Reading List: October 2008

This analogy has never been more true: procrastination is just like masturbation; at first it feels great, but then you realize you're just fucking yourself. Despite the October 27th due date for my thesis proposal, I have yet to actually sit down and write a single word. Most of it is plotted in my head, but I can't seem to find the stamina to sit down and get it on paper. However, my academic writing comes in powerful bursts after long periods of inaction, so I am expecting to be able to type a few thousand words tomorrow afternoon so I don't look horrible in front of my thesis chair.

Among other things, casual reading has provided a means of distraction, one that I am unsure I will ever be able to do without. The common wisdom is that has no time for personal reading when in grad school, but I have found a way to balance both. Perhaps my program is easier than some, perhaps my ability to write polished first drafts keeps my grades artificially high. No matter the case, I need to develop better habits in academic writing or the professorial career I am pursuing my be much more unpleasant than I am expecting.

Anyway, while I was avoiding reading scholarly works on semiotics, I managed to finish 15 books and graphic novels:

• Kobayashi Maru by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
• A Contract with God by Will Eisner
• From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman
• 100 Bullets: Once Upon a Crime by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso
• Seconds of Pleasure by Neil LaBute
• Gods of Night by David Mack
• The Limits of Power by Andrew J. Bacevich
• The Drowned Life by Jeffrey Ford
• Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
• The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Volume I: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
• Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
• The Question of Bruno by Aleksandar Hemon
• Slam by Nick Hornby
• Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean

I also am making slow progress through Roberto Bolano's The Savage Detectives, which at times I feel is a masterpiece and at others terribly bored by the glacial progress. I did write a response to Bacevich's book on the US as an imperial power, but felt it was much too personal to post here. I hope to use it later when writing a broader piece. If you haven't read the book, Bill Moyers did a fascinating interview with Bacevich on PBS.

I'll also have so thoughts on Hornby's Slam in the next day or so.

Your questions and comments, as always, are appreciated.