Just finished The Billion Dollar Spy. It's the true story of an incredibly brave and driven Russian man who worked in radar design and gave secrets worth billions to the CIA. He had to approach them a few times before they realised he was genuine and it was almost impossible to put a value on the information he provided to them. Despite asking for sums of money he admitted that he wouldn't really spend it, he just wanted it to show that there was an appreciation of his work. In reality the things he asked of the CIA were incredibly simple. some pencils and good quality erasers for his son, some albums and a walkman, some medicine etc. The book also provides a decent amount of background information on the CIA at the time and specifically the Moscow station.

I'd really recommend it. From the part where he (Tolkachev) makes contact with the CIA it reads like a fast paced thriller.

I can second that. It's a great book.

Ask the Dust by John Fante. Hilarious book about a struggling writer in LA would falls for a Mexican girl and switches between loving her and hating her all the time. Seems to be writing the story of Bukowski's life.

Finished one of the great American plays, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
I first read this play over fifty years ago. It has lost none of its relevancy. It remains fascinating to watch Miller deconstruct materialism and self-deception in such a short piece.

I gave in to all the ads I've been seeing for Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan -- finally caved and read the book. It's a strangely impersonal memoir that traces the author's love of surfing all over the world, immersing the audience in descriptions of waves and breaks more than cultures or complicated relationships. It's a neat book for regular people but probably wildly intersting if you're into the surfing life, which itself was different from what I expected.

I remember reading Naked Lunch twenty or so years ago and thinking WTF. I thought maybe in the meantime I'd magically gained the ability to decipher William S. Burroughs, so I gave Exterminator! a try. He's still inscrutable. I like his style a lot, but I have no clue as to what's going on.

I found Nova Express an easier read, but Naked Lunch is a hoot. I think the key is not to try to decipher it too much, but to let your mind float with the associations and connections made by the cut-up style.

An absolutely fantastic novel in every way.

Loved Suttree, but I think my fave is No Country for Old Men.

Currently reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-hr Book Store, confirmed awesome. 70% done.

MENTORED BY A MADMAN
THE WILLIAM BURROUGHS EXPERIMENT
by A.J. Lees, foreword by James Grauerholz
This book notice came to me today from NYRB and deals with the author’s search for a cure for Parkinson’s. Burroughs and drugs from the Amazon figure (apparently) prominently in the good doctor’s research.
Barry Hannah’s short (long) story in Bats Out of Hell called Two Things Dimly Going at Each Other has a take on Burroughs that throws a search light on his creepy crazy life that a biography I read at the time failed at.

Finished Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen; more of Hiassen's Conch Chronicles, it lacks substantial literary merit, but is great fun to read and highly recommended, among Hiassen's best.

In regards to Conch tales I was watching Anthony Bourdain’s Miami segment last week and at one point he spent a minute waxing poetically on John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee series. I read and re-read these crime thrillers back in the day. Eventually I found the books on tape and I often thought the great dramatizations by Darren McGavin paved the way for the industry. The books have none of the humor of Hiaasen,which I like, but they have a strong narrative that pulls you back for more.

I've read most, if not all, of MacDonald's Travis McGee colorful chronicles. While I find Hiaasen very likable and entertaining, he rarely approaches the level of writing that MacDonald turned out a regular basis.

Nice.

I like both McDonald and Hiaasen. They both write about the same phenomena: McDonald in a sinister suspenseful way, whereas Hiaasen makes observations and then extrapolates them to their logical conclusion.

For those interested in Florida, but who have absolutely no desire to set foot in the place, both authors are must-reads.

Concerning the ‘Conch Republic’ and it’s genesis one can do no better than Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country. I’ve only read the first part that was released as Killing Mr. Watson but was mightily impressed. The Everglades seem to have been America’s final frontier, and Mr. Watson the last great outlaw who fled there after shooting Belle Starr. The book is imagined history but as in all the Matthiessen’s works I’ve read the natural history of the locale looms large.
I was in the Ochochobee area in the 80’s with an outlaw friend while reading the Watson book. My friend’s father, another outlaw, knew some of Watson’s relatives.

I read Book 6 of James S.A. Corey's Expanse series, Babylon's Ashes. A little different from previous books in that, instead of rotating through four POV characters, this one follows many more stories, making it a little harder to keep track of everything. And this book seems to fall into a pattern the series has established of huge event in one book then recover and reset the pieces in the next. So Babylon's Ashes falls into the lull category -- not as much action, more character development and worldbuilding. Avasarala remains one of my favorite characters ever. One of the things I love about this series is how nuanced character motivations can be -- science fiction that isn't just about ideas but the people who've developed those beliefs, how they react to each other, where their ideas succeed or fail and why. Philip is a shining example of how to draw a complex villain, a sort of ironic Mordred analog who could eventually either redeem himself by killing his father or destroy everything.

He ruminates before being cut off by a bombshell that prevents him from forming a thought which might lead to his redemption. So much good stuff on many levels, even though I think this is one of the weaker books of the series.

Just started Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet, a gift from an appreciative colleague. Given that I'm a big fan of Gilbert Sorrentino and Flann O'Brien, Pessoa's work seems like it's just the kind of book I really enjoy.

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Moved on to some Elmore Leonard 70s novels.

On the occasion of Banned Books Week, reading Brave New World and really enjoying it.

I have attempted it, having repeatedly seen it ranked with the great works of its age, but, though I made it half-way through the last time, I have bogged down on three attempts. I'm looking forward to your report.

As you will know, several versions have been published (and at several lengths and with different orders). Which one are you reading? I'd been working my way through the Serpent's Tail edition; maybe another choice would be better? (My wife suggested the Penguin edition.)

I do love me some Adam Johnson:

'Megumi wears a top that's trampoline-tight. She has a hand on my husband's shoulder. Even though she's a mother of two, her breasts are positively teenybopper. They pop. Her tits do everything but chew bubble gum and make Hello Kitty hearts.'

I'm reading Journey to the End of the Night by the notorious Louis-Ferdinand Céline. I read this back in my early 20s and loved it but had forgotten most everything except how hilarious it is and how the hero travels around a lot. I think I first heard about it from reading that Jack Kerouac liked it. I actually had to make the San Antonio library borrow it from San Angelo, TX, what's up with that anyway? This classic of world literature isn't good enough for a huge city's public library to own a copy? wtf

I have the Penguin edition. The colleague who gave it to me recommended I read it here and there rather than straight through although I have begun in the usual way.

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Anyone have any recommendations for a good Lewis and Clark book? Wandering around way out in the Columbia River Gorge I realized that was where they had traveled and I seem to know so little about it.

I've recently developed an interest in Lewis and Clark, too. I haven't read it, but Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose is on my to-read list. It's supposed to be a great read.

I loved this book although I didn't understand his choice of when to end some of the stories. Would love to check out some other stuff by him.

They appear heavily in the first part of The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost.