The book update
-All I Did Was Ask by Terry Gross - I started listening to Terry Gross's NPR show "Fresh Air" when I was doing my student teaching and my carpool buddy got me hooked on it. She has to be one of the best interviewers ever. I enjoyed this book, but was a little disappointed that she focused it on interviews with entertainers, since I think her political interviews may be more interesting.
-The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Euginedes - Written by the same guy who wrote Middlesex, which I think I liked more. This book had a short story feeling to it, but on the other hand it wasn't too long in the sense that I was bored. I guess I wanted more explanation. Worth reading though.
-A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby - Book club folks will recognize this as the author who wrote How to be Good; for everyone else, he also wrote About a Boy and High Fidelity. I actually listened to this on CD on my road trip. Nick Hornby is one of my favorite authors ever. His gig is that he's both sarcastic/ironic and touching/sincere at the same time. And so funny. The setup for this one (continuing with the suicide theme) is that four people meet on top of a building, and they've all gone there with the intention of jumping.
-Something by Tony Hillerman- My brother had this on MP3 on our road trip and he had no idea which book it was. It's noteworthy because I've never liked Tony Hillerman or mysteries in general, but I enjoyed listening to this.
-Running With Scissors by Augusten Borroughs - This is a memoir of the author's messed-up childhood years. Parts of it were just plain disturbing, but he seems to have been aiming for darkly funny, and I think he hit that most of the time. I give it an "eh."
-Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making us Smarter - His thesis is basically that TV, video games, and movies are requiring more complex thought from people as time goes on. This was one of those books that started me looking at things in a new way, plus it was just plain fun to read.
-The Cat's Pajamas by Ray Bradbury - New Bradbury stories?! Pinch me! I was worried that Bradbury would turn out to be one of those things where you love it at a certain age, and then when you look again as an adult you're totally disappointed. But these stories had the same effect on me that the old ones did during my "I only read Ray Bradbury" phase. (Which if you're curious, pretty much coincided with my "I only listen to REM" phase.)
-The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Euginedes - Written by the same guy who wrote Middlesex, which I think I liked more. This book had a short story feeling to it, but on the other hand it wasn't too long in the sense that I was bored. I guess I wanted more explanation. Worth reading though.
-A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby - Book club folks will recognize this as the author who wrote How to be Good; for everyone else, he also wrote About a Boy and High Fidelity. I actually listened to this on CD on my road trip. Nick Hornby is one of my favorite authors ever. His gig is that he's both sarcastic/ironic and touching/sincere at the same time. And so funny. The setup for this one (continuing with the suicide theme) is that four people meet on top of a building, and they've all gone there with the intention of jumping.
-Something by Tony Hillerman- My brother had this on MP3 on our road trip and he had no idea which book it was. It's noteworthy because I've never liked Tony Hillerman or mysteries in general, but I enjoyed listening to this.
-Running With Scissors by Augusten Borroughs - This is a memoir of the author's messed-up childhood years. Parts of it were just plain disturbing, but he seems to have been aiming for darkly funny, and I think he hit that most of the time. I give it an "eh."
-Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making us Smarter - His thesis is basically that TV, video games, and movies are requiring more complex thought from people as time goes on. This was one of those books that started me looking at things in a new way, plus it was just plain fun to read.
-The Cat's Pajamas by Ray Bradbury - New Bradbury stories?! Pinch me! I was worried that Bradbury would turn out to be one of those things where you love it at a certain age, and then when you look again as an adult you're totally disappointed. But these stories had the same effect on me that the old ones did during my "I only read Ray Bradbury" phase. (Which if you're curious, pretty much coincided with my "I only listen to REM" phase.)