"Lone Star Reviews"

A must-read for all readers: The best of one-star reviews from Amazon.com.

Devil Has A New Book

Seems I can't walk past a bookstore without stopping and spending three hours browsing. You can imagine how problematic it is for me to be at the office knowing Barnes and Nobel at DePaul is literally right around the corner.

While taking the long way home from the "L" earlier this week, I popped into Unabridged, which is a really good bookstore on Broadyway. There is another excellent used bookstore further south somewhere on Broadway though I have yet to find it again! I found it while wandering around the second weekend I moved to the city.

Anyway, the author of "The Devil Wears Prada" has a new book out: "Everyone Worth Knowing." If you haven't read "The Devil Wears Prada" yet you should. As Heather can already attest, it is a hilarious, awesome, very enjoyable read. Anyone who thinks his or her job just sucks shoudl read it. Anyone who has ever had a job that really sucks shoudl read it. Anyone who has taken a job thinking it'd be awesome, or simply to be employed, should read it. Anyone and everyone should read it!

Oh. Right. The author's name, by the way, is Lauren Weisberger.

At some point there will no doubt be a posting, if not a series of postings, about the "Devli Wears Prada" and if other people on the list, who are actually reading this blog, haven't read it, READ IT! Then we could have a real, wow, discussion! Well, as real as one can get on a blog. It will be a discussion though.

So how'bout it? Read "The Devil Wears Prada" and we can all enjoy the humor and count our blessings our life isn't like that!

Until next time....somebody else post.

Dry but far from it

The last book I read was "Dry" by Augetien (sp?) Burroughs. "Running with Scissors" is the book that made him famous, and also drew legal attention from his family and understandable so. In any case, "Dry" is far more entertaining than "Running with Scissors."

Granted it deals with the overly depressing subject matter of alcoholism, but with enough sarcasm that even I had trouble matching.

The narrator is a 20-something super ad executive in NY living the life of gay decadence and binge drinking people often associate with the advertising world. Well, maybe not the gay decadence part but certainly the copious amounts of drinking. Sort of makes you wonder if they think their target audience is often drunk while watching TV. Certainly would explain some of the advertising!

But I digress. It is sarcastic, witty and horribly entertaining. Relationships. Rehab. Work. Drinking. Lots and lots of drinking. The way it is all woven together makes it intriquing and less like other books on the same subject. It has the remarkable ability to present a dark and depressing topic in a light-hearted, entertaining fashion.

If you're going to read something of his, read "Dry" instead of "Running with Scissors." Then again, if you want to appreciate the wit of "Dry" and his writing more, read "Running with Scissors" and then read "Dry." If it weren't for the wit and sarcasm, you probably wouldn't know both are written by the same author.

My current library crateful

Well, I'm actually in a French book club (cross-reference: moviesforall.blogspot.com), and have finished reading the twisted web that Sébastien Japrisot wrote, a little book called _Un long dimanche de fiançailles_. It's better known in English as _A Very Long Engagement_, and yes, it was made into the movie starring that Amélie chick.

The book is so much better than the movie. It's told in a very original, albeit very confusing, way. Basic story: Mathilde Donnay has received word that her fiancé, Manech, was killed in World War I. She can't quite believe it, or at least the story of how he died, and goes off on a quest to discover the truth about his death - or perhaps, following a glimmer of hope - the path that will lead her back to him. The story is not told from one point of view, which contributes to its convoluted nature. The story is told through eyewitness accounts gleaned from letters that people pass on to Mathilde and from copies of the letters that soldiers wrote home, through rumors that are passed on through a classified ad to Mathilde, through an omniscient narrator who gets in Mathilde's head, and by comparing different points of view and seemingly isolated events. Everyone has at least one other name by which they are known (Mathilde is Matti; Manech is Jean or Bleuet; Benjamin Gordes is... well, I won't say it, because that kind of gives away a plot point), so make a character map. I'm rereading it again - a paperback of almost 400 pages - for book club next week. Definitely give this one a shot, in French or in English (as your command of either language allows, but preferably in French).

Also on my reading list -
_Life of Pi_ by Yann Martel, one of THE books to read about two or three years ago. I was, contrary to what the person who recommended it to me told me, totally enthralled by the backstory. Now that the boat's sunk and Pi and the tiger are alone on the lifeboat, I'm floundering. I may send it back to its owner without finishing it.

And a book that I'll get back to you on because I just started it. It's the story of the John Coltrane album _A Love Supreme_. It's engrossing reading, and I'm just now finishing the author's introduction. I can't wait to hear the music!

Startin' off

Hello all,

This whole blogging thing is turning out to be an excellent means of communication. Many of you have wanted to start a book club, and we never got around to it while we were all still in one place.

Ah, but with the wonders of technology, the many wonders of technology, we can start a book club even if we're in many different places.

So this is the Readers of the World book club where you can post whatever you want about books. Books you've read, books you want to read, recommendations, looking for something to read, what not read, whatever.

Feel free to comment on previous posts. Trying to faciliate some discussion here so everyone post something!

Thanks and happy reading!

-Gwynne