Max Riffner

The Parlor

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Book Baton

Apparently, this got passed to me when I was gone… what dangerous territory we are entering as I ponder including comics in this or not.

Number of books on the shelves

Oh god, I have at least 5 bookshelves filled, so, um, quite a few. I have a book problem, okay?

Last book purchased

Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming. This is the second James Bond book. I hated the movies, but hot damn, these books are great. This is probably the most un-PC book I’ve read in awhile. Plus, it was blissfully trashy reading for the vacation I just took. These are the perfect books to relax to.

Books reading right now

Cool, meaningful answer is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami. Truthfully, I couldn’t stand the excessively small type, so I started to re-read the Chronicles of Narnia on a whim. I’ll get back to Murakami eventually.

Last 5 books read

1. Live and Let Die
2. The Professional
3. Friday Night Lights
4. A Whole New Mind
5. Eisner/Miller

Meaningful books

I have two favorite books that I usually read once a year: The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway and Post Office by Bukowski. I’m a big fan of minimalism.

There are four other books that have stuck with me lately for various reasons. One of them is Pattern Recognition by Gibson, and I’m not sure why. My mind is still working around it all a year later. I’ll probably need to re-read it; I think there is just so much crap he dropped on us that any one of those ideas are enough for lesser novels.

I’m still thinking about Rope Burns by Toole (which became known for one of its stories, Million Dollar Baby). One of the other stories they didn’t use for the movie has a great racial confrontation that reminded me of high school a bit too much – it was one of those things that you would never think about unless confronted by it like that on a printed page. Brought back some memories.

And finally, The Sparrow. I don’t like science fiction all that much, but this book, wow. A group of friends discover the first alien transmission to reach Earth in Puerto Rico, then get sponsored by the Jesuits to take an asteroid out to the planet. It is one of the best books I have ever read, because it includes all of the wonder and horrors of experiencing an alien culture for the first time. The protagonist is a Jesuit priest who journeys into a state of grace, but then has it all brutally ripped away. The sequel is good also, but nothing matches the first book’s power.

Finally, for some reason I’ve been wanting to re-read another favorite, Lonesome Dove. If you have never read it, it is a classic.

Tag!

This has been floating around for awhile now, so I’m not sure who this has been passed to or not. I’ll just drop it on the ground and let’s see who picks it up, yes? If you pick it up, leave a comment! I’m thinking Christian and Ben will have something to say (and Ben, Motherless Brooklyn is next on my list, I promise).

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