Caren Explains Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

As I've mentioned before, I kinda have a thing for John Krasinski, and am looking forward to seeing what he can do as a director when his first movie, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, is released (TBD). I also kinda have a thing for Ben Gibbard, who offers "the meaning of life" in the new issue of Paste magazine and also makes an appearance in Krasinski's film. (I've seen a low budget short film that Gibbard and the Death Cab boys were in a few years ago, and it was pretty fun to watch.)

So back to Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. It's an adaptation of the 1999 book with the same name, a brilliant work of fiction by David Foster Wallace. I first came across DFW in Rolling Stone a few years back, when he penned an article on Senator John McCain. Lately I was curious to read Brief Interviews... so Katie picked up a copy and lent it to me.

Holy cow.

Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was fiction, because the characters were just popping off the pages! They are written so vividly: at times hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking. The literary devices DFW employs are fascinating, too. In all, a very clever look at relationships and how little we know, or rather care to know, about each other.

Now I'm especially curious to know how Krasinski will adapt the book for the screen -- which stories can be faithfully adapted, and which would be lost in translation if put on film?

Here's the opening page of the book, to further peak your interest.

A Radically Condensed History of Postindustrial Life

When they were introduced, he made a witticism, hoping to be liked. She laughed extremely hard, hoping to be liked. Then each drove home alone, staring straight ahead, with the very same twist to their faces.

The man who’d introduced them didn’t much like either of them, though he acted as if did, anxious as he was to preserve good relations at all times. One never knew, after all, now did one now did one now did one.

Books for Summer?

For the 5th summer in a row I am attempting to get through Catch-22, one of the most critically acclaimed fiction novels of the 20th century. Problem is this: there are a heckuva lot of characters and long, ridiculous sentences, so when I put it down for awhile I forget what I've read. But I finally got through the chapter about Major Major Major Major and couldn't stop laughing.

I used to read a lot. In 4th grade our teacher, Mrs. Austin, held a reading competition for us. For every five books you read, you got a star, cut out of construction paper and marked with your name. The stars hung from the ceiling of our portable classroom. Each time you earned a star, it was stapled to your previously-earned stars until a little chain formed. Well, I didn't have a lot of friends in 4th grade, but I had a lot of time. Therefore it follows:

(Free Time)^2 - Friends + Competitive Spirit = Lots of Reading Stars

I earned so many stars, in fact, that my teacher stopped giving me stars. I should also credit my reading spree to being a member of the Babysitters Club Book Club. Each month I received three new Babysitters Club books, which I read immediately (Claudia Kishi was my favorite character because we shared the same initials).

These days, though, I hardly read (though I did recently complete Audacity of Hope for our defunct Tuesday Night Pub Club Book Club). Please suggest some good books here. I'll begin the list.

Books I've Been Meaning to Read Because They Were Recommended
- The World is Flat, Tom Firedman (suggested by BFF Andy)
- The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown (suggested by almost everyone I know)
- Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics Earl Black and Merle Black (suggested by Merle Black, my former professor)
... others??