Quote from [well, about] a Fictional Character #48

"He was one of the unexpected things that happen in politics, and he happened with great thoroughness."

--- Hermann the Fourteenth of Saxe-Drachsen-Wachtelstein,

"Hermann the Irascible: A Story of the Great Weep,"

The Chronicles of Clovis, Saki, 1911

(See also: Rec. #172)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #16: The Undertaker's Gone Bananas

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: [Contains spoiler! But it's not the point of the book! So don't worry!] Two high school misfits investigate the question posited on the cover above: "Did Mr. Hulka really kill his wife and hide her head in the television set?" 

In most other young adult novels, the answer would be, "No, it was just a wacky misunderstanding." Here, the answer is, gleefully, "Yup! He did!" The mystery is not really the point of the story, though. 

The point is that it's solved by Bobby, who imagines his life in headlines, and Lauri, who is almost paralyzed by incessant thoughts of all the ways she could be killed. Most of all, the point is that Paul Zindel writes about them as people, not just high schoolers.

Comparable to: Adam Langer, but more whimsical.

Representative quote: "The kids just kept staring at each other as though in silent agreement that the world was for the most part unjust and often very noisy."

You might not like it if: You're not in the mood for YA books right now, thank you.

Connections to other Wreckage: List #2, List #5, List #7, List #11, List #14

[Originally posted 1/15/11.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #47

"A family's like a gun. You point it in the wrong direction and you're going to kill somebody."

--- Matthew Slaughter,

Trust, 1990

(Rec. #165)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #4: The Salmon of Doubt

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Beloved sci-fi icon Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, passed away suddenly in 2001. This is a posthumous collection of his previously unpublished work. The book includes interviews, eleven chapters of an unfinished novel, and essays ranging from hangover cures to a debate on the existence of an artificial god.

Representative quote: "Every country is like a particular type of person. America is like a belligerent adolescent boy, Canada is like an intelligent thirty-five-year-old woman. Australia is like Jack Nicholson. It comes right up to you and laughs very hard in your face in a highly threatening and engaging manner."

You might not like it if: You did not think the above quote was at least mildly amusing. At the other end of the spectrum, if you are a Hitchhiker super-fan, you might be disappointed that the collection does not include a spinoff story starring Marvin, everyone's favorite morose robot.

How to get it: You might find it at your library or local bookstore, and you can definitely buy it online. You could also listen to Stephen Fry and others read the audio version.

Also: List #25: Happy Birthday, Douglas Adams.

[Originally posted 1/3/11.]

Rec. #356 (abbrev.): Portlandia, season 1

What: IFC sketch show, Carrie Brownstein, Fred Armisen, farm-to-table, "Dream of the '90s," technology loop, Steve Buscemi as customer, competitive hide and seek, Jason Sudeikis as cult leader, cacao, Aimee Mann as cleaner, bicycle rights, Kyle MacLachlan as mayor, is that your dog?, dumpster divers, Aubrey Plaza as house sitter, chin beards are over

Representative quote: "Put a bird on it."

Bonus representative quote: "Cars, man, whyyyyyyy?"

Bonus bonus representative quote: "Thanks for ruining shell art."

How to get it: Stream on Netflix and Hulu.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Season 3 was part of List #37: Some of the Best TV I Watched in 2013. And we eagerly await season 5 in 2015.

Quote from a Fictional Character #46

"This is the fight. This is the same fight we always have. You can surround yourself with every doting jackass you've ever met, but I'm the only one you like more the less I like you."

--- Daphne,

"The Dumpling King," Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes,

Merrill Feitell, 2004

(Rec. #151)

(Personal Wreck #2)

(List #12)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #7: Hyperbole and a Half

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: You're probably already familiar with this brilliant blog. If you are, consider this a happy Friday reminder to check out the full archive (2009 and 2010 are the most robust). 

If Hyperbole and a Half is new to you, please click on any of the links I'm peppering throughout this post, and then enjoy artist/writer/blogger/humorist Allie Brosh's thoughts on canine intelligence, awkward situations, and The Alot. Also, my two favorite posts so far: "The Party" and "Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving."

Representative quote: "For a little while, I actually feel grown-up and responsible. I strut around with my head held high, looking the other responsible people in the eye with that knowing glance that says, 'I understand. I'm responsible now too. Just look at my groceries.'" (from "This Is Why I'll Never Be an Adult")

You might not like it if: You are consumed by jealousy because Allie Brosh is so talented and funny. Actually, scratch that. I'm consumed by jealousy and I love the blog unreservedly. If you decide you don't like it, please let me know so I can feel less jealous.

How to get it: Good grief. Just click here.

Also: Brosh's book of the same name made my List #35: A Few of the Best Books I Read in 2013.

[Originally posted 1/6/11.]

Rec. #355: Blackout/All Clear

What: Blackout and All Clear, by Connie Willis, are two volumes of a single story. Well, it's actually a multi-story --- a 1,132-page epic --- complete with time-jumping and -sliding, with layers of characters, with bombs and tanks and tube shelters.

It's a lot to take in, I know. Here are some coping strategies:

• If you are the type of person who gets paranoid about getting to places on time, resign yourself early on to a constant thrum of low-level anxiety.

• Make a simple timeline for yourself so you can mark which characters are where when during the war. I suggest a frame of bimonthly intervals from December 1939 through June 1945, but you do you.

• Have All Clear ready and waiting for you as soon as you finish Blackout. It is one continuous story and taking a break in between the volumes is not going to feel right.

• Make a simple timeline for yourself. Seriously. I cannot stress this enough. Everything will make so much more sense.

• You will get to a scene fairly early on where characters from The Importance of Being Earnest are blowing up tanks. It is a really great scene.

Representative chapter headers: 

"Look Out in the Blackout!"--- British government poster, 1939

Oxford, April 2060

"Do not tell the enemy anything. Hide your food and your bicycles. Hide your maps." --- Public information booklet, 1940

London, November 1940

"Trying to unweave, unwind, unravel,/ And piece together the past and the future" --- T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Imperial War Museum, London, 7 May 1995

How to get it/them: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Part of Personal Wreck #5 and Gift Idea #1.

Connie Willis also wrote All About Emily (Rec. #266), Bellwether (Rec. #218), Lincoln's Dreams (Rec. #248), and To Say Nothing of the Dog (Rec. #100). 

[I love To Say Nothing of the Dog so much that I flail when I talk about it.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #45

"I call it the Sheila Greene Memorial Gossip Game."

--- Clinton Greene,

The Last of Sheila, 1973

(Rec. #215)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #76: Don't Get too Comfortable

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: David Rakoff seemed like the kind of person you'd like to have for a friend. He's grumbly enough to make you feel bracingly sunny in comparison. He's clever but not lofty. He can be quite cutting, but often toward himself, and always in a very funny way. And in this collection of essays, he endures many absurdities of contemporary life so we don't have to. 

His experiences (and essay topics) include foraging for wild edibles in Prospect Park, participating in an all-night scavenger hunt, working as a cabana boy in a South Beach hotel, having a consultation with a plastic surgeon, and standing in the crowd outside the Today show.

Comparable to: David Rakoff is often lumped together with that other David, David Sedaris, but Rakoff is (dare I say it?) funnier.

Representative quote: "It's a lucky thing the metal content of glitter glue does not set security wands to beeping. Otherwise the line stretching halfway down Forty-eighth Street would move even more slowly."

You might not like it if: You are not in the mood for highly subjective first-person essays, no matter how funny they are.

How to get it: Look! Kindle people! This is Kindle-able! Also available at bookstores, libraries, etc.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Rakoff's first collection of essays was Fraud (Rec. #171).

Rakoff actually hits on a few of the same subjects that Adam Gopnik did in Paris to the Moon, which was Rec. #39. (Different tone, though.) Also, Rakoff himself has cameo appearances in Sarah Vowell's Take the Cannoli (Rec. #32).





[Originally posted 3/16/11.]

Rec. #354: Wives and Daughters

What: OK, so I could go on about the miniseries Wives and Daughters for ages because I have a lot to say about:

• Elizabeth Gaskell (author of the original book) [I have a special Gaskell joke!]. 
• The weird, amazing flurry of BBC adaptations that came out in the late '90s/early '00s* [I have a spreadsheet].
• The cast (Francesca Annis, Justine Waddell, Keeley Hawes, Anthony Howell, Bill Paterson, Tom Hollander, Michael Gambon --- seriously how are all of them in this?).
• The story itself (late remarriage, stepsisters, bought engagements, scientific discovery, self-sacrifice, failed poets, forbidden cheese plates, secret marriages, mysterious illnesses, France)

Here's what we're going to do, though: We're going to focus on Rosamund Pike. Pike has been getting waves of advance praise for her work in the upcoming film adaptation of Gone Girl.

It's going to be called her "breakout role" for sure, but as far as I'm concerned she broke out here, playing Lady Harriet Cumnor. Lady Harriet is an aristocratic deus ex machina, which in this case means Pike gets to ride around wearing lots of striking hats.

How to get it: Currently available to stream on Netflix and Amazon and Hulu.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Wives and Daughters was part of List #13: 5 British Miniseries to Watch Instantly on Netflix and also part of Personal Wreck #3.

If you're curious about my Gaskell joke, you can find it in the post for Rec. #57: Mary Barton.





* One day, let's have a nice long chat about Our Mutual Friend and The Buccaneers and Daniel Deronda and The Way We Live Now and Tom Jones and Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Vanity Fair and Nicholas Nickleby and The Woman in White and The Forsyte Saga and Far from the Madding Crowd. Etc. etc. etc.