Why, Sometimes I've Believed As Many As Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

[spectralbovine]

Emily and I watched the first four episodes of Arrested Development on Sunday. Jesus, I forgot how goddamn fucking funny that show is. The laugh/minute ratio is insane. Nothing airing currently holds a candle.

I finished reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Through the Looking-Glass. What nonsense! I'm not used to stories that are clearly

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Librarian Girl Sez:

[evilstmars]

If you like nonfiction, I like to recommend "Julie & Julia", the tale of one New Yorker's attempt to emulate Julia Child and reinvent her life. It's got funny bits in. Also incredibly entertaining: "The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pick-Up Artists", by Neil Strauss, aka "Style". It's so trashy, so misanthropic yet hopeful, and so well-written.

Anything by Sean Stewart is terrific, but my favorites are "Mockingbird" and "Galveston". I've got to hunt down his latest, however, titles either 'Perfect Circle' or 'Firecracker' depending on the edition. Good fantasy, a little surreal.

For a little more surreal, my favorite author remains Jonathan Carroll. Look for 'The Land of Laughs' or 'Sleeping in Flame' for his most accessible stuff.

"Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn is probably the most disturbing horror novel I have read in some time. Some books are un-put-downable; this book will force you to set it aside and circle back in that can't-look-away-oh-no-make-it-stop sense. Shuddery.

The movie has hype, now read the book: "No Country for Old Men" is, if a bit artsy, an excellent and suspenseful read. I'm dying to see the movie simply on basis of how much I can tell the Coens got right about it.

Sarah Waters specializes in hot literary lesbian Victoriana. This tends to obscure her talent, because, hey. Hot literary lesbian Victoriana. 'Fingersmith' is, however, really really good. As literary goes, A.S. Byatt's "Possession" is an amazing labyrinth of poetry and literature and excitement and mystery, and probably my favorite book.

And last but certainly not least, anything Carl Hiaasen writes is laugh-out-loud funny. Ignore that bad movie with Demi Moore in it; go for "Striptease".

All of the above are significant reads; you won't zip through in two hours and be done, but none of them are so weighty you'll have to commit to long hours.

Re: Librarian Girl Sez:

[spectralbovine]

Anything by Sean Stewart is terrific, but my favorites are "Mockingbird" and "Galveston". I've got to hunt down his latest, however, titles either 'Perfect Circle' or 'Firecracker' depending on the edition. Good fantasy, a little surreal.
Ooh, I have meant to read some Sean Stewart for a while, since he was head writer on The Beast.

For a little more surreal, my favorite author remains Jonathan Carroll. Look for 'The Land of Laughs' or 'Sleeping in Flame' for his most accessible stuff.
I think I actually have the former somewhere, but it looked kind of small.

"Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn is probably the most disturbing horror novel I have read in some time. Some books are un-put-downable; this book will force you to set it aside and circle back in that can't-look-away-oh-no-make-it-stop sense. Shuddery.
Ooh, that sounds good. Only 272 pages, though. Maybe I can do two medium-ish books. I'm trying to save space, and I'd rather have too much to read than not enough.

Thanks for the recs!

Re: Librarian Girl Sez:

[alannaofdoom]

I have never read Possession but I have read Gregory Maguire's Lost, which I'm told is similar in tone or theme or something? Anyway, clearly I should read Possession.

Also, I [heart] Sarah Waters so hard. Haven't read Fingersmith yet, but I've reread Tipping the Velvet several times, and just recently finished Night Watch which was freakin' amazing.

(What's interesting about TtV is that I saw the BBC miniseries before reading the book, and because the miniseries' narration was taken more-or-less verbatim from the book, now every time I read the book I hear Rachael Stirling's voice. Kind of awesome, actually.)