The Ravenous Weekly Reader

OK, here's a list of books I've read, absorbed, cradled, craved-- at the expense of getting layed-- over the past--oh, say, since last summer. I've added a couple at the end that are on deck. I have a google site in its emergent (beta) stages that delves more deeply into my response to these books, but here's all that I can recall. Some are powerful, some are gimmicky, some are poetry, some are movies, some are mind-bending enough to make you laugh, cry, scream and die at once within one tenth of a second.

The list might start slow, the sequence might be a little off, but it builds...

In most cases, the format runs as follows: Title - Author (comment/reaction)

Done:

The I Chong – Tommy Chong (amusing, sad, stonerish)
The Psycho Ex Game – Merril Markoe, Andie Prieboy (OK, I get it, in a good way)

The Water In Between – Kevin Patterson (ADVENTURE! TAN!)

Special Topics in Calamity Physics – Marisha Pessl (fascinating, fine-tuned, brilliant, astonishing)

The Kite Runner – Kahled Hosseini (heartbreaking insight, mainstream)

An Unquiet Mind – Kay Redfield Jamison (woah, get out of my head)

Tumble Home - Amy Hempel (courtly, bangable)

Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel (hot insight, wish she were single)

Where I’m Calling From - Raymond Carver (LA)

The Dying Animal – Philip Roth (my cock will be a rock for many years)

Fac-to-tum - Charles Bukowski (LA, drunk)

Tijuana Straits – Kem Nunn (LA, Mexico, surfing, yearning)
Tapping the Source – Kem Nunn (LA, surfing, Point Break)

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk (manipulation)
Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk (anticipation)

Into The Wild – Jon Krakauer (alone, with new friends)
Innocent When You Dream (The Tom Waits Reader) – Mac Montandon (Ed.) (rare intellect and creativity)
Drinking, Smoking and Screwing – Sara Nickles (Ed.) (justification, rock star)

White Noise - Don DeLillo (astonishing, prophetic)

On the Road – Jack Kerouac (fun, fast, furious, rock star)

On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan (sad, slow, vainglorious, non-rock star in a good way)

Doghouse Roses – Steve Earle (Dude!, rock star)

Uncle Tungsten – Oliver Sacks (learned)

The Road - Cormac McCarthy (prophetic, profound, astonishing)

Between Here and the Yellow Sea – Nic Pizzolatto (fresh, a new voice)

No Country For Old Men – Cormac McCarthy (bloody, fast, delicious)

Requiem for a Dream – Hubert Selby (heartbreaking, heartbreaking, affirming)

The Gathering – Anne Enright (sad, funny, profound, fast, enlightening, Irish)
The Dead - James Joyce (sad, funny, profound, slow, disheartening, Irish)

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers (title says it all, Toph, astonishing)

Life After God – Douglas Coupland (contemplation, bite-sized, delicious)
You Shall Know Our Velocity – Dave Eggers (perhaps the most original string of words to date, contemplative)
Miss Wyoming - Douglas Coupland (engaging, mysterious, mature, happy, rock star, TAN)

In progress:
Ask the Dust – John Fante (so far...undecided, but get out of my head)

On Deck:
The Raw Shark Texts – Steven Hall

Rant - Chuck Palahniuk

How We Are Hungry – Dave Eggers

Close Cover Before Striking - Yo!

1 book every 1.5 weeks (52/34)
1 book every 10.7 days (365/34)

(As of 5/16/08)