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June 05, 2008
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April 17, 2008
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Eric K.
gave  to:
Christine (Paperback)
by
Stephen King
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my rating:
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recommended for: 8th graders everywhere
read in January, 1987
Eric said:
"This book is underrated.
Yeah, sure, the hokey premise is a car is possessed by demons and runs over people. Clearly one of Stephen King's earlier, and weaker, scary ideas.
But King has a knack for drawing very human characte...more
This book is underrated.
Yeah, sure, the hokey premise is a car is possessed by demons and runs over people. Clearly one of Stephen King's earlier, and weaker, scary ideas.
But King has a knack for drawing very human characters to suffer the creepy situations he thrusts them into. You've got the HS geek with a quarterback best friend set upon my bullies (and bullies from the 1950s are a wholly different menace, remember Kiefer Sutherland terrorizing Wil Wheaton in the King adaption "Stand By Me?"). So the geek works on a car (apparently something a lot of geeks used to do in the days before computers) that acts as vicar for his own suppressed anger and smouldering sense of injustice. Stuff happens. But you know, you don't dance with the Devil, the Devil dances with you, and there's a price to be paid when unleashing a monster on the world.
Not great literature, not even good literature, but I retain fond memories of reading it as a 12-year-old.(less)
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April 15, 2008
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Eric K.
marked as to-read:
Richard Matheson: Collected Stories Vol 2 (Paperback)
by
Richard Matheson
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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Eric said:
"Remember the version of "The Twilight Zone" they brought back in the mid-80s? I was reminiscing about it on the Intarwebs and mentioned by fav episode "Button, Button," which apparently was written by this hugely respected and wi...more
Remember the version of "The Twilight Zone" they brought back in the mid-80s? I was reminiscing about it on the Intarwebs and mentioned by fav episode "Button, Button," which apparently was written by this hugely respected and widely adored writer Richard Matheson. They're even making it into a Cameron Diaz movie out later this year. Livejournal FTW!
'
So I'm just using this as a bookmarker to remind myself to revisit Matheson's oeuvre. (less)
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April 07, 2008
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Eric K.
is currently reading:
Anathem (Hardcover)
by
Neal Stephenson
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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March 15, 2008
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Eric K.
gave to:
Sharp Teeth (Hardcover)
by
Toby Barlow
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my rating:
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recommended for: irene & her posse
read in March, 2008
Eric said:
"Toby Barlow writes
about the good things in life
and the bad.
Oh, you know:
Blood, sex, death, hunger, frenzy
But his
conceit!
His
gall!
Is to structure his story
as 308 pages
of free-verse poetr...more
Toby Barlow writes
about the good things in life
and the bad.
Oh, you know:
Blood, sex, death, hunger, frenzy
But his
conceit!
His
gall!
Is to structure his story
as 308 pages
of free-verse poetry
whose style this preview crudely mimics.
But wait!
Oh gentle goodreads friend
I haven't even told you
the best part.
For Barlow's
book?
poem?
experiment?
What do you call something
that defies all genres?
Anyway, Barlow's..
product
follows the lives
of A PACK OF FREAKIN' WEREWOLVES
raping, feeding, and pillaging
in present-day Los Angeles.
Cool.
(less)
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February 19, 2008
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Eric K.
is currently reading:
The Great Gatsby (Paperback)
by
F. Scott Fitzgerald
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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Eric K.
gave  to:
Thank You for Smoking (Paperback)
by
Christopher Buckley
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my rating:
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read in February, 2008, has a copy to sell/swap
Eric said:
"Like Fight Club, Thank You For Smoking (TYFS) was one of the very few books I've picked up after seeing the movie adaption first. And like Fight Club, TYFS was one the very few where I think the movie was better.
They made some interest...more
Like Fight Club, Thank You For Smoking (TYFS) was one of the very few books I've picked up after seeing the movie adaption first. And like Fight Club, TYFS was one the very few where I think the movie was better.
They made some interesting adaptions for the big screen. For one, Aaron Eckhart's "Nick Naylor" is a very different creature from the novel's. Whereas Buckley's protagonist is a morally compromised figure peddling a product he inwardly believes to be evil, Eckhart effuses with boyish enthusiasm that there's no such thing as evil at all. Which makes the movie Naylor a more interesting character, superficially lighter but spiritually darker. (I cannot wait to see Eckhart's Two-Face in the new Batman movie.) The movie's jettisoning of Naylor's dominatrix girlfriend from the plot in favor of a wholly new bit exploring Nick's role as a father also worked, although it left the film without a real denouement, a sin atoned for in one brilliant line of unrepentant kicker dialogue about cellphones.
So why, after two grafs extolling the movie as the superior version, do I give the book five stars? Simply, this book is jam-packed with lulz. Buckley is a genuinely gifted comic writer with a very incisive take at life at the politics/journalist/lobbyist Washington DC conflux. TYFS is not a timeless classic speaking to universal human truths, the book is about America during the Bush/Clinton bi-dynasty and it's dead-on. A highly enjoyable breezy read, even if you've seen the movie and already know half of the best lines. Recommended.(less)
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February 17, 2008
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Eric K.
read and liked
Jessica H's
review of White Oleander:
"First, a preface: this is the kind of novel that Heartbreakingly Postmodern Critics will turn their noses at since it has Earnest Feelings, Tons of Estrogen, a Plot, and Totally Non-Ironic and Non-Hip Bildungsroman elements. As if to add salt to thes...more
First, a preface: this is the kind of novel that Heartbreakingly Postmodern Critics will turn their noses at since it has Earnest Feelings, Tons of Estrogen, a Plot, and Totally Non-Ironic and Non-Hip Bildungsroman elements. As if to add salt to these wounds, Oleander was chosen for Oprah's Motherfucking Book Club. Lord! I should turn in my Literacy Card now for liking this codswallop!
Thankfully, I don't give a fuck.
Oprah endorsements aside, Fitch's debut novel artfully transposes mother/daughter psychodrama on to a disconnected, alienated 21st century American urban landscape. Our title character, Astrid Magnussen, becomes a nomad-cum-foster child after her mother Ingrid murders a jilted lover. The premise is pure pulp, but Fitch takes it farther with her executions -- her deft exploration of Astrid's inner world is phenomenal. Ingrid, Astrid's black widow bitch of a mother, may not be your ma, but any 21st century daughter will empathize with Astrid as she carves her own identity sans Mom against a cynical modern canvas. But aye, there's the rub -- even with Ingrid away, Astrid still cannot escape her presence. It's so deliciously Freudian I want to read this novel on a chaise longue.
It helps that Fitch's prose is as smooth and heady as a silk handkerchief bathed in Shalimar. If you want text that goes down like a Lindt truffle's liquid center, Fitch is your girl. (less)
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Eric K.
gave to:
Persepolis 1: The Story of a Childhood (Paperback)
by
Marjane Satrapi
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my rating:
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has a copy to sell/swap
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NY words
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