August '11 / Comic Novel Reading Poll

[Sancho]

Woo-hoo! Sancho’s got a horse in this race.

So, here’s the set-up for T.C. Boyle’s Drop City:

It’s 1970 and the hippy-freak culture out in California is winding down. A small commune in Sonoma County called Drop City is in the process of getting run out of town by the man, man. -- That’s a bummer, man. -- Anyway, they decide to relocate Drop City to the interior of Alaska where they imagine they’ll enjoy a hassle-free existence and be able to really get back to nature.

I was hooked when I read the jacket. You see, in my life, I’ve lived in California (the Mojave) and in the interior of Alaska (Fairbanks), so the book grabbed my attention – in the same way Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild grabbed me. Also I’ve been reading T.C. Boyle’s short stories for years – they are righteously satirical. He’s got one where President Eisenhower and Nina Khrushchev have a love affair, which precipitates the cold war.

Anyhow, I’m interested to see what happens when Ken Kesey meets Jack London, or when Dean Moriarty meets Sam McGee. Or maybe Thai stick meets Rye Whiskey (this is fun, but I should stop now).

At any rate, I think it’d be a good book-club read.

---Mellow Yellow meets Arctic Blue? Grace Slick meets Camp Cookie? A Psychedelic Trip meets the Aurora Borealis? I should really stop now. Oh, Okay, one more – the Magic Bus meets a Dog Sled? Okay, now I’m done. WAIT! Tie dye T-shirts meet Fur-lined Parkas.

[Scheherazade]

Since the tie was not broken at the end of the month, the poll remain open a little longer.

[Scheherazade]

Going once...

[OrphanPip]

I just want to say that it is hilarious that everyone voted for their own nomination.

[WyattGwyon]

If this thread is closed my apologies. Having read Drop City, I am just wondering why someone decided it was a comic novel. That classification would not have occurred to me. Of course there is much that is funny in it, but as a general classification it seems way off.

[Sancho]

Donno. I haven’t read it yet, but I nominated it in this category based on a blurb in the Publishers Weekly review: “Boyle has a wonderful eye for the comedy of imposture when the self-deceived themselves practice deception.” Also, I suspect, there’s a fair amount of overlap in these sub-genres.

Optimistically I bought a copy of Drop City today, and I don’t want to influence the vote too much, but the cover my copy has a picture naked (nekkid) people on it.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Well, the deadline is up, Drop City should be the winner. Why a thread hasn't been made for it, I don't know. It seems the book club has been slowly dying, and now its moderator has seemed to have also lost interest.

[Sancho]

I’m pretty sure the month of August is when the entire UK goes on holiday. So Scher is probably on a beach somewhere in the South of France with a Mai Tai in one hand and a detective novel in the other.

Atlanta, by contrast, is stinky-hot this time of year, making it a great place to stay indoors and read a book.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Welllllllllll, I wonder if a new thread will be made for it or not.... I'm still undecided if I'm going to read it.

[Sancho]

Well, I bought it, and with real green-back dollars, so I reckon I'll read it.

I hope Scher is Okay. Somebody should swing by her place to check on her, you know, to make sure the neighbors haven't been complaining about a weird smell wafting around the 'hood.

[Scheherazade]

I am so very sorry for the delay. As Sancho already pointed out, I have been out, enjoying the scorching hot English summer!

The thread is now ready for your discussions.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

We'll let it go, Scher . . . this time.