<![CDATA[Literacy and Longing in L.A.]]>

false <![CDATA[Literacy and Longing in L.A.]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174579786m/418703.jpg 418703 4 Some women shop. Some eat. Dora cures the blues by bingeing on books—reading one after another, from Flaubert to bodice rippers, for hours and days on end. In this wickedly funny and sexy literary debut, we meet the beguiling, beautiful Dora, whose unique voice combines a wry wit and vulnerability as she navigates the road between reality and fiction. Dora, named after Eudora Welty, is an indiscriminate book junkie whose life has fallen apart—her career, her marriage, and finally her self-esteem. All she has left is her love of literature, and the book benders she relied on as a child. Ever since her larger-than-life father wandered away and her book-loving, alcoholic mother was left with two young daughters, Dora and her sister, Virginia, have clung to each other, enduring a childhood filled with literary pilgrimages instead of summer vacations. Somewhere along the way Virginia made the leap into the real world. But Dora isn’t quite there yet. Now she’s coping with a painful separation from her husband, scraping the bottom of a dwindling inheritance, and attracted to a seductive book-seller who seems to embody all that literature has to offer—intelligent ideas, romance, and an escape from her problems. Joining Dora in her odyssey is an elderly society hair-brusher, a heartbroken young girl, a hilarious off-the-wall female teamster, and Dora’s mother, now on the wagon, trying to make amends. Along the way Dora faces some powerful choices. Between two irresistible men. Between idleness and work. And most of all between the joy of well-chosen words and the untidiness of real people and real life. From the Hardcover edition. 1532467 2006 Literacy and Longing in L.A. total:464|5:43|4:118|3:178|2:86|1:39| 464 1432 692 140 2 1 false true Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 11:54:19 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 25 11:39:30 -0700 2007
As with many others, I loved the idea of book binges as a coping device and could comp...more...]]> 1 1 false false Sun Jun 17 05:45:33 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 11:20:30 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue May 06 14:18:16 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 15:26:20 -0700 2008
It was often incredibly ignorant ...more...]]> 2 1 true false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 07:57:51 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 25 11:34:34 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue Jun 03 20:20:38 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 10:10:42 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 12:51:31 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 12:56:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Sep 03 07:23:32 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 03 07:34:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false false Sun Jun 21 12:58:30 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 22:04:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Jul 26 06:54:13 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 06:54:38 -0700 2009
Despite a main character who could be construed as a kindred spirit, this book disappointed me. The blurb on the back described the plot as that of a woman who deals with the problems of her life by going on a b...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 31 13:27:47 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 13:27:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 06 15:19:51 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 09 18:45:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Sep 05 18:49:45 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 27 06:37:55 -0800 2008 Fri Sep 05 18:49:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 true false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 10:52:03 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 17 10:54:26 -0700 2007
What I loved about this book is that the main character is sarcastic and realistic. She's not...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Nov 27 07:10:08 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 27 07:10:08 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 13:06:15 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 13:25:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 30 04:02:45 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 04 04:11:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 17:14:34 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 14:22:52 -0700 2009
1)Dora is a well-educated, very intelligent, extremely voracious reader and yet she uses some vile language at times. I have a hard time believing that this type of person would use suc...more...]]> 1 0 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 12:30:09 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 12:32:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 19 14:07:08 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 14:10:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Sep 05 07:48:30 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 07:53:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=418703