The List of Books

In the Spring of 2003 I started a list of books I've either read or listened to, starting with Cad by Rick Marin, and most recently Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers. This in addition to the lists I keep on LibraryThing, Shelfari and GoodReads. Of course I have enjoyed them all, or if not all, then most. But some have stood out more than others, including the following:

• Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z
• Cancer Vixen
• Le Divorce
• The Emperor's Children
• Fun Home
• Little Children
• Le Mariage
• Prep
• The Ramen King and I
• Tamara Drewe
• The Woman in White

and a special shout out to my neighbor's two books that I read and enjoyed so much:

• The Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA
• The Smart One

Guilty Pleasure

I was just now watching one of my secretly favorite TV shows - VH1 Classic Albums - and this episode put the spotlight on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (shockingly I thought it would be in the top 10 of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, but I just checked and it came in way down at #43). Although I never really followed their career in its entirety this is one heck of an album - "Money," "Us and Them," "Breathe," and "Brain Damage" are all on it. What amazed me, and I'm always amazed that I continue to find it so, is how sedate some of these 60's icons now seem to be. David Gilmour, whose whole look screamed ROCK STAR back in 1972, when the album was initially released, now has short gray hair (shocking!), and looks just like a retired bank President. On the other hand, Roger Waters, who wrote the lyrics for the songs on that album, looked like just a nerdy kid back then, and looks very much the cool, ironic, aging rocker now.