iDEATH
having forgotten Norwegian Wood at home, i took Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America with me to lunch today.
it has three books in it - TFIA, some poems, and In Watermelon Sugar. I'd already read 45 or so pages of TFIA and felt i (didn't) get the (non) point so i skipped up to Watermelon Sugar and the first thing that struck me was how weird it was to be reading this essentially poetry written in uh 1968 which kept referring to a thing called iDEATH. (I think it's some sort of lodge or cafeteria in the story.) I couldn't stop thinking iPod, iBook, Mac, etc. 'i-' is the new 'e-'. I wonder how many of the macintosh designers thought of iDEATH during their long arduous sessions around the design room table.
in any event, pax Janina, i won't willingly return to Brautigan. it's sort of like eating unsweetened butter for me - there's not much texture and i keep trying to chew it but there's not much to chew either. i keep running the pages between my teeth and around my tongue because it seems like there'll be a lump of saltiness or a bit of saltine in there, but i just can't find it. On the other hand, it's the perfect book for keeping at work, because i know i'll never finish it and so hence it will always be here, but at the same time it's good enough to get me thru those twenty minutes of mexican food on the days when i've forgotten my regular reading at home.
i did quite enjoy The [something] Mine Disaster or whatever. No, not that; i haven't read that. what i did read and quite enjoy was The Hawkline Monster. But i have a suspicion he's low on such linear stories.
it has three books in it - TFIA, some poems, and In Watermelon Sugar. I'd already read 45 or so pages of TFIA and felt i (didn't) get the (non) point so i skipped up to Watermelon Sugar and the first thing that struck me was how weird it was to be reading this essentially poetry written in uh 1968 which kept referring to a thing called iDEATH. (I think it's some sort of lodge or cafeteria in the story.) I couldn't stop thinking iPod, iBook, Mac, etc. 'i-' is the new 'e-'. I wonder how many of the macintosh designers thought of iDEATH during their long arduous sessions around the design room table.
in any event, pax Janina, i won't willingly return to Brautigan. it's sort of like eating unsweetened butter for me - there's not much texture and i keep trying to chew it but there's not much to chew either. i keep running the pages between my teeth and around my tongue because it seems like there'll be a lump of saltiness or a bit of saltine in there, but i just can't find it. On the other hand, it's the perfect book for keeping at work, because i know i'll never finish it and so hence it will always be here, but at the same time it's good enough to get me thru those twenty minutes of mexican food on the days when i've forgotten my regular reading at home.
i did quite enjoy The [something] Mine Disaster or whatever. No, not that; i haven't read that. what i did read and quite enjoy was The Hawkline Monster. But i have a suspicion he's low on such linear stories.
posted by good old o at
3:57 PM
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