Skinny Dipping Into Books
I like the rain. I want to have a spring bookworming rain party full out with wellies—but not those Hunter Boots; absolutely not—, with yummy airy things like puffed pastries, meringues, mini fluffy cheese cakes, mousse dessert, macaroon, biscuits, crepe, and Earl Grey tea, definitely Earl Grey tea. and Tillandsia. We'd have lots of "air plants". Lots! And We'd read, but not anything structured. We'd bring books, trade books, read out-loud, pass books around between sentences and paragraphs. We'd leave with books we hadn't discovered.
I like books like I like my Jazz; euphoric, dangerous, occasionally a bit manic, sorrowful, bleak, raging, mood-incongruent, mournful, unforgivingly ragged, symbolic in a quiet way, warm apple pie for the soul. Give me a Plath style. Yōko Ogawa, M. Roach,
Criteria: Not rated on likability of characters. Not objective. I like Moxie Soda; chances are you don't.
time spent in that before bed reading slot:
5-until blurry eye 4-Later than I intended, but I still kept to my extended, extended reading time 3-I really should have been to bed an hour ago 2-customary 30 minutes. 1-book. side table. eyes closed.
How are common themes handled?
5-With an aesthetic that repurposes everyday themes into something fresh. Think of Hole Celebrity Skin covered by Cat Power 4-there is a comfortable air of familiarly.
3-Deja Vu 2. No deviation from its mates 1. Devastatingly trite, redundant, and stale.
Where would you keep it post-reading?
5-Next to my bed. 4-it's the center piece of my favorite bookshelf 3. On my other favorite bookshelf, but it's a bit dusty over their 2-Great cheap bookends 1-It never made it out of the box marked 'moving'.
Emotional response-
5- Where is my teddy bear? Emotional-hangover 4- If I wasn't so emotionally stunted I'd cry.
3. Did James Cameron co-wrote this? Artfully contrived.
2- calculative emotional manipulation. This was literally written by James Cameron.1- I…feel…..nothing.
Mechanics (plot structure, voice, presentation, word choice, sentence structure, characters, writing style, pacing, and consistency):
5-Chanel 4-Prada 3-J-Crew 2-Gap 1-Old Navy
this shit be gross
A book by Palahniuk that goes beyond his typical focus on philosophical rants, an obsession with the 'meaning of existence', deconstruction of luxuries and money, and discussions on technology.
A group of people are locked into a building, but they did so willingly at first. This is a great collection of short stories, that can also be read as a large collection without the loss of continuity. Each character is explored to great depths, and you learn their back stories as well as their experiences in this new 'home'.
As things go beyond a game, behind a little exposure therapy to Gilligan's Island, it becomes an all out war to live and survive. There are murders, cooked cats, and utterly grossness from page to page. This is Saw meets Hostel, minus the bad acting.
The brilliance of this novel is the the way it toys with the genre of bloodbath horror, but tinkers back and forth, caressing this grey area. This is probably its best attribute. In avoiding the trite horror-fest that plagues many of its kin, this book is even more startling.
But these are essentially all shorts, compiled together. The past of each of these characters is already horrifying, as seen in the guy who sits on a pool drain to masturbate, only to get turned inside out. If you take his stories, and his experiences in the 'home', you already have a dangerously disturbing book, but coupled with the others it's beyond disturbing.
What is most terrifying is that many of the back stories seem relatively realistic, and while I wouldn't sit on a drainage filter in a pool while walking the dog, I'm sure it's happened to some poor sap.
Chuck departs from his roots, while leaving echos of his typical subject matter, and this departure is both welcomed, and disturbingly awesome.
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