Slog - Comments on Reading Tonight http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/reading_tonight_68 There is so much good stuff going on tonight that one almost wishes that there was an iron-fisted ruler of book readings who could make bookstores apportion out their good author events evenly. Firstly, Matthew Sharpe is reading at the University Book Store. His book, Jamestown, just came out in paperback. It's a weird, beautifully written dystopian sci-fi novel. It's one of those dense books that incorporates a made-up language and takes weeks to read successfully, but it's totally worth it. At the Seattle Public Library, Tan Twan Eng reads from his book The Gift of Rain. I wrote... Copyright 2008 Tue, 13 May 2008 10:12:22 -0800 Mon, 19 May 2008 11:23:17 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Eliza Don't buy the Burroughs book, and don't give it to someone with psoriasis. It's immature and clutzy from a literary standpoint to dwell so much on the evil externalized by Burroughs' dad's psoriasis. Do a web search, this factor is the most quoted in all reviews and discussions. It will make my trips to the pool just delightful. What was funny in "Scissors" is just cruel and nauseating in "Wolf."

Burroughs may have had an abusive, terrifying childhood, but does anyone else feel that he has learned the coldness and cruelty himself? I don't pick up on a nice guy here. He may not have psoriasis, but I catch glimpses of his father in the way he writes about other people.

]]> Eliza http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/reading_tonight_68#c1027535 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/reading_tonight_68#c1027535 Books Mon, 19 May 2008 11:23:17 -0800