Friday, August 12, 2011

Haiku Friday: Summer Reading!


Up at Osler Island last week, I read four great books. Well, actually, three great books and one stinker:

1) Just Kids, by Patti Smith

A winner of the National Book Award, this memoir is a revelation. Reflecting her young life with artist Robert Mapplethorpe, it works as autobiography, history, and discourse on the nature of art.


2) Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, by Bill Clegg

Bill Clegg was a literary agent who spiraled into an incredible period of addiction to crack, which he chronicles in stunning detail.


3) Workin' Hard for the Money: The Social and Economic Lives of Women Crack Sellers, by Ira Sommers, Deborah Baskin, and Jeffrey Fagan

A fascinating, if somewhat repetitive, sociological discourse on the lives of women in the crack trade. Surprise! Many of them run their own crack business! Not a surprise! They are also hookers!

4) My Little Phony, By Lisi Harrison

Every summer I seem to end up reading at least one of the horrible books by Lisi Harrison, which revolve around the utterly revolting spoiled girls who attend Westchester's Octavian Country Day school (OCD). In my little phony, Massie Block has turned against her best friend, Ku-laire, and a variety of soul-sucking events and product placements unfold simultaneously. I still feel dirty for reading it.

What have you been reading? I don't care if it is a book, magazine, or the back of your pack of Virginia Slims, let's haiku about that this week.

Here is mine:

Three books about crack
The worst character of all?
Massie Block! Eeee-yuck!

Now it is your turn! There will be the usual prize this week-- the winner's bio on Monday. Just make it about 5 syllables for the first line, seven for the second, and five for the third. Now, go!

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:10 AM

    Osler, you did not
    Read that teen trash book, did you?
    I mourn for your brain.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Strangely titled book--
    Cooking with Fernet Branca.
    A fun playful read.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bertolt Brecht: Short Stories
    Just Enough Liebling and
    How to Cook A Wolf.
    The trashy reads at beach,
    I cannot recall.
    The ocean waves drowned them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:16 AM

    Decadent morsels
    Pearls of wisdom, an orchid
    Books are my refuge

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9:32 AM

    I am curious
    Who turned you on to Lisa
    She is not your type

    ReplyDelete
  6. Blood, Bones, and Butter.
    Family, food, drugs, success.
    Gabrielle Hamilton

    Choice Cuts, chicken and
    pistachios circ. 1300.
    Did I reveal too much?

    The Magicians! They
    go to college in Upstate
    New York. Satisfying.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Winter is coming!
    When you play the Game of Thrones,
    You win or you die.

    (Is it still plagiarism if you convert lines from the book into a poem?) ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Franklin and his bride,
    Eleanor: love, polio,
    Lies, politics, teeth.

    David Brooks is my
    Secret boyfriend. The Social
    Animal = good read.

    Water Behind Us
    Can't seem to find the time to
    Read. Many distrac

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anon. 9:32-- Buddy and Lisa Diamond are fictional characters!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Water Behind Us,
    The Help, Einstein and lastly
    The Bullpen Gospels

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous11:43 AM

    @ Osler: I meant Lisi (damn that spell check), but thanks for the clarification.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I thought you were kidding about the "My Little Phony" book until I looked it up. Now I need to hide the information from my daughter! Let her read about crack addicts and prostitutes instead.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Alive at The Turn,
    Skirt to the floor,corset tight
    Sidle up softly.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Tried The Glass Castle.
    Too sad, but it made me feel
    like a good mother.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous4:30 PM

    I read A Dance With Dragons
    Fifth book in series
    Bloody awesome fantasy, y'all!
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous4:31 PM

    By the way, great Haiku by Ang. Nicely done!
    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  17. Time Magazine and
    Christopaganism and
    Angelology.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous5:38 PM

    The best of stories
    Those I created and dreamed
    Fantasy summer.

    ReplyDelete
  19. David Brooks, Laurie
    Notaro (hilarious)
    & Vanity Fair.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Read 'Cutting for Stone'
    Given to me by my mom
    Enjoyed every page

    ReplyDelete
  21. Bertie 5,Mom-squelched,
    Speaks Italian,plays sax,
    Loo graffiti revenge.


    Angus' dog, Cyril,
    Sports gold tooth,winks at ladies.
    Ankle-bites kid's mom.

    44 SCOTLAND STREET by Alexander McCall Smith.Anything the man writes makes you laugh until your sides hurt,think long and hard about ethical decisions and love the quirky human animal.

    ReplyDelete