Livres du mois

So... His Dark Materials trilogy was.... nice. Extremely well written. I see why Pullman won awards for it. And that's about it... I never really understood how the supposed significance of some characters came into play. Bah...

I also finished Across the Nightingale Floor. This is the 1st book of the Tales of The Otori by Lian Hearn. It was extremely entertaining and very very easy to read. Now, I have to finish some other books I had on hold before I jump back to this series. But I'm really looking forward to reading Grass for His Pillow (the 2nd part).

Right now I'm about a third of the way through The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Very good and also very graphic. Unfortunately some of the "cop slang" from the 40's is lost on me... But so far... a very intriguing story. This is the same author who wrote LA Confidential... which I haven't read, but might if the Dahlia delivers as I have been promised...

And this weekend, a good friend let me borrow El Juego del Angel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. An amazing Spanish author who wrote La Sombra del Viento. An excellent read.

So there! I hope everybody had a good 4th!!!

Books update!

Trying to get the blog going a bit more....

For the most part, I find traditional Japanese literature quite hard to grasp. Specially since, as with most Japanese cultural aspects, the subtleties and nuances of the work represent and/or mean something else. And my lack of proper knowledge on understanding these subtleties still gets me lost.

Luckily, a good friend of mine and his wife pointed me in a very good direction with contemporary author Haruki Murakami. INCREDIBLY smart writer. He balances fictional and factual remarkably well. I'm impressed with this guy.

I bought:





This is a small collection of short stories by Murakami. An excellent introduction to his work. I haven't enjoyed a book from a Japanese author so much since I discovered (by accident) Kawabata's Thousand Cranes.

So, strongly recommended.

Also, I'm 3/4 of the way done with Pullman's The Golden Compass from the His Dark Materials Trilogy of books. Yet another gifted writer. Good flow, engaging and entertaining. I'm having a lot of luck with books this year!

I should say I was forewarned about the trilogy not being as engaging as a whole, but I reserve judgement until I'm done.





READ!
m.

Recent Mention-worthy Musical Discoveries...

1) Paramore - RIOT!


This girl can SING!



2) The Hives - The Black and White Album


Really, what else do you need in your player?



3) Trilok Gurtu & Robert Miles - Miles_Gurtu (COLLABORATION)


This is a bit of an acquired taste... but it's amazing non the less.


...to be continued.

*edit: I can't wait for third (by Portishead) ... I have high expectations for that one!