Member: Aeyan

Careful you don't get'cherself evicted bro! Keep it down now some son. Ha!

How ya been Cameron? How's the Yoga instructing going? If I didn't live on the other side of town and have family obligations every day seems like, I'd be very tempted to take a class. Hope you're kicking butt at it (I'm sure you are). Oh and, hey, I did some downsizing in my life you may have noticed, and am not on FB anymore, but I do miss checking in on your blog (I remember it had a cool name but can't remember the name exactly), so please do forward the address to me when you can so I can catch up with you there too.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 10:24 pm (EST) on Oct 15, 2009

Whatcha doin out there?

posted by BeckyJG at 3:52 am (EST) on Aug 16, 2009

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is definitely a series worth pursuing. They go really fast, but are clever; the conceit is that the kids are all bastard offspring of gods and mortals, pursued by ancient monsters (which are never really killed, just temporarily vanquished).

You know that I'm a literalist when it comes to book to movie translations. I have a lot of trouble with them, and am always bugged by "that's not the way it's supposed to happen" thoughts. But Padric, who, as you know, loves HP as much as I, tells me that I should just let go of that and watch the movies as movies, and not worry about the books while I'm doing so. He's seen HPVI three times already (or had as of Sunday...who knows if he's gone again since then.)

And the Mysterious Benedict Society is wonderful--it's got gifted orphans and a mysterious benefactor and untold evil. Oh yes.

I don't think I can do a Harry Potter group. It's all I can do to haul my downtrodden ass to work and back every day. We are so beaten down.

posted by BeckyJG at 2:48 am (EST) on Jul 21, 2009

Aeyan!!!

Dude, you are erudite, did you know that?

Excepting perhaps your The Shipping News review, I think Naamah's kiss is by far your best work to date. What do you think? And thank you for broadening my vocabulary once again with "plinth"!

Brent

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 9:41 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

Aeyan!!!

Dude, you are erudite, did you know that?

Excepting perhaps your The Shipping News review, I think Naamah's kiss is by far your best work to date. What do you think? And thank you for broadening my vocabulary once again with "plinth"!

Brent

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 9:40 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

Bonjour back'at'cha!

I was wondering where you'd been. Dude, looks like you've been discovered below. Glad to hear you're no longer melting in the Mojave and back in LA. Things are good mostly. Work sucks. Layoffs. Yadayadayada. So what are you doin' these days to maintain your book addiction?

Do inform me please if you get involved w/Upublica below. Quite curious.

Adios

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 9:58 pm (EST) on Jul 16, 2009

Very interesting reviews you have posted. I'm the founder of Upublica (http://www.upublica.com), a free online publishing service - just started. I would be very happy to see your book reviews (and other stuff) on the site. You could use it as an alternative platform to share your thoughts. If interested all you need to do is register and you can start publishing.

Best
Thomas Vieth, London
My profile: http://www.upublica.com/profile_c/viewpr...

posted by vieth at 8:37 am (EST) on Jul 15, 2009

What do you mean your bookcases can't support any more books? I don't see a problem, but I do see a solution: come pick up some more bookcases. They're nice and sturdy, and not even three years old yet...

Hows WeHo?

posted by BeckyJG at 2:41 am (EST) on Jul 15, 2009

Hi Aeyan!

You're so cute!

I love your review of the Yiddish Policeman's Union. That last (next to last I mean) run on sentence was very original and clever. You seem like a really smart man! Woohoo!

Bye,
Michelle

posted by thenaughtyhottie at 12:46 am (EST) on Jun 12, 2009

Snip snip! (Your hair, I mean). Whud ya think I meant?

Yeah yeah yeah, blame Macumbeira - it was his name change idea - couldn't resist. Do miss the mountain, though, boy. I was up your way not too long ago, bit to the east, on that most dangerous of desert highways, 395, up to the Sierras. Beautiful tanned land (and Joshua trees!). You best bail, if you can, 'fore it gets too hot!

I'm terrifed asking Becky if we're still doing HP this month. Sounds like the corporate bozos are working her to death. You know her way better. Perhaps you could politely inquire in a manner that wouldn't blow her already overburdened fuse.

Good seeing you back. Good work on those two reviews!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 12:29 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2009

'bout time you gotcher bum back here boy!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 1:33 pm (EST) on Jun 2, 2009

I can't believe how good Patricia Briggs is. I picked up Cry Wolf a couple of days ago (when I realized I can't borrow anything else until after RGIS). But tell me--what's up with the cover art? I can't remember any description of her having any more than the one coyote paw print tattoo under her navel--not tattoos up and down her arms. Sheesh.

We bought a dwarf Eureka lemon, which we're going to grow in a pot. Lemons and limes are supposed to be the easiest, so that's what we're going to start with.

posted by BeckyJG at 2:44 am (EST) on May 11, 2009

*Aphrodite works as a phone sex operator; Apollo, when not transmogrifying rebuffing conquests into trees, tries rather vaingloriously and unsuccessfully to be a TV psychic.*

Son (if I may call you "Son") for I am your elder in a time linear sense, that sentence alone deserves an award!

As Loverboy once crooned, circa 1980, off their debut, eponymous self-title album, "the Ki-id, is hot tonight, whooa-ohh, so hot to-night..."

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 1:33 am (EST) on May 9, 2009

Aeyan!

Sounds like you and your uncle are headed for the Havasupai Indian Reservation, taking the Supai Village trail down into of the most sublimely beautiful sections one will ever encounter in The Canyon. I don't speak from experience, but from National Geographic Channel.

Get this, when I was 12, my parents, gotta love 'em, let me hike solo - solo! by myself! - from the North Rim down the North Kaibab Trail. I descended 4,000 ft. in elev. (9 miles) and then turned around and practically jogged out. Oh to have that 12 year old go-go-go body again!

As long as you take enough H2O wi'chu, and don't ever leave the trail, and don't remain in the creek when a sudden thunderstorm hits, or don't jump off a cliff, or don't try to swim across the Colorado River, you probably won't die, nor need to buy the book. Just tell yer aunt Freeque summarized what you should avoid doing while in The Canyon for you. You should be fine. Enjoy.

I'll get over to gr tomorrow and reply to you there then.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 12:37 am (EST) on Apr 26, 2009

Hugs right back atcha.

Hey--happy International Day of the Book!

I did request The Angel's Game...and then--miracle of miracles!--had one waiting for me on my desk when I came in on Tuesday. I'm finishing up my Charles McCarry before I begin it, though, as his books are so incredibly intricate that if I set it aside for something equally meaty (not something like The Friday Night Knitting Club, which I had to read this week for the *&*^*%&$ command performance "book club" which I have to go in, on my day off, to run tonight...I want in equal parts for nobody to show and for there to be lots and lots of attendees...the book was very sweet, although I resented being required to read it. Definitely chick stuff, good characters but very manipulative of the emotions [which I recognize, even as I bawl my eyes out at the end]). Since I'm in stream-of-consciousness mode here, I really wish I could interest one of you guys in McCarry; he's such a gorgeous writer, with--I'm beginning to see--a body of work which, although seemingly a typical genre character series is actually a giant, over-arching alterna-history of America as we know it...and he's incredibly prescient, having predicted the use of commercial airliners as weapons by terrorists and a stolen, hotly contested election years before either happened. Okay, one last teaser: pick up the newest [republished] work, Shelley's Heart, next time you're in a bookstore, and read the epigraph from which he derives the book's title. Brilliant and chilling.

I've rambled so much I can't remember your original comment...oh yeah, .com coupons. Well, cowboy, I fear those may have gone the way of the open range. Apparently, what with free shipping and all we're not--and by we, of course, I mean they--willing to take any more of a hit to the margin. Triple sigh. That said, I do have an Ian Sansom mystery that I ordered from .com waiting to be picked up at the store...I ordered it after coming across the title (something like The Case of the Missing Bookmobile) in a chain of references. Seems to be kind of a Thursday Next kind of meta-mystery.

Padric's in love with David Benioff (as I think you're aware) and is reading--get this--George R.R. Martin because Benioff raved about him when he signed there a couple of weeks ago. Apparently he's writing the HBO movie or series or something that's going to be be based on Martin's, uh, stuff. Padric assured me that he wouldn't read them all if he didn't like them, and last time we talked he said he's already begun the second one...so I guess he likes them. I will not go the way of traditional fantasy, by the gods I swear I won't.

Blah blah blah. How's the desert?

Your ears are probably constantly ringing, because not only do I miss you all the time, everybody in the store does. Vanessa and Romeo and Manders and I are always saying, "Cameron this" and "Cameron that." Always good, of course.

Love you.

B.

posted by BeckyJG at 12:05 pm (EST) on Apr 23, 2009

And John Fowles!--egad!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 6:57 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

My God how could I forget Stanley Elkin?!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 6:56 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Watch, Oprah will endorse Lolita next--you were just being prescient.

I've passed Laurell K. numerous times in hc for a quarter at the Chino PL--I will pickup some of her stuff next time I'm there--looking to broaden out some and not take my lit so seriously. Thanks for the thorough def.--sounds like a fascinating hybrid of genres -- and the psych. angle with Hamilton is definitely up my alley (psych major in sch./my wife's been a social worker/therapist) & recommendations.

Pomo pretty much begins and ends for me with Infinite Jest. Saramago & GGM, I think, though its debatable since no one, really, has ever clearly defined postmodernism lit-wise, would be on the periphery of pomo, but not what I'd call hardcore pomo (not to be confused w/hardcore porn), stuff like Gravity's Rainbow (Becky will talk yer ear off about GR if you let her, so be prepared to nod your head and say "mmmhmm" a lot should you bring GR up w/her -- just kidding B.!), Darconville's Cat by Alexander Theroux, White Noise, which you mentioned, and did you know that that rock group, Airborne Toxic Event (I'm sure you're already well aware of this since you're young) drew its name from the ATE in White Noise?; Barth, yes, Lost in the Funhouse; Barthelme, 60 Stories; Coover, too many to name but start w/ Pricksongs & Descants (which I've yet to find) and Spanking The Maid (likewise); Joseph McElroy, Women & Men; William effing Gaddis, The Recognitions & JR; William H. Gass, anything, but aim for The Tunnell; Richard Powers, anything; David Eggers (whom I've yet to read); John Hawkes, Gilbert Sorrentino, Raymond Federman, Ronald Sukenick, Steve Katz, Stephen Wright, even Susan Sontag, surprisingly; Steve Erickson, Kathy Acker, Walter Abish, I could ramble on and on, but those are really good starting points. But again, the top of the pyramid is IJ & GR and widens out considerably from there.

Borges, yes, I'd call him pomo, as I would Julio Cortazar, Georges Perec (even though he's classified Oulipo, he's still pomo too).

Any work which shirks standard narrative conventions and is experimental in nature either with how the text is formatted (like in House of Leaves--yeah, it's horror, but it's also pomo because of its structure) or communicated, I would, in a nutshell, define as postmodern. But again, it's entirely subjective. Some would insert Kurt Vonnegut as pomo; I would not. Others might add Jonathan Franzen; not me. Both, IMO, are mainstream literary writers whose work touches on the fringes of pomo, but doesn't necessarily dive right in. Vonnegut, yes, is a metafictional master, but metafiction & postmodernism are not always synonymous. With Sorrentino, yes, when he opens Mulligan Stew with dozens of rejection letters from publishers rejecting his latest novel, Mulligan Stew, yeah, that's metafiction meeting postmodernism. But just because the author might insert him or herself in the text, doesn't make for automatic pomoism. I'm blabbering. You really shouldn't have asked me to answer one of my favorite questions to answer.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 6:54 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Damn Borders w/holding their coupons! I still get mine. A 30% one came on Sunday. You want me to forward them to you? They're still sending out the 40% coupons about once a month--those are suh-weet! I heard something about that Amazon! Too much! Hey, have you heard about (no joke) the Dollar Bookstore? Literally, every book in the store, a buck. Mostly seconds & remainders. I frequent, when I'm in town, the store in Long Beach off of L.B. Blvd. and 5th, definitely worth a look, not that I'm suggesting, in case a certain beloved bookselling GM is listening, that one would EVER think of cheating on Borders, of course.

Oh, and great Updike review btw. Dude, I've never ever in my life used the word "insouciant" in anything. And you did so w/out it sounding contrived or pretentious, which ain't easy w/a word like that. Never been much impressed by Updike myself (though I've yet read his Rabbit books). I enjoyed "The A&P" in college, but like David Foster Wallace said, he, and Phillip Roth & Mailer along w/him (the latter two whom I do like) were such great male narcicists as to be all put offputting to, well, male narcicists. Swear to God I'm going to use "insouciant" in a piece of writing before I die even if it kills me. You & Becky with that damn high falutin vocabulary--very impressive!

Keep ganging up on Becky too while you're at it. Well done, Lad! And what is urban fantasy btw, pardon my ignorance, but I've spent way too much of the past decade foaming at the mouth over mostly postmodern shit that I'm afraid I've missed out on what sounds like a lot of fun.

And are you serious about Oprah recommending Nabokov? I did not know that. Do not tell me she's got people reading...Lolita? That is shocking in this day and age (how did Lolita ever get published? only Nab. could've pulled that feat off), but pleasantly so. I'll never turn my nose up at Oprah's picks again. Bee-leeve it!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 12:07 am (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Are you boys ganging up on me?

Let's see how I feel in June...if I still have a job...if I still have a house or am living in a Saturn with 3 dogs and a grown man...

posted by BeckyJG at 6:35 pm (EST) on Apr 16, 2009

Greetings Aeyan,

I relish the thought of receiving red flags. I cut my teeth on conflict. Sorely disappointed shall I be should I receive none.

Aeyan, I don't say this often, but your review of "The Shipping News" was FF (Fucking Fabulous) and I don't throw an FF around all that often. You're obviously a gifted writer. I'd like to learn more about your writing aspirations, if you'd be so kind as to enlighten me, assuming of course I haven't completely freequed you out. BeckyJG, though, I'm pretty positive, will vouch for me.

I'm aware btw, not because anybody told me, but because I just have a strange knack for reading between the lines, of what the corporate big wig bosses forced your boss to do, and it grieves me, though not nearly as much as I'm sure it grieves her. You've got tons of character, Young Man, to understand that her hands were tied, and still (I'm assuming), despite what she was forced to do, remaining her friend. If my dream of owning my own indie bookstore were presently realized, you'd be hired on the spot, no interview or resume needed, based solely on the obvious adoration BeckyJG has for you. I trust you've landed (or expect to land shortly, hopefully, I know, it's none of my business, but I'm a snoop) on your feet?

All the best to you, Aeyan (and keep writing please! will you? My HS creative writing teacher once told me that you can't keep a good writer down) so don't deprive us of your unique gift(s), okay?

EF (aka, Brent)

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 1:31 am (EST) on Mar 28, 2009

"The Death of My Brother Abel" by Gregor von Rezzori and "The Bass Saxophone" by Josef Skvorecky - you should read both of those.

posted by J.v.d.A. at 9:55 pm (EST) on Mar 12, 2009

Hey--Did you see you've got a review (The Shipping News) in the Hot Reviews section on the Home page?! Go, baby, go!

posted by BeckyJG at 12:04 pm (EST) on Mar 12, 2009

A standing ovation for your review of Shipping News!

posted by nobooksnolife at 3:43 am (EST) on Mar 12, 2009

You've posted a bunch of reviews--and people are reading them and giving you little thumbs up--yay. I, too, of course, have given my thumbs up.

posted by BeckyJG at 7:30 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2009

Our host, EnriqueFreeque asked me to introduce you to the group, which I did (in the pub thread...I thought it appropriate).

Check back on that schedule thing--I just reworked it, and can't remember what it looks like (besides grim and crappy and empty without your name).

B.

posted by BeckyJG at 9:10 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2009

Hey you!!!

posted by BeckyJG at 4:25 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2009