Reading #5

We need another in a few weeks. Rumors of T.C. Boyle?....perhaps a 500 pager?...or redefine our passions for Vonnegut...?

Maybe we could read a few short stories from T.C. Boyle’s If the River was Whiskey for a change. Reviews of some of the stories (16 in all- each about 12 pgs):

“The Hat”: a somber portrait of an alcoholic misanthropy. “I liked the rest of humanity about as much as Gulliver liked the Yahoos,” addresses directly the problem of living a cynical life: Where can you go when you know too much? Drown in the cold, indifferent river of humanity, or drown yourself in whiskey?

Two of the more persuasive stories in this collection eschew Mr. Boyle's trademark pyrotechnics. The title story, “If the River Was Whiskey,” is a dark portrait of a family in disrepair; “Thawing Out,” a similarly somber examination of romance gone awry.

The author gives us a death-defying stuntman (in “The Human Fly”), as fast-talking pitchman briefing the Ayatollah on how to improve his image (“Hard Sell”), a businessman who sells his soul to the devil (“The Devil and Irv Cherniske”), a New York construction worker's vision of the Virgin at a religious shrine in Ireland (“The Miracle at Ballinspittle”), even a young man romancing a woman pathologically afraid of germs (“Modern Love”).

That sounds great. I admit the "500 pager" (Cortazar's Hopscotch) may be a bit too much. In my defense, it is definitely not THAT (more like 300) long, but it would be ANOTHER translated text and perhaps a bit harder to get a hold of then Virginia. Boyle or bust?

Boyle or bust!!!

Has anyone read A Friend of the Earth by him? I did a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

- Emily

No i havent read A Friend of the Earth, but i did read Tortilla Curtain, it was a decent novel. I also read a short story by him... Greasy Lake. I really liked the short story and the novel wasnt that bad either. My votes in to dive into the whiskey river and take a few gulps!

I'm in.
I LOVE the new color scheme BTW <3

Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides also looks really good. "It is a novel about the almost unknowable opposite sex, desired but largely unattainable, always a mystery."

I've read The Virgin Suicides twice already, but I'm sure a third time will come sometime in the near future....

and yes, A+ on the new colors!!!!!!!!!!

Erin had a brilliant idea of reading Alice in Wonderland, by the fantastically insane Lewis Carroll. I think it would be a nice, FUN departure from the rather depressing books we've been reading. I mean, I know I really should be voting as a way of justifying it, but these books are starting to wear me down. I can handle them--and I can handle much deeper--but do I really want to, month after month, with no time to read anything that actually gives me pleasure? I want to be stimulated, not just mildly thought-provoked. I will have a list of suggestions following soon, but whether or not we choose something before then, we should radically depart from the genre we're in. Diversify people!