Last night, instead of working on one of my 100 books (which I still haven't posted), I finished up James P. Blaylock's The Rainy Season. I'd been reading it on the train and decided to just continue when I got home. It's the first of his I've read, but it won't be the last. Genre-wise the book reminded me most of some of Tim Power's work. Urban fantasy I suppose it could be called.
posted by kristin at 1:33 PM

I finished Arabian Sands last night. Great book, and it did make me want to visit the desert of the Arabian peninsula. I bet, however, that I'm too much of a wimp to do it how he did, on camels.

I started Paul Auster's The Music of Chance. It's the first of one hundred books I'm trying to read this year. After seeing people post on livejournal their goals of reading fifty this year I decided to challenge myself. Reading 100 books during the rest of the year isn't so much the challenge as trying to see if I can finish 100 specific books. I've got them stacked up at home, and will post the list sometime this week so I can track my progress.
posted by kristin at 10:51 AM

Freud for Beginners didn't seem to be quite on par with the rest of the series that I've read. I'm not sure why but it felt really disjointed. Next I finished off John Crowley's Engine Summer. I'm not entirely sure I understood it all, but it's a vision of post-apocalyse America.

This weekend I read Dude Where's My Country by Michael Moore, and finished off Love in Vain by Lewis Shiner. Moore's book wasn't that surprising after reading Stupid White Men. I checked it out of the library because I felt I should read it, though didn't think I'd ever need to reread it. Love in Vain was also a library book read, but mostly due to it being out of print and the available copies over $60. He does a nice job with short stories overall.

Now to finish Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands.
posted by kristin at 10:44 PM

More gift certificate arrivals (I'm almost done with them now):
High Aztech by Ernest Hogan
Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson
Interstate Dreams by Neal Barrett, Jr
1968 by Joe Haldeman
Our Friends from Frolix 8 by Philip K. Dick
Counter-Clock World by Philip K. Dick
Stop-Time by Frank Conroy
Tricky Business by Dave Barry
The Last Coin by James P. Blaylock
posted by kristin at 1:31 PM

I sometimes find it amusing how I always seem to feel unconciously compelled to read things really fast after reading something that took more than a few days.

Since I couldn't go dancing last night, I stayed home and finished three books. First off My Uncle Napoleon. I'm not sure if it was the translation or what, but while I enjoyed this book it took me quite awhile to get through. It is long, but that's definitely not the only reason it took awhile.

After that I finished off Craig Thompson's Blankets. I'd started it a few weeks ago in the Powell's coffee shop and then checked it out of the library to finish it. His drawing is lovely, but I wasn't as taken with the story as some reviewers I've seen have been. It's a very very thick graphic novel that's a boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-grows-up sort of thing.

Then I started Lois McMaster Bujold's Memory, thinking I'd read the first few chapters and go to sleep. No such luck. Next thing I knew it was 4:50 and I was done.
posted by kristin at 10:49 AM

Still working on My Uncle Napoleon....

A non-gift certificate purchase yesterday:
On Sex, Motherhood, Porn & Cherry Pie by Susie Bright

Gift certificate enabled powells.com arrivals:
Night Prayers by P.D. Cacek
The Road to Wellville by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Obabakoak by Bernardo Atxaga
The Great Human Disaporas by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and Francesco Cavalli-Sforza
The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty
The History of Luminous Motion by Scott Bradfield
posted by kristin at 2:50 PM

More new arrivals (thanks to my gift-certificate-givers)

Goats by Mark Jude Poirier
Pavane by Keith Robberts
Code by Charles Petzold
Voltaire's Bastards by John Ralston Saul
Among the Believers by V.S. Naipaul
And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts
Islam for Beginners by N.I. Matar
Great Mambo Chicken & the Transhuman Condition by Ed Regis
I Am a Cat III by Natsume Soseki (I didn't notice the III when I ordered it)
Emergence by Steven Johnson
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien
The Silicon Man by Charles Platt
posted by kristin at 11:43 PM

Arrived yesterday (as part of my gift-certificate-induced excessively large order):

God Has Ninety-Nine Names by Judith Miller
Old Men at Midnight by Chaim Potok
posted by kristin at 10:36 AM

Lost in a Good Book finished as well as it started. Go read this one (well, start with The Eyre Affair if you haven't read that one).

I also read Jonathan Lethem's This Shape We're In yesterday. An odd little novella of a book. Not quite sure what to make of it yet.

Then started Iraj Pezeshkzad's My Uncle Napoleon, which I bought after having it mentioned in Reading Lolita in Tehran.
posted by kristin at 11:29 AM

I think I missed posted about some books I bought over the holidays. Oops.

Arrived very recently:
Radios by Jerome Stern
The Sterile Cuckoo by John Nichols
McSweeney's 12
posted by kristin at 3:42 PM

I enjoyed Dave McKean's Cages but am not totally sure I thought it was as wonderful as many of the reviews I've seen have. Definitely interesting, and well drawn, but there were bits of the story I found tedious to get through. I'm glad I checked this one out of the library instead of buying it (not a cheap book). It was interesting to see something created entirely by McKean as opposed to him drawing for Gaiman though.

After I finished that last night I started Jasper Fforde's Lost in a Good Book which is excellent so far. I accidently stayed up reading much later than planned. I'll avoid the obvious pun about getting lost....
posted by kristin at 3:38 PM

I'm two for two so far this year on reading really good books. First I finished Russ Parson's How to Read a French Fry which was excellent. There's quite a few recipes I want to try. I especially sympathized with the sections on pastry (it senses fear) and the comments on the snickerdoodle recipe (which is almost identical to my mom's). More interesting than the recipes though are the little essays on the science of how cooking things works. A section a frying, one on meat, etc.

Last night I finished up Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe, vol III which I'd highly recommend (along with volumes I and II). This volume covered things like the beginnings of Islam, its spread across Africa, the middle ages, the early slave trade, the Crusades, etc. Well drawn too :)
posted by kristin at 12:25 PM