author:
ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN

Fiction
176 pages
Signet Classics

I love being depressed. Not not-getting-off-the-couch depressed or being-unable-to-get-a-haircut depressed, but a powerful case of melancholy can go a long way for me. A little OK Computer on a rainy day? Yes. Some Mark Rothko in dim lighting? More, more, more. There Will Be Blood? Heaven. So when I came across the obituaries of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn a few weeks ago, I was piqued.

I had managed to hit many of the Russian greats in school and since, but had never read the Gulag Archipelago or any of his others. And I still can’t read the Gulag Archipelago. I tried to get it, I really did. I thought, A thousand pages of suffering? Sure. I am in. But I caved at its heft. I wept at its aura, even. I might get to it sometime in the future but right now I am glad that I chose its younger brother, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

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author:
NATHAN NEDOROSTEK
and ANTHONY PAPPALARDO

Photography
224 pages
MTV Press

Radio Silence, and its highfalutin subtitle, A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music, features a leather jacket on its cover with a number of hardcore band names and logos etched into it. Back in the day, as it’s said, this is how members of the hardcore scene communicated with one another. The underground music scene in the eighties was so strong that friendships could be formed and allegiances sworn by writing a band’s name on your jacket.

The cover is fitting. It’s a call: “Hey, modern-day hardcore kid, this book is for you.” In its pages, readers will find various photos, some from the shows in the eighties and some from today, which, bluntly, are pictures taken in a fancy studio of the clothing that kids wore to the shows in the eighties.

For what it’s worth (a much-used hardcore phrase, by the way) this book is the first of its kind, in that it focuses on the art as opposed to the violence that the scene is commonly associated with. T-shirts, vinyl sleeves, demo-tape covers, and countless flyers were all made by kids who did it because they didn’t know they couldn’t. It left an indelible mark on subcultures worldwide, and it’s pleasing to know that these scruffy, angry kids are finally being explored as artists, which, of course, they were.

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authors:
THURSTON MOORE
AND BYRON COLEY

Non-fiction
146 pages
Abrams Image

No Wave is a compilation of interviews, writing and photographs put together by Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore and Byron Coley. The book follows in the vein of Please Kill Me, I’m Punk by Legs McNeill but is more photography oriented and documents a much smaller scene with fewer interesting personalities.

From 1976 – 1980, New York City was populated by a variety of artists who cared (or at least seemed to care, as it later turned out) very little about making money. Their music scene, which thrived in CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, came to be known as punk rock, but its little brother, No Wave, existed alongside it, and that’s what Moore and Coley are focusing on in their book.

I think the point here was to try and document a scene that, while it existed, really only had an impact on about a hundred or so people, but would go on to steadily influence artists for the next thirty years. In a lot of ways, the book is a visual representation of the Brian Eno-produced, No New York, which focused on the trend’s leading groups, the Contortionists, DNA, Mars, and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and is nearly impossibly to listen to unless you’re suitably dedicated.

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author:
JOSEPH O’NEILL

Fiction
272 pages
Pantheon

Joseph O’Neill’s Netherland is a contradictory book. It’s densely written—if O’Neill employs one metaphor, he employs three—but flows beautifully. The protagonist is extremely self-absorbed yet easy to root for. And, tellingly, the story is difficult to relate to but it manages to be one of the most honest novels about the human condition you are ever likely to read.

Dutchman Hans van den Broek moves from London to New York with his pregnant English wife. A professional step up for both of them, New York proves to be the stage for the demise of their marriage and Hans’ estrangement from his young son. His resultant “nether”—gazing, if you will—is cloying at first, but soon you find yourself drawn to this unusual Everyman: He stands on the edge of celebrity as a Wall Street analyst, and he is well-to-do, but is dealing with an emotionally and geographically distant family and his own depression. He confines himself to his room at the bohemian Hotel Chelsea, emerging for work and random games of cricket with other immigrants. He meets the outlandish and shifty Chuck Ramkissoon, a Trinidadian businessman, at one of those games. Their resulting friendship, however unlikely it is, and Chuck’s fantastical dream of bringing professional cricket to America form the fulcrum of the novel.

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author:
RIVKA GALCHEN

Fiction
240 pages
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Beginning with the disappearance of his wife (sort of), a psychiatrist sets off in search of his beloved by following meteorological clues (sort of), a mental patient under his supervision (or is it the other way around), and his constantly shifting interpretations of the professional works of one Dr. Tzvi Gal-Chen (who may or may not even be alive). While on his quest for answers, the good doctor begins to lose a good bit of clarity, focus and, ultimately, his sanity.

This book is part love story, part science fiction, and a whole lot of fun. First time author (which I find unbelievable) Rivka Galchen has crafted a masterful novel that explores complex issues such as the human psyche, Doppler radar, compatibility with a loved one, and the ability to interpret and ultimately confront our deepest fears and insecurities. The journey she sends us on is both profound and hilarious, and readers will often feel is if they are caught in the middle of a Michel Gondry film questioning which way is up—quite a nice feeling, really.

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author:
BENJAMIN NUGENT

Non-fiction
224 pages
Scribner

We are all too familiar with the American Nerd. We have either found solace in their ranks, or ridiculed them (or worse) for their lack of style and grace as well as their penchant for social ineptitude.

The American Nerd has always walked among us, and in his book, American Nerd, Benjamin Nugent attempts to trace the origins of the Nerd through personal experience (he is a self-proclaimed Nerd himself) and historical references (he classifies Thomas Jefferson as an “Aspie”, or one who suffers from Asperger Syndrome) alongside some witty media analysis.

The book begins by answering, What is the “American Nerd?” Their classification is twofold, either: 1) a machine-like nerd, or 2) the nerd that becomes so for a variety of reasons, namely social exclusion. From there he explores such topics as Effeminate Jews, the Jock vs. Nerd phenomenon (”Jocks only think about sports, nerds only think about sex” we learned from Revenge of the Nerds), Square Pegs, Debate Teams, Nerd Love, and, of course, the healthy obsession with Dungeons and Dragons. Man, Rivers Cuomo would love this book.

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author:
MOHAMMED HANIF

Fiction
336 pages
Knopf

Pakistani military dictators have a knack for picking the right moment to overthrow civilian governments.

Current president and former Army chief Pervez Musharraf receives generous American military aid and grudging tolerance for his egregious human rights excesses in return for cooperation in fighting a war in Afghanistan. This scenario echoes the 1980s when Pakistan served as the conduit for American munitions used by Afghani Mujahedeen in their war against the Soviets. The dictator back then was General Zia ul Haq.

Journalist Mohammed Hanif’s debut novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, is about the mysterious plane crash that claimed the lives of the General, most of his top military brass and the American ambassador to Pakistan. Conspiracy theories abounded after the crash, and Hanif re-imagines the events leading up to it with an absurdist bent that nevertheless feels closer to the truth than most official accounts.

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author:
SCOTT MCCLELLAN

Non-fiction
323 pages
Public Affairs

Scott McClellan was the White House Press Secretary from 2003 through 2006, and his book, What Happened, is not going to make a lot of people happy—with the exception of his publisher. On the one hand, rabid Bush supporters (though a dwindling breed) will and have labeled him a “weasel” and a “traitor.” On the other hand, those on the left will find his castigations of the Bush administration far too mild and understanding. But political crackheads will lap up McClellan’s incredibly detailed recollections of the Plame affair, the 2000 recount, the run-up to war, Katrina and other events and find themselves sweating and itching for more.

While I first found McClellan’s tone somewhat whiney and excuse laden (he goes back three generations and through his entire elementary, middle school, high school and college career to prove to us that he is a decent guy raised on the truth and supportive of free speech, desegregation—hey, he dated a Hispanic girl in sixth grade! —and even anti-hazing), ultimately McClellan does provide a remarkably balanced, thorough and thoughtful account for someone who found himself in the maelstrom of vicious partisan warfare.

Nonetheless, McClellan does have an unnerving way of distancing himself from many criticisms he makes. Others see VP Dick Cheney as “sinister.” Karl Rove “was viewed by many” as someone who could be “ruthless and vicious.” McClellan often refers to the Bush White House as “they” as if he were not a part of it. The reader starts wishing heartily for McClellan to grow some balls.

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author:
Q. SAKAMAKI

Photography
119 pages
powerHouse Books

In the mid-eighties, conservative ideals swept through New York City’s political structure. Any place on the island of Manhattan that was unsafe for affluent white people to show up and spread their money around was going to be overhauled. New York City’s famed Lower East Side was one of those places.

Nobody should have been blindsided by this development. In the film Downtown 81, created by Glenn O’Brien, best known as GQ’s Style Guy, protagonist Jean-Michael Basquiat says something to this effect: “The Lower East Side—it’s like we bombed ourselves.” Q. Sakamaki’s photos capture that sentiment.

Then, the Lower East Side was a conclave of blown-out buildings populated by drug addicts—hence the etymology of “shooting galleries”—squatters, punks and the homeless. The area’s epicenter was Tompkins Square Park. The homeless and forlorn denizens of the park set up some very imaginative residences throughout its three-block radius and lived, if you’ll believe most of the propaganda surrounding the mythology of the park, a relatively blissful existence aside from the disease (AIDS was rampant), drug addiction, crime, murders, and instances of police brutality. It was the bohemian frontier at its peak, but was a frontier nonetheless.

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author:
CHRISTIAN LANDER

Non-fiction
211 pages
Random House

Whole Foods, brunch, soccer, NPR, scarves, Portland, OR, and studying abroad—these are just a few things that white people like, according to Christian Lauder. His book, Stuff White People Like follows the same format as his popular blog by calling out those items that make all of us white folk so damn predictable.

The book is easy reading and lists those things (numbered 1-150) that Caucasians, in all of their urbanity and lameness, are particularly fond of (#1 is Coffee and the last entry, # 150 is Rock Climbing). Each entry is filled with plenty of sarcasm and clever analogies, and many a chuckle will be had while devouring his hilarious list (a personal favorite is #87 Outdoors Performance Clothes: “The main reason white people like these clothes is that they allow them to believe that at any moment they can find themselves with a Thule rack on their car headed to a national park”).

While one might suspect that a gag book like this could tire after a few pages, Lauder certainly knows how to keep our attention, and the book’s flow makes it a perfect one to pick-up, read a few pages, laugh your ass off, and come back to at another time. While the book may not be high art, it’s dead-on accurate, and poses the question, “If we all strive to be different but all pursue the same path, how different can we really be?”

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