Book Report Monday

I've been reading old Nancy Drews when I go to bed.  As I've said before, I like the soporific story telling and cadence to the books.  It's easy to read a few pages and fall asleep drooling on the husband's pillow. 

But I have to admit, I'm not really engaged in the stories.  To wit: I've been reading "The Secret in the Diary" for the past few nights, and I'm about mid-way through, and I keep wondering, vaguely, when Nancy, Bess and George are going to go to the dairy, and what they might find there.  Do you see what I did there?  I have continually been misreading diary [the journal] as dairy [the cow home].  And this, despite the fact that Nancy had been discussing the diary she found by the burning house on just about every. fucking. page. 

Maybe I'm just entranced by the appearance of Ned Nickerson.  He's kind of suave.


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On our way back from dropping the girl at boarding school [god, can I just shut the fuck up about this already?], the husband and I listened to Jimmy Breslin's The Good Rat.  I'd forgotten how much I like Jimmy Breslin's writing style, and his affinity for writing about gangsters.  The Good Rat is a really compelling book, a brief precis of the New York mob and the move from guys who would stand up and do their time without opening their mouths to the guys who would rat out their mothers to stay out of prison and a more in depth look at Burton Kaplan, the rat in question, and the two NY police officer / mob hitmen he turned on.

The husband and I both really liked listening to this, and the readers do an excellent job evoking the story.

My favorite thing about Jimmy Breslin, though, is this [I wish I could find the exact quote]:

Years ago, I remember reading an anecdote about how, when Jimmy Breslin was making a name for himself as a writer, he was asked to star in a malt liquor commercial.  He did so, and found that when he was in the projects, getting information on stories, everyone knew who he was, and he was quite popular.  The commercial stopped playing after a while, and he had to go into the projects for another story.  His editor was concerned, but he blew it off, saying something like, "They know me down there." And then he got there, and they didn't know who the fuck he was, because, of course, he wasn't on tv anymore.  He was just some old white guy asking questions.

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So I've been rereading Bossypants and I realized - hahahahaha.  I'm not going to do another review of it, even though I have been rereading it and am looking for a relatively inexpensive audiobook.  And I heart Tina Fey so fucking hard.

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I just started reading The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington and I LOVE IT.  Where the fuck have I been, not knowing about this great writer? Snarky, eloquent and deftly portraying life at the turn of the century [the last one, not the one that just happened, which is weird because it makes me feel like I'm 1,000 years old or something].  I really like it so far.

What are you reading?  Anything you want to pass along?