Category Archives: Books

RIP Kurt Vonnegut.

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His appearance on Jon Stewart last year was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and fortunately for us, you can watch it on the web. In addition, here’s the list they refer to in that interview.

He never lost his edge. He never stopped saying the same simple message over and over: War = Wrong.

Can you claim to be well-read if you skipped “Slaughterhouse Five”? I think not!

Who knows if this is accurate, but on Wikkipedia, they cite his own grading of his books, and here are the four he graded highest: “The Sirens of Titan”; “Mother Night”; “God Bless You, Mr Rosewater”; and “Jailbird”.

Best of March.

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Oh dear, halfway through April but so busy watching Buffy that I’m barely blogging. Dearie me.

The best gig I went to in March was on the very first day of the month when I saw Gomez. If they swing through your town on this tour, I highly recommend getting a ticket! They were just brilliant and wonderful and I’ve spent weeks now listening to their back catalog. Really talented musicians. Of course, the night I saw Lupe Fiasco and the Roots was also really fun and I’d have to say they were close runners-up.

The best flick I saw in March was The Lives of Others, the german film that won the foreign language Oscar. But Zodiac was a close second… I meant to see a couple other movies, but wound up cancelling on people due to my extreme slacker tiredness and ridiculous early morning work schedule. So far April is not seeing me in the theater much either so this seems to be a contining problem, doesn’t it.

While I wasn’t at the movie theater much, I did get back on the reading horse in March and the best book I read was “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell. It was short and sharp, biting and intense, and I was blown away. I also read some great short stories by Margo Lanagan, some poetry by Claudia Emerson, and “Black Cat”, by Martyn Bedford (the author of one of my all-time faves “The Houdini Girl”).

And as for tunes I listened to in March? Hmmm, that’s a tough one. I was enjoying the new Arcade Fire, especially “Intervention”, a beautiful new album from Great Lake Swimmers, and lots of singles from folks such as Brett Dennen, Bob Evans, Soltero, and Chris Brokaw … and still listening to stuff I bought earlier in the year: Guggenheim Grotto, the Shins, the Fratellis, Explosions in the Sky, and Youth Group.

Random personal highlights: a) I finally uploaded my London pictures to Flickr, although I have yet to get them printed for my mom, despite her asking me every time I talk to her; b) I got my taxes done a month ahead of time; c) went down south for (another) family wedding and got some quality time with lots of my cousins and one of my aunts; d) met Jen & JR!!; e) went to an awesome Cuban restaurant I hadn’t been to before; f) had a random doctor visit to find out I have officially lost 16 pounds on the infamous diet! Wooooooot!!!!; g) got a letter from Rumi, an old, old friend I haven’t heard from in ages (now if only I can find some time in my slackass life to write back!!!); and h) met KC’s new baby Avery (a.k.a. “Mini Coop”) who I had made a quilt for before her birth.

Lowlights? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but looking over my calendar, I’m not seeing any real lowlights. Must’ve been a damn good month! 🙂 Maybe the lowlight is I was only out of town for one weekend, but I still didn’t really get any quilting done. My powers of procrastination = they are mighty!

It’s a thin line.

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Love and hate hold hands always so it made natural sense that they’d get confused by upset married folk in the wee hours once in a while and a nosebleed or bruised breast might result.
–from “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell. Best book I’ve read so far this year.

When your body leads and your heart follows, and your mind thinks “Whaaaa??”

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Since she had always considered herself a woman with broad interests, concern for world affairs, deep affections for a range of friends, and a driving ambition to pursue her own career, the discovery that apparently all she’d really wanted all along was to get laid by a particular snooker player was a little bit grim.

–from “The Post-Birthday World” by Lionel Shriver.

Fiction: “The Post-Birthday World” by Lionel Shriver.

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The EW review that made this sound like a literary version of “Sliding Doors” may have gotten my expectations up too high as I expected to just outright adore this book. I did like some of it. But there were certainly points where the plot (either plot, sometimes both at once) just wasn’t going where I wanted it to and thus I found myself a little disappointed. And there were also times when I found myself frustrated with the decision making process of the characters and (some of them’s) incredible slowness at doing so.

Great descriptions of Irina’s artwork: to the point where you can almost picture it in your mind and really wish you could actually go buy these books for kids you know!!! (Similar to the descriptions of Bill’s paintings in Siri Hustvedt’s “What I Loved”. They seem so intensely “real”.) Liked the subplot with Irina’s family.

But afraid my expectations were not quite met.

Also I found the tenuous 9/11 connection a bit annoying, as I did with Ian McEwan’s “Saturday” as well. Don’t think either book really made that work in their favour.

Shopping 2 x 2

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Books I just bought recommended by Betsy:

  • “Single Wife” by Nina Solomon
  • “Stories in the Worst Way” by Gary Lutz

Books I now want to buy based on a) an interview with the author in Guardian (and the fact that I’ve LOVED everything I’ve read by her) and b) a review in the Guardian, both linked to by Bookslut:
  • a) “Day” by A.L. Kennedy
  • b) “Surveillance” by Jonathan Raban

Poetry: “Late Wife” by Claudia Emerson

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Since most books of poetry are so slim, and can sometimes take a few readings to really absorb all the imagery, I read them a few times over a week or so, before I actually consider them “read.”

These poems span the gap between a relationship falling apart/ending up in divorce, and a new relationship beginning/moving in together. They are calm and point blank; the honesty of hindsight. They are sparse and stripped, as one’s emotions would be. Not outwardly exclamatory or emotional, but quite powerful nonetheless.

Stories: “Black Juice” by Margo Lanagan.

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Short stories by an Aussie but sent to me by Marrije since I couldn’t find it when I went to Oz.

Some of the most unusual stories I’ve ever read; one is first-person narrative from the viewpoint of an elephant! All take place in one of those “kinda middle ages/or medieval” fantasy worlds but seem more real than sci fi/fantasy. Reminded me a little of Aimee Bender and how her stories can seem perfectly normal with one random fantastical element (the dude’s head is an iron! or, her potatoes grow into babies!).

Really loved these.

Keys Without Doors.

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The seat had been moulded to the contours of another body and it felt strange underneath him. The key was in the ignition with a metal loop hanging from it from which depended in turn three other keys to doors he would never go through.

–from “The Quarry” by Damon Galgut.

I really like the image of keys that open doors that he will never go through; keys that will never again be used. Do keys with no doors (a.k.a. “purpose”) cease to be “keys” and become something else?