Author: Foz

Surveillance – Jonathan Raban

Jess and I had the good fortune to be able to attend a reading by Jonathan Raban on up at Elliot Bay Book Company for the release of his new book Surveillance. Neither of us has had a chance to read the book yet (Jess was finishing up another Raban book and I was working my way through a book I’ll talk about on here later) so I’ll save the book review on it till later, but I was very impressed with him as an author at a reading.

We have an interesting history with reading Raban, with Jess getting his book Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings as a class reading assignment. Falling in love with his incredibly engaging writing style where he took a literal journey from Seattle to Juneau on his boat, but also gave the interesting history of the discovery and settling of the northwest by explorers and those who followed. This is how his travel writing is. The history, along with his own accounts of the journey, and his touching, surprising, sad and happy encounters with people and places along the way.

We read another one of his books, Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America, to each other while walking our son Ash to sleep when he was first born. It helped take the edge off of long sleepless nights and was truly a lifesaver.

He was an engaging reader of his newest book, a novel, set in Seattle and dealing with the ever present surveillance that we already have, but kicked up a notch and how it affects people in his story. He’s British, and has a wonderful accent, and viewpoint on culture. He’s a confident person, but didn’t come across as arrogant. He takes the reviews of his books lightly and with humor, which I think must be a necessity when being a writer otherwise you’d beat yourself up. He answered questions with some thought, and even tried to answer ones that were a little bit from left field with good humor and grace.

One of the most interesting bits of the night? From what it sounds like, Jonathan Raban is a MMORPG player. That’s right, with quotes about how the wilderness of Washington has found it’s way into games such as Everquest and World of Warcraft, as well as discussing the connectedness of these games, I think he’s a writer who has a game playing hobby. It’s interesting to compare this to William Gibson, who until recently wasn’t much of a computer user even though he’s the so-called father of the cyberpunk genre of novels in the 80’s.

Jess and I talked of how interesting it would be to discuss technology and writing and how it’s changed peoples writing styles. Raban has been writing since the 70’s, and from the sound of his talk, very in tune with the internet and computers today, so his view would be interesting to know.

This article by Nick Hornby in the UK’s Telegraph is a great insight on reading and I share a lot of his views on it.? To sum it up, for those of you who won’t go and read it yourselves, Hornby says that the important part about reading is reading something you enjoy.? If you don’t enjoy it, or if it’s boring, or if you can’t make heads or tails of it, it’s like negative reinforcement, you read less because you dread opening up the book.

He mentions the literary world who makes fun of the people who have read “The DaVinci Code,” and don’t read the modern literary novels that are a little bit more challenging to the reader, and how they have it wrong.? It’s not about nessicarily what you read, but the fact that you read.? Reading “East of Eden” will not make your life better, but if you read it and enjoyed it that’s what counts.? I’ve been hard on “The DaVinci Code” as a book, but I will not begrudge those who have read it or are reading it.? I’m excited that they are even reading.

I’ve seen reports out there of the fact that a good portion of adults have not read a book since they finished High School.? To me, and my love of reading, this is such a sad fact.? I love the feeling of opening up a good book and getting lost in it, and I want everyone to experience it, and if Dan Brown’s thriller can do it, then great!? It’s one of the reasons I love the Harry Potter books, even though I’ve only read one of them.? We’re getting a new generation of kids who might just love reading so much they’ll continue to do it beyond the books they must read for school.? Wonderful!!!

Jess and I discuss this from time to time.? I’ve got a few books that I want to read that have sat on my to read shelf for ages, because of the fact that I just don’t think I’ll enjoy reading them, or the process of trying to slog through the book is daunting (will Faulkner please stand up).? I’m thinking of just trading them back in, because I know I’ll never really get to them.? I want to read books I’ll enjoy, and I am doubting my enjoyment of them.? I might really like them once I got over the hump, but in reality, I don’t have much reading time and why would I want to put it into something I may not like, when I have plenty of books I know I’ll enjoy.

Jess has a similar problem, in that she selects books from time to time that she just can’t wait to finish, even if she doesn’t like it so much.? She refuses to not finish a book, even if she is bored to tears by it.? She may put it aside for a while, but she’ll plod on till the end.? I’ve told her to drop a book if she doesn’t like it, but she always pushes on.? I’m amazed by it really.

Read a book, but read it because you like it, not because you think you must like it or must for “cultural” reasons.? Reading should be fun.