Various bookish stuff
Apr. 12th, 2004 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiI read two books yesterday. Been a while since I've done that. It's also been a while since I had insomnia that bad. Didn't get to sleep until about five.
First book was Steve Brust's Setha Lavode, a birthday gift from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shadesong. It's the final book in the Khaavren romances, and is just fucking amazing. Some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments, as well as some truly moving tragedy. It's a wonderfully moving conclusion to the series.
I then read Ryu Murakami's Lost in the Miso Soup, a birthday gift fromglenn5 that arrived on Saturday. I'm still not sure how to describe it. It's a crime book with some incredibly horrific scenes. It's also a social satire of contemporary Japanese and American values. It's also kind of like Lost in Translation gone horribly wrong (although this book was written and published in Japan in 1997, the English translation arrived this year, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was in response to that movie). It's a short (fewer than 200 pages) novel about a young Japanese sex-tour guide (he shows foreigners the best strip clubs/bars/etc and explains the odd customs that lead to many schoolgirls and professionals essentially becoming "semi-pro" hookers), and the strange American who hires him right before New Year's Eve. It's an absolutely gripping book, and highly recommended (although not for the squeamish).
In other news, Bookslut updated over the weekend. I've got two pieces in the current one, a review ofnihilistic_kid's upcoming Lovecraft-meets-Kerouac Move Under Ground, and a Lovecraft for Dummies column, The rest of the issue is great, as always. Folks who can't stand Stephen King movies should check out lizlet's latest Hollywood Madam column, which is the first time I've ever seen "shit weasel" used twice in the same paragraph. Or once, come to think of it.
First book was Steve Brust's Setha Lavode, a birthday gift from
shadesong. It's the final book in the Khaavren romances, and is just fucking amazing. Some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments, as well as some truly moving tragedy. It's a wonderfully moving conclusion to the series. I then read Ryu Murakami's Lost in the Miso Soup, a birthday gift from
glenn5 that arrived on Saturday. I'm still not sure how to describe it. It's a crime book with some incredibly horrific scenes. It's also a social satire of contemporary Japanese and American values. It's also kind of like Lost in Translation gone horribly wrong (although this book was written and published in Japan in 1997, the English translation arrived this year, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was in response to that movie). It's a short (fewer than 200 pages) novel about a young Japanese sex-tour guide (he shows foreigners the best strip clubs/bars/etc and explains the odd customs that lead to many schoolgirls and professionals essentially becoming "semi-pro" hookers), and the strange American who hires him right before New Year's Eve. It's an absolutely gripping book, and highly recommended (although not for the squeamish).In other news, Bookslut updated over the weekend. I've got two pieces in the current one, a review of
nihilistic_kid's upcoming Lovecraft-meets-Kerouac Move Under Ground, and a Lovecraft for Dummies column, The rest of the issue is great, as always. Folks who can't stand Stephen King movies should check out lizlet's latest Hollywood Madam column, which is the first time I've ever seen "shit weasel" used twice in the same paragraph. Or once, come to think of it.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 07:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 07:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 07:12 am (UTC)So... you're saying I should pick it up, then? :)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 08:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 11:39 am (UTC)Oh, and thanks. I decided a Morrolan icon just had to be done.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 09:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 02:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-12 05:47 pm (UTC)I'm now off to check the Bookslut updates...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-13 04:05 pm (UTC)Personally, Swift's A Tale of a Tub serves that purpose admirably for me. I used to toss and turn, often for hours, trying to get my brain to shut the hell up long enough to get to sleep, but not anymore! Two pages of A Tale of a Tub and my eyes are going unfocused and my eyelids are drooping, even if I was wide awake when I started. I suspect it is my brain attempting to protect me from the full effect -- reading A Tale of a Tub in large doses might induce a coma, so my brain falls into a state of mere unconsciousness as a form of self-protection. I highly recommend reading it as a powerful soporific, though it should be used with caution.