Currently reading
Madame Bovary
Siddhartha
Civil Disobedience and Other Essays (Collected Essays)
The Children Star
Manstealing for Fat Girls
Undersong: Chosen Poems Old and New
Radio Crackling, Radio Gone
Radiant Days
Mythmakers and Lawbreakers: Anarchist Writers on Fiction
Footnotes in Gaza
The Year of Endless Sorrows: A Novel
I wanted to like this book about an entry-level publishing worker in the early 90s but the stream of homophobic and misogynist language and plot choices and characterizations put me off (for some reason). Also the chapters and chapters of fart jokes. Also the anachronisms in a novel supposedly about its setting. Also the unironic and repeated use of the phrase "making love." Only for those who enjoy reading about self-pitying upper-middle class straight white men and their whimsical adventures in the city.
Interview With the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles)
Just re-read this. More than holds up. The writing is actually quite spare and beautiful.
The Snow Ghosts
Okay, as a kid I loved loved loved this book, which was then called The Snowstorm (much less spoilery). I recently reread it and was deeply disappointed to see the lack of magic. The plot hinges on three children (ages 11-12) lobbying to clean and redecorate a large house belonging to their rich but cash-poor aunt. Huh? And the adverbs! Holy mackerel, he snickered. The author seems to have written for a perceived audience of pre-teen Antiques Roadshow fanbois. It is starting to dawn on me that if they'd had Antiques Roadshow in my youth I would have enjoyed it. Anyway, if you read this as a kid and have fond memories of the spookiness, by all means live in your memories and do not re-read.
Howards End (Dover Thrift Editions)
Just re-read this and now am reading Zadie Smith's On Beauty. I was obsessed with Forster in high school (Maurice, etc) and am happy to know that Howards End not only holds up but in fact is improved by time. I found myself thinking of Mrs. Dalloway quite a bit. Also, I enjoyed the depiction of the posh ladies' discussion circles, in which rich British ladies debate how best to give their money away to the poor. I was also shocked by how obvious/explicit the queer content is now. I thought I was reading so naughtily and detectivishly when I first read it, but it's laid quite bare. Odd.
Fire in the Blood
What a heartbreaker! And what's she doing with the structure? Note to self: map this book out. Seriously, this is one of the best novels I've read in YEARS. Thanks, Franny!
Sharp Teeth
At first I was put off by the novel in verse, the "Ovid-meets-Marvel" hype on the back, and the LA-ness of it all, but then I relaxed and enjoyed it. Though, like so much mainstream writing (and the NYT Science Times), this book has some really idiotic pop-Darwin ideas about gender and sexuality. Yawn. Still, werewolves are always interesting.
THE TEXT-WRESTLING BOOK
This is text they assign to first year composition students at UMass, and I am forcing myself to poke through it in preparation for the semester starting in 10 days. Argh. Seems better than the text used at Temple, I'll say that for now.
The Spectacle of the Body: Stories
A friend in my workshop just lent me this book, and it's really beautiful. It's training me to read more slowly, I think.
Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
I first read this (inhaled it, actually) while collecting NY State unemployment for the first time. Now I'm re-reading it slowly. People's relationships to their jobs are so interesting!
Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood, Book 1)
Some decent ideas but the plot/ending was so disgusting, stupid, and traumatizing that I began to retroactively hate the entire book.
ISSUE ONE: fall 2008
Awesome prank! "Marketing ploy" misses the point, I think. So does "intervention" into anything. Seems like a funny smart prank to me, and isn't that something. More funny smart pranks!
