February 2012
48 posts
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“Probably in their marriage she had been too dreamy and inconsistent. For love to...”
– “Like Life,” Lorrie Moore
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“There is a way of walking in New York, midevening, in the big, blocky East...”
– “Vissi D’Arte” in Like Life by Lorrie Moore
Like Life, Lorrie Moore
This was a lovely little book of short stories. I didn’t like Anagrams much and I generally don’t get very invested in short stories, but these were just right. Recommended.
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“It seemed suddenly to Mary that she would have to choose, that even if you...”
– “Two Boys” in Like Life by Lorrie Moore
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“I thought I understood something of a novel’s architecture, the lovely...”
– Carol Shields, Unless
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“She was already a recognized writer of kinetic, tough-corded prose, both...”
– Carol Shields, Unless
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Unless, Carol Shields
I didn’t care about this book at all. Sorry.
I know I liked two other Carol Shields novels, but this one just annoyed me. I found the narrator obnoxious and the plot boring. Which is unfortunate because so much of the book is about how hard it is for a female author to appear credible and inspiring to our male-dominated society. (The female author character in the book spends a lot of time...
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“It’s a hell of a way to say so long but I’ve always been this way...”
– Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers
booksijustread said: Have you read The Gospel of Anarchy? I think you might like it…
No, I have not! Never heard of it, even. I’ll check it out!
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Books I Just Read: Random Family →
booksijustread:
It is my fervent belief that this book should be required reading in every high school in America. It’s that good, so good that I think if every high schooler read it, this country would be better, filled with more emotionally developed people, maybe filled with people who are more understanding…
THANK YOU! When I first read Random Family, I was stunned and amazed and I...
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Sweet Heaven When I Die, Jeff Sharlet
This was one of those books I had on my “to read” list for reasons I can’t remember. I know I read Jeff Sharlet’s The Family a couple years ago after hearing his interview on Fresh Air, and somehow I thought Sweet Heaven When I Die was something like Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven. Nope. Not really. They do both have “heaven” in the title, and...
“The city needed our love, and we needed to love the city. We must love everyone...”
– Jeff Sharlet, Sweet Heaven When I Die. (This line hit home because I’m a foster care social worker in NYC.)
“It was out of character for me to lash out in so common and vulgar a way as...”
– Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers
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“He enjoyed the finer points of civilized life but never shied from a hearty...”
– Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers
Wondering if my boyfriend bought me a Kindle for...
Him: I'm thinking about getting a Kindle.
Me: Hmm.
Him: You know who could really use a Kindle?
Me: ...Who?
Him: YOU!
Me: Eh.
Him: But...wouldn't it make reading so much easier?
Me: Meh.
Him: Because you wouldn't have to carry heavy books around with you?
Me: But I like feeling the weight of the book and knowing how far along I am, not just "page 40 of 262" but FEELING how far along I am, and touching the pages, and how pretty it is...
Him: Yeah. True. I just...think the Kindle looks fun...too...
“All good and true book-lovers practice the pleasing and improving avocation of...”
– Eugene Field, The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac (via excessivebookshelf)
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“…and though I had never before pondered the notion of humanity, or whether...”
– Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers
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The Sisters Brothers, Patrick DeWitt
This is a fun read. I don’t read many Westerns but I found this poignant and funny and charming, despite people being drowned and shot and having hands cut off and a horse losing an eye in a disgusting way. The Sisters Brothers are purportedly terrifying killers, but they bumble along, just barely getting by. There is mystery and drama, but it has an easiness to it; I let the story carry me...
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“Yesterday I saw a man leap from the roof of the Orient Hotel, laughing all the...”
– Patrick DeWitt, The Sisters Brothers
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“A weapon men use against women is the refusal to take them seriously.”
– David Mitchell, Ghostwritten
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Ghostwritten, David Mitchell
Am I too drunk to write a book review? Only one way to find out.
I have an enormous crush on David Mitchell. The kind of crush where every time I read a fantastic phrase in his book I go “Damn that’s good” and flip to the author photo, just to gaze in admiration at him for a sec.
When I finished Ghostwritten I had almost no way to describe what had just happened. The only...
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Dear Kids,
When you grow up, your dinner can be wine and cookies and no one will even try to give you any shit about it.
It gets better.
Love,
(Tipsy) Diana
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“I added ‘writers’ to my list of people not to trust. They make...”
– David MItchell, Ghostwritten
