I am getting bogged down here with the blahs of Fall. The weather can't be to blame - and although the workload increases, it isn't backbreaking. No, it's just the blahs. Does anyone read this stuff? HAHA. Well, at least it is my outlet for all the speeches my poor family and friends are thus spared.
Books, how they take from computime, don't they? I haven't finished "True Grit!" I am waiting on my own copy. I have been reading a couple of ebooks, Robert Lewis Stevenson's "Across the Plains with Other Stories" and the story I'm on is a lyrical overview of French locales which became artists colonies in his time. The stories in this book are really non-fiction travelogues. And in another eReader window, I have "Dead Men Tell No Tales" by E.W. Hornung, better known for the "Raffles" books. Good stuff.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Rushdie and Peter S. Beagle
A huge hurrah was given by a friend of mine to the works of Rushdie, so I am reading "Haroun and the Sea of Stories." I have read "East, West", a book of short stories he had written a few years ago, and I found them interesting and witty.
I think that I have allowed myself to Blog these many months without ranting about the writing of Peter S. Beagle. I fell over "Folk of the Air" while cataloging gift books into the library. I read it at once, then bought a copy in hardcover of the first edition, shockingly cheap and available only through the used book trade once again, and sent this to a reading friend. I was amazed and impressed by the book. while at once fantastic and weird, it was also so contemporary and so "California." I had never really given one moment's thought to the Society for Creative Anachronisms, Inc but having read "Folk of the Air" I looked them up on the web. Beagle pokes a lot of fun at the group, but in its way the novel glamorized them a bit. I enjoyed the story of the "old Hippie," Joe Farrell, and his wanderings through the mazes of magic, mayhem and mystery. The crowning glory of this novel is the powerful Athanasia Sioris, Mother Goddess extraordinaire. I did acquire my own copy of the book after a few months. My shelves would not be complete without it, although I try to keep my resident book collection to the bare minimum. Shelving is finite, and books are a movable commodity, so my permanent keepers are not allowed to flow to far afield from my available space. That's the ideal, that's the measure I try to work from anyway.
I think that I have allowed myself to Blog these many months without ranting about the writing of Peter S. Beagle. I fell over "Folk of the Air" while cataloging gift books into the library. I read it at once, then bought a copy in hardcover of the first edition, shockingly cheap and available only through the used book trade once again, and sent this to a reading friend. I was amazed and impressed by the book. while at once fantastic and weird, it was also so contemporary and so "California." I had never really given one moment's thought to the Society for Creative Anachronisms, Inc but having read "Folk of the Air" I looked them up on the web. Beagle pokes a lot of fun at the group, but in its way the novel glamorized them a bit. I enjoyed the story of the "old Hippie," Joe Farrell, and his wanderings through the mazes of magic, mayhem and mystery. The crowning glory of this novel is the powerful Athanasia Sioris, Mother Goddess extraordinaire. I did acquire my own copy of the book after a few months. My shelves would not be complete without it, although I try to keep my resident book collection to the bare minimum. Shelving is finite, and books are a movable commodity, so my permanent keepers are not allowed to flow to far afield from my available space. That's the ideal, that's the measure I try to work from anyway.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Alibris for Portis and McGuane...
Well, overcome with eagerness to continue the present state of "bibliomania" I cruised Alibris today and ended up with a bursting basket of Portis and McGuane. With trade paperbacks going for $2.95 and stated as Very Fine, how could resist? I am getting all of Portis's novels and several of Mcguane's. Let's hope I like Thomas McGuane. Everything I've read points to liking his writing, and the library afforded me a glance at a few of his books, and they looked interesting. Apparently McGuane is considered a Western writer of literary eminence.
I also decided to grab a couple Ludlum's. Well, I have heard good things about "Road to Gandolfo" and "Road to Omaha." Earlier works that have an edge of irony and hilarity not found in say - the "Bourne Trilogy."
I also decided to grab a couple Ludlum's. Well, I have heard good things about "Road to Gandolfo" and "Road to Omaha." Earlier works that have an edge of irony and hilarity not found in say - the "Bourne Trilogy."
Thursday, September 09, 2004
More Charles Portis...
Now I have finished "Norwood." Another wonderful novel. Charles Portis is truly a writer to amuse and fascinate. His lean "to-the-point" style is unembellished by the hackneyed adjectival blather of so many novelists. I guess I have to differentiate between "pop-best-seller-creators" and writers. Or is it "AUTHORS?" If this distinction were to be drawn, Charles Portis would fall into the "AUTHOR" category, one whose works will be read decades after their creation, having, as they do, stories centered on human life and character.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Masters of Atlantis...
I just finished reading "Masters of Atlantis" by Charles Portis. The first Portis novel I've read, but not the last. The experience of reading Portis was like discovering another hobby.
Unfortunately he has written only five novels thus far, and it has been awhile since the last. The movie "True Grit" is an adaptation of one of his five novels. I never thought about reading it, but now I certainly will. While I was reading I could only think of "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" by Vonnegut, and "Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. Both of those books were poignantly told stories of misfit individuals who tried to make a world while somehow shining a light on our world. The difference is that, while the two novels above were funny, Portis is hilarious. I mean I actually hurt from laughing at the ludicrous statements, the sudden surprise twists and the just plain silly nonsense this book offers from cover to cover. All told in the tale of a secret society of very few whose origin was the scamming of our innocent central figure by a con artist he met after leaving the Army. Mr. Jimmerson never realizes he was conned, and he succeeds in gathering a coterie of faithful to the Gnomen Society, and there begins the epic which ends years later in a mobile home in Texas. The years between are a story you should not miss.
Unfortunately he has written only five novels thus far, and it has been awhile since the last. The movie "True Grit" is an adaptation of one of his five novels. I never thought about reading it, but now I certainly will. While I was reading I could only think of "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" by Vonnegut, and "Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. Both of those books were poignantly told stories of misfit individuals who tried to make a world while somehow shining a light on our world. The difference is that, while the two novels above were funny, Portis is hilarious. I mean I actually hurt from laughing at the ludicrous statements, the sudden surprise twists and the just plain silly nonsense this book offers from cover to cover. All told in the tale of a secret society of very few whose origin was the scamming of our innocent central figure by a con artist he met after leaving the Army. Mr. Jimmerson never realizes he was conned, and he succeeds in gathering a coterie of faithful to the Gnomen Society, and there begins the epic which ends years later in a mobile home in Texas. The years between are a story you should not miss.
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