20-Word Fiction: Reading at Home

Greetings to our blog readers in Slovenia, France and Cyprus.........

Today's 20-word story is our ninth in a series of ten; they are sort of written on the spot; you can presume it takes place in High Point, NC, if you life:

"Mary was reading 'Fight Club' in her den when the ceiling collapsed. She wished she had gone to Starbucks instead."

http://chuckpalahniuk.net/

http://www.starbucks.com/

The Last Ten Films I've Seen- Lots of Dark Stuff

We need to put this relatively quickly, so it can get to our loyal readers in Pyonyang, North Korea. Of course, that is a joke. But, for those of you who haven't seen David Fincher's 1999 cinematic adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel "Fight Club," soap figures prominently in the film.

Here is the list:

1. "Contagion" 2011. dir- Steven Soderbergh. With Matt Damon and Kate Winslet

2. "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" 1991. dir- David DeCateau...yes, it is awful!

3. "Cold Weather" 2010. dir-Aaron Katz

4. "Ball of Fire" 1941. dir- Howard Hawks. With Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper

5. "Seven Men from Now." 1956. dir- Budd Boetticher. With Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin.

6. "Straw Dogs" 2011. dir-Rod Lurie. With Kate Bosworth. (the 1971 original directed by Sam Peckinpah is much better)

7. "Voices in Wartime." doc. 2005. dir-Rick King

8. "Sarah's Key." 2010. dir- Gilles Paquet-Brenner. With Kristin Scott Thomas.

9. "Fight Club." 1999. dir- David Fincher. With Ed Norton and Brad Pitt.

10. "Guys and Dolls" 1955. dir-Joseph L. Makiewicz. With Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

Status Update-Deliberating Over Which Book to Check Out

As of 2:40 p.m., this is on my mind as I am blogging from a public library in Wytheville, Va., or somewhere within 150 miles of there:

"Should I check out Chuck Palahniuk's modern classic 'Choke,' or given the fact that I've already read it six or seven times, is it time to move on?"

As movie buffs know, "Choke" was made into a film which I was very disappointed with about two years ago. The author is best known for "Fight Club." Both the novel and the film have a large cult following.

I just learned today that one of Palahniuk's other novels "Invisible Monsters" has been made into a film which come out this year. My personal favorite Palahniuk novel is perhaps "Diary," but I haven't read it six or seven times!