Friday Five is Alive!

There's a rumor going around that they will remake the Short Circuit movie. Quake with fear!

Now for the Friday Five.

- R.A. Lafferty's Nine Hundred Grandmothers. It is well-known that the best golden and silver age science fiction came in the form of short stories. Lafferty is one of the masters, his strange, tripy, and humorous stories make for excellent reading.

- Colette's The Vagabond. If you haven't read any Colette, go fix that right now. The Vagabond is about a woman's struggle between control of her life, and romantic attachment. There are some things the French just do better, and existential struggles certainly seem to be among them.

- Gustav Meyrink's The Golem. This book has everything, creepiness, a gem cutter, Prague! Seriously, if there were a better surreal story of a Jewish gem cutter in the ghettos of Old Prague who becomes deeply involved with mysterious cursed imagery and the legend of the golem, then I don't know what it is.

- Saul Bellow's Dangling Man. This is the book that launched my abiding fondness for Saul Bellow (can you call it that when you've only read two of someone's oeuvre? I know, I know, I need to read more of them). The strange beast that is one man's life during the year that he waits to be drafted to fight in World War II.

- Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris. Surprised I haven't done this one yet? Me too. She's got a new book out that I need to read also. These are essays about being a reader and lover of books. It's a good cozy collection for anyone who likes books.