Reading Rambo

And as the sun sets on yet another year (you heard me), we take a moment to reflect. Only I've already done that, so let's talk about From the Closet to the Altar , because I have a lot of shit to say about it, and I'm nowhere near done reading it. This is an ARC I got from NetGalley (they are fabulous people) that was published in October about the history/current state of gay marriage in America. The danger of writing something like this is, obviously, that your information's going to be outdated almost immediately. Since it was written, Obama came out in support of gay marriage; it passed by a popular vote for the first time; a constitutional amendment to ban it was voted down for the first time -- all in a single election (thank you, Washington, Maryland, Maine and Minnesota); and the Supreme Court has decided to hear challenges to DOMA. Illinois (repreSENT) is saying their lame duck session is going to pass gay marriage in the next week , and Delaware, Hawa...

I've been meaning to read The Lifted Veil by George Eliot for a reeeally long time now. And it's super-short, so earlier this week, I was like "Oh, just do it." It's kind of weird that this was published the same year as Adam Bede , because I overall like Adam Bede  and its fanfic-like ways, whereas this I was like -- well here, let me ruin it for you: So it's all first person narration, and it's this guy who's like: "Oh, I'm dying, but LET ME TELL YOU MY TALE. I got sick when I was young and afterwards I could read minds. Yes. Totally. I am not shitting you. But it was really annoying because ugh, people are dumb. And I had to hear all these dumb people's dumb thoughts. So I'm living life, trying to be a poet but somehow sucking at it, and then I couldn't read this one girl's mind, so she was FASCINATING, and hold up, I know this sounds like Twilight  except for the vampire bit (although I was stunningly pale), but th...

TWO BOOK REVIEWS IN TWO DAYS. What is this, the book blog of someone who actually reads? You know that Canongate myth series where they asked certain authors to pick a myth and write it up their own way? The only one I know a lot of people have read is The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood (which sucks ass, but more on that later), which is a reinterpretation of The Odyssey from Penelope's perspective. So some awesome person asked A.S. Byatt, and she chose Ragnarök, which is essentially the fall of the Norse gods. It. Is. Awesome. This is also, in the German tradition, called Götterdämmerung, which is the last opera in Wagner's Ring cycle (he wrote four very....very long operas about Norse mythology). You know how back when you read Possession , you were all "OMG READ ALL THE BYATT" and then you picked up another book of hers, and you were like "Wtf Byatt?" and moved on with your life? THIS SHOULD BE WHAT YOU READ AFTER POSSESSION. Because it has all the p...

I'm finally going to talk about Straight: A Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality by Hanne Blank, the book review I've been avoiding because I'm terrified I'm not going to say everything I want to say the way I want to say it. Yes. I emailed the author some questions, because you can DO that nowadays, and she was very very nice and put up with me being thick-headed and not totally getting her book and probably STILL not totally getting it, but I wanted to be able to sum up some of her awesome points and not misinterpret them. This is a really, really short book (the title does not lie), but there's so much in it, I'm dismayed about my relative lack of space in which to talk about it. I'm not going to be able to talk about everything (alas!), so you should just read it. That being said, here we go. So. You might think from the title that this is one of those liberal books by one of those liberal people trying out some new liberal concept of ...

Remember when everyone read Attachments and they were all "This is ADORABLE and hilarious and you should read it"? Ok, well I said that. And so did some other people I like. Did you know that if you search 'eleanor park' on google image, the first thing that comes up is this? You win again, Baroness But you will also come across the UK cover of Eleanor & Park  by Rainbow Rowell. I admit to being hesitant about reading this, because I loved Attachments  SO much, and I knew this was about teenagers, and ew, teenagers. Also I've been getting sick of the Nick & Norah, Fault in Our Stars snarky witty John Green teenager vibe, and for all I knew, this just continued that. BE NOT AFRAID, LITTLE SQUIRRELS. For I could not put it down. Well, I mean, I did at work and when I was singing and while looking at my brother's new baby, but ASIDE from that. Kept on reading. So there's Park, and he's a teenager and there's Eleanor and ...

Guess what today is? REVIEW day. Of an honest to goodness ARC. So this is about M. Dickson's book,  Dear Dad: It's Over (released this May, but available for pre-order) .   Before reviewing this, I should state that the author and I are twitter friends (based on our mutual love of reading about serial killers and watching Designing Women ), and that she is hilarious. I would say this makes me biased about her book, but this book is not about being hilarious. It's about opening herself up emotionally and discussing her tempestuous relationship with her father. At first glance, it seems like a girl just telling stories about how her father was a pretty shitty dad, but it is one of, in my own experience anyway, the most obvious picks for the You Shape What You Get Out of Your Own Life genre. Because this is about her stopping an extremely painful cycle and taking control of the level of horribleness she'll allow into her life. I  grew up in a somewhat churchy environ...

Before proceeding any further, you have to be aware that I read books for humor, character development and love stories. I don't really care about anything else. Oh! Good writing. That's kind of implied, but this is why I don't just read romance novels. This book has ALL THOSE THINGS. Plus the fun format of emails for about half of it. Ok, so Lincoln is the new nightshift IT guy for a Nebraska newspaper, meaning he reads emails flagged for inappropriate workplace language and then sends the offenders a warning. Plus I think he does some other IT-y type things, but this is not important. Two women's emails keep being flagged, but they are so hilarious and heartwarming that he keeps not sending them a warning. And then...then shenanigans happen, i.e. he falls in love with one of them. And  NO MORE PLOT. Because it unfolds in a delightful fashion and I love it so.  I started out being like "ha-hah! this novel is so amusing" and then it turned into "YOU ...

At the Library Yesterday: Me: Hokay self, you're going to go in, get sheet music and leave. You are NOT allowed to check out anymore books. Me: Okay, I can do that. *gets sheet music, heads down escalator to 7th floor on way to 3rd to exit the library* Me: Oh heyyyy, the 7th floor. I'm just gonna stop here a sec and check out the newly returned fiction. Me: NO! You are NOT allowed! Me: I have LOTS of time, thank you, and I'm just gonna look to see if there's stuff I want to get later. Me: ....fine. But then you have to finish reading  Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist . Me: Fine. *browses* Me: Hey, there're two Emma Donoghue books here! And--oh look, The Collector  by John Fowles. You've been meaning to read that. Me: NO! Get away! Why can't you ever just get music and go! Me: But...checking out this Donoghue short story collection and this book by Fowles will make you happy. Me: *look of despair* But--I....*hangs head* You...

I haven't finished this book yet, but screw it, I'm reviewing it now. First off, I want to point out that I haven't read ANY bad reviews of this. Meaning on the blogs I've seen. I'm sure someone on Amazon was a turd about it, but that's Amazon, so screw it. Secondly, no bad reviews? DESERVEDLY SO. This is the best YA book I've read in a while . Although wait, I was totally on board with The Mysterious Benedict Society ...ok, this is the best YA book I've read since The Mysterious Benedict Society , which I will ALSO laud to the skies. What's the plot, you ask, O Potential Reader? There are three kids who when they're essentially infants are sent away from their parents (on a cold, wintry night, obviously); the car they're in is chased by mysterious black shadowy men who can climb on the sides of buildings (THIS TRICK ALWAYS TERRIFIES ME), but they are magically whisked away just in the nick of time to -- an orphanage. And then for the next...

Yeah. I did it. I finished Sophie's Choice . It's basically the saddest book ever, so this will be gif-heavy to try to balance the Holocaust + domestic abuse goin' on. First: HURRAY IT'S DONE! But then there's also the whole "Oh it's done." *sadface* Because, and despite what I am going to say regarding its IMMENSE SADNESS, it is amazing . William Styron is a Writer Who Can Write. He's all "LOOK AT THE MAGICAL MIXTURE I MAKE WITH WORDS! I have a CRAFT and I do it well." He kiind of reminds me of Nabokov (whose autobiography I still have to read this year), because both pay SUCH careful attention to which words they're going to use, so you never feel like they were just trying to use whatever to communicate an idea — no, each word is important and chosen for a reason. This can also be maddening because, knowing that, it can take forever to read if you really want to appreciate it. Oh, right, what is Sophie's Choice about. Esse...

Some of you might remember  how very much I hated The Scarlet Pimpernel , published in 1905 and one of the most sentimental, shitty novels I've ever read. It made me regret my usual stance of pining for a bygone age, because if the people of that age liked Baroness Emmuska Orczy's writing, we would clearly not get along. But  A Room With a View , published in 1908, semi-redeems that literary period in English history. I've long avoided E.M. Forster's novels, partially due to a confusion with English novelist C.S. Forester (how am I not supposed to confuse those two?), who wrote The African Queen , which the 1951 super-awesome Katharine Hepburn/Humphrey Bogart movie was based upon. I read The African Queen  while going through my teenage puritanical phase, and my young sensibilities were SHOCKED and thoroughly dismayed by the cavalier nature with which Mr. Forster discusses Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart's characters going to bed with each other. "SEX HA...

I have read We Have Always Lived in the Castle , one of the two I chose for the RIP Challenge! First off, PENGUIN YOU WIN AT COVERS. I cannot tell you how many people who normally don't fricking care one jot as to what I'm reading have asked about this book. The cover kicks ass. It, in my opinion, still doesn't justify the $15 Penguin is apparently charging for it (I got it from the library), but still. Awesome. I haven't read The Lottery , because my high school had a substandard English dept, but I read Haunting of Hill House last year because I was told it has some ladies-liking-ladies stuff, and I'm always up for reading that, especially if written in the '50s (verboten! fun between-the-linesness!). I was disappointed in it, not only because the ladies stuff was perplexing to me, but it just felt SO VERY VAGUE. In general. Like, a fog of vagueness surrounded the entire thing, and I am only okay with that happening in Henry James' stuff, because I EXPE...

I was doing my daily blog-skimming from Google Reader the other day, when something on Laura from Devouring Texts ' blog caught my eye. And that would be a reference to How to Leave Twitter  by Grace Dent, which she loved. So I have a particular kind of love for obscure British celebrities, which is at least partially due to me finding it hilarious to know anything about them. I follow a gang of them on twitter, and they all tweet to each other, because there are ten people in all British Entertainment (it's a tiny island), so they of course know each other. They're mostly clever/funny, but they also make many references to things I totally don't get, because, y'know, two countries separated by a common language, etc etc. The author is one of these people. My path to knowledge of her went like this: 1. Get interested in British actress Keeley Hawes. Watch her show Ashes to Ashes . 2. See Amelia Bullmore on Ashes to Ashes , google her. 3. Find pictures of Amelia...

So I'm doing a TBR challenge that I found from Salon.com (it's over at Adam's Roof Beam Reader ). This challenge is basically what made me create a book blog, so, y'know, blame that. But it's great, because at last count, I had appx. 150 unread books on my shelves. Yeah. I suck. But this challenge should eliminate at least 12 of them! I've stayed on track thus far by reading the easy ones, so I'm five down, seven to go, BUT I'm more than halfway through The Scarlet Pimpernel , so if I finish that soon I shall be WELL on my way to being ahead of the game. Anyway. Scarlet Pimpernel . This book is ridiculous. RI-DICULOUS. And if you have no idea who he is and for some reason want to read the book and be surprised, read nothing more of this entry. Every brief summary I've read of the movie/book has immeeeediately said who he is, so I'm now regarding it as not-that-big-a-deal. Okay, so this was published in 1905, which basically explains everything....

I am reviewing once more! Ok, so here's the thing with my blog: I want to do book reviews, but I don't like writing them. There's a way of doing them I've never really grabbed a hold of mentally, so I prefer to just rant about book-related topics for the most part (or do blessed, blessed memes). But if I really love a book, or it's consumed a lot of my time (*coughTheOldCuriosityShopcough*), I feel I should mention it. And tell you all it's WAY AWESOME AND YOU SHOULD READ IT. The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance Review Elna Baker is a single Mormon lady living in NYC. Her dad works for Boeing, so she's lived all around the world, but she got into NYU and just kind of stuck around after that. I should make clear that this is a memoir and not fiction. Like most of my favorite books, this is split into a series of essays, although they were chronological. She talks about things like working at FAO Schwartz and dealing with NYC mothers; h...