Today I want to talk about the duck-billed platypus.
Psych! What I really want to talk about are the NEW BOOKS!! that I bought from The Book Barn. If any of you live within driving distance of the Easter Connecticut sea board and/or you love used books, you MUST go to The Book Barn. It's my Graceland.
So, without further ado, here they all are!
I just finished up Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. What is there to say, really? The man’s a genius. You know those things in life? The things that everyone is always going on about how great such and such is? And you wave them off with a “Yeah, yeah, yeah." For instance, "Sure, sure, I should see the Dark Knight, it’s intense." Or " I get it, I should rent Flight of the Conchords, it’s hilarious.”
And if your anything like me--petulant child that I am--if the people in your life are too insistent, you get turned off to their suggestions. You secretly tell yourself “Well, I might have liked it before, but I not now. Not with all of this build up and pressure.” Read the rest of this entry »
OK, this first piece of business isn't book related, but since this is essentially a review blog I want to recommend my new favorite song. Change of Time by Josh Ritter (no relation to the late John. You're welcome. I know that was going to eat at you, it did me.) And also, mad props to him for the nice usage of the word "leviathan." (Side note: don't you think "leviathan" should always be written with a capital? Look: Leviathan. I mean, doesn't it just feel oxymoronic to give it a lower case?)
Now, onto the book-a-mania.
Since this is my first go-around with the revamped Meg's Lists format I tried to give myself a break from the longer format of fiction and read a play. So, I chose A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller. Oh yeah, easy peasy. Read the rest of this entry »
I am smitten. Don't you just LOVE that delicious sensation when you are introduced to an authorial voice you've never heard before? Today I was listening to The New Yorker fiction podcast, as is my want. Every month the fiction editor of the magazine invites a writer to come and read a story taken from the magazine's archives, a story that isn't one of their own. Today I listened to Lorrie Moore (who, BTDubs is fan-freaking-tastic) read a story called "Day-Old Baby Rats," by Julie Hayden, whom I had never even heard of, let alone read anything by, before hearing this story today.
This story is a lyrical wonder, it washes over you. Read the rest of this entry »
The Culprit
OK. As you may have noticed--no blogs for a long time now. I'm a proud person, but even I know when I've been beat. And I can tell you that America's cultural majority rule has laid my blog low. I thought I could do it. I mean, going along with the most popular offerings that the various media industries ply, how hard could it be?
Then I Am Legend showed up in my mailbox. It came in a regular, unassuming red Netflix envelope, along with Funny People (which, side note: not very funny). I told myself, "Oh, I'll just watch Funny People first." A day later I sat down to watch TV, and there was Will Smith as the last man on Earth starring up from my coffee table. "Tomorrow," I told the disc, and flipped it face down. It is now a month and a half later, and I cannot do it people, all right? America wins. America and its quasi-action, watered-down-sci-fi, Will-Smith-loving, dog-killing ways. (Oh yeah, America, that's right. You thought I didn't know that in your 49th favorite movie a dog gets killed? Well I do! You sickos.) I mean, looking back on the endeavor I probably should have suspected defeat from the outset. There is really no possible earthly way that I would have ever subjected myself to National Treasure. Read the rest of this entry »