Citizen Reader

Sorry...Last week was just one of those weeks around here. No round-up of links, but a look at a new section I'm thinking of including, and a Neil Gaiman post at the end. Happy December!

Also...because it's that most wonderful time of year...a small reminder that if you're doing any book-shopping at Powell's, would you consider clicking through to there using the link in my sidebar? If you click on "Shop at Powell's Books" here, and then shop there, I get a small percentage of the purchase price. Thanks so much, as always, for your support!

MY READING NOTES (Hoping to add this as a section to the weekly Citizen Reading round-up, consisting of short notes about books I'm reading or looking at but don't want to write entire posts about. What do you think?)

Yeah, I had Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton home this month, and it's just not going to happen. I know it's the hot hot thing that everybody wants to read right now, but just looking at it bored me, frankly. "Today, we are indisputably the heirs to Hamilton's America, and to repudiate his legacy is, in many ways, to repudiate the modern world." (p. 6.)

Also looked at Molly Ringwald's debut When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories. Read the first and last chapters, didn't really want to read more than that. Although it wasn't bad, and I've always really liked Molly Ringwald for some reason. Although she should have demanded that her character end up with Ducky in Pretty in Pink.

I read Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Somewhat creepy, somewhat good, but overall it's like Ray Bradbury Lite. Same mood, same tone, same skill with language, but no insight into human nature and I hate it in fantasy/horror when all the adults (except the "magical" or "supernatural" ones) are unhelpful idiots. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes was plenty creepy, only also made you think about why it's tough to be human, and also had that great dad character, in addition to the great kid characters.

AND NOW, YOUR OBLIGATORY NEIL GAIMAN LINK

31 authors have signed a letter of support for Edward Snowden. This is a Gaiman link because his name is on the letter. I try to keep my feelings about Snowden quiet because God only knows who's tracking what, so let's just say I am now a big fan of all the authors who signed this, and impressed that they put their names to anything in writing.