Rube Reads Too

Yankee Rose isn’t the only one who reads in the A-List family. For the sake of diversity and to satisfy whatever curiosity you may have, here’s Rube’s Reading list.

If you follow Atlanta’s A-List on Goodreads or Twitter or Facebook you may have seen updates for some of these titles. However, as there is no standard forum for sharing short stories and comics, I decided to add this page for those who might share my interest in that genre. In other words, this fills the gaps.

As with Yankee Rose’s list please consider supporting our blog by clicking the title and purchasing a book through our Amazon Affiliate program.

Please scroll to the bottom for the latest updates.  

Wow, new updates for 2013.  How long will it last? You will only know if you come back to find out.

Burning Bright by Ron Rash. An amazing and powerful collection of stories from this prize-winning author. Highly recommended. (4/18/10)

Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore. OMFG! Another teenage vampire book. (4/20/10)

“By Any Other Name” by Alice J. Marshall from the collection Best New American Voices 2007. (4/22/10)

“The King of Sentences” by Jonathan Lethem from the collection The Best American Short Stories 2008. Hilarious. (4/25/10)

“Paradise” by Jill McCorkle from the collection Final Vinyl Days: And Other Stories. (4/28/10)

“Admiral” by T.C. Boyle from the collection The Best American Short Stories 2008. (5/1/10)

Selected floppies through issue 15 of the Vertigo series Unknown Solider, written by Joshua Dysart and illustrated by Alberto Ponticelli and Pat Masioni. Issues 1-12 are collected in two volumes, Unknown Soldier Vol. 1: Haunted House and Unknown Soldier Vol. 2: Easy Kill. Wow. Best comic I have picked up in some time. Powerful, political and dramatic. The rave reviews are warranted. (5/3/10)

Tabloid Dreams by Robert Olen Butler. Inventive and off-kilter collection of stories based on imagined tabloid headlines by the Pulitzer Prize winner. (5/5/10)

“The Year of Silence” by Kevin Brockmeier from the collection The Best American Short Stories 2008. Great. (5/6/10)

“Last Request” by Jill McCorkle from the collection Final Vinyl Days: And Other Stories. (5/7/10)

“Fiesta, 1980″ by Junot Diaz from the collection The Best American Short Stories 1997. (5/9/10)

“Their Ancient, Glittering Eyes”, “Chemistry” and “Last Rite” by Ron Rash from the collection Chemistry and Other Stories. (5/10/10)

“Final Vinyl Days” “Your Husband is Cheating on Us” and “The Anatomy of Man” by Jill McCorkle from the collection Final Vinyl Days: And Other Stories. (5/11/10)

“Blackberries in June” and “Not Waving But Drowning” by Ron Rash from the collection Chemistry and Other Stories. (5/11/10)

“Buying Lenin” by Miroslav Penkov from the collection The Best American Short Stories 2008. Another winner from this collection. (5/12/10)

Fell Vol. 1: Feral City written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by Ben Templesmith. (5/14/10)

“The Wizard of West Orange” by Steven Millhauser and “Nawabdin Electrician” by Daniyal Mueenuddin from the collection The Best American Short Stories 2008. (5/18/10)

“Cold Harbor” by Ron Rash from the collection Chemistry and Other Stories. (5/21/10)

“Fishing with Wussy” by Richard Russo from Granta 19: More Dirt. (5/22/10)

“Ash” by Roddy Doyle from the May 24, 2010 issue of The New Yorker. (5/24/10)

The last five stories in Chemistry and Other Stories by Ron Rash including “Pemberton’s Wife” which formed the basis for his novel, Serena and “Speckled Trout” which won the 2005 O. Henry Award and was expanded to become the novel, The World Made Straight. (5/28/10)

“Strike Anywhere” by Antonya Nelson from the collection The Story Behind the Story: 26 Stories by Contemporary Writers and How They Work. (5/30/10)

“Hand Jive” by Andrew Cozine from the collection The Best American Short Stories 1995. A bit strange and the author’s note really tops it off. The novel never came… (5/31/10)

“The Knocking” by David Means from the collection The Spot: Stories. (6/8/10)

“The Runaway General” by Michael Hastings from Rolling Stone, RS 1108/1109, July 8-22, 2010. (6/23/2010)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. (7/20/10)

WAR by Sebastian Junger. (7/28/10)

“The Creeping Siamese” by Dasheill Hammett from the collection The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps. (8/1/10)

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven B. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner. (8/19/10)

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. (8/25/10)

The Right Madness by James Crumley. (9/9/10)

“Chicago Confetti” by William Rollins, Jr. from the collection The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps. (9/11/10)

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. (9/23/10)

The Walking Dead, Book 1 by Robert Kirkman (Author), Tony Moore (Illustrator), Charlie Adlard (Illustrator), Cliff Rathburn (Illustrator). (9/30/10)

The Walking Dead, Book 2 and The Walking Dead, Book 3
by Robert Kirkman (Author) and Charlie Adlard (Illustrator) and Cliff Rathburn (Author). (10/2/10)

The Walking Dead, Book 4 and The Walking Dead Book 5 by Robert Kirkman (Author) and Charlie Adlard (Illustrator) and Cliff Rathburn (Author). Yes, we are on the bandwagon. Wow, powerful stuff. (10/3/10)

“Werewolves in Their Youth” and “House Hunting” by Michael Chabon from his collection of stories, Werewolves in Their Youth. (10/23/10)

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. (10/27/10)

“The Whore’s Child” and “Monhegan Light” by Richard Russo from the collection, The Whore’s Child (10/28/10)

Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future by Robert Reich. (11/1/10)

“The Scholar” by Jeffrey Toobin, Annals of Law, The New Yorker, October 4, 2010. (11/8/10)

Empire Falls by Richard Russo. (11/27/10)

Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen. (01/04/11)

“The Toppling” by Peter Maas. The New Yorker, January 10, 2011. (01/8/11)

“The Commandments” by Jill Lepore. The New Yorker, Jan. 17, 2011. (1/15/11)

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. (1/28/11)

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes. (2/09/11)

Surely I must have read something since I last updated this list…oh yeah, the book club books and a couple of New Yorker articles. Here you go.

The History of Love by Alison Krauss. (3/3/11)

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon. (4/15/11)

“Creation Myth” by Malcolm Gladwell in the May 16, 2011 issue of the New Yorker. (5/22/11)

“Madoff’s Curveball” by Jeffrey Toobin from the May 30, 2011 issue of the New Yorker. (5/24/11)

Serena by Ron Rash. Brilliant. Ron Rash has become one of my favorite authors, bar none. (6/2/11)

So long since I updated this I don’t even remember when I read what I’ve read. Here’s to takin’ a couple shots at it though…

I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive by Steve Earle. Quite good. Endorsed by Ron Rash on the back cover, which motivated me to read it. (7/2011)

Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga by Ian Christe. Simply a guilty pleasure. Riotous fun for a child of the 80s who would have once defended the juvenile jackass behavior of both Eddie and DLR as cool. (7/2011)

The Walking Dead Volume 14 by by Robert Kirkman (Author) and Charlie Adlard (Illustrator). (7/2011) Still reading it. Still compelling. Read the last few floppies that followed this trade too. I think I’m up to issue 88.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. A great read and a chilling account of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (8/2011)

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Zeitoun inspired me to take on this behemoth and let me be candid, I might not make it through all of it, but through three chapters there is no doubt that Douglas Brinkley is a fine historian with a style and pace accessible to all. (8/2011)

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, by Erik Larson. (10/2011)

A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. (11/19/11)

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. (11/25/11)

Cat’s Karma by Christopher Moore. A short story from early in Mr. Moore’s career that was once published on his website.  The story is not typical of the author’s work in either style or content, i.e., it’s isn’t chatty or funny.  (11/27/11)

…

John McAfee’s Last Stand by Joshua Davis.  Originally published in Wired Magazine.  Bizarre and fascinating.  Yes, the millionaire founder of the anti-virus software hid in a spider hole to elude police.  (1/20/13)

Slumlord: What has Hugo Chavas wrought in Venezuela? by Jon Lee Anderson.  Appearing in the January 28, 2013 issue of the New Yorker.  A frightening look inside modern Caracas and the world’s tallest slum – the 45 story Tower of David – and the men who made it happen.  (1/23/13).

Raylan by Elmore Leonard. (2/5/10)

Currently reading as of January 2013 (who knows when/if I will finish):

American Colossus, The Triumph of Capitalism 1865-1900, by H.W. Brands.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.

Beyond Outrage: What Has Gone Wrong with Our Economy and Our Democracy and What to Do About It by Robert B. Reich.