(no subject)
100+ degrees today and my mom put an umbrella over one of the two purple Japanese maples. It’s kind of withered, in a coma if not actually dead. The tree, I mean, not the umbrella. I was only kidding when I said we should put an umbrella over it, but I looked outside my window this morning and there it was. Patron saint of hopeless cases, hear our prayer.
I spent much of last night reading a big fat collection of Alex Robinson’s Box Office Poison. Bought it at APE in April and still feel kind of guilty for having led Alex Robinson to believe I was a big fan (although I know he doesn’t remember me at all). He was there when I bought the book and asked if I wanted it signed. I said I did (even though I’d never read anything by him) and then pretty much stayed silent. Felt awkward about the silence, so I apologized by saying that I was speechless and in awe of cartoonists in general (not entirely false)…etc. But that was that, I thanked him for the signature, and left. Now, I wish I had read Box Office Poison before I met Robinson as I enjoyed it a lot.
Recently read:
- Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs (I will read anything this man writes.)
- A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson (Nice series of illustrations, impressions, and observations. Not a detailed travel guide. More like a traveler’s journal.)
- Fears of Your Life by Michael Bernard Loggins (“This is a book about scary things: all the things that you're afraid of. Everybody has fears in common, and in this wonderous handwritten book, author Michael Bernard Loggins (an adult with developmental disabilities) battles his fears by listing more than 138 of them. Loggins explores the depths of our most human emotion from real fears like "#53 Fear of Bats" and "#57 Fear of being different," to more complex, imagined fears like "#85 Fear that if you put too much toilet paper in the toilet bowl it will run over and get all over the floor and on you and on someone else too, it would leak from upstairs to the next floor below." - It’s funny in a bittersweet way.)
- Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson (Loved it: well-written storylines, characters, etc.)
- AEIOU or Any Easy Intimacy by Jeffrey Brown (More relationship-angst. Can’t deny that he knows his craft, but this book was a little too “precious” for me.)
- Same Difference & Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim (Liked it. Just can’t think of very much to say about it.)
Edit...aka "Can't believe I forgot to include":
- The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi (I LOVED this book. It's creepy in a way that only those who were born in one country and raised in another will really understand. About the author: "Helen Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria in 1984, and has lived in London from the age of four. She completed The Icarus Girl just before her nineteenth birthday, while studying for her A-levels.")
Next up:
- The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Finally. Are you happy, Dingbat? Yes, I’m reading it before I watch the movie. No, my book isn’t one of those movie-tie-in editions. Must maintain some dignity, right?)
- The Idiot Girls’ Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro
- The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey (Essays on political, social, and economic implications of the World Cup.)
- LSAT test prep stuff. 0_o