Mental Snacks
Since coming to Mexico, I have read a fair number of books (it's amazing what a lot of time on buses and beaches will do for your literary habits). Jen and I have been fortunate to trade our beat-up paperbacks for other dog-eared volumes at the hostels on our route. I think it says something about who is traveling here that most of the English books we pick out (amongst the German, French, and Spanish ones) are from British publishers.
Here then is what I've been feeding my mind (in order read):
- Prince of Doom by Dan. This unpublished manuscript by my freshman roommate and good friend will soon be available in hardback form at all fine bookstores (and you can get a free copy when you buy $50 worth of toner at Staples.)
- American Gods by Neil Gaimen. A story of old (and perhaps tired) gods in the new world.
- High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. This book, which I've read before, catches the male voice quite well. It is, of course, much better than the movie.
- Jane Eyre by Charolette Bronte. A coming of age and early feminist tale that I should have read long before I took my English GRE's I suppose. I enjoyed it more than I ever thought I would.
- Tehanu by Ursulla K LeGuin. A part of the Earthsea Cycle. I read the first book (A Wizard of Earthsea) for a high school English class (which might explain why I never got around to Jane Eyre).
- Trouble Is My Business by Raymond Chandler. Hardboiled detective fiction from the master of hardboiled. Men with fedoras and dangerous dames populate this book of short stories.
- Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. An end of the world satire with Ice-9 and crazy religions.
- A Canticle for Lebowitz by Walter Miller; Also an end of the world story.
- The Fourth Hand by John Irving. A whimsical story of a newscaster who gets a hand transplant and what happens when the wife of the donor requests visitation rights.
- Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser. The author of Fast Food Nation takes on the US shadow economy by exploring the economics of pot, illegal immigrants, and porn as commodities. Highly interesting and highly recommended.
- Memoir of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. I found myself comparing this book in my head to Jane Eyre. I feel like I learned a lot from this novel.
