Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Victor Hugo is even better than I'd expected. And I have a crummy translation, so he's probably genius.

Oryx and Crake

Beyond God by Kenneth Kardong. I'll see what I think at the end.

About a Boy- Nick Hornby

It reminds of life right now, feeling like "Santa's Super Sleigh" gets played earlier every year.

At Home by Bill Bryson. Really good so far!

Currently reading a book called Warm Bodies which is about a zombie who falls in love with a living girl. It is different!

glass from ellen hopkins. its the second part to the first book crank. pretty good.

Finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and loved it. At times I found Salander to be really unlikeable, but overall I thought it was excellent. The very very end was actually surprising, which is rare. I'm now on to the second book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, which is probably even better since I'm invested in the characters.

I will start reading this one today:

I loved that book. It was both infuriating and heartbreaking.

Quoted for truth.

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.

Starting The Likeness by Tana French

I picked up J. Randy Tarrabelli's (sp?) latest biography on one of my favorite subjects, Marilyn Monroe. I swear, I've read every biography, possibly every biographical type book written about Marilyn (she is one of my muses, so extensive reading is a must!) Anyway, I haven't started yet but just looking through the acknowledgements on the weekend, he praises Anthony Summers' 1985 book on her Goddess as the greatest bio thus far which, while it was a decent book, is not a good sign because, you know, there's a buy-in in the Summers book to the JFK conspiracy (in case you don't know, there's a whole thing like RFK was present IN MARILYN'S BEDROOM the night she died. Uh, puhlease). Also, Summers puts way too much weight on Robert Slatzer, who swears he was a close friend of Marilyn's throughout her entire life, and in fact, was briefly married to her in the early 1950s yet not one person who knew her (Arthur Miller, Susan Strasberg, her maid Lena Pepitone, etc) ever mentions his name, verifies any sort of close relationship that Slatzer swears he had with her, and so on. I love when someone's rabid fantasies are treated as fact. Really lends credibility to your undertaking...

And Tarrobelli doesn't even mention Barbara Leaming's book that I could see, which, in my opinion, has been the best Marilyn biography so far, with a cool assessment of material, and NO CONSPIRACY THEORIES, no Robert Slatzer.

Also, I want the new Marilyn book Fragments for Christmas! A collection of letters, poems, writings, by the woman herself, who I'd like to hear from most of all in all this...

Jared Diamond Guns, Germs and Steel.

I read this recently. It's a great book but, since you've lived in/love New Orleans, prepared to be especially sad and pissed off when you're done with it.

I just started reading I Drink for a Reason by David Cross. Not sure how I feel about it yet.

Just started The Corrections.

I just finished Alias Grace, which was...disappointing.

I liked Zeitoun but his previous book, What is the What, blew my mind.

I'm reading Out by Natsuo Kirino. Very good Japanese thriller.

Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote

I loved this book. I thought it was better than the one before it. I'm still on the waiting list for the next in the series.

I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire and am starting The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest today. I've really liked this series, and the person from whom I borrowing them said she liked the last one best, so I'm really looking forward to it.

The third book (Faithful Place) is so, so good. I couldn't stop reading it, and it ended up being my favorite of the three.



I also am *finally* getting around to reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am about halfway through. I'm really loving it so far.

edited because I can't click the "preview" button before I hit "submit."

I loved Out. Have you read Grotesque? It is also good.

I want to read Zeitoun but haven't seen it any bookstore since it first came out.

I just finished my friend Teri Vlassopoulos' short story collection "Bats Or Swallows" and I highly recommend it. Highestly.
http://www.bibliographic.net/book/

Up next is Sara Marcus' "Girls To The Front", I hope it's gonna be great.

I just finished Crashing Through by Robert Kurson. It's the true story of Mike May, who regained sight in his 40s after being blind since age 3. It was an interesting story; unfortunately I didn't think the book was very well written.