reesesWeb

Tore through a few books recently:

The Great American Novel, by Philip Roth

I picked this up after Goose reminded me that Roth wrote like a mofo. I had read Portnoy's Complaint back when Hector was a pup, and figured that I missed most of what was interesting.

Let me lay it out now: Roth writes better than you, or anyone you know, or anyone you have ever read, ever has or ever will.

I hate baseball, and this book is nowhere near Roth's best, but there are stretches of this book that I wanted to lube up and get busy with. I wasn't so happy with the last half of the book, but the first half, especially the first fifty pages or so, is pure sexbutter. I started it on the way to the airport on Monday morning, and probably scared everyone in the Metro and the terminal with my stifled chortles and cannibalistic grin.

Eastern Standard Tribe, by Cory Doctorow

Now, as implied above, Cory Doctorow cannot write as well as Philip Roth. I shouldn't hold that against him, because no one else can, either. However, this book is thin. Really thin. There's not enough detail to engage the reader, and there's absolutely no willful suspension of disbelief possible with the absurdist premise.

There are three wonderful things about this book, though, and the only reasons to read this book:

1. It's a crazy quick read, at most an hour.
2. It's available in just about every machine-readable format.
3. It's available for free, if your conscience permits.

Sabbath's Theater, by Philip Roth

The only way to read something new that didn't disappoint in style was to go back to the well. Let me just say I started this in the airport on the flight back, and had to leave my coat on my lap to hide the boner. I'm sure as hell I creeped out the poor girl sitting across the aisle from me.

Beyond Backpacking: Ray Jardines Guide to Lightweight Hiking, by Ray Jardine

It's about lightweight backpacking, natch. I bought this upon a recommendation from Stewart Brand via Cool Tools, and it hasn't disappointed.

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