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Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
Mark Nakamura eats, reads, sleeps, and makes art in and around Vancouver. Apart from raising awareness of the loopholes in Newtonian physics that lurk behind bookshelves, Mark challenges conceptual mechanisms of functional notions, images and objects in his art works. These days he is busy developing a TV/web-series about a lonely, art-school attending cat blogger with a cat named Moru Povich, the sweet double-reference pun-name to which Mark is the father. |
What's on your nightstand right now? Are you enjoying it?
I'm currently reading, The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster. It's a great book, which I mostly read through very quickly; however, with only about thirty pages to go, it's been sitting in my bag for a while now. Thanks for reminding me to finish reading it.
Is this the genre you prefer? How come?
The Trilogy is presented as a series of detective novels, but that's not really what interests me about it. I typically enjoy reading books in the humour and comedy genre. But my favourite books tend to be depressing, or play with narrative structure. This collection deals with epic misunderstandings and coincidences.
What's next on your list?
I plan on reading Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine. I heard it's very depressing.
Who or what is your favourite Vancouver author or story set in Vancouver?
When I worked for an ESL program at SFU, one of the female students asked me if I could identify a man in a photo. It was a picture of the student standing along the Seawall near English Bay. Next to her was Michael Buble, wearing roller blades and posing with a hockey stick. She said this man skated by her, then stopped and turned around to ask her if she wanted to take a photo with him. He told her that he's kind of a big deal, but she didn't know who he was.
Another favourite story set in Vancouver is Two Impossible Films by Mark Lewis. It is an art gallery film, consisting of two feature films with no sound, plot, or action. Only the opening and closing credits are shot, while the rest is summarized in storyboards - 'Plot Development', 'Temporary Resolution,' and so forth. There are some shots of Vancouver and you can see some familiar faces from the Vancouver art community.
Do you read newspapers and if you do, which ones, online or print, and why?
I usually just look at Google News. Look, not read. Well, sometimes read.
What magazines or journals can you not live without?
I think "living with magazines" is a good way to phrase it. I like purchasing magazines, but I find that I don't usually read them. For example, I bought a copy of Hunter and Cook about two months ago that I haven't opened yet. I also got a copy of Elephant at the same time, and just flipped through it a few times. I feel that I will eventually read them, but only time will tell. I mostly live with Artforum, Tate Etc., and Modern Painters. These magazines in particular occupy a lot of bookshelf space, but I like a pretty diverse variety.
Where is your favourite place to crack open a book in Vancouver?
I don't really have a favourite place to read. I mostly read when I'm riding public transportation, which I haven't been doing for a while. This is most likely the main reason for my lack of reading recently. If I were to choose a favourite place, it would be at a movie theatre during the film adaptation screening of the novel I'm reading. You tricked me into saying that.
What books have changed your life?
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino is one of my favourite books. I'm not sure that it has changed my life, but it was an important source for my grad school thesis paper. It's a book about reading a book.
What is the most cherished item in your library?
I quite like Yves Klein: Air Architecture. I haven't actually read more than a few pages, but the abstract is very interesting. If you're nice, I'll lend it to you and you can describe it to me when you're done. If you're nice.
The one book you always recommend is...
The Breast by Philip Roth. I've recommended this book at least two times.
Your life story is published tomorrow, the title is?
I Can Count to Potato
What's the last book you lent/gave away?
That reminds me, I lent an exhibition catalogue for Emily Jacir: Belongings to someone who hasn't returned it yet. I need that back!
If you could ask any author anything, who would it be and what would you ask them?
Can you please write under the name Mark Nakamura?
Check out Mark's work!
