Unspeakable Practices, Unnatural Acts by Donald Barthelme

I've been slowly becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Donald Barthelme over the last couple years. When I was first exposed to him in McSweeney's issue 24 I didn't get him and like him very much. Since then I keep running across him in anthologies and the new yorker fiction podcast as authors particularly love him. They've definitely convinced me, I'm officially in awe of his works. This collection I found at a local used book store and couldn't believe how anyone could get rid of it. The collection of short stories included 3 that I had read before, The Indian Uprising, The Balloon & Alice all of which I liked the first time and love now that I've reread them. Even though they're very different stories, I love the surrealness of The Indan Uprising & The Balloon. The Indan Uprising is a story that seamlessly switches between a fort being sieged by Native Americans & the story of a rocky relationship in current times. The Balloon is about a giant balloon that the author creates and places in Manhatten. There are breakdowns of it that do a much better job than I ever could about it being a metaphor for Bathelme's writing, all I can really say is that it's fantastic. Another story I really liked was Robert Kennedy Saved From Drowning that has a little extra significance as it was published only a few months before his assassination.

Movie Review: Les Miserables

I saw Les Miserables a couple days ago and loved it. I'd never seen the musical, didn't know the music much and only had a little knowledge about the story itself so I was excited to see the movie with no expectations. The story is set in 19th century France at the time of Napolean's defeat at Waterloo and revolves around an ex convict Jean Jaljean played by Hugh Jackman. He is pursued by a lawman Javer payed by Russell Crowe. All the actors were fantastic but especially those tho and I hope they get rewarded with at least Oscar nominations. Sasha Baron Cohen & Helena Bonham Carter where also amazing playing a couple of crooks and provided some of my favorite comic relief scenes in the movie. The music was fantastic, the action well paced and as I mentioned all the acting was fantastic. Sad at times, funny at others I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend seeing it.

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

This book is a collection of short stories was a fun, light read with tons of stories & poems. I've always been drawn to Neil's style and creativity which is fully on display here. Quite a few of the stories are him playing around with legends, fairy tales & other well known story lines. To me those stood out as some of the best in this collection. Overall I liked this book, enjoyed it but wasn't blown away by it. I'd recommend it but not over American Gods, Good Omens or Neverwhere.