Reading Log: Joan Didion’s ‘Play it as it Lays’
Damn. This isn’t a very long book, but it really deserves you taking your time with it. On the face of it, this seems like I book I would absolutely…
Reading Log: ‘Maus I & II’
Art Spiegelman's two-part graphic novel blends humor and pathos in such a natural way that the reader doesn’t even notice the transitions. Although I’ve read excerpts, I’d somehow managed to…
Reading Log: ‘Thrice Fiction No. 9’, Free Literature, and the Pleasures and Irritations of Finding the Cutting Edge
http://www.thricefiction.com/ Thrice Fiction is a free lit mag. They publish some damn good stories, most of which can be defined as short-shorts (...not those kind of short-shorts) or longer flash…
Reading Log: Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Crossing’
Heavy book. I read the last 90 or so pages in a single sitting and after putting it down I felt like I was walking around in a fog, disassociated…
Reading Log: March
I did much better this month, but I had to really buckle down toward the end. I read a couple back issues of literary journals, some work in translation, a…
Reading Log: ‘California Ghost Town Trails’ and the Pleasure of Secret Knowledge
This was a charming little book. It’s badly outdated -don’t use it as a literal guide- but it’s a wonderful history told in a voice that’s interesting not because of…
Reading Log: Asterios Polyp and the Literary Merits of Graphic Novels
I’m a big fan of graphic novels; one the the projects I’m working on right now is a collaborative effort that extends into visual narrative. I enjoy comic books (check…
Reading Log: Gabriel García Márquez’s Of Love and Other Demons
Márquez himself needs no introduction, but his short novel Of Love and Other Demons had completely escaped my radar. My experience with Spanish-language magic realism had been limited to short…
Reading Log: February in Review
February was a rather lean month. Between working very long hours at a new school and trying to juggle a few other projects and responsibilities, my reading (and writing) tapered…
Reading Log: Unlikely Destinations; the Lonely Planet Story
First off, this is a weird book. It fits squarely into my goal of reading more things I wouldn’t normally, making picks from out of left field. It's some mad…