A Striped Armchair

Address Change

2007-10-26T03:55:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about switching over the wordpress for awhile, and so I've been playing around with it. I think I've finally got it in decent working order, although I'll probably keep playing with it for awhile!

Anyway, come on over to A Striped Armchair, v.2 to find out my latest obsession. Also, please update your bookmarks and links: http://astripedarmchair.wordpress.com/. See you there!

Feeling Better

2007-10-23T16:23:00.000-06:00

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! I'll be answering them all individually a bit later (computer troubles). I pushed through the feeling this morning by turning to Jane Austen for comfort. :) Then, this afternoon I went to the library!

I realised I was in a YA mood, so that's the majority of this trip's stash: The Looking Glass Wars, Twilight, Ironside, The Wee Free Men, and Wicked Lovely. I also grabbed some challenge read: Sandman, Vol. I for the Reading the Author Challenge, The Master and Commander and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle for the upcoming Nautical Challenge. :)

I plan to just bury myself in books for a little while, hehe. Panic attacks are silly!

Feeling Overwhelmed

2007-10-23T02:46:00.000-06:00

You know those moments when you suddenly realise how many great books there are out there? And that there's no way you'll ever be able to read all of them?

That realisation just came crashing down on me.

How do y'all deal with that?

So Many Books, So Little Time (thoughts)

2007-10-22T23:55:00.000-06:00

Before I talk about the book, just wanted to announce that Shannon over at Just Another Musing won the second draw! She went with Tithe, so I'll draw another winner shortly. :) Gotta love the read-a-thon! Now, on to a book I read before the read-a-thon, and that I've been meaning to review. :D

I devoured So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson in the night it got in, and when I finally turned the last page, I felt completely satisfied. Sara Nelson and I have only two things in common: we're women, and we love books. But that's part of what makes reading this book so fun; I could see how our joint hobby played out in a very different kind of life. Nelson discusses how events in her life influenced her reading choices and vice versa. Her mix of informal book reviews and personal anecdotes actually felt like reading a great book blog. Soothing, funny, enjoyable...Nelson reminded me that I'm not alone in my reading obsession. If I had found this book before the blogging community, I'm sure it would've blown my mind to find a kindred spirit. As it is, I was just glad to be able to read a whole year's worth of reading experience without bothering with my laptop! Everyone who enjoys reading book blogs will probably enjoy this book!

Favourite Passages

...the busier I've gotten over the years-the more family and work activities, the more friends to keep up with, the more duties of adulthood and parenthood, the more, well life-the more, not the less, I've read, (6)

Reading's ability to beam you up to a different world is a good part of the reason people like me do it in the first place, because dollar for dollar, hour per hour, it's the most expedient way to get from our proscribed little "here" to an imagined, intriguing "there." Part time machine, part Concorde, part ejection seat, books are our salvation. (12)

Explaining the moment of connection between a reader and a book to someone who's never experienced it is like trying to describe sex to a virgin. A friend of mine says that when he meets a book he loves, he starts to shake involuntarily. For me, the feeling comes in a rush: I'm readingalong and suddenly a word or phrase or scene enlarges before my eyes and soon everything around me is just so much fuzzy background. The phone can ring, toast can burn, the child can call out, but to me, they're all in a distant dream. The book-this beautiful creature in my hands!-is everything I've ever wanted, as unexpected and inevitable as love. (33)

I may have come late to passaionte reading, but I caught on pretty early that a book can be the perfect shield against potentially piercing situations. Not only is reading a distraction during difficult times...but it's a highly socially respectable means of social avoidance. You can't tell an obnoxious seatmate on a plane, for example, taht his obstreperous pontificating about the virtues of saccharin over NutraSweet is driving you batty, but you can tell him you're in the middle of A Tale of Two Cities and you simply must get back to it. (39)

Allowing yourself to stop reading a book-at page 25, 50, or even, less frequently, a few chapters from the end-is a rite of passage in a reader's life, the literary equivalent of a bar mitzvah or a communiion, the moment at which you can look at yourself and announce: Today I' am an adult. I can make my own decisions. (55)

And in every case, the sun came up the day after I bagged these books. There was no quiz in the morning, no Reading Police at my door. Not the mention that the books themselves went on to greatness and comfortable spots on the bestseller lists. (57)

The idea, I guess, is to turn a book into a media event, but this is a strategy that has major backfire potential. For me-as, I believe for a lot of readers-when a book gets overhyped, we get mad. We're a funny, cliquish group, we book people, and sometimes we resist liking-or even resist opening-the very thing everybody tells us we're supposed to like. (61)

An occasional disagreement over a book's merit should not be a big deal to normal people, but the people I love-and the person I am-are not normal; we're book people. TO us, disagreeing about something we read is as shocking and disruptive as, say, deciding that we hate each other's husbands. (67)

I believe that an unreturned book beween friends is like a deb unpaid. It can linger, fester, throb like a sore wound. THe best preventative medicine is the simplest: Return All Books. (70)

What draws a particular reader to a particular story can be completely idiosyncratic....Reading is highly personal and often revealing. Readers have superstitious preferences and irrational dislikes. (115)

You can't eat pizza while reading The House of Mirth....You have to have long stretches of uninterrupted time to read The House of Mirth. You also have to have quiet. A long, rainy weekend afternoon would work. So would a couple of luxuriously sleepless nights in a well-appointed, comfortable bed. (117)

One of the good things about having a partner who is just a tiny bit oblivious to the links between reading and life is that he doesn't take particular note that the two books you've brought on your three-week family vacation are Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary. (141)

Final Read-a-Thon Post

2007-10-21T21:29:00.000-06:00

Whew. I got a lot of sleep since the last post. :) This was a ton of fun, and I highly recommend that everyone who can clear their schedules next year participate! Although I loved the reading, and the prizes, my favourite part was the community building that went on. :D

The first winner of my prize drawing is 3M, so she gets first pick of the books. Once she's picked, I'll draw the next winner!

Here's Dewey's final survey.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Hour Sixteen...I experienced a serious energy slump and felt really loopy. Fortunately, the hot chocolate perked me back up.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? The Kitchen Boy, Marked, Tithe, Gods in Alabama

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? I enjoyed this one a lot; I didn't really think anything was lacking!

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I loved the mini-challenges and the cheerleaders. It all went very smoothly!

5. How many books did you read? 7, plus parts of two more (2,014 pages)

6. What were the names of the books you read? I completed: Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith, The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston I read from: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrless

7. Which book did you enjoy most? Three Way Tie: Marked, The Kitchen Boy, The Children of Green Knowe

8. Which did you enjoy least? The Sunday Philosophy Club

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't a cheerleader. :)

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? If I can, I'd love to participate in next year's read-a-thon. I'd probably be a reader again!

And then there were fourteen...

2007-10-21T07:30:00.000-06:00

*this is a sticky, it'll be changed as people go to bed or get up*

Well, I really like trying to visit every reader at least once every other hour. But, I was sick of weeding through the long blogroll. So here're the people who have updated in the last three-ish hours or sooner...

Newest additions: Joy Story, So Many Books,Bonnie's Books New additions:SMS Reviews (I didn't see Callista's posts beneath her stickies. Bad Eva!), Nothing of Importance (Debi's back from her nap!), Jason Erik Lundberg (who's decided to keep reading!) Original List: So Many Books, So Little Time, Read From A to Z, Life, Dog's Eye View, Becky's Books, Bebo Author, One More Chapter, A Patchwork of Books, Dewey (of course! our fearless leader), and me!

(this should be helpful for the current mini-challenge over at Deweys)

Hour Twenty-Four

2007-10-21T07:03:00.000-06:00

Mugs of Hot Tea: 4
Mugs of Hot Chocolate: 2
Glasses of Iced Tea: 3
Cans of Diet Pepsi: 1

Reading over 2,000 pages in 24 hours: Priceless!

Wrap Up Time!

Pages Read (cum.): 2014
Books Completed: 7 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith, The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston)
Books Partially Completed: 1 (Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 15

That works out to about 84 pages an hour, which certainly isn't bad. Especially since I also managed to visit every active reader at least once every other hour. :) I had a ton of fun with this whole experience, and I feel very indebted to Dewey for running the whole thing and to the cheerleaders who came out and supported me (both official and unofficial). On twenty-three posts, I've had 77 comments not made by me! That's a whole lot of comments for one day. :D

So, I'd like to give back a little. First off, I'll be sending two bookmooch points Dewey's way (gotta love the new booksmooches); it's a drop in the bucket compared to all of the work she's done, but hopefully she'll appreciate it! Alternatively, Dewey, you can pick two of these books that I read over the last twenty-four hours: ~~Tithe~~, Marked, ~~The Kitchen Boy~~, Gods in Alabama. Next, I'm planning on having four drawings: one for each of the above books (or a bookmooch point, if Dewey wants one or two of them). Everyone will be entered however many times they've commented on the my read-a-thon posts (not including this one). I figure first draw will get first pick, etc. I'll do the drawing either late today or tomorrow!

And that's all, folks. :)

Hour Twenty-Three

2007-10-21T06:18:00.000-06:00

I think I'm read out. I haven't laughed out loud once yet at Good Omens, which is unheard of. However, I did love rereading Green Knowe-I think everyone should read it at least once! My only goal for the last hour is to break 2000 pages. Originally, I wanted to finish Good Omens as well, but that's not going to happen! Honestly, my perkiness has run away; I'm utterly exhausted. I only got about three hours of sleep Friday night, and I've calculated that of the last forty-eight hours, I've been awake thirty-six of them. Whew. Only one post left to go!

Books Read (this hour): The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston, Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Pages Read (cum.): 1942
Books Completed: 7 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith, The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 15

Hour Twenty-Two

2007-10-21T05:18:00.000-06:00

Time flies! I abandoned the Chesterton on seeing the small print, and instead I went with L.M. Boston's The Children of Green Knowe, by far one of my favourite childhood books. I reread it every couple years, and it's always just magical! I'm about two-thirds of the way through it, and I really want to get back to it.

So here's my mini-challenge offering:

Books Read (this hour): The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston
Pages Read (cum.): 1838
Books Completed: 6 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 15

Hour Twenty-One

2007-10-21T04:14:00.000-06:00

We're so close now that we can taste it. :) This has been a really productive reading hour for me; I just decided I wanted to finish The Sunday Philosophy Club, and I did! While I'm happy for that, I did sacrifice visiting blogs, which makes me unhappy. So this hour I'm visiting everyone still up again. :) Then I'm thinking about breaking out some Chesterton, and hopefully finishing up with Good Omens.

Mini Challenge:
Joy Story is clashing swords with that Spanish hero Don Quixote. ;) Love the haiku!
Jason Lundberg is breaking out another graphic novel, which looks quite interesting.

ETA: I won another one of the drawings! Dewey is being generous enough to offer future books. :)

Books Read (this hour): The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
Pages Read (cum.): 1731
Books Completed: 6 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast, The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 14

Hour Twenty

2007-10-21T03:08:00.000-06:00

At this point, I'd say that we all just kick ass. :) Even if we're grumpy, or only reading 2 pages an hour, or can't type to save our lives. Go readers! The cheerleaders are also kicking some serious ass...they're spending their time making us feel more special! And doing such a good job of it! Go cheerleaders!

I've spent the last hour reading the first book in Alexander McCall Smith's newest detective series, The Sunday Philosophy Club. It revolves around Isabel Dalhousie (love her name), an early forties-something single intellectual living in Edinburgh. So far, her niece (Cat, early twenties) and housekeeper (Grace, late forties) have been the most important supporting characters. It's a nice, soothing read; Isabel has cooked a mushroom risotto ("Cooking in a temper required caution with the pepper, as one might put far too much in and ruin a risotto in sheer pique."), sang duets with an ex-flame of her niece's (which I find endlessly amusing), and of course solved some crossword puzzles. I'm enjoying it!

Now for this hour's mini-challenge: a haiku based on one of the characters...

Zooey-you
precocious vampire-
be careful!

Based on the main character from Marked. Cut me some slack-I've been up forever!
ETA: I'm an idiot. I thought haikus wre 3-5-3, but they're 5-7-5. Oy. How about...
Zooey-though you are
quite a precocious vampire,
you must still take care.

Books Read (this hour): The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
Pages Read (cum.): 1595
Books Completed: 5 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 13

Hour Ninteen

2007-10-21T02:09:00.000-06:00

I'm doing this one really early so that I can go get lost in The Sunday Philosophy Club. :) This hour, I finished Marked. Then, I went and ran around blog-hopping. You can see how I felt about Marked down in hour eighteen.

Minichallenge:
Alison over at So Many Books, So Little Time has finished Pretties, and it helped bring the excitment back! Now, she's off snacking on popcorn. Yummy. :)

Claire at Bebo Author is reading Twilight, but finding it difficult to settle down over her break. Not to mention she's cold. :( Let's all send good vibes her way!

Books Read (this hour): Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Pages Read (cum.): 1495
Books Completed: 5 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 12

Hour Eighteen

2007-10-21T01:49:00.000-06:00

This is a late update, because I simply couldn't stop reading Marked. Technically, I didn't finish it until Hour Nineteen, but I'm still going to talk about it here. It had a lot of Wiccan elements in it, which amused me (not because Wicca is funny, but the idea of Wiccan vampires certainly is). I could've done without some of the pop culture references, but those tended to become more scarce in the second half of the book. Of course, it leaves at an utter cliffhanger, so now I have to go get the second one (Betrayed)! Let's see...well, I'd definitely recommend this one to everyone who's trying to stay awake in the tail end of a 24 hour read-a-thon. :) Other than that, it's kind of like Harry Potter + vampire + Wicca/pagan. For me, the coolest part is that the main character is part Cherokee and really connects with her roots. If any and all of that appeals to you, and you enjoy/don't mind YA style, I say go for it!

Books Read (this hour): Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Pages Read (cum.): 1383
Books Completed: 4 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 11

Hour Seventeen

2007-10-21T00:25:00.000-06:00

Wow! I'm completely and utterly sucked in by the world of Marked. There are definitely some things I would change about it stylistically, but I award it an A+ for keeping me awake. :)

With that, I'm getting back to it. Just wanted to check in so that y'all knew I was still awake. :D (oh-and the hot chocolate worked wonders!)

Books Read (this hour): Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Pages Read (cum.): 1247
Books Completed: 4 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 11

Hour Sixteen

2007-10-20T23:22:00.001-06:00

Two-thirds there. We can do this, people! This hour, I definitely experienced a slump. Between looking at the blogs, picking my prize books (I won the mini-challenge!), and suddenly realising how exhausted I was, there wasn't much time for actual reading. I was feeling kind of low, so I decided to make the ultimate late-night pick-me-up...

home-made hot chocolate! Yay! I also decided to break out my other YA novel, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I don't need heavy reading right now! Hopefully the next couple hours will fly by. :D

Mini-Challenge for this hour was to visit blogs. 3M (who has been around to all of us readers tons of times, leaving uplifting comments, rather like a cheerleader herself!) decided to take a break from Stephen King and go with an Alexander McCall Smith Precious Rambotse mystery, Tears of the Giraffe. My mom loves this series, and I have a different McCall Smith (The Sunday Philosophy Club) waiting on deck. Meanwhile, L-Squared (I wonder if Dewey was attracted to numbers this hour?) is moving through Dracula. More importantly, imo, she might have lost a snake! Uh-oh...

Books Read (this hour): Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast
Pages Read (cum.): 1190
Books Completed: 4 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 11

Hour Fifteen

2007-10-20T22:16:00.000-06:00

This hour I spent immersed in Russian. I read a bit of Pushkin, a bit of Akhmatova, and then I settled down to a couple of Chekhov's short stories. I love Chekhov: I think his talent is incredible, for one thing, and for another he writes in quite simple Russian, so it's easier for me to figure out what's going on. :) This was to complete Sara's mini-challenge, and I'm happy that she challenged me! I read the stories aloud, and just enjoyed the 'foreign-ness' of it all. :D Here's the front and back covers of the Chekhov collection I have (it's the collection "The Lady with the Little Dog"). Fun factoid about Russian books: the table of contents is in the back, instead of the front.

I'm not sure what I'll move on to next...but I'm going to try to stay up all 24 hours, so I do know I'll be drinking lots of caffeine!

Books Read (this hour): "The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov (but in Russian)
Pages Read (cum.): 1180
Books Completed: 4 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson)
Stories Read: 2 ("The Death of a Government Clerk" and "The Sly Little Boy" by Anton Chekhov)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 10

Hour Fourteen

2007-10-20T21:18:00.000-06:00

I'm absolutely loving the mini-challenges! Wow-these cheerleaders are super-inventive. :) This hour, I'm supposed to decide what I would serve at a book group meeting to discuss one of the books I've been reading. I just finished Gods in Alabama (and it was a great read!), but I also really want to talk about Russian food, so I'm going to do two version!

First, let's say we're meeting for Gods in Alabama, a book about the South. Since we're talking about finger food, I'd probably serve fried chicken and cornbread with sweet sun tea and some kind of pie for dessert. :) Glorious! For The Kitchen Boy, I'd serve black tea with guest's choice of sugar, lemon, and raspberry preserves, along with blinchiki. Blinchiki are a food made out of blini (the Russian version of crepes)-the difference is that blini are flat while blinchiki are stuffed with yummy fillings (I'd offer an apple filling or a ricotta cheese/yogurt/sugar/currants mix-those were my host mom's specialities). There'd definitely be candy as well; Russians have a hardcore sweet tooth, and Russian adults eat candy with the abandon of American kids. Of course, if we could upgrade it to an actual meal, I'd make borscht (I have a delicious recipe), and serve it with huge dollops of sour cream, fresh dill, and black bread. Hmmmm...borscht.

Well, now that I've made myself hungry, lol, I'm going to take a little break from the fast reading I've been doing, and try out Sara's mini-challenge. I'll be reading some of Chekhov's short stories in Russian, so my pages/hr average is about to drop substantially. ;)

Books Read (this hour): Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Pages Read (cum.): 1170
Books Completed: 4 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 9

Hour Thirteen

2007-10-20T20:21:00.000-06:00

No mini-challenge this hour, which is probably good, since I'm quite caught up in Jackson's book! I love the South (it kinda reminds me of Russia, in that I love it and hate it at the same time, lol), and thanks to Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge earlier this year, I realised how much I enjoy the genre. I saw this book reviewed a few times back then, and then I went to B&N and found it on clearance. Yay! I plan to finish this one by 9, and then start on Sara's mini-challenge of reading in another language. Girding my loins, as they say! (at least, I think that's what they say) Oh-I've also passed the 1,000 page mark! Very exciting. :) And Blogger still isn't letting me post pictures, which is less than exciting. Those tacos were cute, lol, and I had plans for some other pictures as the night progresses. I'll just hope it fixes itself soon. :)

Books Read (this hour): Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Pages Read (cum.): 1036
Books Completed: 3 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 8

Hour Twelve

2007-10-20T19:12:00.000-06:00

Half-Time alert! This week's half-time entertainment? A picture of Eva's dinner...
(Note: picture pending...Blogger isn't letting me upload pics :( )
two tacos loaded with beans, cheese, yummy salsa from a Mexican restaurant, and homemade guacamole (my guacamole has been responsible for converting several former guac-haters). Simple, but fast. I'm a taco fiend, maybe from living in San Antonio (home of the original Taco Cabanas) for so long. I probably have at least one taco six days a week!

Additional entertainment provided by Dewey's meme...

1. What are you reading right now? Godsin Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson

2. How many books have you read so far? 3

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? good question! probably Marked or Good Omens...maybe The Wisdom of Father Brown

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? I don't have kids, but I do live with my parents and baby niece (I'm the nanny). I just stressed that I would be reading all day, and they've been really good about it so far.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Just a few, and they were fun ones (like my sister bringing my niece in to attack me w/ lamb chops kitchen mitts). I looked at them as welcome breaks! My biggest interruption from reading has been checking out all the blogs. :)

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Just how much it feels like a little community; I've gotten a ton of comments on my posts, and I've left a ton of comments as well. It really feels special. :) That, and how fast the hours are flying by!

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Not so far!

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? So far, nothing really.

9. Are you getting tired yet? Nope! (I've been trying to drink caffeine regularly every couple of hours)

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Well, the starting things off with a YA novel seemed very helpful, but other than that not much. :)

Well, as you might have noticed from the meme, I have put Lud-in-the-Mist aside for the moment. It's delightful, but I'm not in the right mood for it. So, this hour I grabbed Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson. I'm a little over 50 pages in and enjoying it!

Books Read (this hour): Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson
Pages Read (cum.): 957
Books Completed: 3 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 8

Hour Eleven

2007-10-20T18:06:00.000-06:00

Wow! The read-a-thon is almost half over. I didn't get to do much of any reading this hour (about ten pages), between catching up w/ other readers, making tea, and then going for a walk like Dewey suggested. I took my baby niece and my dog and went up to the mailbox. And guess what was waiting there for me?! Two bookmooches and a box of books (they're free in exchange for me reviewing them at Curled Up). If this isn't a pick me up, I don't know what is!

And with that, I'm going to get back to my reading. :D

Books Read (this hour): Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrless
Pages Read (cum.): 895
Books Completed: 3 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 7

Hours Seven-Ten

2007-10-20T17:12:00.000-06:00

Whew! So, B&N was quite nice (a think of a change of scenery is always good). While at the store, I read through the Agatha Christie (hour seven: 62 pages, hour eight: 85 pages, hour nine: 74 pages) and then began Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrless (hour ten: 54 pages). I enjoyed the Christie, although I don't think it's one of her best. So far, Lud-in-the-Mist is really, really good. The style is very fairy-tale like (it's recommended by Neil Gaiman), so it's quite soothing. It's for adults, however! A nice change of pace; more the kind of book that settle into slowly than a fast read.

Here are two mini-challenges I missed while I was away.

Jessica started the read-a-thon this afternoon. So far, she's enjoying Murakami's Norwegian Wood; I read this book earlier this year and loved it! Alison is in the Pretties and feeling a little tired. Fortunately, her son is there to make her S'Mores! Deb just cracked open The Case of the Missing Books, which is a mystery that I've heard decidely mixed reviews about. Can't wait to see what she thinks!

The other one is to write a letter to an author. Here's mine to Robert Alexander.

Dear Mr. Alexander,
Thank you so much for writing The Kitchen Boy. Reading it brought me back to my time studying abroad in Russia, which was very precious for me. You're obviously a very talented writer, and you're equally obviously in love with that crazy, contradictory, beautiful country. I see that you studided in Leningrad; St. Petersburg was my first introduction to Russia, and I think that it's the most beautiful city I've ever seen (and thatn includes Paris and Venice!). I hope that you write many more books set in historical Russia, since I'm much more interested in the pre-Soviet Union era of the country. Reading your book was a true joy.
Sincerely,
Eva

Books Read (these hours): Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrless, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
Pages Read (cum.): 887
Books Completed: 3 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 6

Hour Six

2007-10-20T12:55:00.000-06:00

Whew-so I 'officially' finished my second book this hour (to see my full thoughts on it, check out Hour Five). Then, I decided I was in the mood for an Agatha Christie. I had just grabbed it randomly off my library's shelves, and it turned out to be one of the Ariadna Oliver mysteries (although she's more a bit player). It has a great opening paragraph:

The Espresso machine behind my shoulder hissed like an angry snake. The noise it made had a sinister, not to say deveilish, suggestion about it. Perhaps, I reflected, most of our contemporary noises carry that implication. The intimidating angry scream of jet planes as they flash across the sky, the slow menacing rumble of a tube train approaching through its tunnel; the heavy road transport that shakes the very foundations of your house...even the minor domestic noises of today, beneficial in action though they may be, yet carry a kind of alert. The dishwashers, the refrigerators, the pressure cookers, the whining vacuum cleaners. "Be careful," they all seem to say. "I am a genie harnessed to your service, but if your control of me fails..."

The mini-challenge for this hour is to do 'reader advisory.' I'll go with the three books I've spent time with today.
Tithe by Holly Black: I think teens who likes faeries/fantasy would eat this book up, and adults who aren't phased by the more obvious YA aspects to the book will probably enjoy it as well. It reminds me a little bit of I Once Was a Teenage Fairy, since they're both YA and fantasy oriented, with main characters who experience rather troubled homelifes. The urban fantasy aspect of the book is reminiscent of Charles de Lint, but it's not on the same level. Urban fantasy and YA are both genres new to me, so I can't think of any more connections (maybe Stephanie Meyer's vampire series, which sounds YA and urban fantasy-ish, but I haven't read any).
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander: people who enjoy historical fiction should jump all over this one, as well as those interested in pre-USSR Russia (you can tell the author put a lot of research into it). It's pretty bare-bones at 226 pages, so don't expect a lush romance (a la Diana Gabaldon) or a decades-spanning epic (a la The Crimson and the White). At heart, this is a story about people, the choices they make, and how they deal with those choices. Readers who enjoyed Atonment by Ian McEwan will probably really like this one, and vice versa.
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie: I'm not too far into this one, but it seems to me that mystery readers in general have their 'type.' My type happens to my British mysteries; if readers like Agatha Christie and are looking for similar authors, I'd highly recommend Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers. If they're looking for well-written, tightly-plotted mysteries in general, I'd toss in Ellis Peters. But if they find Christie a little too plot-driven, and want more focus on characters and why people do the things they do, I'd happily send them towards Laurie King's Mary Russell series or P.D. James. (Told you I was a British mystery buff; although King is American, her series is mostly set in England)

I leave you with that, and I may not be around for the next couple hours. I'd like to go to Barnes & Noble and read there for a little change of scenery, and it'd be too much of a hassle to bring my laptop. On the other hand, it's Saturday, so it might just be crazy crowded there. But don't worry about me if you don't hear from me for two or three hours; after that, I'll definitely be back with even more reading to report!

Books Read (this hour): The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie
Pages Read (cum.): 612
Books Completed: 2 (Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 4

Hour Five

2007-10-20T12:14:00.000-06:00

I'm updating early this hour, because I'm about to lose myself in an Agatha Christie. :) I've finished The Kitchen Boy, but I had to read into this hour to do it, so I'll actually count it in my Hour Six post (does that make sense?). I partly expected the twist, partly not. The writing was so lush; now I'm going to have to track down Rasputin's Daughter. Hehe-while I was in Russia, I bought "Rasputin" tea (mainly because there was a creepy picture of him), so I'll have to break that out as well! I think most people would enjoy The Kitchen Boy: it's a slim read that immediately plunges you into another world. The author makes sure to provide translations when he sprinkles in Russian words (and, of course, the words aren't in Cyrillic, but transliterated into our alphabet); however, some people might be annoyed by being unsure how to pronounce the Russian. Or, this could just be a pet peeve of mine when I'm reading books set in other countries and don't get a pronunciation guide. :) Still, it comes highly recommended! No mini-challenge this hour, but I did break for lunch.

Yummy-homemade Welsh Rarebit soup w/ Pumpernickel Croutons (I'm a crouton fanatic; I made these from store-bought Pumpernickel bread). The dark bread was very Russian feeling! And, of course, ice tea to keep me caffeinated. :D

So far, I'm really loving how community-like this read-a-thon feels. I try to go to at least a few blogs every hour (I've made it through the blogroll one and a half times), and that seems to be pretty common amongst all the readers. Of course, the cheerleaders are just awesome! What a fun way to spend a Saturday. :D

Books Read (this hour): The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
Pages Read (cum.): 537
Books Completed: 1 (Tithe by Holly Black)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 3

Hour Four

2007-10-20T11:34:00.000-06:00

Really? Have I already done four hours of reading? Time sure does fly! It feels like just a moment ago I was cracking open the first page. :)

I spend all of this hour with The Kitchen Boy, which is proving to be immensely satisfying. I'm over half way done with it, and I smell a twist or two coming! We'll have to see though. ;)

The mini-challenge for this hour is running for the entire read-a-thon, which is good because it's a big one (w/ a big prize of $20 at Amazon)-read for one hour in a language that isn't your native tongue. I have books in French and Russian, so I'll definitely be participating (right now I'm leaning towards my Chekhov short stories or my little book of Tolstoy collections), but I'm not up for it right now. I'm not bilingual, and written Russian (esp. pre-USSR lit) is quite different from spoken Russian, so it takes a bit of concentration. Should be worth it, though!

Books Read (this hour): The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
Pages Read (cum.): 458
Books Completed: 1 (Tithe by Holly Black)
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 3

Hour Three

2007-10-20T09:57:00.000-06:00

First off, so that everyone realises why I went through Tithe so quickly, here's a random page shot. Note the gloriously large text and the rather square pages. I don't usually read that quickly.

This hour, I finished up Tithe; I'm uncertain as to whether to award it three or four stars. Parts of it were very good, other parts not so much. Overall, I'd recommend it for people who enjoy urban fantasy, and don't mind a somewhat clunky writing style and teens who engage in sketchy behavior (lol-like sixteen-year-olds smoking and hooking up). After I was done with that, I decided I wanted a complete change of pace, so I went with The Kitchen Boy, a historical novel by Robert Alexander set in Russia when it was becoming the USSR. It recounts the last days of the Russian royal family's lives. So far, I'm in love with Alexander's style. He captures the Russian tone really well; also, since I speak Russian, I adore the Russian words and phrases he scatters around. I can hear various Russians I knew speaking them. I can already tell I'm going to be sad when this one ends (it's barely 200 pages)!

Finally, here's a really neat mini-challenge over at Taylor the Teacher. I opened my book, and the first words I saw were "Russia's black ingratitude." I'm not a writer, but I'm supposed to write a few lines about that (what a heavy phrase!) So here I go:

I can't always understand
Russia's black ingratitude for what it's become.
When it rose, out of the ashes of communism,
didn't we capitalists take it under its wing?
And if that led to the oligarchs, who spend Russia's wealth buying football teams, and a falling life expectancy, and dissatisfied youth,
well,
then they must still be commies.

(Note: just in case it isn't clear, this was *ironic*; I'm bashing neoliberalism, not Russia or communism...just wanted to cover my bases)

Books Read: Tithe by Holly Black, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander
Pages Read (cum.): 379
Books Completed: 1
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 3

Hour Two

2007-10-20T09:12:00.000-06:00

I'm sooo close to being done with Tithe, but the high-paced plotting has slowed down a little. So, I wanted to do my blogging break early this hour, and I think I'm going to go get some more caffeine (last night I didn't get too much sleep; probably not a good way to prepare for a 24 hour challenge!)

First off, this hour Dewey has challenged everyone to visit Becky and Athena this hour. I'm not sure if Becky's still doing the readathon (no posts up about it), but she is signing up for a Hometown Challenge. It sounds really neat, but since I don't have a hometown (Air Force brat), I'll be skipping it! Athena's in the middle of the latest Thursday Next book (First Among Sequels), which I'm totally jealous of. I've read the first two in the series, and if Fforde keeps improving, I'm sure 3-5 are great as well!

Now, for some stats.

Books Read" Tithe by Holly Black
Pages Read (cum.): 257
Books Completed: 0
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 2

Hour One

2007-10-20T08:12:00.000-06:00

Whew-Tithe was definitely a good chocie to start off with; I'm racing through it. An interesting plot, plus big type and small pages make me feel like I'm really achieving something! At first, I was turned off by the writing style (not as polished as I would've liked), but once I relaxed I found myself enjoying the story enough to overlook it. Now I want to get back to it, so without further ado,

Books Read: Tithe by Holly Black
Pages Read: 132
Books Completed: 0
Mini-Challenges Participated In: 1

ETA: From now on, I'll check Dewey's blog *before* my own post. She has a neat mini-challenge up, and the book I'm reading is set in New Jersey (well, and faerieland, lol). Five interesting facts (via Wikipedia):
1. The Swedes and Dutch were first to settle the area.
2. Washington wintered there twice during the Revolution.
3. There are about 8.7 people living in NJ, creating a population density of 1,175/sq mile (the highest in the nation!).
4. A lot of oil refineries are there-6 major ones that process about 728,000 barrels a day.
5. Same-sex couples can have civil unions in New Jersey (as of Feb 2007).

Hour Zero

2007-10-19T22:08:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited! Almost enough that I don't notice how early it is. Whew. 7 on a Saturday. But, I'm prepared. Here's my breakfast of (reading) champions: a huge cup of sweet, milky Early Grey and a buttered everything bagel.

I'm dressed for comfort; big Old Navy sweatpants that I stole from an ex-boyfriend three years ago and a sleeping cami. And here is the bookpile...

I've decided to begin with Tithe, a YA Urban Fantasy novel. It seems like it'd be a pretty easy, and fun, read, so I good way to ease into the morning (did I mention it's 7 AM here?!).

Shout out to all my fellow Readers, and the super-kind Cheerleaders, and the super-amazing Dewey for planning and hosting this whole thing. Here's to a glorious day of reading for us all!

I'm Ba-ack!

2007-10-19T22:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted for a whole week; that certainly hasn't happened in awhile! I was sick until around Tuesdayish, and then my sister got into town on Wednesday. It's been pretty busy around here.

However, I'm back just in time to remind everyone about Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. It's tomorrow, but you still have a little bit of time to sign up. There are going to be a ton of prizes, if you need any more incentive to read. I'm still participating (stay tuned for pictures of the books I've been stockpiling for this challenge), so that means that tomorrow I'll provide enough reading material to make up for a week's worth of silence.

Then, it turns out that my niece is going to be out of town for a week, beginning Sunday night. That means, basically, a week of paid vacation! So much reading time! I'm very, very excited.

Well, I'm off to visit the other participants and cheerleaders for the Read-a-Thon. It's good to be back. :)

The Good, the Bad, and...

2007-10-12T23:03:00.000-06:00

I'm too tired to write in real paragraphs, so here's what's going on in my head this Friday:

The Good: inspired by Chris' mention of the book review siteCurled Up with a Good Book, that offers free books in exchange for reviews, I submitted a sample. Today, I received an e-mail asking me to pick out a few books that they'll send my way!

The Bad: just a few books? The list was really, really long, and there were a ton of good ones on there. Finally, I narrowed it down to six (3 fic, 3 non-fic) that all sound enjoyable.

The Ugly: now, I have to (im)patiently wait for the books to arrive.

Well, that one's mainly good I suppose. :)

The Good: since the weather is more fall-like, I've been drinking lots of hot tea and making soup!

The Bad: since the weather is more fall-like, I have an icky cold.

The Ugly: I got my nose pierced two weeks ago. And now I have a cold. I'll leave the rest up to you!

And with that, I'm off to finish the last twenty pages of So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson. I received in the mail today after bookmooching it, and I've simply devoured it. Good book + hot tea + comfy bed = the cold isn't as bad as it could be.

Five Five-Stars

2007-10-10T23:14:00.000-06:00

October is turning into a crazy-busy month, and I'm not really sure why. I missed my Fast Food Nation Tuesday yesterday; sorry-look for it next week! In the meantime, my 'to-be-discussed' pile has gotten out of control. Looking at it depresses me, and I've decided that there's only one way to feel in control again. Here's a whirlwind tour of the books I've read recently that rated five stars. There's a variety of genres here, so hopefully you'll find something that sounds good!

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
This is a true account of the author's first year of teaching a creative writing course at a juvenile hall in LA. Included are many works by the kids, and for me this book really changed my perspective on somethings. Like the author, in the beginning I expected the kids in juve would be violent, bitter, and certainly not interested in creative writing. However, I quickly discovered that the kids were just that-kids, who had definitely gotten into the wrong crowd. Most of them knew it however, and they used the writing class as a way to try to figure out what they were going to do with their lives, either if they got out or if they were sentenced. Most of the kids Salzman taught were in for murder, so he sees several of them sent into the adult system. Salzman is a remarkable writer; he brings the reader along on his own journey, so that in the beginning, the reader sees the stereotypes of the inmates and the guards. Only through the evolution of the book does the reader realise that these stereotypes don't really hold true. Salzman is also a very funny writer. The way he ended up teaching a class at juve was that his friend (Duane), who was already a teacher, invited him to come observe for a day. Salzman was unsure, so he listed the pros and cons.

Reasons Not to Visit Duane's Writing Class at Juvenile Hall
-students all gangbangers; feel unqualified to evaluate poems about AK-47s
-still angry about getting mugged in 1978
-still angry about having my apartment robbed in 1986
-still angry about my wife's car being stolen in 1992
-wish we could title L.A. County and shake it until everybody with a shaved head and tattoos falls into the ocean
-feel uncomfortable around teenagers

Reasons to Visit Duane's Class at Juvenile Hall
-have never seen the inside of a jail
-pretended to be enthusiastic when Duane mentioned it

Salzman's willingness to be completely honest makes for compulsive reading; I read this in two sittings. I'll be looking for Iron and Silk, Salzman's account of two years teaching English in China. I highly, highly recommend this book to everyone. I only have a couple of quotes here, but that's because most of the books works as a whole, and it'd be silly to quote three pages. :)

Favourite Passages
Sister Janet Harris was nearly seventy years old but looked two or three decades younger. She had a lovely smile and a pleasing voice-I wanted to like her right away-but the fact that she was a nun and that she worked in a prison made me wary. I couldn't help thinking of the film Dead Man Walking, which I disliked in spite of not having seen it. (22)

I asked Patrick what made someone else an "enemy"; what were the gangs really fighting over?
"Nothing at all," he answered immediately. "It's exactly like a video game, where you're just racking up points and trying to end up with a higher score than anybody else. That's your rep. The fact that it's dangerous only makes it a hundred times more fun. An enemy is anynoe who's playing against you." (111)

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Yep-I found my other Banned Books Read! Turns out I put it in the big bag that I keep all the library books I've already read in. I'm smart sometimes. I'm glad that I found it, though, because I definitely wanted to finish it. This is a short novel written as the diary or observations of eleven-year-old Esperanza (and don't get her started on her name!). She discusses the people in her life, especially all of her nieghbours on Mango Street, as well as some key incidents. There isn't much of a plot to this one, but I revelled in the writing style. There's something very innocent in its straightforwardness that's just addictive. Take a look:

Sally is the girl with eyes like Egypt and nylons the color of smoke. The boys at school think she's beautiful because her hair is shiny black like raven feathers and when she laughs, she flicks her hair back like a satin shawl over her shoulders and laughs. Her father says to be this beautiful is trouble. They are very strict in his religion. They are not supposed to dance. He remembers his ssters and is sad. Then she can't go out. Sally I mean.

I'm in awe of Cisnero's ability; her prose has a startling, almost luminous quality to it. What a wonderful book to spend an afternoon getting lost in!

The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
This book was everything I had hoped for and more. I read it for the Unread Author Challenge. It begins with a little boy in America being stolen; while a changeling takes his place in the real world, the boy becomes a faery in the forest. From then on, the chapters alternate as both the changeling and the boy react to new environments and begin to grow. The book spans between twenty and thirty years, and the story telling is breathtaking. I just wish that this wasn't Donahue's first novel; I want to be able to wrap myself up in his writing! In fact, I purposely slowed down my reading for this book to try to make it last. The very first page draws you in, and it doesn't let up until the end!

Favourite Passages
Don't call me a fairy. We don't like to be called fairies anymore. Once upon a time, fairy was a perfectly acceptable catchall for a variety of creatures, but now it has taken on too many associations. Etymologically speaking, a fairy is something quite particular, related in kind to the naids, or water nymphs, and while of the genus, we are sui generis. The word fairy is drawn from fay (Old French fee), which itself comes from Latin Fata, the goddess of fate. The fay lived in groups called the faerie, between the heavenly and earthly realms. (1)

Racking my brain to find a way to get through to them, I recalled other occasions when I had encountered something in the forest as helpless and dangerous as these two human children. (8)

Speck lifted her head skyward to gather in the shadow of wings beating through the air. When they had all landed, the blackbirds fanned out their tails as they paraded to the wild raspberries, hopping to a tangle of shoots to gorge themselves. The glen echoed with their chatter. She reached around my back and put her hand on my far shoulder, then rested her head against mine. The sunlight danced in patterns on the grown thron by leaves blowing in the breeze. (186)

"I wonder what it is like to hold a baby in my arms, feel like a grown-up woman instead of sticks and bones. I remember my mother, so soft in unexpected places-rounder, fuller, deeper. Stronger than you'd expect by looking." (186)

When the chance arose over those next few years, Speck and I would steal away to sleep in the relative peace and luxury beneath the library. We threw ourselves into our books and papers. We read the Greeks in translation, Clytemnestra in her grief, Antigone's honor in a thing coating of earth. Grendel prowling the bleak Danish night. The pilgrims of Canterbury and lives on the road. Maxims of Pope, the rich clot of humanity in all Shakespeare, Milton's angels and aurochs, Guliver big, little, wahoo. Wild ecstasies of Keats. Shelly's Frankenstein. Rip Van Winkle sleeping it off. Speck insisted on Austen, Eliot, Emerson, Thoreau, the Brontes, Alcott, Nesbitt, Rossetti, both Brownings, and especially Alice down the rabiit hole. We worked our way right up to the present age, chewing through the books like a pair of silverfish. (205)

Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
This is the second book in the Thursday Next series (appropriate, since I read it for the 2nds Challenge., and I'm so glad that I gave The Eyre Affair (the first one) a second chance. This one is way, way better than The Eyre Affair! Thursday Next travels between even more books, Miss Havisham is a main character, and all of my favourites from the first book are back. :) This is the best kind of brain candy imaginable; it's like eating candy that's healthy for you! Everyone who enjoys books should give this series a try; if the first one scares you off, because it feels too sci-fi ish (that's what happened to me), give this one a try before writing off the series. Fforde doesn't have to spend as much time world building in this one, which gives him more time to create a ripping good read!

A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel
Imani recommended this one to me awhile ago, and I happened to have it on my shelves (I remember buying it for only a few bucks in a bargain pile). Manguel (who seems to have had a pretty cool life) traces reading through the ages, and touches on what many great Western thinkers had to say about the act. The book is a remarkable synthesis of personal anecdotes and extensive research (there're quite a few endnotes). Chapters have names like "The Missing First Page," "Being Read To," "Reading within Walls," and "The Translator as Reader." It's a pleasure to see someone who loves reading explore his passion. The other great thing about this book is that there are lots of pictures scattered throughout the text, which is unusual and neat. Also, the chapter lengths are just about perfect for leisurely reading; most of the chapters feel likes self-contained essays anyway. Oh, and my version (paperback, ISBN0670843024) came with a really neat little poster called "The Reader's Timeline." I think anyone who loves reading will love this book. If you don't believe me, check out the massive amount of quotes below.

Favourite Passages
I also read according to what I thought a book was supposed to be (labelled by the author, by the publisher, by another reader). At twelve I read Chekhov's The Hunt in a series of detective novels and, believing Chekhov to be a Russian thriller writer, then read "Lady with a Lapdog" as if it had been composed by a rival of Conan Doyle's-and enjoyed it, even though I thought the mystery rather thin. (14)

In that sitting-room, under a Piranesi engraving of circular Roman ruins, I read Kipling, Stevenson, Henry James, several entries of the Brockhaus German encyclopedia, verses of Marino, of Enrique Banchs, of Beine...I had not read many of these authors before, so the ritual was a curious one. I would discover a text by reading it out loud, while borges used his ears as other readers use their eyes, to scan the page for a word, for a sentence, for a paragraph that would confirm a memory. (17)

Reading, then, is not an automatic process of capturing text in the way photosensitive paper captures light, but a bewildering, labyrinthine, common and yet personal process of reconstruction. Whether reading is independent from, for instance, listening, whether it is a single distinctive set of psychological processes or consists of a great variety of such processes, researchers don't yet know, but many believe that its complexity may be as great as thinking itself. (39)

The medieval scholars relied on their own memory of books they had read, whose pages they could conjure up like living ghosts....Eventually the scholars of the Renaissance, improving on Aquinas' method, suggested the mental construction of architectural models-palaces, theatres, cities, the realms of heaven and hall-in which to lodge whatever they wished to remember. These models were highly elaborate constructions, erected in the mind over time and made sturdy through use, and proved for centuries to be immensely efficient. (61)

I would settle down (at night, but also often during the day, since frequent bouts of asthma kept me trapped in my bed for weeks) and, propped up high against the pillows, listen to my nurse read Grimms' terrifying fairy-tales. Sometimes her voice put me to sleep; sometimes, on the contrary, it made me feverish with excitement, and I urged her on ino rder to find out, more quickly than the author had intended, what happened in the story. But most of the time I simply enjoyed the luxurious sensation of being carried away by the words, and felt, in a very physical sense, that I was actually travelling somewhere wonderfully remote, to a place that I hardly dared glimpse on the secret last page of the book. (110)

[The creator of the Penguin book series] went to see the buyer for the vast Woolworth general store chain, a Mr. Clifford Prescott, who demured; the idea of selling books like any other merchandise, together with sets of socks and tins of tea, seemed to him somehow ludicrous. By chance, at that very moment Mrs. Prescott entered her husband's office. Askw ath she thogh, she responded enthusiastically. Why not, she asked. Why should books not be treated as everyday objexts, as necessary and as available as socks and tea? (144)

Whether we first choose the book and then an appropriate corner, or first find the corner and then decide what book will fit the corner's mood, there is no doubt that the act of reading in time requires a corresponding act of reading in place, and the relationship between the two is inextricable. There are books I read in armchairs, and there are books I read at desks; there are books I read in subways, on streetcars and on buses. I find that books read in trains have something of the quality of books read in armchairs, perhaps because in both I can easily abstract myself from my surroundings. (151)

Reading in bed is a self-centered act, immobile, free from ordinary social conventions, invisible to the world, and one that, because it takes place between the sheets, in the realm of lust and sinful idleness, has something of the thrill of things forbidden. (153)

Rooms, corridors, bookcases, shelves, filing cards and computerized catalogues assume that the subjects on which our thoughts dwell are actual entities, and through this assumption a certain book may be lent a particular tone and value. Filed under Fiction, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is a humorous novel of adventure; under Sociology, a satirical study of England in the eighteenth century; under Children's Literature, an entertaining fable about dwarfs and giants and talking horses; under Fantasy, a precursor of science fiction; under Travel, an imaginary voyage; under Classics, a part of the Western literary canon. Categories are exclusive; reading is not-or should not be. Whatever classifications have been chosen, every library tyrannizes the act of reading, and forces the reader-the curious reader, the alert reader-to rescue the book from the category to which it has been condemned. (199)

A cousin of mine from Buenos Aires was deeply aware that books could function as a badge, a sign of alliance, and always chose a book to take on her travels with the same care with which she chose her handbag. (214)

But I know that the main reason I hold onto this ever-increasing hoard is a sort of voluptuous greed. I enjoy the sight of my crowded bookshelves, full of more or less familiary names. I delight in knowing that I'm surrounded by a sort of inventory of my life, with intimations of my future. I like discovering, in almost forgotten volumes, traces of the reader I once was-scribbles, bus tickets, scraps of paper with mysterious names and numbers, the occasional date and place on the book's flyleaf which take me back to a certain cafe, a distant hotel room, a faraway summer so long ago. (238)

The act of reading establishes an intimate, physical relationship in which all the senses have a part: the eyes drawing the words from the page, the ears echoing the sounds og being read, the nose inhaling the familiar scent of paper, glue, ink, cardboard, or leather, the touch caressing the rough or soft page, the smooth or hard binding; even the taste, at times, when reader's fingers are lifted to the tongue... (244)

We know that we are reading even while suspending disbelief; we know why we read even when we don't know how, holding in our mind at the same time, as it were, the illusionary text and the act of reading. We read to find the end, for the story's sake. We read not to reach it, for the sake of the reading itself. We read searchingly, like trackers, oblivious of our surroundings. We read distractedly, skipping pages. We read contemptuously, admiringly, negligently, angrily, passionalte, enviously, longingly. We read in gusts of sudden pleasure, without knowing that brought the pleasure along....We read in slow, long motions, as if drifting in space, weightless. We read full of prejudice, malignantly. We read generously, making excuses for the text, filling gaps, mending faults. Amd somewtimes, when the stars are kind, we read with an intake of breath, with a shudder, as if someone or something had "walked over our grave", as if a memory had suddenly been rescued from a place deep within us-the recognition os something we never knew was there, or of something we vaguely falt as a licker or a shadow, whose ghostly form rises and passes back into us before we can see what it is, leaving us older and wiser. (303)

Short Story Sunday (maybe in Asia?) and a Tiny Challenge

2007-10-08T23:02:00.000-06:00

I'm a day late again; I completely blanked that yesterday was Sunday! However, since I was stuck in bed/on the couch with a cold, I ended up finishing Witches' Brew today. That leaves me with five stories to discuss, so I'll be brief.

I was very hesitant going into "The Birds" by Daphne du Marier, since I'm not a fan of the movie, but it ended up to be great. Nothing like the movie and a lot more sinister. It tells the story of what a country man does to try to protect his family when all of the birds in England mysteriously begin attacking people. Highly recommended!

On the other hand, Mary Elizabeth Counselman's "Night Court" left me cold. One night, a reckless driver gets into yet another crash and finds himself summoned to a court conducted by victims of car accidents. It was way too preachy for me to enjoy. And I saw the 'twist' a mile away.

After that, I had a real treat with "The Lovely House" by Shirley Jackson. A young girl goes to visit her friend in a big old house. But things take an odd turn or two. The ending doesn't wrap everything up; Jackson leaves that up to the reader, which I really appreciate. I'm thinking I really need to read more by Shirley Jackson (I've also read "The Lottery").

"Kindling Point" by Marcia Muller (one of the editors of the anthology, which I find sketchy) felt like an assignment for a college writing class. Take that as you will, but I found it a bit too simplistic and juvenile to enjoy. A woman in an old Victorian finds out that her daughter is talking to ghosts through a Ouijia (sp?) board; the ghosts' story seems to be eerily reflective of the present day.

And the final story was Joyce Carol Oates' "The Bingo Master." This story was very powerful, however it didn't have the slightest element of horror or supernatural or spookiness. So, I'm not sure why it's in the collection, but I'm glad I read it. I don't really want to share a plot summary, since it's the kind of writing that draws much of its power from the unfolding.

There you have it, a whirlwind tour of the last part of Witches' Brew. I'm glad I found this anthology, but I find it was of mixed quality; either the stories were incredible or bad, nothing in between.

Now for the little, bitty challenge (don't look at me that way). Literate Kitten is hosting a horror short story challenge. She's listed her top ten spooky stories and is challenging participants to read just one of them during the month of October. Also, she'd like it if participants provided their own list of ten horror tales. A lot of her selections sound very good, but I've decided to commit myself to "The Monkey's Paw." I'll also be reading another of her picks (the Isak Dinesen) as part of one of my R.I.P. II books. Makes me more excited to read it! I'm not sure if I can come up with ten good creepy stories, but I'll try...

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe. I found this incredibly creepy, and I'm pretty sure it gave me nightmares for quite awhile.

The Birds" by Daphne du Marier. You can tell I didn't read a lot of horror short stories before the R.I.P. II challenge!

"The Lovely House" by Shirley Jackson (see above)

"Riding the Bullet" by Stephen King. I think King is scarier in short story form than novel form, and a lot of the stories in Everything's Eventual were creepy. This one has stayed with me, though.

""Snow, Glass, Apples" by Neil Gaiman. Oh my gosh-this is easily one of the creepiest stories I've ever read. It actually made the hair on my arms stand up.

"The Thing in the Wood" by A.S. Byatt. Also a very spooky tale, one that I still remember vividly after six years.

And, um, that's all I'm coming up with right now. I don't have much experience with short stories. However, my next trip to the library should help change that; I'll be coming home with the ss collections by Joyce Carol Oates, John Saul, Peter Straub, Dean Koontz, and the Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. Yay for ghost stories in October!

The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (thoughts)

2007-10-07T23:55:00.000-06:00

I have waited far too long to discuss my first read for the Outmoded Authors challenge: Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September. This relatively domestic book is set in 1920s Anglo-Ireland, and the writing is quietly, unobtrusively beautiful. It follows one Anglo-Irish family, especially Lois. Lois is in her late teens or early twenties, and still trying to find herself. The various cast of characters that wander in and out of Lois' life cause her to examine her own values and goals.

The book's strength is its cast of memorable characters who all seemed to reflect my own hidden fears or desires. The other strength is that Bowen leaves something up to the reader. She's willing to hold back a little, requiring you to fill in a few of the blanks.

This book was a pleasure to read, rather like a contemporary Jane Austen (and I don't make that comparison lightly). I will definitely be hunting down more of Bowen's work, and I hope that they're all this good! I highly recommend me this to everyone who likes domestic fiction and good writing.

Favourite Passages

A thought that fifty years hence she might well, is she wished, be sitting here on the steps, with or without rheumatism-having penetrated thirty years deeper ahead into time that they could-gave her a feeling of mysteriousness and destination. And she was fitted for this by being twice as complex as their generation-for she must be: double as many people having gone to the making of her. (36)

He had seemed annoyed at her being young when he wasn't. She could not hope to explain that her youth seemed to her also rather theatrical and that she was only young in that way because grown-up people expected it. She had never refused a role. She could not forgo that intensification, that kindling of her personality at being consiered very happy and reckless even if she were not. She could not hope to assure him she was not enjoying anything he had missed, that she was now onconvinced and anxious but intended to be quite certain, by the time she was his age, that she had once been happy. (40)

Laurence achieved this escape by sitting always with a social alert expression between two groups; when one tried to claim him he could affect to be engaged by the other. (54)

Lois was forced to state that there was a man in the Rutlands, a Gerland Lesworth, whom she had found affecting. She supposed there was no question as to his being intrigued; people seemed to notice. So Viola wrote back, she must hear all about him, should have heard before; her Lol was really the final Sphinx. She wanted to know, to see, to hear him, even to smell him-because all the nicest men did smell, didn't they, indefinitely but divinely. (69-70)

"Gerald is so matter-of-fact. Nothing could make him a tragedy." (91)

"Hugo, how could you let her get so wet!"
"My dear, I am not an umbrella." (129)

The mill startled them all, staring light-eyed, ghoulishly, round a bend of the valley. Lois had to come hurrying up to explain how it frightened her. In fact, she wouldn't for worlds go into it but liked going as near as she dated. It was a fear she didn't wat to get over, a kind of deliciousness. (178)

Visitors took form gradually in his household, coming out of a haze of rumour, and seemed but lightly, pleasantly superimposed on the vital pattern till a departure tore great shreds from the season's texture. (200)

Impressed by the strangeness, by this pressure of emergency, Lois plaited her hair in two plaits instead of one and felt herself a different woman. (274)

Playing Catch-Up

2007-10-06T13:44:00.000-06:00

These last few days have been pure craziness; barely any time for me to drink a cup of tea and read a book, much less time to flop into my armchair here and write a post. So, here's what I would have posted about in the last few days, if I'd had the time.

+The latest edition of Estella's Revenge is up! My favourites this time were the interview with the owner of The Sleuth of Bakerstreet, "The Unknown" (about one woman's realisation that she should pursue an MLIS-something I've been thinking about a lot lately), "Sure I Know the Queen" (which discusses first lines, and offers some for the reader's enjoyment), and "From the Bookshop" (a review). All of the articles were a lot of fun, and my TBR list is ever-longer from the great books discussed. Hop on over!

+Danielle pointed out in a comment on my previous post that Perez-Reverte didn't write The Shadow of the Wind. I was thinking of The Club Dumas and mixed up the titles! I'll be fixing this in the original post as well, but thought I'd point it out here. Poor Carlos Ruiz Zafon got short thrift-he's the truth author of The Shadow of the Wind.

+Submissions are open for the latest Book Carnival. As this one is all about spooky books, I'm sure most of us can find a post to submit! Dewey has the indepth info up over at her blog.

+Finally, Banned Books Week! I'm only half way through The House on Mango Street, as it has disappeared (don't tell the library). However, I did read The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. I must say, I didn't enjoy it all that much. I found it to be an incredibly depressing view of human nature. But that's ok-I still read a banned book! The writing itself was good at least, and I didn't want to put it down while I was reading it. I was enjoying The House on Mango Street quite a bit until it disappeared, so I hope I can finish that one up.

Feeding the Addiction

2007-10-03T23:39:00.000-06:00

I really, really need to take the link to Novel Challenges out of my blogroll. For those of you who haven't visited, Wendy posts about every reading challenge she comes across. I believe this makes her a pusher. And here's my latest hit:

the Seafaring Challenge. There are several reasons I'm joining this one:
+the button is just gorgeous, and I want it on my blog
+I never read nautical books, so it'll expand my horizons
+it has a really, really cool set up
+it runs from November to December, so it's after the R.I.P. II challenge and
+it gives me an excuse to use the word "swashbuckling," which has to be one my favourite words ever.

And now, for the book pool:
My library has many of the Master and Commander series (by Patrick O'Brian), so I'll definitely be reading the first of those. My library also has a handy-dandy reference book: Harbors and High Seas, which is an atlas for the series. Since I'm new to this genre, it should be helpful.

I also bookmooched The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I wasn't as entranced by The Shadow of the Wind as a lot of people seemed to be, but I did enjoy it. I want to give Perez-Reverte another chance to wow me!

I'm also eyeing my library's copy of Treasure Island, which sounds like a lot of fun! One of those classics I never read, and who can resist pirates? These three would earn me the rank of Commodore (see? I told you it was a neat setup)

If I want to go for Admiral, I have to squeeze in one more book. Fortunately, Danielle (a true ocean afficianado) has provided a great list of possibilities. From that list, I really like Birds of Prey by Wilbur Smith, and my library has a copy of it! Plus, Smith is South African. Along with the Spanish Perez-Reverte, this helps the challenge have a great international flavour. I might even go for the Super Special Admirality rank (kidding-I made that one up) and read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Susan made it sound so appealing, and once again my library has a copy.

One of her 'extras' is Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester, which is the first (publication-wise) of the Hornblower series. This series looks really good, but unfortunately this one isn't available at the library or bookmooch. :( My library does have the first (chronologically-wise) of the series, but I think it'd be neat to read them in the published order. We'll see.

There ends my list of swashbuckling heroes and dire ne'er-do-wells. Who else is willing to walk the plank? Argh. (hehe-I love this challenge already)

Fast Food Nation (Chp 2)

2007-10-02T21:48:00.001-06:00

I almost forgot what day it is! That's right: Tuesday, aka Fast Food Nation day. As stated previously, the book has ten chapters, an introduction, an epilogue, and an afterword, so this feature will go into December. I'm hoping to make the posts a center for thoughtful discussion about the issue, but if that doesn't happen at least I know I'm getting the word out. :) Oh, and to read previous posts on the book, just click on the "fast food nation" tag at the end of this one.

Last week, I promised that this post would get people's blood boiling. Let's see if I can make good on that promise

Chp 2: Notes

+"Walt Disney and Roy Kroc [the guy who made McDonald's a nationwide franchise. -Eva] were masterful salesmen. They perfected the art of selling things to children. And their success led many others to aim marketing efforts at kids, turning America's youngest consumers into a demographic group that is now avidly studied, analyzed, and targeted by the world's largest corporations." (33-4)

+Kroc donated $250K to Nixon's reelection fund in return for presidential support of a bill allowing companies to pay sixteen and seventeen year olds 20% less than minimum wage. Not only did Nixon oblige, he also "permitted McDonald's to raise the price of its Quarter Pounders, despite mandatory wage and price controls restricting other fast food chains." (37)

+"[Kroc] liked to tell people that he was really in show business, not the restaurant business. Promoting McDonald's to children was a clever, pragmatic decision. "A child who loves our TV commercials," Kroc explained, "and brings her grandparents to a McDonald's gives us two more customers." (41)

+"Twenty-five years ago, only a handful of American companies directed their marketing at children-Disney, McDonald's, candy makers, toy makers, manufacturers of breakfast cereal. TOday children are being targeted by phone companies, oil companies, and automobile copmanies, as well as clothing stores and restaurant chains. The explosion in children's advertising occurred during the 1980s. Many working parents, feeling guilty about spending less time with their kids, started spending more money on them. One marketing expert has called the 1980s "the decade of the child consumer." After largely ignoring children for years, Madison Avenue began to scrutinize and pursue them. Major ad agencies now have children's divisions, and a variety of marketing firms focus solely on kids." (42-3)

+"The bulk of the advertising directed at children today as an immediate goal. "It's not just getting the kids to whine," one marketer explained in Selling to Kids, "it's giving them a specific reason to ask for the product." Years ago sociologist Vance Packard described children as "surrogate salesmen" who had to persuade other people, usually their parents, to buy what they wanted. Marketers now use different terms to explain the intended response to their ads-such as "leverage", "the nudge factor," "pester power." The aim of most children's advertising is straightforward: get kids to nag their parents and nag them well." (43)

+"Today's market researchers not only conduct surveys of children in shopping malls, they also organize focus groups for kids as young as two or three. They analyse children's artwork, hire children to run focus groups, stage slumber parties and then question children into the night." (44)

+In the late 80s, the Federal Trade Commission tried to ban TV advertising for kids under eight, arguing that they couldn't make informed decisions and were being exploited. However, lobbyists from the TV, advertising, and toys killed it. (46)

+Some stats: average American kids spend 21 hrs/wk watching TV (equals 1.5 months/yr), the only thing they do more other than school is sleep, see 30,000+ commericials. 25% of kids 2-5 have a TV in their bedroom.

+"...fast food chains are now gaining access to the last advertising-free outposts of American life. In 1993 District 11 in Colorado Springs started a nationwide trend, becoming the first public school distrct in the US to place ads for Burger King in its hallways and on the sides of its school buses....For $12K, a company got five school-bus ads, hallway ads in all fifty-two of the district's schools, ads in their school newspapers, a stadium banner, ads over the stadium's public address system during games, and free tickets to high school sporting events." (51)

+"The nation's three major beverage manufactureres are now spending large sums to increase the amount of soda that American children consume...Eight-year-olds are considered ideal customers; they have about sixty-five years of purchasing in front of them. "Entering the schools makes perfect sense," the trade journal concluded." (53-4)

+"...sodas provide empty calories and have replaced far more nutrious beverages in the American diet. Excessive soda consumption in children can lead to calcium deficiencies and a greater likelihood of bone fragmentation." (54)

+"Soft-drink consumption is now common among American toddlers. About one-fifth of the nation's one and two year olds now drink soda...."Pepsi, Dr Pepper and Seven-Up encouraged feeding soft drinks to babies by liscensing their logos to a major maker of baby bottles..." A 1997 study published in the Journal of Dentistry for Children found that many infants were indeed being fed soda in those bottles." (54)

+"The spiraling cost of textbooks has led thousands of American school districts to use corporate-sponsoed teaching materials. A 1998 study of these teaching materials by the Consumers Union found that 80 percent were biased, providing students with incomplete or slanted information that favored the sponsor's products and views. Proctor & Gamble's Decision Earth program taught that clear-cut logging was actually good for the environment; teaching aids distributed by the Exxon Environmental Foundation said that fossil fuels created few environmental problems and that alternative sources of energy were too expensive; a study guide sponsored by the Americna Coal Foundation dismissed fears of a greenouse effect, claiming that "the earth could benefit rather than be harmed by increased carbon dioxide."" (55)

+"The money that these corporations spend on their "educational" materials is fully tax-deductable." (56)

+"The American School Food Service Association estimates that about 30 percent of the public high schools in the US offer branded fast food. Elementary schools in Fort Collins, CO, now serve food from Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and Subway on special lunch days." (56)

Chp 2: Thoughts

If you're not screaming mad by the end of reading those notes, then I don't think you'll be ruffled by anything. For me, it's almost enough to make me not want to have kids! Of course, I know that I can try to raise them as aware consumers, and of course send them off with packed lunches to try to avoid fast food in elementary school (!), but it'll take some strong swimming to go against this tide. I wonder what kind of parents let their little kids participate in the focus groups Schlosser mentions ad agencies run; would you have your son or daughter go to a sleep over with adults? Kind of weird, imo. I cannot believe that corporations can not only create biased textbooks, but do it for free! Meanwhile, public schools are facing such a budget crisis they create advertising packages. There's something very wrong with that picture.

You'll note that my thoughts aren't very coherent this week. Basically, I think it's wrong, immoral, and should be illegal. These companies take kids and treat them as money-making machines. So sad.

I can't wait to see y'alls reactions to this, so even if you don't normally comment, please share any experiences/opinions about this one. So many of you are parents, which would be an interesting view.

Summer in Review (and a little, bitty bookpile)

2007-09-30T21:20:00.000-06:00

Crazy how fast time goes; it's time for another of my quarterly summaries! For those who're recent readers, some of the more random-seeming stats are based on my New Year's resoluations. Also, I go by the sun calendar for these quarters, which is why I consider July, August, and September to be summer. :)

Reading
Total: 53
Non-Fic: 17
Audio: 3
New Authors: 34
Women Authors: 21
African Lit: 0
East Asian Lit: 0
Auto/Bios/Memoirs Read: 6
Five Star Books: 18
One or Two Star Books: 8

Blogging
Reviews Published: 38
Entries Made: 73
Challenges Completed: 4
Challenges Participated In: 13

Whew! Well, on the reading front I read more than I have previously. I stayed pretty steady on new authors and women authors, which is good. Since I didn't start my non-fic challenge until August, I'm still not maintaining a very high nonfic:fic ratio. That's ok though-at least I'm reading more non-fic! I did awfully on the African and East Asian lit front; checking my Reading Across Borders II list, I only have one book for each on there. Maybe I'll be able to find some more at the library, or on bookmooch. I didn't like 15% of the books I read, which is higher than usual, but almost all of them were non-fic. I guess I don't have my guaranteed non-fic authors the way I do fiction. I did give a whopping 33% of the books I read 5 stars, which is pretty awesome. :)

The biggest changes this quarter were on the blogging front. I went from 18-19 reviews/quarter to 38, which is double! I also went from averaging around 40 posts/quarter to 73. I'm not sure why this blog suddenly became an almost daily thing in August; I actually became busier then than I'd been during the rest of the summer. Perhaps all of those challenges are spurring me on to do reviews. Either way, I'm pretty happy that I'm reviewing so many more books (72% of the ones I read). Part of it has to do with the fact that now I'm willing to do multiple shorter reviews, which seems an effective way of talking about some of the books.

Now, for what you've been waiting for! I went to B&N tonight, and I completely intended to just curl up in a comfy chair and read the book I brought with me. Somehow, these books hopped in my bag!
First up is Tithe by Holly Black. I've heard good things about this one, and I'm collecting YA lit in preperation for Dewey's 24 read-a-thon. Plus, it's this gorgeous trade paperback book for a mere $7! Gotta love the YA section; I saw several other books that I'll probably be going back for soon.
Then there's Nocturnes by John Connolly. I've seen his latest novel, The Book of Lost Things reviewed on several blogs, but Meli's review really got me hooked. Of course, us poor Americans have to wait a couple of weeks for it to come out in paperback. So I was browsing B&N's popular fiction table (which had a very interesting collection of international crime/mystery that I was coveting), and came across this. Isn't the cover awesome? It's a collection of short stories, and the back describes it as "a daring, utterly haunting anthology of lost lovers and missing children, predatory demons, and vengeful ghosts...In these stories, Connolly ratchets up the tension to almost unbearable0and irrestible-levels." Um, does this sound like a challenge we all know and love? That's what I thought! Have a sneaking suspicion Connolly will become a new favourite author, so I'd better start collecting now.
Finally, I've been craving George Eliot lately. I was orginally going to grab Middlemarch, which I read earlier this year, for a reread. But, it made more sense to get Daniel Deronda, since I hadn't read it before. I'm loving the pink colour, and the delicious 710-page-before-endnotes length.

And that's my latest booklust...the three poppets had to wander in and see what all the fuss was about. :) Now y'all need to post some pics of your latest book buys so I don't feel so guilty!

Short Story Sunday (and two book giveaways)

2007-09-30T20:28:00.000-06:00

Wow-trying to visit all of the sites in the R.I.P. II challenge has been interesting; I have a feeling my blogroll's going to grow. I already try to read all of the reviews posted (of course, now I'm woefully behind), but there turned out to be quite a few blogs that hadn't posted reviews to the list. It was fun getting to see so many different styles of book blogging! Yes, I visited all the sites today; I was pretty much stuck in bed, so I alternately watched that documentary on the spelling bee (I was supposed to be watching a great Gregory Peck movie, but Blockbuster got confused), visited blogs, tried not to touch my nose (I got it pierced! not why I was bed-ridden), and read. I'm happy to report that I finished all my goals for September! Coming soon will a review of the summer quarter and a pile of books for October. :)

Before I get to the short stories, I'd just like to point out that there are a couple book giveaways going on right now. Superfastreader is giving away a copy of Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. All you have to do is fill out a simple form (name, e-mail, website) to be entered, and it's open to the whole world until Oct 5. :) Then, Gentle Reader over at Shelf Life is generously offering an extra copy of The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. For this one, just leave a comment by October 2nd.

And now, without further adieu, this week I read "The Idol of the Flies" by Jane Rice and "Judgement Day" by Flannery O'Connor. They were both on the longish side, and I have no idea why the second one was included in a horror anthology.

"The Idol of the Flies" by Jane Rice

I've never heard of Jane Rice (one of only two in the anthology), but her story was very disturbing. Basically, this little brat named Pruitt makes the lives of all the adults around him miserable for no apparent reason other than evil. He finds out their weaknesses and then shamelessly uses them to bring about hurt and sadness. He has this odd relationship with flies as well. I won't tell you the ending, but this story was quite difficult for me to read. I don't like stories about people who deliberately hurt others; it makes me just too sad. It was well-written, however. My favourite passage in this one gives away the ending, so I won't share it here.

"Judgement Day" by Flannery O'Connor

As I said before, this one didn't really seem like a horror story at all. The weirdest it gets is a dream, but it's not like the dream comes true or anything! This was my first story by O'Connor, and I was very distracted by the constant use of the n-word. I know that this is an issue for a lot of people in her writing, and I expect that if I were to read a collection of her short stories I'd grow used to it, but as it was it felt like I got a little shock each time I read one. When I read, I hear my inner voice reading aloud in my head, which was what made it so difficult. Honestly, I can't say that I got a very strong impression of what the story was about with that constant distraction. Nevertheless, the writing style itself was quite strong, and I definitely plan on reading more of O'Connor one day.

Ok-I'm being a bit rambly tonight: probably the pain killers. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

The House Next Door (thoughts)

2007-09-29T22:14:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since my last R.I.P. II review! And, since my Little Black Poppet came in (he's currently nameless...it's taking awhile), and Carl's challenging everyone to bloghop, this post seems doubly appropriate.

I read The House Next Door by Anne River Siddons in one night: it's definitely one of those books that grabs you and doesn't let you go. Nevertheless, I have hesitations about recommending it, because it feels, well, evil. I was left with a very bad feeling that took about a day to dissipate. I suppose I'm just not used to horror novels like this, but I'd caution would-be readers that Siddons will get under your skin.

The book is told in first-person, and most of it is set in the recent past, with Col recounting all of the events that led up to her and her husband's decision to talk to People magazine (this is disclosed in the foreward; I promise, no spoilers here). Col lives in an affluent suburb outside of Atlanta, and she is very upset to hear that the plot next door has been bought, and that a modern-style house is going to be built there. The house goes through three families, which each make up a different part of the book, with each story getting progressively creepier. The last one involves an abusive husband, and it was at that point in the book that I began to feel almost physically ill. I know that might sound silly, but I had a very intense reaction; it certainly surprised me!

Eventually, Col and her husband realise that the house is evil; then they have to decide what kind of action to take to try to save future buyers from the house. I won't give away the ending, but it's definitely a good one.

So, there's a lot of positives about this book: it's written well (in his intro, which I didn't read until after I finished the novel, King calls the style Southern Gothic), the characters are interesting, the house is spooky, the plot compelling. Nevertheless, I really wish I'd never picked this one up. I don't even like looking at it; I'm hoping someone'll bookmooch it soon. Siddons did her job too well; while I'll definitely be looking at other books she wrote, I'm very glad this is the only work of horror in her oeuvre. Definitely gave me the shivers, so very R.I.P. II appropriate.

Favourite Passage
"If you think daugher and Daddy are creepy, you ought to catch the sonny-and-Mama show," Kim said. "The mother of the groom was there when I went to see Pie, and she couldn't keep her hands off poor old Buddy. Smoothing his hair, and straightening his tie, and saying what a soldier he'd been about the whole thing, and not once even looking at the bereft little mama, who was glaring daggers at her. She's the soldier in the family; looks exactly like Douglas MacArthur. And he was practically peeing on the rug with gratitude. If you ask me, there's something Tennessee Williams about the whole tribe of 'em." (60)

Non-Fiction 2-for-1

2007-09-27T23:18:00.001-06:00

First of all, did anyone else watch The Office season premier this night? Oh. My. God. I expected it to be good. But it just blew me away. I laughed hysterically at times. I almost grinned my face off in happiness at others; at a certain point, I actually pumped the air with elation. I don't do things like that. But, seriously, The Office is just getting better and better every season.

Ok, gush over. Time to talk about books! (I'm so behind on reviews)

Recently, I've read both Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall and Stiff by Mary Roach. They aren't really connected, but since I'm never going to catch up unless I combine books, there you go.

First, the Goodall book. It's a memoir that grew out of an extended interview discussing Goodall's continued optimism in the face of so much tragedy. I found it a very nice read; rather like talking with an intelligent, caring person who has seen a lot more of life than I have and has some good advice. I recommend it. :)

Favourite Passages

I lay there, part of the forest, and experienced again that magical enhancement of sound, that added richness of perception. I was keenly aware of secret movements in the trees. A small striped squirrel climbed, spiral fashion in the way of squirrels, poking into crevices in the bark, bright eyes and rounded ears alert. A great velvet black bumblebee visited tiny purple flowers, the end section of his abdomen glowing rich orange red each time he flew through one of the patches of sunlight that dappled the forest. It is all but impossible to describe the new awareness that comes when words are abandoned. One is transported back, perhaps, to the world of early childhood when everything is fresh and so much of it is wonderful. Words can enhance the experiment, but they can also take so much away. (79)

One thing I had learned from watching chimpanzees with their infants is that having a child should be fun. (87)

So here we are, the human ape, half sinner, half saint, with two opposing tendencies inherited from our ancient past pulling us now toward violence, now toward compassion and love. Are we, forever, to be torn in two different directions, cruel in one instance, kind the next? Or do we have the ability to control these tendencies, choosing the direction we wish to go? (143)

I thought, as I have thought throughout my life, how lucky I had been in my own childhood. Because I had grown up during World War II, the luxuries now taken for granted by middle-class Westerners were, quite simply, unavailable-except at exorbitant prices on the black market. I had learned the true value of food, clothing, shelter-and life itself. Along with my contemporaries I had moved into a postwar world in which self-reliance was a necessary quality. We did not feel it was our right to have a bicycle, a television, a dishwasher, and so on; those were things you saved up for, and were proud of because they were earned by the sweat of your brow. (197)

Even if we only suspect that other living beings have feelings that may be similar to our own, or not too dissimilar to our own, we should have doubts about the ethics of treating those beings as mere "things" or "tools" for our own human purposes. Even if all animals used are bred especially for our use-in the labratory, or for food, or for entertainment-does this make them, somehow, less pig? less monkey? less dog? Does this deprive them of feelings and the capacity to suffer? If we raised humans for medical experiments, would they be less human and suffer less and matter less than other humans? Were human slaves less able to feel pain, grief, and despair simply because they were born into slavery? (224)

Now, for Stiff. Some of you may recall my disappointment with Roach's other book, Spook. I didn't have high expectations going in. In fact, if I hadn't mooched it before I read Spook, I wouldn't have read it at all. And I would have missed out on a great book.

I don't know if Roach had a different editor or what, but all of the problems in Spook were missing from Stiff. Instead, Stiff was a compulsively readable exploration of what happens to bodies once their owners have left them behind. There were some slower chapters, and I did have a problem with Roach's callousness towards animal testing (esp. after reading Goodall, which had reaffirmed my utter abhorence of it).

Another group tried putting a new type of protective boot onto the hind leg of a mule deer dor testing. Given that deer lack toes and heels and people lack hooves, and that no country I know of employs mule deer in land mine clearance, it is hard-though mildly entertaining-to try to imagine what the value of such a study could have been. (152)

Nevertheless, I found Roach very caring of her human subjects, and the topics were all interesting. Those are you who are squeamish might want to avoid this one; Roach visits the Tennessee body farm to learn about decomp and isn't afraid about sharing all the disgusting details. She also made an unfortunate comparison between human brains and one of my favourite foods (not going to share to spare y'all) that I really wish I could forget. With that caveat, though, I highly recommend this to anyone curious about death.

Favourite Passages

I ask Dennis whether he has any advice for the people who'll read this book and never again board a plane without wondering if they're going to wind up in a heap of bodies at the emergency exit door. He says it's mostly common sense. Sit near an emergency exit. Get down low, below the heat and smoke. Hold your breath as long as you can, so you don't cook your lungs and inhale poisonous fumes. Shanahan prefers window seats because people seated on the aisle are more likely to get beaned with the suitcases that can come crushing through the overhead bin doors in even a fairly mild impact. (127)

There is her heart. I've never seen one beating. I had no idea they moved so much. You put your hand on your heart and you picture something pulsing slightly but basically still, like a hand on a desktop tapping Morse code. This thing is going wild in there. It's a mixing-machine part, a stoat squirming in its burrow, and alien life form that's just won a Pontiac on The Price is Right. (179)

She explains the difference between rotting and composting, that the needs of humans and the needs of compost are similar: oxygen, water, air temperature that does not stray far from 37 degrees centigrade. Her point: We are all nature, all made of the same basic materials, with the same basic needs. We are no different, on a very basic level, from the ducks and the mussels and last week's coleslaw. Thus we should respect Nature, and when we die, we should give ourselves back to the earth. (263)

Kimbooktu's Bookish Meme

2007-09-27T10:03:00.000-06:00

I was actually going to post a meme I found over at Bookeywookey's (the reading one, not the blogging one), but then I checked my e-mail and the lovely Bybee has tagged me for a different meme all the way over in South Korea. :) So, I'll publish the other one next week!

Hardcover or paperback? Why? Trade paperback, for several reasons. I love the texture of the covers, they stay open the best, and they don't aggravate my fibro (muscle condition). Best of all, they don't have dust jackets! (my book nemesis...I seem to lose them or rip them just by looking at them)

If I were to own a book shop I would call it... I'd probably name it after a tarot card. I'd love to have a coffee shop/book store combo called The Hanged Man with a picture of that tarot card. The Hanged Man represents taking a voluntary break from the craziness of life, so I think it'd be appropriate. In the tarot card, he's hanging upside (from his ankle) looking quite happy. :)

My favourite quote from a book (name it) is... This is a tough one. I like a lot of quotes. I'll just pick one at random. "How much do you love me?" she asked. "Enough to melt all the tigers in the world to butter." From Murakami's Norwegian Wood. Isn't that just adorable?

The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be...I think Neil Gaiman. I love mythology as well, so it'd be a great conversation. But I'd love to have lunch with a bunch of authors!

If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be...what an awful idea. One book forever? Probably War and Peace, since I haven't read it yet, so there'd be a fresh reading, and it has enough characters to keep me occupied. Plus, it takes place in cold Russia, which might serve as a nice contrast to a deserted island. And I'm positive I'm going to love it, since I just adored Anna Karenina. (the only reason I haven't read it is that I'm saving it for the Peace Corps)

I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that hmmm...oh! I know! that froze time so that I could read in peace for as long as I wanted before work. And chores.

The smell of an old book reminds me of...reading? peace? I mean, it just smells like heaven to me!

If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be...Elizabeth Darcy, nee Bennet. She's smart and pretty, but a bit of a spitfire, and she ends up with a rich, handsome, loving husband living in a great part of England. Pretty happy life, I'd say. :)

The most overestimated book of all time is...I can't think of one.

I hate it when a book... is written by an author that doesn't trust the reader. You know, the kind of author that whallops you over the head with the information, because s/he isn't sure that you'll pick up on it on your own. These authors tend to use too many adverbs.

And now for tagging five people....let's see....
Eloise of Eloise by the Book Piles
Sarah of Loose Baggy Monster
Poodlerat of But what these unobservant birds
Petunia of Educating Petunia and
J.S. Peyton of BiblioAddict

Have fun! (of course, if anyone I didn't tag wants to do this one, leave me a comment and I'll add you to the list!)

Quick Addition

2007-09-25T20:49:00.001-06:00

Several people have mentioned that the Woolf short story I reviewed Sunday sounds good. It definitely is, and it's a short, fast read. So, I went ahead and found an online version. Read away! (and then come back here and tell me if you love it as much as I do)

Fast Food Nation (Chp 1)

2007-09-25T20:09:00.000-06:00

Preface: I've decided to make Tuesdays my Fast Food Nation day; the book has ten chapters, an introduction, an epilogue, and an afterword, so this feature will go into December. I'm hoping to make the posts a center for thoughtful discussion about the issue, but if that doesn't happen at least I know I'm getting the word out. :)

Chapter One: Notes

This chapter talks about the men who created the biggest fast food chains today, as well as the origin of the whole phenomenon of fast food.
+It started in southern California.
+Originally, fast food restaurants were like Sonic and catered to a teenage clientel; owners wanted to shift to a family-based clientel so that they would've have to worry about teens doing dumb stuff.
+The McDonald brothers designed standard fast food techniques:
[They] eliminated almost two-thirds of the items on their old menu. They got rid of everything that had to be eaten with a knife, spoon, or fork. The only sandwiches now sold were hamburgers or cheeseburgers. The brothers got rid of their dishes and glassware, replacing them with paper cups, paper bags, and paper plates. They divided food preparaion into seperate tasks performed by different workers....For the first time, the guiding principles of a factory assembly line were applied to a commerical kitchen.
+Oddly enough, McDonald's and Hell's Angels were founded in the same year, in the same area. :)

Chapter One: Thoughts
I only found this chapter mildly interesting; I've never been interested in business, so I wasn't really taken by the various stories of entrepeneurs (sp?). Of course, seeing how few notes I took, I bet y'all guessed that. I did enjoy Schlosser's brief forays into cultural history (that's my unofficial term for it).

What struck me most about this chapter was the assembly line restaurant idea. Schlosser points out that thanks to new, idiot-proof techniques, fast food places didn't have to hire talented short order chefs, and they also didn't have to hire waitresses. This whole dumbing down of jobs, which then justifies lower wages, bothers me. I mean, I know in principle that many economists like it because it increases efficiency, but I've never been an efficiency kind of person. Before this, I bet short-order chefs enjoyed their job, or at least got some kind of rush from the variety. Afterwards, doing to the same thing all day, it can't be interesting work.

This was a very short chapter, thus the short post, but I promise next week's will be really, really interesting. It's all about how the fast food industry feeds off of children; guaranteed to get your blood boiling!

I Read Banned Books

2007-09-24T17:49:00.000-06:00

Here's a mini-challenge that I'll definitely be participating in: Banned Books Week. Caliista is inviting everyone to read at least one banned book between September 29th and October 6th. She also provided a link to the ALA Banned Books project, and there I discovered a new thing to covet:

Banned Book Bracelets: kind of pricey at $18 (if your wrist is small like mine, you can get the $12 kid's one, but it has kids' books), I absolutely love the format of this one, but for some reason it's coming up as 'unavailable at this time.' Get your act together, ALA! They also have a super-cool tote bag. Tempting. Anyway, here's my possibilities pool (with any luck, I'll get to them all):

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
I wanted to read this for the Southern Reading challenge, but it managed to slip under the radar.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
I think I'm the only person who never read this. Interestingly enough, my library shelves this in adult fiction.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
This one has been tempting me for awhile, so now might be a good time to fit it in!

Short Story Sunday

2007-09-23T23:27:00.000-06:00

I read three short stories today: "The Gray Man" by Rebecca West, "The Cyprian Cat" by Dorothy Sayers, and "A Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf. I enjoyed them all, however they weren't really scary. Haunting, not scary.

"The Gray Man" by Rebecca West

This story could have been very scary, however the style of narration prevented this. The narrator tells about a vacation where she became very ill and was placed in a nursing home. While there, she becomes sleep deprived and experiences a very disturbing, prophetic dream. I wish that West had upped the creepiness factor, but it was still an interesting story.

I felt obliged to watch the trees outside my window and their behaviour in the sunshine and wind, to note the characteristics of every person who spoke to me, with a quite disagreeable intensity, and I was so fatigued by this constant effort of apprehension that there was no continuity in the working of my brain. Every moment of consciousness was distinct and unrelated to any other. Instead of being a stream my mental life was a string of disparate beads.

"The Cyprian Cat" by Dorothy Sayers

I love Sayers' Lord Whimsey series, but I'd never read any of her short stories. After reading this story, I definitely want to remedy that! In this story, the narrator meets an old friend and his new wife for a little vacation. However, the narrator finds the vacation town absolutely overrun by cats at night; since he detests cats, he decides to buy a pistol to scare them off. But it is odd how the cats only come out at night, and his friend's new wife goes to bed so early and is unresponsive until morning... This was definitely a fun story, but I wish there was a little more background. I think that the idea could have easily been expanded into a novella. Still, makes me look at cats differently!

I tried to distract my mind by looking at the girl. She was worth looking at, too-very slim, and ark with one of those dead-white skins that make you think of magnolia blossom. She had the most astonishing eyes, too-I've never seen eyes quite like them; a very pale brown, almost amber, set wide apart and a little slanting, and they seemed to have a kind of luminosity of their own.

"The Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf

This is a very short story, more of a sketch in fact. It's only two pages long, but it's quite heartwarming. Two ghosts wander around a house, remembering all of the places where they were in love, and wishing blessings on the current occupant. It definitely makes you smile, and since it's Woolf the language and style is beautiful. This was probably my favourite of the three. :)

"Here we slept," she says. And he adds, "Kisses without number." "Waking in the morning-" "Silver between the trees-" "Upstairs-" "In the garden-" "When summer came-" "In winter snowtime-" The doors go shutting far in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.

Embers (thoughts)

2007-09-23T07:23:00.000-06:00

I've been in a hardcore reading mood lately; I've read two books straight through (not even time to list them under 'Currently Reading') and I'm a third of the way through another. Thus, I have a plethora of books to discuss: seven, in fact. And all of them have been exceptionally good.

Nevertheless, Sandor Marai's Embers jumped to the front of the line. Why? Quite frankly, it contains some of the most stunning writing I've ever read. Marai is a Hungarian who, despite being exiled in America, only wrote in his native tongue. Considering that Hungarian happens to be one of the world's more obscure languages, this prevented his work from receiving much attention. Recently, his works have been 'rediscovered' and Knopf is bringing them out. Embers was the first to be translated into English (in 2001); however, it was translated from the German and French versions, not the original Hungarian. Knopf's subsequent releases (Conversations in Bolzano and The Rebels so far) are translated from the original.

While Ember's history makes the English feel a little choppy in the beginning, the translation soon straightens itself out, and by the first thirty pages I realised that I had come across something beautiful. In structure, it rather reminds me Ishiguro's Remains of the Day: a lot of first-person narrative, looking back over the past, all occassioned by a reunion with a long-lost companion. Both books had the same current of wasted life and regrts. While Ishiguro's book left the philosophy between the cracks up to the reader, however, Marai brings the philosophy out into the open.

The idea is simple: an old Austro-Hungarian General, living on his Hungarian estate, prepares to meet his closest friend after a gap of forty-one years. Actually, I'm going to just quote from the back of the book, "Over the ensuing hours host and guest will fight a duel of words and silences, accusations and evasions." This pretty much sums it up, except the word 'duel' is slightly misleading; the friend barely ever talks, so the last two-thirds of the book (it's only 200 pages long) are a monologue delivered by the General. And yes, as a septogenarian, the General indulges in quite a bit of philosophising.

But please don't let this scare you away! Along with the achingly-written philosophical passages, there's a plot that rather creeps up on the reader. Before I knew it, I couldn't put the book down, because I had to find out how it was going to end. I refuse to tell you anything about the plot, because Marai uncovers it slowly and masterfully; if you choose to read this book, I highly recommend avoiding any discussions of it until after you've finished it. Even the back cover, which I didn't read fortunately, contains a spoiler or two. The gradual climb in tension is exquisite. And if you aren't hooked by page fifty, I'd be shocked.

The ending of the book left me utterly satisfied; in fact, the entire book felt perfect. I came away with the same afterglow I felt after reading The Remains of the Day, slightly dazed by the author's skill.

I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an author that appreciates his readers. That was a bit convoluted, but I think you get the gist. Marai has created a stunning piece of literature, and I want to read more by him very, very soon. A real treat, as well as a shorter read (it took me less than two hours). Check out the passages below to get a sense of his writing (I've put a spoiler alert before the very last one, which hints at part of the plot).

Favourite Passages:
...he thought only in decades, anything more upset him, as if he might be reminded of things he would rather forget... (6)

"For twenty-two years they have been living in this town which reeks like some squalid den where passing traders spend the night-a smell of cooking and cheap perfume and sour bedding. Here they live, and never utter a workd of complaint. For twenty-two years my father has not set foot in Vienna, where he was born and brought up. Twenty-two years and never a journye, never a new piece of clothing, never a summer outing, because I must be made into the masterpiece that they in their weakness failed to achieve in their own lives. Sometimes when I am about to do something, my hand stops in midair. This eternal responsibility. I have even wished them dead," he said very softly. (47)

"The truth is precisely what I don't know."
"But you know the facts," said the nurse sharply.
"Facts are not the truth," retorted the General. (73)

"The wind stirs, too, at this moment, gently, carefully, like the sigh of a sleeping man as he sense the return of the earthly reality into which he was born. The scent of wet leaves, of ferns, of crumbling tree trunks, of rotting pine cones, of the soft carpet of fallen leaves and pine needles slippery from the dew, rises up from the earth to assault you like the smell of two lovers locked in sweat-soaked embrace. A magical moment, which our heathen acnestors used to celebrate deep in the forest, worhsipfully, arms outstretched, facing East: earthbound man in the eternally recurring, spellbound expectation of light, insight, reason." (132)

"Ours was a friendship out of the ancient sagas. And while I walked in the sunshine of life, you chose to remain in the shadows." (139)

"I think that perhaps you have gone mad. I think perhaps it is the music. One cannot be a musician and a relative of Chopin and escape unpunished." (157)

"One always wants to repay the gods with some of one's good fortune. For it is well known that the gods are jealous, and that if they five a mortal a year of happiness, they immediately enter this debt on the ledger and demand repayment at the end of life with crippling interest." (162)

"Things do not simply happen to one...One can also shape what happens to one. One shapes it, summons it, takes hold of the inevitable. It's the human condition." (170)

"Since then I have never met a single person who responded so completely to everything: music, an early morning walk in the woods, the color and scent of a flower, the well-chosen words of an intelligent companion. Nobody could stroke a beautiful piece of cloth or an animal like Krisztina. Nobody took such pleasure in the world's simple gifts: people, animals, stars, books-everything interested her, not in any exaggerated way, not with apedantic outpouring of learning, but with the unprejudiced joy of a child reaching for everything there is to see and do. As if everything in the world was relevant to her, you know?" (176)

"I hate music....I hate this incomprehensible, melodious language which select people can understand and use to say uninhibited, irregular things that are also probably indecent and immoral. Watch their faces and see how strangely they change when they're listening to music." (178)

"Yes-revenge. That is why I neither killed myself nor allowed others to kill me, and that is why I have not killed anyone myself, thank heaven. The time for revenge as come, just as I have wished for so long. My revenge is that you have come here across the world, through the war, over mine-infested seas, to the scene of the crime, to answer to me and to uncover the truth together. That is my revenge." (183)

"What do you think? Do you also believe that what gives our lives their meaning is the passion that suddenly invades us heart, soul, and body, and burns in us forever, no matter what else happens in our lives? And that if we have experienced this much, then perhaps we haven't lived in vain? Is passion so deep and terrible and magnificent and inhuman? Is it indeed about desiring any one person, or is it about desiring desire itself? That is the question. Or, perhaps, is it indeed about desiring a particular person, a single, mysterious other, once and for always, no matter whether that person is good or bad, and the intensity of our feelings bears no relation to that individual's qualities or behavior?" (211)

**spoiler: don't read the following quote unless you've already read the book**

"She died because you went away and because I stayed but never once went to her, and because we-the two men to whom she belonged-were more despicable and proud and cowardly abd arrogant and silent than a women can bear; we ran away from her and betrayed her by our survival." (209)

Poppets!

2007-09-22T12:04:00.000-06:00

My Saturday morning became considerably brighter when I found a package from SlaughterHouse Studios in my mail box. Yes, that's right, I've adopted two poppets.

As mentioned earlier, I ordered a Little Purple poppet and a Little Black poppet from Lisa Snellings Clark (the artist). This was quite an event for me: I had to sign up on eBay and everything! Right off, I wasn't sure how to take advantage of the cheaper shipping with multiple purchases; so, hesitantly, I sent an e-mail off to Lisa. She responded incredibly quickly and explained what I needed to do. Very nice of her! Then, I opened my beautiful package this morning (look at the little Poppet houses! and the super-cool ceramic hand! and there was a personalised thank you note from Lisa!), and imagine my surprise...
I found a Little Blue poppet had snuck in instead of a Little Black one! Once again, I was a little hesitant about e-mailing Lisa, but I've been coveting the black poppets for awhile now; so, I sent off a message offering to send the Little Blue one back in exchange for a Little Black (although it really hurt my heart to 'reject' the Little Blue one). She responded in a couple of hours, and with such a kind offer. Not only will she send out a little black poppet on Monday, but the little blue poppet is mine as well! From our brief e-mail exchange, she seems like a very cool person; I encourage everyone to run over and buy a poppet (they're very reasonably priced-$10 for the purples, blues and reds, $13 for the black).

Obviously, after the new poppets arrived, I had to figure out names for them. At first, I focused on the purple; I knew that she was a girl, but I had no idea how to name her. I went to a couple name sites, but nothing was really jumping at me. Then, inspiration struck. May I introduce you to...

Coraline Jane. Here she is with her namesakes: a spunky little girl created by Neil Gaiman and the amazing Jane Austen. Coraline came first; I realised that I could finally write my review of it, and then I realised that Coraline was the perfect name-elegant yet unusual-for my little poppet. Plus, I could honour one of my favourite authors! While looking at her, Jane popped into my head, and Coraline Jane just has an irrestible ring to it.

And here is the Little Blue Poppet, whose fate hung in the balance for a few hours...

While I immediately knew that Coraline Jane was a girl, I'm still not sure about Little Blue Poppet's gender. Therefore, its name is Wilkie Eliot. Wilkie for Wilkie Collins, who I thought was a girl until earlier this year. Eliot for George Eliot, a woman who write as a man. Both are also great authors, and Eliot especially captures a bit of the melancholy that the Little Blue seems to have, while Collins' gothic imaginings seems possible in Little Blue's life. After all, its very arrival here was a mistake! Wilkie Eliot is definitely a bit older than Coraline Jane and very indulgent of its little sister. :)

I certainly plan to post about Neil Gaiman later today, but for now, I think Coraline and Eliot say it best:

Mariette in Ecstasy (thoughts)

2007-09-20T21:26:00.000-06:00

In keeping with the cloistered theme, I thought I'd spend today discussing Ron Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy. I first read about this book on the Duke alumni reading club (no, I didn't go to Duke; I can't remember how I found out about the club). It sounded good, but also kind of obscure, so I didn't think anymore of it. Then, when I was looking for books for the Book to Movie challenge, this was on the list; I checked with my library, and I was able to ILL (for free!) a copy. Thus, I had high, but vague, expectations as I opened it up.

I knew that the book was set in a convent, in the early 1900s, in upstate New York. I also knew that a young girl would enter the convent, and apparently experience mystical religious acts. That was about it.

The best and most surprising feature of the book was the style; Hansen uses everything from lists to journal entries to interviews to simple third person narrative to tell the story. The book feels like a collage. In lesser hands, this could have been a disaster, however Hansen really pulls it off. The first things the reader sees are a "Directoire des religieuses du Couvent de Notre-Dame des Afflictions" (a list of all the convent members, with their age and job) and a schedule of "The Winter Life of the Sisters of the Crucifixion." In addition to instantly creating an atmosphere for the reader, these lists come in handy throughout the story as references; it was quite nice of Hansen to put them up front so I didn't have to search for them. Then, the reader is led into the story through a series of observations, rendered in simple, standalone sentences, that feels like a mediation.

Limestone pebbles on the path in the garth. Jasmine. Lilac. Narcissus

Mother Celine gracefully walking, head down.

Crickets.

Mooncreep and spire.

Ears are flattened to the head of a stone panther waterspout.

Slowly, the sentences become paragraphs and characters are introduced. The effect of this writing, for me at least, was to really slow me down. I began to concentrate on every word of the story, and I built up quite a detailed mental image of the convent.

The main plot arrives when Mariette Baptiste enters the convent as a postulant. She takes her devotion very personally, carrying on a personal relationship with Jesus, and wanting to suffer as he suffered. She's also beautiful, and at just seventeen, some of the older nuns feel quite wary of her. As the book wears on, Mariette's experiences become more and more extreme; the nuns divide into two camps: either Mariette is a saint or a shameless faker. Meanwhile, the resident priest is trying to discover if a miracle truly has occured.

Essentially, Mariette in Ecstasy is a study of group relationships. It's fascinating to watch the various nuns take sides, to hear what they say and why, and to see the convent's atmosphere become poisoned. Hansen does an incredible job of sweeping the reader into this, so that you feel the discomfort of the priest, the skepticism of the nuns, the pure belief of Mariette. The writing throughout the book is powerful, and the only reason it didn't get 5 stars was the ending. Hansen didn't really seem sure what to do about it, which was a little frustrating.

Nevertheless, I'd highly recommend this book to everyone. It's a short read (179 pages in hardcover) and definitely a page turner. The characters are sharply drawn, but Hansen is one of those authors who trusts the reader, and leaves gaps for her to fill in. My favourite kind of book-engaging, thoughtful, fascinating. It will echo in my mind for some time.

A Morbid Taste for Bones (thoughts)

2007-09-19T18:26:00.000-06:00

I read A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters as part of the Unread Authors Challenge. I had mooched it awhile ago, based on several bloggers liking it, and then it languished on my shelves until this challenge brought it up!

Morbid Taste is the first in a series of medieval mysteries, centering around Brother Cadfael, a fifty-something monk who used to be a crusader. Now retired to a quiet life of praising God and gardening, Cadfael demonstrates a profoundly pragmatic outlook on life. In this book, the reader follows him to his native Wales, with a group of monks who are on a quest to recover the remains of Saint Winifred and bring the bones back to the monastery. When murder strikes in the small village, Cadfael must single-handedly find the killer, restore some people's reputations, and play match-maker. Fortunately, he's up the challenge!

When I began this book, I was very concerned. Quite frankly, it was rather dry; I prefer my mysteries to be on the entertaining side. I was all ready to be disappointed, but when I got to about page 50, the pace suddenly picked up. Several very likeable characters were introduced, subtexts began flying, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. This is a short book, at just under 200 pages, and I savoured the reading. Once Peters finds her groove, Cadfael is a really fun 'detective,' paternally supporting his friends and quietly laughing at his self-important fellow monks. I also loved that it was set in Wales. I mean, I never get to go to Wales in books!

I must confess, a large part of the appeal to me was the monks. When I was little, I was quite sad that girls couldn't become Jesuit priests, as that seemed the ideal career(yes, I was raised Catholic), and I always felt that if I'd lived in the Middle Ages, I would have been a monk. I don't know why I have such a fascination for them, but I certainly do. The Middle Ages is also my favourite age in European history, so I was quite excited to find a series set in that time period!

Ellis Peters, it turns out, is the pseudonym for Edith Parteger, a Brit who wrote extensively (more on her interesting life). There are a total of twenty Brother Cadfael books, and as the author has passed away, there are no more to look forward to. However, the nineteen should occupy me for some time.

As you might have noticed in my reviews for the Summer Mystery Challenge, I am quite picky about my mysteries. I love Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers; I need to read more Ngaio Marsh. Last Christmas, I discovered Laurie King's Mary Russell series (see bookeywookey's excellent thoughts on the first one), and that quickly became a favourite. This summer, I found myself really liking P.D. James. All of these authors have several things in common: tight plotting, somewhat 'cozy' (James is the closest to thriller), compelling characters, and damn good writing. I'm happy to say that Ellis Peters has now made it on to my short list of dependable mystery writers. If you enjoy well-written mysteries, or the Middle Ages, I'd highly recommend giving A Morbid Taste for Bones a try!

Fast Food Nation (introduction)

2007-09-18T23:52:00.000-06:00

I finished Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser on Friday night, and I immediately began thinking about my review. I knew that I couldn't praise it high enough; the engaging writing style, the important information, the humane objectivity to be found in this book is, quite simply, amazing. This book shows why non-fiction is so important. It raises essential issues, deftly introduces the evidence, and allows the reader to evaluate everything in bright light. How, then, to review it? I suddenly realised that this book needs more than a review: it needs an audience. The topics discussed in this book are very important to me (and it was even more fun to read about Colorado Springs, as a newcomer to the town!), so I've decided to follow Dewey's model. She discusses a non-fiction book chapter-by-chapter, providing notes and her personal reaction (currently, she's working through Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters by Courtney Martin).

I've decided to make Tuesdays my Fast Food Nation day; the book has ten chapters, an introduction, an epilogue, and an afterword, so this feature will go into December. I'm hoping to make the posts a center for thoughtful discussion about the issue, but if that doesn't happen at least I know I'm getting the word out. :) And with that, I'll be discussing the Introduction this week.

Introduction: Notes

+The workers of the top-secret Air Force base Cheyenne Mountain have Domino's delivered.

+"In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2001, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music-combined." (3)

+"On any given day in the United States about one-quarter of the adult population visits a fast-food restaurant." (3)

+"Adjusted for inflation, the hourly wage for the average U.S. worker peaked in 1973 and then steadily declined for the next twenty-five years." (4)

+"An estimated one out of every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed by McDonald's. The company annually hires about one million people, more than any other American organization, public or private. McDonald's is the nation's largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes-and the second largest purchaser of chicken. The McDonald's Corporation is the largest owner of retail property in the world." (4)

+"The typical American now consumes approximately three hamburgers and four orders of french fries every week." (6)

+"The current methods for preparing fast food are less likely to be found in cookbooks than in trade journals such as Food Technologist and Food Engineering. Aside from salad greens and tomatoes, most fast food is delivered to the restaurant already frozen, canned, dehydrated, or freeze-dried." (6-7)

+"I do not mean to suggest that fast food is solely responsible for every social problem now haunting the United States. In some cases (such as the malling and sprawling of the West), the fast food industry has been a catalyst and a symptom of larger economic trends. In other cases (such as the rise of franchising and the psread of obesity) fast food as played a more central role. By tracing the diverse influences of fast food I hope to shed light not only on the workings of an important industry, but also on a distinctively American way of viewing the world." (9)

+"Fast food is heavily marketed to children and prepared by people who are barely older than children. This is an industry that both feeds and feeds off the young." (9)

+"During the two years I spend researching this book, I ate an enormous amount of fast food. Most of it tasted pretty food. That is one of the main reasons people buy fast food; it has been carefully designed to taste food. It's also inexpensive and convenient. But the value meals, two-for-one deals, and free refills of soda hive a distorted sense of how much fast food actually costs. The real price never appears on the menu." (9)

+"Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without giving it much thought, unaware of the subtle and not-so-subtle ramifications of their purchases. They rarely consider where the food came from, how it was made, what it is doing to the community around them. They just grab their tray off the counter, find a table, take a seat, unwrap the paper, and dig in. The whole experience is transitory and soon forgotten. I've written this book out of a belief that people should know what lies behind the shiny, happy surface of every fast food transaction." (10)

Introduction: Thoughts

I was surprised at the opening, a description of Cheyenne Mountain Air Force base. I'm actually going on a tour of that soon! But I quickly became more serious. For me, the most striking points Schlosser brought up were the sheer popularity of fast food and its appeal to children. The size of McDonald's was pretty staggering as well! When we were little, my sister and I played soccer. My dad coached my sister's team, and they needed funding. So, in return for money, her team was named the Mickey Dee's. At the time, it seemed pretty harmless. My favourite two passages are the last two quotes I listed. I like that Schlosser doesn't try to pretend; he freely admits that fast food tastes good. I personally don't like a lot of fast food, but I love Wendy's Spicy Chicken sandwiches. Oh-I should probably give a brief background of my own eating history, so that y'all know where I'm coming from. I became a vegetarian at 16, and at 19 I took an eight-month hiatus. Two of those months were spent in the States, getting my system readjusted to meat, and then I went to Russia (I stayed with families, in a very non-vegetarian friendly culture, hence why I started eating meat). On getting back in December (of 2005), I became a veggie again cold-turkey. Then, in April of this year I started eating meat again in preparation for the Peace Corps. I'm probably going to West Africa, and it would be culturally difficult for me to be a veggie there. So, I'm currently a reluctant meat-eater. My dad hunts once a year, so we always have elk in our freezer. In fact, he's getting back tomorrow with this year's meat. Thus, most of the red meat I eat tends to be game. In restaurants, I tend to default to the vegetarian stuff (I love tofu! and bean burgers!), but sometimes I'll eat chicken. We don't eat out all that often, but we tend to go to chains like Chili's and Olive Garden. As far as fast food, sometimes I'll go to Wendy's (and get a Spicy Chicken sandwich) and more frequently I'll go to La Casita (a four-restaurant Mexican chain in Colorado Springs), where I get two or three bean and cheese tacos. I probably go to La Casita once a week, Wendy's every two or three months, and out to eat at other restaurants twice a month. Whew-ok that wasn't so brief. But I thought it was important for y'all to know where I was coming from! That's probably enough for this week. :)

(Very) Short Story Sunday (Monday): Sinclair and Christie

2007-09-18T01:19:00.001-06:00

I've read two more of the selections from Witches' Brew, both of which were rather short. The stories are definitely becomeing more creepy as I move along closer to present day. :) This week, I read "Where Their Fire is Not Quenched" by May Sinclair and "The Lamp" by Agatha Christie.

The former is a somewhat moralising story about a woman who finds herself in Hell. Essentially, she has to repeat the same act, where in life she destroyed love, over and over again. I was incredibly creeped out by the idea of having to relive a bad experience, that you've spent years trying to forget ever happened, for eternity. Ugh.

The latter is a traditional ghost story; you pretty much know what's going to happen, but it's creepy anyway. The ending was quite abrupt; I think that the story could have done with a few more pages to really flesh it out. Nevertheless, a fun, easy ghost read. Nothing particularly deep or psychological about it.

And that pretty much sums it up!

Randomness

2007-09-17T23:53:00.001-06:00

+I'm so sad that I missed Short Story Sunday. :( So I might have to go read a couple stories, come back, and post about them. I ended up crashing at about 8.30 last night, after a very full day, so that explains that.

+When did this blog suddenly become an almost daily thing?! For a long time, I just posted a few times a week, but now I feel bereft if I miss a day. And I have less free time than I have had since June. Weird.

+The new Book Carnival is up: the Classics. Book Nut did an adorable organisational job. And just to remind everyone, I'll be hosting the December one with the very broad theme of "non-fiction." It's not for awhile, but keep it in the back of your heads. ;) Don't know what I'm talking about? Well, go check out Dewey's description already!

+It got really cold here. But I'm actually very excited about it, because it gives me the excuse to wear tights! And drink a ton of hot tea! Plus, the weather feels very R.I.P.-y.

+Speaking of which, I really need to go read those short stories already.

+Oh! And I'm really sorry if some of you read my blog via a blog feed; I've accidently published a post that's planned for tomorrow twice now. :( Both times it happened because I didn't notice the cursor disappeared and hit the enter button. Sorry again.

The Rest Falls Away (thoughts)

2007-09-15T22:40:00.000-06:00

Before I get to the review, just wanted to let everyone know that Dewey has posted guidelines for the 24-hour-read-a-thon she's sponsoring! It'll take place October 20th (a Saturday), and there are a myriad of ways to participate. I definitely want to be a reader, although I'm not really looking forward to waking up at 7 am on a Saturday (mountain time). Everyone go check it out, and mention my name, because then I get to one of Dewey's Most Awesome People Ever (MAPE). :p

On to the review!

Notice the fast turn-around time on this review, the first of Colleen Gleason's vampire series, entitled The Rest Falls Away. ;) For those of you not participating in the R.I.P. II challenge, or who have managed to overlook all of the other reviews, the series is based on the author's curiousity about what life for Buffy (from TV) would have been like if she lived in the Victorian era. I am quite torn about this book, actually. Perhaps all of the glowing reviews I read beforehand built up my expectations a little too much.

Here's the thing. I found it a very enjoyable fluff read. It had a lot of humour, like

Victoria considered the stake for a brief, delicious moment, then regretfully rested it on the table. She had four new polished ash stakes, each to be painted a different color so that they could complement her various gowns. Verbena had suggested ivory, pink, pale green, and blue, and was advocating further decoration using flowers, feathers, and beads. (84)

Oh yes, because we all know how our vampire-killing weapons must coordinate with our outfits. ;) There are several comedic devices used throughout the book; one of the most fun was the chapter titles. I also thoroughly enjoyed the tea parties of the three matrons of society, particularly a certain one's progressively larger crusifixes! The characters were all fun to get to know; not what I'd call particularly deep, or *ahem* realistic, but fun. My favourite is Verbena, the ever-resourceful maid. She kind of reminds me of a nineteenth-century MacGyver, whose talents also include hairdressing. And I'm not gonna lie, there are some passages in the book that explain why it's kept under the 'Romance' section; two of the characters at least seem to qualify this series for the upcoming Swoonworthy Challenge. Take this introduction of a Marquess

Lady Gwendolyn had not exaggerated. Well-turned did not begin to describe the man who stood before her, raising her gloved hand to his lips. He stood as tall as any man in the room, his rich brown hair gleaming with strands of gold as he tipped his head to press a kiss to the back her hand. "If you have not yet greeted everyone, may I dare hope there might be a dance left on your card?" His voice matched his looks-clean, calm, smooth-but his eyes carried a different cadence. Something that made her feel very warm.

Yummy!

But then, Gleason goes and pulls the rug out from under me. It's like you're happily enjoying cotton candy, eating it too quickly because you just can't help yourself, and and suddenly you take a bite and the cotton candy tastes like dill pickle. I am Very Unhappy about the turn one of the characters took. All of you who've read the book know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't feel as if Awful Things should happen in a fluff book; isn't there some unspoken rule about that?

My more serious hesitation as to this book is the writing style. I was frustrated by the author telling me things, instead of showing me them. For example,

"Just what did you think you were doing, Victoria?" he snapped, stalking toward her.

So just in case I didn't pick up from the abruptness of the actual dialogue that this guy snapped, I'm told it. And just in case I didn't figure out that snapping means the guy's probably mad, I'm also told he's stalking. This is an especially easy trap for Gleason to fall into because she uses a rotating third-person point of view.

Despite these writing flaws, the book is a very enjoyable high-adventure romp, and for a first book, the heavy handedness is perhaps understandable. In summary: read this book if you're good with a heavy-adventure, somewhat-sexy piece of funny-for-all-the-right-reasons, plot driven fluff piece. Don't read this book if you only read Serious Literature, or expect extraordinary writing or deep character development.

Death at the Priory and Misc.

2007-09-14T23:10:00.000-06:00

First of all, Stephanie is having a book giveaway! Aren't they just the best? (note to self: have a book giveaway on one-year anniversary) This one is for a copy of Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald, who is signing the copy.

And speaking of book giveaways, my prize for SQT's book giveaway came in today.

Whoot! It's a short story collection based on vampires and birthdays. Yet another addition to the R.I.P. II book pool! Thanks so much SQT. If y'all haven't visited her site, it centers on sci-fi and fantasy, so it's given me a bunch of new reading ideas.

And speaking of vampires (gosh, this post is going quite smoothly), I finished The Rest Falls Away. I also have a review typed up. However, I'm kind of nervous about publishing it. I enjoyed the book, but I also had some issues with the writing style. And it seems like everyone else doesn't have a bad word to say about it, and I don't want to be a wet blanket!

And on that note, I'm going to clunkily transition into tonight's review: Death at the Priory by James Ruddick. I read this for my ongoing non-fic challenge (also known as: Eva decides to torture herself for the rest of 2007). It was a short read, ending at page 189. I chose this book mainly because of its subtitle: Sex, Love, and Murder in Victorian England. And let me tell you, there was quite a bit of the first and last of those but not so much love.

First of all, I thought that a priory was where a member of the clergy lived. Apparently not. The priory in question was owned Florence and Charles Bravo, a newly wed couple whose *cough* marital bliss was ended by the fatal poisoning of Charles. The author, Ruddick, spends the first half of the book on the background of Florence and the events surrounding Charles' death; the second is devoted to Ruddick attempting to solve the crime. As much as I wanted to enjoy this book, about a crime that Agatha Christie called "one of the most mysterious poisoning cases ever created," I just didn't.

I felt that Ruddick went in a little too much for the sensational bits of the story, and he made wild generalisations about Victorian women that weren't backed up by any footnotes. I'm beginning to realise that an easy way to tell if I'm going to enjoy a non-fiction work is the length of the bibliography and the presence of footnotes or endnotes; this one is only three pages long, and it doesn't include *any* general works about Victorian history. That absence is definitely felt throughout the book. I also felt he was rather lurid; in the middle of a discussion about the power struggle between Florence and Charles, he suddenly tells the reader that

Florence made 'grave charges' against her husband over their sexual relationship, claiming that he 'engaged in a persistant line of conduct'. The conduct, it was convincingly alleged, was an*l intercourse.

What?! I mean, I don't think of myself as a prude, but I feel that Ruddick could have found a more tactful way to introduce the topic. He also discussed it quite a bit; while I understand that he finds in it an important motive for murder, since he never tells the reader *how* the conclusion that it even took place was drawn, I found his dwelling on it pretty excessive.

The other problem I had with it centered on part two: when Ruddick decides to figure out who did it via a close examination of the evidence. From the selective way he presents the evidence and, even worse, interprets them, the reader instantly sees his bias. He often defends his assumptions by calling them 'self-evident,' when I found an equally plausible alternative that was never discussed. Let me show you what I mean. When discussing the possibility that Florence's former lover, a doctor who gave the housekeeper a mysterious bottle of poison a bit before the murder, could have done it, Ruddick examines the trial transcript of the lover's testimony.

"Did you put tartar emetic [the poison] into the bottle which you gave Mrs. Cox [the housekeeper]?"
"I had no tartar emetic to place in the bottle. And any suggestion that I did so, from whatever quarter it may come, is a wicked and infamous falsehood."
"Have you ever sed antimony, in your professional capacity?"
"Not for thirty years, not since I went to Malvern. I have not had a grain of it in my possession since 1842."
"Did you have anything to do with Mr. Bravo's death, either directly or indirectly?"
"Upon my solemn oath I declare I had nothing to do with Mr. Bravo's death, either directly or indirectly."
It was a convincing rebuke, firm and forensic.

That last sentence is Ruddick's. I didn't see anything particularly stunning in that testimony; I mean, how many guilty men on the stand are like, "Oh, now that you mention it, I did murder him!"? Ruddick then goes on to offer the definitive evidence of the doctor's innocence:

I discovered that Gully [the doctor] had founded Worcestershire's first Co-Operative Society. He also donated to the poor. He had set up medical charities. I also discovered that he had become chairman of the local council. Everywhere I looked, I found public memorials enshrining his philanthropic character. Cora Weaver, a local historian, told me that when Gully had recovered from a serious illness in 1863, the entire population of the town threw a party to celebrate, parading through the streets, and finishing with an address at his front door. Under these cirumcstances it seemed ridiculous to believe that he was behind Bravo's death.

Because someone who donates to charity is incapable of killing a man? Especially a man abusing a former lover? Really? To me, that seems quite plausible.

That kind of fallacious argumentation made reading this book quite painful; I was internally shouting at Ruddick much of the time. I can't really recommend this book, either as a portrait into Victorian life (since Ruddick didn't do his research) or as a good true crime story. However, it has inspired me to look into the case a little more, in the hopes that a better treatment of it exists.

A Good Day

2007-09-13T00:43:00.000-06:00

Today was one of those days that just leaves you smiling.

First, my amazon order arrived...

Although, seriously, look at how awful a packing job they did! They just tossed the books in and added some brown paper. Poor books. :( Now they'll be loved. (the books are: The Rest Falls Away and Rises the Night by Colleen Gleason, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast, and Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrless; I'll talk more about them later).

Then, I finally broke and bought a poppet! Actually, two poppets: I wanted the Little Purple Poppet to have a friend, so I also got a Little Black Poppet. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go here, and if you know what I'm talking about and want to get one, go here.

Now, I've decided to wait to review Coraline until the poppets come in, so I can take a picture! Yay!

Then, I spent seven hours with a good friend who I hadn't really seen for a couple a weeks. Good day. :)

Latest Acquisitions

2007-09-11T05:31:00.000-06:00

I realised I haven't posted a book pile in awhile! So I suppose the time has come for my latest confessions. :)

First, a member of bookmooch was running a 3-for-1 deal, and I saw two books that'll be great additions to the R.I.P. II challenge (if I get through everything else early). The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr is described as a gothic take on the supernatural Holmes from Hound of the Baskervilles. I adore Laurie King's take on Sherlock Holmes, and I don't expect Carr to live up to her, but this one sounds much spookier. I'm not a Holmes purist, so I'm just hoping for a good story. :) I also grabbed a *gorgeous* edition of The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, which isan awesome take on Dracula. I read it for the first time last year (borrowed it from my mom), and that I've been meaning to buy a copy ever since. Since I got another free pick, I went with Tracy Chevalier's The Virgin Blue, which I've seen recommended here and there. I'm not sure what to expect, since I really didn't enjoy The Lady and the Unicorn, but a friend who's read both assures me that The Virgin Blue is much better. Plus, that happens to be one of my favourite colours!

I ended up mooching quite a bit this past month. I grabbed War in a Time of Peace by David Halberstam after reading about him at Book Chase. He sounds like a great writer, and this book which sounds really interesting and discusses US military action taken during the Clinton era (i.e.-peacekeeping, a topic near and dear to my heart). My final original R.I.P. II challenge pick is The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, based on a glowing review at Super Fast Reader (for sure this time!). A bookmooch member and I made a 'trade' off each other's wishlists, so I got Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (a 'prequel' to Jane Eyre). I also managed to grabThe Golden Compass by Philop Pullman in the Knopf edition. I love the series, but I'm picky about covers, so I already had the second. Now I'm just waiting for the third to appear on bookmooch! Finally, The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander, a historical novel of Russia (another topic near and dear to my heart), which I somehow expected to be as big as The Historian. It's gotten good reviews, but I probably wouldn't have mooched it if I knew how small it was!

All of that leaves three 'guilt' books: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I found them on the 3-for-2 tables at B&N; I've been coveting the Ishiguro forever, plan on reading the See soon, and Midwives sounded very interesting.

Simple Question and The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon

2007-09-11T04:43:00.000-06:00

Question time first (and then an actual review!).

The deadline for the next bookworms carnival is fast approaching. Book Nut's theme is classics, and she's told me that the submissions can be from the beginning of July on. Since I read nine classics for the Summer Reading Challenge, this leaves me with a bit of a dilemma:
should I choose
my post on Emma, which is more personal, but talks about an author everyone knows of,
my post on Cousin Bette and Les Liasons Dangereuses, which is more literary (I use that term broadly), but perhaps a bit dull,
or my post on Candide, The Eustace Diamonds, and The Scarlet Pimpernel, which is quite superficial, but includes two awesome classics that don't get discussed that much?

I just don't know, and I have to decide by Friday. Input would be welcome! (and yes, I'm aware I'm probably taking this too seriously, but I have an indecisive streak as wide as an interstate running through me)

And now, on to a discussion of a real, live book.

I read The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler as part of my personal Reading Across Borders challenge, the sequel. I finished it some time ago, but I wasn't really sure how I felt about it, so I decided to give it time to settle.

Low and behold, I still don't know how I feel about it.

I first heard of it at the Amazon "Grownup School" feature, which asks famous authors for ten book recommendations in a field related to their own. (btw, if you've never checked it out, you ought to fix that. run on over. I'll be waiting) It was recommended as "a murder mystery set in the 16th century during a Christian purge of the Jewish faithful in Lisbon. It's absorbing, full of suspense, and not a little gory in parts but it is also well researched and you can learn a lot whilst being entertained."

Let's examine those claims. First of all, the gore. It's definitely there; Zimler doesn't pull his punches when describing the massacre that occurred. Let me offer a representation of the graphic passages in the first half of this book :

I stared at the [severed] woman's head. Her eyes were not vacant. What then? Recoiling from the world? Taking back the cask now offered me, a shiver twisted through my chest as if made by a fleeing spirit. The bearded man held the dangling head up, licked her cheek twice as if savoring the sweat of a lover. Opening the draw string of his pants, he allowed the filth of his uncircumcised pen*s to unsheathe into the air. The woman's black mouth was pried open by fingers cracked with dirt. To his waist she was held. He began to do something unspeakable. The other watched while pressing himself with the palm of his hand. I dated not close my eyes, but I turned away. When his grunting had finished, he laced his pants together and said, "Be careful where you go. People are being mistaken for Jews!"

Definitely not for the squeamish. Oddly, perhaps, I found this graphic writing to be one of the book's strengths; the reader isn't allowed to politely look away from the atrocities. Zimler really brings the horror and terror and profound evil of it all to the forefront.

So, the book was gorey. But was it also "suspenceful" and "absorbing"? Honestly, not really. Reading this and The Book Thief at the same time was interesting; they both deal with genocides against Jews but in very different ways. I think that the stunning brilliance of The Book Thief has quite a bit to do with my hesitations about The Last Kabbalist: almost any book would pall in comparison. Zusak spends the book making the reader fall in love with both the actual narrator (go Death!) and the pseudo-narrator (Liesl); this empathy is essential to the story. Zimler, on the other hand, makes an adolescent boy the first-person narrator of his tale. And the kid is so self-important and whiny (although perhaps the whining may be excused since he's facing genocide), it really alienates the reader. At least, it alienated this reader. So, while I wanted the murder mystery to be solved, I also couldn't bring myself to pick the book up for long stretches of time. This made it slow going.

On the other hand, I truly enjoyed the way that Zimler incorporated Kabbala into the book; I know the bare outline of the philosophy, and it was fascinating to see how the narrator (when his Kabbala overtook his whining) viewed the world through it. Of course, I can't find any passages now that I want to share them with you. However, I think that it's the incorporation of Kabbala into the book that makes some compare this to Eco's The Name of the Rose. While I can see a general similarity, I would call them second cousins more than long-lost brothers. Eco's control of language, which allows him to just play in his novels, certainly isn't present in Zimler's work. At least, not in this, his first novel.

In the end, I'm still torn about whether to give The Last Kabbalist two stars or four. In terms of themes, and descriptions, it's above average. However, its readability and characters are below. I compromised and gave it three, but that's not really accurate. This book is anything but average.

Favourite Passages:
It was the first time either of us had signalled the verb "to kill" in the first person. We realized our language of gestures had to change to keep up with this new, Old Christian century. (87)

Do you know what it means to look at a headless baby sitting in a shovel? It is as if all thelnaguages in the world have been forgotten, as if all the books ever written have been given up to dust. ANd that you are glad of it. Because such people as we have no right to speak or write or leave any trace for history. (87-8)

Short Story Sunday (Gilman, Atherton, and Wharton)

2007-09-09T21:44:00.000-06:00

This week, I read three stories from the Witches' Brew collection: "The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Striding Place" by Gertrude Atherton, and "Afterward" by Edith Wharton. I very much enjoyed all three, and they felt significantly creepier than last week's reading.

"The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Several people commented on the blog that they weren't huge fans of this story. Aparrently, it's one of those stories that is often part of the high school curriculum, so students have to analyse it to death. I can see how that would make it annoying; however, reading it for pure pleasure, I was impressed! The first sentence is great:

It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.

The story is written as a first-person diary, kept by a woman who is recovering from a "nervous condition" on the orders of her physician-husband. She's staying in the upstairs nursery, which takes up almost the whole floor, and has hideous yellow wall-paper. The diary covers three months, and as time goes on, the narrator becomes more and more captivated by the paper. It's pretty creepy, and an enjoyable read at twenty pages. Towards the end, Gilman can't resist the temptation to wallop the reader over the head with symbolism, but I'll forgive her. ;)
Favourite Passage:
It is the strangest yellow, that wall paper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw-not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things.

"The Striding Place" by Gertrude Atherton
This story is very short: a mere seven pages. However, it has an incredibly creepy last sentence (that I won't share, for obvious reasons). It follows Weigall, who is part of a hunting party a England, and goes out later that night to walk and think. His best friend has disappeared a couple of days earlier, and while Weigall is almost sure that it's a prank, he's still nervous. The writing is very polished; I'd never heard of Atherton before, but I'm impressed with her descriptive ability. For example,

He went down to the river and followed the path through the woods. There was no moon, but the stars sprinkled their cold light upon the pretty belt of water flowing placidly past wood and ruin, between green masses of overhanging rocks or sloping banks tangled with tree and shrub, leaping occasionally over stones with the harsh notes of an angry scold, to recover its equanimity the moment the way was clear again.

I think, based on this story, I'll be seeking out more of Atherton's work.
Favourite Passage:
"You believe in the soul as an independent entity, then-that it and the vital principle are not one and the same?"
"Absolutely. The body and soul are twins, life comrades-sometimes friends, sometimes enemies, but always loyal in the last instance."

"Afterward" by Edith Wharton
I love Wharton's novels, but this was my first experience with her short stories. "Afterward" is rather on the long side, coming in at thirty-five pages, but it needs that length to really develop its narrative. I was most impressed by the first three-quarters of the story, when Wharton is setting the mood. An American couple, having struck it rich through some kind of mining speculation, move to England and settle into an old county seat. They've been told that it has a ghost, but there's a twist: no one realises it's a ghost until long afterward. Hmmm...I wonder what will happen? ;) Wharton's narrative ability is very impressive, but I felt that towards the end the story began to fall apart. Granted, it's told from one character's p.o.v., and that character is very distraught, but I felt the writing slacked a little. Then, it picked back up at the very end. I don't think I'd have noticed the poorer quality of the little penultimate section, except that the writing surrounding it so good. I'd like to get my hands on the collection of Wharton's ghost stories one day (jealous of Petunia). The story also wasn't quite as hair-raising; I think because it's more of a conventional ghost story than the other two. Still well worth reading!
Favourite Passage:
"I should never believe I was living in an old house unless I was thoroughly uncomfrtable," Ned Boyne, the more extravagant of the two, had jocosely insisted; "th eleast hint of 'conveniance' would make me think it had been bought out of an exhibition, with th epieces numbered, and set up again." And they had proceeded to enumerate, with humorous precision, their various doubts and demands, refusing to believe that the house their cousin recommend was really Tudor till they learned it had no heating system, or that the village church was literally on the grounds, and till she assured them of the deplorable uncertainty of the water-supply.

Distractions

2007-09-08T21:47:00.000-06:00

I haven't read at all yesterday or today! That almost never happens. But, yesterday, I got my amazon order in...

Based on my previously mentioned obssession with The Office, then I had to have a marathon viewing session. I've now finished it (I only saw a few-maybe four-episodes while it was being aired), and I was very, very impressed. I am so excited for season four!

And then, I went to see this movie tonight-you guys probably haven't even heard of it-but it's based on a novel, apparently by some author called Ned? No..Neil. ;) Yep-I just got back from Stardust!!! I was kind of nervous going in, because I really liked the book, but I haven't read the book in quite a while (going to reread it soon), so I figured I was safe. And it was so much fun. :D Especially how Tristan suddenly becomes super-hot half way through. I'm thinking Stardust will be on the list of Swoonworthy Reads now! Come on...take a look (note my shameless cropping of as much of the girls as possible)...

It's amazing what some hair texture and a kickass coat can do! Of course, the knee high boots + pantaloons certainly don't hurt. ;)

Well, I was just checking in. I promise there's bookish talk to come soon! And for now...well, I'll be basking the afterglow of Stardust. Hope everyone's having a good weekend!

Edited to add: in the preview, all of the pictures of Tristan were lined up, but in the actual blog, they're taking up more space. *pout*

The Fatal Flaw

2007-09-06T00:21:00.000-06:00

When I signed up for all of these challenges, I knew my own limits. After all, I thought to myself, I've been averaging 14 books a month this year, so I should be able to handle it. Ah, hubris. Because here's what I failed to consider: if all of the books I'm reading are for challenges, then I have to review them all. Oy. Currently, I'm two books behind, and the month is five days old. We'll see how this goes, shall we? Especially since I like writing non-review posts as well!

On the plus side, I've been very impressed with the blogosphere lately (not that I'm not always impressed). And I have some thoughts and links to share. :)

+First off, there's a Jane Austen reading schedule up at Brooklyn Arden. I've read all of Austen's works, most multiple times, and this calendar seems spot it; it has a book every two months and is mainly based on seasons.

+The new Estella's Revenge is out, and I very much enjoyed it. My favourite articles? "The Seven Deadly Reading Sins," "Confessions of a Closet Reader," "Confessions of a Hopeless Book Addict (Photo Essay)" (go bookfool!), and "Confessing a Literary Crush."

+Oh, and there was an interview with Mark Zusak (the author of the book that wrung my heart recently). Who knew how cute he was?! Good looking, reads, writes...I'm thinking I might have to move to Australia. ;)

+On an almost-unrelated topic, that last Estella article I mentioned segues nicely into an idea I've been toying with for awhile now. I even have a draft post to prove it. :) It's an idea for a challenge, but for sometime in 2008 (definitely including February), based on literary crushes. Something like "Swoonworthy Reads" (yep, corny, I know). I think it would be a lot of fun to compile a list of everyone's favourite crushes and then pick however many books to read. And of course I'd have to do something special for Valentine's Day. And I'm thinking at least one of the buttons would involve a certain wet-shirted gentleman we all know and love. ;) So, begin brainstorming all of your crushes! (of course, crushes on girl characters are welcome as well!)

+I guess I'll start with my first literary crush ever. That would be Gilbert from the Anne of Green Gables series. He was tall, intelligent, kind, but also mischevious. How could I resist the twinkle in his eye? I reread most of the series several times as a kid, and in the early ones I would get very, very upset with Anne for her treatment of him. But it all comes together in the end. :) Oh, that night when he was at death's door...I was afraid to get to the end of the chapter. What if L.M. Montgomery does the unthinkable? How awful would that be?! And relief flooded me as fully as it flooded Anne at sunrise. Whew. I might have to make this a regular feature leading up to the challenge; crush of the month. lol

+It's almost time for the next edition of the Bookworms Carnival. It's hosted at Book Nut, and its theme is classics. The deadline is September 14th; I'm not sure if the submitted posts have to be recent or not. As a shameless plug, I'll be hosting the December carnival with the theme of "non-fiction." (hmmm-I wonder why that could be?)

+Watch this space for: why Coraline confirms that Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite-est authors, my mixed feelings on The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon and how it might be connected to The Book Thief, and a pile of my latest bookmooches.

+Oh! And check out my thoughts on The Ghost Writer below this. I have the sneaking suspicion a lot of y'all would like it. :)

The Ghost Writer

2007-09-05T20:10:00.000-06:00

Imagine that A.S. Byatt's Possession and Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale had a baby. Now imagine that Henry James agreed to play godfather, but Charles Dickens also popped in from time to time.

That baby's name is The Ghost Writer, and John Harwood is the proud papa. I read about this book on a blog; I used to think it was over at superfastreader's, but now a search on her site isn't bringing up the title. So if you've reviewed The Ghost Writer lately, let me know so I can give some credit. :) It duly went on the TBR list; then, the R.I.P. II challenge appeared, so I went off to bookmooch. There, I obtained a *gorgeous* copy (it looks like it's never been read before), and the cover has been teasing me for the past week. I mean, look at it:

I was planning on waiting awhile for this one, since I just finished my first R.I.P. II read; but, as Oscar Wilde puts it, "I can resist everything except temptation." Then, I was planning on reading it only at night; that would make it creepier and make it last awhile longer. But today was full of thunderstorms, and the baby took a really long nap, and that cover was just crying out to me.

I finished it about half an hour ago, but I wasn't go to review it; I was going to review a couple other books I finished earlier for other challenges. However, the perfect introduction formed in my head, so I had to run on over to blogger and share the news.

This book kicks ass.

For all of you who enjoyed The Thirteenth Tale, for its shamelessly gothic plot twists and book references, for all of you who loved Byatt's use of several distinct styles in Possession, I have someone I'd like you to meet.

The Ghost Writer tells the story of Gerard, an Australian librarian (told you it was for bookish people) who grows up on his mother's stories about her idyllic childhood in England. When he's thirteen, he gets a British penpal, Alice, who he tells about the mysterious photo and story he found hidden in his mother's vanity. The story was written by "VH," which happen to be the initials of his great-grandmother, Viola Hatherley; after Gerard finds the photo and story, his mother refuses to talk about England ever again. Meanwhile, Gerard and Alice become close friends, and Gerard decides to travel to England. While there, he explores the mystery of his mother's past, coming across more stories written by VH. As events get eerier and eerier, Gerard begins to wonder...is he going crazy? Or stuck in the middle of a ghost story?

The best part of this novel are VH's stories; they're all included, and take up 167 pages (of 369). Harwood has done a very good job of weaving them into the plot, but really these stories (they're all ghost stories) could stand alone in their own collection. They're just stunning (and very creepy); I hope that Harwood writes more of VH's tales in the future.

There are weaknesses to the book: sometimes Gerard seems incredibly dense (I was on to the twist by at least half way through, whereas Gerard can't figure it out until the very, very end) and the ending is quite abrupt. While I personally enjoy endings that leave a lot up to the reader to figure out, some people might feel annoyed. The ending definitely leaves room for a sequel, or related book, with more of VH's work, which made me very excited.

I realise that perhaps I should provide a sample passage from one of VH's stories, so that y'all can recognise the sudden obssession I have; the following is from "The Gift of Flight." The main character, Julia, was reading the the British Museums's Reading Room when she suddenly looked up and realised the room was blanketed in a thick fog. Then she hears someone sit down in the chair next to her...

Very slowly, keeping her eyes on the fog-bank between herself and her invisible companion, Julia began to ease herself off her chair, hoping to slip away silently in the other direction, towards the catalogue. Her chair creaked loudly, and as it did so the wall of fog to her left rose up like a curtain.
In that first glimpse, Julia was relieved, though startled, to discover that the chair beside her was occupied by a child, a little girl of no more than eight, with golden curls and pink cheeks, dressed in a starched white frock and petticoat. The reassurance lasted only an instant. There was something fixed and unnatural about the bright, smiling face turned towards Julia, and especially about the eyes, which had been slightly downcast, but suddenly opened wide with an audible click. They were the shoe-button eyes of a doll; the face looked as hard and rigid as porcelain; and yet the creature was alive, for it was swinging its legs around with evident intention of sliding off its chair and coming over to Julia.

Isn't the writing beautiful?

I'm very glad that I read The Ghost Writer for the R.I.P. II challenge; it almost seems like it could be the poster child for the challenge, since it's very gothic and focuses on ghosts. Another one I'd recommend to just about anyone; it's both literary and a page-turner. Gosh, it seems that so far the R.I.P. II challenge can do no wrong! Two great books down; I hope the other two can live up to them. :)

Something Wicked This Way Comes (thoughts)

2007-09-04T01:17:00.000-06:00

I started off the R.I.P. II challenge with Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes. Thus, the first words to greet my eyes were

First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys.

Very appropriate! And the book just kept getting better.

I've never read anything by Ray Bradbury before; I haven't actively avoided him, but he wasn't on my TBR shortlist. I have a friend who's in (platonic) love with Bradbury, and who has corresponded with him for several years. Somehow, his enthusiasm never wore off on me. Now, I'm going to have to eat crow. Because Ray Bradbury can write. Man, can he write.

Wait, maybe I should back up a little. A quick, no-spoilers, no-details plot review is in order. A carnival comes to a sleepy, Midwestern town. But this is no ordinary carnival: it's supernatural, and very evil. Best friends Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway (born a minute after and a minute before Halloween, respectively) get on the wrong side of the carnival and find themselves locked in a battle of good and evil.

The book has an interesting feel to it; as you're reading, you almost feel as if you're hallucinating in parts. The point of view shifts between characters, and each character seems to go off on his (usually his) own thought tangents; the reader gets carried along for the ride. For example,

Boy, it's the same old thing. I talk. Jim runs. I tilt stones, Jim grabs the cold junk under the stones and-lickety split! I clumb hills. Jim yells off church steeples. I got a bank account. Jim's got the hair on his head, the yell in his mouth, the shirt on his back, and the tennis shoes on his feet. How come I think he's richer? Because, Will thought, I sit on the rock in the sun and old Jim, he prickles his arm-hairs by moonlight and dances with hoptoads. I tend cows. Jim tames Gila monsters. Fool! I yell at Jim. Coward! he yells back. And here we-go!

I very much enjoyed these digressions, since Bradbury is such an awesome writer. I think he can pull of stream-of-consciousness. :)

However, for those readers who prefer action to thought, there is a definite plot line to follow, and Bradbury provides a very satisfactory, concrete ending. As the book progresses, the plot picks up, and the dreamy sequences are cut to a minimum. The book also gets creepier and creepier, as the boys progress from feeling in danger generally, to being terrified of very specific people. Reading the book rather feels like following a triangle; from a very broad beginning, everything begins to narrow to a sharp point. This style increases the tension, and by about two-thirds of the way through it, there was no way I wanted to put it down.

**Note: the next two parts have very general spoilers, i.e.-they discuss events that happen pretty far along in the book. It doesn't give away the ending, but I thought I'd let you know nonetheless, in case you're planning on reading the book soon and want a complete surprise. The spoiler section ends at the photo.**

While I love both the boys, my favourite character was Will's father. He goes on an incredible journey through the book. When we first meet him, we're in the library...

Way down the third book corridor, an oldish man whispered his broom along in the dark, mounding the fallen spices...Will stared. It was always a surprise-the old man, his work, his name. That's Charles William Halloway, thought Will, not grandfather, not far-wandering, anciet uncle, as some might think, but...my father.

From these inauspicious beginnings, Charles becomes a kickass, evil-fighting, son-protecting super hero. Best of all, his main plan of attack: researching in the library! Charles is at home in the library, and Bradbury gives him his best soliloquays in those musty corridors. A short sample:

The stuff of nightmare is their plain bread. They butter it with pain. They set their clockes by deathwatch beetles, and thrive the centuries. They were the men with the leather-ribbon whips who sweated up the Pyramids seasoning it with other people's salt and other people's cracked hearts. They coursed Europe on the White Horses of the Plague. They whispered to Caesar that he was mortal, then sold daggers half-price in the grand March sale.

Speaking of the library, I loved how important it was to the book. The creepiest scene, by far, takes place there: Jim and Will are hiding from the Mr. Dark, aka The Illuminated Man, who runs the carnival, and who isn't happy with them. It's a five-page chapter of simple incredible writing. Unfortunately, I can't share it all. But here's a taste (no spoilers, I promise):

Somewhere in the recumbent solitudes, the motionless but teeming millions of books, lost in two dozen turns right, three dozen turns left, down aisles, through corridors, toward dead ends, locked doors, half-empty shelves, somewhere in the literary soot of Dickens' London, or Dostoevsky's Moscow or the steppes beyond, somewhere in the vellumed dust of atlas or Geographica, sneezes pent but set like traps, the boys crouched, stood, lay sweating a cool and constant brine.
Somewhere hidden, Jim thought: He's coming!
Somewhere hidden, Will though: He's near!
"Boys...?"

If that doesn't make you want to read the whole book, check out the best chapter ever:
To sum up: this was the perfect start to R.I.P. II. I love Ray Bradbury. Go read Something Wicked This Way Comes.

More Favourite Passages
They opened the door and stepped in.
They stopped.
The library deeps lay waiting for them.
Out in the world, not much happened. But here in the special night, a land bricked with paper and leather, anything might happen, always did. Listen! and you heard ten thousand people screaming so high only dogs feathered their ears. A million folk ran toting cannons, sharpening guillotines; Chinese, four abreast, marched on forever. Invisible, silent, yes, but Jim and Will had the gift of ears and noses as well as the gift of tongues. This was a factory of spices from far countries. Here alien deserts sulmbered. Up front was the desk where the nice old lady, Miss Watriss, purple-stamped your books, but down off away were Tibet and Antarctica, the Congo. There went Miss Wills, the other librarian, though Outer Mongolia, calmly toting fragments of Peiping and Yokohama and the Celebes. (13)

It was the silence that made Will pull back, even as Jim leaned forward, eyes moon-bright.
A carnival should be all growls, roars like timberlands stacked, bundled, rolled and crashed, great explosions of lion dust, men abalze with working anger, pop bottles jangling, horse buckles shivering, engines and elephants in full stampede through rains of sweat while zebras neighed and trembled like cage trapped in cage.
But this was like the old movies, the silent theater haunted with black-and-white ghosts, silvery mouths opening to let moonlight smoke out, gestures made in silence so hushed you could hear the wind fizz the hair on your cheeks. (51-2)

Will slung off lim-falling clothes with tipsy arms and delightfully aching legs, and like a fall of timber chopped himself to bed... (140)

"For some, autumn comes early, stays late through life where Octoboer follows Septmeber and November touches October and then instead of December and Christ's birth, there is no Bethlehem Star, no rejoicing, but September comes again and old October and so on down the years, with no winter, spring, or revivifying summer. For these beings, fall is the ever normal season, the only weather, there be no choice beyond. Where do they come from? The dust. Where do they go? The grave. Does blood stir their veins? No: the night wind. What ticks in their head? The worm. What speaks from their mouth? The toad. What sees from their eye? The snake. What hears with their ear? The abyss between the stars. They sift the human storm for souls, eat flesh of reason, fill tombs with sinners. They frenxy forth. In gusts they beetle-scurry, creep, thread, filter, motion, make all moons sullen, and surely cloud all clear-run waters. The spider-web hears them, trembles-breaks. Such are the autumn people. Beware of them." (192-3)

Short Story Sunday (Radcliffe and Shelley)

2007-09-02T23:44:00.000-06:00

One of Carl's perils for the R.I.P. II challenge was to discuss scary short stories every Sunday. Mine will come from Witches' Brew, a collection of gothic and scary stories by women writers. There are seventeen stories, so I'll discuss two or three a week. In the collection, they're arranged in chronological order, and I think this is a good way to approach it. That way, I can watch styles evolve. :)

This week, I read "The Haunted Chamber" by Ann Radcliffe and "The Last Man" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Both of these women are known for their gothic works: Radcliffe brough the genre to popularity with works such as The Mysteries of Udolpho, and Shelley created a horror legend with Frankenstein.

"The Haunted Chamber" by Ann Radcliffe
I haven't read any of Radcliffe's novels (although I know a little about them from Northanger Abbey) so I wasn't sure what to expect. "The Haunted Chamber" is about eighteen pages long, and it tells the story of Ludovico who agrees to spend then night in the haunted wing of a chateau and duel the spirits within (he actually receives a sword to do this). Within that plot, Radcliffe provides readers with another ghost story, since Ludovico has chosen (wisely?) to occupy himself with a book of Provencal folktales. I found myself both disappointed in and enjoying Radcliffe's style. I enjoyed her descriptions of the chateau, and the way she structured passages. However, I needed more specifics. Instead of just having the servants scared and screaming, I wanted to see a ghostly lady, or something like that. At one point, we do hear music, and voice so exquisite as to appear un-human, but that's the only specific haunting in the story. I wanted the hairs on the back of my neck to rise, and they never did. Also, in a little footnote at the end of the story, Radcliffe explains away all the ghostly incidents with a Scooby-Doo feeling revelation. I thought it would have been a better story without that! Nevertheless, I think that I'd really enjoy Radcliffe in novel form, so I'll definitely be picking up some of her books.

Favourite Passage:
...this led to the question, whether the spirit, after it has quitted the body, is ever permitted to revisit the earth; and if it is, whether it was possible for spirits to become visible to the sense? The baron was of opinion, that the first was probably, and the last was possible; and he endeavoured to justify this opinion by respectable authorities, both ancient and modern, whih he quoted. The count, however, was decidedly against him; and a long conversation ensued, in which the usual arguments on these subjects were on both sides brought forward with skill and discussed with candour, but without converting either party to the opinion of his opponent. The effect of their conversation on their auditors was various. Though the count had much the superiority of the baron in point of argument, he had fewer adherents: for that love, so natural to the human mind, of whatever is able to distend its faculties with wonder and astonishment, attached the majority of the company to the side of the baron...

"The Last Man" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
This is a post-apocalyptic tale, set in France. The survivors of a massive plague have banded together and are walking from Versailles to Switzerland, but really just passing time until they too die. Over the course of their trip, their numbers are reduced from 1500 to 50; meanwhile, they have several spooky encounters which end up having rational explanations. Finally, the meat of the story, is the ending; the survivors find a lone girl playing the organ for her blind father, who isn't aware of the plague that has decimated everything around him.
Shelley painted an effective picture of people coming to terms with the inevitably of death, both of themselves and their loved ones. Really, the story seems an meditation on the tragic insignificance of people. This one really touched me, especially knowing some of Shelley's background. Her own life was surrounded by so much death, I think she had a unique ability to draw this kind of world. In fact, I wish that this short story was at least a novella; it's rich enough in material to warrant that.
Favourite Passage:
But the game is up! We must all die; nor leave survivor nor heir to the wide inheritance of earth. We must all die! The species of man must perish; his frame of exquisite workmanship; the wondrous mechanism of his senses; the noble proportion of his godlike limbs; his mind, the throned king of these; must perish. Will the earth still keep her place among the planets; will she still journey with unmarked regularity around the planets; will the seasons change, the trees adorn themselves with leaves, and flowers shed their fragrance, in solitude? Will the mountains remain unmoved, and the strems still keep a downward course towards the vast abyss; will the tides rise and fall, adn the winds fan universal-nature; will beasts pasture, birds fly, and the fishes swim, when man, the lord, possessor, perceiver, and recorder of all these things, has passed away, as though he had never been? O, what mockery is this!

The Best Laid Plans

2007-09-02T04:09:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to post on my bookpiles of TBR on September 1st. And then what happened? Yesterday seemed to slip away...

+my sister's in town, so that's super fun

+I got a great new hair cut!

+we run a lot of errands

+we watched a couple movies

Thus, the piles come to you a day late. I've divided them up into fic and non-fic-apologies for the bad lighting. For some reason, my overhead light refuses to turn on, and it's dark outside, so the only alternative is a flash. :)

Here're the plans for this month's non-fic, from top to bottom (all for my personal non-fic challenge):
Death at the Priory by James Ruddick: it's as close to cozy English mystery novel I can get to and still be reading truth. I've been looking forward to this for months!
Fast Food Nation by Eric Sclosser: I think it'll be an interesting read (I'm already a vegetarian, so I'm not sure how much it'll affect my eating habits); I'd like to get it done this month so I can get it back on bookmooch, and let someone else read it.
Reason For Hope by Jane Goodall: I plan on reading one memoir/biography a month, and I thought this one would be a good antidote to all of the creepy fiction I'll be reading!
Stiff by Mary Roach: after the disappointing Spook, I'm not expecting much the second go-round. I'd like to get this read so it can get back on book mooch as well. Plus, it seems very appropriate for the R.I.P. II challenge!
The Persian Puzzle by Kenneth Pollack: a continuation from last months' reading. I'm enjoying it, but the tiny print makes it a slower read.
Making War to Keep Peace by Jeane Kirkpatrick. I read about this in the NYT book review this weekend, and my library had a copy. Considering that I did a huge research project my senior of college on peace keeping, I think it'll be fun to read what Kirkpatrick has to say. :)

Now for the dessert side of this month's reading: fiction! Once again taking it from the top...

A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters: one of my Unread Authors challenge selections. I think I'll be in the mood for a mystery at some point, and I've heard good things about this series. :)
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen: one of my R.I.P. II choices. Don't you love the Gothic type font?! Very excited about this!
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: a reread for the Reading the Author challenge. I'm looking forward to revisiting this; I haven't read it in a couple of years.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: another R.I.P. II book, which I started last night (after midnight). I'm already entranced.
The Ghost Writer by John Harwood: I'm not sure if I'll get to this one this month or next (it's another R.I.P. II selection), but look at the creepy spine. How could I not include it in the pile?
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen: for the Outmoded Authors Challenge. I'm excited to visit Ireland in the prewar years, on a plantation no less; it'll be a new experience for me!
Embers by Sandor Marai: for my personal Reading Across Borders challenge; this is a Hungarian novel. I love Vintage Press-their books are always so pretty. :)
The War of the Saints by Jorge Amado: a carryover from last month (I'm about a third of the way through), and another Reading Across Borders choice. So far, I'm loving it! Its happiness and hope is a good antidote to the spookier books.
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen: for the Book to Movie challenge. I ILLed it, so I have to finish it by October 4th. It sounds interesting: a nun at a convent shows signs of, well, ecstasy. Is it real?
Witches Brew: my already-discussed source for the Sunday Short Story aspect of R.I.P. II (expect my first post later today). I probably won't finish it this month; I'll try to spread it evenly over the whole challenge.

Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about my goals for this month! Well, I'm off to read more Bradbury; I'm only reading it at night, so as not to ruin the great writing with bright sunshine. Happy Labour Day weekend to all my fellow Americans. :)

Southern Reading Challenge Wrap-Up (and a confession)

2007-08-31T13:57:00.000-06:00

First, my confession: I've begun reading for my September challenges two days earlier. I just couldn't help myself. However, I'm not going to talk about them or list them until tomorrow. :)

Maggie hosted the Southern Reading Challenge, where participants were expected to read 3 books set in Southern places and written by Southern authors between June 1st and August 31st. Meanwhile, Maggie provided a lot of info about Southern authors, gave away a whole bunch of pecans, and hosted a Sense of Place contest, where readers had to find a picture to match a descriptive passage in one of their Southern books. I finished all three of my choices...
Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Cane River by Lalita Tademy

The best book: Delta Wedding, but I loved them all!
What book could I have done without? None!
Any new authors? All of them. :)
Books I did not finish: None!
What did I learn from this challenge? That reading Southern lit is great, and I should do more of it. :) Also, I learned quite abit about the Creole culture, which was neat.

(Note: thanks to Nyssaneala for the idea to have questions!)

Summer Mystery Challenge Wrap-Up

2007-08-30T14:18:00.000-06:00

For the Summer Mystery Challenge, hosted at Reviewed by Liz, participants were requred to read books by six new-to-them authors between June 1st and August 31st. I completed six selections, with one substitution (James for Pears):

Secret History by Donna Tartt
From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell
The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas
Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James
Death at Bishop's Keep by Robin Paige

The best book: Some Danger Involved, followed closely by Death in Holy Orders.
What book could I have done without? The Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
Any new authors? They're all new-that was the point!
Books I did not finish: Fingerpost.
What did I learn from this challenge? That it's ok to abandon a book if you're really, really not enjoying it. Also, I really want to read more by Thomas and James. Of course, the most important thing that I learned is that my favourite mystery writers really are better than most!

(Note: thanks to Nyssaneala for the idea to have questions!)

Books on Books

2007-08-29T22:45:00.000-06:00

Oh, for checking things off to-do lists. :) I'm finally getting around to discussing two books I've read recently: A Gentle Madness by Nicholas Basbanes and How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen.

The latter is a very short, very light meditation on being a reader. I enjoyed hearing her love of books, but certain things bothered me. First, for only 80 pages, she spends a lot of time whining about literary/books criticism. Secondly, she mentions a couple times that she loves books more than her kids. I find that sentiment slightly repugnant (although, I know I'm not in a position to judge because I don't have children, my current job is nanny to my niece, so I know how exhausting it is to run after an 18 month old all day), but more importantly, I can't believe she'd write that in a public forum. What if her kids read that someday?! So, the sweetness of her obvious obsession with reading was, for me, counterbalanced by these quibbles. People who can look over past this will probably enjoy this: it's like reading a highly polished blog entry, almost.

The former is a tome. Its official page length is 668; however, the actual book ends in the 500s (the rest is notes and an impressive bibliography). Basbanes discusses book collectors (very different from reading lovers), historical in part one, and contemporary (through the 80s) in part two. Each chapter focuses a different book collector, as well as the book collection, however it branches into related topics as well. Some chapters were really, really interesting; others were more skim-worthy. My favourites were his "America, Americans, Americana," which discussed early-American collectors, "Mirror Images" which discussed collectors with eccentric collections that reflected their personalities, "Instant Ivy," which is all about UT Austin (go Longhorns!), and "Obsessed Amateurs," which is self-evident. I loved reading about the children's books collections. :) The book was an uneven one, but I'd recommend it to people who are willing to skim when necessary! For me, the most frustrating part was that most of the collectors were obscenely wealthy; I couldn't relate to them at all. Plus, it wasn't a book about loving books, it was a book about coveting them. I expected something a ltitle different. Nonetheless, I'm glad I read it. I don't want to buy a copy for myself, however.

This turned out to be a much shorter discussion than I expected it to be. I guess that both of my books on books were a disappointment, which limits my desire to discuss them. Do y'all have suggestions for books on books that you've loved?

Edited to add, I guess I was in a negative mood last night. While neither of the books lived up to expectations, they were both enjoyable, average reads. So, don't be turned off by my overly pessimistic view of them: sometimes, we approach a book with such high expectations, it's almost impossible for it to live up to them!

Famous Last Words

2007-08-28T21:51:00.001-06:00

Remember how I said that R.I.P. II would be my last challenge? Well, then I visited Incurable Logophilia, and saw that the "Reading the Author" challenge is up. It starts in September and goes through 2007. You pick one author and read at least three books written by him/her. And I've decided to pick Neil Gaiman.

Why? A number of reasons...

1) I own all of his novels (and his first ss collection) except for American Gods and Coraline. This is a good excuse to plug that hole.

2) I've read all of the books I picked except for Sandman and Coraline. So, most of the challenge will be an excuse to indulge in rereading one of my favourite authors.

3) This is a good chance to try out this type of challenge on an old favourite. If it goes well, I'll try it out with other authors (short list? Walter Scott, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison).

And while we're on the subject of book lists, here're the short story collections that will furnish my Spooky Story Marathon end to the R.I.P. II challenge on Halloween:
The Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul
Haunted by Joyce Carol Oates
Magic Terror by Peter Straub
Strange Highways by Dean Koontz
and my personal favourite...The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales ed. Chris Baldick.

Am I certifiable? Perhaps. But I figure I might as well shoot high! I can always cut back on my non-fic reading. ;)

Potpourri of Thoughts

2007-08-27T12:39:00.001-06:00

+I really need to do a review of Books on Books: I've recently completed both A Gentle Madness and How Reading Changed My Life. They were very different, in both length (80 pages v. 500+) and content. But both interesting.

+I'm trying to figure out how I feel about The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler. I just finished it after a marathon session; I realised that if I didn't force myself to read it to the end, I'd never finish. I think I'm going to let the story ferment in my mind for awhile.

+I'm putting together a pile of September's books, inspired by Danielle over at A Work in Progress. It should be a fun stack, considering all of the challenges that begin!

+I've thought of a supplement to the R.I.P. II challenge: marathon scary-story reading on October 31st. I have a list of short story collections available at my library that I'll post. Somehow, I think SS work a little better than novels for a marathon!

+I've decided to modify my personal non-fic challenge: instead of seven books/month, I'll read six books/month and completely read The Economist every week. I love it, and I've been neglecting it lately! Also, and this is super-cool, they're providing a free audio version of the complete magazine every week. So I can listen to it while I do yoga! (side note: I know that a lot of people do yoga for the meditative benefits, and listening to the news during Downward Dog sounds sacreligious, but I do yoga to help my muscles, and sometimes I get bored)

That about sums up what's going through my head right now. That, and when did August slip away?!

The Book Thief (thoughts)

2007-08-25T11:16:00.000-06:00

Let me preface this: I try to avoid the Holocaust. I mean, I'm aware that it happened, and I find it inexpressibly sad, but I refuse to watch movies about it. Inevitably, I start crying so hard that I can't see the screen, so it's pointless anyway. I also avoid war movies for the same reason; I can cry at anything involving soldiers. I cried at Pirates of the Caribbean (when the British soldiers are valiantly, hopelessly fighting the immortal pirates): obviously, I have a bit of a problem. It's taken me almost an entire year to read Samantha Power's Pulitzer-winning A Problem From Hell: America in an Age of Genocide. Each chapter chronicles a different genocide, and I can only handle one every month or so. So, although I've read numerous rave reviews about The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I had no intention of reading it. Much as I loved the idea of Death as a narrator, I just didn't think I could bring myself to read a book set in Nazi Germany.

And then, as I was browsing the shelves of my library, I saw it sitting there.

And it had a super-cool cover.

And no one else had checked it out.

And that just seemed wrong.

Long story short, I checked it out on Thursday, and started reading it yesterday. I got up to around page 400, then this morning I woke up and finished the rest. As expected, this morning was a tearfest. I was sobbing and shaking and whimpering into a blanket. Needless to say, I was very glad to be alone. I was also very glad that I had read it.

A lot of you have already read this book, or at least heard about it. For those of you who may not, a one-sentence summary. Liesel is a pre-teen in Nazi Germany, whose life Death became interested in, so he's now sharing with us the formative years, from when she was 11 to when she was 14.

When you pick up a book like this, you know it's going to be tragic. I mean, there will be light points, and some characters might end well, but you know that for the majority of characters, something bad will happen. Furthermore, Death foreshadows throughout the book, so the reader knows the ending by about half way through. But the ending isn't the point: it's the getting there that matters.

First of all, I loved the way this book was published. It uses several type scripts, including a special bold centered one with astericks for Death's asides. It makes the book all the more interesting. Also, a certain character within the book ends up making his own book. He paints white over the pages of Mein Kampf and then draws and writes his own stories. Several of these pages are included within the book, and it's just so cool to look at. When I got to the first of these selections, I knew that I was in the hands of an incredible author.

Also, Zusak freely mixes German in with the English. He does it in a way that the reader always knows what the words mean, but the little sprinklings provide a lot of authenticity. The setting is essential to this book, and the author really brings it alive. You know that you're in Germany, and that you couldn't possibly be anywhere else.

This is the kind of book that gets under your skin: at first, you know you're enjoying it, then slowly you realise you don't want to put it down, and finally, even though you know it's going to be horrible, you have to keep reading until the bitter end. And trust me, Zusak delivers.

For me, the real magic of the book is that part of it is simply a coming of age story. Liesel learns more about herself, more about others, and experiences the ups and downs of puberty. The way that Zusak mixes this in with insights into Nazi Germany makes this much more than a WWII/Holocaust book. It's a book that explores how people hate, and how people love, and, ultimately, the incredible power of words over peoples' lives. It's triumphant, tragic, heartrending, and all of those other adjectives whose use has become hackneyed. This book breathes fresh life into all of them.

All in all, I'd say that this is the kind of book that everyone should read, since it's essentially about humanity. However, I'd also caution readers to make sure they don't have company when they're reading the end; Zusak knows just how to bring out emotions. This isn't a beach book by any means, but it's an important book.

I'm not going to share favourite passages yet; the book is still too raw for me to go back and find them. Perhaps I'll add them eventually.

Booking Through Thursday (err..Friday)

2007-08-24T08:36:00.000-06:00

I always enjoy reading people's Booking Through Thursday entries, but I've never felt an overwhelming desire to answer one of the questions. Until I saw this week's question.

When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

My mom is a huge book reader as well, and she and I definitely bonded over books. When my sister was little, she read quite a bit as well (though never with the all-consuming passion I experienced), but now she doesn't read all that much. My dad read a little but not like my mom did. Here're my favourite family book-loving memories

+My mom and I read classics together before bedtime. Two most memorable? Little Women, which I took camping with us; the first night in the cabin is when a major character dies (I don't want to spoil it). Will always remember where I was. The other one is Phantom of the Opera-I tried to read it by myself in 6th grade. I got to the chapter where Christine disappears behind the mirrors, and chucked it across the room in frustration. So, Mom and I read it together. Then, for me 12th birthday (the next year, when we had moved to England), we went and saw the musical at Her Majesty's Theatre. I still have my sweatshirt, with the Phantom's mask that glows in the dark.

+Every other week (in elementary school), my sister and I received a $4 allowance. However, if we wanted to buy a book with it, Mom would pay for half of the book (meaning, I could get two books!). My 2nd grade teacher had retired and opened a bookstore, so we'd all bike there (small town) and pick out our books.

+On a visit to my maternal grandparents when I was 10, Mom emerged from the basement with an old suitcase. Inside it were her Nancy Drew books (she had around 25 of them). She gave them all to me; I read The Secret of the Old Clock that day. After that, every Christmas for a long time I received 3-6 Nancy Drew books to add to the collection. I plan on bequething it my children.

+One of my earliest memories is a book memory. When I was 4, we took a family trip to Wales (we lived in England then). We stayed at this awesome bed and breakfast, and I found The Magic Far-Away Tree by Enid Blyton. I started reading it, but (obviously) didn't finish before the end of the vacation. The nice B&B proprietress let me keep the book! I still have it, and I'm waiting for my niece to get a little older so that I can read it to her.

+Edited to add one last memory: when I was in third or fourth grade, we were only allowed to check one book out of the school library at a time. So, I picked the biggest one: an encyclopedia of North American mammals. And guess what? Mom and I read it as nighttime reading! That incident became a legend at my elementary school. :)

Well, those are just a few of my childhood book-family memories. As you can tell, I have an awesome mom who did everything possible to encourage my love of reading. We still trade book suggestions a lot; I got her addicted to Laurie King's Mary Russell series, and while I was at college this past year, I would receive care packages with brownies or banana nut bread and the next one in the series. :) Sometimes, we'll both just hang out quietly reading, and we like to go on trips to B&N together. Yep-reading has always been a family affair!

Super Cool Library Find

2007-08-23T19:02:00.000-06:00

I was browsing through the library shelves tonight, waiting for a hailstorm to pass (sidenote: hail?! in August?! that dents my car?!), and I found the perfect addition to the R.I.P Challenge II:

Witches' Brew: Horror and Supernatural Stories by Women

It's an out-of-print book edited by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini with a super-corny cover. But take a look at the table of contents...

"The Haunted Chamer" by Ann Radcliffe
"The Last Man" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
"The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"The Striding Place" by Gertrude Atherton
"Afterward" by Edith Wharton
"Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched" by May Sinclair
"The Lamp" by Agatha Christie
"The Gray Men" by Rebecca West
"The Cyprian Cat" by Dorothy L. Sayers
"A Haunted House" by Virginia Woolf
"The Idol of the Flies" by Jane Rice
"Judgement Day" by Flannery O'Connor
"The Birds" by Daphne du Marier
"Night Court" by Mary Elizabeth Counselman
"The Lovley House" by Shirley Jackson
"Kindling Point" by Marcia Muller
"The Bingo Master" by Joyce Carol Oates

I was stunned to see how many kickass writers, across such a wide time span, were collected. My hat is off to the editors, and I cannot wait for September to begin! For those of you doing the Short Story Sunday Peril, I recommend looking this book up in your library! The only question will be how to decide which ones to talk about. :)

In unrelated news, I've officially given up on The Instance of the Fingerpost, at least for a few months. I'm substituting the P.D. James I reviewed earlier as my last Summer Mystery Challenge read. I concede defeat.

Book Pile and One Last Challenge...

2007-08-22T14:13:00.000-06:00

I took a much-needed break from reading, blogging, etc. over the past few days. I don't think I've picked up a book since Friday. The slump was my most extreme yet: I couldn't work up an interest in anything. However, if there's anything that can get you out of a slump, it's a ton of new book mooches!

From the lovely booklogged, Bethlehem Road by Anne Perry (I enjoy her historical mysteries), Deep South by Nevada Barr (since Maggie's challenge, I've been looking for more Southern reading), Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye by Lois Lowry (I love The Giver), and The Modular Brain by Restak (for my ongoing non-fic effort). In addition, Fast Food Nation, Stiff, and Reason for Hope by Jane Goodall are part of my non-fic reading. The Chesterton, Sarton, and Bowen are for the Outmoded Challenge. The War of the Saints by Jorge Amado is for my Reading Across Borders seqeul challenge, as is Train to Pakistan (inspired by a highly praising post on Lotus Reads). Finally, Tipping the Velvet, based on Danielle's reviews of Fingersmith by the same author over at A Work in Progress. Whew-that's a lot of books!

Along with books, I also need to catch up on all the blogs, so I'll be doing that over the next few days. :)

Speaking of which, Carl has the R.I.P II challenge up! I'm so excited; I wasn't around for the challenge last year, but it seems like I've been reading about it forever. And I adore the button. I'm doing Peril the First, and I'll be reading:
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons, which superfastreader recommended earlier this year,
Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen, because I loved Out of Africa,
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, which some of the other participants are reading, and which sounds really interesting,
and The Ghost Writer by John Harwood, which I saw recommended on a blog (I'm blanking on which one). I'm mooching all of them. Very excited.

Anyway, I'm glad that I'm out of my reading slump, and I'm counting down the days until September, when most of these challenges begin!

Jumping on the Band Wagon

2007-08-18T16:06:00.000-06:00

Having read the meme on Dewey's, Imani's, and Ted's sites, I had to answer. :) I came on to the blog to gush about how much I love The Office, enough that I just bought the second season, am going to buy the third season the day it comes out (Sept 3), and can't wait for the fourth season to begin (Sept 27). But, since this is a book blog, seems like a better idea to just do a meme. While watching The Office; I'm already on the second DVD. I'm in love with Jim.

What are you reading right now?
See that side bar called Currently Reading? That pretty much covers it!

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?
See the obscene number of challenges, also in the sidebar.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now?
I don't really do that. It actually kinda grosses me out.

What’s the worst thing you were ever forced to read?
Fiction: A Seperate Peace. Non-Fiction: The World is Flat (followed v closely by Russia and Soul)

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
I tend to shy away from recommending books; I do recommend authors, though. Rushdie, Gaiman, Austen, Bulgakov...just go to my "About Me" section and see my favourites.

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don’t they?
I just moved, so I only know one librarian. She's one of those super-hip young librarians, too, so I secretly want to be her.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all?
Probably Anna Karenina, at least for people I know in real life. Specifically, I love the Levin plotline more than Anna's, which no one seems to agree with. :)

Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you’re on the computer? While you’re having sex? While you’re driving?
Eat? Sometimes. Bathe? Yes-in fact, if I'm really into a book, I'll take a bath instead of a shower, lol. Movies/TV? Depends...if I'm hanging out w/ friends/rommates/family in the living room and a movie or tv is on, yes. If I've chosen the movie/tv, no. Music? Yes. Computer? No-how do you read two things at once? Sex? Wow-that one seems really random. And suddenly personal. But the answer is no. Driving? I listen to audiobooks on road trips, but not while normally driving.

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits?
No-I was actually super cool when I was in elementary school. The rest of my life has been spent trying to reobtain this. ;)

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson.

Focus? What focus?

2007-08-17T22:27:00.000-06:00

I've been going through a reading slump since my baby niece got back in town. She's eighteen months old, and I love her to death, which is good since I'm going to be her nanny for the next few months. However, her craziness has definitely distracted me from reading; even when she's napping or down for the night, I seem geared up to run around the house again. Reading seems so stationary!

I think that part of the problem is that I picked up An Instance of the Fingerpost again. I finally finished the second part, which leaves two parts to go. This book is killing me-it's so depressing and frustrating. And yet, I've already invested 400 pages in it, so it's difficult to just walk away! I'm enjoying The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, but it hasn't sucked me in.

I've decided to modify my non-fiction challenge. Instead of reading seven non-fic books a month, I'm going to read six books and The Economist weekly cover-to-cover. I love The Economist, but it's gotten short shrift as I try to wade through so much non-fiction! I am, however, enjoying the change in my reading habits; now, half the books I'm reading at any given time are non-fic. It slows me down, but it really enriches my reading.

I cannot believe that August is half over. What happened?

And with that, I think I'm going to go read. The Persian Puzzle is calling my name!

The Anti-Popularity Contest

2007-08-16T05:59:00.000-06:00

Imani has posted two new challenges: the Outmoded Authors Challenge and the Index Liborium Prohibitum (sp?). Being (slightly) sane, I decided to only do one of them (for now), so I picked Outmoded Authors, since it had a looong list of authors I'd never heard of. The idea is simple; Imani's provided a list of thirty authors who were quite popular in their day, and whom we generally neglect now. Between September and February, read however many books you choose by these authors. Pretty simple, huh? She's also set up a blog for it, and buttons are available. Having decided to join, I next needed to make a reading list!

So, after looking at all the authors and realising that way too many sounded interesting, I decided on a new criteria: there must be a copy available in the US on bookmooch. This quickly narrowed the field (after all, these books are unpopular ;)) and I ended up with...

The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
A collection of short stories set in late nineteenth century Maine.
The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen
Set in Ireland, on an British gentry plantation, I could count this towards my Reading Across Borders challenge if I wasn't against double-counting (I do challenges to read books, not to just complete challenges, so double-counting seems pointless). I've never read anything set in this particular time period of Ireland (1929), so this should be interesting!
The Wisdom of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
A short story collection of Father Brown mysteries. They're cozy-style mysteries, and I expect to like them tremendously.
The Small Room by May Sarton
This is set in a small New England college, so it'll be interesting to read different take on the atmosphere that permeated The Secret History. This time, the pov is a new professor, and the crime is plagiarism (barely less than murder at liberal arts colleges).
A Book or Two by Walter Scott

I feel quite proud of the list, since it manages to achieve several of my general reading goals: read more women, read more short stories, read more classics. Yay! Plus, they all sound great. Note the continued indecision re: which Walter Scott to choose. So many sound so good to me; I can't believe I've never read any Scott before! Of course, someone (can't remember who just now) is planning a one-author challenge for early next year, so Scott could play nicely into this.

Cross posted (with some changes) at Outmoded Authors.

Even Quicker Question

2007-08-13T00:05:00.000-06:00

Am putting together list for Outmoded Authors Challenge. I definitely want to have a Walter Scott, but which one? Need recommendations!

Case Histories (thoughts)

2007-08-12T22:28:00.000-06:00

Before I start, what do y'all think about the redecorating? Hopefully there's a picture in the banner, which was the inspiration for the new colour scheme. I enjoyed the old one, but I wanted to play around with the code a little (once upon a time, I designed websites-since then, CSS has taken over the scene) just to see if I could do it. Eventually, I'd like to have a more personalised feel to the blog. On to the book!

I can't remember where I first heard about Kate Atkinson's Case Histories. I had originally chosen it as part of my Summer Mystery Challenge, but then I realised that Kate Atkinson was the author of Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I'd read years ago and really like. Since this challenge was only for new authors, Atkinson got pushed back. Recently, I decided to include it on my still-hazy Short Story Challenge. So, I read it; however, now I realise that it doesn't really count for a short story challenge. In the end, the book is good enough to read with a challenge incentive!

Atkinson's prose is breathtaking. She has an uncanny accuracy in producing the internal monologue of people, to make all her characters seem quite realistic. Her plotting is masterful as well; I ended up staying up way too late in order to get to the end! What more do you need in a book than a compelling plot and fascinating characters?

Well, how about poignancy? The way that Atkinson handles the three murders, makes us realise that human lives were lost for so little...in a lesser author, it would be cliche. In an Atkinson novel, it makes you value life.

There are two techniques of Atkinson's that I find particularly impressive. The first is the way that she sandwiches a gut blow of emotion in between the banal, so it comes up on nowhere at the reader. Take the following example:

Amelia buttered the toast and laid it on plates. Julia tipped the beans on top. Amelia had begun to enjoy sharing domestic tasks with Julia, basic though they were. She'd lived on her own since her second year at university, that was a long time, more than two decades. Solitary life hadn't been a choice, no one had ever wanted to live with her. She mustn't get used to being with Julia. She mustn't get used to waking up in a house where someone knew her, inside out. (81)

She does this throughout the book; she also manages to couch the worst emotions in straight-forward terms. Atkinson doesn't rely on similes or metaphors; she tends to prefer the plain truth, which makes it all the more powerful.

I also love the way that Atkinson uses negative imagery. At least, that's my term for it. It's where a writer creates an image in the reader's head, but only because it's not there. It's easier to just show you what I mean:

And it was just a bedroom, an untidy bedroom that a girl was never going to enter again, never fling down her bag on the floor and kick off her shoes, never lie on the bed and read a book or listen to her stereo, never sleep the restless, innocent sleep of the living. (115)

As you're reading it, you're obviously imagining a girl coming in, kicking off her shoes, doing all of those things. But by using the word never, when the reader gets to the end, the sense of loss is almost greater, since she's imagined everything first. At the beginning of the novel, Atkinson does this in an absolutely stunning passage; unfortunately, if I quote it, it'll be a plot spoiler. But at several places during the plot, she uses this technique to invoke loss. I find it very effective.

I realise that I've been gushing on about the book, but haven't mentioned what it's about! In brief, the first three chapters introduce three different murder cases, each set some years in the past. Then, on page 45, the reader finds herself in the present day, with a private detective. The detective ends up investigating each of the three cases. Throughout this middle section of the book, Atkinson often changes points of view, flitting from character to character. She manages the large cast, with several different stories and settings, splendidly; I never felt confused or lost. Finally, the book ends with seven chapters: the first six interchange a chapter from the point of view of a survivor of the murder case with a chapter explaining what actually happened in each one. Then, the last (very short) chapter is from the investigator's point of view. Laid out, the book may seem overly complicated, but really Atkinson uses the complexities to explore all of her themes.

I'd recommend this book to everyone-it's an intensely satisfying read.

Favourite Passages

Laura, who had brown eyes and pale skin and who liked Diet Pepsi and salt and vinegar crips, who was as smart as a whip, who made scrambled eggs for him on Sunday mornings, Laura, who was still a virgin (he knew because she told him, to his embarassment), which made him feel immensely relieved even though he knew she couldn't stay one forever, Laura, who kept a tank of saltwater tropical fish in her bedroom, whose favorite color was blue, whose favorite flower was the snowdrop, and who liked Radiohead and Nirvana and hated Mr. Blobby and had seen Dirty Dancing ten times. Laura, whom Theo loved with a strength that was like a cataclysm, a disaster. (27)

She should have studied science, not spent all her time with her head in novels. Novels gave you a completely false idea about life, they told lies and they implied there were endings when in reality there were no endings, everything just went on and on and on. (42)

He would have been eleven years old. Had it been hot? He had no idea. He couldn't remember eleven. The important thing about it was that it wasn't twelve. All the years before he was twelve shone with an unblemished and immaculate light. After twelve it was dark. (64)

The best thing she'd seen her in was a pantomime in Bristol, a generic kind of piece, probably Cinderella, where Julie had been cast as a dog-a black poodle with a lion cut and a French accent. Julia's shape, short and busty, had somehow been perfectly suited to the costume and she had caught a certain kind of Parisian arrogance that the audience loved. She hadn't needed a wig-her own untamed hair had been piled in a topknow with a bow in it. Amelia had never thought of Julia as a poodle before then-she always imagined her as a Jack Russell. It seemed suddenly very sad to Amelia that the best role of Julia's career was a dog. And that she didn't need a wig to play a poodle. (73)

God spoke to Sylvia on a regular basis but she was always coy about the content of these conversations, just smiling her holy smile (enigmatic and infuriating). Anyone would think God was an intimate acquaintance, someone with whom Sylvia discussed existential philosophy over bottles of cheap wine in the snug of a quaint riverside pub. (78)

There had been times when the grief had been so bad that he had thought about digging her up, exhuming her poor rotting body, just so he could cradle her one last time, reassure her that he was still here, still thinking about her, even if no one else was. (89)

Amelia didn't want to be this prudish. She felt like someone who'd lost her way and ended up in the wrong generation. She would have been much more suited to a period with structure and rank and rules, where a button undone on a glove signaled licentiousness. She could have managed quite well living within those kinds of strictures. She had read too much James and Wharton. No one in Edith Wharton's world really wanted to be there but Amelia would have gotten along fine inside an Edith Wharton novel. (130)

A lot of people thought Theo spoiled his girls, but how could you spoil a child-by neglect, yes, but not by love. You had to give them all the love you could, even though giving that much love could cause you pain and anguish and horror and, in the end, love could destroy you. Because they left, they went to university and husbands, they went to Canada and they went to the grave. (138)

Quick Question

2007-08-10T21:16:00.001-06:00

Are y'all OCD about the books you acquire?

Let me elaborate....I really love Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series. I have a few of them all in the same style. So, I bookmooched Mirror Crack'd in the same edition, but it turned out to be different: bright yellow, hardcover, much bigger. At first, I was quite firm-I didn't want it. (the bookmoocher was really sweet)

But now, I just don't know. I mean, part of me really likes matchy-matchy. But, the yellow is pretty awesome. And it's cool to have a first edition (even though it's financially worthless sans dust jacket). On the other hand, if I put it with the rest of the Miss Marples, it'll stand out a lot.

All of this got me thinking about book collecting. Most of you are much more into collecting than me (due to more space!), so I thought I'd ask how everyone approaches it. When you have multiple books by the same author, do you make sure they're matching? To the extent you'd buy another copy of a book you already own if they don't? Or is a book a book, regardless?

Spook (thoughts)

2007-08-10T19:42:00.000-06:00

You know when you're super excited about a book? And then you start to read it, and a little voice in your head says, "this isn't that good." But you ignore the little voice, until it gets louder and louder. Finally, you read the last sentence with relief.

That's pretty much what happened with Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. I bought it at B&N in their 3-for-2 summer deal. I've been wanting to read Stiff for awhile, but it wasn't on the table, so I figured I'd take a book by the same author. It sounded interesting-scientific experiments regarding the afterlife.

And that topic still sounds interesting. Unfortunately, that's not what Spook is really about. Of twelve chapters, three feature actual scientists. The other twelve are about various psychics, religious figures, or pseudoscientists. This is fine, except that the book's subtitle explicit claims science. That's what intrigued me; you never see books about experiments designed to test the existence of ghosts. I felt slightly betrayed.

Despite this, I still could have enjoyed the book. After all, a history of pseudoscience is bound to be amusing, as well as funny. But this leads me to the bigger problem of the book: Mary Roach's sense of humour.

You know those professors who you really liked, but who made the corniest possible jokes in class? And then laughed? Well, imagine that professor telling those jokes in the most long-winded way possible. And, you have Roach's many asides and footnotes. What Roach most needs is a ruthless editor.

The best way to show this is through examples, so here we go....
The following is a footnote on during the chapter entitled "How to Weigh a Soul." First, I'm going to give the three sentences where the footnote asterik was.

Now let's say there's an organism in the box-a permecium or a wombat or John Tesh; it doesn't matter. And that organism dies inside the box.* If the electro-magnetic detectors detect energy leaving the box, there should be a corresponding change in weight.

And here's the footnote.

Credit for the original seal-a-soul-in-a-box experimental format must go to Frederick II, the thirteenth-century King of Sicily and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In the diaries of the king's sometime chronicler, a Franciscan monk Salimbene, there is a description of Frederick shutting up "a man alive in a cask until he died therein, wishing thereby to show that the soul perished utterly." Though Frederick is to be credited for his precocious enthusiasm for scientific method, the cruelty of his experiments invariably outweighed their scientific merit. To wit, the time he "fed two men most excellently at dinner, one of whom he sent forewith to sleep, and the other to hunt; and that same evening he caused them to be disembowled in his presence, wishing to know which had digested the better" (The sleeper). At least that one makes some sense.(98)

See the problem? There is a certain macabre humour in this, but it has been smothered in Roach's long-windedness. She also suffers from a 'too much information' syndrome. Take this footnote:

It's possible that the history of creatively interpreted white noise dates as far back as the Oracle at Delphi, where the priestess sat above a crack in the temple floor, below which chould be heard the roiling waters of a spring. Dean Radin, senior scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, has posited that the white-noise-like sounds of the water may have brought on auditory hallucinations. (The more common theory holds that ethylene fumes issuing from the spot were sponsoring the woman's altered states of mind. Ethylene-better known for making bananas ripe than for making priestesses bananas-can cause hallucinations in concentrated amounts.)(186)

The first part of that is interesting. But then she ruins it with the unneccessary stuff in parantheses. And then she makes the stuff in parantheses even bulkier by the information between the dashes. It's just ridiculous. Roach is addicted to dashes and parantheses; she's apparently forgotten that both of these punctuation marks are for extra information. A sampling.

The show implied that the music is so clear that if David Cassidy were to put his ear right up to your mouth-close to but not quite my sixth grade fantasy-he could name the song. (189)

Occam simply used it-frequently and "sharply" to quote The Encyclopaedia Britannica entry-so much so that ie became known as his razor. (237)

Maria told her ICU social worker-a woman whose parents did her the gross disservice of naming her Kimberly when her last name was Clark-that she had not only spent her time watching herself being worked on by the ER time, but had drifted out of the building and over the parking lot. (276)

What might have been cute a couple times occured so frequently that I just wanted to break out my red pen. To be fair to Roach, sometimes her humour works. I'll share with you the part that made me laugh out loud:

The woman seated beside me is fiddling with a handheld meter of some sort. She has the instruction manual open. A headings says, "ELF RESEARCH IN THE 90s." I like this woman, and I don't want to think the things I'm now forced to think about her. I ask her if she has ever seen an elf.
She stares at me suspiciously, like she doesn't need a Belfry Nat Detector; she can just see them flying around in there. "Nooo-o...Why, have you?"
I squint at the copy. "You can't see, smell, or touch them," it says, "but they are present in your everyday life." I am working on the phrasing of my next question when her boyfriend leans forward. "E-L-F," he says." "Not 'elf.'" (200)

Even this passage could have done without the fourth sentence.

I'm aware that this post sounds like nitpicking, but these forced humour asides and additions are a fundamental part of Roach's writing style. Some might like it, but I simply became less and less interested in the topics. Topics that were inherently interesting. So, I just wish that Roach would accept that sometimes, perhaps most of the time, less is more. She needs to learn how to just stop.

And on that note, I'll stop as well.

America's Secret War (thoughts)

2007-08-09T07:14:00.000-06:00

Though it doesn't come up often on the blog, I'm an international relations junkie. It was one of my majors in college, and I once asked for (and received) a subscription to The Economist for Christmas: I still read all of it except the business section every week. I've taken classes in i.r. theory and on politics in every region of the world except Asia (couldn't fit it into my schedule). I love talking about international relations about as much as I hate talking about domestic politics. :D

All of that is a long-winded introduction to George Friedman's book, America's Secret War. A friend and fellow i.r. major from college recommended it to me. And I must say, I found it a very satisfying book. Friedman runs Stratfor, which is a highly respected private strategic studies/intelligence firm. The book is his analysis of America's post-9/11, anti-Al Qaeda manuevers. In order to put it in context, he gives background information on everything from the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan to the effects of new, OPEC-founded Saudi Arabian wealth in the 70s/80s. His analysis lacks the partisanship common in political books today; while it's obvious that Friedman is a conservative, that doesn't mean he supports Bush unconditionally. Instead, he interprets the administration's actions from the unique p.o.v. of decades of experience in intelligence untainted by government service. Well, perhaps untainted is the wrong word. What I mean is, it's not as if he's worked in the government and therefore feels the need to apologize for/justify whatever happened during his tenure.

I wish I hadn't had to return the book to the library: there were several interesting points that I really wanted to discuss. Without the benefit of the book, however, I'll talk about an idea that really stuck in my mind. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a moderate liberal. :)

As Friedman discusses the build up to the Iraq war, he talks about one of the key strategies of the US: psychologial warfare, or disinformation. Now, this has always been an aspect of conflict; we've all seen the propaganda distributed during the World Wars on all sides of the fight. However, the problem is, that psychological warfare involves lying to the enemy. For example, the US, despite not knowing where Hussein actually was, wanted to make the Iraqi generals doubt if Hussein was alive. Obviously, if Hussein was dead, the generals would be more likely to surrender. The US knew that Hussein had been keeping a remarkably low profile, turning functions over to his family, leaving Baghdad, hiding out. So, the military hoped that if they bombed a possible hideout of Hussein, and announced that they had hit Hussein, the generals might decide Hussein was dead. This makes perfect sense from a strategic sense. But here comes the part that stuck with me: it's impossible in a democratic society with 21st century technology for a government to lie to its enemies without also deceiving its own public.

Now, I'm certainly not saying that the "War on Terror" justifies all the sketchy things Bush has done. And Friedman wasn't arguing that either. Nevertheless, it's something that I'd never even considered before. It made me rethink my perceptions of the administration; in fact, the entire book does that. I have no idea if Friedman is giving too much credit to the current US government, but somehow I doubt it. He criticises the administration, as well as speculating as to its motives.

To me, this book is an important contribution to "War on Terror" literature. Friedman approaches the issue from a radically different background than the journalists or politicians that are writing most of the books we see nowadays. It's an intelligent, rational viewpoint that deserves to be heard. If you're at all curious about current events, and you're willing to allow your current conceptions to be challenged, this book would be good to pick up. I can't wait for his new book to be released; I'm sure it will be another insightful analysis of the world, from an unapologetically realist perspective.

On a completely unrelated note, for those of y'all on bookmooch, until the 20th of August I'm doing a 2-for-1 on all paperbacks (sorry-US only). I don't have a huge inventory, but if you're curious, check out the selection.

Bookshelves

2007-08-08T15:02:00.000-06:00

I've been enjoying Kimbuktoo's Your Home Library project for awhile now. So, I thought it only right that I contribute a picture. Here's the larger version of my bookshelves. They're super-cheap particle wood shelves from Office Max, but I'm undertaking them as a DIY project for the fall. I'm going to paint them and add some molding/trim. I'll show y'all the after pics when I finish! In the meantime, here we go. :D

I try to keep my book collection small (I doubt it's more than 400), since I'm living with my parents and then joining the Peace Corps. After all, it's only polite that I fit them all in my room!

The left case is full of non-genre fiction: I have it divided into geographically and chronologically. Top shelf is for non-British classics: America, France, Russia, Greece. Next shelf is all British classics. The middle one is international contemporary fiction, followed by American and British contemporary fiction. The bottom shelf is my Southern collection (inspired by Maggie's challenge), poetry, and historical fiction. The middle case starts with genre fic: the top shelf is mystery, the next one a combo of spy/thriller and the beginnings of fantasy, and the middle one is all fantasy. Then, my foreign language stuff begins. One shelf for Russian: actual books as well as language reference volumes. The bottom shelf is French (not as extensive), and a touch of Italian. Then, the right case is full of non-fiction, sorted by genre. Top shelf is religion and tarot, next is all of my international relations books. Then, there's the bio/memoir section, history, and Russia. Underneath that is science, philosophy and 'general nonfic'-my catchall for everything else. The very bottom shelf houses my bookmooch inventory.

When I really look at it, my sorting seems haphazard, but it makes it very easy for me to find whatever I want, as well as browse my collection. The genres match up to the ones in my Excel sheet, so they've grown organically out of the books I own.

In addition to books, I keep a lot of souvenirs on my bookshelves. My dad does a lot of travelling for work, and I've done quite a bit of travelling growing up, so I have a pretty good collection from around the world. I also have pictures of my family and places that I've lived.

Double the Mystery, Double the Fun (The Door, Death in Holy Orders)

2007-08-06T16:59:00.000-06:00

The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehard

I read The Door as one of my Summer Mystery Challenge selections. In was published in the late forties, and the edition I read was an omnibus I bookmooched that includes two other novels. This was my first experience with Rinehard, and I'm not sure whether I like her or not. It's definitely a cozy mystery-the reader is presented with a close circle of people, and must try to figure out who did it. The narrator was quite fun-a single, older woman who enjoys her independence and wealth. :) However, the entire novel was written as the narrator remembering events. This would have been fine, except the woman kept foreshadowing, almost the level of spoilers, which drove me insane. This was my only complaint with the book, but it is a large one. I'm willing to give Rinehard another chance, because she's great at characterization, and the plot would have been very enjoyable without all of the foreshadowing. Hopefully her other books are written in a different style!

Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James
This was a book on CD, which I don't normally discuss. However, this one was exceptionally good, and it has made me want to being collecting more P.D. James. This was my first novel of hers. It's set in a seminary-college (I'm Catholic, so I don't really know what the Church of England calls it) perched on the edge of the bleak, stormy sea. It's also an Inspector Dalgleish (sp?) book; the Inspector enjoys writing poetry and is generally quite introspective. I'm worried about discussing the plot at all, because the book unfolds slowly, so much of the action doesn't begin until about half way through. Suffice it to say, there is a string of murders that must be solved. Don't expect any Agatha Christie plots here-the killer becomes pretty obvious at least 3 CDs before s/he is arrested. Nevertheless, James creates stunningly human characters, who all seem ready to step off the page. She also evokes scenery very well; I felt like I was on a rocky British beach sometimes. It was a pleasure to listen to this book, and I plan to hunt down some more James very soon. If you enjoy mysteries, but don't mind a slower-moving, character-centric book, this one will hit the spot!

Non-Fiction Double Shot (Blink, Waiting for Daisy)

2007-08-05T23:21:00.000-06:00

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
Blink argues that the split-second judgements that people make are usually trustworthy. Gladwell is famous for The Tipping Point, which I haven't read, and in this follow-up he offers what I think of as pop non-fic. It's definitely non-fiction, and it has a thesis, but it would be laughed out of academic circles. I enjoyed parts of it, but Blink suffers from the same weakness I found in The Wisdom of Crowds and, albeit less obvious, Freakonomics. Namely, the author seems to think that if he makes a broad claim, and then gives me lots of anecdotal evidence, I'll believe him. While this method leads to interesting stories, it isn't calculated to make me agree. In fact, half of the time, it felt as if the anecdotes contradicted his thesis. For example, he talks about a psychological study where a professor recorded married couples having minor disagreements. Then, the professor (and his poor grad slaves, lol) deviced a way of ranking the emotions being expressed by each spouse and assigning them a number value. Finally, this value turned out to be a remarkable predictor of if the couple remained married. As Gladwell tells the story, he makes it clear that when a lay person watches a couple on the screen, s/he may think that the couple is in a great position, while the trained grad student would see a future divorce. This seems to undermine the idea that immediate judgements are correct, since it's only with minute analysis that the truth becomes clear. I wish I could discuss his arguments more, but unfortunately I had to return the book to the library. Suffice it to say, there were some interesting ideas, but nothing compelling.

Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein

This book was completely different species of non-fiction: the memoir. In this case, Orenstein is a feminist scholar who, in her mird-thirties, realises she wants to be a mother. This realisation engenders a whole host of crises: identity, physical, emotional, sexual. The book chronicles Orenstein's self-described trip into the insanity of infertility, and she explains how she found herself doing ridiculous things in order to have a child. I don't usually like memoirs, but this one is an exception. Orenstein mixes enough random facts (did you know that riding a bike kills sperm?) and hilarious moments into her recollections to keep things interesting. She also knows when it's time to wrap something up; I never found myself getting bored. Additionally, she's good at conveying emotions; I constantly empthathised with her, and a section where she's discussing Japanese shrines to aborted and miscarried fetuses really touched me. In short, this is everything I could ask of a memoir: witty, frank, self-aware, short, and with a happy ending!

Favourite Passages (From Waiting for Daisy)

"I guess I think of life as kind of like an amusement park," he said. "If you're going to go, you should ride every ride at least once. And having kids is like the big, scary roller coaster. You can have a good time without riding it, but you would've missed a significant part of the experience." (8)

As it was, at a tenuous five weeks gestation I'd already calculated my due date on a Web site, ogled pictures of "my baby's" development, and joined an Expecting Club on iVillage for November Mommies-to-Be. If the second IVF had taken, I would've taped that photograph of fertilized cells to the fridge. All of this encourages a mother-to-be to see the fetus as a person, at least in the psychological sense, at an even earlier stage. You tell friends. Names are bandied about. The baby feels real. Yet, if the pregnancy goes amiss, that personhood is abruptly revoked and you're supposed to act like nothing ever happened. (132)

Another thing I'd never noticed: there is no word in English for a miscarried or aborted fetus. How better to bury a topic than to make it literally unspeakable? In Japanese it is mizuko, which is usually translated as "water child." Historically, Japanese Buddhists believed that existence flowed into being slowly, like liquid. Children solidifed only gradually over time and weren't considered to be fully in the human realm until they reached the age of seven. Similarly, leaving this world-returning to primordial waters-was a process beginning at sixty with a celebration of a symbolic second birth. A mizuko lay somewhere along the continuum, in that liminal space between life and death but belonging to neither. (135)

I did know that a dog wasn't a child, though that, apprently, is not a commonly shared observation in Berkeley. In a town of people who have a tendency to be a mite zealous, the dog people are extreme. They successfully lobbied for an ordinance forbidding citizens to own pets-we can't even call them pets. We must refer to ourselves as the "guardians" of our "animal companions." (156)

Autumn Challenges (or, How Eva Went a Little Crazy)

2007-08-04T23:43:00.000-06:00

Well, my main challenge for the rest of the year is obviously in non-fiction. It should be interesting; seven books a month will make up about half my reading! But for the other half, I've decided to join some of the challenges coming up and design a couple of my own: I'm listing them in the order that they start and including pics of the books I own....

+I'm doing a sequel to the Reading Across Borders challenge that I completed earlier, to go from August through December. However, I'm going a little easier on myself this time and including one book from Italy and one from the Commonwealth.
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino (Italy)
Yes, it's Italy, but I haven't read Calvino before, and I refuse to put him off any longer. :D
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon by Richard Zimler (Portugal)
I heard about this via the Amazon adult school feature (so much fun!), and then I mooched it. It's kind of violating my rule, in that I prefer for the book to be set in a country that the author is native to. However, it's historical, and it's about the Portugese Jews, and Zimler is Jewish, so that's how I'm justifying it.
The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie (India)
I haven't read Rushdie in way too long. So, despite the fact that he's one of my favourite authors, and thus not really a stretch for me, I'm putting him on the list. Have I mentioned how much I love Rushdie? I'm working my way through his oevre, so this should be fun!
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (Chile)
I decided to read another book by Allende, since I love House of Spirits and Zorro (I have the latter on cd-it's so much fun!). Plus, the library has a copy.
Snow Flower's Secret Fan by Lisa See (China)
I've heard lots of good things about this, and the library has a copy. I actually checked it out before but didn't get to it in time.
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (South Africa)
I'm looking forward to a book set in South Africa, and I've heard that this one is quite fair to both sides. And, once again, the library has a copy.
Bliss and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield (New Zealand)
I have an embarassing confession: I've never read a book set anywhere near Australia or New Zealand. High time to correct that!
Embers by Sándor Márai (Hungary)
I never seem to read books set in continental Europe. This one seems very interesting, and I could book mooch it!
War of the Saints by Jorge Amado
So, I knew that I wanted to include a Brazilian author on the list. I also knew I wanted to bookmooch it. This ended up narrowing the field to two Amados: this one or Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. I agonised over the decision, but in the end I went with this one because an African goddess comes to life through a statue of Saint Barbara. How awesome of a plot is that?!
In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif
I wanted a book from the Middle East on the list as well, and I love Egypt (I got visit for ten days a few years back). I was hoping to grab the sequel to Mahfouz's incredible Palace Walk, but it wasn't at bookmooch. So, I decided to go for a woman author, and this one sounds fascinating. I had to decide between this and Map of Love; in the end, I went with this one because it's longer!

+Then, I'm doing a personal short story challenge. My goal is to read at least five short story collections and ten famous individual short stories before the end of the year (this also starts now). My selections are
Case Histories: A Novel by Kate Atkinson
This is a book of three connected stories centered around one detective. I read Behind the Scenes at the Museum a long time ago, and it'll be interesting to see what Atkinson does with this material.
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. le Guin
I've heard good things about her over the years but never picked up any of her work. I'm looking forward to checking it out.
The Veteran by Frederick Forsyth
This is a collection of five thriller stories. It sounds interesting!
Two Good Collections Here
As you can tell, this list isn't fleshed out yet. I'm going to try and find three great collections at the library, but I wanted to leave myself some browsing room. Open for suggestions
Best American Short Stories of the Century
I'm hoping this will be the source for most of the individual stories-library has it.

+First of the 'real' (i.e.-hosted)challenges, the Books to Movies challenge, which beings in September and gives the participants three months to read three books that have been turned into movies. My choices...
Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
I saw this as a rec by a Duke professor, and when I read about it it seemed very interesting. So, when I saw it had been made into a movie and my library has it, I knew we were destined. :D
The Mirror Crack'd by Agatha Christie
I love Agatha Christie, specifically Miss Marple. So, I've taken the opportunity to bookmooch this one, since I plan on owning all the Miss Marples one day.
The Russia House by John le Carre
I've enjoyed the le Carre that I've read so far, but I think that his old stuff is far better than his new stuff. The library has this one as well, since bookmooch doesn't have it in the cover I want (yes, I value the covers of books I own).
alts, in case the library misplaces something, are
Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris
Mom got this for me in hardcover a few months ago (I've really enjoyed the rest of the series), but then I saw the movie, so I haven't had much of an impetus to read it. This is the only book on the list that I've seen the film for.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
I bookmooched this, since I want to own all of Eco's work eventually, and I read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it. It'd be fun to reread it, since I don't remember much about it.

+Next up is the Unread Authors Challenge, which also begins in September. You choose six books to read by February of 2008. Since a lot of the fiction I've mooched is new authors, this one works out well!
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
This was one of my very first mooches, since I think I'm the only one in the blogging community that hasn't read it yet! It keeps calling me from the bookshelf, but I've been distracted by challenge reads. It's time to make time to see what all the fuss is about. :)
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
I mooched this, because it sounded like a great mystery! I'm always ready to discover another good series.
That Night by Alice McDermott
I mooched this after a good review by litlove (I think it was litlove). It's a skinny read, but I'm looking forward to it.
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
I recently realised that the last Kipling I read was that mongoose story in 7th grade. Shame on me. Plus, I have to include at least one classic in the list!
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The heft of this one makes up for the slimness of the McDermott. A friend recommended this to me, and I'm very excited to actually get around to it. My bookmooched copy is just gorgeous!
The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue
I'm super excited about this one, so I wanted to include it on one of my challenges. The only problem will be waiting until September. :)

+Then there's the 2nds challenge. It doesn't start until October, but since I'm listing challenges, I might as well list them all! Joy is hosting this one, and since I didn't participate in the Non-Fiction 5 (kicking myself now), I definitely want to do this one. The idea is that you pick 3 new authors who you enjoyed, and read a second book by them. I think the point is to deepen your connection with authors you've recently discovered. :D I'm going with...
The Little Country by Charles de Lint
I first read de Lint for the Once Upon a Time challenge, and I loved him. So, I bookmooched this copy a couple months ago, and it's been patiently waiting for me. I can't wait to return to his gorgeous writing style and awesome worlds.
Lost in a Good Book Jasper Fforde
This is a follow-up to The Eyre Affair, which upon second reading turned out to be great fun. I mooched this at the same time as the first one, and I hope that it'll be as good.
Road Rage by Ruth Rendell
I first read Rendell for the Summer Mystery Challenge and had a lukewarm reaction. But, I really want to give her another go. This is another bookmooch-if I mooched a book from a user, I could pick one free. This was my freebie.

Poetry Challenge Wrap Up

2007-08-03T23:59:00.000-06:00

The Poetry Challenge was organised by Ted at bookeywookey. Participants were asked to choose four poems: one from pre-1900, one 1900-2000, one post-2000, and one from any time period that gave them difficulty. Then, during the week than included the 1st of August, all of the participants posted their poems as well as commentary on them.
I posted all four poems that I chose for the poetry challenge on time...
"Daddy" by Sylvia Plath
"Reading the Entrails" by Neil Gaiman
"Tomorrow's Wind" by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
"A Cradle Song" by William Blake

The best poem: "Tomorrow's Wind" and "Daddy"
What poem could I have done without? I like them all!
Any new poets? Blake
Poems I did not finish: none!
What did I learn from this challenge? I gained more self confidence about discussing poetry, and I realised how important it is that I take the time out to read it.

(Note: thanks to Nyssaneala for the idea to have questions!)

"Daddy" by Sylvia Plath

2007-08-03T21:05:00.000-06:00

Tonight is dark and stormy. Too rainy to really go out, which is perfect Sylvia Plath weather. So, as my last poem for bookeywookey's challenge, here we go. Don't forget to go to his site, where you can see all the participants!

"Daddy" by Sylvia Plath

You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time--
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic
Where it pours bean green over blue
In the waters off beautiful Nauset.
I used to pray to recover you.
Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town
Scraped flat by the roller
Of wars, wars, wars.
But the name of the town is common.
My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.
So I never could tell where you
Put your foot, your root,
I never could talk to you.
The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene

An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You--

Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not
Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue.
And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I'm finally through.
The black telephone's off at the root,
The voices just can't worm through.

If I've killed one man, I've killed two--
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,
Seven years, if you want to know.
Daddy, you can lie back now.

There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.

I chose this poem as one that's difficult for me. But, let's be honest. It's an incredible piece of writing. The rhythm alone-the words just throb. Throb with ache, and pain, and rage. Then there's the imagery. Stunning. From the Nazi-Jew to the vampire, Plath never lets up. The images just get darker and darker, bringing the reader into a deeper hole. The last stanza gives me goosebumps. I just keep repeating it to myself over and over.

I think that I'm going to end the analysis there. Plath knew how to write. She channeled all of her emotions into words that make the reader understand what she's going through. And so I'm going to let the poem stand for itself; I don't see any room for improvement.

Odds and Ends

2007-08-02T19:17:00.000-06:00

Whew-the poetry challenge is fun, but posting the poems makes it difficult to do my regular blogging posts! So, I'm double-posting. :D

+In case y'all don't know about Dogeared, it's the blog recording a super-cool project. Sonya is travelling around the US by Greyhound and taking pictures of people reading! Lately, she posted an entry that was an extended interview with the owner of an independent book store. I highly recommend it: go here and be prepared to smile!

+You might have noticed the Nonfiction Challenge button appear in my side bar. This is a personal challenge for me; in order to get anywhere near the fic:nonfic ratio I wanted back in my New Year's resolution, I need to read seven nonfic books a month for the rest of the year. So, that's what I'm attempting to do.

+Speaking of which, here is the latest bookpile! A mix of bookmooch, book store, and library. One thing in common: they're all nonfiction. :)

From Book Mooch: Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth. I love Campbell, and this edition of the book is just gorgeous; it has tons of pictures.

From B&N: all summer, they've been displaying the 3 for 2 table, but there've never been 3 books that I wanted. But, finally there were! Confessions of an Economic Hitman (because I'm an international relations-i.r.-major), Spook (it's all about science trying to figure out the afterlife; I also have Roach's Stiff on the way via bookmooch), and The Ancestor's Tale (I enjoy pop science).

From the Library: I went browsing through the non-fic stacks, since I don't know the Dewey system that well (too used to LC). I found: The Persian Puzzle (once again i.r.), Waiting for Daisy (about adoption-I've always been interested), A Gentle Madness (all about people like us! that is, bibliophiles), The Supreme Court (trying to become a good citizen), and Does America Need a Foreign Policy? (did I mention I'm an i.r. girl?).

I also really want to review The Witching Hour and America's Secret War. *sigh* I suppose that'll have to wait until next week!

"Reading the Entrails" by Neil Gaiman

2007-08-02T10:40:00.000-06:00

This is my third entry into bookeywookey's poetry challenge. In the challenge, he specified that one poem be from 2000-2007; I'm concerned about the copyright violations on this one. So, I have the poem up, but if anyone thinks it's a problem, please let me know and I'll take it down.

"Reading the Entrails: a Rondel" by Neil Gaiman

They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate-
The cards and stars that tumble as they will.
Tomorrow manifests and brings the bill
For every kiss and kill, the small and great.
You want to know the future, love? Then wait:
I'll answer your impatient questions. Still-
They'll can it chance, or luck, or call it Fate,
The cards and stars that tumble as they will.

I'll come to you tonight, dear, when it's late,
You will not see me; you may feel a chill.
I'll wait until you sleep, then take my fill,
And that will be your future on a plate.
They'll call it chance, or luck, or call it Fate.

I mainly chose this poem to give myself a break; I also love Neil Gaiman, so I wanted to give him some blog time!

A rondel is a poem form: it has two rhymes and goes ABbaabAB abbaA. So that explains the fixed feeling of the poem. In the beginning poetry writing class that I took (see Blake post), we had to play with forms a lot, so I've written rondels, villanelles, sestinas, and sonnets. I feel that this makes me more appreciative of reading form poetry, since I know how difficult it is to match the parameters of the poem and still make it sound natural.

As far as "Reading the Entrails" goes, it doesn't really flow naturally; it definitely sounds like a poetic form. However, I think that the slightly-stilted manner works, since the narrator is a fortune teller. You expect psychics to speak differently than normal people.

Honestly, I think that this is just the kind of poem that is best read aloud and savoured for atmosphere. Any more analysis seems kind of silly. :)

Edited to add: I loved one of the comments, so I'm tacking it on to the post. Heather from Errant Dreams basically summed up my feelings about Gaiman:
He experiments with some of the more complex poetic forms, and makes them elegant and breathtaking

Yep-that's all I have to add. Go Heather.

The Eustace Diamonds, Candide, The Scarlet Pimpernel (thoughts)

2007-08-01T13:35:00.000-06:00

The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
I'm not a huge Dickens girl; I love A Tale of Two Cities and Pickwick Papers, but I could leave the rest of his books I've read. However, after reading The Eustace Diamonds, I think that Trollope is my Dickens. lol Trollope writes the same kind of character-rich, diversion-full, multiple-plot books that Dickens does. But, for some reason, Trollope and I get along perfectly. I enjoyed his little sidenotes to the reader, and I hated his villains and loved his heroes just like he expected me to. :D His writing kept the book moving, even when he meandered from the plot. His passages when characters go fox hunting are simple stunning. If you enjoy sprawling Victorian lit, Trollope might just be for you!

Candide by Voltaire
I went in knowing that this was supposed to be a philosophical novel. So I expected it to make a point. But, honestly, it just wasn't enjoyable. I see how other people would enjoy it, but for me the only good thing about it was that the chapters and book itself were short. The B&N edition that I read just didn't have a good enough intro (half the intro just summarised the book, chapter by chapter, how dumb is that?) for me; the intro didn't give me any info I didn't already know. I was also horrified by the pictures; they were very gruesome, which matched the gruesome violence throughout the story. The only chapter I enjoyed was the El Dorado chapter; I've always like utopias. I'm glad that I read this book, but I won't be keeping it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
Best. Adventure Novel. Ever. It was so much fun! First of all, the characters swear with words like "Egads!" and "Zooks!", lol. The villain is deliciously heartless; the main heroes are all clever and brave and, of course, handsome. It was a ton of fun. I'll be looking into the sequels.

Favourite Passages

Now she desired to be so in love that she could surrender everything to her love. There was as yet nothing of such love in her bosom. She had seen no one who had so touched her. But she was alive to the romance of the thing, and was in love with the idea of being in love, (Trollope, 81)

"She is the greatest vixen in all London."...
"There is no word in the English language," she said, "which conveys to me so little of defined meaning as that word vixen. If you can, tell what you mean, Clara." (Trollope, 119)

But poor Lizzie Eustace had no Binns and no Pouncebox. They are plants that grow slowly. There still too much of the mushroom about Lady Eustace to permit of her possessing such treasures. (Trollope, 226)

...I am content with almost nothing." The nothing with which the dean had hitherto been contented had always included every comfort of life, a well-kept table, good wine, new books, and canonical habiliments with the gloss still on; but as the Bobsborough tradesmen had, through the agency of Mrs. Greystock, always supplied him with these things as though they came from the clouds, he really did believe that he had never asked for anything. (Trollope, 362)

There are men in whose love a good deal of hatred is mixed; - who love as the huntsman loves the fox, towards the killing of which he intends to use all his energies and intellects. (Trollope, 410)

She understood that the task she had in hand was one very difficult to be accomplished-and she did perceive, in some dark way, that, good as her acting was, it was not quite good enough. Lucy held her ground because she was real. You may knock about a diamond, and not evenscratch it; whereas paste in rough usage betrays itself. Lizzie, with all her self-assuring protestations, knew that she was paste, and knew that Lucy was real stone. (Trollope, 628)

But it has always seemed to me that it must be heavenly to be loved blindly, passionately, wholly...worshipped, in fact..." (Orzcy, 52)

"Virtue, alas!" sighed the Prince, "is mostly unbecoming to your charming sex, Madame." (Orzcy, 88)

He laughed, as Dante has told us that the devils laugh at the sight of the torture of the damned. (Orzcy, 186)

Summer Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

2007-08-01T02:38:00.000-06:00

For the Summer Reading Challenge, participants could choose any number of books to read between June 1st and August 1st. I decided to make it into another classics challenge and chose ten books from England and France. After a last-minute rush, I finished all but one of the ten classics I chose to read for the summer reading challenge with no substitutions...
The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
Candide by Voltaire
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orzcy
Emma by Jane Austen
Les Liasons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (I didn't get around to reviewing it, which is weird, because I loved it)
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (I didn't review it, because I didn't really enjoy it)

I started Evelina, but I really don't like epistolatory novels, so I knew I wouldn't finish it in time.

The best book: I can't choose! There're about five tied-the Bronte, Balzac, Orzcy, Austen, and Trollope.
What book could I have done without? Candide by Voltaire. Ugh.
Any new authors? Several: Anne Bronte, Balzac, Orzcy, Trollope, and de Laclos.
Books I did not finish: Evelina, because I just ran out of steam. I plan to get to it eventually.
What did I learn from this challenge? How cool Trollope was! He's like Dickens, only more my style. :)

(Note: thanks to Nyssaneala for the idea to have questions!)

Delta Wedding (thoughts) and Sense of Place

2007-07-31T17:32:00.001-06:00

And now to return you to your regularly-scheduled programming...
a book review! and a last-minute entry into Maggie's sense of place contest.
Sense of Place: Mississippi Delta

She rode by the thick woods where the whirlpool lay, and something made her get off her horse and creep to the bank and look in-she almost never did, it was so creepy and scary....There were more eyes than hers here-frog eyes-snake eyes? She listened to the silence and then heard it stir, churn, churning in the early morning. She saw how snakes were turning and moving in the water, passing across each other just below the surface, and now and then a head horridly sticking up. The vines and the cyprus roots twisted and grew together on the shore and in the water more thickly than any roots should grow, gray and red, and some roots too moved and floated like hair. (161)

Since I don't live anywhere near Mississippi (shame), I had to find a picture online. In the one I chose, I think that the lighting, and the crowded trees are right; the creepiness isn't as strong as in the passage, since there're no snakes in the picture. So, I'm bending the rules and adding one more image...

Now, on to what I thought of the book!

Before this, I hadn't even heard of Eudora Welty; when I saw that Maggie highly recommended her, I decided to give her a try. Welty's known for her short stories, but I really wanted a novel for the challenge, and I went with Delta Wedding since it was longer than her other ones.

If I could describe the book in one word, I'd choose languid ("Slow; lacking vigor or force"). I mean that in a good way; the story feels very dreamy, and I can imagine laying on a porch, with a fan going slowly overhead, being too hot to even hold my head up for very long. The story is a portrait of the well-off Fairchilds family, who have gathered at their plantation for Dabney's wedding. It's set in the 1920s, and it feels very natural. Welty uses first-person throughout, but she switches which character we're seeing the world with. Thus, the reader gets a really good look at both family dynamics and how the different members see the world.

The richness of the story lies in both how different Welty can make the internal monologues of various characters and in her gorgeous prose. I felt like I was in Mississippi, and I strongly identified with all of the people, even though my background is nothing like theirs. This is a book that catches you by surprise; it feels like nothing is happening action-wise, but several characters go through emotional crises that feel as active as more traditional plots.

Ok, I'm not really getting my point across. I feel like this always happens with books that I really love! I think everyone who loves being immersed in a book, who enjoys character-driven novels, or who loves the South should definitely pick this book up. Reading it felt like eating ice cream on a hot day; a decadent treat that ends too quickly.

Favourite Passages

Grass softly touched her legs and her garter rosettes, growing sweet and springy for this was the country. On the narrow little walk along the front of the house, hung over with closing lemon lilies, there was a quieting and vanishing of sound. It was not yet dark. The sky was the color of violets, and the snow-white moon in the sky had not yet begun to shine. (6-7)

The girls that were old enough, dressed in colors called jade and flamingo, danced with each other around the dining-room table until the boys came to get them, and could be watched from the upper landing covorting below, like marvelous mermiads down a transparent sea. (9)

They were so filled with their energy that once when Laura saw some old map on the wall, with the blowing winds in the corners, mischievous-eyed and round-cheeked, blowing the ships and dolphins around Scotland, Laura had asked her mother if they were India's four brothers. (15)

The Fairchilds' movements were quick and on the instant, and that made you wonder, are they free? Laura was certain that they were compelled-their favorite word. Flying against the bad things happening, they kissed you in rushes of tenderness. Maybe their delight was part of their beauty, its flicker as it went by, and their kissing of not only you but everybody in the room was a kind of spectacle, an outward thing. (18)

Her brown hair and her dark-blue eyes seemed part of her quietness-like the colors of water, reflective. Her Virginia voice, while no softer or lighter than theirs, was a less questioning, a never teasing one. It was a voice to speak to the one child or the one man her eyes would go to. Tyey all watched her with soft eyes, but distractedly. She was one of those little mothers that the wind seems almost to hurt, and they they needed to look after her. (24)

It was eternally cool in summer in this house; like the air of a dense little velvet-green wood it touched your forehead with stillness. Even the phone had a ring like a tiny silver bell. (51)

It was so hard to read at Shellmound. There was so much going on in real life. Laura had tried to read under the bed that morning, but Dabney had found her and pulled her out by the foot. Now with Volune I of Saint Ronan's Well inside her pinafore, next to her skin, she went tiptoeing in the direction of the library, where no one ever went at this hour. (69)

The dream Ellen told Bluet was an actual one, for it would never have occured to her to tell anything untrue to a child, even an untrue version of a dream. (84)