Category: books
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Parable of the Sower
I just finished reading Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Sower” and I have to give it A+++ on the chilling dystopia story about a United States falling in to anarchy and chaos, not too hard to imagine right now, honestly. Written as the journal of Lauren, a young woman living in a walled neighborhood in Read.
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zero degrees
It was so cold this morning that the thermometer didn’t register a temperature at all. It showed zero degrees. My Darling B doesn’t know how to process information like that other than to bunch herself up into a tiny little ball covered in flannel and quilts and repeat, “BRRR! IT’S COLD!” She felt a little Read.
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pain
Prewitt loved the songs because they gave him something, an understanding, a first hint that pain might not be pointless if you could only turn it into something. — James Jones, From Here To Eternity Read.
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advice
Few people in the history of written advice have actually been qualified to give it. There’s no Ph.D. program or certification course or license for the role. Which means that nobody is ineligible to give advice, either. … Take Ann Landers and Dear Abby. Those columns were written by a pair of twins whose parents Read.
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cissy
On this day in 1954 Raymond Chandler’s wife Cissy died. Chandler was arguably one of the greatest mystery writers in American history. If you don’t believe me, read The Lady In The Lake. Chandler wrote this about Cissy after her death, in a letter to a friend: I have received much sympathy and kindness and Read.
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names
Here’s a fun bit o’ trivia about me: I can enjoy the shit out of a story in a book or on television, but nine times out of ten I couldn’t tell you the names of any of the characters no matter how much I liked the story. In fact, the odds that I won’t Read.
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cub pilot
[This is one of my favorite passages from Mark Twain’s Life On The Mississippi. In it, Twain describes one of the earliest days of his training to become a riverboat pilot at the hands of Horace Bixby, a crack pilot and Twain’s teacher:] Now and then Mr. Bixby called my attention to certain things. Said Read.
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Ancillary Mixup
I read Ann Leckie’s debut novel “Ancillary Justice” about a year ago, which means I don’t remember how long ago it was. In the bible, they would’ve said “forty days and forty nights.” It was a long time ago. So long that I don’t remember all the details of the story now, but I do Read.
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The Caine Mutiny
If memory serves, I bought my first copy of The Caine Mutiny at a used book store in Lincoln, England, in 1999 or 2000. It was a pretty beat-up, water-damaged Penguin paperback edition and I read it as though I was possessed by it, all in one week. (400 pages in a week is pretty Read.
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spy world
I picked up a copy of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre the last time I was at the resale store. I’ve wanted to read it since I watched the recently-made movie with Gary Oldman, and I have to say I could follow the plot of the movie a lot more easily than Read.
This Is Drivel 