With the end of the semester offering a good month to sit back and waste, it might just be tempting to dust off a book and see what the old volume has to offer. In the spirit of end-of-the-year lists and dragging yellowed books off the shelf, Cardinal Arts presents some suggested winter reading. If mid-January rolls around and you have nothing but fruitcake to entertain you, remember this list.
(HarperCollins)
The end of the year is always a sad time because those faithful page-a-day calendars that have stood by our beds or on our desks are drawing to a close. This year has a little bit more sadness because 2002 marks the last year that Gary Larson's page-a-day calendar exists. \The Far Side,"" arguably the greatest single panel comic ever will be meeting its final page Dec. 31. Fans of Larson can comfort themselves with his collections, ""The Curse of Madame C"" or ""Cow of Our Planet,"" but may wish to check out his book, as well.
Gary Larson drew and wrote ""There's a Hair in My Dirt: A Worm's Story"" after his cartoon drew to a close. This hilarious and rib-tickling tale takes the form of a fable of worms around a dinner table. With silverware but without arms, the father worm tells of a young girl out for a walk in the woods encountering nature writ humorously. The young girl is a typical frumpy Larson woman of strange proportions and a flowered dress. Her story boils down to a series of environmental misunderstandings that culminate in her dirt nap. Her hair makes it into the soil and onto a worm's plate, providing an excuse for Gary Larson's endlessly chuckle-worthy book.
(Ballantine Books)
For most college students, the holiday season means reconnecting with family--those people who know you better than anyone, who you invariably gravitate back to. As marvelous as this connection is, during this break from school you will eventually need an escape from the raw family experience.
Anne Tyler's ""The Accidental Tourist"" is an excellent avenue for this escape. Highly entertaining yet thought provoking, this book explores, among other things, the human reaction to stress and the magnetic draw home.
When Macon Leary, a travel-guide writer for businessmen who hate to travel, is separated from his wife early on in the novel, he slips into a state of extreme over-efficiency as he attempts to minimize his internal suffering. After his complicated attempt at simplicity leaves him injured, he ends up back in his childhood home with his siblings.
Tyler is surprisingly hilarious as she intimately familiarizes the reader with Macon through his inner monologue and through interactions with the important females in his life. The novel concludes in Paris, where his interpersonal wanderings culminate in a life-altering trip. Anne Tyler's gift of building characters that are real and vulnerable makes reading this book a nearly magical experience, as well as a delightful journey home.
(Bay Back Books)
For anyone who has been in the bookstore eyeing the four-inch spine of ""Infinite Jest"" and wondering if it is worth it, the answer is yes. Comedic and provocative, Foster Wallace creates a world where entertainment is the ultimate opiate. His opus features a rich-kid tennis academy, Canadian espionage, independent films, a bevy of drug addicts and the prettiest girl of all time, now disfigured.
""Infinite Jest"" revels in pretension (there are more than a hundred pages of required footnotes) but the eerily acute observations on American commercialization and addiction will have the reader squirming in one sentence and laughing out loud in the next. One warning--if ""Infinite Jest"" has a place on your winter reading list, then it is time to scratch all the other titles out. This book demands more time and attention than any book in recent fiction but it rewards on every page.
(Viking)
Practically a Midwestern institution all to himself, Garrison Keillor's place in regional literature is assured far beyond Minnesota's borders. Known for his radio program, A Prairie Home Companion, Keillor's rasping and delightfully plodding but rich and expressive voice delights anyone who tunes in to National Public Radio. In the field of literature, ""Lake Wobegon Days"" stands as a perennial masterpiece of small town living.
Keillor's story/poem/letter collection, ""We Are Still Married"" stretches far and wide. Including personal anecdotes about time in Copenhagen, the function of a porch and a few dispatches from Lake Wobegon, this compilation has something for everyone. Whether he is talking about his teenage sons or smiling a quick and easy grin at the lives of Lutherans, Keillor's collection is nothing less than irresistible.
While Keillor's writing ranges from New York to the prairie of his home state, a clear thesis develop: the immutable power of the book. The back cover sums up Keillor's thoughts, which ought to be as timeless as his subject.
""Slow to hatch, as durable as a turtle, light and shapely as befits a descendant of the tree. Closed, the objet d'book resembles a board. Open, its pale wings brush the fingertips, the spore of fresh ink and pulp excites the nose, the spine lies easily in your hand. ... A handsome useful object begotten by the passion for truth. ... Ages before the loudspeaker and the camera, came this lovely thing, this portable garden, which survives television, computers, censorship, lousy schools and rotten authors.""
