Category: Current Reads

  • 49th Post Spectacular/What I am Reading

    It’s my 49th post, so time for a little retrospective.  A few favorite posts: GG Allin/“Naked Lunch”/‘Extreme’ art : My first really good piece of writing for this blog. There was originally a section on a book called “Ass Goblins of Auschwitz” and the fact you can get it at Walmart, but it got cut […]

  • Continuing on with “Moby Dick”/What I am Reading

    This week sees me returning to the wretched sea after a bit of a break; I note that my ‘reading partner’ also took a bit of a break as well. They’re a bit behind me. Of particular interest this week is “The Town-Ho’s Story” which is, I think, the longest chapter in Moby Dick. It’s […]

  • Religion Nerd/50% of “Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials”

    For a long time, I have been a religion nerd– I have traveled through two different denominations of Buddhism, three or four (depending on how you count it) of Christianity, at one point considering becoming a clergyman (that lasted a few months, so don’t get too excited), and a few other random things. I’ve read […]

  • Finishing “You Can’t Win”/What I am Reading

    At the end of the day I decided to finish “You Can’t Win”. It’s fairly rare I get that far in a book and don’t finish; and it wasn’t a very complicated read, so I went through to the end. I didn’t have a big change of heart about it, but there was a wonderful […]

  • 70% of “You Can’t Win”

    I’m about 70% of the way done through “You Can’t Win” and I’m not 100% sure about finishing it. Here’s the thing: it’s a well written book, and it does a good job of telling its story. But there’s an underlying problem I’ll get to in a bit.  I first heard of this book somewhere […]

  • In Which the Author Stops Apologizing/What I am Reading

    One of the things I have found about writing a blog that you update frequently is that certain themes emerge whether or not you want to. For a while, I struggled with my role with the blog, eventually deciding “gee, I’m a critic”. I’ve played with the notion of “status vs. contract” novel, and described […]

  • What I am Reading

    I had a nice little break over the weekend, going to a fundraiser for our local radio station, visiting Memphis, TN, enjoying a huge boucherie in Como, Mississippi, and celebrating my anniversary in general. I subscribed to “Nightmare” magazine, and read some short stories while away; I may write a little bit more about them. […]

  • Winner/”The Deep”/What Actually Frightens

    Well, that was a bit bleaker than I had anticipated, but the winner is, ironically, “You Can’t Win”, so that is next on the list. While I was waiting, I started Nick Cutter’s “The Deep”. I read “The Troop” and “Little Heaven” a bit ago; and I remember the gross killer tapeworms of “The Troop” […]

  • “Moby Dick”/”The Waves”/Choose my Next Adventure/Mortality

    The trip through the wretched ocean continues. We’ve journeyed through a few of the more famous chapters, including “Moby Dick” and “The Whiteness of the Whale”– Melville notes a few things here.. the whale isn’t supernatural, but it gains supernatural powers as the crew talk about him. “The Whiteness of the Whale” spends it’s time […]

  • “Cunning Folk”/What is Scary/”Moby Dick”/What I am Reading

    We all have our prejudices, I suppose. I really dislike things written in the present tense, for the most part. It’s fine to add a little spice or create a sense of urgency. For an entire book, it can be a little difficult for me to take. I find it oddly distracting. I finished “Cunning […]