Friday, May 11, 2007

What I've Been Reading

It's almost done, this semester --I'm giving my last final today, and after that, nothing but the grading (ai! the grading!) -- so I've been collecting things to read. (Some of them I went on and read: couldn't wait.)

(1) Neil Gaiman. But I have already ripped through everything he has written. I just finished American Gods. That's the novel I like best, I think, except I like his short stories better than his novels. I haven't done his graphic novels yet. I have trouble reading graphic novels. Problem seeing the page. Don't ask me why -- probably some ADD thing or the other. I can suck it up if I try hard enough, and I might with Gaiman.

(2) Karen Joy Fowler, who also I had never heard of. So far I've only read The Jane Austen Book Club, but it was very good.

(3) Kelly Link, another SF writer. I really like her, too. I'm having a hard time finding anything by her except short stories on line, but she's great.

(4) Three different fat books of SF short stories -- Wizards, Fast Forward I, Strahan's The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year -- all of which are the best collections I have read since I sent away for the three Tiptree collections, just after New Year's. (Those were brilliant, too, if you're looking for good collections.)

(5) Anne Lamott's latest collection of essays, Grace (Eventually), which isn't very new. It's all Christian/ spiritual and I'm so not, but I really like reading her when she talks about it.

(6) Jane Austen. Yay! It's time to read Jane Austen again. I'm starting with Sense and Sensibility this time. And! And! I've LOST my copy of Pride and Pejudice somewhere! You know what that means! YES! I get to buy a new copy! AI! Yow! Is there anything sweeter than shopping for a new edition of Austen? Oh, I can't wait. Better than sex. No, really.

6 comments:

Diane said...

How does Grace (Eventually) compare with Traveling Mercies?

CB said...

I have pride and prejudice if you would like to borrow it.

Anonymous said...

No, but mouse, you are missing the point -- I *like* buying new Jane Austen editions. (You with your fascination for how books are put together, you should get this!)

diane -- so far I'm liking it a lot. Lots about Jesus and spirituality in general, like the last one, with a big focus on grace (duh). Why I should like this is a mystery to me, but I do. It's something about the way she doesn't claim that people who don't deal with the world this way are evil, and how she knows that the paths to enlightenment are many, and they aren't all named Jesus, I guess. I like that in a woman. delagar.

CB said...

i meant if you wanted to read it immediately--before you got your new copy.

i know the joy of reading a book, the joy of buying one and the difference between the two.

:o)

delagar said...

I can't find a good P&P here. Might have to drive up to FV.

CB said...

I'm not suprised. I have the same problem with trying to find a good Lord of the Flies. I've been looking for a year or so now for one that wants to belong to me.