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Amazon reviews on Snuff were overall terrible.  People didn’t like the fact that Chuck Palahniuk used multiple characters when most of his books have been about exploring the deep dark side of one main character.  Was this written just to shock people?  Why yes but that’s part of why Mr. Palahniuk writes and this one is definitely not for the kids,

This book is a two hundred pager set pretty much entirely on the set of a porn shoot.  The porn shoot is similar to the gonzo porn shoot that Annabel Chong did a few years ago that made … Continue Reading

Dead Man’s Walk is a book by Larry McMurtry that is part of his famous series about Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call.  If you haven’t read Lonesome Dove and Streets of Laredo go read them now, they’re the best western novels ever.

As in the other novels about the duo of Texas Rangers, ranchers and plains warriors the two are swept into a series of adventures on the central plains of the United States, partially out of a sense of adventure and a desire for pay and partially because they are swept along by events that we now call history.  I … Continue Reading

Today, we’re talking about Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.  This book and the movie that resulted from it has become a cultural touchstone for generation X men.  The underlying theme is that modern life has made this generation of men a soft feminine generation.  Raised by our mothers and television we care more about our furniture and our bank account than we care about what really matters, but the existential truth is that nothing really matters.  It’s an Oedipal complex writ large but where do you direct your anger when your father was never there?  With our basis needs assured … Continue Reading

This time Sunny Randall is hired by a teenager to find out who her real parents are.  Turns out all is not kosher in Boston and a girl who suspects that she was adopted is trying to get her parents to admit that she is from another family.

Sunny Randall deals with more drama with her ex-husband who is getting married and the world turns.  So does my interest in mystery books.  I think I’ve had my nine dollars worth and it’s time to rove on to a new genre.

There is no better recession buster than a borrowed book.  This one came to me courtesy of Michael Orr, so thanks Michael!  The book is the 100th anniversary edition of Einstein’s paper on relativity.  I didn’t cheat on this one, I did read all the words.  I do have to be honest though and say that I didn’t understand much of it after chapter XVII when he leaps into the special theory of relativity.  I’m either a few Physics or Math classes short of understanding it or, it pains me to even say this, maybe I aint no Einstein.

Einstein has … Continue Reading

Somebody had a deadline.  Sometimes when you play paperback roulette you lose and this was one of those occasions.  Potshot is another Spenser book from the big pile of paperbacks, this time the Bostonian detective decided to work a case in Southern California.

Spenser is called in to solve the murder of a woman’s husband,  she of course is the wrongly suspected damsel in distress and of course the mystery ends up bigger than it initially appears.  Once Spenser gets to town he discovers that the town is overrun with a gang of thugs that are extorting local businesses and bleeding … Continue Reading

This was the first book I picked up at the used book store that just opened in Nashua.  I was so excited to hear about this place.  When I was in my twenties I spent hour after hour in used book stores looking for books.  Those were the days when I made a little over four dollars and hour and had hours to spend reading.  I never appreciated how valuable time to read a book is and I wish I would have enjoyed it rather than dreading the long stretches of time laying around on a couch in … Continue Reading

Is that the first Sunny Randal novel you’re got wrapped under that book jacket from the Audacity of Hope?  Why yes it is.  Sunny Randal was born, at least in paperback form, much later than Spenser.  Yet she too is for hire.

I’m guessing that Robert B. Parker suffered from a dog obsession because all of his main characters are totally in love with their pooches.  Not the normal, I’ve got to make sure that I feed and walk the dog love.  Sunny Randall keeps a good relationship with her ex-husband because she doesn’t trust anyone else with her dog.   For … Continue Reading

When you’re a foodie, admitting you occasionally like a Big Mac chased down with some Coke makes puts a huge dent into your credibility.  We lovers of literature have our own subdivisions.  If you say you love Joyce or Salinger you get a nod, if you say that you groove to Kerouac or H.S. Thompson you get another.  Stating that Anna Karenina is your thing or that you dream of reading Hugo in the original French gets you some admiration.  If someone asks you in a physical bookstore or as part of an academic discussion who your favorite is and … Continue Reading

I’ve been reading faster than I can blog lately.  I’ve put the literature on the back burner and the how to books and the mass market fiction in my pocket as I wander around.  It’s like the difference between a movie and a quick sit com episode and the pages have been burning through my fingers.

This book was picked up as part of a 4 for three Amazon bundle.  I’m a sucker for the sale.  I really want one book that’s on the 4 for three list, then I kind of want one more, but wait, if I buy one … Continue Reading