Showing posts with label What I'm Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What I'm Reading. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Another Good Book
I just finished reading A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano. Loved it. The author took the famous author Flannery O'Connor and her hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia and crafted a fictionalized story of love and loss on top of them. A couple of plot points flirted with melodrama and cliche, but Ms. Napolitano's beautiful prose made them rise above the ordinary. I have a feeling that I'll be thinking about this one for days, wondering what the characters did after the end of the novel. Someone in Hollywood will want to make this into a movie and I admit that I'll most likely end up buying a ticket. And bringing a hankey.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Reading Roundup
I read Gob's Grief by Chris Adrian over the weekend. Loved it. (Of course, I must admit that I'm never adverse to stories that are somewhat off-kilter.) This is the story of twin eleven-year-old brothers, George Washington Woodhull - "Gob" and Thomas Jefferson Woodhull - "Tomo", from a small town in Ohio during the height of the Civil War. Tomo runs away to join the war only to die during battle. Gob, wracked by grief, spends the rest of his life trying to find a way to bring back Tomo and all the others who've died. Adrian brings together real people (Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, and proto-feminist Victoria Woodhull) with a cast of characters straight out of his vivid imagination. Each page is filled with the enormity of the sorrow and grief felt by the nation during the war between the states. I look forward to reading Chris Adrian's two other books.
Friday, August 01, 2008
New Leaf Turning and All That Jazz
After my horrible blogging record for the month of July, I've made a promise to myself to blog more during the month of August. Of course, now that I've typed out those words, I realized that I'll be on vacation for eight days during the month (and presumably completely off the web, since we'll be staying in a rental cabin in the ginormous metropolis of Driggs, Idaho) as well as starting my grad school coursework. What can I say, people? I'll do the best I can with the resources I've got. If I can log onto a web connection during the ol' va-cay, I will. And I suspect that I'll be willing to take any excuse to take a break from the new studying routine, so it's probable that I will blog more.
In the meantime, some housekeeping...
Books I've read during The Great Blog Blackout of 2008:
The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi (a bookclub selection) I guess my reaction to this one would have to be a resounding "meh"*. Arnoldi has crafted a satire of Southern California culture using one wealthy family as a stand-in for the entirety of a rich, vacuous, lost society. Reviewers praised its laugh out loud humor, but it must have been lost on my unsophisticated middle-American outlook. It wasn't badly written, just ultimately unsatisfying. Reading it was a little like eating a meal consisting entirely of marshmallows. It starts out great but leaves you feeling bloated and irritable.
Origin: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber loved it! I couldn't put this one down. It was a loaner from a friend of mine and I ripped right through it in about a day. The author said that she set out to write a "literary" mystery/suspense genre novel and I think she succeeded. What could have been another overwrought forensic whodunnit (babies have been dying from what might be muder or simply SIDS) was made fresh with the inclusion of an intriguing main character and an amazing subplot. Kept me guessing until the very end.
* Meh (according to the Urban Dictionary) - a word that conveys "indifference; to be used when one simply does not care" or "the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders".
Don't let it be said that I'm not teaching you all things!
In the meantime, some housekeeping...
Books I've read during The Great Blog Blackout of 2008:
The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi (a bookclub selection) I guess my reaction to this one would have to be a resounding "meh"*. Arnoldi has crafted a satire of Southern California culture using one wealthy family as a stand-in for the entirety of a rich, vacuous, lost society. Reviewers praised its laugh out loud humor, but it must have been lost on my unsophisticated middle-American outlook. It wasn't badly written, just ultimately unsatisfying. Reading it was a little like eating a meal consisting entirely of marshmallows. It starts out great but leaves you feeling bloated and irritable.
Origin: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber loved it! I couldn't put this one down. It was a loaner from a friend of mine and I ripped right through it in about a day. The author said that she set out to write a "literary" mystery/suspense genre novel and I think she succeeded. What could have been another overwrought forensic whodunnit (babies have been dying from what might be muder or simply SIDS) was made fresh with the inclusion of an intriguing main character and an amazing subplot. Kept me guessing until the very end.
* Meh (according to the Urban Dictionary) - a word that conveys "indifference; to be used when one simply does not care" or "the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders".
Don't let it be said that I'm not teaching you all things!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
An Open Letter of Apology to My Auntie Donna
Dear Auntie Donna.
I know I have been a bad niece, what with the promises of anecdotes untold and the non-posting and such, but I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. My only real excuse is that I've been absolutely slammed with a huge project at work and after spending eight to nine hours a day at the computer, I can't seem to muster any enthusiasm for sitting down in front of it at home. And until they figure out a way to get the thoughts directly from my brain and into the blog (which would be totally awesome, by the way), the computer is the only way to go.
I suppose the only thing I can do to try and get back in your good graces is to give you a long, satisfying blog entry. So, where were we on the teasers?
Numero Dos: I read Netherland by Joseph O'Neill on the plane. Liked it to possibly loved it. Which I realize is a weird answer and I'll do my best to attempt to explain it. It was one of those books that doesn't translate well to a two or three sentence synopsis but I shall try. It's a book about post-9/11 New York, the immigrant experience, and cricket--not necessarily in that order. I know. It sounds odd and unpalatable, but there's something about O'Neill's main character, Hans van der Broek, that is supremely likeable. Even when he's being a total heel, you can't help but root for him. Recommended.
Numero Tres: Ah yes, how people responded to the news that TLS and I have been married for fourteen years. (Even while I was writing the bullet point in my teaser post, I was having second thoughts about this one.) Being that our anniversary had been earlier in the week, I had many opportunities to tell people how many years I've been married. When it is someone that I've just met, they always have the same expression on their face. It's one that isn't easily described, but it goes something like "disbelief" crossed with "confusion" and I can almost see the wheels turning in their heads. I usually say something like, "I know what your next question is going to be. How old are you? Right?" There is much nodding and then I say thirty-nine and they always express astonishment and say, "I thought you were only about thirty!" I know it is wrong to be vain, but I always get a little bit of a thrill during this shock and awe portion of the conversation. But I don't kid myself, someday my appearance age is going to catch up with my chronological age and then my entire mental house of cards is going to come crashing down. Until then, though, I'm going to eat it up!
Numero Quatro: The Mother of the Bride (M.O.B.), or my Aunt Debbie, is a total crack-up. Here is a transcript of a couple of her fantastic quotes for your reading pleasure.
At the rehearsal dinner, where the restaurant was serving absolutely monster portions...
Me: I am so full, I can hardly stand it!
M.O.B.: Me too. Good thing I put on my elastic waistband pants today!
In the bride's room prior to the ceremony, with much complaining about the discomfort of her shoes...
M.O.B.: I guess if Christ can hang and die on the cross, I can wear these shoes for one afternoon!
Numero Cinco: I tend to be the classic over-packer. I'm not sure if it's an over-active survival instinct, but much like a squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter, I start packing for a two day trip and am soon acting like I'm leaving on a major polar expedition. As a result of much ribbing from TLS over the years, I start out throwing in everything but the kitchen sink and then start winnowing the pile to a manageable level. Most of the time, this strategy works out just fine, but occasionally I throw back something I should have kept in. This time it was my cell phone charger. About 2:30 a.m. Sunday (during one of the fourteen times I was awake -- I don't sleep well away from home in hotels at all), the cell phone started to do the ominous low battery beeping. Now, I'll be the first person to admit that we can all survive just fine without a cell phone. Heck, I survived the first twenty-five years of my life without one and lived to tell the tale. But when you're trying to coordinate getting multiple people from Point A to Point B and in between, needing to call the airline to confirm that your flight is still on time and what gate/terminal it is leaving from, and making sure that TLS has your arrival information, a phone starts to look much of a necessity than a luxury. I spent a few minutes trying to decide on a course of action and finally decided that I had time upon getting up to run to the neighborhood discount store and buy a new charger. While getting it would be irritating, since I already have two of them at home, it was the only way I knew to solve the problem. Luckily for me, I ran into the Father of the Groom (F.O.G.) in the lobby on my way to the store. I told him my tale of woe and, get this, he had the exact charger I needed for my phone! What are the odds of that, my friends? It was nothing short of a wedding weekend miracle, I tell you.
Numero Seis: During the rehearsal dinner, the table full of bridesmaids asked for a bottle of ketchup for someone's french fries. A bottle was brought and was opened. Apparently, a ketchup pressure bomb had been brewing in there and ketchup flew about fifteen feet in all directions. It was our very own ketchup Vesuvius. My cousin, the bride, remarked that this is what her wedding would eventually be known for and I have to agree.
I'm sure that after a couple of weeks of breathless anticipation, that this wasn't quite up to expectations, but it's better than nothing.
Hugs and kisses,
Inertia Girl
I know I have been a bad niece, what with the promises of anecdotes untold and the non-posting and such, but I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. My only real excuse is that I've been absolutely slammed with a huge project at work and after spending eight to nine hours a day at the computer, I can't seem to muster any enthusiasm for sitting down in front of it at home. And until they figure out a way to get the thoughts directly from my brain and into the blog (which would be totally awesome, by the way), the computer is the only way to go.
I suppose the only thing I can do to try and get back in your good graces is to give you a long, satisfying blog entry. So, where were we on the teasers?
Numero Dos: I read Netherland by Joseph O'Neill on the plane. Liked it to possibly loved it. Which I realize is a weird answer and I'll do my best to attempt to explain it. It was one of those books that doesn't translate well to a two or three sentence synopsis but I shall try. It's a book about post-9/11 New York, the immigrant experience, and cricket--not necessarily in that order. I know. It sounds odd and unpalatable, but there's something about O'Neill's main character, Hans van der Broek, that is supremely likeable. Even when he's being a total heel, you can't help but root for him. Recommended.
Numero Tres: Ah yes, how people responded to the news that TLS and I have been married for fourteen years. (Even while I was writing the bullet point in my teaser post, I was having second thoughts about this one.) Being that our anniversary had been earlier in the week, I had many opportunities to tell people how many years I've been married. When it is someone that I've just met, they always have the same expression on their face. It's one that isn't easily described, but it goes something like "disbelief" crossed with "confusion" and I can almost see the wheels turning in their heads. I usually say something like, "I know what your next question is going to be. How old are you? Right?" There is much nodding and then I say thirty-nine and they always express astonishment and say, "I thought you were only about thirty!" I know it is wrong to be vain, but I always get a little bit of a thrill during this shock and awe portion of the conversation. But I don't kid myself, someday my appearance age is going to catch up with my chronological age and then my entire mental house of cards is going to come crashing down. Until then, though, I'm going to eat it up!
Numero Quatro: The Mother of the Bride (M.O.B.), or my Aunt Debbie, is a total crack-up. Here is a transcript of a couple of her fantastic quotes for your reading pleasure.
At the rehearsal dinner, where the restaurant was serving absolutely monster portions...
Me: I am so full, I can hardly stand it!
M.O.B.: Me too. Good thing I put on my elastic waistband pants today!
In the bride's room prior to the ceremony, with much complaining about the discomfort of her shoes...
M.O.B.: I guess if Christ can hang and die on the cross, I can wear these shoes for one afternoon!
Numero Cinco: I tend to be the classic over-packer. I'm not sure if it's an over-active survival instinct, but much like a squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter, I start packing for a two day trip and am soon acting like I'm leaving on a major polar expedition. As a result of much ribbing from TLS over the years, I start out throwing in everything but the kitchen sink and then start winnowing the pile to a manageable level. Most of the time, this strategy works out just fine, but occasionally I throw back something I should have kept in. This time it was my cell phone charger. About 2:30 a.m. Sunday (during one of the fourteen times I was awake -- I don't sleep well away from home in hotels at all), the cell phone started to do the ominous low battery beeping. Now, I'll be the first person to admit that we can all survive just fine without a cell phone. Heck, I survived the first twenty-five years of my life without one and lived to tell the tale. But when you're trying to coordinate getting multiple people from Point A to Point B and in between, needing to call the airline to confirm that your flight is still on time and what gate/terminal it is leaving from, and making sure that TLS has your arrival information, a phone starts to look much of a necessity than a luxury. I spent a few minutes trying to decide on a course of action and finally decided that I had time upon getting up to run to the neighborhood discount store and buy a new charger. While getting it would be irritating, since I already have two of them at home, it was the only way I knew to solve the problem. Luckily for me, I ran into the Father of the Groom (F.O.G.) in the lobby on my way to the store. I told him my tale of woe and, get this, he had the exact charger I needed for my phone! What are the odds of that, my friends? It was nothing short of a wedding weekend miracle, I tell you.
Numero Seis: During the rehearsal dinner, the table full of bridesmaids asked for a bottle of ketchup for someone's french fries. A bottle was brought and was opened. Apparently, a ketchup pressure bomb had been brewing in there and ketchup flew about fifteen feet in all directions. It was our very own ketchup Vesuvius. My cousin, the bride, remarked that this is what her wedding would eventually be known for and I have to agree.
I'm sure that after a couple of weeks of breathless anticipation, that this wasn't quite up to expectations, but it's better than nothing.
Hugs and kisses,
Inertia Girl
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Readin', Readin', Readin'
I finished re-reading Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan last weekend. It's a cyber-punk noir novel set in a distant future where a human's consciousness is stored in a carbon "stack" at the base of his or her neck that can be downloaded into different bodies. Liked it (as you might have surmised from the re-reading portion of the opening sentence). Sue me. I like sci-fi, as you might have guessed from the nerd quiz I did a few months back. I had some other books that I haven't read yet, but couldn't seem to muster much enthusiasm for them on Saturday and it had been long enough since I'd read this the first time that it was like it was new again.
I also started I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. It's a book of essays about Sloane's life in her mid-twenties told with (as Publisher's Weekly says) "sardonic wit". If you like David Sedaris or Sarah Vowell, you'll like this one. Liking it so far.
I just got another shipment from Amazon today. (Don't worry, TLS, I used an Amazon gift certificate.) I got The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. I also have When A Crocodile Eats The Sun by Peter Godwin in the queue ready to go along with one that a co-worker loaned me today, Philistines at the Hedgerow by Steven Gaines. I'm going to have a plethora of options to take with me on my trip to Illinois at the end of the week.
I also started I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. It's a book of essays about Sloane's life in her mid-twenties told with (as Publisher's Weekly says) "sardonic wit". If you like David Sedaris or Sarah Vowell, you'll like this one. Liking it so far.
I just got another shipment from Amazon today. (Don't worry, TLS, I used an Amazon gift certificate.) I got The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. I also have When A Crocodile Eats The Sun by Peter Godwin in the queue ready to go along with one that a co-worker loaned me today, Philistines at the Hedgerow by Steven Gaines. I'm going to have a plethora of options to take with me on my trip to Illinois at the end of the week.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
That's Me, The Reading Machine
Started and finished Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein last night. Yes, I truly am a reading machine. It's a sickness, but one that I have to say I enjoy. (TLS keeps saying that our house is going to sink to the center of the earth due to the weight of all the books in it, but I think he's just being cranky.) Liked it. It was one woman's journey through infertility and ultimately becoming a mother. I have a feeling that I connected to this book in much the same way that one of my friends connected with Eat, Pray, Love, which I liked but didn't particularly "get". I'd been in Peggy Orenstein's shoes, thought her thoughts, and felt her emotions. Of course, she managed to snag the holy grail of fertility. And me? Not so much. Maybe there's a place out there for a book with my observations. Hmmmm.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
I Should Have Thought Of This Before
I have often tried to conjure up the names of books I've read in the past--with varying levels of success. Being the college educated person I am, I finally came up with the completely obvious brilliant idea to put the titles of the books I've read in the blog. I doubt I am going to do much, if any, literary criticism, as I'm not really good at breaking a book down into things like themes and such. You'll probably only get a liked it/didn't like it blurb and a one sentence idea of why/why not.
Finished today:
A Thousand Splendid Suns ** by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner) - Liked it. It made me glad that I lived here, with TLS, rather than in Afghanistan during the 90's to the present. (It truly sucks to be a woman in much of the world.) A one-hanky read; have one handy.
** Current month's bookclub book
Finished today:
A Thousand Splendid Suns ** by Khaled Hosseini (author of The Kite Runner) - Liked it. It made me glad that I lived here, with TLS, rather than in Afghanistan during the 90's to the present. (It truly sucks to be a woman in much of the world.) A one-hanky read; have one handy.
** Current month's bookclub book
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Why You're Not Going to Read the Post I Started Yesterday
I started to write a post yesterday that was depressing and maudlin. (I've literally had to fight the urge to go look up the dictionary definitions of both of those words to confirm that instead of giving you a couple of nuanced adjectives I wasn't being just plain old redundant. But I digress...) I have been in a sort of mini-funk the last few days for no apparent reason. Seriously, nothing has changed in my life (Still have the supportive, wonderful husband? Check. Still gainfully employed? Check. Still got my health - such that it is? Check, check and check.) but I couldn't seem to shake the free-floating anxiety. I had a good cry over a novel I finished Tuesday night, Hangover Soup by Louise Redd, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the tears. But I couldn't decide whether the book made me cry strictly on its own merits or whether the funk "made me do it", so to speak. Why doesn't someone else read the book and let me know the answer to that one? So, anyway, the abortive post was pretty much a study in self-pity, self-indulgence and any other self related word you can think of. Thankfully, I didn't get very far before I hit the *save as draft* button and closed the blog right out. When I opened it up today (obviously in at least a somewhat better frame of mind), I gleefully deleted everything I wrote and vowed to start afresh. Although, now that I think about it, I've really just indulged the funk by explaining what the gist of the post was. I guess that instead of Why You're Not Going to Read the Post I Started Yesterday, I probably should have called it The Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the Post I Was Going to Publish Yesterday. Bring on the pity party, please, because apparently I can't seem to avoid it.
As a side note, I've been reading over all the material from the advising department from the library school about the classes I'm going to take in the fall. I have to say that I've feeling very "out of the loop" on this whole school thing. I will have one actual in-class course and the other two will be web-based after one meeting. I'm not so sure how I'm going to feel about the whole web-based phenomenon, but it's the way that this program is structured, so I'd better get happy about it, I suppose. I was very excited, though, that I was able to figure out my new .edu email address and how to log on. (I am so easily amused.)
As a side note, I've been reading over all the material from the advising department from the library school about the classes I'm going to take in the fall. I have to say that I've feeling very "out of the loop" on this whole school thing. I will have one actual in-class course and the other two will be web-based after one meeting. I'm not so sure how I'm going to feel about the whole web-based phenomenon, but it's the way that this program is structured, so I'd better get happy about it, I suppose. I was very excited, though, that I was able to figure out my new .edu email address and how to log on. (I am so easily amused.)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
What I'm Reading - November 15th Edition
In case anyone cares, here is what I'm currently reading.
Animals in Translation
Temple Grandin
Written by an autistic woman with a Ph.D. in animal behavior, this book chronicles her theory that the perceptions and thinking of autistic people has more in common with how animals perceive and think than with the way "normal" people do. While it can be a little pedantic at times, it has been a fascinating read. Of course, I am a complete science geek, so I don't know if I'm the best person to judge for a general audience. (I've read everything except the supplemental dog-training section in the back.)
The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
This is a story set in India (near the border of Tibet and Nepal) and New York City, involving a retired judge, his granddaughter, the granddaughter's tutor, the cook and the cook's son. I'm only about 75 pages in and I have to say so far this hasn't really caught my attention. While I can appreciate the beauty of the language, the story just hasn't grabbed me. If I start another book while reading one, that's when I know the current one just isn't cutting it. Which brings me to the next book I'm reading and loving...
The True Meaning of Smekday
Adam Rex
Guilty admission: This book is written for children ages 9-12. I have to say, however, that it is one of the better stories I've read this year. The year is 2013 and it has been two years since an alien race, the Boov, invaded earth and one year since they left. The protaganist, Gratuity (aka Tip), is writing an essay entitled The True Meaning of Smekday for a contest. You'll come to learn how a mole on the back of her mother's neck, a cat named Pig, a Boov named J. Lo and an obvious allusion to Disney World all relate to one another. The descriptions are spot-on and had me laughing out loud more than once. I'm about half-way done with this one and I don't want it to end.
Animals in Translation
Temple Grandin
Written by an autistic woman with a Ph.D. in animal behavior, this book chronicles her theory that the perceptions and thinking of autistic people has more in common with how animals perceive and think than with the way "normal" people do. While it can be a little pedantic at times, it has been a fascinating read. Of course, I am a complete science geek, so I don't know if I'm the best person to judge for a general audience. (I've read everything except the supplemental dog-training section in the back.)
The Inheritance of Loss
Kiran Desai
This is a story set in India (near the border of Tibet and Nepal) and New York City, involving a retired judge, his granddaughter, the granddaughter's tutor, the cook and the cook's son. I'm only about 75 pages in and I have to say so far this hasn't really caught my attention. While I can appreciate the beauty of the language, the story just hasn't grabbed me. If I start another book while reading one, that's when I know the current one just isn't cutting it. Which brings me to the next book I'm reading and loving...
The True Meaning of Smekday
Adam Rex
Guilty admission: This book is written for children ages 9-12. I have to say, however, that it is one of the better stories I've read this year. The year is 2013 and it has been two years since an alien race, the Boov, invaded earth and one year since they left. The protaganist, Gratuity (aka Tip), is writing an essay entitled The True Meaning of Smekday for a contest. You'll come to learn how a mole on the back of her mother's neck, a cat named Pig, a Boov named J. Lo and an obvious allusion to Disney World all relate to one another. The descriptions are spot-on and had me laughing out loud more than once. I'm about half-way done with this one and I don't want it to end.
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