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
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
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
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
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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Very interesting. Of course, even for people like me who have very eclectic tastes, this is very good because it plays a variety of whatever you happen to be in the mood for.
I put in "The Pixies" and it's doing the business playing a good mix of old favourites (Mudhoney, Husker Du!) and some I didn't know (The Golden Republic).
One good feature for those (also like me) who have challenged concentration spans, you can only skip so many tracks before it cuts out and tells you to just sit back and enjoy the music (which means that unlike the music blogs you can also get some work done while you're listening).
Finally, it's very fast with no apparent buffering required.
Good call, Sarah, it's going in my favourites.
Posted by: Kevin Wignall | May 03, 2006 at 11:49 AM
If you like Pandora, you might want to consider this:
http://pandorafm.real-ity.com/
It links up Pandora with Last.fm (http://www.last.fm/)
Last.fm builds a library based on a database music profile, rather than giving you things based on different types of similarity.
Posted by: Stephen Blackmoore | May 03, 2006 at 12:11 PM
Hey! I love your blog. Love it. Love it. Love it.
Posted by: Kay | May 03, 2006 at 12:59 PM
Oh my goodness, this is wonderful! Thanks Sarah. Brilliant stuff. I've tried it on loads of bands I like and it's come up with some great stuff. There's only one band it hasn't managed to find so far, and it's come up with several new to me bands that I'm definitely going to look out for.
Posted by: Donna | May 03, 2006 at 01:47 PM
Oh, hell. Now I'll NEVER get any work done.
Posted by: JDRhoades | May 03, 2006 at 02:11 PM
I like the idea, but when a request for "Dr. John" takes me to the Blues Brothers singing "Soul Man," then it is just Not For Me.
Posted by: Laura | May 03, 2006 at 04:17 PM
Pandora is totally awesome.
I don't like that it limits your song skipping ability though. sometimes the songs they choose are lame.
Posted by: christin | May 04, 2006 at 10:37 AM
it's great. I have a whole bunch of stations so if i get sick of one, i just move to another- the song skipping limt is only for each station.
Posted by: leah | May 06, 2006 at 07:14 AM