because I forget like a mofo

I just want to post these here because I ALWAYS forget links.

Literary Vamp.

lex's LJ.

One of these days I will get a links thingie worked out. Probly the same day I do a flat-out site redesign, ha.

seven/fifty-two

Do you remember how much I disliked David Sedaris's Holidays on Ice? How I couldn't wait to finish the damn thing and put it away? Well, I read some reviews, and overwhelmingly the reviewers recommended Sedaris's other work as a better introduction to his writing.

So I picked up Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim and hoped they were right. And they were. I loved this collection of short stories. Sedaris is funny and dry and tells a good story . . . and you've probably heard this all before.

six/fifty-two

I remember reading Lorrie Moore's Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?, thinking, "Okay, I know this is good, I know this is supposed to be brilliant writing and I'm supposed to be wowed, but I just don't get it. I don't like it, it doesn't work with my brain." That's the exact same way I felt reading Things You Should Know by A.M. Homes.

I know I should love this book, this should be one of those "This was a great short story collection, and I loved it because . . . " reviewlets, but I didn't like it, it didn't touch me, I didn't get it. The stories were dark and sometimes strange, bizarre things happened in them, and they all seemed to revolve around need. Sounds like something I'd like, but no. I read the whole collection, but only because they were short stories and I'd just given up on another book, and I didn't want to start a book-quitting trend.

correction

Bookslut's blog is still there, so I'm not sure why I couldn't find it a month or so (?) ago. Probably just because it's not linked from the main page.

five/fifty-two

Gave up on The Fasting Girl: Too dry for me, like a textbook without the fun.

So I reread The Time Traveler's Wife. Is this cheating? I don't care! The whole point of the thing is to READ BOOKS. And I read it. And I loved it just as much, if not more, than I did the first time I read it. I may be idealizing the book, kind of like a crush, only literary, but it is only the third or fourth book I've read as an adult that I've loved with this much fervor.

four/fifty-two

Ah, I love a good non-fiction account that draws me into an event that I normally would not give a rat's ass about.

The Devil in the White City mixes two things together: the story of the 1893 World's Columbian Expedition and the story of a serial killer who used the Fair to his advantage. Erik Larson wrote the book, and he wrote it well. The story was interesting -- a little bit melodramatic as far as the writing style goes, flowery adjectives and the like, but it was good melodrama. Pretty words.

If you go here, you can find some information about the debut (and eventual demise) of the Ferris Wheel, which I found to be one of the more interesting parts of the Fair that Larson discussed. There's also a good review of the book on that site, written by someone who has just a leeetle more knowledge than I do about the subject.

three/fifty-two

I was incredibly disappointed in this selection, so I'm not even giving it my normal smallish review space. Instead, it gets a haiku:

A book I should love:
Bill Bryson's Lost Continent.
Too dick-y for me.

I really love Bryson's other work (the books I've read already, anyway), especially A Walk in the Woods. I forced myself to finish this one, in hopes it would get better. It didn't. Snark can only take you so far, man.

But then, I am a delicate Southern flower. Hee.

two/fifty-two

Ann Patchett's Bel Canto: beautiful, brilliant, I wish I hadn't read the last two chapters. Not because they were bad, but because they broke my heart.

The story: Some rebels break into a fabulous dinner party ("somewhere in South America" -- the country is never named) and take everybody hostage. The guest list includes many people from all over the world, and one very famous opera singer. Their captors are not especially brilliant at their jobs, and eventually the whole thing becomes like one big sleepover -- with guns. I loved the way the characters were written and described; sometimes it's hard for me to imagine the way characters look, but Patchett described them so well it was as if they were sitting next to me.

This is one of those books that I think would make an excellent movie, although the characters' inner dialogues might be lost a little too much in the translation.

I'm really looking forward to reading Patchett's other work now.

sometimes I hate the English language

I'm reading Bel Canto and really enjoying it. HOWEVER, someone needs to wake up an editor somewhere and let her/him know that it's not a VILE of medicine, it's a VIAL. I actually had to sit back for a minute after that one and take some deep breaths. Maybe I shouldn't read so late at night (I have little to no patience at the end of the day), but I was really liking Patchett's story. Damn typos.

Sometimes I wish they didn't bother me so much. Other times I get a little bitchy because I don't see why someone's getting PAID to miss so many glaring errors.

For example: the BtVS story I read a couple of years ago that had so many typos, including incorrect spellings of MAJOR CHARACTERS' NAMES and "facts" about the major characters that were way off-base, that I seriously considered writing to somebody and offering to go through the thing and send them a marked-up copy. I mean, someone approved the thing. WHY? I know seven bucks is not a fortune, but I don't pay for books so that I can sit down for three hours and grind my teeth.

(I want to say that the book was The Wisdom of War, but I'm not 100% sure. It had "sea monsters" in it, but I don't remember it being one of Golden's books. Unless I've blocked that part out because I still want to like Golden.)

so much for that

At least I already finished my book for this week. I'm giving up on Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Reading about all the things that can go wrong with your brain is not for someone who's already paranoid about those sorts of things. Plus my copy had way too many typos for its own good. Cool discovery, though: Someone clipped an article about the success of the book and left it tucked between the pages. I love finding stuff like that. If I would stop being so picky and buy used books more often, I'd probly find more things like that, but these days I much prefer new books.

So I just spent more than I should have on some new ones because I'm running low, and the odds of finding these laying around in a used bookstore here are slim to nil. At roughly $8 a book because of a good 50% off sale, I got:

* Ambulance Girl
* Good Grief
* A Million Little Pieces
* Persepolis
* Something Rising (Light and Swift)
* Truth & Beauty
* The Virgin's Lover
* When Did You Stop Loving Me?

and two copies of The Time Traveler's Wife -- one for me because Rabbit pretty much destroyed my copy, and one for giving away.

one/fifty-two

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (excerpt) is the story of Mormonism and Mormon Fundementalism. It's also the story of the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter, Erica, by two of her brothers-in-law, carried out because the Lafferty brothers believed God wanted this woman and baby to die.

I would have never expected a book on Mormonism to hold my interest all the way through, as this one did. And, really, Under the Banner of Heaven is far more an exploration of the Mormon faith than a true-crime story, even though Jon Krakauer goes into horrifying detail as far as the Lafferty murders are concerned. Its focus on the religion and the faith it inspires makes sense, given that Krakauer's original intent was to explore that faith.

It was all the more fascinating to me since this is new information for me; I know very little about any faith except the one I was raised in due to the bubble that forms around you when you're in the church (especially when you're in a church-school). In any case, this was a book I'd been wanting to read for a while, so I was looking forward to it; it ended up being even better than I expected.

mmm, apples

My last book of 2004: Comfort Me with Apples, by Ruth Reichl (excerpt). It's a continuation of Reichl's story, which she began in Tender at the Bone. Apples is every bit as good as Bone, if not better. It focuses less on her mother and more on her relationships with various men, and it's perfect. Anything I say is going to sound really fawning, so I'll just leave it at that. Love. It was a great book to end 2004 with.

before I go

Carl Hiaasen's Hoot: enjoyable, definitely a kid's book, but it had a cute story. And "cute" is the right word there. I prefer his adult stuff, this seemed a little . . . trite, I guess. But it's for kids, so I'm not sure if that matters. If I were my younger self, well, I probably wouldn't read it because I went in for more meaty stuff (if you ignore the Lurlene McDaniels I read). But Hoot was okay.

Let me put it this way: it's not one I'll be keeping for Rabbit to enjoy down the road, like I am with my Narnia collection and The Cricket in Times Square and Little Women, etc., but I might buy it for her later, if she seems to like that sort of story.

See you in 2005!

fifty-two weeks to go

In the paper this weekend, there was an article about an English professor who resolved to read one book a week for a year in 2004. There were no guidelines as to what he had to read, he just had to read. I think it's a great idea, not too difficult and there's a definite goal, which is what I need. So that's what I'm doing in 2005.

Other people have done it, and even written books about it, so it's not exactly original. But that's not the point.

And this is a resolution I'll actually enjoy keeping.

(link via bookblog)

and the cover was so pretty

I finished Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris over, well, the holidays. It was pretty funny, full of nice and bitingly dry wit. The book is a collection of six Christmas stories. My favorite was "The Santaland Diaries." (I'm pretty sure that's what almost everyone says, but who am I to go against the flow?) By the end of the book, I was in that mood where I JUST WANT TO FINISH, ALREADY, but I'm not sure whether to blame Sedaris for that or the incredibly unlively party I had just attended. The stories just kind of went on for too long, which is okay when you're reading someone whose voice you just can't get enough of, but in this instance, it didn't work. Which is really strange, because Sedaris's humor is the kind I like.

Oh, I take it back. My favorite part of the book was actually the back-of-the-book blurb:

"HOLIDAYS ON ICE collects six of David Sedaris' most profound Christmas stories into one slender volume perfect for use as a last-minute coaster or ice scraper. This drinking man's companion can be enjoyed by the warmth of a raging fire, the glow of a brilliantly decorated tree, or even the backseat of a van or police car. It should be read with your eyes, felt with your heart, and heard only when spoken to. It should, in short, behave much like a book. And, oh, what a book it is!"

constant cravings

I've really been wanting to re-read a book lately: Eva Moves the Furniture. I'm not sure why, since I only read it once and I barely remember what it's about. I remember it as being kind of a novel made up of short stories softly bound together. Not that it's a book of short stories, just that that's the way it reads.

I really like the title. Maybe it's sticking in my head because of that, like a song with a chorus that bounces around for a while, always at the tip of your tongue.

maybe true, not so outstanding

Finished The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson (somewhat gushing review here), a story about a woman, Olivia, whose sister is diagnosed with leukemia. Olivia is in the middle of trying to get a movie based on Don Quixote made while she deals with her sister's illness. It's told entirely through letters and e-mails, which is a gimmick that I actually like a lot when it's used well. It was used pretty well here, for the most part, although the letters to Olivia's friend Tina made her sound a little passive-aggressive and condescending. Olivia actually seems kind of annoying all in all, which isn't something I'm used to in a protagonist, but I wouldn't want to read about some idealized woman's life and reaction to tragedy, so it worked for me.

In the end, it was an okay book. Not anything I'd give as a gift, but I'd give it away to a friend who had time to kill.

For books with a sisterly theme, I prefer Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson.

another one bites the dust

I finished The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, which was interesting enough, although it wasn't exactly a work of art. The excerpt here basically says it all: this, like the last Gregory novel I read, The Other Boleyn Girl, is basically a fluffy semi-bodice-ripper with enough educational stuff in it that you don't feel like you've totally wasted your time. At least, it's educational to me, since I was never really taught much about English history (ah, the joys of being shuffled from homeschooling to private school to public school and back again).

Hannah is a Jewish girl with The Sight who's on the run from the Spanish Inquisition; she is brought to court to be a Holy Fool, and she gets caught up in court intrigue. Along the way, there's lot of longing for the man who brought her into court, and lusting for the eighth cousin (something like that) to whom she's betrothed. Hannah's torn between loyalty for Queen Mary and interest in Princess Elizabeth, and I've got to say, although Elizabeth seemed like more fun, she was also kind of a bitch. But then, Mary burned Protestants, so it's kind of a lose/lose situation. All in all, an entertaining story told well enough that I finished it in two days (always a good sign).

Gregory's books always make me want to read some of Alison Weir's stuff, but I never seem to get around to it. One day, my pretties.

I haven't forgotten how to read!

I wasn't sure if I'd ever finish a book again, but today I did it! See, since we moved in (last week), the only books I've had unpacked are cookbooks, so I've been reading them here and there when I needed some written word. I finally got the (forty or so) books that I've bought since moving into my parents' basement unpacked Monday. After being spoiled by all the recipes and anecdotes in the cookbooks I'd been reading, I craved some food writing, and luckily, Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone (excerpt) was there to help a girl out. Reichl's writing voice is a nice, down-to-earth, friendly one, and the story itself was interesting enough that I finished the book in two days (including staying up late reading on Tuesday night, which I haven't done in months and months). Plus, I love any book which includes recipes for dishes mentioned in the story (with the exception of Cooking for Mr. Latte, I should add). This book deserves the highest praise I can give it: I want to read more. Next up (maybe I can luck out and thrift store it like this one) is Comfort Me with Apples, in which Reichl continues her story.

but that's just my opinion

Remember all the uproar on the old Glitter board about how snobby the Budget Living mag was when it started up? Well, I do.

I was at Borders the other day, picking up Christmas gifts, and I saw BL sitting there, looking cute. I wanted a xmas magazine, and it was between that, MS Living, and Gourmet. Budget Living won out because it was cheaper.

So I took it home with semi-great expectations. It looked interesting, the taglines on the front showed promise, the cover was pretty, the mag had a nice feel to it, etc. Sat down to read it. Oh dear.

This is another magazine which has a premise that I love, but an execution that grates. I know it's about, you know, living on a budget and all, but do you really need to complain that many times about how underfunded your magazine is? I know, I complain about money a lot, but you're not paying to read this, are you? I paid almost four bucks to read about how little the staff of the magazine that I PAID FOR gets paid. It wasn't just mentioned once, either, or I could have chalked it up to an oversight.

That said, there were some interesting ideas in the magazine. Some nice DIY inspiration. But for a budget-conscious publication, there sure were a lot of spreads filled with nothing but stuff to buy. And a lot of "this is pricey BUT . . ." captions and buy-this-because snippets. The same people who are complaining about being paid less than a fast food employee are writing about sixty-dollar throw pillows.

I guess the titular "budget" is that of someone with a lot more discretionary income than me. Or, judging by their own claims, more than the employees of Budget Living. Which makes the magazine pretty pointless.