First, I finally sat down to read By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano. I bought this when I was reading The Host; that book made me feel so gross and dumbed down that I had to remind myself of what I love about literature. Now Chris is out of town and I have time to devote to it, because when I read Bolano I get lost in a way unlike any other. I love his writing but it is so hard to explain to other people why. The cadence of his writing absolutely takes me away. I relax and become totally enveloped in the trace of his language. At the end of one of his books I miss the experience of reading and I miss his characters. People ask me, "What is it about?" and I just can't go there, because his writing is about so much more than what it is about, it is about what it is. And I think it is spectacular. He died much too young.
Second, Duff McKagan is a scholar! WHAT THE FUCK!?! How did I miss this development!!!
Duff McKagan is the bass player for Guns N' Roses. In high school I had an absolutely unhealthy infatuation with this band. I dreamed of befriending and touring with them; I dreamed of making them care about things other than drugs and partying. And then they broke up. Duff made a solo album and I can still recite every word, but somewhere along the line I had to become an adult and close the door on my rock and roll fantasies. Anyway, yesterday I see Duff's name on a Vanity Fair article and find out that he felt the need to grow up too! After almost dying and getting clean (much more exciting than my need to get a job and move out of my parents house) he went back to school and edumacated himself and now writes for Seattle Weekley and ESPN! He mostly writes about music and sports but he also writes about about literature - and I mean literature. Cormac McCarthy is a favorite - I cannot begin to explain the ways in which I would love to discuss The Road with Duff - FUCKING EPICNESS!!! Truly, it is beyond... Again, I can't explain this excitement. I spent so much of my life trying to hide who I was, a loner completely happy and content on my bed with a book, and put on the facade of being a cool girl, perpetually drunk and flighty, that to this day I never know if I am being who I am or who I think I am supposed to be. If I had known that the rocker I fantasized about running away with would in some way think that my cool factor was heightened by my literary infatuations... Man, I wonder who I would be now.
0 comments:
Post a Comment