Yes, dear MLD readers, LydonWrites returns, now that the semester is over. I bring you the second installment of Book Reports from an English Major, with more to be shortly forthcoming.

I will review a trio of books by award winning author Toni Morrison. My professor in the Contemporary American Fiction class I was taking decided we’d read the novels Beloved, Jazz and Paradise back to back to back. If this sounds torturous, it was. You’d like to know why he did it? Turns out he’s a leading authority on Toni Morrison here in the US, and he’s been writing books about her. Oh, and apparently… these three books form a loose trilogy. Without further ado, however, on with the show.

This movie made Oprah Winfrey a star

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What started as a playful tete-a-tete on Twitter has become the next obvious choice for my posts here: Book Reports from an English Major. Don’t worry, I won’t subject you to 1500 word analyses. Consider this culture, boiled down for cocktail parties, or whatever non-alcoholic equivalent strikes your fancy. I’ll hit you with a 2 for 1 special each issue. Let’s strike up the band.

The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon. Read during January 2010.

Often considered the earliest post-modernist author, Thomas Pynchon’s first novel length offering follows Oedipa Mas as she tries to unravel the mystery of the Tristero system, which is either an antiquated postal delivery system or a massive counter-cultural system linking all the marginalized dropouts from societies around the globe. What is revealed, piece by piece, is the collection of underground systems operating right under our noses here in America, outside the pale of the mainstream, daylight world. You know what else? None of it means anything. Or maybe it means everything. Either way, Oedipa won’t ever find out, and by the end of the book, neither will you. Funny, maddening and maybe a little paranoid. Recommended if you like conspiracy theories, drugs, and one-night stands related to the aforementioned. Not for the easily offended.

White Noise, Don DeLillo. Read late January/early February 2010.

If you like your post-modernism from an affable, ineffectual father who happens to head the Hitler studies program at College on the Hill in Blacksmith (KS? NE?) then DeLillo’s White Noise is up your alley. Jack Gladney is afraid of death. So is his wife. Their kids are smarter than they are. An emergency response unit works only on simulations, not REAL emergencies. An asylum burning and watching disasters on TV are entertainments in this book. You know that crappy band you like, Airborne Toxic Event? They got their name from the middle section of this book.

You know what? You can bypass this book altogether. Recommended if you have irrational fears about things you can’t control, like death. Not for people that want to spend their time reading something they like.

So there’s this guy I follow on Twitter, named Robert Lee Brewer. He’s a poet, and often posts with hash tags like #poettues and such. I like this guy a lot, and read his blog when I have time. Inspired by a post he made here, I’ve decided to take up the reins of a Poem A Day challenge.

Yep, that’s one poem a day, for the entire year. 365 poems in all.

I have to write one for tonight, the 25th of January, but guess what, MLD-watchers? I’m on track so far.

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Just as a background, I used to be a performance poet, a “spoken word artist” as it were. I was no Alvin Lau, but I was not bad at delivering my poetry out loud. I’ve only had a few poems published, put together one or two chapbooks that are now long gone, but I’ve written poetry pretty consistently since I was about 14 years old.

You don’t wanna read those old poems. Trust me on that. Once I tried to catalog my written output of poetry, and at 18 years old, I had already written over 400 poems.

I’m 31 now. I cringe to think about it.

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There have been other 365 projects floating around the internet for years. Same notion; do a thing, at least once a day, for a year straight. In fact, Angie and PTB have one going right now, too. You might have already visited. If not, please do. Angie’s skills behind a lens are second to none. Second to NONE, yo. PTB… has an iPhone that takes pictures, too!

So, 365 poems. About the amount of poems I wrote between the ages of 14 and 18. Stay tuned at my regular blog to see the new poems as they get written/uploaded.

If I fail, I’ll be sure to mention it here, but if I make it to December 31, 2010, and have done all 365? You better BELIEVE I’m celebratin’.

Did you know this existed? It seriously does. Look it up.  There are even “swap meets” for it.  Incredible.  You can write to car manufacturers, get literature, and then sell it.

Look it up.