Take it with you

One of the most exciting things about taking a trip is leaving responsibilities behind: To me, this opens up wide expanses of unspoken-for time. No grad school presentation prep, no comp class planning. And I can read, read, READ! — with the all the enthusiasm of a mad, gleeful Frankenstein.

Too much enthusiasm. That's a photo of some of the reading material I brought with me on my literary road trip. You might notice that it begins with James Joyce's "Ulysses" (it's about time I stopped avoiding this iconic work of modernist literature). We all know "Ulysses" is quite enough to tackle, but I brought along a huge bagful of other books and magazines I was itching to read — just in case I whipped through "Ulysses" in no time.

The first night, I read all of the first line ("Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.") before falling asleep.

The thing I fail to remember when packing is that time away isn't the block of empty space that it appears to be in my calendar. There are people to meet, meals to be eaten, places to visit, drinks to be imbibed, discussions to be had. Even sleep to be slept. All which makes travel worthwhile.

So maybe it would take reaching my destination before I made significant "Ulysses" progress. I probably wouldn't get to all the other books I packed, but you can read on for what I might have read, had I not been distracted by that margarita:

Carolyn Kellogg

A partial, thematic list of books I brought with me on the road:

"The Braindead Megaphone" — George Saunders on modern society.
"Collapse" by Jared Diamond — How ancient societies went extinct.
"Travel Light" by Naomi Mitchison. Small Beer Press reissued this 1952 magical quest novel.
"The Best Place to Be" by Lesley Dornan. Short stories, appropriate title.
"An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers' Homes In New England" by Brock Clark. Fiction, not a field guide.
"Smonk" by Tom Franklin — crusty and ribald; old West meets old South.
"Hick" by Andrea Portes — Nebraska teen runaway heads to Vegas.
"The Uncomfortable Dead" by Paco Ignacio Taibo II and Subcomandante Marcos. A postmodern noir co-written by Zapatista Marcos crosses multiple borders.
"Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris; a fitting end.

Comments

[gunter]

and this is exactly why i must have a kindle.

[AP]

THEN WE CAME TO THE END might be my favorite debut of the past four or five years. Amazing storytelling and characters you can really sink your teeth into. I've gotten a sneak peek at his next novel, too, and hold on to your hats, kids--it's freakin' fabulous...