Reading . . . Books and Otherwise

Like many of you, I've been reading a lot during this pandemic. I've already read thirty-five books in 2020. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Not only have I been reading books, but my family has also subscribed to the New York Times, for obvious reasons. I'm normally not a newspaper person-- I don't think the day-to-day grind of following all the "stories" the media deems important in the 24-hour news cycle is healthy nor is it efficient use of time.

In the old days, I liked to catch up on the news by chatting with my colleagues in the English Office and my students. And I would read some magazines, but they were always way behind. That was fine. But things have changed. 

I still like reading magazines because they often address broader topics-- I've been reading the usuals: The Week, The Atlantic, and Wired-- but now the articles are more of a summary and a broader perspective on stuff I've been following.  

I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but each and every day I've been reading statistics and charts and numbers about the virus. Mainly in the New York Times. I think the information in The Times is trustworthy. But this information always opens up other questions, and then I end up in the black hole of the internet, something I usually stay away from. Most stuff out in the wild is just not vetted or accurate. 

But how many people usually die-- on average-- each day in the United States? How many people a day are dying now, during the pandemic? What is the increase?  

Try to find a solid answer that. It's difficult. 

I've been listening more and more to podcasts and less and less to music. And reading lots of text strands, from worried teachers. Basically, I've been ingesting a lot of information. I'm not sure what good it does. But we are living in the weirdest, most historical moment of my lifetime. 

The only other time in my life that felt like this was when my wife and I were teaching in Damascus, Syria from 2000-2003. We experienced 9/11 and the Second Intifada and the 2003 Invasion of Iraq while living in the Middle East. It felt like we were in the middle of something. Like now, there were school closings and the constant flow of information, but this is the difference: during that time, life was far more normal than not normal, occasionally punctuated by wild news events. Right now, it's the opposite. It's all wild news events punctuated by small amounts of normalcy.

I've been doing a few things to escape this information overload, which also involve reading.  For the past couple of months, I've been doing the New York Times crossword (and the mini . . . if you're not doing there mini, you need to. Get on my leaderboard! Try to beat Stacey and Gary!) So I've been reading clues. You get better at deciphering them. And I've been playing low-stakes texas hold'em online. So I've been reading cards and hands. 

But the best escape is still a good old fashioned book. 

I recently read these three very excellent and very different books:

1) The Biggest Game in Town by Al Alvarez

2) The Cipher by Kathe Koja

3) Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley

I will eventually write individual reviews of each, and include my Kindle notes and quotes, but here's the skinny on each book.

The Biggest Game in Town by Al Alvarez is the best-written book on poker ever. I've read a shitload of poker books recently, and most of them are helpful (and some of them are well-written). The Alvarez book will NOT help you play poker better. Alfred Alvarez is a British poet who somehow gets assigned to cover the 1981 World Series of Poker and writes a gritty ode to old-time gambling and the people who populate that world. It's awesome and compelling.

The Cipher by Kathe Koja is a gross, weird, and frustratingly ambiguous horror novel. It was published in 1991 and it will bring you back to the age of grunge. 

 Bad Boy Brawly Brown by Walter Mosley is the most topical of the three, though it is set in 1964. Easy Rawlins is on a mission to help find and retrieve a friend's son: Brawly Brown. But Brawly has been radicalized by a far-left African American group. The Urban Revolutionary Party. While the Party has some good intentions, there is a fringe element of the group that Brawly has gotten involved with that is going to use violence to achieve its goals. The novel depicts the conflict between the black folks in Los Angeles on how to achieve equality and power in America, and-- as usual-- Easy Rawlins walks the tightrope between the gangsters, the radicals, the old-timers, and the police.