Summer Reading Roundup: Far North

This is the cover of Wolf Whistle by Lewis Nordan, one of my favorite books, and what I tried to draw your attention to via highlighting or some kind of very simple text-boxing (but couldn't, because apparently this computer doesn't have a thing that will do that) is the review in the middle: "Six words of advice: Read him. Read him. Read him."

I always laughed at that review, but it's the best I can come up with right now for Marcel Theroux's Far North. I blew through this one in like two days, and I wish it would go on f

orever or that the author would write 100 sequels. Read it, read it, read it!

Again without going too much into detail, Far North's protagonist is the sheriff of an abandoned town in Siberia settled by Quaker Americans during what seems like our lifetime. Then, later in our lifetimes, the earth heats up until there's famine and disease everywhere except the Arctic Circle, so the peaceful Quaker towns they'd settled are overrun with basically everyone in the world who can make it north to look for food. Nuts!

Don't read the NYT review of this book, by the way: it's favorable enough but the reviewer gives away some exciting twists in the plot and gets a few details wrong. Which is a bad combo! I had the luxury of reading this without having heard or read anything about it before--so everything was a surprise, and I liked it that way. I should also say that this was impressive because/despite I'd never read the other big apocalyptic-dystopia books (The Road, The Stand, etc.) and this was all fresh.

Sooooooo, Far North gets an A and might be the best book I've read all summer??????????

Celine Dion is Amazing

The We Are the World video reminded me of Celine Dion's own brand of craziness. This video cements how insane she is - and I can't stop watching!!

Cheetahs: F that!

Today in Broadsheet*, Mary Elizabeth Williams discussed a recent New York Observer article about the new wave in subtly degrading women: cheetahs! I'm not linking to the article, and I didn't want to read the article, but apparently a cheetah is a woman who gets you drunk, goes home and seduces you, and spends the night? Is this news?

Two important points were raised in the comments: 1) if a woman takes you back to her own house, she has no choice but to spend the night; 2) if a man is so drunkenly incapacitated as to be "taken advantage of" by a woman, he probably won't be able to have sex. Soooo, does this thing exist at all? If so, why is it a problem? Have women come up with a cute name for men who get them drunk and take them home...besides "my new boyfriend"?**

But that don't matter, because for these writers it's "time to trot out the old 'sexual taxonomy of women' satire... You can fart it out before your first latte has kicked in, and the thing will pay for itself in outraged comments and blog links."

True. LaZy WrItiNG aLeRt!

Williams breaks down the six reasons this is annoying, and it's so great. One good point:

"5. Pop rhetorical quiz time! Why is it that gay men can classify themselves as bears and otters and all other manner of creatures and it seems cute and sexy, but female sexual animals are somehow just pathetic?"

And:

"Because the funny thing -- funny strange, not funny ha-ha -- in each eager new spin on the women-as-cougars-and-cheetahs-and-pumas-and-kittens-and-ocelots story is the same old criticism of us for our sexual choices and erotic initiative. Whatever species you name it, it's all just catty. Mrrrreeer!"

*I like Broadsheet way more than Jezebel, and way way way more than The Frisky (almost goes without saying, but I want to make myself clear: I hate The Frisky), and of course much more than The XX. As a "women's issues" column, Salon has really won with Broadsheet.

**Obviously there are other names for this behavior, like "rapist" and "felon." But I'm talking about what happens every weekend at most bars in the world. Sans tranquilizers, plus low self-esteem.

Get Psyched For TSO!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is coming to Raleigh and Greensboro on a Winter Tour! Reserve tickets now!! Need motivation? Check, out, THIS!!!

Fireballs, 50-year-old rockers, that Christmas song!

They play 2 shows in Greensboro on Wednesday, November 25, while simultaneously playing 2 shows in Salt Lake City. Awesome enough to be in 2 places at once.

Lasers, a 40-person band, the "long-awaited double album!!"

Speaking of NIGHT CASTLE (each letter is as important as the one before it), the double album features 26 songs and a 68-page booklet. I know you're asking yourself, as I did, which came first, the rock opera tracks or the fantasy drawings? It doesn't matter.

Platforms, electric violins, hyphenated band names!!!

Get tickets now, because the afternoon show on Wednesday, December 2, in Raleigh will sell out quickly. And when it does, you will only have one other show that day to attend. The two chances of a lifetime!!!!!!