Book Review: Numb

Just Finished:

Numb: A Novel
by Sean Ferrell

I was touched by Numb. Initially, I was drawn to its subject: pain and after reading it, I was reminded me of the fact that to feel pain is to be human; that it’s what we all have in common. The book follows a character named Numb. Named that way because he turns up at a circus with no memories of who he is or where he came from and without the ability to feel pain. In Numb’s efforts to find an identity without pain, which is what the book asserts is necessary to the process, Numb doesn’t seem to have the ability to worry about the people (who can feel pain) that he leaves in his wake. The novel is at its best in the passages with Ferrell’s ruminations on pain. I wish he had stayed there throughout the novel and had forgone delving into fame’s place in the human experience, but ultimately for a person who’s spent a life healing wounds of the past, it was nice to be reminded that I’m human after all.

Buy it here: Numb: A Novel by Sean Ferrell

Get and Listen to new Sufjan Stevens EP

Forgot to mention this yesterday- Sufjan Stevens has released a new EP. You can download it here or listen to it here

Cool Book Alert: My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me

In My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales, Edited By Kate Bernheimer, fiction authors pick their favorite fairytale and reimagine it. Authors include: Michael Cunningham, Francine Prose, Aimee Bender, and Neil Gaiman, among others. It comes out September 28.

On TV tonight remind: Kids in the Hall

I don’t know why they put shows like this on Friday nights. Well, before you go out you may want to check out Kids in the Hall‘s new special Death Comes to Town, a murder mystery where the Kids cast plays every character. On tonight at 10pm on IFC.

New Releases…sort of UPDATED

Ok, so I didn’t update the releases that came out last week, but there was some really good stuff. So here’s new releases for last and this week:

This Week:

DVD

• Interview with Temple Grandin of the HBO movie of the same name

Books:

• THE PAIN CHRONICLES: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering  By Melanie Thernstrom. Here’s a story about the book from NPR
• War is Boring by war reporter David Axe

• Commuters by Emily Grey Tedrowe
• NY Times article on The Curse of the Good Girl by Rachel Simmons
• The Four Fingers of Death By Rick Moody
• This week’s Book picks
• Nonfiction picks from NPR
• Comics out this week
• Books on “suburban ennui“
• Novels for your emerging adulthood

Last Week:

Dvd:

• Louie Bluie and Crumb

Books:

• The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise
• Rosecrans Baldwin’s debut novel You Lost Me There
• Composed by Rosanne Cash
• The Great Typo Hunt by Jeff Deck
• NPR lists paperback bestsellers of (last) week

Next Week:

• Jonathan Franzan‘s novel Freedom hits stores Aug. 31

Young Adults: A post for you

What’s the cut-off age for when you cease being a young adult and entire into a bonafide adult? As I ponder that, here’s some items for you if you consider yourself a young adult:

• 5 young adult books you read as a tween and deserve another go as an adult
• PBS.org writes about what life is like for a tween
• And can’t resist this doodle diary

In Honor of Prop 8’s demise…

Here’s 20 Cassic Works in Gay Literature…

Talking about: A Lost Movie, Last Words, Sadness A Sickness?

So a new feature on the blog I happen to really like is some items (movies, books, ideas) that are being talked about on the internet. The web maybe be miles wide and about an inch deep, but I’ll cull from that depth. For example, a 1997 movie that was widely talked about, disappeared and has re-appeared this week:

Colin Fitz Lives ,”is a charming, ironic, and absurdist comedy that finds its inspiration in America’s obsessions with fame, celebrity deaths and rock ‘n roll,” was the darling of Sundance 1997, but it never got a theatrical release.  It is being released in limited areas tomorrow Aug. 6. Check out the trailer, but will be available with Video On Demand services

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A book about the last words of people that were sentenced to death throughout history. And yes, “kiss my ass” is included.

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And a book about a guy that went on a mission to correct typos across America

– Books found via Book Bench

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• And finally, is Sadness a Sickness?

Are you gonna watch Arcade Fire’s webcast tonight? UPDATED

Check out their concert from Madison Square Garden tonight at 10pm ET on You Tube…

UPDATE: Video highlights from the show

(more videos are available via link above)

Release Picks has taken a little break, but… UPDATED

So once again, we’re going to do release picks a little different this week, as I am feeling super lazy. I blame it on the heat. Anyways, dvd-centered release picks…

• This record store documentary was released on DVD
• Other dvds out can be found here and here
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs Live in London Concert DVD

Books

• Good picks again from the Largehearted Boy blog
• Review for the Top Chef Cookbook
• NPR’s paperback bestsellers