Shawn Mariani

A selection of books I have read in recent years include:

• Jack Kerouac
  • Big Sur
  • On the Road
  • The Dharma Bums
• Hunter S. Thompson
  • Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga
  • Gonzo Papers, Vol. 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (Did not finish)
  • Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
  • Gonzo Papers, Vol. 3: Songs of the Doomed: More Notes on the Death of the American Dream
• Chuck Klosterman
  • IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

I have loved everything I have ever read by Kerouac and thoroughly enjoyed most works by Thompson.  I look forward to diving deeper into Kerouac’s catalog, but am writing today to say that I am done for awhile in the realm of gonzo journalism and beat era novels.  They are of course different genres altogether, but have many similar traits.  I believe to have worn out my interest in these styles (worn out meaning bored with, not undercutting what they are or their value by any stretch.)

I picked up what is considered that best American novel since the end of WWII, Gravity’s Rainbow by the great Thomas Pynchon.  The near 800 page epic novel will be difficult to digest, with some 400 characters and complex themes, but I look forward to the challenge.  I can say in reading the first few episodes I am already refreshed to be reading literature and not some form of journalism and/or play-by-play writings of beat encounters.

Plenty of reaction to follow…

One of the only photos of recluse, Pynchon (c. 1957)

The 1974 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Gravity’s Rainbow

I am absolutely in love with Hospice, the new release by The Antlers.  Pick it up ASAP and give it a listen, it won’t disappoint.

• It is beautiful.
• The album tells an explicit story (in first and second person narrative) of a man losing a loved one to bone cancer and watching her die in the Sloan Kettering Cancer Ward while he is beside her. Memories, regret and grief occur throughout the album.
• Vocalist Peter Silberman wrote the album after over 2 years of social isolation in Brooklyn, New York.
• NPR Music has placed the album in the #1 position for their Top 10 of 2009 list.

Post your comments.

There is an artist whose work can be found around Tremont who has a very simple yet sophisticated style and a many unique ways of posting his work.  You may have seen his work cemented over sidewalks, screwed into telephone poles, or hanging from fences or guardrails by rusted industrial chains and padlocks.

He has a MySpace page and updates regularly showing each posted piece by month.  Here’s a good article from the now defunct Cleveland Free Times where The Sign Guy explains his thoughts on when the public removes his work to add to their collection.

• My photos featuring The Sign Guy

• The Sign Guy on MySpace
• The Sign Guy on Craigslist