04.09.10
Unread
The 2010 version of that stack of unread books next to my bed.
06.18.08
Diversity!
As it’s Gay Pride coming up this weekend in New York, I decided to celebrate my diversity by a quick swing through Borders. These ended up being my actual purchases. Believe me, I’m as surprised as the next person. Jeff was actually rendered speechless.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats
Bear’s Life Magazine: June 2008
Martha Stewart: Weddings, June 2008
American Artist Series: Watercolor, Summer 2008
02.23.08
My New Gadget
I LOVE it. OK, I was really going to love it when I ordered four books off Amazon before the thing even showed up with the promise it would sync in the box and have them when I unwrapped it which DID NOT happen, but after I went driving in the snow and got cell reception, they popped up and BAM! There they were. Now if only Kindle’s design team had called their friends over at the iPhone salon ’cause as a reviewer described it in GQ: “…it looks like my old Tandy computer from 1981″. Cream of oyster soup color in an electronic gadget is like an avocado fridge in the 70′s.
But I love it!
11.24.06
Magic
“Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk.”
Clarke, S., 2006, The Ladies of Grace Adieu
Susanna Clarke has written her follow up to “Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell“, a door-stop of a hardback that I finally made my way through this summer. Her outing this time is a sliver compared to that previous block of text, charmingly titled, “The Ladies of Grace Adieu“. It’s a great concept of short stories that build off the 19th century concept of theoretical versus practical magic in good British Society. The best part of the book is that it is filled with charming illustrations which I find delightful. I’m becoming more and more enamored of good illustrations. Who doesn’t like a picture book?
Magic
“Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk.”
Clarke, S., 2006, The Ladies of Grace Adieu
Susanna Clarke has written her follow up to “Johnathan Strange & Mr Norell“, a door-stop of a hardback that I finally made my way through this summer. Her outing this time is a sliver compared to that previous block of text, charmingly titled, “The Ladies of Grace Adieu“. It’s a great concept of short stories that build off the 19th century concept of theoretical versus practical magic in good British Society. The best part of the book is that it is filled with charming illustrations which I find delightful. I’m becoming more and more enamored of good illustrations. Who doesn’t like a picture book?
11.10.06
Words to live by
“Page 31 – Love Should Not be Stimulated.
Do not excite your love by foreign stimulants. The influences of love and wine should never be united. Men, when under the excitement of intoxicating liquors, are not in full possession of all their faculties: they have excited their animal propensities, and by so doing have rendered the manifestations of their feelings brutal. There is no woman of sense and purity throughout the land, but must, having the knowledge of the debasing influences of ardent spirits, the foul and demoniac crimes which have been committed under the auspices of drunkenness, view the attentions of persons under this animal excitement as an insult of the blackest kind.”
M.B. Allen, MD & A.C. McGregor, MD., 1912. Girlhood to Motherhood or Love, Marriage and Maternity, containing Full Information on all the Marvelous and Complex Matters Pertaining to Women, including Creative science; Bearing; Nursing and Rearing Children; Hereditary Descent; Hints on Courtship and Marriage; Promoting Health and Beauty; Vigor of Mind and Body, etc., etc., Together with the Diseases Peculiar to the Female Sex, Their Causes, Symptoms and Treatment; the Whole Forming a Complete Medical Guide for Women
10.08.06
Beau’s Book Club
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Worth the read, and once committed, stay for it until the end. GREAT read.
07.17.05
Dammit..sucked in
It figures that by making Jeff read HP:THBP outloud during the drive back to the city last night, I’ve now gone and gotten myself hooked into the series. Admittedly, I didn’t read HP 5 and really must have skimmed HP 4 more then actually read it because I don’t remember much from it but in the first three chapters of the latest one, I kept asking Jeff for a recap (worthless since he couldn’t seem to fill me in much) because I felt maddenly out of the loop about some of the characters. Now I’m committed to going back and rereading the fourth and fifth books to get caught up.
Just so it is plainly stated; this is par for the course with me. I’m ALWAYS a late-adopter of anything whether socially, emotionally, personally, or professionally.
Yes I did
No spoilers ahead.
Jeff managed to find the last copy of HP:THBP at Wal-Mart last night…in the returned items bin, which is just how his luck runs. Not being a crazed fan of HP like others (which there is nothing wrong with being a crazed HP fan), I simply applied my bibliophile detective powers and skimmed the second to last chapter which confirmed a major plot point. Then I skimmed the chapter index, found the chapter that included the “Half-blood Prince” and skimmed that one to find out who fits the bill.
Yes I did, yes I did. I’m just that bad of a person. Of course I’ll read the whole thing but now I can enjoy it without Rowling’s trickery and red-herrings. Of course the other benefit is now I can taunt Jeff, the bigger HP fan between the two of us, with, “I know who the HPB is,” or “Guess who…,”.
I sort of want to call up some crazed HP friends to do the same but I’m afraid I’d have a hit put on me.
07.11.05
The Historian
I know I was all crazy over this book a while back and I’m glad, for the most part, that I found it and read it because if I hadn’t, I think there would be this lingering doubt in my mind that I was missing THE read of the summer, but honestly, now that I’m done with it, I’m sort of like…”whatever”. That’s not exactly a resounding recommendation.
I mean, I didn’t hate it and I did finish it so that says something. I think over all, it was just underwhelming. I was emailing Max about it today and mentioned that either I had skimmed over something or misinterpretted it because several of the big “reveals” in the plot I’d already assumed were known. I’d get to the reveal and be like, “huh? We didn’t already know that?”. I don’t know what that exactly says but it doesn’t really go in the “pro” column.
And the bit about it being longish and Dracula not appearing until well into it? Try page 595 out of a 637-page book. Seriously. I’m all for foreplay but my God.
Overall I liked the idea of the book. It has a good, fresh take on the historical significance of vampirism and the acedemic approach has a distinct feeling of Tartt’s “Secret History”. I think in the end, this will make a better movie then it does a book which is saying something.
I’m now onto two books of short stories. Owen Kings, “We’re All In This Together” which so far is excellent. I was willing to give him a try because he’s Stephen King’s son, and I’m happy to say he takes teh best writing quality of his dad and makes it is own. It’s familiar but still new in a way I like. So much in fact that I actaully emailed the publisher to find out if he’s doing any book-signings. He apparently lives in Brooklyn so I hope that’s good for at least one New York reading.
The other book is “Children Playing In Front Of a Statue of Hercules” which is edited by David Sedaris. He’s chosen his favorite short stories and published a book to support 826NYC. There are some excellent shorts in it that I’m just starting to pick away at so I’m looking forward to be able to report back how excellent it is overall.