Friday, June 10, 2005

I Read a Book!

"Every now and then I'll read a book, I'll be so proud of myself. I'll try to squeeze it into conversations. People are like, 'Hey, Jim. How are - ' 'I read a book! 198 pager.' 'That's great. What was it about?' 'No idea. Took me three years, but I read her.'" - Jim Gaffigan

Several of them over the past couple of months, actually.



The Rising (Brian Keene): The best zombie book I've ever read. Also, the only zombie book I've ever read. It's been ages since I plowed through a novel this quickly (5 days). Thoroughly engrossing. I am more than ready to read the sequel (see my reading pile). Can't wait for the movie and videogame.

Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon - The Case Against Celebrity (Andrew Breitbart, Mark Ebner): Celebrities are freakin' nuts. An interesting read.

South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias (Brian C. Anderson): While this book dealt mainly with liberal bias in the media (paging Dan Rather) and the emergence of its conservative counterparts, I thought it would spend more time on the concept of South Park Republicans (ideology summed up by Matt Stone: "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals."). They seem to be more in line with libertarian thought than the GOP hardline and I would include myself with the former. It covered the growing conservative leanings of Generations X and Y (jeez, I hate those terms), but not enough. So, in that respect, the book was a bit of a disappointment.

My Immediate Reading Pile:




City of the Dead (Brian Keene): The sequel to Keene's The Rising. More zombie goodness. I can't wait.

If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (Bruce Campbell): Memoir from our nation's, nay our world's greatest living thespian.

Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best (Berkeley Breathed): "Bloom County" has long been one of my favorite comic strips. I look forward to revisiting these Sunday strips. Hilarious stuff.

Batman: The Complete History (Les Daniels): Just to get me reved up for the upcoming movie.

Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis): The former I had been wanting to read for ages; the latter just seemed interesting. So I bought them both. A little light summer reading. :)

I guess the library's not just for copying CDs anymore.

24 comments:

spydrz said...

I have several other C. S. Lewis books if you're interested...

Micah said...

Yeah, I've also got The Screwtape Letters, as well. I've got a pretty big backlog of reading materials (they extend well past what I listed here), so maybe some other decade. :)

Anonymous said...

books? read?

meh.

I'd like to read more but I think that would take time away from my major hobbies; downloading porn and drinking beer.

I suppose I could read a paragraph or two between downloads. I'll bet I could get in a whole page or more with really large files.

Or maybe the people that make beer could start printing literary works in serial format on beer bottle labels. That way I could have something to do while I drink my brew (well, besides sobbing quietly whilst reflecting upon my career choices, and staring slackjawed at my hot bartender(s)).

Micah said...

heartbreak - Porn and alcohol are two passions of mine, but I still make time to read. After all, reading is fundamental.

Serialized fiction on beer bottle labels? I hear that's how Dickens got started.

CB - EW is my literature of choice when dropping a deuce. Generally, I'm more into non-fiction, but damn those zombie books.

Anonymous said...

Ahh, yes RIF indeed. But I always favored the spanish language version; Leer es Poder. It was almost as if Edward James Olmos was there in the school library with me. Unfortunately, that only made me want to go home and watch Miami Vice.

Anyhow, I read this blog. That's got to count for something.

Now, make more blog. For I am out of porn and booze, and thus forced to...ugh...read.

Micah said...

There's always more porn. But if you really are itching for something to read, check out Stylus Magazine. I think you'd dig it.

Law Fairy said...

I'm staring at your post in envy as I try to ignore the FIFTY POUNDS of Bar/Bri reading scattered about my apartment.

Micah said...

I'm telling you, that's one of the best things about finishing all of the law school/bar exam crap: reading for pleasure.

Anonymous said...

Okay, so the Stylus thingie was kinda cool. I read album reviews that were longer than some papers I've written. Don't tell anyone, but they were better than most of the papers I've written.

Now make more blog. I know that you, like me, are home on a saturday night.

spydrz said...

Yes, Micah, make more blog. By the way, the X5 is no more.

Micah said...

heartbreak - I really dig Stylus, but sometimes have a gripe with their reviews (a 0 for Eminem's Encore? Sure, it wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad). Their "Playing God," "On Second Thought," and various lists are fun reads. I get lost in the archives some days.

spydrz - Where the hell'd it go?

spydrz said...

Micah-I was sick of monthly payments, so I traded it on a 3-series. Which is about the size of your car. So I'll miss some of the capability, but it's much more fun to drive and uses less premium fuel...

Micah said...

That's cool, but you realize your usefulness on my potential move has dipped considerably. :)

spydrz said...

I could borrow JT's Mercury Villager.

jasdye said...

Snap.

C.S. Lewis, Batman AND Bruce Campbell? Sounds better than my reads. All of which, at this point, are non-fiction and most of which are Christian-meditative (Don Miller, David Dark and Philip Yancey, none of which I think are Christian harlequin romance novelists). Although another one is a sort of history book about the rise of civilizations, oh, Guns, Germs and Steel. Author's name fails me.

I'm a certified English teacher who reads at the speed of speach. If that. So, it'll take me awhile. Though, I'd think the Great Divorce (which I have, but haven't gotten around to) a pretty good read, though surprised that a self-proclaimed Libertarian would be so interested in his stuff. Including Screwtape. Especially since most of this stuff is apologetic (although some of the best apologetic stuff written in the common. At least from what I've heard about and read from him, Shadowlands be damned.)

Say, are you one of those Narniacs?

Micah said...

I am a slow reader, as well. That's why I was amazed I finished The Rising so quickly.

And although the atheist/agnostic folks get more face time, there are plenty of us Christian libertarians. That's lower-case "l" libertarian; the Libertarian Party is full of kooks. I could possibly be a Republican again if they'd get back to their "limited government" roots, but sadly I think those days are gone (besides the lip service the GOP gives to that plank in their platform).

As for Narnia, I haven't read those books, but my nephews have. I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie and it looks cool. One day I'll read them, but judging from the size of my reading pile, that day is far off.

jasdye said...

At this point I'd get pretty political. But I don't want to. Not yet. I'll just enjoy the weather.

La de da de dah.

Micah said...

Go ahead and vent. All viewpoints are welcome here. Except Scientology. :)

jasdye said...

Meh, flippin' Scientology. Scam, scam, scam. Reminds me of that "Married with Children" episode where Al makes up a new religion based on his "No Wife's" club.

While I'm venting, celebritism's got us warmed over. Now, I won't be able to watch Batman Begins without thinking Katie Holmes is getting screwed over for her money and semi-popularity. Before, I would've just been, "Boy, that dye job just did her in. She doesn't look ANYTHING like she did in Almost Perfect."

jasdye said...

What I failed to mention were the motives for Al Bundy's 'Church.'

Of course, the same for L. Ron Hubbard's.

jasdye said...

I also realized that after acknowledging the fact that I'm an English teacher, I misspelled 'speech.'

'Spellbound', I ain't.

Micah said...

jasdye - Bundy's group was called "No Ma'am," I believe. I think it was an acronym, but what it stands for is eluding me.

And have you seen Spellbound? That one kid was a total spaz.

Wendy - I'm looking forward to reading it. Thanks for stopping by!

jasdye said...

that's right, it was "NO MAAM." and it was an acronym and the fact that neither you nor i can remember what it stands for proves a suspicion - it wasn't a good acronym. now, 'he-man women haters club', now THAT'S a name!

jasdye said...

oh, and of course i've seen spellbound. who hasn't? oh yeah, all my friends that i tried to convince that it's a funny, funny movie, that's who.

but what about that Indian dad? can you spell 'vicarious living with obsessive-compulsive disorder?'