2008 Book Recap

2008 was a very crazy year for me. Which is something I will surely touch on again soon as the year turns over and I do a long winded emotion filled blog about the events that have taken place for me personally this year.

Though, its not time for that yet! Its time to recap the books that I have read this year. Now, I was never much of a reader, ever. Even as a child, my grandmother would always make me read 3 to 5 pages a day of what was usually an RL Stine book, before I got to go outside and play with my friends and I always hated it. Even when I was in school, I hated it. I never did the summer reading, nothing. Everytime I had to read, I found a moderatly interesting LOOKING book and just stared at it. Whenever I had to do a report, I glanced around and skipped to the end. I was a shit head. The only book I ever found interesting was 1984 by George Orwell. Which, I dont even think I finished, which is why Ive been thinking about reading it again and Anne Frank when we read it as a class in 8th grade(where my WWII interest began).

Ive always been a large advocate of education because I feel people should be intelligent. Existing in daily life just goes to show how much people really, arent. We have been gifted with brains. Which are able to obtain massive amounts of information. Brains that can output massive amounts of ideas and creativity. Which also could influence someone else to better themselves or something else, keeping the train rolling. Here I am, not doing shit simply because im LAZY. So I ALWAYS felt a bit hypocritical on the subject. Though Ive always been a very creative, imaginative person. More so as a child than as I grew older but for pretty much all of my life Ive wasted away my mind on who knows what, guiltily leaning towards video games(though no so much the past 5 yrs), television and the INTERNET.

I guess in some ways its all how you get introduced to things. I was in some sort of rut maybe, comfortable in my lazyness. Maybe just nothing fascinated me enough to go out and wanna gain knowledge of it. Maybe stories just didnt get me going?

Which brings me to WHY I started reading last year. Something happened in my life. What, is neither here nor there right now but what I needed to do was keep my mind busy. ANYTHING to take my mind off the situation that was at hand. I needed to block out thinking completely and distract myself from focusing on...myself. Much like when you are going through something and you confide in songs from artists or even write songs so that you may transcend. I was looking for something to relate to. I was looking for answers. I wanted something to tell me what went wrong, what I did wrong and jesus christ, how to fix it! THATS what reading was for me.

I dont know how it happned. I think one day I just looked at my "bookshelf"(full of CDs and movies) and saw this one book I had purchased in November 2007 at the Snapcase reunion show I had went to because Soul Control scored and got to open the 2 shows. It was a book written by Norman Brannon called "the Anti-matter Anthology". Its a book compiled of a bunch of interviews with bands that Norman had done in the past when his Zine called "anti-matter" was circulating around the New York Hardcore Scene in the early to late 90's. I think it was an alright start. Something light and easy, nothing to extensive, no huge words and something I was involved in and knew a lot about. Its also filled with probably the best interviews ive ever read. Im guessing my sister had saw that I was reading a book, maybe I had made a bulliten asking for suggestions, im not sure but she suggested I read a book entitled "Women" from a Charles Bukowski(how disgustingly appropriate at the time). She let me borrow her copy, which I soon bought for myself later. After I finished Anti-matter, I started on Women...and just kept going.

books of 2008:
The Anti-Matter Anthology- Norman Brannon
Women- Charles Bukowski
Hot Water Music- Charles Bukowski
Post Office- Charles Bukowski
Factotum- Charles Bukowski
The Stranger- Albert Camus
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers
The Denial Of Death- Ernest Becker
Nausea- Jean Paul Sartre

I have a whole list of things I still havent gotten to yet. Most of which are all depressing,dark, sappy crap,cause thats when the list was made but I enjoy that shit anyway. Though once those are done, I dont think that Ill stop. So im sure fine stories about other things, more vibrant and "happy" will work their way into the list as I check out and discover new things. Until then its stories about drunken sexual deviants, loss, depression, death, confusion, loss, heartache, uncertainty, shelfishness, burdens, etc. 

Cranial health in 2009!