‘The Unnamed’ by Joshua Ferris

I read Joshua Ferris’s debut novel, Then We Came To The End, after reading praise from the book by Nick Hornby, my favorite contemporary author. I really enjoyed that novel, and found its first-person-plural narrative to be an effective device for telling the story. Since I finished that one, I have been anxiously awaiting Ferris’s follow up novel, The Unnamed, which came out last month.

Fans of Ferris’s first novel will certainly find this novel to be very different. While Then We Came To The End was a workplace satire, The Unnamed is dark, as it deals with the mysterious affliction of a lawyer named Tim Farnsworth. Tim suffers from an unexplainable condition tha causes him to get up and walk… and just keep going and going until he collapses in exhaustion. This problem has doctors baffled, and causes incredible strain on his family and career.

Ferris effectively captures the struggle of the main character, who not only struggles with symptoms of the disease but with the lack of a diagnosis or explanation. Tim is not much different from Captain Ahab, in Moby Dick, obsessed with catching the white whale, or Dr. Frankenstein who obsesses over killing the monster he created.  The disease is slowley destroying the comfortable life he worked hard for. and that struggle certainly leaves the reader as anxious for the answer as Tim Farnsworth is. In that sense, the book is a hard one to get through in the same way that such classics as Moby Dick and Frankenstein were hard to get through.

Fans of Ferris certainly should not be expecting the same kind of dark comedy they got from Then We Came To The End, Though different, The Unnamed still has the mark of Ferris which should be recogzinable to those familiar with his work.

The Unnamed is an enjoyable read, perhaps not as fun as his first novel, but worth reading whether you are a fan of Ferris or haven’t read him yet.

“Nothing is Higher Than an Architect…”

That may be George Costanza’s opinion… but, as an architectural designer, I think this is more sound advice. These 10 points are all very true. Architecture sounds a lot more glamorous than it really is. But, Guerge Costanza have something right… he said he always wanted to pretend to be an architect.

The Apple iPad Falls Short

I so wanted to like the iPad. I anxiously anticpated its announcement last week, only to find myself disappointed.

I love Apple products. I have an iPhone. I have a MacBook Pro. What I was hoping was that Apple would create a keyboard-less MacBook with a touchscreen. Intsead, they created a jumbo-sized iPhone. Frankly, that’s not what I want.

Thinking about it for a while, I’ve put together a list of things that the iPad needed to be to tempt me to get one.

• Native Mac OS X with the ability to run iPhone Apps. What use is a portable device that big if it doesn’t have the ability to function like a laptop first and foremost?
• Dvorak Simplified Keyboard support. As a Dvorak typist, this was probably the biggest deal-breaker of them alll. Nothing in the features or specs says anything about Dvorak keyboard support. I can’t type QWERTY anymore, and lord knows I ain’t switching back, especially for the iPad.
• Syncing capability with a primary Mac computer. The size of a tablet device limits the amount of onboard memory it can have, so why not be able to specify through iTunes, what applications you want to run on the iPad and be able to sync as required? And not only that, but sync specified folders either through iTunes or MobileMe so you can work on files on the road, but they can be updated automatically, or through sycing, back on you main computer?
• Bluetooth. I didn’t see this listed, so, nuts to that.
• Tether capabities with the iPhone, and no extra data plan required.

Is that so hard? I don’t think so. Maybe Apple will develop an actual tablet computer sometime.. but for now, the iPad is not something I need when I already have an iPhone and a MacBook Pro.

Books I Plan To Read in 2010

I get books at a much faster rate than I read them. I am hoping to play catch up  this year on books I got last year but never started, as well as start and finish new books published this year. So, here’s what’s on my list to read this year.

THE UNNAMED, Joshua Ferris – I read Ferris’s debut novel THEN WE CAME TO THE END a couple years ago and enjoyed it, and have been looking forward to reading his second, which comes out in January 2010.

THE FINANCIAL LIVES OP POETS, Jess Walter - This book is highly recommended by Nick Hornby, my favorite author, and I actually purchased it before learning about that because I was

EMPIRE FALLS, Richard Russo - My boss recommended this book, and I bought it.

PLAN B, jonathan Tropper - Last year I read three of Tropper’s novels, and have two more. This one is his debut novel (the first one I read was his new one, THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU) which I started, but didn’t finish. After this one is done, I move onto EVERYTHING CHANGES.

HOW WE ARE HUNGRY, Dave Eggers - I’ve been looking to read Dave Eggers for a while, and figure this collection of short fiction is a god place to start.

IT FEELS SO GOOD WHEN I STOP,  Joe Pernice - Another book with high marks from Nick Hornby. I plan to get a copy at some point this year and read it.

There are other books on my shelf I hope to read this year as well, but the aforementioned books are higher priority reads. Of course, there are bound to be new releases that I am not aware of that I’ll want to read and give high priority to, but for now, this is my short list of must reads for 2010… in actuality, I’ll read more.

Not on the list is James Patterson, whose novels used to be absolute must-reads, but have now became When-I-Can-Get-To-Them books. Once a devoted fan of his Alex Cross series, I’ve felt his recent books of that series to be lazy and less developed as the early books of the series. The Maximum Ride series started off great, but after the second one, they took a horrible turn for the worst. A new book of the Alex Cross series (which i haven’t read yet) came out last year and a new one of  the Women’s Murder Club series coming out this year, so I’ll probably take a chance on them.

Missing Ben Folds in Buffalo

Okay, anyone who has read this blog knows I am a fan of Nick Hornby. Hornby, as it turns out, is in the process of collaborating with Ben Folds on an album (nicknamed “The Foldsby Project”). Despite my knowledge and that Ben Folds was coming to Buffalo last week, I never even thought about getting tickets for the show.

Looks like I should have gone.

Folds also shared a pair of songs from a new album in progress, which will feature lyrics by novelist and established music geek Nick Hornby. One of these, a tale about a fictional aging rock star who had a hit in the ’70s called “Belinda” and can’t stand singing it every night for the memories it dredges up, was fantastically clever.

Oh well. I guess I’ll wait for the Folds/Hornby album to come out next year, which will hopefully be promoted in part with another tour. In the meantime, I’ll settle for listening to the Foldsby demos that hit the internet.

Regrets aside, Hornby’s collaboration with Ben Folds has brought me to rediscover Folds’ music (old and new) which will probably start occupying my iTunes Library in increasing numbers.

Too Many Friends On Facebook?

I recently realized that I have over 500 friends on Facebook.

To some, this might qualify me as one of the 12 most annoying types of Facebook users… The “Friend-Padder”:

The Friend-Padder. The average Facebook user has 120 friends on the site. Schmoozers and social butterflies — you know, the ones who make lifelong pals on the subway — might reasonably have 300 or 400. But 1,000 “friends?” Unless you’re George Clooney or just won the lottery, no one has that many. That’s just showing off.

Okay, I don’t have 1,000. But, I can admit that I am near the point where some migt say I am a Friend-Padder… and I don’t like it.

Admittedly, I first joined Facebook with the intention of networking in anticipation of the release of my first book. But now, various changes in the way Facebook operates, and the explosion of users makes my news feed full of mundane details of people I have no idea who they are, why I added them, or why they requested me in the first place.

This explosion of non-friend Facebook friends is intolerable when you have so many people who could qualify as one or more of the top 12 most annoying Facebook users, such as “The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore” and “The Self-Promoter.” Yeah, I don’t need all that. I like Facebook for keeping in touch with people that I’d otherwise have a hard time keeping in touch with. I also do like to have the potential to network. But, I don’t need to keep in touch with people I have never heard of or never met, and I don’t need to network with every single person in politics.

Of course, I know I am partly to blame. My past desire to use Facebook as a networking tool, and the fact that I am a blogger with national readership puts me in a position where I receive 100 or so friend requests from people I have never heard of every 30-60 days. I used to accept them quite liberally, because “that’s what Facebook is for… networking.”

Yes, I still want to use it for that purpose, but for crying out loud I need to establish some guidelines that will determine whose request gets accepted or ignored. Here they are so far.

I am not going accept friend requests from people I don’t know (or haven’t met)

• just because we have 100+ mutual friends
• just because we share the same or similar political view

I will accept a friend requests from people

• I have met at least once or know
• have worked with in some fashion at one point or another
• they are candidates for political office in races that interest me.
• they are a fellow blogger I have heard of or read or worked with.
• I believe there is advantage to networking with that person.

These guidelines are subject to change, be it additions, subtractions, or revisions.