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Stuff I'm Reading

 *"Song of Spider-Man." This is an amazing memoir about the ill-fated musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. (Our guide is the "book" writer for that show, Glen Berger.)


This memoir made me laugh so hard, I started to cry. At one point, Spider-Man is supposed to have a big Act One climactic moment; he swings out toward the audience, and the lights go off. But his rope gets snared, one night, so he just dangles above the crowd. Someone tries to swat him with a stick. A paying customer in the audience shouts, "I've had enough!" And later she compares the theatrical experience to being a frog in a pot of water, on a flame; she says, "There is failure after failure, and then you realize you're done."



*"Are You a Cow?" Another Sandra Boynton classic, where the title just "sings." And the opening lines are unbeatable: "Hey, I'm a chicken! Yes, it's true. Tell me, tell me: What are you?" ....Literary master class, start to finish.



*"Kiss," by Ed McBain. Husband hires Killer to off Wife. But Killer falls in love with Wife. Or does he? And what is Wife thinking? What has she uncovered? 

This is a nice companion piece if you've recently watched Dial M for Murder. A thick stew of secrets and lies. And I didn't predict the ending; I'm certain I'll read more McBain.
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