It’s December, which means I’m reading. What? Well, yes, I guess I was reading in November and I will still be reading in January, but that doesn’t mean it’s not December now. Leave me alone. No, you shut up.

The Sportswriter (Richard Ford): I’ve read some of Ford’s short fiction in various anthologies, and someone loaned me Independence Day, which I guess is actually the sequel. While I like his writing in general, I had a difficult time really getting wrapped up in Sportswriter. Granted, I read most of it on the train, which makes for a reading environment that’s distracted and uncomfortable at best, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I think his shorter work is more appealing. This wasn’t a bad book by any means, it just wasn’t quite what I’d been hoping for. I’d recommend Rock Springs instead or in addition.

On Being Free (Frithjof Bergmann): Al recommended this to me a couple of months ago, and I was hunting for it until I finally came across a copy at a used bookstore. It’s extremely readable and particularly relevant at the moment. From the opening chapter: Our culture has a schizophrenic view of freedom. Two schools of liberty are simultaneously alive in it. These schools proceed from utterly different, almost contradictory assumptions to equally different and opposed conclusions - yet they do not argue with each other. The conflict is not brought out into the open. There is no exchange; not much communication. The two go their own separate ways as if there were a gentlemen’s agreement to keep quiet.

Eye Scream (Henry Rollins): When Chris found out I hadn’t read this yet, he picked me up a copy. I’ve been reading it in bits and pieces; it’s perfect for keeping in my bag and pulling out when I’m on the train and feeling misanthropic already. The whole aphorism thing is oddly reminiscient of Nietzsche, but although I’ve definitely laughed while reading Nietzsche I have to say this is more entertaining (if no less weird). Startlingly intelligent for all the angstiness, and lines from it come into my head throughout the day in the same way a song gets stuck in my head.