Ben ,'The Killer In Me'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Powell's used to have (may still) a 1st edition of Moby Dick with the pages uncut that I'd visit every once in a while.
Ha! Powell's has a 1st edition of The Dark Carnival by Bradbury in the rare books room. I go say hi to it every time I'm there. Some day it will come home with me.
That would be Billy Budd. Which, regardless of whether or not Melville intended half -- or even any -- of what scholars have read into it since, justifies Melville's existence all by itself.
Until I had an intensive Melville class with a good professor in college, I never got the big deal about Billy Budd, but just having it pointed out that Captain Vere has predecided Billy's fate from the moment of the incident changes the story so much.
Bartelby the Scrivener I always got, but that's because I was an absurdist/existentialist fan from a very young age, and Herman was ahead of the curve with that one.
It's a mixture of Stardust and Coraline, so of course I'm going to find it perfect.
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I won't spoil you, but I will say that Dr. Seuss
I think you mean Theodore Geisel, good sir.
I think I choose to acknowledge the Great Man's chosen nom de plume as his constant moniker as He Himself obviously desired.
Speak thus to me again, varlet, and you shall face me on the field of battle!
That man really must dislike speaking engagements. His fee is $50K for one night. Plus first class airfare
I suspect it's more that he has NO free time, and the high fee is to keep his schedule as clear as it possibly can be.
It's a mixture of Stardust and Coraline, so of course I'm going to find it perfect.
Hm. Now I am worried. Because I was somewhat underwhelmed by both those books, although I liked them okay. I prefer American Gods and Anansi Boys, or even Neverwhere. I'm hot-and-lukewarm when it comes to Gaiman.
I suspect it's more that he has NO free time, and the high fee is to keep his schedule as clear as it possibly can be.Yep, that's what I figured. I still cried and cried. The speaker series coordinator dangled a very shiny bauble in front of me and then snatched it away.
Now I am worried. Because I was somewhat underwhelmed by both those books, although I liked them okay. I prefer American Gods and Anansi Boys, or even Neverwhere. I'm hot-and-lukewarm when it comes to Gaiman.
Yeah, then The Graveyard Book may not be to your taste. It isn't like American Gods at all. When I said it was a love note to Ray Bradbury, I wasn't kidding.
I also haven't read much Ray Bradbury. I think all I've read is "All Summer in a Day." I recall wanting to read Something Wicked This Way Comes, but I'm not sure whether I ever checked it out, or whether I tried to start and didn't finish, or what happened, really. I know I held the book in my hands and everything.
Bradbury has a very cool book called "Zen and (in?) the Art of Writing"--a title he hated--and there's a chilling essay about his sources of inspiration. His description of the overgrown gorge outside of the town he grew up gives me goose bumps.
It's too bad the world has changed so that boys (and girls) can no longer head out their doors and terrify themselves with what they imagine is in the woods. Instead of wonderful books of imagination, we get true crime.