Guys, is anyone else ever going to post? because if not, I am going to move some stuff around and claim the blog. I may even change the name. but I am awfully lonely here...i give you a week, and if i have heard from no one, you're all toasty.
posted by BabelBabe @ 1:41 PM
0 comments
1. I finished The Winner of the Nat'l blah blah blah. I was underwhelmed. I kept waiting for whatever it was that was supposed to be truly horrible about this one character. Maybe I am just depraved and not easily shocked?
The guy that one of the sisters marries is supposed to be this truly horrible human being, and I just didn't think most of what he did was so bad - he tries to seduce the other sister, bad, but not un-understandable; he's a jerk, but many people are....I just didn't get that he was Satan incarnate which is sort of what you are led to believe. He is supposed to have induced his wife to anorexia, and be all psychologically brutal, but again, common garden-variety psychopath, not the devil incarnate. Is it just me? Am I immune to the Devil? Hmmm....
2. I am blowing off Snowleg - I was fifty pages into it and found it unsympathetic, somewhat unbelievable, and just not compelling. That's twice I've tried, and that's enough. If I don't care about East German political prisoners now, I never will, I'm afraid.
3. So I am starting Mona Simpson's A Regular Guy. We'll see how it is. I am also just starting the third Kate Martinelli mystery With Child. While King is a good writer, the Martinelli books remind me of eating McDonald's food - I read them because I know exactly how they are going to wrap up, and so it's comforting to that reptile part of my brain.
4. I went back to Bryn Mawr Vassar, boys in tow, and bought Walking on Walnuts and (drum roll please) The Faux Gourmet by Juli Huss. I do not understand why the almighty and wonderful Google could not find her, when I was only a letter off (Julia). Pay no attention to the search engine behind the curtain!
5. While searching Salon for book reviews (no luck, although I did find an archive site with all their reviews categorized alphabetically by book author which I seem to have lost, which sucks) I did find this gem: Stewart O'Nan's picks for "tales of creeping madness." I have really liked his books, and I will check these five out, esp. since Plath's is a classic I should have already read, and Laura Kasischke keeps popping up lately, so it may be a sign from the book gods that I am meant to check her out.
posted by BabelBabe @ 9:08 AM
1 comments
I admit I avoided this for a while just based on its cleverer-than-thou name, but I picked it up at the library recently. You know, it's incredibly readable. So far. It sort of feels like Alice Hoffman meets Wally Lamb...that's a poor description but it's the best I can do. On Amazon's reviews, someone points out that Dorcas, the narrator of the book, goes from being "a funny, irreverent sage to an out-and-out pill awfully fast." And I agree with them. I see the pill-ness coming halfway through.
And while at the library, I checked out Snowleg *again*. Why? Why am I convinced that I am going to enjoy this book? Just because it was longlisted for the Booker this year is no guarantee - I mean, Line of Beauty WON and I found that book trite, cliched, and pretty much unreadable.
I stopped by my favorite bookstore today, since it was Wednesday and after 10 am - they have very restricted hours at Bryn Mawr-Vassar, I suppose necessitated by the fact that it is staffed entirely by volunteers - and stupidly went in with only ten dollars in my pocket. I winnowed down my choices to a Bill Bryson I don't have and haven't read, a book called From Paris to the Moon that I have been watching for what seems like years, and I finally gave in and bought it, and a book about shark attacks (I know, I'm weird.) I find my personal nonfiction library is leaning heavily towards shark books and arctic exploration/disaster books - God knows why we like the things we like.
Some of the things I left behind (sigh...): Jansen's History of Art. All the art majors on my floor in college had to buy this, and I wanted it so bad. BWV's copy was in pretty good shape and only fifteen bucks, but alas...
also, Walking on Walnuts and another book I read ages ago about the single girl and dining...
also, some random fiction...oh well. Again, too many books, too little time.
While searching for the title of the single girl food book, I found a mess of books that made me think, "Wow, I'd like to own that" and then I realized I used to, but when I weeded....stupid, stupid, stupid. DON'T WEED. Yes, you do indeed need every book in your house. You never know when you might want to read it, or need to look something up. Biggest, hugest mistake, weeding my collection when we moved. The wise person learns from others' mistakes. Learn from mine - keep your books.
posted by BabelBabe @ 9:25 PM
0 comments
