29
Oct
2010
Bride & Prejudice
Well, I have to say that this completely lived up to my expectations and I found it to be freaking delightful.
17
Aug
2010
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet was one of Martin Millar’s first books. It came out something like 20 years ago (indeed, a blurb from Neil Gaiman says that he’s been reading Millar for 20 years) in the U.K., but was only just published earlier this year in the U.S. by Soft Skull Press.
6
Oct
2009
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Somehow, in my years of schooling, I never read this book. So whatever I say here comes from the notes my Aunt scribbled in the margins 30+ years ago, wikipedia, and my own daunting brain. Therefore, my analysis may be questionable. Just sayin’.
22
Jun
2009
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Are you Gen X? IF the answer is yes, then you will love this book, and find it hilarious, see yourself mirrored in its image, and pass it on to all of your contemporaries. If the answer is no, because you were born BEFORE Gen Xers, you might giggle at the humor of the book, but more likely, you will wonder about the future of the country and which of your children have done what drugs. If you were born AFTER Gen Xers, you will LOL, see the occasional similarity between your own life and culture and theirs, but mostly wonder what the hell Klosterman is talking about and why anyone should care.
13
May
2009
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
Why is it that when Spanish authors use the supernatural or occult in their work it is called magical realism, but when other, non-Spanish authors do it, it is relegated to SciFi/Fantasy, terms that have an inherent connotation of dorkiness of the worst kind. Ah well, those who would shun said genres are missing out on great literature. Yep, that’s right, I said literature. A word that has an inherent connotation of intellect, art, and high brow goodness.
6
May
2009
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Margaret Atwood has written much about the influence of landscalpe on Canadian authors, but I think that that is no less true of writers of the Old West, Midwest, and Plains states. Perhaps whenever you have great swaths of rugged land, the terrain will imprint itself on a writer.
16
Apr
2009
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
Possibly my favorite thing in this entire, voyeuristic, drug-infested, chaotic jaunt through musical history is this: Punk is American. Not British. And it started with the Doors, the Velvet Underground and the shit that went on with Andy Warhol at his studio back in the ’60’s.
16
Apr
2009
Girl by Blake Nelson
Because there are so many books out there, it is rare for me to ever read a book more than once. Girl, however, is an exception. Starting when I was about 14, to sometime in college, I read it once every year or two, because when you are a teenager, a year goes by, and suddenly you look around and you are at a different point in your life. You are a different person. The 15 year old Andrea Marr we meet at the beginning of this book is not the Andrea Marr we send off to college, hoping we’ll keep in touch, but knowing we won’t.
13
Apr
2009
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
People asked me what this book was about while I was reading it and I’ll tell you what I told them. It is almost entirely about sex and how big the main characters’ members are.
