Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
On my shelf, all I can see is an enormous PALAHNIUK, so I kept forgetting the title of the book; it's practically invisible on the cover. Anywho, it's a great book. Very Palahniuk-ish. Ah, isn't it great when an author has such a distinct voice that you can say something like that and everyone totally knows what you mean? And this book is weird. It's written backward. Even the page numbers are backward, counting down to the suicide of a celebrity religious leader as he dictates his life story to the black box of an airplane. It was a hilarious book, and I enjoyed it.
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
I was shocked at myself for not having read this book yet, so I decided to give it a go. It is a classic and all. Also, my high school English teacher is related to Mary Shelley. But anyway, I thought the book was great. The first half was very well written and emotional, the interlude in which the monster relays his story to Frankenstein was a bit distracting but interesting, and the concluding third was suspenseful and quite telling about human nature.
42 - M. Thomas Cooper
This is an interesting mystery about a man whose wife runs away with her daughter, leaving no clues behind. As the story progresses, more things go missing and the main character becomes the main suspect. An intriguing story and a quick read, I would recommend this book to people who want to have a little fun and just go along for the ride. The number 42 does crop up a lot and gives you the chills a bit near the end, so I wouldn’t suggest reading it alone in the dark on a stormy night where something or someone could hop out and kill you…
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Some people claim that this is the best book ever written. And I have to say, that I really enjoyed reading it! Books published in its time period (and the ones translated from a different language, not less!) are usually difficult to read, but I found Anna Karenina surprisingly easy to read. The characters are very well developed, and the plot is twisty and exciting. And am I the only one who found it humorous? I wouldn't say it's the best novel ever written, but I have to agree that it is one of the best.
Publish This Book - Stephen Markley
Frustrated with the publishing industry, having written and pitched many stories to no avail, college student and writer Stephen Markley decided to write a memoir about trying to publish a book; the peculiar idea, however, was that the very memoir he was writing would be the book he was trying to publish. While Markley essentially wrote the book about writing the book, the events in his life quickly and cleverly became the main plot as he revealed the naivety and determination of youth that border on hubris. This is just about the funniest book I have ever read.
Conspiracies – F. Paul Wilson
Repairman Jack is back searching for a missing conspiracy theorist and uncovering some alien conspiracies on the way. I’m not sure why I’ve continued to read this series except for that I don’t like to stop reading something I’ve already started. The character Jack doesn’t seem all that interesting to me. In fact, the author goes out of his way to explain that Jack is normal in every sense of the word, except of course for the whole bad ass thing. But everyone seems to like the books, so I’ll keep reading and maybe the ending of the series will be awesome.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. le Guin
Blog Book Club book for this month!
Herzog – Saul Bellow
As I was reading this I kept feeling as though I’d read it before. Maybe I have. It’s a semi-autobiographical novel about a writer having his midlife crisis. Interesting and entertaining.
Books I Read This Month - August 2011 (Plus Peace Stuff)
In my Peace Blogfest post I said that you should sign up before 31 August 2011, which is today. However, I think the deadline is kind of lame. I'm letting people continue to sign up until the blogfest starts. Hopefully more people will join! Please join if you can, and spread the word anyway if you can't! Thanks so much to all the supporters!
I am going to post a list of everyone who signed up, plus the link to their blog, on Monday 12 September 2011. I will add to the list if more people sign up after the 12th. You can follow the participants or just use the list as a reference to read the Peace Blogfest posts when the time comes.
Here are the books I read this month. (Bold means I loved it!)
S. - John Updike
In interesting book written in the form of letters to and from the main character, a 40-something woman who leaves her husband and moves into a ashram. I thought it was good, and I felt smart reading it and knowing all the terms since I do yoga. :)
The End - Salvatore Scibona
Beautifully written! The characters are well drawn out, but the plot of the story was a little confusing to me and sort of slow. Very literary.
Oblivion - David Foster Wallace
A few short stories and novellas by the one and only David Foster Wallace. My favorite was the one entitled "The Soul is Not a Smithy," in which a teacher goes crazy at the front of the classroom.
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore (art by David Lloyd)
I'd already seen the movie a while back, but I had to read the comic because the movie was so good... I started reading it at 11 pm one night and couldn't put it down. I didn't get much sleep that night, but it was totally worth it. If you haven't heard of this, read it. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the comic, read it. If you've read the comic but haven't seen the movie, watch the movie. Yeah.
Already Dead - Denis Johnson
I really enjoyed this book. It's dark humor, with lots of drugs and sex and murder and ghosts and stuff. It may be morbid, but I really love books like that. It's not mindless, of course; the drugs and sex and violence all have a purpose in the story. It's the kind of thing I would like to write, but whenever I try to write that kind of stuff, I get all embarrassed.
Hamlet - Shakespeare
I'm really not sure why I decided to read this at this time. But Shakespeare, why not? I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said before, though, so I won't say anything else. My favorite line? "Get thee to a nunnery!" Made me laugh out loud, even though in context it isn't funny. "Conscious does make cowards of us all" is another amazing line. Also, here is a clip of the brilliant David Tennant as Hamlet because I love him.
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
This was the book club book for the month! Here is my post about it.
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
A Mexican-American communist writer during the Red Scare? I think yes! Plus Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky as characters. Beautiful language too and a great message about art and freedom.
Legacies - F. Paul Wilson
Next book in the Repairman Jack series. Donated Christmas presents stolen from AIDS orphans? How mean! Jack's got to save the day again. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book, and not just because it's a fast-paced thriller. The hero of the series, Jack, had to take on oil company terrorists. Sounds like a prejudice, stereotyping meanie thing on the surface (and Wilson calls one guy 'The Arab' which bothered me quite a bit; people should not be defined by their race) but it's not. There was definitely potential for it to go sour, but thankfully the author did not commit any terrible acts of racism, for which I was relieved.
Great Apes - Will Self
One of the weirdest books I've read in a while. This painter wakes up one morning and everyone are apes and thinks he's crazy for believing he is a human. Very odd and very Will Self-ish (more drugs, sex, and rock and roll; I know, right, with apes?) but funny.
I am going to post a list of everyone who signed up, plus the link to their blog, on Monday 12 September 2011. I will add to the list if more people sign up after the 12th. You can follow the participants or just use the list as a reference to read the Peace Blogfest posts when the time comes.
Here are the books I read this month. (Bold means I loved it!)
S. - John Updike
In interesting book written in the form of letters to and from the main character, a 40-something woman who leaves her husband and moves into a ashram. I thought it was good, and I felt smart reading it and knowing all the terms since I do yoga. :)
The End - Salvatore Scibona
Beautifully written! The characters are well drawn out, but the plot of the story was a little confusing to me and sort of slow. Very literary.
Oblivion - David Foster Wallace
A few short stories and novellas by the one and only David Foster Wallace. My favorite was the one entitled "The Soul is Not a Smithy," in which a teacher goes crazy at the front of the classroom.
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore (art by David Lloyd)
I'd already seen the movie a while back, but I had to read the comic because the movie was so good... I started reading it at 11 pm one night and couldn't put it down. I didn't get much sleep that night, but it was totally worth it. If you haven't heard of this, read it. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the comic, read it. If you've read the comic but haven't seen the movie, watch the movie. Yeah.
Already Dead - Denis Johnson
I really enjoyed this book. It's dark humor, with lots of drugs and sex and murder and ghosts and stuff. It may be morbid, but I really love books like that. It's not mindless, of course; the drugs and sex and violence all have a purpose in the story. It's the kind of thing I would like to write, but whenever I try to write that kind of stuff, I get all embarrassed.
Hamlet - Shakespeare
I'm really not sure why I decided to read this at this time. But Shakespeare, why not? I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said before, though, so I won't say anything else. My favorite line? "Get thee to a nunnery!" Made me laugh out loud, even though in context it isn't funny. "Conscious does make cowards of us all" is another amazing line. Also, here is a clip of the brilliant David Tennant as Hamlet because I love him.
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
This was the book club book for the month! Here is my post about it.
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
A Mexican-American communist writer during the Red Scare? I think yes! Plus Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky as characters. Beautiful language too and a great message about art and freedom.
Legacies - F. Paul Wilson
Next book in the Repairman Jack series. Donated Christmas presents stolen from AIDS orphans? How mean! Jack's got to save the day again. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading this book, and not just because it's a fast-paced thriller. The hero of the series, Jack, had to take on oil company terrorists. Sounds like a prejudice, stereotyping meanie thing on the surface (and Wilson calls one guy 'The Arab' which bothered me quite a bit; people should not be defined by their race) but it's not. There was definitely potential for it to go sour, but thankfully the author did not commit any terrible acts of racism, for which I was relieved.
Great Apes - Will Self
One of the weirdest books I've read in a while. This painter wakes up one morning and everyone are apes and thinks he's crazy for believing he is a human. Very odd and very Will Self-ish (more drugs, sex, and rock and roll; I know, right, with apes?) but funny.
Books I Read This Month - July 2011
LAST DAY TO SUBMIT FOR THE BEGINNING CONTEST! Details here...
I had a bit of time this month to read, and I made sure to read a lot to catch up on my 100 books in a year goal. I'm going to have lots of reading time in August too! I'm glad...
Notes from Underground Anthology - The Literary Lab
The Notes from Underground Anthology is a compilation of short stories, poems, and pictures by twenty-five wonderful writer winners of a contest hosted by The Literary Lab last year. There is amazing variety in this collection, and all of it is well-written, inspiring, and fun.
Misery - Stephen King
Ah, Stephen King. Whenever I read his books, I just feel like writing, especially when I read a book of his involving a writer character. This was a great book about a writer who is kidnapped and held captive by his number one fan, who forces him to write a book especially for her. Quite disturbing, but very fun.
Anthem - Ayn Rand
This is a sort of science fiction story about a man living in a communist society. I wrote a bit about Ayn Rand recently, here.
Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Semi-autobiographical and witty, I liked this book. It was a quick read. It's about the life of a post office worker... I can see how it would not be for everyone, but the author is well known and a great writer, so maybe you'd like it...
The Storm - Frederick Buechner
This is an odd book, based loosely on The Tempest. It is about a man, whose young lover died while giving birth to their child. I wasn't quite in the reading mindset when I read this, so I may have to go to the library and check it out again... Eventually...
Yellow Dog - Martin Amis
Another Martin Amis, one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint. A man gets hit on the head and becomes violent and stuff (I'm so eloquent), and there is a scandal involving a British princess involved. It was interesting and entertaining. But also a bit disturbing, of course, considering that is a Martin Amis novel.
The Plague - Albert Camus
A fictional account of bubonic plague in the 1940s in Algeria, taking place of the course of many months. Exsistentialist/absurdist, this novel was intriguing, with great character development as the doctor and the community suffer through the plague and its effects. Pretty cool, well written, Albert Camus. Yeah.
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A lawyer tries to prove insane the drunken firefighter philanthropist, Eliot Rosewater, so his relative can gain control of his company. Kurt Vonnegut has this gift of making things that sound boring turn into exciting adventures. In other books of his, he can make wired things that don't make any sense exciting adventures. I'm not sure exactly what this book, or any of his others really besides Slaughterhouse-Five, is actually about, but it was witty, so, go ahead and read it if you want.
The Touch - F. Paul Wilson
I suppose this series is growing on me. As I said before when I read the first and second books in this series, I was wary to begin because I don't really trust my mother's taste in books, but my dad liked it too, so I decided to give it a try. It is a series of more than fifteen books, and I've officially decided now to read all of them, but obviously not consecutively. This book, The Touch, is about a doctor who discovers one day that he can heal people by touching them, like a faith healer. The writing, as it is in Wilson's other books, is simple but suspenseful. I don't love it, but I'll admit that I like it.
The Island at the End of the World - Sam Taylor
A sort of post-apocalyptic novel about a father and his three children trapped on an island after the great flood. Kind of pretentious, but it was still good.
How the Dead Live - Will Self
Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and dying of cancer. My kind of book! This is a good book by a good author, sort of a story about death, but mostly a story about life. I recommend you read it if you are looking for a laugh, but prepare yourself for some disconcerting scenes as well.
The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
I seem to have read mostly emotional, disturbing novels this month... This book is about a woman who kills her mother. It takes place over the course of one day. I read The Lovely Bones, by the same author, last year, and I thought it was amazing. This was just as good.
I had a bit of time this month to read, and I made sure to read a lot to catch up on my 100 books in a year goal. I'm going to have lots of reading time in August too! I'm glad...
Notes from Underground Anthology - The Literary Lab
The Notes from Underground Anthology is a compilation of short stories, poems, and pictures by twenty-five wonderful writer winners of a contest hosted by The Literary Lab last year. There is amazing variety in this collection, and all of it is well-written, inspiring, and fun.
Misery - Stephen King
Ah, Stephen King. Whenever I read his books, I just feel like writing, especially when I read a book of his involving a writer character. This was a great book about a writer who is kidnapped and held captive by his number one fan, who forces him to write a book especially for her. Quite disturbing, but very fun.
Anthem - Ayn Rand
This is a sort of science fiction story about a man living in a communist society. I wrote a bit about Ayn Rand recently, here.
Post Office - Charles Bukowski
Semi-autobiographical and witty, I liked this book. It was a quick read. It's about the life of a post office worker... I can see how it would not be for everyone, but the author is well known and a great writer, so maybe you'd like it...
The Storm - Frederick Buechner
This is an odd book, based loosely on The Tempest. It is about a man, whose young lover died while giving birth to their child. I wasn't quite in the reading mindset when I read this, so I may have to go to the library and check it out again... Eventually...
Yellow Dog - Martin Amis
Another Martin Amis, one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint. A man gets hit on the head and becomes violent and stuff (I'm so eloquent), and there is a scandal involving a British princess involved. It was interesting and entertaining. But also a bit disturbing, of course, considering that is a Martin Amis novel.
The Plague - Albert Camus
A fictional account of bubonic plague in the 1940s in Algeria, taking place of the course of many months. Exsistentialist/absurdist, this novel was intriguing, with great character development as the doctor and the community suffer through the plague and its effects. Pretty cool, well written, Albert Camus. Yeah.
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
A lawyer tries to prove insane the drunken firefighter philanthropist, Eliot Rosewater, so his relative can gain control of his company. Kurt Vonnegut has this gift of making things that sound boring turn into exciting adventures. In other books of his, he can make wired things that don't make any sense exciting adventures. I'm not sure exactly what this book, or any of his others really besides Slaughterhouse-Five, is actually about, but it was witty, so, go ahead and read it if you want.
The Touch - F. Paul Wilson
I suppose this series is growing on me. As I said before when I read the first and second books in this series, I was wary to begin because I don't really trust my mother's taste in books, but my dad liked it too, so I decided to give it a try. It is a series of more than fifteen books, and I've officially decided now to read all of them, but obviously not consecutively. This book, The Touch, is about a doctor who discovers one day that he can heal people by touching them, like a faith healer. The writing, as it is in Wilson's other books, is simple but suspenseful. I don't love it, but I'll admit that I like it.
The Island at the End of the World - Sam Taylor
A sort of post-apocalyptic novel about a father and his three children trapped on an island after the great flood. Kind of pretentious, but it was still good.
How the Dead Live - Will Self
Sex, drugs, rock and roll, and dying of cancer. My kind of book! This is a good book by a good author, sort of a story about death, but mostly a story about life. I recommend you read it if you are looking for a laugh, but prepare yourself for some disconcerting scenes as well.
The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold
I seem to have read mostly emotional, disturbing novels this month... This book is about a woman who kills her mother. It takes place over the course of one day. I read The Lovely Bones, by the same author, last year, and I thought it was amazing. This was just as good.
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