Friday Five: 5 Bests Things Jeff Parker Has Read Recently

Somehow I got a copy of Jeff Parker's Ovenman a few years ago and was smitten. Being a punk kid from Florida, it was awesome to read about a punk kid from Florida. Adding post-it notes and pizza made it even better.

After that book, Parker compiled an anthology of Russian stories called Rasskazzy and now has a set of stories called The Taste of Penny from Dzanc Books in April.

Here's the five best things Jeff Parker has read recently:



5. Padgett Powell’s new novel The Interrogative Mood – 164 pages of questions. Sample: “If we were told that Einstein secretly carries a very small pet in his pocket, would we seek to discover what it is? Do you feel all right? Would you be embarrassed or rather thrilled by yourself if you were caught by Einstein with your hand in his coat pocket? Would you prefer to explain yourself in such a moment to Einstein, to Freud or to Picasso? Are you not past the point of explaining yourself in earnest? Would you like to go to the big new grocery store and marvel at packaging? How have we gotten so stoned, on nothing? Can what we have come to be explained merely by fatigue?”



4. "There is somewhat low even in hope." --Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”

3. "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." --Lamar Odom

2. Description of Carl Jung's secret novel stored in a safe in Switzerland, by Sara Corbett, writing for The New York Times Magazine: "Man skids into midlife and loses his soul. Man goes looking for soul. After a lot of instructive hardship and adventure — taking place entirely in his head — he finds it again."

1. Когда мой губы и язык будут упиваться твоим прекрасным, сочным телом, твои (1) стоны / (2) крики (3) наслаждения / (4) экстаза будут слышны в Южной Африке. (When my lips and tongue revel on your beautiful, luscious body, they will hear your (1) moans / (2) screams of (3) pleasure / (4) ecstasy in South Africa.) --English-Russian Dictionary Phrasebook of Love: Words and phrases to win hearts, stir desire, and express feelings by Marina Frolova and Robert Powers