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Saturday, March 30, 2002
The Jury / Steve Martini
The Jury / Steve Martini
A fine consumable pulp thriller.
This book reminds me of a review my Grandma Harriet gave after seeing Dances with Wolves: "It was false advertising! There was only one wolf! It should have been Dances with Wolf!"
Even though the book is called "The Jury", the jury in the trial has nothing to do with the plot, or the outcome of the plot.
I guessed who was going to be the killer about a third of the way through, but on the plus side, I didn't figure out the reason until it was finally revealed.
Friday, March 29, 2002
Fake Bios
On a totally separate topic, today I ran across Laura Ingraham's web site for her radio show. I don't want to get ranty, especially about one of the Eva Gabors of political punditry ("WHY is she famous again?"), so I won't. But one thing about her site was really annoying: her fake bio.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a huge fan of fake bios. I've written a lot of 'em, like this or this or these).
But boy, Ingraham's fake bio is just lousy. Because it reads like a wish list, instead of something funny or interesting or fresh.
I mean, that's just dull. Second rate. For someone who can twist a fact until it screams for mommy in the service of her views, you'd think she'd have a little more supple imagination about something besides the Gay and Lesbian Organization at Dartmouth and Bill Clinton's blowjobs.
Crap, that was getting close to rant land. Sorry.
Full disclosure: the fake bio idea is one I swiped from Harlan Ellison, though I'm sure it's been around for longer than that.
Here's one from Ellison, from his collection The Essential Ellison:
And here's probably my favorite fake bio of Neil Gaiman's from the whole passel of fake bios he did for the trade paperback collection "The Sandman: Season of Mists":
1) He was not found wandering the sewers of London as a child during
the winter of 1864, unable to say anything more than "Powerful big
rats, gentlemen."
2) He was never exhibited in public houses
to the curious, only briefly in July, 1865, to selected gentlemen of
standing in the scientific and literary community.
3) He did not
have a vestigial tail.
4) He did indeed have what most people would
commonly understand as “eyes.”
5) He was not actually
the pilot of the Zeppelin, although he did disappear for good
following the explosion.
6) There is quite obviously no
“underground kingdom beneath London inhabited by huge, intelligent
rodents.” And even if there were, any suggestion of Neil's involvement
in the mazy territorial negotiations between Londons Above and Below
can be considered a joke, and in poor taste at that.
7) He was
afraid of neither mirrors nor street conjurers.
8) There were no
tooth marks on the bones.
Just lovely. 8 short stories, for your pleasure. The trade paperback also has excellent Nadar*-style photos of the contributors. The fantastic graphic design (usually by Dave McKean, I think) of the Sandman trade paperbacks is one of their finest, and possibly most overlooked, qualities.
* Nadar (Felix Tournachon) was a bohemian who took up the photography in 1850s Paris. He made portraits of people like Baudelaire, Dumas, Berlioz, Sarah Bernhardt, Theophile Gautier, and others.
Political Fictions / Joan Didion
Political Fictions / Joan Didion
You know, last night, I posted about this book and went into a rant instead of getting done some work I wanted to get done. So now I'm just going to dump the bile and recommend the book.
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
Monday, March 25, 2002
Sunday, March 24, 2002
Barnes and O'Rourke
King's Blood / Steven Barnes
I like Barnes' series of books about
Aubrey Knight --
Streetlethal,
Gorgon Child, and
Firedance. This is an interesting alternate history, a sub-genre I
read a fair amount of. However, like a lot of the alt-histories, not as
much happens as you might like. That's usually OK, because like any good
history text, part of the pleasure is seeing the world explained.
Finished it Saturday.
The CEO of the Sofa / P.J. O'Rourke
Pretty poor, really. I actually
started skiming about 1/3 of the way in, and leafed quickly through the
rest, in between dozing off. Not particularly good writing, especially
in comparison to someone like Dave Barry. I'm sure there are funny
right-wingers out there, but this wasn't it. Like the unfunny sidekick
to the captain of the football team ingratiating himself into his idea
of the "cool crowd" by presenting insult as wit.
It didn't help, of course, that he slagged Indiana University right as they were surprising Duke in the NCAA tourney. Dope.
Oh! A funny right-wing writer: Chistopher Buckley. Extremely funny novels like Thank You For Smoking. Of course, I don't know how right-wing he is. Maybe he doesn't have his dad's politics.
The Subtle Knife / Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife / Philip Pullman
Started it at around 11 this
morning, finished it around 6PM. So it reads fast, obviously.
The Golden Compass / Philip Pullman
The Golden Compass / Philip Pullman
I'll wait to say anything until
after I read the other two books in the trilogy. I'm already well into
the second book.