bookofjoe

Me and Richard Powers

The 66-year-old American author has published a total of thirteen novels since his debut, the marvelously inventive, sui generis "Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance," in 1985.

Long ago I decided I would read them all, no matter how difficult (and some are very difficult).

He's so inventive and funny and original and unexpected, and so smart.

Last month I decided to see if I could short-circuit my brain by reading the only four I'd yet to tackle all at once.

My plan was to alternate reading twenty-five pages of each of the four on a regular basis — each novel every day — until I'd finished them all.

The novels:

• "Operation Wandering Soul" (1993)

• "The Time of Our Singing" (2003)

• "Generosity" (2009)

• "Orfeo" (2014)

That experiment lasted four or five days: I had to stop it because my head was exploding trying to keep each book separate and moving along on its own path.

I'm just about done with "Orfeo" and I've decided to do what I've always done when I finish a book of his: wait a few months or years before starting the next one.

I've never seen his name on a list of possible Nobel Prize winners, which surprises me a little but not a lot.

'Lullaby' — Pipilotti Rist

A 2002 piece by the Swiss video and installation artist.

Gold Miner's Machete — 'Keeps Me Searching For A Heart Of Gold'

Glenn Kangiser reviewed this tool in Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools as follows:

This Gerber machete has a normal 16" blade on one side and a serrated saw on the other side.

I go gold prospecting in very overgrown and brushy areas, so the hollow ground machete blade will take care of the smaller stuff and the saw is right there for the occasional limb or larger brush.

This eliminates carrying a saw with me when I already have a lot of other equipment to pack.

I had never seen a machete with a saw on the back, and when I happened on it I knew I had to have one.

$36.43.

You came for the machete but you might want to stick around for the fantastic video below.

Karaoke?

Your wish is my demand.