and books are crunchy

so, while i haven’t been doing a whole hell of lot besides sleeping and working (with some hygiene time thrown in for fun), i have been reading. and i have a few books to share with y’all. of course, there’s still a stack o’ books at home, and slowly but surely i’m working my way through them.

nonrequired reading, 2007- i am a ginormous fan of dave eggers. i’ve loved pretty much everything he’s put his hands on (his novels and short stories, his involvement in mcsweeney’s, and now this). if nothing else gets you in this collection, the graduation speech conan o’brein gave to a high school in new york will. and if that doesn’t butter your bagel… well, you may be dead inside. a little.

winner of the national book award- yes, that’s really the title. the narrator is a librarian named dorcas (i love that name), and the story revolves around a book written about/ by her twin sister, abigail. while i laughed and giggled my way through the first two-thirds of the book, the last third was a bit uncomfortable and awkward for me. i still insist that people read it. because it’s still well-written. and i still want to hang out with dorcas. and the author has a collection of short stories out that i’m all atwitter to read.

a thousand years of good prayers – a collection of short stories that really did win an award. i think. anyway, the stories are long short stories. you know what i mean? i tend to think of a short story as being shorter than 15 pages. anyway. these read a little bit like fables, or maybe fairy tales. but it’s another good book.

venus drive- to be honest, i bought this because i read somewhere that our chuck thinks this author, sam lipstyle, is funny. and he writes hysterical dialogue. but… well. this is another collection, and all the stories seem to be the same story. maybe it’s just me. so, not sure that i recommend this one.

i am legend/ hell house – so, i may have mentioned that i went back and read the story the movie i am legendis/ was based on? and the two things have next to nothing in common? i mean, i rather like the author richard matheson. he’s written some good stuff. ever seen the movie somewhere in time? that’s a matheson story. my point is, both the book and the movie were okay. just not in the same ways. the book i have has these two longer stories (i am legend and hell house)that bookend a collection of shorter stories. i’m seeing a theme of short stories in my reading of late. i just don’t have enough time all at once to give a longer work my full attention. if you’re looking for offbeat, horror-esque stories, try this collection. otherwise, walk away from it.

the golden compass- this was an audiobook i got at the library, and i have the next one coming. it’s weird to listen to an audiobook that’s directed like a radio play, in that there is more than one voice. i’m sure this is directed at children, and the different actors are there to help keep the characters straight, and to keep a child’s interest. whatever. it was good, i liked it, and i didn’t know it was part of a series. sneaky bugger. and i rather like the idea of armored bears. i don’t know why.

sleep toward heaven- i’m reading this now. there are three narratives, and they intertwine at ood junctions. i’m just at the point where i can see how these people interconnect, and it’s getting interesting. i’ll try to keep you posted.

it seems like i’ve read more than that in the last two months, but i can’t think of the other titles. which means i maybe didn’t love them.

and that’s all i have the energy for. thanks for stopping by.