A Model World and Other Stories by Michael Chabon

I usually have some idea where the books of my shelf came from.  I have three Michael Chabon books on my shelf. Mysteries of Pittsburgh, which I bought on clearance for a dollar or two from Encore Books, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which was a gift from my brother, and this one. I have no idea where or when I picked up this hardback book.
I enjoy Michael Chabon's work. I even remember seeing him briefly on Charlie Rose at some point in the 90s when I walked into a room somewhere. I had read my clearance priced copy of Mysteries of Pittsburgh some time before that, and was a little surprised that he had become a big deal.

Here is my review of this book from Goodreads.com:

This book of short stories is split into two parts. A Model World and The Lost World. 

The first part contains unrelated stories, including the title story. These stories are good but somehow fall short of greatness. Each story feels like it should be part of a larger story. The stories are not only unrelated but different from each other that grouping them together feels forced. 

The second part is much more successful. Actually it's great and of the quality that I have come to expect from Michael Chabon. All of the stories in this section are related and together are part of a greater whole. 

That's not to say the first half is bad; it's not. Worth a read. 

I haven't decided if I am going to liberate these three books or not. Since I'm undecided, I think I have made up my mind. They will stay.

Living Less in the Material World

So I started buying books in my teens to one day have a cool book lined library. And not just books to fill space, but all books that I wanted to read eventually.

I eventually got there. But the book lined room was sort of like being gifted an elephant, big and impressive but not very practical, especially when I lived in that tiny rowhome. It should be noted that books, unlike elephants, do not leave giant mounds of pooh. Now that just about all reference information is available on line 24/7 and constantly updated, books are no longer the best storehouses of information. And on-line info is equally pooh-free.

My read-all-the-books-we-own project has become a read-all-the-books-we-own-and-get-rid -of-them project. Or as I like to call it "book liberation".

The top shelf below, like the ones below it, was full of books a few months ago. Eventually all of the shelves will have the same fate.

Of the section I have completely read (most of the top shelf), I have kept some books that I might want to re-read someday or that have sentimental value. But many have been given away or will be given away when I run into the people I want to give them to. A big chunk that consisted of the read-all-of-Agatha-Christie's-books-in-a-row project has been condensed into two beer boxes (stacked). I'm not really sure what I will do with those. Sitting condensed in two boxes works for me for now.

The book-liberation project is also a me-liberation project. It's nice to live in a moment in time to be able live with less physical stuff but still have all the access to it and to have the ability to take advantage of that.

I am still a lover of reading, but of books... not so much.

What this means for authors or bookstores, I don't know.

Santa Wants to Love you To Death

Found on the jitney in Rehobeth Delaware.  

The Magic of Oz (Oz #13) by L. Frank Baum

It's interesting that the two Baum books that I own are The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which is the first Oz book, and this one, which is one of the last.

Many characters that I never heard of (the Tin Solder, Tick Tock, The Glass Cat, The Pink Kitten, Trot, The Wooden Saw Horse and more) were introduced in the books in between and all make an appearance here. This isn't a real issue but is a little like when they have all the Dr. Who's in a special episode. It tends to clutter up the action.

Overall the story and the methods the heroes use to overcome their obstacles and enemies are creative and fun. The birthday party in last chapter is the exception and can easily be skimmed over.

Frank Baum's writing is interesting in that can be alternately be very good and rather mediocre. It feels that once he wrote something once, he never went back to tighten it up. He could very insightful about human nature and also totally naive or at very least simplistic.

Overall I quite liked it.

My two Oz books will be set free, going to my sister for my niece and nephew.

Camus Part Deux

I wrote about reading Camus a few posts ago.

I have been inching through The Plague for about a week now. I'm on page 95 of 245. It's time to give up. Nothing much has happened nor do expect anything interesting to actually happen.

Reading this book seems pointless and it's tedious. If this was a 145 page book, like The Stranger, I would have gone on, but this with 150 pages to day, this journey is going to end 2/5s of the way through.

I am going to liberate all three Camus books that I own. I've already decided I'm not going to read The Myth of Sisyphus and other Essays. My brother will get first crack at them. Any he doesn't want will get donated to the Free Library's used book sale. I just found and downloaded a PDF of The Stranger to my hard drive. So the one I liked, I still have, but sitting dustlessly on my hard drive rather than taking up space in my office.

Next up, an old friend Robert Campbell. I read a lot of  Campbell's stuff in the early 90s. He had two series of books. One based in Chicago and was rather light hearted mystery fun. The other was more hard broiled and set in Los Angeles, aka La La Land. I have one of each that I haven't read yet.

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews

Another solid one from Donna Andrews. Very entertaining, amusing, with well developed characters. Once again the murder, while plausible, comes out of left field.

This book I bought for Maureen as an Xmas present, so it is not mine to set free.

Camus

I am almost finished with the first section of bookshelf. 44 fiction books written by authors with last names beginning with A through Ce. I had probably read over 1/2 the books already so I didn't have to re-read them.

After criss-crossing through the shelf, I am now reading straight through alphabetically. I will likely criss-cross again when the mood hits. I mention this because I am now reading Albert Camus's The Plague. BTW the smart way to pronounce his name is Al-bear Kah-moo.

Many people have read Camus. Most because it was assigned to them. I am quite aware that almost nobody reads Camus if they don't have to. I am only reading Camus now because I bought this used copy eons ago. It's on the shelf so I have to read it.

I bought this book because I was young and I wanted to be smart and read smart things and Camus was a "smart" author. This book probably cost me less than a dollar so it didn't really cost me anything to put it on the shelves with my other books.

I ask myself now, would I ever have picked this off the shelf if I didn't have to? Am I a snob for even having it on my shelf in the first place?

The only rule of this project besides reading all of our books is that if I don't like it after the first chapter, I don't have to finish reading it. That said I am enjoying this book. Despite the premise being a downer and it not being an easy read, I am making strong progress through it.

Thinking back now I have memories of voluntarily reading Camus's The Stranger when I was younger and enjoying it. So maybe I'm not a snob.