Monday, November 24, 2003
Book #16
W.P. Kinsella
The Iowa Baseball Confederacy
Started: November 20, 2003
Finished: December 21, 2003
Same guy who wrote Shoeless Joe, the book upon which the movieField of Dreams was based.
Reading it at work.
It starts slowly.
Once Gideon gets back to see the Confederacy actually start playing, it gets interesting....and then the ending gets even more muddled and rushed and confused than the beginning.
W.P. Kinsella
The Iowa Baseball Confederacy
Started: November 20, 2003
Finished: December 21, 2003
Same guy who wrote Shoeless Joe, the book upon which the movieField of Dreams was based.
Reading it at work.
It starts slowly.
Once Gideon gets back to see the Confederacy actually start playing, it gets interesting....and then the ending gets even more muddled and rushed and confused than the beginning.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Book #15
Stephen King
Dark Tower V: the Wolves of Calla
2003: Donald Grant
Started:: November 17, 2003
Finished:: November 30, 2003
The fifth book in the series. Borrowed the novel from my roommate. About a quarter of the way in, I'm noticing he's focusing a lot on Eddie Dean. I don't know if it's my imagination, necessarily. But he's looking at Eddie a lot harder so far than he's looked at any of the other characters.
Stephen King
Dark Tower V: the Wolves of Calla
2003: Donald Grant
Started:: November 17, 2003
Finished:: November 30, 2003
The fifth book in the series. Borrowed the novel from my roommate. About a quarter of the way in, I'm noticing he's focusing a lot on Eddie Dean. I don't know if it's my imagination, necessarily. But he's looking at Eddie a lot harder so far than he's looked at any of the other characters.
Friday, November 14, 2003
Book #14
Chuck Palahniuk
Diary
2003: Doubleday
Started: November 12, 2003
Finished: November 14, 2003
I liked this one. I like Palahniuk because he seems most interested in stripping the layers of a person away, until only the most base material is left. But along the way, he'll study the layers with intense, almost maniacal scrutiny.
In Diary, what we read is the journey and the thoughts of Misty Tracy Wilmot, whose husband lies in a coma. Misty has given much up for Peter, her husband, and has forgotten very much who she is.
Or has she?
This reminded me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebird, for a reason I can't quite put my finger on...even beyond the painting, which is a central element in both novels.
Chuck Palahniuk
Diary
2003: Doubleday
Started: November 12, 2003
Finished: November 14, 2003
I liked this one. I like Palahniuk because he seems most interested in stripping the layers of a person away, until only the most base material is left. But along the way, he'll study the layers with intense, almost maniacal scrutiny.
In Diary, what we read is the journey and the thoughts of Misty Tracy Wilmot, whose husband lies in a coma. Misty has given much up for Peter, her husband, and has forgotten very much who she is.
Or has she?
This reminded me a lot of Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebird, for a reason I can't quite put my finger on...even beyond the painting, which is a central element in both novels.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Book #13
Dennis Covington
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia
1994
(Reading the 1995 Penguin books printing)
Started: November 4, 2003
Finished: November 11, 2003
I started this one about a year ago, and put it down after getting 20 pages in, and promptly lost it for a little while. Actually, it got buried in the detritus of my existance (largely made up of old Wal-Mart Receipts). I didn't find it until a month later, and by then I'd moved on to other things.
So, I re-started it tonight. Got about 80 pages in. So far, I'm fairly impressed. Going by my mother's side, I'm just a couple or three generations out of the Appalachian mountains, myself. It's interesting because:
So far, Covington's classified snakehandling as a response to a world a lot of the rural folks didn't understand. It's an All-American microcosmic view of the agrarian society's struggle to acclimate itself to the industrial, and later, mechanized, and even now, the digital age.
It's fundamentalist at its roots, as snakehandlers draw inspiration from a line of scripture where it says the true believers will be shown to be the ones to handle the serpents, to drink poison without dying and to show healing powers by the laying on of hands.
And since Covington's story begins in Northeast Alabama, a little more than an hour's drive from Riceville, I vaguely remember a lot of the early incidents Covington describes, as far as court trials and snakebite incidents.
I should finish it this weekend.
Update: Well, I didn't finished it this weekend. I didn't read much of anything this weekend. But tonight, I did.
It's quite the read.
Dennis Covington
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia
1994
(Reading the 1995 Penguin books printing)
Started: November 4, 2003
Finished: November 11, 2003
I started this one about a year ago, and put it down after getting 20 pages in, and promptly lost it for a little while. Actually, it got buried in the detritus of my existance (largely made up of old Wal-Mart Receipts). I didn't find it until a month later, and by then I'd moved on to other things.
So, I re-started it tonight. Got about 80 pages in. So far, I'm fairly impressed. Going by my mother's side, I'm just a couple or three generations out of the Appalachian mountains, myself. It's interesting because:
So far, Covington's classified snakehandling as a response to a world a lot of the rural folks didn't understand. It's an All-American microcosmic view of the agrarian society's struggle to acclimate itself to the industrial, and later, mechanized, and even now, the digital age.
It's fundamentalist at its roots, as snakehandlers draw inspiration from a line of scripture where it says the true believers will be shown to be the ones to handle the serpents, to drink poison without dying and to show healing powers by the laying on of hands.
And since Covington's story begins in Northeast Alabama, a little more than an hour's drive from Riceville, I vaguely remember a lot of the early incidents Covington describes, as far as court trials and snakebite incidents.
I should finish it this weekend.
Update: Well, I didn't finished it this weekend. I didn't read much of anything this weekend. But tonight, I did.
It's quite the read.
Book #12
Stephen King
Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
1997, Plume
Started: November 5, 2003
Finished: November 19, 2003
Listening to the unabridged audio. While I drive, and whatnot.
Stephen King
Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
1997, Plume
Started: November 5, 2003
Finished: November 19, 2003
Listening to the unabridged audio. While I drive, and whatnot.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Book #11
Tom Robbins
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
1994
Started: October 31, 2003
Finished: November 3, 2003
Never read any Robbins, but I've always heard good things.
This was a pretty funny book, and I gotta say I really let myself fall into the whole idealistic pursuit of greater consciousness character Larry Diamond is trying to get Gwen Mati to follow.
Here's something interesting about the book:
It's written in second person. You are Gwen Mati, Filipino Stock Broker in Seattle, who has fallen victim and taken with you dozens if not hundreds of investors in a stock market crash that happens the Thursday before the 3-day Easter Weekend.
So, when Larry Diamond is speaking to Gwen, he's speaking to you.
The viewpoint is unique. I'll say that. And not as irritating as I initially thought it might be.
It's a bit preachy. I'll say that.
That's a big complaint I'm reading in a couple of reviews of the book.
I think I'll look for more Robbins.
Tom Robbins
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
1994
Started: October 31, 2003
Finished: November 3, 2003
Never read any Robbins, but I've always heard good things.
This was a pretty funny book, and I gotta say I really let myself fall into the whole idealistic pursuit of greater consciousness character Larry Diamond is trying to get Gwen Mati to follow.
Here's something interesting about the book:
It's written in second person. You are Gwen Mati, Filipino Stock Broker in Seattle, who has fallen victim and taken with you dozens if not hundreds of investors in a stock market crash that happens the Thursday before the 3-day Easter Weekend.
So, when Larry Diamond is speaking to Gwen, he's speaking to you.
The viewpoint is unique. I'll say that. And not as irritating as I initially thought it might be.
It's a bit preachy. I'll say that.
That's a big complaint I'm reading in a couple of reviews of the book.
I think I'll look for more Robbins.
Book #10
Jerry Lawler (with Doug Asheville)
It's Good to Be King...Sometimes
2003:
Started: October 29, 2003
Finished: October 31, 2003
Apparently Blogger lost this post from earlier.
An enjoyable read, if the ghost-writing is a little dry.
I particularly enjoyed the King's recounting of what it was like in the days of the NWA territories, especially in the face of the behemoth created by Vince McMahon Jr. His insight on how he (and nearly he alone) was able to stand up against the McMahon onslaught is important.
He does gloss over the fact that he and Jerry Jarrett were basically given an ultimatum by McMahon: Work with us, or we'll run you over. That's how Lawler and Jarrett's USWA become the forerunner of the OVW as the training ground for the WWF.
Also interesting, however, is the extent of Jerry's knowledge of the whole rub with Andy Kaufmann. That at times, Jerry didn't know whether Andy was trying to play him as much as he was playing the audience.
ON the whole, it's an informative read....but only if you're a rasslin' fan.
Jerry Lawler (with Doug Asheville)
It's Good to Be King...Sometimes
2003:
Started: October 29, 2003
Finished: October 31, 2003
Apparently Blogger lost this post from earlier.
An enjoyable read, if the ghost-writing is a little dry.
I particularly enjoyed the King's recounting of what it was like in the days of the NWA territories, especially in the face of the behemoth created by Vince McMahon Jr. His insight on how he (and nearly he alone) was able to stand up against the McMahon onslaught is important.
He does gloss over the fact that he and Jerry Jarrett were basically given an ultimatum by McMahon: Work with us, or we'll run you over. That's how Lawler and Jarrett's USWA become the forerunner of the OVW as the training ground for the WWF.
Also interesting, however, is the extent of Jerry's knowledge of the whole rub with Andy Kaufmann. That at times, Jerry didn't know whether Andy was trying to play him as much as he was playing the audience.
ON the whole, it's an informative read....but only if you're a rasslin' fan.
