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My 11 year old niece is always on the look-out for good fantasy stories, and anything with "Book ___ of the _________ Trilogy" in the title is usually a hit with her. So I'll check these out. And any other suggestions for her would be very welcome!

 

The Sword of Shanara series was good. Epic journey, fighting overwhelmingly evil forces type plot line. Good read for teens, if you like that kinda thing.

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Seemed like a good time to revisit this.

Coincidentally, Salon touched apon the McCain essay today.

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Been working through Broom of the System-- it's a little difficult to read for fun in a Creative Writing MFA program, but I wanted to finally read it. I may tackle Infinite Jest (I've finished it the whole way once and read sections from it a few times) in it's entirety again at some point.

 

--Mike

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If you're aiming for a teaching career, it's going to stay difficult to read for fun. I was devouring books this summer, but now that classes are back in session, most of what I read is written by 17-21-year-olds. Nice to know there's someone else with a creative writing background on the board :thumbup

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>Finished this last night. So...The Beatles basically hated each other from 1967 on.

 

If you were to read one Beatles book in your life, would this be it? Some reviews of it have suggested that.

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>Finished this last night. So...The Beatles basically hated each other from 1967 on.

 

If you were to read one Beatles book in your life, would this be it? Some reviews of it have suggested that.

 

 

That book is mainly Albert Goldman's research put together by Bob Spitz - who also wrote a terrible Dylan book many years ago. I have heard that Mark Lewisohn is writing a Beatles biography - that should be good:

 

In 2005, Lewisohn announced that he had started work on a three-volume Beatles biography [6]. The as-yet untitled trilogy is set to be completed in 2018, with the first volume due out in 2010. He was quoted as saying of the work:

 

"The Beatles story has been told very often but, in my view, rarely very well. I

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Almost finished with The Ghost Map. Cool history, study of urbanization, epidemiology, etc. All my favorite stuff!

 

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Next up:

 

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I have not previously read any of his books (I've read several essays and stories in magazines), and I'm wondering if knowing that the author will eventually succumb to his demons will affect my reading of his work.

 

I also read the new David Sedaris last week. Kind of meh on that one. I'm going to see him in person in a couple of weeks, I'm hoping to enjoy them more live than I did on the page.

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Paulo Coelho? Anyone read any of his books? A friend has recommended him to me, but after reading some of the reviews on Amazon... I'm a little leery. :ermm

 

 

I think you should trust your gut reaction. I tried a few years back and found one of his works (The Alchemist) really, really poor. But, different strokes...

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Right now:

 

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I bought it in Alaska this summer, and I'm just getting around to it. It took me a little while to warm up, but I'm enjoying it now. On deck:

 

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I spotted it tonight on the new nonfiction shelf at the library and nearly did a spontaneous dance of glee. Speaking of L.M. Montgomery, I didn't know this. Sad. :(

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33346860.jpg

 

I have not previously read any of his books (I've read several essays and stories in magazines), and I'm wondering if knowing that the author will eventually succumb to his demons will affect my reading of his work.

 

It

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While my first impulse is to say that nothing good ever comes from someone dying too young, especially by his own hand, David Foster Wallace's death has made me realize I should've been paying more attention to his work. He's one of those writers I heard quite a buzz about in grad school from people who I thought were pretentious and egotistical, and as a result, I read only a short piece or two of his work. I certainly didn't give him the chance he deserves.

 

His death has also made me think a lot about writing and teaching have helped me to cope with my own struggles with depression and anxiety. They've both felt like burdens to me at one time or another, but also great sources of hope. That's not to say I don't still have times when I slide back to my old bad mindsets and habits, but in the last month or so I've really gone back to writing seriously after a year or more away from it, and it's helped me to feel more balanced than I have in a long time.

 

And, to make this post at least vaguely on topic, I'm still reading Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City. I'm a little disappointed by it, to be honest, because none of the chapters I've read so far have been very focused. He makes lots of great points, but I feel like as a reader I'm having to work a lot harder to get to them than I usually have to with his writing.

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