Talk To Me - Anna Deavere Smith part memoir, part editorial....hmmm, kinda hard to describe. (though i do wish i could find a recording of the first thing i ever heard ms. smith doing: being pretty much a master of vocal mimickery (is that a word?) i heard her singing mcdonalds jingles in the voice of billie holiday. Seabiscuit: An American Legend first non-fiction book i've encountered that read like an action-adventure novel Rebel Heart - Bebe Buell ya, it's trashy, it's poorly written. but it's fun. Reefer Madness - Eric Schlosser the author of Fast Food Nation ties together the shadow economies of migrant workers, pot growers and porn. scary. Stephen King - Dreamcatcher more icky stuff from mr. king. Epicurean Simplicity - Stephanie Mills another in a series of neo-luddite stuff i'm kinda hooked on Rescuing Patty Hearst - Virginia Holman a memoir of madness in the 70's (cripes, did that sound like a fricken' blurb or what) Nothing On My Mind - Erik Fraser Storlie yet another memoir. the subtitle describes it pretty well: "Berkely, Lsd, Two Zen Masters and a Life on the Dharma Trail Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Rowling a friend of mine wanted to know what all the fuss was about...he had read this and thought it was 'derivative', 'nothing special', etc. i thought it was kinda fun. High and Mighty - Keith Bradsher subtitle also explains it: SUVs -- The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way there was a lot of interesting information here but the editor could have been a little more involved...there was way too much repetition of themes that's it... i'm currently reading Neil Peart's Ghost Rider...an account of the time after losing both his daughter and wife (car crash, cancer).. yikes, it's good by kinda heavy.... next up is something light....so it's either: Peter Guralnick's Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley Vol. 1 or Alice Sebold's _The Lovely Bones_....i actually knew nothing about that book but while on vacation i saw a panel discussion on cspan2 (which me & the wife like to call "nerd tv") of literary critics...man, they were all _so_ snotty about this particular book that i decided i had to read it out of spite ** -- Mark Saleski - marks@foliage.com | http://www.foliage.com/~marks "Nothing in the world is more haughty than a man of moderate capacity when once raised to power." - Baron Wessenberg
on 7/31/03 7:11 AM, Mark Saleski at marks@foliage.com wrote:
Seabiscuit: An American Legend first non-fiction book i've encountered that read like an action-adventure novel
read it on tour the wk before my honeymoon (we were based in Louisville, henceforth my buying a book about a racehorse) and loved it so much I've been buying it as presents for everyone since, incl my ex-wife. You know a book's good if you even give it to your ex-wife.
next up is something light....so it's either:
Peter Guralnick's Last Train To Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley Vol. 1 or
Both the Guarlnick Elvis books are all that. But the second one, CARELESS LOVE, is really depressing. The Albert Goldman one, on the other hand, really sucks. sh
Seeing Jim Flannery's post reminded me of one of his recommendations... I see that two of my favorite reads of the last five years (Jim's recommendation I just picked up recently) are in varying stages of reissue / reprint: John Crowley's "Little, Big" (I guess this reprint came out last year, after I was hunting for it forever on Bookfinder) and Alan Moore's "Voice of the Fire" (coming out in the US next month). Later, Ben http://www.thewilyfilipino.com
participants (3)
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Benito Vergara -
Mark Saleski -
skip Heller