Reading list for July 2006
Currently reading
Douwe Draaisma, Warum das Leben schneller vergeht, wenn man älter wird
Neil Gaiman, American Gods
Recently read
Douglas Adams, Mostly harmless
Ed McBain, The frumious Bandersnatch
Terry Pratchett, The amazing Maurice and his educated rodents
Annie Proulx, Close range
Lots of reading last month, mostly lightweight stuff suitable for the hot and sticky, not-conducive-to-thought weather. Annie Proulx is a marvellous storyteller (though I gave up on Accordion Dreams). This collection together with May's Bad dirt are collectively known as "The Wyoming Stories" and are worth searching out. Tales of everyday madness, indeed.
The Pratchett was a treat, very funny.
Mostly harmless is a meditation on parallel universes, Schrödinger's cat in human form, and (one might say) the definitive tying-up of a few loose ends from the previous four volumes of the Hitchhiker trilogy.
I'll write about Draaisma and memory (the answer to the eponymous question) in a separate piece later this month.
Next month's list
Last month's list
Labels: reading
posted by Udge @ 10:08
6 Comments:
Loved Am Gods, hope you like it. If you do, look for The Anansi Boys, it's the sequel and very enjoyable too.
Heather, I am turning into a great fan of Gaiman, having for years resisted reading him because of the immense hype. Thanks for the tip.
Philip, I am not sure how to answer this. If you are good at reading by instalments (and I know that you have sandcastles to build and beasties to feed) then I'd say to start with "The shipping news," if not then "Bad dirt" is a good starting point. The stories in that collection are short and quite dense, and the tone is much lighter than "Close range" which is primarily about death, defeat and closed minds.
gaiman is fantastic. i started reading him with The Sandman comics back in the day. i was bit afraid of his transition to novels but he's pulled it off very well. i wasn't so thrilled with American Gods but Anansi Boys was great. Good Omens is still my favorite and both Neverwhere and Stardust are well worth picking up.
when i read your response to heather at first i thought you were reading my mind. i had to remember that i'm not a heather here. ;)
I always figured Mostly Harmless was Douglas Adam's revenge on all the fans who kept insisting he write another funny Hitchhikers' book.
I've heard wonderful things about American Gods. I'll be interested in hearing your review of the entire book.
Oh, yeah, I'm quite fond of Neil Gaiman. First read Stardust and enjoyed it, never even associating him with The Sandman. Loved American Gods and Good Omens. I just read my first Sandman comic book which was something he did 10 years later. Very nicely done, will have to look into the original.
Do you have a certain genre that you prefer for reading or are you more eclectic (I'm hoping that's spelled correctly but probably not) in your choices?
And do you like to read books a second (and more) time? Any favorites? I love books
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