Unremarkable wrote:I just started America, the Book by John Stewart and the Daily Show ;)
It's a beautiful piece of literature, isn't it?
It is!
After Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire I couldn't help but think that Stewart himself wrote the introduction to the chapter about the media ("I... fuck it. Just fuck it.")
When I was in the library last week, killing some time between work and a Will Johnson concert (I don't mind dropping the name in every single topic, he's into literature, so it fits), and I was looking at D for Roald Dahl because I just saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the umpteenth time, my eye fell on Danticat. At first I wasn't sure why, but when I picked it up and saw the title Krik? Krak!, I realised this topic was where I heard about her.
I only read the first story, but darn, is that strong stuff or not. Having been a member of Amnesty International since 1988, I would have thought I might have gotten used to stories like that, but you don't, really. And the power of literature is that you identify with the characters, and it hits you so much harder than a 'news' story. Not for the faint-hearted, but highly recommended.
Glad you liked it, Liesbeth. You might want to try her first one, <i>Breath, Eyes, Memory</i> too. It's all of the style with no so much violence. The book after <i>Krik?Krak!</i>, <i>The Farming of Bones</i>, is a fictional account based on real historical events, and is, IMHO, just as heartbreaking. Actually, all of her books are heartbreaking, with the exception of <i>After The Dance</i>, which is a series of essays she wrote about Carnaval in Haiti.
And talking of being inspired by my fellow L-dubs, guess what i got for Xmas? Why, Alan Moore's <i>From Hell</i>, of course! Thank you very much, Sir Balfour...'tis amazing.
In other news, my old man got Jon Stewart's <i>America</i>, too. It was funny, it seemed to get passed to my whole family at different parts of the day. There would be hysterical guffawing coming from the living room or kitchen, and you knew it was someone who had discovered the book.
(I mean you KNOW it's funny when my Mom laughs at it. My Mother laughs for no man. Except a pre-Soon Yi Woody Allen. And Shelly Berman. But I digress.)
books i gotta finish:
kurt cobain journals
princess diaries, princess in pink
harry potter and the order of the phoenix
the princess and the pauper..(id love it if this were a movie..no, its not the one based on barbie..heh)
dressing diana (princess of wales book on every thing she has worn, and has become the most beautiful woman in the world, and most styleish))
I love the way it enters the survivalist mindset so flawlessly -- obviously Mr. Brooks has read a lot of the Ragnar Benson/Paladin Press strain of publications.
It makes me look for zombies in my neighborhood when I walk the dog at night.
Picked up the Zombie Guide from a friend who works for Random House, and thank god I did. I never realized how truely unprepared I was for an attack of the undead.
But now I've got my shotgun, machete and a years supply of clean water with me at all times, and it has already paid off. I picked one off walking around downtown the other day. The girl he was with didn't even realize he was a zombie and went all hysterical on me.
Betty Felon wrote:You'll have to tell me how Irvine Welsh works out. I've been thinking about giving him a try.
A few months later... I quite liked it, but as someone (Liesbeth?) pointed out, the dialect is really hard to take sometimes - and it goes on chapterwise! (I think there are about 5 narrating characters and 2 of them talk in that fashion). I just hated the female main character.
Right now I'm reading "On The Road" and I don't think I should tell you what I think about it.
By the way...
didn't think I could like John Stewart any more, but when I saw him on Crossfire, I came to appreciate him even more. That took balls.
I don't think this has too much to do with Jon's appearance on the show, but still--funny!
I don't normally get into short story anthologies and the like, but in Dec. I read The Best Non-required Reading of 2004 and really liked it. There were a few stories that I still think about occasionally. Some really great stuff that's stuck with me.
I'll get to that as soon as I finish "100 years of solitude" which unfortuantely lies several books away. Currently, I just finished "Pagan Holiday" and it was pretty good. A nice diversion from the heavy fiction I was reading. Now its on to Kafka. Again.
