I like to read books on vacation.
Here's what I read on my most recent lovely holiday:
SMOKE AND MIRRORS by Neil Gaiman
I got the two Gaiman short story collections for Christmas. I think his short stories may be even better than his novels. This collection is worth buying if only for the super awesome story Murder Mystery. It's about angels in heaven and it's Gaiman at his finest.
Gee, how much do I suck for describing something as "super awesome"? Urk.
ABSOLUTE FRIENDS by John LeCarre
An interesting book about a pair of spies and their relationship from the cold war through to the present day. Pretty bleak and angry perspective on the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies and the justifications for the Iraq war. I enjoyed it, but probably would've enjoyed it even more if I'd read it when t was frst published in 2004.
THE EGYPTOLOGIST by Arthur Phillips
Extremely funny/creepy epistolary novel about a delusional "archaeologist" on the hunt for the tomb of an apocryphal pharaoh and the skeevy detective on the trail of the archaeologist. Very complex and witty and even a little heartbreaking.
HELL TO PAY by George Pelecanos
Pelecanos is getting to be one of my favorite crime authors. I've read two other books of his (The Night Gardener and Hard Revolution) both of which were excellent. This one is good too, although not quite on the level as the two others. I like the continuing main character of P.I. Derek Strange, but I usually get tired of crime book series with the same protagonist after awhile. It takes away a bit of the unpredictability of a novel when you know nothing truly earth-shaking can happen to the main characters 'cause then there wouldn't be any more books(although this doesn't bug me with comics so much. I still like Batman, even though I know he ain't gonna die. Current storyline notwithstanding). But Pelecanos is so good that he and Strange have got me hooked for another book or two at least.
THE SALMON OF DOUBT by Douglas Adams
The cover of this one tries to trick you into thinking it's somehow connected to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which it isn't. It's mostly a collection of odd essays by Adams and one third of an unfinished Dirk Gently novel. A lot of the essays are pretty darn funny anyway, I laughed out loud quite a few times. Really only recommended for big time Adams fans. Anybody looking for Hitchhikers stuff will be sorely disappointed. The fragment of the Dirk Gently novel shows a lot of promise though. It's a damn shame he never got the chance to finish it.
THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt
The name of this book and its author sounds to me like some gooey girlie book by Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins or some shit, but it isn't that at all. I think I picked this up 'cause Stephen King put it on some top ten list somewhere. Anyway, it's a weird and compelling story about a group of egghead students of ancient Greek who decide to murder one of their classmates. A thought-provoking page-turner. Not girly at all.
So that's what I read. Right now I'm working on Clockers by Richard Price. I read about half of this when it first came out like 15 years ago and never finished it. I don't know what I was thinking. It's fricking GREAT. I really was a moron back in the day.
3 comments:
So you don't read much then? What was that - in like a ****ing week? Ah well back to Dick Dora Nip and Fluff for me!
Dick does the nipping and Dora, well ...? (*snigger*)
Now I want to read the Smoke and Mirrors especially. I read Gaiman's "Graveyard Book" over the break and really loved it. All of the books you mentioned sound awesome. Even super awesome. ;p
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