Yes We Did!

Listened to the radio at work as Obama got inaugurated today. Awesome. Best possible way to start the new year.

Hasta Bush.

If I could go back in time and tell Bush supporters what the world would be like after 8 years of his presidency I wonder what they'd say.

Fiction

The NY Times had an article recently with some stats from the National Endowment for the Arts saying that fiction reading is increasing for adults. In 2002 the % of adults in the US reading literature was 46.7, in 2008 it was 50.2. 1982 was kind of a high watermark with 56.9.

I'm kind of surprised it's that high. I know a few people who haven't read any fiction since school, where they were forced to. My guess is these are the basic reasons why:

It's Boring.
People aren't really like that.
They don't write simply or clearly.
Don't like being lectured to.
Books are too long and there's too much other stuff to do.

Best Reads of 2008 - in no particular order.

Fiction
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Fences - Play, August Wilson. An African American family in what might be Pittsburgh in the 50s.'
Until Gwen - Short Story, Dennis LeHane. Mystery. Hard boiled. Contemporary lowlifes.
The Fishing Boat Picture - Short Story, Allan Sillitoe. A marriage and divorce seen from the distance of years by the post office working husband.
The Decline and Fall of Frankie Buller - Short Story, Allan Sillitoe. Reminiscences of a childhood friend.
The Man in the Overstuffed Chair - Short Story, Tennessee Williams. Semi-fictional account of author's restless father.
The Glass Menagerie - Play, Tennessee Williams. Family drama.
Nobody Will Laugh - Short Story, Milan Kundera. Showdown in Academia.


NonFiction
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The Last Shot - Book about Coney Island kids hoping to become college basketball players, Darcy Frey.
The Old House at Home - Essay/Article about the bar McSorley's in Manhatten, Joseph Mitchell.
Trucking Through The Aids Belt - Article about a riding through East Central Africa in 1993, Ted Conover
Klosterman IV - Collecion of articles by Music Critic, pop culture observer Chuck Klosterman.
There Are No Children here. Book about two kids Pharoah and Lafayette Rivers growing up in the Henry Horner homes in Chicago during the early to mid 1980's. Alex Kotlowitz.