Brian’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Brian’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

i got around to reading this story. i have his book of short stories and forgot.

don't have much to add because so many good things have been harvested above but here's a couple of things... one related to the story one not so (maybe?)...

first the not so... the line Time, of course, topples everyone in its path equally - the way that driver beat his old horse until it died on the road. that line drove me crazy because i just read about a horse being beaten on the road and couldn't remember where... finally remembered... crime and punishment. it was just a trigger for me for two reasons; i just read the book last year and i thought that line was just a weird thing to throw out. was there an intended connection? considering my second point...

the one more directly related... aunt on his back... a monkey on somebody's back... a serious problem that will not go away. is that what this was about in some dreamy convoluted way? carrying a problem? carrying guilt?

i don't question murakami too much. i just prefer to share his dreams.

came in a little brown box today from some south american river...

i'm guessing at this... filipinos abound in singapore mostly as house helpers (maids). sundays are their day off. on their day off they all go out to the parks, some to the shopping center, many to church (they're staunch catholics)... but almost all are dressed to the nines. maybe saturday nights were their night off from whatever they were employed to do. and when you only have one day or night a week to go out you will look your best. i've read after a google search someone speculating it was about filipino prostitution... i don't buy that explanation. i think it's simpler.

from an article about filipinos in phoenix... once a week there was a sort of like a filipino club... you couldn't actually call it a club, but it was. all the families got together at prince hall. they would rent the hall every saturday night and all of the family-- everybody -- went.

maybe there was something similar happening in la at that time...

i don't think it's racism... but then i haven't read the book and i'm not a filipino so i don't know shit.

welcome back pavel. had a good trip i hope. i'm gonna be searching for that movie. hope it's eventually released with english subtitles. i thought the book was great.

my desk is a mess, papers everywhere, some a year old... guess that's a hint on what you should expect of the management of this thread... i'll probably just add the author's name in the thread title where it doesn't exist. when i read the title 'james and the giant writing factory' i keep seeing 'james and the giant peach' and think of roald dahl, not james patterson. they're two different people, not related, different planets.

chaos can be good... order can be confusing.

there was this killer guy... and he was capturing these people and holding them in little underground rooms... and he wore weird face paint... maybe japanese?... and he was a badass...

isn't that basically the storyline for all his books?

the thing i remember is not only were the chapters really short, and don't get me wrong i like short chapters and sentences and words, every chapter ended with a cliffhanger. the pace was furious. but i can't remember any of the ones i read... except there was always a crazy guy who took people. and i'm pretty sure i read at least his first 5 books.

i much prefer michael connelly's harry bosch series. he can actually write and he creates great characters even though his chapters are longer. he makes la sound exciting, sexy and dangerous... but then i guess it is.

No Dead Souls here... Gogol may be dead but his soul is still very much alive and being fought over. Taras Bulba was one hellava exciting book. I only hope I can find this movie to see Bulba kick ass... Hooray!

A Wild Cossack Rides Into a Cultural Battle

“No, brothers, to love as the Russian soul loves is to love not with the mind or anything else, but with all that God has given, all that is within you.”

this thread is screwy... collecting all kinds of things...

on the way to work this morning the moon was in my face, all big and round and bright. the sun wasn't up yet. it was just me and the moon. i pulled over to the side of the road and just watched the moon. it watched me back. we now understand each other.

i didn't pick up the big sleep though i did sleep well last night... that's a rare thing.

not a fan but i've read some of his books. story, it's all story. little crime thrillers with super short chapters. it's like eating potato chips (or crisps)... one last chapter, ok, after this one, just one more chapter. i mean it this time. just one more. then before you know it the bags empty. fast plot. shallow characters. out of the memory in a week or less. that was my experience.

Shel wrote: "Just startin' off the thread... Anyone (Brian) have anything to say about Murakami before we begin?"

i've only read one of his books. i'm more familiar with the other murakami (ryu)... the one with ice picks and girls who like it rough. sorry. dan read a lot of this guy last year.

may need two shrines patrick. i've added it to my 'purchase' category and i'm looking forward to reading it. i just need to know what michael witnesses and doesn't quite comprehend.

no worries esther... this thread was just a silly april fool's attempt and no destiny was ever planned or intended for it. i was going to delete it but now feel bad because it turned into a family thread. the spoof book is about babies though so there is a connection, a tenuous connection. when i get to a computer i'll probably move it out of 'group reads' into the 'general' folder. then i'll talk about my kid... even though i didn't birth her... thank god.

Ben wrote: "the unexpected babies series is so played out..."

yeah... but this baby was nearly two years old before he was discovered and the metaphorical cord cut.

I hope everyone was able to get to their nearest 7-11 and purchase this book...



To start things off here's a little description...

Sheikh Khalid Bin Shareef has vowed never to get entangled with virgins. But innocent Maggie is too hard to resist—and he takes her…

The next morning she disappears. But Maggie is unfinished business, and he has her sent to his kingdom. There they discover the consequence of their night of passion.

Marriage is the only answer—but it must be one with no emotions, no expectations of love. Maggie will take her rightful place by the sheikh's side…and in his bed!

Sheik Ishmai has been compared to Steinbeck, Camus, Proust, Borges, Hemingway, Faulkner, Beckett, Disciple John, and Brown with the sparse, elegant language of Zerna Addis Sharp.

The opening paragraph...

See Sheikh Khalid. See Maggie. Jump, Sheikh, jump.

unsafe books? books fall under 'the consumer product safety act'? man, i grew up in rough, unregulated times when we didn't think much about lead or small edible pieces of plastic. i must be screwed up now. legislation seems to multiply quicker than bunnies.

Esther wrote: "Brian wrote: "I'm bringing this over from my currently reading status to ask if anyone thinks this is as ridiculous as I see it to be.

I'm reading Pamuk, an early one called [b:The New Life|861981..."

nah... he's just a good writer and father. the reviewers just can't find the right hole to peg him into.

Esther wrote: "Brian wrote: "i wonder if age has anything to do with it?"

I don't know that age has anything to do with whether something is..."literary" I guess is the term we're using. I think age has somethi..."

that's what i meant... the age of the reader, not the book. :)

Jcamilo wrote: "I have a problem with that. First time I read Crime and Punishment I felt cheated, poor, a waste of time. I was young and would rather read Agatha Christie..."

i wonder if age has anything to do with it? when i was younger i wasted many a day on cheap thrills and fast page turners. i went through books like potato chips. throw a russian author at me and i would just laugh. my definition also would imply that what is literary fiction to me might be fluff to another, or vice-versa.

my friend wrote... It is apparent truth when we argue that the glass is half-full. Similarly to those who see it as half-empty. The ultimate truth is that the glass is half-filled.

He's a happy guy.

literary fiction... my simple answer for today: a book that enriches me, makes me think, opens my eyes wider, allows me to see something new... a book read that makes me know time was not wasted... it introduces new ideas, cultures or historical perspectives. a book that makes me smile outwardly while shouting inside either in happiness, confusion, anger, or shock.