Loot
Whenever I go home there is always a stack of Free! Books! on my bed for me to take, mostly advances that my mom doesn't want; there is also a standing invitation to rummage through piles and see what interests me, since those things too might be available for the taking. Thus I will be returning northwards with the following:
Ehrhard Bahr - Weimar on the Pacific; Denis Johnson - Tree of Smoke; Steven Hall - The Raw Shark Texts (this, an advance, contains the author's myspace url on the back—classy); Harry Mathews - The Human Condition (short stories, divided into three sections, the second of which is titled something like Stories to be Read Aloud
; it might perhaps be interesting
to assemble persons and actually read them aloud); Mario Vargas Llosa - The Bad Girl; Russell Hoban - Linger Awhile; Max Frisch - I'm Not Stiller; Klas Östegren - Gentlemen; Elise Blackwell - Grub; John Cowper Powys - Porius, and Gerald Edelman - Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge.
Tomorrow I will see about liberating cookbooks.
Comments
on 2007-09-01 9:02:42.0, The Modesto Kid commented:
it might perhaps be interesting
to assemble persons and actually read them aloud
Are the scare quotes around interesting indicating that you do not think this would be interesting? Also, use quotation marks instead of html entities -- they copy better to the clipboard, they do.
What does "advances" mean in this context? Is your ma a book reviewer?
and, further, on 2007-09-01 9:03:52.0, ben wolfson commented:
One, I'm not using html entities; the entities copy just fine. Two, don't tell me what to do.
and, further, on 2007-09-01 10:15:54.0, SEK commented:
Damn it, I want to read Tree of Smoke. Why not send it to me instead? Please? Please? (Hey, this worked with the cookies...)
and, further, on 2007-09-01 10:53:24.0, ben wolfson commented:
What does "advances" mean in this context?
They are the same sorts of things that get sent to book reviewers, sent in advance of the actual publication and emblazoned with warnings like "uncorrected proof"; "do not quote without checking against published copy" or the like; in which all page references (in indexes or introductions or whatnot when there are such things) are to page "000", but she is in fact a book buyer.
As for you, SEK, all I can say is "nyah".
and, further, on 2007-09-01 14:54:45.0, The Modesto Kid commented:
I was not telling you what to do in earnest. Apologies if you took it that way.
and, further, on 2007-09-02 13:34:19.0, Kara commented:
I am so containedly jealous that I am turning into a frothing mime. What about if we work out an exchange -- say, raps for books? I'm an excellent rapper.
and, further, on 2007-09-02 20:17:28.0, ben wolfson commented:
But once heard, the rap is gone (and my memory is sieve), while the book endures. I think this is a bad deal. You are welcome to borrow books.