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Hello, September
Sep. 1st, 2017 05:09 pmOh my god I am still so tired. I am getting better, but this is going to take a while. Anyway, I read some books ...
1) Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977 - 2002, by David Sedaris. I loved this, but then I am a David Sedaris fan. There are times I can take or leave his essays and I know he can be an acquired taste, as it were, but if you like him then you should like this. What a cast of (real) characters! What an ear for dialogue! This is funny and sad and weird, and I hope his next volume of diaries comes out soon.
2) News of the World, by Paulette Jiles. I enjoyed this a whole lot more than I thought I would. It's 1870, and grizzled old Captain Kidd has been hired to take ten-year-old former Kiowa Indian captive Johanna from the Oklahoma border to her aunt and uncle outside San Antonio, Texas. Along the way there are bandits, unfriendly townspeople, and a near-constant threat of continued Indian raids. I thought Johanna's voice was a mite too precious at times, but this is a terrific story. If you liked True Grit and/or Lonesome Dove, you'll probably like this. Two thumbs up.
3) Alligator Candy: A Memoir, by David Kushner. This is a true crime story, and it's a heartbreaker. The author's older brother was abducted and murdered in 1973. The author was four years old, his brother was eleven, and this book is Kushner's attempt to come to terms with it all. It's a tough read at times, but I recommend it.
And now I'm reading an anthology -- Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury. So far I've read the first five stories, and I've liked Neil Gaiman's "The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury" and Sam Weller's "The Girl in the Funeral Parlor" best, although the others were pretty good too.
Otherwise ... it is still warm here, but you can tell the weather has changed. Layla is also much happier. And I'm terribly behind on comments. Sigh.
1) Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977 - 2002, by David Sedaris. I loved this, but then I am a David Sedaris fan. There are times I can take or leave his essays and I know he can be an acquired taste, as it were, but if you like him then you should like this. What a cast of (real) characters! What an ear for dialogue! This is funny and sad and weird, and I hope his next volume of diaries comes out soon.
2) News of the World, by Paulette Jiles. I enjoyed this a whole lot more than I thought I would. It's 1870, and grizzled old Captain Kidd has been hired to take ten-year-old former Kiowa Indian captive Johanna from the Oklahoma border to her aunt and uncle outside San Antonio, Texas. Along the way there are bandits, unfriendly townspeople, and a near-constant threat of continued Indian raids. I thought Johanna's voice was a mite too precious at times, but this is a terrific story. If you liked True Grit and/or Lonesome Dove, you'll probably like this. Two thumbs up.
3) Alligator Candy: A Memoir, by David Kushner. This is a true crime story, and it's a heartbreaker. The author's older brother was abducted and murdered in 1973. The author was four years old, his brother was eleven, and this book is Kushner's attempt to come to terms with it all. It's a tough read at times, but I recommend it.
And now I'm reading an anthology -- Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury. So far I've read the first five stories, and I've liked Neil Gaiman's "The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury" and Sam Weller's "The Girl in the Funeral Parlor" best, although the others were pretty good too.
Otherwise ... it is still warm here, but you can tell the weather has changed. Layla is also much happier. And I'm terribly behind on comments. Sigh.