Media Overload + Reviews

I am completely overwhelmed. I know that sounds silly. I'm not working (well, I'm volunteering a lot. I'm just not getting paid). What could I possibly have to overwhelm me?

Right now, it's media. There are several things I "should" watch, Letters to Iwo Jima, Into the Wild, Man on Wire, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and Season 2.5 of "Battlestar Gallactica" topping the list. This brings me to a weird thought: these things are designed to be entertainment. Why do I feel I NEED to watch this stuff as if it was part of my duty? I have lists of movies that I NEED to watch, or else I'm going to feel like a lesser human being.

So, let's start shifting through the detritus. I love your opinions on this and if it helps me prioritize, so much the better, so please share what you think. I've never done mid-read reviews before. I think it's a good idea.

BOOKS
Black Hole by Charles Burns. I started reading this right after my surgery, thinking that a graphic novel would be a good light choice. Uh... WRONG! Heavy and weird, man. There is some seriously messed up sh&t going on in this book. But I love it so far. Wow. 1/2 way through. Book so far: A

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy (Pevear & Volokhonsky richer, meatier translation) Really good, but I'm having a hard time getting myself to actually read it. It just doesn't go with Percoset, and right now, I do. Anyway, I've heard it has a really sad ending and I am not looking forward to that. I'm trying to read it with Woody Allen's Love and Death in the back of my mind; that helps make it more amusing. Through Book 2. So far: A

Wonderful Tonight by Patty Boyd. Autobio of George Harrison and Eric Clapton's old lady. Began reading just before surgery because I thought it would be a light fun read. Didn't consider Boyd's unbelievably boring description of her childhood when I had that idea. It's starting to get better, though, because she finally met George. Through p. 69. So far: C+... actually, given that I keep reading it, it must be at least a B-

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. I wanted to read this before I see the movie, and boy, oh, boy, is it a heavy, depressing ride into the depths of suburban hell. So far, I like Bret Easton Ellis's Lunar Park much better, when it comes to novels that tell us why suburbia is horrifying. p. 118 out of 463. So far B+

Courtesans & Fishcakes: the Consuming Passions of Classical Athens by James Davidson. Surprisingly accessible book about the ancient Greeks. Just started; can't grade yet.

The Algebraist by Iain Banks. I've been reluctant to read Banks due to an ex's great love for him. However, my neighbor talked me into it. So far, seems very good. Great quote: "Dear Reason, maybe none of us are safe anywhere." Another great quote: "It could choose to go with some elegance, or not, but it could not choose not to go. No-unchoosing death." Just started; can't grade yet.

Why Marriages Succeed or Fail... and how you can make yours last by John Gottman, Ph.D. Really great relationship book. Maybe the attempts to quantify love are offensive to some, but I need all the help I can get. Very helpful insights, and plus, lots of fun quizzes. 1/3 of way through. So far: A-

Magazines
Some of these are guilty pleasures. Ok, they're all guilty pleasures.

Bust I've been a reader and a subscriber for years. This magazine is like the grown-up version of Sassy. Feminist in a fun way, this rag never fails to lift my spirits and teach me something useless, like how to make a belt out of beer bottle caps or a kitschy pouch for my sanitary napkins out of vintage reproduction fabrics. Then it'll have Lily Allen as the cover girl and I'm really head-over-heels.

Good Housekeeping Yes, you read that right. This magazine has such good recipes, which also tell you calorie counts and how much the meal will cost approximately. I take out all the recipes and put them in a three-ring binder. This month, GH will teach me how to make a delicious healthy version of eggs Benedict, how to store asparagus, how to make leg of lamb with oregano & lemon, and Roman-Style Artichokes. Doncha wish your girlfriend - could - cook - like - me? Doncha? A wifely must. Is it terribly un-PC of me to say that. Does reading Bust cancel this last one out at all?

Real Simple - kinda like the previous entry, but a little more modern, and doesn't necessarily assume I have kids like GH does (which gets old). Great organizing and money tips in this good little magazine.

Fitness & Shape - I like to tear out the recipes and workouts from these and try the new workouts at the gym. What's fun is when my trainer comes up and yells "What in tarnation are you DOING??" in my face while I'm trying to do something called "good morning raise" or "pistol squat."

Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine- the magazine for pop surrealist art. This is great for releasing your brain from its logical left-side bondage and experiencing visual bliss.

Washington State Bar News - Let me be real here. The only things I read in this mag are Bob Cumbow's amusing reflections upon the misuse of grammar, and the disbarment notifications. Unfortunately I've seen a couple of names I know, but (fingers crossed!) not mine!

VFW Magazine - not just for old farts! I love this magazine's tales of wars, heroes, and veterans working to get the recognition and benefits they deserve. I've actually considered being a Ladies Auxiliary Member because I love this magazine so dearly.

Vanity Fair - this is where I get a lot of my information about current affairs, which is why I can talk to you about Anne Hathaway's failed romance at length, but don't completely understand what the "Dow Jones Industrial" whatever-it's-called is.

Assorted others, from time to time:
GX: the Guard Experience - the National Guard's magazine has great pieces about health and kickass pictures of our soldiers um, kicking ass.

Giant Robot - from time to time, I need a Japanese culture/art fix. This is it.

Newsweek - Alex subscribes to this and I read it from time to time so I learn about "news." I always wind up reading the articles about things like Barbie's 50th Birthday and Afghanistan. The economy, sadly, I still find boring, despite the fact that we are in desperate times. (It's bad. OK. I get it!)

The Believer - I like McSweeney's (collections of short fiction) a LOT more than The Believer. But Nick Hornby writes book reviews in it which are good, and my good friend, writer and games expert Brian Schneider, gave this subscription for me as a gift, which was really nice. (Sorry for the name dropping. But it's true, that's who gave it to me).

Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes & Gardens - These are basically more housewife porn. MS Living has lovely pictures and descriptions, but honestly, the recipes call for very expensive and ridiculous food and equipment, and aren't always "all that" when it comes down to it. BH & G is like GH but has fabulous pics of gardens, and homes, which are all much better than mine. (Couldn't resist).

National G, Conde Nast, Adventure - I don't buy travel magazines, but when they're around I love to read them and make collages of the pictures in them.

So that's most of it. What's shocking it's not all of it. I'm not bragging here. I think it's an illness. Hopefully all the stuff that I read and the bits of information I collect reach a critical mass and foment an amazing novel. I'm just going to keep reading and watching and listening and learning and writing and synthesizing and making it happen every single day until one day, it all makes sense and turns into something beautiful.

Book Reviews: Lunar Park, Prep, Good Omens, My Soul to Keep

Some book reviews. You should probably read more, you know?

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
I really loved Neil Gaiman's book American Gods and so I went on to read Coraline (cute, not nearly creepy enough) and Anansi Boys (slick in a way that intrigued me a little but annoyed me more than intrigued). I came away from those three books thinking, "I like Neil Gaiman. He's the kind of author I like." But having read only one of Terry Pratchett's novels (the first of the Discworld series), I knew Terry Pratchett was the kind of author I do not like. I even had a thought that reading the coauthored Good Omens might associate Gaiman and Pratchett in a way that would put me off Gaiman for good. And I fear that's what's happened.

Good Omens is funny, I suppose. In a trying-way-too-hard, "aren't we so very, very English and very, very clever, and ever so impressed with ourselves!" sort of way. In short, it's this book about the Apocalypse, and it's supposed to be funny, and it reminded me of drinking a soda which doesn't totally suck but which you realize about two sips through is way too sweet and why did you decide to get a damned Orange Crush anyway?? and you don't really want it but you already bought it and well, you can't really just dump the crap out where you're at so you take unenthusiastic sips and think how it's just another 250 cal you have to work off and another little bit of tooth decay and by the end it's flat and your tummy hurts and you just can't stand Terry Pratchett.

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis
Amazing! Page turner + literary genius + creepy as all HELL. I cannot recommend this book enough. I ignored everything else in my life until I finished this book. As a result, I hardly noticed the fact that I moved to Tacoma. It just sort of happened in between slipping away to go read.
Briefly, it's a semi-autobiographical supernatural horror with strong ironic awesomeness. Wait till you get to the plot summary of Teenage P-. I laughed out loud really uproariously on the train. And then I almost started laughing later the same day in court, on the record, remembering how the narrator couldn't concentrate because he kept thinking about Teenage P-. Read it. Read the book now. And then if you want you can come talk to me about it at my beloved Nerd Out! bookclub, which will be October 12. This book goes on my list of favorites, which I'm starting right now.

My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells
This was a quick little read and I feel kind of stupid for having read it. It wasn't really that great. However, I mention it in case you want to have a little mental break and read about some psychology professor who discovers that demons were somehow involved in the kidnapping of her friend's little boy. It's like watching The Closer or one of those shows. My Soul to Keep is entertaining, but the romantic line completely falls flat and the Christian overtones might annoy some readers.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfield
This portrayal of prep school culture and teenage insecurity is definitely making it to my unofficial list of favorite books. Having survived an incredibly snobby school in my high school years, it rang very true. I won't say this is a happy-go-lucky feel-gooder where you get a tear and say, "Wow, those days were really something, weren't they?" But if you're me, you'll say, "That's right. The good, the bad, and oh, GOD, the ugly was in me and everybody else."

So, read Prep and Lunar Park. Let me know what you think. Especially Lunar Park. By the way, Lunar Park would be a great choice for Halloween. Go buy it and read it and love it, please.

Thanks for reading!

Shopping for Books

If I don't stop shopping for books on amazon, I won't have time to actually read, write about, or even talk about books.

Consumption is its own weird kind of inaction, though I suppose that reading books is its own type of consumption. Reading books, however, is they type of consumption that frequently satisfies. I've noticed a satiated feeling after I've just read something really good. The better it is, the longer it lasts. For instance, after I read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I found it hard to even think about reading anthing for awhile. Then, for a plane ride, I unfortunately selected Sabine, a gothy vampire lesbian novel that somehow manages to be strangely non-sensual. The plot drug on, especially for such a short book. Anyway, after Jonathan Strange, it felt like eating stale nachos after having consumed an elegant seven course meal at Le Gourmand not long before. It was so bad that I actually read the in-flight magazine and then left the book in the seat pocket (in hopes that someone overly young, old. or fundamentalist would find it and be shocked.)

So, I'm going to go ahead and place my order. I don't know what I think I'm doing. I have so many books that I need to read. Maybe I should just procrastinate on this order. Yet, I want these books so badly. Part of the order is composed of books I loved in my childhood, including the hauntingly creepy Blackbriar and Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising sequence, infused with Celtic and Welsh myths and just so very beautiful. I also am getting The Bell Jar as I've never read any Sylvia Plath and have intended to do so for a long time. So I have a huge list of books to read that I may never get to. Is this some sort of mortality-avoidance attempt? You can't take me yet, Death.... I've got so many more books to get through before I can sleep.

And with that I think I will have a short sleep, not the eternal type, hopefully.