Skip to main content

Barely Making a Dent: September 2017 Books


In which our narrator tries to read his way through the endless stacks of books that are slowly overtaking both his bookshelves and his life.

Do they still make those "READ" posters? Several years ago—maybe ten, or fifteen?—I used to see them everywhere, in libraries, at the office (I work in publishing, after all), in various stores and on various public transportation systems. The fact that I'm feeling strangely nostalgic for them now is probably one more sign pointing towards my ongoing slide into old age. I've also been curious to find 1980s Choose Your Own Adventure books and a Rubik's Cube lately, too. Sigh. It's pointless to resist, nostalgia wins every time. And, sadly, this Britney poster made me feel old back when it was plastered everywhere, and now thinking about how long ago that was only makes me feel even older. #smh

Recently read
Out of Sight, by Elmore Leonard. Here is an author who's been on my to-read list forever, yet who's novels I've somehow never got around to reading. I'm rectifying that now, having recently picked up copies of Out of Sight and Rum Punch. Out of Sight was fantastic, a smart, thrilling, fun, modern noir with two charismatic leads—Karen Sisco and Jack Foley—for whom you can't help but root. I've always loved the Soderbergh film—J. Lo's best work, and some of Clooney's finest also—and Tarantino's Jackie Brown, based on Rum Punch, is one of my all-time favorite films, period. So I'm really looking forward to reading the source novel for that one.

Paperbacks from Hell and My Best Friend's Exorcism, each by Grady Hendrix. I reviewed Paperbacks for Cult Faction this week; my short review—buy this book now! After finishing Hendrix's near-comprehensive look back at the horror publishing boom of the 1970s-1990s, I followed that up with his recent novel, about two friends going through the trials and tribulations of high school in the 1980s...while one of them is possessed by an evil entity. Just your typical '80s experience, basically. He has another novel, Horrorstor, which I'll read at some point also. I should also note that his publisher, Quirk Books, certainly outdid themselves with the design of both books; the paperback cover to Exorcism is an homage to '80s teen-horror film VHS covers, rivaling some of the best covers from that era. Just look at it—talk about tuning into Gen-X nostalgia, wow.



Currently reading

The Nightwalker, by Thomas Tessier. Finding this 1979 novel for three bucks—and free shipping!—on eBay was a direct result of having read Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell. He made Tessier's take on the werewolf novel sound so interesting, that I had to read it for myself. So far, it's got just the sort of unsettling vibe you want in a horror story. Re: horror films and novels from the '70s-80s, they really don't make 'em like that anymore, do they?

Recently acquired

 Gerald's Game, The Dead Zone, and Firestarter, all by Stephen King. Technically I've had an old, well-worn trade paperback of Firestarter for several years now, but I picked up the other two, used, a few months back. Every time a movie/Netflix/TV adaptation of a King work crops up, I realize that even with the abundance of his work I have read since I was thirteen years old, there's still so much of it I haven't.  So, these will tick off three more from the list. As always, I can't wait to settle in with some Stephen King, and the plan is to read at least one or two things in the lead up to Halloween.


And speaking of Gerald's Game, it drops this week on US Netflix and stars Carla Gugino, who also happened to play the title character in the Karen Sisco (yup, that Karen Sisco again) television series back in the early aughts. Somehow I missed it at the time, probably because it only lasted a season. I need to watch at some point though, because Gugino is one of my all-time favorites, and such an underrated actress. Honestly, she deserves to be featured in one of the "An Appreciation" posts around here, at some point. She just kills it in every single role, and with such charisma and talent that I always wonder why she hasn't become a bigger star than she is. No matter, fans appreciate her, and she's carved out a successful niche in her career. No surprise, early reviews say she's outstanding in Gerald's Game. Can. Not. Wait.

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin. This classic work of dystopian fiction comes highly recommended by a friend, author, and fellow book lover.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Paul SSeptember 29, 2017 at 7:51 AM

    The opening paragraph of this post really struck a chord. You've obviously noticed I also feel strangely nostalgic for the the 80's and 90's. They were pfabulous times; long may we remember them.
    My reading has really taken a back seat over the summer months, and like you I've never read anything by Elmore Leonard. I really should. I loved the film adaptation of Hombre with Paul Newman, he also wrote the scripts for films like Joe Kid and Mr Majestyk which I always enjoy watching. 70's tough guys Bronson and Eastwood were a perfect fit for Elmore's material.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Words Seem Out of PlaceSeptember 29, 2017 at 10:22 AM

      When I started this blog I didn't intend to focus so much on the 80s and 90s, but that's basically what I've done. And I'm pfine with that, because I adore those decades. They were the time when I came of age and developed into the inveterate pop culture junkie and lifelong Michelle pfan. If you're interested in more 90s stuff, I have an ongoing series, "It Came From the '90s" and here's a sample post, also one of the most popular posts I've ever done:

      http://wordsseemoutofplace.blogspot.com/2017/01/it-came-from-90s-kelly-bundy-and.html

      The rest of the series can be found here:

      http://wordsseemoutofplace.blogspot.com/search/label/it%20came%20from%20the%20%2790s

      As you'll see it, it's very eclectic, and some posts are more memoir-ish than others, while almost all of them are exploring the intersection of '90s pop culture on my life at the time, and beyond.

      I'd love your feedback on those posts! Let me know what you think!

      And yes, Leonard is a legend who's had a huge impact on Hollywood as well. I highly recommend Out of Sight.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blowing in the Wind: Marilyn Monroe and That Iconic White Dress

This month marks sixty-five years since one of the most iconic moments in twentieth-century popular culture: Marilyn Monroe’s angelic white dress being blown sky high by wind rushing up from a subway grate beneath her feet in the film  The Seven Year Itch . Billy Wilder shot multiple takes, while Sam Shaw snapped photo after photo for what had to be the biggest publicity stunt ever staged at the time. Marilyn wore two pairs of underwear for the shot, yet, as noted in Lois Banner's critical biography Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox  (2012), "a dark blotch of pubic hair" remained visible to the 100 male photographers and over 1,500 male spectators, all of whom crowded eagerly around the set to gawk and drool.  Due to strict 1950s movie censorship laws, photos had to be doctored to white out the offending blotch, but those in attendance saw it, over and over, shot after shot. Marilyn's husband at the time, the extremely old fashioned Joe DiMaggio, stormed off th
Post a Comment
Read more

All I Want For Christmas: Phoebe Cates's Monologue in Gremlins

Joe Dante's 1980s classic Gremlins will always be a subversive Christmas favorite. From Spike exploding in the microwave to Mrs. Daigle's "stairlift to hell", the movie is packed with deliciously transgressive moments that turn the holly jolly season right on its ear. None are more memorable, though, than Phoebe Cates delivering her legendary "worst thing that ever happened to me on Christmas" monologue. It's a jaw-dropping, tour-de-force moment, a truly horrific story that's also one of the most darkly comic moments in Christmas movie history. Cates really shines during this scene. There's no denying just how seminal that scene of hers in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was for a generation of young people, but her speech in Gremlins is equally important and a wonderful showcase for her serious and comedic acting skills.  Here's the speech, in its entirety. No Christmas season is complete without at least one viewing
Post a Comment
Read more

Misspent Youth: Joanne Whalley

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. One of the most famous and oft-quoted Seinfeld scenes involves Bobka and Jerry's discovery of the existence of Cinnamon Bobka. After Elaine scoffs at the notion of such a thing, even calling it a "lesser Bobka," Jerry unleashes one of the great defenses of a freshly ground spice ever delivered: People love cinnamon. It should be on tables at restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime anyone says, "Oh This is so good. What's in it?" The answer invariably comes back, Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Again and again.  Joanne Whalley is like Cinnamon. Yes, I just compulsively double-checked my DVD copy and it's the unrated version, thank you very much. Let me explain. You see, during the formative years of my misspent youth, if I stumbled on a movie featuring the doe-eyed, petite, beautiful English actress, invariably I'd feel like Jerry does about Cin
2 comments
Read more

"That girl looks just like Pat Benatar"

Linda, that girl looks just like Pat Benatar. I know. Wait, there are three girls here at Ridgemont who have cultivated the Pat Benatar look. I was just a kid when Fast Times at Ridgemont High opened in 1982. Still though, even at the tender young age of seven, I knew who Pat Benatar was, because a.) her music was all over the radio and even then I recognized the utter awesomeness of her vocal talent in songs like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and b.) some of the older girls around town were obviously cribbing their looks—clothes, hair, makeup, strut—from Benatar's own style. Benatar was ubiquitous. So, when I see or hear vintage-era Benatar now, I think of Fast Times , but mostly I remember that ubiquity—of both the performer and her legion of young imitators. I know it's not true, but when I recollect those years I swear every older girl looked like either Benatar, Juice Newton, or Joan Jett. It's easy to forget, years later, that
Post a Comment
Read more

Misspent Youth: Randi Brooks

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. ***** A note on the series and this site: This might be the final post in the "Misspent Youth" series - at least here. Maybe it'll eventually move with me. Oh, right, I buried the lede: I've moved, and would love for you to come visit me at my new site, The Starfire Lounge ! Moving forward, this site will likely cease to be updated, but will remain around for posterity and your continued reading pleasure. I have a few more things to post here over the coming days or weeks as a sort of "everything must go" send-off to the old girl. I also plan to write a final farewell post to my main online home for the last five years. Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading. ***** It's no surprise that the talented but now mostly forgotten Randi Brooks would make an appearance in the Misspent Youth series. She may not be a household name, but her resume
Post a Comment
Read more

Misspent Youth: Morgan Fairchild

Looking back at the movies, music, television, and other pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. Once I decided that Morgan Fairchild would be the subject of the next installment in this series, I did what I usually do and researched online for a bit, just to refresh my memory on details that might've previously been lost to time. Morgan Fairchild was legitimately one of the most potent sex symbols of the 1970s and '80s. Not that I needed much refresher when it came to Fairchild. Born Patsy Ann McClenny in Dallas, Texas, February 3, 1950, the American actress was everywhere during those oh-so-crucial formative years of my pop culture obsession. She loomed large in the growing ranks of proto-haughty glamour queens, a trope that was hot on prime time TV in the 1980s. The characters she was most well-known for were drop-dead gorgeous and didn't suffer fools lightly. Really, few ever did it better than Fairchild. The shirt do
3 comments
Read more

It Came From the '90s: My Secret Crush on The Nanny

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. For six seasons in the 1990s, The Nanny made many of us laugh. At times, it could be downright hilarious . At others, well, not so much . This isn't a review of a '90s sitcom staple, though. No. This is simply an excuse to come clean about something I've kept buried deep inside for over two decades now: I had a secret crush on The Nanny herself, Fran Drescher. The unadulterated nineties-ness of this is practically blinding. And I love it. While The Nanny was sometimes quite funny, thanks largely to Drescher's spunky charisma and wholehearted commitment, the show was never considered hip. People my parents age seemed to love it, but my friends preferred, well, Friends . That smile! Those legs! That dress! It's all overloading my circuits. I watched Friends with my friends, but I also thoroughly enjoyed The Nanny , to
2 comments
Read more

Margot Kidder and the Childhood Crush That Will Never Die

"I dream about sex, flying, and being chased by Nazis." — Margot Kidder,  Rolling Stone , "The Education of Margot Kidder", 1981 ***** File that quote under, "Reasons why I love Margot Kidder." Last month, Margot hopped a one-way flight with old pal Chris Reeve off into the stars and beyond, where they could reenact their iconic moment from  Superman  (1978), for all eternity. I wrote a little about Margot, here and here , trying to explain why this particular actress meant so much to me as a kid growing up in the 1980s. I thought that would be enough. It wasn't.* Those posts were my fumbling attempts to sort out just how large an impact Margot had on my young life, and, to my present-day surprise, how much she still means to me now. Before news of her death, I hadn't thought of her in ages. I assumed the early childhood crush I harbored for my Lois Lane had dwindled and faded. Ha! I was a fool. My crush on Margot was very
4 comments
Read more

It Came From the '90s: Kelly Bundy and the Alternative Family Ideal

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. Very few television series in the 1990s were as polarizing as Married...with Children . People either loved it or they loathed it. TV critics and good upstanding Catholic families like mine fell into the latter category. Soon after it debuted during my first year of junior high in 1987 (not quite the '90s, but on the brink), my parents made it clear that we would not be watching. I believe the words they used were "vulgar," "unfunny," and, one of their perennial favorites, "risque." Of course, this meant it immediately took on a prurient appeal for me. Parents can never win, honestly. Kelly Bundy—the talented Christina Applegate, who never gets enough credit for elevating the blonde airhead trope into an art form—only further piqued my interest. She was like the girls in school with the absurdly voluminous hair and ridiculously sh
4 comments
Read more

Michelle Pfeiffer: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Revisiting and celebrating the work of Michelle Pfeiffer,  the best actress of my lifetime. Spoiler alert: I'll be discussing plot points for the new film Ant-Man and the Wasp . ***** If you've spent any time at all on the internet this week, chances are you've noticed the gushing adulation and hyperbolic lovefest surrounding Michelle Pfeiffer's performance in the newly released, and extremely fun,  Ant-Man and the Wasp . It's fascinating to behold this lovefest—and also to be an active participant in it! Obviously, I spent some time on Twitter praising Pfeiffer's work as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, after seeing the movie. And of course I'll be heaping more praise on her work here. Yet, what's so intriguing about it all is that she only appears in the film briefly! It's a glorified cameo. She has, max, fifteen minutes of screen time (an awfully generous estimate on my part), but she is the highlight of the film, no questio
1 comment
Read more