Sunday, May 11, 2014

Things I've Been Reading

As always, I remind you that I have a Goodreads profile that will keep you more up-to-date than this blog has since...about a year ago.  But here's some of what I've been reading since last fall:


  • Fated by S.G. Browne - Amusing but not as interesting as it thought it was.
  • How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu - Brilliant.
  • Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolano - Fine sketch of a detective novel.
  • The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolano - Jumped to the top of Bolano canon.
  • The Insufferable Gaucho by Roberto Bolano - A collection of essays and sketches.
  • The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano - Brilliant.
  • Between Parenthesis by Roberto Bolano - Essays and speeches.
  • Call for the Dead by John le Carre - Excellent detective fiction.
  • A Murder of Quality by John le Carre - More excellent detective fiction.
  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre - Superior spy fiction.
  • A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre - Superior terrorism fiction.
  • The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling - Brilliant.
  • Holy Bible Revised Standard Version - First time I've read the complete book (thoughts here).
  • Amulet by Roberto Bolano - Fine sketch of a novel.
  • The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio - Prototypical Canterbury Tales is...not as fascinating.
  • I Am Abraham by Jerome Charyn - Genius reworking of Lincoln mythology.
  • The Harry and Sylvia Stories by Welch Everman - Collection from an old college professor.
  • Little Demon in the City of Light by Steve Levingston - Superior version of Devil in the White City.
  • Song of Spider-Man by Glen Berger - What's billed as the inside story of Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is perhaps better read as an early sketch of U2 and/or Bono's biography.
  • The Guts by Roddy Doyle - Excellent slice of life.
  • You Can Date Boys When You're Forty by Dave Barry - Proof that Dave has more hilarity in him.
  • The Boston Rob Rulebook by Rob Mariano - The Survivor alum shares nuggets of wisdom.
  • The Seventh Babe by Jerome Charyn - My favorite Charyn is constantly shifting whenever I read another one; this is currently my pick.
  • The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn - The typical Charyn inverted.
  • Stan by Richard Wold - A huge waste of time, the kind of bad writing that is itself based on bad writing (in this case, bad horror movies).
  • The Ghosts of Nagasaki by Daniel Clausen - Brilliant.
  • The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - Started brilliant, but degenerated into nonsense.
  • Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson - Promising prose debut.
I'm currently reading Orfeo by Richard Powers.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...