March 10, 2004
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
I intend to say something about this soon. Chastise me if I don't and if you care, and if I have failed to post something about it. I finished this two weeks ago and highly recommend it. More to come later. Matt Harlan, if you read this. You really need to read this.
This book brought my appreciation back for public libraries. You see, as many who read this knows, I am a book monster. I, like Nick Hornby, buy more books than I read and read more books than I've bought. But for some reason or other, over the past 10-15 years I spend most of my time looking at books in bookstores. Even at the lowest point in my income and when my pocketbook has grown wafer thin empty, one's liable to find me spending another 6$ on a book, that I'll read sometime in the next 5 years.
But heh, I'm a bit of a bibliophile (thanks Sarah)book-a-phile, so what does it matter really? Well, I've discovered it matters a great deal to my bottom-line of paying all my debts etc. So, now whenever I go into a bookstore I go armed with pen & paper, or I borrow some from the proprietors. And walk through the store making lists. I'm sure many of you have discovered this years ago, but humor me, and also hang in there eventually I'll say something more about this book.
Tracie is a list-maniac. She makes lists of things we have to do tomorrow, things to pack, grocery lists, lists of things she can do better, lists of favorite bands, etc. And I noticed she actually uses the damn things. Whenever I make a list I have a tendency to write things down and then, set the list on a park bench and walk off. Or, write out my grocery list and leave it on the kitchen table.
Real useful…Well, We frequent several bookstores in the Boston area, but a few weeks ago, actually a month ago to the day) we were in one of our favorite bookstores in Brookline, MA. Brookline Booksmith. Sounds innocuous enough right? Ah, then you my friend have never walked into that bookstore off a fresh paycheck and walked out with a hefty bag full of books. As I have.
So, to combat my tendency for rampant and belligerent consumption of books, I decided to take things into my own hands and always ask for pen and paper, whenever empty handed in stores of this ilk. So, I wrote and I wrote, and I wrote. And Lethem's Fortress of Solitude landed, squarely in the top 5 of the list.
A couple of days later, I meandered into the looming, unfriendly, architectural disaster, of the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library. And less than two weeks later I was back, handing the book back; this after a many year hiatus from libraries I'm back into the fold of loyal public library visitors, and it's saving me at least a couple of hundred dollars every few months (or it will, although I have to admit I spent about $40 just last week at the aforementioned consumer trap).
About Lethem's book. I think I enjoyed it mostly because I can relate to the kids experiences, albeit I didn't grow up at the exact timeframe or under the same context. Many of the same fears and guilt of being a white kid in a place and time of change and confrontation with the blank-awareness that you are X race and someone else is Y race began. A time when "a white boy in the open"="an opportunity to have some fun", brought a world of fear and angst up close and personal to create a new perspective on the world. One that turns the external facing gaze a little bit more inward a little bit less frequently when trying to understand the world around you and puts you up close and personal in one another´s shoes.
The setting and characters march along with brittle and furious melodious pace, and force you to come face-to-face with your own trials and tribulations and step back with all seriousness and laugh at the joy of it all. If you haven't read it, you should.
