Reading Log: August 2013

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Books acquired: none.

Books read: “Troublemakers,” Harlan Ellison; “Googie Redux,” Alan Hess; “Diners,” John Baeder; “Dave Barry’s Money Secrets,” Dave Barry; “The Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Dupin Tales,” Edgar Allan Poe.

Five books sounds all right, doesn’t it? Oh, but what a trial August was. By the 10th or so, all I had accomplished was reading 50 pages of a novel that I abandoned (Susan Straight’s “Take One Candle Light a Room”) and reading the latest, music-themed issue of the Believer magazine. Then I got into gear and picked some random books to read.

Ellison’s “Troublemakers” is something of a best-of for the YA market; about half the stories were new to me. Not a bad collection. Hess’ “Googie Redux” is the definitive book on midcentury coffee shop architecture. (It will inspire a series of posts here.) “Diners” consists of photorealistic paintings of East Coast and Southern diners and the artist’s stories of his diner obsession; not what I was expecting, and if I could take back the time and money spent on this book, I would. “Dave Barry’s Money Secrets,” from 2006, is worth reading if you like him, because it was very funny.

Lastly, “Rue Morgue” collects Poe’s three detective stories in one slender volume; it was surprising to see how many detective story tropes were created right here (aloof, ultra-rational detective, slightly dense narrator/friend, bumbling police, even a locked room murder). That said, the tales are more like puzzles than stories you care about.

I acquired these books within the past 10 years at Borders Montclair (Ellison), the Hammer Museum gift shop in Westwood (Hess), Brand Books in Glendale (Baeder), Small World Books in Venice (Poe) and a used bookstore I can’t recall (Barry).

For me, August came in like a lamb, a confused one at that, but went out like, not a lion, but maybe a leopard. Even that’s a bit fierce. Maybe an emu.

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