Let me read to you on Twitch tonight.
Read to the end for some suggestions of things I have loved
Hi, very briefly - as I mentioned in last week’s Cool Dude Zone, I want to start reading a book aloud on twitch tonight at 8:30 PM ET. My plan is to read for an hour or so every Monday night. Since I can only read books that are in the public domain, I picked a few for you to vote on. The one that gets the most votes by today at 3PM ET is the one I will start reading. All of the readings will be archived on the page for 30 days, so if you miss one, you will be able to check it out on my twitch anyway, and you can stay caught up. You can come hang with us tonight by going to twitch.tv/tuffshed
Of these books, I have only read War of the Worlds, and I have a beautiful edition of it illustrated by Edward Gorey, given to me by my good friend Arielle, who writes the excellent newsletter Grief Beach.
Part of what I love about War of the Worlds is its adaptability. Not just because of the famous radio play, but it has been adapted as a movie nine(!) times, it has been adapted as comic books, stage plays, video games, pretty much anything you can imagine. It taps into something really primal for me - fear of the unknown, the fog of war, the chaos of feeling under siege. It’s crazy to think that the alien invasion genre, which has been plumbed so deeply by this point in popular culture, all originates from this book that is only about 130 years old. My personal favorite adaptation of WotW is Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of the Worlds, a prog rock album with narration by Richard Burton in 1978. It is at times incredibly silly and incredibly dark, and it’s just so bizarre and ambitious. Anyhow, this is not me putting my thumb on the scale for that being the pick. It’s just a book I love so much I have to wax sycophantic about it when it comes out. Please vote!
I saw I Saw the TV Glow this past weekend, and I know it has been dividing audiences, but it’s truly the best movie I’ve seen in a long, long time. It has been billed as something resembling a horror movie, and horror certainly exists within it, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s a movie about finding your true identity. About regret and nostalgia and love and loneliness. It’s about friendship, and loneliness, and all the ways the world tries to snuff out your light. It is abstract and dreamy and profoundly affecting and beautiful. I don’t remember the last time I said this about anything, but I can’t wait to go see it again.
It’s getting to feel like summer outside, so this week’s jambox is all summer songs. Music to be played with the windows down and the volume way up. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next week.
Love this idea, I might even copy it but with absolutely no one watching me on Twitch! Also, just an idea: what about short stories? Ray Bradbury and Asimov are great, George RR Martin/Stephen King have good ones. That way it could be a sort of "complete" episode so people might more easily tune in randomly. But I also get that there's something unfulfilling about short stories, even if you read a whole collection. Anyway, keep on keeping on! Love how your mind works, thanks!
My dude, I love your potential reading choices, but just a note that Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, not Dracula.
Off to vote now...