august philippic

This American Life is a favorite radio program, although it is rare that I get a chance to devote an hour to it. Last night I was cooking dinner, and I caught the updated version of the show’s tribute to Harold Washington. It reminded me of another great novel I read recently (well, last year). Adam Langer’s pair of novels about kids growing up in a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago was even better that This American Life. Langer has a wicked sense of humor (as when a 13 year old decides she wants to hold an orgy), and even though the characters were totally outrageous, they felt like people I’d known for a long time.

Speaking of outrageous, I just finished Jim Shephard’s short story collection, Like You’d Understand, Anyway.  It’s very dark.  A man who survived a massive tidal wave in Alaska when he was three now wants to get a vasectomy.  A revolutionary executioner is has marital difficulties after he offs the king.  Nazis hunt yeti in Tibet to prove racial theories they don’t believe.  An engineer tries to find out what happened to his brothers at Chernobyl.   The stories have a poetry of isolation and estrangement.  They are perfect to read if you are feeling lost.

They are also up for a National Book Award.  We’ll see on Wednesday whether I’m still gaining on the curve.

Tags: august //