Cool. Thanks for the rec; I'll have to check that out.

Great choice. Jim Norton is the funniest comedian working today IMO. You gotta love the guys brutal honesty. I definately need to get around to reading those books.

No doubt. Lil' Jimmy is amazing. I've been listening to him for over 4 years now, and he just gets better. The first threw me off at first. It's in essay form and just a bunch of short stories. Still one of the funniest books I have ever read.

What have I read since this post?

The Corner by David Simon and Ed Burns
a dick-ton of Nietzsche
re-read all 4 of Calvin Trillin's food book for the umpteenth time

more post-colonial lit:
Translations by Brian Friel

Death and the King's Horsemen by Wole Soyinka

Swize Banzi is Dead by Athol Fugard

Playland by Athol Fugard

Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie

Age of Iron by J.M. Coetzee

Matigari by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

I've gone low brow. Been reliving my youth and reading fantasy. I'd always heard George RR Martin was good, so I decided to give the Fire and Ice series a try. I'm driving my wife crazy, because it's like I'm in junior high again: the book is always open and I'm constantly reading. I'm almost finished with Storm of Swords and will be moving on to the next one tomorrow.

Great low-magick, gritty fantasy that never fails to surprise, sometimes in heart wrenching, painful ways.

I'm trying to decide between Paradise Lost or Gravity's Rainbow.

I wouldn't call George RR Martin low brow. Not very 'youth' either.

Well, it's genre fiction, so it's low-brow by ivory tower standards. I think I'm far enough removed from those years that I can safely read fantasy once again and enjoy it without worrying that they're going to come and strip away my degree.

I get your meaning, though. It's very "adult" in theme, but I was reading the Thieves World series in Junior High, so I've always read harsh fantasy from an early age. My parents didn't like me reading all of that "garbage", but they never censored me, either.

Did you like the Fugard? I have not read those two but I have read Master Harold and the Boys and liked it. I understand his other work is similar to Bertolt Brecht, who I like. And did you find those at a library or did you have to purchase them? If you could, let me know. I like reading plays but they're difficult to find sometimes.

For the most part, lord of the rings and chronicles of narnia aside, I didn't read fantasy until I was an adult. I read science fiction growing up, and while they didn't understand why I read that 'crap', they kept on buying it for me. I assume it was a "*shrug* at least he's reading" thing.

And I did read a lot of low brow stuff. Tons of star wars and star trek novels. Although I read asimov and clarke and a few others, too.

Must reads:

Burmese Days
Jewel in the Crown
Train to Pakistan
Passage to India (of course)
Kim (of course)
Heart of Darkness (of course)

I finished Predictably Irrational a few weeks ago. It's mediocre. I loved the experiments and results portions of the book, but if you strip that out you're left with a 75 page book. And the analysis on top of it seems like filler. I enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and, of course, the legendary Freakonomics better.

Currently, I'm trying to read Paul Revere's Ride, which is mentioned in The Tipping Point. I hope it's like Gladwell's style of prose rather than straight history as it has been in the introduction.

I really enjoyed A Bend in the River. I've been meaning to read A House for Mr. Biswas for a while.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
by
Christopher Moore.

An absolute riot of a read!

I've really enjoyed everything I've read by Fugard. ("Master Harold and the Boys" is an achievement.) Drama is my main scholarly interest, and Fugard's plays are ripe with structuralist juiciness. The man can seriously construct a piece of literature. You're spot-on with the comparison to Brecht, too.

I purchased most of these books (I'm in a graduate class in 3rd world post-colonial lit right now). I probably wouldn't have trouble finding them in the library, at least in MO with its state-wide college and university inter-library loan system.