books, books, books. and movies.

Okay, here is my current list of book/movie comments.

What I've read recently:

The Cajuns: Essays on Their History and Culture - written in the late seventies, just so you know. I didn't read the entire book, but I read about half of it. I didn't really care about Cajuns in Santo Domingo, but I read the ones I thought were interesting. It was pretty good, but academic, keep that in mind.

Holidays on Ice - The first half of this book was hysterical. The second half, not so much. It's worth getting just to read The Santaland Diaries chapter, though.

Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants - Pretty darn funny. It's a collection of related true life stories like many of the books I'm reading lately. It's not for the easily offended but it's definitely hilarious if you like that kind of book.

Teachers Have it Easy: The Small Salaries and Big Sacrifices of America's Teachers - Okay, I didn't read this one all the way through. I read the first couple of chapters and then skimmed it. The first few chapters should be required reading before anyone's allowed to vote on any educational issue. After that, much of the book is really written for those unfamiliar with the teaching job itself. No one has to tell me how much work teaching in public schools is or what a pain it is.

Next on the list, books that I am checking out or putting on hold this week:
Lucky by Alice Sebold. An autobiographical book about Sebold's rape and aftermath. The first chapter made me so angry, but it's a good book.
The Future Dictionary of America. Just look it up on Amazon if you're interested.
Something else I can't remember that I put on hold at the school library
Her Last Death - another book of my new favorite genre: the wacky memoir.
The Devil in the White City - a non-fiction about the happenings around the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Into the Wild - the book that the Sean Penn movie was based on. Recommended by multiple people, including Annie, who enjoyed other books I like.
All the King's Men - another Sean Penn movie basis. This is the one that is sort of based on Huey Long, the movie that Mike D "starred" in. :)

Movies:
F**k - a documentary about the F-word. Mildly entertaining.
Weapons of Mass Deception - interesting, about the media's representation of the war. Probably not appealing to George W. fans.
The Kite Runner - the book was good, the movie sucked.
The Invasion - of course, it can't touch the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers in creepiness, but it was a pretty good film, I thought.

Next up:
Sweeney Todd
Henry and June
A Jonestown documentary
The two Tarantino Grindhouse features