I read another book that has fairies in it.
This one I picked up at a new little bookstore that has opened in Jersey City...I don't believe I've mentioned it here before...it's called the Imagine Atrium, and it's a great little shop. 528 Jersey Avenue, right next to the coffee shop, which is very convenient. It's a small, but fairly highly curated little book shop, with a tendency toward the spiritual which seems to be somewhat frequent out here. Not in a bad way.
But back to the fairies - the book (The Good Fairies of New York) had a foreword by Neil Gaiman, and was published on Soft Skull Press, so I figured it was worth paying attention to. I don't really know anything about the author, Martin Millar, but I will investigate him now...It turned out to be quite a lot of fun, but not in the Susanna Clarke model of fake history....more like Buckaroo Banzai or something....it's a pretty chuckle filled tale about two fairies who are into punk rock and fashion who unaccountably find themselves in New York City...in the east village, to be exact. They hang out in bars, befriend and confound the locals. They end up meeting fairies of other ethnicities, and going on dates with them and fighting quite a bit as well. The book is written in an understated but very funny way. I laughed out loud about a dozen times. If you are looking a for quick read to divert your attention from a mysterious odor that no one can explain, and know a little bit about punk rock and the geography of New York City, you could do far worse than to grab this book. Highly recommended.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, January 08, 2007
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Been Reading.
I've noticed that when I'm busy I tend to get the most stuff done - that is, busy with work, somehow, results in lots of non-work creative and inteelektual meanderings accomplished. To wit: while working on Rhyme Animal, I read:
Collected Short Stories of Pushkin
"Anansi Boys", Neil Gaiman
Re-read "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell", Susanna Clarke
"Ladies of Grace Adieu", Susanna Clarke
"American Gods", Neil Gaiman
"Good Omens", Nail Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
"Foundation", Isaac Asimov
"Rising Tide", John Barry
"Water for Gotham", Gerard T. Koeppel
I know there are at least a couple of others I'm forgetting at the moment. It's no spectacular truism, but it does point to the fact that an agile mind depends on keeping it well fed...and don't worry, the queue of books waiting for attention is a bit broader than the previous list, so the diet is properly balanced.
I could use a good, interesting history book right now actually.
Collected Short Stories of Pushkin
"Anansi Boys", Neil Gaiman
Re-read "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell", Susanna Clarke
"Ladies of Grace Adieu", Susanna Clarke
"American Gods", Neil Gaiman
"Good Omens", Nail Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
"Foundation", Isaac Asimov
"Rising Tide", John Barry
"Water for Gotham", Gerard T. Koeppel
I know there are at least a couple of others I'm forgetting at the moment. It's no spectacular truism, but it does point to the fact that an agile mind depends on keeping it well fed...and don't worry, the queue of books waiting for attention is a bit broader than the previous list, so the diet is properly balanced.
I could use a good, interesting history book right now actually.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
What's goin' on...
What's goin' on...
(Listening to America: A traveler rediscovers his country, by Bill Moyers. Published 1971.)
I just finished reading Bill Moyer's travelogue, published the year after I was born. I know I was born on an air force base in north north north texas, since my dad had been drafted, but for some reason I still think of the time around my birth as being relatively calm. I guess the artificial divides of the "the sixties" and "the seventies" lead to me consider that we'd landed on the moon, and everyone was sitting around drinking cocktails, marvelling at what a crazy time we'd just had, and waiting for for the next part of the show to begin.( "Apparently, they'll be inventing PUNK rock! I hear it's AWFUL!", one party-goer will say to another.)
Of course history isn't ever that neat, and reading this book 35 years later, you get an idea of how messy it can actually be. Having concluded time as Deputy Director of the Peace Corp, "special assistant" to President Johnson, and publisher of NEWSDAY, Moyers spent a summer driving through America, asking people what was on their minds, and listening. It turns out they had a lot to say. America was worried about: the long hairs, unions, school integration (bussing), the war, immigration, the trade deficit, identity politics of several varieties, race, zoning, and how one person can actually make a difference. Moyers really lets the folks he interviews speak their minds, and the book is full of minute details about each issue, but it's fascinating anyway.
What resonates throughout all of the complaints is a pervasive sense that there's something worth saving about the country. It's rather amazing to see how much differently folks interpreted the idea of patriotism; there seems to be a genuine sense of dialog between opposing factions at many of the towns that Moyers stops at along the way.
Most of what people were worried about 35 years ago is still with us today. The country was in a war that many of the citizens opposed, and most folks had a hard time explaining to each other what it's purpose was. Anytime anyone speaks about the war, it's fairly uncanny, as we spiral ever deeper into Iraq and the Israel-Lebanon crisis gets more explosive daily.
Stepping back in time, to a day when MLK was a person whose loss was freshly felt, when the nation's youth were testing their voices and being heard, and when someone could ask a question, and know how to simply listen to the answer, is a powerful experience...I finished reading this book with a much fuller picture of what America was, and is.
(Listening to America: A traveler rediscovers his country, by Bill Moyers. Published 1971.)
I just finished reading Bill Moyer's travelogue, published the year after I was born. I know I was born on an air force base in north north north texas, since my dad had been drafted, but for some reason I still think of the time around my birth as being relatively calm. I guess the artificial divides of the "the sixties" and "the seventies" lead to me consider that we'd landed on the moon, and everyone was sitting around drinking cocktails, marvelling at what a crazy time we'd just had, and waiting for for the next part of the show to begin.( "Apparently, they'll be inventing PUNK rock! I hear it's AWFUL!", one party-goer will say to another.)
Of course history isn't ever that neat, and reading this book 35 years later, you get an idea of how messy it can actually be. Having concluded time as Deputy Director of the Peace Corp, "special assistant" to President Johnson, and publisher of NEWSDAY, Moyers spent a summer driving through America, asking people what was on their minds, and listening. It turns out they had a lot to say. America was worried about: the long hairs, unions, school integration (bussing), the war, immigration, the trade deficit, identity politics of several varieties, race, zoning, and how one person can actually make a difference. Moyers really lets the folks he interviews speak their minds, and the book is full of minute details about each issue, but it's fascinating anyway.
What resonates throughout all of the complaints is a pervasive sense that there's something worth saving about the country. It's rather amazing to see how much differently folks interpreted the idea of patriotism; there seems to be a genuine sense of dialog between opposing factions at many of the towns that Moyers stops at along the way.
Most of what people were worried about 35 years ago is still with us today. The country was in a war that many of the citizens opposed, and most folks had a hard time explaining to each other what it's purpose was. Anytime anyone speaks about the war, it's fairly uncanny, as we spiral ever deeper into Iraq and the Israel-Lebanon crisis gets more explosive daily.
Stepping back in time, to a day when MLK was a person whose loss was freshly felt, when the nation's youth were testing their voices and being heard, and when someone could ask a question, and know how to simply listen to the answer, is a powerful experience...I finished reading this book with a much fuller picture of what America was, and is.
Tags:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
