Books – Page 3 – Consolation Champs

God Laughs and Plays

Author David James Duncan has a new book out, entitled God Laughs and Plays. He calls it “a collection of what I call “churchless sermons” united by my belief that the way of life preached and embodied by Jesus in the Gospels is meant to be an example to Christians.” I’ve read his collection of short stories, River Teeth, and heard him read at a conference about ten years ago, and this new book intrigues me. The title is based on a beautiful quote from mystic Meister Eckhart:

Be as sure of it as you are that God lives: at the least good deed done here in this world, the least bit of good will, the least good desire, God laughs and plays.

Powells has a very interesting interview with him on their site.

CSS Mastery Review

My review of Andy Budd’s new book, CSS Mastery, has been posted over at Digital Web. Enjoy!

Rip It Up and Start Again

I’m very excited about the release of Simon Reynolds’ book Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. This is exactly the period I’ve considered writing about before, though only about the local Toronto scene. This was not only an incredibly fertile period for music in general, but it corresponded with the exact years I was most receptive to it (13-19). There’s a good review in the NYT today (free registration required). Check it out. And if you’re coming to SXSW, make sure you get one of my annual Compilation Champs CDs. I guarantee several tracks of postpunk goodness!

Bonus points to anyone who can tell me where the title of the book comes from.

UPDATE: I just found Simon Reynolds’ blog! Via the excellent Silence Is A Rhythm Too, which has been featuring MP3 downloads of various postpunk classics. Reynolds also has an author site with more info on the book, and recently hosted a panel discussion which included Steven Daly of Orange Juice and No Wave pioneer James Chance (of James Chance and the Contortions). It’s a big download but looks to be worthwhile.

Win Free Books!

My pal Kevin Smokler wrote a book called Bookmark Now: Writing In Unreaderly Times, which I talked about a while back. Now his publishers are sponsoring a contest where they’re giving away a library of books recommended by the authors featured in Kevin’s book. The contest entry asks you to recommend a book as well, so there should be a pretty good list compiled somewhere.

Don’t just sit there! Click!!

Curses! Tagged Again!

I’ve been watching the latest “tag” meme float around and I’ve been desperately hoping to avoid it, but Johnny has tagged me. So here goes:

Number of Books I Own:

This is why I was hoping to avoid this one. You see, nobody knows exactly how many books I own. They’re spread all over the known universe. In my current living space, I’d estimate around 1,000. But between books stored in our storage locker, at my old apartment (thanks Brent!), my dad’s, and a friend’s parents’ place, it’s closer to 2,000 and might very well exceed that. You see, I used to have a bit of a problem. I loved books. I still love them. But I’m getting used to the idea that I don’t need to own every book ever printed. There are things like libraries. And now, when I finish a book, I try very hard to give it away or sell it. It’s tough, though. Don’t even get me started about my wife. She loves books, too. She buys them. She just doesn’t read them. So, we have a lot of books. (Whew!)

Last Book I Bought:

It just happens to be the book I’m reading right now. It’s called What Just Happened? and it’s by film producer Art Linson. It’s a short sharp account of some of his Hollywood adventures. It looked funny and it was on sale. I bought it along with a whole bunch of books on learning Italian.

Last Book I Read:

I just finished Craig Unger’s book House of Bush, House of Saud which is a pretty damning indictment of America’s (and in particular, the Bush family’s) relationship with the undemocratic, authoritarian and fundamentally brutal rulers of Saudi Arabia.

Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:

Traveling Mercies — Anne Lamott
The Sacred Journey — Frederick Buechner
The Seven Storey Mountain — Thomas Merton
A Wrinkle In Time — Madeleine L’Engle
The World According To Garp — John Irving

(Five is a very tiny number, though…)

Who’s Next?

Brent (he has been around books a lot and has great taste, except for his sci-fi/fantasy nerd streak)
Paul (because he needs some new content!)
Lia (new to blogging!)
Lissa (because she’ll say something kooky!)
Brad (needs new content and actually works in the book business)