Books bought:
The Secret History of Science Fiction, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, eds.
How Fiction Works, by James Wood
The Believer, October 2009
Books read:
The Red Carpet; Bangalore Stories, Lavanya Sankaram
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
October 26, 2009
If the concept here seems like a blatant ripoff of Nick Hornby, whose monthly column in The Believer chronicled his desperate battle to keep up with his ever-growing pile of books, that's because it is. Sue me.
Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading," or more precisely the books into which they were collected - The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt and Shakespeare Wrote for Money - was some of the most delightful writing I have come upon in the last 10 years. Possibly ever. Witty - no, funny - and intensely literate while remaining absolutely accessible, I liked the fact that if he wasn't particularly interested in that month's book, he'd talk about Arsenal football instead, or a band playing at his local pub.
Hornby basically rocketed you through 5-10 books a month, with a lot of gratuitous and narcotic corollary material thrown in. Maybe his approach plays to our collective ADHD, but he's introducing you to worthwhile literature, some of which you may actually buy, as I did.
His fundamental challenge was one I certainly shared: I love buying books. And those I don't buy people thrust on me as loaners. So no matter how much I read, the to-be-read stack is ever-growing...especially because I'm not nearly as prolific a reader as Hornby (and even if I tried harder to close the gap I'd still waste way too much time on Twitter and MSNBC).
So the idea for the blog was born. Or reborn. Or adopted. I figure at the very least It will encourage me to read some of the unreads on my shelves, or to wrap my arms around the about-to-reads on my nightstand. And prompt me to think about them, rather than just tossing them away with a checkmark.
As many books as possible are linked to Amazon. I'd be highly appreciative if you clicked those links and bought them via this blog. It'll help keep Desperate Books going. That said, I'm a big supporter of local book stores, so I encourage you to get to yours and buy from them in the flesh.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear from you. Your comments make the world go 'round.
Hornby's "Stuff I've Been Reading," or more precisely the books into which they were collected - The Polysyllabic Spree, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt and Shakespeare Wrote for Money - was some of the most delightful writing I have come upon in the last 10 years. Possibly ever. Witty - no, funny - and intensely literate while remaining absolutely accessible, I liked the fact that if he wasn't particularly interested in that month's book, he'd talk about Arsenal football instead, or a band playing at his local pub.
Hornby basically rocketed you through 5-10 books a month, with a lot of gratuitous and narcotic corollary material thrown in. Maybe his approach plays to our collective ADHD, but he's introducing you to worthwhile literature, some of which you may actually buy, as I did.
His fundamental challenge was one I certainly shared: I love buying books. And those I don't buy people thrust on me as loaners. So no matter how much I read, the to-be-read stack is ever-growing...especially because I'm not nearly as prolific a reader as Hornby (and even if I tried harder to close the gap I'd still waste way too much time on Twitter and MSNBC).
So the idea for the blog was born. Or reborn. Or adopted. I figure at the very least It will encourage me to read some of the unreads on my shelves, or to wrap my arms around the about-to-reads on my nightstand. And prompt me to think about them, rather than just tossing them away with a checkmark.
As many books as possible are linked to Amazon. I'd be highly appreciative if you clicked those links and bought them via this blog. It'll help keep Desperate Books going. That said, I'm a big supporter of local book stores, so I encourage you to get to yours and buy from them in the flesh.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear from you. Your comments make the world go 'round.
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