I don't know how many stars I offer this book. Nor do I know what review I'd like to write.
Never mind. I've got the stars figured out. And after watch...moreI don't know how many stars I offer this book. Nor do I know what review I'd like to write.
Never mind. I've got the stars figured out. And after watching the play at CTG yesterday, I can at least review the book as: way better than the play. It wasn't just a dream!(less)
So, originally when I read this book I was in high school. And my GR, one star review said: "Maybe I was too young to appreciate this book when I read...moreSo, originally when I read this book I was in high school. And my GR, one star review said: "Maybe I was too young to appreciate this book when I read it. Or maybe I think looking for the symbolism in a green light is stupid. Or maybe I just don't want my breasts chopped off in a terrible accident... Who knows???"
Well now I've read it again and I've upped it to three stars. I liked it. I no longer think it's a stupid book. I do, however, think about how our passions can overtake us and sooner or later we end up racing away from some horrible fate only to race towards a worse one. This kinda thing happens all the time. F. Scotty himself says that we're not careful enough with each other. It's pitifully sad, really. We're fragile.
Plus, what did he say? "You can't relive the past." Or something. Maybe I should consider this fair warning.(less)
I was pretty nervous while reading this book because it involves a machine gun and a Caribbean island--and really, only one thing can result when mach...moreI was pretty nervous while reading this book because it involves a machine gun and a Caribbean island--and really, only one thing can result when machine guns and the tropics come together. When the shit goes down, we all end up in this kinda dreamy delirious state and it's hard to tell what's real and what's only hope. Scary. I'm pretty sure neither the good guys nor the bad guys won in the end. (less)
I am soooooo happy right now. Not because the book is finally over, but because I am fulfilled by the very reading of it. This touching book is 13 of...moreI am soooooo happy right now. Not because the book is finally over, but because I am fulfilled by the very reading of it. This touching book is 13 of me. 13 beautiful, amazing, perfectly-shaped pictures of a woman I know as self and as friend and as human. Soft electric humanity. I. Love. It.(less)
Sometimes I forget that David Sedaris isn't funny in the way you might think. But he's pathetically, sadly, humanly funny and that makes him better th...moreSometimes I forget that David Sedaris isn't funny in the way you might think. But he's pathetically, sadly, humanly funny and that makes him better than you might think.(less)
Dan Brown gets a lot of flack for his formulaic style--and I get it. But this book wasn't so bad. Not earth-shattering, but I liked it. Politics, NASA...moreDan Brown gets a lot of flack for his formulaic style--and I get it. But this book wasn't so bad. Not earth-shattering, but I liked it. Politics, NASA, men who stay in celibate mourning over a dead wife for years upon years... Works for me!(less)
So, at the beginning, this book is like, totally bogus. It's like completely angry-making. Especially because of the parts where the only ways to stay...moreSo, at the beginning, this book is like, totally bogus. It's like completely angry-making. Especially because of the parts where the only ways to stay bubbly are when you kiss a really pretty-looking boy and also when you don't eat or drink anything but coffee for weeks on end. Completely reinforcing negative teenage behaviors. But the end part was good about the Specials. Exciting, Tally-wa!(less)
As you know by now, Margaret Atwood is my fav among favs. As with most of her books, the first sentence in The Penelopiad woos me into a state of euph...moreAs you know by now, Margaret Atwood is my fav among favs. As with most of her books, the first sentence in The Penelopiad woos me into a state of euphoria. But that's kinda it for this one. I love the idea of the Myth Project--several writers put "a contemporary twist on an ancient story." And I love the very Greek-Tragic style of storytelling she uses here. But Penelope herself is rather boring and I became rather bored with her boringness.
2 days to read, 2 stars, and I'm shelving it as fantasy because I don't have a mythology shelf but they're kinda the same anyway.(less)
There are certain people in the world who have a realness, deeply rooted in the earth, bare to sun and moon. And then there are other people in the wo...moreThere are certain people in the world who have a realness, deeply rooted in the earth, bare to sun and moon. And then there are other people in the world who look at the real ones and mimic their stance, planting roots and glancing out of the corners of their eyes every once in a while to make sure they're still doing it right. But they are a forgery and it doesn't take long to tip these fakers over, upending their shallow roots. This is how I feel about Laurell K. Hamilton.
The thing about fantasy writing is that you can't fake your way through it and make it seem REAL. The essence of fantasy has been around since the dawn of human intelligence--it is our religion, our myth, our history; it speaks to our connection to god, the sky, the earth, each other... and it gives voice to what the rest of us REAL creatures can feel but can't explain. So I get really annoyed when folks like LKH write twenty zillion pretentious vampire novels. I can't help but roll my eyes when the sword-that-drinks-blood begs its bearer for a sip off her own arm seven times in two pages.* It sickens me as a woman to see a cleavage-baring, curly-headed, petite twenty-something having to fuck a nest of vampires in order to save the lives of her werewolf (ex)boyfriend and his pack** after engaging in 50 pages of melodramatic dialogue and references to the heroine's scarred past.
This kind of story doesn't pay homage to the REAL we saw in the writers gone before us (even if the heroes do fight a white winter witch or pass down a sword from generations of noble warriors). And it doesn't inspire us to think, feel loved, or make tangible our bond to the earth and each other. This kind of writing simply keeps a band-aid covering the wounds of lonely women who never recovered from the injuries they received in junior high. It's desperate and pathetic. I find myself creating my own fantasy that LKH takes her bajillion dollars she earns off these crappy novels and puts them into a foundation so that her readers might eventually be able to afford the therapy they really need. I can dream, can't I?
*Ever so slightly exaggerated. It was maybe only five times... **This particular plot-line did not appear in this particular Hamilton collection. But you get the point.(less)
Not as funny as Colbert's I Am America and so Can You but funnier than anything by Rush Limbaugh, The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex* is an encyclopedia of all...moreNot as funny as Colbert's I Am America and so Can You but funnier than anything by Rush Limbaugh, The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex* is an encyclopedia of all the things you want to do in the bedroom but know you probably shouldn't since it was, after all, written as a joke.
*Not recommended for readers in the middle of a serious and depressing break up. DEFINITELY recommended for couples, singles, polys, readers going through an un-serious breakup, virgins, liberal grandmas, and gazellemos.(less)
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