Allen Ginsberg's "Indian Journals"...part 1

Since I'm only halfway through the book...it looks like this one is going to be a two-week project. I initially read "Indian Journals" during a summer break from college, while floating in the pool. I was going through my "Beat" period, obsessively reading everything I could get my hands on by Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg and their compatriots. I was writing more then too, which is why I picked it up. I'm hoping to give myself a jump start to get writing again. The journals begin in November 1961 with Ginsberg's arrival in India. It's a mishmash of journal entries, dreams (some drug-induced, some not), and poems with a handful of pictures mixed in. Best line so far: "It isn't enough for yr heart to break because everbody's heart is broken now." More next week, after I've had a chance to finish the book...

"The Nimrod Flipout " by Etgar Keret

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. I laughed my way through a lot of them and was touched by a few. "Fatso," the first story in the book, features a man in love with a beautiful woman who inexplicably turns into "a heavy, hairy man, with no neck, with a gold ring on his pinkie" every night. I was intrigued by "Dirt" which offers the following alternative: "So let's say I'm dead now, or I open a self-service laundromat." It goes on in this manner, offering two alternate fates...and leaves you wondering which one is true. My personal favorite was "Glittery Eyes" about a young girl who wants her eyes to be glittery. She gets the idea from a boy in her class who has glittery eyes. His explanation of why his eyes are glittery was heartbreaking. I wanted to give him a hug. Shrinking parents, lost dogs, twin brothers married to twin sisters...this book is full of crazy characters in wacky situations. His style reminded me of Douglas Adams and Tom Robbins, both of whom I'm a big fan. Next week...Allen Ginsberg's "Indian Journals" - a reread from college that I picked up at the library last week. I grabbed it in an attempt to reconnect with when I was at my most creative, writing-wise. Of course, I had a lot more free time on my hands then...but I'm trying to discipline myself to do more writing and less sitting in front of the television.

Bringing back the Book-a-Week blog

In the interest of getting my creative juices flowing again...and clearing out some of my to-read list I've decided to resurrect this old blog.

So, without further ado...this week I'm reading "The Nimrod Flip Out" by Etgar Keret. It is a collection of short stories, which is not usually my favorite genre, but I couldn't help myself when I saw the title. 

When I was reading Prince Caspian with my nieces and nephew, Ally kept insisting that Nikabrik the dwarf's name was Nimrod.  Add to that the image on the cover: a man in a pink bunny suit holding a gun, and I was sold. Starting it tonight while I'm at Ally's dance class.