Monthly Archives: February 2010

The weather cleared up a bit so we took a long walk – Diderot – Gare de Lyon – Gare d’Austerlitz – Luxembourg – Rennes – Montparnasse – Pernety, all the way down to Porte de Vanves. Tired and hungry, we took the metro home. As Alex ordered African Myths of Origin to be delivered to me, since there are problems at his campus post office, I ordered Ilium & Olympos for just 12€, two great books which sat way too long on my wishlist, thankfully all will be waiting for me when I get home. As for the current lecture, still reading Living Shadows and The Boy Detective Fails.

Another freezing day in paradise. The plan was to go out for a walk, but it was a bit too cold for my taste. Stayed inside and finished Butcher Bird, the latest romp from Richard Kadrey. The book is a great read, no wonder William Gibson raved about it on that fantastic cover. Butcher Bird is a fun, neatly plotted, extremely entertaining piece of supernatural fiction, much to the tune of Joss Whedon, though it’s not as deep as his stuff. I mean it, I know it’s high praise, but this apocalyptic treat feels like the best (season four) that Angel had to offer us. I would’ve loved it had the author fleshed out the characters a bit more, maybe given each some backstory, but it works like this too. You can download it for free from the publisher – Night Shade Books, I recommend it. I tried to get into Light Music, but just couldn’t get past the first third so I sold it back to Book-Off. Also gave up on Straight Man when I realized I was in the mood for something else, but I’ll probably try again at home. Now starting Living Shadows.

Spent the day going from bookstore to bookstore. It’s a disease. I couldn’t stop myself. With the last 10€ of the trip I went for the final visit to Book-Off:

Richard Kadrey • Butcher Bird; Ronald Wright • A Scientific Romance; John Shirley • Living Shadows; William Gibson • Idoru; Simon Kernick • Target.

Light rain all day long. February hates me. Not something insufferable, just really annoying. We had a stroll walking towards Chateau de Vincennes and then decided to try the park, the awe-inspiring Bois de Vincennes, the park that’s three times bigger than NY’s Central Park and four times bigger than London’s Hyde Park. After an hour or so into it, we got lost and it took us another hour or so of closely following signs to get back to civilization. Tired, bored and annoyed by the rain, we came home for lunch, followed by Bigbro leaving for work and me embracing my books.

Speaking of – just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It is a fantastic read…most of the time. The first two thirds of the book are a eye-stunning, life-changing, mood-lifting, well-researched fairy-tale, and I love it, a love that can be compared to Before Sunrise. The last third however, the plot changes shift and moves well into creepy, disappointing, crude, bitter and just too damn realistic life drama, one that you can’t fault for existing, with whom you have a love-hate relationship, one that can be compared to Before Sunset. The book is, in fact, a bitter-sweet fantasy whose only fault is it’s length – overlong, especially in the end, to the point of boredom -  a fault can be easily ignored therefore making it a essential read for anyone with a pulse. I can’t wait to get my hands on The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Still dealing with Light Music, but also starting Straight Man.

Even better weather. Bigbro and I take the metro down to Pyreness and walk to Buttes-Chaumont, the park that I loved last time around. We spend a few hours taking the tour, seeing the waterfall, the lake, the ducks having fun and all that. We follow the route Jaures – Gare de l’Est – Gare du Nord – La Chapelle – Anvers and take a break at Sacre-Coeur for a few sandwiches and apples, french style. Still not tired, we cut our way through to Quattre Septembre so for 8€ I can pick up the well-researched last goodies of the trip:

Mary Doria Russell • The Sparrow; David Mitchell • Ghostwritten; Richard Russo • Straight Man; John Kennedy Toole • Confederacy of Dunces; Campbell Armstrong • White Rage.

Finally tired, we took the metro home, went shopping, made dinner, saw Milan get their ass kicked. A great day.

Better weather therefore time for walking. Cut my way through Bastille – St Paul – Hotel de Ville – Chatelet – Palais Royal until I get to the Louvre to spend a few hours among ancient sculptures for one last time. After that, just lose myself in the city for the afternoon, visit Book-Off to get a few titles to research and end up home for dinner and Tombstone.