Don is currently recommending:
To Read --
When I was began working on my Ph.D, there was plenty of critical and rhetorical theory that felt way over my head because I just didn't have enough context to make sense of it. Writer/Theorist/Philosopher Ken Wilbur's books helped give me the background I needed to sort through the subtile (but significant) differences between Modernism and Post-Modernism along with hundreds of other references that helped me get a grip on the "big picture."
Over the course of his career, Wilbur has written on just about everything of social and/or historical significance -- making him an expert on how everything relates to everything else (see A Brief History of Everything
A Brief History of Everything for example). If you're up to the challenge of reading a heady intellectual whose writing actually goes somewhere, you could not do any better than Ken Wilbur who (in my humble opinion) offers a better explanation for an academic approach to spirituality than any other writer I've come across.When You Are Engulfed in Flames -- David Sedaris
Arguably the funniest living American writer, Sedaris is an essayist whose writing moves flawlessly between the poignant and the profane. Olivia and I listened to the audio version of this book while we drove back to Ohio from Idaho and actually hearing Sedaris' voice only makes his work funnier. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is not my favorite book of his (I don't believe any work of literature will ever top the hilarity of Me Talk Pretty One Day), but it's an excellent introduction to author who is willing to put everything (from the scatological to the sacred) on the table as grist for self-reflection. His prose rolls forward in such effortless fluency that it's easy to mistake his cadence as practically stream of consciousness; but don't be fooled by how easy this material is to read, Sedaris clearly works very hard at making his writing come off is if everything just occurred to him, and for that, I think a hundred years from now school children will be reading him with Twain and Thurber to discuss the importance of voice in developing Point of View.
The Best of American Splendor -- Harvey Pekar
While visiting my good buddy, William Breeze, he lent me his copy of The Best of American Splendor. Pekar, who just died this past July at age 70, chronicled his life as an aspiring writer while working as file clerk in a VA hospital in Cleveland via an underground comic that he self-published for decades before it was finally picked up by Dark Horse comics in the 1990's. For people who think comics (excuse me, graphic novels) are meant to be escapist exploits of superheroes, this reading is definitely not for you. On the other hand, if you'd like to read the stories of someone who relentlessly explored what it means to work at an unfulfilling job and wonder if there's anything more to life than what we can glean from platitudes and stories that cleanly tie up loose ends, then Pekar's American Splendor is just what you're looking for. A few years ago, a film version of American Splendor
starring Paul Giamatti as Pekar received great reviews (although it didn't do much at the box office).To Listen to --
Emotionalism -- The Avett Brothers
People who know me well enough know I'm prone to hyperbole sometimes when I'm expressing my enthusiasm for my favorite new something. Well, I've been listening to The Avett Brothers for more than year now (and in that time seen them in concert twice) and I'm not exaggerating a bit when I testify that The Avett Brothers are my favorite band since The Beatles. While their latest album I And Love And You
is awesome ear-candy and stands the wear and tear of repeated listenings, I recommend Emotionalism as their finest album. Their artful musicianship, their exuberant energy, and their immediately accessible and insightful lyrics shine on this album brighter than any of their considerably amazing body of work. If you haven't heard of The Avett Brothers, then go to Youtube and watch a few of their videos. Then come back here, if you don't mind, when you decide to order their cds or download their MP3s.East Nashville Skyline -- Todd Snider
Todd Snider is another of those brilliant singer-song writers who probably should have caught a break sometime in his long career, but really hasn't. Although all of Todd Snider's albums are pretty good, my favorite is East Nashville Skyline. This is one of those albums that you just keep going back to when you get tired of listening to whatever else you've currently got in your rotation. Snider's lyrics are so droll and insightful (and I'll add offensive to people who are corporate and conservative) that it's almost impossible not to want to share these songs with people who haven't heard them yet. "The Ballad of the Kingsmen
" alone is worth the price of the entire album. This is what country/folk sounds like when a great songwriter refuses to sellout to big record labels who cringe when their artists want to say things that would rock the boat of the comfortable mainstream mindset.Olivia is currently recommending:
To Read --
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
To Listen to --
