Easy Trigger, Whoa Boy.

After reading The Brothers K I was stumped. I didn't know what to read next. It's like the all American Novel. *Gorss, don't read this part.* I even bought a copy for Coney Island's co-blogger. Maybe Rushdie, maybe Hopscotch again, maybe the Bible, I was stuck. I ended up picking The Autograph man by Zadie Smith.

She has a creative little way of writing. She does nice neat tricks like at the begining of each chapter she writes all of the names of the subchapters within it and they all have suggestive names like "Muhammed Ali was Jewish." But this wasn't enough.
So I picked up Joseph Albers Interaction of Color from the Ithaca public library. It's a must read for anyone interested in painting or design. I remember reading most of it in college but it's a book you can read over and over. This was more of a distraction than anything else. The main reason I went to the library was to check out a book about Southeast Asian Art. I'm applying for a job at Cornell that has to do with Southeast Asian Artwork so I thought I better bone up on my knowledge on the rare chance that there aren't ten people with Phd.'s in Southeast Asain Artwork applying for the job which is commonplace in this freaking Ivy league town.
I also checked out a book called "But is it Art?" This book focuses on Art as Activism. The title suggests whether it matters if it is art or not. Suzanne Lacy is the type of artist the book is focusing on.
For Christmas my father bought me Tiger Wood's "How I PLay Golf." I'm about half way through it but it's an interactive book because while he tells you the correct way to swing your irons you have to practice it. I've been putting non-stop with my new Odyssey Two Ball using Tiger's technique. Do not be surprised to find me on the Tour in a year...or so.
Sitting on top of Tiger is "How to Have A Smarter Baby." It's an older book with really fascinating graphics and ploys to activate your baby's brain. I think it was a gag gift but it's been extremely entertaining. It's says to pat the womb and holler, "PAT, I'm Patting, this is your father, Pat, RUB, I'm rubbing, this is your father, rub," and so on. On top of that is a really funny book written for men called "baby owners manual." It describes the baby as if it were a tool. The design of the book is wonderful. The illustrations are perfect. It says things like, "NECK: Upon arrival, this feature may appear 'useless.' This is not a defect. The neck will become more useful in two or three months."
My wife bought me an Odd Nerdrum book for Christmas. It arrived yesterday. Holy crap, this guy is amazing. He is the best living painter there is. You never wonder if his birth name is actually Odd.
So I came home tonight thinking about reading before I went to bed when it dawned on me. Dude, get a grip. Thats a lot of books and the range of topics is vast. I need to pull the reigns a bit, or pull the bit a bit or perhaps realize the carrot is just getting bigger, but no closer.