Ever since Hunter S. Thompson passed away in February, I thought I'd like to read one of his books this year as a tribute ("tribute"? Like I bet he's super flattered). When someone randomly pressed Hell's Angels on me, I decided to get on with it.I liked it. I'm glad I read this. I like his (writing) style, I enjoyed learning more about the Angels - both as individuals and as part of California pop culture/history - and while I don't necessarily groove on detailed descriptions of gang rape, the writing style was sufficiently journalistic to keep me from freaking myself out during the bad parts. It was an interesting study, and the perfect book for a couple of plane rides last weekend. Plus it had the added bonus of making my mom roll her eyes every time she saw that I was completely engrossed in my "little motorcycle book" all weekend. Different strokes, Mum!
I know, I'm only on book 36. Sigh. But but but I've been busy dying my hair red and cleaning up dog vomit and trying to get to work on time with coffee and and and
5 comments:
So it's November 8th. You have fourteen books to go, yet possess no discernable plan for success. What's up with that?
Haven't you worked awfully hard for 44 weeks, only to let your dream slip away at the end? Do you need an intervention, girlfriend? Or: do you need suggestions for fourteen short books all of which can be read in the next 53 days?
Why not ask your readers to submit their picks to help you get the job done?
Have you already read the whole Lemony Snicket series? You could knock one of those out in an hour or two! Case Histories by Kate Atkinson; The Trouble with Poetry: and Other Poems by Billy Collins; An Idiot Girls Christmas by Laurie Notaro??? Go Jenn, go!! I haven't read these but they look relatively short and fun - I'll keep racking my brain and sending ideas. I'm with big mo - let's get you to the finish line!!
You guys are the best. I know, I need to get on it! 6 more weeks. It's doable. And yes, any suggestions are happily welcome.
Liz is right, those Lemony Snicket books are great and they don't take long to read.
You need books you can read in an evening or two. Here are some suggestions:
--The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West (some editions also contain another short novel called Miss Lonelyhearts--you could probably read both of these in a night or two)
--Machiavelli's The Prince (more of a guy's book, but then again, it would balance out some of the chick lit on your year's list)
--Night Train by Martin Amis
--a Sherlock Holmes mystery--you could read any of these in a night
--The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead (terrific first novel by author of John Henry Days)
--early John D McDonald--try The Deep Blue Goodbye if you havene't read any Travis McGee novels yet (totally dated but if you want to see where Robert Parker stole Spenser from, read McDonald)(plus you can read it in one evening)
--The Catcher in the Rye (so you've read it before--whatever--aren't you due to read it again?)
Here's the thing: don't worry so much about WHAT you read. Just keep reading. Why not walk down the aisles in a bookstore and grab a few 150-page novels off the shelves?
YOU CAN'T LET US DOWN.
You guys rock (rawk?). I know I let you down. But there's always next year... right? Right? Guys? Come back!
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