I'm trying to be better about writing at least a little blurb about each book I read. Trying being the operative word here. The blurb, if and when I do get around to writing it, will of course happen after the book has been finished. So, in the beginning, what may show up here is just the book's basic information, title, author, date I began reading it. But feel free to comment on the book even if I haven't yet written anything about it. I always like talking about books!
For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, and let there be no surcease to this agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails…and when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him forever. --Curse for book thieves by Edmund Lester Pearson (1880-1937)
The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
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God’s Debris, Scott Adams
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I finally set up an RSS feed just in case anyone is interested in keeping up with what I'm reading through a news reader. RSS 2.0
Loved the book. Will probably find ways to bring it up in conversations and insist that people read it.
Liked it well enough. Would probably say that it's a good read, except for [fill in the blank].
Liked it well enough to finish the book but I wouldn't recommend that someone else read it.
So bad I couldn't finish the book. If someone mentioned the book title to me I'd probably shake my head and tell him not to waste his time or money.
Reading is Fundamental
So many books, so little time
Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Start Date: 07/16/05
End Date: 07/21/05
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Comments: 1
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After reading the 5th book (all 800 pages of it) I wondered aloud if Rowling was being paid by the word. I felt then that the story went for far too long and I feel the same way about this book although at 650 pages, it’s clear she showed a little bit of restratint. I like to read and I enjoy the Potter books but 600 pages of build-up is just too much even for me. I consistenly found myself skipping sections of the book all the while thinking, “Come on. Get on with it. Where’s the action?” And then, finally, it happened but it happened so fast I was left feeling a bit cheated. The ending was a bit heavy handed, just over the top melodrama. Overall I don’t think the book was as good as its predecessors. Although that may just be that I’m running out of patience with the whole story. I don’t even know if I care anymore whether Voldermort or Harry dies, I just want to know how the whole thing ends already.
Book: Little Earthquakes, Jennifer Weiner
Start Date: 07/17/05
End Date: 07/19/05
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Book: We Thought You Would Be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive, Laurie Notaro
Start Date: 05/30/05
End Date: 07/07/05
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Comments: 1
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This is the 4th Notaro book I’ve read and I think this officially moves me into the comfortable stage of my relationship with this author. Her first book, The Idiot Girls’ Action Adventure Club, had me in stitches. I found everything she said to be extremely funny, much like you do in the beginning stages of any relationship. She was sharp, witty and, if memory serves, could do no wrong in her storytelling. With this book, she’s still got a knack for storytelling. In fact, I’m still amazed at how carefully she crafts a story, how just when I think she’s headed off on a tangent, she brings the story back around and ends it just the right way. But there are parts of some stories that I’ve ‘heard’ before, during these times I find myself zoning out, nodding along and murmuring occasional “uh-hums” so she doesn’t become irritated by the fact that I’m not paying attention. We’ve gotten to that point where I feel okay in taking short-cuts because I know where we’re heading. This isn’t by any means a bad thing. Sometimes you crave the quiet and comfortable and you needn’t fear dozing off. In my opinion that’s still a pretty damn good read.
Book: The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester
Start Date: 06/22/05
End Date: 06/28/05
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This is what comes from wandering aimlessly in the bookstore. I saw this in a stack of books recommended by a store employee and something about it caught my eye. I think it was the sub-title: “A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary.” I mean really. How can you pass that up? According to the back cover, when the OED was being compiled, one man contributed more than ten thousand words. Naturally the overseeing committee wanted to honor the man. That’s when they discovered that Dr. Minor, an American Civil War veteran, was also an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane.
Who knew reading about the making of a dictionary could be so fascinating? I’m hoping the book lives up to the description.
More when the book is finished. ....
Okay. Fascinating might have been too strong a word to use, but it was a nice, interesting read. I most enjoyed when the story focused on the story of Dr. Minor and his relationship with Murray, the editor of the OED. The book lost me a little when it really dwelved into the history of the actual dictionary.
Book: Eventide, Kent Haruff
Start Date: 05/31/05
End Date: 06/05/05
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Book: Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, Susan Jane Gilman
Start Date: 05/04/05
End Date: 05/26/05
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[5.06.05]
I’m only 30 pages into this book but I can tell I’m going to really like it. It would be hard not to like a book that starts out with “When I was little, I was so girlie and ambitious, I was practically a drag queen.”
[5.26.05]
I’ve been reading quite a few memoirs lately and they constantly amaze me. They’re so honest! Gilman’s book is no different. There were times when I cringed, horrified that she was sharing such intimate details of her life, but that’s what makes this book so fantastic. The writing is wonderful too and makes me want to pick up a pen and paper. That’s always something I appreciate in a book.
Book: Girls in Pants: The 3rd Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
Start Date: 04/25/05
End Date: 04/25/05
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Book: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Ann Brashares
Start Date: 04/23/05
End Date: 04/25/05
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Book: Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett
Start Date: 04/11/05
End Date: 04/23/05
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Comments: 3
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This is a book about Ann Patchett’s friendship with Lucy Grealy, author of Autobiography of a Face. I started out envious of their close relationship. There seemed to be nothing that they didn’t discuss. Even Lucy’s incessant need for constant validation didn’t bother me, most likely because it hit a bit close to home. Who among us wouldn’t like for our friends to say, “You’re fantastic, I love you, I’m happy we’re friends” on a regular basis?
But as the book went on and Lucy’s life became more chaotic I found myself no longer being able to relate. I haven’t read Autobiography of a Face and I was not at all aware of this person until this book so it’s hard to imagine that at one point she was so famous that people were throwing money her way without her needing to actually do anything. And it seemed that no matter how much money she got, it never stuck around for long. Publishing companies were so eager for her 2nd book that they didn’t even care what it was about. That blows my mind. So much talent wasted.
I found a blog entry where the comments got pretty heated. The reactions to Grealy ran from thinking her a hero and a survivor to finding her extremely selfish and codependent and a loser.
I don’t know what it means to be a cancer survivor. I don’t know what it means to have half of your face missing because of chemotherapy treatments. I don’t know what it means to look at yourself in the mirror every single day and think you’re not worth looking at. So, how then do I make any sort of judgement on how this woman lived her life? Was I sad that she never seemed to take advantage of the awesome talent she was said to have? Of course, but for whatever the reason, she couldn’t ever settle down. It’s easy enough to say “I would have done things differently” but playing such games is silly and pointless in my opinion.
One commenter writes that Lucy’s friends were to blame, that they all spoiled her and let her get away with all sorts of ridiculous behavior. Perhaps, but would she have lasted as long as she did had they not? There’s no way to say.
I bought the book because I like Ann Patchett’s writing and in that respect it did not disappoint. The book, whether or not you like the actual people it focuses on, is well written. I think she uses Grealy’s letters to her in a very effective manner and it’s incredible to me that she actually kept them all those years. She has her mother to thank for that; after hearing one of Grealy’s letters Patchett’s mother advises her to keep them all because they’d be important one day. I’m sure she could have written a fine book without them, but the inclusion of the letters gives the reader a chance to hear Lucy’s voice and get a little insight into who she was and not who Patchett thought she was. That’s incredibly valuable. All in all, I’d definitely recommend the book to people. I’m trying to decide now if I want to read Grealy’s book.
Book: To Have and To Hold, Jane Green
Start Date: 04/16/05
End Date: 04/17/05
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Comments: 1
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This is the sort of book that makes me wish I used my library card more often. This book definitely didn’t need to be purchased. I knew as I was buying it that I was going to regret it but I am physically incapable of leaving Border’s emptyhanded. What I really wanted to buy was Galileo’s Daughter but I couldn’t remember if I’d already purchased it. So this book was a substitution and a poor one at that. I can’t even really explain what I didn’t like about it. You know from the get go that Alice isn’t meant to be with Joe and yet there she is, being at his beck and call for more than half the book. It was just too damn frustrating. Plus, somewhere in the 2nd or third chapter she admits that she’s heard the rumors about her cheating husband but she puts them aside because she doesn’t want to deal with it. Please. I know I joke about pulling a Scarlett and putting things off till the following day, but come on. There’s denial and then there’s denial. That’s the kind of thing I’d deal with in a hot second. Sometimes I don’t know why I bother with chicklit.