for
6/3/2000
Belva Plain: whatever.
The Year's Best Science Fiction--number whatever--had better the hell not be.
Mysteries. Why did I never read any? Oh. Still, I should learn the craft.
The two books by the humor newspaper The Onion are the funniest things in the store.
The Greatest Generation: Not Tom Brokaw's generation, but that of his parents. "Don't trust anyone over thirty" Baby Boomers grow up, find they can't eat and support a family on idealism and drugs, become their parents--but with minor tweaks--and find it necessary to venerate them long after the horse has left the proverbial barn. For the older crowd, it's a pure jerk-off book. For the Boomers, it's an apology. Did the Boomer's parents go too far with their materialism following the Depression? Yes. Did their kids go way farther in the other direction? Yes. That's why the nation needs this stuff; it's a course-correction of conscience.
Camden, Maine is an island, not a harbor. It's not as bleak as the rest of Maine. Indeed, it's enjoying the economic boom that Portland's still expecting to get in tomorrow's mail. It's a mix of locals, semi-wealthy transplants/retirees, yacht people and the like, all enjoying their little valley in the middle of nowhere (to speak of).
Classic couple: the Predator and the Princess. A girl wandered in the other day, loose dress and malnutrition forming a complete hippy attire. I wondered if she had forsaken protein as I tried to find her a book on what might have been a Buddhist sect that almost got sexy a few years ago. No luck, and we returned to her boyfriend, waiting near the register.
At said register the bookstore has small pewter key chains with quotes from famous writers. The boyfriend began pawing through them in a temperamental way that tried to look relaxed, reading quotes to the girl, who made little comment and certainly said nothing discouraging. She looked on, passive, supportive and dietarily weak, from where she stood, almost wedged between him and the counter. One of the first key chains he found had an environmental/ecosocial quote, to which he loudly remarked, "duhh!" It went on like this for an uncomfortable length of time. I coined the phrase above when they left.
Is there any more chilling Chimera than a domineering hippy? You're right, there is.
Children's books: Sector 7 and Mercer Mayer's new one, where he painted over basic computer graphics. Absolutely stunning.
Where does Sun Tsu's The Art of War go? Is it psychology? Sociology? History? Business, even? Who the hell knows.
Notable book: The War on Boys. A female psychologist gives Reviving Ophelia and its similar crop a decimating shot of truth, and thoughtfully validates masculinity in our culture. Feminist groups' proposals for "National Sons Day" were particularly amusing, and the discussion of the Columbine shooting was eye-opening.
Next week: Something different, as usual.
Touch the Toast