0 0 0 0 30B - The Michigan Daily - WeeeL, ek. - Best of Ann Arbor - Thursday, April 18, 1996 The Michigan Daily - W, c; wer A4 Funniest Reading: T. Coraghessan Boyle In October, the audience at Rackham loved his blackly come- dic story, "Termination Dust," about a matchmaking scenario that goes strangely awry. And hey, the guy has a cool skull ring, too. You gotta love that. Most Difficult Reading to Attend: Jamaica Kincaid While her novel "The Autobiog- raphy of My Mother" is definitely memorable, its intense and unspar- ing plot is not for everyone - es- pecially when in the overflowing Pendleton Room, listening to a too- lengthy excerpt, in January. Read- ings should be fun, and this wasn't. Most Overlooked Reading: Mark Winegardner His debut novel, "The Veracruz Blues," about a 1946 Mexican base- ball league, is a realistically told and fascinating story. It was also re- cently lauded in The New York Times BookReview, butunfortu- nately, Borders gave it almost no publicity. Wait a second, maybe this was a clever little marketing strat- egy - if you don't go to the read- ing, you gotta buy the book, right?! Best Place for Readings: Shaman Drum They host some of the most unique and offbeat poets and writ- ers to come to Ann Arbor - and they give you food. Another wel- come touch is that Shaman Drum allows listeners to look at copies of the book during the reading, and usually has signed copies for sale months after the event. Readings here are always crowded, but at- tending them is well worth sitting on the floor. Worst Place for Readings: Borders Books and Music Here's an odd situation: Borders lures in some extremely famous au- thors (Hillary Clinton, Robert Shapiro), but relegates its readings to a small,inadequate corner of the second floor. Not to mention the fact that Shapiro's scheduled talk at Borders was reduced to a book sign- ing, since Borders couldn't accom- modate the crowd that came to hear him. Better arrangements are defi- nitely needed here. Funniest Book: Jane Smiley's "Moo" A deadpan-hilarious satire about students and faculty at a midwestern agricultural university. Let's just say that a central motif in the book is a massive pig hidden in an empty campus building. Too hard for you to suspend disbelief? Come on, now, at Orientation you believed that one about stepping on the "M"... Best of.Results Best of the University: Best of Restaurants:l Best of Entertainment:l Best of Dating:l Best of Business:l Best of the Rest:l Best of Photo: Best of Music:l Best of Film:l Wedt toe Page 4, 6 Page 9-11 Page 15 Page 18 Page 20-22 Page 23 Page 16-17 Page 24-25 Page 26-27 Best of Theater: Best of Books: Also: The List Page 28-29 Page 30 At the end of every year, the Daily sends oui let people in the community vote on what they of Ann Arbor - everything from certain aspect your favorite places to go to be entertained. T[ our official Daily Arts Snide Commentary" app etc.. which sadly enough, you are holding in y moment. it's been rough sometimes and also very re" There have been a few changes of editors, ma shoplifted stereos (oh, were we supposed to k be hard to believe, even an occasional error. B every week, and we'd like to think that most of Thank you to all our readers and everyone wh they thought of the section. Complimnents were also thoroughly taken into account (read: laugh there. We, really did try our best to put out an e enough of this sappy blubbering. You can judg for yourselves .._ We're going to Disney World. Page 31 Jamaica Kincald's memorable book didn't make for a memorable reading. Next Famous Writer from Ann Arbor: Laura Kasischke All bets here are on this author of two books of poetry and a re- Express your love with Gold Y~-. Classic Styles in 14 karat gold...guaranteed to last a lifetime by Carla. 1113 South University 662-3773 cently published novel -- the sus- penseful and disturbing "Suspi- cious River." Kasischke is also a University alum who won a mind- blowing 12 Hopwoods as an undergrad. If you were fool enough to miss her two March readings at Shaman Drum, cross your fingers that there'll be more. Most Likely to Have a Few Scotches Before the Reading: Martin A mis He was witty and whimsical as ex- pected, and his reading was a joy to at- tend. But a few stumbling slurs and a few disjointed, off-the-wall and hard- to-follow ramblings indicate that he may have been a wee bit pissed. How Did Such a Little Guy Write Such a Big Book Award: Kazuo Ishiguro He packed Rackham with a read- ing from his lengthy and plodding "The Unconsoled." But it was hard to believe this was a leading British novelist: He was nice and sober. Most Academic "Non- Academic" Writer: Arwulf Arwulf He's not a professor, he's an LSA projectionist, but he's probably read everything in the Graduate Library. Best Place to Browse for Books: David's Books On the corner of State and Liberty. towering stacks and shelves encom- pass everything from Camus to King. This makes the independent book- seller a bookw'oim's'dream. - Best of Columns Dean Bakopoulos: Page 8 Alexandra Twin: Page 12 U UMNI Brent McIntosh: Kari Jones: Greg Parker: R&a Weekend, etc. Editors: Kari Jones Staff: Dean Bakopoulos, Melissa Rc Brian A. Gnatt, Elizabeth Lucas, Brent Joshua Rich, Alexandra Twin and TedI Photo Staff: Tonya Board, Diane Cc Kichanantha, Stephanie Grace Lim, Jo and Kristen Schaefer. Page 13 Page 14 Page 19 Biz Asts% A b REALlAN RESTAURANT *This is dedicated to former Weekend co-editor Jen Buckley. 11 MCAT-LSA T-GMAT-GRE Choose to EXCEL! " Learn to AntIcipate the Exam's Thinking * Develop Confidence & Study Efficiently *Improve Your Test-Taking Skills COMPREHENSIVE EXAM PREPARATION INDIVIDUALIZED & AFFORDABLE Fine Italian Cooking by Mama Rosa 'Beer * Wine * Liquor *Outdoor Cafe *Renovated Interior 'Open Seven Days _ i / Voted nn Ar 's Bes Used ec Sto 1985, 1986, 1 8?. 19 8 19 9. 90. 99, 1992 1993.1 94.19 5 C na t Ds For the b t value in usic, come to azoo Reco S. Located at 3 1/2 S. Stat R D S in Downtown nn Arbor. DS 3 13)7?61- 8 Li A Balkh, go pi I Sin Test Preparation 1100 Sou 996-1500 ti r s