Angel of Music

Written last night at dinner...

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:25:45 GMT

Here I sit at a sports bar. Technically, it is a haven of chicken wings and beer, neither of which I am particularly fond. With the spastic television screens flashing at every angle, each showcasing a different sporting event, and the thumping, over-loud dance music echoing off the walls that is matched in intensity only by the raucous, half-drunk patrons, one must wonder why anyone could NOT understand why Americans have no attention spans. I sit here sipping a glass of water with my quiet-natured husband and scrawl my thoughts in my ever-present book so that I can assure myself that I am indeed still capable of HAVING thoughts. This is one of many reasons why I don’t go to bars. Even though I don’t drink, I always end up with a hangover. It doesn’t take booze or beer for me; merely the ambiance does the trick. All I have to say is that this chicken better be good.

The word of the day is...Editing!

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:59:01 GMT

(syndicated from my website wordpress www.amwhitsett.com/wordpress)

So, that novel I was working on? All the way back in November? Yeah. I finished it. I. Finished. It. Are you screaming for joy yet? I am. I finished it in February–all 110,000 words of it. Now, they are not a pretty lot, these 110,000 words. Some are quite homely and many of them are prone to break out in skirmishes between each other when the wrong ones get too close together. Not good. However, I have discussed the problem with each and every one of the 110,000 words and we have decided to work out a compromise so that I don’t get a stress headache every time my eyes wander over them. We have agreed that I shall EDIT them. Edit them ALL. I will appraise each for his or her usefulness and fit and move or REmove accordingly. Thus far I have already shaved 1,100 words off of chapter 1. That’s only like 1%, but by the time I get to chapter 22, we’re getting somewhere significant with this. Do you know what I found out? Not ALL of the words are homely! Some are pretty and nice and help old ladies across the street. I intend to pet those, give them hot chocolate, and tuck them in safely where they belong. I have more scenes to add, several to move and spread out, a couple to rewrite entirely, some to delete entirely, and a whole storyline to lay in as a seam to the two plots that I have going. It’s going to be a lot of work, but I would like to tell you a secret about it: It’s not going to suck! When I’m done–I truly think that it’s not going to suck. That is not to say that it doesn’t right now, but the future is finally bright and shining!

Huzzah!

Is this worth the sleepless nights and the multiple overpriced Moleskine notebooks I filled in the process? YES!

I’ve procrastinated enough. Back to my timeline. Who knew editing was FUN?

*squee*

Consider the Night

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:58:30 GMT

(double from my website wordpress)
I generally like to think of myself as a (hopefully) good-natured and (usually) even-tempered kind of person. If I was a horse, I would be the steady sort on which kindly uncles would place children for easy rides around the paddock and afterward they would pat my nose and I would gently lip sugar (sugar is a must!) off their tiny, sticky hands. However, the thing that makes me want to run crazed around the room, foam-flecked and kicking everything into oblivion, is INSOMNIA. (I would like to thank Stephen King for making it a big, red word with raised letters that are coated in a mixture of sulfuric acid and children’s tears. Thanks, Stevie.)

My problem is this. I cannot GO to sleep. I must FALL asleep. My mind generally goes along all day at jaunty clip, getting me through whatever I’m doing with relative clarity and focus. I rather like these happy daylight times. But when the sun sets, it morphs into some evil, werewolf-like thing, ready to seize sleep from my tender grasp with giant gnashing jaws. Suddenly, everything I’ve ever repressed in my entire LIFE comes barreling at me in a slideshow of contemplation, confusion, and worry. I am aware of my tendency to over-think EVERYTHING, so I’ve got a system out to keep the mind-wolf at bay so that I can slip off, ninja-style, into dreamland.

TV. You know how you’ve been told your entire life that TV makes you stupid and rots your brain. All true. I love TV. But, I know the brain-rot theory is absolutely true because the second you put me in front of a rerun of The Golden Girls or my beloved Simpsons, my brain goes completely flat-line. Seriously. Shouting hello in there would bring an echo that would reverberate for miles. This is not to say that TV CAN’T make you think (LOST, anyone?), but, thinking is not necessary. My poor husband, who is of the normal-folk who can just flip off the light and march right into dreamland with waving flags and blaring trumpet, has had to adapt to me crawling in on silent toes, a refugee trailing in on the heels of King of the Hill and Home Improvement.

However. What happens when I wake up in the middle of the night? Oh, you tricky insomnia. You got me. When I had a room to myself, it was no problem to flip on the giant sleeping pill and watch some infomercials (ask me about the Magic Bullet and the Ronco Food Dehydrator. I know LOTS!) until I would be blissfully unconscious again. Now that I’m married, I can’t get away with it. I’ve tried the video iPod with some success, but sleeping in either headphones or earbuds is not recommended. Ouch. Besides, as soon as Boo the Devilcat seems me stirring, she’s in there cooing, drooling, kneading, and begging for me to pet her RIGHT NOW and ALL NIGHT (or ELSE!).

So. Here I am. Victim again of my old foe termination insomnia. What am I doing about it? Whining like an eleven-year-old deemed too young for Twilight. “But all my friends are sleeping! I won’t understand what they’re talking about!”

Good morning, world. Happy to see you.

NOT!

Welcome 2009!

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:45:21 GMT

Well, 2008 finally got the heck outta dodge and not a moment too soon. It's been an..interesting year. Good and bad, but there was a little more bad happening to the people around me than to make me comfortable. This year there were losses of dear loved ones that will echo on, regardless of the calendar. There were a lot of rough patches and speed bumps, including a broken foot for yours truly that just seems to not want to heal. Still, as always, I will choose to wash over much sentimentality by focusing on more literary pursuits, including my books of the year list. On the writing side of things I completed Nanowrimo for the second year running, and this year I did it early and got closed to 70,000 words before the end of November. Many of them are useless, misplaced words that will be plucked out and disposed of accordingly come time for the editing fairy to descend, but I've got a long way yet to go before that happens. I have also gotten a few flashes of inspiration for future attempts, maybe including Nano III. We'll see what happens. :)

Well, on the literary front, this year I read a lot of crap. As I said before, this was a bit of a strenuous year on a lot of front and I didn't have much wherewithal to attempt many literary giants. There were still quite a few gems among my 50 books for the year (the least I've read in the last five years), but there was a lot of fluff too. I guess there is room for both. I'm not a TOTAL snob, after all! I have starred the books that were my favorite NEW reads. There are some on the list that were rereads and I have exempted them from being starred. On my personal website I keep a book review blog and I have reviewed several of these there in further detail.

Without further ado, for all one of you that might actually click the cut:

1. That Was Then, This is Now/S.E. Hinton
2. Pretending You Care/Norm Feuti
3. The Hobbit/J.R.R. Tolkein
4. Tyrannosaur Canyon/Douglas Preston
5. Soon I Will Be Invincible/Austin Grossman
6. Counter-Clock World/Philip K. Dick
7. The Old Man and the Sea/Ernest Hemingway
8. The Giver/Lois Lowry*
9. Number the Stars/Lois Lowry
10. Gathering Blue/Lois Lowry
11. Messenger/Lois Lowry
12. 1984/George Orwell*
13. A Summer to Die/Lois Lowry
14. Gossip Girl/Cecily von Ziegesar
15. A Time to Kill/John Grisham
16. The Overnight/Ramsay Campbell
17. Jim the Boy/Tony Earley
18. The Host/Stephenie Meyer
19. Twilight/Stephenie Meyer
20. The Glass Menagerie/Tennessee Williams
21. New Moon/Stephenie Meyer
22. I Am the Cheese/Robert Cormier*
23. A Wizard of Earthsea/Ursual K. Le Guin*
24. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle/David Wroblewski*
25. The God of Animals/Aryn Kyle*
26. The Chocolate War/Robert Cormier
27. Eclipse/Stephenie Meyer
28. The Hunger Games/Suzanne Collins*
29. Ubik/Philip K. Dick*
30. The Autumn People/Ray Bradbury
31. Make Room! Make Room!/Harry Harrison
32. Breaking Dawn/Stephenie Meyer
33. Watchmen/Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons*
34. Bel Canto/Ann Patchett*
35. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/J.K. Rowling
36. Einstein's Dreams/Alan Lightman*
37. Blaze/Stpehen King writing as Richard Bachman
38. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/J.K. Rowling
39. The Savage/David Almond and Dave McKean
40. Titanic's Last Secrets/Brad Matsen
41. American Psycho/Brett Easton Ellis
42. March/Geraldine Brooks*
43. Dead Until Dark/Charlaine Harris
44. The Tales of Beddle the Bard/J.K. Rowling
45. Living Dead in Dallas/Charlaine Harris
46. Club Dead/Charlaine Harris
47. A Girl Named Zippy/Haven Kimmel
48. A Wild Ride Through the Night/Walter Moers*
49. The 13 Clocks/James Thurber
50. Dead to the World/Charlaine Harris

Wow...

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:23:00 GMT

I'm babysitting, and the kid is watching some weird puppet show thing on the DVR. Amy Sedaris was on as the tooth fairy. I was fighting not to crack up. She's pretty hilarious no matter what she does. Still...weird.

I think I'll be fine as long as she doesn't want to watch Barney anymore. We watched the same episode three times. Last time I sat it was the I Want To Be a Fireman episode four consecutive times. I don't know how much more I can take of that...

I'll just continue noveling. I won Nanowrimo, but I'm trying to actually finish the novel before the end of the year. I'm at almost 70k, and I've got a long way to go. A ton will be cut in editing, so I'm still just trucking along.

Okay, back to kids' tv...

Take Two

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:15:44 GMT

Hello long lost LJ buddies! I know I've been evil and haven't posted here--or anywhere in a long time. I've tried to be good and update the blog on my website, and I intended to syndicate here, but I'm a slacker so that didn't happen. Anyway, I'll try to pop in a little more often. And now the cause of my head being pulled from the sand...

Okay, it's time to begin the madness that is Nanowrimo for the second time. Last year was tough, but ended up being a blast...a successful blast. So, I'm at it again. The madness begins November 1, so if you wanna read, drop me a line. I'll be posting as I go, but it'll be friends only in my nano blog paper_cuts2007. I'll need all the support I can get, so readers are a good thing. Kind, gentle readers that understand that a MONTH is not a LONG time to write a novel, so they will be easy on me for the GAZILLIONS of mistakes that are inevitable.

Let the countdown begin!!

So awesome...

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:05:00 GMT

I worked an event with Kevin Brockmeier tonight. It's the second time I've met him, but this time since I was hosting the signing I got to talk to him a little more naturally. He's just awesome and I LURVE his work. We actually have a lot of reading taste in common as well, which was fun to talk about. Anyway, everyone run out and buy The View From the Seventh Layer (and turn to the back and read the last story immediately).

Another day, another book

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:01:59 GMT

I just finished reading The Giver by Lois Lowry for the first time.

Wow. It's like Fahrenheit 451, A Wrinkle in Time, and Ender's Game all rolled up into one with a good dose of Plato and Philip K. Dick. Pretty good for a kids book, eh? I LOVED it. I'm just sorry that I didn't read it sooner. For the record, as I often say about certain "children's" or "YA" books, its not JUST for kids. Any adult would be well served to read some of the books that are labeled thusly. I'll definitely be picking up the "sequel," Gathering Blue, tomorrow. It's supposedly only loosely in the same canon, but I want more!

I also finished up The Old Man and the Sea this morning. There were some really beautiful things about that book, but it was a different approach to writing than I was used to. I think I need to try another Hemingway and see how that goes.

Shaken, not stirred

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:29:41 GMT

I just wanted to post to let everyone know that Chris and I are fine after Tornado Night here in Memphis. I heard that there are some areas of town that are like a "war zone" according to the news, but Chris, Bella, Boo, and me are all just fine. It got a little scary here in our second floor apartment and finally we took the animals (including Boo in a carrier--you should have seen it--fireworks) and went down with our downstairs neighbor and sat in the hall with all the couch cushions, but nothing major happened around our place. Thanks to everyone who called and emailed! I hope everyone else was as lucky.

Recap

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 05:57:36 GMT

Well, another year is coming to a close. This year my resolution was to complete a writing project. I managed to somehow scape and scramble and I finished Nanowrimo, so I consider that to be mission accomplished. I had also set out to read 60 books this year. I just closed the cover on my 60th (granted, it was chosen for its simplicity and length--its not cheating!), so I can check that one off as well. I'll have to do some further thinking about what I'm going to do for my resolution next year. I'm leaning towards massive overhaul of the hunk of wordy mess that is my novel and perhaps getting it in some kind of shape to submit somewhere. I'm not all that pleased with it, so I'm not expecting any bites, but I'm in it more for the learning experience. Then, maybe I won't be so wet behind the ears when I have something that I'm more proud of to submit. I guess its best to get used to the rejection while my self esteem is NOT hinged on it!

Anyhoo, in recap of my literary year, here are the books I've read and my overall thoughts for what I've read this year:

January:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Philip K. Dick
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (British Edition)/J.K. Rowling
A Scanner Darkly/Philip K. Dick
Out of the Silent Planet/C.S. Lewis
Forever in Blue/Ann Brashares
Jurassic Park/Michael Crichton
The Man in the High Castle/Philip K. Dick
The Plot Against America/Philip Roth
The Girl in the Glass/Jeffrey Ford
White Noise/Don DeLillo
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said/Philip K. Dick
The Perks of Being a Wallflower/Stephen Chbosky
Bait and Switch/Barbara Ehrenreich
The Phantom Tollbooth/Norton Juster
The Lathe of Heaven/Ursula K. LeGuin

February:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (British Edition)/J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (British Edition)/J.K. Rowling

March:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (British Edition)/J.K. Rowling
The Last Unicorn/Peter S. Beagle

April:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (British Edition)/J.K. Rowling
Rabbit, Run/John Updike
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (British Edition)/J.K. Rowling

May:
A Dirty Job/Christopher Moore
Heart-Shaped Box/Joe Hill
Man Walks Into a Room/Nicole Krauss
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay/Michael Chabon
It's Superman!/Tom De Haven
Our Town/Thornton Wilder
The Eyre Affair/Jasper Fforde
Lost in a Good Book/Jasper Fforde

June:
The Well of Lost Plots/Jasper Fforde
Something Rotten/Jasper Fforde
Un Lun Dun/China Mieville
The Last Summer (of You and Me)/Ann Brashares
The Thirteenth Tale/Diane Setterfield
The Barnum Museum/Steven Millhauser

July:
Blubber/Judy Blume
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows/J.K. Rowling
First Among Sequels/Jasper Fforde
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters/Gordon Dahlquist

August:
Eclipse/Stephenie Meyer
Stardust/Neil Gaiman

September:
The Traveler/John Twelve Hawks
The Dark River/John Twelve Hawks
American Band/Kristin Laine
Carrie/Stephen King

October:
A Girl Named Zippy/Haven Kimmel
Over Sea, Under Stone/Susan Cooper
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming/Joshilyn Jackson
The Dark is Rising/Susan Cooper

November: (Nanowrimo month! Reading time was slim pickins!)
Lights Out/R.L. Stine
The Face/R.L. Stine

December:
Capote in Kansas/Kim Powers
Tunnels/Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
The First Evil/R.L. Stine
Of Mice and Men/John Steinbeck
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn/Mark Twain
Holidays on Ice/David Sedaris
The Grapes of Wrath/John Steinbeck
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret/Judy Blume

Phew. That was a lot of typing. Okay, some general thoughts.
Favorite new discovery: Philip K. Dick, John Steinbeck (I wrote him off after hating The Red Pony when I was 12--I was very, very wrong), Haven Kimmel, Peter S. Beagle, Diane Setterfield

Favorite book of the year: The Grapes of Wrath, edging out some great new contemporary things

Worst book of the year: Gotta be the R.L. Stines. I read them because I was desperate to read something during Nanowrimo and I needed to keep myself in the creepy/horror like genre. I read a lot of ghostly short stories as well, but no entire books of such. The R.L. Stines were like crack for me when I was a kid, and are nostalgic and fun, but don't hold a candle to anything else I read this year. Those excepted, it's have to be The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares. Nice lady. Love Traveling Pants. This one is just too cookie cutter and melodramatic chick lit for my tastes. Spring breakers are going to love this one in mass market as a beach read though.

Coolest authors met this year: Haven Kimmel, Daniel Wallace, and Lauren Groff (watch for The Monsters of Templeton in February)

Best new book (came out in 2007): Basically it was the year of sequels. Harry Potter, Twilight, Thursday Next, Third Realm, Traveling Pants, etc. Out of them all, I guess it was most satisfying to tie up Harry Potter. Still, for a non-series book new this year, I highly recommend Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams.

Favorite Advances for next year: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming/Joshillyn Jackson [March 2008] (her best yet, and her other two are fantastic. She's a real class act as well), The Monsters of Templeton/Lauren Groff [February 2008] (haven't finished it yet, but I'm expecting great things from this one.)

If anyone has any questions about any of these books, drop a comment. I love discussion and recommendations!

Okay, off to watch the ball drop and finish the paragraph I was writing on my new story!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Done!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:40:00 GMT

I finished Nanowrimo!! The novel is still in progress, but I actually finished the 50k with a day to spare. I'm very relieved and pretty proud. I've never written that much before. Despite the fact that a LOT of it is crap, its still all mine and I love it. :)

Now, back to write the rest of the scene I abandoned to celebrate!

New Layout

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:01:36 GMT

I have a GORGEOUS new layout featuring my absolutely drool-worthy (if you're a trumpet geek) brand-new love of my life Bach Chicago C trumpet. Stacey made it for me. (The layout, not the trumpet). All kudos to her for its fabulousness. It's purdy.

By the way, I'm still truckin' along on Nanowrimo. I think I might actually finish this monster. It ain't pretty right now, but its growing none the less. Kind of like the blob. Anyway, faithful readers, stay tuned. (Trampy skimmers are welcome too, but I don't love you as much).

Concert

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:38:58 GMT

We saw Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra last night.

Wow.

That show made me want to do one of two things: give up eating and sleeping and practice trumpet 23 hours a day for the rest of my life OR introduce Mr. Trumpet to Mr. Trash Can...

Yay!

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 03:52:57 GMT

Chris and I are going to see Wynton Marsalis on Sunday. Woot! We're also going to try to go see Doc Severensen next month as well. It's trumpet heaven. If anyone is a jazz fan they should come up on Sunday for the Wynton show. It's going to be AMAZING and there are still tickets available. Come on! We'll do lunch! :)

And now to sleep. I just got home from work and I have to go back in the morning.

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:27:36 GMT

Everyone go see Stardust. I command it.

I LURVE Neil Gaiman.

Edwin Mullhouse

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:55:15 GMT

I'm currently reading Edwin Mullhouse:The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 By Jeffrey Cartwright by Steven Millhauser. I've posted before about my growing love of Millhauser. Everything I read by him makes me like him more. I started this book a loooong time ago, right after I read Martin Dressler: Tale of an American Dreamer, but for whatever reason, (probably school) it got kicked to the curb. I finished Stardust by Neil Gaiman the other day and got out a pile of things I want to read. Then, of course, picked none of them and ended up grabbing this one up as I passed by the shelf on the way out the door to leave. Anyway, I just thought I'd post a recommendation for it, even though I'm still so near the front of the book I hardly need a bookmark. Millhauser is just so skillful. I would give anything to be able to write like this guy. He's quite whimsical...at times almost like an adult literary version of Dr. Seuss. To give background for my example, Edwin Mullhouse was one of the greatest literary minds ever to be born. Too bad he died at age 11. However, his best friend and biographer Jeffrey Cartwright gives us a play by play of every memory he had of Edwin, beginning when Edwin was born and Jeffrey was six months old. He goes into detail about the breadth of Edwin's pre-language language. Check out this alliteration:

"Some of his bolder experiments in sound were later suppressed by the polite requirements of civilized noise. I refer not so much to his intricate belches and exquisite winds as to his astonishing salivary achievements. How I long to convey to the adult reader his breathtaking combinations of the buzz and drool, his dribbles and drizzles, his bubbles and burbles--whole salivary sonatas enhanced by gushing crescendos and hissing fortissimi, gurgling glissandi and trickling pianissimi, streaming prestissimos, spouting arpeggios, those slurps and slops, those drips and drops, those sputtering splattering splurts of sputum and drippy splish-splashings of melodious spittle. Adult speech, Edwin used to say, is ridiculously exclusive."

I can't think of a more poetic way to describe baby-talk. :)

Anyway, I just thought I'd share. I need to hit the hay. I've got work tomorrow at DK. I'm liking it there pretty well so far. They do a lot of things differently than the Nashville store, but books are the same and customers who want books are the same, so that part I can handle. :) I'm still waiting to hear back from the Symphony after the face to face interview. They said it could be up to two weeks before they would have anything to tell me, so I'm content for now. Ah, sweet income. How I've missed you, however meager you are. :)

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 05:10:55 GMT

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer = good

(Its the small fraction of girly-girl in me talking)

Still. Those of you without Y Chromosomes, please begin reading Twilight followed by New Moon then Eclipse right away. Thank you.

Nashville bound...

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:07:21 GMT

I'm heading to Nashville this evening for Potter-palooza at DK. I'm going to be helping out at the party which should be a lot of fun. Then, spending the night in Woodbury with Laurie, then back to Memphis in the AM so Chris can play for a wedding and earn us some money! I hope to see some of you folks at the party. Come find me at the Trivia "booth"! I'm told I will be wearing a few Gryffindor accessories, which is fine, but don't expect much out of me costume wise. However, if you're there, make sure to seek out Derek--a fantastic Hagrid, Erin, McGonagall extraordinaire (as will be Laurie, as well), and Danielle, a pretty creepy lookin' Bellatrix Lestrange if ever there was one. Hope to see some friends there (however, as much as I love some of you, anyone spoils the book for me and I will Avada Kedavra you SO fast...)

Thank heaven for nine lives...

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:35:42 GMT

Well, Boo just had a near death experience this morning. Chris and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie when I hear choking. I look over and Boo is under the dining room table with her little pink tongue sticking out choking to death. We both ran over there, as did Bella (who actually looked quite worried) and I grabbed her and gave her the kitty heimlich maneuver several times and she eventually squeaked and meowed. That was about the sweetest sound I've heard all day. Anyway, after that, she was just fine and started snuggling with me and cooing. I, however, was still QUITE shaken. We still have no idea what she was choking on. We looked around under the table to see if there was something that she could have gotten, but we didn't see anything. I'm certain it wasn't like a hairball or anything--she had her tongue out, her eyes were bulging, and she couldn't make any sounds. SCARY stuff. Anyway, I'm SO glad that she's okay but I just had to vent. I love that little cat, evil or not.

Millhauser

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:20:02 GMT

I'm taking a break from Glass Books of the Dream Eaters to read The Barnum Museum by Steven Millhauser. Glass Books is good, but I have been looking for this other book for ages and have finally procured it, so it could wait no longer. I've read three of the short stories contained within, and it definitely backs up my previous opinions of Millhauser as an absolute master. Probably the biggest hook I've noticed in his writing is the minute attention to detail expressed in long, detailed passages. In using this technique, he has a way of invoking images in the mind not reminiscent of anything you've experienced before. He also has a penchant for the grandiose, and uses his elaborate descriptive passages to illustrate absurdity in extreme extravagance. This is illustrated clearly in Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Pulitzer winner, 1997) and in the title story of The Barnum Museum. The stories I've read in the book so far (A Game of Clue, Behind the Blue Curtain, The Barnum Museum) have all been just excellent. A Game of Clue was especially interesting, intertwining action with a family playing a game of Clue, the relationships of the players, and also the thoughts and actions of the characters on the board--including an "encounter" between Miss Scarlet and the lecherous Colonel Mustard.

I have some other Millhauser short story collections/novellas I've admittedly not delved into yet, including In the Penny Arcade, The King in the Tree: Three Novellas, Little Kingdoms, and The Knife Thrower and Other Stories, but I do look forward to them.I just thought I'd go ahead and recommend this book if you're looking for some small bites of high octane literature by an amazing contemporary American writer. (That's saying a lot for me, considering the almost absurd amount of Brit lit I read!)

Stuff...

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:42:16 GMT

Anyone here read The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin? I've been wanting to read it for a while (mostly since I read The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde) so Chris decided to surprise me by ordering it when he saw a really inexpensive used hardcover on Amazon. When it came in, it was ex-library but in good shape except for a box cutter slash on the very top of the dust jacket. Lo and behold, it was actually signed. I compared the signature to some on the internet and it looks legit. Bonus. Anyway, I've never heard anyone else mention this book or this author and I just wondered if anyone else had any thoughts of it. Looks fun to me! I'm sure I'll post my thoughts when I finish it, likely after Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. (Talk about a couple of RANDOM titles! lol)

In other news Melissa is coming to visit this weekend. She's going to sit in and play with us on one of our community band concerts as well. I'm looking forward to the visit--haven't seen Mel in a while and it'll be fun to have someone to drag around town for a few days. I think we're also going to go to dinner with band buddies before the concert on Friday, so that should be cool as well.

As far as the job front goes, Eddie from DK called me back again a couple of days ago and basically told me I'm in, but it'll be around July 3rd-ish before I can get started. He also apologized for the lack of hours startinng up, but he said if I'm willing to stick it out with them he promises he'll give me first crack at whatever hours he gets available. He really does seem like a decent guy and I guess the beginning of July isn't that long to wait, so we'll see how it goes. He said he hoped he could get me in by inventory night (I'll bet!) It seems inconvenient, but really, I can't think of a much better way to get good and acquainted with the store than to walk around scanning all the books with no customers. We'll see how it goes.

Well, I've got to go and get Chris a snack ready. He's feeling pretty sickly (sore throat, stuffed up, weak, little appetite, light headed) but he's a trooper and went on to class today (armed with a bloodstream full of Dayquil), then had to meet with some chick about playing trumpet at a wedding. He didn't finish his lunch before he left, so I'm going to force feed him something small when he gets back. If you know Chris, it's not a good thing when HE won't EAT! At least I sent him to class with a Nalgene bottle full of orange juice. That's better than nothing.

Hope everyone is well!

The Thirteenth Tale

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 20:55:42 GMT

Okay, I just finished up The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield--after staying up all night reading it. I LOOOOOVED it! Like, that book is so good that I wanted to lick it. Really. I thought the story was awesome, the pacing was pitch perfect, and the whole darn thing is just downright awesome. Love, I say.

Next up is The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist.

Oh yeah, just an aside, I found it curious that the last 7 (!) books that I've read have ALL mentioned Jane Eyre in one way or another. I think its about time I read that one too, eh?

Un Lun Dun

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:01:26 GMT

I just finished reading Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was his first foray into "YA" fiction, but this is my first foray into Mieville, so I have nothing to compare it to (though I do have an as-yet-unread copy of Perdido Street Station floating around here somewhere). Anyway, as expected given the source of this book's recommendation to me (CALEB!) I loved it. It's a fantasy quest novel, but it has a way of turning convention from that genre on it's ear. One thing I noted as I was reading was that this would make a FANTASTIC graphic novel. Not only were there such cool and imaginative characters (including a character whose head was a pincushion, ninja garbage cans called the "binja", a man with a bird cage for a head, and a pet milk carton named Curdle), there were great grandiose character entrances/descriptions and some of the action scenes were described so that in my mind I was actually picturing it in comic book panels. Unfortunately, I read an Advance Reader's copy of the book and it's missing Mieville's illustrations, though I'm sure that would have backed up my notions. Having read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, I was naturally reminded of it, but this one's quite different. An excellent fantasy read if you're fishing for something new.

Now in a totally different vein, I'm leaving absurdist British fiction behind and starting Ann Brashares' (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) new book The Last Summer (of You and Me). I don't read a heck of a lot of "chick lit" but I did like the traveling pants books and have a great deal of affection for the author, so of course I'm excited for this one. Hopefully it'll be more fun than cheesy. She's generally a very good author for taking an almost obscenely absurd premise, just begging to cornballed to death (magic jeans that fit all the wearers? Come on!) and turning into a warm, funny, and poignant story with easy to love characters. Let's see if that holds up in her first "adult" book.

Six Simple Words:

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 16:49:25 GMT

Gregorian Chant Tribute to Celine Dion

'Nuff said.

Thanks L-Dawg--I haven't laughed this hard in a LOOOOONG time.

Please direct all questions, confused looks, and requests for copies to the comments. lol

Pan's Labyrinth

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 02:01:35 GMT

I finally watched it...I thought it was a great film as a whole. It keeps your emotions cycling, in turn startlingly violent and breathtakingly beautiful. I thought the cinamatogrophy was amazing. There's a lot to impart in the film and I'd love to milk it for my own analysis, but I'll leave it with a high recommendation and suggestion that people check it out. On the surface its a fairy tale and is "purposefully simplistic" but really has layers upon layers of detail. Don't let the subtitles scare you off--you'll be missing an amazing film. I have to interject however, that I do prefer the original Spanish title directly translated to be The Labyrinth of the Faun. I think it fits better.

Oh, and I really liked the sountrack--a bit repetitive, but the use of main theme throughout was poignant. I may have to get the sountrack from iTunes at some point.