I have been on a major reading jag. So many I think I forgot a few. I have been hitting thrift stores and getting good books for a buck or so apiece.
So far, I have read..
A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice (yeah, Anne's kid).
It had a messy as hell overdone plot, too many characters, and every soap opera twist imaginable. But, I kind of liked it. The pace was quick, and I found the characters interesting if not always likable. I needed to read another coming of age story like I needed a hole in the head. But at least this one had murder, gay high school jocks, and was set in New Orleans.
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. Another older book, but absolutely great. Darkly funny and compellingly matter of fact. I found it fascinating to read a book from the POV of a teenage girl who becomes extremely obese, and has such a rollercoaster of a life. It tracks the misadventures of Dorothy Price for forty years. The ironic thing ? A man wrote it. One of the best books I have read in ages.
Looking For It by Michael Thomas Ford. I like this guy. His first books were collections of hysterical essays like
Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and
That's Mr. Faggot To You. Lately he has been cranking out fiction, and it's a big surprise. This one is about 7 homos in a tiny town in northern NY. They are all different types of people. Old, young, single, paired off, in the closet and freshly out. This is gay life as I know it. These guys are just living ordinary life and it is anything but ordinary. He creates lovable and complex characters.
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Alan Gurganus. I am about 100 pages into this brick. It is 700, I think. Been meaning to read it for over a decade. It took about 40 pages for me to get used to the cadence and voice of the main character, but now I have. And the book has taken off like a house on fire. It is turning out to be a real corker. Like the Lamb book, quite a few dramatic incidents are happening, but the writer is not sentimental. That is a big plus in my world. It's the South, it's the Civil War, it's told in the voice of a 99 year old woman. What's not to like ?
Earlier in the year, I read all the Harry Potter books in a fevered and frenzied few weeks. I had resisted them like nuts. But my sister gave me all of them and hammered away at me till I gave in. It was a thrill ride. I loved those books. Far better than the 2 movies I saw.
I know I have read about 7 others since June. I will have to rifle through the done stack when I get home from work. It's been a hell of a summer for reading. Lotsa good stuff.
p.s. OMG. The construction guys downstairs at work just caught a tarantula next to the coffee machine.
They put it in a big Arrowhead water bottle with bunch of dirt. I petted it ! It was kind of soft. Fuzzy but brittle. My job is ridiculous. Put of bunch of boys together and they catch bugs and play with them. Some things never change.