away with a healthy respect for Garner and the improbable and decent life he lead.
"On A Chinese Screen" by Somerset Maughm. I read this book because Orwell repeatedly mentioned it in his writings, and I'm glad I did so. Maughm was a high-level British spy in two wars, whose formal occupation was writing novels and travelogue. He did not both very well. "On A Chinese Screen" is a series of fifty-seven character and scene-sketches he drew up while living in China in the 1920s. It is beautifully written and paints lovely and brutally honest portraits of Chinese culture, British colonial culture, and all manner of eccentric individuals -- philosophers, rickshaw drivers, petty officials, businessmen, sailors, soldiers, wanderers and wives. It is a terrific book, full of weighty but easily readable insights into human nature and all of its absurdities and beauties and paradoxes. Maughm is one of those writers who allows his subjects to hang or exalt themselves, and doesn't tell the reader what to think. A few of the sketches bored or confused me but the majority are simply wonderful and I can't recommend this book highly enough as a kind of literary photo album of an extinct world, but a world whose existence can be plainly felt today.
"The Wager" by David Grann. This is what I call a Christmas Book, meaning not merely that I got it as a Christmas gift but that it's the type of book I'd never have read if it weren't handed to me free of charge by someone else, as it's not quite in my usual area of interest. I found it a superb read, better than many novels though it is pure history. It is the story of the HMS Wager, which shipwrecked in the 1700s in the treacherous waters between South America and Antarctica, and the almost unbelievable story of what followed -- the survivors found themselves on a near-barren rock without food or water or clothing, yet somehow managed (mostly), to survive for months despite a mutiny which broke the group into two warring factions a la "Lord of the Flies," and on top of that, to escape in jerry-rigged boats and make a perilous second voyage to Brazil...only to face court martial when the few who remained finally returned to England, because mutinity. These poor bastards survived rogue waves, storms, plague, scurvy, shipwreck, civil war, starvation, thirst and a Hail Mary journey over murderous seas on what amounted to a raft, and it's a shining testament to human ingenuity and the will to live. Grann does a lovely job of explaining what seafaring life was like in the 1700s (brutal, hazardous), and also delves into Byzantine Royal Navy politics and ocean combat. A terrific book.
"Over the Front in an Aeroplane" by Ralph Pulitzer. The name "Pulitzer" is an esteemed one in letters, and indeed, Ralph was the brother of Joseph Pulitzer, the man for whom the great prize is named. This forgotten little book, which I bought at a book fair in Miami when I (cough) was there to get the Reader's Favorite Gold Medal for "Sinner's Cross" (coughs again), is an account of Pulitzer's tour of the Western Front during WW1, specifically 1915 in the French sector. I found it quite readable and very detailed and interesting, because it gives a fascinating look at the mechanics of warfare at that time. Ralph flies over the front in a two-seater, visits the trenches and various headquarters and a training school, hangs out with artillery batteries and supply troops, and wanders devastated towns and villages which are still under fire. It's obviously pro-French and pro-Allied, presenting only their points of view, and there is a faint touch of naivete in some of his conclusions, but very little. He tries to be purely journalistic and mostly succeeds, and his general predictions for the war's future course were accurate. I found it a very interesting time capsule of a terrible time in history, and I was struck by some of the included photographs -- men dead 100 years at this point but whose humanity shows in the weariness of their faces.
"Post Office" by Charles Bukowski. I read this evil gem of a book in a single day. It was my first encounter with Bukowski's work but will not be my last. In this mostly autobiographical novel Bukowski, via the character of "Henry Chinalski," recounts the 14 1/2 wretched years he spent in the Postal Service in Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s, while simultaneously indulging his passions for the ponies, women, and most importantly, booze. Imagine Hemingway slamming into Henry Miller, and the two of them falling headfirst into any good pulp novel you care to name, and you have Bukowski: witty, immoral, contrary, lascevious, misogynistic and irresponsible, with just enough unwanted decency and sensitivity to make him (mostly) sympathetic. Bukowski uses that relaxed sort of style, a kind of stylishly sloppy prose, which is so easy to employ as a writer and follow as a reader, but he is also a keen if ruthless observer of human nature and modern society -- it's inhumanity, its pointless ugliness and mindless routines. Anyone who has suffered through bullying bosses and soul-crushing work routines will relate to his misery and his perpetual desire for escape through horseracing, sex and drunkenness. I loved this book, wicked though it is.
And that is where I have landed so far in the GRC of 2025. I don't use this platform anywhere near enough to talk about books, so I am recifying that mistake starting now. Among those slated for finishing or possible reads this year include:
Jackboot - James Laffin [currently reading]
Ashes to Ashes - Tami Hoag
Soul Boom - Rainn Wilson*
The Eldorado Network - Derek Robinson
Faust - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Undisputed Truth - Mike Tyson
True at First Light - Ernest Hemingway
Harry Sullivan's War - Ian Marter
The Infernal Machine - Steven Johnson
* When I met Rainn Wilson two years ago after his one-man show, I promised to review his book, which, since I haven't finished it, is a promise I've yet to keep. But I will.
Of course, like most bibliophiles/bibliomaniacs, I have far more books on hand than I will ever read, because I both buy books on a fairly regular basis and receive books yearly as gifts, and this in addition to the huge trove of books I inherited from my father, who was a voracious reader of history, biography and political science, and also read many historical novels. And on top of this, as if it weren't enough, there are the stacks of mysteries which are to be found everywhere in my mom's house. So this little list is neither inclusive nor definitive. The important thing is that I have managed, with some effort, to restore my habit of reading reflexively in my spare time, something I lost for several years. Interestingly enough, the reading muscle is like any other -- if you exercise it, it will stay healthy and strong, and will also twitch unpleasantly if you don't get it to the gym. If you let it atrophy, it will take some doing to get it back into form. So here's to me getting back in the ole reading chair. I hope you never left.
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ANTAGONY: BECAUSE EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO MY OPINION
A blog about everything. Literally. Everything. Coming out twice a week until I run out of everything.
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