Monday, November 21, 2005
UNFAMILIAR
A TWICE-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF DIFFERENT FICTION
September 1-15/05
I got Anna Lena a subscription to McSweeney's for her birthday, months ago. I got all worried that I'd blown $50 on it too, because nothing ever came in the mail, and no receipt ever appeared in my email-box. My fears were put to rest a few weeks back when out of the blue I got an email message, a shipping confirmation for this Fall's issue of McSweeney's.
Talk about crazy! This Fall's McSweeney's is an artful simulucra of another person's pile of mail, "Maria Vasquez" of Arlington, VA 22207. Her pile of mail contained an assortment of adverts, flyers, an art collection, and a couple of mock journals. At least I suppose that the journals aren't real - one of them is a journal for Big Foot fans. I haven't tried to read that one.
The other journal bears the title for this entry: Unfamiliar. It reads much like the McSweeney's website itself. It is a journal of short stories. I particularly like the first one by Sarah Manguso, and I think I've read the last story, by John Haskell. Lots of the stories in between were funny, and often bizaare things that often were crafted to poke at our current Iraq war.
That last story, hmm, I can't think where I read it. Oh, that guy that wrote "About a Boy"; I think he compiled that and that this story was in there. Ah, amazon.com reminds me that I read "How to be Good". Can't really be sure that the John Haskell story is in there.
September 1-15/05
I got Anna Lena a subscription to McSweeney's for her birthday, months ago. I got all worried that I'd blown $50 on it too, because nothing ever came in the mail, and no receipt ever appeared in my email-box. My fears were put to rest a few weeks back when out of the blue I got an email message, a shipping confirmation for this Fall's issue of McSweeney's.
Talk about crazy! This Fall's McSweeney's is an artful simulucra of another person's pile of mail, "Maria Vasquez" of Arlington, VA 22207. Her pile of mail contained an assortment of adverts, flyers, an art collection, and a couple of mock journals. At least I suppose that the journals aren't real - one of them is a journal for Big Foot fans. I haven't tried to read that one.
The other journal bears the title for this entry: Unfamiliar. It reads much like the McSweeney's website itself. It is a journal of short stories. I particularly like the first one by Sarah Manguso, and I think I've read the last story, by John Haskell. Lots of the stories in between were funny, and often bizaare things that often were crafted to poke at our current Iraq war.
That last story, hmm, I can't think where I read it. Oh, that guy that wrote "About a Boy"; I think he compiled that and that this story was in there. Ah, amazon.com reminds me that I read "How to be Good". Can't really be sure that the John Haskell story is in there.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Shot in the Heart
By Mikal Gilmore
(amazon)
Anna Lena purchased this book a couple of weeks ago and I picked it up because I didn't have anything else to read around the house. I had just finished The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene - an amazingly good book that I could NOT put down. The Confidential Agent falls into the mystery or crime thriller genre I think, and is predictable in that satisfying way that I suppose most novels in those genres are. Graham Greene really made it a personal, sympathetic read. Hey, but this isn't a posting for Greene, its for Gilmore.
Shot in the Heart is a memoir. Mikal's big brother Gary Gilmore was the first man killed after the death penalty was reinstated in Utah, in 1977 and Mika tries to outline how this came to be. He explores the history of his family, and the inherently dark past of his father and mother's lives. It was a very shocking, depressing read. Kinda cathartic.
It was long too, approaching four hundred pages. I think the thing that really hooked me in this book was the setting. Mikal explored the history of his mother's family, which traces back to the beginning of the Morman move into the Utah Territory. Since I grew up in South Western Idaho, I vaguely remember learning as a kid that Southern Idaho is about 60% Morman, I found the stories related to Morman history and culture fascinating.
I couldn't help but think of a couple of my relatives while reading this book. No, none of my relatives are nearly as dangerous, violent, or unhappy as Mikal's brothers - however, there is an aspect to some stories about my relatives that when thought of in terms of this book, are chilling. I could see these stories fit into the jigsaw puzzle of my future memoir in the same way that some of Mikal's stories fit into his memoir; I don't know how to accurately describe the eerie, prescient feeling, I had reading this book.
I'm sure anyone reading this book would probably have a similar feeling.
(amazon)
Anna Lena purchased this book a couple of weeks ago and I picked it up because I didn't have anything else to read around the house. I had just finished The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene - an amazingly good book that I could NOT put down. The Confidential Agent falls into the mystery or crime thriller genre I think, and is predictable in that satisfying way that I suppose most novels in those genres are. Graham Greene really made it a personal, sympathetic read. Hey, but this isn't a posting for Greene, its for Gilmore.
Shot in the Heart is a memoir. Mikal's big brother Gary Gilmore was the first man killed after the death penalty was reinstated in Utah, in 1977 and Mika tries to outline how this came to be. He explores the history of his family, and the inherently dark past of his father and mother's lives. It was a very shocking, depressing read. Kinda cathartic.
It was long too, approaching four hundred pages. I think the thing that really hooked me in this book was the setting. Mikal explored the history of his mother's family, which traces back to the beginning of the Morman move into the Utah Territory. Since I grew up in South Western Idaho, I vaguely remember learning as a kid that Southern Idaho is about 60% Morman, I found the stories related to Morman history and culture fascinating.
I couldn't help but think of a couple of my relatives while reading this book. No, none of my relatives are nearly as dangerous, violent, or unhappy as Mikal's brothers - however, there is an aspect to some stories about my relatives that when thought of in terms of this book, are chilling. I could see these stories fit into the jigsaw puzzle of my future memoir in the same way that some of Mikal's stories fit into his memoir; I don't know how to accurately describe the eerie, prescient feeling, I had reading this book.
I'm sure anyone reading this book would probably have a similar feeling.
