I haven't really mentioned books here, have I? Odd. To quote Ursula K. LeGuin, "I like books."

I recently read Virginia Woolf's Orlando. Enjoyed the hell out of it, mainly Woolf's narrative style. The story seemed to drag about as the centuries passed and the main character spent most of his/her time looking out the window. But, hey, I related. The life of a writer - it's for me.

Also recently finished Angela Carter's last novel, Wise Children. Amazingly written as usual, but I don't agree with the blurbs on the book calling it her best work. loved the family she created in this book, the varying degrees of fucked-up-ness in each generation, and, of course, as a Shakespeare fan, I dug all the references to his plays. Still, the book didn't speak to me as much as I thought it would. I'll read it again in a few years. I'm no expert on Carter (not yet anyway) but from what I've read, The Incredible Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman was her best novel. (And that's without even mentioning short stories. See.)

At the moment, I'm screaming through Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower. A sweet, sad book. One of those "page-turners" where you have to find out what happens next, every page. PS. Remind me to not live in the future. (thanks to Joel at sh1ft for the reco.)

Also reading A.L. Kennedy's Original Bliss. What a great writer she is. A million thanks to Chris for recommending her. Her straightforward prose and extremely verbose characters are my favorite aspects of her work.

On Deck:

Phillip K. Dick's Ubik
Anne Tyler's Back When We Were Grownups
Sheri S. Teper's A Plague of Angels
Buddy Giovinazzo's Poetry and Purgatory