All the books in the Songs About Books project have one—and maybe only one—thing in common: I love them. So I was a little nervous when Levi Fuller, the brains behind SAB, decided to read all five books before the concert. What if he didn’t like the books? These four novels (and one book of poetry) form an indelible boundary—on one side is good taste, and on the other is bad taste. You could have personal disagreements with one or two of these books, but what if he hated three or—choke!—even four of them? I would hate to discover that Fuller, who came up with this project in the first place, had bad taste.
Luckily, all five of Fuller’s thoughtful book reviews are up, and I was relieved to discover that he has good taste. If you’d like to learn more about the books before you come to the concert, you should read his posts.
First, Fuller reviewed the book that he responded to in song: Bluets, a fabulous book of poetry by Maggie Nelson. (I do take issue with Fuller’s claim that Bluets isn’t a book of poetry; I contend that it just doesn’t look like a book of poetry.) The other reviews followed in quick succession: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov; the misbehaving, petulant teenager of the bunch, Michel Houellebecq’s creepy sci-fi fantasia The Possibility of an Island; then Matt Ruff’s Set This House in Order (“Put simply: this is a great summer read.”); and finally Helen DeWitt’s exquisite The Last Samurai.
Go read his reviews, and then buy your tickets for the Songs About Books show. It’s on August 19th, and you get a CD of the literature-inspired songs to keep with your tickets. I promise it’ll be fun.