I was going to make this a Movie Review! post, but that seemed a bit disingenuous, because so much of my response to the movies involves the books as well. For the record: I've read all three of the books and seen the first two movies; the third movie is out, but I haven't seen it yet, so it won't be part of this review. On the other hand, don't ( Read more... )

I have just discovered the oddest book series. It's called Culture Shock, and it purports to be guides to the cultures of other countries for people who are intending to move there. The books are written by immigrants, and there's a whole series of them. Britain, Japan, Ireland, the U.S., all sorts of different places ( Read more... )

I've been reading for a while about revenge-themed movies. Revenge seems to be a popular theme for movies, and sometimes it's done well and sometimes it isn't. But it got me thinking about the concept of revenge. For all the plots made around it, you rarely see one that takes the time to examine just what revenge is and what it can mean ( Read more... )

Was just watching this video on how to make old-fashioned pincurls, the kind that are moderately loose and wavy and Old-Hollywood-via-Little-House-on-the-Prairie. I'm always kind of fascinated watching people work so hard to curl their hair, mostly because almost every single method they use would, if used on me, end up actually straightening my ( Read more... )

So I promised a post on one of my new favorite authors. Since I have brownies that need to stay in the oven another ten minutes, now's as good a time as any.

I am of late completely enamored with the works of Sarah Dunant. Specifically, the books that she's been writing recently, about the lives of women in Renaissance Italy. (Pause for thuds ( Read more... )

Just a quick note to say I Ate'nt Dead. Just very busy. Had an unexpected TA job fall into my lap, am doing fieldwork, am taking care of friends, am attending a conference this weekend that I really wish I weren't. Just generally busy ( Read more... )

So I'm all of nineteen pages into a novel, and I'm not sure I can take any more without beating my head against a handy wall to lower my IQ. It really shouldn't have been this way. This book had so much going for it. The author is Erica Jong, who I've always categorized as one of those second-tier contemporary classic authors whose books really ( Read more... )

Recently, at the library, I picked up a book called The Prairie Girl's Guide To Life, which is filled with craft projects. Some nifty, some kind of weird. One of the projects was a really simple make-it-yourself mosquito repellant. I figured that might be kind of neat to try, because commercial bug sprays smell funny and have strange chemicals ( Read more... )

For reasons unknown to me, I got a hankering to read a book that I'd last read half a lifetime ago, when I was sixteen. It's a piece of historical fiction by Norah Lofts, called Crown of Aloes, about Queen Isabella I of Spain, she of "Ferdinand and Isabella," the one who sent Columbus out to discover new routes to India. One of the things that I ( Read more... )

I've been sort of slowly making my way through a recent (2008) history of public perception of homosexuality in the United States -- the book is called Gay Rights and Moral Panic: The Origins of America's Debate on Homosexuality by Fred Fejes. The subject is interesting, but the writing is definitely somewhat lackluster, which is too bad ( Read more... )