Rainy Saturday, son has a fistful of gift cards from Xmas to use up, so off to Borders to indulge in my favorite shopping experience — book buying.
Santa didn’t bring me Against the Day, the latest by Thomas Pynchon, so I bought it for myself.
Being a major Mark Helprin fan, I was embarrassed when recently asked if I had read Freddy and Fredericka, so that went into the cart.
Cormac McCarthy is one of the top ten American novelists working today (the others include Don DeLillo, Richard Ford, John Updike, David Foster Wallace, and Pynchon), and being a big fan of All the Pretty Horses I had to get The Road based on an awesome NYT book review.
Robert Stone — Hall of Mirrors, Damascus Gate, Outerbridge Reach, Flag for Sunrise, Dog Soldiers — has written a memoir of the 60s and his days with Kesey and the Merry Pranksters: Prime Green.
And finally, because you need a little poetry, another edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
I need more book shelves. I have piles of books in closets, next to my bed, in the attic, in the kids’ rooms and my wife isn’t happy about it.
wow – had no idea there was a new Helprin out. i share the embarrassment. Winter’s Tale and Memoir From Antproof Case are among my favorites.
also will be chewing through the new McCarthy soon.
I was going to post a little tid-bit about books read while on the road (153) but was informed my user id does not have that authority. Oh well, at least this is a classy blog and well worth the read. Every good blogger deserves a good reader.
Keep up the good work Dave,
Tom Kennett
You can now Tom — I just set all registered users to “contributor” mode — whatever that means.
dc