How We Are Hungry - Dave Eggers

Every time I read Dave....breathtaking prose.
Engaging, clever, fun short story collection.

The Corrections - Johnathan Franzen

One of the most layered and dynamic novels I've read. Franzen has a keen sense of the poignancy of personal relationships and how they relate to the world around them. If I were I literary critic, I'd write more. A must read.

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Very inspirational tale of a young shepherd's journey to find a treasure. In the end, the journey is so much more valuable than the destination.

rejuvenating the book game

now:

The Best of McSweeney's : 1-10 Stories and Letters
The Portable MFA - New York Writers Workshop


on the horizon:
V by Thomas Pynchon
We Real Cool by Bell Hooks

The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks

A one day read...very mellow, very dramatic account of a love so powerful that it conquers time and circumstance...i'm not too keen on books of this nature and don't think I will be reading anymore of them.

Strong Motion, Jonathan Franzen

I was fortunate to come across this book in Border's, not quite sure what i was looking for, not looking really for anything in particular. I think I purchased three books on this day, but anyway, Franzen's first book is a multi-layered story that seems to have two main protagonists, a seismologist, Renee, that has uncovered a conspiracy; a pharmaceutical company has been dumping waste miles into the ground for many years, causing a series of earthquakes in the Boston area...then their is the love interest/companion male that falls in love with Renee after a chance meeting ...Franzen does well to make each character on some level easy to view as sympathetic and amazingly real,...a very well-written novel centered on people and their experience of life-changing events.

Lullaby- Chuck Palahnuik

I am going to assume that most of Palahnuik's books are fast-paced, filled with multi-faceted asides, flashbacks, flashforwards, and some captivating suspension of disbelief. There is a culling song that is killing babies around the world and one Carl Streator makes it his duty to free the world of the song by destroying every book that the song is printed in...on the way to doing this the reader finds out how easy it is to use this killing power, how the song is tied to Streator's past and just how far people will go for control.

mission statement

This year I am making a concerted effort to read as many books as I can get my hands on. So far I've read:

Lullaby, Chuck Palahnuik
and
Strong Motion, Jonathan Franzen


books i'm working on:

Black Maria (poems), Kevin Young
and
Just Above My Head, James Baldwin

I will give a brief critique on each book. I hope that someone reads this blog and finds something they've read and have comments about or was thinking about reading; this blog serving as a reminder to go pick it up.
Let the reading begin...