Behind the Lines, II

Another year in the Czech Republic, another reading list....

1. State of Fear -- Michael Crichton
2. Everything is Illuminated -- Jonathan Safran Foer
3. TV Nation -- Michael Moore
4. Different Seasons -- Stephen King (4 short stories)
1. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
2. Apt Pupil
3. The Body
4. The Breathing Method
5. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- Jonathan Safran Foer
6. Crow Lake -- Mary Lawson
7. Pilgrim -- Timothy Findley
8. Around the World in Eighty Days -- Jules Verne
9. Mr. Nice -- Howard Marks
10. The Children of Men -- P.D. James
11. Eats, Shoots & Leaves -- Lynne Truss
12. The Historian -- Elizabeth Kostova
13. A Brief History of the End of the World: From Revelation to Eco-Disaster -- Simon Pearson
14. Digital Fortress -- Dan Brown
15. The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins
16. Life of Pi (for the 3rd time) -- Yann Martell
17. A Case of Need -- Michael Crichton
18. The Zahir -- Paulo Coelho
19. The Great Train Robbery -- Michael Crichton
20. 1984 -- George Orwell (just finished).

Now you want the lessons from this? Well, I've learned that...:

• Michael Crichton is one of my favourite authors, ever. Every book of his I've ever read, I've liked (except for A Case of Need). He's an entertaining writer and a diligent researcher, and he simultaneously captures the attention and imagination better than any writer I can think of.
• Michael Moore is a frustrating left-wing hippie, who I agree and disagree with on many levels, and the world needs more people like him who are unafraid to raise consciousness of the world around you (I'm also thinking of Bill Hicks here, whose book I read last year).
• Stephen King is a good and entertaining writer.
  
• Canadian literature really is bad (except for Life of Pi). Crow Lake: awful. Pilgrim: awful
  
• I don't mind (some) post-modern lit afterall (J.S. Foer).
• Pilgrim is an unfortunately disappointing book, despite the promising premise.
• Around the World in Eighty Days is a surprisingly delightful book.
• Howard Marks is an antagonist, but did not deserve to spend more time in prison for trafficking marijuana than Mike Tyson did for rape.
• Sometimes the book is actually WORSE than the movie (Children of Men).
• Punctuation can be fun (Eats, Shoots & Leaves ----- actually, I always knew that punctuation could be fun).
• A book that starts good doesn't always end good (The Historian)
• There's no rational reason to believe in any kind of god and that doing so fanatically can be dangerous to the living and loving creatures around you (The God Delusion and A Brief History of the End of the World)
• god can show you just what you need to see, at just the right time (The Zahir)
• 1984 is a book worth finishing, even if the beginning IS really lame.

• However, most importantly, I've learned that I have a lot of good ideas in my head, and I need to get off my ass and quit writing free blog entries for all the freeloaders out there when I have perfectly good books waiting to be written/published/bought. (okay, I'm just kidding. Steve is the only freeloader who reads this).
• ...seriously though, I should write more.

In other news, Niky and I will be coming to Canada for three weeks. We're arriving on the 23rd and 24th of July (next Monday and Tuesday). Wish her luck...it'll be the first meeting with the fam....yikes!!! ;-)

Till Next Post....