Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Kurt Vonnegut's 1961 Mother Night is two things. First, it is a story, a fairly well-told story of a German's life in World War II. Secondly, it is a character sketch of a very Vonnegut-esque man in his forties, and whose only drive to live is his curiosity. My favorite quote from the book isn't even from the story itself. It's from the preface, from Vonnegut. It is this: "This is the only story of mine whose moral I know. I don't think it's a marvelous moral; I just happen to know what it is; We are what we pretend to be. So we must be careful about what we pretend to be."
I will say that of the collection of Vonnegut novels I have read this one comes in second place.
1st place Slaughter House 5
2nd place Mother Night
3rd place Breakfast of Champions
But I did like the drawings in BoC so maybe they're tied. Oh I won't fight myself over it. The point is, I recommend reading it and it helps if you pretend the main character is Glenn Beck :X

4.5/5

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

I laughed, I cried, I loved it.

5/5

The Truth About Unicorns by James Cross Gilbin

The Truth About Unicorns by James Cross Gilbin, is the third nonfiction text I have read about unicorns. I will rate it on a different scale than normal
- Quality of information 3/5
- Layout 5/5
- Quality of pictures 4.5/5
- Quality of writing 2/5

The thing is, this book didn't really make any claims at the age group it was trying to hook. The writing was not scholarly at all and implied that unicorns don't exist. As this is an ongoing debate, I think it irresponsible to not give both sides of the modern argument. Also if it's a book for kids, it should be more clear. Kids aren't the only people who care about unicorns, come on.

3/5

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn is told from the perspective of a dwarf albino hunchback. She was purposefully conceived that way, to become a circus freak in her family's traveling circus act. The story, insane as it is, is so well told that amidst the tents and lions and saw dust and cooky characters, it is still completely comprehensive. Simply achieving this feat makes me bow to Ms. Dunn in literary awe. But it isn't just a story about the albino dwarf hunchback's childhood, it also simultaneously follows her present day, where she survives in Portland as a radio dj, taking care of those around her. The two stories never take away from one another or distract. I was never wishing to be in the past when I was in the present of vice versa. Presenting dueling stories that remain equally interesting is another literary task accomplished. And not only that.
THE STORY
The story is amazing. The characters are as solid as wood. The entire thing takes place before the reader's eyes, like a play on a stage. And at the end, Dunn has the reader feeling as though it was all her own history that she just learned about in the 300 pages. This story was masterfully woven, expertly told, and clearly written. If all books were this way, the world would be a better place.

5/5

Something Wicked this Way Comes

Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes is an attempt at a thriller. The story tries to follow two young boys and their experience with a supernatural carnival that comes to town. Where3 Bradbury failed is in another character, Will's father. Will's father is composed of Bradbury's own fears about aging and death. This character takes page after page of nearly nonsensical philosophy that has no real place in the action/adventure preteen story. I thought at first that Bradbury wrote it when he himself was too old to comprehend what he was writing but it turns out good ol' Ray was only in his 40s. Maybe I need to go back and re-read Fahrenheit 451. Maybe it's not as good of a book as I remember. Or maybe Bradbury just stumbled on this one and that's why no one has heard of it.

I have to mention two characters though that really stood out and made the story worth reading. The first is the Illustrated Man. Pure evil incarnate, he wasn't quite as enrapturing as the dust witch.
THE DUST WITCH. A witch with her eyes sewn shut. She travels in a hot air balloon and feels the earth with her hands. She struck me almost as strongly as Coraline's Other Mother.


2/5

Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks

Terry Brooks avoided some of the common mistakes with novels like this, but not all. I don't know why editors let so much slide with repetition. The book should have been 100 pages less than it was. We're not getting paid by the word anymore, Dickens. Brooks vocabulary and descriptions were adequate, as was the story itself. I liked the female protagonist and the classic battle between good and evil (Void and the Word) was redone well enough to keep me interested. So why didn't the book catch me in the way it was supposed to? Maybe I read too much. It felt like a story being written.

3.25/5

Flight by Sherman Alexie

I read Flight right before I read Reservation Blues. It's a pretty bold move to kill your main character in the first 50 pages and I wasn't sure about it but he pulled it off in the end.

4.5/5 stars

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie began differently than most of his books. It followed a couple people from the reservation who obtained a magical guitar and so they started a band. The band was mildly successful, failing at the last minute like so many plots of Alexi's. It was heart wrenching and it taught me a lot I didn't know about reservation life like HUD housing, commodity food, etc. I am glad I read it but it wasn't the best book I've read by him so far.

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Alright, Murakami!
Here is a work that I have heard nothing about. This is not always a bad thing (thinking back to Hard-Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World)
After Dark lacks the one thing that Murakami always puts in- Himself! Perhaps Takahashi is a younger version of himself but I do not think so. There is a bit of unexplained magic, like always, an interesting point of view (this is where he inserts himself?) and great characters.
Perhaps it is not his strongest work but then again I would argue that it simply isn't translated as well as some of his other works. It's a pretty quick read though and I did thoroughly enjoy it!

4/5

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl

Speaking of books I've found on people's floors, Esio Trot by Roald Dahl was a book I found in the back of a car during a slightly long trip. I remember I brought it inside after reading most of it in the car and finished it up. I recently re-read it and it was just as good as I remember. It is delightful and funny and cute and nice and clever.
Go Roald Dahl!

4/5

Child of God by Cormac McarthyC

This book was on my girlfriend's bedside for a few weeks before I even looked at it. I started reading it, not very interested but immediately was sucked up in McCarthy's descriptions. Child of God tells of a man named Lester Ballard- a truly perfect name for him. He is in his late twenties and simply roams the Tennessee mountains. Why it never occurs to him to get a job is beyond me but he does get by living in caves and killing squirrels. It is strange and haunting. I have absolutely no complaints about it.

5/5

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

I am continually failing my readers!
I read The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall about a week ago and completely forgot to update! Unbelievable.



The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall captured me from the beginning. A man wakes up in a room and cannot remember anything. As it turns out, he is being hunted by a conceptual fish. Seem confusing? It sort of is... but in a very fast moving sort of way. The logic may not pan out, or it may- I didn't take too much time really analyzing it (for fear that it wouldn't) but the STORY. Wow! I love good stories! Instead of the classic amnesia story where the victim is obsessed with the past, the main character becomes obsessed with the future, with survival, which was so god damn refreshing.

I give this book some thumbs up
5/5

Things I read on my phone and forgot to update

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
I picked this book up in a bar while watching a show in a fit of anxiety. It calmed me down and sucked me into the story. Luckily I haven't been exposed to the story in any other way before, at least not that I can remember. It ended a lot sooner than I thought it would and kind of strangely. I liked how he described fast forward and rewind before those things existed. Wells and Jules Verne are classified in my mind in the same category. Good slightly scientific story tellers. Great job.
4.75/5


"The Variable Man" by Philip K. Dick
I really loved some of the concepts in this short story. I continued to get caught up on the race of the variable man. I thought maybe he was black but they never said either way. It wasn't supposed to matter but for some reason it did to me. Logan said a lot of the things that happen were impossible based on closed circuit technology but I liked it anyways.
4/5

"The Call of Cthulu" by H. P. Lovecraft
It was so good it got me on this late 19th century kick, which is why I picked up Middlemarch which was actually written mid 19th century which is probably why I hate it so much.
4.75/5

Dear Readers,
I know there are none of you other than myself so let me start over.

Dear Nicole,
I am sorry I haven't updated my book blog in so long. It's not that I haven't been reading, it's that I haven't finished a single book I've picked up and I don't want to claim having read it without actually having read it all. Here is a list of books that I have read some of in the last month or so...



Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer
"collage" of writing. Simply amazing. Hard to read. Very hard to understand, 4.75/5









Middlemarch by George Eliot
I only made it 100 pages in and decided I simply couldn't go on anymore. Too much marriage drama.

Roald Dahl Short Stories
5/5!

Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
I got 75% of the way through and knew what was going to happen so stopped. It's by far not his best but it's still a super great story 4/5


The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
Pretty great ghost story! I will finish this one since it is short. I'll let you know how I like it.

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

This image is not the cover that I have for this book. Mine is a simple blue and red cover- like a Penguin classic. I adore this older cover and wish they had kept it. Also, I couldn't find an image of my cover- probably because it is so boring.
Dan Beachy-Quick the poet recommended this book to me after he finished reading it and ever-trusting I bought it the next day. I'd never heard of Auster and since it was in the contemporary literature section of the bookstore, I didn't realize it was a mystery.
Paul Auster's New York Trilogy expresses relationships, obsession, writing, detective work, obligation, and mystery. The stories are much more than simple detective stories- often including some existential catastrophe. I loved the experimental nature of the work. Auster became a character in one story. He created a world by weaving characters through the different stories. At one point he named everyone a color. It is all very successful. I enjoyed it and it made me think. It was written well and I felt better for having read it.
5/5

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

I included both of these book covers because I absolutely hate the cover of the one I read (the movie promo cover with Leonardo DiCaprio.) Some in my American Prose since 1900 class, the class that I happen to be reading the book for, said that the image on the cover didn't match the book and I have to agree. When I looked for other covers I found the one with the people turned away which is so much more consistent. So what's all the rabble about the book covers? I complained about it in my last post and I'm going to complain about it again. They packaged the book as if it's some kind of uplifting love story and it's just not. Put a picture of a god damn syringe or glass of whiskey on the cover, not an intimate moment.



About the book - Yates has a terrific grasp of language. It's painful at times. With phrases like "The floor rode under his feet like the deck of a moving ship" the book is just dreadfully beautiful. The book is about a young family in the 1950's, not wanting to fall into the trap of suburbia.
Intelligent, thinking people could take things like this in their stride, just as they took the larger absurdities of deadly dull jobs in the city and deadly dull homes in the suburbs. Economic circumstance might force you to live in this environment, but the important thing was to keep from being contaminated. The important thing, always, was to remember who you were.

5/5

Joust by Mercedes Lackey

Wanting to become better read in my favorite genre of genre fiction, that is, fantasy, I picked up a random Mercedes Lackey Book. That book happened to be called Joust and have a hunky man on the cover in a loin cloth with a beautiful red dragon. How could I not? I'll start by stating the books overwhelming flaws with the intention of eventually dismissing them as being out of the author's control. Firstly, the cover, while accurate, portrays basically the eventuality of the book. It is actually an image of what is achieved by the end of the novel. I'll try to explain. The main character is a young serf. Serf's are not aloud to cut their hair so it's obviously him on the cover. He goes to work for a dragon compound where the highest honor is to be a jouster. He's holding a jousting lance on the cover. Do you get the gist here? And for the duller readers, the back is basically a one-page summary of the book. At this point there's really no point in reading it since you know exactly what is going to happen. You can't root for the underdog because staring you in the face every time you pick up the book you know he will be victorious. Maybe I'm being overcritical here. But like I said, it's not Lackey's fault.
Also there are a ton of typos. Like 4 that I've caught and I'm no editor. Some are quite blatant. Again, not Lackey's fault...really.

So why did you read the book, Nicole? Is your love for dragons so strong that you will read a story you already know the entire plot and ending to? Probably, yeah, but what really kept me is Mercedes Lackey's ability to tell a story. I'm not saying it's groundbreaking work or anything but Lackey studied birds to compare them to dragons. She is consistent and her imagination for the world is thorough without being dull.

Maybe Fantasy novels get pushed unfairly into this mass-market, highly disregarded section. Or maybe they deserve it. But then again the publishers aren't giving as much time to these books as to the best selling "literature." If they can't even make sure a book goes out without typos and if instead of praise the book is covered in its entire plot then I don't know how far it can actually get.

4/5

Fat City by Leonard Gardner

Gardner spent four years on Fat City and it shows. The prose is moving with stunning observations like out the window there were "pigeons the color of the street." A story about failure, false hopes, masculinity, and pride, Fat City breaks the heart with achingly eloquent words. It's not a feel-good book but it has influenced many writers for good reason. Apparently you should stay away from the movie.

4.75/5

Antwerp by Roberto Bolaño

Here is a chapter from Bolaño's short work Antwerp


#4. I'm My Own Bewitchment

The ghosts of the Plaza Real are on the stairs. Blankets pulled up to my ears, motionless in bed, sweating and repeating meaningless words to myself, I hear them moving around, turning the lights on and off, climbing up toward the roof with unbearable slowness. I'm the moon, someone ventures. But I used to be in a gang and I had the Arab in my sights and I pulled the trigger at the worst possible moment. Narrow streets in the heart of Distrito V, and no way to escape or alter the fate that slid like a djellaba over my greasy hair. Words that drift away from one another. Urban games played from time immemorial..."Frankfurt" ... "A blond girl at the biggest window of the boarding house" ... "There's nothing I can do now"... I'm my own bewitchment. My hands move over a mural in which someone, eight inches taller than me, stands in the shadows, hands in the pockets of his jacket, preparing for death and his subsequent transparency. The language of others is unintelligible to me. "Tired after being up for days" ... "A blond girl came down the stairs" ... "My name is Roberto Bolaño" ... "I opened my arms" ...


I wept.

5/5

King of the Flies

King of the Flies by Mezzo and Pirus is an amazing European graphic novel set in the suburbs around kids and kids who have grown out of being kids. The book deals with virtually every character in an intimate way- showing a pretty accurate view of the world through the old, the young, the girls and the boys. Other than a little initial confusion about the ages of the characters and the very statuesque bodies of some of the characters this book is perfect. The illustrations are detailed and richly developed. They correspond to the story so well. It is the case in so many graphic novels that there are wasted images and wasted words. I didn't feel that way with this one at all.
I highly recommend it.

5/5

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote tells the non-fiction tale of an innocent family of four who were murdered for greed. Capote's writing almost masks the truth of the situation but the characters are too real and some scenes play out too matter-of-fact. The fact that this is a true situation, that the murderers are just young men- they could have been anybody- it's all too frightening for me. The modern sensationalism surrounding murders is strange and Capote may have started it all (?) This book highly disturbed me and for reasons maybe I can't put my finger quite on.
I don't even think I can rate it properly- for what? The story? The writing? The adaptation of the real-life situation to the book? The cutting-edge journalism? The manipulation of people to tell their stories? The exposure of a murder that people would have soon forgotten?
I'll give it a 2/5

A Death in the Family by James Agee

James Agee's A Death in the Family is a semi-autobiographical novel about a young family that must deal with the loss of the father. The language flourishes around the characters who seem to go round and round in circles without making any progress. Dream-like prose guides the reader through the entire situation- from the children's perspective to the distant aunt's. The only complaint I have is that the language could have been a lot more concise. Agee's death - before the final copy of the book was written, prevented any changes that probably should have been made by lenient editors.

4.25/5

People of Sparks

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau is the second Book of Ember. As much flack as I gave The City of Ember, I had to pick up the second one as soon as possible. Following the same characters, DuPrau delves into the subject of racism, violence, and tensions of budding war. There was a lot of action, a lot of original material, and it was really exciting to read. I snatched up the third book in the series, The Prophet of Yonwood but it's a prequel. We'll see about that.

3.5/5

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau is a young adult science fiction novel about a city encased in darkness- lit by a generator no one understands. Standing alone, it doesn't explain much but perhaps the other books in the series do so. The largest issue with the book is the utter ignorance of the characters and their willingness to do absolutely nothing- to question nothing, and to deny any reasonable movement towards progress. In this way the world DuPrau builds is inadequate and unbelievable. Maybe if I were 8 years old I'd be able to accept it. And if I hadn't already read Anthem and The Giver. Maybe then.

2.5/5

Breathers by S. G. Brown

My initial hesitation with Breathers had to do with the genre. A zombie's lament/ love story... come on. But before I knew it I was on page 120. And it just kept getting better. There are a few plot twists and turns but they're not cheesy. At least not until the last twenty pages. It's like Brown got the hang of a quicker pacing and just took off at the end. While the book isn't a literary masterpiece or anything it was very clever and dealt with a lot of social issues. Ideas of preservation, us vs. them, and treatment of zombies were discussed at length. I really enjoyed this book and I'm still pretty pumped up about it!

4/5

Beast by Marian Churchland

Beast by Marian Churchland starts out a little slow but it kicks into gear eventually. By no means is it fast paced but it does read well. Like Asterios Polyp there are a lot of meditations on art. The story follows a girl, Collete I think is her name, through a nightmarish abduction/ art commission. What I liked about it mostly, is that it really did feel like one of my nightmares- which I have a lot. And unlike my nightmares, it turns out to be not so scary after all in the end. It's very strange and not really explained very well but the writing is solid and the art is fantastic. Give it a chance, I'd say.

4/5

The Nobody by Jeff Lemire

The Nobody by Jeff Lemire is a strange tale about a man bandaged from head to toe. While you learn (sort of) why and what he is covering, there is really no final conclusion or understanding at the end. The art is great and the story is told from the perspective of a 16 year old girl named Vikki. Vikki's character and concerns could have been fleshed out a lot more but again, the story wasn't really about her. One quite successful aspect of the graphic novel was the characterization of the place or the atmosphere. Set in a small town it reminded me of the town where Shadow of American Gods spent his off time.

4/5

Coraline by Gaiman

Neil Gaiman's Coraline reminded me what it's like to be a little girl in a most amusing way. Coraline's magical experiences simply get brushed off by the adults in her life. I love when a kid is more knowledgeable than the adults in a book. Also, I love getting into Neil Gaiman's mind inch by inch. This book will take you about an hour or two to read. Other Mother scares me so much, I painted a picture of her. Maybe I'll post that later.

5/5

The People of Paper

The People of Paper by Salvador Placencia begins one way and diverges into a very different path. Crossing the line of fiction and nonfiction create a strange magic within the paper pages, making the reader hyper aware of her place in things. I have never seen anyone do what Placencia has done with this novel. It is poetic, exploratory, inventive, creative, strange, and most importantly, successful.
Thanks Kelsey, for the recommendation.

UPDATE/Just wrote a review for work:
By ignoring conventional literary limitations, The People of Paper delivers a strong understanding of the human condition in an unusual way. One character uses paper origami to resurrect the dead, another character has found the cure to sadness, small star-shaped burns along her arms, and even the author himself is a character, haunted by his powerful imagination, responsible for the lives he has created in paper.
10/25/11


5/5

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi
After reading a few of Alexi's short stories I was afraid he wouldn't be able to tone it down enough for a young adult story... and it kind of turns out he can't, and that's what totally makes it. Described by my coworker as "unflinching" Alexi's only comedy comes with sadness. The book opens the mind to Indian reservation life and the intermixing of whites. It's like The Perks of Being a Wallflower but where everyone isn't white. Alexi stands out to me and I anticipate reading more of his work.

4.5/5

Hard-Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World

Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World is by far my favorite Murakami Novel so far. It has all the magical realism with very little of the realism. There are so many original scenes and ideas that permeate the mind and do not leave. There are unicorns, discussions of the mind, human computers, and wild characters subdued by Murakami's language.

5/5

Books I have started and may not finish
1. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
2. Food Inc. Participant Media
3. Legend of Nightfall by Mickey Zucker Reichert

I'll have to go home and look on my shelf. This month has been bad for reading. I felt like throwing every book across the room.