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July 25th, 2008
05:26 am - When You are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
Some of this book is really funny. Some is vaguely amusing. And the rest.. isn't. If you aren't already a David Sedaris fan, this book probably won't make you one.
Excerpt:
January 7
A Japanese woman we'd met in Paris came to the apartment yesterday and spent several hours explaining our appliances. The microwave, the water kettle, the electric bathtub, everything blinks and bleeps and calls out in the middle of the night. I'd wondered what the rice maker was carrying on about, and Reiko told us that it was on a timer and simply wanted us to know that it was present and ready for duty. That was the kettle's story as well, while the tub was just being an asshole and waking us up for no reason.
January 8
I peeled away my patch last night and was disgusted by the cruddy shadow it left. It feels like I've been wearing a bumper sticker, so instead of replacing the one I took off, I think I'll just go without and see what happens. As for my three hundred dollars' worth of lozenges, I still haven't opened them, and don't think I'm going to. What I've been doing instead is rolling index cards into little tubes. I put one in my mouth when I sit down to write, and then I slowly chew it to a paste and swallow it. I'm up to six a day and am wondering if I should switch to a lighter, unlined brand.
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July 23rd, 2008
07:23 am - My Perfect Life, Lynda Barry
I read this whole thing while waiting to get picked up from the library. Hey, no pages missing this time!
Another year in the life of Maybonne and Marlys. I got really frustrated with some of the choices Maybonne made, probably partly because I can relate. Adolescence sucks.
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July 22nd, 2008
08:58 am - Couldn't Keep it to Myself
Collection of essays written by women in prison. Most of them are pretty good. There's only one I couldn't get through, and that may have been because it was fictionalized. As fiction, it was pretty terrible.
All of the stories share a theme of low self-esteem and hopelessness. The woman whose picture I found most beautiful wrote about how she always felt ugly. Her mother told her she had "good hair for a black girl." It made me wonder why people do this shit to their children.
Maybe THIS is what Wells was talking about.
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08:55 am - The Croquet Player, H.G. Wells
A man who lives off his rich aunt and is really good at croquet meets two men who severely shake his worldview.
I'm not sure what I was supposed to get from this story. Am I also supposed to fear that mankind is regressing into savagery? Because comparatively, things have been worse. Strange book.
But short.
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July 19th, 2008
12:19 am - A Field Guide to Monsters, Dave Elliot, C.J. Henderson & R. Allen Leider
I enjoyed most of this book, but it's kind of annoying. Most of the monsters are from the movies.. except the ones created by Joss Whedon. The definition of monsters is stretched to include human beings, which is silly.
And the Master from the Buffyverse is listed, but the photo isn't him!
But the biggest problem is that they spelled some of the names wrong throughout the book. This is a big flaw in something you're claiming is definitive. Who are these Hannibal Lechter and Freddy Kruger guys, anyway?
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12:14 am - The Anybodies, N.E. Bode
With an obviously fake name for the author and frequent asides from same, this book will remind you of the Unfortunate events books. Luckily, it's a bit more interesting.
Fern was switched at birth, and has been living with the boring Drudgers her whole life. But one day her real father shows up, and Fern's life gets seriously weird.
This is a neat book, in that even the villain isn't truly villainous. Also, it's all about books. I'll probably go for the sequel.
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12:11 am - The Complete Peanuts: 1963 to 1964, Charles Schulz
In this volume, Charlie Brown and Lucy get Little Leaguer's Elbow, and Snoopy goes to the hospital. Also, some kids named 3, 4 and 5 show up. They weren't a round very long--kind of a one-note joke.
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July 16th, 2008
02:25 am - After the Death of Anna Gonzales, Terri Fields
The morning after a student's suicide is told with poems, each from a different point of view.
Interesting concept, but the constantly shifting viewpoint doesn't exactly lend itself to a clear narrative.
In other words, the point is lost because the story is spread so thin. Some people could have been left out and more time spent on others and it might have been a more compelling read.
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02:22 am - World's Dumbest Signs, Ads and Newspaper Headlines
There's some funny stuff in here. Still, there's so much of this stuff around, I don't understand why such a thin book was padded out with obvious jokes and bumper stickers, of all things.
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02:18 am - The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov
Stories selected by the author himself, with a self-congratulatory introduction in which he tells us how he really only likes puzzle mysteries.. you know, the sort of thing where the death of another human being is only another interesting thing to think about over tea.
So in most of these stories, the action doesn't get more exciting than food being eaten.
I can't believe I got through the whole thing. Took a while..
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July 12th, 2008
06:28 am - Sleeper: All False Moves, Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
This book goes between the other two I've read. So there isn't much I can say about it.. except that I really like this series and it would be be nice to read stuff in order, now and then.
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06:24 am - Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka & Michael Lark
Two cops go looking for a kidnapper and find Mr. Freeze instead. The surviving partner wants to solve it without Batman for once.
Actually, this is pretty good.
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06:22 am - Me of Little Faith, Lewis Black
Essays on god and so forth. Some of this book is quite funny, but some of it's "I know this guy who's psychic! Really!"
Also, the last part is a two-man play he did a while back, which I couldn't get through at all.
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06:19 am - Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
Memoir in graphic novel form describes the author's conflicting feelings toward her father.
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06:15 am - Owly: A Time to Be Brave, Andy Runton
Because of a story Owly read to Wormy & friends, Wormy is scared that he'll meet a dragon. So when a little opossum shows up during a ball game, Wormy freaks out.
Very sweet. I didn't cry this time, though.
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July 5th, 2008
07:37 pm - Top 10: The Forty-Niners, Alan Moore & Gene Ha
Tells of two heroes from World War II arriving in the newly founded city of Neopolis, conceived pretty much as a ghetto for those with superpowers.
Actually, this one was pretty good.
Okay, I think that's it for this week's reads so far..
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07:31 pm - When Lightning Strikes, Jenny Carroll
Jess has enough on her mind. Her brother's schizophrenic, Jess herself has a problem not punching people, her mom wants her to wear matching dresses to church, and is that cute guy from detention really interested in her?
Then Jess gets hit by lightning. Everything seems okay, but the next morning she knows exactly where the kids on the back of the milk carton are.
Jess tries to keep it all a secret, but soon the feds know who she is. And then it turns out one of the kids didn't want to be found..
Good, fast read.
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07:27 pm - Catwoman: Crooked Little Town
Selina Kyle has decided to stop doing crime and start fighting it. With the help of her old friend Holly, Selina tries to stop a drug smuggling operation using little kids as mules. Only, it turns up some of the cops are in on this thing..
An okay read, but trip over itself trying to be edgy.
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07:06 pm - Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason, Kristine & Joyce Atkinson
Another book in the form of a diary, this one takes the guise of one of those "altered books" that have been popular for a while now. Actually, I think the craze has calmed down a bit, but whatever.
Anyway, the diarist types about her life and pastes it in the book. She also draws and does collages. The drawings are nice, everything else is kind of crap. Maybe since there wasn't room to really tell a story, there isn't much of in the way of subtlety. In fact, the only real mystery (besides how this thing got published) is not who killed her, but whether or not there were other people involved in the plot.
Also, why glue a fan in the middle of a really good photo like that?
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07:03 pm - Smax, Alan Moore, Zander Cannon & Andrew Currie
Smax and Toybox from Top 10 visit Smax's home-world for a funeral. Questing and incest revelations follow.
Kind of crap, really.
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