Beginning

Here is my idea for the day:

My friend recently gave me an iPod. It's a little silver bitty shuffle, and I love it.

Over the last several months, I've been collecting names of albums I want for itunes on little scraps of paper. The issue has been, though, how do I get the music. I don't have the money to buy it. I knew there had to be a better way than stopping by the nearest Borders or figuring out how to pirate it off the internet.

Today I had an epiphany: the Chicago Public Library (which is the city I live in).

I went online to the Chicago Public Library website, and low and behold, there was all the music I could possibly imagine, available to me via interlibrary loans and a couple clicks of a button.

Don't make fun of me; here are the two discs I reserved for myself:

This would be Kanye West-Graduation. So, here are my thoughts on Kanye. He's a local guy, local to Chicago that is. I'm big on the stories that are told in music, and I really like his stories.

I don't know much about the album but will give a full update when I have listened to it. A short clip of Stronger is here.


The other album I will have waiting patiently for me in the next couple of days (in theory) at the Rogers Park branch of the Chicago Public Library is Sufjan Stevens' Illinoise. Again, he's singing from a Chicago-centric perspective, which I evidently like. As well, his songs fit my on again off again depressive mindset.

Listen to a VERY brief clip of his music here.



I also reserved three books for myself.

I just finished a great murder mystery called "In the Woods," by Tana French, reviewed here, which got me in the mood for a good mystery. In that vein, I've set aside "The Big Sleep," by Raymond Chandler, which is, according to the Chicago Public Library website, one of the great mysteries of all time.

I've also set aside the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao." I heard him on Terri Gross' Fresh Air and thought he sounded really cool. This is a picture of Diaz. Listen to the interview here.

Finally, I will be reading, or rather looking at, Shaun Tan's graphic novel, "The Arrival." The New York Times reviewed it here. I think this one will be a two-fer for me; I really, really like graphic novels, and I'm very interested in the immigrant experience in the United States. Plus, there are no words. It's perfect. Below are some excerpts from the novel.