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In between doing finals, random work on my sites and my actual job, I’ve been attempting a new little exercise for myself- read a new book every week. The book can be of any genre, it just has to be a book that can get me reading and relaxing for a bit. It helps to sit outside and read for a little bit after doing heavy work on the computer and i need to get my eyes away from the computer every so often. It helps to work in a library- more often than not, I will spot books that I want to read, stash them away, and check them out at the end of the work day.

I don’t get any late fees working at the library, so I accumulate more than twenty books at a time on my account. My family is aware of this, and constantly hound me to check out books for them, knowing that there wouldn’t be any consequences if they were late. My library is also an excellent source for DVDs and documentaries- there aren’t any fees associated with the checkout themselves, I can’t help myself to check out Ken Burns documentaries when they’re available. But anyways! Here’s some of the books that I have read or are on my list:

Jokes My Father Never Taught Me by Rain Pryor – This is a book written by one of Richard Pryor’s daughters and her life growing up as a half Jewish, half Black girl with half brothers and half sisters all over the place, bringing in an interesting view of the famous black comedian and his own personal life. It was well known that his own life was tumultuous- being the son of a prostitute and his grandmother the madam of a string of whorehouses- but to find it through the eyes of his daughter and her own story makes it utterly fascinating to me. The book was rather short to me, but it’s damn interesting to read, especially Rain’s experience with her father in his later years.

A Practical Guide to Racism by C.H. Dalton – As serious as this book sounds (and looks, just click on the link to see the front page), the overblown racism and insults found in this book can only be taken as a farce to regular textbooks, with the explanation of the mexican mind shown as a soccer ball. Nothing for this should be taken seriously in this book- but it’s fun to read a book so deep in sarcastic humor.

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk – I mentioned this book briefly before, but I’ve gotten to read the book a bit more in depth now, and i have to say, Palahniuk’s depth of grotesque knows no bounds. Different chapters are told through the eyes of each one of the perspective members of the gangbang, varying in age and purpose to coming to the event. I had a laughing fit just reading the parts of the book that describes the pornstar’s previous works as if they were paintings in the Louvre. I have no clue where the book is going, but hell, I’m going to keep reading it.

The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness by Steven Levy – being a budding mac fan, this book was my interesting insight in how the company works, pertaining to the development and the interest to which the iPod first recieved upon its release. Levy writes the book often as a first-person dialouge, as he was one of the first to recieve the small white mp3 player when it was first released in November of 2001. Parts of the book feel at first to be filler for the real content- Levy’s experience with 9/11 and the iPod seems weird at first to read, but as the book goes on, he does an excellent work of tying it all together.