Books I've read, bought, or might read

[Ulysses]

OK, haven't done book reviews in a while. Here are a few.

Read recently:

Ugly Americans (Ben Mezick) - By the guy who wrote Bringing Down the House about MIT blackjack team, which I thought was great. This book was pretty weak, about hedge fund guys in Japan. Trying to be another Liar's Poker, but fails.

The Last Opium Den (Nick Tosches) - About a guy's quest to find a genuine opium den, treks across Asia etc. OK, definitely not great.

Running with Scissors (Augusten Burroughs) - Memoir of this dude growing up as a gay kid with crazy parents and a freakazoid foster family. Excellent.

Hollywood Animal (Joe Eszterhas) - Memoir of the screenwriter of Basic Instinct and many other movies. Oustanding if you are into Hollywood/movies/star-f'ing/etc. I loved this book.

Stranger than Fiction (Chuck Pahluniak) - Nonfiction essays by the author of Fight Club, Choke, Survivor, etc. I thought this was one of his best works. Loved it.

Bought recently, putting off 'til later unless someone says they are great (I wanted Running w/ Scissors and it was Buy 3 get 4th free, so......):

The Known World (Edward P Jones) - Pulitzer Prize winning book, historical fiction about a black farmer, a former slave. Apparently very good and very deep. I dunno, not in the mood for such depth at the moment.

The Red Tent - I actually bought this for my sister and wasn't really interested in it.

Bel Canto (Ann Patchett) - Another award-winning book, set in the midst of a hostage-taking situation with terrorists and, hmmm, hostages. That's really all I know. Again, maybe too serious for me at the moment.

Books I bought today and will read soon (Buy 2 get one free!):

Dry (Augusten Burroughs) - Memoir, sequel to Running w/ Scissors. Looking forward to this.

The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) - Some sort of moving novel about people in Afghanistan. So many people told me it was great I finally decided to buy it.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (David Sedaris) - I know nothing about this book, but I am a Sedaris fan.

Ace on the River (Barry Greenstein) - I havent bought a poker book in forever (BTW, I have a few signed copies of Ed Miller's books if anyone would like to offer me some $$$ for them), but this book sounds good and Barry Greenstein rules, so I just bought it mainly for the stories I've heard are in it.