I just finished reading Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender. It was amazing and I was craving a creepy story. I finished it in 9 hours which is probably the fastest I have ever read a book. If you like young adult/teen novels and are looking for something to send shivers up your spine, then I definitely suggest it. Right now, I am reading No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz. So far it is really good.
Read Gamers Con by Dave Bakers, its a YA fantasy about a kid who can go into video games literally. It was alright. Entertaining for what it was but the lack of a climax and seemingly rushed ending let it down. Unlikely that I'll pick up the second unless I'm bored.
Space by Jesse Lee Kercheval. It's a memoir that chronicles her childhood in Florida during the 1960s. It's very down-to-earth and beautiful.
Just finished What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver. Absolutely bloody fantastic, easily one of the best short story collections since James Joyce's collection Dubliners. There is no other way to say it, it's a work of genius.
@Lemex I'm almost positive we've discussed this before, but have you read William Trevor's collected works?
If we have I don't remember it, but I haven't. I must admit, his name isn't familiar. Would you recommend?
Currently, Bellwether, it's lighthearted and well written. I plan to start Orphan Train next, though House of Leaves is still sitting in front of me begging to be read past the first page which says, "This is not for you."
Now reading a collection of John Donne poems, Poems of Love it's called, published by Folio Press. Here's a picture of it:
Philip K Dick collections. Not hard to tell the influence on sci-fi writing. Getting monotonous to some extent with all the cold war, war, etc themes. Ugh.
I liked Orphan Train so much, I'm using it as one of my comps for Rosa's Secret. Just finished Old Yeller - so much better than the film version. Next on the list will be Julia Alvarez' In the Name of Salome.
Loved it. Felt absolutely broken afterwards, though. But I suppose he was trying to tell a story, and not a philosophy.
Actually, I think it's because I was expecting some cathartic denouement involving the two main characters, and instead, he sort of rushed through it. And what followed afterward felt like a very long epilogue tying up loose ends that could have just as easily been left alone.
The Art of Fielding. Too much exposition for my taste, probably should have been shorter, the characters sometimes seemed cliche, but the actual writing was good. It's not a favorite of mine, but it was decent.
I suppose the ending wasn't its strongest point, but the narrative and colorful language tied everything together so beautifully that it could have ended with sucking an old woman's tit and it would still have been great.
Ezra Pound: The London Years 1908 - 1920 edited by Philip Grover. I really didn't care for this book. Good thing you can read it in an hour or so, but I'll not use it for anything more than one quote I think.
Me too. I thought it was great. It's a particularly nice novel for when someone says to aspiring writers: 1) you can't do that followed by 2) oh, well you can only do that if you're already a famous writer. Two of the most common erroneous proclamations made on writing forums, and House of Leaves refutes them both.
