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British actor Hugh Laurie is probably most well-known for his work on the hit television show House but since I have never seen an episode of the medical drama, I'm not a fan of his because of that. Rather, I'm a fan of his because of his humor and his ability to always make me laugh whenever he is at an awards show and makes a speech. Being from England, his sense of humor could be considered different than the humor most are used to. It's dry and sarcastic and dark. But I love British humor. Just another thing I inherited from my dad. But now I'm a fan of Hugh Laurie because of his debut thriller novel The Gun Seller. It was published back in May of 2004 but I just discovered it a few months ago buried on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. Standing in the aisle, I read the first few pages and after actually laughing out loud at several parts, I knew I had to get it. I bought it and read it in about three days.

Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead -- a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femmes fatales. Up against rogue CIA agents, wannabe terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang's out to save the leggy lady he has come to love...and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.

An exert from The Gun Seller: I've been in prison, you see. Only three weeks, and only on remand, but when you've had to play chess twice a day with a monosyllabic West Ham supporter, who has 'HATE' tattooed on one hand, and 'HATE' on the other -- using a set missing six pawns, all the rooks and two of the bishops -- you find yourself cherishing the little things in life. Like not being in prison. [Copyright © 1996 by Hugh Laurie]

If you have a chance to read this book, do it. It's funny, suspensful, and intense and it definitely draws the reader in just after the first few pages. The way it is written also makes it for a fast read. I hope Hugh Laurie plans on writing another book because if it's anything like The Gun Seller, I am already going to love it.

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During the second semester of my senior year in college, Melissa and I managed to get into History of Rock and Roll - a normally difficult class to get into since it usually fills up on the first day of registration. We did not exactly care for the teacher but the class itself was one of the best classes I have ever taken. Despite knowing a lot of what was being taught, I got to learn more about different kinds of music and my favorite artists and I got to piss some students off by saying that The Beatles were overrated. The text book for that class is probably the best book you could ever read on the subject of rock. Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock 'n' Roll Music by Greil Marcus is written in such a way that makes it both an easy and a wonderfully fascinating read.

Here is an excerpt on Marcus' chapter written on The Band:
"Their music gave us a sure sense that the country was richer than we had guessed; that it had possibilities we were only beginning to perceive. In the unique blend of instruments and good rhythms, in the shared and yet completely individual vocals, in the half-lost phrases and buried lyrics, there was an ambiguity that opened up the world with real force. The songs captured the yearning for home and the fact of displacement that ruled our lives; we thought that the Band's music was the most natural parallel to our hopes, ambitions, and doubts, and we were right to think so. Flowing through their music were spirits of acceptance and desire, rebellion and awe, raw excitement, good sex, open humor, a magic feel for history - a determination to find plurity and drama in an America we had met too often as a monolith.
The Band's music made us feel part of their adventure; we knew that we would win if they succeeded and lose if they failed..." [Marcus, Penguin Books.]

The whole book is not a love fest. After saying such kind, and true, words of The Band, he talks about their songs, their history and their impact. Mystery Train is such a enjoyment to read because not only does Marcus know and love the history of music, but he loves the music. And it shows.

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After getting more than a dozen books for Christmas, the odds of me reading a spectacular one are in my favor. The book of the moment for me would have to be John Connelly's The Book of Lost Things. After his mother dies, and his father grows more distant, David stays in his attic bedroom and reads the books that once belonged to his mother, losing himself in imaginary and wonderful worlds that give him his only company. But the real world and fantasy world are beginning to meld together:

"That was when the trouble started.

That was when the bad things came.

That was when the Crooked Man began to appear to David."

And with those sentences, chapter one comes to a close and I was unable to put the book down for the rest of the afternoon. And I'm certain that if you read this, you won't be able to either. Remember. Everything you can imagine is real.

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I've talked about illustrator/author Dame Darcy before because I absolutely adore her. Last week, I bought another book by her, Frightful Fairytales, and read it the very day I got it. The verdict is in. This book is incredibly amazing and therefore, gets the honor of being the first book of my must-read posts, which will become monthly.

Darcy wrote and illustrated the six original dark romantic horror fairy tales in the book and it is definitely a quick and easy yet very enjoyable read. My favorite story was definitely the first short story "Persimmion", a story of a girl who is turned into a statue by her witch of a mother only to fall in love with a boy who thinks that she is just stone. "You can never leave the mill, for you have defied my will. Eternally remain alone. You shall forever stand a stone." But don't worry. Each of the stories ends happily, or as happily as they can, in the true nature of fairy tales.