Lovely, Lovely, Bookies

I've bought/read far too many books since last semester, so I'll choose a few of the highlights/ones I remember. With that said... Stuff I've been reading:


1. John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men
So I know it's really inexcusable that I just now read this book, but better late than never, right? It (like all Steinbeck books) was really phenomenally good and (unlike most Steinbeck books) was an insanely quick read. If you are as lame as I am and have yet to read this book, read it. Immediately. Whether you like Steinbeck or not.

2. Joyce Carol Oates
Black Water
I haven't decided if I liked this book yet. It was entertaining, and it was definitely an interesting approach, but my internal jury is still out on the writing style. It's basically a fictionalized account of the whole Ted Kennedy scandal, which sounded fascinating, but turned out to be only mildly interesting. I usually love Oates, but she kind of seemed to drop the ball on this one. I feel like she could have done so much more with the story and her writing was a bit (intentionally, I suspect) choppier than usual. It was a pretty enjoyable read, but I don't anticipate ever picking it up again. More of a library book than a keeper.

3. Cormac McCarthy
The Road
Once again, I'm probably the last person in the world to have read this book, but in my defense, I owned it before Oprah put it on her stupid list. I wasn't floored by it at first, but by the end I was in love. It's just a really simple, sweet story about a father and his son who happen to be coping with the apocalypse.

4. Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs...
This is a collection of really amusing short stories. I'm a sucker for anything that is equally appealing to children and adults, and these fit that description pretty well. Like most McSweeneys books, this one is super great.

5. Dave Eggers
How We Are Hungry
It's Eggers. Enough said.

6. Craig Thompson
Carnet de Voyage
I picked this up at Open on Chinch's recommendation, and it's quite possibly one of the most interesting books I've read all winter. It's a really exceptional example of a travel log, and Thompson's drawings capture his surroundings better than any photograph could.

7. Alison Bechdel
Fun Home
This was also one of Chinch's recommendations. He shot me an email about it and it sounded really interesting. I stumbled upon it on the 3 for 2 rack, and decided to pick it up. Cliffs notes version: lesbian's memoir about gay father + his death + crazy amounts of nerdy literature references = really sad yet disturbingly amusing book that I'm not at all surprised Chinch liked.