Books Acquired:

Books Offloaded:

Progress Made:
Shadow Ticket, Thomas Pynchon

Books Finished:
The Wonder Effect, C.M. Kornbluth & Frederik Pohl
V., Thomas Pynchon

This month’s reading was almost all Pynchon; from V. I launched straight into Shadow Ticket, which has turned out to be a fun and (by TP standards) easy read along the lines of Inherent Vice. In fact I’ve had to slow myself down to savor this book, which could be Tommy’s last — though at 88 he’s still sharp as a tack.

Meanwhile, while I was celebrating the new year in Eugene, the bookstore where I bought V. — Northtown Books on the Arcata Plaza — burned to the ground. This is what it looks like now:

Thousands of volumes up in flames. Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

Which reminds me, we finally watched the Spinal Tap sequel the other day, and while I sensed on some level that it was funnier than I expected, in the current circumstances it was overlaid with such a thick layer of sadness that it was impossible to enjoy. R.I.P. Meathead.

And in another part of the world…

Like, with a remote control? What the fuck do you mean? You can’t even run… oh, never mind. This was supposed to be the Reading Report, but I’m a bit distracted at the moment. Is this the last gasp of a desperate, demented president, the beginning of WWIII, or both? I guess we’ll find out.

Now back to monitoring two news channels and two football games on multiscreen like a 21st century Ignatowski. Shadow Ticket will still be there tomorrow.