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Eureka!

Hi all!  
I've been a digest-lurker for more than a year... but recent happenings have 
compelled me to add my voice to your delightful babbling:

First and most exciting: 
I have front-and-center tickets to the Annapolis show!  Imagine my surprise 
in reading down the list of new shows in The Ram's Head Tavern's email notice 
and discovering that (hallelujah!) Over the Rhine is playing in my very own 
hometown! 

I think twenty seconds may have passed before I was on the phone, credit card 
in hand.... I've been trying to get to a show for eight years! 

I have succeeded only once and was miserably disappointed by the results: 
When they opened for The Cowboy Junkies in DC two years ago, the acoustics or 
some other like factor in The 9:30 Club wilted Karin's voice and 
over-emphasized the guitar or some such...and in any case, I could hardly 
see, stuck in the back of the room on my tip toes. I attempted the Tin Angel 
show in Philadelphia last fall only to discover that BOTH shows had sold out 
more than a week beforehand and my 'advance' planning was a bit too late.   

Second impetus for writing: 
I feel as though I've met some of you after having read your posts for so 
long, but I wouldnt have guessed (although perhaps I shouldn't be surprised) 
that you would share so many of my favorite authors! 

Neal Stephenson is tops on my list; that man has such a way with the English 
language!  I agree with Don Smith that Cryptonomicon is his best... I've read 
it twice but recently loaned it to a friend in a far away state (silly me) 
and doubt now that I'll ever see it again.  Must acquire a new copy!

Rhys mentioned, albeit obliquely, Stephen R. Donaldson, who is also in my top 
five favorites list.  Have any of you read the Gap Series?  Quite a departure 
from Thomas Covenant (different genre, even!) but I impatiently waited for 
each book to be released.  (However, they're not for everyone: if Kogan found 
TC to be "disturbing, and not in a good way" he will NOT enjoy the Gap Series 
at all.  It's quite dark.)

Umberto Eco was suggested (yes, I plodded through Foucault also and felt I 
was missing something... quite deep, and I drowned about halfway through... 
although I will probably attempt it again as I reveled in what I did 
comprehend), Madeline L'Engle was mentioned a while back, and my ten year old 
son is slowly working his way through C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia... a 
series to which I (to a fellow parent who objected to the 'witchcraft') 
compared Harry Potter, as they share themes, in my opinion.  Anyone else on 
here enjoy Harry?

I have a suggestion of my own to add: Nick Hornby's collection of short 
stories  entitled Speaking With the Angel.  

It contains stories by various authors including David Eggers (AHWOSG), 
Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting) and Helen Fielding (of the positively hilarious 
Bridget Jones's Diary); Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity) contributed one 
story and edited the set.  

I did not, but perhaps some of you will, recognize the title (SWTA) as being 
taken from Ron Sexsmith's song of the same name. I discovered that in the 
introduction, which elaborates upon the purpose of the publication: a portion 
of the profits benefit schools for children with autism, such as the one 
Hornby's son attends.  So.. in short: great stories for a good cause, with a 
interesting and, (with a nod to the relevance of my rambling about it on the 
OTR list), a not-quite-even-six-degrees-of-separation title. 

Oh, and how about Tom Robbins?  Fierce Creatures Home From Hot Climates is a 
lively party of words, and Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas is written entirely in 
(if I'm remembering my grammar lessons correctly) the second-person.. quite 
unique.  I'm also a diehard Robert Heinlein fan; I dont *always* agree with 
the man's views, but their wrappings are always a feast (to mix metaphors!)

Enough. I'm sure there's an upper limit of text that it's polite to post.  
This must be near it.   :)

Jotting down others' suggestions....
Miscelena

np: Sixpence, 'Puedo Escribir' (anyone else belatedly discover with delight 
that this was a Pablo Nerudo poem?)



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