2009

Books I read this year.

1. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K .Dick
2. Daddy's Boy by Chris Elliott
3. Store of Infinity by Robert Sheckley
4. Scar Lover by Harry Crews
5. The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard
6. The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
7. As Above, So Below by Rudy Rucker
8. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
9. Into Hot Air by Chris Elliott
10. Can You Feel Anything When I do This? by Robert Sheckley
11. Lies Inc. by Philip K. Dick
12. JPod by Douglas Coupland
13. How I Learned to Cook, Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Meehan -eds.
14. All the Visions by Rudy Rucker/ Space Baltic by Anselm Hollo
15. Counter-Clock World by Philip K. Dick
16. Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica
17. The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends by Adriano Sack and Ingo Niermann
18. The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley
19. The Reach of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman
20. Night of the Living Shark by David Bischoff
21. Shadows With Eyes by Fritz Leiber
22. The Wind From Nowhere by J.G. Ballard
23. The Ticket That Exploded by William S. Burroughs*
24. Vurt by Jeff Noon
25. Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor
26. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
27. Journey Beyond Tomorrow by Robert Sheckley
28. Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library by Eth Clifford
29. A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card
30. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues by Harry Harrison

*indicates book that I started prior to this year and finished reading this year.

Book

at the library 5

at the library 4

Blue Steel

The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues

by Harry Harrison

at the library 3

at the library 2

Ender's X-mas

A War of Gifts

by Orson Scott Card

at the library

old school

I read this book way back when I was in first or second grade.
Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library by Eth Clifford

black monday

I went out to Gardner's today and bought these three books:
1. Night of the Living Rat by Doyle and Macdonald
This is the second book in Daniel Pinkwater's Melvinge of the Megaverse series. While I didn't really like the first one that much, I'm willing to give the series another chance. The first one was written by David Bischoff whose novelization of the movie War Games I'd read way back in the 80s. This one is written by 2 authors I've never heard of and whose whole names I've yet to discover.
2. Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library! by Eth Clifford
I remember I bought this one at a school book fair when I was in elementary school. Lately I've been feeling nostalgic for all the old books I read in my youth. This is one I remembered and missed. I had to use my cell phone in the store to search and remember the author's name before I found it.
3. The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues by Harry Harrison
I have read every one of the other books in the series with the exception of this one. I've been searching for it for years. The last time I read one of this series was early '05 maybe. This one is clearly the prize pick of the day.

Stories of Joenes

Journey Beyond Tomorrow
by Robert Sheckley

Local Used Bookstore

If you can't find it at 4421 South Mingo, you probably just haven't looked hard enough.

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card: a man with a clear vision. Undeterring, Unyielding, vigilant, he knows what he wants to see: an Ender's Game movie. But before the award-winning novelist's hallmark work can get to the big screen, he's making damn sure the look, feel, design, atmosphere—Ender's Game's entire visual spectrum—is perfect. How does he plan to do that? By bringing the beloved property to Marvel Comics.

Currently Reading

Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

highly recommended

I'm really enjoying Red Dwarf because it's 2 of my favorite things: sci-fi and funny. Speaking of which, here's a funny, sci-fi book I read a long time ago that I highly recommend. Illegal Aliens by Phil Foglio and Nick Pollotta. Here's a plot summary from Fantastic Fiction:

Prof. Rajavur and his 'First Contact Team' had been patiently waiting years for aliens to land on Earth. Leader Idow and the crew of the starship, All That Glitters, were just looking for an unknown planet where they could land and have a little fun teasing the primitive natives. So it was pure bad luck that the first humans the alien tricksters encounter is a ruthless New York City street gang, the Bloody Deckers. With more starships landing and the world in chaos, Rajavur and his First Contact Team have to move fast in a desperate plan to rescue the innocent aliens from the evil street gang! Then again, maybe they should join forces with the street gang to protect the Earth from the furious aliens? Best-Selling author Nick Pollotta and Hugo award winning illustrator Phil Foglio have packed this one-of-a-kind science fiction comedy full of thrilling combat, nuclear agents, planetary blockades, Omega Gas, the galactic police, Russian-doll-style Dyson spheres, a giant flying refrigerator, big juju, a high-stakes game of poker, space battles, warobots, the trail of the millennium, bar fights, naughty lingerie, lost civilizations, the United Nations Space Marines, lost civilizations, group sex, and delicious fried chicken.

Red Dwarf

It's cold and Lister is resorting to book burning and dog food eating to the huge disapproval of Rimmer.

skiffy

Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers

by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor

Open Book 2

Ode to H.P. Lovecraft

Happy Halloween!

British Author

A rare interview with Jeff Noon in Deluxe lounge bar circa 2000.

feathers

Vurt by Jeff Noon

Peep Show

If I hadn't finished reading Ticket That Exploded, I would have never known where the band Miranda Sex Garden got their name. This is the only song I ever heard by them and it's a good one. I still have the album it came on: Hideaway movie soundtrack.

unfinished

The Ticket That Exploded
by William S. Burroughs
I started reading this many years ago and stopped reading it less than 50 pages from the end. I guess I didn't like it as much as Western Lands and Naked Lunch. Also I was grossed out by the repeated use of the words "rectal mucus" as well as pervasive descriptions of "hard cocks flipping out and up". This book will receive an asterisk on the annual list, indicating it's partially read status.

Open Book

Cake

secret stash

Best five picture results from my Google search for "hollow book".

The Wind From Nowhere

by J. G. Ballard

BLOODHAG

Halloween Reading

Shadows With Eyes
by Fritz Leiber

cool parking garage

Somewhere in Kansas City.

Melvinge of the Megaverse

Night of the Living Shark

by David Bischoff
from the mind of Daniel M. Pinkwater

A Book At Bedtime

author reading

Chris Elliott reads from his book Shroud of the Thwacker at Clean Well Lighted Place for Books, San Francisco, CA, December 15, 2005.

Cooking with Cool Cleveland

Michael Ruhlman has worked for over a decade with the best chefs in the country. From his first best-selling food book, The Making of a Chef, and his next one, The Soul of a Chef, which focused on Cleveland's Michael Symon among others, Ruhlman's groundbreaking work has exposed, celebrated and delineated the shadowy backstage world of America's greatest kitchens and the chefs who run them. His previous book, The Reach of a Chef, zeroed in on the increasing popularity of food culture and celebrity chefs, tracing the lives of master chefs and showing what happens when they leave the kitchen for the TV studio and best sellers lists. His new book The Elements of Cooking, is an opinionated food glossary patterned after Strunk & White's Elements of Style, jam-packed not only with key cooking terms, but definitions towards an understanding of how good cooks become great. The book is designed for anyone from the beginner to the experienced chef. Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready spent time in Michael's own Cleveland Heights kitchen as he prepared a meal of roasted chicken, fingerling potatoes fresh from the local farmer's market, green beans with toasted almonds, all topped off with a nice jus made from the scrapings on the bottom of the pan. He talks with Mulready about how America has become the center of the food universe, the secret code of the kitchen, and the eight indispensable fundamentals of cooking.

Elvis Costello Writes The Book

mostly free books

I took all my receipts from the past few years to Gardner's used books out on Mingo today. If you bring in $100 worth of receipts of past purchases from Gardner's, you get $15 worth of free books. They added them up for me and I had close to $125 in receipts which was worth $19.26 in books. Here's what I got:

1. The Wind From Nowhere by J.G. Ballard
2. Shadows With Eyes: Six Tales of Crawling Horror by Fritz Leiber
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
4. Vurt by Jeff Noon
5. Hunter/Victim by Robert Sheckley
6. Red Dwarf: Infinty Welcomes Careful Drivers by Grant Naylor

These choices actually exceeded my free credit amount by $1.07. Still a pretty good selection for only $20.33 total. I still have no idea which one I want to read first.

The 50th Law

Reach of a Chef

by Michael Ruhlman

movie adaptations

The 10th Victim (Italian: La decima vittima) is an Italian cult science fiction film directed by Elio Petri in 1965. It is based on Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "Seventh Victim". Sheckley later published a novelization of the film in 1966.

Freejack is a 1992 science fiction film directed by Geoff Murphy. It stars Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, Jonathan Banks, and Anthony Hopkins. Upon its release in the United States, the film received harsh reviews. The story was adapted from a 1959 novel titled Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley. Aside from the most basic elements, however — the journey of a modern man into a future where everything is for sale, and the presence of a "spiritual switchboard" in which souls are suspended — the cyberpunk plot bears little resemblance either in tone or content to Sheckley's story.

The above description was copied and pasted from the Wikipedia entry for Freejack.

The Status Civilization

by Robert Sheckley

not just for reading

book farm

Blog to Book

Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica

This is one that I've wanted to read for a long time. I've read the blog, which I highly recommend. I wish Cook Rant would start updating again, maybe he could get a book deal too.

paperback writer

Bought this at B&N the other day, paperback. It was a toss up, which one I was going to get. Right next to it on the table was American Lion, also in paperback.

Anarchist Bookstore Part 1

MC Paul Barman

Lost in Translation 2

Ultimate Book of Spells

was a cartoon that was very similar to Harry Potter in which it had a young boy who discovers he is a wizard and magic is real and goes to a special boarding school to develop their talent. He soon discovers there is an evil wizard trying to take over the world and he must stop him with his two new friends and a talking book This show was also known as UBOS which is the shortened title. It aired on YTV in Canada.

time keeps on slippin...

Counter-Clock World

American Lion

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jon Meacham
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

by John Meacham. Don't have it yet, but it sounds good. It's on my wish list.

All the Visions

Here's a book by my favorite author, Rudy Rucker. It is one I'd never heard of. I saw a copy of it for sale on Amazon for something like $3, so I ordered it. Turns out, it's actually 2 books in one

It is back to back with this one: Space Baltic by Anselm Hollo. Never heard of him but I'll read it anyway. This is a first, should I count it as one book or two? Since they are both very short and share a cover and one spine I will count it as one book. It is also a first in that since I could find no usable images of the covers on the internet, I simply shot pictures of the book, under lamp light with my cell phone and sent them to my e-mail. Problem solved.

Lost in Translation

food book

How I Learned to Cook:

Culinary Educations from the World's Greatest Chefs (Hardcover)

Douglas Coupland

The unique author of Generation X and JPod, Douglas Coupland, is on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.

JPod

Got this one for $5 at B&N, originally $25.

Visual Bibliography

An complete overview of Philip K. Dick publication historry of his Science Fiction novels. More than 425 books covers are presented at a frenetic tempo dictated by Tito Puente's drums.

lost in the book mine

buy or steal this book

I bought this book in a convenience store or grocery store back in the mid to late eighties. I was on Freewheel with my dad and we were camping in some small town in rural Oklahoma, so I had some time to kill. This was a really good book and I highly recommend it. The main thing I remember about it is that it educated me about something that I had never heard about before: Absinthe. Anyway a few years back, I was flipping through the channels on TV and an interesting movie was on. A lot of it seemed familiar. They went to a commercial and when they came back they mentioned the name of the movie. That's when I learned that this book had been adapted into a film in 1997. I didn't watch the whole thing, but I'd like to someday. So once again, awesome book, it has a talking vase, and Amazon has hardback copies for a penny.

The Penultimate Lie

Lies Inc.

Philip K. Dick

old school sci-fi

Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?
Robert Sheckley

Jerry writes a book

The Traveling Poet

Kermit's cookbook

slapstick mountain

Into Hot Air

by Chris Elliott

Rest In Peace

The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.
His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill "for several years" and had died on Sunday morning.

Peter Rabbit

one minute review

Currently reading, half-way through.

pop up book

"OK"

by

Shitdisco

helpful how to

books n drugs

I came across this interesting list in my secondary read yesterday. Imaginary drugs from literature, film and television. Check it out:

1. Soma - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
2. Moksha - Aldous Huxley, Island
3. Moloko Plus - Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
4. Can-D, Chew-Z - Philip K. Dick, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
5. D, Mex Hit - Philip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly
6. Vurt - Jeff Noon, Vurt
7. Ecstacide, Faith Salts, Christendine, Buddhine, Algebrine, Authentium, Amnesol, Duetine, and many more - Stanislav Lem, The Futurological Congress
8. Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash*
9. Kryptonite - Joe Shuster/Jerry Siegel, Superman
10. Magic Potion - Albert Underzo/Rene' Goscinny, Asterix the Gaul
11. Spice or Melange - Frank Herbert, Dune
12. Glitterstim, Carsunum, Ryll Spices - Star Wars literary universe
13. Number Twelve - Nick McDonell, Twelve
14. Space Honey - Futurama
15. Synthehol - Star Trek: The Next Generation
16. Chemical -Ray Loriga, Tokyo Doesn't Love Us Anymore
17. Abulinix - Benjamin Kunkel, Indecision

I like how almost all of this list is science fiction. I can think of one they missed: Dylar - Don DeLillo, White Noise. While hyperlinking this post, I came across this list of fictional medicines and drugs. It's a much longer list which draws from a broader range of sources, including songs, cartoons and video games

*currently reading

high-speed pizza delivery

Snow Crash

by

Neal Stephenson

Kama Sutra

public service announcement

Random Mouse Books Presents

Rudy being Rudy

One of the many reasons I like Rudy Rucker is the videos he does like these. He's just goofing around with a camera, enjoying nature. Just a regular guy, like me.

What should I read next?

I'm thinking Snow Crash, but Into Hot Air looks good too.

Here's Rudy

I'm so happy to be reading Rudy Rucker again. He's not just my favorite author, he's also a teacher, a blogger and an artist. I thought this was a good video to post here as I am currently reading a book he wrote about an artist named Pete.

About Peter Breugel

As Above, So Below

by Rudy Rucker

The Secret Chamber!

Weekend project: Learn how to make a book that can hide things!

The CineFiles

The Films of Philip K. Dick

The Penultimate Truth

by Philip K. Dick

From the Typewriter to the Bookstore

A Publishing Story

1978

This was the first book I ever read. I was in first grade at the time. I remember laying on my back on the kitchen floor, in an apartment in Edmond, reading about Henry Huggin's dog. I would later read many other Beverly Cleary books. Books about the Quimbys, Otis Spofford and Ralph the mouse.

Letterman vs. Palin

From the Home Office in Wahoo, Nebraska...

unintentional re-read

While reading the book of short stories by J.G. Ballard, I came across a story that I quickly recognized as having read once before. A story called Billenium in which the Earth's population has become a worldwide over-crowding problem. People are forced to live in small cubicles with a roommate, like prisoners in cells.
I could not remember where I had read this story before, so I looked at some of the other J.G. Ballard books I had set aside. Vermillion Sands and The Terminal Beach. These each had a bookmark tucked into the last page, indicating a fully read book. I had forgotten that these too, were short story collections which, it turns out I have probably already read. Billenium was among the stories in one of the two books, along with a couple in the new book that I haven't gotten to yet. Most of the current read is new to me though, and it led to my discovery of two books that I've read, that I was unaware of. I'm only about halfway through.
This has happened before, I special ordered The 57th Franz Kafka by Rudy Rucker from Borders one time. It arrived and I began to read it, when I realized that the first story was one thaat I recognized from another short story collection that I'd read a few years earlier, Gnarl! I compared the two books side by side and only read the four chapters in 57FK that I found didn't appear in the table of contents of Gnarl!.
So I re-read Billenium. It was short and memorable. They discover an unused room but end up sharing it, subdividing it, subletting the space and eventually end up packed in like sardines again just like before. I don't usually re-read books, unintentionally or otherwise. But I have before and might do so again.

Imprint: Writer in Profile

J. G. Ballard 2001 interview

BBC Profile

JG Ballard talks to critic Tom Sutcliffe about his life and work.

A Kiss on the Lips

by Ali G

J.G. Ballard

The Best Short Stories of J.G. Ballard

Another bargain book from Amazon.

Other books I've read by this author:

Concrete Island, The Drowned World, Hello America

blue book shelf

bluebookshelf, originally uploaded by chef_maul.

One of my many shelves of books.

Book Worm

The State

Fire

listen to Harry Crews

Discovery

listen to Harry Crews

Baby

listen to Harry Crews

Men on Books

In Living Color

Bookman

I want to be a library detective.

Macho Business Donkey Wrestler

by Jimmy James

Book Review

Harry Crews on Dennis Miller

Winner winner, chicken dinner

Steelers win!

Run DMC

Rocking the Reading Rainbow

Book of the Month

Lovage

Danzig's Books

I saw him in concert in OKC, Nov. 18, 1992. Rock City Cafe with special guests White Zombie and Kyuss. This is the concert where I punched out some drunk little mexican indian looking guy for trying to fight me. Then later I got dropped on my head in the mosh pit and woke up twenty minutes later at the bar. Good times.

Where do books come from?

Fascinating.

Books of Fury

Happy Tree Friends!

if/then

I often times have trouble deciding what book to read when I finish one book and am ready to read another. Last time I noticed on Rudy Rucker's blog a mention of his favorite author: Robert Sheckley, so I chose Sheckley. I have a huge stack of unread books that seems to get deeper every year.
So I decided to do a fun little experiment. One that I could blog about here. In order to help me decide which book to read next, I will use the outcome of Super Bowl 43. The teams are the Arizona Cardinals vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. The books are Scar Lover by Harry Crews or Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Since Arizona's never won a Super Bowl, they will represent Haunted, since I've never read Palahniuk before. I assume that since Pittsburgh's won so many Super Bowls that they will be favored to win. They represent Crews since he's one of my favorite authors and I've read as many books of his as the Steelers have been in Super Bowls: 6. A Feast of Snakes, Body, Car, Celebration, Knockout Artist, and The Mulching of America. It's six, right? I know they've won 5, and lost one to Dallas in 95.
So, anyway. If the Steelers win, then I read Scar Lover by Harry Crews next. If the Cards win, then I read Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk next.

short stories

Store of Infinity

by

Robert Sheckley

Chris Elliott: Television Miracle

Chris Elliott. Comedian, actor, writer... ROBOT?

Currently Reading

Daddy's Boy by Chris Elliott

with rebuttals by Bob Elliott

I got this book for a penny on Amazon.

I've read one other book by this author. That was Shroud of the Thwacker. It was funny, but not nearly as funny as his sitcom, Get a Life, or his many appearances on Late Night w/David Letterman.

Interview: Philip K. Dick

First Book of the New Year

A Scanner Darkly

by

Philip K. Dick

Spacetime Donuts

A video review of Spacetime Donuts by Rudy Rucker from AngrySciFiNerd. That was book #9 of '08 for me. Rudy Rucker is my favorite author, BTW. As the reviewer notes, it is a hard to find book. I found my copy at Gardener's Used Books.