My memory was that there was a slight narrative thread attached to some of the characters, so that's why I said some built on the others. It's been too long for me to recommend if it goes much deeper than that, though there were some feeling dynamics happening.

I just finished Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. I found it very interesting and was an easy read. I liked it.

I've started No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I've already seen the movie, but I really liked The Road, and the movie, so thought this couldn't hurt. So far it's good, but I expected that. The movie was very close to the book as well (I'm about half way through it).

I've also started Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. I'm only one chapter in, but I'm expecting this to be informative and his writing style is good. So far I don't find him hard to follow at all.

So far, alternating between non-fiction and fiction is helping to keep things fresh for me. Although, I may start leaning more towards fiction soon because it's a little funner.

Almost done with 'Travels' by Michael Cricheton, as per recommendation by other Loungers. I'm really really enjoying it so far. As described previously, its about MC traveling the world and finding his purpose in life through various activities. Despite going through 4 years of Harvard Medical school, he decided medicine was not for him. This book is nice for me as well, as I am having a difficult time asessing what my own purpose in life is (I'm sure many have this problem in college).

Next on the list is 'What is What', also recommended by the Lounge.

I can't help but think about this supposedly spiritual side or whatever of Michael Crichton that he went on to write about by juxtaposing it against his personality in real life. I used to work at a bookstore frequented by celebrities and he came in with a supermodel looking girl hanging languidly on his arm, absolutely glowering and sneering at all the staff. He was the most f*cked up guy in the world.

Interesting, was he sneering at all the staff? Seems a little judgemental to be judging him because he was with a supermodel-like woman. I guess you saw more than that, but seeing someone only once with our preconceptions of him makes it easy to dislike someone. Talking to someone for a long time, you can get a connection with them and like them even if at a distance they seemed obnoxious.
I like to talk to strangers on buses, trains, etc. And it surprises me how every time there's something interesting in the conversation, every person has something redeeming in them. Easy to hate people from a distance, but not so easy up close.

You're over-thinking this. The guy was an ass and preposterously snobby. There was no mystery whatsoever to it, at all.

Not one clerk there thought he was anything other than a total dick.

We were hardly celebrity haters either. We actually saw them all the time in that store, and met many nice ones.

I just finished the "Beet Queen" and "London Feilds."

BQ is an interesting piece. I am not a fan of "slice of life" movies, but these kinds of books are sometime fascinating. I recommend it. Written in a "As I Lay Dying Style," with everyone speaking in the first person.

LF was well written during many passages. I can't say I didn't like it, but I lost interest before the ending (a common problem with me), and didn't finish it about 100 pages short. I think I didn't like the characters. No, I didn't find any of them redeeming enough to care.

After getting my fiction fix, I am plowing through:

Statistics Demystified
Probability Demystified
The Nothing that is: the History of Zero
Music of the Primes.

I plan to get started on Cosmicomics this weekend. It sounds fascinating, though I only skimmed the reviews because I hate spoilers.

I finished Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky the other day. He wrote Cod: A Biography, which some of you may have read. They're very similar in form and tone, reading Salt was very familiar. I enjoyed it, but not as much as Cod, since Salt is much more well known as a critical commodity. Anyone who has studied history has known the importance of Salt, but Cod was a new way to look at history for me.

I know there are some big foodies on the board, so you may wish to check out both books. One of the roles they play is as a food history with traditional recipes. I don't eat fish, nor do I like much Salt, but if you're into those things you may find a few recipes that interest you.

Salt was middle of the road, 3 stars or so. I wish there was less time spent on the acquisition of salt (since there are only 3 real ways to get it, with minimal differences in how it was boiled, for example), and more time spent on it as an economic and political resource, since that was what I was interested in. That stuff was in there, but I wish the scale had tipped more heavily that way.

Music of the Primes sounds cool. My interest in mathematics is headed into that direction, the mysteries behind prime numbers are the main motivation in my mathematical research.

Enrique,

Read and then reread the title story. On your second reading, follow the light. Note carefully how Carver shows the room getting darker and darker throughout--he's never obvious about this. Notice, too, the story of the old couple and the old man's desire to simply see his wife. Keep in mind that vision is dependent on light. I think this is one key to this story, not that there really is a key. And then you'll come across a line that gives me the shivers it's so good: "The light was draining out of the room, going back through the window where it had come from."

Four people in a room, and at the end of the story the only sound is the beating of the human heart.

Oh, by the way, there's another famous narrator in American Lit. named Nick; his last name was Carraway. Am I about to claim that "What We Talk About" is Carver's version of The Great Gatsby? Yes.

PS. Enrique, If you ever decide to walk eight miles to see a movie, I'll sponsor you for two dollars a mile.

I have come to the realization that my problem with understanding texts the way John Cole describes Carver is that I simply don't feel that I have enough time to reread stuff.

The first time through I'm reading for understanding. The second time is when I could really truly appreciate texts. Unfortunately, I have this nagging feeling that there is just WAY too much out there I need to read that I can't spend time rereading most texts.

Mehhhhh. John Cole, is this something that in time I'll learn to appreciate texts subsequent times as opposed to always rushing to find a new text?

Solo, the Carver stories are short enough that you can reread them without feeling like you're missing out on finding a new text.

Thanks for the pointers Cole, I actually have been enjoying the stories more after I posted that, the first story I really like is "Sacks". I have five more stories to go. One of the stories seemed very familiar ("The Bath"), reminding me of "Short Cuts". After reading "So Much Water So Close to Home" I realized that two similar stories in the same movie was too much coincidence, so I checked imdb and realized that the movie credits Raymond Carver as a writer (although screenplay by Robert Altman). Cool stuff.

Enrique, I have read it once and own it...yet I haven't gone back to it yet.

I recently bought a boardgame called Arkham Horror so I've been getting reacquainted with H.P. Lovecraft's short stories. Tonight I'll read The Silver Key before I go to sleep.

"The Beet Queen" sounds pretty interesting. I like that multi-narrator/stream of consciousness style (I loved "As I Lay Dying") and very much enjoyed Erdrich's collection of short stories, "Love Medicine". A few of them were great, imo, and I appreciated the loose narrative she used to connect them all. I'll have to check out the "Beet Queen".

At the moment I am reading "Leviathan" by Thomas Hobbes. It's slow going in the first few chapters, as he is going to great lengths to establish clear definitions. I also found it bit of a chore picking up the English, but it is becoming more coherent as I read on. It seems like he is building nicely, though.

Also, finished "Cosmicomics" a few days ago. Thoughts are in the other thread.

just finished "one day in september" by simon reeve about munich, black september, and operation wrath of god. it's a great chronicle of terrorism in the 70's.

just started re-reading "plan of attack" by bob woodward. i read it when it came out for a poli-sci class in college but was to drunk/high/sexy to retain in for long term usage.

It's really too bad that Lovecraft isn't found in high school curriculum. Everyone coming out of high school knows who Poe is, but I bet only 2% have any idea who Lovecraft is.

Is it because it's more graphic, violent, and mature? I've only read some of his stuff, but it's pretty good. Plus, a billion of his stories have been adapted to movies so it must be marketable in SOME way.

Just finished re reading the Otori Trilogy. Sheer class if you are interested in samurai and ancient Japan mixed with assassins with magical powers this is the book to read. Its by Lian Hearn and the writing is amazing. The first book is called across the nightingales floor. Very good i recommend it to anyone who likes reading

Arkham horror is a pretty fun game. I used to love the Call of Cthulhu rpg. I might have to dig out my old Lovecraft books and read them again.

Currently reading the second part of McMurtry's Berrybender Narratives The Wandering Hill. So far, the first book and the beginning of this one are great. Very well structured story, great characters, and its hilarious. For me, it's a great quick, easy thing to read between serious stuff.

For those that don't know, Larry McMurtry is a western writer who wrote, amongst otehr things, Lonesome Dove and the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain.

I studied English Lit in college, and my school did not offer a single class that taught Lovecraft. Absolute travesty, as his stories are brilliant.

Just finished "What we talk about when we talk about love" by Raymond Carver. I liked it. Now I am reading short stories by Bradbury and "Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton.

Cincy, I'm English lit too...and I know there is nothing that would involve Lovecraft here.

Enrique, I've been meaning to read Sound of Thunder by Bradbury...Have you read it or will you be reading it? If so, please do tell thoughts (without spoilers if there is such a thing in there).

I just started "Rebels on the Backlot". It is a look at 6 "maverick" film directors from the 90s who were able to make movies according to their wishes and not bend to the Hollywood system. It looks at Tarrantino, Jonze, Sodenbergh, Fincher, PT Anderson and David Russell. So far it is interesting if not fantastically wirtten.

When you get to grad school, follow this rule: if you haven't read it twice, you haven't read it. Second rule: never admit to not having read something. If someone asks if you've read Moby Dick, for example, say, "Not lately."

Also, when you begin to teach certain works, you'll reread them a number of times. My former Shakespeare teacher had read what he taught at least seventy times. He never memorized a thing, but I believe he knew every word of every play he taught.