October 11th, 2009 / 5:18 pm
Snippets
Snippets
Roxane Gay—
My copies of Put Your Head in My Lap by Claudia Smith published by Future Tense Books arrived yesterday so I’m going to give a copy away. If you’re interested in receiving a copy of this neat little book, leave a comment with a strange book blurb and I’ll pick a winner at random tomorrow at 5.
If you’ve read the book, what did you think?
I really enjoyed it. she writes with such succinct language. I wrote a review for rumble that should be up soon and molly gaudry conducted an interview with claudia smith that will accompany that review.
I really enjoyed it. she writes with such succinct language. I wrote a review for rumble that should be up soon and molly gaudry conducted an interview with claudia smith that will accompany that review.
Here’s a strange one:
In an alternative future Japan, junior high students are forced to fight to the death! L to R (Western Style). Koushun Takami’s notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan—where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller—Battle Royale is a Lord of the Fliesfor the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language. A group of high school students are taken to small isolated island and forced to fight each other until only one remains alive! If they break the rules a special collar blows their heads off. Koushun Takami’s brutal, high-octane thriller is told in breathless. blow-by-blow fashion. Battle Royale is a contemporary Japanese pulp classic now available for the first time in English.
I have not read it but it sounds …violent.
Here’s a strange one:
In an alternative future Japan, junior high students are forced to fight to the death! L to R (Western Style). Koushun Takami’s notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan—where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller—Battle Royale is a Lord of the Fliesfor the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language. A group of high school students are taken to small isolated island and forced to fight each other until only one remains alive! If they break the rules a special collar blows their heads off. Koushun Takami’s brutal, high-octane thriller is told in breathless. blow-by-blow fashion. Battle Royale is a contemporary Japanese pulp classic now available for the first time in English.
I have not read it but it sounds …violent.
I would enjoy sharing fajitas with Claudia Smith.
I would enjoy sharing fajitas with Claudia Smith.
I enjoyed this too. I thought many of the stories had a really interesting dream-like quality. My favorite story was Hook. That was so fully developed, sharp and haunting and really beautiful work.
I enjoyed this too. I thought many of the stories had a really interesting dream-like quality. My favorite story was Hook. That was so fully developed, sharp and haunting and really beautiful work.
is that manga?
the movie is one of the funniest i’ve ever seen. head’s exploading with gallons of blood spewing 15 feet in the air… shit like that. fun stuff.
is that manga?
the movie is one of the funniest i’ve ever seen. head’s exploading with gallons of blood spewing 15 feet in the air… shit like that. fun stuff.
haven’t read it but just ordered it.. claudia smith is terrific! sky is a well is a slice of stun
haven’t read it but just ordered it.. claudia smith is terrific! sky is a well is a slice of stun
Claudia marries glimpses. She is a little bit Ohio and a whomping dose of lost girls. Language lives in her like milk. Her meat a fact of love or a storied demolition, I praise her. I praise her with a pride
one finds only in the bright ships of reason as they burn. Fugitive Claudia, Nomad Smith, pithy in deep thickets of the town where romance suicides and spires and that apparent hooting is the point: never get dead. Your downed power lines only occur to make taut the strings and pray our filmic light can entertain. With thistles in one hand this fugitive is entering the present, is moving on.
Claudia marries glimpses. She is a little bit Ohio and a whomping dose of lost girls. Language lives in her like milk. Her meat a fact of love or a storied demolition, I praise her. I praise her with a pride
one finds only in the bright ships of reason as they burn. Fugitive Claudia, Nomad Smith, pithy in deep thickets of the town where romance suicides and spires and that apparent hooting is the point: never get dead. Your downed power lines only occur to make taut the strings and pray our filmic light can entertain. With thistles in one hand this fugitive is entering the present, is moving on.
[…] I read Claudia Smith’s Put Your Head in My Lap today and really enjoyed it, particularly for the story, Hook. I’m giving a copy away over here. […]
Like every great lasagna, Garfield was born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant on a winter’s night in 1978, while outside snow fell like gratd [sic] Parmesan cheese. He weighed five pounds, six ounces at birth–that’s big for a kitten!–and right from the start showed a passion for Italian food. the restaurant owner, forced to choose between Garfield and closing his doors for lack of pasta, sold Garfield to a pet store. Garfield thought he was a goner until Jon Arbuckle walked in the door.
The rest is history.
Like every great lasagna, Garfield was born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant on a winter’s night in 1978, while outside snow fell like gratd [sic] Parmesan cheese. He weighed five pounds, six ounces at birth–that’s big for a kitten!–and right from the start showed a passion for Italian food. the restaurant owner, forced to choose between Garfield and closing his doors for lack of pasta, sold Garfield to a pet store. Garfield thought he was a goner until Jon Arbuckle walked in the door.
The rest is history.
i liked your rumpus play! it was funny and i emailed it to my friend.
would like to read claudia…..
i liked your rumpus play! it was funny and i emailed it to my friend.
would like to read claudia…..
This is one head you’ll want in your lap. Claudia’s prose is a brow worthy of long caress.
This is one head you’ll want in your lap. Claudia’s prose is a brow worthy of long caress.
“I haven’t read this, but I will say that it is – undeniably, undisputedly, incontrovertibly – a book.”
“I haven’t read this, but I will say that it is – undeniably, undisputedly, incontrovertibly – a book.”
The stories in Claudia Smith’s Put Your Head in My Lap are not unlike the banana traps used by indigenous hunters in Asia to catch chimps. Like the chimps lured to the hollowed, banana filled gourds tied to trees, you will be unable to put down these bittersweet treats until you’re let go. If you’re let go.
The stories in Claudia Smith’s Put Your Head in My Lap are not unlike the banana traps used by indigenous hunters in Asia to catch chimps. Like the chimps lured to the hollowed, banana filled gourds tied to trees, you will be unable to put down these bittersweet treats until you’re let go. If you’re let go.
It’s pretty tacky to lurk for as long as I have and only pop my head out to get a Head in My Lap, but what can you do? A few minutes browsing Amazon’s Christian Romance section netted me this-
In this third novel in Monroe’s bestselling God Don’t series [God Don’t Play], Annette Goode finally has it all: a sexy husband who adores her, a beautiful young daughter, a comfy house, a good job and a perfect best friend. But why is someone suddenly sending her anonymous hate mail? As the poison pen letters and threatening phone calls become more ugly and violent, Annette takes her friend Rhoda’s advice and sets out to discover and expose the culprit. Along the way, she is forced to dust off some of the skeletons in her closet—including childhood poverty and sexual abuse, a brief stint turning tricks as a teenager, and being an accessory to murder. Annette also confronts gnawing insecurity: obese and unfashionable, she wonders how long she can hang onto a husband who, according to gossip from the local beauty parlor, still has his name tattooed on the buttocks of Annette’s prime suspect, the town femme fatale.
It’s pretty tacky to lurk for as long as I have and only pop my head out to get a Head in My Lap, but what can you do? A few minutes browsing Amazon’s Christian Romance section netted me this-
In this third novel in Monroe’s bestselling God Don’t series [God Don’t Play], Annette Goode finally has it all: a sexy husband who adores her, a beautiful young daughter, a comfy house, a good job and a perfect best friend. But why is someone suddenly sending her anonymous hate mail? As the poison pen letters and threatening phone calls become more ugly and violent, Annette takes her friend Rhoda’s advice and sets out to discover and expose the culprit. Along the way, she is forced to dust off some of the skeletons in her closet—including childhood poverty and sexual abuse, a brief stint turning tricks as a teenager, and being an accessory to murder. Annette also confronts gnawing insecurity: obese and unfashionable, she wonders how long she can hang onto a husband who, according to gossip from the local beauty parlor, still has his name tattooed on the buttocks of Annette’s prime suspect, the town femme fatale.
oh i didn’t realize there was a contest going on! i was like “these are really weird comments”
um, my comment isn’t an entry
it’s just a comment
oh i didn’t realize there was a contest going on! i was like “these are really weird comments”
um, my comment isn’t an entry
it’s just a comment
No it’s from the book. I thought the movies sucked. They were just horribly made!
No it’s from the book. I thought the movies sucked. They were just horribly made!
If Claudia Smith had 100,000 readers, the world would be better, but, when she met Lenin, the world _was_ better.
If Claudia Smith had 100,000 readers, the world would be better, but, when she met Lenin, the world _was_ better.
The winner is Pete! Thanks for playing all, and do consider buying the book. It’s quite good.
The winner is Pete! Thanks for playing all, and do consider buying the book. It’s quite good.
I think Nico should get 2nd place though. I’m glad that people are connecting to this book. This book, for the most part, is about disconnecting, and I think people relate to that.
I think Nico should get 2nd place though. I’m glad that people are connecting to this book. This book, for the most part, is about disconnecting, and I think people relate to that.
I liked Nico’s too.
I liked Nico’s too.
Good thing for me that the winner (me) was chosen at random, because pretty much everybody else put more thought into their blurbs than I did.
Good thing for me that the winner (me) was chosen at random, because pretty much everybody else put more thought into their blurbs than I did.
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