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.