Of things I love:
The Rolling Stones (favorite song: Paint it Black).
Zadie Smith, as reviewed by Frank Rich. Awesome. The Voice has an interview. (I’m obsessed with White Teeth, and I can’t wait to read On Beauty… another thing to do after I graduate law school).
Female Chauvinist Pigs: A book I want to read.
Rushdie’s latest gets mixed reviews (but hot damn I love Michi Kakutani). I’m in the middle of The Satanic Verses right now, and it’s inspiring me to re-read Midnight’s Children.
My favorite writer Tom Robbins lands at #15 this week on the NYT non-fiction list, and is featured inside the list in today’s paper. I have not yet bought Wild Ducks Flying Backward, because I am poor, and because I have no time to read. If you’re looking for a good Robbins book to pick up, my favorite is Skinny Legs and All, but there are a great many other fabulous ones: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Jitterbug Perfume, etc. His style is engaging, funny and borderline insane. For example, Robbins on Debra Winger: “She’s walked a tightrope between fire and honey, between sulfur and roses, between sarcasm and succor, between monolith and disco ball.” Beautiful.
Anyone else read anything good lately?
Similar Posts:
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- Review: Not Ordinarily Borrowable or, Unwelcome Advice by Thomas Thurman by Chally January 22, 2011
- The Prodigal Book Reviewer by Julie December 31, 2010
- Punk Rock, Weed, and Other Paths to Salvation by Julie January 19, 2009
I think I was too young when I read The Satanic Verses, right after it came out in paperback. I didn’t understand what the big jihady deal was. A few years later, an Iranian-American friend who was obsessed with Rushdie explained it for me, and I’ve been meaning to get back to it since.
I just read Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich. It was sobering in a totally different way than Nickel and Dimed was, but sobering nonetheless. The books make a great one-two punch.
I don’t remember where I heard it but I heard that Tom Robbins, while a great writer, desperately needs a good editor for his manuscripts. I don’t mean as in right now but in general. Apparently the manuscripts he turns in to the publisher are typically half again as large as the finished and published book. So a 1200 page work will be edited down to 800 pages. I don’t know if it’s true so I’m probably spreading malicious rumor.
I just finished Fluke and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore, both of which were funny and remind me a bit of Tom Robbins. Apparently because I decided I was too happy, I’m now reading Laurie Garrett‘s Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. It’s well written, well researched, and informative; if a bit depressing.
I bought an old hardback of the Edie Sedgwick biography … tawdry and shocking. George Plimpton had a hand in it, so he threads together New England Old Money with the Factory.
Whatever movie they make about Edie will suck.
“Female Chauvinist Pigs” is awesome, very provocative food-for-thought for “sex positive” feminists. Don’t listen to the feminist bashing reviews, it’s a very thoughtful and timely book.