something i don’t think i’ve done in at least a month on here is the whole brian’s book club thing. that is, record and submit opinions on what i’ve just read. i bet there are literally dozens of people with no good book recommendations now, just weeping, sobbing in their rooms, terrified to go to a bookstore and read something that hasn’t been given an official collapsing approval. it must be awful. and so i will now dutifully overview my last month or so worth of reading to relieve that terrible aching hole in the hearts and minds of the more literary of you. more literary than me anyway, which is probably all of you (you’re so smart).

the inferno; dante

well this one you probably read in high school. i did too, and i felt like looking over it again for kicks, and i found a copy with a neat cover for only 4 dollars, so i bought it a while back and read it a few weeks ago. either the neat cover as just a mask for a shitty translation, or it just isn’t as good as i thought it was. i think it’s the former because i’m pretty sure it’s a masterpiece or something (so they say), and besides it makes you sound very smart when you have an opinion on good or bad translations of classic literature.

ender’s game; orson scott card

i read this because i think someone more literary than myself, possibly several such people, said i should read it. rising to the challenge, i picked it up and gave it a try despite the fact that it said, “one of the top 100 books for teens” on the back. well it says that for a reason, because it’s a kids’ book. i didn’t really like it much. maybe if i had read it at 13, i would have remembered it fondly at 21, but at 21 i only remember sadly how i took too long finishing it because i just didn’t want to read it. and i guessed the “twist” ending. that didn’t help much either.

doctor faustus; christopher marlowe

it’s been said and heard by most bookworms, i think, that christopher marlowe was a rival to shakespeare’s talent and might have been more remembered had it not been for his untimely barfight death. so it goes. but again, how can you not read a literary classic when it’s only 4 dollars at barnes and noble, and it’s the time-honored tale of the soul-selling seeker of truth? well i know i can’t. i have to say though, this was not as good as i’d hoped, and i much prefer the later faustus story by goethe. i remember thinking the mephistopheles character being much more entertaining and clever in that one, and just finding it more provocative in general. and besides, it makes you sound terribly smart when you have an opinion on which is a better version of faustus.

a heartbreaking work of staggering genius; dave eggers

i loved it. no book could live up to that (ingenious) title, but i did enjoy it all the way through. the introduction/acknowledgements alone were brilliant, and the rest was just well done, i think. i can see problems with it that might not make it as good for you, but i really enjoyed it. so thanks dom for recommending it to me oh, about a year ago. i’m slow because i’m descended from canadians. the french kind. yech.

now i’m going to start the count of monte cristo as well as probably coraline by neil gaiman, which i probably should have bought and read months ago when it came out since he’s my favorite. that shouldn’t take long to read though since it’s a kid’s book too. i bet you a million dollars it’s better than ender’s game though.

so i know this is really long — but you know, actually, the best things i’ve read so far this summer are the first two trade paperback volumes of the collected preacher comic book series. i know i missed the boat and that stuff broke in, what, the mid 90’s? but late discovery or no, it’s still fucking fantastic. oh lordy lord, if you like comics at all you either probably already read these, or would absolutely love these if you picked them up. even if you don’t normally read them, i say check them out because you won’t be sorry. they’re just so cool…

so i think that’s enough for now. read up, folks.

[now hearing this: the simpsons. “look, a dog with a poofy tale!….heeheeheehee..heeeheeheeheehee!”]