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…I’m now onto David Mamet’s stage play for Glengarry Glen Ross.
I’ve never actually read a stage play before, but a lot of people have told me that many of my screenplays read like they were written for the stage, so I figured I should check it out.
Not sure what to tackle next,
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Wrapped up this one, and now on to this one:
In 2008, KB and I saw David Sedaris speak in Milwaukee. We had somewhere else to be immediately after the event and couldn’t stick around for his signing, so I gave my newly-purchased copy of Me Talk Pretty One Day to a friend who was waiting in line and asked him to have David sign it. This is what I got:
Soon after this event happened, we packed our lives up into boxes and moved to L.A. For some reason, however, this book made its way into a box that didn’t make the journey west—at first, we weren’t sure how long our L.A. move would last—instead ending up in a friend’s basement. That basement eventually flooded, the books inside got water damaged, our friend moved, and the box then somehow wound up in my dad’s basement.
Now, the box is finally back in my possession, and I’m ready to read a book that I bought a decade ago.
Let’s hope it was worth the wait.
And then, Mamet,
…Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Thank Christ.
What did I learn? To never read books on a laptop, phone, iPad, etc. Seriously, for whatever reason, it takes me forever.
Anyway, I’m now reading a book I’ve surprisingly never read before: Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Quite a departure from the insanity of the Trump White House.
While I’m reading this one I’m also going to be reading two graphic novels that were recommended to me by my good friend Erik Rose. They are the first installment of Outcast by Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta, and The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, David Fincher, Matz, and Miles Hyman.
It’s always important to balance out your children’s literature with stories of demon possession and horrifically violent murder.
Sedaris is next,
…Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Sadly.
I think it’s taking me a super long time to get through because I’m reading a digital copy of the book, and I much prefer hard copies. I stare at a screen all day long, so when I try and read a book on my laptop in a leisurely way I almost always immediately fall asleep. So it’s either that, or the book is boring. Not sure which. Either way, I hope to finish it soon.
In the meantime, while slogging through the remainder of Fire & Fury, I’m giving a quick read to Rodney Dangerfield’s autobiography It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs.
I may or may not be reading this for a reason. We’ll see. Either you’ll hear more about it one day, or you won’t. Fingers crossed… but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I know, I know… me of little faith.
I could never own a Kindle,
…Tori Telfer’s Lady Killers (but not before dropping it into a bathtub full of water), so I figured I’d start off 2018 with, duh, Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
I know there is speculation over the book’s complete accuracy, but here’s how I look at it: If even only 10% of what’s inside is true, it’s still shocking. And appalling. And gross.
The actual cover design of the book is shit, so instead I decided to post Cuban-born artist Edel Rodriguez’s take on what he would’ve done with the cover. Edel is responsible for many of TIME‘s recent Trump covers. Check out his work here, and then learn more about his cover illustrations here.
I enjoy a good mix of both fact and fiction,
Ever since the Saving Charlie Chaplin live read last June, I’ve been fortunate enough to receive some awesome, Chaplin-inspired gifts from my amazing friends. (Some of you may remember this gift from my good friend Salomon.)
My (other) good friends Erik and César also recently sent me a couple Chaplin goodies. Cés sent me Chaplin: Stage by Stage by A.J. Marriot, a book about Chaplin’s theater work…
…and Erik sent me this flip book box of Chaplin’s “dinner roll dance” scene from The Gold Rush.
Thanks so much, fellas! Though I’m not big on opening gifts, I do enjoy and appreciate them.
I have the best (good) friends,
…The Choking Doberman and Other Urban Legends, and have decided to end 2017 with a book our good friend Milan recently gave to KB: Lady Killers by Tori Telfer, a book about the deadliest women in history. #Feminism
Because who doesn’t want to read about female murderers during Christmas!
Merry AXE-MAS,
…Mr. Mercedes, and am now on to a book about urban legends called The Choking Doberman and Other Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand.
Actually, in between those two books I quickly read The World’s Shortest Stories.
Edited by the late Steve Moss, this book collects extremely short stories from a wide range of authors. And I mean “short” as in “each story clocks in at (or under) 55 words,” which looks like this:
Obviously, this is why I flew through it in an hour.
My good friend Jamie gave me this book for Christmas in 1998 (back when she was my good girlfriend Jamie), but I couldn’t remember if ever actually read it so I decided to give it a quick read.
Reading this book reminded me of a short story I wrote a few years ago called Robin’s Permanent Life-Change. I can’t remember why I wrote it other than the fact that the idea for it was sparked by my Aunt Robin. It doesn’t come in under the 55-word limit that the book requires of its stories, but at only 81 words it’s still pretty damn short. Check it out:
Robin’s Permanent Life-Change
Robin’s perm had been sitting on top of her head since Jimmy Carter sat in the Oval Office. She didn’t care what current trends dictated or close friends thought; she loved her perm, and she especially enjoyed the time she spent with Gladys, her hairstylist of nearly 35 years.
But when Gladys died suddenly of heart disease, Robin made a decision that would change her life forever: she would finally begin construction on the time machine she had designed decades earlier.
Anyway, I might be able to cram one more book into 2017, but we’ll see.
Maybe I’ll read the Bible for Christmas,
