Saturday, December 27, 2003
Book #22
Carrie Muskat (editor/compiler)
Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Chicago Cubs
2001: Contemporary Books
Started: December 24, 2003
Finished: December 25, 2003
A Christmas gift from my friend, fellow-Cubs Fan Steven.
A surprisingly quick read. I'm a big fan of the Studs Terkel style of letting people tell their own story, and Muscat does that well here.
I especially liked the 80's section, with Leon Durham, Ryno, Jim Frey and the gang I watched when I was a little guy.
Carrie Muskat (editor/compiler)
Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Chicago Cubs
2001: Contemporary Books
Started: December 24, 2003
Finished: December 25, 2003
A Christmas gift from my friend, fellow-Cubs Fan Steven.
A surprisingly quick read. I'm a big fan of the Studs Terkel style of letting people tell their own story, and Muscat does that well here.
I especially liked the 80's section, with Leon Durham, Ryno, Jim Frey and the gang I watched when I was a little guy.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Book #21
Harlan Ellison
Spider Kiss
1961 (Reading the 1997 White Wolf/Edgeworks Edition)
I like Harlan. I really wish the White Wolf Edgeworks Books had kept on. Especially since the Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat were going to be Volume 5.
Spider Kiss is one of Harlan's few novels. He's got three, I believe. I've never read his novel work. Short Stories. Columns. Comics. Rants. Hell Yeah.
But not the novels. Till now.
Harlan Ellison
Spider Kiss
1961 (Reading the 1997 White Wolf/Edgeworks Edition)
I like Harlan. I really wish the White Wolf Edgeworks Books had kept on. Especially since the Glass Teat and The Other Glass Teat were going to be Volume 5.
Spider Kiss is one of Harlan's few novels. He's got three, I believe. I've never read his novel work. Short Stories. Columns. Comics. Rants. Hell Yeah.
But not the novels. Till now.
Monday, December 15, 2003
Book #20
R.D. Reynolds and Randy Baer
Wrestlecrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling
2003: ECW Press
Started: December 10, 2003
Finished: December 13, 2003
I read this as I was going to sleep each night.
What a horrible book. I'm lying if I say I read every word of it. I read most of it, skipping over the parts that I knew already too well, or was frustrated too much by the sloppy nature of the writing and fact-checking.
A note to the writers: Even if your subject is professional wrestling, if you're going to included a bibliography/works cited page in a non-fiction work, you need to cite more than 5 sources for a book of your size and scope. Writing a retrospective on somebody else's work solely from your own memory isn't quite the best way to go about things.....
Of what's in it, I'd say I read about three quarters.
I'll say this: If there's a cheaper paperback version, I hope an extra chapter is added on at the end, chronicling the number of misrememberings, confusions, false assumptions, vendettas the writer(s) have with Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Vince Russo, as well as the number just plain mis-spellings of names throughout. Because this is real wreslecrap...and I'm not proud of myself for having read as much of it as I did....
R.D. Reynolds and Randy Baer
Wrestlecrap: The Very Worst of Professional Wrestling
2003: ECW Press
Started: December 10, 2003
Finished: December 13, 2003
I read this as I was going to sleep each night.
What a horrible book. I'm lying if I say I read every word of it. I read most of it, skipping over the parts that I knew already too well, or was frustrated too much by the sloppy nature of the writing and fact-checking.
A note to the writers: Even if your subject is professional wrestling, if you're going to included a bibliography/works cited page in a non-fiction work, you need to cite more than 5 sources for a book of your size and scope. Writing a retrospective on somebody else's work solely from your own memory isn't quite the best way to go about things.....
Of what's in it, I'd say I read about three quarters.
I'll say this: If there's a cheaper paperback version, I hope an extra chapter is added on at the end, chronicling the number of misrememberings, confusions, false assumptions, vendettas the writer(s) have with Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Vince Russo, as well as the number just plain mis-spellings of names throughout. Because this is real wreslecrap...and I'm not proud of myself for having read as much of it as I did....
Book #19
John Steinbeck
The Pearl
1945, 1947....read the 1979 Bantam Paperback edition
Started: December 9, 2003
Finished December 9, 2003
This is a great story, especially for the simple way it's told.
John Steinbeck
The Pearl
1945, 1947....read the 1979 Bantam Paperback edition
Started: December 9, 2003
Finished December 9, 2003
This is a great story, especially for the simple way it's told.
Book #18
John Steinbeck
Cannery Row
1945 (Read the 1972 Bantam Paperback Edition)
Started: December 7, 2003
Finished: December 8, 2003
I re-read this over the course of a couple of days. Any time I read Steinbeck, I'm struck by the poetic way many of the folks in his books see the world, especially those who don't intend to...yet the way those who should, or at least are the best equipped to, fail miserably in doing so.
John Steinbeck
Cannery Row
1945 (Read the 1972 Bantam Paperback Edition)
Started: December 7, 2003
Finished: December 8, 2003
I re-read this over the course of a couple of days. Any time I read Steinbeck, I'm struck by the poetic way many of the folks in his books see the world, especially those who don't intend to...yet the way those who should, or at least are the best equipped to, fail miserably in doing so.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Book #17
Larry McMurtry
Boone's Lick
Started: December 1, 2003
Finished: December 6, 2003
I picked this up off a remainder table not too long ago. I'm about 40 pages in so far. It's funny. I've already had a couple of laugh out loud moments, which is quite difficult to accomplish, so it's got that in its favor already.
Larry McMurtry
Boone's Lick
Started: December 1, 2003
Finished: December 6, 2003
I picked this up off a remainder table not too long ago. I'm about 40 pages in so far. It's funny. I've already had a couple of laugh out loud moments, which is quite difficult to accomplish, so it's got that in its favor already.
