Read Any Good Books Lately?

I'm about halfway thru "Singing Him My Song" by Malachy McCourt and I'll be damned if I can figure out if I've read it before or if I'm just hella good at recognizing plotlines of memoirs by Irish devil may care types. Did you read "Angela's Ashes?" Malachy is Frank McCourt's younger brother, who followed similar paths in life. I'm currently reading Tony Horwitz's "Blue Latitudes," in which he re-traces the voyages of James Cook in the South Pacific, to Australia and Antarctica. I was reading about his mapping of the Alaskan coast, including Horwitz's (and Cook's) stops at Unalaska and Dutch Harbor last night, just before bed, and Horwitz's comments on the remote Indian villages there ... and then had an intense dream in which I was re-watching "Northern Exposure." (I suppose it was either going to be that or "The Deadliest Catch.")

Oh yeah, I've read Angela's Ashes and 'Tis and Teacher Man and A Monk Swimming. It would seem odd that I haven't read this one, but I can't recall actually doing it. ...Northern Exposure, eh? That's a kind of fun group to have pop up in a dream.

The Natural Superiority of the Left Hander by James T de Kay was a really fun read. Sounds like a "state the obvious" thing to me, Alcatraz. ...has anyone seen Rolling Stone since it was re-sized? It's even odder than the re-sized TV Guide. I know the price of paper is up, but some things are just wrong. While it's cheaper to buy paper in one of the standard sizes, the big financial gain was that a lot of advertisers supply inserts to magazines. They get a much better rate from the magazines which only have binding costs for the ads and they can put it on heavy stock (semi-cardboardish) which makes the ad stand out. But they usually only print the ad in two sizes -- the one for smaller saddle-bound (stapled) magazines like Time and for larger perfect-bound (glued) magazines like Vanity Fair. And they often won't even consider running in a magazine that isn't one of those. In '92 or '93, Mirabella went from being over-sized to the same as Vogue, etc. We got a little more advertising but the down side is that reading it stopped being an "event." We were already struggling to maintain a perception of being "special" and, in the long run, changing the size hurt us. Of course, that was before it folded for the first time.

I just ordered The Gun Seller off borders.com, so I can finally indulge in Hugh's writing, and find another reason to love and admire the man :D

Does anyone read a lot of Dean Koontz? I just read The Darkest Evening of the Year and enjoyed it. It wasn't the best thing I've ever read, but I did like his style. So, any rec's of his work?

DK is one of my tried and test beach or subway commute writers. Try the Odd Books. I think Odd Thomas is the first one? There's three of them. I'll have to have a think about some of the other ones.

CNN headline says John Updike has died. This post is coming to you in present tense out of admiration.

I'm reading Moby Dick. Afterwards, I am going to re read Brideshead Revisited.

Moby Dick! That's not what I call light summer reading. I'm reading the Dracula Dossier-a book about Jack the Ripper and Bram Stoker. The last book I read was called The Year the Music Changed. It was a quick read, but kinda annoying all the same. I would highly recommend checking out Joe Hill's stuff if you like horror and fantasy. Heart Shaped Box was one of the creepiest books I've read in ages. I almost had to put it in the freezer a few times.

Moby Dick! That's not what I call light summer reading. No it isn't, LOL. I never read it in school, and it is a classic. So, I decided to give it a read.

Moby Dick! That's not what I call light summer reading. No it isn't, LOL. I never read it in school, and it is a classic. So, I decided to give it a read. I've done the same thing: read classic books outside of a required reading arena. It's interesting to read The Scarlet Letter, for instance, now compared to when I had to read it in ninth grade. I liked it a lot better this time around. I recently read "Brideshead Revisited" for the first time. (Which I enjoyed until the end when it became a CatholicismYay! story.) Currently reading Gertrude Stein's "Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas."

Heart Shaped Box was one of the creepiest books I've read in ages. I almost had to put it in the freezer a few times. I agree - scared the hell out of me (which is why I loaned it to you so I didn't have to suffer alone!) :D I read that there is an audiobook version - I can't even imagine how much scarier it would be having someone reading it outloud. I just started The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks this morning. So far, really interesting and I was excited to find out that it is the first book of a trilogy. This is the first of his books that I've read. I'm going to have to check out the others.

I would highly recommend checking out Joe Hill's stuff if you like horror and fantasy. Heart Shaped Box was one of the creepiest books I've read in ages. I almost had to put it in the freezer a few times. I tried to read that book but only got about half way through it. I couldn't wait for it to come out in paperback because I had heard so many good things about it. However, I couldn't quite get into it. I'm not sure why. I love creepy books. Fave creepy books: 1. House of Leaves 2. The Alienist 3. It 4. Helter Skelter I'm sure that there are more.

That's interesting - I had trouble getting through House of Leaves. Lord knows I tried and parts of it were interesting, but I ended up just not getting very far. I couldn't really explain it. I really liked The Alienist. I love author Jack O'Connell - his books are super creepy. They're not horror exactly, more like noir. He's a lovely man and when you meet him, you're just like "Where the hell did that weird shit come from?" :lol: I'm trying to think of other books that scare me. Hmm....

I just finished a book called The Grass Dancer by Susan Power. It is a book written about a present day Lakota Indian band. I am part Ojibwa so I thought this might be interesting. The style is like reading a rough translation of another non latin based language. The staccato effect takes a bit of getting used to but the imagery and metaphors are so sublime. You must pay attention because characters change names and the timeline goes backwards. She won a book award for it. It just keeps creeping back into my mind. It was a very unique experience that in the end tells a simple story. But the journey is magical in a native way.

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