Wow, I didn't read a lot of books in 2015. Well, I didn't finish a lot of books. Here's what I finished this year:
Little House Living: The Make-Your-Own Guide to a Frugal, Simple, and Self-Sufficient Life. Merissa Alink*
Hark! A Vagrant. Kate Beaton.*
The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love. Jill Conner Browne
Throw Out 50 Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life. Gail Blanke*
Ready Player One. Ernest Cline
Between the World and Me. Ta-Nehasi Coates*
Beowulf. Seamus Heaney, translator.
Death of a Naturalist. Seamus Heaney*
Fieldwork. Seamus Heaney*
Teach Your Children Well. Madeline Levine.*
Drift. Rachel Maddow*
Tiny Beautiful Things. Cheryl Strayed.*
A Room of One's Own. Virginia Woolf.
I read plenty of books to Evelyn. I also started several books and stopped when I didn't want to read them anymore. There was a book about happiness that went on for way too long, so I guess I'll just have to wing it. There was a poetry volume of Heaney's that was just...way too smart for me. I tried to read "The Millionaire Next Door" but it's just a book about how some people got rich several decades ago and I really don't think I'd want any of them to be my neighbor. There were others, but I guess they didn't make enough of an impression on me for me to remember why I quit reading them.
A few of these books were re-reads, and I already want to go back to Beowulf and A Room of One's Own. I'm hoping to read more DIY books, maybe more poetry, and I'd like to reread some of my favorites. I think I'm going to start with Harriet the Spy.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2016
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Book list for March 2013.
The Mystery of the Third Mile. Colin Dexter.
I have no idea what happened. This guy is dead! No, he faked it! No, the body is still his! No, it's not! But I never fully understood how or why! I blame being deathly sick for my misunderstanding. I think this will be fun to reread.
Kindness Goes Unpunished. Craig Johnson.*
This is the third book in the Walt Longmire mystery series and I like it because it has very wide margins and nearly double-spaced lines with font that's not quite large enough for visually impaired eyeballs, but large enough to enjoy as you're falling asleep. Interesting characters. Poetic descriptions that don't get too flowery. A dog.
Another Man's Moccasins. Craig Johnson.*
This is the fourth book in the Walt Longmire mystery series and I didn't like it as much as the others. There were flashbacks and the flashbacks didn't quite ring true (to Vietnam. Spare me.) and very little annoys me in books or movies or television series as flashbacks. I don't know when this started to irritate me so much, but my tolerance for flashbacks has gotten ridiculously low this year.
Homeward Bound: Why More Women are Embracing the New Domesticity. Emily Matcher.*
This was incredibly fascinating, and left me with even more questions. Toward the end, I started flinging around Post-It notes. I need to return this book to the library on Saturday (it's still a fourteen-day checkout, so I don't think I can renew it), so I'm going to try to at least type out the quotes and points I found most interesting because at some point in the near future I'm going to hammer out a bunch of thoughts and opinions and feelings about this book and this shift that's happening. Or at least these stories about this shift that I keep seeing everywhere. And how it's not always that positive. As a fairly DIY, crafty, bloggy person, I surprised at how I was really into some of Matcher's criticisms of domesticity as this super feminine, super wonderful thing. Oh look, here's a paragraph already.
As always, library books are marked with asterisks.
Currently reading:
Dark Horse. Craig Johnson.* More flashbacks. But just to a period of time a few weeks before the 'main' story takes place. Still. For Pete's sakes.
Broke is Beautiful: Living and Loving the Cash-Strapped Life. Laura Lee. I'm a whole two pages in, so we'll see.
I have no idea what happened. This guy is dead! No, he faked it! No, the body is still his! No, it's not! But I never fully understood how or why! I blame being deathly sick for my misunderstanding. I think this will be fun to reread.
Kindness Goes Unpunished. Craig Johnson.*
This is the third book in the Walt Longmire mystery series and I like it because it has very wide margins and nearly double-spaced lines with font that's not quite large enough for visually impaired eyeballs, but large enough to enjoy as you're falling asleep. Interesting characters. Poetic descriptions that don't get too flowery. A dog.
Another Man's Moccasins. Craig Johnson.*
This is the fourth book in the Walt Longmire mystery series and I didn't like it as much as the others. There were flashbacks and the flashbacks didn't quite ring true (to Vietnam. Spare me.) and very little annoys me in books or movies or television series as flashbacks. I don't know when this started to irritate me so much, but my tolerance for flashbacks has gotten ridiculously low this year.
Homeward Bound: Why More Women are Embracing the New Domesticity. Emily Matcher.*
This was incredibly fascinating, and left me with even more questions. Toward the end, I started flinging around Post-It notes. I need to return this book to the library on Saturday (it's still a fourteen-day checkout, so I don't think I can renew it), so I'm going to try to at least type out the quotes and points I found most interesting because at some point in the near future I'm going to hammer out a bunch of thoughts and opinions and feelings about this book and this shift that's happening. Or at least these stories about this shift that I keep seeing everywhere. And how it's not always that positive. As a fairly DIY, crafty, bloggy person, I surprised at how I was really into some of Matcher's criticisms of domesticity as this super feminine, super wonderful thing. Oh look, here's a paragraph already.
As always, library books are marked with asterisks.
Currently reading:
Dark Horse. Craig Johnson.* More flashbacks. But just to a period of time a few weeks before the 'main' story takes place. Still. For Pete's sakes.
Broke is Beautiful: Living and Loving the Cash-Strapped Life. Laura Lee. I'm a whole two pages in, so we'll see.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Book list for February 2014
Last Bus to Woodstock: An Inspector Morse Mystery. Colin Dexter.
Casey gave me a couple of Inspector Morse books for Christmas and I just finished the first one. I love middle-aged, alcoholic loners with unorthodox investigative practices.
(See: 2012's book list. I read every English translation of the Kurt Wallander novels, and a collection of short stories.)
Currently reading:
The Mystery of the Third Mile. Colin Dexter.
The Scarlet Thread. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
A Cold Dish. Craig Johnson.
So that's another Inspector Morse story, a Sherlock Holmes story, and a Walt Longmire story, respectively. Cody and I got sucked into Longmire after I won the first season of the TV show on DVD in my family's dirty Santa exchange. Levi figured at least one of us would enjoy it, and he was very right.
I don't know if I'm going through a mystery phase, or if this is just what I've enjoyed most of my life and I took a break for college and then trying to read everything I should have read in college. I love mysteries. Or maybe I just love detectives. Either way, I'm happy with my reading selections this month.
Casey gave me a couple of Inspector Morse books for Christmas and I just finished the first one. I love middle-aged, alcoholic loners with unorthodox investigative practices.
(See: 2012's book list. I read every English translation of the Kurt Wallander novels, and a collection of short stories.)
Currently reading:
The Mystery of the Third Mile. Colin Dexter.
The Scarlet Thread. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
A Cold Dish. Craig Johnson.
So that's another Inspector Morse story, a Sherlock Holmes story, and a Walt Longmire story, respectively. Cody and I got sucked into Longmire after I won the first season of the TV show on DVD in my family's dirty Santa exchange. Levi figured at least one of us would enjoy it, and he was very right.
I don't know if I'm going through a mystery phase, or if this is just what I've enjoyed most of my life and I took a break for college and then trying to read everything I should have read in college. I love mysteries. Or maybe I just love detectives. Either way, I'm happy with my reading selections this month.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Book list for November 2013
November's book list is a bit different. I didn't finish any books this month, and I don't think I will in December either. But my gradual purge is still going on and I'm re-examining what I have and why I have it. The process is exhausting and so am I right now. But I think I'm going to feel better when I'm done and I hope our home is a little happier and I'm more mindful about book purchases in the future. We have libraries, we frequent the daylights out of them, and we're probably not going to get all book crazy again until we own a home.
So.
Books 2-5 of the Song of Fire and Ice series are leaving the fiction shelf. I want to have more space on there for Evelyn's puzzles and also, really, I hate these books. I hate George R. R. Martin's writing, I hate the portrayal of women, I hate the clunky dialogue, I hate the nightmares I have for a month or so after I read these books. I want this clumsy evil out of my house.
I'm unloading them on a co-worker. Discussing these books with other fans is super fun, and I'm totally going to read the last two--assuming Martin's health lets him finish them. But I'll borrow them from someone. I always intend to reread the series before beginning whatever the newest book is, and I never do. I finally realized it's because there's no way in the realm beyond the wall that I'm going to force myself through gazillions of pages of this all over again. Ever.
Next up is A.S. Byatt's The Children's Hour. I bought it with Christmas money several Christmases ago and held onto it because I typically LOVE Byatt. LOVE. And I bought this with Christmas money and it's only one of two of her books that I own--the other being Possession, duh. I reread that every couple of years and love it every more each time. If I can't get through the first 100 pages of this, and really don't want to, then I don't need to have this around. So out it goes. I don't even mind.
I don't think I'll get rid of books every month I don't finish something, even though that is kind of like this destashing challenge I was in on Ravelry up until last month when I started lagging. The idea was to dig into your stash and commit something every month to a project. I've been a little pressed for time and couldn't always use stash for other projects I needed to make. But there might be time to catch up before the end of the year.
Anyway, the whole point of the challenge to force people to look at their yarn and think about if they really wanted it or not. If they wanted it, they should use on some awesome project. If they weren't that committed, then maybe they should get rid of their yarn. No one's tossing anything in the trash! But some things have been donated to charity shops, classrooms, senior centers, and some stuff is swapped out or given as a gift. I think it's a good approach to take to our books every now and then.
Anyway, I'm currently reading Beowulf and The Historian again because they're wintry and excellent and engrossing. Beowulf is a library copy of Seamus Heaney's translation, and The Historian is my slightly battered copy that will move from home to home with me until Evelyn is old enough to steal it. I'm enjoying myself. I was reading a book about homesteading because that's my equivalent of escapist fantasy, but I catch myself arguing back with so much of what the author is suggesting (no! I'm not allowed to have a rain barrel on my balcony and it doesn't get full sunlight and composting so close to a dwelling is a terrible, terrible idea! No, YOU'RE full of excuses!) that it wasn't enjoyable anymore. That's going back to the library soon. I'm thinking about boxing up those books like that that I already own and storing them away for another season. It's not like everything must go, but it should feel useful or awesome. Anything by Seamus Heaney would probably be a great gift, hint hint.
Next on my reading list: Elizabeth Zimmermann's books just because I like her voice, and maybe Possession one more time. It's been a couple of years, and all that springtime imagery is probably going to feel very relevant by the time I finish it in a few months.
So.
Books 2-5 of the Song of Fire and Ice series are leaving the fiction shelf. I want to have more space on there for Evelyn's puzzles and also, really, I hate these books. I hate George R. R. Martin's writing, I hate the portrayal of women, I hate the clunky dialogue, I hate the nightmares I have for a month or so after I read these books. I want this clumsy evil out of my house.
I'm unloading them on a co-worker. Discussing these books with other fans is super fun, and I'm totally going to read the last two--assuming Martin's health lets him finish them. But I'll borrow them from someone. I always intend to reread the series before beginning whatever the newest book is, and I never do. I finally realized it's because there's no way in the realm beyond the wall that I'm going to force myself through gazillions of pages of this all over again. Ever.
Next up is A.S. Byatt's The Children's Hour. I bought it with Christmas money several Christmases ago and held onto it because I typically LOVE Byatt. LOVE. And I bought this with Christmas money and it's only one of two of her books that I own--the other being Possession, duh. I reread that every couple of years and love it every more each time. If I can't get through the first 100 pages of this, and really don't want to, then I don't need to have this around. So out it goes. I don't even mind.
I don't think I'll get rid of books every month I don't finish something, even though that is kind of like this destashing challenge I was in on Ravelry up until last month when I started lagging. The idea was to dig into your stash and commit something every month to a project. I've been a little pressed for time and couldn't always use stash for other projects I needed to make. But there might be time to catch up before the end of the year.
Anyway, the whole point of the challenge to force people to look at their yarn and think about if they really wanted it or not. If they wanted it, they should use on some awesome project. If they weren't that committed, then maybe they should get rid of their yarn. No one's tossing anything in the trash! But some things have been donated to charity shops, classrooms, senior centers, and some stuff is swapped out or given as a gift. I think it's a good approach to take to our books every now and then.
Anyway, I'm currently reading Beowulf and The Historian again because they're wintry and excellent and engrossing. Beowulf is a library copy of Seamus Heaney's translation, and The Historian is my slightly battered copy that will move from home to home with me until Evelyn is old enough to steal it. I'm enjoying myself. I was reading a book about homesteading because that's my equivalent of escapist fantasy, but I catch myself arguing back with so much of what the author is suggesting (no! I'm not allowed to have a rain barrel on my balcony and it doesn't get full sunlight and composting so close to a dwelling is a terrible, terrible idea! No, YOU'RE full of excuses!) that it wasn't enjoyable anymore. That's going back to the library soon. I'm thinking about boxing up those books like that that I already own and storing them away for another season. It's not like everything must go, but it should feel useful or awesome. Anything by Seamus Heaney would probably be a great gift, hint hint.
Next on my reading list: Elizabeth Zimmermann's books just because I like her voice, and maybe Possession one more time. It's been a couple of years, and all that springtime imagery is probably going to feel very relevant by the time I finish it in a few months.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Book list for 2012!
Here it is! I love my book lists. Even if this past year wasn't very impressive in terms of reading, it was enjoyable. I read through the entire Wallander series with the exception of one collection of stories, but that's because they haven't been translated to English. I read The Hunger Games trilogy, and all but one of the Game of Thrones books.
Yes, I know the fifth book is out now. No, I don't know if I'm up for it yet.
I'm not sure if I'll go through the Lemony Snicket series, but maybe I will.
I can't believe I only read one volume of Adrienne Rich's poetry this year. I haven't read through all of her poetry in the library, but I think I'm getting close. She died this year (I think it was on Cody's birthday), and I re-read Diving Into the Wreck because it's the only collection of hers that I own. I bought it on sale at Hastings or Books-A-Million when I was 16 or so, and the whole thing was so 1970s Feminist Lesbian Poet Talking About Age and Science and Society. I loved it. I'm not the biggest poetry person, but I liked her and I still do. I thought about writing a post about her, but I didn't know what else to say other than what I just typed there.
Orlando is still my favorite Virginia Woolf book.
Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience didn't give me as much to think about as I thought it would, and One Thousand Gifts gave me more to think about than I thought it would.
Craft Activism inspired me.
Everything else was like junk food for my soul and I stayed up way too late on way too many nights tearing through it. It was great.
Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
--. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
--. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire.
--. The Hunger Games.
--. Mockingjay.
Fortas, Abe. Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience.
Mankell, Henning. Before the Frost.*
--. Dogs of Riga.*
--. Faceless Killers.*
--. The Fifth Woman.*
--. Firewall.*
--. The Man Who Smiled.*
--. The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases.*
--. Sidetracked.*
--. The Troubled Man.*
--. The White Lioness.
Martin, George R. R. A Clash of Kings.
--. A Feast for Crows.
--. A Game of Thrones.
--. A Storm of Swords.
Rich, Adrienne. Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972.
Snicket, Lemony. The Reptile Room: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book #2.*
--. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning.*
Stewart, Trenton Lee. The Mysterious Benedict Society.*
Tapper, Joan and Gale Zucker. Craft Activism: People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In.
Voskamp, Anne. One Thousand Gifts.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando.
Part of me wants to vow to read more 'serious' books. Books about the subtext and contextual clues about societal ills in our modern adaptations of folklore, or about early childhood brain development. Maybe something about purposeful living and overly earnest DIY lifehacks. But there is that fifth Game of Thrones book out, and I had so much fun last year. I'd like to re-read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova yet again, and maybe Possession by A.S. Byatt (I think it's the only book of hers I've read that has a happy ending) because I enjoy them so much. So I'll try to read a few more books with a focus on learning this year, but overall, I just want to enjoy the reading.
I can't wait.
Yes, I know the fifth book is out now. No, I don't know if I'm up for it yet.
I'm not sure if I'll go through the Lemony Snicket series, but maybe I will.
I can't believe I only read one volume of Adrienne Rich's poetry this year. I haven't read through all of her poetry in the library, but I think I'm getting close. She died this year (I think it was on Cody's birthday), and I re-read Diving Into the Wreck because it's the only collection of hers that I own. I bought it on sale at Hastings or Books-A-Million when I was 16 or so, and the whole thing was so 1970s Feminist Lesbian Poet Talking About Age and Science and Society. I loved it. I'm not the biggest poetry person, but I liked her and I still do. I thought about writing a post about her, but I didn't know what else to say other than what I just typed there.
Orlando is still my favorite Virginia Woolf book.
Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience didn't give me as much to think about as I thought it would, and One Thousand Gifts gave me more to think about than I thought it would.
Craft Activism inspired me.
Everything else was like junk food for my soul and I stayed up way too late on way too many nights tearing through it. It was great.
Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
--. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
--. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Collins, Suzanne. Catching Fire.
--. The Hunger Games.
--. Mockingjay.
Fortas, Abe. Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience.
Mankell, Henning. Before the Frost.*
--. Dogs of Riga.*
--. Faceless Killers.*
--. The Fifth Woman.*
--. Firewall.*
--. The Man Who Smiled.*
--. The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases.*
--. Sidetracked.*
--. The Troubled Man.*
--. The White Lioness.
Martin, George R. R. A Clash of Kings.
--. A Feast for Crows.
--. A Game of Thrones.
--. A Storm of Swords.
Rich, Adrienne. Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972.
Snicket, Lemony. The Reptile Room: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book #2.*
--. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning.*
Stewart, Trenton Lee. The Mysterious Benedict Society.*
Tapper, Joan and Gale Zucker. Craft Activism: People, Ideas, and Projects from the New Community of Handmade and How You Can Join In.
Voskamp, Anne. One Thousand Gifts.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando.
Part of me wants to vow to read more 'serious' books. Books about the subtext and contextual clues about societal ills in our modern adaptations of folklore, or about early childhood brain development. Maybe something about purposeful living and overly earnest DIY lifehacks. But there is that fifth Game of Thrones book out, and I had so much fun last year. I'd like to re-read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova yet again, and maybe Possession by A.S. Byatt (I think it's the only book of hers I've read that has a happy ending) because I enjoy them so much. So I'll try to read a few more books with a focus on learning this year, but overall, I just want to enjoy the reading.
I can't wait.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Book list for May
I never told you what I read in May! Here it is. Library books are marked with asterisks.
Faceless Killers. Henning Mankell. Trans. Steven T. Murray.*
The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases. Henning Mankell. Trans. Ebba Seberberg and Laurie Thomson.*
A Clash of Kings. George R. R. Martin
A Storm of Swords. George R. R. Martin
A Feast for Crows. George R. R. Martin
Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972. Adrienne Rich
The Reptile Room: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book #2. Lemony Snicket*
I really raced through the Game of Thrones books, but I've switched to the Kurt Wallander mysteries because that fifth book can just wait a while.
I read the first book this winter after a friend loaned it to Cody and I wound up reading it instead. It took me a while to feel involved with the story, but once I did I was pretty wrapped up in things. So much so that I woke up one night and thought Cody had brought Evelyn into bed and smothered her because he wanted a male heir and was trying to make her death look like an accident. After beating him awake and nearly throwing him out of bed, I realized Evelyn was in her own bed in her own room and Cody's arm had every reason to be underneath his body and wrapped in blankets.
After a minute or two I also realized that we didn't have a need for a male heir because girls can own titles and property now....even though we don't have either of those things, meaning I really, really have nothing to worry about.
Every time I tell this story Cody likes for me to remind people that he likes Evelyn, has always liked Evelyn, and would never do anything to hurt Evelyn. All things considered, his reaction to me physically lifting him up while trying to hurt him was pretty gentle too and it was really nice of him to give me A Storm of Swords as a Mother's Day present.
So I waited a while before delving back into Martin's Never-Ending Orgy of Sex and Violence and Stilted Dialogue, and then lost giant chunks of my life reading through the books in May. Until this:
Cody: Did you get to sleep late this morning?
Jen: Somewhat. I had a hard time falling asleep last night.
Cody: Seriously?
Jen: I was completely awake. Like, completely wired. Then I fell asleep and woke up a few times, but it was okay. Then I woke up at 7 because I was having a Game of Thrones nightmare. A bunch of us were in this place as captives or guests, and we did something to make somebody mad, so we were going to have to appear before someone in the morning but it just meant we were going to be executed, or tortured and then executed. Anyway, we were going to try to escape because a wolf showed up.
Cody: Wait.
Jen: It was a really big wolf. It had something to do with...nevermind. Anyway, there were people with the wolf and they were going to help us. So we're trying to get our stuff together and I'm trying to pack enough diapers and wipes for Evelyn and cold weather clothes as I'm changing her and there's not enough time and THEN I find out that the Red Priestess--she's a bad guy and I think she wants to take Evelyn as a sacrifice--has been posing as this nurse type woman the whole time and she's there
Cody: [takes a breath as if to say something. Stops]
Jen: and I'm trying to act like I don't know and I'm having to make that stupid small talk I have with everyone "Yes, ma'am. She's great and we like her a lot!" and I want to run away and then she says "Give me the baby" and I try to run and hang on to the baby and she moves really fast to grab Evelyn and that's when I woke up because I knew she'd take my baby from me. Most of my nightmares are about failing to protect Evelyn, by the way. Or just letting her down somehow.
Cody: You know what at least part of this tells me?
Jen: That it's a really good thing I'm taking a break from Game of Thrones?
Cody: Yes!
Jen: I know. If I saw the fifth book, I don't even think I'd pick it up at this point. I'm ready to read the Wallander series.
Cody: But that's depressing and it's all about crime.
Jen: I like how it's written.
Cody: It seems like you need to read a comedy or maybe one of those Jan Karon books or something.
Jen: [look of cold, contemptuous rage]
Cody: Do you know of her?
Jen: Do you even know me?!
Cody: [flinches]
Jen: Jan Karon?!??!?!?
Evelyn: Oooh!
Cody: My grandmother likes her. I know you don't read her. But something like--
Jen: I'm reading the Wallander series.
Cody: That's so depressing.
Jen: I like the writing and the characters.
Cody: [laughs at me while sighing]
Jen: Yes, there's violence and sometimes it's a little graphic. But it's not gratuitous and everything's well-paced and I like the structure of things.
Cody: [sighs]
Evelyn: Oooh!
So there you have it. George R. R. Martin is out (for the time being), Henning Mankell (and translators) are in, and Jan Karon will probably never ever make it into our home.
And, in case you're wondering, everyone is sleeping peacefully these days.
And safely.
Faceless Killers. Henning Mankell. Trans. Steven T. Murray.*
The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases. Henning Mankell. Trans. Ebba Seberberg and Laurie Thomson.*
A Clash of Kings. George R. R. Martin
A Storm of Swords. George R. R. Martin
A Feast for Crows. George R. R. Martin
Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972. Adrienne Rich
The Reptile Room: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book #2. Lemony Snicket*
I really raced through the Game of Thrones books, but I've switched to the Kurt Wallander mysteries because that fifth book can just wait a while.
I read the first book this winter after a friend loaned it to Cody and I wound up reading it instead. It took me a while to feel involved with the story, but once I did I was pretty wrapped up in things. So much so that I woke up one night and thought Cody had brought Evelyn into bed and smothered her because he wanted a male heir and was trying to make her death look like an accident. After beating him awake and nearly throwing him out of bed, I realized Evelyn was in her own bed in her own room and Cody's arm had every reason to be underneath his body and wrapped in blankets.
After a minute or two I also realized that we didn't have a need for a male heir because girls can own titles and property now....even though we don't have either of those things, meaning I really, really have nothing to worry about.
Every time I tell this story Cody likes for me to remind people that he likes Evelyn, has always liked Evelyn, and would never do anything to hurt Evelyn. All things considered, his reaction to me physically lifting him up while trying to hurt him was pretty gentle too and it was really nice of him to give me A Storm of Swords as a Mother's Day present.
So I waited a while before delving back into Martin's Never-Ending Orgy of Sex and Violence and Stilted Dialogue, and then lost giant chunks of my life reading through the books in May. Until this:
Cody: Did you get to sleep late this morning?
Jen: Somewhat. I had a hard time falling asleep last night.
Cody: Seriously?
Jen: I was completely awake. Like, completely wired. Then I fell asleep and woke up a few times, but it was okay. Then I woke up at 7 because I was having a Game of Thrones nightmare. A bunch of us were in this place as captives or guests, and we did something to make somebody mad, so we were going to have to appear before someone in the morning but it just meant we were going to be executed, or tortured and then executed. Anyway, we were going to try to escape because a wolf showed up.
Cody: Wait.
Jen: It was a really big wolf. It had something to do with...nevermind. Anyway, there were people with the wolf and they were going to help us. So we're trying to get our stuff together and I'm trying to pack enough diapers and wipes for Evelyn and cold weather clothes as I'm changing her and there's not enough time and THEN I find out that the Red Priestess--she's a bad guy and I think she wants to take Evelyn as a sacrifice--has been posing as this nurse type woman the whole time and she's there
Cody: [takes a breath as if to say something. Stops]
Jen: and I'm trying to act like I don't know and I'm having to make that stupid small talk I have with everyone "Yes, ma'am. She's great and we like her a lot!" and I want to run away and then she says "Give me the baby" and I try to run and hang on to the baby and she moves really fast to grab Evelyn and that's when I woke up because I knew she'd take my baby from me. Most of my nightmares are about failing to protect Evelyn, by the way. Or just letting her down somehow.
Cody: You know what at least part of this tells me?
Jen: That it's a really good thing I'm taking a break from Game of Thrones?
Cody: Yes!
Jen: I know. If I saw the fifth book, I don't even think I'd pick it up at this point. I'm ready to read the Wallander series.
Cody: But that's depressing and it's all about crime.
Jen: I like how it's written.
Cody: It seems like you need to read a comedy or maybe one of those Jan Karon books or something.
Jen: [look of cold, contemptuous rage]
Cody: Do you know of her?
Jen: Do you even know me?!
Cody: [flinches]
Jen: Jan Karon?!??!?!?
Evelyn: Oooh!
Cody: My grandmother likes her. I know you don't read her. But something like--
Jen: I'm reading the Wallander series.
Cody: That's so depressing.
Jen: I like the writing and the characters.
Cody: [laughs at me while sighing]
Jen: Yes, there's violence and sometimes it's a little graphic. But it's not gratuitous and everything's well-paced and I like the structure of things.
Cody: [sighs]
Evelyn: Oooh!
So there you have it. George R. R. Martin is out (for the time being), Henning Mankell (and translators) are in, and Jan Karon will probably never ever make it into our home.
And, in case you're wondering, everyone is sleeping peacefully these days.
And safely.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Literary events with Evelyn and Mommy and Kevin Brockmeier
Last night I went to see Kevin Brockmeier give a reading at the Laman Library as part of their Adult Summer Reading Series.
I stinking love Kevin Brockmeier. And yes, I always use both names when I talk about him.
I have not attended one of his readings since 2009.
I skipped his session at the Arkansas Literary Festival in 2010, because I am an idiot.
Then his session at this year's festival was ticket-only. I did not know this and did not buy a ticket, and did not really have a chance to buy a ticket because the organizers accidentally sold too many tickets.
So instead I bought stamps for Evelyn's birth announcements at the post office, ate sandwiches with Mom and Dad, and tried not to cry even though postpartum book nerd disappointment can be very, very acute.
Cody and I took Evelyn to the library for the first time ever the very next day so we could attend a Kevin Brockmeier-moderated session for Peter S. Beagle. It wasn't quite the same, but it was still fun and I hoped we'd have better luck next year.
But then I saw a poster last week for this event and became very excited. Then very fearful I'd forget. Then concerned that something would somehow prohibit me from attending.
But nothing bad happened and I went!
I came home. I fed Evelyn. I changed my clothes. I changed her clothes. I tried to comb her hair. I took her to the library.
And then we listened to Kevin Brockmeier read from his new book and talk with the audience!
Evelyn made it through with a minimum of fussing. It was around 80° in the room, so she was extra squirmy and unhappy. Me, too.
She slept a little, but woke up during some applause.
Cody gave me The Illumination for Valentine's Day this year, but I haven't finished it because it's just so sad. He read one section that I'd already read, then another section I hadn't read, and then he took questions from the audience.
I love when he takes questions from the audience. He's updated his Top 50 Favorite Books list, and created a Top 50 Favorite Movies list, so when people asked him about that he was all set. Yes, I took home copies of both. He told stories of how he accidentally wound up with a literary agent, how he stopped someone from stealing his lunch out of his locker in junior high, and what he does during the day. He even talked about 2 unpublished children's books he has sitting around that need to be published so I can buy them and read them with Evelyn.
I can never think of anything to ask him. Oh well.
Then it was time for book signing and I was still on the back row, nursing Evelyn without a cover. I had spent the last part of his talk walking and bouncing her in the back of the lecture room and praying that no one was bothered by her little grunts and squeaks. Then she really started fussing and I sat down in the nearest chair and fed her.
Welp.
An old lady came up to me while I was feeding her and I got nervous because I've been told older people hate boobs. Or something. But the woman just wanted to let me know that my baby was very "good" (as far as I can tell, when people say this they actually mean "quiet") and very pretty ("the most amazing baby in the world"). I was incredibly relieved, and this was when I remembered none of these people had her 2" away from their ears. And that the night's demographic was... well, older. Yay for diminished hearing! We discretely finished up and joined the line, where people talked to Evelyn and she smiled back at them. When it was our turn, Kevin Brockmeier remembered me!
He has remembered me since 2007. Awesome.
No, really. See?
This is not my standard literary-matters post. This is not my standard adventures-with-Evelyn post. This is a post about me wanting to do something really, really badly for myself and actually pulling it off and feeling like I rocked it (instead of survived) and being completely excited. Mom offered to watch Evelyn while I went to the reading, but I wanted to take her with me. I wanted to hear my favorite author read from his work. I wanted my daughter to go to this. I wanted her with me after being away from her all day. I kind of wanted to make up for her first book signing event being for the Duggars' new paycheck.
I know I won't be able to take Evelyn, or babies that may come after her, to everything. And I know I won't be able to go out and do everything like I did before having Evelyn. Things are different now. I don't read as much. I don't take as many pictures of things when I'm out and about. My time for knitting is nearly non-existent (which actually made me want to make the most of my time and start knitting things other than scarves. And that's cool). It's the new normal for now and I'm fine with it, except that I really maybe needed to go to the reading last night. And it went just fine. It was better than fine.
It was great.
Evelyn's awake more at night now and more vocal, but she wasn't disruptive.
I made it to the event on time, after work.
I kept a three-month-old occupied and relatively quiet for nearly 2 hours. Someone pin a medal on me!
I nursed without a cover, and even though it doesn't seem like something you should do in a library, no one was outraged or ugly about it.
Even though I don't recognize myself sometimes, Kevin Brockmeier remembered me and signed my book.
I actually remembered to take my book. I remembered a pacifier. I remembered my camera.
Oh yes, my camera.
You know, for pictures.
Like this one:
See? Proof that my evening was great.
I like to think Kevin Brockmeier had a good time, too.
Evelyn was fine. Promise.
I stinking love Kevin Brockmeier. And yes, I always use both names when I talk about him.
I have not attended one of his readings since 2009.
I skipped his session at the Arkansas Literary Festival in 2010, because I am an idiot.
Then his session at this year's festival was ticket-only. I did not know this and did not buy a ticket, and did not really have a chance to buy a ticket because the organizers accidentally sold too many tickets.
So instead I bought stamps for Evelyn's birth announcements at the post office, ate sandwiches with Mom and Dad, and tried not to cry even though postpartum book nerd disappointment can be very, very acute.
Cody and I took Evelyn to the library for the first time ever the very next day so we could attend a Kevin Brockmeier-moderated session for Peter S. Beagle. It wasn't quite the same, but it was still fun and I hoped we'd have better luck next year.
But then I saw a poster last week for this event and became very excited. Then very fearful I'd forget. Then concerned that something would somehow prohibit me from attending.
But nothing bad happened and I went!
I came home. I fed Evelyn. I changed my clothes. I changed her clothes. I tried to comb her hair. I took her to the library.
And then we listened to Kevin Brockmeier read from his new book and talk with the audience!
Evelyn made it through with a minimum of fussing. It was around 80° in the room, so she was extra squirmy and unhappy. Me, too.
She slept a little, but woke up during some applause.
Cody gave me The Illumination for Valentine's Day this year, but I haven't finished it because it's just so sad. He read one section that I'd already read, then another section I hadn't read, and then he took questions from the audience.
I love when he takes questions from the audience. He's updated his Top 50 Favorite Books list, and created a Top 50 Favorite Movies list, so when people asked him about that he was all set. Yes, I took home copies of both. He told stories of how he accidentally wound up with a literary agent, how he stopped someone from stealing his lunch out of his locker in junior high, and what he does during the day. He even talked about 2 unpublished children's books he has sitting around that need to be published so I can buy them and read them with Evelyn.
I can never think of anything to ask him. Oh well.
Then it was time for book signing and I was still on the back row, nursing Evelyn without a cover. I had spent the last part of his talk walking and bouncing her in the back of the lecture room and praying that no one was bothered by her little grunts and squeaks. Then she really started fussing and I sat down in the nearest chair and fed her.
Welp.
An old lady came up to me while I was feeding her and I got nervous because I've been told older people hate boobs. Or something. But the woman just wanted to let me know that my baby was very "good" (as far as I can tell, when people say this they actually mean "quiet") and very pretty ("the most amazing baby in the world"). I was incredibly relieved, and this was when I remembered none of these people had her 2" away from their ears. And that the night's demographic was... well, older. Yay for diminished hearing! We discretely finished up and joined the line, where people talked to Evelyn and she smiled back at them. When it was our turn, Kevin Brockmeier remembered me!
He has remembered me since 2007. Awesome.
No, really. See?
This is not my standard literary-matters post. This is not my standard adventures-with-Evelyn post. This is a post about me wanting to do something really, really badly for myself and actually pulling it off and feeling like I rocked it (instead of survived) and being completely excited. Mom offered to watch Evelyn while I went to the reading, but I wanted to take her with me. I wanted to hear my favorite author read from his work. I wanted my daughter to go to this. I wanted her with me after being away from her all day. I kind of wanted to make up for her first book signing event being for the Duggars' new paycheck.
I know I won't be able to take Evelyn, or babies that may come after her, to everything. And I know I won't be able to go out and do everything like I did before having Evelyn. Things are different now. I don't read as much. I don't take as many pictures of things when I'm out and about. My time for knitting is nearly non-existent (which actually made me want to make the most of my time and start knitting things other than scarves. And that's cool). It's the new normal for now and I'm fine with it, except that I really maybe needed to go to the reading last night. And it went just fine. It was better than fine.
It was great.
Evelyn's awake more at night now and more vocal, but she wasn't disruptive.
I made it to the event on time, after work.
I kept a three-month-old occupied and relatively quiet for nearly 2 hours. Someone pin a medal on me!
I nursed without a cover, and even though it doesn't seem like something you should do in a library, no one was outraged or ugly about it.
Even though I don't recognize myself sometimes, Kevin Brockmeier remembered me and signed my book.
I actually remembered to take my book. I remembered a pacifier. I remembered my camera.
Oh yes, my camera.
You know, for pictures.
Like this one:
 |
| I think they're friends now. |
I like to think Kevin Brockmeier had a good time, too.
Evelyn was fine. Promise.
Monday, February 1, 2010
January Book List
Drabble, Margaret. The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.*
Grisham, John. The Firm. New York: Doubleday, 1991.*
Nichols, Sharon Eliza. I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar: A Collection of Egregious Errors, Disconcerting Bloopers, and Other Linguistic Slip-Ups. New York: St. Martha's Press, 2009.
Reed, Stanley. Oriental Rugs and Carpets. London: Octopus Books, 1972.
Shell, Ellen Ruppel. Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. New York: Penguin, 2009.*
Grisham, John. The Firm. New York: Doubleday, 1991.*
Nichols, Sharon Eliza. I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar: A Collection of Egregious Errors, Disconcerting Bloopers, and Other Linguistic Slip-Ups. New York: St. Martha's Press, 2009.
Reed, Stanley. Oriental Rugs and Carpets. London: Octopus Books, 1972.
Shell, Ellen Ruppel. Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. New York: Penguin, 2009.*
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Book List for 2009
Jennifer, 1985.I like reading.
This is what I read this year:
Applehof, Mary. Worms Eat My Garbage. Kalamazoo: Flower Press, 2nd ed. 1997*
Beaujon, Andew. Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock. Cambridge: Da Capo, 2006.*
Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. 1790. New York: Dover, 1994.
Buckley, Christopher. Boomsday. New York: Twelve, 2007.*
Byatt, A.S. A Whistling Woman. New York: Knopf, 2002.*
Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. 1958. New York: Modern Library, 1994.*
Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. 1939. New York: Vintage Crime, 1992.*
Chanin, Natalie, with Stacie Stukin. Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting, & Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Channing, 2008.*
Chappell, Fred. Family Gathering. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000.*
---. Wind Mountain. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Press, 1979.*
Church, Francis Pharcellus. Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus. 1897. New York: Delacorte Press, 1992.
Crawford, Christine. Mommie Dearest. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1978.
DeLillo, Don. The Body Artist. New York: Scribner, 2001.*
The Tyral of Rebecca Nurse: Transcripts from the Salem Withcraft Trials of 1692. Compiled by Donald Daly. Salem: New England & Virginia Company/Nova Anglia Press.
Dietz, Laura. In the Tenth House. New York: Crown, 2007.*
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003.
Eastoe, Jane and Sarah Gristwood. Fabulous Frocks. New York: Pavalion, 2008.*
Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002.*
Fitzhugh, Louise. Harriet the Spy. 1969. New York: Dell.
Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant's Woman. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969.
Forster, E.M. Maurice. 1914. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1974.*
Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. 1923. New York: Knopf, 1972.
Goldsmith, Sheherazade, ed. A Slice of Organic Life. New York: DK Publishing, 2007*
Hamilton, John Maxwell. Cassanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and
Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books. New York: Penguin.
Howe, Katherine. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. New York: Voice, 2009.
Joyce, Katherine. Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement. New York: Beacon Press, 2009.*
King, Samantha. Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.*
King, Stephen. The Stand. New York: Signet, 1990.
Kipinis, Laura. Against Love: A Polemic. New York: Vintage Books, 2008.*
L'Engle, Madeleine. Dragons in the Waters. New York: Fararr, Straus and Giroux, 1976.
---. The Love Letters. 1966. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983.
Lessing, Doris. Alfred and Emily. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.*
---. Briefing For a Descent Into Hell. New York: Bantam, 1973.
---. The Cleft. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.*
---. A Proper Marriage. 1966. London: Grafton, 1985.
Levine, Abby and Sarah Levine. Sometimes I Wish I Were Mindy. Middletown: Weekly Reader Books, 1986.
McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. 1946. Boston: Houghlin Mifflin Company. *
Moore, Alan. Watchmen. New York: DC Comics. 1987.
Nicholson, Joan. Creative Embroidery. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 1960.*
Reich, Charles. The Greening of America. New York: Bantam, 1970.
Rice, Anne. Lasher. New York: Ballentine Books, 1995.
---. Pandora. New York: Ballantine, 1998.
---. The Queen of the Damned. New York: Ballentine Books, 1988.
Savage, Dan. Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America. New York: Dutton, 2002.*
Spade, Kate. Style. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.*
Stone, Brian, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 1959. Middlesex: Penguin, 1972.
Tanenhaus, Sam. The Death of Conservatism. New York: Random House, 2009.*
Thomas, Scarlett. Going Out. New York: Anchor Books, 2002.*
Thomis, Malcolm. The Luddites: Machine-Breaking in Regency England. New York: Schocken Books, 1970.
Traig, Jennifer. Well Enough Alone: A Cultural History of My Hypochondria. New York: Riverheard Books, 2008.*
Truss, Lynn. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. New York: Gotham, 2003.*
Vowell, Sarah. The Wordy Shipmates. New York: Riverhead, 2008.*
Weir, Alison. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. New York: Ballentine Books, 2005.
Woolf, Virginia. The Voyage Out. San Diego: HBJ. 1920.*
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
November book list
So. We're in December now.
I put up my tree last night. I'd planned to wait until Cody was out of the house because he hates holidays and happiness (not really), but I needed him to pull down the boxes for me.
So my tree is up, my "Merry Christmas" sign is up, my Rudolph card holder is out (fine, he stays out year-round), and tonight I'll bust out my elf figurines.
And today, I'll post my book list for November.
For the past couple of months, I've been trying to cram in short novels in an effort to boost the number of books I read each month. I haven't done the math yet, but I don't think I'll reach my New Year's resolution of reading 70 books this year.
Especially when I made the unwise-on-so-many-levels decision to read The Stand: The Million Page Edition during the height of H1N1 hysteria.
Chappell, Fred. Wind Mountain. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Press, 1979.*
Oh, Fred Chappell. I'm so glad I found your poetry in the library last weekend. There are only so many times I can say "I don't like poetry, but I like Fred Chappell/John Donne/George Herbert/Shakespeare's sonnets/blahblahblah." I think I like poetry. I know I like this guy's.
Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002.*
Well, I can cross that off the list.
King, Samantha. Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.*
This takes a very good look at the tangled mess of charity, corporations, and politics, and the harm and good done by breast cancer awareness projects.
King, Stephen. The Stand. New York: Signet, 1990.
I don't usually post the number of pages anymore, but I have to here: 1,141 pages. Gracious, that was a superlong book. I liked it.
I put up my tree last night. I'd planned to wait until Cody was out of the house because he hates holidays and happiness (not really), but I needed him to pull down the boxes for me.
So my tree is up, my "Merry Christmas" sign is up, my Rudolph card holder is out (fine, he stays out year-round), and tonight I'll bust out my elf figurines.
And today, I'll post my book list for November.
For the past couple of months, I've been trying to cram in short novels in an effort to boost the number of books I read each month. I haven't done the math yet, but I don't think I'll reach my New Year's resolution of reading 70 books this year.
Especially when I made the unwise-on-so-many-levels decision to read The Stand: The Million Page Edition during the height of H1N1 hysteria.
Chappell, Fred. Wind Mountain. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State Press, 1979.*
Oh, Fred Chappell. I'm so glad I found your poetry in the library last weekend. There are only so many times I can say "I don't like poetry, but I like Fred Chappell/John Donne/George Herbert/Shakespeare's sonnets/blahblahblah." I think I like poetry. I know I like this guy's.
Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002.*
Well, I can cross that off the list.
King, Samantha. Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.*
This takes a very good look at the tangled mess of charity, corporations, and politics, and the harm and good done by breast cancer awareness projects.
King, Stephen. The Stand. New York: Signet, 1990.
I don't usually post the number of pages anymore, but I have to here: 1,141 pages. Gracious, that was a superlong book. I liked it.
Friday, October 2, 2009
September Book List
Hey there.
I was so busy posting pictures that I forgot about the book list for September. I thought about it.
It was even on my to-do list.
But then real work came in, and I had to ...... work..... on it. Yeah.
So here I am, posting this on my lunch break.
Chanin, Natalie, with Stacie Stukin. Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting, & Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Channing, 2008.*
In short, this was about sewing with old t-shirts. I've been in a sewing mood lately, and there were some lovely patterns in here. And lovely pictures. And I copied down a biscuit recipe.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading all 709 pages of this before bed since I bought it back in July. Man, I love Sherlock Holmes. And Watson.
L'Engle, Madeleine. Dragons in the Waters. New York: Fararr, Straus and Giroux, 1976.
I'd read this before. But it was nice to read again.
L'Engle, Madeleine. The Love Letters. 1966. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983.
I had not read this before and brought it along on my beach trip. It was disappointing. I hate to say that about Madeleine L'Engle, but I must. I'm sticking with her juvenile fiction from now on. And even then....I can't believe she did this to me.
Thomis, Malcolm. The Luddites: Machine-Breaking in Regency England. New York: Schocken Books, 1970.
Loved it!
I was so busy posting pictures that I forgot about the book list for September. I thought about it.
It was even on my to-do list.
But then real work came in, and I had to ...... work..... on it. Yeah.
So here I am, posting this on my lunch break.
Chanin, Natalie, with Stacie Stukin. Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting, & Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Channing, 2008.*
In short, this was about sewing with old t-shirts. I've been in a sewing mood lately, and there were some lovely patterns in here. And lovely pictures. And I copied down a biscuit recipe.
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading all 709 pages of this before bed since I bought it back in July. Man, I love Sherlock Holmes. And Watson.
L'Engle, Madeleine. Dragons in the Waters. New York: Fararr, Straus and Giroux, 1976.
I'd read this before. But it was nice to read again.
L'Engle, Madeleine. The Love Letters. 1966. New York: Ballantine Books, 1983.
I had not read this before and brought it along on my beach trip. It was disappointing. I hate to say that about Madeleine L'Engle, but I must. I'm sticking with her juvenile fiction from now on. And even then....I can't believe she did this to me.
Thomis, Malcolm. The Luddites: Machine-Breaking in Regency England. New York: Schocken Books, 1970.
Loved it!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
August book list
Happy September morning!
I love September weather.
Glorious.
Can you think of a better way to celebrate this event than with a rehashing of what I read in August?
That's what I thought.
August was a great reading month.
Beaujon, Andew. Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock. Cambridge: Da Capo, 2006.*
Cody checked this out, and then I read it when he was through. So this guy decides to explore the Christian music industry and the awards shows and the producers and so on and so on. It's insular bubble-living at its best. It deals with how this started, how it works, and why 80 billion bands are doing the 'we're not a Christian band, we're just Christians in a band' thing because so much of Christian music is just....unenjoyable. (This is just me. And my opinion. I know a lot of people like it for its uplifting message. I am, in fact, married to a man who has actually uttered the phrase, "You know what praise and worship song I wanted to hear today?" after coming home from work.) The thing about the book that will probably stick with me the most is the fact that he was smack in the middle of this year-long project before anyone tried to talk to him about his faith. He spent 6 months talking to people about their Christian bands, their Christian production companies, their Christian music ministries, and their Christian artist retreats, etc., before a single Christian talked to him about his own faith.
It's spelled F-A-I-L-U-R-E, bretheren.
The Tyral of Rebecca Nurse: Transcripts from the Salem Withcraft Trials of 1692. Compiled by Donald Daly. Salem: New England & Virginia Company/Nova Anglia Press.
Back when I was in college, some professors would clean out their clutter by taking books they didn't want or need, leaving them in a pile outside their offices, and waiting for humanities and fine arts majors to forage through them like feral book collectors. It could get pretty wild. Dang you, Kelly Bisby, and your long legs. She always got to the good stuff faster. Anyway, I managed to snatch up this nearly pamphlet-sized book a million years ago and read it this month after finishing The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I have no idea when this was published, or even when the forward was written (which appears to have happened before uniform spelling became the publishing norm). I think it was just reprinted for Salem tourists.
Gotta love those witch trials.
Howe, Katherine. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. New York: Voice, 2009.
Yes, I bought a new book. It was weird. First Kelly Bisby mentioned it in a comment on July's book list, and then I was meeting up with my parents in a Barnes & Noble and they had that big display up for it (B&N, not Mom and Dad). I thought the premise looked fun. The premise was fun. The historical research was good. The writing, particularly the characters' dialogue, was not-so-hot. We're talking juvenile fiction-level. And I do not care for juvenile fiction. You know when you're watching a movie and you can guess the plot twists and it's fun at first, but eventually you're bored to the point of being angry because it's so predictable? Yeah, I hate it when that happens.
Feel free to borrow this from me. Cody and I have already read it. He viewed more kindly than I did.
Reich, Charles. The Greening of America. New York: Bantam, 1970.
I've seen lots of references to this book, and I bought a long while back, so it was nice to finally finish it. Parts of it were great, parts of it weren't. But I really liked the parts that were great. Very nice, very thought-provoking, still relevant in places.
It has substance.
Truss, Lynn. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. New York: Gotham, 2003.*
I have a confession to make: I've never read this book until now. I can't believe it! This is probably the most hilarious and informative book about grammar I've ever read! The bit about the family that invented italics nearly made me fall out laughing.
Fantastic.
I love September weather.
Glorious.
Can you think of a better way to celebrate this event than with a rehashing of what I read in August?
That's what I thought.
August was a great reading month.
Beaujon, Andew. Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock. Cambridge: Da Capo, 2006.*
Cody checked this out, and then I read it when he was through. So this guy decides to explore the Christian music industry and the awards shows and the producers and so on and so on. It's insular bubble-living at its best. It deals with how this started, how it works, and why 80 billion bands are doing the 'we're not a Christian band, we're just Christians in a band' thing because so much of Christian music is just....unenjoyable. (This is just me. And my opinion. I know a lot of people like it for its uplifting message. I am, in fact, married to a man who has actually uttered the phrase, "You know what praise and worship song I wanted to hear today?" after coming home from work.) The thing about the book that will probably stick with me the most is the fact that he was smack in the middle of this year-long project before anyone tried to talk to him about his faith. He spent 6 months talking to people about their Christian bands, their Christian production companies, their Christian music ministries, and their Christian artist retreats, etc., before a single Christian talked to him about his own faith.
It's spelled F-A-I-L-U-R-E, bretheren.
The Tyral of Rebecca Nurse: Transcripts from the Salem Withcraft Trials of 1692. Compiled by Donald Daly. Salem: New England & Virginia Company/Nova Anglia Press.
Back when I was in college, some professors would clean out their clutter by taking books they didn't want or need, leaving them in a pile outside their offices, and waiting for humanities and fine arts majors to forage through them like feral book collectors. It could get pretty wild. Dang you, Kelly Bisby, and your long legs. She always got to the good stuff faster. Anyway, I managed to snatch up this nearly pamphlet-sized book a million years ago and read it this month after finishing The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I have no idea when this was published, or even when the forward was written (which appears to have happened before uniform spelling became the publishing norm). I think it was just reprinted for Salem tourists.
Gotta love those witch trials.
Howe, Katherine. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. New York: Voice, 2009.
Yes, I bought a new book. It was weird. First Kelly Bisby mentioned it in a comment on July's book list, and then I was meeting up with my parents in a Barnes & Noble and they had that big display up for it (B&N, not Mom and Dad). I thought the premise looked fun. The premise was fun. The historical research was good. The writing, particularly the characters' dialogue, was not-so-hot. We're talking juvenile fiction-level. And I do not care for juvenile fiction. You know when you're watching a movie and you can guess the plot twists and it's fun at first, but eventually you're bored to the point of being angry because it's so predictable? Yeah, I hate it when that happens.
Feel free to borrow this from me. Cody and I have already read it. He viewed more kindly than I did.
Reich, Charles. The Greening of America. New York: Bantam, 1970.
I've seen lots of references to this book, and I bought a long while back, so it was nice to finally finish it. Parts of it were great, parts of it weren't. But I really liked the parts that were great. Very nice, very thought-provoking, still relevant in places.
It has substance.
Truss, Lynn. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. New York: Gotham, 2003.*
I have a confession to make: I've never read this book until now. I can't believe it! This is probably the most hilarious and informative book about grammar I've ever read! The bit about the family that invented italics nearly made me fall out laughing.
Fantastic.
Monday, August 3, 2009
July Book List
Forster, E.M. Maurice. 1914. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1974.*
I checked this out at the library around the time Amazon pulled it from its ranking system. So yeah, it's a book with a gay character who's unhappy and finds happiness and there's some other stuff in there as well about the shifts in life in England, business vs. landed gentry class, blah blah blah. That part is pretty familiar territory, but I'd never read any Forster before, so that was nice. I enjoyed this, because it's a pretty good book.
Kipinis, Laura. Against Love: A Polemic. New York: Vintage Books, 2008.*
This would have been funnier as an article instead of a full-length book. I remember enjoying it, but I really don't remember much about it.
Lessing, Doris. A Proper Marriage. 1966. London: Grafton, 1985.
I like Doris Lessing a lot and bought this, kind of as a joke, on my second wedding anniversary. It says right on the cover that it's a powerful novel about the disintegration of a marriage and a society. And it is. I was depressed enough to die (not kill myself, just ..... stop living.) after reading this, but I like how she challenges assumptions and types and then challenges and smashes and critiques some more. Since I know you'll never read this, I'll go ahead and spoil the ending for you: the protagonist leaves her husband and daughter for Communism.
Levine, Abby and Sarah Levine. Sometimes I Wish I Were Mindy. Middletown: Weekly Reader Books, 1986.
So what if this is only 32 pages long? I've loved this book since I got it in the first grade, and when I found it in a box last week, I just had to read it out loud to Cody. Yes, I even held it up so that he could see the illustrations (by Blanche Sims, in case you were wondering). Our unnamed narrator wishes she were like Mindy, with a mansion and call waiting and exotic vacations, but she learns to appreciate the things that she does have and realizes that their families are equal in love.
Stone, Brain, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 1959. Middlesex: Penguin, 1972.
I didn't get it. I usually don't comprehend anything in verse form. Blegh. Maybe I'll try again later. It's a nice little ...... thing.
I checked this out at the library around the time Amazon pulled it from its ranking system. So yeah, it's a book with a gay character who's unhappy and finds happiness and there's some other stuff in there as well about the shifts in life in England, business vs. landed gentry class, blah blah blah. That part is pretty familiar territory, but I'd never read any Forster before, so that was nice. I enjoyed this, because it's a pretty good book.
Kipinis, Laura. Against Love: A Polemic. New York: Vintage Books, 2008.*
This would have been funnier as an article instead of a full-length book. I remember enjoying it, but I really don't remember much about it.
Lessing, Doris. A Proper Marriage. 1966. London: Grafton, 1985.
I like Doris Lessing a lot and bought this, kind of as a joke, on my second wedding anniversary. It says right on the cover that it's a powerful novel about the disintegration of a marriage and a society. And it is. I was depressed enough to die (not kill myself, just ..... stop living.) after reading this, but I like how she challenges assumptions and types and then challenges and smashes and critiques some more. Since I know you'll never read this, I'll go ahead and spoil the ending for you: the protagonist leaves her husband and daughter for Communism.
Levine, Abby and Sarah Levine. Sometimes I Wish I Were Mindy. Middletown: Weekly Reader Books, 1986.
So what if this is only 32 pages long? I've loved this book since I got it in the first grade, and when I found it in a box last week, I just had to read it out loud to Cody. Yes, I even held it up so that he could see the illustrations (by Blanche Sims, in case you were wondering). Our unnamed narrator wishes she were like Mindy, with a mansion and call waiting and exotic vacations, but she learns to appreciate the things that she does have and realizes that their families are equal in love.
Stone, Brain, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 1959. Middlesex: Penguin, 1972.
I didn't get it. I usually don't comprehend anything in verse form. Blegh. Maybe I'll try again later. It's a nice little ...... thing.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
June's book list
Hello. It's that time again.
You know how I said this month would be better? Well, I did. And I read diligently. And I read some books I'd been meaning to read. And I finished some books I'd started a while ago. And this month's book list takes up nearly half a page in my notebook. And I derive a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from that.
But: I started typing up the unhelpful reviews for these books and I realize why I've been in such a bad mood. This stuff is terrible. I mean, it's ridiculous. A couple of nights ago I went home from work in a crazy-foul mood and cut off 5 inches of my hair. By myself. I assumed it was hormonal. Then I checked my planner and felt like a moron--this was all me. Yup.
So while I try to calmly pretend that this is really no big deal (and most people think it isn't because my hair looks fine and I seem to have lost the ability to shock anyone anymore), I do have to admit that some of my deep-rooted dissatisfaction must be coming from the pitiful reading month. I like reading and I'm disappointed when a book turns out to be a complete waste of my time.
Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. 1958. New York: Modern Library, 1994.*
At the risk of alienating more than half of this blog's readership, I'm going to be completely honest. I did not like this. I not only did not enjoy this book, I thought it was a bad book. A stupid story. With ridiculous characters. Who do not age well. At all. And maybe that's the point. Maybe I'm supposed to be enthralled with this deeply flawed and wounded character and realize that all of her incredibly off-putting actions are just defense mechanisms that I'm supposed to pity. But I do not. This book stinks. Thank you. I feel better now.
Dietz, Laura. In the Tenth House. New York: Crown, 2007.*
I saw the spine on the bookcase at the library and checked this out. The beginning was slow, the middle was riveting, and then I was just mad. Horrible, pointless book. The plot was ridiculous and tragic and the characters were upper class British people in the Victorian age. Oh help me. I thought I'd take a chance and judge a book by its cover. That will not be happening again soon.
Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. 1923. New York: Knopf, 1972.
Well. It was pretty. And brief. I can cross it off the list. The drawings were cool, but can we really get that excited about someone who writes and draws. Didn't Blake already do this? With colors? Am I too jaded?
Traig, Jennifer. Well Enough Alone: A Cultural History of My Hypochondria. New York: Riverheard Books, 2008.*
Oh my goodness, who knew this neurotic hypochondriac would be the bright spot in this month's reading?! It's gross, it's painful, it's hilarious. I liked her book about her OCD, and this is even better because there's no anorexia involved. This made me laugh out loud until I cried. Absolutely fantastic (Cody, who was usually trying to sleep in bed while I was enjoying this, may have a different perspective). And educational. No, really!
Weir, Alison. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. New York: Ballentine Books, 2005.
I'm pretty sad I paid money for this. It was on sale, but not like "sale section of Barnes & Noble" or "library basement used book sale" sale. This biography was not very good. Objectively speaking, I can say it was awful. Because there's revisionist history, and there's feminist perspective, and then there's Alison Weir typing away sentences that end with prepositions while wearing her "I ♥ Isabella" t-shirt. I'm fine with you liking the subject of your work--that's probably a good thing. But when you spend all your time trying you justify her actions and refute the work of historians and scholars no one has ever heard of (mostly because your subject is a little irrelevant), you're going to lose me. Give the readers some credit: we get it. It was the 1300s. Disembowelment happened. Whatever. Sadly, this was the first biography focusing solely on Queen Isabella in roughly 150 years. Bummer that it was.....this.
So. I'm more optimistic about July. I'm currently reading Still Life by A.S. Byatt and A Proper Marriage by Doris Lessing and I think I'm going to ask Cody to recommend one of his nonfiction books about food. I'm also open to your suggestions because I very clearly need some help with picking books.
You know how I said this month would be better? Well, I did. And I read diligently. And I read some books I'd been meaning to read. And I finished some books I'd started a while ago. And this month's book list takes up nearly half a page in my notebook. And I derive a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from that.
But: I started typing up the unhelpful reviews for these books and I realize why I've been in such a bad mood. This stuff is terrible. I mean, it's ridiculous. A couple of nights ago I went home from work in a crazy-foul mood and cut off 5 inches of my hair. By myself. I assumed it was hormonal. Then I checked my planner and felt like a moron--this was all me. Yup.
So while I try to calmly pretend that this is really no big deal (and most people think it isn't because my hair looks fine and I seem to have lost the ability to shock anyone anymore), I do have to admit that some of my deep-rooted dissatisfaction must be coming from the pitiful reading month. I like reading and I'm disappointed when a book turns out to be a complete waste of my time.
Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. 1958. New York: Modern Library, 1994.*
At the risk of alienating more than half of this blog's readership, I'm going to be completely honest. I did not like this. I not only did not enjoy this book, I thought it was a bad book. A stupid story. With ridiculous characters. Who do not age well. At all. And maybe that's the point. Maybe I'm supposed to be enthralled with this deeply flawed and wounded character and realize that all of her incredibly off-putting actions are just defense mechanisms that I'm supposed to pity. But I do not. This book stinks. Thank you. I feel better now.
Dietz, Laura. In the Tenth House. New York: Crown, 2007.*
I saw the spine on the bookcase at the library and checked this out. The beginning was slow, the middle was riveting, and then I was just mad. Horrible, pointless book. The plot was ridiculous and tragic and the characters were upper class British people in the Victorian age. Oh help me. I thought I'd take a chance and judge a book by its cover. That will not be happening again soon.
Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet. 1923. New York: Knopf, 1972.
Well. It was pretty. And brief. I can cross it off the list. The drawings were cool, but can we really get that excited about someone who writes and draws. Didn't Blake already do this? With colors? Am I too jaded?
Traig, Jennifer. Well Enough Alone: A Cultural History of My Hypochondria. New York: Riverheard Books, 2008.*
Oh my goodness, who knew this neurotic hypochondriac would be the bright spot in this month's reading?! It's gross, it's painful, it's hilarious. I liked her book about her OCD, and this is even better because there's no anorexia involved. This made me laugh out loud until I cried. Absolutely fantastic (Cody, who was usually trying to sleep in bed while I was enjoying this, may have a different perspective). And educational. No, really!
Weir, Alison. Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England. New York: Ballentine Books, 2005.
I'm pretty sad I paid money for this. It was on sale, but not like "sale section of Barnes & Noble" or "library basement used book sale" sale. This biography was not very good. Objectively speaking, I can say it was awful. Because there's revisionist history, and there's feminist perspective, and then there's Alison Weir typing away sentences that end with prepositions while wearing her "I ♥ Isabella" t-shirt. I'm fine with you liking the subject of your work--that's probably a good thing. But when you spend all your time trying you justify her actions and refute the work of historians and scholars no one has ever heard of (mostly because your subject is a little irrelevant), you're going to lose me. Give the readers some credit: we get it. It was the 1300s. Disembowelment happened. Whatever. Sadly, this was the first biography focusing solely on Queen Isabella in roughly 150 years. Bummer that it was.....this.
So. I'm more optimistic about July. I'm currently reading Still Life by A.S. Byatt and A Proper Marriage by Doris Lessing and I think I'm going to ask Cody to recommend one of his nonfiction books about food. I'm also open to your suggestions because I very clearly need some help with picking books.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
May's book list
I was hoping I could just skip this, but after doing this for 3 years it seems like it would be wrong to not do so.
So: I finished 2 books in May.
I was busy. Not incredibly busy, but busy.
And I started 5 or 6 books.
Basically May was just a dumb month.
Lessing, Doris. Alfred and Emily. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.*
Doris Lessing, one of my heroes for being awesome, tries to imagine the life her parents would have had if World War I had never taken place because their lives were so drastically changed by it. So the first half of the book is the story of that. And then the second half is how their lives really were, and her life and her brother's. I swear, even the arranging of the words is just sad. Very sad. Very good, very interesting. Very sad.
Rice, Ann. Lasher. New York: Ballentine Books, 1995.
And.... the Ann Rice book frenzy is over. See you in another 4 or 5 years.
So: I finished 2 books in May.
I was busy. Not incredibly busy, but busy.
And I started 5 or 6 books.
Basically May was just a dumb month.
Lessing, Doris. Alfred and Emily. New York: HarperCollins, 2008.*
Doris Lessing, one of my heroes for being awesome, tries to imagine the life her parents would have had if World War I had never taken place because their lives were so drastically changed by it. So the first half of the book is the story of that. And then the second half is how their lives really were, and her life and her brother's. I swear, even the arranging of the words is just sad. Very sad. Very good, very interesting. Very sad.
Rice, Ann. Lasher. New York: Ballentine Books, 1995.
And.... the Ann Rice book frenzy is over. See you in another 4 or 5 years.
Friday, May 1, 2009
April books
Congratulations, you made it through the cruelest month.
As your reward, I will treat you to the list of books I finished last month alongside my unhelpful reviews.....just like I do every month.
DeLillo, Don. The Body Artist. New York: Scribner, 2001.*
I like the way Don DeLillo writes, but 800 or so pages of good writing is still 800 or so pages to slog through. So I checked this out solely because it was 124 pages. I liked it. It was sad and disturbing, but good.
Hamilton, John Maxwell. Cassanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books. New York: Penguin.
My friend, Kelly, gave this to me as a college graduation present. I thought it was time for a re-reading of this lovely book about books. Those are some of my favorite ones.
Rice, Anne. Pandora. New York: Ballantine, 1998.
It was entertaining bedtime reading.....and then you fall asleep.
Vowell, Sarah. The Wordy Shipmates. New York: Riverhead, 2008.*
Doesn't live up to the hype, but I still really enjoyed it. The way Vowell writes makes the casually informative feel of the book really fun, but I don't know how well it will wear 3 or 4 years from now. The contemporary references and comparisons are a bigger detractor than a help, which is a shame.
As your reward, I will treat you to the list of books I finished last month alongside my unhelpful reviews.....just like I do every month.
DeLillo, Don. The Body Artist. New York: Scribner, 2001.*
I like the way Don DeLillo writes, but 800 or so pages of good writing is still 800 or so pages to slog through. So I checked this out solely because it was 124 pages. I liked it. It was sad and disturbing, but good.
Hamilton, John Maxwell. Cassanova Was a Book Lover: And Other Naked Truths and Provocative Curiosities about the Writing, Selling, and Reading of Books. New York: Penguin.
My friend, Kelly, gave this to me as a college graduation present. I thought it was time for a re-reading of this lovely book about books. Those are some of my favorite ones.
Rice, Anne. Pandora. New York: Ballantine, 1998.
It was entertaining bedtime reading.....and then you fall asleep.
Vowell, Sarah. The Wordy Shipmates. New York: Riverhead, 2008.*
Doesn't live up to the hype, but I still really enjoyed it. The way Vowell writes makes the casually informative feel of the book really fun, but I don't know how well it will wear 3 or 4 years from now. The contemporary references and comparisons are a bigger detractor than a help, which is a shame.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Book list for January 2009
Applehof, Mary. Worms Eat My Garbage. Kalamazoo: Flower Press, 2nd ed. 1997*
So. Not to gross you out, but I've been trying to compost since this summer, and I've had worms in there too. This went on in the storage closet outside. And then there were some grubworm problems. It was disgusting. And then I read in this helpful little book that people with asthma shouldn't really be trying to compost anyway because of the accompanying mold. Well...fine. After reading this, I know a whole lot about vermiposting and why it's not really for me. At least for right now.
Byatt, A.S. A Whistling Woman. New York: Knopf, 2002.*
This is my tenth A. S. Byatt book! She's so great. She believes in happy endings.
Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant's Woman. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969.
Eh. I liked it. I read it. I wasn't impressed by it. I couldn't suspend my disbelief. It was still pretty good and I'm glad I read it.
Goldsmith, Sheherazade, ed. A Slice of Organic Life. New York: DK Publishing, 2007*
This is (very clearly) an overview. Anyone who would try to use this as an actual guide would be in deep, organic hog poop. Cody picked it up on a whim at the library. Some parts of it were pretty informative (have a windowsill herb garden) and other parts were ridiculous (why not raise geese?). My favorite parts were the pictures: beautiful, sunshiny, harvesty pictures of things you can grow and raise and preserve. I read this during December and Janurary. It will have to hold me over until springtime.
So. Not to gross you out, but I've been trying to compost since this summer, and I've had worms in there too. This went on in the storage closet outside. And then there were some grubworm problems. It was disgusting. And then I read in this helpful little book that people with asthma shouldn't really be trying to compost anyway because of the accompanying mold. Well...fine. After reading this, I know a whole lot about vermiposting and why it's not really for me. At least for right now.
Byatt, A.S. A Whistling Woman. New York: Knopf, 2002.*
This is my tenth A. S. Byatt book! She's so great. She believes in happy endings.
Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant's Woman. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969.
Eh. I liked it. I read it. I wasn't impressed by it. I couldn't suspend my disbelief. It was still pretty good and I'm glad I read it.
Goldsmith, Sheherazade, ed. A Slice of Organic Life. New York: DK Publishing, 2007*
This is (very clearly) an overview. Anyone who would try to use this as an actual guide would be in deep, organic hog poop. Cody picked it up on a whim at the library. Some parts of it were pretty informative (have a windowsill herb garden) and other parts were ridiculous (why not raise geese?). My favorite parts were the pictures: beautiful, sunshiny, harvesty pictures of things you can grow and raise and preserve. I read this during December and Janurary. It will have to hold me over until springtime.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Book List for 2008
Okay. It's that time again.
Here is what I read in 2008, in MLA format (as best as I can remember and manage, anyway). As always, library books are designated by asterisk.
Anderegg, David. Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them. New York: Penguin, 2008.
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor, 2003.*
--. The Robber Bride. New York: Doubleday, 1993.*
Barry, Dave. Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far). New York: Penguin, 2007.*
Bombeck, Erma. Family: The Ties That Bind…And Gag!. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1987.
Boyett, Jason. Pocket Guide to Adulthood: 29 Things to Know Before You Hit 30. Orlando: Relevant Books, 2005.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. 1982. New York: Del Ray, 2008.*
Brockmeier, Kevin. The View From the Seventh Layer. New York: Pantheon, 2008.
Browne, Jill Connor. The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999.
Burroughs, Augsten. Running With Scissors. New York: Picador, 2002.
Byatt, A. S. The Biographer's Tale. New York: Knopf: 2001.*
--. The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye: Five Fairy Stories. New York: Random House, 1997.*
--. The Game. New York: Charles Scriber's Sons, 1967.*
--. Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice. New York: Random House, 1998.*
--. Little Black Book of Stories. New York: Knopf, 2004.*
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages. Berkely: University of California Press, 1984*
Cain, James. The Postman Always Rings Twice. 1934. New York: Vintage, 1981.
Claiborne, Shane. The Irresistible Revolution. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.*
Clarke, Susanna. Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004.
Cobb, Linda. Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean. New York: Pocket Books, 1998.
Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
Cutler, Katharine Noble. Flower Arranging for All Occasions. 1967. New York: Doubleday, 1981.
Editors of Consumer Reports Books with Edward Kippel. How to Clean Practically Anything. 4th Ed. Yonkers: Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., 1996.
Fforde, Jasper. Thursday Next in First Among Sequels. New York: Viking, 2007.*
--. Thursday Next in Something Rotten. New York: Viking, 2004.*
--. Thursday Next in the Well of Lost Plots. New York: Vicking, 2003.*
Frey, James. A Million Little Pieces. New York: Nan A. Telese, 2003.
Gates, Stefan. Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006.
Gilbert, Sandra and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and The Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. *
Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. New York: Vintage, 1995.
Haggard, Ted and Gayle Haggard. From This Day Forward: Making Your Vows Last a Lifetime. Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2006.
Herbert, Frank. Chapterhouse: Dune. New York: Ace, 1987.
--. Dune. 1965. New York: Putnam, 1998.*
--. Children of Dune. 1976. New York: Ace, 1987.
--. Dune Messiah. 1969. New York: Berkley, 1981.
--. God Emperor of Dune. New York: Berkley, 1981.
--. Heretics of Dune. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984. 480 pages*
Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. Trans. Hilda Rosner. 1922. New York: MJF Books, 1992.
Klosterman, Chuck. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. New York: Scribner, 2003.*
Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Trans. Michael Henry Herm. 1984. New York: HaperCollins, 1999.
Laskas, Gretchen Moran. The Midwife's Tale. New York: Dial Press, 2003.
Lessing, Doris. The Golden Notebook. 1962. New York: Bantam, 1981.
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 1950. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
--. Prince Caspian [The Return to Narnia]. 1951. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
--. The Silver Chair. 1953. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
--. The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. 1952. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
McGuire, Maria. To Take Arms: My Year With the IRA Provisionals. New York: Viking, 1973.*
Palahniuk, Chuck. Choke. New York: Anchor, 2001.*
Parker, Suzi. Sex in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt. Boston: Justin, Charles & Co., 2003.*
Radosh, Daniel. Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. New York: Scribner, 2008.
Rigg, Jo. Tabletops. Boston: Bullfinch Press, 2003.*
Sedaris, Amy. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. New York: Warner, 2006.*
Seo, Danny. Simply Green: Parties. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.*
Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale. New York: Washington, 2007.
Shute, Nevil. On the Beach. 1957. New York: Perennial, 1966.
Simon, Leslie and Trevor Kelly. Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture. New York: Harper Entertainment, 2007.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. 1928. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1991.
Wodicka, Tod. All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008.
And because I wanted to do something new this year, I made up some categories for some of these titles.
I Realized I Hate You After the Fact and I Hate Myself for Letting You Waste My Time
All of the Thursday Next books
Sex in the South
To Take Arms
Every Dune book but Dune
How to Clean Practically Anything
Oryx and Crake
Choke
The Midwife's Tale
You Did Not Let Me Down and I Deeply Appreciate That
Family
Dave Barry's History of Millennium
Tabletops
I Like You
The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love
Dune
Rapture Ready!
The View from the Seventh Layer
The Thirteenth Tale
Gastronaut
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs
I Had No Idea You Were Going to Be This Amazing and I Want to Be Best Friends With You Forever and Ever!
Madwoman in the Attic
Everybody Hurts
Flower Arranging for All Occasions
Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean
The Golden Notebook
The Hours
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye
The Game
Snow Falling on Cedars
Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell
Here is what I read in 2008, in MLA format (as best as I can remember and manage, anyway). As always, library books are designated by asterisk.
Anderegg, David. Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them. New York: Penguin, 2008.
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor, 2003.*
--. The Robber Bride. New York: Doubleday, 1993.*
Barry, Dave. Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far). New York: Penguin, 2007.*
Bombeck, Erma. Family: The Ties That Bind…And Gag!. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1987.
Boyett, Jason. Pocket Guide to Adulthood: 29 Things to Know Before You Hit 30. Orlando: Relevant Books, 2005.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. 1982. New York: Del Ray, 2008.*
Brockmeier, Kevin. The View From the Seventh Layer. New York: Pantheon, 2008.
Browne, Jill Connor. The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999.
Burroughs, Augsten. Running With Scissors. New York: Picador, 2002.
Byatt, A. S. The Biographer's Tale. New York: Knopf: 2001.*
--. The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye: Five Fairy Stories. New York: Random House, 1997.*
--. The Game. New York: Charles Scriber's Sons, 1967.*
--. Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice. New York: Random House, 1998.*
--. Little Black Book of Stories. New York: Knopf, 2004.*
Bynum, Caroline Walker. Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages. Berkely: University of California Press, 1984*
Cain, James. The Postman Always Rings Twice. 1934. New York: Vintage, 1981.
Claiborne, Shane. The Irresistible Revolution. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006.*
Clarke, Susanna. Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004.
Cobb, Linda. Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean. New York: Pocket Books, 1998.
Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
Cutler, Katharine Noble. Flower Arranging for All Occasions. 1967. New York: Doubleday, 1981.
Editors of Consumer Reports Books with Edward Kippel. How to Clean Practically Anything. 4th Ed. Yonkers: Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., 1996.
Fforde, Jasper. Thursday Next in First Among Sequels. New York: Viking, 2007.*
--. Thursday Next in Something Rotten. New York: Viking, 2004.*
--. Thursday Next in the Well of Lost Plots. New York: Vicking, 2003.*
Frey, James. A Million Little Pieces. New York: Nan A. Telese, 2003.
Gates, Stefan. Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006.
Gilbert, Sandra and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and The Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. *
Guterson, David. Snow Falling on Cedars. New York: Vintage, 1995.
Haggard, Ted and Gayle Haggard. From This Day Forward: Making Your Vows Last a Lifetime. Colorado Springs: WaterBrook Press, 2006.
Herbert, Frank. Chapterhouse: Dune. New York: Ace, 1987.
--. Dune. 1965. New York: Putnam, 1998.*
--. Children of Dune. 1976. New York: Ace, 1987.
--. Dune Messiah. 1969. New York: Berkley, 1981.
--. God Emperor of Dune. New York: Berkley, 1981.
--. Heretics of Dune. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984. 480 pages*
Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. Trans. Hilda Rosner. 1922. New York: MJF Books, 1992.
Klosterman, Chuck. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. New York: Scribner, 2003.*
Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Trans. Michael Henry Herm. 1984. New York: HaperCollins, 1999.
Laskas, Gretchen Moran. The Midwife's Tale. New York: Dial Press, 2003.
Lessing, Doris. The Golden Notebook. 1962. New York: Bantam, 1981.
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 1950. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
--. Prince Caspian [The Return to Narnia]. 1951. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
--. The Silver Chair. 1953. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
--. The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. 1952. New York: Scholastic, 1987.
McGuire, Maria. To Take Arms: My Year With the IRA Provisionals. New York: Viking, 1973.*
Palahniuk, Chuck. Choke. New York: Anchor, 2001.*
Parker, Suzi. Sex in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt. Boston: Justin, Charles & Co., 2003.*
Radosh, Daniel. Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. New York: Scribner, 2008.
Rigg, Jo. Tabletops. Boston: Bullfinch Press, 2003.*
Sedaris, Amy. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. New York: Warner, 2006.*
Seo, Danny. Simply Green: Parties. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.*
Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale. New York: Washington, 2007.
Shute, Nevil. On the Beach. 1957. New York: Perennial, 1966.
Simon, Leslie and Trevor Kelly. Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture. New York: Harper Entertainment, 2007.
Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. 1928. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1991.
Wodicka, Tod. All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well. New York: Pantheon Books, 2008.
And because I wanted to do something new this year, I made up some categories for some of these titles.
I Realized I Hate You After the Fact and I Hate Myself for Letting You Waste My Time
All of the Thursday Next books
Sex in the South
To Take Arms
Every Dune book but Dune
How to Clean Practically Anything
Oryx and Crake
Choke
The Midwife's Tale
You Did Not Let Me Down and I Deeply Appreciate That
Family
Dave Barry's History of Millennium
Tabletops
I Like You
The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love
Dune
Rapture Ready!
The View from the Seventh Layer
The Thirteenth Tale
Gastronaut
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs
I Had No Idea You Were Going to Be This Amazing and I Want to Be Best Friends With You Forever and Ever!
Madwoman in the Attic
Everybody Hurts
Flower Arranging for All Occasions
Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean
The Golden Notebook
The Hours
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye
The Game
Snow Falling on Cedars
Jonathon Strange & Mr Norrell
Monday, December 1, 2008
November's book list
This has been quite the smarty-pants reading month.
I'm prone to undeserved book snobbery, but I realized I'd hit my zenith (at least, I hope I don't get any worse than this) earlier this morning when I was reading a blog I discovered. This woman was discussing her infertility problems, and having just checked out her profile and seen her favorite authors, I thought perhaps God was trying to prevent this woman from bearing and raising yet another stupid person like herself.
Yes, I really did.
I'm very sorry.
I'm sure that's not why she's having problems having a baby (it's actually because she's approaching middle age--she said so herself).
I sincerely hope she eventually becomes a mother.
And I hope that when she does, that kid is going to have some intelligent mentors around to recommend reading selections beyond Goodnight Moon.
I'm sorry!!!!
It really was the first thing that came to mind.
Ahem, um, anyways....here's the book list for November. I have lengthier, non-helpful reactions to each book because I got very enthralled this month. It was a welcome change.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. 1982. New York: Del Ray, 2008.
Did you know this was originally published by Knopf? That's a big deal! Anyway, this is (yet another) reconfiguration of the Arthur mythos. What's not to love? Well, the incest factor. I didn't love that. But then, I never do and it's always in the Arthur mythos anyway. Royals are crazy. But apart from that, the story had magic, 1980s New Age-y goddess mysticism, a thoughtful examination of the mixing of the pagan and the Christian (I always get excited about that), treachery, romantic entanglements, visions (I also get excited about psychic business), and murder. Seriously, murder out that wazoo. Fun, exciting stuff. I really didn't mind it being over 800 pages.
Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
This is about a single day in the life of three women. This is the same premise of Mrs Dalloway. And one of the women is Virginia Woolf. And The Hours was her working title for Mrs Dalloway. And this is a spectacularly awesome book. I watched the movie a few years back, and now that I've read the book, I'm so glad to know that the movie did a wonderful, faithful adaptation. The book is still better because the narrator tells us what the characters are thinking. I ♥ postmodernism. I bought this book at the Lutheran High Used Book Sale and started reading it that afternoon. And then I finished the following evening. Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite authors. Her suicide note to her husband is one of the sweetest love letters I've ever read.
I think God just disqualified me from having children.
Cutler, Katharine Noble. Flower Arranging for All Occasions. 1967. New York: Doubleday, 1981.
Oh. My. Goodness. This book was previously published under the title How to Arrange Flowers for All Occasions, and was apparently so wildly popular that Doubleday released a new edition in 1981. Sadly, it is now out of print so you'll just have to scrounge in garage sales and library sales. And believe me, you want it. You want it so badly, you don't even understand yet. But you will. This is actually a pretty helpful guide to arranging flowers for people who don't know how to do it (like me), and even though it's a little dated she makes some great points about using found items. Another indication that it's dated: She keeps talking about bouquets looking "fresh" and "gay." "Gay" is probably featured in the book no fewer than 50 times. Seriously. And she is not writing about homosexuals at all. Which brings me to the other thing I love about this book: it is laugh-out-loud unintentionally hilarious.
I know I included a quote from the book in a different post, but I have to do it again.
143: One woman had a most original idea for her bathroom decoration. Knowing that African violets grow well in a humid atmosphere, she turned the top of the toilet tank (which was under a window with good light) upside down and filled it with pebbles. On these she has pots of African violets. They thrive in the light and humidity and are usually a mass of blossoms.
And another, just in time for the holidays.
161: Is there anything more fun to do at Christmastime than to go foraging for greens and other plant material to make your own decorations? Whether you are crunching through the snow in a New England pine forest, cutting blazing poinsettias in Florida, gathering myriads of beautiful pinecones in California, or picking luxuriant holly in the Pacific Northwest, there is something about assembling your own decorations that is smugly satisfying. [Emphasis added because I wanted to point out the craziness.]
I asked Cody if he could think of "anything more fun to do at Christmastime than to go foraging for greens and other plant material" and he assured me he could.
Frey, James. A Million Little Pieces. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2003.
Oh man. Remember when James Frey was a big, fat deal? And then remember when he was deemed a big, fat liar and Oprah nearly had him drawn and quartered on national television? Crazy times. I had still heard this was a good book, regardless of where the library chooses to shelve it. So I bought it at the basement sale and began reading it. And I finished it. And I thought it was a pretty good read.
But I really don't understand how anyone could ever be taken in by this. At first I thought I was just walking into this with all of the stuff I already knew. But no. This angry, angry young man who's destroyed his body and mind with every chemical he can find for the past decade and a half enters rehab and reads one book on Zen and becomes the tender boyfriend figure and this great listener and bucks the AA system and stays clean and Proves Them All Wrong without a single grammatically correct sentence? No. Just no.
It's painfully, embarrassingly, and heartbreakingly obvious that he is writing about events and people (and most of all himself) not as they really were, but as he wishes they had been. And that's the saddest part of the whole book. His stories remind me too much of stories I've heard from friends, acquaintances, and the kinds of people who think they have amazing stories to tell (FYI: if you have an amazing story to tell, chances are it's not going to be about yourself. Yes, I am aware that I tell a lot of stories about myself. I am also aware that they are not amazing or even remotely interesting). Not all of those people had problems with drugs or alcohol. But they all had problems with lying. And they all lied to me.
I would actually recommend all of this month's books to you.
Unless you have problems with paganism, violence, drugs, profanity, suicide, homosexuality, alcohol, sexuality in general, or flower arranging.
Then maybe you should just pick up the new Stephen King collection of short stories and let me know what you think.
I'm prone to undeserved book snobbery, but I realized I'd hit my zenith (at least, I hope I don't get any worse than this) earlier this morning when I was reading a blog I discovered. This woman was discussing her infertility problems, and having just checked out her profile and seen her favorite authors, I thought perhaps God was trying to prevent this woman from bearing and raising yet another stupid person like herself.
Yes, I really did.
I'm very sorry.
I'm sure that's not why she's having problems having a baby (it's actually because she's approaching middle age--she said so herself).
I sincerely hope she eventually becomes a mother.
And I hope that when she does, that kid is going to have some intelligent mentors around to recommend reading selections beyond Goodnight Moon.
I'm sorry!!!!
It really was the first thing that came to mind.
Ahem, um, anyways....here's the book list for November. I have lengthier, non-helpful reactions to each book because I got very enthralled this month. It was a welcome change.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. 1982. New York: Del Ray, 2008.
Did you know this was originally published by Knopf? That's a big deal! Anyway, this is (yet another) reconfiguration of the Arthur mythos. What's not to love? Well, the incest factor. I didn't love that. But then, I never do and it's always in the Arthur mythos anyway. Royals are crazy. But apart from that, the story had magic, 1980s New Age-y goddess mysticism, a thoughtful examination of the mixing of the pagan and the Christian (I always get excited about that), treachery, romantic entanglements, visions (I also get excited about psychic business), and murder. Seriously, murder out that wazoo. Fun, exciting stuff. I really didn't mind it being over 800 pages.
Cunningham, Michael. The Hours. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
This is about a single day in the life of three women. This is the same premise of Mrs Dalloway. And one of the women is Virginia Woolf. And The Hours was her working title for Mrs Dalloway. And this is a spectacularly awesome book. I watched the movie a few years back, and now that I've read the book, I'm so glad to know that the movie did a wonderful, faithful adaptation. The book is still better because the narrator tells us what the characters are thinking. I ♥ postmodernism. I bought this book at the Lutheran High Used Book Sale and started reading it that afternoon. And then I finished the following evening. Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite authors. Her suicide note to her husband is one of the sweetest love letters I've ever read.
I think God just disqualified me from having children.
Cutler, Katharine Noble. Flower Arranging for All Occasions. 1967. New York: Doubleday, 1981.
Oh. My. Goodness. This book was previously published under the title How to Arrange Flowers for All Occasions, and was apparently so wildly popular that Doubleday released a new edition in 1981. Sadly, it is now out of print so you'll just have to scrounge in garage sales and library sales. And believe me, you want it. You want it so badly, you don't even understand yet. But you will. This is actually a pretty helpful guide to arranging flowers for people who don't know how to do it (like me), and even though it's a little dated she makes some great points about using found items. Another indication that it's dated: She keeps talking about bouquets looking "fresh" and "gay." "Gay" is probably featured in the book no fewer than 50 times. Seriously. And she is not writing about homosexuals at all. Which brings me to the other thing I love about this book: it is laugh-out-loud unintentionally hilarious.
I know I included a quote from the book in a different post, but I have to do it again.
143: One woman had a most original idea for her bathroom decoration. Knowing that African violets grow well in a humid atmosphere, she turned the top of the toilet tank (which was under a window with good light) upside down and filled it with pebbles. On these she has pots of African violets. They thrive in the light and humidity and are usually a mass of blossoms.
And another, just in time for the holidays.
161: Is there anything more fun to do at Christmastime than to go foraging for greens and other plant material to make your own decorations? Whether you are crunching through the snow in a New England pine forest, cutting blazing poinsettias in Florida, gathering myriads of beautiful pinecones in California, or picking luxuriant holly in the Pacific Northwest, there is something about assembling your own decorations that is smugly satisfying. [Emphasis added because I wanted to point out the craziness.]
I asked Cody if he could think of "anything more fun to do at Christmastime than to go foraging for greens and other plant material" and he assured me he could.
Frey, James. A Million Little Pieces. New York: Nan A. Talese, 2003.
Oh man. Remember when James Frey was a big, fat deal? And then remember when he was deemed a big, fat liar and Oprah nearly had him drawn and quartered on national television? Crazy times. I had still heard this was a good book, regardless of where the library chooses to shelve it. So I bought it at the basement sale and began reading it. And I finished it. And I thought it was a pretty good read.
But I really don't understand how anyone could ever be taken in by this. At first I thought I was just walking into this with all of the stuff I already knew. But no. This angry, angry young man who's destroyed his body and mind with every chemical he can find for the past decade and a half enters rehab and reads one book on Zen and becomes the tender boyfriend figure and this great listener and bucks the AA system and stays clean and Proves Them All Wrong without a single grammatically correct sentence? No. Just no.
It's painfully, embarrassingly, and heartbreakingly obvious that he is writing about events and people (and most of all himself) not as they really were, but as he wishes they had been. And that's the saddest part of the whole book. His stories remind me too much of stories I've heard from friends, acquaintances, and the kinds of people who think they have amazing stories to tell (FYI: if you have an amazing story to tell, chances are it's not going to be about yourself. Yes, I am aware that I tell a lot of stories about myself. I am also aware that they are not amazing or even remotely interesting). Not all of those people had problems with drugs or alcohol. But they all had problems with lying. And they all lied to me.
I would actually recommend all of this month's books to you.
Unless you have problems with paganism, violence, drugs, profanity, suicide, homosexuality, alcohol, sexuality in general, or flower arranging.
Then maybe you should just pick up the new Stephen King collection of short stories and let me know what you think.
Friday, October 31, 2008
October's book list
Since I don't think I'll finish that book on flower arranging today, here's the list of what I read this month. As always, library books are marked by asterisks. I love the library. It's so....free, except that I helped pay for it. I should start checking books that I actually enjoy. You'll see what I mean.
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor, 2003.*
I love Atwood. She's a great writer. I thought I would take a break from her books that are typically written from a female perspective and go with something that had a funny name and seemed kind of science-fictionsque. And the central character was a man. And this was a good book, but it took me forever to finish. Too many flashbacks (even for her), too much buildup, and not enough...something. I almost bought this a couple of months ago, but I'm glad I checked it out instead. It was good, but it was just....not particularly riveting (despite tons of tense moments and Very Important Cues That Something Bad Will Happen/Happened) until more than 3/4ths through. Not cool.
Fforde, Jasper. Thursday Next in First Among Sequels. New York: Viking, 2007.*
The most ridiculous one yet. It can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on your patience. I'm losing mine.
Herbert, Frank. Heretics of Dune. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984.*
At first, I thought I didn't 'get' the ending because I was tired and sick and whatever. No. I got it (and I went back and read the last 40 or 50 pages just to be sure), but it was stupid. I mean, really very stupid. I had considered reading the last 2 books of the series, which were actually written by Herbert's son using notes and drafts, but now I know I'm done.
Radosh, Daniel. Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture.
New York: Scribner, 2008.
This one was fun. At times it got a little smarmy, but I can see where that defense mechanism can kick in when one is surrounded by some of 'those people.' I would recommend that everyone read the book, even if it's just to read the mock interview with Stephen Baldwin. It's completely unfair and ridiculous and made me laugh till I cried and started coughing uncontrollably. Good stuff.
Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale. New York: Washington, 2007.
Why do I love the British so much? There are plot twists and themes and dialogue that reads like the script for a Lifetime movie--but I promise the book is cooler than that. Probably because it's so unbearably British. We don't even quite know when the story takes place. There's also a whole lot of twin creepiness. Some of it's intentional and some of it's due to the fact that twins, like all familial relationships, can be very strange.
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. New York: Anchor, 2003.*
I love Atwood. She's a great writer. I thought I would take a break from her books that are typically written from a female perspective and go with something that had a funny name and seemed kind of science-fictionsque. And the central character was a man. And this was a good book, but it took me forever to finish. Too many flashbacks (even for her), too much buildup, and not enough...something. I almost bought this a couple of months ago, but I'm glad I checked it out instead. It was good, but it was just....not particularly riveting (despite tons of tense moments and Very Important Cues That Something Bad Will Happen/Happened) until more than 3/4ths through. Not cool.
Fforde, Jasper. Thursday Next in First Among Sequels. New York: Viking, 2007.*
The most ridiculous one yet. It can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on your patience. I'm losing mine.
Herbert, Frank. Heretics of Dune. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1984.*
At first, I thought I didn't 'get' the ending because I was tired and sick and whatever. No. I got it (and I went back and read the last 40 or 50 pages just to be sure), but it was stupid. I mean, really very stupid. I had considered reading the last 2 books of the series, which were actually written by Herbert's son using notes and drafts, but now I know I'm done.
Radosh, Daniel. Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture.
New York: Scribner, 2008.
This one was fun. At times it got a little smarmy, but I can see where that defense mechanism can kick in when one is surrounded by some of 'those people.' I would recommend that everyone read the book, even if it's just to read the mock interview with Stephen Baldwin. It's completely unfair and ridiculous and made me laugh till I cried and started coughing uncontrollably. Good stuff.
Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale. New York: Washington, 2007.
Why do I love the British so much? There are plot twists and themes and dialogue that reads like the script for a Lifetime movie--but I promise the book is cooler than that. Probably because it's so unbearably British. We don't even quite know when the story takes place. There's also a whole lot of twin creepiness. Some of it's intentional and some of it's due to the fact that twins, like all familial relationships, can be very strange.
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