lauralh | Entries tagged with books:2006

Aleister Crowley, Diary of a Drug Fiend

One of the earliest "drug memoirs." Fictionalized account of Crowley's life, retold in a magnificent Edwardian splendor of verbiage.

A.L. Kennedy, Paradise

A Scottish woman's story of her attempts to quit drinking. Hilarious if painful.

Dashiel Hammet, The Thin Man

Er, another book about an alcoholic. Classic story about a dectectin' couple who investigate a dysfunctional family's patriarch.

Eddie Little, Another Day in Paradise

This one is about junkie safecrackers, and is based on Eddie Little's adolescence. Brutal and poignant.

Rob Thomas, Rats Saw God

I did like a few books that didn't involve drinking or drugs. This one's about a young man's high school clique, his first love, and how it all falls apart. By the creator of Veronica Mars.

Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination

A morality play about a highly immoral man who nearly dies, and tries to find out who is responsible. His quest takes him throughout the solar system and beyond.

Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Cynical Russian fantasy about the devil coming to Moscow to meet the a woman and her lover, the author of a realistic novel about Jesus.

Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

Probably the "worst" of these, but one of my favorite vampire tales ever. A young girl follows her father in the hunt for Dracula, all over 60s Europe.

Tim Powers, Declare

One of the most creative explanations for Communist Russia ever.

Current Music: shiny toy guns - waiting

Nonfiction first.

Ruth Reichl, Tender at the Bone

Her memoir was like a female straight David Sedaris who cooks instead of smokes. Well ok not quite that funny but pretty close. Plus, you know, recipes.

Howard Bloom, The Lucifer Principle

Psychology and sociology of "evil," hierarchies, and how power corrupts.

Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Terrence McKenna, Food of the Gods
Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Women

These three books are basically about evolution. The first two posit different theories about religion and the origin of consciousness, and the latter introduces the "aquatic ape" theory.

Walter F Otto, The Homeric Gods
Elizabeth Wayland Barber, When They Severed Earth from Sky

Two books that try to make sense of myths. The former puts Greek myth/religion into context, the latter shows that myths are most likely a coded form of oral history.

( the list below the cut )

Current Mood: blah

new books read:
Dashiell Hammett, The Continental Op and The Glass Key

old books read:
Maltese Falcon, Thin Man, Sin City run

I finished Touched with Fire last night. It's all about the bipolar poets in the 18th century, and how it's not just a coincidence that artsy people tend to be crazy. If you or someone you love is an artist/writer, and/or manic-depressive, check it out.

purchased two tickets to the Faint/Ratatat
finished Bester's The Stars My Destination
made my student loan payment and cable bill
had tea

jonathon lethem, amnesia moon

Chis Isherwood, The Berlin Stories

walter F otto, the homeric gods

seven seasons of buffy

Pretties Scott Westerfield
How the Irish Saved Civilization Thomas Cahill
Dinner at Deviant's Palace Tim Powers

Abducted is a pretty short nonfiction book, in which the author ties together disparate threads to explain why/how people come to believe they were abducted by aliens. I'm always curious as to why people believe weird things - as opposed to knowing the weird things they believe, which tends to be horribly boring unless tied together by Shea and Wilson - because it's so utterly understandable yet confusing at the same time. That is to say, I can see where it starts, but I don't get why people continue in the face of other evidence.

But I'm kind of excessively logical that way. And part of the problem is that there's no way to prove that these people weren't actually abducted. Basically it comes down to having sleep paralysis and being fantasy-prone, although there's a bit more to it than that. The interesting part is that most of these people aren't nuts or anything like that, they just have a really weird belief. Although is this belief any weirder than the Jesus thing? At this point in time, yes, but only because it's less common.

One book that changed your life:

The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan. Before that Usenet didn't matter.

One book you have read more than once:

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. Well, almost everything by Terry Pratchett. They lull me.

One book that you would want on a desert island:

Flow My Tears the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick, so I wouldn't be sure if I was REALLY on a deserted island or not.

One book that made you laugh:

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. The first time I was choking on laughter.

One book that made you cry:

Uhhhh books don't make me cry. Movies don't make me cry either. However Last Call by Tim Powers got my heartrate up better than marathon running.

One book you wish had been written:

Another Dirk Gently one.

One book you wish had never been written:

The Edge of Reason, the BJ sequel.

One book you are currently reading:

A Great and Noble Scheme about the expulsion of the Acadians.

One book you have been meaning to read:

The Road to Eleusis by R. Gordon Wasson, Albert Hofmann, and Carl A. P. Ruck.

Not By Genes Alone
From Chocolate to Morphine

Current Music: Vitalic - Soulshaker

reg forced me to read Killing Yourself to Live. despite myself I enjoyed it, although I'm rather glad I'm not that GenX. plus his music taste is slightly questionable, although I must say the bit about everyone going through the LED ZEPPELIN IS THE ONLY BAND EVER stage was spot on.

Current Music: immigrant song

Anubis Gate is very obviously a first novel.

dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale
Shoba Narayan, Monsoon Diary

As She Climbed Across the Table, Jonathan Lethem
Potatoes not Prozac, Kathleen DeMaisons

Fashion Victim, Michelle Lee

Current Music: Editors - Munich

I read The People's Republic of Desire yesterday, which is sort of Sex and the City in Beijing. It's a quick read but there's definitely something lurking behind the surface that wasn't really present in that other book of news clippings. (Sure, this is fiction but it reads the same way.) It's got all the problems of the "new woman" but also the problems of "new China." It goes over the differences between people who grew up in the 70s and people who were born then. Very interesting melange of stories and ideas. And of course lots of sex talk.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

I've even raped and killed a mountain panda in the hills of Shaanxi.

But these perks are beyond the point.

Entries tagged with books:2006

my favorite fiction in 2006

more about books I read: my top picks

95 books, jesus god

no wonder my dreams were weird last week

poor poor byron

so far today

another book

another book

a great book

another book

3 books

weird things

book questionnaire

2 more

"oh that means hell."

more tim powers

two good books

two more

meh. book.

beauty is subjective

Profile

July 2017

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags