Summer Reading Update!

I've mentioned before that this summer I'm taking a hiatus before my very last semester of graduate school, and thus have some freedom with which to read whatever books I take a fancy to. Free from the usual oppressive, mandatory, curriculum-dictated library science reading list, I've been into all sorts of crazy, ecclectic selections: it's been a literary free-for-all! I tend to obsess over what prestigious title to add to the list (which I'll post when my fall class starts, thus officially ending Summer Fun Time for me), and I've found that there is a formula to this bookish madness, however sketchy.

For example: I finished Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell a few days ago, and--being the especially fickle, unfocused sort that I am--it left me feeling like a bit of fiction. You see, that's become how I operate, literarily: non-fiction then fiction; entertaining then difficult; historical then Star Trek, etc. Reading too many serious biographies (or even bios injected with a healthy dose of levity, such as Cannoli) right in a row depresses me (ask me about the time I read two Mary Todd Lincoln Bios right in a row and ended up in a crying jag over the death of poor, sickly Tad Lincoln!), and too many fictions one after the other makes me feel too frivolous and idle. As long as I stick to that basic rule, my interest is held and my mood is (relatively) steady.

Right now I'm about 50 pages into what looks to be my future answer to the question "What is your favorite novel about postal workers?" It's called Mailman, and it's by J. Robert Lennon. I should explain that I am a particular enthusiast when it comes to the United States Postal Service because that particular institution and I have a (somewhat) casual, (somewhat) sordid, on-again-off-again history together: I've worked sporatically as a postal employee, sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes reluctantly--always apocalyptically--and in several different capacities, since 2004. As an actual, union card carrying, letter-delivering mailman for 2 of those years. I have to fess up to a certain amount of misguided nostalgia and curious fondness when it comes to the USPS. So there's another big clue to my choice of novels.

I was pretty much on board to read this as soon as I found it in my library's catalog, but I was beside myself when I read Amazon's most glowing customer review of it. Posted by "Cactus Ed" it is titled "Most Engaging and Exciting Novel I've Read in Years!" and was posted on December 28th, 2003. I almost cried when I read it:

"I happened to have happened upon this book because of the title. You see, I...am...a...Mailman! Seriously! Thats what I do to make money to feed and shelter my family. I read the other reviews here and decided to get the book - and oh boy! am I not disappointed! This guy Lennon (John Lennon at that!) can write. He's amazingly perceptive of both outer descriptive elements and the inner worlds we all create and inhabit. As I've been reading I keep realizing that this novel is what it feels like to be me, a human being with constant inner dialogue and reminincing going on. Plot? I don't know nor do I care whether there's a plot to this story. The main character ("Mailman"!) is my hero, a fully-alive all-American (yes!) in the year 2000. He is wonderfully real, and I wonder how Lennon, who is only 32 or 33, does it. I am deeply impressed with his wisdom and writing ability. Incredible attention to detail, yet the story never bogs down in it. It moves right along, and I hope it never ends. Reading a novel like this is like being in love - rare and wonderful."

I imagine Cactus Ed, dressed in his sweaty, salt-stained polyester uniform, hunkered down in his mailtruck and reading Mailman, tears rolling down his rugged cheeks as he realizes this Lennon guy--this 33 year old kid--has somehow peered into his soul. Cactus Ed is reading the story of his own life, and he doesn't care if there's a plot, because this Mailman character is just like him: an American in the year 2000 with a constant inner dialogue! I, as an ex-mailman, have to agree with Ed: if I were still delivering mail for a living, I would probably be crying in my salty polyester right now too. So far, the novel describes almost exactly what it's like to be a mailman (although, to get the complete, nightmarish picture you would still need to read Bukowski's novel, which describes exactly what it's like on a bad day--if you were a raging, depraved alcoholic, that is).

Curiously, it turns out that the postal profession has inspired a fair few novels to be written about it--more than I would have guessed. I've already told you about the books inspired by the real life Florida legend: The Barefoot Mailman by Theodore Pratt and The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman by John Fleming. There's also the afore-mentioned booze-and-obscenity-laced Post Office by Charles Bukowski--an earlier summer reading entry of mine. The epic Studs Terkel tome Working includes an essay about a postal worker. I know you'll be thinking about The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain if I don't mention it, but that wasn't really about a mailman--he was just a metaphore for eventually getting your comeuppance for murdering your lover's husband, so I can't count that one. I'm sure that god-awful Kevin Costner movie The Postman is probably based on a novel, I just haven't tracked it down yet.

I'll be on the lookout for more postal-inspired books--maybe Cactus Ed and I can start a book club.

Surrender!

Well, I can't say I'm surprised at the outcome: Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning--once known for his killer curveball as a hall of fame pitcher in the 1960's, then developing more of a mean screwball in his later political career--has officially announced today that he will retire rather than seek reelection in 2010. For at least six months now he's invoked the moniker of "embattled Ky Senator" whenever his name was discussed in the media, and seen the bulk of his largest campaign contributors jump ship, giving their cold hard GOP cash to Trey Grayson, a guy who hasn't even filed the necessary paperwork to run yet.

This after months of defiant chest-thumping, trash talk and public disses. What finally made him bow out of a race he bullishly insisted he was in-to-win, no question about it, yessiree? Well, Jim has called shenanigans on his Republican peers, specifically minority leader Mitch McConnell, who supposedly (according to Bunning, that is) told him he was "too old to get reelected" back in January. Ever since that little rumor was floated, Jim has been rebranded by his own party as the Most Vulnerable Republican Incumbent in the Senate, with some shrewdly questioning his mental state (the word "Alzheimer's" has come up a few times, as has "dementia" and "loony-tunes"). Of course, Bunning himself hasn't exactly helped his situation, electing not to curtail his usual verbal barrage of partisan insanity. He's also cited the state of his "pathetic" (Jim's own words) fundraising as another main reason he'll not be running, but it seems like he knows that his paltry campaign bank account is just a symptom of the larger problem: his state of pariah-hood among his own party.

I have to say, I have a bit of a ghoulish motive for being sad about this (inevitable) outcome. I expected this plot to play out to a much more climactic end game scenario, involving no less than a perfect shit storm of blustery proselytizing, fire, brimstone, and slanderous, reputation-soiling bi-partisan mudslinging. I was virtually--okay, actually--smacking my lips in anticipation of the kind of wack-job things Bunning would say next about which scandal-mongering high-profile GOP insider. The way he has been throwing out jumped-to paranoid conclusions was inspiring in the same way I imagine his pitching must have been in that game in 1964 (against the New York Mets), when he threw a perfect game.

That is, he inspired me to get in the game myself and come up with a conspiracy theory of my own: that no matter how insistent he was about really running for reelection, he was simply keeping up his lazy brand of fundraising with the intention of keeping whatever he raised for himself--as a kind of consolation "F-you" prize to his political "freinemies." And maybe I was right, but he had to bailout now for some shadowy, unspoken reason--conspiracy theories are always richer when dark, unknown elements are thrown into the murky stew of political intrigue: sauce for the goose! But I was sure that he would hang in there at least until the next quarter, squeezing the basest of his base for their last "anybody-but-the-other-guy" dime. Ah, well--in his own mind, I'm sure he's going out a winner.

World Championship Dainty Contest

Hurrah, readers! It's finally that time of year again: today is the 39th annual World Championship of Dainty in my hometown of Louisville, Ky. Dainty is a street game that was introduced to Louisville in the mid-1800's by German immigrants, who settled in the area now known as "Germantown." It involves wacking a 5" long tapered stick with another, longer stick (I believe the official Dainty Wacking Stick was a mop handle in its former life) so that it launches upwards, and then hitting it in mid-air down the street as far as you can. It is said to be based on a European childrens' game known in England as "tip-cat." However, only those 45 or older are allowed to participate in our version (along with receiving the senior citizen discount at the movie theater, being eligable to play dainty is pretty much the only perk of getting older that comes to mind).

According to John E. Kleber's Encyclopedia of Louisville: "...the origin of the "dainty" name may be related to the ice cream confection peddled by pushcart vendors in the neighborhoods where the game was popular. The "dainty man's" treats, wrapped in wax paper and resembling a small stick, suggest a connection."

Well, however it originated, the modern day dainty contest, celebrated on the last Monday in July, was revived in 1971 by George Hauck and Jim Vettiner. Hauck is the long-time owner of the miniscule grocery store on Goss Avenue, Germantown's main drag--the contest takes place on the sidestreet next to Hauck's Grocery, which sells fried bologna sandwiches (a local delicacy) for a nickel.

"...the second floor of the NBC Tower, tucked between the Equitable Building and the Tribune Tower, is where The Jerry Springer Show is taped. It just wouldn't be the haunted landscape around the Michigan Avenue Bridge if some symbolic television apocalypse did not happen here each day. The constant profanity makes the show into a an unintelligible barrage of bleeps. Watching it is like listening to a constant storm warning, which is exactly what it is."

--From Take the Cannoli, by Sarah Vowell

The Jim Bunning Guide to Campaign Finance

Well, the moment we've all been waiting for has finally come and gone, and here we are still wondering what the hell our boy Jim Bunning--KY GOP Senator-cum-crazyman (or is it "crazyman-cum-Senator"?) extraordinaire--was talking about last week when he bragged that his campaign finance report would "show him with more cash on hand for his 2010 race than any other Kentucky Republican candidates or potential candidates." (As reported in KY's Courier-Journal on July 8th by reporter James R. Carroll) Well, that report was due out on July 15th...so do you suppose our boy Jimbo was right about his predictions of PAC champagne wishes and caviar dreams?

As you may have supposed, it actually has gone quite the other way for our Man in the Trenches. Beleaguered by the usual crowd of political enemies on the Democratic side, he's also had a very entertaining feud with the leaders of his own party, engaging in a beef with minority leader Mitch McConnell so epic it borders on Fiddy Cent-esque (although I suppose you could also make the usual degrading Hatfield V McCoy comments so popular when describing catty Kentucky political bickering. Hint: when choosing between hillbilly and gangsta rapper analogies, the savvier Kentuckian will usually go the gangsta route). So basically this was Jim's way of trying to say "F you" to everybody, but of course everyone knew he was making an impossible bluff--there's no way he could've had more money than anyone else, especially since most of the big money types have been scared well clear of Mr. Bunning by all the petulant GOP infighting and wackier-than-usual Bunning crazy talk.

So let's take a look at the official numbers:

So far, from April through June of this year, Jimbo has on hand $302,466. Republican Trey Grayson has about twice that: $603,164. Ky's attorney general and resident pretty boy, Dem Jack Conway, has outdone both by raising $1.3 million in the same amount of time.

Nowadays it seems that elections are getting pretty expensive in KY. Mitch raised a staggering 20.9 MILLION DOLLARS for his 2008 reelection campagn (compare that with the paltry $5.7 million he raised and spent on his 2002 campaign), but get this: he SPENT $21.3 million (for that kinda dough I was expecting his tv spots to be produced by Lucasfilm, Ltd.). Mitch is still paying off that million dollar debt, from what I hear, and he only narrowly defeated opponent Bruce Lunsford, who rose and spent only half what McConnell did. If Republicans are going to have the same kind of trouble in 2010 over Bunning's Senate seat, then I'd say things don't look good, especially considering Conway's numbers. In light of that, it may be time for Jimbo to really up the crazy ante if he truly wants to keep his job.

So, in the spirit of pushing our hip hop analogy to its inevitable conclusion, I'd like to offer my own suggestion for Bunning's next shrewd political move: since he already seems to be channeling the afore-mentioned gangsta rappers and their own lyrical rivalries (in certain hip hop circles McConnell would surely be called out for the "sucker MC" he is), I think Bunning should consider non-chalantly--yet conspicuously, and in front of a pack of hungry-eyed Courier-Journal reporters--openning his briefcase and flashing a wad of Euros. Hey, it worked for Jay-Z.

Summer Reading List

Not taking any summer classes this year has resulted in a happy phenomenon over here at MM: leisure time to read books! Usually I get a few weeks off between semesters to cram in one or two novels, but we're talking 3 and a half solid months of bookish enjoyment--oh, boy! Reading for fun means no dry library science tomes, no stodgy essays on the "librarian stereotype/archetype backlash" (yes, there's a backlash--an extremely self-conscious, overly done, "look at me: I'm a librarian and I have a tattoo and blue hair!" kind of backlash), and no ponderous journal articles extolling the scandalous hypocrisy of centralized collection development. Nope, just me and my friends Mary Todd Lincoln, Raymond Chandler, William Shatner and whomever else grabs my fickle literary attentions.

I have about another month of summer reading frivolity in which to indulge...what will I read next? Try and guess from the following list of my most recent book selections (May, 2009-current):

• Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary Wolf
  
• Post Office by Charles Bukowski
  
• The Madness of Mary Lincoln by Jason Emerson
  
• Star Trek Academy: Collision Course by William Shatner
• Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Graham-Smith
• The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
• Trouble is My Business by Raymond Chandler
• Mr. Thundermug by Cornelius Medvei

I can confidently recomend any of the above selections for anyone who is wondering (although anyone who has read my post about P&P&Zs will know that one comes with an asterisk). I'm thinking something non-fiction for my next book, but I could probably go read some fluffy novel just the same. Just don't suggest anything by Stephenie Meyer--seriously, I got my silly teeny-bopper toes wet in the shallow end of the goth swimming pool with Anne Rice back in the 90's, and I don't need to revisit that unfortunate little experiment again. All my coworkers have been trying to get me to read the Twilight series, and I am resisting that one rather obstinately (I dropped a young adult lit class last semester because I saw on the syllubus that we would have to read Eclipse. No thank you). Zombie parodies are way more sophisticated than vampire romances, readers.

For any of you who thought my recent Jim Bunning post had nothing whatsoever to do with baseball...

Jimbo was a hall of fame pitcher, most significantly with the Detroit Tigers from 1955 to '63 and later in his career with the Phillies; he spent two seasons with the Pirates, and the Summer of Love with the Dodgers. He retired from baseball in 1971 with a lifetime ERA of 3.27, 224 wins and only 184 losses. Amazingly, in 18 years as a major league pitcher, he balked only 8 times (compare that with his political career so far...)