My summer and winter reading couldn’t be more different. In the summer, like a lot of people, I want something fast; something that moves and communicates and gives me a good, satisfying story. But with winter on its way I want books as heavy as bowling balls; stories you feel like crawling into a cave with and rolling the stone to shut yourself in. I want dense, crowded books that give you a universe but make you work for it.

This is my to-read list…

Imperial, William T. Vollman
With fiction, I write about where I grew up and, because of that, I do a lot of reading within the region. Narrowing the focus even further, Vollman’s Imperial is 1,300 pages on a single county in my hometown. I’d say that makes it essential.

Ulysses, James Joyce
I’m actually on this one already. Halfway through. People talk a lot about Ulysses being dense and referential to the point of unreadability but I think I must’ve just found it at the right time in my life. I get this book. It’s funny, engaging, and it hits you with some truth that’s hard to miss. Over the course of 900,000 pages we follow Leopold Bloom through one day in 1904 Dublin. But it’s more than that. It’s life; a big, struggling, wormy, steaming, scary, laughing, vomiting chunk of it.

Black Spring, Henry Miller
I started Black Spring a few years ago and thought it was crazy, unintelligible B.S. This was before I’d read any Miller and a book like this is not a good gateway. You need to read the lighter stuff first, the Tropics, maybe the Rosy Crucifixion. But now, just a few years later, Miller’s my guy. I’m ready.

The Reivers, William Faulkner
Same as above. This was the first Faulkner I read. Story of three thieves and a car. Not a lot of payoff. Very Southern and dry. Didn’t feel it. Then, this summer, a friend gave me Faulkner’s The Wild Palms, and his style suddenly made sense. Now I’m down for a reread.

Moby-Dick, Herman Melville
Moby-Dick is no simple man versus whale story. Melville’s greatest is a wordy, complex, labyrinthine piece of experimental prose. To think this was published and read when it was blows my mind. Where were people’s heads at back when this was released? Definitely not where they are now. Maybe we’ve hit a sagging point in culture–or maybe the collective consciousness doesn’t need books like this anymore. Whatever it is, no agent in their right mind would pick this up in 2009. And that’s a shame.

So there’s my list. None of these are easy books but they’re worth your time. Dig in. Hunker down. Here come the dark months…

BIO: Adam Gnade's (guh nah dee) work is released as a series of books and records that share characters and themes; the fiction writing continuing plot-lines left open by the self-described "talking songs" in an attempt to compile a vast, detailed, interconnected, personal history of contemporary American life. Check out recent writing here and songs here. Contact: adam@asthmatickitty.com

I can’t think of many better things than springtime. Summer’s great but it cheats because it comes after the cushion of spring which makes the transition easier. Spring, of course, follows (what always seems to be) a death-march of a winter season.

This winter wasn’t so bad, but it was long and it was gray and it’s nice to see the sun again.

So in that spirit, here’s a list of some great things to do and check out in the Greatest Season.

1. Chesapeake by James Michener. More than 300 years of life along the Chesapeake Bay. Good thing to sit outside with and feel the sun while you go deep into some historical fiction.

2. 40s. Winter for me was all dark, dark red wine. It’s spring so I’m starting it off with a big bruiser like the one in the photo below.

3. Haircut. Give yourself one. Clear-cut your skull and nurture some new-growth forest. (Same goes for your face. How long have you had that beard? Do you even remember what your face looks like Will you look like your dad when you shave it off? Facial hair will always grow back; it’s good like that. Check in with your real face.)

4. “The Gentlest Gentleman” by My Brightest Diamond. Been listening to this on repeat. The MOKB version.

5. Make Your Place by Raleigh Briggs. DIY home-life book. (“Affordable sustainable nesting skills,” says the front cover.) Build a compost heap, make a planting bed, mix up a tincture, beat the Great Depression #II blues.

6. Ditch the bummer music. Look for these HI-NRG positive vibes punks: White Fang. Their album on Marriage Records is called Pure Evil and it’s a party straight through. Especially the track “Green Beanz.” When I hear Erik sing, “I will sing until the day I die/yes, I will sing until the day I die” I’m, like, “YES YES YES.”

7. Potatoes. Hardly anyone I know has a real job these days and we’re all looking for new ways to get through the same ol’ hard times. Potatoes. They’re cheap, filling, nutritious, and you can add a couple bucks worth of fresh vegetables and make a feast for 10. Last night I collected everybody’s spare change and bought a bag of 30 russet potatoes for $1.79. I added a handful of spinach, two cloves of garlic, and two tomatoes and fried up a massive supper for a bunch of really hungry people.

8. Fresh ginger. Clears your head. Heats up your chest. Easy to shoplift from mega chain stores. Go spring-clean your body.

9. Foxfire book series. Collected Appalachian folk-wisdom, ancient DIY tricks, and general cheap-living how-to’s handed down by people who were alive during the Civil War. Read up on haint and snake lore; build your own dulcimer; learn to keep bees; make soap, etc. First five books (1972-’79) are the best.

10. Anything by Frederick Douglass. Pure reason and calm-minded eloquence from a time in American history that was anything BUT. Start off the season with a big hot flashlight of genius (1818-1895) that’ll illuminate everything in your path.

Oh, and go outside.

BIO: Adam Gnade's (guh nah dee) work is released as a series of books and records that share characters and themes; the fiction writing continuing plot-lines left open by the self-described "talking songs" in an attempt to compile a vast, detailed, interconnected, personal history of contemporary American life. Check out recent writing here and songs here. Contact: adam@asthmatickitty.com

Call me dreamy but…

1. John Coltrane and Merzbow, Live at Pompeii (enough said on this)

2. Syd Barrett, Oranges and Animals (wherein Syd is backed by Animal Collective)

3. Frank Zappa plays Erik Satie (shockingly beautiful)

4. The Band, Music from Big Pink Revisited (featuring all the original members–not a simple walk through of those old gems but a re-envisioning)

5. Sufjan Stevens, Such an America as This (songs based on newly rediscovered lyrics and occasional fragments penned by Stephen Foster)

6. Neil Young, Grasslanders (in the mode of Harvest and After the Gold Rush but with some guts like it used to be)

7. Chris Watson, Feathers, Fowl, Fog (near soundless field recordings by Watson of fog, night air, and the movements of individual feathers against each other using recording techniques mysterious and unknown)

8. Lou Reed with XTC, President Kill (I can’t even explain why I want to hear this but I do)

9. The Big Bang and the Core (a field recording of the center of the earth, recorded in super high definition surround–it’s as if you’re right there in the molten core; packaged as a double disc with a field recording of the big bang; o.k. now I’m just being silly)

10. John Lennon, Stoned and Rolled (a previously unknown recording of songs John Lennon wrote with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and then recorded with the Rolling Stones circa 1976)

You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

www.christiankiefer.com

Photograph by Adam Gnade

1. Christmas markets in Berlin followed by pasta meals and vodka to warm up.
2. Reading John Muir and feeling good about pretty much everything until the last page; then reading it again.
3. Three-way tie: Holland, the ferry boat to Holland, friends in Holland.
4. Pitchers of red wine in Portugal on the stormy-insane coast. Ericeira, you’re the real thing.
5. Portland’s big snow. Were you there? It was legit, fully.
6. Late-summer blackberry harvest
7. Not getting sick when the flues hit. Preventative magic: raw ginger and garlic chased by mezcal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       8. Sunshine in Madrid by the bullring after a freezing week in horrible Paris.
9. Finding a secret swimming beach in Virginia. Where are you now, August and July?
10. Touring Scotland and NOT having soul-crushing, ridiculous, life-shattering shows. What gives?

BIO: Adam Gnade's (guh nah dee) work is released as a series of books and records that share characters and themes; the fiction writing continuing plot-lines left open by the self-described "talking songs" in an attempt to compile a vast, detailed, interconnected, personal history of contemporary American life. Check out recent writing here and songs here. Contact: adam@asthmatickitty.com

Really, who cares what my favorite video games of 2008 were/are?  It’s not like you’re not all assuming it’s Rock Band 2.  That is, of course, assuming that you are even making any assumptions about my thoughts for the year, which is assuming in itself (if that’s possible).

Instead, I’ve decided to make a best of list of my favorite albums in 2008 that I haven’t listened to yet.  I know what you’re saying… I take that back.  I couldn’t possibly know what you’re saying.  I’ll just tell you what I’m thinking:  ‘How the heck am I supposed to rate something I’ve not even experienced, much less put them in any ranking order?’  Well, that’s the beauty of this list, so leave me alone and go to the next post if you’re going to be a jerk about it.

TOP TEN ALBUMS, THAT I OBTAINED IN 2008, THAT I HAVEN’T LISTENED TO YET BUT PLAN TO PROBABLY SOMETIME IN 2009

10. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – E 1999 Eternal
This is an album I downloaded because I hadn’t heard it since, probably E 1999. I was a fan of all hip hop music at the time and I’m ashamed to say that I probably listened to this non-stop. I can’t remember much on it except 1st of tha Month and Tha Crossroads. Who can forget Tha Crossroads? I think we all miss Wi$h Bone’s Uncle Charles just a little. My favorite thing about this album, without listening to it, is the uncomfortable mash-up of E. 99th St. and the year 1999. It’s a little bit of a stretch but what can you expect from four guys who wrote the lyrics:

If I could teach the world (whole wide world)
to be a thug-n-harmony (harmony)
Then I would teach the world (whole wide world)
to be a thugsta just like me (like me)

9. Brian Green – One Stop Carnival
Shut up. Don’t you dare doubt me on this one. Brian (Austin) Green put a rap album out back in 1996 and it was as relevant as anything else from that era. He raps a bit like Ahmad (who did Back in the Days) and his beats all sound like Black Eyed Peas first album. There’s a reason for that, of course. The Black Eyed Peas (pre-Fergie) helped out on this album by doing some production as well as a chorus or two (they may have even rapped, I haven’t listened yet). Slim Kid 3 from Pharcyde also did some production. If that sort of company doesn’t thrill you, then you’re not thinking straight.

8. Calloway – All the Way
You may not know who this is, but you certainly remember their hit, I Wanna Be Rich. I have such a soft spot for soft-spotted R&B/pop from the 80s. That song is so awesome in my book (coincidentally, my book entitled Soft-Spotted R&B/Pop from the 80s will be in stores – and on best-of 2013 lists – next year). Back then, when I was a child longing for acceptance and Jawbreakers, I never really bought records. Sure, I got the occasional Storm Front for my birthday but I never really went to record stores and chose things. In the last year or so, I’ve made a goal for myself to rectify this and get all the albums I missed and here’s one of them. Here’s to 2009, when I’ll finally get to enjoy this wonderful jem.

7. Clannad – Macalla
Okay, for some reason this year, I got onto this huge Robin Hood kick and I was just looking for anything Robin Hood related to consume. Of course, I ignored all the literature on the legend and instead went to Wikipedia and popular media. I didn’t find much in the way of American TV or film (at least nothing that I hadn’t already seen) and so I navigated the Google waves and found a ton of British TV (new and old) to satisfy me. One of the series I found was this one called Robin of Sherwood and the opening theme song hooked me right away. It was performed by this band called Clannad. They are a Gaelic band and I think this was one of the first times they sang in English. The album is total medieval synth-goth pop (totally). I picked up the album they released right after this one to see if they continued the same sound because that Robin Hood album was a hit. I don’t know if this one is good (naturally) but Bono sings on a song so something happened in the time between ‘84 and ‘85.

6. Dan Hartman – I Can Dream About You
All you Fletch fans will recognize this guy… Well, all you Fletch soundtrack fans will. Dan Hartman did the song Fletch, Get Outta Town, which THANKFULLY includes the title of the song in the lyrics. For the rest of you, the title of the album will definitely ring a bell. And for even more of you Dan Hartman’s name, alone, will ring a bell just because you are older and/or you have a good memory for one-hit wonder artist names (or in this case, two-hit wonder).

5. Huey Lewis & the News – Picture This
Something snapped in my head recently, and I decided I needed the entire Huey Lewis & the News catalog. I already have Sports and Fore! but I have a compulsive disorder that requires me to own discographies. Todd Barry jokes about buying box sets saying, “I don’t own one CD by the Oakridge Boys. I think it’s time I owned every CD by the Oakridge Boys.” I’m that guy. I already own Picture This on vinyl but come on. You can’t expect me to actually get out my record player and listen to the vinyl I buy. It’s solely a fashion statement.

4. Jellybean – Wotupski !?!
Jellybean Benitez dated Madonna for two years and remixed her debut album, along with producing Holiday. Can you fault me for wanting to hear his solo stuff?

3. Kanye West – 808s and Heartbreak
Kanye West has the biggest balls in the world to record an album like this. This list admits that I haven’t listened to it yet but I’ve read enough reviews to know that he sings instead of raps on the entire record. Firstly, the guy has been making rap records his whole life and all of the sudden, when he wants to start getting introspective and emotional (even more so than the crybaby tour I got the privilege of seeing) he starts crooning. I’m all for artist experimentation, but this is like something Ben Folds would sing about in Sports and Wine. Second, not only does he completely change what he’s been doing, he does it in such a way that proves to us why he started rapping in the first place. You don’t bust out the Auto-Tuner if you are a good singer – at least not in EVERY SONG. That’s like me telling all my friends I’ve taken up guitar and to come see me do my first performance. Then, when they get there, they see me playing Guitar Hero.

2. Martin – Show the World
Someone told my brother that he didn’t like Martin because he was trying too hard to sound like Michael Jackson. My brother said, “Michael’s not making music like this anymore. Why not let someone else?” I’ve cheated with this album because I couldn’t help myself and during the making of this list I’ve started listening to this album. It’s so good – particularly the first two songs. Show the World could fit easily on Bad and When I’m With You sounds like something Stevie would’ve played on a In Square Circle tour. If this album is too current day poppy for you (there’s certainly a current day hook to the songs) then pick up Private’s My Secret Lover from last year. The main guy from Private produced the first track from Show the World

1. The Monkees – Pool It!
I’m a sucker for 80s reunions of old bands. Well, I should say that I’m a fan of old bands who had to make it through the 80s and, in doing so, picked up a couple of synthesizers and popped up their sound for a record or two. I love it. The Moody Blues are a great example of this (Your Wildest Dreams may be one of my favorite 80s songs). I remember when this reunion happened because I was watching all the reruns of The Monkees on MTV but I just don’t really remember any of the singles. I can’t wait to jump in to this pool!

Nathan Smart lives here. That's all you need to know.

My Favorite Albums of 2008

Simon Bookish – Everything/Everything
Gang Gang Dance – Saint Dymphna
Son Lux – At War with Walls and Mazes
Tristan Perich – 1-Bit Music (didn’t come out this year, but this was the year I learned about it)
Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane
Dosh – Wolves and Wishes
These Are Powers – Taro Tarot
The Weird Weeds – I Miss This
Fennesz – Black Sea
Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Heartcore

10. Clark - Turning Dragon
9. Marnie Stern -This Is It & I Am It & You Are It & So Is That & He Is It & She Is It & It Is It & That Is That
8. Belong – Colorloss Record
7. Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Heartcore
6. Shearwater – Rook
5. Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
4. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
3. Radiohead – In Rainbows
2. Randy Newman – Harps and Angels
1. Portishead – Third