Light In August

In the past five years, I have read a few books. Heh heh. Seeing as how that is what I am essentially doing for a living, I can safely say that. Of the recreational reading that I have done, only three novels have grabbed me so hard and never let go that I was unable to put the books down for long periods of time. The first was Crime and Punishment just after my MA year. Last summer, I spent my time lounging at my friend Chris's place, a two minute walk from the beach down in San Diego, and plowed through East Of Eden by John Steinbeck. A book I can't more highly recommend. Criminally underrated and the work of a genius, a masterpiece. Now a third novel can add itself to this recent list of books with an engaging plot and characters, moments of startling intensity and beautiful insight and description, and a genius writer in his height, writing at the top of his powers.

Light in August by William Faulkner is a stunning achievement. Thoroughly Southern but universal in its insight, moments where the senses are fully involved and lucid depictions of the character and plot grab your imagination, it also has the distinction to be a stream-of-consciousness novel that grabs you in its current and never lets you go. 500 pages that don't feel like half that many and a truly unforgettable experience. Awesome. I'm in awe that a person could conjure something like that up. And I study Shakespeare for my Ph.D.

I'm off to Heathrow tomorrow to catch a flight back to Los Angeles for four weeks. I have many things to do there: catch up with friends and family and participate in my cousin's wedding. I will of course update with moments of importance. But as an epilogue to my Irish excursions, I include a photo that just had to be taken. Never say that the Irish don't have a wicked sense of humor.