McG on books

I've bought quite a few books lately for my upcoming getaway. Plus I've been reading two books that have captured my fancy.

"An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories" edited by Ivan Brunetti is a well-assembled collection of the best off-the-beaten-path comic artists and illustrators. All the usual suspects such as Chris Ware, R. Crumb, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez and Daniel Clowes are here as well as several lesser-known folks such as John Porcellino, Mark Beyer and Richard McGuire.

I'm about 50 pages into "So What: The Life of Miles Davis" and think it's pretty right on. It seems well researched, the writing is more factual than presumptuous and it's a compelling story. I'm only up to the beginning of Miles' career, but it's already a captivating read. It's matching my recent delving into Miles' music with "Sketches of Spain," "Blue Note Vol. 3 10,"" "Blue Haze" and "In a Silent Way"

Also picked up a contradictory lot of the serene and the insane:

Tommy Chong - The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint

Allan MacDonell - Prisoner of X: 20 Years in the Hole at Hustler Magazine

Answer Me - The First Three

Paramahansa Yogananda - Inner Peace

Shannon Duncan - Present Moment Awareness

Thich Nhat Hanh - Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames

It's tough for me to sit down, relax and really get into a book these days ... but I'm trying.