Goon Squad - Read of the Year

Don't know why I haven't posted about Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer prize winning Visit From the Goon Squad - about time I'd say.

I got this book for my birthday, shortly before it won the P.P. - heard a lot of buzz about it, had no idea what it was about. Two pages in, maybe even one page, I knew I was going to love it. As a writer, I wonder - how the hell do you do that? There was a voice, a sense of character, drama, suspense, and a feeling that I was going to go down a road that I hadn't been before. I remember that from an Ondaatje quote - trust the writer that he will lead you into town, safely. Good advice when you are reading non-linear works like Ondaatje's or Egan's.

Goon squad swirls with great language, equally funny and painful moments - I found myself having to set the book down in admiration. When I got to the last chapter I had chills - it was hard to read what Egan thought the next few decades might be like.

I am going to read it again this month, and discuss it with my men's bookclub (yes, those exist!) It will be a challenge for those who like the modern beginning, middle and end stories. But already I know a few who are reading it and just loving what they call the "detective work" of following the storylines.

Best thing I've read this year - no question.

The Whole Love

Listening to the first track of the new Wilco album, which just dropped today. I saw them play this Live on Letterman, and I loved it right away.

Oh man, listen to that part....

Soooo fine.

Sorry, where was I. Oh yeah - lots of people know about my Wilco obsession, so they keep telling me, did you know they had a new album coming out, or they are on Letterman, or CBC, or... (anyway, the answer is always yes, because I keep obsessively on top of all this band, and notably Mr. Tweedy, are up to.)

I've stopped trying to explain to people why they are so freakin' good. They just are. Listen to them, and I mean really listen to what they are doing. You'll thank me.

Back to the album, I can't concentrate while it's playing anyway.

Fall

It's a four letter word that has so many meanings - and I don't mean that other great Anglo-Saxon expletive (though, I am kind of fond of that one too).

FALL

As a kid it meant landing on something hard, usually tumbling off a bike, which for some reason took me forever to learn how to ride. Fall was accompanied by skinned and bloody knees, gravel encrusted in the wound, and a helpful sister that cleaned it off.

Of course there was the season - Autumn seemed too pretentious a word for a kid. Fall, it's what the leaves did, and eventually the what the snow would do.

Growing older I learned of many other falls. A fall from grace, falling behind, the fall (as in the expulsion from the garden), and many others.

It's a word so close to others: folly, fail, fault - that it can send shivers up my spine as it approaches. Yet, there is a beauty... so much beauty.

Let it come.

Re-organizing

For a variety of reasons, I am re-organizing and removing some posts.

Spring cleaning in fall.

Festing Part Deux

I am attending my second Folk Fest of the summer season - The Regina Folk Fest. This has become a great tradition for my wife and I and another couple. I refer to is as my trip back to the motherland - and though it has gone through so many changes, all the pumpjacks that fill the horizon for example, it still feels like coming home.

Last night we sat under the stars, and trees, and the Northern Lights that popped in for a visit. The music rolled through the park, we sipped icy Gopher beer (no actual varmits were harmed) and ate some decent chicken curry.

As a bonus one of my tweets got read on stage and I won a spiffy CBC Radio Three shirt - which this morning I am sporting like a proud Canadian.

Tonight is K.D. Lang, but more interesting for me, Taj Mahal!

Hope the Northern Lights return for another set.