Reader’s Notebook, December 2009, Part 2
Continuing my review of books read in December. Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn. I’m sad to say I knew not of Ms. Flynn until this summer. That’s a shame, as she’s both a Kansas City native and a KU alum. And I only learned of her by chance; while visiting Kansas City there was a feature on her in the…
Reader’s Notebook, December 2009, Part 1
Upon finishing Infinite Jest in early December, I went a little nuts. I polished off five books in three weeks. A couple demand lengthy essays, so I’ll be dividing up my December entries into three posts. This is the first. The Book of Basketball – Bill Simmons.* (Note: I am writing this before reading of the New Yorker reviews of…
Books Of The Decade
I read a lot of books this decade. I love putting together lists at the end of arbitrary periods of time. Seems like a perfect excuse to share some of my favorite books I read over the past ten years. Please note that the focus is on the date read rather than the date published. There are a few in…
Reader’s Notebook
Done. I finished David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest late Sunday night. That’s three months to knock out roughly 1100 pages, for those of you keeping score at home. It took me about two months to get through the first half, and I flew (relatively) through the second half over the last four weeks. For comparison, I started Bill Simmons’ The…
Reader’s Notebook
In lieu of the regular Reader’s Notebook entries I provide monthly, it’s time for an update on my progress with Infinite Jest. I won’t lie: it’s been a slow go. And I’ll also admit for all the excitement of beginning the book in September, I was also kind of dreading it. I’m used to reading books that fall in the…
I Suck
A book a week? Big freaking deal. Try a book a day. Our Towns – For Nina Sankovitch, a Book a Day, Every Day In a time-deprived world, where book reading is increasingly squeezed off the page, it is hard to know what’s most striking about Ms. Sankovitch’s quest, now on Day 350, to read a book every day for…
Reader’s Notebook – June 2009
Books completed: Road Work – Mark Bowden Redemption Song: The Ballad Of Joe Strummer – Chris Salewicz Eleanor Rigby – Douglas Coupland Books in progress: Best Music Writing 2008 09-9 – Road Work – Mark Bowden. Mark Bowden is one of the best long-form journalists we have right now. He is most famous for Black Hawk Down, his book upon…
A Toy I Won’t Buy
My long time readers know there are a few subjects that are always sure to interest me. When you combine two of those, like say peanut butter and chocolate, watch out. So why don’t I own a Kindle? It’s a cool tech toy, and I do love me some tech toys.* And it’s for reading, which I need to do…
Reader’s Notebook
In between geeking out with the new iTunes software while waiting for the new iPhone software, I put together a little something about my two most recent books. 22 – <i>Three Bags Full</i> – Leonie Swann. I was searching for a book to take on my Kansas City trip and was torn between a international thriller-type novel and a more…
Reader’s Notebook
My on-going quest to read everything ever printed. 18 – <i>Open Line</i> – Ellen Hawley. This is a fun little novel about a lark run amok. Annette Majoris is a late-night radio host in Minneapolis who dreams of making it big in a real city, specifically New York, not some sleepy Midwestern town. One night, after being bored to death…