Pico Iyer, Falling Off the Map (1993)

A collection of first-impression essays by the well-known travel writer.

I love to discover the unusual & this book is full of it. Before reading this book, I wanted to travel to every place that I haven't been, with some places higher on the priority list than others. After reading this book, Iceland has moved up a few notches in the ranking.

I'm keeping this one on my bookshelf to read again someday.

Yann Martel, Life of Pi (2001)

A very engaging if unlikely story. Allegory tends to be that way.

I liked the author's writing style, but I wonder if I missed something on a few things.

First, the protagonist discusses his mixed view of religion at length before the shipwreck, but hardly mentions it again after he is stranded at sea.

Second, the story is interspersed with comments by his supposed interviewer, & then suddenly the interviewer stops commenting.

Third (you would have to read the story to know what I'm talking about here), why would the teeth remain if everything else was disintegrated?

Despite these seeming inconsistencies, & dispite the detailed accounts of the blood & guts variety, I enjoyed this novel from beginning to end.

This book will be passed on to Charlene Freeman.

Junot Díaz, Drown (1996)

A novel in short stories about a Dominican family searching for the American Dream. I really enjoyed Díaz's writing style, & I look forward to reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Thanks to Roxanne Doty for lending me this book.

Joe Queenan, My Goodness (2000)

Joe Queenan, famous for being a cynic & an all-around bad guy, tried being good for about six months. He purged his home of products that used animal testing, started eating vegetarian, wrote checks to save the whales, the spotted owls & the wolves, & listened to hours & hours of Sting CD's.

In the end, he decided that he could do more good by being mean, since he has so much influence over people. I have a feeling his karma rating has been drastically downgraded.

Most of the book is wrought with repetetive cliches. I can't tell if he's trying to be funny by over doing it, or if he really thinks that it's good writing.

He does make an important observation, though: It's damn near impossible to be good in every camp. I once heard that if you eat a banana for breakfast & then walk to work, you're doing more harm to the environment than if you skipped the banana & drove to work. It makes sense, right? How much fuel is used to get that banana to you?

So the best that we can do is do the best that we can, & don't worry if it's not perfect.

This book will be traded. Let me know if you're interested.

Hunter S. Thompson, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)

What a trip!

This book was passed on to Liane Kido.

Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons, Watchmen (1986)

I was talking with my friend Ryan about the book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. Being an avid reader himself, he advised me that I read Watchmen before reading Oscar Wao. He said that I would understand the Díaz book much better for having read the Alan Moore book first.

It was my first graphic novel, & I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I kept turning the pages to see what would happen next. Instead of being just a comic book, the story is unexpectedly profound & full of symbolism.

As it turns out, this book is somewhat of a cult classic. Even the Peanuts gang & the Simpsons are in on it. I was totally out of the loop.



















Still, Alan Moore is a bit creepy looking, don't you think?






















This book was returned to the Tempe Public Library.

Robert A. Johnson, She (1989)

At just 80 pages, this was a quick read. The author takes the myth of Pysche, wife of Eros, & relates it to the modern woman's mind. An interesting essay, but still slightly subjugative. I wonder if it's because of the author's personal views, or a sign of the time in which the book was written. Was 1989 really that long ago? He has a companion book called "He" (of course).

This book will be traded. Let me know if you're interested.