Friday, August 18, 2006

What I'm Reading (Part 1)

The Keep -- Jennifer Egan
Book within a book. The "author," who is in prison, tells the story of Danny King and his adopted cousin, who are renovating a medieval castle in Eastern Europe. From the bookflap, I had the impression it was a comedy. Sigh. There are funny bits, but. I'm getting more into it, though.

Old Wounds -- can't recall author's name
a murder mystery. Very well written. One dead body so far.

Lost New York -- Nathan Silver
2000 re-issue of 1967 (?) collection of photos/commentary about vanished NYC buildings. Gawd, but the intro was hard to get through. Never thought I'd have a problem reading the introduction to a collection of pics! But the photos of old Penn Station -- so, so gorgeous.

What I read yesterday: Every Inch of Her -- Peter Sheridan.
Story of Philo Nolan, foulmouthed Dublin housewife who runs away from her abusive husband and stirs up old age pensioners at the convent where she finds sanctuary.

Dialogue reminded my of No Bones, also about an Irish woman, this one a Belfast native coming of age in the 1970s and 1980s. That was actually pretty terrifying.

What I read before that:

Frogs and French Kisses -- Sarah Mylinowski (spelling?)
YA narrated by amiable older sister of tween witch. Nice that the narrator isn't a witch herself, and has a good relationship with younger sister. Narrator's shallowness is main source of comedy. Not crazy about the boy marked out as romantic lead. Second in a series.

In Cold Blood -- Truman Capote. !!!!!! Fantastic.

Made another attempt at The Fortress of Solitude. Not very compelling, despite the setting (Brooklyn).

Authors I think I'd like if I ever got around to reading them:
Don DeLillo
Peter Carey
George Eliot (maybe)

Hello, Cleveland!

Just before my 33rd birthday I realized that I'd been living a life of unbelievable propriety. I decided it was my job to start doing all the things I could later regret. This amounted to casual sex and some drugs. Naturally. I started keeping a diary, in the hopes that one day it would be published to great acclaim and a sizeable advance.

Unfortunately it took a lot of effort for me to maintain my new, decadent lifestyle. Too much effort for me right now, since I'm also trying to get a full time job. But Living Somewhat Dangerously sounded like such a good blog title, I figured I'd see what I could come up with.


As a rule I think blogs should have themes. Like, you know, Living Somewhat Dangerously. Or What I'm Reading.

Aha! I just had an idea! I could divide this blog into sections. The Living Somewhat Dangerously section, the What I'm Reading section, the Who I'd Like to Date section, the Job Hunt section! OK then! I'm off to organize.