The Bookman's Wake was indeed as good as my parents had insisted. At least if you're interested in books. (And I even learned a trick for getting labels off of dustjackets). Afterwards I started Orhan Pamuk's The White Castle.

We had the bookgroup meeting about As I Lay Dying last night. Of the three of us who showed up I was the only one who'd finished it. Apparently the writing style drove everyone else nuts as well. On the way home on the train I polished off Roald Dahl's My Uncle Oswald. His books for adults are at least as good (in that strange and twisted sort of way) as his books for kids, but they're probably not for the easily offended (which is part of their charm).
posted by kristin at 10:49 AM

I finally finished Faulkner's As I Lay Dying last night. Parts of the story were interesting, but his writing style drove me completely batty. I wouldn't have bothered finishing it if it hadn't been for book group (which is meeting Thursday). I'm awfully glad I didn't have to read this for high school English class.

Afterwards, to cleanse my palate, I started John Dunning's The Bookman's Wake, a mystery about books and bookdealers.
posted by kristin at 2:43 PM

Last night I finished Nabokov's Lolita. It wasn't really what I expected. I'm really not sure what to say beyond that though.. I haven't really processed it all yet I guess.

Bought last week:
T.C. Boyle - After the Plague
William Faulkner -As I Lay Dying

Bought tonight:
Charles de Lint - Someplace to be Flying
American Lung Association Family Guide to Asthma and Allergies

posted by kristin at 11:05 PM

Last week while procrastinating updating my resume I ended up reading, in its entirety, Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I'd checked it out from the library not really because I was all that interested in it, but because it's the book that was chosen by my county to try to convince everyone to read (part of the One City One Book program). Call me a cynic, but I rather doubt it could work as theorized in the book, but it is a neat idea, and not bad as a novel either.

Last night I finished Ben Elton's Stark, which was a huge contrast from Pay it Forward. This one was about greed, power and getting away with it, with a decidedly non-Hollywood ending, but done up as a huge dark comedy.
posted by kristin at 10:34 AM

Finished last night: TSOG by Robert Anton Wilson. This book was basically just him ranting about the current state of the world, US government, etc. Not one of his better books, but there were interesting parts.
posted by kristin at 10:24 AM

Bought last week:
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow

Read over the weekend:
Trader by Charles de Lint
I liked it. I'm not usually quite so big into fantasy but I guess I rather like urban fantasy. No swordfights or elves but some weird things happen. What would you do if you woke up to find yourself in someone else's body?
posted by kristin at 7:10 PM

Purchased last week:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (no, I've never read it)
Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Sixties Reader
The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies
posted by kristin at 9:59 PM

I'm still working on Po Bronson's What Should I Do With My Life? . It's interesting but I'm somehow not getting sucked in enough to ever quite finish it. One of these days perhaps my life will be worthy of inclusion. Last week I read I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. It's a collection of short stories about robots that are all linked together. I've read enough of his other robot/foundation books that there wasn't anything particularly new here, but they were light entertaining reading.

Next up is probably either Will Self's Dorian, since I saw him do a reading from it last Thursday (and he even sang!) or Matt Ruff's Set this House in Order, since I plan on seeing him do a reading on Thursday.
posted by kristin at 10:39 AM