East of Eden is my end-all be-all of novels. It's the answer to
people who say you don't learn enough from fiction. I consider it
no small travesty that Elia Kazan's movie version left out Lee, who
was, in my humble, the most important figure in the book. Samuel -
sure, with the Irish wisdom and twinkly eyes and Steinbeck's
grandfather. But Lee is the foil for Samuel and every other major
character, is full of mystery and certainty at the same time, and
is the perfect fulcrum for a sweeping treatise on human
relationships. I mean, I guess the movie was just a James Dean
vehicle, mid-Century Hollywood and all that, so it's -- oh, sorry.
Right. Ahem. I read The Marriage Plot recently. The Magus kind of
turned me inside out for a time. David Foster Wallace is my prose
idol.
I've been accused of being a stunt eater. I think my accuser didn't
like mushrooms or some nonsense. Making dinner with some tunes and
drink in hand is a regular and treasured pastime.
WNYC and KCRW and some live music now and then are indispensable.
Currently atop the Spotify rotation: Frightened Rabbit, Buraka Som
Sistema, Willie Nelson, Zero 7, Stevie Wonder. And the Talking
Heads' This Must Be the Place always pops up on one device or
another eventually. That song is magical, people.
