Indie Lit

So I'm in Shanghai, searching high and low for a biography on Billy Shakespeare called Will in the World. Why? Why not? I love reading, and I love discovering new books I'd never imagined could have been published. Of course, Will in the World does not qualify as such, but I want to read it after doing miserably on the Shakespeare questions when I tried out for Jeopardy and after enjoying a similarly styled biography on Beethoven I had to read in college. But mainly random novels on random subjects. Just like music lovers love going to the tiny shithole down the alley to hear the latest new band to get massive college radio play, I like looking for books that you cannot find unless they are actively searched for. As in not The Da Vinci Code. Don't get me wrong, I loved that book for the few hours it had me entertained. And that was that. Nothing else to take from it.

This is what I hate. Mass entertainment. People want the same thing. Over and over and over again. Spoonfed the same mushy apple sauce. I decided to post this after two things happened. First the plagiarism post. The author used a book packager. They pretty much tell the author what kind of plot to write and then let the author have a go. This book packager is actively looking for a new fantasy children's series. As in Harry Potter. Can't blame them or the kids, they want money and they want to be entertained. Fine for someone who is ten. But adults? C'mon! Think a little. Find something new to read. So the second reason. Pramoedya Ananta Toer died the other day. Who? Indonesian author who wrote about Dutch colonial rule in his country and what followed after independence. He's been banned by the current regime, I believe. His works, that is. I had to read one of his books in a college class and loved it. So went looking for his other books. Couldn't find them, really rare. I know there's Amazon, but nothing beats walking out of a bookstore with the item you've been looking for. So I say, find new shit from everywhere. Every country must produce a few class novelists. Some are more famous than others, but they're all out there. The only drawback is translation. I think if it's possible, reading should be done in the language of the author. But I can't speak whatever they speak in Indonesia, so I'll have to settle for the English translations of Toer's works.

So just read. Anything. Autobiography of Motley Crue is hilarious. Or go online and find the website for any college lit course that has a group name in front of it. Asian lit. Asian American lit. Southern lit. Egyptian lit. Postcolonial. Gay. Look at the class syllabus, choose a title, find it, and read it. Good stuff. And not all popular stuff is lame. Check out David Sedaris. Popular and hilarious.