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Intellectual House o' Pancakes Webdiary

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2005-04-24 - 9:35 a.m.

Readin' round-up:

Finished Christopher Coake's book. Every story is an unblinking gawk at death. As a culture, we don't get enough popular art that addresses dying, that is without either sentimentality or, ya know, cartooon gore. (This show, of course, being the exception).

Meanwhile, my guilty pleasure reading for the week was Agatha C's Seven Dials Mystery, which was enjoyable. It is one of her funnier books, pretty much a parody of a mystery/thriller while not lacking a satisfyingly clever little whodunit plot.

This week I'm fascinated by Jeanette Walls's memoir of her bizarre childhood--like Running with Scissors but with a full nuclear family unit rather than a stand-in foster shrink.

Like RWS, the crazy parents and neurotic siblings are depicted with dismay and affection, but Walls isn't going for humor so much as pathos here.

And my guilty pleasure reading is so guilty I can't even tell you. I'll give you a hint: she's a mystery writer who also has a column in a popular online journal...and she drives everybody nuts.

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