Eeeeeeeeeeeeets March already and I am reading...

The Hilliker Curse - James Ellroy

Welcome to the Monkey House - Kurt Vonnegut

Just now starting Crime and Punishment; thankfully managed to find an unabridged version. Looking forward to it alot. Thanks to everyone who recommended it.

Reading latin american sociopolitical stuff. Mostly Eduardo Galeano's Las Venas Abiertas de Amercia Latina, The book that President Chavez gave to President Obama.

That's one hell of a title! I like it.

Eze I've missed choo!

Hey Barca! this is for you

Every time I see Messi in action I remember you. big hug brother

Stay God by Nik Korpon was awesome. Its in my top 4 Cult books!

Next up for me is The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe by Keith Badman and also picking up the Secret History by Donna Tarrt again.

"Across the Universe' by Beth Revis and it was just awful, bland, and badly written. It's a sci fi YA novel that's getting raves so I thought it would be along the lines of 'Ender's Game" or "The Giver', but it was shit.

BUT to make up for it I read a remarkable thriller by Gillian Flynn called "Sharp Objects' that is so well written, and dark, and creepy! I read her second book before this one and it's even better, it's called 'Dark Places'.

As for Dostoevsky, my favorite is 'Crime and Punishment'. 'The Brothers' took me three attempts over five years to finish. And that's coming from a gal that read all three 'Gulag Archipelagos' in a row.

Am now reading Roadwork by Stephen King (Richard Bachman). This and The Regulators are the last of the Bachman stories I need to read.

I've not felt let down by any of the Bachman stories so far, I think they make a refreshing change from his mega long novels. Blaze and The Long Walk are two of the guy's best stories and he stuck a pseudonym on the covers. Crazy.

Dan Chaon's Await Your Reply. I know it's both beloved and criticized around here. So far, the setup is certainly interesting enough, plot wise; it's a page turner. But I've no clue why they dub it a "literary thriller," as to me there's nothing exciting about the prose itself (thus far), just written in your standard airport fiction style. Not inherently a bad thing, it's just been a while since I read something like that and find myself being overly critical of it.

Franny and Zooey - J.D.Salinger

uhoh... That's Mirka's favorite book!

It is! Why uh oh?

I began The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore and I can already tell I'm going to love it. His writing kind of reminds me of John Irving, kind of lush and convoluted, and the book is nice and long. I'm always so happy when a book exceeds 500 pages. (Unless it's boring, of course.)

Because that will spark you to resurrect your quote thread. And I feel left out because, though I found it a really good book, I don't think it's amazing. Everybody else does though...

And I was just joking around with the uh oh thing.

I do enjoy that quote thread btw.

Salvatore Lupo : History of the Mafia

The Unvanquished -halfway through, hope to finish it today.
THEN FINISH
Our Lady of the Flowers by St Jean Genet

Freedomland by Richard Price. That dude can write.

Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb.

^5 that's a good one

I just started Kiss Me Judas to see what all the fuss is about. True Grit was awesome, loved it.

I understand that not everyone thinks it's amazing, but I'm cool with that, loving books is just like loving people, not everyone clicks in the same way.

Still reading the same: 'Bruno'.

Spade & Archer (Joe Gores), the prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon

My Life As A Man - Philip Roth

Moondogs - Alexander Yates
I won an advance copy of this on Goodreads, arrived on Monday. Seems pretty decent so far.

Just finished The Samaritan by fellow Cultie, Fred Venturini. Not at all what I was expecting when I found out the protagonist regenerates organs and wounds (yeah, like Wolverine). I'll do a review soon.

Next: We Are Oblivion by Michael Sonbert

The Know-It-All by A. J. Jacobs. Downloaded it as a PDF-file, 'cause I can't afford to buy it. Perfect book for me, lots of fun.

Ooooh! It's one of my favorites too! I'll never forget reading that book. I'm pretty sure I shared the story of when how I finished reading that book in that quote thread. It was like I was in a movie or something. The feeling that washed over me. Only, I wouldn't have been a character in a film because people in movies don't walk around in the rain reading the last pages of a book under their shirt so the book doesn't get damaged. That, along with The Contortionist's Handbook and Kiss me, Judas, are some of the most worn out books I own. And I'm pretty fuckig pedantic when it comes to caring for my books. I spent a couple of weeks, maybe even three, with that book, and not because it was a particularly slow read, or a long book, because it's certainly not that, but because I just adored the writing, every fucking word, and I found myself re-reading so much of it, over and over. Great book.

I'm reading some pulp shorts from my Black Lizard's Big Book of Pulp. I think I might hit up Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man soon, because I haven't read any of his novels yet. His shorts that are in this collection are fantastic. And Pete loves The Thin Man, so I might start there.

I will write my final dissertation on The Contortionist's Handbook

Will you now?

What's your focus going to be on? Just how blatantly awesome It is?

It'll basically be theory of translation applied to the text. The norm for this kind of work is about 30 pages of theory and 20-25 translated, along with comments and explanations on my choices. I still have a shitload of time, it's due next February, so I'll work on it over the summer holiday. But yes, I intend it to be awesome!

So far this month, I've read:

And the Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks - William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac
The Shotgun Rule - Charlie Huston
My Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
The Blonde - Duane Swierczynski
Disturbing the Peace - Richard Yates

And am about working on The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley.

Finished Roadwork. That was, alas, the weakest of the Bachman books.

Am now reading Vurt by Jeff Noon, punctuated by stories from Nobody belongs here more than you by Miranda July. Got both of these after reading up on them here. Both are very good so far.

Crime by some German dude called Ferdinand Von Schirach. A book if short stories that's full of awesomeness.

Finished Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets.

While I am enjoying the HP series, I don't want to exclusively read it at the moment. So will be reading seperate books in between each installment.

Reading Room by Emma Donaghue

Ah, Room. Such a great book. Really enjoyed that little sucker. It's a page-turner.

Picked up Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Murakami tonight. Not sure which one I'm going to read first. It's been so long since I've done pleasure reading.

I wanted Good Omens by Gaiman, but they didn't have it. Or if they did, I couldn't find it because the store is closing and shit is scattered everywhere.

Any ideas which book I should read first?

Decided to start Neverwhere. I like Neil Gaiman.

I know I've said all this before, but I love love love this book. Its where I got my username. Not many folks around here have read it so I always get excited when someone mentions it. I've read it three or four times.

Reading The Essential 11 by Ron Clark (teaching-related)

Just read The Grass Harp by Truman Capote. Good stuff.

You should check out the tv series if you enjoy the book. It's pretty well done, for a 90's BBC production.

Isn't the book adapted from the TV-series?

Yeah, probably. I don't think Gaiman was writing in the 90's.

Steve's right, but Gaiman wrote the series also. So he made the tv series and then just wrote the book. I'm constantly amazed at how diverse this guy is in his craft.

Yeah, he wrote the book based on the series he created. The book has a little more in it, but I enjoyed both a lot. I think Neverwhere is a better Gaiman on film vehicle than the Stardust movie was.

I liked the book, I've gotta check out the series.

THIS! This one's amazing, enjoy.

Yeah I'm really early in, but I really like it. I always appreciate books written from such a young or disturbed prospective because I imagine it is such a challenge to do.

Although I have the downside of it being quite similiar to a book I studied for my English class, so I'm constantly comparing it. A great read, nonetheless.

What book was that? There's another book, by an Australian author, that was both brilliant and similar, in some ways. It was written from the perspective of a child with autism whose parents kept them inside and one day the door handle spoke to her and told her to turn it and she did and discovers a brilliant world full of colour outside. One Foot Long, I think it was called. Maybe. It's been a while since I
Read it though.

Carry Me Down by M.J Hyland. Focuses on this boy called John who displays Autism like behaviour, but is more psychologically disturbed. He is 11, but quite similiar. It is an easy and great read, I'd recommend it.