Eugene Public used to be ruthless... the didn't just withdraw books, they flat out cancelled 'em.

Cheeseburger, stat!

If ever a picture didn't match a title... there is NO WAY Maya is eating great food, all day long. Get that woman a cheeseburger!

Too Many Words

If only there were more overly-technical military novels with a derivative and easy to guess plot... Oh, hello there Mr. C!

Hooray!

It's quite heartening to already read, in Geoff Nicholson's The Lost Art of Walking, the term 'ex-president' applied to George W. Bush.

Weeding Fun

I just pulled a book from the shelves of my library called Varmint Hunter's Digest: The How-To Book for Varminters. I do believe that this is the first time I've ever encountered the word varmint used in correct context, and it is certainly the first time I've come across the noun varminter. Fan-tastic!

p.s. Even the Blogspot spell-check doesn't recognize varminter...

New Ivan Doig

I read the first 100 or so pages of The Eleventh Man last night, and am, as usual, in awe of Doig's ability to create using the English language. More folks from back east should read this man.

Romance novel, my ass

Davidson's debut, The Gargoyle, is frequently referred to as a romance novel or a love story. I'll buy the latter, but the wonder of such an engaging story is the infusion of Dante's Inferno, both as a plot point and as a structural device. This is a great book, with a new favorite quote about the existence of God: "I can no more believe in God than I can believe an invisible monkey lives in my ass; however, I would believe in both if they could be scientifically proven." I'm working that baby into every conversation I can!

More Cain

Sweetheart, Chelsea Cain's followup to Heartsick came out last Tuesday. It's always fun to read novels that take place in areas you know well, and I know just enough about Portland to follow the action in Gretchen Lowell's world. This sequel is solid, if a little too linear for my tastes. Though the characters are well established, I kinda felt like there should have been more insight into why Archie continues to blindly follow his psychopathic crush... That said, I still stayed up late turning the pages.

I'm not dead, yet...

Three books worth noting:

Exit Music by Ian Rankin. Apparently a fan pointed out to Ranking that Rebus should now be 60 and therefore at retirement age, so this marks the end for the greatest single-malt swilling inspector from Edinburgh. Sniffle (wait, that's from my cold, really!).

Bit of a Blur by Alex James. I'm often suprised at how good these bios are from the British Indie bands, so I just may check this one out. If nothing else, one should be sure to check out In Search of the La's by Matthew Macefield. Fantastic look by a fan.



Rugby. World politics. HOLY @#$%-ing shit! A BOOK ABOUT RUGBY AND WORLD POLITICS!

I should know better...

than to make a promise to post every day. Pneumonia knocked me flat for almost two weeks, so I'm back to 'whenever the hell i feel like it' as far as this silly thing goes. I did just start Empire Falls by Richard Russo. I haven't read anything of his, but based on what I hear, I'll most likely have to tear through them all as I did with Larry Brown and Jon Irving.

Apologies...

varied/non-existant readers. Been out yesterday and today with a fever pushing 103. BIG FUN! I'll resume posting on Monday when I BETTER be able to go back to work.

Specifically for MTR

There are a billion coffee shops in the PNW, as you may know. I've had drinks at most of those in Eugene, but I had a severe flashback the other day when picking up a cold mocha drink for Jen. I tasted it on the way home, and it was as close as you'll ever get to a Dog Street Chill. Memories...

Tarnation...

Saw this trailer the other day and was shamed into pulling out the copy of Saramago's book that I've been meaning to read now for many years. I've heard incredible things about his writing, but somehow never traveled far enough down the stack to read Blindness. Always hard to tell from a trailer, but this film looks fantastic.

Olympic Huh?

Normally, I'm a huge fan of Algonquin, but I'm not so sure about this one. I just can't see people caring about this guy enough to read the book, and I used to swim competitively myself. When I first saw the pre-pub info on the book, I thought it sounded much more like a magazine article than a book, and sure enough it originated as a piece for Outside. Craig, if you're out there, you gotta sell me on this one...

Olympic Reads

I am giddy at the thought of watching the summer Olympics. Yes, TV coverage has sucked ass since 1984, but at least I can watch some of it in HD this time around. I hope to squeeze this book into my brain before the games are over. The Olympics in Rome mark the transition from the games as we see them in Chariots of Fire to the corporate juggernaut circus that they have become. And yet, I'll still watch as much as I can get away with...

Cell Stupidity

I am continually amazed and chagrined at the number of people each day who answer their cell phone in the library only to say to the caller: "I can't talk, I'm in the library."

Bowerman

I only skimmed this when it was up for a PNBA award, knowing that it wasn't going to work its way to the top six, but after watching the majority of the Olympic track and field trials here in Eugene, I have picked it up again and jumped right in. The writing is nothing spectacular, but it gets the job done. What IS spectacular is the insight Kenny Moore brings having been around Bowerman and the Oregon track community for most of his life. Incidentally, if you find yourself watching Tequila Sunrise, look for Moore playing the harbor patrol officer...

Yes, yes, I should read Zinn

... but I just may check this out first when it pubs in October. I was a history minor at VT, which means I took just enough classes to have a working knowledge of completely different time periods in areas and countries separated by thousands of miles. Perhaps a major would have filled in the gaps?! Ah well, I've been sliding again back toward non-fiction, and some US History might be the ticket.

LOL

This, from Library Journal, in the 'prepub alert' section regarding the next Richard Paul Evans novel:

No hints yet on the plot, but you know it will be filled with love, hope, and Christmas.

That made me ACTUALLY laugh out loud, which is hard to do when it comes to [Untitled] books that libraries and bookstores are expected to purchase just because it is 'next' from a BS author. I find such practices anathema.

Anyhow, I'm back at work after a week off, and will attempt to post every workday until the end of August. After finishing the the Butte to Butte 10K on the 4th, I feel I have the stamina for such an amazing feat.

On Running

I went up to Olympia last week to run in a 5K with a friend of mine. The race was a fundraiser for the library at Evergreen State College. How great to participate in a run that benefits a library! Here is a picture of my sad self right before my friend Coker stepped in front of me at the finish line (let's just say I'm an idiot, and leave the story at that...).


Coker is coming down in a few weeks and we'll be jogging in the Butte to Butte race here in Eugene. I ran this last year, and if you pay attention, you'll see me go by in an orange shirt and blue sunglasses at the :53 second mark.


With the race this year falling smack dab in the middle of the Track and Field Olympic Trials over at the Univ. of Oregon, I expect there will be even more than the 6,000 or so who ran it last year. It's not a small event!

Now, as always, I will tie in a book so I can pretend this site is more than a way for me to send out stuff to my friends rather than use e-mail. All this talk of races reminds me of one of my favorite running titles (literally, favorite title. I haven't read the book, and I suspect there are other running BOOKS I'd rather read...). Anyhow, here it is: