hoodturkey

I love the Mountain Goats, and even though I hate metal, I love reading Mr. Darnielle’s  (extremely-mostly extreme-metal) blog, Last Plane to Jakarta, so when he posted something about an author I had never heard of, I got all excited-like and picked a copy up (after reading a review of course).

It is strange and wonderful in all the ways I hoped, also it’s written by someone whose name I can not  pronounce.  Here is an excerpt:

“Some historians preferred the Second World War to the First and said that the First World War was a national and patriotic war, while the second was for the defense of civilization. And in the First World War people were fighting for narrow-minded concepts that were already outdated, while in the Second World War they were defending a humanist ideal. After the Second World War people did not become pacifists and instead tended to speculate about whether a Third World War would occur between the democratic and the Communist countries. And there were spies snooping around everywhere. And the ministries of information…”

The whole thing is a long, strange, screed that is at once really weird and really mundane. So far, so good!

Here is a review, by the way.

Also, picked up some Charles Baxter!

The Roots of Buddhist Psychology (widely available for download…ahem) is blowing my mind today. I challenge you to listen to this in a peaceful place and not feel that you are having a most special and amazing day.

Finished Shantaram last week apparently this is going to be made into a terrible movie starring Johnny Depp (1000 page books cannot make good movies). My review is, “eh” it’s about a white guy who escapes to India and becomes a mobster, but the tone is very: “I am a white man and I am awesome because I humbled myself to the Indian way of life.” All of the characters are awkward personifications of emotions, (his humble sidekick is humility, his love interest is desire, etc…) So why did I sit through it? It’s entertaining, at least, and filled with really good quotes like:

“It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, our species would’ve annihilated itself in endless retributions. Without forgiveness, there would be no history. Without that hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness. Without that dream, there would be no love, for every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive.”

That’s the tone of the whole book. Anyway, now I’m reading “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You,” It’s a book about how to read spaces, and it moderately interesting, but everytime I look at the cover I wish it read: “Snoop: What Being a Pot-Smoking Rapper or Lesbian Hitman on The Wire Says About You.”

but mainly the books:

I got myself a copy of The Last Good Time and Good Evening Mr. & Mrs. America, and All the Ships at Sea, by Richard Bausch. I’m already halfway through The Last Good Time. Bausch is an amazingly tender and insightful author. You should read him.

You will note that all my links are to Powell’s, and not a certain other online bookstore, that’s because Powell’s is awesome, they have tons of used as well as new books. I got these two books for seven bucks, and they’re the lovely, old, love-tattered paperbacks that I love the bestest.

Walked down to Powell’s with a friend and bought Scott Carrier’s Running After Antelope. Scott Carrier is a long time contributor to WBEZ’s This American Life, and this book is a wonderful collection of short stories based upon his ongoing battle with the world and it’s expectations vs. his desires to live naked in a cave, drinking his own urine, and pass out screaming (that’s a paraphrase).