Reading is fun

Last week, I gave Eric a ride to and from his dentist's office. Instead of going back to the GR office and waiting for him to call, I ran some errands and waited across the street at Dutton's...

I can't remember the last time I went to a "real" bookstore. I thought it was odd that a lot of the spines and jackets were designed to look like indie comics. And then I found out Penguin Classics are actually getting a makeover with guys like Charles Burns, Chris Ware, and Seth! I guess it makes sense--after all, book design rock star Chipp Kidd is a comic book guy, too--but this is getting incestuous. It's like novels looking like Classics Illustrated, which were comic versions of classics to begin with.

Indie comics are all over my shelves, floor, and furniture, so I bought a novel that looks like book: The Noodle Maker by Ma Jian. I've been waiting for another Wang Shuo book to be translated since Please Don't Call Me Human is probably my favorite book of all time. Shooting for Thrills was pretty great, too. But that hasn't happened for ages, so maybe this Chinese author will be my next thing.

So far, so good. It's about a state-employed writer and his pal, a professional blood donor. The first two chapters are dark and funny, and hopefully leading up to something inspired, demented, and meaningful. Am I hoping for too much?