tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61815802011-04-21T16:13:11.697-07:00100 BooksMy thoughts on the books I'm currently readingMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.comBlogger1511100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1150136962198024162006-06-12T11:27:00.000-07:002006-06-12T11:32:32.003-07:00MOVING!This blog is moving to a new home. You can now find it at: themaryanne.info . I'm squooshing all my blogs together there; I like the format better, and hopefully you will too. All the old posts are there, as well as neato sorting and searching functions. Your comments all moved too! I'm still doing some tinkering, and it's not completely constructed yet, but close, so please update any links or Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1149534677389392032006-06-05T10:36:00.000-07:002006-06-05T12:11:17.413-07:00I really should just get in the habit of posting right after I finish a book. I don't yet have that habit, so here are the last bunch of books I've read.
Flapper by Joshua Zeitz: This is a fantastic new book about the history and cultural context of the flapper trend in the early 1900s. Extrememly well written, very insightful, and very informative. I may need to buy a copy of this one.
If Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1147034704218855142006-05-07T13:14:00.000-07:002006-05-07T13:45:04.250-07:00It's time to play catch up again.
The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis:
I really liked this odd little story about a young man trying to get into Oxford and bed Rachel, the girl of his dreams. It's a coming of age story-- not a lot happens, but plenty happens, if you know what I mean. The book is made up of Charles' notes on his conquest of Rachel (hence the name, The Rachel Papers), and as such Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1146458489979269132006-04-30T21:11:00.000-07:002006-04-30T21:41:30.506-07:00I started reading Where the Truth Lies by Rupert Holmes, then put it down when my Amazon shipment came containing the much anticipated Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, and then, miracle of miracles, I did not move on to another book, but picked up Where the Truth Lies and finished it. Not that it suprised me all that much, actually, the book is pretty dang compelling and I wanted to know how it Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1146176439647059262006-04-27T11:44:00.000-07:002006-04-27T15:24:38.606-07:00How is it that I always seem to have to catch up? I've read a bunch of books in the last couple days, so here goes.
Adverbs by Daniel Handler:
Oh how I love Daniel Handler. He rarely goes wrong, but I was concerned after his last grown-up novel that I'd just be a fan of his kids work from then on out. But Adverbs is magnificent. It's a series of connected short stories about love, each titled Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1145665707202542212006-04-21T16:41:00.000-07:002006-04-21T17:28:27.276-07:00I just posted, but I figured these books deserved their own post. I finished two more of Ron Goulart's Groucho Marx mysteries, and while I recommend them, I also recommend spacing them out. Goulart has a tendency to fall into a formula, but I don't know that it would be so apparent if the books weren't read in such a short period of time. They're still amusing, don't get me wrong; they just feel Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1145662875467451342006-04-21T16:24:00.000-07:002006-04-21T17:30:02.356-07:00I really don't know that I can describe to you just how much I love the library. When I go to a bookstore I walk around slowly, waiting for a title to jump out at me, loving that I'm around so many books, but anxious because I'm going to have to choose. I can't take home all the books; that would be neither financially nor spatially plausible. So I have to decide just which one will fit my mood, Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1145309706927736662006-04-17T13:17:00.000-07:002006-04-17T14:35:06.996-07:00The mystery phase continues. I went by the library and checked out the entire Groucho Marx mystery series by Ron Goulart, and they're entertaining me. A while ago I wrote about the 2 categories of mysteries- those that the reader has a chance of solving, and those that you just have to wait until the end. These fall solidly into the second category- the reader is just along for the ride as the Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1144702813169584682006-04-10T12:36:00.000-07:002006-04-10T14:00:13.226-07:00I'm behind again. Luckily the books I've been reading lately haven't been too deep. To catch up:
Swing by Rupert Holmes was very enjoyable. It's set at the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939, where a jazz musician stumbles upon a mysterious death. One night he's propositioned by a young French woman who is looking to marry for citizenship; the next morning he's present asMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1143590057151374402006-03-28T14:37:00.000-08:002006-03-28T15:54:17.346-08:00A ways back, about a week or so ago, I finished reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. It was a birthday gift, and a much appreciated one. I haven't written about it yet because I'd really like to read it again before I do. It's translated from Czech, and perhaps for the first time in my life, I wish I read Czech, because the translation is so gorgeous that I'd love to read Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1142285611755169092006-03-13T12:09:00.000-08:002006-03-13T14:38:28.683-08:00I finished both the books I was reading, and they were both great. Deathbird Stories continued to stun me, spinning a world that I didn't want to leave. I mean, I wouldn't want to live there, but the stories were awesome. Only one, Bleeding Stones, was too graphic for me to read, I ended skimming over it as the violence was just too much for me. What's somewhat suprising is that the first story, Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1141881448486312052006-03-08T20:56:00.000-08:002006-03-08T21:17:28.533-08:00More catching up to do.
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh was delightful. There were some interesting insights into the writing process, some great historical context realizations for me, and over all I highly enjoyed it.
The Everlasting by Jamie S. Rich. I reviewed this last year when I read an advanced copy, and I read it again recently in an editing capacity. With each book RichMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1140839573686147222006-02-24T19:36:00.000-08:002006-02-24T19:53:58.976-08:00I knew that Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford were close friends, and I'd heard their work cited as similar, but I'd never really noticed it for myself. That is, until I read Put Out More Flags by Waugh. I was struck by the similarity in feel it had to Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie by Mitford, which is interesting as they were her earlier books and she was less pleased with them as time went on. Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1140234157341692432006-02-17T19:17:00.000-08:002006-02-17T19:43:45.210-08:00I'm behind in my posting again, but not by too far this time.
I've solved the riddle of the ages. (Maybe.) Gwyneth Paltrow is just a big Truman Capote fan, and that's why she named her baby Apple- after the sister in Capote's novel Summer Crossing. Actually, I would have solved the riddle of the ages had the book been released before Gwyneth's baby was born, but it wasn't, so it's back to the Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1139603146618025922006-02-10T12:14:00.000-08:002006-02-10T13:25:13.710-08:00I've been in a weird non-reading mood lately, where I want to read but don't, at the same time. (Don't want to and just plain don't read.) So reading has been happening, it's just taking a while. I'd read two books that I hadn't posted about, and then went to the library yesterday and got through another two, so I should catch up.
I've already posted my thoughts about The Royal Tenenbaums, so Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1138516809860809132006-01-28T21:58:00.000-08:002006-01-28T22:40:09.900-08:00I don't generally post about comics, but something just happened which is so marvelous that I had to. First, let me give you a little background. I have loved Catwoman since I was a little girl. I loved that she was a supervillan, and a thief. I have every issue of the Catwoman comic, and I have to admit that recently, I haven't really been reading them. Catwoman got a rehaul a while back, and Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1138506666093580212006-01-28T19:20:00.000-08:002006-01-28T19:51:06.146-08:00I quit reading Warp. Maybe it's just the mood I've been in, but it was way too Kevin Smith for me. No insult to Kevin Smith, honestly, I just prefer my "people hanging around saying witty things" to have a little more to the story than just the witty sayings. Let's just say I prefer Oscar Wilde to Kevin Smith and leave it at that. Warp fell more on the Smith side of things, some funny pop cultureMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1138328014926692952006-01-26T17:34:00.000-08:002006-04-19T13:37:53.096-07:00My cousin just started blogging, and got tagged with a meme. (Can I just say that since I found out that they're not really memes in the true sense of the word, it drives me crazy to hear them called that? They're surveys for goodness sake! Anyway.) In her hilarious way, she's spent like a week, and three posts, answering the challenge, and she finally got along to tagging other people. I'm one Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1138132302568107222006-01-24T11:38:00.000-08:002006-01-24T22:28:20.833-08:00I finished Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood, and in comparison to the book I posted about last, it is my kind of mystery. It's complicated, there's lots of potential suspects, everyone has a secret, and by the end, the end makes sense.
Phryne Fisher, the illustrious heroine, is invited to her friends' home for a house party. As she and her entourage arrive, they hear a gunshot, and a woman scream,Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1137999217679286802006-01-22T22:36:00.000-08:002006-01-23T10:46:10.090-08:00Back ages ago, I posted about my disappointment in Alexander McCall Smith's series of mysteries set in Africa. Well, technically my disappointment in the first one, since I didn't go on to read the others. I felt at the time (and still do) that it was a matter of misplaced expectation- I went into the book expecting it to be one thing, and was disconcerted when it proved to be something differentMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1137645443271156332006-01-18T20:00:00.000-08:002006-01-18T20:37:23.326-08:00I love Colette. She has a writing style and voice that are comfortable and comforting, and even translated from French, her words have nuance and poetry. (I'm assuming that's not just due to the translator; I'm guessing that the nuance and poetry is in the French version too.)
Her regular "voice" is that of a French girl (or woman) as they go through the travails of love and life, and it's a Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1137268537856015712006-01-14T11:16:00.000-08:002006-01-14T11:55:37.936-08:00I'm still pondering Nosferatu by Paul Monette. It's based on the 1979 screenplay of the same name by Werner Herzog, so Monette isn't the one who came up with the story, which is quite different than Stoker's original, but he is the one responsible for the evocative, downright spooky writing.
The story is roughly the same as Stoker's Dracula, in that there is a man who goes to Transylvania to Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1137218256960798992006-01-13T21:45:00.000-08:002006-01-13T21:57:52.566-08:00There was a question posed in the comments of the last post, which I answer here because it strikes me that some guys may not know about this subject. (And because I find it funny.)
Sometimes adolescent girls are self concious about how they "fill out" their clothing, especially their tops. Sometimes these girls (especially in books) decide to do something about that by padding the area in Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1137134984281294962006-01-12T20:26:00.000-08:002006-01-12T22:49:44.340-08:00Girl, 15, Charming but Insane by Sue Limb is darling. It's your typical YA plotline: girl (Jess) underestimates herself, pines after boy (Ben), finds love; but it's clever and funny and sweet. And it includes minestrone filled falsies exploding at a socially crucial party. There's even an incriminating videotape that's scheduled to be shown to most of the school... in fact, it's kind of Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1137117338488638792006-01-12T17:35:00.000-08:002006-01-12T17:55:43.386-08:00I finished The Best American NonRequired Reading 2005. I don't read a lot of short story anthologies- actually that's a lie. It would be more correct to say that I don't read many non-themed anthologies. Therefore, when I read one that is simply a collection of various short stories, I find myself slightly adrift and unsettled, with no idea of where the stories are going to take me. There usuallyMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1136839746339844722006-01-09T12:29:00.000-08:002006-01-09T12:49:06.430-08:00The first book of the new year has been finished and declared good. Yarn Harlot by Stephanie Pearl McPhee is a series of essays about knitting. I know, it doesn't sound fascinating, but McPhee is no ordinary knitter. She's a Knitter, with a capital K. She obsesses, hoards yarn, has piles of projects going at once, and is just generally hilarious. Her stories of fending off a yarn stealing attack Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1136516206505701852006-01-05T18:48:00.000-08:002006-01-05T18:57:54.006-08:00Two major accomplishments today.
The first should have been traumatic but somehow wasn't- I purged my bookcases. I freely admit that I am a compulsive book hoarder, something I partially learned from my mother. She has always been of the opinion that you should have any information you need at your fingertips, which led her to have bookcases in every room of her house, save the bathrooms. I've Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1136247192612117172006-01-02T16:03:00.000-08:002006-01-02T22:44:55.400-08:00Year End RoundupI have discovered that while I can read, I certainly can't count. I was in a panic over the last two days of the year because my reading total was at 98 books, and being that close and missing the goal of 100 would just suck. So I hurried and knocked off two more books, and was done. Then I panicked on the 31st that maybe I had counted wrong, and I really had only read 99 books, and there Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1133903928600252132005-12-06T13:11:00.000-08:002005-12-07T13:04:16.300-08:00I have been reading, honestly. And frantically, really, since I have another 12 books or so to read in 25 days. But before I get to the books I've read, a short, humorous IM exchange:
Me: I've been snacking away
B: Yay snacks!
Me: Snacky snacky goodness. Snackety snickety yumminess. Actually, not snickety. I dont think snickety snacks would taste good. They'd probably just taste sad.
Ok, so Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1133248362893274142005-11-28T23:09:00.000-08:002005-11-28T23:12:42.906-08:00It's finished. The monster that has taken over my life and kept me from reading more than two books this month (yes, let's blame it, shall we?) is done. I uploaded my file to the NaNoWriMo website this evening and was certified a winner with 50,339 words. And to think that just days ago I was ready to give up. But I didn't and just took a break, and then somehow performed the miracle of writing Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1132463590844242972005-11-19T21:05:00.000-08:002005-11-19T21:13:10.853-08:00I haven't posted in forever, but I'm really not dead. I'm still working on my novel, which sometimes feels like death, but it's actually coming along nicely. I stopped posting the chapters so that I could switch around things if I needed to without any suprises being spoiled for any of you sweet enough to be reading it.
I also am not reading much, and that really feels like death. I keep Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1131432188839667362005-11-07T22:38:00.000-08:002005-11-07T22:43:08.843-08:00Chapter 7Chapter 7
There were no more forays into the spirit world that night. Dexter brought out a phonograph, and there was an attempt at dancing, but most of the party was unsettled by the serious turn the evening had taken. As Cynthia and Louisa lured Michael and Patrick onto the dance floor, Betsy sat with Dexter and Angela.
“I promise darling, it wasn’t us moving the table!” Angela protested. “I Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1131431890329223812005-11-07T22:33:00.000-08:002005-11-07T22:38:10.346-08:00Chapter 6Chapter 6
Dinner started promptly at five. Servants dressed in formal attire streamed from the kitchen, and Betsy wondered how they’d gotten to the third floor without being seen. She turned to Angela, sitting on her right at the head of the table, and asked.
“There’s a set of stairs that come from the ballroom downstairs to just outside the kitchen,” Angela explained. “Isn’t it clever?”
It wasMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1131252825047609872005-11-05T20:39:00.000-08:002005-11-05T20:54:37.100-08:00Chapter 5Chapter 5
The color had returned to Cynthia’s face, but she sipped her water slowly, allowing Louisa-- and more importantly, Betsy thought-- Michael, to fuss over her. Angela turned to Betsy with a knowing look.
“Well she certainly set her trap quickly, didn’t she darling?”
“Louisa’s not a bit happy about it either, did you see her face?”
Dexter stood between them, perplexed.
“What are you Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1131167471162870562005-11-04T21:08:00.000-08:002005-11-04T21:11:11.176-08:00Chapter 4Chapter 4
The four women walked back into the conservatory.
“Right now,” Angela began formally, “we are in the south conservatory, at the south-east most point in the house. Or is it the west? Hang it, I’ve forgotten.” She giggled, and the others joined her.
“In any case, this is the largest of the conservatories. There’s another on this floor on the other end of the house, one directly aboveMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1131085364158643302005-11-03T22:19:00.000-08:002005-11-03T22:22:44.176-08:00Chapter 3Chapter 3
Angela led the way out of the room. They walked into the center of the ballroom, and she gestured toward the ceiling.
“Look up darling, and count the panels,” she instructed.
Betsy obeyed, and saw that the ceiling was made up of seven interlocking wooden panels.
“Aunt Virginia was dotty over the number seven. She claimed it warded off the spirits, and things are in sevens all Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1130985371827501212005-11-02T18:32:00.000-08:002005-11-02T18:36:11.843-08:00Chapter 2Thanks for the comments so far, the encouragement has been extrememely helpful. Below is chapter 2- so if you haven't read chapter 1 yet, scroll down and read that first. I'll wait here.
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Chapter 2
Betsy sat with her eyes closed as the taxi rumbled down the long country road. While the address of The Mystery House was Los Angeles, it was set Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1130915378709947602005-11-01T23:08:00.000-08:002005-11-01T23:16:25.946-08:00Because my dear daddy askedThe prologue and 1st chapter of MURDER AT THE MYSTERY HOUSE. Comments are welcome, as long as you don't say anything discouraging. And if you've already figured out who did it, don't tell me or I'll cry. :)
Oh, and Elizabeth's name will most likely be changed to Betsy- just so you all know.
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You are enthusiastically invited
Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1130876207975164532005-11-01T12:07:00.000-08:002005-11-01T12:16:47.990-08:00The last Agatha Christie book that I read in preparation for NaNoWriMo (which starts today) was Black Coffee, which actually wasn't written by her at all. Well, I guess that it was originally- the book is an adaptation of a stage play that Ms. Christie wrote back in 1930. The play was then adapted posthumously by a Charles Osbourne, who, while he is a decent writer, is no Agatha Christie. You canMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1129759300551246752005-10-19T14:13:00.000-07:002005-10-19T15:04:55.240-07:00There are a lot of movies that I feel compelled to see the day they come out, but for some reason that doesn't really transfer over to books. There are really only a few that I feel a vital need to possess and read the instant they come out. The Harry Potter books are one, because they're one of the very few things in life that I don't want spoilers for, but if it wasn't for everyone talking Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1129234974839654332005-10-13T13:03:00.000-07:002005-10-13T13:25:04.713-07:00I've been reading lots of Agatha Christie over the last couple of days, trying to get my brain to start thinking in the mystery genre. I think perhaps it's starting to work. In an attempt to pay attention to how she structures the clues and so forth, I picked a variety of titles, some I'd read before, some I'd seen a film version of, and some I knew nothing about. I tried to avoid short stories, Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1128799337534102532005-10-08T12:01:00.000-07:002005-10-08T12:22:17.586-07:00I finally settled in and finished Witches of Eastwick. I've read it before, and I'm sure I'll read it again, it's just one of those books. I know I've written about it in previous years, but I don't feel like going back to see what I wrote, so if I repeat myself, then oh well.
The book is very different from the movie- the three witches aren't all young and nubile, and Darryl Van Horne isn't Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1128646893733756892005-10-06T16:50:00.000-07:002005-10-06T18:01:33.793-07:00I finished two books a while back and have been floating from book to book in the meantime. So, I should catch up.
The Spiritualists by Ruth Brandon concerns the Spiritualist movement, beginning with it's conception in 1848 and taking it through the 1930s. The Spiritualist movement is fascinating to me, because it's such a study in human psychology. As this book puts forth, the "founders" of theMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1127885761608317162005-09-27T20:45:00.000-07:002005-09-27T22:36:01.656-07:00I finished Misfortune, that much-neglected-by-me book by Wesley Stace, and it was fantastic. At the point that I put it down originally I was only about 50 pages in, and while the prose was beautiful, it hadn't grabbed me in that "sit down and read until the book is done" kind of way. I'm happy to report that once I picked it up again and read another 27 pages (to be exact), the narration had me Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1127175923656011292005-09-19T16:46:00.000-07:002005-09-19T17:26:51.786-07:00I finished The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon, which I found disturbing and not quite as enjoyable as the movie version. It think it was intended to be disturbing though, so that's ok. While the point of the movie was a beleaguered, betrayed woman coming into her own and enacting some vengeful justice and fixing some wrongs in the process, the book has our lead (still a beleaguered Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1126573902470706492005-09-12T17:34:00.000-07:002005-09-12T18:11:42.493-07:00I love the library. Love it. There are few things in life I enjoy more than walking through the library, with no time limit and no particular book in mind. I love the quiet, the solitude, the sheer number of books. There are books about every concievable subject, millions of words, just waiting for someone to pick them up. I love the feeling of freedom, of anticipation, as I scan the shelves and Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1126480193495909452005-09-11T15:52:00.000-07:002005-09-11T16:10:31.720-07:00I finished Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford last night. Her books are somewhat hard to describe- a lot happens, but not a lot happens. Christmas Pudding takes place over a Christmas holiday in the country, as some Bright Young Things from the city collide with country life. Love blooms, horses are ridden while intoxicated(the riders, not the horses), books that will make one famous are Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1126156583733228642005-09-07T21:37:00.000-07:002005-09-07T22:17:19.530-07:00I started this post and then realized what I was writing was a total lie. What I began to say is that: "There are books that I really wish I read when I was younger, as my younger self would have devoured them." I was going to count I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith as one of these books, but I realized that I'm being nostalgic for a kid I never was. The kid I was wouldn't really have gotten Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1124948443125265262005-08-24T22:10:00.000-07:002005-08-24T22:40:43.130-07:00I haven't posted in a while, and the reason is two fold. First, I have to admit that I've abandoned Misfortune yet again. I started, I really did, and I really enjoyed what I read and fully intend to finish it. But, and this is also the second part, I've just been in a reading funk lately, and have had a hard time sticking with anything. Since the last post I've started and put down at least 5 Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1123819847318629832005-08-11T20:27:00.000-07:002006-03-28T16:05:26.506-08:00Back in July of last year, I posted about rereading Harriet the Spy. I briefly touched on my mixed feelings about the book, saying:
"I hated the end of it passionately, and reading it again this time, I kind of agree with my six year old self. I love Harriet and her honesty. She's a little confused girl with little to no parental guidance, who is just trying to figure out the world around herMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1123645898300467062005-08-09T20:35:00.000-07:002005-08-10T09:34:45.633-07:00About a week ago I got a call from my dad. "On July 29," he said, "you posted that you were starting to read Magic Street by Orson Scott Card. And then on August 3 you post about all these other books, but not that one! What happened?" As often happens, my attention had wandered, and mainly due to the trip to the library (and the fact that Card's books tend to be intense and therefore make me Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1123618930954558042005-08-09T12:16:00.000-07:002005-08-09T13:22:10.993-07:00I finished Mirror Mirror on the Wall, and ended up with a grand total of three essays I just could not bring myself to finish. Just not my cup of hot chocolate. The number of essays that I loved is far more than three however, with the number that were just ok hovering right in the middle.
Linda Gray Sexton's essay, Bones and Black Puddings:Revisiting "The Juniper Tree" is one of the most Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1123105229711600102005-08-03T12:02:00.000-07:002005-08-03T14:43:56.310-07:00I took a trip to the library yesterday, where I had to enforce the rule my mom created when I was little- You can only check out as many books as you can carry. As I was going to be taking the bus home, I could only take as many as would fit in my backpack, which turned out to be 9. I went with a list, and my library did not fail me.
I read 2 and a half of those books yesterday, and they formedMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1122694722685743222005-07-29T18:13:00.000-07:002005-07-29T20:38:42.690-07:00I saw this on someone else's blog and thought I would steal it. You take 5 books, and take a line out of each one- the first from the 1st page of the 1st book, then the 5th page of the 2nd book, 15th page of the 3rd book, 20th page of the 4th book, and 25th page of the 5th book. Since I have 5 bookcases I'm going to further complicate it, by having the 1st book come from the 1st shelf of the 1st Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1122685675429282272005-07-29T17:32:00.000-07:002005-07-29T18:11:20.436-07:00Catching up again:
The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark: Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is one of my favorite books ever. So I was really looking forward to this book. Ms. Spark has a very understated style, such that you can't really be certain that much is happening by way of plot in her books, but the result is a detailed, near perfect snapshot of a little section of the world. Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1121904122365015032005-07-20T16:48:00.000-07:002005-07-20T17:02:02.370-07:00Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was delivered to my home last evening, and I finished it about 2 hours ago. I did not read throughout the night, and I didn't even start reading first thing out of bed. That says something. Most of what that says is that this one wasn't as suspenseful or scary as the last; I wasn't in such a panic to get to the end and find out what happened. A lot of the Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1121746625949571262005-07-18T20:30:00.000-07:002005-07-18T21:32:54.866-07:00Playing catch up, playing catch up.
Retreat from Love by Nancy Mitford: Nancy Mitford is one of my idols. This novel is hilarious, much in the same way that Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh is. The characters are just a touch beyond believable, but enjoyable for exactly that reason, and the madcap adventures were a treat. I need to find a copy for myself, as the one I read was from the library, and Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1120085322712640452005-06-29T15:04:00.000-07:002005-06-29T15:48:42.750-07:00The last two books I read created an interesting synergy. As I posted earlier, I got an advance copy of The Zahir by Paulo Coelho from Harper Collins. Contrary to some other people, I like his writing, and his fable-istic approach to situations. This book centers on a writer who is very similiar to Coelho, whose wife vanishes, leaving him to sort out if something devious has occured, or if she's Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1119647058925181832005-06-24T13:04:00.000-07:002005-06-24T14:04:18.983-07:00Every couple of weeks, my sister brings her kids over to my house and one of the possible treats of going to "auntie's house" is going to the library. My nephews are 2 and a bit, and for them the library is a magical place full of any kind of book they could ever want. As we walk up to the entrance they tell me what kind of book they're going to get, "zebra book" and "giraffe book" being the mostMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1119508269528057682005-06-22T23:22:00.000-07:002005-06-22T23:31:09.533-07:00Flannery O'Connor hurts my brain. In a good way, but hurts nonetheless. I just finished Wise Blood, and my thoughts are struggling to connect themselves. There's so many threads of yearning, struggling for redemption, for identity; trying to free yourself from the pull of your heritage, blood, and past; it's all blurring together beautifully at the moment. Her words are so carefully chosen, so Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1119378311389306572005-06-21T11:09:00.000-07:002005-06-21T11:25:11.396-07:00I just finished Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope All Story collection, a smorgasborg of stories from the Zoetrope All Story journal, never before printed fiction, and original essays on film. From the introduction (and not because I have an encyclopedic knowledge of Coppola, which I don't), Coppola created the Zoetrope All Story literary journal to encourage short story writing, and to cultivate Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1119117450915039742005-06-18T10:39:00.000-07:002005-06-18T10:59:28.080-07:00I finished The Vagabond by Colette days ago and have moved on to Zoetrope All Story, a collection of short stories that appeared in Francis Ford Copalla's magazine of the same name. I'm enjoying it muchly and will write about it when I finish it. But it has to wait its turn.
The Vagabond is one of my favorite of Colette's works. It centers on an ex-writer/ now dancer named Renee, who avoids loveMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1118545653029474302005-06-11T19:51:00.000-07:002005-06-11T22:59:36.506-07:00Distraction has struck again. Well, not completely. I'm in the middle of reading The Vagabond, which I fully intend to finish, I just got an unexpected Amazon shipment containing Ruddy Gore, the most recently reprinted Phryne Fisher mystery by Kerry Greenwood, and almost any book gets put down for a Phryne Fisher book.
Ruddy Gore is one of the earlier Phryne Fisher books, wherein she takes on Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1118462714336235872005-06-10T20:40:00.000-07:002005-06-10T21:05:14.343-07:00I just finished Creating Colette Vol. 1 by Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier, the first in a two volume biography of the French writer Colette. Colette is one of my favorite writers, her short stories are targeted and precise, and her clarity of description has few competititors. She had an eye for human relationships and mentalities that was piercing and unblinking. I knew that some of her Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1118115232285306732005-06-06T19:49:00.000-07:002005-06-06T20:33:52.316-07:00I will get to Misfortune, I really will. I mentioned my distracted state of mind in the last post (or so), and that same distraction led me to pick up the first volume of Creating Colette by Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier, a book which I started ages ago and never finished. It was a book that got left in a similar state of distraction, and I'm glad I remembered and picked it up again. Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1117861530407026492005-06-03T21:48:00.000-07:002005-06-03T22:06:28.296-07:00I know I said I was going to be reading Misfortune by Wesley Stace next, but I forgot that I was actually in the middle of reading Ibid by Mark Dunn. The fact that I forgot that I was reading it shouldn't be interpreted as a slight against the book, but rather a gauge of my distracted state of mind, because it really is a fun book.
I didn't notice when I bought the book that it was by Mark Dunn,Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1117662862467264362005-06-01T12:10:00.000-07:002005-06-01T14:54:22.526-07:00After reading A Factory of Cunning, I was inspired to pick up the recent French mini-series version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The director made some interesting decisions as far as character motivation, and overall it was a very good adaptation. I mention it because the last couple of books I've read have either been adaptions, or been adapted.
I loved The Hours by Michael Cunningham when I Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1116027975823745602005-05-13T15:51:00.000-07:002005-05-13T16:46:15.830-07:00My count is actually a book behind, I finished An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde a week or so ago, and never posted about it. I've read it before, I'll read it again, it's wonderful, you should read it if you haven't. Oscar Wilde cracks me up, and his character descriptions are amazing.
Right now I'm reading A Factory of Cunning by Philippa Stockley, a book that Amazon's recommendations convincedMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1115252483600378352005-05-04T13:41:00.000-07:002005-05-04T17:21:23.693-07:00Those of you who have read this blog for a while know of my undying love for all things Daniel Handler, especially his novel The Basic Eight. One of his trademarks is the literary references that saturate his books, and one of the great pleasures of reading his work is ferreting out each of those references. (One of my favorites is his character Esme Squalor from A Series of Unfortunate Events.)Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1114279573030129352005-04-23T09:58:00.000-07:002005-04-24T18:19:02.420-07:00I haven't been feeling well lately, so I've been gravitating toward comfort books, the way people go for comfort food. I'm still reading To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust, and it's excellent. It's just so well written that it makes me really nervous about the tragic things I know are coming- (yes, I do get overly involved in my reading), and being sick and feeling super aprehensive don't really goMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1114032413210410652005-04-20T13:49:00.000-07:002005-04-20T14:33:12.790-07:00I have read a book since the last time I posted, I'm not completly flaking out on the reading front. It was Nana by Delacorta, which I've read a billion times (or at least 30), but it still counts.
Right now, instead of reading, I'm watching music videos from the 80's, and finding myself really amused by the narratives they told. (You had to know I was going to tie it back into reading somehow!)Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1113697201384075122005-04-16T16:55:00.000-07:002005-04-16T21:23:49.126-07:00After a bit of concern that Santa Clara doesn't have any bookstores (none came up online and I don't have a physical phonebook), we discovered a Borders not too far down the freeway, and then two marvelous bookstores in lovely downtown Mountain View, which we visited today. The fabulous part of all of it is that I have 7 new books, 5 of which were on sale! Woohoo!
Because you care, my purchases Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1113370698675685542005-04-12T22:19:00.000-07:002005-04-12T22:42:20.643-07:00We're still in the midst of our move; we're here but our stuff isn't. I've learned something in this move, something that probably shouldn't suprise me: my books are my security blanket. I kind of noticed it during my book purging- the panicky little twinges as I thought about getting rid of certain books, but it's hit full force now that I'm here in the mostly empty apartment with 1 book. I'm noMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1112495171457452482005-04-02T15:44:00.000-08:002005-04-02T18:26:44.566-08:00I finished Sock by Penn Jillette. What a very odd book. I'm not really sure I got his ultimate point, but I sure enjoyed the ride! (In Mr. Jillette's defense- I finished reading the book late at night with a severe headace, so my missing the point was most likely not entirely his fault.)
The story begins when our hero, known as Little Fool (for reasons explained momentarily), finds the body of Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1112245386727525712005-03-30T20:34:00.000-08:002005-03-30T21:03:06.730-08:00I finished Love by Toni Morrison this afternoon. I've been wanting to read it since it came out but didn't want to buy it in hardcover, so it's been a while. I got it out of the library this last trip, and just picked it up a couple days ago. It's a short book, so the fact that I just now finished it is a testament to my slackitude in the reading department.
Maybe it was all the buildup, the Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1112163059224695192005-03-29T21:49:00.000-08:002005-03-29T22:12:31.156-08:00I haven't been reading much because we're getting ready to move, and I've been busy. I have 4 books I should be reading, and for various reasons I'm not reading any of them consistently enought to count it as reading. But in the midst of getting ready to move, I made a discovery. This is a discovery I've made before, pretty much every time I move.
I have a crapload of books.
No really.
I'm Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1111336924406063142005-03-20T08:27:00.000-08:002005-03-20T08:42:04.410-08:00I finished Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames, which was quite funny and good. It was clever without being pretentious about it, and I enjoyed it. It's the story of a 30 year old alchoholic struggling writer, who, after the death of both his parents and recieving a substantial monetary settlement for slipping on some ice, decides to hire a valet named Jeeves. Well, he doesn't set out to hire one Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1110954763267165322005-03-15T21:11:00.000-08:002005-03-15T22:43:49.426-08:00I finished Alba, which was as good as I remembered it being. Delacorta rules.
I also finished The Shadow of the Wind, which has the distinction at this point in time as being the best book I've read this year. I just looked, and there's really a strong possibility that it's the best book I've read in the whole of last year too. (If you haven't read my previous post about it, jump down and read Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1110762158172017792005-03-13T16:06:00.000-08:002005-03-13T17:05:49.473-08:00I haven't had much time to read in the last week since I was visiting family and playing with gorgeous nephews and niece. Actually, that's not true- I read quite a number of books about Dora the Explorer, animals, and ABCs. My nephews have always loved to look at books, and they recognize their letters now, so it's always reading time at their house. Three of the most beautiful words to come out Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1109660543874116472005-02-28T22:40:00.000-08:002005-02-28T23:16:08.636-08:00May I just say that I love the library? I love the library. I summoned up my strength to take the long walk across the street this afternoon, and upon entering found 3 books on the new arrivals shelf that I've been interested in reading and would probably have bought at some point, further breaking my goal to buy less books this year. Instead I was able to borrow them from my darling library and Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1109630385194853442005-02-28T14:19:00.000-08:002005-02-28T14:39:45.196-08:00I've been sick for the last little while, and I hate trying to figure out what to read when I'm sick- it's like when you can't find a comfortable position to fall asleep. I've been flitting from comfort book to comfort book- finishing none.
Before I got sick however, I finished All the Available Light, an interesting collection of essays about Marilyn Monroe. All of the essays seemed really Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1109122580909191132005-02-22T17:25:00.000-08:002005-02-22T17:36:20.913-08:00I've been out of town, and therefore lax in my updating. I finished Hanging Out with the Dream King by Joseph McCabe ages ago, and completely enjoyed it. It's a collection of interviews with the people who have collaborated with Neil Gaiman in various mediums, from the Sandman comics to bands he writes lyrics for. The interviews provide a nice insight not only into the process of creating comics Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1108254431855195182005-02-12T15:04:00.000-08:002005-02-14T18:41:17.730-08:00I finished Gail Collins' America's Women, and was impressed, instructed, and not just a bit outraged. Collins does an excellent job of giving an overview of the history of the US while placing women firmly within that history. I now know more about US history than I ever learned in school, and I think that having this book as required reading in highschool history classes would not only teach theMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1107497113990183012005-02-03T21:49:00.000-08:002005-02-03T22:05:13.990-08:00I finished The Last Tycoon days ago. It was the book that Fitzgerald was working on when he died, and therefore is unfinished, but lucky for us, they printed it anyway. The copy that I got from the library had the 6 chapters he wrote, a summary of the rest of the book that was compiled from his notes, and then, at the end, a transcription of the notes he wrote on the pages of the draft. I found Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1107067360354660622005-01-29T22:42:00.000-08:002005-01-30T13:04:49.403-08:00I went by the store yesterday, and while browsing the book section saw a book with a wrap around cover that stated: "I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story." And in larger type, the title: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. How could I resist? I came home and gobbled it up in one sitting. In this book, Amy Krouse Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1107066797010825102005-01-29T21:50:00.000-08:002005-01-30T12:19:03.250-08:00I finished Marion Davies by Fred Laurence Guiles, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Marion was an incredibly interesting woman, and I found it interesting to compare her experience with that of Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe- all three being women who are remembered for their connection to the powerful men in their lives rather than for their own considerable accomplishments. I need to find examples Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1106965216722202452005-01-28T17:29:00.000-08:002005-01-28T18:23:06.880-08:00I'm still reading the Marion Davies biography and really enjoying it. I find that it takes me longer to read non-fiction than fiction, and even longer to read biographies than non-biography non-fiction, so it feels like it's taking me a long time to finish. In the middle of it I took some hours off and read Away with the Faries by Kerry Greenwood, and I think it's the best of her Phryne Fisher Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1106459385940808772005-01-22T21:17:00.000-08:002005-01-22T21:49:45.940-08:00Over the last two days I've zoomed through three short books. Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn is the third in her Daisy Dalrymple series ( I don't have the second one), and it's just as good as the first. The mystery was well done, plenty of charcters with plenty of motives, and enough red herrings to make the end a suprise. Quite enjoyable.
I picked up The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick HornbyMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1106285548776444412005-01-20T21:21:00.000-08:002005-01-20T21:32:28.776-08:00I finished Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, which is exactly what you'ld think, a bio of Marilyn. Man, did she have one messed up life. There was so much miscommunication, so many missed signals and misunderstandings, it made me want to scream at points. I feel so sorry for her, and can't help but wonder what would have happened if she was born later. After reading the bio of Jackie, where Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1105928783586151242005-01-16T17:42:00.000-08:002005-01-16T18:26:23.586-08:00I've never really been one for reading two books at the same time, I generally lose interest in one or the other of them, but I seem to be managing it quite well at the moment. I read a little more of Large Account Management, then took a break to read Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn. It's the first of her Daisy Dalrymple series, set in the 1920s. Daisy is an Honourable Miss, so has no Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1105685874583838112005-01-13T18:50:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:57:54.583-08:00I'm still reading Successful Large Account Management, but took a little break today to read My Story by Marilyn Monroe. It's a short read, and ends in the midst of Marilyn's marriage to Joe DiMaggio. I knew that Marilyn was a smart woman, so I wasn't suprised by her intelligence and insight- what suprised me was just how sad her life was. As a child she grew up in poverty, moved from one fosterMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1105509996615494382005-01-11T21:26:00.000-08:002005-01-12T14:11:33.346-08:00I finished The Everlasting days and days ago. I haven't written about it yet because I'm in the dual strange position of knowing the author and the book not being out yet. Now, I loved the book, so it's not that I wasn't writing for fear that he would read what I wrote- but I already wrote him a long e-mail detailing my thoughts about the book, so writing about it here feels repetitive, althoughMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1104907684273492862005-01-04T22:30:00.000-08:002005-01-04T22:51:48.996-08:00I would be remiss if I didn't mention the passing of Will Eisner. I only met him once, very briefly, but I know a great number of people who knew and loved him, and who are taking his death very hard. It's touching to me to see how deeply a man who was pretty much as big a "celebrity" as you can be in comics affected so many people on an intimate, personal basis. It's the difference between Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1104902177671753292005-01-04T21:01:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:58:58.956-08:00Hurrah Hurrah, the first book of the new year. I got a number of gorgeous photo books about Jackie O this Christmas from my darling husband, and that, combined with the memory of The Secret Letters book inspired me to pick up a bio of Miss Jackie. There are so many sordid expose style books that it took a little while to find one that looked reputable, but I settled on As We Remember Her: Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1104734528652891932005-01-02T21:54:00.000-08:002005-01-02T22:57:25.350-08:00The Year in ReviewWell, I achieved the goal of 100 books, both in reading and writing about them. Hurrah! The final total was 114 read- you can find the final list below. I looked over the list and did some analyzing, and here, purely for my own edification (and yours if you wish), are some numbers:
Out of 114 books,
94 were fiction
20 were non-fiction (out of these, 5 were biographies)
22 were "children's Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1104427050822922612004-12-30T08:53:00.000-08:002004-12-30T09:17:30.823-08:00Just poking my head in here before I fly off to visit family elsewhere to say that while flying is fun, airplane trips across country are long, and books are wonderful. On this last flight there and back again, I read:
McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories edited by Michael Chabon. Quite an excellent collection of creepy stories in the Tales to Astonish/Twillight Zone vein. Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1103484341185449802004-12-19T10:51:00.000-08:002004-12-19T11:25:41.186-08:00I just finished The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai, which was a much appreciated Christmas gift. (Yes, I realize it's not Christmas yet, some presents have to be opened early.) It was mailed to me by one Jamie Rich, but the wrapping itself said it was from Lance (from The Everlasting). I can see why Mr. Rich would like it, I can't wait to see why Lance thought it important for me to read. (Yes, I amMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1102732479612299162004-12-10T18:09:00.000-08:002004-12-10T18:34:39.613-08:00I'm in the midst of proofreading Cover Songs and trying to determine if it really does suck- the verdict is still out- and I'm trying to get it done quickly so I can get to the highly anticipated sneaky early copy I have of Jamie Rich's new novel that's just sitting on my shelf mocking me with it's lots of pages and prose that doesn't suck, but in the meantime I couldn't resist picking up DanielMaryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1101867186970677592004-11-30T17:24:00.000-08:002004-11-30T18:13:06.970-08:00I FINALLY finished The Letters of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf. It only took me a month, but seeing as I wrote my own novel in that time, I think I can be excused. The letters themselves are compelling and extremely readable, some for the sweet affection enclosed, and others for the incredibly detailed descriptions of Persia and other spots. Virginia and Vita's relationship was Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6181580.post-1101627796791263802004-11-27T23:40:00.000-08:002004-11-27T23:43:16.790-08:00I DID IT!As of 11:35 pm my 50,000 word novel titled Cover Songs is finished! I uploaded my text file for verification, and was officially pronounced a winner, and I don't think I've been so excited about something in quite some time. Now I'm going to ignore it for a couple of days, then see if it can stand on it's own little wobbly legs and walk. Hurray for me! My world is a happy, happy place. Maryannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06991645418144205613noreply@blogger.com0