Archive for February, 2012
photo by Michael Hilliard
Trying to describe Matt Ruff’s writing in one sentence is akin to trying to recap the entire series of “Lost” in one minute. Walk your way through his oeuvre and you’ll meet up with a manipulating Greek god, a resurrected and enslaved Ayn Rand, an imaginary house inhabited by the multiple souls of one man and a department of “Bad Monkeys.” Ruff’s latest novel, The Mirage, presents readers with an alternate reality that boldly asks, “What would the War on Terror look like if 9/11 had happened in the Middle East, and the attacks were made by Americans?” Rather than depicting a complete mirror image of the events, Ruff infuses elements of the surreal that fans have come to love in his writing. He is currently on tour for The Mirage and took some time to answer a few questions about his latest novel.
What initially sparked the idea for The Mirage? I was asked by a TV producer who was a fan of my novel Bad Monkeys whether I had any original ideas for a TV series. I’d been wanting to write something about 9/11 and the War on Terror that would offer an unusual perspective while still being an engaging story, and I hit on this idea of setting a thriller in a world where the U.S. and the Middle East had traded places. That concept was a little too radical for television, so I decided to do it as a novel. (more…)
Tags: Bad Monkeys, Kamila Shamsie, Kartography, Lindsey McGuirk, Matt Ruff, The Mirage, Village Books
Posted in NW Voices | 1 Comment »
“At every author reading, invariably somebody asks where inspiration comes from, which is an interesting question—more to watch the author’s reaction (ranging anywhere from humorous contempt to frustrated anger. I’ve heard stories of people like David Foster Wallace chastising the asker and walking off the stage) than to hear any sort of answer. It’s considered by many to be to be an impossible answer, and perhaps most authors are satisfied to be authors without having to be neurologists as well. There are numerous writings that attempt to answer this question, however; notably in my mind is Ray Bradbury’s ‘Zen in the Art of Writing.’
What’s extraordinary in The Loss Library is how much it deals with the questions of inspiration and process by meditating on a few of the ideas that failed. Starting off with an idea from old notebooks, Ivan Vladislavic revisits stagnant jottings and ruminates on the ideas themselves while at the same time giving the not-stories historical and personal context and reasons why these were never allowed to grow and take steps. By the time the reader gets to the story of ‘The Loss Library,’ striking from the first sentence in how it’s flushed out as a story in comparison to the elucidations that precede it, we expect this story to drop off at any moment, but the completeness of the story leaves an eerie space, being at the same time unfinished and finished—keeping with the theme of the first half of the book and pushing it as well. The book shifts, perhaps in mood but certainly in scope, and a book of jottings about unfinished and abandoned ideas rounds out almost to a novel, but certainly full and finished, making these orphaned thoughts one whole being. Vladislavic’s project is beautiful, original, inspirational, humble . . .”—Stephen, Ravenna Third Place. Buy The Loss Library and Other Unfinished Stories from Third Place Books.
Tags: Ivan Vladislavic, Ravenna Third Place, Ray Bradbury, Sunandini Banerjee, The Loss Library and Other Unfinished Stories, Third Place Books, Zen in the Art of Writing
Posted in Face Out | No Comments »
“I was happily thumbing through the bookshelf in a friend’s kitchen recently when I discovered Brother Victor’s cookbooks. This being the season for craving the warmth and comfort of homemade soups, I borrowed his soup cookbook first and have been delighted with the results. They’re simple to make, with wholesome and inexpensive ingredients and a worldly variety of flavors and textures. And if you like his soups as I do, his Twelve Months of Monastery Salads is a perfect complement!”—Nancy, University Book Store, Seattle. Buy Twelve Months of Monastery Soups from University Bookstore.
Tags: Brother Victor, Buy from an indie!, Seattle, soup weather, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, University Book Store, Victor D'Avila-Latourrette
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Algonquin Books Marketing Director Craig Popelars claims he got the subscription for his daughter for Christmas. Whatever you want to believe, this MAD magazine photo he sent is pretty good. Apparently, the new issue features a spoof on a Banana Republic catalog called ‘Banana Republicans.’ Popelars goes on: “It features Newt, Rick, Michele, and the rest of the Republican knuckleheads appearing as models. The one of Ron Paul stopped me dead in the tracks. It’s Johnny Evision’s author photo, but with Ron Paul’s head superimposed on Johnny’s body!”
Johnny/Ronny
He also tells us that Evison has been, “…contacted by about 10 friends who also saw this. Pretty sad there are a bunch of middle-aged guys like me still reading MAD.”
Tags: Algonquin Books, Craig Popelars, Jonathan Evison, MAD magazine, Ron Paul
Posted in Regional Reprints | No Comments »
“The extensive 2010 military public relations campaign waged in order to expand the Afghanistan War (specifically modeled after the failed counter-insurgency tactics used originally in Algeria by the French in the 1950′s, and then again disastrously a half-century later in Iraq by the U.S.) is the basis for this outstanding reporting on U.S. military leaders run amok. Hastings, a Rolling Stone reporter, was recruited by General Stanley McChrystal’s bloated entourage to write an article that they were sure, with the usual public relations massaging, would celebrate the great man facade and make McChrystal a ‘rock star’ warrior for mass adulation. Instead, what Hastings uncovered was a military culture that has become increasing separate from and unchecked by an easily-manipulated civilian leadership, a complicit press, and an indifferent American citizenship. Sadly, Hastings concludes that in the last decade ‘we were fighting the wrong war, in the wrong way, in the wrong country.’ And yet, many of the military elite (as well as a sycophantic U.S. press corps) used the war to advance their careers, their pocketbooks, and their public standing at the horrible cost of the many. And so it goes.”—Will, Annie Bloom’s Books, Portland. Buy The Operators from Annie Bloom’s Books.
Tags: Annie Bloom's Books, Buy from an indie!, Michael Hastings, The Operators, The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan
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“One of the things that I love about reading Steve Martin’s books is that in my head, as I’m reading, I hear his voice telling the story. The other, is how incredibly smart the writing is. This one tackles the world of high art, complete with color reproductions throughout. It’s a great story, very imaginative and smoothly written. How could it not be? It’s Steve Martin, after all.”—Claire, Village Books, Bellingham. Buy An Object of Beauty from Village Books.
Tags: An Object of Beauty, Buy from an indie!, Steve Martin, Village Books
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Last week The Corvallis Gazette-Times, local rag of of Grass Roots Books & Music, published a panel by a local cartoonist that paid tribute to “the wonderfulness of independent bookstores,” as Grass Roots’s Pamela Moeller put it. It also happened to spin the whole shop local/buy Amazon thing, which we can at least enjoy in a comic daydream, right? We’ve broken the original into three parts to add our own running commentary.
So we’d really rather you just start with your local store in the first place considering all of the original and informative content you can find there, but we can’t deny the guilty pleasure of a little “Take that!” role reversal.
Or just stop by. Even if you do have to order it, there are thousands of other books you can actually put your hands on. And if you have a question about a book you’re holding in your hands, one of the employees probably has something to say about it that would easily rate at the top of Amazon’s so-many-some-odd-of-blankety-blank “people found the following review helpful” list.
The cartoonist’s name is Jack, but so is the owner of Grass Roots Books & Music. It’s just funny to imagine him flirting from his bicycle on the way to work. Good luck with that, Jack.
Tags: Corvallis, Ditch Amazon Day, Grass Roots Books & Music
Posted in Regional Reprints | No Comments »
“Take advantage of a lazy morning or afternoon and read this delightful debut novel from a new voice among Portland authors. This is a day in the life of Isabel, an unassuming twenty-something who grew up in Alaska. She now resides as a Portland library employee. We visit her memories and dreams while following her through a quiet yet eventful day in her life. Isabel loves thrift stores and the discards of others, a characteristic she picked up from her musician father. Her spare writing style makes for a very quick read, but the prose contains great depth of insight. I enjoyed meeting all of the people in the story, and I particularly liked the sense of Portland it held, even though little is location specific.”—Brad, Paulina Springs Books, with locations in Sisters and Redmond, OR. Buy Glaciers from Paulina Springs Books.
Tags: Alexis M. Smith, Buy from an indie!, Glaciers, OR, Paulina Springs Books, Sisters and Redmond
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