Reading Rainbow

There are three authors whom I give credit for giving me the desire to read: Roald Dahl, Chuck Palahniuk, and Douglas Coupland. Dahl made reading fun and cool during the early years. I remember reading Matilda for the first time in 3rd grade and being so proud of my self for reading the longest book I had ever read. After I read through all his books though I hit a vacuum in junior high where I basically didn't read anything.

I entered freshman year of high school and discovered Chuck Palahniuk. It was the winter of 1999, I had just turned 15, and I read Fight Club for the first time. Shortly there after, my friends and I started a fight club. We had it every Tuesday after school. My dad would come home from work, set a bottle of Advil on the kitchen counter, and say, "Just please wear a mouth piece."

I have been a strict follower of Chuck ever since and have read his whole collection. I have to say, his first three books will always be my favorite and the most memorable. When Palahniuk entered his horror phase, or shock phase (i.e. Lullaby, Diary, and Haunted), I found a new favorite author: Douglas Coupland. I have to say he is probably my favorite living author at the moment. No other author, I believe, sums up the internet, globalized, techo-geek culture that we all live in, like he does.

All of that to give you a little glimpse of my summer diet:

Pygmy

Chuck continues his shock and awe writing with his latest. This one is about a group of junior high exchange students who plan to carry out a terrorist attack at the nation's science fair convention. It is filled with Chuck-esque scenes: vivid sex, a school shooting, murder, etc. Like his other books, Chuck takes the marginalized characters through bizarre journeys and in the end there is a brief moment of redemption, which brings beauty despite all the carnage. Reader beware: The whole book is written in broken english, as it is told from the first person POV of one of the trained terrorists. This has proven difficult for a lot of people to read. I didn't find it that difficult as I live with broken english everyday. If you've never read Chuck, don't start with this one. Matthew's grade: B-

My top 5 of Chuck's work:

1. Fight Club; 2. Rant; 3. Survivor; 4. Invisible Monsters; 5. Pygmy

Microserfs

This was published way back in 1995. It is about a group of geeks working for microsoft who leave to start their own company. I loved it. It is almost prophetic, as the whole thing is written like a blog, before blogging exists. It also predicted the future of venture capital in the technology biz. Douglas Coupland writes transgressional fiction, like Palahniuk, but his pages aren't splattered with blood, sex, and violence. This novel was the precursor to Coupland's other book, Jpod, which is a kind of spiritual sequel. If you are into the TV show the Office, read Jpod and Microserfs. Matthew's grade: B

My top 5 of Coupland's work:

1. Jpod; 2. Eleanor Rigby; 3. The Gum Thief; 4. All Families are Psychotic; 5. Hey Nostradamus!

salaam alikum