Extra Credit
Besides what you have to read, are you currently face deep in some fun-reading?
Of all the fiction I have read recently, my Postmod faves are:
There, There by Tommy Orange, a novel that weaves Radiohead, Joyce Carol Oates, and Native American cultures together powerfully. It's a mystery around a pow pow in Oakland. It tells stories of displacement - of being exiled from your home and community, forcing you to create new communities of your own, because if you try to return home, there is no there, there. It's gone.
Uzumaki, by Junji Ito, definitely the top Manga that I read this year. I'm relatively new to this genre, so I went with a 2013 classic. It takes place in a Japanese sounding town that has been invaded by spirals. The shape, in Postmodernist Magical Realist style, becomes a fixation, then a menace that deforms the entire community. Nobody raises an eyebrow even though people are bending themselves into spirals or growing new body parts shaped as spirals. It is a deeply unsettling tale. I couldn't sleep for a while after I finished it.
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison, an old short story from 1967 that was pitched to me on YouTube as the most optimistic post-apocalyptic story of humanity ever. The singularity has occurred, and the new master of the cosmos is "AM," an artificial intelligence that HATES humanity. AM takes it out on the few remaining people left. This is a smorgasbord of Postmodern treats.
The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells, the most fun I had with a book series. These are hilarious Postmodern romps through the psyche of a "murderbot" who swears it/she/he/they have no human qualities, then proceeds to demonstrate more humanity than any of the homo sapiens in the story. This is the perfect blend of Postmodern paranoia, black humor, and parody.
I finally finished the "Wheel of Time" series. Hey, it's 14 books. Thanks, KB! I really needed to know how Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World was going to resolve! It's a postmodern blend of fantasy, gritty reality, futuristic dystopia, and folksy love stories. Fabulism was where my postmodern heart was right then...
I also read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride. This is a mash-up of secret lives, secret wells, and generational joy. I'm still not over the ending. Thank you, Monkey Pants. IYKYK.
Last year I read The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. He's a well-known nonfiction writer, but this book is a Postmodernist paella of temporal distortion, historiographic metafiction, hyperreality, and black humor. This has magic, Harriet Tubman, and some of the most beautiful prose I have read.
Another book I recently read, coincidentally similar in setting, is The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. This one does with the legends surrounding America's Underground Railroad what Quentin Tarantino does with the Manson murders in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's part gritty history, part fabulism, lots of wish-fulfillment, and all terrific.
Legolas 3rd
As you can see in the name, one of the books l‘m reading is part of Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy. (As a side note my brother randomly calls me Legolas sometimes so that’s why I chose the name. I don’t think I‘m quite tall enough to fit the genetics of an elf though :/ ?). I‘m currently on the Return of the King which is the third book of the series.
There are so many characters in the books that it can get quite overwhelming at times. It gets more and more difficult as you progress through the books though. In the Fellowship of the Ring you follow Frodo Baggins who has to carry the One Ring in order to destroy it in Mordor, the land of the Dark Lord. (There are more rings than just one. Frodo only just has to carry the “One Ring to rule them All,” the most powerful of the rings and the ring the Dark Lord Sauron is looking for and uses all of his power to find and reclaim.) I find that these books are like reading history textbooks; you start reading the journeying and the very detailed descriptions of the trees and grass and forests and trail they‘re on until you finally get to a battle or pub or other location. (Now that I think of it, I do one-up the little Hobbit people in height. They they don’t have to wear shoes due to their hairy feet.)
I need to get back on track. Book two, The Two Towers get a little bit more confusing. There are basically two stories going on since the fellowship of the ring was broken up by wandering orcs. There is also the Battle of Helm’s Deep and talking trees called Ents.
Finally, book three continues this split narrative with the siege of Gondor, and a crazy king and another heroic king and his stoic daughter.
I think the best part of these books is when you get a character who just says the wisest thing in that very moment. It total makes up for those other characters whose attitude causes you to think whether they are sane or not. Finally, not to mention Gandalf.
As a final note, this quote is in reference to Strider, and life in general: