My second book review for the 12 Book Challenge:

I'm going to give something away: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu, is not a science fiction novel. Even though this is the story of a time-machine repairman, the "science fictional" concepts in this novel are strictly a metaphor ( Read more... )

About a month ago, I posted a list of goals to achieve before my 33rd birthday. Monday was my 32nd birthday, so I've got about a year to go. One month down, one year to go. So, I thought I'd check in. I'll keep myself honest, keep myself on track, maybe update a little bit ( Read more... )

A while back, my friends, Jill and E, started this 12 books challenge. I don't remember all the details, and I guess I could go back and read what they did, but instead I'll just go ahead with what I think it was. I made a list of books as part of my New Year's resolution that I wanted to read performance birthday. (Not the one next week, but the ( Read more... )

... borrowed from Vered and Tim

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Probably Stephen King -- the man has been damn prolific.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I own two copies of Wizard and Glass by Stephen King, two copies of The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (the second copy of each was a gift), and Ray and I ( Read more... )

One of the best books I read last year was The Secret Life of BeesI just saw an ad for a movie version of it, and at first, I was horrified. It's starring Dakota Fanning. I don't know if anything good could star Dakota Fanning, but it seems pretty unlikely. Even if it starts with great material. Then I noted the rest of the cast: Queen Latifah ( Read more... )

On Monday I finished reading Sarah Vowell's Partly Cloudy Patriot, and I have to say I'm a big fan. I'd read her more recent book, Assassination Vacation a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, but not as much as PatriotSarah Vowell writes a combination of personal memoir and American history. She's an enthusiastic patriot in what I believe ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I finished Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie and started Partly Cloudy Patriot, by Sarah Vowell. I'm struck by how oddly similar they are. In Midnight's Children, the main character/narrator tells the story of his life and how it is irrevocably tied to the story of India, his home country. He -- Saleem -- was born on the moment ( Read more... )

(Borrowed from E.)

Below is a list of the top 106 books tagged “unread” on LibraryThing. The rules:
bold = what you’ve read,
italics = books you started but couldn’t finish
crossed out = books you hated
* = you’ve read more than once
underline = books you own but haven’t read yourself

1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
2. Anna ( Read more... )

A lot of the big book stores, like Borders and Barnes & Nobel, hide or otherwise protect a certain subset of books. These are the books that grow legs, the books that people have a tendency to steal. Which books are these? What subset of the world of fiction and literature do these monster chains stores feel the need to protect from sticky ( Read more... )

I had a beautiful weekend this weekend ... mostly. Friday night we slacked. We went out for dinner and a movie. Both (Coho for dinner and The Black Dahlia) were good but not great, but it was a nice, relaxing way to celebrate the end of a stressful and hectic week. Between dinner and the movie, we had a little time to kill so we poked around ( Read more... )