theexternalist.com

A couple years ago, I stumbled upon an author that I’d never heard of, but in such a way that I knew I should know who he was.   That is to say, a movie trailer specifically gave his name which happens so rarely with any author short of Stephen King or John Grisham that I was actually surprised by the inclusion (pleasantly surprised as authors get little enough attention in an A.D.D. culture already).  After seeing the movie which made me laugh harder than I’d laughed in a long time, I decided to do a little research on this author, after which point I promptly went to the bookstore and purchased four of his titles.  What can I say?  I was feeling brazen.

The first of the books from this small stack that I read was Neverwhere.  I started the book at 5:30 pm.  I finished it just after 11 that same night.  I knew from page 2 that I hadn’t wasted my money.  Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere is deceptively easy to read.  The style is suitable for a 5th grader, but the book itself serves as an extended commentary on urban culture and the financial-success-based mentality that has overcome much of the west.  The world for people who have fallen between the cracks is both frightening and strangely appealing.  And when you’re done reading Neverwhere and are ready for something even more thought-provoking and a little less “fun,” I also highly recommend American Gods, the first book in a long time to cross genres multiple times within its pages, still win a multitude of awards, and perhaps most surprisingly, to have deserved them all.

The news seems packed with stories of violence and despair among families these days.  Poverty creates problems like these, builds an environment of fear that seeps into everything around it.  My generation has never seen such a deep economic crisis with double-digit unemployment rates and constant foreclosures.  Literature can offer us some insights, especially well-written literature grounded in intense and accurate research.  This week’s book recommendation, No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt, is intended for a younger audience, but is well worth the read of us adults, too.  Thoughtful reading!

Several years ago, I took a class on Mark Twain.  I’ve always been a sucker for well-written satire and Twain certainly exceeds the standard in that regard, but the book I’ve returned to time and again from that class wasn’t one of his better-known works.  Written late in his life, Letters from the Earth is more social commentary than fiction, more character than plot, and more thought-provoking than entertaining. 

The stories in Letters from the Earth represent Twain’s increasingly cynical view of organized religion.  Interestingly, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been banned more often, but perhaps simply because it’s read more often.  This week, I’m recommending a step away from the classics and into the realm of work driven more by the author’s world view than any care for what the reader thinks.  Usually, I don’t like that kind of stuff, but in this case I have to make exception.

Yesterday, the first African American President of the United States was sworn in.  It seems fitting, then, that I should recommend his memoir The Audacity of Hope.  Obama always has a way with words and his memoir is no exception.  Though the material is raw and emotional, the story itself is tightly woven. 

This book is a learning experience, an opportunity to view the world from a unique perspective.  while we may not be able to fully understand that perspective, we can at least learn some sense of empathy for the experiences that created it.

This week’s book recommendation is a bit unusual.  It isn’t precisely literary or precisely feminist or precisely genre or precisely anything at all.  Shadowed Glass by J. Rosemary Moss is the story of a modern woman who finds herself transported to the side of the Apostle Paul.  That in itself is unique, but the story goes forward to explore homosexuality in religious context.  Moss’s background in both religion and gay rights creates a seamless story that is what all great externalist literature is–entertaining and thought-provoking.