Books 73-82 of 2009
73. I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass (287 pgs)
A story of two sisters, born four years apart (sounds familiar), told in snippets over a span of 25 years. Glass hides the most important things going on in conversations the characters are having, which completely stunned me more than once when I realized what was going on. Still not as good as Three Junes, which I loved.
74. The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders (257 pgs)
I think George Saunders is better at writing short stories than essays. In this book of essays, I really enjoyed the Huck Finn introduction, as well as his musings on Kurt Vonnegut's writing. I did not enjoy any time he decided to try to embody someone he saw as unintelligent or naive - it came across as condescending rather than clever or funny. But Saunders does seem concerned about the relative stupidity of our country in almost every essay in this book.
"How can anyone be truly free in a country as violent and stupid as ours?"
And I love this one about writing: "In this mode of not-knowing, the thick-torsoed, literal, and crew-cut conscious mind is moved to the sidelines in favor of the swinging, perceptive, light-footed, tutu-wearing subconscious. We surprise ourselves, and make something bigger than we could have imagined making before we started trying to make it."
75. The Sandman, v. 10 - The Wake by Neil Gaiman (192 pgs)
A nice wrap up to the entire series. I was sad to see it end.
76. My Life in France by Julia Child (352 pgs)
I've read this twice, and find Julia more inspiring the more I cook and bake. This is the story of how she got started - she started learning to cook at age 37, and was over 40 by the time she started writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This is also the story of some of the work her husband did for the government propaganda machine after WWII, and a love story to the people and foods of France.
77. Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold (414 pgs)
This is based on the life of the wife of Charles Dickens, although the family has been fictionalized and know as the Gibsons in this novel, starting at the funeral of the One and Only, and exploring their history as a couple.
This was a hard book to read for me, and I feel I may be mistaken in giving it 3 stars. The writing was fine, but it just made me so angry! The situation women were in during this time period is made more obviously frustrating when the story is from his wife's perspective. How easy it was to dismiss a woman, as crazy or incompetent, just for the man's reputation or ease in society. At the same time she loved him, clearly too blindly and stubbornly for anyone's own good. Was this a story that needed to be told? It is definitely interesting, I suppose, to hear about the life of a wife of a famous author, and I imagine the research was fascinating. But I think I'd rather read that than an imagined story based on it.
78. Count Zero by William Gibson (246 pgs)
This is the middle book of the Sprawl Trilogy by Gibson (in between Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive), and my absolute favorite. The other two are largely action-based, and this one had a lot of that but also a lot of beautiful descriptions, somewhat mystically-oriented plotlines, and it really drew me in, probably because I'm no stranger to cyberspace myself. I really loved the ending, so much that I re-read it twice before moving on.
"Bobby had been trying to chart a way out of this landscape since the day he was born, or anyway it felt that way."
"As I luxuriate in the discovery that I am no special sponge for sorrow, but merely another fallible animal in this stone maze of a city, I come simultaneously to see that I am the focus of some vast device fueled by an obscure desire."
"Thrones and dominions,' the Finn said obscurely. 'Yeah, there's things out there. Ghosts, voices. Why not? Oceans had mermaids, all that shit, and we had a sea of silicon, see? Sure, it's just a tailored hallucination we all agreed to have, cyberspace, but anybody who jacks in knows, fucking knows it's a whole universe. And every year it gets a little more crowded.'"
"The sinister thing about a simstim construct, really, was that it carried the suggestion that any environment might be unreal, that the windows of the shopfronts she passed now with Andrea might be figments."
"Sprawltown's a twisty place, my man. Things are seldom what they seem."
"My songs are of time and distance. The sadness is you. Watch my arms. There is only the dance. These things you treasure are shells."
79. Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson (308 pgs)
The last in the Sprawl Trilogy, and I'm not sure this would mean as much as a standalone read. Mostly action, and a surprising ending.
80. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (244 pgs)&
I thought this book was a helpful tool to navigate through all the mixed messages sent through the media about food, although Pollan is a journalist too. :) The cover sums it up - Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.
Most of this book was in-depth explanations of what I already know about food and eating but do not necessarily do. That is probably how most of us feel, actually. If I was going to recommend one book by Pollan, it would probably be The Omnivore's Dilemma, because I really liked its perspective and admittedly lighter focus on the details.
81. Huge by James W. Fuerst (305 pgs)
A story about an unbalanced boy the summer before he goes to junior high. I think the author is trying to write like Haddon but it wasn't nearly as charming or memorable.
82. Homer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow (208 pgs)
This is the story of two brothers, living in NYC through several decades right after World War I. It is spotty and disjointed but the characters were interesting. The ending was ... well, strange.
"And so do people pass out of one's life and all you can remember of them is their humanity."
A story of two sisters, born four years apart (sounds familiar), told in snippets over a span of 25 years. Glass hides the most important things going on in conversations the characters are having, which completely stunned me more than once when I realized what was going on. Still not as good as Three Junes, which I loved.
74. The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders (257 pgs)
I think George Saunders is better at writing short stories than essays. In this book of essays, I really enjoyed the Huck Finn introduction, as well as his musings on Kurt Vonnegut's writing. I did not enjoy any time he decided to try to embody someone he saw as unintelligent or naive - it came across as condescending rather than clever or funny. But Saunders does seem concerned about the relative stupidity of our country in almost every essay in this book.
"How can anyone be truly free in a country as violent and stupid as ours?"
And I love this one about writing: "In this mode of not-knowing, the thick-torsoed, literal, and crew-cut conscious mind is moved to the sidelines in favor of the swinging, perceptive, light-footed, tutu-wearing subconscious. We surprise ourselves, and make something bigger than we could have imagined making before we started trying to make it."
75. The Sandman, v. 10 - The Wake by Neil Gaiman (192 pgs)
A nice wrap up to the entire series. I was sad to see it end.
76. My Life in France by Julia Child (352 pgs)
I've read this twice, and find Julia more inspiring the more I cook and bake. This is the story of how she got started - she started learning to cook at age 37, and was over 40 by the time she started writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This is also the story of some of the work her husband did for the government propaganda machine after WWII, and a love story to the people and foods of France.
77. Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold (414 pgs)
This is based on the life of the wife of Charles Dickens, although the family has been fictionalized and know as the Gibsons in this novel, starting at the funeral of the One and Only, and exploring their history as a couple.
This was a hard book to read for me, and I feel I may be mistaken in giving it 3 stars. The writing was fine, but it just made me so angry! The situation women were in during this time period is made more obviously frustrating when the story is from his wife's perspective. How easy it was to dismiss a woman, as crazy or incompetent, just for the man's reputation or ease in society. At the same time she loved him, clearly too blindly and stubbornly for anyone's own good. Was this a story that needed to be told? It is definitely interesting, I suppose, to hear about the life of a wife of a famous author, and I imagine the research was fascinating. But I think I'd rather read that than an imagined story based on it.
78. Count Zero by William Gibson (246 pgs)
This is the middle book of the Sprawl Trilogy by Gibson (in between Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive), and my absolute favorite. The other two are largely action-based, and this one had a lot of that but also a lot of beautiful descriptions, somewhat mystically-oriented plotlines, and it really drew me in, probably because I'm no stranger to cyberspace myself. I really loved the ending, so much that I re-read it twice before moving on.
"Bobby had been trying to chart a way out of this landscape since the day he was born, or anyway it felt that way."
"As I luxuriate in the discovery that I am no special sponge for sorrow, but merely another fallible animal in this stone maze of a city, I come simultaneously to see that I am the focus of some vast device fueled by an obscure desire."
"Thrones and dominions,' the Finn said obscurely. 'Yeah, there's things out there. Ghosts, voices. Why not? Oceans had mermaids, all that shit, and we had a sea of silicon, see? Sure, it's just a tailored hallucination we all agreed to have, cyberspace, but anybody who jacks in knows, fucking knows it's a whole universe. And every year it gets a little more crowded.'"
"The sinister thing about a simstim construct, really, was that it carried the suggestion that any environment might be unreal, that the windows of the shopfronts she passed now with Andrea might be figments."
"Sprawltown's a twisty place, my man. Things are seldom what they seem."
"My songs are of time and distance. The sadness is you. Watch my arms. There is only the dance. These things you treasure are shells."
79. Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson (308 pgs)
The last in the Sprawl Trilogy, and I'm not sure this would mean as much as a standalone read. Mostly action, and a surprising ending.
80. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (244 pgs)&
I thought this book was a helpful tool to navigate through all the mixed messages sent through the media about food, although Pollan is a journalist too. :) The cover sums it up - Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants.
Most of this book was in-depth explanations of what I already know about food and eating but do not necessarily do. That is probably how most of us feel, actually. If I was going to recommend one book by Pollan, it would probably be The Omnivore's Dilemma, because I really liked its perspective and admittedly lighter focus on the details.
81. Huge by James W. Fuerst (305 pgs)
A story about an unbalanced boy the summer before he goes to junior high. I think the author is trying to write like Haddon but it wasn't nearly as charming or memorable.
82. Homer & Langley by E. L. Doctorow (208 pgs)
This is the story of two brothers, living in NYC through several decades right after World War I. It is spotty and disjointed but the characters were interesting. The ending was ... well, strange.
"And so do people pass out of one's life and all you can remember of them is their humanity."