When I'm not

in the office writing up all of the local weekend and sports news I can

get my hands on, I'm at home either playing video games or reading. Lately,

it has been more of the latter.

I got a lot

of books for Christmas and now I am done with all of them. I'm like my

mom that way. We don't just read books, we devour them. In fact, during

one stretch, I was reading "The Talisman" by Stephen King and

Peter Straub and my reading pace was so fast it felt like I was living

the book. We're talking a couple hundred pages a night here. My brain

hurt.

Anyway, this

week's column is about the books I have recently read and books I can

recommend to the general public. The books I received for Christmas were

"Live From New York," which is the oral history of Saturday

Night Live; "Blackwood Farm" by Anne Rice, a novel which combines

the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches stories; "The Secret

History" by Donna Tartt; and "From a Buick 8" by Stephen

King.

First off,

I guess it's obvious that I like tales of the supernatural. I've read

just about everything by Stephen King and his alter ego Richard Bachman,

and I read a lot of Anne Rice before her books became all about trysts

with house boys in ancient Rome. "Blackwood Farm" was a good

way to get back into Anne Rice. Lestat, her most famous creation, is back

in this story and the history of the main character, Tarquin, and his

family is very interesting. Rice is an excellent writer and if the Louisiana

Board of Tourism should sign her up to help promote tourism to the state.

I've never been but now I want to go more than ever.

"From

a Buick 8" was great, partially because I was expecting a story about

a haunted car, which would be very similar to King's "Christine,"

and it wasn't like that at all. The story was more about life and choices.

It moved quickly and wasn't gross or profane, which are some of the complaints

I've heard people have about King's work. The book chronicles 25 years

at a Pennsylvania State Patrol barracks, where a strange thing that looks

like a car is held. I just finished it this morning and it makes me weep

that a talent like King is nearing retirement.

I was fascinated

by "Live From New York" mainly because it has always been my

dream to write for Saturday Night Live. Though now that I've finished

the book, I'm not so sure I'd want that. (Though if Lorne Michaels is

ever reading this column, I really would like to take a crack at it.)

The authors interviewed the stars, guest stars, writers and producers

of the show and chronicled the ups and downs over the span of the show.

It reads really fast because it is basically just dialogue and the only

thing wrong with the book is that there is no comment from Eddie Murphy,

who was an integral part of the show in the 1980s.

The best of

the books I read since Christmas was "The Secret History." The

story focuses on a young man from California who transfers to a private

college in Vermont and falls in with a wealthy and intellectual crowd

with a secret. The book quickly becomes as suspenseful as a Hitchcock

thriller and when the book ended I was a little shaken. I don't want to

give anything away but I highly recommend this book.

If none of

these books sound interesting to you, here are a few of my favorites that

you might like: "The Drifters," by James Michener, which is

about a bunch of young people from all over the world who meet in Spain

and travel around Europe and Africa; "How To Be Good" by Nick

Hornby, which is about a guy who changes his life and the people around

him for better and worse; The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, an epic

story following a gunslinger trying to bring down ultimate evil and save

the universe; "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlen,

a story about a man that preaches love and changes the world and the people

around him; and finally, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and

Klay" by Michael Chabon, which is about two cousins who make comic

books at the dawn of World War II. "Kavalier and Klay" is about

much more than that and is more book than you will know what to do with.

Next up for

me will be "Lovely Bones," which I hear is great. I am also

waiting for the next installments of the Dark Tower and the Harry Potter

series.

That's it for

Mike's Book Club. Next week, we'll be talking with Dr. Phil and author

Gary Zukov.

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