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Chris Bolton enjoys writing about himself in the third person. He works in the Internet department responding to customer emails and trying as hard as possible to avoid answering the phones.
Chris is a freelance writer with a mountain of (as-yet-unpublished) short stories and a handful of (as-yet-unproduced) screenplays, not to mention a couple of unfinished novels. He comprises one-quarter of the Portland comedy troupe mortals call The Bottom Rung (if you'd like to join their email list, he'd love to get a message at thebottomrung@hotmail.com with the subject "Bottom Rung!"). Whatever spare time he has left, he spends writing movie reviews and essays for the film web site 24 Frames Per Second (www.24framespersecond.com).
He starts a lot of books but only finishes the ones that won't let him put them down. The following list consists of several such books.
Fiction
Straight Man by Richard Russo
I can't remember the last time I enjoyed reading a book as much as this one. Straight Man tells the story of a middle-aged English professor at a small Pennsylvania college during the most desperate week of his career. That makes it sound like one of those navel-gazing John Updike tomes lots of people buy and only critics and graduate students read, but Richard Russo is too clever and unpretentious to bore us for an instant. William Henry Devereaux, Jr. is one of the most distinctive and hilarious voices in modern fiction. With his skewed perspective as our guide, Russo sends us on a thrill-ride through the lower echelons of higher learning. Anyone with a history – or a possible future – in academia should consider this a must-read. Highly recommended!Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
All thinking individuals are hereby banned from ever seeing the horrible, wretched movie. Instead, treat yourself to Alice Hoffman's luminous prose and rich, fertile characters. I'm a fan of the supernatural, but I still like a book to be about something. Hoffman seamlessly blends magic realism, the macabre, and universal themes of passion, family, and sin without becoming maudlin or melodramatic. This is one of those genuine, all too rare incidents where a book's characters continue to live in your mind long after you've finished the last page.Mr. Ives' Christmas by Oscar Hijuelos
It's virtually impossible to find a modern-day Christmas story that doesn't stink – uh, I mean, sink to the level of a histrionic, movie-of-the-week weepie. Mr. Ives' Christmas is emotional and heartfelt without becoming nauseating. Hijuelos's prose is gentle yet probing, and deceptively simple. Like Alice Hoffman, he has a gift for saying as much as possible in as few words as necessary. By the time the story takes a turn for the tragic, we've come to know Ives, his life, his family, and his morality so well that each heart-wrenching event makes a genuine impact.
Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris
...And when you're finished weeping for Mr. Ives, pull out this slender volume (or even better, the audiobook read by Sedaris, himself) and fall to your knees laughing. Sedaris perfectly nails our shallow, consumer-driven, money- and beauty-obsessed culture without beating his message into the reader's head. Short and sweet and just a little bit nasty, in all the right ways. A perfect stocking stuffer. I bought a copy for everyone in my family and so far I've heard nothing but raves.High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
Dave already picked this one, but it's so good it bears repeating. Perhaps too much lip service has been paid to the notion that High Fidelity is some sort of "expose" of all twenty- and thirty-something guys. I'd like to think there are men out there who can laugh at the narrator's romantic tribulations and relate to his experiences without sharing his fairly narrow worldview. Whether you agree with him or take solace in the fact that you're nothing like him, Rob's plight makes for terrific, breezy reading.The Dead, a short story by James Joyce
Every year around Christmas, I reread two stories religiously: Dickens's A Christmas Carol (of course!) and Joyce's "The Dead," the last story in his collection, Dubliners. The rest of the collection is perfect for any fan of good fiction and great writing, but "The Dead" is the real masterpiece, more than worth the price of the book. The language and imagery are transcendent and eerily affecting. The last page in particular continues to move me in ways I'm embarrassed to admit. I've recommended it to some friends on whom it has had no impact whatsoever, but others are tremendously affected and continue to shudder at the thought of the snow falling (faintly falling, falling faintly) through all of Dublin, even on the grave of Michael Furey.The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
For anyone who's finished an Anne Rice novel and thrown it across the room as hard as you could – like me – Shirley Jackson is a breath of (mildly poisonous) fresh air. Jackson is one of very few writers who is skilled enough to take the elements of horror and the supernatural and weave them into a story with a point, containing real characters and genuine emotions that aren't simply dictated by the necessities of a brain-dead plot. Her prose is simple and elegant. She proves once again that the suggestion of evil is far more powerful than any manifestation. Ignore the Hollywood remake that stank up theaters last summer and read this perfect gem of a haunted house tale.Everybody Pays by Andrew Vachss
Lean, mean, and short. I guess that's an unconscious motif running through my picks, although there are a number of longer novels I enjoy. Andrew Vachss is at his best in short bursts like rounds from a semiautomatic. These are tough, hard-hitting stories with a whiff of authenticity lacking from many other crime writers, since Vachss has spent most of his life on a crusade against the exploitation of children around the world. Be warned: while a perfect primer for his work, these thirty-eight stories aren't exactly intended to be read at breakfast – or aloud to Grandma.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Farley already wrote about Chuck Palahniuk in his Staff Picks, but like High Fidelity, this one deserves repeating. Palahniuk's style is even leaner than Nick Hornby's – and considerably meaner. I loved David Fincher's film, but the book (as is almost always the case) was even better. I read it two years ago in one day, practically in one sitting, and came away with one of the goofiest grins ever to seize my lips. Anarchy and insanity should always be this much fun! I didn't care much for Invisible Monsters, but Survivor is also well worth reading.Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Gary Kelley
As everyone should know, Poe was a master of atmosphere and madness. Unfortunately most of his books are printed in bland or outright ugly editions with such small type that the simple act of reading them becomes a chore more horrific than anything in the book, itself. Not so this volume, which collects three great Poe tales – "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Black Cat," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" – into a beautiful oversized book with eye-catching typeface and gorgeously macabre illustrations by Gary Kelley. Now if only Harcourt, Brace & Company would release all of Poe's work like this…!
Nonfiction
The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
For anyone who sat in a high school history class feeling like there was something more going on then you were being told, this book is a revelation. As engaging as a white-knuckled novel, Zinn's astonishing record of U.S. history from the perspective of the "lower classes" (i.e. those who were not part of the cultural and economic elite) ought to be required reading for every American. Rage against ignorance, fight the lies we've been spoon-fed for too long, and make time to read this book!
Film
Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe
My favorite filmmaker, Billy Wilder, interviewed by the very talented Cameron Crowe (writer/director of Say Anything and Jerry Maguire). This record of Wilder's amazing career, from the mouth of the incomparable Wilder himself, is a must-read for any and every movie lover and filmmaker (present or future). The interviews are rich and insightful, revealing the full extent of Wilder's innate genius. Even better, the book is beautifully packaged and wonderful just to browse through. Do yourself a favor: read the book, then rent the films.
Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu by Simon Callow
In my late teens I made a pact to direct my first film by 25, the age when Welles made Citizen Kane. Well, I haven't made it – yet. Then again, Citizen Kane, although an artistic triumph, was a financial failure that rendered it all but impossible for Welles to secure financing for future projects. This absorbing biography documents countless other achievements in the ambitious Orson's early life, taking us through the filming of Kane. (Which means, alas, that we'll have to wait for Volume Two to read about The Third Man.) Written by actor Simon Callow (his character's death put the fun and funeral in Four Weddings and a Funeral), this book is appreciative without being worshipful, intimate without being gossipy, and honest without being inflammatory.
Miscellaneous
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
For those who still believe "comics" are for kids, I can't recommend Neil Gaiman's ten Sandman graphic novels enough. These beautifully written stories are astonishing in their scope and emotional depth. The basic storyline involves Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, who returns to his deteriorated realm after a long imprisonment on Earth. Some of the stories are better than others, and the inconsistent art ranges from gorgeous ("The Kindly Ones," "The Wake") to effective ("Season of Mists") to downright awful ("Brief Lives," which is actually my favorite story). By the time you come to its shockingly moving conclusion, you feel like you've been transported somewhere that's only too real, and unlike anyplace you've ever visited before. It's a trip well worth taking.
Sin City by Frank Miller
Take your favorite film noir, inject it with a hefty dose of testosterone, add a fifth of Frank Miller (auteur of The Dark Knight Returns and other seminal graphic works), and shake (don't stir). The result is a dark, bloody, completely over-the-top series of crime thrillers that no hardboiled fan can resist! Start with Sin City and chase it with A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard. Yes, they're as lurid, excessive, and deliriously entertaining as they sound.Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children by Angus Oblong
Unless they consider Roald Dahl too tame, you might not want to read this to your kids. So keep it for yourself as a guilty pleasure! Oblong's sparsely (but effectively) illustrated stories are brief, scatological, sick, and hilarious. You might hate yourself in the morning, but these twisted tales will likely Keep you laughing as you reread them all night long.Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud
I bought this for my girlfriend (hi, Shelley!!) and she loved it. She keeps it on her coffee table and tells me that every single person who visits her apartment absolutely has to pick it up – and they can't say enough about it! Froug's paintings are alternately funny, evocative, and just plain lovely. If you liked his work in Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (also recommended), you'll find much to love here.
