Reading Archive
Reading is what makes life fun. On a train.
Currently Reading
December is a month for Vonnegut, I guess. I finished up his anti-war piece yesterday, and today I pick up probably his best work, Cat’s Cradle. This is the only image I can find online (from Russia, and I even checked AltaVista) of the exact cover that I have… Image: Bibliograph.ru My copy has some [...]
Currently Reading
I went into the archive for my next book. After spending nearly three months reading Ayn rand’s The Fountainhead (although my reading time was significantly reduced during that time), I’ve decided that my next book should be a quick read. I should be able to bust out Kurt Vonnegut’s classic Slaughterhouse-Five in a week or [...]
Currently Reading
I finished up Garp this past weekend while camping in Tahoe. You know, I didn’t realize how relaxing it was to wake up in the woods, sit in a chair, put my feet up on the picnic table, and read a novel, all the while being unshowered, with puppy at side, eating and pooing. The [...]
Currently Reading
Fresh off the disaster that was the Fowles experiment, I’ve picked The World According to Garp by John Irving off of my dust-gathering bookshelf… Image: Amazon.com I first became interested in John Irving with A Prayer for Owen Meany in high school. I must have purchased Garp somewhere along the way since then, most likely [...]
Currently Not Reading
I hate books. I hate reading. And I hate the english language. This is how I felt while reading my latest book. Accordingly, I have decided to put the book down; my wife thinks that is a good idea, now that I am near suicidal. (I stopped reading the book one week ago, I’m still [...]
Currently Reading
Last week I finished the Jack Kerouac book, and now I’m heading into untraveled territory. John Fowles’ Wormholes: Essays and Occasional Writings is surely a book I picked up while at Syracuse based solely on the cover (which I tend to do). I’ve never heard of this Fowles guy (is that bad?), but if you [...]
Jack Kerouac’s Berkeley Cottage
I will be finishing the book I am currently reading, Jack Kerouac’s Selected Letters (1957-1969), on the train ride home this evening. Kerouac lived in Berkeley (where I once lived and now work), not far from here in a cottage at 1943 Berkeley Way, for a short period in 1957. Last month, I went out [...]
Currently Reading
I had finished On the Road just in time for my trip to Philadelphia. Let me just say that it was an interesting read. Kerouac certainly developed a new style of writing — spontaneous prose — which I was not accustomed to. But the novel is most engrossing, and I definitely suggest reading if you [...]
Currently Reading
I have finished Kurt Vonnegut’s last novel, and as I’ve said, I would not really recommend the book, the first time I have not recommended a book I’ve read since I’ve started this now-defunct reading club. I’ve tried to switch gears a bit, so I’ve picked up On the Road, the Jack Kerouac tome that [...]
Currently Reading
Having finally finished House of Sand and Fog, a truly horrible story, but a good book with an uncomfortable and surprising amount of explicit sex (Sitting in a train reading, and having your neighbor peer over to what you are currently reading, only it having to be one of those few passages scattered throughout the [...]
Currently Reading
I’ve finished reading Tobias Wolff’s novel, which had an ending I didn’t see coming. Actually, the first eighty percent of the book is so different, plot-wise, than the last twenty percent, it was as if I were reading a whole different book altogether. Good, nonetheless. Recommended. (Plus, there are some pretty cool callouts of the [...]
Currently Reading
Following Tobias Wolff’s excellent collection of short stories (a genre that is perfect for commuting by train), I am moving on to an unsigned novel by Tobias Wolff, Old School… Image: Amazon.com I picked this one up following a thorough search (read: not based on the book’s cover, although the cover did help) of a [...]
Currently Reading
I’ve finished the book I was reading — a great book by the way — dealing with the issues a family has following their father’s passing. Very humorous actually; recommended. I am now moving on to another collection of short stories, The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff… Image: Amazon.com This is another one of [...]
Counting Down
As I was perusing the Iraq Study Group’s report (alright, I admit I didn’t get very far; not that I have to, it has been reported on here-and-there), I was struck by this simple thing at the bottom of the ISBN/copyright page at the beginning… And here it is blown up… And then I looked [...]
Currently Reading
Alright, I finished the Vonnegut collection way too quickly, but it has sped up the relative length of time it takes me commuting to work (and that was the goal). And I am way behind on the reyding series, I know. I do plan to do a little catch-up work and blog the Vonnegut book, [...]
A New Chapter Unfolds (Let Me Blog It)
Call it blogging karma; call it the big blogging sham. I’ve always thought of joining or starting an online book club (alright, “always” may not be the correct term; let’s go with “momentarily, here and there”), and what better way to commence then with the start of a new book, Kurt Vonnegut’s Bagombo Snuff Box. [...]
Currently Reading
As I mentioned previously, I have finally finished Jake Tapper’s detailed account of the political battle during the 2000 Florida recount. So, up next on my reading list is a compilation of the long-lost short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box… Image: Amazon.com I do need something to do while on the train to [...]
Currently Reading
I have finally finished reading the biography of Benjamin Franklin, An American Life, by Walter Isaacson. The book is extremely well-researched and must be the definitive biography on the most important man in revolutionary-era America. I have finally started reading Down and Dirty, The Plot to Steal the Presidency, by Jake Tapper, formerly of Salon.com. [...]
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