Death or Glory

I’m interrupting my very own apparently non-posting schedule to share some excitement.

I bought books! A whole slew of them in fact. I went to a used book sale at the library in the town where I work today. I was actually there to take pictures, but instead I ended up browsing the books and I managed to find some good ones.

The best part is, 9 books later, I was only out $12. Most of the books seem as if they’ve never been read.

In all, I bought eight paperbacks and one hardcover:

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Angus, thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
Light in August by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Until I Find You by John Irving

These latest literary purchases follow on the heels of my online book shopping delivery. I had been upset about a lack of books to read at the time and attempted to go to Chapters twice to remedy the problem. However, my schedule didn’t seem to flow well with Chapters’ and everytime I went, they were closed. Online it was! I managed to pick up a couple good finds too:

Furious Love by Sam Kashner
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

What have you been reading this summer? My bedside table is full at the moment, but I always welcome suggestions.

If you’re ever down in the dumps or just in need of a good laugh, check out the reviews on this amazon listing.

Do it, do it now.

I JUST realized that I haven’t been updating about books read. Bad blogger.

Here’s the rundown of what I’ve read since my Reading Rainbow post in February:

White Tiger
By Aravind Adiga

I loved this novel. It really draws the reader in and it’s an easy read, but that’s not meant to speak badly about the quality of the writing. The book was really thought provoking and I highly recommend it.

Dreams From my Father, a story of race and inheritance
By Barack Obama

Prior to reading this book, I had heard some clips from the audio book where Barack Obama was doing the reading himself, including all of the cussing. I couldn’t help but hear his voice in my head while I read it.
The thing I liked about this book, is that it seemed to be an honest look at his life. It didn’t gloss over his life. He mentions things that I’m sure, now as a President, he would have glossed over or written differently. I think because it was written at a different time in his life, before his ambitions for president were realized, it shows a different side of him. Perhaps I am wrong. Who knows? Either way, it was a good read. It really gives you the background on his life and where he is coming from.

Les Misérables
By Victor Hugo

This book I had owned for a while and it took me a while to really get into it.
It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s just that I always had other books I was reading that I was more into. I think because it was a classic, I felt like I could always go back to it. I finally finished reading it and I’m glad I did. I enjoyed the debate it inspires about what makes a person good or bad. Great book.

Okay, that’s all for now.
I have four more books to write about, but I’ll save those for another time.
I guess I finally made good on my new year’s resolution. I’ve been a reading demon.

For the past few years I have made the same resolution: Read more books for recreational purposes.

I used to read like a demon, but because of school, work and other commitments, I noticed that I had less time for that.

Or, I suppose, I perceived that I had less time.

In an effort to return that, and inspired by a facebook friend’s note they tagged me in, I’ve decided to try and read at least one book a month for a whole year.

Here’s where you guys come in.
Throw some suggestions at me. If you have a copy you want to lend me, even better. I’m a poor fool who’s crippled with debt

I like a wide selection of books but I’ll be honest, I haven’t really gotten into the whole fantasy and sci/fi genre. However, I’m not ruling it out. Suggest away.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll be blogging about them.

A couple of weeks ago I had some friends over for a games night at my place. One of them brought along a copy of this book for me to read. He’s not so much a friend as an acquaintance – or more specifically, a friend’s boyfriend. 

We had previously discussed our mutual love for Kerouac at a bar over a couple of pints, so when he finished reading it he thought that I might enjoy it. 

As much as I find it interesting, I can’t help but be a little disappointed. It’s not the book that I’m disappointed in, Charters is a talented writer and does a great job recreating the journey Kerouac took throughout his life. 

Some background: I started reading Kerouac when I was in high school. Of course, I started with his most popular and famous book, On the Road. After that I moved on to The Dharma Bums, Some of the Dharma, Tristessa, Big Sur, and some of his poems. I was in love with the beat lifestyle that he described and the sense of freedom that he seemed to have captured.  I created this romanticized idealistic lifestyle in my head and whenever life seemed overwhelming, whether it be because of work or school or whatever, my mind would wander to the possibility of living that sort of lifestyle. The possibility was always there; a life on the road, traveling from place to place, worrying only about writing, wine and finding great debate partners. 

Sadly, after reading this book I feel a tinge of disillusionment. While he did travel, write, drink a lot of wine and have great discussions, his novels left out a lot of the important parts. Like his dependency on his mother or the toll his constant mooching took on his relationships with friends and family members. 

I still love his books and pine, just a little, for the lifestyle he described within them. However, I also feel a small sense of loss.

I’ve just started reading The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. It’s the first non-fiction novel by John Grisham. You may remember him from such fiction tales as The Firm and The Pelican Brief.

Last year I took a criminology course called Mean Justice. It was about the wrongfully convicted. This book was set to be published during the course of our semester and was listed as on optional readings. Unfortunately, I never got around to picking it up so when I saw it in Logan Airport on Sunday I thought I’d finally check it out.

I’m only about a 1/4 of the way through the novel, but it seems really interesting so far. It’s fascinating to read a non-fiction story through the voice of a fiction writer. Usually when reading non-fiction crime novels like this, they’re being written by a journalist who worked on the case or by a family member or friend who was closely involved. In either case, the writer has a unique personal attachment to the story: either spending years working and reporting on it or in the case of family and friends they are actually part of the case.

Reading Grisham’s account is an entirely different experience all together, but it flows nicely and is easy to read. The only disturbing thing about this book so far is the content.

Posts about books.

Exciting, I know…