A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes
Life of Pi: no news.
Madame Bovary: growing on me. Definitely growing on me.
All Men Are Mortal: seriously weird and severely French. Interesting.
Piratica: No news.
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. I just finished American Psycho and I enjoyed the living heck out of it, which is kind of surprising, but I used the same technique I used to watch and enjoy Kill Bill and Sin City, which was to calculate when the most graphic violence was approaching and strategically cross my eyes for the duration, which mostly worked, although I did see a couple things I wish I hadn't, but hey. The whole book was sort of like I imagine the effects of some drugs. Just very intense and high-saturation and active and insistent about its version of reality, which made absolutely no sense but was very internally convincing? Horrifying but sort of awesome at the same time in the aesthetic intensity of the horror, also like Kill Bill and Sin City. And Clockwork Orange and all that kind of thing. So I decided to read another Ellis novel.
The Brownie and the Princess and Other Stories by Louisa May Alcott. I think I read this once when I was a kid. I know I've read the title story. I have a deep and abiding adoration for Louisa May Alcott, which is founded both in pleasant childhood memories of all her books and in the fact that she is FREAKING HARDCORE at what she does. I mean, there are many writers who could fairly be described as "wholesome," but Alcott is, like, the ordained warrioress of wholesome. She is Wholesome Ranger. She has a freaking black belt in wholesome, and when you read her books and stories you better pray to God you're sufficiently wholesome, because she will kick your face in with her Seven Powers Kick of Wholesome: Emotional health! Spiritual health! Mental health! Physical health! Healthy cooperation! Healthy individualism! Healthy procreation! HI-YA!!! And then she will BAKE YOU SOME DAMN WHOLE WHEAT BREAD FROM SCRATCH! While relating a touching, wholesome anecdote about the first time she ever tried to bake bread, which was for her daddy, whom she adored, and how proud he was of her! Yeah, you BETTER run, you unwholesome son of a bitch!
The Last Slice of Rainbow and Other Stories by Joan Aiken. Sweet little fairy tales about things that glimmer and shine. I think I read this one before too, but I'm not sure.
Colors Insulting to Nature by Cintra Wilson. I like Cintra Wilson's writing in Salon, and the title of this caught my eye. I like vivid titles. And the first page or so looked interesting.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I was rereading this while I was at home, and it was too big and heavy to bring back with me, so I take this route to finish rereading it. It's the first time I've reread it, and it's interesting. (no real big spoilers, but spoiler tagged for the sensitive) I do feel that the romances are appallingly written, even though I've been pulling for OBHWF from day one, but the Riddle flashbacks still rock my world. Voldemort doesn't really interest me, even as a villian-- he's just too cartoon devil-y for my taste, evil to such an extent that he doesn't really have a personality any more apart from Teh Ebil. But Tom Riddle, pre-noselessness, is hawt.* Especially when he's flirting with fat old ladies and then murdering them for their baubles. What can I say, I also lust after Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction.
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. I just finished rereading the hilarious and disturbing Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willett, and the narrator keeps mentioning this terrible trashy "historical romance" novel called Forever Amber that her twin sister was obsessed with-- made the narrator call her Amber ("The previous summer she had been Scarlett. Already my sister was coming down in the world."), modeled her ball gowns after Amber's, etc. I figured I'd check it out. I like to have a point of reference.
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. I've heard it's good, and the first page looked interesting.
What Child Is This? by Caroline B. Cooney. See author name.
The Secret Sacrament by Sherryl Jordan. I was leafing through some other young adult novel (Sister to the Wolf, I think it was called, or "Daughter of the Wolf," or something, but the library sticker obscured the Wolf part until I pulled it off the shelf. I hate wolves, wolves' sisters, wolves' daughters, wolves' mamas, and any other relatives of wolves, however tangential. They are worse than alligators) and it had a main character named Lesharo, which reminded me of Sherryl Jordan's Winter of Fire, which also has a main character named Lesharo and which has been one of my favorite books since I was about ten, and I decided to see if they had anything by Sherryl Jordan, and they had this.
And two for Jeremy:
Jefferson's Vendetta : The Pursuit of Aaron Burr and the Judiciary by Joseph Wheelan.
The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow Into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle by Ed Vega.
That should hold me for awhile.
Also, I finished the first lambswool sock and it's marvelous. Fits perfectly-- I made it a little too big so I could wear it over ultrathin socks of a non-itchy material, as I cannot stand itchy feet-- warm, and pretty. And I learned a stretchy bind-off so they go on super easy. Working on the second one now. My feet get cold so easily I'm amazed I haven't made myself some nice warm snuggly socks before.
*This opinion is in no way influenced by Christian Coulson, whose super mega funky hair in Chamber of Secrets successfully disguised his hottitude from me until I saw him in something else and didn't even recognize him as Tom Riddle. Although I hope he returns for the HBP movie. With better hair.
Madame Bovary: growing on me. Definitely growing on me.
All Men Are Mortal: seriously weird and severely French. Interesting.
Piratica: No news.
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. I just finished American Psycho and I enjoyed the living heck out of it, which is kind of surprising, but I used the same technique I used to watch and enjoy Kill Bill and Sin City, which was to calculate when the most graphic violence was approaching and strategically cross my eyes for the duration, which mostly worked, although I did see a couple things I wish I hadn't, but hey. The whole book was sort of like I imagine the effects of some drugs. Just very intense and high-saturation and active and insistent about its version of reality, which made absolutely no sense but was very internally convincing? Horrifying but sort of awesome at the same time in the aesthetic intensity of the horror, also like Kill Bill and Sin City. And Clockwork Orange and all that kind of thing. So I decided to read another Ellis novel.
The Brownie and the Princess and Other Stories by Louisa May Alcott. I think I read this once when I was a kid. I know I've read the title story. I have a deep and abiding adoration for Louisa May Alcott, which is founded both in pleasant childhood memories of all her books and in the fact that she is FREAKING HARDCORE at what she does. I mean, there are many writers who could fairly be described as "wholesome," but Alcott is, like, the ordained warrioress of wholesome. She is Wholesome Ranger. She has a freaking black belt in wholesome, and when you read her books and stories you better pray to God you're sufficiently wholesome, because she will kick your face in with her Seven Powers Kick of Wholesome: Emotional health! Spiritual health! Mental health! Physical health! Healthy cooperation! Healthy individualism! Healthy procreation! HI-YA!!! And then she will BAKE YOU SOME DAMN WHOLE WHEAT BREAD FROM SCRATCH! While relating a touching, wholesome anecdote about the first time she ever tried to bake bread, which was for her daddy, whom she adored, and how proud he was of her! Yeah, you BETTER run, you unwholesome son of a bitch!
The Last Slice of Rainbow and Other Stories by Joan Aiken. Sweet little fairy tales about things that glimmer and shine. I think I read this one before too, but I'm not sure.
Colors Insulting to Nature by Cintra Wilson. I like Cintra Wilson's writing in Salon, and the title of this caught my eye. I like vivid titles. And the first page or so looked interesting.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I was rereading this while I was at home, and it was too big and heavy to bring back with me, so I take this route to finish rereading it. It's the first time I've reread it, and it's interesting. (no real big spoilers, but spoiler tagged for the sensitive) I do feel that the romances are appallingly written, even though I've been pulling for OBHWF from day one, but the Riddle flashbacks still rock my world. Voldemort doesn't really interest me, even as a villian-- he's just too cartoon devil-y for my taste, evil to such an extent that he doesn't really have a personality any more apart from Teh Ebil. But Tom Riddle, pre-noselessness, is hawt.* Especially when he's flirting with fat old ladies and then murdering them for their baubles. What can I say, I also lust after Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction.
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor. I just finished rereading the hilarious and disturbing Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willett, and the narrator keeps mentioning this terrible trashy "historical romance" novel called Forever Amber that her twin sister was obsessed with-- made the narrator call her Amber ("The previous summer she had been Scarlett. Already my sister was coming down in the world."), modeled her ball gowns after Amber's, etc. I figured I'd check it out. I like to have a point of reference.
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. I've heard it's good, and the first page looked interesting.
What Child Is This? by Caroline B. Cooney. See author name.
The Secret Sacrament by Sherryl Jordan. I was leafing through some other young adult novel (Sister to the Wolf, I think it was called, or "Daughter of the Wolf," or something, but the library sticker obscured the Wolf part until I pulled it off the shelf. I hate wolves, wolves' sisters, wolves' daughters, wolves' mamas, and any other relatives of wolves, however tangential. They are worse than alligators) and it had a main character named Lesharo, which reminded me of Sherryl Jordan's Winter of Fire, which also has a main character named Lesharo and which has been one of my favorite books since I was about ten, and I decided to see if they had anything by Sherryl Jordan, and they had this.
And two for Jeremy:
Jefferson's Vendetta : The Pursuit of Aaron Burr and the Judiciary by Joseph Wheelan.
The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow Into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle by Ed Vega.
That should hold me for awhile.
Also, I finished the first lambswool sock and it's marvelous. Fits perfectly-- I made it a little too big so I could wear it over ultrathin socks of a non-itchy material, as I cannot stand itchy feet-- warm, and pretty. And I learned a stretchy bind-off so they go on super easy. Working on the second one now. My feet get cold so easily I'm amazed I haven't made myself some nice warm snuggly socks before.
*This opinion is in no way influenced by Christian Coulson, whose super mega funky hair in Chamber of Secrets successfully disguised his hottitude from me until I saw him in something else and didn't even recognize him as Tom Riddle. Although I hope he returns for the HBP movie. With better hair.