What's John reading NOW?
My name's John, and I have a reading addiction.
I owned an independent bookstore with my lovely wife, Vicky, for over 22 years, and I'm seriously addicted. To make the planet a better place to live, I like to let people know about the books that I've read. After finishing a book, I write it up in my personal book journal, and then let it stew a little, before I share my thoughts on these pages.
Other parts of this page:
What's John BEEN reading?
What's John buying NOW? ... something new I'm showing
John's favorite books of the years.
Ego defined. |  |
 | The SLOW LEFT LANE
The books on this side are ones I find myself picking up now and then, but I've been drawn away to other titles. These books wait patiently, while I'm reading other, bright, shiny books that caught my eye. __________ 
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
by David Foster Wallace I'm weak, I admit it, but this book cried out to me—READ ME. I gave in. Reading Wallace, I find, doesn't drive me to finish them quickly, but I do enjoy them so. Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
by Mignon Fogarty If you've read much of my writing, you know I could use a tune-up here and there. So for the betterment of all who come to my webpages, I read these pages. Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
by Christopher Hitchens After reading so much about his death, I just couldn't stay away from this vast collection of his essays. It's one of those big books (nearly 800 pages) that can be a challenge to read in bed. There you are, stretched out in bed, holding those hundreds on pages above you, when you heavy eyes close, and your grip could slip, but a wee bit, and it all comes crashing down. Up close with the printed page. | |   
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Off the Grid
by Nick Rosen
It's a growing movement across the country and this looks to be a good read about some independent people doing it their way. I'm just a little worried that some of these independent souls could have a little tea party-like baggage...I will see.
We Wanted To Be Writers
by Eric Olsen & Glenn Schaeffer
I am a sucker for just about anything on writers. That has brought me to this very interesting collection of observations on the Iowa Writers' Workshop, by the people who taught and learned.
Complete Stories of Flannery
O'Connor
by Flannery O'Connor
I was reading Second Reading, a wonderful collection of book reviews by Jonathan Yardley, and he starts going on about O'Connor...I realize that I had not ever read much of anything by her. Sure, I've seen the photos of her and her peacocks, but I've done precious little reading. Her writing is a pleasure. How she does southern dialogue is a real treat. A reading life is just a special kind of thing, one book leads you to another...joyful connections. January Update
I'm now reading them one after another...O'Connor was wonderfully twisted. | |
What's John buying NOW?
This is where I'll be going ... when I'm ready to start another book AND I'm as enthused about the book as when I bought it. Enthusiasm for buying and actually sitting down to read an entire book—can be very different. Here's to the future.
2.3.12
Life Sentences: Literary Judgments and Accounts by William H. Gass — I have just been reading review after review of this, and then while looking at the book, I see he writes about John Gardner's Nickel Mountain, bought.
_____
2.2.12
Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America by Nick Rosen — the more I look at the subtitle the more I wonder what the independence will be like.
I also picked up Delavier's Stretching Anatomy by Frederic Delavier — Jean-Pierre Clemenceau & Michael Gundill, since all my stretching and sports medicine books are packed away.
_____
1.27.12
The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto — I've been a fan for years, since Kitchen, and I jumped on this paperback.
details: she was born on July 24, 1964 and Banana is the Japanese writer Mahoko Yoshimoto's pen name.
The Man Within My Head by Pico Iyer — Both Vicky and I have had our eye on this book for some time.
_____
1.26.12
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner — Seemed it was time for a little Faulkner. I wanted some back southern lit, for after I finish my large book of stories by Flannery O'Connor.
Notes from Underground and The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky — I already have a giant edition (aren't they all) of Anna Karenina waiting for me to enter the Russian Lit world, so why not another...a smaller friend. And I still find myself eyeing the big new, hardcover Tolstoy biography that jumps out at me in so many bookstores.
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 What are some of the best books John read in 2012? FICTION Caribou Island by David Vann NONFICTION
The Best American Essays edited by Christopher Hitchens, series editor Robert Atwan
ego
1. The self, especially as distinct from the world and other selves.
2. In psychoanalysis, the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behavior,
and is most in touch with external reality.
3. a. An exaggerated sense of self-importance; conceit.
b. Appropriate pride in oneself; self-esteem.
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What's John BEEN reading?
