This was a brilliant first and (sadly) last novel by F.X. Toole. In addition to having published a collection of short stories that included "Million Dollar Baby" he left this manuscript behind. I can't say that I would have picked this up on my own but I am really glad that I read it. It has all the elements of a good boxing novel.
Underdogs, shady promoters, and fixed fights have left gifted boxer Eduardo "Chicky" Garza y Duffy ready to give up on his Olympic dreams to return home to the family farm. Dan Cooley is the older gentleman trainer who has lost his loved ones and has given up on life, until he meets a dog and the young up-and-coming fighter. The messages of honesty, honor and learning your craft make this an uplifting novel that is a hallmark of all of the greatest sports stories.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
More of my life with cats
Am I a bad cat mom? Instead of rescuing Abby from Spike, I took pictures.
I hate it when this happens
There are many times during my workday that having a cell phone is handy but there is one day a month when I really, really need my cell phone. That would be today. Did I bring my cell phone to work today when I almost never am without it? No. It is sitting on the counter where I put it when I went to feed the cats.
There are many times during my workday that having a cell phone is handy but there is one day a month when I really, really need my cell phone. That would be today. Did I bring my cell phone to work today when I almost never am without it? No. It is sitting on the counter where I put it when I went to feed the cats.
Hah! I knew I could blame this all on the cats if I tried hard enough.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz
BOB, it's a Nonfiction book!!! You can read my blog today.
When Terri Jentz was college, she and her roommate, Shayna, decided to take a bike trip cross-country. As the two were sleeping in their tent at Cline Falls State Park in Oregon a pickup truck ran over their tent and a man proceeded to hack them with a hatchet. Amazingly, at the last minute, the madman decided not to kill them and drove away. Terri recounts running to the road, flagging down a teenage couple, loading up Shayna, who was near death and rushing to the nearest emergency room. Because the madman was never caught, Terri remained haunted by the attack and eventually she went back to the scene of the crime and started her own investigation into the events of that night during the summer of 1977.
Terri does a magnificent job of telling her story in an emotionally compelling way. At various points as she is telling about the attack I had to stop reading because I felt physically ill. (No, really, this is a good thing in a memoir about a violent crime.) She gave her story an immediacy and urgency that moved the story along at a brisk pace for the majority of the book. I particularly liked the connections she develops with people she meets during the course of the investigation. While I am sure she would say that being a victim was not a good thing, the resulting investigation brought profound friendships into her life.
There were a few places that were repetitive and the pace slowed but I think this was due to the fact that she was describing an investigation, which I understand can be repetitious and tedious. Otherwise, it was an excellent and well thought out tale.
When Terri Jentz was college, she and her roommate, Shayna, decided to take a bike trip cross-country. As the two were sleeping in their tent at Cline Falls State Park in Oregon a pickup truck ran over their tent and a man proceeded to hack them with a hatchet. Amazingly, at the last minute, the madman decided not to kill them and drove away. Terri recounts running to the road, flagging down a teenage couple, loading up Shayna, who was near death and rushing to the nearest emergency room. Because the madman was never caught, Terri remained haunted by the attack and eventually she went back to the scene of the crime and started her own investigation into the events of that night during the summer of 1977.
Terri does a magnificent job of telling her story in an emotionally compelling way. At various points as she is telling about the attack I had to stop reading because I felt physically ill. (No, really, this is a good thing in a memoir about a violent crime.) She gave her story an immediacy and urgency that moved the story along at a brisk pace for the majority of the book. I particularly liked the connections she develops with people she meets during the course of the investigation. While I am sure she would say that being a victim was not a good thing, the resulting investigation brought profound friendships into her life.
There were a few places that were repetitive and the pace slowed but I think this was due to the fact that she was describing an investigation, which I understand can be repetitious and tedious. Otherwise, it was an excellent and well thought out tale.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Oversleeping
I managed to sleep through two alarms and hang up on a friend this morning. (Hey, talking on the phone and trying to blowdry your hair at the same time is tricky.) The problem with Nyquil is that it is really hard to wake up if you take it late at night but on the up side I did get some sleep:)
I am almost finished with a couple of books. Soon I will talk books. I promise.
I am almost finished with a couple of books. Soon I will talk books. I promise.
Monday, September 25, 2006
My Newly Updated Booklist
The list keeps getting bigger. So far I have read around 50? Only 270'ish to go:)
Abbott, Lee K - All Things, All at Once
Abel, Jessica - La Perdida
Abulthawa, Susan - The Scar of David
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi - Half of a Yellow Sun
Ali, Monica - Alentejo Blue
Allen, Clare - Poppy Shakespeare
Antrim, Donald - Afterlife
Arana, Marie - Cellophane
Armstrong, Karen - The Great Transformation
Arnoult, Darnell - Sufficient Grace
Arsenault, Raymond - Freedom Riders
Atkinson, Kate - One Good Turn
Atlas, Teddy - Atlas
Atwood, Margaret - Moral Disorder & Other Stories
Auster, Paul - Brooklyn Follies
Bahr, Howard - Judas Field
Baker, Calvin - Dominion
Barton, Emily - Brookland
Bausch, Richard - Thanksgiving Night
Bayard, Louis - The Pale Blue Eye
Beachy-Quick, Dan - Mulberry
Beagle, Peter S. - The Line Between
Bechdel, Alison - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Begg, Moazzam - Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar
Behrens, Peter - Law of Dreams, The
Belli, Gioconda - The Scroll of Seduction
Belozerskava, Marina - The Medici Giraffe
Ben Jelloun, Tahar - The Last Friend
Berkowitz, Edward - Something Happened
Berne, Suzanne - The Ghost at the Table
Bigsby, Christopher - Beautiful Dreamer
Binelli, Mark - Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!
Bizony, Piers - The Man Who Ran the Moon
Blehm, Eric - Last Season
Bonner, Jeffrey P - Sailing with Noah
Boren, Karen Lee - Girls in Peril
Bouillier, Gregoire - Mystery Guest: An Account
Boyle, T. Coraghessan - Talk Talk
Branch, Taylor - At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68
Brinkley, Douglas - The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Broad, William - The Oracle: The Lost Secrets And Hidden Messages Of Ancient Delphi
Brookhieser, Richard - The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, And The Northern Borderland Of The American Revolution
Brooks, Max - World War Z
Brown, Frederick - Flaubert: A Biography
Bruinius, Harry - Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity
Burt, Stephen - Parallel Play
Busch, Frederick - Rescue Missions
Butler, Robert Olen - Severance
Buzbee, Lewis - The Yellow Lighted Bookshop:
Cadbury, Deborah - Space Race
Cahill, Carmen - Bad Faith
Caldwell, Gail - A Strong West Wind
Carey, Lisa - Every Visible Thing
Carey, Peter - Theft: A Love Story
Carr, Cynthia - Our Town
Carrierre, Jean-Claude - Please, Mr Einstein
Carroll, James - House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power
Cartwright, Justin - The Promise of Happiness
Chase, Clifford - Winkie
Chayes, Sarah - The Punishment of Virtue:Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban
Cheney, Annie - Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains
Child, Julia and Alex Prud'Homme - My Life In France
Clarke, Susanna - Ladies of Grace Adieu & Other Stories
Claudel, Phillipe - By A Slow River
Collins, Francis S. - The Language of God
Collins, Martha - Blue Front
Cox, Michael - The Meaning of Night: A Confession
Cullen, Lisa Takeuchi - Remember Me
Da Chen - Brothers
Dallek, Robert - Let Every Nation Know
D'Ambrosio, Charles - Dead Fish Museum: Stories
Davies, Adam - Goodbye Lemon
Davis, David Brion - In Human Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World
Davis, Dick - A trick of Sunlight
Davis, Kathryn - The Thin Place
de Botton, Alain - The Architecture of Happiness
de Feydeau, Elisabeth - A Scented Palace: The Sercret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer
Dean, Debra - Madonnas of Leningrad
Decker, Shawn - My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel Without a Cure
DeKok, Ingrid - Seasonal Fires
Deslisle, Guy - Shonzhen: a travelogue
Doig, Ivan - The Whistling Season
Donohue, Keith - The Stolen Child
Donovan, Gerard - Julius Winsome
D'Orso, Michael - Eagle Blue
Drape, Joe - Black Maestro
D'Souza, Tony - Whiteman
Edsall, Thomas B - Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power
Egan, Jennifer - The Keep
Egan, Timothy - Worst Hard time
Eisenberg, Deborah - Twilight of the Superheroes
Eisenberg, John - The Great Match Race
Fenton, James - Selected Poems
Finkel, Caroline - Osman's Dream
Flannery, Tim - The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change
Fleming, Anne - Anomaly
Forbes, Charlotte - The Good Works of Avela Linde
Forbes, Peter - The Gecko's Foot
Forna, Aminatta - Ancestor Stones
Fountain, Ben - Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories
Franzen, Jonathan - The Discomfort Zone: a Personal History
Frazier, Charles - Thirteen Mooons
Freedman, Dave - Natural Selection
Freudenberger, Nell - The Dissident
Fuentes, Carlos - The Eagles Throne
Fugard, Lisa - Skinner's Drift
Gaiman, Neil - Fragile Things
Gallagher, Tess - Dear Ghosts
Gardam, Jane - Old Filth
Garrison, Julia Fox - Don't Leave Me This Way
Gaston, Bill - Sointula
George, Margaret - Helen of Troy
Getty, Sarah - Bring Me Her Heart
Ghosh, Amitav - Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Time
Gibb, Camilla - Sweetness in the Belly
Gibbons, Ann - The First Human
Gien, Pamela - The Syringa Tree
Gifford, Barry - The Stars Above Verazcruz
Gilfoyle, Timothy - Pickpocket's Tale, A: The Underworld of 19th Century New York
Gilmore, Jennifer - Golden Country
Glass, Julia - The Whole World Over
Gluck, Louise - Averno: Poems
Godwin, Gail - The Making Of A Writer: The Journals Of Gail Godwin 1961 - 1963
Goleman,Daniel - Social Intelligence
Goodman, Allegra - Intuition
Gorenberg, Gershom - The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977
Grandbois, Peter - Gravedigger
Grande, Reyna - Across a Hundred Mountains
Greenaway, Alice - White Ghost Girls
Greenfield, Robert - Timothy Leary
Grenville, Kate - Secret River
Groom, Winston - Patriotic Fire
Gruen, Sara - Water For Elephants
Guene Faiza - Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
Hamilton, Jane - When Madeline Was Young
Handler, Daniel - Adverbs
Hayes, Terrance - Wind in a Box
Heaney, Seamus - District and Circle
Hellenga, Robert - Philosophy Made Simple
Helms, Sarah - Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins And The Missing Agents of WWII
Henderson, William Haywood - Augusta Locke
Hendricks, Steve - The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country
Henriquez, Cristina - Come Together, Fall Apart
Hernandez, Gilbert - Sloth
Hessler, Peter - Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past And Present
Hirschfield, Jane - After
Hogan, Lawrence D. - Shades of Glory
Holloway, Kris - Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali
Homes, A. M. - This Book Will Save Your Life
Hoobler, Dorothy & Hoobler, Thomas - The Monsters: Mary Shelly & The Curse of Frankenstein
Horne, Jed - Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City
Hughes, Robert - Things I Didn't Know: A Memoir
Hyland, M. J. - Carry Me Down
Idibly, Rayna - The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding
Jackson, Major - Hoops
Jacobson, Sid - The 9/11 Report: a Graphic Adaptation
Jennings, Kevin - Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son
Jenson, Liz - My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time
Jentz, Terri - Strange Piece of Paradise
Jones, Edward P. - All Aunt Hagar's Children Joseph, Peniel E.
Waiting 'Till the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America
Julavits, Heidi - The Uses of Enchantment
Junger, Sebastian - A Death in Belmont
Just, Ward - Forgetfulness
Kammen, Michael - Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture
Kaplan, Eugene - Sensuous Seas
Karr, Mary - Sinners Welcome
Kashua, Sayed - Let It Be Morning
Kazin, Michael - A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan
Kelly, James Patrick - Feeling Very Strange
Kelly, Stuart - The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read
Kenneally, Thomas - A Commonwealth of Thieves: the Improbable Birth of Australia
Keret, Edgar - The Nimrod Flipout
Khadra, Yasmina - The Attack
Khoury, Elias - Gate Of The Sun
King, Ross - The Judgement of Paris
Kinzer, Stephen - Overthrow:America's Century of Regime Change
Knighton, Ryan - Cockeyed: A Memoir of Blindness
Kolbert, Elizabeth - Field notes from a catastrophe: man nature and climate change
Lansens, Lori - Girls
Larson, Erik - Thunderstruck
Lavagnino, Alessandra - The Librarians of Alexandria
Lawrence, Starling - Lightning Keeper, The
Lawson, Mary - The Other Side of the Bridge
Ledgard, J. M - Giraffe
Lehane, Dennis - Coronado
Li, Laura - Madame Chian Kai-Shek: China's First Lady
Lindquist, Ulla-Carin - Rowing Without Oars: A Memoir of Living and Dying
Livaneli, O.Z. - Bliss
Lloyd, Seth - Programming the Universe
Long, Dustin - Icelander
Lord, Graham - John Mortimer: The Secret Life of Rumpole's Creator: The Unauthorized Biography
Lucey, Donna M. - Archie and Amerlie
MacLaverty, Bernard - Matters of Life & Death: Stories
Maguire, James - American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds
Maheu, Layne - Song of the Crow
Maine, David - The Book of Samson
Malarkey, Tucker - Resurrection
Mankell, Henning - Chronicler of the Winds
Marchetto, Marisa - Cancer vixen
Markoe, Merrill - Walking in Circles Before Lying Down
Martin, Valerie - The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories
Masters, Alexander - Stuart: A Life Backwards
Mazya, Edna - Love Burns
McCarthy, Cormac - The Road
McCauley, Stephen - Alternatives to sex: a gay and obsessive-compulsive post-9/11
McDermott, Alice - After This
McMahon, Darrin - Happiness: A History
McPhee, John - Uncommon Carriers
Meek, James - People's Act of Love
Mendelsohn, Daniel - The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
Merridale, Catherine - Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945
Messud, Claire - The Emperor's Children
Migol, Agl - Look There: Selected Poems
Mitchell, David - Black Swan Green
Montgomery, Sy - The Good Good Pig
Moorehead, Caroline - Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn
Morrow, James - The Last Witchfinder
Mosley, Walter - Fortunate Son
Mullane, Mike - Riding Rockets
Mullen, Thomas - Last Town on Earth
Mullen, Thomas - The Last Town on Earth
Mullins, Meg - Rug Merchant
Murakami, Haruki - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Naslund, Sena Jeter - Abundance
Nazario, Sonia - Enrique's Journey
Nelson, Antonya - Some Fun: Stories and a Novella
Nemirovsky, Irene - Suite Francaise
Nielsen, John - Condor
Norton, Trevor - Underwater to Get Out of the Rain
Notley, Alice - Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2005
O'Brien, Edna - Light of Evening
Ohlin, Alix - Babylon
Othmer, James P. - Futurist: A Novel
Ours, Dorothy - Man O'War
Ozick, Cynthia - A Din in the Head
Parks, Tim - Rapids
Parrado, Nando - Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Paz Soldan, Edmundo - Turing's Delirium
Pearce, Fred - When the Rivers Run Dry: Water the Defining Crisis of the 21st Century
Petterson, Per - In the Wake
Philbrick, Nathaniel - Mayflower
Phillips, Julie - James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
Pitlor, Heidi - The Birthdays
Pomfret, John - Chinese Lesons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China
Powers, Richard - Echo Maker
Prager, Joshua - The Echoing Green
Robbins, James - Last in their Class
Rosenbaum, Ron - Shakespeare Wars
Roth, Philip - Everyman
Rusesabagina, Paul - An Ordinary Man
Russell, Karen - St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: And Other Stories
Rust, Elissa Minor - The Prisoner Pear: Stories From the Lake
Safina, Carl - The Voyage of the Turtle
Sallis, Eva - Fire, Fire
Sancton, Tom - Song for my Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White
Sanders, Scott Russell - A Private History of Awe
Satterlee, Thom - Burning Wyclif
Saunders, George - In Persuasion Nation: Stories
Savage, Sam - Firmin
Schaller, Thomas F - Whistling Past Dixie
Schama,Simon - Rough Crossings: Britain the Slaves, and the American Revolution
Schneider, Paul - Brutal Journey: First Crossing of North America
Schrag, Peter - California: America's High Stakes Experiment
Seife, Charles - Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos from our Brains to Black Holes
Server, Lee - Ava Gardner
Setterfield, Diane - The Thirteenth Tale
Sheehan, Aurelie - History Lesson for Girls
Shukman, Henry - Mortimer of the Maghreb
Slatalla, Michelle - The Town on Beaver Creek
Slavitt, David - William Henry Harrison and Other Poems
Smith, Dominic - Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre
Smith, Janna Malamud - My Father is a Book
Smith, Patricia - Teahouse of the Almighty
Snyder, Scott - Voodoo Heart
Soyinka, Wole - You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir
Stargardt, Nicholas - Witnesses of War: Children's Lives Under
Stashower, Daniel - Beautiful Cigar Girl
Stern, Jan & Michael - Two For The Road: Our Love Affair with American Food
Stewart, Rory - The Places In Between
Straight, Susan - Million Nightingales
Sullivan, Robert - Cross Country
Tallis, Frank - A Death in Vienna
Tiffany, Carrie - Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
Toffler, Alvin and Heida Toffler - Revolutionary Wealth
Tomlinson, Jim - Things Kept, Things Left Behind
Toole, F.X. - Pound For Pound
Toutonghi, Pauls - Red Weather
Troost, J. Maarten - Getting Stoned With Savages: Tripping Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
Trudge, Colin - The Tree: A history of What Trees Are, How they Live, and Why they Matter
Trueblood, Valerie - Seven Loves
Umrigar, Thirty - The Space Between Us
Unsworth, Barry - The Ruby in Her Navel
Updike, John - Terrorist
Urquhart, Jane - Map of Glass, A
Vallgren, Carl Johan - The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred
Vidal, Gore - Clouds & Elipses: the Collected Short Stories
Vincent, Norah - Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again
Walton, Jo - Farthing
Waters, Sarah - Night Watch
Wa'Thiong'O, Ngugi - Wizard of the Crow
Weber, Katharine - Triangle: a Novel
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling - A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journey of Two Chinese Sisters
White, Richard D. - Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long
Winter, Michael - The Big Why
Wright, Lawrence - The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann - Behold The Many
Yeh, Jane - Marabou
Yehoshua, Abraham - A Woman in Jerusalem
Zoellner, Tom - The Heartless Stone
Abbott, Lee K - All Things, All at Once
Abel, Jessica - La Perdida
Abulthawa, Susan - The Scar of David
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi - Half of a Yellow Sun
Ali, Monica - Alentejo Blue
Allen, Clare - Poppy Shakespeare
Antrim, Donald - Afterlife
Arana, Marie - Cellophane
Armstrong, Karen - The Great Transformation
Arnoult, Darnell - Sufficient Grace
Arsenault, Raymond - Freedom Riders
Atkinson, Kate - One Good Turn
Atlas, Teddy - Atlas
Atwood, Margaret - Moral Disorder & Other Stories
Auster, Paul - Brooklyn Follies
Bahr, Howard - Judas Field
Baker, Calvin - Dominion
Barton, Emily - Brookland
Bausch, Richard - Thanksgiving Night
Bayard, Louis - The Pale Blue Eye
Beachy-Quick, Dan - Mulberry
Beagle, Peter S. - The Line Between
Bechdel, Alison - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Begg, Moazzam - Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar
Behrens, Peter - Law of Dreams, The
Belli, Gioconda - The Scroll of Seduction
Belozerskava, Marina - The Medici Giraffe
Ben Jelloun, Tahar - The Last Friend
Berkowitz, Edward - Something Happened
Berne, Suzanne - The Ghost at the Table
Bigsby, Christopher - Beautiful Dreamer
Binelli, Mark - Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die!
Bizony, Piers - The Man Who Ran the Moon
Blehm, Eric - Last Season
Bonner, Jeffrey P - Sailing with Noah
Boren, Karen Lee - Girls in Peril
Bouillier, Gregoire - Mystery Guest: An Account
Boyle, T. Coraghessan - Talk Talk
Branch, Taylor - At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68
Brinkley, Douglas - The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
Broad, William - The Oracle: The Lost Secrets And Hidden Messages Of Ancient Delphi
Brookhieser, Richard - The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, And The Northern Borderland Of The American Revolution
Brooks, Max - World War Z
Brown, Frederick - Flaubert: A Biography
Bruinius, Harry - Better for All the World: The Secret History of Forced Sterilization and America's Quest for Racial Purity
Burt, Stephen - Parallel Play
Busch, Frederick - Rescue Missions
Butler, Robert Olen - Severance
Buzbee, Lewis - The Yellow Lighted Bookshop:
Cadbury, Deborah - Space Race
Cahill, Carmen - Bad Faith
Caldwell, Gail - A Strong West Wind
Carey, Lisa - Every Visible Thing
Carey, Peter - Theft: A Love Story
Carr, Cynthia - Our Town
Carrierre, Jean-Claude - Please, Mr Einstein
Carroll, James - House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power
Cartwright, Justin - The Promise of Happiness
Chase, Clifford - Winkie
Chayes, Sarah - The Punishment of Virtue:Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban
Cheney, Annie - Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade in Human Remains
Child, Julia and Alex Prud'Homme - My Life In France
Clarke, Susanna - Ladies of Grace Adieu & Other Stories
Claudel, Phillipe - By A Slow River
Collins, Francis S. - The Language of God
Collins, Martha - Blue Front
Cox, Michael - The Meaning of Night: A Confession
Cullen, Lisa Takeuchi - Remember Me
Da Chen - Brothers
Dallek, Robert - Let Every Nation Know
D'Ambrosio, Charles - Dead Fish Museum: Stories
Davies, Adam - Goodbye Lemon
Davis, David Brion - In Human Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World
Davis, Dick - A trick of Sunlight
Davis, Kathryn - The Thin Place
de Botton, Alain - The Architecture of Happiness
de Feydeau, Elisabeth - A Scented Palace: The Sercret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer
Dean, Debra - Madonnas of Leningrad
Decker, Shawn - My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel Without a Cure
DeKok, Ingrid - Seasonal Fires
Deslisle, Guy - Shonzhen: a travelogue
Doig, Ivan - The Whistling Season
Donohue, Keith - The Stolen Child
Donovan, Gerard - Julius Winsome
D'Orso, Michael - Eagle Blue
Drape, Joe - Black Maestro
D'Souza, Tony - Whiteman
Edsall, Thomas B - Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power
Egan, Jennifer - The Keep
Egan, Timothy - Worst Hard time
Eisenberg, Deborah - Twilight of the Superheroes
Eisenberg, John - The Great Match Race
Fenton, James - Selected Poems
Finkel, Caroline - Osman's Dream
Flannery, Tim - The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change
Fleming, Anne - Anomaly
Forbes, Charlotte - The Good Works of Avela Linde
Forbes, Peter - The Gecko's Foot
Forna, Aminatta - Ancestor Stones
Fountain, Ben - Brief Encounters with Che Guevara: Stories
Franzen, Jonathan - The Discomfort Zone: a Personal History
Frazier, Charles - Thirteen Mooons
Freedman, Dave - Natural Selection
Freudenberger, Nell - The Dissident
Fuentes, Carlos - The Eagles Throne
Fugard, Lisa - Skinner's Drift
Gaiman, Neil - Fragile Things
Gallagher, Tess - Dear Ghosts
Gardam, Jane - Old Filth
Garrison, Julia Fox - Don't Leave Me This Way
Gaston, Bill - Sointula
George, Margaret - Helen of Troy
Getty, Sarah - Bring Me Her Heart
Ghosh, Amitav - Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Time
Gibb, Camilla - Sweetness in the Belly
Gibbons, Ann - The First Human
Gien, Pamela - The Syringa Tree
Gifford, Barry - The Stars Above Verazcruz
Gilfoyle, Timothy - Pickpocket's Tale, A: The Underworld of 19th Century New York
Gilmore, Jennifer - Golden Country
Glass, Julia - The Whole World Over
Gluck, Louise - Averno: Poems
Godwin, Gail - The Making Of A Writer: The Journals Of Gail Godwin 1961 - 1963
Goleman,Daniel - Social Intelligence
Goodman, Allegra - Intuition
Gorenberg, Gershom - The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977
Grandbois, Peter - Gravedigger
Grande, Reyna - Across a Hundred Mountains
Greenaway, Alice - White Ghost Girls
Greenfield, Robert - Timothy Leary
Grenville, Kate - Secret River
Groom, Winston - Patriotic Fire
Gruen, Sara - Water For Elephants
Guene Faiza - Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
Hamilton, Jane - When Madeline Was Young
Handler, Daniel - Adverbs
Hayes, Terrance - Wind in a Box
Heaney, Seamus - District and Circle
Hellenga, Robert - Philosophy Made Simple
Helms, Sarah - Life In Secrets: Vera Atkins And The Missing Agents of WWII
Henderson, William Haywood - Augusta Locke
Hendricks, Steve - The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country
Henriquez, Cristina - Come Together, Fall Apart
Hernandez, Gilbert - Sloth
Hessler, Peter - Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past And Present
Hirschfield, Jane - After
Hogan, Lawrence D. - Shades of Glory
Holloway, Kris - Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali
Homes, A. M. - This Book Will Save Your Life
Hoobler, Dorothy & Hoobler, Thomas - The Monsters: Mary Shelly & The Curse of Frankenstein
Horne, Jed - Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City
Hughes, Robert - Things I Didn't Know: A Memoir
Hyland, M. J. - Carry Me Down
Idibly, Rayna - The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding
Jackson, Major - Hoops
Jacobson, Sid - The 9/11 Report: a Graphic Adaptation
Jennings, Kevin - Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son
Jenson, Liz - My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time
Jentz, Terri - Strange Piece of Paradise
Jones, Edward P. - All Aunt Hagar's Children Joseph, Peniel E.
Waiting 'Till the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America
Julavits, Heidi - The Uses of Enchantment
Junger, Sebastian - A Death in Belmont
Just, Ward - Forgetfulness
Kammen, Michael - Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture
Kaplan, Eugene - Sensuous Seas
Karr, Mary - Sinners Welcome
Kashua, Sayed - Let It Be Morning
Kazin, Michael - A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan
Kelly, James Patrick - Feeling Very Strange
Kelly, Stuart - The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete History of All the Great Books You'll Never Read
Kenneally, Thomas - A Commonwealth of Thieves: the Improbable Birth of Australia
Keret, Edgar - The Nimrod Flipout
Khadra, Yasmina - The Attack
Khoury, Elias - Gate Of The Sun
King, Ross - The Judgement of Paris
Kinzer, Stephen - Overthrow:America's Century of Regime Change
Knighton, Ryan - Cockeyed: A Memoir of Blindness
Kolbert, Elizabeth - Field notes from a catastrophe: man nature and climate change
Lansens, Lori - Girls
Larson, Erik - Thunderstruck
Lavagnino, Alessandra - The Librarians of Alexandria
Lawrence, Starling - Lightning Keeper, The
Lawson, Mary - The Other Side of the Bridge
Ledgard, J. M - Giraffe
Lehane, Dennis - Coronado
Li, Laura - Madame Chian Kai-Shek: China's First Lady
Lindquist, Ulla-Carin - Rowing Without Oars: A Memoir of Living and Dying
Livaneli, O.Z. - Bliss
Lloyd, Seth - Programming the Universe
Long, Dustin - Icelander
Lord, Graham - John Mortimer: The Secret Life of Rumpole's Creator: The Unauthorized Biography
Lucey, Donna M. - Archie and Amerlie
MacLaverty, Bernard - Matters of Life & Death: Stories
Maguire, James - American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds
Maheu, Layne - Song of the Crow
Maine, David - The Book of Samson
Malarkey, Tucker - Resurrection
Mankell, Henning - Chronicler of the Winds
Marchetto, Marisa - Cancer vixen
Markoe, Merrill - Walking in Circles Before Lying Down
Martin, Valerie - The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories
Masters, Alexander - Stuart: A Life Backwards
Mazya, Edna - Love Burns
McCarthy, Cormac - The Road
McCauley, Stephen - Alternatives to sex: a gay and obsessive-compulsive post-9/11
McDermott, Alice - After This
McMahon, Darrin - Happiness: A History
McPhee, John - Uncommon Carriers
Meek, James - People's Act of Love
Mendelsohn, Daniel - The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
Merridale, Catherine - Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945
Messud, Claire - The Emperor's Children
Migol, Agl - Look There: Selected Poems
Mitchell, David - Black Swan Green
Montgomery, Sy - The Good Good Pig
Moorehead, Caroline - Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn
Morrow, James - The Last Witchfinder
Mosley, Walter - Fortunate Son
Mullane, Mike - Riding Rockets
Mullen, Thomas - Last Town on Earth
Mullen, Thomas - The Last Town on Earth
Mullins, Meg - Rug Merchant
Murakami, Haruki - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Naslund, Sena Jeter - Abundance
Nazario, Sonia - Enrique's Journey
Nelson, Antonya - Some Fun: Stories and a Novella
Nemirovsky, Irene - Suite Francaise
Nielsen, John - Condor
Norton, Trevor - Underwater to Get Out of the Rain
Notley, Alice - Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems, 1970-2005
O'Brien, Edna - Light of Evening
Ohlin, Alix - Babylon
Othmer, James P. - Futurist: A Novel
Ours, Dorothy - Man O'War
Ozick, Cynthia - A Din in the Head
Parks, Tim - Rapids
Parrado, Nando - Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home
Paz Soldan, Edmundo - Turing's Delirium
Pearce, Fred - When the Rivers Run Dry: Water the Defining Crisis of the 21st Century
Petterson, Per - In the Wake
Philbrick, Nathaniel - Mayflower
Phillips, Julie - James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
Pitlor, Heidi - The Birthdays
Pomfret, John - Chinese Lesons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China
Powers, Richard - Echo Maker
Prager, Joshua - The Echoing Green
Robbins, James - Last in their Class
Rosenbaum, Ron - Shakespeare Wars
Roth, Philip - Everyman
Rusesabagina, Paul - An Ordinary Man
Russell, Karen - St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: And Other Stories
Rust, Elissa Minor - The Prisoner Pear: Stories From the Lake
Safina, Carl - The Voyage of the Turtle
Sallis, Eva - Fire, Fire
Sancton, Tom - Song for my Fathers: A New Orleans Story in Black and White
Sanders, Scott Russell - A Private History of Awe
Satterlee, Thom - Burning Wyclif
Saunders, George - In Persuasion Nation: Stories
Savage, Sam - Firmin
Schaller, Thomas F - Whistling Past Dixie
Schama,Simon - Rough Crossings: Britain the Slaves, and the American Revolution
Schneider, Paul - Brutal Journey: First Crossing of North America
Schrag, Peter - California: America's High Stakes Experiment
Seife, Charles - Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos from our Brains to Black Holes
Server, Lee - Ava Gardner
Setterfield, Diane - The Thirteenth Tale
Sheehan, Aurelie - History Lesson for Girls
Shukman, Henry - Mortimer of the Maghreb
Slatalla, Michelle - The Town on Beaver Creek
Slavitt, David - William Henry Harrison and Other Poems
Smith, Dominic - Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre
Smith, Janna Malamud - My Father is a Book
Smith, Patricia - Teahouse of the Almighty
Snyder, Scott - Voodoo Heart
Soyinka, Wole - You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir
Stargardt, Nicholas - Witnesses of War: Children's Lives Under
Stashower, Daniel - Beautiful Cigar Girl
Stern, Jan & Michael - Two For The Road: Our Love Affair with American Food
Stewart, Rory - The Places In Between
Straight, Susan - Million Nightingales
Sullivan, Robert - Cross Country
Tallis, Frank - A Death in Vienna
Tiffany, Carrie - Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
Toffler, Alvin and Heida Toffler - Revolutionary Wealth
Tomlinson, Jim - Things Kept, Things Left Behind
Toole, F.X. - Pound For Pound
Toutonghi, Pauls - Red Weather
Troost, J. Maarten - Getting Stoned With Savages: Tripping Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu
Trudge, Colin - The Tree: A history of What Trees Are, How they Live, and Why they Matter
Trueblood, Valerie - Seven Loves
Umrigar, Thirty - The Space Between Us
Unsworth, Barry - The Ruby in Her Navel
Updike, John - Terrorist
Urquhart, Jane - Map of Glass, A
Vallgren, Carl Johan - The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred
Vidal, Gore - Clouds & Elipses: the Collected Short Stories
Vincent, Norah - Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again
Walton, Jo - Farthing
Waters, Sarah - Night Watch
Wa'Thiong'O, Ngugi - Wizard of the Crow
Weber, Katharine - Triangle: a Novel
Welland, Sasha Su-Ling - A Thousand Miles of Dreams: The Journey of Two Chinese Sisters
White, Richard D. - Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long
Winter, Michael - The Big Why
Wright, Lawrence - The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann - Behold The Many
Yeh, Jane - Marabou
Yehoshua, Abraham - A Woman in Jerusalem
Zoellner, Tom - The Heartless Stone
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Ahhhhhhhhh
I just got the most upsetting email on myspace. This guy said he wanted to get to know me better. If I wanted a preview of his "talents" he has webcam and would be happy to "show me the goods". All of this was pretty icky but what really upset me was his closing phrase. "because i love olders wommens i can do a little show for you and we can have some fun." I am not even going to go into what the grand finale was going to be.
This is the first time ever (not counting the spinster remark which I chose to take as a joke) that I have ever been called the older woman (or olders wommens if you prefer). I think we can officially add this one to the list on myspace of things you do not say when asking a woman out for the first time. Ok we can probably add the auditioning via webcam part as well.
This is the first time ever (not counting the spinster remark which I chose to take as a joke) that I have ever been called the older woman (or olders wommens if you prefer). I think we can officially add this one to the list on myspace of things you do not say when asking a woman out for the first time. Ok we can probably add the auditioning via webcam part as well.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Stream of Consciousness
I decided to try going in to work today. I am feeling a little bit better and since I hadn't actually arranged for a sub this seemed like the right thing to do. I brought work to do from my other job but will probably play on myspace creating new backgrounds to try out. So far the three I have tried seem to have equal numbers of yes and no votes. Obviously, no matter what anyone else likes or doesn't like, I am going to pick my favorite in the end but it doesn't hurt to get feedback.
Good news: I now have a good alternate ice cream provider once my current one moves to Switzerland. My cousin just moved down the street, relatively speaking, and has a sister so I am pretty sure he will be able to understand things like bringing ice cream to sick women. (and yes, I see the pun)
My uncle is doing much better. For a couple of days the doctors didn't think his chances were very good. Today he turned that corner and it looks like he will be ok although the hospital is not going to let him out until they are pretty sure that no other setbacks will occur. Mom called me today to find out what to do while she is in Baltimore. If she had more time I would have her check out my old library and say hi to my former boss.
Between worrying about that and work I was pretty beat tonight. I ended up coming home and falling asleep on the coach for a couple of hours. I can't believe how much this cold (or plague or whatever) has taken out of me. I just hope it rains tomorrow so I don't have to think about mowing. I still feel like I could sleep for a year.
God I am tired of thinking about mowing.
I think in my eternal quest for friends I just hit the prostitution section of myspace. Wow. There are a whole lot of services here in my hometown. I have no idea how I managed to not see any of these before today.
I don't think this is related to the prostitutes but I just had one of those headaches hit that feels like I need to drill a hole in my head to get it to stop hurting. (yes I am aware that I should not drill a hole in my head.) Lately I feel like I have to spell out all my little jokes otherwise I get people emailing me saying things like "I think the guy who invented chocolate is dead"
What does it mean when I put on Rob Zombie and the kitten comes running? Of course he also comes running when those smiley faces start talking but that could mean the same thing.
Good news: I now have a good alternate ice cream provider once my current one moves to Switzerland. My cousin just moved down the street, relatively speaking, and has a sister so I am pretty sure he will be able to understand things like bringing ice cream to sick women. (and yes, I see the pun)
My uncle is doing much better. For a couple of days the doctors didn't think his chances were very good. Today he turned that corner and it looks like he will be ok although the hospital is not going to let him out until they are pretty sure that no other setbacks will occur. Mom called me today to find out what to do while she is in Baltimore. If she had more time I would have her check out my old library and say hi to my former boss.
Between worrying about that and work I was pretty beat tonight. I ended up coming home and falling asleep on the coach for a couple of hours. I can't believe how much this cold (or plague or whatever) has taken out of me. I just hope it rains tomorrow so I don't have to think about mowing. I still feel like I could sleep for a year.
God I am tired of thinking about mowing.
I think in my eternal quest for friends I just hit the prostitution section of myspace. Wow. There are a whole lot of services here in my hometown. I have no idea how I managed to not see any of these before today.
I don't think this is related to the prostitutes but I just had one of those headaches hit that feels like I need to drill a hole in my head to get it to stop hurting. (yes I am aware that I should not drill a hole in my head.) Lately I feel like I have to spell out all my little jokes otherwise I get people emailing me saying things like "I think the guy who invented chocolate is dead"
What does it mean when I put on Rob Zombie and the kitten comes running? Of course he also comes running when those smiley faces start talking but that could mean the same thing.
NOT on my Notable list
Since I was sick I read something NOT on my list. I read a romance. You heard me, a romance. It might have even been a Harlequin. Yep it sure was and a darn good one at that. Actually, this is one of those titles that was mentioned on one of the "best of" lists a couple of years ago so I picked it up, stored with the many other books I have squirrelled away all over the house. The reason I decided to read this one today was because it was on the bookshelf closest to the couch and as I have mentioned before, I felt puny.
I like reading romance. Actually I like almost any type of book but that is beside the point. I like thinking about people's inner lives and how they view the world and romance is one of the better genres for exploring those kinds of issues. On my other blog I have been writing down the list my "getting asked on a date" pet peeves. Here is my reading pet peeve. I really hate it when people judge other people's reading material.
First of all, if you are judging someone else, you can be darn sure that someone else is turning up their nose at what you are reading. No exceptions! Not even for the literary readers among us. Everyone has a slightly different idea of what good lit. is and there are just as many people who think that the dead white authors are outdated and not worthy of mention as there are people who think that they are the only thing that should be read. The are plenty of people who think that all mysteries are dreck, that SF is juvenile, literary fiction is pretentious and romance is just a bunch of sex scenes strung together. Everyone is right and everyone is wrong. For every good romance/mystery/literary fiction novel there are eight or nine really crappy ones floating around.
If you have only read one of any particular type of book your odds were pretty good that you picked up one of the crappy ones. If you are at all interested in trying a new genre, please go and ask a librarian (preferably one who reads that genre or is really good at reader's advisory) to help you pick out something that might give you a different view of genre. There is a lot of good stuff out there in every genre, even literary fiction.:)
I like reading romance. Actually I like almost any type of book but that is beside the point. I like thinking about people's inner lives and how they view the world and romance is one of the better genres for exploring those kinds of issues. On my other blog I have been writing down the list my "getting asked on a date" pet peeves. Here is my reading pet peeve. I really hate it when people judge other people's reading material.
First of all, if you are judging someone else, you can be darn sure that someone else is turning up their nose at what you are reading. No exceptions! Not even for the literary readers among us. Everyone has a slightly different idea of what good lit. is and there are just as many people who think that the dead white authors are outdated and not worthy of mention as there are people who think that they are the only thing that should be read. The are plenty of people who think that all mysteries are dreck, that SF is juvenile, literary fiction is pretentious and romance is just a bunch of sex scenes strung together. Everyone is right and everyone is wrong. For every good romance/mystery/literary fiction novel there are eight or nine really crappy ones floating around.
If you have only read one of any particular type of book your odds were pretty good that you picked up one of the crappy ones. If you are at all interested in trying a new genre, please go and ask a librarian (preferably one who reads that genre or is really good at reader's advisory) to help you pick out something that might give you a different view of genre. There is a lot of good stuff out there in every genre, even literary fiction.:)
Friday, September 22, 2006
I want to go out to play!
I'm tired of being sick. I'm bored! All my friends are out having fun (ok probably not true but for dramatic purposes I am going to let that one stand.) I have been asked about my list of pet peeves for how not to ask a woman for a date so I am going over to myspace to work on that now.
Something to ponder: While it has been agreed upon that my kitten is very special (code for "somewhat trying") kitten he does seem to be a typical male. I haven't the TV on much in the past year or so but because I am home sick I put in a movie. My kitten plopped himself in front of the TV and stayed there the whole time the movie was on. It is probably the longest I have seen him stay still (at least while awake) ever. Is this some kind of y chromosome thing? Just a question.
Something to ponder: While it has been agreed upon that my kitten is very special (code for "somewhat trying") kitten he does seem to be a typical male. I haven't the TV on much in the past year or so but because I am home sick I put in a movie. My kitten plopped himself in front of the TV and stayed there the whole time the movie was on. It is probably the longest I have seen him stay still (at least while awake) ever. Is this some kind of y chromosome thing? Just a question.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Signs of hope
appeared at my front door a few minutes in the form of an almost recovered friend, and he is feeling much better today. This friend also appeared with ice cream which I am sure will help my healing process significantly. Girlfriends (and their husbands) are good because they understand the inherent value of ice cream as it applies to all situations in life. Thank you!!! Now I won't die a lonely death with no ice cream.
I am getting ready to pass out from all the cold medicine but wanted to share. I like following my friends friends out to see if I know anyone. One girl (two or three people out) has Jenna Jameson on her friends list. I briefly pondered asking to be her friend but she has 760,705 friends and I didn't want to be one of the crowd. Ok, I didn't actually consider it but I do think it is funny. What kind of statement are you trying to make to the world about you by selecting her as your friend?
I am getting ready to pass out from all the cold medicine but wanted to share. I like following my friends friends out to see if I know anyone. One girl (two or three people out) has Jenna Jameson on her friends list. I briefly pondered asking to be her friend but she has 760,705 friends and I didn't want to be one of the crowd. Ok, I didn't actually consider it but I do think it is funny. What kind of statement are you trying to make to the world about you by selecting her as your friend?
I need ice cream
Preferably chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream because I am puny today. Unfortunately, the people who would be most willing to bring it to me are the ones that infected me so I doubt that they are feeling like running around bringing people ice cream at the moment. This is what I get for going off to concerts with married men.
I am not getting my book read for tonight and am probably going to have to ask my coworker to take over for me. Luckily she is really good at faking reading the book. I can never tell when she hasn't read it. In order to feel like I am making sense when I talk about a book I have to have read it. I have been waking up, reading a few pages and then falling back asleep. I am sure it is a lovely book since it won major awards but I can't seem to stay awake. It was Dirt Music by Tim Winton.
Mom called at around midnight to let me know she made it to Baltimore and that my uncle is back out of surgery and is somewhat stable for now.
I am not getting my book read for tonight and am probably going to have to ask my coworker to take over for me. Luckily she is really good at faking reading the book. I can never tell when she hasn't read it. In order to feel like I am making sense when I talk about a book I have to have read it. I have been waking up, reading a few pages and then falling back asleep. I am sure it is a lovely book since it won major awards but I can't seem to stay awake. It was Dirt Music by Tim Winton.
Mom called at around midnight to let me know she made it to Baltimore and that my uncle is back out of surgery and is somewhat stable for now.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Web Design
I am now officially sickly enough that I am going to take tomorrow off, assuming that I survive work tonight.
As I am sickly, I have been spending my time very productively, trying to find backgrounds for my myspace page. There are not nearly enough shoe layouts to try. There was one "I love my iPod" layout but I haven't had the iPod long enough to love it so I skipped that one (at least for now) since I have been assured that I will soon love it beyond words.
I keep finding my family on myspace but they weren't exactly lost. I usually know where to find them.
As I am sickly, I have been spending my time very productively, trying to find backgrounds for my myspace page. There are not nearly enough shoe layouts to try. There was one "I love my iPod" layout but I haven't had the iPod long enough to love it so I skipped that one (at least for now) since I have been assured that I will soon love it beyond words.
I keep finding my family on myspace but they weren't exactly lost. I usually know where to find them.
Sickly librarian
My, that 7 a.m. meeting came early this morning.
It's official. I am feeling puny (as my boss would say). I also spent my free evening playing (or more specifically getting dumped off of websites every two minutes) on the computer instead of reading my book.
There is this thing that happens when you are sick(and taking cold medicine). You can't always tell where you end and the chair or mouse or table (whatever) starts. I think I might be a little loopy. It's probably a good thing that I don't have to mow tonight.
It's official. I am feeling puny (as my boss would say). I also spent my free evening playing (or more specifically getting dumped off of websites every two minutes) on the computer instead of reading my book.
There is this thing that happens when you are sick(and taking cold medicine). You can't always tell where you end and the chair or mouse or table (whatever) starts. I think I might be a little loopy. It's probably a good thing that I don't have to mow tonight.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Procratinating
Tonight I have to read a book for a Thursday night Young Friends of the Library book discussion group. Since I am the discussion leader it is probably a good idea to get the book read. Between that and mowing it is going to be a busy night.
Later that night: Yes I am blogging to keep from reading my book.
Well it's official. I just got an email inviting me to get in touch because I "am cuter than the average girls on this site". I have to let this one process a bit before I blog much about it but I am wondering who out there responds positively to this? Prettiest girl I have seen (there is a good statement) , better than average (not quite as great). There are so many other problems with this statement that I will have to explore later on but I do have a book to read.
One of my friends gets messages saying how pretty she looks or what a great smile she has and she has to point out that (apart from being married) she is a cartoon. I have this visual of guys sending out a form letter to every girl they can find. I wonder if I am cuter that my cartoon friend?
I have also noticed that putting down that you are on myspace for friends seems to means something very different to a guy than a girl. Apparently in guy speak this means that I am looking for no commitment relationships, not actual friends. I know it's crazy but when I put down friends I actually mean friends, you know, the kind I go shoe shopping with (see other blog for full rant on this subject) . I am not opposed to meeting someone to date although I initially joined myspace so my coworker would have friends and then to look up old classmates (who apparently are old fogies who don't believe that the Internet is real) and people I have lost touch with for no real reason, you know, friends.
My aunt called a while ago and said the my uncle has had complications from his surgery and is back at Johns Hopkins. He has peritonitis which is pretty serious. (I know I have been a reference librarian too long when I can spell that without having to look it up.) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001335.htm
Later that night: Yes I am blogging to keep from reading my book.
Well it's official. I just got an email inviting me to get in touch because I "am cuter than the average girls on this site". I have to let this one process a bit before I blog much about it but I am wondering who out there responds positively to this? Prettiest girl I have seen (there is a good statement) , better than average (not quite as great). There are so many other problems with this statement that I will have to explore later on but I do have a book to read.
One of my friends gets messages saying how pretty she looks or what a great smile she has and she has to point out that (apart from being married) she is a cartoon. I have this visual of guys sending out a form letter to every girl they can find. I wonder if I am cuter that my cartoon friend?
I have also noticed that putting down that you are on myspace for friends seems to means something very different to a guy than a girl. Apparently in guy speak this means that I am looking for no commitment relationships, not actual friends. I know it's crazy but when I put down friends I actually mean friends, you know, the kind I go shoe shopping with (see other blog for full rant on this subject) . I am not opposed to meeting someone to date although I initially joined myspace so my coworker would have friends and then to look up old classmates (who apparently are old fogies who don't believe that the Internet is real) and people I have lost touch with for no real reason, you know, friends.
My aunt called a while ago and said the my uncle has had complications from his surgery and is back at Johns Hopkins. He has peritonitis which is pretty serious. (I know I have been a reference librarian too long when I can spell that without having to look it up.) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001335.htm
Monday, September 18, 2006
After This by Alice McDermott
Hope I make sense tonight. I think I might be coming down with something because I feel a little woozy. Luckily, at work, no one has needed me to be particularly knowledgeable tonight. If there are glaring errors or nonsensical statements I will go back and fix them when I feel better.
Alice McDermott specializes in Irish-American-Catholic suburban life and is a National Book Award winner for her novel Charming Billy.
By the age of thirty Mary was not expected to marry, having settled into life taking care of her father and brother. But contrary to all expectations, the spinster meets and charms John, a war veteran. This novel follows John and Mary Keane and their children through courtship, raising children and enduring loss. When their eldest child goes to Vietnam and never returns the entire family is profoundly affected and it shapes the texture and direction of their lives (and the novel) forever.
I usually like quiet novels but for some reason I could not lose myself in the quietness of these people's lives. Part of the appeal of the quiet novel (for me) is the ability to become a part of the novel not just an onlooker and I could not quite get there with this book. Still it was beautifully written and in a different mood it might have had a profound impact on me.
Oddly enough, the small vignette that I particularly liked takes place as a priest and a pianist are waiting for the daughter's bridal party to arrive and has very little to do with the family and the rest of the novel. The priest is listening to the pianist, a student a Julliard, and thinks "and then there was a kid like this, who played in a trance......not the engine for the instrument but a conduit for some music that was already there, that had always been there, apprehensible, inscrutable, really, something just beyond the shell of earth and sky that had always been there and that needed only this boy, a boy like this, to bring it, briefly, briefly, to his untrained ear."
Isn't that what we all hope for every time we hear someone sing or play an instrument? I have heard that kind of music maybe twice in my life but am always hoping for the next performance to hear it again. Don't get me wrong, I have heard some wonderful musicians with beautiful voices, technique, etc... but only two that have transcended the composition and soared above that to achieve something extraordinary.
Alice McDermott specializes in Irish-American-Catholic suburban life and is a National Book Award winner for her novel Charming Billy.
By the age of thirty Mary was not expected to marry, having settled into life taking care of her father and brother. But contrary to all expectations, the spinster meets and charms John, a war veteran. This novel follows John and Mary Keane and their children through courtship, raising children and enduring loss. When their eldest child goes to Vietnam and never returns the entire family is profoundly affected and it shapes the texture and direction of their lives (and the novel) forever.
I usually like quiet novels but for some reason I could not lose myself in the quietness of these people's lives. Part of the appeal of the quiet novel (for me) is the ability to become a part of the novel not just an onlooker and I could not quite get there with this book. Still it was beautifully written and in a different mood it might have had a profound impact on me.
Oddly enough, the small vignette that I particularly liked takes place as a priest and a pianist are waiting for the daughter's bridal party to arrive and has very little to do with the family and the rest of the novel. The priest is listening to the pianist, a student a Julliard, and thinks "and then there was a kid like this, who played in a trance......not the engine for the instrument but a conduit for some music that was already there, that had always been there, apprehensible, inscrutable, really, something just beyond the shell of earth and sky that had always been there and that needed only this boy, a boy like this, to bring it, briefly, briefly, to his untrained ear."
Isn't that what we all hope for every time we hear someone sing or play an instrument? I have heard that kind of music maybe twice in my life but am always hoping for the next performance to hear it again. Don't get me wrong, I have heard some wonderful musicians with beautiful voices, technique, etc... but only two that have transcended the composition and soared above that to achieve something extraordinary.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Oops
I might have been making up having tickets to Godsmack. It is just so much fun to tease my friend:)
Concert 2
Not as good as Tool but still a lot of fun. We had so much fun that we bought tickets for Godsmack on Tuesday night.:)
I had a bunch of freaky messages waiting for me tonight, a small horde of guys (and a few girls) contacting me for "fun with no commitments". Also a few married guys, which also falls into the no commitment category, not to mention tacky and unbelievably yucky! One of the married ones thought I sounded "nice"and did I like (description of himself)? I thought "nice" girls didn't mess around with married men but I am often wrong about this boy/girl stuff.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
myspace...
obsession continued since I haven't finished my latest book.
I have found assorted people I know in myspace but not lots of people that I actually want to invite to be my friends. My ex's, ex-wife's husband is on there (his comedy club asked to be my friend), a couple of the people who were in my class in high school that I wasn't close to, a couple of other assorted people.
I am pouting now because I want some friends and I can't find them! Do you think they are hiding from me?
Oh well, I switched nights so I am working by myself tomorrow night and will have lots of time between questions to browse around. They can't hide from me forever. (use imagination to insert evil cackling sound)
I might blog tonight when I get home if the concert was worth talking about.
I have found assorted people I know in myspace but not lots of people that I actually want to invite to be my friends. My ex's, ex-wife's husband is on there (his comedy club asked to be my friend), a couple of the people who were in my class in high school that I wasn't close to, a couple of other assorted people.
I am pouting now because I want some friends and I can't find them! Do you think they are hiding from me?
Oh well, I switched nights so I am working by myself tomorrow night and will have lots of time between questions to browse around. They can't hide from me forever. (use imagination to insert evil cackling sound)
I might blog tonight when I get home if the concert was worth talking about.
Concert
I have to say the date was lovely. We enjoyed our first sunset together and a special evening with a special band. Ok I better quit or I will be going to tomorrow night's concert by myself:)
The Tool concert was great.
In other news, my friend Dan mentioned me on his blog and talked about his librarian heroes and people are coming over here and instead of seeing my erudite literary posts are getting entries about heavy metal and online dating. Dan, I love you but you could have timed that better:)
Tonight's Concert:
Nickelback http://www.nickelback.com/, Hinder http://www.hinderonline.com/,
Hoobastank http://www.hoobastank.com , Chevelle http://www.chevelleinc.com/
Friday, September 15, 2006
Tool Concert
Tonight I am going on a date with my friend's husband. Actually, it isn't as bad as it sounds. My friend hates rock music and offered me up to her husband as a replacement. She keeps telling me to stop calling it a date but it is so fun to torment her that I can't resist:)
Now I have to figure out what to wear. I don't have any rock concert appropriate attire. Everything that is racy enough looks like I am going clubbing, not to Tool. http://toolband.com/ Maybe I should get my fashion guru/shopper over to assess my wardrobe.
If I am not exhausted I will give an update when I get home, otherwise you have to wait until I get to work tomorrow. Tomorrow night, Nickelback.
Now I have to figure out what to wear. I don't have any rock concert appropriate attire. Everything that is racy enough looks like I am going clubbing, not to Tool. http://toolband.com/ Maybe I should get my fashion guru/shopper over to assess my wardrobe.
If I am not exhausted I will give an update when I get home, otherwise you have to wait until I get to work tomorrow. Tomorrow night, Nickelback.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
High Lonesome by Joyce Carol Oates
I believe I have already mentioned the heft of this particular work. This is one very large collection of Oates best short stories of which there are hundred's. In fact, the sheer amount of output is often discussed as is the consistently high quality of her work. The short stories in this collection are intense, moody and downright creepy in turn. The major themes of the book are girls and women being preyed on by men, obsession and twisted sexuality. I was particularly taken with "The Cousins" , a holocaust survivor writes to an author that she is sure is her lost cousin, and "Upon A Sweeping Flood", which explores how the mind can break after a natural disaster.
My major criticism of this collection is that her stories are often similar in tone. This can cause an emotional drag that can make it difficult to get through the book in a short time period. These stories need to be sampled over time to truly appreciate the uniqueness of each. Otherwise, this is an exceptional collection.
My major criticism of this collection is that her stories are often similar in tone. This can cause an emotional drag that can make it difficult to get through the book in a short time period. These stories need to be sampled over time to truly appreciate the uniqueness of each. Otherwise, this is an exceptional collection.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors. His postmodern work alternates between full length novels and short story collections and they are always wildly innovative and thought provoking. Often compared to Kafka and Camus, his work has unexplained mystical events, mysteries that are solve with intuition rather than solid clues and unexpectedly funny moments. These stories are epiphanies in which the characters wander through surreal or magical experiences and end up with a new understanding of the world and their role in it.
Every short story collection has a story that speaks to the reader in a particular way and for me it was "Tony Takitani," a jolting story in which the main character's life begins and ends in loneliness. This work resonated with me. In the story, certain painful memories, in this case represented by ghosts, haunt Tony. When he finally exorcises those ghosts he is completely alone in the world and it is left to the reader to decide if he is better off or somehow worse when he has emptied himself of these memories? Has he attained perfection by freeing himself from worldly attachments and becoming completely alone?
At the beginning of this collection the author talks about his love of the short story form and that joy is apparent in each story in the collection.
Every short story collection has a story that speaks to the reader in a particular way and for me it was "Tony Takitani," a jolting story in which the main character's life begins and ends in loneliness. This work resonated with me. In the story, certain painful memories, in this case represented by ghosts, haunt Tony. When he finally exorcises those ghosts he is completely alone in the world and it is left to the reader to decide if he is better off or somehow worse when he has emptied himself of these memories? Has he attained perfection by freeing himself from worldly attachments and becoming completely alone?
At the beginning of this collection the author talks about his love of the short story form and that joy is apparent in each story in the collection.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
Nathanial Philbrick is one of the new breed of non-fiction writer, whose scholarly, meticulous work is balance with a warm readable style. In the book business, they call this "non-fiction that reads like fiction". (Clever, right?) This is a smooth narrative of the settling of Plymouth colony all the way through King Philip's War.
The author attempts to demystify the first Thanksgiving, Plymouth Rock and more importantly, the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Indians, which was far friendlier and more symbiotic than conventional wisdom leads us to believe.
In fact, it wasn't until the children of the Pilgrims grew up and started to need additional land that race relations became stressed. Eventually these tensions escalated into a needless and costly war. The male population on both sides was decimated, which left the door open to less friendly invasions by hostile Indians. Ironically, hostile Indian attacks were the very thing that the Pilgrims were trying to avoid. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in this period of American history.
The author attempts to demystify the first Thanksgiving, Plymouth Rock and more importantly, the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Indians, which was far friendlier and more symbiotic than conventional wisdom leads us to believe.
In fact, it wasn't until the children of the Pilgrims grew up and started to need additional land that race relations became stressed. Eventually these tensions escalated into a needless and costly war. The male population on both sides was decimated, which left the door open to less friendly invasions by hostile Indians. Ironically, hostile Indian attacks were the very thing that the Pilgrims were trying to avoid. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in this period of American history.
Monday, September 11, 2006
The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History by Jonathan Franzen
One of people who serves on the Notable committee has been quite taken with this memoir but my response has been more lukewarm. Jonathan Franzen has come home to St Louis to get his parent's house ready to sell after the death of his mother. While he is waiting for it to sell he reflects on the significant moments of his life with particular emphasis on his childhood. The language in the book is beautiful and it is well constructed but for me, the characters were flat and uninteresting. For someone who has had such a rich and varied life and writes so well I think he could have come up with more interesting things to talk about. Even when his marriage is in trouble there is such a sense of distance that it is hard to care about the outcome.
I found myself having to force my attention back to the story time and time again. On so many levels this is a lovely book but in the end I just didn't care enough. If I hadn't been reading it for the committee I probably would have stopped reading it at some point along the way.
I found myself having to force my attention back to the story time and time again. On so many levels this is a lovely book but in the end I just didn't care enough. If I hadn't been reading it for the committee I probably would have stopped reading it at some point along the way.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Post 100 - No books, just more odds and ends
I am living in the house of death. Now there is a dead bird right outside my back door. I do not want to own the house where small animals come to die. This must end!
Still nothing to report on the book reading end of things because I am too busy going to plays and trying to find friends on myspace. There is nothing like seeing "Alicia has no friends" on a site to make you feel like a loser. I will also admit that I may be getting a tad obsessed with this.
A friend from high school called to let me know I missed my 20 year class reunion. I am not dealing well with turning 40. I am doing the equivalant of putting my fingers in my ears and saying really loudly, "I can't hear you."The only one more depressed than me about this milestone is my mother.
I am thinking of seeing if my knitting friend can make this for me. After all, it's never too early to start thinking about Halloween. :) http://bleuarts.blogspot.com/2006/09/free-pattern-leia-hat.html
Still nothing to report on the book reading end of things because I am too busy going to plays and trying to find friends on myspace. There is nothing like seeing "Alicia has no friends" on a site to make you feel like a loser. I will also admit that I may be getting a tad obsessed with this.
A friend from high school called to let me know I missed my 20 year class reunion. I am not dealing well with turning 40. I am doing the equivalant of putting my fingers in my ears and saying really loudly, "I can't hear you."The only one more depressed than me about this milestone is my mother.
I am thinking of seeing if my knitting friend can make this for me. After all, it's never too early to start thinking about Halloween. :) http://bleuarts.blogspot.com/2006/09/free-pattern-leia-hat.html
Addictive behavior
Thank you, Mark, for actually answering your phone. It made my life so much easier and that is the point, isn't it, to make my life easier (right?). Googling your name would have probably not pulled up my blog since there are a very large number of famous (sort-of) Mark Turner's in the world.
I actually logged on this morning to look up the time for the play I am going to this afternoon, not to blog. Apparently, this is somewhat addictive. Since I am now officially addicted, later tonight I may actually talk about books again. No promises but it is on the schedule.
I actually logged on this morning to look up the time for the play I am going to this afternoon, not to blog. Apparently, this is somewhat addictive. Since I am now officially addicted, later tonight I may actually talk about books again. No promises but it is on the schedule.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Mark Turner
Mark Turner, formerly of Mankato Kansas, currently living in Hastings Nebraska, for the love of god, get an answering machine. Either that or call waiting or stay home sometimes. If you ever want to hear from me again you will do this!!!!!
Just in case you ever google your name you may find this and actually get in touch:)
Love ya.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program....
Just in case you ever google your name you may find this and actually get in touch:)
Love ya.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program....
Shoes
I know you have all been anxiously awaiting the promised shoe pictures. Well, here they are. I tried to take pictures with my feet in them so you can see how well they show off the feet but it's really hard to take a good picture of your own foot from the side. I could take a picture of the top of my foot but it doesn't really show off the shoes.Anyway, here are two pictures of my lovely new shoes. Now I just need places to wear them. And yes, I know I am a big geek.
I also spent most of my day at work (between customers) aimlessly browsing myspace trying to find my friends. That search engine is not very efficient. I can't even find myself on there. Although I am amazed how putting down that I like John Mayer seems to cause large bunches of email from guys.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Good News
My mom called. My uncle's surgery went really well. In fact, they had trouble finding the tumor. He isn't completely out-of-the-woods yet but this was much better news than we were expecting it to be.
I am still reading the Joyce Carol Oates. So far there are lots of girls getting killed by family members or strange men (who just happen along), people are suffering from weird mental illness and have deeply dysfunctional families. These seem to be the themes of many of her stories. As always, her works is imbued with a kind of southern Gothic creepiness even though she is not a Southern writer (had to look that up to be sure.)
In other news, I went from no friends on myspace to 17 potential friends in the space of about two hours. That isn't counting the people I actually knew (they got added). I quickly deleted a few of the, let us say, quirky ones and am sitting on the rest until I get a better feel for the place. I did find my nephew's but didn't want to embarrass him so I crept quietly away.
Oh yeah, hi to my sister in Zurich. I already got some chocolates, bring me back a bank account.
I am still reading the Joyce Carol Oates. So far there are lots of girls getting killed by family members or strange men (who just happen along), people are suffering from weird mental illness and have deeply dysfunctional families. These seem to be the themes of many of her stories. As always, her works is imbued with a kind of southern Gothic creepiness even though she is not a Southern writer (had to look that up to be sure.)
In other news, I went from no friends on myspace to 17 potential friends in the space of about two hours. That isn't counting the people I actually knew (they got added). I quickly deleted a few of the, let us say, quirky ones and am sitting on the rest until I get a better feel for the place. I did find my nephew's but didn't want to embarrass him so I crept quietly away.
Oh yeah, hi to my sister in Zurich. I already got some chocolates, bring me back a bank account.
My Uncle
My uncle is at John's Hopkins today having surgery. He has pancreatic cancer http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatic-cancer/DS00357 and has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments but it is not having enough of the desired effect. Apparently the specialist in Baltimore feels that there is a slim chance that that he might be able to remove the tumor. He will have to open him up to see if this will be an option. Anyway, now I am just waiting to hear from mom about how things went.
He is a great guy and I am worried about him.
He is a great guy and I am worried about him.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Baths
Tonight I think I am going to stop messing around with that silly myspace page and give the kitten a bath. Why, you ask? Not to torture small animals, although in this case it is a side benefit. Spike gets a bath because he has been exploring the garage and he seems to be a typical boy because tonight he came in the house filthy. If I can manage the technology and a very unhappy kitten all at the same time I will post a recording of just how loud he can get. I have to say, it can be highly amusing.
A few minutes later...Well that wasn't any fun. He must be getting used to it because he didn't even put up a fight this time. No crying, just standing there. Now what will I do for fun?
A few minutes later...Well that wasn't any fun. He must be getting used to it because he didn't even put up a fight this time. No crying, just standing there. Now what will I do for fun?
Pathetic Girl
To add to the pathetic-ness of last night's blog...did I mention that two different sets of friends were getting together to watch Project Runway? Did I mention that I was trapped at work while friends did the equivalent of partying? Just wanted to point that out. Some friends are not very considerate. (You know who you are.)
I ended up signing up for myspace.com. My co-worker signed up and didn't have any friends yet so I created one so she would have at least one friend. Of course, now I have no friends on there so someone else will have to sign up so I have a friend. Annoyingly there is no one over the age of thirty from any of my high schools on myspace which means I am really old. It doesn't help that myspace keeps listing my age as 47.
I ended up signing up for myspace.com. My co-worker signed up and didn't have any friends yet so I created one so she would have at least one friend. Of course, now I have no friends on there so someone else will have to sign up so I have a friend. Annoyingly there is no one over the age of thirty from any of my high schools on myspace which means I am really old. It doesn't help that myspace keeps listing my age as 47.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Just call me boring...
I am so bored at work right now. Yes, Mom, I know only boring people are bored, but there is only so much Internet surfing a person can do and I think I just hit my limit. I need something fun to do that I can do sitting in one place, while not looking like I am having fun or doing anything non-work related.
On a completely different subject, it's amazing how pretty you can feel with a pair of girly high heels. I may have to take some pictures of my new shoes to post so that everyone can admire them. For the past year I have been feeling very utilitarian so this is a nice change.
No new books to report on yet. I am currently reading a collection of Joyce Carol Oates short stories. I will write more about it when I finish (it looks like a big ol' textbook) but she writes some depressing, creepy stuff. Outstanding writing but kind of a downer.
Oh, I know what I can do. I can re-read one of my all-time favorite books, Letters To A Young Poet by Rilke. Thank goodness for electronic books.
On a completely different subject, it's amazing how pretty you can feel with a pair of girly high heels. I may have to take some pictures of my new shoes to post so that everyone can admire them. For the past year I have been feeling very utilitarian so this is a nice change.
No new books to report on yet. I am currently reading a collection of Joyce Carol Oates short stories. I will write more about it when I finish (it looks like a big ol' textbook) but she writes some depressing, creepy stuff. Outstanding writing but kind of a downer.
Oh, I know what I can do. I can re-read one of my all-time favorite books, Letters To A Young Poet by Rilke. Thank goodness for electronic books.
10 Things To Do Before I Die...
OK it was really slow in the library last night so I played Dan's game.... kinda.
Before I Die I Want To:
Before I Die I Want To:
- Write the great American novel, or better yet, an incomprehensible "experimental" novel that will cause me to be hailed as a genius in my lifetime.
- Take flying lessons, possibly even in a plane.
- Take scuba lessons so I can swim in the coral reef in Australia before it's gone.
- Become an Archaeologist, go on a dig and carry a whip, or maybe just carry a whip.
- Go bowling in Canada
- Learn enough Spanish so that the next time I go to Honduras I can have an actual conversation with the cute Latin hottie.
- Fall in love and live happily ever after with (without actually dating) a hot guy who treats me like the princess I am or, option 2: become the crazy (better make that eccentric) lady on the corner with the cats.
- Have 7 kids or 17 cats, or possibly not any of the above.
- Live in another country for a year in a quirky house with charming sidekicks who adopt me and show me the "real" country or, go visit friends for an extended visit and have them give me the short version.
- Sing Karaoke (hey, I have an awesome voice, I just have an irrational fear of Karaoke.)
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Presents
This morning when I got to the office I had peonies and daylily plants on my desk. My co-worker's husband has taken me under his wing and has been supplying me with all kinds of varieties of these two plants. Thursday night I will have to go out and dig in the dirt for a while.
I usually spend a little time every weekend doing some yard work but mowing did me in yesterday. After getting over the asthma attack I ended up with a migraine and have spent today trying to shake the effects off. I feel like I had a very good time and am paying the price for it. Wish that was true.
My other nice moment was when I had a man quote poetry to me in an elevator. Ok, he was in his 80's but it's probably not ever going to happen again so let me enjoy the moment:)
I usually spend a little time every weekend doing some yard work but mowing did me in yesterday. After getting over the asthma attack I ended up with a migraine and have spent today trying to shake the effects off. I feel like I had a very good time and am paying the price for it. Wish that was true.
My other nice moment was when I had a man quote poetry to me in an elevator. Ok, he was in his 80's but it's probably not ever going to happen again so let me enjoy the moment:)
Updated Reading List
Here is the newest set of updates for my reading list.
Abbott, Lee K All Things, All At Once
Abel, Jessica La Perdida
Abulthawa, Susan Scar Of David
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi Half Of A Yellow Sun
Ali, Monica Alentejo Blue
Allen, Clare Poppy Shakespeare
Armstrong, Karen Great Transformation
Arnoult, Darnell Sufficient Grace
Atkinson One Good Turn
Atwood, Margaret Moral Disorder & Other Stories
Auster, Paul The Brooklyn Follies
Bahr, Howard Judas Field
Baker, Calvin Dominion
Barton, Emily Brookland
Beachy-Quick, Dan Mulberry
Beagle, Peter S. Line Between
Bechdel, Alison Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Behrens, Peter Law Of Dreams
Belli, Gioconda Scroll Of Seduction
Belozerskava, Marina Medici Giraffe
Ben Jelloun, Tahar Last Friend
Berkowitz, Edward Something Happened
Bigsby, Christopher Beautiful Dreamer
Binelli, Mark Sacco And Vanzetti Must Die!
Bizony, Piers Man Who Ran The Moon
Bonner, Jeffrey P Sailing With Noah
Boyle, T. Coraghessan Talk Talk
Branch, Taylor At Canaan's Edge: America In The King Years 1965-68
Brinkley, Douglas Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans And The Mississippi Gulf Coast
Broad, William Oracle: The Lost Secrets And Hidden Messages Of Ancient Delphi
Brookhieser, Richard Divided Ground: Indians, Setlers, and the Northern Borderland Of the American Revolution
Brooks, Max World War Z
Brown, Frederick Flaubert: A Biography
Burt, Stephen Parallel Play
Busch, Frederick Rescue Missions
Butler, Robert Olen Severance
Buzbee, Lewis Yellow Lighted Bookshop
Caldwell, Gail Strong West Wind
Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story
Carr, Cynthia Our Town
Carrierre, Jean-Claude Please, Mr Einstein
Cartwright, Justin Promise Of Happiness
Chase, Clifford Winkie
Chayes, Sarah Punishment Of Virtue:Inside Afghanistan After The Taliban
Cheney, Annie Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade In Human Remains
Child, Julia And Alex Prud'Homme My Life In France
Claudel, Phillipe By A Slow River
Collins, Francis S. Language Of God
Collins, Martha Blue Front
Collinsworth, Eden It Might Have Been What He Said
Da Chen Brothers
Dallek, Robert Let Every Nation Know
D'Ambrosio, Charles Dead Fish Museum: Stories
De Botton, Alain Architecture Of Happiness
De Feydeau, Elisabeth Scented Palace: The Sercret History Of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer
Dean, Debra Madonnas Of Leningrad
Deslisle, Guy Shonzhen: A Travelogue
Doig, Ivan Whistling Season
Donoghue, Emma Touchy Subjects: Stories
Donohue, Keith Stolen Child
Donovan, Gerard Julius Winsome
D'Orso, Michael Eagle Blue
D'Souza, Tony Whiteman
Dunant, Sarah In The Company Of The Courtesan
Edsall, Thomas B Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition And The Drive For Permanent Power
Egan, Jennifer Keep
Egan, Timothy Worst Hard Time
Eisenberg, Deborah The Twilight Of The Superheroes
Eisenberg, John Great Match Race
Fenton, James Selected Poems
Finkel, Caroline Osman's Dream
Flannery, Tim Weather Makers: The History And Future Impact Of Climate Change
Forbes, Charlotte Good Works Of Avela Linde
Fountain, Ben Brief Encounters With Che Guevara
Franzen, Jonathan Discomfort Zone: A Personal History
Frazier, Charles 13 Moons
Freedman, Dave Natural Selection
Fresan, Rodrigo Kensington Gardens
Fuentes, Carlos Eagle's Throne
Fugard, Lisa Skinner's Drift
Gallagher, Tess Dear Ghosts
Gardam, Jane Old Filth
George, Margaret Helen Of Troy
Getty, Sarah Bring Me Her Heart
Ghosh, Amitav Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle Of The Turmoil Of Our Time
Gibbons, Ann First Human
Gien, Pamela Syringa Tree
Gifford, Barry Stars Above Verazcruz
Gilfoyle, Timothy Pickpocket's Tale, A: The Underworld Of 19th Century New York
Glass, Julia Whole World Over
Gluck, Louise Averno: Poems
Godwin, Gail Queen Of The Underworld
Goleman, Daniel Social Intelligence
Goodman, Allegra Intuition
Gordimer, Nadine Get A Life
Gorenberg, Gershom Accidental Empire, The: Israel And The Birth Of The Settlements, 1967-1977
Grandbois, Peter Gravedigger
Grande, Reyna Across A Hundred Mountains
Greenaway, Alice White Ghost Girls
Grenville, Kate Secret River
Gruen, Sara Water For Elephants
Guene Faiza Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
Hamilton, Jane When Madeline Was Young
Handler, Daniel Adverbs
Hayes, Terrance Wind In A Box
Heaney, Seamus District And Circle
Henderson, William Haywood Augusta Locke
Hendricks, Steve Unquiet Grave: The FBI And The Struggle For The Soul Of Indian Country
Henriquez, Cristina Come Together, Fall Apart
Hernandez, Gilbert Sloth
Hessler, Peter Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past And Present
Hirshfield, Jane After
Hogan, Lawrence D. Shades Of Glory
Holleran, Andrew Grief
Holloway, Kris Monique And The Mango Rains: Two Years With A Midwife In Mali
Homes, A. M. This Book Will Save Your Life
Horne, Jed Breach Of Faith: Hurricane Katrina And The Near Death Of A Great American City
Hyland, M. J. Carry Me Down
Jackson, Major Hoops
Jacobson, Sid 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation
Jennings, Kevin Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son
Jenson, Liz My Dirty Little Book Of Stolen Time
Jentz, Terri Strange Piece Of Paradise
Jones, Edward P. All Aunt Hagar's Children
Joseph, Peniel E. Waiting 'Till The Midnight Hour: A Narrative History Of Black Power In America
Julavits, Heidi Uses Of Enchantment
Junger, Sebastian Death In Belmont
Kaplan, Eugene Sensuous Seas
Karr, Mary Sinners Welcome
Kashua, Sayed Let It Be Morning
Kelly, James Patrick Feeling Very Strange
Kelly, Stuart Book Of Lost Books: An Incomplete History Of All The Great Books You'll Never Read
Keret, Edgar Nimrod Flipout
Khadra, Yasmina Attack
Khoury, Elias Gate Of The Sun
King, Ross Judgment Of Paris
King, Ross Judgment Of Paris,
Kinzer, Stephen Overthrow:America's Century Of Regime Change
Knighton, Ryan Cockeyed: A Memoir Of Blindness
Kolbert, Elizabeth Field Notes From A Catastrophe
Lansens, Lori The Girls
Larson, Erik Thunderstruck
Lavagnino, Alessandra Librarians Of Alexandria
Leavitt, David Man Who Knew Too Much, The
Lehane, Dennis Coronado
Lindquist, Ulla-Carin Rowing Without Oars
Livaneli, O.Z. Bliss
Lloyd, Seth Programming The Universe
Long, Dustin Icelander
Lord, Graham John Mortimer: The Secret Life Of Rumpole's Creator: The Unauthorized Biography
Lucey, Donna M. Archie And Amerlie
Maclaverty, Bernard Matters Of Life & Death: Stories
Maguire, James American Bee: The National Spelling Bee And The Culture Of Word Nerds
Maheu, Layne Song Of The Crow
Malarkey, Tucker Resurrection
Mankell, Henning Chronicler Of The Winds
Marchetto, Marisa Cancer Vixen
Markoe, Merrill Walking In Circles Before Lying Down
Martin, Valerie Unfinished Novel And Other Stories
Masters, Alexander Stuart: A Life Backwards
Mazya, Edna Love Burns
Mccarthy, Cormac Road
Mccauley, Stephen Alternatives To Sex: A Gay And Obsessive-Compulsive Post-9/11
Mcdermott, Alice After This
Mcmahon, Darrin Happiness: A History
Mcphee, John Uncommon Carriers
Meek, James People's Act Of Love
Messud, Claire Emperor's Children
Migol, Agl Look There: Selected Poems
Mitchell, David Black Swan Green
Moorehead, Caroline Selected Letters Of Martha Gellhorn
Morrow, James Last Witch Finder
Mosley, Walter Fortunate Son
Mullane, Mike Riding Rockets
Mullen, Thomas Last Town On Earth
Mullins, Meg Rug Merchant
Murakami, Haruki Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Nazario, Sonia Enrique's Journey
Nemirovsky, Irene Suite Francaise
Nielsen, John Condor
Norton, Trevor Underwater To Get Out Of The Rain
Notley, Alice Grave Of Light: New And Selected Poems, 1970-2005
Nunez, Sigrid Last Of Her Kind
Oates, Joyce Carol High Lonesome: Stories
O'Brien, Edna Light Of Evening
Ohlin, Alix Babylon
Othmer, James P. Futurist: A Novel
Ours, Dorothy Man O'War
Parks, Tim Rapids
Parrado, Nando Miracle In The Andes: 72 Days On The Mountain And My Long Trek Home
Paz Soldan, Edmundo Turing's Delirium
Pearce, Fred When The Rivers Run Dry: Water The Defining Crisis Of The 21st Century
Philbrick, Nathaniel Mayflower
Phillips, Julie James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life Of Alice B. Sheldon
Pomfret, John Chinese Lesons: Five Classmates And The Story Of The New China
Prager, Joshua Echoing Green
Quammen, David Reluctant Mr. Darwin
Robbins, James Last In Their Class
Roth, Philip Everyman
Rusesabagina, Paul Ordinary Man
Rust, Elissa Minor Prisoner Pear: Stories
Safina, Carl Voyage Of The Turtle
Sallis, Eva Fire, Fire
Sancton, Tom Song For My Fathers: A New Orleans Story In Black And White
Sanders, Scott Russell Private History Of Awe
Satterlee, Thom Burning Wyclif
Saunders, George In Persuasion Nation
Savage, Sam Firmin
Schama,Simon Rough Crossings: Britain The Slaves, And The American Revolution
Seife, Charles Decoding The Universe: How The New Science Of Information Is Explaining Everything In The Cosmos, From Our Brains To Black Holes
Server, Lee Ava Gardner
Setterfield, Diane Thirteenth Tale
Sheehan, Aurelie History Lesson For Girls
Slavitt, David William Henry Harrison And Other Poems
Smith, Janna Malamud My Father Is A Book
Smith, Patricia Teahouse Of The Almighty
Smith, Scott Ruins
Snyder, Scott Voodoo Heart
Soyinka, Wole You Must Set Forth At Dawn: A Memoir
Spanbauer, Tom Now Is The Hour
Stargardt, Nicholas Witnesses Of War: Children's Lives Under The Nazis
Stern, Jan & Michael Two For The Road: Our Love Affair With American Food
Stewart, Rory Places In Between
Straight, Susan Million Nightingales
Sullivan, Robert Cross Country
Tallis, Frank Death In Vienna
Tiffany, Carrie Everyman's Rules For Scientific Living
Troost, J. Maarten Getting Stoned With Savages: Tripping Through The Islands Of Fiji And Vanuatu
Trussoni, Danielle Falling Through The Earth
Tussing, Justin Best People In The World
Umrigar, Thirty Space Between Us
Updike, John Terrorist
Urquhart, Jane Map Of Glass
Vallgren, Carl Johan Horrific Sufferings Of The Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, The: His Wonderful Love And His Terrible Hatred
Walton, Jo Farthing
Waters, Sarah Night Watch
Wa'Thiong'O, Ngugi Wizard Of The Crow
Weber, Katharine Triangle: A Novel
White, Richard D. Kingfish: The Reign Of Huey P. Long
Winter, Michael Big Why
Wright, Lawrence Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann Behold The Many
Yeh, Jane Marabou
Yehoshua, Abraham Woman In Jerusalem
Zoellner, Tom Heartless Stone
Abbott, Lee K All Things, All At Once
Abel, Jessica La Perdida
Abulthawa, Susan Scar Of David
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi Half Of A Yellow Sun
Ali, Monica Alentejo Blue
Allen, Clare Poppy Shakespeare
Armstrong, Karen Great Transformation
Arnoult, Darnell Sufficient Grace
Atkinson One Good Turn
Atwood, Margaret Moral Disorder & Other Stories
Auster, Paul The Brooklyn Follies
Bahr, Howard Judas Field
Baker, Calvin Dominion
Barton, Emily Brookland
Beachy-Quick, Dan Mulberry
Beagle, Peter S. Line Between
Bechdel, Alison Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Behrens, Peter Law Of Dreams
Belli, Gioconda Scroll Of Seduction
Belozerskava, Marina Medici Giraffe
Ben Jelloun, Tahar Last Friend
Berkowitz, Edward Something Happened
Bigsby, Christopher Beautiful Dreamer
Binelli, Mark Sacco And Vanzetti Must Die!
Bizony, Piers Man Who Ran The Moon
Bonner, Jeffrey P Sailing With Noah
Boyle, T. Coraghessan Talk Talk
Branch, Taylor At Canaan's Edge: America In The King Years 1965-68
Brinkley, Douglas Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans And The Mississippi Gulf Coast
Broad, William Oracle: The Lost Secrets And Hidden Messages Of Ancient Delphi
Brookhieser, Richard Divided Ground: Indians, Setlers, and the Northern Borderland Of the American Revolution
Brooks, Max World War Z
Brown, Frederick Flaubert: A Biography
Burt, Stephen Parallel Play
Busch, Frederick Rescue Missions
Butler, Robert Olen Severance
Buzbee, Lewis Yellow Lighted Bookshop
Caldwell, Gail Strong West Wind
Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story
Carr, Cynthia Our Town
Carrierre, Jean-Claude Please, Mr Einstein
Cartwright, Justin Promise Of Happiness
Chase, Clifford Winkie
Chayes, Sarah Punishment Of Virtue:Inside Afghanistan After The Taliban
Cheney, Annie Body Brokers: Inside America's Underground Trade In Human Remains
Child, Julia And Alex Prud'Homme My Life In France
Claudel, Phillipe By A Slow River
Collins, Francis S. Language Of God
Collins, Martha Blue Front
Collinsworth, Eden It Might Have Been What He Said
Da Chen Brothers
Dallek, Robert Let Every Nation Know
D'Ambrosio, Charles Dead Fish Museum: Stories
De Botton, Alain Architecture Of Happiness
De Feydeau, Elisabeth Scented Palace: The Sercret History Of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer
Dean, Debra Madonnas Of Leningrad
Deslisle, Guy Shonzhen: A Travelogue
Doig, Ivan Whistling Season
Donoghue, Emma Touchy Subjects: Stories
Donohue, Keith Stolen Child
Donovan, Gerard Julius Winsome
D'Orso, Michael Eagle Blue
D'Souza, Tony Whiteman
Dunant, Sarah In The Company Of The Courtesan
Edsall, Thomas B Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition And The Drive For Permanent Power
Egan, Jennifer Keep
Egan, Timothy Worst Hard Time
Eisenberg, Deborah The Twilight Of The Superheroes
Eisenberg, John Great Match Race
Fenton, James Selected Poems
Finkel, Caroline Osman's Dream
Flannery, Tim Weather Makers: The History And Future Impact Of Climate Change
Forbes, Charlotte Good Works Of Avela Linde
Fountain, Ben Brief Encounters With Che Guevara
Franzen, Jonathan Discomfort Zone: A Personal History
Frazier, Charles 13 Moons
Freedman, Dave Natural Selection
Fresan, Rodrigo Kensington Gardens
Fuentes, Carlos Eagle's Throne
Fugard, Lisa Skinner's Drift
Gallagher, Tess Dear Ghosts
Gardam, Jane Old Filth
George, Margaret Helen Of Troy
Getty, Sarah Bring Me Her Heart
Ghosh, Amitav Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle Of The Turmoil Of Our Time
Gibbons, Ann First Human
Gien, Pamela Syringa Tree
Gifford, Barry Stars Above Verazcruz
Gilfoyle, Timothy Pickpocket's Tale, A: The Underworld Of 19th Century New York
Glass, Julia Whole World Over
Gluck, Louise Averno: Poems
Godwin, Gail Queen Of The Underworld
Goleman, Daniel Social Intelligence
Goodman, Allegra Intuition
Gordimer, Nadine Get A Life
Gorenberg, Gershom Accidental Empire, The: Israel And The Birth Of The Settlements, 1967-1977
Grandbois, Peter Gravedigger
Grande, Reyna Across A Hundred Mountains
Greenaway, Alice White Ghost Girls
Grenville, Kate Secret River
Gruen, Sara Water For Elephants
Guene Faiza Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
Hamilton, Jane When Madeline Was Young
Handler, Daniel Adverbs
Hayes, Terrance Wind In A Box
Heaney, Seamus District And Circle
Henderson, William Haywood Augusta Locke
Hendricks, Steve Unquiet Grave: The FBI And The Struggle For The Soul Of Indian Country
Henriquez, Cristina Come Together, Fall Apart
Hernandez, Gilbert Sloth
Hessler, Peter Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past And Present
Hirshfield, Jane After
Hogan, Lawrence D. Shades Of Glory
Holleran, Andrew Grief
Holloway, Kris Monique And The Mango Rains: Two Years With A Midwife In Mali
Homes, A. M. This Book Will Save Your Life
Horne, Jed Breach Of Faith: Hurricane Katrina And The Near Death Of A Great American City
Hyland, M. J. Carry Me Down
Jackson, Major Hoops
Jacobson, Sid 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation
Jennings, Kevin Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son
Jenson, Liz My Dirty Little Book Of Stolen Time
Jentz, Terri Strange Piece Of Paradise
Jones, Edward P. All Aunt Hagar's Children
Joseph, Peniel E. Waiting 'Till The Midnight Hour: A Narrative History Of Black Power In America
Julavits, Heidi Uses Of Enchantment
Junger, Sebastian Death In Belmont
Kaplan, Eugene Sensuous Seas
Karr, Mary Sinners Welcome
Kashua, Sayed Let It Be Morning
Kelly, James Patrick Feeling Very Strange
Kelly, Stuart Book Of Lost Books: An Incomplete History Of All The Great Books You'll Never Read
Keret, Edgar Nimrod Flipout
Khadra, Yasmina Attack
Khoury, Elias Gate Of The Sun
King, Ross Judgment Of Paris
King, Ross Judgment Of Paris,
Kinzer, Stephen Overthrow:America's Century Of Regime Change
Knighton, Ryan Cockeyed: A Memoir Of Blindness
Kolbert, Elizabeth Field Notes From A Catastrophe
Lansens, Lori The Girls
Larson, Erik Thunderstruck
Lavagnino, Alessandra Librarians Of Alexandria
Leavitt, David Man Who Knew Too Much, The
Lehane, Dennis Coronado
Lindquist, Ulla-Carin Rowing Without Oars
Livaneli, O.Z. Bliss
Lloyd, Seth Programming The Universe
Long, Dustin Icelander
Lord, Graham John Mortimer: The Secret Life Of Rumpole's Creator: The Unauthorized Biography
Lucey, Donna M. Archie And Amerlie
Maclaverty, Bernard Matters Of Life & Death: Stories
Maguire, James American Bee: The National Spelling Bee And The Culture Of Word Nerds
Maheu, Layne Song Of The Crow
Malarkey, Tucker Resurrection
Mankell, Henning Chronicler Of The Winds
Marchetto, Marisa Cancer Vixen
Markoe, Merrill Walking In Circles Before Lying Down
Martin, Valerie Unfinished Novel And Other Stories
Masters, Alexander Stuart: A Life Backwards
Mazya, Edna Love Burns
Mccarthy, Cormac Road
Mccauley, Stephen Alternatives To Sex: A Gay And Obsessive-Compulsive Post-9/11
Mcdermott, Alice After This
Mcmahon, Darrin Happiness: A History
Mcphee, John Uncommon Carriers
Meek, James People's Act Of Love
Messud, Claire Emperor's Children
Migol, Agl Look There: Selected Poems
Mitchell, David Black Swan Green
Moorehead, Caroline Selected Letters Of Martha Gellhorn
Morrow, James Last Witch Finder
Mosley, Walter Fortunate Son
Mullane, Mike Riding Rockets
Mullen, Thomas Last Town On Earth
Mullins, Meg Rug Merchant
Murakami, Haruki Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Nazario, Sonia Enrique's Journey
Nemirovsky, Irene Suite Francaise
Nielsen, John Condor
Norton, Trevor Underwater To Get Out Of The Rain
Notley, Alice Grave Of Light: New And Selected Poems, 1970-2005
Nunez, Sigrid Last Of Her Kind
Oates, Joyce Carol High Lonesome: Stories
O'Brien, Edna Light Of Evening
Ohlin, Alix Babylon
Othmer, James P. Futurist: A Novel
Ours, Dorothy Man O'War
Parks, Tim Rapids
Parrado, Nando Miracle In The Andes: 72 Days On The Mountain And My Long Trek Home
Paz Soldan, Edmundo Turing's Delirium
Pearce, Fred When The Rivers Run Dry: Water The Defining Crisis Of The 21st Century
Philbrick, Nathaniel Mayflower
Phillips, Julie James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life Of Alice B. Sheldon
Pomfret, John Chinese Lesons: Five Classmates And The Story Of The New China
Prager, Joshua Echoing Green
Quammen, David Reluctant Mr. Darwin
Robbins, James Last In Their Class
Roth, Philip Everyman
Rusesabagina, Paul Ordinary Man
Rust, Elissa Minor Prisoner Pear: Stories
Safina, Carl Voyage Of The Turtle
Sallis, Eva Fire, Fire
Sancton, Tom Song For My Fathers: A New Orleans Story In Black And White
Sanders, Scott Russell Private History Of Awe
Satterlee, Thom Burning Wyclif
Saunders, George In Persuasion Nation
Savage, Sam Firmin
Schama,Simon Rough Crossings: Britain The Slaves, And The American Revolution
Seife, Charles Decoding The Universe: How The New Science Of Information Is Explaining Everything In The Cosmos, From Our Brains To Black Holes
Server, Lee Ava Gardner
Setterfield, Diane Thirteenth Tale
Sheehan, Aurelie History Lesson For Girls
Slavitt, David William Henry Harrison And Other Poems
Smith, Janna Malamud My Father Is A Book
Smith, Patricia Teahouse Of The Almighty
Smith, Scott Ruins
Snyder, Scott Voodoo Heart
Soyinka, Wole You Must Set Forth At Dawn: A Memoir
Spanbauer, Tom Now Is The Hour
Stargardt, Nicholas Witnesses Of War: Children's Lives Under The Nazis
Stern, Jan & Michael Two For The Road: Our Love Affair With American Food
Stewart, Rory Places In Between
Straight, Susan Million Nightingales
Sullivan, Robert Cross Country
Tallis, Frank Death In Vienna
Tiffany, Carrie Everyman's Rules For Scientific Living
Troost, J. Maarten Getting Stoned With Savages: Tripping Through The Islands Of Fiji And Vanuatu
Trussoni, Danielle Falling Through The Earth
Tussing, Justin Best People In The World
Umrigar, Thirty Space Between Us
Updike, John Terrorist
Urquhart, Jane Map Of Glass
Vallgren, Carl Johan Horrific Sufferings Of The Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, The: His Wonderful Love And His Terrible Hatred
Walton, Jo Farthing
Waters, Sarah Night Watch
Wa'Thiong'O, Ngugi Wizard Of The Crow
Weber, Katharine Triangle: A Novel
White, Richard D. Kingfish: The Reign Of Huey P. Long
Winter, Michael Big Why
Wright, Lawrence Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann Behold The Many
Yeh, Jane Marabou
Yehoshua, Abraham Woman In Jerusalem
Zoellner, Tom Heartless Stone
Monday, September 04, 2006
It Might Have Been What He Said by Eden Collinsworth
Some authors are just witty and Eden Collinsworth a new addition to the witty author ranks. Reviews are comparing her to Jane Austin and Edith Wharton.
Featuring quirky modern day "upper crust" characters and views of their often chaotic and rule bound lifestyles, this was an engrossing first novel. While the prose isn't as elegant as some of the other novels I read this year who can resist sentences like the opening sentence: "Isabel could remember the precise moment she tried killing her husband. Strangely enough she couldn't recall why" and "If asked to justify himself, James would say he simply allowed Isabel to believe what she wanted..yes, it might have been the omission of truth; but no, it wasn't a lie."
This also gives you a pretty good summary of what the novel is about. The charming carefree spendthrift of a husband and Isabel's mad (as all love is to some degree) passionate love for him causes Isabel to become worn down with worry but what keeps her in love and supporting her beloved but difficult husband is the hope that he will change. When that hope is shattered by her husband's engagement to another woman her life starts to move in a very different direction as she drowns in grief and the beginning of madness. And yet in the end it is Isabel who escapes to live a life worth cherishing and it is James who is trapped into the destiny he was intended for, marrying money and saving the family estate.
This was a moving but disturbing novel that in a clear and direct way shows how the choices we make along the way lead us in directions we never intended to take.
To my world traveler friends, Spike says thank you for the lovely ribbon that came with the box of chocolates from Switerland. He loved it.
Featuring quirky modern day "upper crust" characters and views of their often chaotic and rule bound lifestyles, this was an engrossing first novel. While the prose isn't as elegant as some of the other novels I read this year who can resist sentences like the opening sentence: "Isabel could remember the precise moment she tried killing her husband. Strangely enough she couldn't recall why" and "If asked to justify himself, James would say he simply allowed Isabel to believe what she wanted..yes, it might have been the omission of truth; but no, it wasn't a lie."
This also gives you a pretty good summary of what the novel is about. The charming carefree spendthrift of a husband and Isabel's mad (as all love is to some degree) passionate love for him causes Isabel to become worn down with worry but what keeps her in love and supporting her beloved but difficult husband is the hope that he will change. When that hope is shattered by her husband's engagement to another woman her life starts to move in a very different direction as she drowns in grief and the beginning of madness. And yet in the end it is Isabel who escapes to live a life worth cherishing and it is James who is trapped into the destiny he was intended for, marrying money and saving the family estate.
This was a moving but disturbing novel that in a clear and direct way shows how the choices we make along the way lead us in directions we never intended to take.
To my world traveler friends, Spike says thank you for the lovely ribbon that came with the box of chocolates from Switerland. He loved it.
I HATE MOWING
Sorry, just had to get that out. To Gretchen and the Fredster, welcome back from Europe. I think you will find that Max and Tilly (the kittens) are alive and well, although maybe a little bored and Tilly was downright cuddly the last few days.
As a reward for mowing I am going out to lunch with Sarah. I already went shoe shopping with Jackie. I can't believe how much I have missed shoe shopping. I got five pair for $60 and bought some completely impractical high heeled strappy girly shoes like I used to buy all the time before the house. Of course, I will never have anywhere to wear them since I am never dating again.
You know what, I am going to talk about this dating thing. My first date since the breakup was not good and I am rethinking the need to ever date again. I mean really, what's the point?
By the way, I had an guy pop up as a potential match. He was from London, so of course, I emailed him. Now I am not expecting anything from this email because, as I pointed out before, he lives in London, but after I sent the email "more like him" popped up and I gotta say, there are some seriously hot guys in London. Perhaps it is time for me to start rethinking my job options.
As a reward for mowing I am going out to lunch with Sarah. I already went shoe shopping with Jackie. I can't believe how much I have missed shoe shopping. I got five pair for $60 and bought some completely impractical high heeled strappy girly shoes like I used to buy all the time before the house. Of course, I will never have anywhere to wear them since I am never dating again.
You know what, I am going to talk about this dating thing. My first date since the breakup was not good and I am rethinking the need to ever date again. I mean really, what's the point?
By the way, I had an guy pop up as a potential match. He was from London, so of course, I emailed him. Now I am not expecting anything from this email because, as I pointed out before, he lives in London, but after I sent the email "more like him" popped up and I gotta say, there are some seriously hot guys in London. Perhaps it is time for me to start rethinking my job options.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Sloth by Gilbert Hernandez
I picked up a graphic novel again tonight thinking I would get something a little lighter. When will I learn. Graphic novels aren't just for kids anymore.
I really liked this one. What can I say, I like the freaky, weird ones. Miguel wakes from his self-induced coma and moves through his days so slowly that others quickly start calling him Sloth (also the name of his band). When he and his girlfriend Lita start to investigate the lemon orchard and the urban legend about the Goatman things start to get strange. In the middle of the book, everyone suddenly switches places as Lita is now emerging from her self-induced coma. Told you it was freaky.
This is from the Love And Rockets creator and I think it is some of his best work. I probably won't nominate it because I think there are some other works that are more complex but this was a highly enjoyable reading experience for someone looking for something a little different.
I really liked this one. What can I say, I like the freaky, weird ones. Miguel wakes from his self-induced coma and moves through his days so slowly that others quickly start calling him Sloth (also the name of his band). When he and his girlfriend Lita start to investigate the lemon orchard and the urban legend about the Goatman things start to get strange. In the middle of the book, everyone suddenly switches places as Lita is now emerging from her self-induced coma. Told you it was freaky.
This is from the Love And Rockets creator and I think it is some of his best work. I probably won't nominate it because I think there are some other works that are more complex but this was a highly enjoyable reading experience for someone looking for something a little different.
Survival
Well, that's just great! I was bored at work yesterday and took some of those online personality tests. I had the results emailed to me and just got around to looking at them. I took the survival one and apparently I have the survival skills of a kumquat. If there is a disaster don't bother to come rescue me because I will be dead long before you could ever get to me.
On the other hand, I really like the pretty boys although I am not sure that it was a fair test since there were only pretty boys to select from.
On the other hand, I really like the pretty boys although I am not sure that it was a fair test since there were only pretty boys to select from.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Terrorist by John Updike
I am not always fond of Updike's work but have always admired his skill. The Terrorist is one of those books that inspires a "wow, can that boy write?" response. This is one of his best and considering that he has won every major book award for past work that is saying something.
Ahmad, a biracial American teenager, has connected deeply with his religion and has found a militant Imam to guide him in developing his spirituality. Because of this he becomes deeply disillusioned by America and all it has to offer. Eventually he hooks up with a fanatic who introduces him to a terrorist cell who plans to blow up the Holland tunnel.
I was skeptical that Updike could maintain the voices needed to carry it off. Having said that, a few of his characters are stereotypical in many ways but, since he is exploring the hysteria surrounding 9/11 and its aftermath, it worked for me.
Ahmad, a biracial American teenager, has connected deeply with his religion and has found a militant Imam to guide him in developing his spirituality. Because of this he becomes deeply disillusioned by America and all it has to offer. Eventually he hooks up with a fanatic who introduces him to a terrorist cell who plans to blow up the Holland tunnel.
I was skeptical that Updike could maintain the voices needed to carry it off. Having said that, a few of his characters are stereotypical in many ways but, since he is exploring the hysteria surrounding 9/11 and its aftermath, it worked for me.
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