Cogito
12-02-2002, 02:02 AM
Well, something good happened in chat. Bean and Domination were offering suggestions as to good reading, and I was nearly tempted to hit the local Barnes and Noble as the Amazon extract I browsed for one of the suggestions, seemed so good. But I felt a bit bad, as I've got way, way too many books that I've not read.
It's bad, I'm telling you... I've given up on the entire concept of bookshelves as it is most commonly practiced: for storing books. I just got rid of them, gave em away to anyone who'd want em. I'd take them to a bookstore and exchange them, but I never seem to find decent books in second-hand stores. Then, after I got rid of my bookshelves, I realized I needed one after all, as there wasn't enough room for my unread books. Trying to pass things off as coffeetable books don't work if you have a gargantuan pile of em. So I got full bookshelves, most horizontal and some not-so horizontal surfaces are occupied by books. Looks like a cool Finding Forester kinda deal -- except I've not read any of the damn books. It's a freaking disgrace.
So I've gone on a book buying diet, no more goddamn buying till you've read like, half of all this stuff, you dolt.
Then, Dom mentioned a book that tickled my memory. American Gods. I found it under The God Makers (accidental arrangement, surely -- I bought the book years ago, but when I needed it for a reference in a discussion (it's about Mormons), I had to buy it second hand from an Amazon customer, since it was out of print, and I'd lost my copy duh), a bunch of books by Haruki Murakami (I heard good things about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but was traveling heavily at the time, so instead of ordering it, I would visit bookstores wherever I went, and look for it -- they always had some of his books, but never the Wind-Up Bird, so I ended up with a minor collection of his work, that I've not read. The Wind-Up Bird turned out to be really interesting, when I finally got my hands on it, very strange, but I never got around to touching the rest of his stuff. I should. I know, I know I should), The Secret Life of Laszlo Count Dracula, Rocket Boys, Instructions to the Cook, The Twelve Caesrs, I Claudius, Buddhism for Sheep (a gift, sadly badly stained with coffee), My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist (also a gift, sans coffee stains), The Pub League Quiz Book II, a magnificently illustrated coffee table book on extravagant, advanced origami called Amazing Folds, a great tape set on learing Japanese, various books on learning Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, some old issues of National Geographic, and a book about the 1,000 best movies in the world, and Allah knows what else.
But there it was, American Gods.
It's a great book. Strange book. 450 pages, I'm halfway through.
Basic concept: the main character, Shadow, is released from jail, but he learns the happy life he was expecting was gone: his wife had died in a car accident that also claimed the life of his friend, who was supposed to give him a job.
So, he runs into a peculiar man who calls himself Wednesday, and offers to employ him as an "errand boy". Wednesday eventually turns out to be something else than a man.
It appears that the gods of old and new are clashing, a storm is brewing. There are gods from ancient mythologies, who have lessened in stature because fewer believe in them. Others, who have been forgotten, have ceased to exist. But new gods have been created too.
It's really enjoyable, easy reading. The odd bit of humor, generally good writing, good turn of phrase etc. Very cool book.
Thanks, Dom, was about damn time I got around to reading this sucker.
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>
“You working for our man then?” asked the bearded man. He was not sober, although he was not yet drunk.
“It looks that way,” said Shadow. “What do you do?”
The bearded man lit his cigarette. “I’m a leprechaun,” he said, with a grin.
Shadow did not smile. “Really?” he said. “Shouldn’t you be drinking Guinness?”
“Stereotypes. You have to learn to think outside the box,” said the bearded man. “There’s a lot more to Ireland than Guinness.”
“You don’t have an Irish accent.”
“I’ve been over here too ****en long.”
“So you are originally from Ireland?”
“I told you. I’m a leprechaun. We don’t come from ****en Moscow.”
- - -
“Do you believe in the soul?” It wasn’t quite the question he had been going to ask, and it took him by surprise to hear it coming from his mouth. He had intended to say something less direct, but there was nothing less direct that he could say.
“Depends. Back in my day, we had it all set up. You lined up when you died, and you’d answer for your evil deeds and for your good deeds and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we’d feed your soul and your heart to Ammet, the Eater of Souls.”
“He must have eaten a lot of people.”
“Not as many as you’d think. It was a really heavy feather. We had it made special. You had to be pretty damn evil to tip the scales on that baby.”
[/quote]
It's bad, I'm telling you... I've given up on the entire concept of bookshelves as it is most commonly practiced: for storing books. I just got rid of them, gave em away to anyone who'd want em. I'd take them to a bookstore and exchange them, but I never seem to find decent books in second-hand stores. Then, after I got rid of my bookshelves, I realized I needed one after all, as there wasn't enough room for my unread books. Trying to pass things off as coffeetable books don't work if you have a gargantuan pile of em. So I got full bookshelves, most horizontal and some not-so horizontal surfaces are occupied by books. Looks like a cool Finding Forester kinda deal -- except I've not read any of the damn books. It's a freaking disgrace.
So I've gone on a book buying diet, no more goddamn buying till you've read like, half of all this stuff, you dolt.
Then, Dom mentioned a book that tickled my memory. American Gods. I found it under The God Makers (accidental arrangement, surely -- I bought the book years ago, but when I needed it for a reference in a discussion (it's about Mormons), I had to buy it second hand from an Amazon customer, since it was out of print, and I'd lost my copy duh), a bunch of books by Haruki Murakami (I heard good things about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but was traveling heavily at the time, so instead of ordering it, I would visit bookstores wherever I went, and look for it -- they always had some of his books, but never the Wind-Up Bird, so I ended up with a minor collection of his work, that I've not read. The Wind-Up Bird turned out to be really interesting, when I finally got my hands on it, very strange, but I never got around to touching the rest of his stuff. I should. I know, I know I should), The Secret Life of Laszlo Count Dracula, Rocket Boys, Instructions to the Cook, The Twelve Caesrs, I Claudius, Buddhism for Sheep (a gift, sadly badly stained with coffee), My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist (also a gift, sans coffee stains), The Pub League Quiz Book II, a magnificently illustrated coffee table book on extravagant, advanced origami called Amazing Folds, a great tape set on learing Japanese, various books on learning Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, some old issues of National Geographic, and a book about the 1,000 best movies in the world, and Allah knows what else.
But there it was, American Gods.
It's a great book. Strange book. 450 pages, I'm halfway through.
Basic concept: the main character, Shadow, is released from jail, but he learns the happy life he was expecting was gone: his wife had died in a car accident that also claimed the life of his friend, who was supposed to give him a job.
So, he runs into a peculiar man who calls himself Wednesday, and offers to employ him as an "errand boy". Wednesday eventually turns out to be something else than a man.
It appears that the gods of old and new are clashing, a storm is brewing. There are gods from ancient mythologies, who have lessened in stature because fewer believe in them. Others, who have been forgotten, have ceased to exist. But new gods have been created too.
It's really enjoyable, easy reading. The odd bit of humor, generally good writing, good turn of phrase etc. Very cool book.
Thanks, Dom, was about damn time I got around to reading this sucker.
<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>
“You working for our man then?” asked the bearded man. He was not sober, although he was not yet drunk.
“It looks that way,” said Shadow. “What do you do?”
The bearded man lit his cigarette. “I’m a leprechaun,” he said, with a grin.
Shadow did not smile. “Really?” he said. “Shouldn’t you be drinking Guinness?”
“Stereotypes. You have to learn to think outside the box,” said the bearded man. “There’s a lot more to Ireland than Guinness.”
“You don’t have an Irish accent.”
“I’ve been over here too ****en long.”
“So you are originally from Ireland?”
“I told you. I’m a leprechaun. We don’t come from ****en Moscow.”
- - -
“Do you believe in the soul?” It wasn’t quite the question he had been going to ask, and it took him by surprise to hear it coming from his mouth. He had intended to say something less direct, but there was nothing less direct that he could say.
“Depends. Back in my day, we had it all set up. You lined up when you died, and you’d answer for your evil deeds and for your good deeds and if your evil deeds outweighed a feather, we’d feed your soul and your heart to Ammet, the Eater of Souls.”
“He must have eaten a lot of people.”
“Not as many as you’d think. It was a really heavy feather. We had it made special. You had to be pretty damn evil to tip the scales on that baby.”
[/quote]