This was not a good month for reading. It was shorter, and I had a lot to do. I am excluding authors if I don't know them because I'm lazy, and they're pretty easy to find if you're actually interested on Amazon.
Persepolis II: This is the continuation of Persepolis, and frankly, it's not as good. I think she missed what made her first book fantastic. It wasn't neccessarily her I was interested in. It was her relationship with God, society, and family that fascinated me. This book delves into her teenage rebellion, and it's not as interesting or as soulfull.
The Last Hero by Pratchett: This is the story of the last hero of the Discworld. It's pretty fantastic. It's a larger book with pictures, and the pictures are truly amazing. It's pretty funny to see the modern heros take over by trying to save the world through a space mission. I enjoyed. Particularly, I liked The Librarian, but if you've read any Pratchett, then of course, you also like the Librarian.
The Art of Discworld: I didn't so much read this as I gaped in awe at it. I love the drawings. I'm not sure that he got the pictures quite as I pictured them. I picture Vimes as more a Chicago sort of detective than that, but I suppose they're the ones who dreampt up the characters. I tried not to spend too much time with the pics so that I can still imagine the characters the way I like to.
Plainsong by Kent Haruff: I really liked this. He gets small town old men exactly right. It's really an uplifting bit of literature (something you don't see much of in contemporary literature in the post-modern age), but not in an "I want to vomit" sort of way. If you've lived in a small town, then you will recognize the people in this book. If you haven't, then maybe it's time you tried it. Overall, it's all about lost people with few connections making a family from the people they find around them. Quality book.
How to Ruin Your Life by Ben Stein: I should start by saying that, to be fair, this is actually three books in one, and I have only finished the first of the three: How to Ruin Your Life. (I still have to read How to Ruin Your Love Life and How to Ruin Your Financial Life to be officially finished, but I couldn't resist writing about it.) I found it last weekend, and it contains about as much dry wit as I could hope for, which is saying something. It contains such wonderful adages as "Do It Your Own Way" (the first line runs somethig like, "You can do it any and every old which way you want"), "Use Drugs and Alcohol Freely," "Live Beyond Your Means" ("The fact that you earn X means that you deserve to spend 150% of X"), and "Don't Learn Any Useful Skills." It's fantastic. I stumbled across it entirely by accident on my way through B&N, and once my friend and I started reading it, I had to have it. You will, too.
That's it, kids. It's pretty sparse. If it makes you feel any better, I have about four books that I picked up and read ten pages of before continuously renewing them from the library without any (apparent) intent of reading them at all! "Whateva! I do what I want!" Enjoy the picks anyway! Share some of your own in the comments.
Posted by LoWriter at March 1, 2006 08:35 PMyeah, i had a rather shameful showing for February. but, it was my first full month of New Job, i visited MN and i attended a reading and a fundraiser and humored my sister by going out with her and her "boyfriend". march is more ambitious.
Songbook by Nick Hornby
essay collection about music, specifically songs and albums that have greatly influenced/affected mr hornby. i love hornby's writing style. i love his music choices. i now have a list of albums i need to pirate. i disagree with what he has to say here and there, but he also humored Blink 182, which i give him mad props for. arrr!!!
McSweeny's Mammoth Treasury ed. Michael Chabon
you can tell Chabon edited this piece of work. heh. Big Stories, Big lead characters and satisfying endings to short stories. very apocalyptic... more masculine than i'd normally go for... incredibly well-written. Stories written by Chabon, Dave Eggers, Michael Criton & Stephen King, to name a few. all sort of go beyond thier normal genre, but keep their brilliant style in tact. if you want to read something fun, entertaining and NOT fluff, go for this. it makes you think... hard.. and smile.
i have been trying to finish up 3 other books, but one i'm slowly reading and will not get through till sometime next month. the other is my usual lunchtime reader, and the 3rd is a brilliant ms from Laird Hunt that i will review in full when finished.
Lo, there's nothing wrong w/ a slow month - it usualy means you accomplished a lot! :o)
Posted by: dr gonzo at March 2, 2006 10:12 AMyeah, i had a rather shameful showing for February. but, it was my first full month of New Job, i visited MN and i attended a reading and a fundraiser and humored my sister by going out with her and her "boyfriend". march is more ambitious.
Songbook by Nick Hornby
essay collection about music, specifically songs and albums that have greatly influenced/affected mr hornby. i love hornby's writing style. i love his music choices. i now have a list of albums i need to pirate. i disagree with what he has to say here and there, but he also humored Blink 182, which i give him mad props for. arrr!!!
McSweeny's Mammoth Treasury ed. Michael Chabon
you can tell Chabon edited this piece of work. heh. Big Stories, Big lead characters and satisfying endings to short stories. very apocalyptic... more masculine than i'd normally go for... incredibly well-written. Stories written by Chabon, Dave Eggers, Michael Criton & Stephen King, to name a few. all sort of go beyond thier normal genre, but keep their brilliant style in tact. if you want to read something fun, entertaining and NOT fluff, go for this. it makes you think... hard.. and smile.
i have been trying to finish up 3 other books, but one i'm slowly reading and will not get through till sometime next month. the other is my usual lunchtime reader, and the 3rd is a brilliant ms from Laird Hunt that i will review in full when finished.
Lo, there's nothing wrong w/ a slow month - it usualy means you accomplished a lot! :o)
Posted by: dr gonzo at March 2, 2006 10:12 AMI'm testing the comment function. Ignore me.
Posted by: Lo at March 2, 2006 10:26 AMTesting comments - ignore this one too.
Posted by: Jeremy at March 2, 2006 10:57 AMDr. G-- I don't feel like I've accomplished much, but I expect that if I counted the book I was proofreading into the total, then I'd have about 5 more books on my list. :) I may have to check out the Hornby book.
Posted by: Lo at March 2, 2006 02:21 PMand i am for sure checkign out the ben stein book! proofreading is work. if the book you're reading is not for pleasure, and brings you no pleasure, then it doesnt go on the list. :o) it goes to hell.
Posted by: dr gonzo at March 3, 2006 12:50 PMWell it was an ok month for me, I lost some mementom in there and I can't remember what I read at the beginning of the month.
The Love Wife by Gish Jen. I finally got through this book, it's been my pick up/put down book for a while now. It is very well written and it has something to say, but the author decides at the end not to say anything (ie there is no 'ending') which I HATE. For crying out loud, if you write a damn book have a damn opinion!! Overall, well written though.
The Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook. Not as good as the other Dawn Cook series, but a promising first book in a series. I like the main character but I didn't think the ideas / story line were as well defined as they could have been.
If I figure out what books I read at the beginning of this month I will let you know how they were. :-)
Posted by: 10lees at March 3, 2006 12:58 PM