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  • Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)

    Adam Thirlwell: Politics: A Novel (P.S.)
    One would think this book is about sex, And while it is, since the characters have so much about it, some of it is kinky, and threesomes play a big role in the narrative. mostly POLITICS is about everything else: the mechanics, the logistics, the emotional minefields, the awkward questions, the moral dilemmas, and, well, the politics of what it is to be with someone you love or someone you don't, and how an act that should be simple is anything but. Thirlwell was disgustingly young when he wrote this but he absolutely understands that to make this book work, there must be an underlying sweetness and sincerity to the entire story. Now I want to see what he's up to more recently. Amazon | Indiebound | B & N | Borders | Powell’s

  • Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir

    Jennifer Mascia: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers: A Memoir
    Years ago I was blown away by Mascia's Modern Love piece describing her parents' secret past: her father was a mobbed-up convicted murderer, and her mother not only knew all about it, but aided and abetted her husband when life required being a fugitive, selling drugs, and living at great highs and crushing lows. Mascia's book tells a more whole story about her peripatetic life, and even with every new shocking revelation what remained consistent was how much she loved her parents, no matter how deep those lows went, and how much she misses them now that they are gone. Unconditional love never goes away, no matter if those who receive it deserve it. Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N | Powell’s

  • Juli Zeh: In Free Fall

    Juli Zeh: In Free Fall
    Give me a novel of ideas and if the story is good and the characters are believable and entertain me, I am there. Give me a crime novel of ideas, where two physics professors, friends and rivals, opposites but startlingly similar, do emotional battle on an intellectual canvas, raise the stakes through betrayal, the possible kidnapping of a child, and embroil a romantic-leaning police detective in the complicated machinations of quantum theory, and holy hell, I think I have myself one of my favorite books of the year. Powell’s | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | B & N

  • Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts

    Simon Lelic: A Thousand Cuts
    It appears to be a crime with an easy solution: a disgruntled schoolteacher shoots up his place of employment and kills several students in the process. But really, Lelic's novel is about the catastrophic consequences of bullying, and how this act is hardly limited to kids turning on other kids, but burrows deeply into adult relationships as well. He evokes empathy for the killer and sympathy for Lucia, the investigating officer who has to fight for every scrap of dignity as she pieces together the far more complex truth of what really happened at the school. Powell’s | Amazon | Borders | Indiebound | B & N

  • William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley

    William Lindsay Gresham: Nightmare Alley
    I cannot stop raving about this book to people. The circular narrative structure, the demented feel of a traveling carny troupe, and the extraordinary rise and precipitous fall of Stan Carlisle give off the persistent, raging feeling that hell is always with us, and success is basically a sucker's game. No matter what the biographical evidence on Gresham's state of mind leading up to and after the book's bestseller (and movie basis) status in 1946, I don't think we can really know what demons plagued him to produce this marvelous noir gem. B & N | Indiebound | Amazon | Borders | Powell’s

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« Here we go again, redux | Main | So why do people keep reading her books? »

December 20, 2005

Strike!

There are, I suppose, distinct advantages in staying home, blogging in your pajamas and not working.

I just hope this is resolved soon, but I'm not that optimistic.

Posted at 09:00 AM in Personal |

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Comments

Natsuo

I sincerely hope it will stop soon. I am planning on visiting the city on 12/29...

Posted by: Natsuo | December 20, 2005 at 03:21 PM

David Terrenoire

My daughter is trying to leave New York. She's stuck in Brooklyn, without boxes to pack her stuff, no money, no way to get to work to get her last check on Thursday, then no way to get to the airport on Friday and it looks like I, a guy who's never crossed a picket line in his life, a guy who used to work for the UMW, will have to schlep up to Brooklyn, pick her and her stuff up and drive back to North Carolina all because of a union strike.

Merry Christmas my ass.

Posted by: David Terrenoire | December 20, 2005 at 04:38 PM

Rebecca

Having been following the coverage online, I am delighted to have an opportunity to say it here: THIS IS NOT "AN ESPECIALLY BUSY" WEEK FOR THE UNION TO GO ON STRIKE. FOR REGULAR NEW YORKERS THIS IS THE WINDING DOWN WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS WHEN PEOPLE TEND TO CALL IN SICK ANYWAY. And as for all the tourists, they came here to see New York, they can damn well walk.

Sorry for the shouting, had to get that out. I am majorly personally inconvenienced by the strike, but it's hardly the worst week it could happen. Colleges are finishing up final exams or are already on vacation. People are going away or are already out of town, and as one woman on NY1 said, "I'll just shop locally." The MTA should stop focusing on the tourist trade and worry about their backbone. (And don't get me started on those phony "holiday fares" all the while planning to jack up the price for REGULAR riders, which will now be the union's fault.....)

Happy holidays to you too, David. Where in Brooklyn is your daughter? If she's near one of the bridges they're all open to pedestrian and bike traffic in terms of picking up her check, and quite honestly, if she has a lot of luggage, a car service to the airport might be a better bet anyway. But if you do drive up, sorry you'll see the city under sad circumstances.

Posted by: Rebecca | December 20, 2005 at 06:52 PM

David Terrenoire

Sorry, that was just personal venting, not connected in any way to the validity of the union's reasons for striking, etc.

Molly's in Bushwick and she's moving, and she's broke, and she's in bad shape, making this more difficult than it might otherwise be.

This comes for us, personally, at a bad time and I'm not looking forward to 24 hours in the car, I'm just too damn old.

Sorry to vent earlier and I hope I didn't get any of it on you.

Posted by: David Terrenoire | December 20, 2005 at 08:15 PM

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