READING ROUNDUP

Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth
An odd first novel that concerns obsession, loneliness, love, violence, and voyeurism. In the midst of all of the above, the characters constantly miss meeting one another. That includes a husband and wife!

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee
This "memoir" is a mixture of the history of bookselling as a cultural phenomenon across cultures and the centuries and the autobiography of the author's personal history of bookselling. Considering I was a bookseller for sixteen years of my life, I reveled in Buzbee's tales. His story was oftentimes my story.


The Believer, Fifty-seventh Issue: Shukran, October 2008
Favorite pieces: "Hunting the Windy Vapors: A Fetid Jaunt Through the Dank, Unruly World of Humoral Medicine" by Rachel Poliquin; micro-interviews with Diane Williams scattered throughout the magazine; and "The Military-Toy-Industrial Complex" by Jason Boog.

The Believer, Fifty-first Issue: Aroma Prom, November/December 2008
This is the 2008 Art Issue. Favorite pieces: "This is Corporate America: The Intertwined Histories of Photography and the Office" by Britt Salvesen; drawings of people with buildings for heads by Ryan Dodgson scattered throughout the magazine; "The Paralyzed Cyclops" by Lawrence Weschler, wherein he writes about his strange relationships with artists Robert Irwin and David Hockney, who each use him to avoid the other.


The New York Times Magazine, Sunday 23 November 2008, The Screens Issue
"Becoming Screen Literate" by Kevin Kelly argues for the need to embrace (digital) visual literacy as technology finally puts the book into the grave. I don't agree with most of his assumptions, but his arguments are nonetheless compelling and thought-provoking.

The New York Times Magazine, Sunday 12 October 2008, The Food Issue
I am intrigued by the article "Kosher Wars" by Samantha M. Shapiro. It is about modern day Reform Jews who are reclaiming kashrut, kosher dietary laws, as they not only try to eat kosher, but also try to be environmentally conscious, eat locally, and be more humane to the animals that they eat.


Harpers, November 2008
I picked this up from the library solely to read the excerpt by William S. Burroughs from the book And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks that he wrote in 1945 with Jack Kerouac. The book was shelved for more than 60 years, only to be published this fall. I am looking forward to reading it.

City Arts, Tacoma edition, November 2008
My favorite piece in this issue is the "Walkabout" of Downtown Puyallup, where the magazine highlights some of their favorite sites and places of the downtown core.


Celebrator, October/November 2008
Beer, beer, beer—focusing on regional brews throughout the United States.

Northwest Brewing News, October/November 2008
Beer, beer, beer—focusing on Northwest craft beer.