Summer Reading

Part One

by Alex Carnevale

Success (Martin Amis)

Only British people can write things this wicked. They're also obsessed with class, the dilemma Amis' bromancer Christopher Hitchens came to America to avoid. Success also has a weird double meaning about Jewish success and it's also deeply concerned with homosexuality. It's a very complicated fable about two half-brothers, one a ne'er do well and the other popular and desired. The turn this one takes is so genius it recalls Kurosawa and Tarantino at once.

The Empty Chair (Jeffrey Deaver)

My mother always taught me to respect airport fiction and there's no one better than Deaver, whose attention to detail and memorable paraplegic hero boning a tough detective named Amelia is a stroke of genius. This was the best one in the series, only we had to struggle through a couple rough ones to be there.

The Assistant (Bernard Malamud)

I had never made it to this Malamud gem before. The situations are relatively traditional for a Jewish novel of the period that preceded Malamud, and yet they seem wildly fresh and incantatory to us. America was this kind of other place, Malamud insists, and we are suffering from being out of time. If this grabs you, move onto A New Life, about a Jew in the country, and don't look back.

All the Sad Young Literary Men (Keith Gessen)

Every moment that he didn't have an autobiographical novel out seemed wasted. Keith and this genre are well-suited to each other. Why wouldn't Keith want to write a book about himself? He's one of the funniest people I have met. His present alias as literary provocateur notwithstanding (I hear it's moving A LOT of copies, and Keith has the BookScan results to prove it), he is easily the most talented writer of his Harvard-educated friends. Working for Keith and the generous Chad Harbach was more fun than their critics might imagine, although female interns got laid a lot more often than male ones did. (This is as it should be, probably.) That Keith prefers to be goaded or goad others in a debate is no surprise - when he's argumentative in ATSYLM, he's at his best. All backlash to n+1 mostly missed the point: His blogging alter-ego Hampton is one of the funniest things ever done on the internet, and parts of this book are actually quite moving. I'm really sad he and Emily didn't work out, it would have been the Lindbergh baby all over again. Lastly, Keith acts like he's a lefty, but I guarantee he'll be a Republican by at least 2012. The book has a great cover.

Beloved (Toni Morrison)

Since we've been all like 'Jew, Jew," so far...Morrison is such a weird American figure. Is she going to have the staying power? It seems like reaching back into a past that wasn't happening is going to date her novels sooner than they might be otherwise. I actually saw the movie of Beloved first, although I had tried to read the book. This is one complex book, and this is coming from someone who outbullshitted Slavoj Zizek in conversation once.

I don't know how younger readers process this book without the movie, and that's what makes it so crazy, it's like Oprah had to put a sticker of herself on Toni's face. But for real Oprah is great in this, as is Thandie Newton. Jonathan Demme is so underrated. Once you know the basic story, the book is one of the best ghost mysteries ever written and damn does it have gross parts. Would I get slaughtered if I remade this as a Holocaust movie? How about with Al Qaeda?

Kick-Ass (Mark Millar)

The long-awaited series about a kid who tries to be a superhero in a far more crushing real world. It took them a little while to get it going, but I now think this is going to be the most brilliant thing Mark Millar has ever done. Millar of course is responsible for this month's Wanted, which looks tremendous. I think all the changes they've made to the comic book might work. The movie for Kick Ass is already cast and will be directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Alex Carnevale is the editor of This Recording.

"Diamond Hoo Ha Man" - Supergrass (mp3)

"When I Needed You" - Supergrass (mp3)

"Return of Inspiration" - Supergrass (mp3)

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