Magazines and Wilson

Amy and I receive a slew of magazines. Some are weekly, biweekly, monthly and quarterly. This is in addition to a daily newspaper. Aside from contributing to global deforestation (I still like the physical copy versus the on-line versions), the magazines present a lot of text for me to read in addition to the books that I read. I enjoy reading magazines (mostly of the non-fiction variety) in a different way that I enjoy reading books. Magazines, with their glossy photos and snappy text layouts, are often inviting to read, but do not compel me to keep around for any long period of time. In fact, my rule of thumb is that I only keep a particular magazine around until the next issue arrives. I them pass it along to a friend or recycle. If I didn't get around to reading the magazine, too bad. I get rid of it and move on to the next issue. This helps me manage the pile-up of unread material. There are enough books that I want to get to before I turn to dust. The last thing I need is having to make time to read the Time Magazine cover story about Afghanistan from March that I never got to. If I really want to read it, I have a whole week to find the time.

A friend of mine takes a different approach. She keeps the zines around so that she has more choices when she has the time to read. I guess I am hard-wired differently. I can be a lazy reader. If I did not impose the deadlines on myself, the zines would pile up. What my friend views as having more choices by keeping old zines around, I would view with a creeping anxiety as the piles of unread material gets larger.

On a different note, I just read Daniel Clowes latest graphic novel, Wilson. My friend Jimmy loaned it to me. This is the first book that Clowes has written which did not originally appear in one of his comic books. In other words, the material was first published graphic book format. Clowes is at the top of his game. He has really matured from his early punkier days. Wilson is a middle aged man living in Oakland who has no real connections with other human beings. He tries very hard to force square pegs into round holes and the results are hilarious and depressing. Kudos to Clowes for hitting one out of the ballpark. My only regret is that I read the whole thing in about an hour. Thanks Jimmy!