October Reading

Winton giveth, Winton taketh away.

Spent: A Comic Novel, by Alison Bechdel

I didn’t love this as much as much as the other Bechdels I’ve read (Fun Home and The Secret to Superhuman Strength) but I still loved it. There should be more autobiographical graphic novels, it’s a great genre.

The Riders, by Tim Winton

After reading The Shepherd’s Hut I got all fired up to go on a Winton tear - and bought a bunch of secondhand paperbacks, including The Riders. And I mostly enjoyed it.

But reading it also made me anxious. The whole book was like that 10 minutes at the end of the second act of a romcom - where everything’s going or gone to shit with no signs of resolution. So I took all month to read it. In the end, the resolution was of course, literary and ethereal, not dumb and straightforward like I wanted. Then, when I Googled it to see what people said about the ending, I discovered that there’s a movie version coming out next year with Brad Pitt playing the (Australian?!) lead. So that’s exciting sort of.

I mean, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Brad Pitt can do what he likes. I can read as much or as little as I want. I’m a busy guy. A businessman. A creative professional, for christssakes.