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Where do I get this? Any name, ISBN? Or is it just a print-out of some geek's Internet ramblings?

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I don't know how you can get it. No author or ISBN sorry. Is not a geek internet rambling. It's a real book!. I wish the book would be on internet, but..supposedly... it has been distributed hand hand by hand. If you really super die for reading it, send me a pm and i send you a copy. is really small. But if you are not into "non-Bolshevik revolutionary milieus" (!) you might not even want to read it.
Is really beautiful and inspiring though.

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"Barrel Fever" - by David Sedaris... this is his first collection (1994) of stories and essays. Unlike his hilarious later autobiographical accounts, these works are mostly fictitious...sarcastic and occasionally funny, but he hadn't yet found his niche or voice.

"The Lost Continent" -by Bill Bryson (just finished during a weekend plane-trip). Travelogue of small-town Americana. Scathing in its criticism of dumpy two-bit towns and stripmalls/tourist traps; heartwarming when he assesses the essence of life out in the wilds of America.

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I have two other books going on too, but I've been warned to not let anyone know what I'm reading. ??? Bit odd, no?

One's on American folklore in american writing, the other is about this handicapped man who achieves great success in everything he does despite the odds. I'm beginning to think it was just his good looks that got him through, but that's just me.

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Were you too content with yourself to notice his criticisms of (sub)urbia? :p

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Content with myself how? For finishing the book? :confused:

Thing is, he didn't really visit "suburbia" as the term applies to affluent outskirts of a larger town (with the exception of visits near Detroit and Philadelphia). The criticisms in the book are mostly on the consumerism excess of truck-stop or tourist-magnet towns and the resultant disappearance of a pre-suburbian small town way of life. His eventual return to his home in Iowa made it pretty clear that for all the tiny towns he'd seen, that sort of lifestyle is still quite charming.

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reading brisingr by christopher paolini, 3rd book of inheritance cycle

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Thanks ppl re Banks. He is hard to find near me. I wanted to buy some for my dad first but couldnt get any so got Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey. He wrote A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard both of which I enjoyed a lot.

Anyway, dad liked this and he gave me one in return, Weapons Of Choice by John Birmingham. I was thinking that it might be the same guy who wrote He Died With A Falafel In His Hand, but it looked like a Clive Cussler cover... turns out to be the same guy after all. This is real different to HDWAFIHH but the same aussie slacker humour is apparent and it works so well.

Weapons is about a close future maritime war situation off the coast of Western Australia. We are at war with the Indos and Malaysians and the high tech gadgetry is headed by a research vessel commandeered by the navy which is still carrying out its research regardless. When they execute their experiment the fleet is moved to Midway circa 1942 as the yanks prepare to nuke Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The fleet lands right in the middle of the large US '42 fleet and in some cases fuses ships together as the suddenly take up the same space - this is really interesting in fact. Im currently here in the story. The mess is slowly being realised.

There are 3 books in the series it seems. Im hooked to reading an actual book again as opposed to those audiobooks.

Still want to get those Banks recommendations still and will try ordering them if no luck.

Onya Underworlders.

Croz

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Tricked by Alex Robinson

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Widows of Eastwick, John Updike. What a let down. Felt like reading stories in Good Housekeeping.

Now,

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

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link

Updike was on Charlie Rose last week. It was terribly compelling in swaying my interest towards the books.

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more graphic novels this week:

Summer Blonde by Adrian Tomine

El Borbah by Charles Burns

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Don't get me wrong, it's a good read and the man know how to weave words keeping the reader in the moment. It could also be a self-help guide for women.

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The Hell-Fire Clubs : sex, satanism and secret societies by Evelyn Lord.

probably the "definitive" book on the subject as she puts the work in required to say "this is what we know happened and this is what we speculate".

Catriona, by Robert Louis Stevenson. A sequal to Kidnapped! !!!!! who knew??!?!?! Get more Alan Breck for your fix!!! (because he really is the coolest character that came out of this genre)

Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg. Dood, get a pen name!!!.... Especially when you're writing such cracking good american style horror/hard boiled detective novels, where people like Raymond Chandler and Steven King envy your ideas (or should). And thanks for the manly pages of booze, cigs, brawls, and sex. i'm getting tired of all this secret lives of bees bullshit.

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Damn, OK whip cracker. I'll do one like that(booze, cigs, brawls, and sex). There'll even be some women in it too.

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David Sedaris: "Me Talk Pretty One Day" (2000, Bay Side Books). A few years old, but still mighty hilarious. Sedaris is at his best with personal essays rather than fiction, although his dry wit and sarcasm may blur the line between these anyway!

And off the shelf, an old favorite: J.D. Salinger: "Franny & Zooey" (Little Brown, 1957). Book one, a tight little story about being sick of ego, ego ego! and having yourself a little breakdown. Book two: Glass family self-help (the original Tannenbaums), and moving toward a state of peace and self understanding after said breakdown.

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The Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein

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Currently readin old Raymond Chandler - Philip Marlowe mysteries. this one is a bunch of 4 short stories called Trouble Is My Business. i love it. paints a great picture of LA in the 1930s.

http://flickr.com/photos/32422243@N00/2769085093/

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I finished 'boring, boring, boring, boring, boring' by Zach Plague. which is not really a good book but has some very good moments that at the end worth read the whole book to get them. It makes such an amazing ridicule of the art world. Is not that is bad neither.. maybe is just a normal book. I liked it i think.

Im reading now "2666" by Roberto Bolaños. Way too much to go. But i think is a beautiful apocalypse garantee in this one.

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Currently reading "The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible" by A.J. Jacobs, and I'm in love with it. Jacobs's last book, which I need to read too, is called The Know-It-All, where he read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z. For this book he follows every rule as literally as possible and chronicles all the hilarious adventures from not touching his wife for a week after she menstruated to stoning an adulterer with pebbles.

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What kind of pebbles?

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Little ones he found in a park. Some cranky old guy was accosting him because of his beard (I believe), and one thing lead to another, and he threw pebbles at the old guy.

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Sounds a little boring now. j/k

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Spook Country - William Gibson........it's good

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Almost finished with Clive Barker's authorized biography from 2002. Never really took a liking to his writing, but have always felt tied to his ideas. After reading this, I'm a little freaked out and inspired.

Also,

John Adams bio.

and

A book on St. Francis of Azzizi(sp?).

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Audacity of Hope - Barak Obama

Lucid thinking. Clear writing. The structure for policy.

Good god - an articulate POTUS - what the hell's going on??


The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross

Snappy writing. Crazy ideas. Loved it.

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I have that to read straight after his first one, Dreams from my Father.

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the victoria vanishes - by christopher fowler

This being my first foray into the mystery genre I don't want to be too negative. Did I enjoy it? Besides the few interesting tidbits on the history of english pubs, not really. alexander mccall smith is on my pile, if that doesn't go much better i'll have to nix mystery books. (patricia highsmith is always exempt)

Catherine the Great: love sex and power - by Virginia Rounding

I haven't read a lot of history but I'm starting to notice a trend. Women historians tend to mark the passage of history with social events and relationships. Men historians tend to measure history by acts of violence. Which can be jarring when you hear about the the existence of the crimean war only because Catherine bangs the war hero, fresh from the field of battle.

The Rest is Noise - Alex Ross

Finally!!! Something awesomez to read!!! A history of the twentieth century as reflected by its music. This man sounds incredibly smart. And if that doesn't turn out to be true, he's at least incredibly interesting. Haven't got past Shoenberg, Webern, and Berg (germans are LOL) but man what fun to read.

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What a great read:

My Name Escapes Me: The Story of a Retiring Actor

Boys, look up the definition of innuendo in your dictionary and I think you may find this hilarious. I did not learn until the ripe age of 8 that the name was not Obi Juan Kanobi and thought, "Well, FU too Mr. Lucas." I have now found God and regret thinking that thought.

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Roberto Bolano - 2666

best book I've read in years?

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"The Daily Coyote" by Shreve Stockton.

True account of a young woman in Wyoming raising an orphaned coyote cub and her efforts to respect it's wild nature, as well as protect it from hunters. Very touching, especially for animal lovers or those (like me!) that prefer wide open spaces in nature.

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what's it about about? why did you like it? :)

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Reading: Mysteries of the Unknown: Eastern Mysteries (hint, hint) Really, it's o.k. to just look at the pictures and read the captions in this one.
Soldier, a Colin Powell bio
Another book on personality & brain traits.

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Road to Cana - Anne Rice. Not as good as the first in this series, but almost finished reading within a 24 hour period.

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American Sucker by David Denby

A book about the obsession a film critic from the New Yorker devloped with money and the stock market following his divorce and the height of the dot.com craze in the 99/early 00.

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The Best of Tharg's Future Shocks

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Nothing like the Sun - Antony Burgess

amazing!!!

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I FINALLY GOT THE DEWEY CAT BOOK!!!!


Appetite for Self-Destruction. I think it might suck, but I hold off saying that for now.


After the War Zone: A Practical Guide for Returning Troops and Their Families.

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The whole Discworld series by Terry Pratchett again. I am up to Lords and Ladies thus far. It is really good fun to go back and see how various characters develop through the course of the books....

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Jokes My Dad Never Told Me - Rain Pryor

Nightmares & Dreamscapes - Stephen King


Still working on the Colin Powell bio, very lengthy read & smaller print. Also, there's times when I have to put it down simply from being annoyed reading about the way racial tension was during his ascension.