(Still More) Shit I've Been Reading on Planes
Friday, May 9, 2008
Welcome to the third installment of "Shit I've Been Reading on Planes". For whatever reason, y'all seem to enjoy hearing about what I've been grabbing from airport bookstores and Amazon.com. Enjoy, or something.
Death To All Sacred Cows, by a few of the guys over at The Gate Worldwide manages to do something that few other business books can claim: not take itself too seriously. The concept is clear enough. In short, anything that is done in business simply because "it's always been done that way" stands a good chance of being worthy of a bullet in the face. The best line of the book, IMHO, goes something like "Anytime anyone tells you that something is always one way or another, that person is wrong-not always wrong, of course, but usually wrong about always being right...". Nevermind the fact that that statement itself starts with the absolute "anytime". The book had me laughing. Like, on multiple occasions. I can count the number of business books that can claim that on one finger.
It seems that I'm unable to post one of these without including one or more books by Augusten Burroughs. I assure you, this is a matter of timing as much as anything. But it's true that he's one of my favorite authors. His recently released memoir, A Wolf at the Table, is no exception in quality, morbidity, and intrigue. It is, however, a very serious departure from his previous work. There was not one single happy, goofy, amusing, or otherwise positive-vibed moment in the book's 242 pages. I highly recommend being in a good mood when you start this, and start it you should, else the darkness and tragedy turn an otherwise melancholy mood into a wrist-slitting-pill-popping-hang-yourself-in-the-closet mood. Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic (natch), but don't be surprised at how different from Running and Sellevision this one is.
Speaking of dark books, I've recently reread Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire. Why? Because good shit doesn't stop being good. If your only Interview experience includes wacky-ass Tom Cruise, I recommend seeing just how good the source is. Not that the movie was bad. It was actually pretty stellar. But the book is at once tangibly creepy and undeniably romantic. If sex could, in its entirety, be translated into a single sentence, that sentence would surely come out of Lestat's mouth.
That's all for now. More trips (and books) coming up shortly.
Currently in Memphis, Tennessee
Currently listening to Madonna - Dance 2night
Labels: All Posts, Literature, Travel
posted by Dustin @ 3:47 PM,
1 Comments:
-
At June 8, 2008 at 8:14 AM,
Char said...
-
i would probably be a vampire of lestat for all my days. or maybe i just wanna bump nasties with brad pitt.