Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Colonic ills and a contest
Added to the list of things I cannot eat: quiche. Too much dairy, I suspect. And would you believe I made the quiche with me in mind, since I made steak for my wife and son, and I can’t eat beef? (Because, um, it does to me what I now discover quiche does to me.)
Sorry, folks, but if I wrote a Thirteen today, it would probably be titled, “Thirteen Cures for Stomach Cramps and Niagara Bowels.” On the upside, today I bought the new Cosmo, so at least y’all have something to look forward to.
Yeah, me too. You women got nothing on me.
Oh. The contest.
Although I’m still pilfering the last contest for book suggestions, I’m always eager to hear about new authors and great books. Here are the rules:
1. In the comments, tell me about one of the last great books you read. No coprolite allowed.
2. It has to be fiction.
3. And it can’t be a book which was named in that last contest.
4. And since I’m feeling cheap, it has to be available at PaperBackSwap.
At random, I’ll choose one commenter as the lucky winner of a $25 gift certificate to the online bookseller of your choice. Yes, that’s less than I forked out for that last contest. I told you I was feeling cheap.
Depending upon how fast the suggestions roll in, we’ll wrap this contest up on Sunday. Have fun!
D.
When I was reading Les Misérables, I came down with food poisoning, and just as I was recuperating from half a day of puking and weeping, I started to read the section where Jean Valjean carries Marius through the sewers of Paris. A little too close to home, I thought, and quit reading for about three months.
I don’t know if this is an entry in your book contest — Les Misérables is a great book, but I doubt I would read it again — or if it’s merely commiseration with your twisted-gut agonies.
Ok, now with the book suggestions:
I recently finished reading The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier. It seems a fitting capstone to the series, though it’s long on backstory, and a little short on actual comics. If you’ve enjoyed the other two League books, this one’s a good end, covering a lot of historical ground, with some closure for the “current” League as well. If you haven’t read the first two, this is not a good place to start, though.
A mystery story you may like is Mr. Paradise, by Elmore Leonard, which, in addition to having the usual Leonard convolutions and triple-crosses in the plot, features the idea of pubic hair helping in a murder investigation.
damn, why’d you say it has to be fiction? cuz i just read a book called “Join Me” about a guy who inadvertantly starts a cult, and it was really good, but it’s nonfiction. i cant think of any other book i’ve read recently that you’d like 🙁
I just finished Night in Eden by Candice Proctor (1997), set in 1808 Australia. Not new, but certainly mind-blowing awesome. Gorgeous stuff. These sort of highly romantic, deeply moving, heavily historical historicals aren’t really published today. I had to check the last ten pages to make sure it had a happy ending because the first 30 pages gave no hint of it. Australia in 1808 = horrible.
What shaina said… I’m reading Erik Larson’s Thunderstruck, a pre-WWI true-crime story set aboard a luxury liner, with the story of Marconi’s invention of the wireless threaded throughout. For the most part, it’s been quite good (a couple of clunky phrases and transitions, but nothing too egregious); it reads like a decent novel.
Oh, I finally got around to checking out the Bone series of graphic novels. I figured if The Boy was going to be reading them I should probably check them out. They’re not bad, which I shouldn’t surprise me since they were originally written for adults. They’re light and fluffy, accessible to younger readers (say, 3rd-4th grade vocabulary), but with some not-quite-adult jokes that older kids will appreciate (Such as a reference to a combined zoo/slaughterhouse. Heh.). Not as off-the-wall as, say, The Tick, but not bad. I’m looking forward to acquiring the rest of the series. Definitely light, easy-to-consume fare.
Next in my queue is some pure horror cheese: Whitechapel Gods. Steampunk horror fantasy – the potential for a stinker is high, but it’s gotten some decent reviews on horror blogs.
Actually, it was a petting zoo/slaughterhouse. Even better.
dang, i want nothing in my colon, just stuff coming out – naturally
Hey, I’m reading Thunderstruck, too! Also the third book in George Martin’s A Song of Fire & Ice trilogy, which is a decent fantasy series, and A.S. Byatt’s Babel Tower, which is interesting but a bit of a Literary Slog. But I’m not going to recommend anything this time, because Doug has hated all of my previous recommendations 😛
I didn’t hate Locke Lamora. Nor did I hate Kushiel’s Dart. I thought they were both flawed books, but I did read them through to the end, and that’s saying something. If something is a real dog, I won’t bother finishing it. Like Nora Roberts’s Chesapeake Bay book (and no one has fessed up to recommending that one yet).
I recently read A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, a novel tying together the lives of Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel. I enjoyed it, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it in general.
I’m listening to Topper, the book the old movie’s based on by some guy named Thorne. Dated but has some GREAT lines in it. Also listening to yet more Pratchett. Can more Pratchett be considered a recommendation?
Did you read my review of the Alchemist’s Daughter? there are a couple of books with that title.
Romance Rioters at the top of their games, Doug cries out! Hey, what about Laura Freaking Kinsale or Judith Damn Ivory? I haven’t seen any evidence that you’ve picked up their books yet. Hmmm?
I’m reading Dearly Devoted Dexter (I bought it a while ago and my kid lost it) That’s sort of a ghastly hoot.
Laura Freaking Kinsale? The first two pages of The Shadow and the Star left me stone cold. And I don’t say that lightly, since if Beth reads this she’ll fly out here and beat me to a bloody pulp. But, yeah, I could NOT see finishing chapter one let alone the whole book. Karen finished it, though, and did not give it a favorable review.
I’ll see what PaperBackSwap has from Judith Damn Ivory. As for DDD, we’re fans of the series — have you seen it?
I ordered Black Silk. Good choice?
The last great books I read were:
1. Amelia Bedilia
2. How Dinosaurs Eat Their Food (which had really cute illustrations).
Earlier in the week, at story time, we read a picture book with no words. It was actually pretty good. Something about a farm.
M
Oh and sorry about your tummy.
M