ARFFF! #1: All Reading For Fun and Fight Club!

[robotnik2004]

ARFF! = All Reading For Fun! was the name of some demented little reading encouragement program we had back in elementary school. All I really remember about it was that, for about a week leading up to it, there were cryptic signs all over school saying "ARFF! is coming!" It was the "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" of Ancaster in the early 1980s. But our teachers were absolutely mum about what ARFF!* was going to be. ("The first rule of ARFF! is: you don't talk about ARFF!")

I don't mind telling you, that was one of the longest fucking weeks of my life. Man, I was whipped into a frenzy of anticipation. I was peeing. "ARFF! is coming! ARFF! is coming! ARFF! is coming!" I couldn't have been more excited if you'd told me Spider-man and Fonzie were driving through town in the General Lee. It must have been that extraneous exclamation point after ARFF! that did it. "ARFF! don't care about grammar! ARFF! is breaking all! the! rules!"

Anyway, I'd like to say that when the big canard was unveiled, I learned a valuable lesson about media hype and the inevitable let down that follows. I'd like to say that, but let's face it, I was the sort of dorky kid to whom All Reading For Fun! actually was worth getting that excited about.

And I still am, apparently. So here's a little of what I've been reading lately. (For Fun!)

(I'm going to split it into multiple posts—and take advantage of the fact that LJ Friends pages are down to reverse the order so you don't have to read them backwards.)

Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk
I feel like I'm coming to the party late on this one. This is the first Chuck Palahniuk book I've read, and I really dug it. The last survivor of a suicide cult (a cult that is also a domestic slave ring and pyramid scheme) becomes a TV messiah, then hijacks a plane. Plus a killer who lives at Ronald McDonald House, a psychic girlfriend that ruins the Superbowl, and a suicide hotline that encourages callers to commit suicide. What's not to like?

The NYT called Palahniuk's work "intelligent pulp" or "pulp with flashes of brilliance" or something along those lines, and that seems about right to me. Reminds me of the way people used to talk about Quentin Tarantino. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the Fight Clubbers over at Palahniuk.net were former members of the Church of St. Quentin. I got the same vibe from Palahniuk, of technical virtuosity gleefully devoid of moral sensibility, that I got from QT back in the day. High INT, low WIS, you know? So you're taken by the writer's skill and audacity yet you don't feel the presence of an entirely adult mind. I'll probably start reading Lullaby tonight.

*Oh man. Like this whole ARFF! flashback wasn't gooney enough. It just came back to me. This fiendish bit of memetic manipulation took place at Fessenden Elementary (named, in patriotic Canadian fashion, for a guy who moved to the United States and didn't invent the radio). And that means the slogan was actually All Reading For Fun... at Fessenden. Not ARFF! but ARFFF!

Comments

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Diary is on my list of tngs to read. I find Palahniuk's work to be fun, though I don't think he's nearly as 'insane' as many of his proponents make him out to be. While he's clearly in the descent from Pynchon (and in a good way), I think that many of his fans could bnefit from reading much of the speculative fiction of the last 30 years thats also in the same tradition. Some of which is as strongly written and probably more amazing in its cncepts.

For example, Paul DeFillippo is as good a writer as Palahniuk. Unfortunately he hasn't written a book that got Hollywood's attention and made him a multi-millionaire. Ah, the joy of being trapped in a genre-ghetto.

[robotnik.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention DiFilippo. I like him too; I'm reading 'Ribofunk' right now. But I wouldn't have thought to pair him up with Palahniuk; or even to describe Palahniuk as essentially "speculative fiction." What DiFilippo book would you nominate to be the edgy David Fincher movie blockbuster?

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

I'd say either of his novels. Ciphers (http://www.cambrianpubs.com/difilippo/Ciphers.html) being a good place to start.

And what else is Palahniuk but speculative fiction? He's definitely in the 'weird' thread. His books are filled with zombies, cults, violence, schizophrenia, self mutilation and emotional rape. I'd place him in speculative fiction the same way I'd place Pynchon and many other authors who have avoided the ghetto.

[krustukles.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you think of Lullaby. I just got it but haven't read it. I chose the Harry Potter book instead. (One gets into weird reading moods in airports)

[head58.livejournal.com]

I finished Lullaby last week. Really didn't care for it. Loved the set up and the first 2/3 or so of it. In fact, I can identify the exact page on which I soured on the book, and I bet you'll know it when you get to it as well. I did like Survivor quite a bit, but didn't much care for

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I finished <i>Lullaby</i> last week. Really didn't care for it. Loved the set up and the first 2/3 or so of it. In fact, I can identify the exact page on which I soured on the book, and I bet you'll know it when you get to it as well. I did like <i>Survivor</i> quite a bit, but didn't much care for <Choke</>. I think I may be becomeing a prude when it comes to extreme sexual perversity thrown into a book simply to tittilate and shock, and which does not advance the plot, sorty, or character development in any way.

And now I'm going to have the image of Spidey and Fonzie in the General Lee in my head All! Day! Long!

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Now I know what the ARFFF! story reminds me of:

gabbo Gabbo GABBO!

"Did you hear, Smithers? Garbo is coming!"