Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle

Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle, illustrated by Joe Servello

I'm not going to lie, I 100% bought this book because of the cover. My local bookstore had a 1st edition in amazing shape from 1977 and I took a chance on it without really reading the description. What's not to like, mysterious shadowy man leering over a prone have naked woman in a giant moon mask. It's basically a detective story in Paris 1861 with the detective trying to build a case against a magician and his beautiful wife. Loved it! The characters were great, the feel & dialog acceptibly noir and I loved the scenes where the book included these amazing toys. That aspect of the story reminded me a lot of some of my favorite Steven Millhauser's short stories.

Pumped I picked it up and would definitely recommend it.

Sudden Flash Youth

Sudden Flash Youth edited by Christine Perkins-Hazuka, Tom Hazuka & Mark Budman

This is a collection of 65 short short stories often referred to as flash fiction. I found this book tucked into a shelf of anthologies at my favorite local bookstore and was immediately excited as I love flash fiction. When done right is absolutely amazing how much can be put into a story less than 1,000 words. This collection was also fun because youth was the unifying theme and I think the majority of the stories were relatable. There are obviously too many peaces to single out but a few of my favorites were;

The Flowers by Alice Walker
This little story about race & loss of innocence is brilliant. Crazy how repulsed I was from a story of less than 2 pages.

Homeward Bound by Tom Hazuka
This deals with the complicated issue of social issues revolving soldiers returning from Vietnam.

Accident by David Eggers
I've actually read this before and this time around it struck me as just as brilliant and has one of the best lines I can remember reading.

"In a moment of clarity, you finally understand why boxers, who want so badly to hurt each other, can rest their heads on the shoulders of their opponents, can lean against one another like tired lovers, so thankful for a moment of peace."

Hockey Talk #2 - Top 10 Favorite Current Playing Ex Bruins

Hockey Talk #2 - Top 10 Favorite Current Playing Ex Bruins

I've been watching a ton of hockey now that I have the center ice package and I realize that there are just some guys who played for the B's who I continue to root for whenever they aren't playing us. I'm limiting this list to guys who are still in the league and actively playing. Full disclosure if Timmy was playing for the Islanders he'd still be on the list. I know he's a nut job but I'll always be grateful for the cup and loved watching him every time he laced up the skates. If any hockey fan says they don't like watching him make those ridiculous saves they're full of shit or a Canadiens fan. Even then they can shove it because even though I hate them I can admit that Guy Lafleur was one of the most exciting players to ever play the game. But I digress, without further delay here are my top 10 favorite ex Bruins playing today;


10-Vladimir Sobotka


Good guy to start with, all heart. Loved his scrappy style and insanely long stick that always seemed to be in a good position to break up a pass or a rush.

9-Steve Begin


Another bottom 6 forward, heart guy. Great energy whenever he hit the ice and when push came to shove could drop the gloves and take care of business.

8-Dennis Wideman


Sometimes I'm not all that thrilled with my fellow Bruins fans and the way that Wideman was boo'd out of town still pisses me off. Not the most physical guy but a good defender and with all but 1 year always did more than his fair share offensively. Smooth skater, played the point on the power play and great positionally. I was sad to see him go.

7-Brad Stuart


Guy came into town in almost the worst of circumstances and endeared himself to the fans with his style of play. Guy hits like a truck, rarely gets burned and logs a ton of minutes. Seems like a great character guy & leader too.

6-Brad Boyes


I was a huge fan of Bergeron & Boyes who were quickly nicknamed the killer B's when they joined the Bruins as rookies. He hasn't found the level of success he did with the Blues after being traded for Wideman but he was a huge reason I went from being a fan to an obsessed fan.

5-Benoit Pouliot


Top 6 talent, big & strong with great hands, what's not to like? Seems like he's really taking advantage of his top line ice time in Tampa and I'll be surprised if he's not a perennial all-star moving forward. When he was with the Bruins I think his size, speed and hands was a huge part of the 3rd line having consistent scoring success.

4-Mark Stuart


How do you not like a stay at home defenseman that the training staff dubbed Caveman Strong? Guy hit almost as hard as Chara and was a fantastic stay at home dman. He reminds me a lot of Dennis Seidenberg who is one of my favorite guys on the team and one of the most underrated guys in the league. I hope the fans in Winnipeg realize how good Stuart is.

3-Michael Ryder


He always got a lot of shit for being inconsistent but I don't see it, lots of the high end scorers are streaky. Very few Bruins in the last 10-15 years have ever been as exciting to watch whenever he has the puck by the goal and he's got one of the best releases in the game today.

2-Blake Wheeler


If I could play GM and reverse any single trade since my #1 it would be the trade that send Wheeler & Stuart to the Thrashers. I like Peverly just fine but still think we got the worst end of the deal. Blake is playing great in Winnipeg, he's really big, strong and a true sniper. I love watching him play and get nervous whenever we play them, especially on the road.

1- Joe Thornton


How do you not love a guy nicknamed Jumbo? The excitement when he was drafted overall was amazing to experience and he's lived up to every expectation. No one has ever explained to me why the Bruins made this trade & the excuse of him not going to the front of the net enough is pure bullshit. Second worst trade in the NHL ever behind Gretzky to LA and I assume that was all done to expand the game in southern California. I'll always have a huge soft spot for Jumbo and as long as it doesn't keep the B's from getting it I hope he can retire as a cup winner before he's done.

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Tenth of December by George Saunders


Loved this book of short stories, they had all been published before in magazines or literary magazines but I had only read a couple before. I've been hearing a lot of comparisons between George and Karen Russell. I guess I understand the basic comparison as they both write creative short stories who have fantastic prose as well as basic stories. But to me that's where the similarities end, they're both so different stylistically and their topics are so completely different. Don't get me wrong they're both 2 of my favorite authors but I don't see a direct comparison.

The stories included in this collection are;

Victory Lap
Sticks
Puppy
Escape from Spiderhead
Exhortation
Al Roosten
The Semplica Girl Diaries
Home
My Chivalric Fiasco
Tenth of December

I was going to give a brief summary of each story but I don't want to give it away. One of the things I like best about Georges work is that he sometimes take a little while to let the story develop before cluing you in on what it's really about. There were a couple stories in here that were pretty impactful because of it, especially as his writing style fools you into thinking they might be completely silly and not poignant. His final story Tenth of December was a great way to finish as it, for me, really stopped and made me think about life.

Blaze by Richard Bachman/Stephen King

Blaze by Richard Bachman/Stephen King

My mini lifelong goal of reading every Stephen King book is one book further along to completion. This book was originally written in the 70's but published in 2007. It was ok, I liked it but it didn't blow me away. It's about a huge dimwitted likable criminal and follows the story of his youth and his attempt to follow through with a kidnapping plan that his deceased best friend thought up before he was killed. It was a fast read and I really liked Blaze, he's a very endearing criminal. One of the things I've always liked about King's work are his main characters, they're always more interesting than your typical hero type.

Hockey Talk #1- Boston Bruins

I'm a huge hockey fan. The lockout was absolutely brutal, especially because it was really just about money, but now that it's over it's in the past and I'm loving the shortened season. I'm thinking I want to start writing a bit about hockey on an ongoing basis. Just my opinions and maybe touching on different subjects like underrated players or different aspects of the game. We'll have to see where it goes.

As I'm a huge Bruins fan it makes sense to start talking about this years team. So far they're playing great out of the gate. Team is healthy overall, especially considering the shortened season. As of today we're leading the northeast by only 1 point with a game in had despite starting off 8-2-2. The majority of the team is back with most of the stars locked up for a least the next few years.


FORWARDS


All the analysts say that forward depth is a huge strength of the team and it's hard to argue with essentially 2 top lines, 2 guys on the 3rd who can easily be top 6 forwards & arguably the best 4th line int he game.

Top Line
Milan Lucic, David Krejci & Nathan Horton

I like this line a lot, Lucic & Horton are best friends off the ice and their chemistry with Krejci is really strong. Krejci has been his normal brilliant playmaking self and the 2 bruisers on the wings help create a lot of space. Personally I would like to see Seguin & Horton flip, I would like a little more speed on this line and a little more size on the second line. But hard to argue with success

2nd Line
Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron & Tyler Seguin

Bergeron is finally getting the respect he deserves across the league as one of the best if not the best defensive centers in the game. Marchand is arguably the better sniper between him and Seguin and still continues to annoy the opposition which I love. Again I'd love the switch with Seguin & Horton here but this line is incredibly dynamic and is often used against the other team's top line for defensive reasons.

3rd Line
Chris Bourque, Chris Kelly & Rich Peverley

This is the only like I'm not a huge fan of. Kelly & Peverley are more 2nd line guys so the depth is great to have but I'd like a big bruising left winger. Peverley is really fast but Kelly is a slower straight line guy so I'd like to see a physical left winger to go in there, throw his weight around and create some pace on the ice. Not that I don't like Bourgue I do but he's a scrappy guy who can provide some secondary scoring, I like all 3 guys but I just don't like the combinations of this line.

4th Line
Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell & Shawn Thornton

Great 4th line, they can log lots of minutes, are defensively really strong & create a lot of energy when they're out there. Hopefully Thornton is ok after getting concussed in a game with Buffalo last month. He hasn't dropped the gloves since but it could just be the game situations.


DEFENSE


I think as a group the defense tends to be slightly underrated, especially when compared to the teams forwards. They play great team defense often limiting the other teams top line to minimal scoring and can all move the puck to their forward to transition into offense.


Top Pair
Zdeno Chara & Johnny Boychuk

What is there to say, Chara is a perennial Norris Trophy candidate & Boychuk is a responsible shut down defense man. Both have howitzers for shots and can cover for the other when they chose to pinch.

2nd Pair
Dennis Seidenberg & Dougie Hamilton
Love this pairing. In my opinion Seidenberg is an incredibly underrated dman because he doesn't put up a lot of points. But he shuts down the opposition, hits as hard as anyone on the team not named Chara and blocks a ton of shots. Great pairing with Dougie allowing him to take more offensive chances.

3d Pair
Andrew Ference & Adam McQuaid

This pairing is love hate for me. Ference is fine for a 3rd pairing guy I guess but he turns the puck over way too much for my liking. Quaider is one of my favorite guys on the team, hilarious and I love it when he drops the gloves. Pound for pound I would think he's one of the toughest fighers in the league.


GOALIES


Tuuka Rask & Anton Khudobin

With Timmy deciding to stay home with a good old FU to the Bruins by not retiring, I've been really happy with the goalies. I'll forever be grateful for Timmy's role in winning the cup but his speaking out publicly then refusing to speak to the media irritated me and if he had retired the Bruins wouldn't have to take the cap hit. Tuuka is a legitimate #1 and Khudobin has filled in nicely.


POWER PLAY


Continues to be shockingly awful. Luckily the penalty kill is brilliant with Bergeron, Kelly, Chara & Seidenberg really shining.


All in all I'm really happy with the team and think they have a real good chance at making a deep playoff run. Go Black and Gold!!!!

Fires by Raymond Carver

Fires by Raymond Carver

I picked up this used books for $2 at Longfellow Books, my favorite independent bookstore and couldn't believe it was so cheap. I've been reading Carver's short stories here and there in anthologies for years but had never read any of his poetry so I was pretty excited to read the book. This book includes 2 short stories, a bunch of poems and 6 short stories. The theme of drinking & darkness is present in almost every piece. I drink a lot but feel a little better about it after reading this. One story that really stood out in this collection is So Much Water So Close To Home, it's a story about a woman dealing with her husband returning from a fishing trip with a story where he at the very least didn't have the best ethics and at worst did something unbelievably evil. I also liked the first poem in the book Drinking While Driving

Best American Short Stories of the Century

Best American Short Stories of the Century edited by John Updike


I feel like I've been reading this book for a long time. A really long time. Technically I think I started reading it in October and the reason it's taken so long is that despite each story being fantastic I couldn't read too many stories in a row. The stories are the very best out of the very best anthology often by the undisputed masters of their craft so every story has a lot of weight and seriousness to it. Alright, honestly there are a ton of stories that are just downright sad. While I enjoyed each story I couldn't do many back to back as it was just too much. But as I said each individual story is amazing. I'm actually surprised looking back that considering the inclusion of so many of my favorite authors that I had only read a couple stories before.

The stories go from earliest to most recent;

1915.Zelig /Benjamin Rosenblatt
1916.Little selves /Mary Lerner
1917.Jury of her peers /Susan Glaspell
1920.Other woman /Sherwood Anderson
1922.Golden honeymoon /Ring Lardner
1923.Blood-burning moon /Jean Toomer
1927.Killers /Ernest Hemingway
1929.Double birthday /Willa Cather
1929.Wild plums /Grace Stone Coates
1930.Theft /Katherine Anne Porter
1931.That evening sun go down /William Faulkner
1931.Here we are /Dorother Parker
1933.Crazy Sunday /F. Scott Fitzgerald
1934.My dead brother comes to America /Alexander Godin
1935.Resurrection of a life /William Saroyan
1938.Christmas gift /Robert Penn Warren
1939.Bright and morning star /Richard Wright
1940.Hitch-hikers /Eudora Welty
1943.Peach stone /Paul Horgan --"That in Aleppo once..." /Vladimir Nabokov
1944.Interior castle /Jean Stafford
1948.Miami-New York /Martha Gellhorn
1948.Second tree from the corner /E.B. White
1949.Farmer's children /Elizabeth Bishop
1951.Death of a favorite /J.F. Powers
1951.Resemblance between a violin case and a coffin /Tennessee Williams
1955.Country husband /John Cheever
1957.Greenleaf /Flannery O'Connor
1960.Ledge /Lawrence Sargent Hall
1960.Defender of the faith /Philip Roth
1962.Criers and kibitzers, kibitzers and criers /Stanley Elkin
1964.German refugee /Bernard Malamud
1967.Where are you going, where have you been? /Joyce Carol Oates
1968.Rotifer /Mary Ladd Gavell
1969.Gold Coast /James Alan McPherson
1970.Key /Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973.City of churches /Donald Barthelme
1975.How to win /Rosellen Brown
1976.Roses, rhododendron /Alice Adams
1978.Verona: a young woman speaks /Harold Brodkey
1979.Silver dish /Saul Bellow
1980.Gesturing /John Updike
1981.Shawl /Cynthia Ozick
1983.Where I'm calling from /Raymond Carver
1986.Janus /Ann Beattie
1987.Way we live now /Susan Sontag
1987.Things they carried /Tim O'Brien
1989.Meneseteung /Alice Munro
1990.You're ugly, too /Lorrie Moore
1993.I want to live ! /Thom Jones
1994.In the gloaming /Alice Elliott Dark
1994.Proper library /Carolyn Ferrell
1995.Birthmates /Gish Jen
1997.Soon /Pam Durban
1998.Half-skinned steer /Annie Proulx

So many brilliant authors and too many great stories to comment on individually as much as I'd like to.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

I've been insanely excited for this book since I found out about it last year and it lived up to all my expectations. I am completely smitten with Karen Russell. She was adorable & incredibly sweet when I met her at the Boston Book Festival 2 summers ago and you combine that with her writing and I'm bluebirds circling my heads smitten. I'd actually already read the first 4 stories in this book and they held up fantastic rereading them in this collection. The collection is everything I've come to expect from her stories, imaginative, innovative, beautifully written, honest & sometimes terrifying. The suspense in this collection feels like a natural development in her writing.


Vampires in the Lemon Grove
This is the first story I'd ever read of hers and it blew me away. It's a story about an old married vampire couple living peacefully in a lemon grove in Italy.


Reeling for the Empire
This one I had just read at the end of last year so it was freshest in my mind. It's an amazing story about women in Japan who are turned into silk works to produce silk in an isolated factory. This story is sad at times, rebellious at other and definitely scary but I think it's just an amazing concept for a story.


The Seagull Army Decends on Stong Beach, 1979
This story is about a younger brother living a bit in his popular older brothers shadow whose path crosses a flock of time/space traveling seagulls. So good.


Proving Up
This and a later story in the collection are two of the scariest stories I've read in a long long time. I'd put it up against any short story by King in terms of fright & enjoyment. I won't tell too much but the story is set in Nebraska and a family who's trying to have the inspector confirm they have met the requirements of the Homestead Act to own their land. I won't say more but it's incredible


The Barn at the End of Our Term
Just your run of the mill story about a bunch of presidents who find themselves reincarnated at horses. Pretty standard really.


Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating
This is a funny little satirical story about a krill fan rooting for krill vs whales in the food chain. Good antarctic tailgating advice.


The New Veterans
This is a story about a middle age massuse working with an Iraqi war veteran who has a large and possibly magical memorial back tattoo. Love the imagery in this one. The way she describes whats going on and the interpersonal dynamics is so good.


The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis
This is the second scariest story in the book and only by a hair. It's about a creepy scarecrow that a group of bullies find in a park that looks just like a kid they used to beat up at school. Creepy in the best way possible. Hilarious how creepy dolls really are in horror stories.

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan

So after finishing The Song of Ice And Fire books last year and reading through some fairly serious books I've been missing a fun fantasy series. This is the 5th book in a series of 14 that I started reading years ago and decided to pick it back up. The series is essentially building up to the ultimate fight of good vs evil and primarily follows Rand, Mat & Perrin who each have their own powers & abilities. Without going into the vocabulary of the books they're essentially the 3 main fighters for the good guys. This book follows Rand who is the ultimate champion of good and is prophesied to be sacrificed to save all of mankind in the final battle. There's so much back story I can't really fit it in here in a way that will make sense so if you're curious there's a good summery on wikipedia here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

I'm glad I picked up the series again, I really enjoy the overall story and characters. The writing is good overall and the pace of the book is good despite the majority of the plot through the book taking place during travel with action popping up along the way. This book focuses on Rand & Matt with Perrin being left out entirely as his plot line isn't effected by what happens here. Rand's the main guy and his development is interesting as he's transitioning from a simple small town farm boy to a great lord & leader of men. Matt is a wise cracking gambler who's good with a spear, reluctant to take part in the action and a ridiculous battle leader. His skills start to come out in this book as well. My only real complaint here is the repetitive over simplification of the views between men & women. Jordon is constantly having his characters bitch about the opposite sex and speaking of sex he isn't shy about finding any and all reasons to get his lady characters naked. I applaud this pandering to his most common fan base.

All in all a good series and I'm planning on continuing it, great change of pace and love reading a book that purely entertainment.