A West Coast publication has finally done it: The Believer is the new The New Yorker

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The New Yorker's been America's voice of urbanity since 1925. It's given us EB White and James Thurber and Dorothy Parker. It published THE look at Hiroshima and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery". The New Yorker, I would argue, has been America's greatest magazine for most of its run. Other magazines make great runs, then fade away. When you average them out, The New Yorker has been the best, year in, year out.

Which is a bit frustrating to those of us on the Left Coast. Why does everything always have to be about New York?

And so we've seen magazines with clever names like San Francisco or Los Angeles that managed to fit in the What's Happening Here element of The New Yorker and the We're So Cool aspect of The New Yorker, but managed to utterly fail at being interesting outside their own metro era.

As for me, I've given up on a western New Yorker ever happening. The era of the magazine might be over anyway. Time to move on.

And, as is so often the case, just when I stopped looking, I found what I was looking for.

The Believer is part of Dave Eggers's McSweeney's conglomerate and as such is pretentious without pretentions. A delightfully San Francisco combination.

One of the things these The Believer has in common with The New Yorker is that I have too many hand-me-down issues of both to ever bother actually subscribing. And: they're both excellent reads whether breaking news or years old.

The issue of The Believer I just finished was from September 2009. And it's the one that smacked me with the realization that: The Believer is the West's version of The New Yorker!

The Believer does not announce its urban affiliation on its cover and so I had never really thought about it as a New Yorker competitor. But in this issue, that affiliation stuck its head out of the closet. First, with its interview with Philip Zimbardo of the Stanford prison experiment. Zimbardo now lives in SF and, of course, the experiments took place down in the South Bay. Follow that with an interview with Nick Cave in which the interviewer starts off by saying:

I was at both Grinderman shows in San Francisco.

As I think about it, The Believer could hardly be more Bay. Even though this same issue talked about Midwestern car salesmen and a Chicago "murder" and V.C. Andrews (who, best I can tell, was never within 500 miles of my house), homebase is always San Francisco.

Which takes it into New Yorker territory. The New Yorker too may talk about tugboats or George R.R. Martin, but that's only because any decent urbanite cares about the rest of the world---even myopic New Yorkers.

The Believer shares that DNA.

Though that doesn't mean The Believer looks much like The New Yorker. Because it doesn't, not much. It's not even traditional magazine shape or paper. It's perfect bound. It takes the idea of iconic covers much more literally. It runs interviews that look like interviews instead of like articles. It publishes poetry but not fiction. Most of its humor pieces don't look at all like Talk of the Town (though some do, sure).

The main thing that's missing is killer investigative pieces. Which is why---

Holy crap.

WIRED IS THE WEST'S NEW YORKER!!!!!

Why have I never noticed this before? I guess because I subscribe?

Ogden speaks!

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Why I oppose gay marriage

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In our discussion as to whether or not women should receive the vote, we have generally agreed that, really, a vote is not to the man but to the marriage. And doubling the number of votes per marriage creates one primary effect only: accounting difficulties and opportunities for abuse at the ballot box. Besides, save in the rare case where a husband and wife might cancel each other's vote, the only true change to results will be the doubling of votes needed to be counted. A reasonable counterargument to these simple facts has yet to be made.

Intrasex marriage would throw this one-vote-per-marriage system, which has served our nation so well these many generations, upon its end (if you'll excuse the expression). In the case of men marrying, those marriages will receive a disproportional allotment of representation in our system of governance, while sapphic marriages will be utterly unrepresented. The former issue is unjust to Americans generally and the latter is unjust to the ladies themselves. In either case, it is clear that marriage of those intrasexually inclined will result in violations of the most basic liberties we as Americans hold dear.

Protect duly elected representation!

Oppose legally sanctioned intrasexual marital relationships!

David Bowie moves in on Madonna

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Now we have to decide: Which is better/awesomer/offensiver/shockinger/eyerollinger (your choice):

Finally! A book for sinners!

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Help a sinner out!

Unlike most of my books which only benefit sinners and ne'er-do-wells,

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sales of this one benefit kids with autism.

The Movies of 2013*: One-paragraph reviews *first third only *feature-length only

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In theaters:

Psycho: So good to finally see this on the big screen! Watching Psycho at age fourteen completely changed my relationship with film and this was practically a pilgrimage for me. To it large and up close---to catch details I had never noticed or had forgotten. So good. And it wasn't so much the traditional jump scenes that got me. It was Anthony Perkins. And Hitchcock's incredible capacity for the slow build. But hearing neophytes yell out in shock as Arbogast reaches the top of the stairs was pretty awesome all the same.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: I wish we had seen this movie earlier when the faster framerate was available---and that we'd then seen that version. I had forgotten that when Peter Jackson's camera swoops, everything gets blurred and details disappear. I'm very sad about that. Otherwise, I liked it. I wouldn't have minded if the story had been fit into a single movie---this seemed a bit plump---but for now I choose to trust that the three-movie version will tie into LoTR so well that it will have all been worth it. And, if not, that they'll release a single-movie version without the extraneous story for my viewing pleasure.

At home:

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes: As good as everyone said. The apes weren't quite as "real" as I'ld been led to believe, but boy can they act. Such a strange movie, to have my loyalties as against the humans as for. Also enjoyed the Icarus throwaway. Unnecessary and awkward if you don't know what it means, but still pretty great.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits: Ignoring the fact that the original British title, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! is a much better title, this is still good stuff. I'm not quite sure why Hugh Grant deserved an Oscar nomination (not that he didn't do a great job, mind), but the film gives everything one might want from Aardman. And more. The cg and the stopmotion were seamless, the film is packed with minuscule visual gags, the monkey functions properly, etc. By no means my favorite Aardman film, but I worthy addition to the canon.

The White Shadow: A lost and recently recovered (in New Zealand of course) film with a lot of Hitchcock fingerprints all over it. An epic melodrama of shakespearean scope. And perhaps power, but we'll never know because the last three reels remain lost. But man alive was I getting into it. And where it ends! HOW CAN IT END THERE!!!! The gods of film are capricious gods, to return this movie to us only to yank it away as it gets really good. You should totally go watch the existing 45m now.

Chinatown: I can see why it's a classic. It's a terrific movie. The sort of movie I don't know just how much I like because it demands multiple viewings. I think Lady Steed, however, is all ready to call it a masterpiece.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Big O has become a religious reader of the Tintin books. Me, I could never get into them as a kid. Which I suppose must be why I didn't grow up to become Peter Jackson. While not inherently opposed to motion capture, often the character's actions and faces were a bit lifeless. Cartooning it up a bit helped, but, alas, Weta or no Weta, Gollum is still the greatest motion-capture character to date. And even the animated character---Snowy---suffered from the same listlessness. Honestly, I would rather the film have been made in the fashion of Disney's recent Paperman (which I hope has a strong influence on future animated films). That said, thrilling moments, laugh-out-loud moments. And the Big O was as involved as I think he's ever been in any movie. At any rate, I've never heard him exclaim "AWESOME!" before in the middle of a film.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Pretty good. Very good at capturing certain elements of the teenage experience. But---and maybe this is because I just read the book---it's filled with holes. Some parts of the story are so underdeveloped (as long as it's all about me, let me point at his English teacher as one egregious example) as to strain credulity. Which is a shame because the acting's great and much of the movie has the potential to be excellent. Bummer.

Moonrise Kingdom: I watched it with the Big O with the hope of getting into a conversation about "decisions"---not sure how well that happened. But except for the shooting-the-dog part and the kissing-and-stuff part, he really enjoyed it. Maybe the conversation will happen later. Me, I still loved it. It didn't leave me as deliriously happy as the first time I saw it, but still: great movie.

A Goofy Movie: Little Lord Steed's been asking to watch this movie, but Lady Steed always tells him he can't unless he watches it with me. So tonight the three boys and I got in my bed and watched it. It's still a great movie. I was in high school when Goof Troop came out and I hated it. But Siskel and Ebert talked up A Goofy Movie so much that my friend Myke and I drove to Lancaster and caught a matinee. And I loved it. In my book, it's one of the best father/son and one of the best teenager movies ever made. Plus, it's proof that musicals can work. And it's so different from other Disney movies! The only other thing I want to add is that this time I realized that Goofy reminds me a lot of my own father. So YMMV.

The Descendants: Some nice layering of symbols and plots, but my favorite element of this movie is its honesty in pathos and catharsis. Not to get too Greek on you. Also---that Judy Greer---she sure gets around, huh?

Field of Dreams: I know how old I was when I last saw this movie because of the house we lived in, but I remember very little else. James Earl Jones was in it. Dead ball players. The line of cars stretching off to the distance. Don't remember if I liked it or not. Don't know what my dad thought. But we never watched it again which makes me think maybe he either didn't like it or it hit too close for him. This time I had the experience people talk about when they talk about this movie. And my kids all loved it too. We need to buy a copy. I would much rather they watched this over and over than Angels in the Outfield.

Kung Fu Hustle: Sorry, everyone, but you're wrong---Shaolin Soccer is way better.

Elsewhere:

Argo: Terrific movie. The sort of thing that might not work if it were not true. Interesting credits too. Read them towards the end. I see why people are annoyed at Affleck casting himself as Mendez, but I also see why people say it's no big deal. We'll see what history decides.

The Princess Bride (x2): Probably haven't seen it in a decade. Still holds up. I could watch again right now. Maybe I'll do this again with my kids.

Romeo and Juliet (x2): I've seen Zeffirelli's version maybe 20 times. But except for Olivia Hussey's wailing and the zoominout as she apologizes to her parents, the film still feels fresh to me. And the fight between Romeo and Tybalt---especially as it contrasts with the preceding Tybalt v Mercutio---remains one of the baldest bits of violence I've ever seen. Come: hum the love theme with me.

The Hudsucker Proxy: After a story meeting with some movie folks about redacted in which we discussed stylistic points via films like Scott Pilgrim and Annie Hall and The Big Lebowski and Moonrise Kingdom and Bottle Rocket and Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle and Brick and Stranger than Fiction and It Happened One Night and It's a Wonderful Life and Fight Club and The Graduate and at least a dozen others, we watched this classic together. Every time I see this movie I discover things new either visually or auditorially, both words and not. Never fails. It's a movie I can't imagine growing tired of.

Inherit the Wind: Not a big fan, but people are right: Spencer Tracy and Frederic March eat this movie up. Also though---I need to see Gene Kelly in more nonmusical roles.

The Merchant of Venice: A truly troubling story. A tragedy wrapped in the comedy of characters who think the tragedy is just a piece of their own happy ending. Granted, Shylock made unwise decisions, but his fall is tragic. And say what else you will about Pacino's performance in this version, his work in the court scene is powerful. The movie is flawed in that Shylock's fall poisons the comedy and the filmmakers didn't find a way to solve this problem---if, indeed, it is a solvable problem. As for me, I don't think I am capable of simply "enjoying" The Merchant of Venice. But the movie does well at working the balance, though it runs a bit long to serve well the alleged comedy. But do we really want to laugh? Antonio certainly does not. 'Tis no comedy to him. And Jeremy Irons was terrific and understated in the role. He carries the Shylockless portions of the film.

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (x2): Great as always. I've become quite an admirer of Leo's.

This post brought to you by . . . .

Death in a variety of colors. Also: baseball.

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046) The Red Diary / The Re[a]d Diary by Teddy Kristiansen / Steven T. Seagle, finished April 28

The only thing I like more than a clever artistic experiment is a clever artistic experiment that results in great art.

Seagle had a copy of Kristiansen's book in a language he could not read. He wanted to publish it. But the publishing collective he was part of only allowed work by members. So he made up new words for the pictures, and the book as now available is both a legit English translation of the original and Seagle's made-up version, based on the sizes of the text blocks and the names he saw scattered throughout.

Astonishingly, both are good. If I had to choose I favorite, I might even choose Seagle's. But it's a tough call. Both are pretty great.

I'm intrigued by the experiment. I need to find a narrative artist willing to make an ambiguous visual story who will allow various writers to fill in the bubbles in various ways. Oh what fun we'll have.

Perhaps---as is demonstratively possible---we'll even make something good.

perhaps two weeks



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045) The Five Books of Jesus by James Goldberg, finished April 22

Excellent book. Read my review on AMV.

over a month



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044) The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, finished April 20

Haven't read this since college and the thing was not organized as I imagined it might be. I've been reading it along with my students and I think it's going to enter the regular rotation. We've had so much to talk about. I think next year we read this, THEN we read Hamlet. Just doing Hamlet is tough to handle. The comedies are a breeze and this one's so discomfiting that it's easy to generate conversation. Go, Shakes!

one workweek



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043) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Volume 6 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished April 18

(still holding off till I finish the final volume)

two or three nights



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042) Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game by John Sexton with Thomas Oliphant and Peter J. Schwartz, finished April 15

I loved this book. I loved the stories, I loved the organization, I loved the arguments. Granted, I reject a couple of the religious notions but, overall, I am sympatico. I rushed through the bulk of the book. Each night another inning. What a way to spend spring training!

Two paragraphs from near the end to set the theme:

. . . I have tried to show how many of the elements we find in baseball---faith, doubt, conversion, accursedness, blessings---are elements associated with the religious experience; that inside the game the formative material of spirituality can be found. In short, viewed through a certain lens, baseball evokes the essence of religion. If we open ourselves to the rhythms and intricacies of the game, if we sharpen our noticing capacity, if we allow the timelessness and intensity of the game's most magnificent moments to shine through, the resulting heightened sensitivity might give us a sense of the ineffable, the transcendent. (213 in the ARC)

In our times it s fashionable to force a choice between the worlds of science and religion, of the mind and the soul. Either/or. This, in my view, is a false dichotomy---and perhaps in this collection of baseball stories analyzed through a lens (and an intellectual tradition) usually reserved for the study of what are obviously religious experiences can cause some to see why. I embrace enthusiastically the joys of the intellectual life; but I reject the notion that, as a consequence, I must forfeit the wonders of a deeply transformative religious life. (215)

a couple monthsish



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041) The Hand of Glory by Stephen Carter, finished April 13

Read my review on AMV.

three days



Previously in 2013 . . . . :


Books 35 - 40

040) Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne, finished April 8
039) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon, finished April 7
038) Illiterature: Story Minutes, Vol. I by Carol Lay, finished April 2
037) "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket, finished March 29
036) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 29
035) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 28

Books 26 - 34

034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24
033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24
032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22
031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22
030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13
029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11
028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5
027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5
026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

Books 22 - 25

025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21

021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19

019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13

013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

This paper I'm presenting next weekend

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I just realized I've never announced this. But I'm kinda busy at the moment. I'm gonna let this guy do it.

Five Sunstone stories

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The latest issue of Sunstone was heavy with fiction from some great writers. Here are brief synopses and reviews.

The Opposite of Sound by Courtney Miller Santo

Synopsis

An overworked, overwhelmed mother with a habit of abandoning her children not quite long enough for them to notice, doesn't want to lose her injured son's affection---as per always---to her husband, who has never abandoned but has rarely been present.

Review

Fiction about this type of mother is trickling more and more into the greater milieu of Mormon fiction. And happily so. In the last ten years, Mormon women have asserted themselves and made their voices heard with a volume that would make Emmeline B. Wells proud. And this particular work of fiction is one of the stronger entries in the field. My only complaint---and it's not a complaint---is the smallness of the story. I would like this character to get a more epic treatment. But small victories in small moments---whether those moments do or do not later loom large---are what our lives are made of.

How They Get You by Josh Allen

Synopsis

A former Mormon, sick of friendly visitors with ulterior motives, lashes out at local bishops---only to find one bishop who welcomes the attack on his character.

Review

In this, the most challenging story of the set, Allen doesn't present easy answers. Perhaps the most compelling character is not the protagonist who attacks, but the bishop at the end, struggling with his own public image, who welcomes the attack, rejecting his righteousness through a paint-bearing proxy. A difficult to story to read, in that it's intensely honest, but that all that honesty does not comfort and does not suggest solutions.

Name by Heidi Naylor

Synopsis

A teenage girl in '80s Michigan brushes against the threat of sex and violence and finds comfort through the power of naming and names.

Review

Of all the characters in these five stories, I like Lisbeth the best. Perhaps I'm primed to like her---I work with teenagers at work and my wife works with them at church---but Lisbeth is an appealing mix of childlike vulnerability and adultlike strength. Through the simple and understated events of one evening, we watch her take a great step from the latter toward the former. But not in the typical way one expects from literature---though Lisbeth gains knowledge, she does not lose innocence. Not exactly. She is, if anything, created more innocent through new knowledge. And not simply because hard-won facts made her strong, but because she simply grew into a relationship with her Father. Behold. Thou are Lisbeth, and I am God.

One Glass Ball by Brett Wilcox

Synopsis

A mourning father visits troubled youth on an Alaska-island retreat and is forced to address not just his lost child, but his lost faith.

Review

I found this story too top-heavy with symbols and meaning and flashing arrows. Not that the characters were inadequately drawn or that the events related don't matter. No, my issue is that it's too pat---too crafted. The fictional world is as perfectly organized as an evangelical Eden. The difference is only that the pieces don't become evil upon the introduction of the devil, but hint holiness upon the introduction of the godly in the guise of evil. If that makes sense.

Willing to Work by Larry Menlove

Synopsis

A recently divorced Mormon woman on the skids either steps back to righteousness or takes another step toward debauchery when she picks up a handsome young homeless man.

Review

I find Menlove's work a bit hit or miss. (Good. Good. Bad.) This story, I'm happy to say, is one of his good ones. Brianna is a wonderfully pathetic character, and even though she's making mistakes which, at their best, only manufacture illusions of happiness, it's hard not to empathize with her or to side with her. Even though we can see how much she's been wronged, it's plain we do not see how much she has wronged others---her p-o-v won't allow that. But it doesn't matter. Her pain is real; her suffering is real. And no matter her motivations, what she does she does for the least of these. Brianna may be a tragic character, but we don't help her by feeling sorry for her. She's still a good person. She's just in pain. Maybe the next person she helps, and who helps her, will prove a further step toward healing.

2013 goals update

.As a general rule, I do not believe in New Year's Resolutions or similar claptrap. January first is a rather artificial means of life-markery. That said, doesn't mean I didn't spend a lot of money on our tenth anniversary dinner. Things like new years and multiples of ten are useful tools in celebrating the passage of time and carry emotional weight whether that makes sense or not.

Thus, although I haven't done so in years, I didn't resist when I felt an urge to make goals for 2013. How could it hurt?

My goals were:

1. Finish the rough draft of my novella-in-stories by the end of January and have it ready for publication by October.

2. Finish a rough draft of my current novel project by the end of the year.

3. Get five short stories not currently ready for publication ready for publication. (Whether currently roughed, begun, or unimagined.)

But I made these goals with the expectation that other things would come up. I thought though that I would be able to meet these three goals no matter what other compelling things came up.

So. Now that the year is almost a third over, how am I doing?

I finished the novella-in-stories rough a little late, but it's done. I haven't been working on the rewrite, which puts me behind expectations, but not impossibly behind. And I expect that at least two of the stories will stand well enough on their own that I can count them towards goal three as well.

Sadly though, although I had been working a tear on the new novel when the year ended, I've barely touched it since. This upsets me, but because my excuses are good, I'm not beating myself up. I've been thinking about it more or less constantly and anticipate being able to pick it back up when I wrap up some other projects.

In the meantime, I've donated enormous energy toward a large thingamathing I'm not prepared to announce yet, which is going well and is quite exciting and is---fun for a change---collaborative. I haven't begun work with my cowriter (and things could still fall entirely apart before that stage), but it's someone I've wanted to work with for years and things are looking pretty good at the moment.

And, even if this plan is never consummated (if you will), it hasn't been lost time. I've learned plenty from the work I've already done. I trust the time lost will be found again in improved skills and new routes of thinking.

Another surprise is the amount of poetry I've produced this year. I've only published one so far and may not successfully place any others (I'm not, shall we say, renowned as a poet), but I'm enjoying the sidetrack. I suspect there's a good poet inside of me somewhere, but he's usually taking odd jobs prettying up bits of prose. It's okay. Every poet needs a day job.

Thus I've begun supplementing my original goals.

That novella-in-stories takes place in the Byuck universe (as it were) and, if I spend my summer as I hope too, I should also be prepared to finally finish the byucky novel I started a few years ago and never finished: Curses & Llew. What I have already written is brilliant. Would be great to finish the darn thing.

I also hope to place at least one comic this year. I placed one in 2012---why not 2013?

Ambition. Always ambition.

(What he seems to really mean.)

I haven't had a haircut since this video was made. I could really use a haircut.

.

Lady Steed and I

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Thanks to Miss Nemesis who just threw this photo up.

The leprechaun went to Iraq. Had tea with a mysterious child who never showed his face.

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040) Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne, finished April 8

I'm happy to read these books to my kids. Partially because they're the books that finally got my oldest to read and partially because they're pretty good reads.

Plus, this one is the latest in a serious of small events encouraging me to read Lady Gregory.

evening



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039) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon, finished April 7

You ever have that experience where, by the end of the first couple pages, you are absolutely confident that this writer will take you somewhere wonderful? That, based on these beautiful sentences, you're certain their pages and books will be just as beautiful?

That's what happened to me as I began Fallon's debut collection. I knew immediately she would not fail.

Now, I grant, sometimes those beautiful sentences can be deceiving and a book may wander around getting nowhere. But that didn't happen here. Each of the stories in You Know When the Men Are Gone delivers. They are not all truly excellent, but each is at least very good. Take "Remission" which I thought began and continued rather weakly but, in the end, was the only story to make me cry.

The stories in You Know When the Men Are Gone are about the men---and, more particularly, the families they leave behind---of the Iraq War. The stories are centered mostly, but not entirely, in Fort Hood where those families remain. And wait. And fear.

Fallon shows us wives and girlfriends and soldiers and commanders. Little moments and enormous moments. And them all with grace and beauty.

It's not a subject, I shamefacedly admit, I'm likely to assign myself. So I'm glad Lady Steed put it into my hands and told me to read it.

Be a more empathetic American.

Read this book.

a few weeks but mostly three days



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038) Illiterature: Story Minutes, Vol. I by Carol Lay, finished April 2

Although each story is only a one-page comics, this is one of the best short story collections I've read in a while. Each is a perfect, faceted jem of storytelling. I'm so upset I had never heard of Carol Lay before.

And it's not just the story telling in a generic way. The words are spare and rely as much on implication as what is said. The lines are clean and the inking is stark and feeling. (She should stick with b&w as a look at her website will show you.) And her sense of anatomy is so full and expressive, which I wasn't expecting when I judged her figures by her lower jaw = teeth styling.

Impossible to pick a favorite, but I have to show you something.

two or three weeks



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037) "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket, finished March 29

Although a fan of the Series of Unfortunate Events, I did not like Snicket's unauthorized autobiography and had no intention to read more novelgazing from the once-great agent. Then a student lent me his copy and I'm so glad I read it. Besides giving information about Snicket's organizational past, his trademark obfuscative wit is on display.

three or four or five weeks



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036) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 29
didn't even start this one till after midnight

035) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 28
past midnight and into a new day

Holding off on further comment till I finish the final books in the series.

Previously in 2013 . . . . :

Books 26 - 34

034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24
033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24
032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22
031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22
030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13
029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11
028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5
027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5
026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

Books 22 - 25

025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21

021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19

019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13

013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

The Svithe of Thomas

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Over the last couple days I've read the Gospel of Thomas. I've heard of it of course---since being rediscovered it's become the headliner of new old Christian texts. Although 114 chapters long, it is quite short. It tells no story. Each chapter is one saying of Jesus, most of which do not appear in Matthew or Mark or Luke or John. Some of these I share with you now.

I tell you these things that you might be troubled and perplexed. I tell you these things that you might know that Jesus who made his listeners feel I felt as I read these confusing and challenging sayings. I do not share these things you might feel comfortable with the Jesus who has been explained away over two thousand years of explaining.

Chapter 7

¹ Jesus said: "Blessed us the lion which the person eats---and the lion becomes a person. And cursed is the person whom the lion eats---and the lion becomes a person."

Chapter 67

¹ Jesus said: "Whoever knows all, if she still needs herself, she still needs all."

Chapter 70

¹ Jesus said: "When you give birth to the one within you, that one will save you. If you do not have that one within you, that one will kill you."

Chapter 80

¹ Jesus said: "Whoever has known the world has found the body. And whoever has found the body, the world is no longer worthy of that person."

Chapter 87

¹ Jesus said: "Damn the body that depends on a body; and damn the soul that depends on these two."

Chapter 98

¹ Jesus said: "The realm of the Father is compared to someone who wanted to kill a powerful man. He drew his sword in his house. He stabbed the wall in order to see whether his hand might hold steady. Then he killed the powerful man."

Chapter 105

¹ Jesus said: "Whoever knows mother and father will be called the child of a whore!"

Chapter 109

¹ Jesus said: "The realm compares to a man who had in his field a hidden treasure, but he was unaware of it. And after his death, he left it to his son. The son was also unaware of the treasure. He took the field and sold it. The one who bought the field went plowing and found the treasure. ² He began to lend money at interest to those he loved."

Chapter 114

¹ Simon Peter said to them: "Let Mary leave us, for women do not deserve life." ² Jesus said: "Look! I will lead her so that I might make her male, which will make her into a living spirit resembling you males. ³ For any woman that makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."

source
previous svithe

Selections from Jews and Words by Oz and Oz-Salzberger

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A few selections from this marvelous book. Some with, some without commentary.

p26

Simply put, our thesis is this: in order to remain a Jewish family, a Jewish family perforce relied upon words. Not any words, but words that came from books.

I find this idea thrilling. And because I'll be putting an LDS spin on many of these selection, why not start here? I think the Israelite heritage Mormons inherit from scripture---but especially the Book of Mormon (see our nickname)---explains why we feel a close kinship with the Jews. We don't feel that words are too small a relationship to make us family.

That aside, I love this concept. It speaks to me as a reader. As the Ozes say later (unquoted), one could, in almost every case, substitute the word "reader" for "Jew" and still make sense of this booklength essay.

p76

By contrast [to Greek goddesses and tragic heroines], Israelite and Jewish female characters over the ages almost always choose life. They fare badly at times, but not in a tragic sense. Their heroism is almost invariably about surviving, rescuing, surmounting danger, and bringing babies to the world.

p176-177

One of the most crucial and typical Hebrew legacies is the centrality of the individual person.

We already said, in passing, that the powerful individualism displayed in the Bible and in later Jewish texts is not your mainstream individualism of modern Western theory. A deep and ancient marker of Hebrew culture is the centrality of the single man or woman, created in God's image, but at the same time belonging to several human pluralities. . . .

The Mishnah comments on Genesis crisply and lucidly:

Therefore man was created singly in the world to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul [nefesh], it counts as if he destroyed a full world; and whoever saves one soul, it counts as if he saved a full world.

. . . .

Now this precious idea, that every single soul is a full world, can carry two dovetailing meanings. The first is that each person's life is of tremendous importance. Indeed, since man and woman are created in God's image, each life is holy. Unlike certain Christian and Muslim concepts of the term soul, the Hebrew word nefesh is almost exclusively linked to life on earth, and not to an eternal afterlife, "for the blood is the nefesh." . . .

. . . . Almost all divine precepts can be suspended when life and death are involved. This legal tool is a fundamental law; it can push aside almost any other piece of legislation.

I did not know the Jews have made so explicit a belief that I thought was peculiarly Mormon. But the Jews take this to mean the saving of mortal lives in a much more literal way than we usually think of it. We can learn something here.

p179

The second meaning of "whoever saves one soul, it counts as if he saved a full world" is even more fascinating than the first. . . . to urge the utter necessity of personal responsibility over the lives of others.

p180

. . . every soul is "a full world," and every such world is different from all others.

This is not Western individualism but Jewish individuation. The single person is not weightier than the group, nor is the "I" more important than the "you" or the "we." Instead, every one of us must be infinitely important to the others and to the collective, because we are each a unique variant of God's image.

Which is why the Earth should be saved.

p187

No man is an island wrote the great Donne. The novelist among us adds: true, no man is an island, but we are all peninsulas.

p191

"Your children are not your children," wrote Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese-American poet. "They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself." Being stereotypically Jewish parents, we cannot concede possession of our offspring quite so easily. But we could paraphrase Gibran thus: Your ideas are not your ideas. They are the progeny of the bookshelf on your wall and the language that you inhabit.

Which is why this everlastingly extended copyright is a load of crap.

p204

Our words are not our words. They change as we utter them. They never stay long enough to "belong." A little like our offspring, in the already-quoted line of the wise Arab poet Gibran: Your children are not your children. We may wish our children to continue our words; instead, they will author the book afresh.

And we need to be okay with that. It's not what we do that's so great. It's that it's part of something that continues ever onward.

So hard to stop! But I must end somewhere and this seems as good a place as any. While I could write about every page, you should read every page for yourself.

P.S.: Don't miss my original review, or my forthcoming AMV post.

In the meantime, please feel free to comment yourself on some of the ones I skipped. They're unquestionably juicy.

Cats, Feces, Zombies, Jews, Wars, Princesses, Prophets, Exes, Screenplays

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034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24

Just what you imagine it to be.

mere minutes



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033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24

I admit I did not read every word. Instead I read it using the Brother-Backman-the-Famous-Historian Method so it certainly still counts. Plus, I learned so many interesting things about goldfish poop and koala poop and wombat poop and whale poop and a hundred other kinds of poop that I'm set with cocktail conversation FOR MONTHS.

not at all long



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032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22

Do you remember when things like uses for a dead cat could make for a bestselling book? Nowadays, seems more likely a project like that would end up on Tumblr yet here is a series of painting of things zombies hate in a book form, just like the good old days.

Good stuff too. Couple good gags. A pleasant way to spend fifteen minutes.

mere minutes



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031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22

I didn't expect this book to rearrange my thinking as much as it did. (I also didn't expect that Asimov's insanely long chapter on Jewish jokes would be my best preparation coming into this book.)

I have a couple other posts planned coming out of this book, but for now, some unorganized thoughts.

One: I suppose many Christians may agree with this notion, but as a Mormon I could not disagree more when the authors suggest that Jesus's appeal to being as a little child is a call to ignorance.

Two: I love the idea of a people being bound less by geography or genealogy or genetics, and more by the words they hand down from generation to generation---as much teacher to student as parent to child.

Three: We Mormons are terrific at sharing our Torah with each other, but lousy at passing down the full richness of our Talmud. Not that all of our Talmud-equivalent is worth knowing, but I think we let too much of our textual heritage fall away. I'm guilty of this myself.

Four: Although the authors come at this task from a directly atheistic/secular point of view, they remain fully Jewish. And, given their explanation of the history of "Judaism" as and idea and a word, that seems perfectly reasonable. And I'm let wondering again how open my own tradition is to nonbelievers of like heritage. And how open it is incumbent upon us to be.

Five: Look here for some favorite passages.

three or four weeks



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030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13

When I finished the first two books,I intended to just jump right into this one. Then I didn't and I didn't then I thought, ah, well, here I am not finishing books, why bother with this one. I'm forgetting the story etc etc. But then it was late and a comic sounded just right and oh yeah! This is AMAZING stuff! So I read it and I've put the other four volumes on hold at the library.

We're doing this thing.

two days



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029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11

Apparently reading screenplays instead of grading is my new thing. Fwiw, the darn thing almost made me cry. Twice.

shorter than i expected



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028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5

I checked this book from my ward library to carry with me as I walked to before-church meetings. Then I was released from that responsibility and only picked up Lucy Mack to read a bit every now and again.

Reading this book as a lifelong Mormon is a lot like watching Casablanca as a lifelong American parts are so familiar you swear you've seen it before, but it holds secrets you never before imagined.

Lucy Mack Smith is one feisty lady, and something of a prophetess to boot. Her perspective on her family's travails comes with the passion of a mother and the insight of a mother and the wisdom of a mother.

And it's a fun read with mostly short chapters. Check it out.

perhaps three years



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027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5

I read this one because I was told to think Scott Pilgrim. Which, having read it, I realize I already was. Now that I know screenplays are just lying around online, maybe I'll read more.

this evening



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026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

I was upset when the library made me return Syd Field's Screenplay before I was finished with it. And startled that when they sent me a new copy it was the 70s version instead of the 2005 revised which I had been reading before. (And which I'll argue is superior in many ways but not all.) The two are different enough that it seems strange to claim I've "finished" reading the book when, in fact, I've read half of two quite different books.

I checked it out initially because I'm developing an interest in different ways to structure fiction. Field is the most famous proponent of structure in screenplay, but even those who resent his fame admit the point (if not the details). But a funny thing happened while I read the book. I got excited about writing screenplays.

As an experiment, I'm adapting Byuck. And I do not intend to abandon novels for screenplays. But I am enjoying my experiment and I already have another idea which I've sculpted for screenplay shape, not novel shape. So I may flirt more with this form in the future.

In fact. I would call it certain.

couple months





Previously in 2013 . . . . :

Books 22 - 24

025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21

021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19

019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13

013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

Laurel Wistian and the Adventure of the Dangerous Mice of Dr. Mortimus Alexander Fitzbottom, PhD, AlcDredux

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I linked improperly last time I posted this announcement. Clicking on the picture on both posts now works.

My story's available for free but the whole thing's a mere $4.

art by laird ogden

Byucky memes

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BYU Memes, the crazy-popular Facebook site, is helping me give away copies of Byuck. Get in on the action pronto.

Or, at the very least, enjoy the competition as a spectator. Me, I can hardly wait.

== == == == ==

For those looking for somewhere to start, why not with the essays that started it all?

Marital Matters --- for free, yall.

Laurel Wistian and the Adventure of the Dangerous Mice of Dr. Mortimus Alexander Fitzbottom, PhD, AlcD

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Now available. And it's part of the free sample. Though if the whole thing's as good as mine, you should just drop the four bucks.

art by laird ogden