Poll along with my single knitting project, I will bring a single book.

Funniest. Cantankerous Old Literary Giant Interview. Ever. 

Guess who scored a pristine, still shrinkwrapped two volume set of The Lexicon for a whopping $16 (which retails at $20 PER volume) at the Sale Annex of Barnes & Noble this weekend?

Guess who also nabbed a copy of the Uta Hagen AND a Mr. Boston at the 1/2 Price Bookstore?

That's right.  THIS gal.

I stopped by the library yesterday and picked up a couple of holds: The Almost Moon and The Year of Living Bibilically: One Man's Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.

Both piqued my interest because of previous authorship. (The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World was awesome.  And I don't ( Read more... )

from

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The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder
by Rachel Howard

It wasn't bad, but it turned into an angsty memoir when what I wanted was a first-hand true crime whodunit. 
She also never found out who did it, which left me MOST unsatisfied.

Like her, I suppose.

3 out of 5 stars 
 

The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession
by Susan Orlean

There were some fascinating parts, not only about orchids and their mind-boggling variety, hardiness and qualities, but also about the people who collect, nurture and obsess over them.

I liked it, but I did find sections a little dry at times, and I was not as intrigued by her ( Read more... )

The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula
by Eric Nuzum

Vampires, pop culture references flung willy-nilly, colloquialisms and smarts.
It was great.

My only regret was I had to burn through the last 50 pages to get it back to the library in time.

4 out of 5 stars.

"If you think the Internet offered an impressive number of conspiracy web sites, readerless blogs, and porn -- try searching for vampires online.  Simply Googling the word vampire brings up more than seven million results.  This is twice the number of results for zombie and four times that of Frankenstein.  That said, it is only half of what ghost ( Read more... )

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel.

I picked this up because of the teaser quote on the front: "A story to make you believe in the soul-searching power of fiction."

It's about a castaway who spends five months on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger floating through the pacific.  Although I found the main middle section while he was on the boat interesting, I was ( Read more... )