I’ve continued to read this year, which is pleasing. A book, at minimum, every 2 weeks. It’s an intentionally low bar that lets me balance out busy weeks and large books. And I’m doing OK watching movies as well, aiming for a couple in a week. (Though now I’m mired in BSG, so actual movies will end up avoided until I’ve made it through the 4 seasons of over-dramatized sci-fi.)

I just finished, after a minor struggle, “love in the time of cholera.’
It was the first book on my Amazon wishlist, way back in the day. It is referenced in one of my favorite songs ever, “Any Flavour but Vanilla” by the Dirty Beatniks. (A quick check on my iPod says it is #16, with perhaps as much of half of the remaining 15 as weird, embarrassing accidents — songs stuck on playlists or repeat when they didn’t deserve such attention.) Anyway, the book is brilliantly written (or perhaps just masterfully translated), but the plot hurt me. You can make the claim that it is a romantic novel, all about the power of love and….barf. In reality, it’s about selfish, immature people, which, as logic would have it, should be exactly the type of story I should love — flawed characters making terrible mistakes. But the book never presents these decisions as mistakes, just as casualties of war. So kudos for well constructed words, but the story isn’t one I loved. b+

‘the brief, wondrous life of oscar wao’: chrispy overhyped this for me, sadly. not even close to a bad book, but not what i expected when i first thumbed through it and saw references to Kirby, the Source Wall and Captain Trips. b

i also just finished ‘house of skulls’ which mike let me borrow. pulpy and quick, i should knocked it out in 2 days. pulpy and odd, it never really hooked me. it’s good, but the delivery never led up on the premise — especially when it’s billed as a horror and suspense/thriller book. b-

next up: gore vidal.

let’s skip over reviews of comic books, lame computer and management books and move on to movies.

‘schendochdy ny,’ pending further (and overdue) review: c+
‘rules of the game,’ which had eluded me somehow for years: b+
‘up’ — pixar throws out a surreal, dark movie that certainly earned it’s pg rating: b+
‘fanboys,’ similar to my last novel in some ways, but amazingly flat. what could have been unique (or, at least, interesting) comes off as flat and lame. c
‘holy mountain’ — hey, do you like the idea of surreal, 1970s art house movies that might have been directed by matthew barney in europe on a small budget but with slightly more plot? then this is a movie for you. b+
oh and ‘slumdog millionaire’ is great. a-

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