One of my goals this summer is to read more than I have in, well, let's say the past five years or so. I have always been a book lover so it's a bit shameful how little I read these days that's not on my computer screen. It's not that I don't have time necessarily, but rather that I fail to make room for it. I try sometimes but with Tyra Banks and Mark Burnett cranking out two seasons of America's Next Top Model and Survivor a year respectively, my schedule can get kind of cramped. However, with all of my reality shows on hiatus until fall and with the HBO season finales tonight, I suddenly see my summer opening up with time for me to lounge on the front porch with a couple of good books. And maybe a glass of wine. (Except for when Project Runway is on.)
So my question to you is this: What is out there right now that's worth reading? I"m almost finished with the latest David Sedaris book and I have Mary Roach's "Spook" on order, but with the lack of any Harry Potter books being released this summer I'm at a loss. I love sci-fi and fantasy as well as a lot of non-fiction but I'm pretty much open to anything.
And no, I will not be reading the Da Vinci Code.
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I just finished Philip Roth's _Everyman_, which might get a little glum for you. It's the story of a man facing mortality, knowing he's fucked up a lot in his life and doing surprisingly little (externally, at least) to correct much of it. Not depressing per se, but makes ya think. I especially recommend Roth's _Portnoy's Complaint_ as well, which I read in high school and remember being very funny.
ReplyDeleteI just started Augusten Burroughs' _Running with Scissors_, and two chapters in, I'm hooked. Sedaris-like humor, which of course appeals to me. It's so funny (right now, at least) because he doesn't realize - at least, at a young age/in the beginning of the book - how screwed up his family is. Moments he recalls very frankly and matter-of-factly are probably in most people's opinions pretty out there. His memoir(s) is(have) been sort of nudged into the spotlight a bit more following the James Frey controversy, and I'm really glad. Great writing.
I agree with Stephanie, and I think I recommended him awhile back too, but Augusten Burroughs is great, if you like Sedaris. I read all his books last summer, and he just came out with a new one too. It's so funny. I like Sellevision too, a spoof on home shopping networks; but they're all good.
ReplyDeleteForget books, yo: be like me and get sucked into So You Think You Can Dance?!
ReplyDeleteBut if you insist, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?: The Carter Family & Their Legacy in American Music is lovely. My friend's written a series of performance pieces based on three of the original Carter Family members, and we're adapting them for the good ol' radio.
I just finished reading "The Way The Crow Flies" by Ann-Marie McDonald. Beautiful book in the same vein as "The Lovely Bones" in that it's from a child's point of view. I was in a vortex reading that book - got about two thirds through and no one could talk to me no matter how hard they tried.
ReplyDeleteReading a terrific biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay called "Savage Beauty" right now. She was an interesting person in every sense of the word.
Finding time's hard though. Yet another reason why it sucks to be a grown-up.