Reading is the best

Since I'm stopping by here like once a month now, I figured I should do something. Here's one I stole from various spots.

I'm at 51. Really, they think most people will have only read six of these? Do people not go to school? I'm pretty sure at least half of those in bold were read before I was in tenth grade.

Granted, I read A LOT when I was in school, and still do. Reading is awesome. But still, only six?

***

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Bold those books you've read in their entirety; italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt.

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

6 The Bible - Author/s in Debate

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13. Catch 22- Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger

19 The Time Travellers Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch – George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchel

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath- Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina –Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis

34 Emma – Jane Austen

35 Persuasion – Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Willaim Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne

41 Animal Farm – George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving

45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery

47 Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martell

52 Dune – Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon

60 Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas

66 On the Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72. Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson

74 Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal – Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - Charles Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte's Web - EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare

99 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Jernigan by David Gates

About, oh, a decade ago, give or take a few years (probably give), I finally got to reading Catcher in the Rye. I wasn't required to read it in high school, and in those days, if it wasn't Tolkien or a Dragonlance book, I wasn't doing much outside the requisite (I was a cool dude).

This was at a point in my life when I was really filling the "jaded and disillusioned late-teens-early-twenties" role quite well, changing schools, majors, thinking about moving, all that jazz (good to see I've matured so much, and have changed). So Catcher struck a particular chord with me, as it has with probably 80%+ of those who read it, and became one of my favorite books.

Why all this lead-up? Well, I'm now a nearly-30 disenchanted fellow, who has developed a taste for beer and fine liquors, especially gin. And, well, that starts the description of the narrator of Jernigan, Peter Jernigan. Sure, he's a little older, and lives with his son, his girlfriend, and her mom, he lost his job a year after his wife died, and he's MUCH more self-destructive, but, I can't help but feel some kinship there. Probably more than a little forced on my end. But still.

I won't go through too much of the plot, because really, I think each and every one of you should read it for yourself. Basically, Jernigan is floundering through life. And he doesn't care. He lives in New Jersey suburbia with a son who tolerates him as far as he has to, a woman who (minus the rabbits that she keeps and slaughters herself) these days would probably be classified as freegan, and her possibly abused, definitely drug-abusing daughter (who is dating Peter's son. Got it?). Quite the picturesque family. Throw in Peter's penchant for popping Pamprin chased with gin, and you start to get the idea. He is at once both self-righteous and self-loathing. As a friend described it, "It's the washing away of standards and expectations and walking off a cliff with a drunken smirk." I can't think of a better way to describe it. And as far as relating to the character, the same said fellow says, "It's fucking beautiful. Somehow, I feel, Peter Jernigan and I stand at a crossroads, doing doubletakes. Have we met? Oh yes, we have." Really, I should just have him write this review for me.

Told with flashbacks of Peter and his wife, or Peter's misadventures with his best friend Uncle Fred, Jernigan gives a personal, first-hand look through the "anti-hero's" eyes at how he's gotten to where he is, and gives glimpses of his bleak future. This book has been compared to Catcher in the Rye by most of the reviews I've read (including my own), for damn good reasons. Both narrators are sort of feeling their ways through life. Neither really have a "home" home, but wander aimlessly, calling on old acquaintances, looking for some cheap thrills while in New York City, avoiding their family, or what substitutes for a family. (ok, so I'm a little over generalizing here, come on, give me some slack. This is my first time "writing" in months) Had Holden Caulfield been a few decades later, would he have become Peter Jernigan? Well, probably not. Jernigan is from consequences. Holden didn't seem as self-destructive, and not nearly as pessimistic. (Holden gets upset seeing "Fuck You" scratched into a wall. Jernigan probably put it there)

As things start to spiral out of control, the last few chapters get pretty brutal, uncomfortable, and awkward, but in a beautiful, chaotic way. To say it gets wrapped up neatly is probably a bald-faced lie, but I can't think of a better ending. Makes sense? Good. Read it for yourself. It's funny, depressing, at times hopeful, and ultimately leaves you sort of numb, but in the best possible way. Promises.

A random hodge-podge about whatever I feel like at the moment

I feel like I haven't been a good blogger lately, my updates haven't been as frequent of late, mainly because I haven't done anything worth mentioning of late. Really, the past few days have just been spent reading (Then We Came to the End), sleeping (when I'm not sweating all the time), watching episodes of The Office (which has been great, I think episode 1 of season 3 ["Gay Witch Hunt"] was one of the funniest TV shows I've seen in a while, season 3 has been amazing this far, I'm 11 episodes deep), playing video games (SMU has gone on a streak, we've won our last 3 Big-12 games and are bowl-eligible), and avoiding the 90-plus degree heat as much as possible. Which means either sitting between two fans at home or going somewhere the air conditioning has been running. This weekend the a/c might need to be turned on here, it's supposed to get in the upper-90's, and the humidity is supposed to be on the rise. Great.

I'm getting really excited about going to Milwaukee next weekend to see the Brewers/Royals series with KP. It should be an awesome time, it turns out that a friend of mine from work is getting married in Milwaukee the Saturday that we'll be up there, so we're going to be crashing the reception and imbibing the free beer that will be available. Then, we'll find a place to stay the night and maybe hit up the game the next day, which just so happens to be Bill Hall bobble head giveaway day. Sweet! (And A, if you're reading this, I hope you liked the game tonight. That'll teach you to talk shit about a series before it's over, the Royals wiped the walls with the Cardinals tonight, 17-8, and won the series 2-1. Way to go.)

I think now, just for H, I'll list off the Hawkeyes (current and former) that I've seen out and about in the past week: Seth Gorney, Matt Roth, Nate Kaeding, Albert Young, Dace Richardson, Jake Christensen, Duez Henderson.

Speaking of former collegiate athletes, Bill interviewed former Iowa State Cyclone and current professional basketball player Paul Shirley today. Shirley's senior year at ISU was my freshman year there, and I would occasionally see him eating in my dorm's dining center. And occasionally I'd sit next to him (for lack of another seat) and strike up a conversation, just about whatever, trying to not bring up the fact that he was nearly 7-feet tall and on the basketball team. He went to Iowa State on an academic scholarship, and is extremely easy to talk to, so we had all these short snippets of small talk. Anyways, when Bill was here this week, I jokingly told him to ask Mr. Shirley if he remembered me from the Friley Hall Dining Center. Little did I know that Bill would actually ask him. Unfortunately, Paul didn't remember me, and probably won't be calling me to catch up any time soon. I don't blame him, he's probably talked to all sorts of interesting dudes, and has a hard time remembering some random redhead from nearly 9 years ago. I forgive you Paul.

Well, it's time for bed now. And since the "internet" isn't really working right now, this will probably be posted in the morning, but don't be fooled. This was really written at the time it states, 11:45 PM on Thursday night.

The incredible, edible potato

Today's been rather productive so far, a stark contrast to yesterday. I've already showered, got one load of laundry done, another going, I went to the bookstore and purchased a couple of books (Running With Scissors and Death and the Penguin, at the used book store for a total of $12.05!), went for a bike ride, and have my attempt at some English-style "chips" in the oven. It's barely even noon! I really should have headed to the gym this morning like I was planning, but I still feel ok about how my day has gone so far. I still have a couple of hours until work, so who knows what else could get done! Maybe I'll put my clean clothes away instead of piling them on my bed, only to have them pushed to the floor when I'm ready to sleep. We'll see, I don't want to go overboard.

It's another beautiful day in Iowa City, I think the city is just really making a push for me to stay here in town come fall. A couple of friends of mine are doing the same, and as much as I like them and love this town, I think it's time for me to go either way. I mean, I can't pass up an opportunity like this, I feel like if I do, then I'll never really have another chance. Not that it would be a bad thing to stay here, but there's so much stuff out there that I need to check out. I just need to remember that when I'm constantly second-guessing myself.

Update on the potatoes: first batch is out, and tastes delicious! They're nice and soft inside, with a little bit of a crispy outside. I cut the potatoes into wedges, almost like home fries, then boiled them for about 5 minutes and immediately placed them into cold water. I let them soak in the water for a few minutes, then quickly dipped them into egg whites and stuck them into the cast-iron skillet that I had put a little peanut oil into and preheated to 350 degrees. Into the oven they went for about 10 minutes, then I turned them, tossed on a little salt, put them back in, and waited. After a quick walk to the gas station to redeem my free cap for a 2-liter of DDP, I took out the skillet, and let the wedges rest on a paper bag, to let them cool and to let some of the oil drain. I ate some of them alone, some with balsamic vinegar, and of course a couple with a little ketchup. I can't really say which way I liked them the best, they were all good. Dang, aren't potatoes amazing?

Well, that's about all from me for right now. I think I'm going to just sit around and read until work, I've got quite the queue adding up for my reading. So until next time, have a splendid day.

Quick post before work

Sorry, my "internet" hasn't been the most reliable lately, so I haven't had much of an opportunity to post. Now that it's working, I only have a short amount of time before work, so these are just going to be some quick notes, and I'll try to post more tomorrow.

• I am extremely jealous of both Marin and Heinricy for this weekend. Marin is seeing Loney, Dear in DC tomorrow night, and Heinricy is seeing WHY? in Austin, also tomorrow. Tomorrow night, I'll most likely be asleep by 10 after working 7-3.
  
• Daren and I had Thai for lunch, it was delicious. Rice noodles are amazing.
• I added another blog link, Bad Wims. I'm pretty sure he's my food soul-mate, he has posts about falafel and sushi (where he mentions his favorite roll is the same as mine, the spicy tuna). So check him out, there's good stuff over there.
• I've forgotten to pay my phone bill for a few days now. Oops. But, they sent me a text message reminding me to pay it, isn't that nice! I guess I'll do that tomorrow.
  
• It's Federer vs Nadal in the French Open final this weekend. I have Sunday off, so I'll need to get somewhere to watch the match. Federer won their last match on clay, just last month, so hopefully he'll complete his career Grand Slam this weekend, on his way to picking up the Grand Slam this season. I love Federer. He's my current man-crush, along with Jim Krasinski from The Office.
• Speaking of Jim Krasinski, he co-wrote the screenplay and is directing and starring in the film adaptation of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, a book I just finished. I'm really looking forward to this!
• The new book I'm reading is Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It's awesome so far.

That's all I have right now... I must get ready for work. Hope everyone has a great day/weekend!!!

You sleep while I write this all down

I was given a CD the other day by a coworker, a mix he had made of mostly hip hop songs. I dig them very much. However, there was one song on there that really caught my ear, not exactly hip hop, it has more of an "indie" feel to it, but I instantly fell in love. It will be on the CD I send out for the exchange, so I won't ruin the surprise quite yet (the only hint I will give is that the title for today's post comes from the song's lyrics). But this late arrival may throw things off a bit, I thought I had my mix mostly laid out, now I'll just need to do a little adjusting. Luckily, I'm feeling like a lame-o tonight and don't really feel like going out, even though the beer will be flowing like water. It's a friend's girlfriend's birthday, and she decided to go to a bar which gives a pretty good deal on pitchers for birthdays. Unfortunately, this bar sucks. It's probably my least favorite bar in town. So if you're ever in town and want to go to the Fieldhouse, you can go, just don't count me in. I'd much rather be sitting around my place, drinking beer in my underwear. Much like tonight.

Today's been a pretty good day, I got some stuff done around my place, I did some grocery shopping (so I can finally stop eating out for every meal), played some frisbee golf with a buddy, ate a couple grilled hot dogs, hung out downtown for a little while, came home, drank some beers (it is a great night for a Tom Collins, but I'm going with something sort of similar, Leinie's Summer Shandy), and listened to some excellent music. Sounds like a pretty full day to me! I'll cap it off by doing some reading.

I finished up Timequake about a week ago. It was a great book, and became one of my favorite Vonnegut books. Now I'm reading Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, and already love it, only 30 pages deep. If you haven't heard of it, it's basically about pop culture, stuff like "The Real World" and The Sims and John Cusack. I'd strongly recommend it already, even if I've barely started. I really should do more in-depth reviews of the books I've read recently, I feel like I haven't given both Timequake and An Evening of Long Goodbyes their due props. And they each deserve mad props. So that may be coming in the near future. Not tomorrow, it's going to be a busy day of avoiding anything graduation related, then moving my sister, and then probably drinking at a friend's party. A rough life, that is to be sure.

Pimping Boobs; also books and things

First, a thank you to The Boob Lady for linking to my little old blog. Not only linking, but adding an exclamation mark after my name. Flenker! I like it. Thank you, Ms. Boob. I enjoy your blog very much, you keep me entertained with your cookie/ear stories, and the always hilarious cybering posts. The Canadian thing is a big plus, too. And while I'm mentioning the exclamation mark, I will also take this opportunity to thank half the battle, who uses the mark in an arrow when pointing to the Politics of Lonely link. What does Flenker! do to deserve such good blog friends?

To continue some pimping, congratulations to Jad for your graduation! Really, I'm happy for you for a selfish reason, it means that you'll be posting more musical goodness more often!

Krazee Eyez Killa (I am your Caucasian), Lucy (a nice touch with your link here, "the flenker." Maybe I could combine them all. . . The Flenker!), and Minty (also a nice link, simply "Flenker." Understated, classy, true to the man himself. Also, Iowa City awaits), you are all my homies, and to you I say "word!"

And of course, the lovely H. Dear friend and co-conspirator. Much love.

In fact, much love, all around, to everyone! It may be the tail-end of Be Nice Wednesday, but no special day is needed! With blogger friends like you guys, it's pretty awesome all the time. Now keep writing stuff, so TheFlenker! can be entertained.

Now that all that's out of the way, I just wanted to pimp myself one last time, last chance for anyone who wants to join in the Great Blogger Mix CD Exchange! I'm going to send an email out to everyone participating on Friday, to let everyone know the addresses to send their mixes. Email me at flenker@gmail.com with your address if you want to be a part of the fun.

I haven't been doing very well reporting on the books I'm reading. . . I finished An Evening of Long Goodbyes and liked it very much! There's a definite mood shift about midway through, and the ending really got me. I won't give too much away, so you'll have to read it for yourself. I think H called it next, so anyone wanting to borrow it will have to wait until she's done. (Is a blogger book exchange in the works? Probably not.) The main reason I picked it off the shelf was the title, and the cover reminded me of that Old Spice commercial with Bruce Campbell. Plus, author Paul Murray was compared to Nick Hornby on the cover, so I was intrigued. I'm glad I grabbed it.

Now I'm reading through Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut. It's going by quickly, mostly because it's a hilarious book! I'll tell more about that later. I need to get some sleep now, tennis awaits me in the morning.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day!

60 years ago today, Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers for opening day, marking the first time an African-American played in the modern era of Major League Baseball. I really don't know why he and Buck O'Neil have had such a huge influence on my life; it's not like I can really relate to them that well, being some white boy from Iowa, but they're still heroes to me. Maybe it's just because they're were such big figures in the history of baseball, and therefore are big figures to me. Robinson's former team, the Dodgers, are playing in the Sunday Night game on ESPN, so I've been watching that, listening to Jackie's beautiful wife Rachel tell stories and cheer for the Dodgers in the booth. For some reason, baseball stuff can make me tear up, and tonight was no exception. It's been just a great ceremony and game.

This weekend was fun, my visitors Bill and Haley made it safely and in time for the Hawkeye's spring practice. The weather was almost perfect, only a light sweatshirt was needed when the sun was out and wind died down. The practice went about how I expected, a tense moment occurred when Dominique Douglas (Doug E Fresh or DD from now on in this blog) started limping around, but he came back a little later and made a few outstanding catches. I liked watching Arvell Nelson, as he has become my favorite quarterback, but I doubt he'll get a whole lot of playing time right away, behind Jake Christensen. We shall see what happens, though. Doug E is still my favorite Hawkeye. Todd Lickliter made an appearance and received a very nice standing ovation from the 20,000 fans that showed up to watch a practice.

After the game I introduced my guests to falafel, which was a great success. I was slightly nervous about this, since I had been building it up to them so much, but I don't think they were let down. It was a good time. Thanks Oasis! We then went to a local used bookstore, where I picked up a couple more books that I probably shouldn't have. I got Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, The Metamorphosis (and Other Stories) by Franz Kafka, and An Evening of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray. I got that last one because the blurbs on the cover compared Murray to Nick Hornby, one of my favorite writers, and because the cover reminded me of those "Old Spice" commercials with Bruce Campbell. It seems to have been well-liked by critics, so hopefully it'll be a good find. If not, I only paid half-price for it at a used place, so no big loss.

After the book store, we headed down to the Riverside Casino, because Haley really wanted to see it. And who am I to keep someone from new experiences? It turns out I should've kept her from this one, as I got my ass handed to me by a Walt Disney lookalike at the Blackjack table. With spirits and funds low, we decided to head to Buffalo Wild Wings for some food. I was tempted to try for the "Wall of Flame" by eating 18 of the Blazin' Hot wings in 5 minutes, but didn't really feel like spending that much money on the wings. I did sample the sauce, though, and am confident that I can do this. So sometime in the near future, a Polaroid of The Flenker will be on display. (The sauce is hot, I'll give them that. But not debilitating-ly so. And if my little brother can do it twice, that means it's not going to be a problem for me. The only problems I would have [and did last night] is going to the bathroom with the burning sauce on my hands. Not good times.)

We ended the night at BoJames, had a few drinks and a rather enjoyable time, stumbling (literally for H) home and getting to sleep. The morning brought us breakfast at the Hamburg Inn, and then a rushed goodbye as I was heading for work. More time would've been nice, but a great weekend either way.

Well, I'd love to stay and write more, but I'm dog/house sitting for some friends, and I don't want to leave Tucker by himself for too much longer. He's a sweet dog, a miniature dachshund, we've been hanging out most of the night, just laying around and watching baseball. But there's no internet there, and I needed to grab some things from home anyways, so I figured I'd drop a quick note on this here blog of mine. And I would like to welcome Haley's Dad to the scene, I hope he enjoys everything around. Anyone who is a Hawkeye fan is a friend of mine!

So it goes.

My roommate just gave me some extremely sad news: Kurt Vonnegut died today. He was one of my favorite authors, and a one-time resident of Iowa City, working at the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa. I'm assuming there are going to be plenty of blog posts with this same title and subject matter, it just shows how influential and incredible Mr. Vonnegut was. I recommend everyone go out, buy copies of Slaughterhouse 5, Cat's Cradle, Sirens of Titan, Player Piano, and Breakfast of Champions to start, then might as well just finish off his collection. Good stuff, all around.

November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”

-Kurt Vonnegut in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

beeyah!

It's amazing how a single event can totally change one's mood. Today's been a Good Day. I'm listening to Weezer (cuing most of their early songs into Winamp and hitting shuffle), taking me back to my early high school days, while I'm cleaning up my room, and thinking about watching Shaun of the Dead, in preparation of Hot Fuzz's (limited) US release on April 20, I believe (please come to Iowa City, pretty please?!?!?). How can the day get better? By buying some books (Catcher in the Rye [to replace two copies that I can't seem to place right now, but you can't have too many copies of this book, can you?], a collection of stories edited by Nick Hornby called Speaking With the Angel [featuring stories by Hornby, Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, Irvine Welsh, and many others], and Beneath the Wheel by Herman Hesse), and spending some time at the Java House, reading and talking with friends. To say the least. But anyways, "Buddy Holly" is playing right now, and I gotta get ready for an air-guitar solo. until later. . .

You Shall Know Our Velocity!

I finished You Shall Know Our Velocity! today. This book may find its way into my top 5 books I've read, as long as I can use one pick for J.D. Salinger books, I was that impressed. Plus, it was a quick read. I started the book on Thursday, and finished the 350 pages in only a few days. Granted, I can read quickly (I'm nothing if not humble!), but the writing flowed well, and was just generally hard for me to put down. I've decided that I really enjoy Dave Eggers' style, and wish he had more novels published. I'm seriously thinking about subscribing to his magazine The Believer, after reading about it and knowing that Nick Hornby makes writing contributions.

This book was extremely funny at times, with laugh-out-loud moments, but it also had some darker, serious scenes. There was one section near the end when I almost felt like crying. (I also really enjoyed how Eggers tied in the book's title, but it comes near the end, so I won't spoil it for you.) The story follows the two main characters, Will and Hand, as they make plans to travel around the world in one week while giving away money to whomever they deem deserving. Will came into the money, but isn't comfortable having it, so he comes up with this scheme. It is told from his point of view, including conversations he has in his head with people who are on a different continent, his meandering thoughts, and his internal dialogue. It's kind of reminiscent of Jack Kerouac's On The Road, if Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty had $30,000 to blow through, and traveled the world instead of hitching across the country. But it has a similar feel, both in the story and narrator. I strongly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

I think the next book that I'll tackle will be The Infinite Book, by John D. Barrow. I'm kind of intrigued by it. Basically, this book is about the idea of infinity, different aspects of it, and how it fits into the universe. And since I'm basically a nerd, this sounds interesting. I'll keep you updated on how it goes!

Book reviews and other news

I finished reading John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces today. A good read, but I never really felt "into" it until the final 50 or so pages. The ending was good, though, and it definitely had some laugh-out-loud parts. I think the main reason why I could never get into was that I didn't feel for any of the characters, I couldn't relate to them. Again, it wasn't a bad book, I'm not upset with reading it, I'm not even disappointed. I just feel I didn't really appreciate it as much as I should have, so I'm partially disappointed in myself.

Here's a quick rundown of the book. Ignatius Riley is the main character, a portly, no, fat, 30 year-old man living with his mother in New Orleans, I believe sometime in the 60's. Due to an unfortunate series of events, Ignatius has to get a job to help his mother pay off damage she had caused in an auto accident. The working life doesn't really suit Ignatius, and the book is about his ordeals as a "Working Boy," while he's conspiring to find a way to one-up his one-time "girlfriend," Myrna Minkoff.

I know I'm not really giving it the best endorsement, but I would recommend it to anyone who was looking for a humorous book. It seems many people have really, really enjoyed it, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981. So give it a shot.

Next on my reading list is David Eggers' You Shall Know Our Velocity! I'm a fan of his, after reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and McSweeny's and The Believer on occasion, so I was excited to find this book at the closing Atlantic Books store with a 40% off sale. I just started this book today, and I'm already 115 pages deep. It's a fairly quick read, about a pair of friends who are attempting to travel around the world in a week, while giving away over $30,000. The main character, Will, came inot this money rather unexpectedly, and is uncomfortable having it in his account. So far the book has very funny moments, juxtaposed (you like that word? I do!) with tragedy from Will's recent past. This is one author I would recommend to everyone, Eggers has a unique approach to writing and uses some effective techniques to grab the reader's attention and keep it for the duration of the book. (In A Staggering Work. . ., a mostly autobiographical book, there's a good chunk in the middle where Eggers has a conversation with his 5 year-old self, except his 5 year-old self has the vocabulary of his current self.)

Since the meal review post yesterday went over alright, I'll continue doing it, but only when there's something interesting to write. As Jad had commented, my meal last night was vegan, but it mostly just happened that way. Sorry Jad, I like to eat meat. But, I live with two vegetarians (almost vegans, but they'll occasionally eat dairy products and eggs), so I am sympathetic towards the lifestyle. I just like hamburgers and hot dogs way too much. However, today I ate no meat, my lunch was an Indian buffet with Daren, and my dinner some of my left over hummus on toast. Now I'm thinking about making some popcorn and watching the latest episode of "Heroes." That show's been kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I don't really know if I should feel guilty about liking it or not, but it makes me feel like a kid again, watching stories about superheroes and whatnot. Anyways, I think they're in the middle of another 5-week hiatus, and I've been waiting to watch this episode for a little while.

One last quick thing; I wanted to put an update about the Iowa basketball coach search. Bruce Pearl is out, as is Billy Gillispie, and I've heard absolutely nothing about Tony Bennett coming here. So for me, right now, it's a toss-up between Chris Lowery and Reggie Theus as my number one choice. Both can get a large raise by coming to Iowa, and both would be welcome. I've also heard a rumor about Rick Majerus coaching with BJ Armstrong as an assistant, but that seems a little far-fetched to me (alhtough I'd be all for that). Dana Altman's always in the conversation, but it seems like he doesn't want to put up with the "search committee" that Barta has assembled, and has stated that he's at home in Omaha, coaching Creighton. I wouldn't count him out, though, I think he's definitely in the running. I don't know if Gary Barta is going to announce anything tomorrow, like I had originally predicted, but he better do something soon if he wants to get/keep recruits. He's supposedly meeting with Altman this weekend in Atlanta during the Final Four weekend, maybe he's waiting to make an announcement on Monday, before the championship game.

Also, congratulations to West Virginia for winning the NIT. I had predicted them to make it into the NCAA tournament (Jim will vouch for me on this one), maybe this shows they should have been selected. . . And congrats to Coach John Beilien, you'll be getting a nice pay raise, and maybe a new office in the Midwest. Michigan's gotta be salivating over this win.

some links, some books, and some other stuff

First off, I want to suggest to everyone to check out the AM Music Blog. I found this through Jad's Blog, Three Pints and a Towel, when the writer of the AM blog posted a comment. Since I'm always looking for some good online reading, I glanced it over, and started to enjoy it right away. Both of the blogs listed above are music-related, and both have some excellent reviews and recommended bands, so give some new bands a listen. Go ahead, you can leave my blog for a little while. As long as you come back. Ok, now that you're back, I put a link up on the right to the AM Music Blog, so you can check it whenever you like. And of course, I always recommend checking out Haley's blog, Random Mindless Ramblings.

I finished up Housekeeping vs. The Dirt today while sitting at the Java House, enjoying a mug of hot steamed milk (a delicious, light mixture of cinnamon, honey, and of course hot steamed milk) and a wonderful peanut butter cookie. When peanut butter cookies are done well, they may be the perfect cookie, and the Java House bakery does them well. I liked the collection of columns presented in this book, but I am a little biased. Nick Hornby is one of my favorite contemporary authors, I find him humorous and can relate to his appreciation of music and sports. You know, because I'm funny, musically inclined, and knowledgeable about sports, he's the perfect author for me, right? Anyways, this book made interested in a number of other books, all of which I hopefully will read in the near future. It was very easy to read, the humor made it all rather enjoyable. Passages from a few of Hornby's favorite books were included, which helped tie everything together nicely. I would definitely recommend this book to any Nick Hornby fan, or any literary critique fan (if such a genre exists). For just the average reader, I'd probably pick up a different book. Try High Fidelity.

Now, I've started on A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, as I had previously stated I would. Then after that, I'll start in on some books from my trip to Minneapolis. Then, after those, I'll start in on the books I've learned about by reading this Hornby one.

I'm very excited for this weekend, Friday marks the first home game for the Hawkeye baseball team, and it's a "Knit Hat Giveaway" day, so I'm hoping for a free knit hat. I've got the weekend off, and should be able to make it to all of the games against North Dakota State. And, I just found out my friend KP will be in town, so we'll be able to hang out for the first time in a while. Should be a good weekend. As long as Memphis beats Kansas in the NCAA finals, my bracket should be ok. Damn Wisky and Texas messed up the rest of my Final Four. (Note to Kevin Durant: Please stay in college, at least for one more year. I'd like to be able to watch you play, but I watch a lot more college games than NBA games, so it'd just be more convenient for me. Plus, you might have a shot at a national title and consensus number one overall pick status. It'll give you a chance to put on a little muscle-weight, and build up some endurance. I hope that your coach figures out how to use you better, maybe even run plays to get you the ball late in the game. You and DJ Augustin could own the Big 12 next year. So please, think about it)

Fare thee well, Atlantic Books in the Mall of America. . .

. . . and thanks for the deals! I felt kind of guilty (or I would have, had I not given up feeling guilty for Lent) purchasing a large amount of books from a store whose closing was imminent, like the only reason I was buying books was that they were having a "going out of business sale." That may be true, actually, but, it just happened to coincide with my visit to the MoA. I may have purchased some books there otherwise, had I ever been there while they were in non-closing mode. (A similar thing happened when I was living in Ames, and a local record store was going out of business. Peeple's Music was the store's name. I would do any cd buying there, but definitely got more stuff there when they were having their store-closing sale. I don't think I could've single-handedly saved the store by buying more stuff before that time period, but I still felt somewhat responsible.)

Anyways, I thought I would use this blog as a chronicle and perhaps review some of the books that I bought at Atlantic Books. Here are the books that I bought

• You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers
• Housekeeping vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby
• The Infinite Book by John D. Barrow
• Boogers are My Beat by Dave Barry
• The Baseball Geek's Bible by Douglas B Lyons
• Fair Ball - A Fan's Case for Baseball by Bob Costas
• Baseball and Philosophy edited by Eric Bronson
• Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
• Sushi by Lulu Grimes
• Stargazing by Tom Van Holt

Sushi is a general book about sushi, with some photos and recipes, and Stargazing is a book with constellations and other information about astronomy. So those most likely won't be read straight through, but will be used as a reference or just some idle reading material. But the others all looked like books I would be interested in, some I had heard of, some I hadn't. I got the Nietzsche mainly because of the references in Little Miss Sunshine, and the baseball books because I love baseball. I had read another of Dave Eggers' books (A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius, which is excellent, I'd recommend it to everyone) and wanted to read this other one, so I was pleased to find it, especially since it was out of order and kind of a random find. And Nick Hornby is one of my favorite authors, so I picked up his book. And that book is basically giving me the idea of writing the reviews. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt is a collection of columns Hornby wrote for a magazine called Believer, in which he critiques the books he reads each month. He does so in a humorous way, relating it to life or football (soccer) or whatever. I've been compiling a list of books to read from it, so it looks like I'll be busy for a while now (however I'm still open for suggestions!!) The next book that I'm going to be reading is one that Haley let me borrow, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Hopefully I'll have some time to be reading in the next few weeks, and I'll try to get through maybe a book every week or two. We'll see how that goes. . .

Home again, home again

I made it back to Iowa City last night in the early evening. Not a bad drive at all, aside from the fact that I felt like crap and had to stave off the strong desire to fall asleep. Minneapolis was a good time, Haley and Jim made me feel welcome, and were very gracious in letting stay at their places. The Mall of America was a huge mall with a little theme park inside of it, pretty much exactly what I was expecting. But, I did love the cheese store and the book store, and I wish I had more money to spend at the peanut butter place. I also kind wish that I hadn't spent $70 on books. I'm not upset that I bought the books, but that money could have probably been better spent. Oh well.

The day I spent in downtown Minneapolis was a nearly perfect day, the temperature was in the mid- to upper-60's, people were out walking around, and there was just a lot of stuff to check out. I got the tickets for Of Montreal after a little searching (you'd think that the venue would have some sort of box office right there, instead of a couple of blocks away), and spent the rest of the day just wandering around. I'm fairly certain that I saw the lead singer of TV on the Radio, which made me want to go to their show even more. However, the week was already pretty packed-full of plans for me, so I figured I'd save the money and do the other stuff with my friends. Sorry TVotR. Come to Iowa City soon, and I'll go, I promise.

I really enjoyed the Of Montreal show. Loney, Dear impressed me, I think it helped that I kind of knew some of their songs before I saw them. They were pretty much what I expected, which wasn't a bad thing. I really liked the lead singer's accent, especially when he'd talk in between songs. My favorite thing he said was "I wish I knew English better so I knew what you were saying to me." to a fan who apparently was saying something.

Of Montreal put on a show that was similar to their Iowa City show I saw in August, but they played more from their latest album and a couple of new songs, but not much older stuff, which was a little disappointing to me. They played almost all of Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer, and about 3 or 4 from Sunlandic Twins, but not my favorite song, "So Begins our Alabee." Oh well. They did have a lot of energy, and some interesting images/videos playing on screens behind them. The crowd, in my opinion, sucked. It was made up mostly of what appeared to be high schoolers, who all decided it's cool to have loud conversations during a concert. I hate that. (I think I was spoiled with the Jeff Tweedy show here last year, it was an incredibly quiet crowd during the songs and while Mr. Tweedy was talking, and loud and cheering at the appropriate parts.) Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure the last show I saw at First Ave was similar. I'm not sure if that's the norm for concerts these days or what. I wish they would've had a 21+ show, but based on this crowd, there may have been only 15 people going in that case. It was alright, though, the crowd didn't make me dislike the show. It was just kind of an annoyance. The floor was pretty packed, I felt like I should've bought the guy in front of me dinner afterwards, and maybe had a cigarette.

St. Patrick's Day was fun, or as fun as it can be to go out when I feel pretty terrible and want to go to bed. We went to a couple of bars, I had a decent time people-watching. I feel kind of bad for not really getting into the whole spirit of the day, but I did what I could. Plus, by not drinking, I was able to drive everyone home and avoid any taxi fares. Everyone wins!

All in all, it was a good trip. I wish I hadn't gotten a cold for the last few days, and wish I didn't spend so much money right away on books, but I managed. I'll probably post more about my trip later, but this is a good overview of it, I feel. Oh, I should mention that we played a lot of Settlers of Catan and the card game "Oh Hell," so that was pretty awesome. I think Jim and I pretty much split the games of Settlers, but I never did very well at cards. It was still super fun, though.