Holy shit.

Have to read it for class... Looks pretty good.

"Yo momma's so white, she went to her own wedding naked!"

You can't really tell, but in the picture on the back cover (not the one above), King has the most POWERFUL unibrow I have seen in a long time and he is just staring down the camera with this grim expression. Picture probably says as many words as the book will.

I loved The Elementary Particles too...engaging storytelling yet you had no idea where it was headed[spoiler] until the last page[/spoiler]. Thanks for the tip on this one.

I don't live that far from Stephen King's house. People drive by all the time in the summer to take pictures.
http://www.horrorking.com/photo2.html

The Cobweb - Neil Stephenson & J. Frederick George

Eyes of the Dragon is one of his more friendlier novels, actually...almost a fairy tale. For sheer grimness, go to Pet Sematary.

Not really looking for a grim book, I was just commenting on the picture, because it cracked me up, especially with the fairy-tale text. This intense as hell dude writing about princes and dragons seems too weird. The book itself isn't doing much for me. I thought it would be riveting, but his narrative style of saying an event like "the king was killed" and then going on for 40 pages describing the circumstances and events in past tense really removes the reader from the action and kills suspense. Add in all the useless asides and commentary from the narrator (written as if it's somebody telling you the story, not you reading it), and the result is me only continuing because I paid 7 bucks and hope something fun will happen.

Kind of like how I got stuck halfway through the first Dark Tower book where the gunslinger is just trudging through the desert. Great description and all, but I put the book aside until I have the patience to finish the hundreds of pages of build.

Chris Ware - Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Boy on Earth

I just started dabbling with this last week, it's really good so far. Don't have a whole lot of time to read it, but it is great from what I have read.

Pretty good read although quite slow moving.

Written just a few years ago by a local WWII vet. Just starting it but it's great already. From Amazon:

Renner and Birks' plainly written but gripping story of men against the sea relates the fate of the coastal minesweeper YMS-472. After a short, accident-plagued career sweeping for mines off New York, the 136-foot wooden vessel was sent to the Pacific to aid in the invasion of Japan. The end of the war eliminated that mission but not the vicious typhoon that swept toward Okinawa in September 1945. Ordered to sea, YMS-472 was eventually overwhelmed by the weather and capsized, with the loss of 25 of the crew. Renner was one of four men who survived aboard a raft, suffering an ordeal that makes gripping reading and recalls the fate of the survivors of the more famous Indianapolis sinking. While Renner has harsh words for the navy's failure to conduct a proper search, he is as loyal to the memories of his shipmates as the facts of their behavior allow.

I remember liking Eyes of the Dragon in high school. I still have a soft spot for it, but I bet if I actually read it, I'd hate it.

Jump to Dark Tower II: The Drawing of The Three...the prologue will bring you up to speed, and everything gallops forward from there. I think you'll get hooked by then.

I've been (trying) to read Omnivore's Dilemma for a couple weeks, now. It's been a struggle because the first section on corn and that f'ing Iowan was unbearable. I despise Iowa to begin with, so that didn't help.

I began reading the bit on Steer 543 and started to really enjoy it! So, hopefully that continues.

I'll give it a shot, thanks for the rec, aggy

i finished "Born Standing Up" by Steve Martin. that's a solid little book. read it.

I'm 2/3 of the way through this and I'm really enjoying it. These were two of the characters I liked best in the movie, so I was interested to read their version of what happened. Great read. Apparently Major Winters also wrote a book about these same experiences. I may have to read that one next.

This is one of those "bible character tells how it was" novels, this being the story of Dinah, a daughter of Jacob. Lots of (non-erotic) concubine sex, circumcision and pregnancy action thus far. Her contribution to biblical lore is that she gets raped, which then somehow leads to the circumcision of hundreds of converted Jewish soldiers...but I'm only up to Chapter 2 of Part 2, where she actually gets born. Diament has done a lot of research into daily living pre-Exodus, which makes for interesting reading.

This was Simmons first novel I believe. Having been passed off as a horror novel,
more inspired by the Lovecraftian vision of the supernatural than modern horror though.
The novel takes place in Calcutta, and the narrators description of the seedy environment
really stuck with me.

I was pleased by it and am now ready to move on to his latest novel


And I'll be interested to see how his prose has changed in the decade or so it's been since
the last one I read.

The Terror was a great read. I needed to take sunshine breaks from this book to get the "stuck on a boat in the arctic" feeling out of my head. Tension all the way through.

i'm reading a john feinstein book (YEAH, i know) about the Partiot basketball league (YEAH, I KNOW) right now.
it's aight, kinda preachy

Good to hear. I should probably read it this winter, over the summer I won't want to read something as bleak.

I didn't like the way it ended.

nick, are you looking specifically for books about running? try Once A Runner. the kids refer to it as the holy grail.

finished

last week. great book, getting the sequel now

about to read some of this:

First time reading a collection of letters. Really good.

Thanks. I'll check it out. I'm training to run a marathon in May w/ my ultimate goal being to tackle one of these "Ultra Marathons" a year from now. The book I posted offered interesting insight into these runners' mentality & training regimens.

It's pretty pricey, though.

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

I've had this book about 2-3 years now but have yet to read it yet. Always got sidetracked with other things.

Worthy of classic status?

I'd say so. It's pretty damn good.

it was out of print for a long time -- Fleet Feet stores carry them now, so if you can find one they'll have a copy. both of you (nick, mats) are out in the western burbs if i'm not mistaken, so your best shot is the one in downtown Elmhurst.

the book was pretty fuckin' awesome.
really immersing world he made. sometimes you will get confused, but when you are done you realize you were supposed to be thrown off a little by the pacing and it feels really cool.

nick, you should also check out "Why We Run" by bernd heinrich. he's a super nerd anthropologist who trained for an ultramarathon back in the early 80's (i think i have that time period right). a lot of it is a scientific study of the endurance capabilities of various species in the animal kingdom mixed in with his guesses about how to train for something like that -- he managed to get himself sponsored by Ocean Spray so he drank that while running. obv this is before we had gatorade. it should at least convince you that your body is fully capable of surviving the ultra if you manage to train yourself for it.

Re-reading for the third or fourth time. My favorite book.

Also picked this up:



I think the last book I finished was that Mix Tape book from Sheffield. Maybe something else afterwards. Man, I need to get back into reading.

I've probably read this six or seven times. Reading it again.

I'M FINALLY GOING TO CRACK THIS OPEN WHEN THE BOARD DIES DOWN TONIGHT AT SOME POINT
THE COVER MAKES IT LOOK BADASSSS
I LOVE PINOCHET, EVEN THOUGH THIS IS FOR A CLASS, I LOOK FORWARD TO READING IT

THANKS, KMAC!

WTF, PINK?! PINOCHET IS ONE OF THE MOST DESPICABLE HUMANS TO HAVE EVER LIVED. I'M INTERESTED IN HIM, TOO, FOR HISTORICAL SAKE, BUT I HATE HIM, NOT LOVE HIM. IF THAT'S WHAT YOU MEANT, TOO, THERE ARE A COUPLE OF REALLY GOOD DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT PINOCHET AND CHILE. ONE IS CHILE, OBSTINATE MEMORY, WHICH IS SORT OF ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE OTHER, THE BATTLE OF CHILE.

ALSO, ISABEL ALLENDE'S HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS IS A GREAT NOVEL ABOUT CHILE, COMPARABLE TO ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE BUT FROM A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE.

WHEN I SAY I LOVE HIM I MEAN I LOVE LEARNING ABOUT HIM
THOUGH I KNOW A CHILEAN GIRL THAT WILL DEFEND MOST OF THE STUFF HE DID

HER RESPONSE TO ANY ARGUMENT I TRY TO MAKE AGAINST PINOCHET IS '...BUT HE FED ALL THOSE PEOPLE'
WORLDWIDE HE IS SEEN AS A MONSTER, BUT HE IS STILL A DIVISIVE FIGURE IN CHILE

Late in the game, I know. I first skimmed this when I had time to kill at a bookstore when it first came out...and ended up reading nearly 50 pages. Now I finally came back to it, and it's still riveting. If you hadn't heard, here's the premise: a preteen girl in suburbia circa 1973 is murdered, and her spirit from heaven narrates the impending actions of her family, friends and the killer himself. Sounds stupid, but it packs an emotional punch from Sebold's narrative. Peter Jackson is directing the movie, looking forward to it.

Just read this. Pretty crappy, actually.

I really enjoyed the book, but it seems like a difficult movie to adapt to the screen.

The Peter Jackson who directed 'Beautiful Creatures' could pull this off, I think. Some readers have balked at the choices in casting (see imdb's list below), but eh well.

Cast (Credited cast)
Saoirse Ronan ... Susie Salmon

Mark Wahlberg ... Jack Salmon

Rachel Weisz ... Abigail Salmon

Susan Sarandon ... Grandma Lynn

Stanley Tucci ... George Harvey

Amanda Michalka ... Clarissa

Reece Ritchie ... Ray Singh

Michael Imperioli ... Len Fenerman

Didn't recognize the actresses' name, but after looking her up, she seems like a good choice.
It's the creepy Atonement girl.

I thought perfect choice too, as long as she pulls off the Yank accent. Tucci, yes (Kevin Spacey is probably sick of playing creeps). Wahlberg and Susan Sarandon too young, though?

whoever designed that cover should be shot.

IT WAS PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
NO JOKE

well that answers everything.,

Possibly too young. I would also prefer two less recognizable actors.
Is Wahlberg too young for that cougar Sarandon?