You’d think in a non-fiction book about a professor, a madman and the dictionary, that the driest parts would be about the dictionary. Instead, those parts fascinated me while the biographical information about its two main creators bored me to tears. “In the sixteenth century in England, dictionaries such as we would recognize today simply did not exist. If the language that so inspired Shakespeare had limits, if its words had definable origins, spellings, pronunciations, meanings—then no single book existed that established them, defined them, and […]
“[An] asshole in the old fashioned sense of asshole”
This book charmed me, even though the writing wasn’t anything incredible. It’s just hard not to love Bill Murray. “There’s a charming assholeness to Bill, and it’s how really has gotten through life,” remembered Betty Thomas…”That was how I thought of him, as this charming, always seducing, assholey kind of guy. But asshole in the old fashioned sense of asshole. Like, a jerk willing to make a fool of himself — willing to do anything to get the girl. And there’s something admirable about that, […]
“Nothing about her pain is remotely original —and yet it still hurts”
This book broke my heart, and I could not put it down. I completely understand why it’s been so well-reviewed — the hype is 100% deserved. “I am sixteen years old. I am a human being.” That’s what Sarah knows for certain — everything else is not quite clear. She thought she knew what her family was: a hard-working mom, an asshole dad, and a brother that abandoned them all six years ago. But after an incident at school, which Sarah quits attending, secrets begin to […]
A Worthy Tribute
I’m a huge fan of Ray Bradbury, but I actually found this in the process of hunting down a copy of Joe Hill’s By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain, which is included in this collection. Pretty much every story here is a winner, though, and definitely worth reading for Bradbury fans. Here’s a full list of everything included. I particularly enjoyed Lee Martin’s Cat on a Bad Couch, Jacqueline Mitchard’s Two Of A Kind, Charles Yu’s Earth: (A Gift Shop) and Julia Keller’s Hayleigh’s Dad. Overall, though, there aren’t any duds. And I really liked […]
“I did not become a runner to lose weight, I did it to escape my computer”
I love Matthew Inman — if you’ve never checked out his comics, do so right now! “Running a race assigns a point to a sport that often feels very pointless. It’s an exuberant payoff to months of tedium. It’s a way of crafting an end boss for a particularly cumbersome video game. It’s a fun, monstrous reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other. So, do yourself a favor: go build a monster.” Inman writes a lot about his running on his website, […]
Sweet and sad and kind of wonderful
I listened to this one as an audiobook, narrated by Jim Broadbent. I highly recommend the audio version — besides the fact that it’s so easy to picture Harold as Jim Broadbent in the Bridget Jones movies (seriously!), it’s also a great book to let slowly unfold while doing a bit of walking yourself. “If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, it stands to reason that I’m going to get there. I’ve begun to think we sit far more than we’re […]
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