It took an unusual amount of effort to get my hands on a copy of I Looked Alive: Stories by Gary Lutz, but after hearing his name accompanied with glowing approval from various reliable sources (incl. Kevin Sampsell, Ross Simonini, and an article in the latest Poets & Writers) I assumed it would be well worth the trouble--and it was. Upon reading this collection of unusual stories, which contains incredibly well crafted sentences, I immediately wanted to pick up a pen. So, that's a good thing. Now I have to go find Lutz's other effort, Stories in the Worst Way, somehow.
The other day I had a bunch of discussions in which the word "horse" randomly popped up--conversations that involved the new, $50k buy-in HORSE (Hold'em/Omaha/Razz/Stud Eight or Better) event at this year's World Series of Poker, the Seattle band Horses (which is now called Band of Horses because "Horses" itself was too confusing), and other scattered topics. In an odd coincidence, the next day I received a book in the mail entitled Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations by J. Edward Chamberlin. Even though I'm not much of a horse person, I'm really into the idea of this book and plan on checking it out this week. It has a neat cover, at least.
Another book I've been dipping in and out of is a new release of Charles Bukowski poems entitled Come on In! It's been like 12 years since Bukowski died, and this is the ninth collection from the archives he intended to be published after his death. Cool.
-Matt Borondy