I'm reading The Pathseeker by Imre Kertesz. I've always liked Kertesz, but this is by far the best thing I've read by him.

On a whim I decided to re-read The Contortionist's Handbook. Glad I did.

^^^ I did that too! No regrets.

I picked up Chuck's latest book and uh...
So I'm rereading Haunted.

My friend gave me a copy of Our Band Can Be Your Life. It's about a lot of independent bands like Black Flag, Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr- I listen to a lot of this stuff- not a big fan of rock journalism though.

Besides that, whatever I get my hands on that I feel like reading. Probably a bunch of History books in there. I'll also have a look at the books my friends are reading. The summer just started.

Good, I'm glad I haven't let you down then.

I'm reading On The Beach by Nevil Shute. Can't say it's blowing me away, but it's okay so far. Read about 100 pages. I hope it'll get better.

I'm currently reading "Ensemble, c'est tout", the original version of "Hunting and Gathering" by Anna Gavalda. It's cute and it goes very well with my current schedule (which consists mainly of studying, studying, lunch, then some more studying). However, if my professors knew I was reading this, they would probably try to legalise some ancient torture methods in my country...

A really fantastic little book that HOBART put out called Big World by Mary Miller. It is a fantastic read, and such a unique voice. Check it out.

http://www.hobartpulp.com/minibooks/index.html

imke,

i read that a few years ago. found it after reading i am legend and the road. found it at a used book store, the only used book store left in little rock area arkansas. it closed down march of last year. anyway, it was a little mass market and took three or four hours. it is not memorable, to say the least. the only redeeming factor is the difference in perspective of characters of today in relation with characters of the sixties. there werent blacks, they were negros. my world is the best and the rest of the world is unfortunate. written in an arrogant white mentality, arrogant to the world today. back then it was [im sure] cultured enough. fifty years from now, i'm sure, cormac's the sunset limited will be pondered as contrived.

but in and of itself, on the beach wasnt memorable. in fact, id have to flip through it to remember the work with any intimacy.

sparkling vampires?? where? like, ziggy stardust sparkly?

just to interrupt the thread for a second, that statement made me SOOOOO wish i'd got you as my cd exchange exchanger. i have a 101'ers cd you would absolutely love - cept you probably have it.

oh, and BACK ON TRACK!!! i've abandoned all summer reading except for workshop stories. i'm damn well addicted.

I'm currently reading Guillermo Del Toros ghost written book The Strain which is entertainingly cheesy. Still, it's a lot better than that Twilight vampire stuff.

I just started Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. It's kind of confusing so far.

if you like cheese with your vamps check out Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore. i had no idea a book supposedly about a vampire would include so much useful information on turkey bowling.
i laughed a lot.

don't forget the transcripted book of radio broadcasts he did for NPR, "God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian."
i liked the interviews with dead people.

I disagree.

I am desperately trying to track down an ARC of Godspeed. (COMES OUT JULY 24th FOLKS, get ready for a good time!)

/advert.

I am reading The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey. Anyone read it? Or any of his other stuff? I just finished At the City's Edge. I liked it fine. What do you think of his stuff?

i've been reading 'moby dick' online when i get bored at work. i remember when i tried to read it when i was a kid but it was too boring. now i'm really enjoying it. which means i've either become a lot smarter or a lot more boring...

The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva

Picked it up for $4.88 at Sam's Club...awesome!!

I made a special effort to get my hands on the Phineas Poe trilogy and I haven't read it yet I think I might start that today...

I had dinner with a friend last week who told me that Stephanie Meyer (the writer of the Twilight series) is a genius... not sure we can still be friends.

Reading The Picture of Dorian Gray for book club.

I will give you that but alas, I'm pretty sure my friend was referring to her writing. In her defense, though, we haven't been friends long and she may be a 37 year old who has never actually read a book...
She's now categorized in my head with the people who thought the reason I didn't finish the Harry Potter series was because it was 'too long'

this whole exchange was thoroughly enjoyable

i will never read harry potter. it seems like a mass brainwashing, much like dan brown or twilight or the shrek movies or beyonce.

that's fair enough. Although I probably won't cut her head off so much as spew something pretentious about the death of American intellect, adjust my beret, and storm off.

This one girl did seriously get pissed at me when I called the Harry Potter series children's books...WHICH THEY ARE!!... I couldn't figure out why she was so angry until another friend explained that I had indirectly called her stupid. Oops...

Harry Potter is just something I'll never read. A part of one of the books was read to us in class 9/10 years ago [Wow, that long ago?] and I haaated it. Everybody in our class did. The teacher would suddenly pick up the book and be like: "Reading time! =D" and people would go "uggh". Then she'd get mad and punish us by reading it to us.

klausw205 wrote:

I made a special effort to get my hands on the Phineas Poe trilogy and I haven't read it yet I think I might start that today...

For sure. Do it. NOW. Turn off the computer.

There goes your week!

i had to rub my eyes when i read this list, it was such a random compilation!! especially beyonce there at the end.

people thinking that horse-faced fergie girl is pretty is also mass brainwashing. or that CSI is in any way good like Law & Order was. or that the olsen twins aren't aliens, here to gather information and then suck our souls into their dead, empty eyes.

i got lost. what thread am i in??

oh ok. sorry for the continued off-topicness.

oh course, how could i forget CSI. see also: american idol.

i think forensic science tv programming has just pretty much run its course, run itself right into the ground. criminals and cops just that smart. same with all the csi type book seriesesess (excuse the pluralization confusion). but still, MORE AND MORE shows and books keep coming out. ugh.

wickerkat wrote:

klausw205 wrote:

I made a special effort to get my hands on the Phineas Poe trilogy and I haven't read it yet I think I might start that today...

For sure. Do it. NOW. Turn off the computer.

There goes your week!

SECONDED. I don't want to see you 'round these parts again until you're well into Penny Dreadful, Klaus!

I'm only half kidding

I was best friends with this girl all through high school and into college. We're no longer friends and it is also due in part to the HP series.
Now I refer to her reading choices as the beginning of the end.
It may sound shallow but finding people that like what you like and get why you like it actually matters... at least to me.

Nah, we all figured out the pluralization confusion... it was this line that was tricky:

"criminals and cops just that smart."

i dont know, beautiful eliza. seems like it's always been that way.

columbo, murder she wrote.. the condensed and very contrived short movies that are replaced with others like them when the viewers stop viewing. that course has been running for a while. it's unfortunate that i havent been able to get into 24 because it's right up my alley, interest wise; but i cant fathom watching those episodes one after another forever. i like kiefer sutherland but a great idea is only going to remain original for so many episodes in a row. i still havent seen even part of one episode, and it's been around for years.

back to topic

get smart was in black and white and countless cop and forensic shows show up and run their course. that's they way it's always been, i'm sure even back when the radio was the tv

..

wow!! i skipped a whole WORD. it was intended to be "criminals and cops just AIN'T that smart." it wasn't a great word, mind you, but it certainly turns what i said into the OPPOSITE of what i said.
i think i've had too much caffeine.

"Hey baby - What's wrong? Why do you look so sad?"
"Because you're not perfect?"
I laugh. "Nobody's perfect... But I'm trying!"
"Eddie's perfect!"
"He's also a fucking vampire. What the fuck are you talking about? And he's a fucking shitty book character!"
"The books are not shitty!"
"It's porn for teens!"

That was an actual fight word for word from us. lol.

That was the start of the end.

damnit, i heard there was no sex in those books. a friend had the first one forced on her by a co-worker and 4 pages in asked the woman if there was gonna be vampire sex, or she was just wasting her time wading through it.
since she didn't make it to page 5, i assumed there was no teenage vampire porn.

Mine went something like this:
"I just can't finish Order of the Phoenix."
"Why not? Is it because it's too long."
annoyance begins to rise
"No. It's because it's dull and poorly edited."
"It's not dull. You're just not giving it a shot."
"Not giving it a shot? It's a fucking kids book. I can't imagine how an adult would find a children's book dull but I guess I'm the weirdo here."
glares exchanged.. and too add insult to injury I proceeded to use Order of the Phoenix as a foot rest on the coffee table.
Yep... currently, we're not friends.

Koji Suzuki- Birthday

Rereading Atlas Shrugged before BCT

Coraline was a kids book that I enjoyed as an adult.

The Spies of Warsaw, Alan Furst

the curious case of the dog that happened at midnight.

THANKS MIRKA!

The Brutal Language of Love by Erica something, short stories, quite good.