January 15, 2009
781.66 Klosterman
Posted by Hal Bogerd at January 15, 2009 10:09 PMis the call number for Chuck Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City". Subtitled "A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota", praised by Stephen King and David Byrne, I wouldn't buy it but I was in a library not a bookstore.
Occasionally I'll pick up a book, think this is pretty good and then it slowly falls apart, my mind wanders and at some point I just give up. Some people keep reading to the bitter end-not me. I'm a quitter. Less often I'll start a book, think this is pretty good and then find a passage so totally annoying I stop reading immediately.
page 138
"....we live in a primarily agnostic culture. Intellectually, agnosticism makes more sense. But the downside is that when people lose their convictions about the existence of God and Satan, they are less able to have personal perspectives on what's right and what's wrong. They are more open-minded about old taboos, but they're also less able to see what's obvious (and therefore susceptible to propaganda)."
Excuse me Chuck, gotta go now.
Oh, but give Chuck a chance! Wasn't this also the book where he talks about making that so-crucial decision about what CDs to take on a road trip, having to pare down his collection, etc., etc., and ending up taking a painful few -- 600 of them! It's in one of his books, and I've mangled the setup, but I assure you it's excellent.
A better Klosterman book is "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs," a collection of his essays.
His first novel, "Downtown Owl," notsomuch. I'd offer to lend it out, but my dog ate a significant portion of it tonight. Yeah. He's not a fan.
Posted by: stacy at January 16, 2009 12:18 AMToo late. You're asking me to go back and sit down next to Chuck at the party after I've escaped, got a cold beer and I'm talking to somebody interesting!
Can't do it Stacy.
he lost me not being able to see what's obvious...otherwise, i tend to agree with him.
Posted by: trey at January 21, 2009 1:37 PM
