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May 30, 2012
What Are You Reading?
In which we ask New York's most publicly literate about their reading choices.
by Sean Morrow
Markus, 31
How are you liking Philip Roth so far?
Well, I've only read like, five pages.
What other Philip Roth have you read?
I've read a few of his Zuckerman novels, the trilogy. Exit Ghost, Portnoy's Complaint.
Portnoy's Complaint is a good one. I never wanted to eat liver again after reading that.
Yeah, no.
Roth is considered one of those "best living writers," along with Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, and Cormac McCarthy. Have you read anything by those guys?
I read The Road by McCarthy. I liked it. It's a totally different style.
Did you find the end depressing or uplifting?
Hmm. Good question. I thought it was uplifting. The rest of it was so grim that the end kind of had to be, I guess.
What's the last great book you read?
It's been awhile. I really liked Solar by Ian McEwan. It's about solar technology.
That one was famous because of the scene where the guy's penis freezes off, right? Was that hard to read?
No, I thought it was hilarious, actually.
Where are you from? I can hear a bit of an accent.
I'm from Norway — Oslo.
Do you read more in Norwegian or English translations?
Mostly Norwegian, actually. I usually read all the classics in Norwegian. And Norwegian novels as well. I prefer reading English literature in English.
Knut Hamsun is Norwegian, right?
Yes. I read a few of his books. In English it's probably called... Hunger, right?
Yeah, great book! What did you think?
I liked it a lot. It's one of our classics. I read it in high school.
How important is it that someone you date be a reader?
Well, they should at least be open to it. I should probably read a lot more than I do.
Is there a book that you find coming back to you the most in your everyday life?
That's a tough one. Now that I'm here in New York, probably Catcher in the Rye. I read it last time I was here, so it brings back a lot of memories of just walking around the city.
Commentarium (30 Comments)
I would throw shade at a potential date who talks up Bukowski and Hemingway... too much machismo. What am I saying, I'd give him the side-eye and then be wildly attracted to him anyway
Maybe Jeremy likes Catherine so much because he's also a one-dimensional stereotype. They would be perfect for each other!
Well said.
Yes, that answer made me cringe. On the whole, Hemingway is one of my favorites, but one of the main reasons I don't think A Farewell to Arms is among his best works is because of Catherine. Okay, I get that she's hot, but she seemed one-dimensional and dippy otherwise ("Oh darling, I'm afraid of the dark! Now I'm going to burst into tears about something random!"). It required some serious suspension of disbelief to make the plot work, i.e. that she was actually compelling enough to leave the army and go through all the other events for.
Double dukes!
+1 for the Archer reference.
i literally threw up while reading this article. no, really. i had an acid reflux attack.
lol yeh books are gay as hell, y don't nerve intervue ppl about kewl shit like call of duty or 2 and a haf men?
Being a book fiend, I really like this segment. Then I notice that all the readers like the kind of books I like. Then I notice how the writer is able to talk to the readers about their various book choices. Then I decide that the writer, is only asking questions of people who are reading books that they know/like already (no one's e-reading here - these titles are proudly displayed before any interaction need take place) and then I decide that as much as I like this, I'd like a bit more diversity in the readers, readers' choices.
Fom an ex-book snob.
I'm most impressed with the interviewer in these segments. Sure, he/she probably handpicked books they had already read but DAMN, good questions! ALSO: does anyone know what Proust I should read to learn more about this spacial conception of memory? Sounds fascinating.
There's a book called Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer that discusses Proust's conception of memory and how it is reflected in current research and scientific understanding. It's pretty good stuff, as are the rest of Lehrer's books. Of course, if it's Proust you are looking for, you only have to read about fifty pages or so to get to his spectacular ponderings on involuntary memory.
I'm sure she's a charming person, and she seems bright in her interview...but Kathleen's picture instinctively & involuntarily annoys me. Publicly reading Proust + that haircut + that prim expression = insufferably smug and/or precious, whether it's fair to her or not to think so. Not sure why I have such a visceral dislike for her "look", but I do.
i see nothing of the kind. i think you may be projecting. she looks like a young woman reading a book while being asked to be photographed reading a book.
You can't "project" a hipster haircut!
She does look extremely pleased with herself. Though I guess we could give her the benefit of the doubt and assume the photog made her pose that way.
Yeah, as the photographer, I earnestly and fully take the blame- I told her to "pretend you're reading," and then only took one picture, no retakes. We were both in a hurry. She was just doing homework, she wasn't overtly "proud of herself" for reading Proust.
So now women aren't even allowed to pretend they're smart?
I think she's a cutiepants.
It's nothing to do with men vs. women. Smart people are great; people who adopt the signifiers of smartness as an affectation are annoying.
(But really, I just can't stand that haircut -- just about everyone I've met who does their bangs that way is vapid and trust-fundy.)
whatever, the girl is the smartest of the three.
Jesus AAC, are you always this laidback and magnanimous? You must be a blast at parties.
Hey, thanks! I try. And yeah, I am a blast at parties.
Last time I complained that I wish the interviewer knew more about the books. This time I'm quite impressed! Knut Hamsun for the win!
I do not believe he actually read Down and Out in Paris and London. No one reads that book and thinks "word, my life is just like these dudes who worked 18 hours a day/ 7 days a week and are barely paid enough to literally stay alive."
Let Us Now Praise Famous Books.
@So Poor, you are so right. There is no way Jeremy's life is anything like that portrayed in Down and Out. He is eating food, for one; he has enough warm clothing (a jacket!); he owns an accessory that is even useful (sunglasses); he has a book to read.
So if he thinks he might credibly compare his 21st century, 1st world existence (however humble) to Orwell's outright abject experience, then yeah, I agree - he never read the damn book.
So forget Kathleen's hair style, Jeremy is the pretentious tosser here. (That's without even factoring in Uncle Ernie, and especially Bukowski.)
The kid has obvious reading comprehension issues, that combined with a huge ego and a fragile sense of his own masculinity can only breed disaster.
Yeah, anyone who reads books by Hemingway and Bukowski is a fucking intellectual asshole, why doesn't he read the Da Vinci COde and 50 shades of gray like a normal person> what a loser.
Yes Hector, the only alternatives to Hemingway and Bukowski are "50 Shades of Gray" etc. You obviously live in a library.
Really though, if you're going to spend your time reading Orwell (reading him outside, making sure the girls in the zoo see you reading Orwell), why not actually spend some time thinking about what Orwell says? Something as simple as "poverty is a horrible, debilitating, soul-crushing, mind-numbing, body-punishing condition." This dude has no business comparing himself to either the dishwashers in Down and Out or to Orwell himself (who had a nice estate to come back to, when he was done "exploring" the world of the poor).
u mad, bros?
I've read "Catcher In The Rye" as a kid, and then again as an adult. Why do I not like it? Because I'm female? I feel like the kid in it is a whiner, sort of like Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate." Last time I read it I thought maybe "I am too old" to like it, but even as a teenager it annoyed me. Back then I thought maybe I was too young to get it. Or maybe Holden IS kind of a spoiled whiner. Maybe I am too poor to get it.
Based on this interview I began reading "Hunger," and I think it's great.