…currently I am supposed to be working on my French homework. Bygones…
Making: Got back into the swing o’ the Friendship Stars this week (click on ‘blog’ above to check ’em out should you so desire). Hopefully this weekend I will at least be done with all the individual blocks I need so I can start trying out layouts.
Reading: A somewhat philosophical story about a girlhood friendship gone wrong, “The Myth of You and Me” by Leah Stewart. I’m really into it.
Watching: I’ve barely watched TV so far this week, can you believe it? Worked three nights in a row, then a concert, and tonight French. Oh sweet monkey sundae, am I going to be busy with the TIVO on my comp day tomorrow…
Listening: To three somewhat melancholy boys, although not as melancholy as some. Joshua James “The Sun Is Always B…” [my iPod is only telling me that much of the album name, too funny]: I’m really diggin the first few songs; the new Graham Colton “Flying Upside Down”: I enjoy a lot of it, but it gets a bit twangy; and the new Joe Purdy “Take My Blanket and Go”. Is Joe Purdy the new Ryan Adams or what? Dude puts out a new album every other week it seems. They’re all really lovely. Each one has a major tearjerker. Remember that song “Wash Away” that was on Lost a long time ago that I used to talk about constantly? (If you get mixes from me, you have it.) This album’s “one of those” is “Sinkin’ Low.” Soooo pretty. SO! Oh and also really diggin’ some songs from Mr. Hudson & the Library “A Tale of Two Cities”, particularly their “On the Street Where You Live” cover. Brilliant!! Thanks, MG!
Category Archives: Books
Mystery/Fiction: “In the Woods” by Tana French
It would be a big surprise to me if this novel isn’t in my Top 10 at the end of the year. LOVED IT. Really good. Sucks you right in, keeps you spellbound, and I stayed up way way way past my bedtime finishing it as I was close enough to the end I just couldn’t go to sleep without finding out what happened!
Two murder detectives, close friends, draw a chilling case with very few reliable leads. And it seems it may be related to a case from years past, of three children disappeared into the wood, two gone forever, one returned with no memory of the events. That returnee being one of the two aforementioned detectives.
Told first person from Rob (Adam)’s point of view, extremely seductive stream of consciousness. As the case becomes more and more personal, his life gets more tipsy turvy…
Everytime I picked this up, I just wanted to sit and read for hours on end. Excellent!
(p.s. When I saw this in the bookstore, I couldn’t remember where I’d heard of it. Then I realized it was in Jessica Jernigan’s “recommended” column. )
Romantic/Historical Fiction: “The Privilege of the Sword” by Ellen Kusher
Picked this up based on Marrije’s recommendation. Completely agree with her review. It’s charming and fun and has its racy moments (hello romance novel), but insightful and thoughtful and, more than anything else, it’s a story of a little girl gradually becoming in a woman, in a most unusual way. Really enjoyable, I’m definitely going to seek out more of her stuff!
Fiction: “The Rain Before It Falls” by Jonathan Coe
Really touching, slowly moving story. Told by a great-aunt, recording memories into a tape recorder, centered around pictures of relevant events. A really strong sense of time and place. A story about family and generations and what a child takes with them, even if unwillingly, from their parents. A story of cousins, become friends, and then estranged. A story of loves and jealousies and anguish and (some) joy. Really lovely.
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Still nothing. I should probably just delete this stupid category!!
Reading: Not what I expected to pick up next but have gotten sucked into “The Rain Before It Falls” by Jonathan Coe. Big fan of Coe, his writing just invites you in… Right now in the “epistolary” section where Rosamond has dictated onto tape her memories of her cousin Beatrix and herself, focused by photographs from the past…
Watching: Just caught up on Gossip Girl which I hadn’t been watching (thank you iTunes). Frivolous but fun. LonelyBoy Dan Humphrey is my new crush! (He was born the year I graduated high school! Wince!) Planning to see Michael Clayton this afternoon…before rushing home for FNL of course.
Listening: To lots of Joy Division and New Order and The Replacements and old, old U2 and the Cocteau Twins and The Smiths, among others, as recent viewing of Control has sent me back in the day. Or, as one of my friends likes to call it, I’ve been “College-ing It Out”.
Fiction: “The Long Firm” by Jake Arnott
This is a re-read from 2004 as I’ve got the two follow-up books on my To Be Read shelves and wanted a refresher…
’60s mob scene in London. Swanky mobsters. Truly evocative, full of noir. Similar in setup to, say, a David Mitchell book, each section is narrated by a different character, all of whom are somewhere on the outskirts of Harry Swank’s life, a gay gangster, unusual particularly for his time, who always has a boy-toy hanger-on, is obsessed with Liza Minnelli and other cabaret style singers, and seeks legitimacy in odd ways.
Really still enjoyed it, second time around, although I found the last chapter a bit wearing, didn’t care for that narrator as much as the others.
Apparently it was YA night at the bookstore.
- “Slam” by Nick Hornby
- “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer
- “Before I Die” by Jenny Downham
Gift Certificate Purchases
The building offered a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble if you re-signed your lease early.
- “Tomorrow” Graham Swift
- “Exit Ghost” Philip Roth
- “In the Woods” Tana French
À la Super Eggplant, currently, I am…
Making: Still nothing.
Reading: Realized I have two Jake Arnott books on the to-be-read shelf but couldn’t remember enough about the book that came before them…so back I went for a reread of #1: “The Long Firm” by Jake Arnott, ’60s mob scene in swingin’ London. Given the boarding pass stuck inside, looks like I bought and read this one back in 2004. (Yup, looks like it.) Still really enjoying it the second time around.
Watching: Lots of TV. Plus have already been to…four movies at the Chicago Film Festival (1, 2, 3 and #4 not reviewed yet) and have tickets to two more (a documentary about jump rope competitions (!!) today and the Joy Division biopic on Tuesday)…
Listening: The new Band of Horses. Over and over. Not anything else really.
Treats for Me
Arrived today from Amazon UK:
- “The Rain Before It Falls” by Jonathan Coe
- “Hellfire” by Mia Gallagher
Because despite the fact that in Edmund Wilson’s time we were simultaneously releasing the same book on both sides of the Atlantic, we’re apparently unable to do so in modern times.