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“Blankets” and High Expectations

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So one of the books I really enjoyed this week was Craig Thompson’s “Blankets.” It’s a graphic novel I have heard wonderful things about, and I loved his Habibi.

I flew through it on a Saturday at work and it made the day go much, much faster.

Yet I was disappointed by it. I expected more. I expected something richer. “Habibi” was just that good. It completely blew me away. Made me think about the Arab world, Islam, Arabic, Slavery, Water, Money … It’s just an amazing book. ****1/2

And “Blankets” was very good. It’s fast moving, it’s a wonderful story. It captures the perils of being fundamentalist, and learning about love and lust, but it simply wasn’t as rich as Habibi, so I was moderately disappointed. But I would still recommend it and really enjoyed it. ***1/2 (4 GR)

Books read this week (A lot):

Blankets

Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski: Very cool collection of short stories, that took me forever to read 2-3 very short stories at a time. My favorite was about the bad poet. But so many are so similar, two losers meet each other, get drunk, hook up. ***1/2 (Kindle)

I read a lot of just ok this week.

Chasing Dogma by Kevin Smith: Saw this for a buck at the excellent Green Hand Bookstore. Neat store with wonderful randomness and books, and a cool owner in Michelle Souliere. I love Kevin Smith, but this book was doomed with way, way to much Jay. ** (2 GR) (Own) Planning to give away on bookcrossing.com.

Brush Strokes with Greatness: The Life and Art of Joe Sinnott by Tim Lasuita: A friend at work who notices I like comics lent this to me. Took me forever to read. The artwork was cool, but the writing not so much. I get that he is one of the best inkers of all time, but feel there can be a better book written about him. ** (2 GR)

Thor: Volume 1 by J. Michael Straczynski: Pretty pedestrian origin story. Even with a floating Asgard in Oklahoma not much really happens. ** (2 GR) (Walker Library)

Diving Into the Wreck: Poems, 1971-1972 by Adrienne Rich: Wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Honestly Adrienne Rich makes me think about my least favorite class at Rutgers, Expository Writing 101 and the annoying PC style of writing. I know she is a great poet, but this wasn’t for me. **1/2 (3 GR) (Walker)

The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness and the Making of a Great Chef by Marco Pierre White: Read this because he is one of Anthony Bourdain’s heroes. Cool book about growing up as a chef apprecticing at many of the great restauarants in London and England. Probably taught Gordon Ramsay how to be so mean. I also talked about this book in yesterday “Ghostwriting” post. ***1/2 (4 GR) (Kindle)

Half Way Home by Hugh Howey: No where near as good as the Wool series, and a much slower read for me than the Hurricane, but loved the first third, enjoyed the last tenth, found the middle half pretty slow. Still quite good. *** (4 GR)

Books Checked Out:

The Essential Rumi: Because I believe Rumi is an essential poet. Just started on Chapter 2 on page 8. (Rockland Public Library)

Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove: Curious about this graphic novel in inside cover says it’s “Neil Gaiman’s vision of the Marvel Universe in the year 1602!” (Books by Mail, Maine State Library, Augusta, ME)

Reading:

A Shoe for All Seasons by Jeff MacNelly: Horribly dated (1983) but journalism is still an odd, odd profession. 80% through (Walker). **1/2 (3 GR)

The Greenhouse by Audur Ava Olafsdottir: Was a .99 book on Kindle on Sunday. Interesting book about an Icelandic young man going to Italy with a rare rose. Not sure where this is going yet, but enjoying it. 16%

The Morality of Capitalism: What Your Professors Won’t Tell You by Tom Palmer: Interesting so far, meant to be a libertarian book about capitalism and a counterpoint to Marx. Curious, think this will be read slowly. (9% – Kindle)

The Secret Piano: From Mao’s Labor Camps to Bach’s Goldberg Variations by Zhu Xiao-Mei: Very interesting book about learning to love music in Mao’s China. Looking forward to spending some time with this one this week. Another .99 translated book on Kindle last Sunday. 7%

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich: Found this for .50 at Bull Moose as part of my amazing 5 bucks post. Enjoyed “Sex on the Moon” quite a bit by Mezrich, pretty good so far. pg 17 of 257 (own)

That’s enough for now, will see what next week brings.

Things I Have Learned About Reading

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It’s ok to disagree.

One man’s gold is another’s meh.

Victorian literature is loved by lots of people but not by me.

I like funny.

I like direct.

I don’t need highbrow, lowbrow often just has better stories.

Romances aren’t for me.

I can like chick lit.

Graphic novels are just being discovered as an artform and will continue to progress immensely in the next few years and decades, after all Watchmen is only around 30 years old and Will Eisner’s first graphic novels are from the late 70s.

Comics are fun at any age, and wonderfully disposable.

A great story is a great story whether it’s YA, Juvenile, Fiction, History, Non-Fiction, Graphic Novels, Picture Books, etc.

Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, and Shel Silverstein are great at any age.

Libraries are places of magic and wonder.

Minerva and allowing my library to be even bigger is amazing.

It’s okay to give books away, but be careful what you let be borrowed, be prepared to not see it again.

Tis easier to acquire a book, then to let it go.

It’s rare that I go all in on an author but it’s a lot of fun, enjoyed my binges on Roald Dahl and Kurt Vonnegut last year, and Jay McInerney a few years ago.

I can never remember how to spell Jay McInerney, and “Bright Lights, Big City” is much, much better than it gets credit for.

There are NO books you need to read (unless you are in school) if you hate it/don’t care let it go.

There are NO books you shouldn’t read … If you enjoy Twilight that’s fun, I know Lanna loves the books.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

If you have to read a book you hate for school, read a book you love as well.

Not every book is meant to be read at a certain age.

Take book recommendations with a grain of salt.

Poetry is easily the most individual of forms to enjoy when read in book, but is much more easily digested in the active style of slam.

Part of slam poetry is the audience, make sure you don’t record in a static room, you are missing some of the magic.

Kindles and eBooks are amazing tools. They let you carry hundreds of books around and try all sorts of authors from major to tiny. They are changing the game.

Being a fan can be even better than being a critic.

Reading is a gift, and teach your children well.

I think in Tweets to much now, since most of the things on here could fit in 140 characters or less.

And there is always time enough to read, you just have to let yourself take it.

ADD Reader

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I am definitely an ADD reader.

I tend to read a bunch of things at a time and read a little and come back.

This is especially true for me with non fiction.

Wondering if anyone else is like that .. read a chapter or two and read something else.

It is wicked, wicked easier on the Kindle.

And of course newspapers, and magazines are part of the mix too.

But reading a lot more books these days and less magazines/newspapers than the huge amount I used to read.

I find for poetry anthologies this can work really well.

I wonder if it could be a part of the idea of the Internet mind, where you really do tend to read little vignettes and factoids in websites, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

It’s also why I am really struck when I read a book, and all I want to do is read that and read it quickly, it is rare for me.

Anyone else similar?

Independent Authors on the Kindle

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I have been really, really impressed with 3 works of fiction so far this year.

All independent authors. All on the Kindle.

Here are the three. And all are 5 stars on Goodreads (other 2 5 star books on GoodReads read in 2012 both poetry: “Chicago Poems” by Carl Sandburg; “Coney Island of the Mind” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti). http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3177908?shelf=read

“Post-Human” by David Simpson which I finished yesterday. Excellent science fiction of a world with an emdedded AI. Fascinating and dystopian.

“Wool” by Hugh Howey. Wonderful novella (approximately 60 pages) .. Another dystopian fiction set in a destroyed world, where everyone lives in a silo. If you disobey the rules, you have to go outside and clean the windows. Excellent characters, heartbreaking. There is now a Wool 1-5 in the Wool Omnibus. I like this book enough that I want to buy a signed paper copy.

“Slammed” by Colleen Hoover. An excellent YA book about a 18 year old that just lost her father and moves from Texas to Michigan, and loves the guy across the street but there are complications. Excellent characters, and great use of slam poetry. This may be my favorite of the three. Have also become good Twitter friends with Colleen.

I know the Kindle has many detractors, but it provides an amazing start for authors to become discovered, and to get their words out there. These 3 books are just the start of how good Kindle books can be.

One of my favorites of last year was Simon Wood’s “The Fall Guy,” crime fiction about rearending the wrong guy (drug dealer) and then seeing how far down the rabbit hole you go.

So if you see something with a good review on Kindle, it sounds interesting, get a sample and try it out.

All of these books are incredibly cheap on Kindle.
Wool 1 is 99 cents (free right now) http://www.amazon.com/Wool-ebook/dp/B005FC52L0/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

The Wool Omnibus $4.99; http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Omnibus-ebook/dp/B0071XO8RA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329307431&sr=1-1

Post Human 99 cents; http://www.amazon.com/Post-Human-Trans-Human-ebook/dp/B006CVI6O8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329307395&sr=1-1

Slammed $1.99; http://www.amazon.com/Slammed-ebook/dp/B006RUJST6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329307350&sr=1-1

Fall Guy $0.99. http://www.amazon.com/The-Fall-Guy-ebook/dp/B00427YO2W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329307170&sr=1-1
Try them out and tell me some of your favorites.

Wool ****

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Another wonderful I found randomly running around the Kindle store: After “Slammed” last week 1/17 post.

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Amazingly well written little book.

Book that involves hope in a dystopian future.

Seems like it’s almost part of a lost art, the serial.

First book was 60 pages, and there is also Wool 2, 3 and 4.

Excellent read, I usually don’t like dystopian fiction, but this world really worked for me.

Hugh Howey makes excellent characters.

Also was thinking that the Kindle makes a book like this easier, I wouldn’t pay $10 for this small fiction, I may have paid $5 in the bookstore, but been hesitant. At it’s $0.99 price on Kindle, it was an excellent purchase after an amazing sample.

Hugh Howey is a very promising author indeed, looking forward to reading the samples.

I am amazed how many interesting, unknown independent authors are on Kindle.

Check it out!