http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/119789 en-US Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:47:13 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 20232397 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:47:13 -0700
Also, I just finished the last hundred pages of the book, and I have NO idea what I read - it was a bit confusing...

Other than that, a totally well-written read, great use of vocabulary, interesting & eccentric character development, and imaginative setting.

Off to read something a smidge more important... :)]]>
author: Robert Jordan
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 08/08
date added: 08/13/08
shelves:
review:
OMG, I am finally done with this book!!! I really enjoyed most of it, but was able to put it away for large chunks of time and not really care - which shouldn't happen in fantasy. I am toying with picking up the second book, but not for a while.

Also, I just finished the last hundred pages of the book, and I have NO idea what I read - it was a bit confusing...

Other than that, a totally well-written read, great use of vocabulary, interesting & eccentric character development, and imaginative setting.

Off to read something a smidge more important... :)
]]> 21879957 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:43:22 -0700
author: Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 07/08
date added: 07/23/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 27561847 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:24:46 -0700
author: Henry James
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1981
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 07/17/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 19872035 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:56:51 -0700
well, i finished this book. i am amazed by a couple of things - first, that she wrote this way back in 1962! It's really quite beautiful, creative, and intriguing.

Admittedly, and oh so predictably, I more enjoyed the internal journey of Meg towards overcoming her self-hatred and learning to fully accept her faults and see them as assets. Once the imaginative, inter-planetary travel started, I found myself less interested - though still very very curious and captivated. I can't believe I didn't read this as a kid! I will be getting her other books in the series to escort me through my summer.


]]>
author: Madeleine L'Engle
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1962
rating: 3
read at: 06/08
date added: 06/25/08
shelves:
review:
started last night, half way through due to a sick day. poor throat, happy imagination. have to get back!

well, i finished this book. i am amazed by a couple of things - first, that she wrote this way back in 1962! It's really quite beautiful, creative, and intriguing.

Admittedly, and oh so predictably, I more enjoyed the internal journey of Meg towards overcoming her self-hatred and learning to fully accept her faults and see them as assets. Once the imaginative, inter-planetary travel started, I found myself less interested - though still very very curious and captivated. I can't believe I didn't read this as a kid! I will be getting her other books in the series to escort me through my summer.



]]> 1718456 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:11:34 -0700 Another thing about the re-read, it takes quite a bit longer! But I am so immensely satisfied that I did it, and I will do it again!
2nd reading: Dec 2007-April 2008
I have been immensely enjoying that a re-read means I go way slower through the text - finding words with meaning, rather than simply being all-consumed by the plot (which is oh so fabulous, by the way)

I also found my favorite chapter this time around. Cal gets the very first taste of how much his father has endured and he loves him ferociously enough to sacrifice himself to build up his brother, Aron. In my fav chapter, Adam finally wakes up from his pain long enough to realize that he doesn't know his own son. The dialogue and gripping language that ensues moves deeply in my core. Daddy issues much? :)


And Steinbeck’s fascinating psychological motif, basically summed up to say that all humans have one need: love. If they are loved, they will be more willing to embrace the choice to overcome evil. If they have never been loved, they will be less able/willing to overcome their evil. In this way, Cal and his mother are set up as foils...and the reader's heart hopes so desperately for Cal. (BENJI, Steinbeck is also a hope whore!)

At the core of the argument about timshol I find that I disagree with Steinbeck. I really believe our lives are destined by a greater entity and our paths are chosen for us, even more than we are willing to admit. I do not feel controlled or manipulated by my destiny, in fact, I believe that the cosmos or god (pick your term) are mysterious enough, so entirely OTHER than my human understanding, that it can weave my choices into a pre-existing destiny. I will take issue with anyone (including my beloved John) who says that man always has the ability to simply pull himself up by the bootstraps and overcome his lot in life. Many are simply not equipped to deal with their own destiny, and this is the responsibility of god. But these are my theological thoughts...

That being said, Steinbeck sells his hope into the most gorgeous mini-pill of optimism and redemption that I cannot but swallow and flourish at the imbibing of his words.

First Reading: Jaunary 2006
I picked up East of Eden on a friend's recommendation. I remember being surprised that it read nothing like Grapes of Wrath--no unabashed socio/political themes or propaganda.

East of Eden was Steinbeck's favorite work; it also took him most of his life to complete. He takes a myriad of storylines and expertly weaves them into this novel. Steinbeck states about East of Eden: "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years." He further claimed: "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."

I really resonated with the themes he masterfully explores throughout--depravity, beneficence, love, and the struggle for acceptance, greatness, and the capacity for self-destruction, and especially of guilt and freedom. It ties these themes together with references to and many parallels with the biblical Book of Genesis.



]]>
author: John Steinbeck
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at: 01/06
date added: 04/22/08
shelves:
review:
And i finally finished.
Another thing about the re-read, it takes quite a bit longer! But I am so immensely satisfied that I did it, and I will do it again!
2nd reading: Dec 2007-April 2008
I have been immensely enjoying that a re-read means I go way slower through the text - finding words with meaning, rather than simply being all-consumed by the plot (which is oh so fabulous, by the way)

I also found my favorite chapter this time around. Cal gets the very first taste of how much his father has endured and he loves him ferociously enough to sacrifice himself to build up his brother, Aron. In my fav chapter, Adam finally wakes up from his pain long enough to realize that he doesn't know his own son. The dialogue and gripping language that ensues moves deeply in my core. Daddy issues much? :)


And Steinbeck’s fascinating psychological motif, basically summed up to say that all humans have one need: love. If they are loved, they will be more willing to embrace the choice to overcome evil. If they have never been loved, they will be less able/willing to overcome their evil. In this way, Cal and his mother are set up as foils...and the reader's heart hopes so desperately for Cal. (BENJI, Steinbeck is also a hope whore!)

At the core of the argument about timshol I find that I disagree with Steinbeck. I really believe our lives are destined by a greater entity and our paths are chosen for us, even more than we are willing to admit. I do not feel controlled or manipulated by my destiny, in fact, I believe that the cosmos or god (pick your term) are mysterious enough, so entirely OTHER than my human understanding, that it can weave my choices into a pre-existing destiny. I will take issue with anyone (including my beloved John) who says that man always has the ability to simply pull himself up by the bootstraps and overcome his lot in life. Many are simply not equipped to deal with their own destiny, and this is the responsibility of god. But these are my theological thoughts...

That being said, Steinbeck sells his hope into the most gorgeous mini-pill of optimism and redemption that I cannot but swallow and flourish at the imbibing of his words.

First Reading: Jaunary 2006
I picked up East of Eden on a friend's recommendation. I remember being surprised that it read nothing like Grapes of Wrath--no unabashed socio/political themes or propaganda.

East of Eden was Steinbeck's favorite work; it also took him most of his life to complete. He takes a myriad of storylines and expertly weaves them into this novel. Steinbeck states about East of Eden: "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years." He further claimed: "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."

I really resonated with the themes he masterfully explores throughout--depravity, beneficence, love, and the struggle for acceptance, greatness, and the capacity for self-destruction, and especially of guilt and freedom. It ties these themes together with references to and many parallels with the biblical Book of Genesis.




]]> 1717658 Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:25:50 -0700 There will be many revisions of this review because I will probably have to read and re-read this book for my entire life just to fully absorb it.

Freaking Thomas Moore. He grabs my soul where no other nonfiction spiritual author has managed. The other night, I craved some spiritual comfort (don’t' even talk to me about opening my bible right now! :), and his words jumped from the pages and balmed my broken soul. Let me share some of my favorite passages from the last chapter i read:

On page 258, he just finishes a story about a nun who "lost her faith." To sum up he says something profound.

"There is a Job-like mystery in human suffering and loss that can't be comprehended with reason. It can only be lived in faith. Suffering forces our attention towards places we wound normally neglect. The nun's attention had long been focused on her spiritual practice, but then she was forced to look at her own heart without any spiritual props or lenses. She had to learn that faith comes not only from the spiritual life and high revelations, it also comes as an emanation from the depths, a starkly impersonal reality from the most personal place...we have to arrive at that difficult point where we don't know what is going on or what we can do. That precise point is an opening to true faith."

On page 260, "This is the goal of the soul path - to FEEL EXISTENCE; not to overcome life's struggles and anxieties, but to know life first hand - to exist fully in context."

on page 262, after embracing your soul work..."Then your soul, cared for in courage, will be so solid, so weathered and mysterious, that divinity will emanate from your very being. You will have the spiritual radiance of the holy fool who has dared to live as it presents itself and to unfold personality with its heavy yet creative dose of imperfection."

FIRST REVIEW, MARCH 2007:
Being a student of classical literature, I have very rarely found nonfiction that can speak in the same language to which I am accustomed. This book is deeply profound and challenging--perhaps the most evocative approach to psychology, philosophy, and mythology that I have ever encountered.

It is especially helpful to those who enjoy literature. It is artistic and aesthetic, yet still very, very helpful for practical use and everyday living. I have found myself challenged deeply towards personal and spiritual fulfillment, and have been recommending the book to everyone that I know.

My husband and I read it together and are continuing to sift through its richness. No other book has been able to so completely shift my spiritual and psychological paradigm effectively. This is a must read.
]]>
author: Thomas Moore
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at: 03/07
date added: 04/17/08
shelves:
review:
SECOND REVIEW, MARCH 2008:
There will be many revisions of this review because I will probably have to read and re-read this book for my entire life just to fully absorb it.

Freaking Thomas Moore. He grabs my soul where no other nonfiction spiritual author has managed. The other night, I craved some spiritual comfort (don’t' even talk to me about opening my bible right now! :), and his words jumped from the pages and balmed my broken soul. Let me share some of my favorite passages from the last chapter i read:

On page 258, he just finishes a story about a nun who "lost her faith." To sum up he says something profound.

"There is a Job-like mystery in human suffering and loss that can't be comprehended with reason. It can only be lived in faith. Suffering forces our attention towards places we wound normally neglect. The nun's attention had long been focused on her spiritual practice, but then she was forced to look at her own heart without any spiritual props or lenses. She had to learn that faith comes not only from the spiritual life and high revelations, it also comes as an emanation from the depths, a starkly impersonal reality from the most personal place...we have to arrive at that difficult point where we don't know what is going on or what we can do. That precise point is an opening to true faith."

On page 260, "This is the goal of the soul path - to FEEL EXISTENCE; not to overcome life's struggles and anxieties, but to know life first hand - to exist fully in context."

on page 262, after embracing your soul work..."Then your soul, cared for in courage, will be so solid, so weathered and mysterious, that divinity will emanate from your very being. You will have the spiritual radiance of the holy fool who has dared to live as it presents itself and to unfold personality with its heavy yet creative dose of imperfection."

FIRST REVIEW, MARCH 2007:
Being a student of classical literature, I have very rarely found nonfiction that can speak in the same language to which I am accustomed. This book is deeply profound and challenging--perhaps the most evocative approach to psychology, philosophy, and mythology that I have ever encountered.

It is especially helpful to those who enjoy literature. It is artistic and aesthetic, yet still very, very helpful for practical use and everyday living. I have found myself challenged deeply towards personal and spiritual fulfillment, and have been recommending the book to everyone that I know.

My husband and I read it together and are continuing to sift through its richness. No other book has been able to so completely shift my spiritual and psychological paradigm effectively. This is a must read.

]]> 19871807 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:40:44 -0700
I stole this (and two.5 chocolate cookies) from Kelly's shelf last night and read it. It's so amazingly imaginative! I love reading books that my dear friends loved as children; just tapping into their child-selves feels so endearing.

So if anyone wants to tap into my child-self...read Shakespeare. j/k. I don't remember my child-self, but when I feel in love with reading - it would be my pre-teens...so you would have to read Judy Blume's "Starring Sally J. Freeman as herself."]]>
author: Judi Barrett
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1982
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/10/08
shelves:
review:
I think there should be a separate star system for raiting children's fiction b/c it's just on it's own scale.

I stole this (and two.5 chocolate cookies) from Kelly's shelf last night and read it. It's so amazingly imaginative! I love reading books that my dear friends loved as children; just tapping into their child-selves feels so endearing.

So if anyone wants to tap into my child-self...read Shakespeare. j/k. I don't remember my child-self, but when I feel in love with reading - it would be my pre-teens...so you would have to read Judy Blume's "Starring Sally J. Freeman as herself."
]]> 19871656 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:34:57 -0700
author: Edward Callan
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 04/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 1725630 Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:45:06 -0700
author: Charles Dickens
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1859
rating: 4
read at: 11/03
date added: 04/03/08
shelves:
review:
Why does everyone hate this book? It was the probably the crowd, but I couldn't get a 16 year old to like this for all my passionate teaching. I love that Dickens demands patience and discipline from his readers - and he rewards, boy does he reward! I cannot get the image he paints of Madame Therese Defarge out of my head. If you can stomach the length and seemingly pointless plot twists, you will be greatly enriched.
]]> 1898833 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:12:23 -0700
that being said...(it wasn't enough), there are many authors that are rejuvinated by Oprah's ubiquitous tentacles, but man..she is annoying. anyway, the book - aside from oprah - did win the pulizter back in the day. ]]>
author: Edward P. Jones
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 07/06
date added: 03/27/08
shelves:
review:
oprah's book club. enough said.

that being said...(it wasn't enough), there are many authors that are rejuvinated by Oprah's ubiquitous tentacles, but man..she is annoying. anyway, the book - aside from oprah - did win the pulizter back in the day.
]]> 18756064 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:53:14 -0700
author: Sue Monk Kidd
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2002
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 03/27/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 1715843 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:11:33 -0700
Charlotte Bronte so subtly captures the limitations humans place on themselves when handed a life of pain. Jane is the alter ego of every human--the one tortured by fear of the past, frozen by insecurity and self-deprecation, and silenced by the deaf reciprocity of unrequited love. Despite this alterego, she also represents the quiet confidence that women have--which is the key to the undoing of all mankind. :)

I particularly love the Bronte sisters' style...all three of them. Charlotte's use of Gothic fiction, the Byronic hero, and the mad woman in the attic grabs at all the fantastical themes I love about life and literature.

]]>
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 01/95
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
Please tell me you have read this book.

Charlotte Bronte so subtly captures the limitations humans place on themselves when handed a life of pain. Jane is the alter ego of every human--the one tortured by fear of the past, frozen by insecurity and self-deprecation, and silenced by the deaf reciprocity of unrequited love. Despite this alterego, she also represents the quiet confidence that women have--which is the key to the undoing of all mankind. :)

I particularly love the Bronte sisters' style...all three of them. Charlotte's use of Gothic fiction, the Byronic hero, and the mad woman in the attic grabs at all the fantastical themes I love about life and literature.


]]> 7431184 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:55:15 -0700
author: Edward Gorey
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
seriously pornographically hilarious.
]]> 3731565 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:50:21 -0700
author: Frank E. Peretti
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
hah. what can i possibly say about these? i was a pastor's daughter.
]]> 1716402 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:33:46 -0700
author: David Sedaris
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
The thing about Sedaris is that you never, absolutely never forget his antidotes. When I think back to the stories, I can always remember the often horrifically amusing tales he shared. An easy, salacious read - completely juicy and worth every word.
]]> 1775534 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:30:52 -0700
author: John Steinbeck
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.33
book published: 1947
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
It's just so pleasurable to sit back and watch Steinbeck weave this tale that seems so simple and basic into one full of anti-establishment tones and suddenly you are in a dark sticky chasm of messy human choices and a maleficent mother nature. Climbing your way out is no small feat.
]]> 1776732 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:26:05 -0700
"Fie, Demetrius!/ Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:/ We cannot fight for love, as men do;/ We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo."

I also love the fight she and Hermia get into where Helena gets called a maypole and an Ethiope. Slanderous and delightful through and through.]]>
author: William Shakespeare
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1600
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
My favorite character by far in this play is Helena, the one left behind by Demetrius. She is so painfully desperate, comical, and drippy with clever cynicism and wit. Some of my favorite words from her:

"Fie, Demetrius!/ Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:/ We cannot fight for love, as men do;/ We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo."

I also love the fight she and Hermia get into where Helena gets called a maypole and an Ethiope. Slanderous and delightful through and through.
]]> 4215372 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:15:57 -0700
author: Jonathan Swift
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
smoochy satire. cleverness makes happiness.
]]> 1997437 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:15:01 -0700
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1937
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
I had no occasion to read these as a child, so my entire Tolkien encounters have been as an adult. This was engaging and magical - without the grand sense of purpose that differniates itself from LOTR. It is an easy going, albeit less important, novel in the series.
]]> 2094109 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:12:44 -0700 ]]>
author: William Shakespeare
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.55
book published: 1601
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
beware the ides of march. i love this lesson on rhetoric, loyalty, and wordsmithery.

]]> 2939681 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:28:59 -0700
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1964
rating: 5
read at: 09/06
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
just read as an adult. it is a simple tale of honesty and self-sacrafice in relationships...and that is no simple feet to accomplish in 25 pages and less than 500 words.
]]> 1998035 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:28:03 -0700
author: Sophocles
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 10/99
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
these plays always take me back to my first class at simpson. i once wore a grey tweed skirt and a wine colored sweater to hear melora giardetti lecuture and she was enchanting, captivating, passionate, f'ing brilliant, and made me fall in love with the mystery of greek tragedy (so much so that i remember my outfit). it's remarkable how at the time i was just learning this one peice of literature but later it would be referenced so often in other works. this is, after all, a compelling reason to study literaure. if we can't understand literary allusions (wikipedia doesn't count), then we have lost out on the some of richness of the author's intent.
]]> 4321292 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:24:03 -0700
author: John Steinbeck
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.05
book published: 1937
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
to be honest, i don't remember this book at all. dang it.
]]> 4206986 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:23:07 -0700
author: E.B. White
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1952
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:
probably one of the only children's books that i really remember reading, and it came into my sphere of influence because of teresa (my main influence for books as a kid). i loved it...and learned the word 'salutations'(insert plug here for reading enhancing vocabulary). i cried at the end too...which is always a plus.
]]> 1718069 Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:06:00 -0800
author: Albert Camus
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1942
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/18/08
shelves:
review:
Perhaps the most accurate depiction of existentialism in print--but not through explanation and definitions--through tone...and that makes Camus genius.
]]> 1775797 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:37:07 -0800
author: Edith Wharton
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1911
rating: 4
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/28/07
shelves:
review:
Such a hauntingly well-written, satisfying, and grippingly tragic love story. I enjoyed every drippy page. It's not terribly rich in significance, but Wharton knows bad marriage and forbidden love- and it's really poignantly captured.
]]> 1725585 Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:53:55 -0800
That being said, The Road was entirely gripping and heart-wrenching, how can one help but like it? It has all the essentials for modern fiction. 1) A gripping survival, post-apocalyptic tale (why are we so fascinated with this?), 2) A father and son bond 3) and easy/non committal read 4) an ending that is irresponsible and dramatically weak.

Despite my candor, I did learn something of tolerance with this book. I am a reader/student entirely devoted to form within writing, so for an author to so blatantly break so many rules really irritated me at first (I know it sounds juvenile and closed-minded, but so many people write like this because they actually do not know how to write correctly), but as I let the pieces fall as they may, I was able to enjoy the purpose of the offensive sentence fragments and receive the tone via the form. And at the end of the day, I think the form is really the only thing I am taking away from this book.

Totally over-hyped, but not a regretful read.

Hilariously, some woman interrupted me on the bus while I was reading, and she said, "Do you like that book so far?" (in a tone obviously conveying her distaste)...and I replied that it was okay...and she scoffed and exclaimed, "Well, it's just terribly depressing." Since when did “it's too depressing" become an actual way to feel about art? Pardon my judgmental nature, (she was an idiot) but the bleak needs just as much a voice in our artistic influences as the lush.
]]>
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/09/07
shelves:
review:
Pulitzer Prize my ass.

That being said, The Road was entirely gripping and heart-wrenching, how can one help but like it? It has all the essentials for modern fiction. 1) A gripping survival, post-apocalyptic tale (why are we so fascinated with this?), 2) A father and son bond 3) and easy/non committal read 4) an ending that is irresponsible and dramatically weak.

Despite my candor, I did learn something of tolerance with this book. I am a reader/student entirely devoted to form within writing, so for an author to so blatantly break so many rules really irritated me at first (I know it sounds juvenile and closed-minded, but so many people write like this because they actually do not know how to write correctly), but as I let the pieces fall as they may, I was able to enjoy the purpose of the offensive sentence fragments and receive the tone via the form. And at the end of the day, I think the form is really the only thing I am taking away from this book.

Totally over-hyped, but not a regretful read.

Hilariously, some woman interrupted me on the bus while I was reading, and she said, "Do you like that book so far?" (in a tone obviously conveying her distaste)...and I replied that it was okay...and she scoffed and exclaimed, "Well, it's just terribly depressing." Since when did “it's too depressing" become an actual way to feel about art? Pardon my judgmental nature, (she was an idiot) but the bleak needs just as much a voice in our artistic influences as the lush.

]]> 7528551 Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:22:34 -0700
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1974
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 10/10/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 7431123 Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:29:30 -0700
author: Edward Gorey
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.65
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 10/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1727504 Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:48:25 -0700
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 11/07
date added: 10/05/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1775555 Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:15:01 -0700
author: Margaret Atwood
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/04/07
shelves:
review:
This was a totally enjoyable read. I found the pace really suiting as it was a compelling and interesting plot (though somewhat predictable) and totally worth the read for enrichment, BUT you were not lost if you put the book down for a while. It does everything a nonacademic book should do which is to entertain & provide escape. I am not sure why it won various book awards, but if I had to guess it would be because it is a pretty accurately-based historical fiction and she really impressed me by her phraseology and vocabulary - there were many words with which I was unfamiliar. I recommend to anyone who still wants to read something of substance, but needs a break from classic literature. Good recommendation, Crystal - but now I am off to read The Handmaid's Tale.
]]> 6168743 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:08:07 -0700
author: Andrew Morton
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 2.87
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 01/02
date added: 09/20/07
shelves:
review:
Haa. A guilty pleasure for sure. Madonna is a surprising chameleon, even admirably so. Very entertaining and the worthwhile while playing trivial pursuit. :)
]]> 6200530 Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:01:07 -0700
author: Sylvia Plath
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1976
rating: 4
read at: 09/07
date added: 09/18/07
shelves:
review:
One of my dearest friends bought me this book as a gift. It is a first edition of Sylvia Plath's children's books. It was so well-written and surprising. I often mistakenly make the very error Plath was seeking to correct in that I put her in a box of darkness. She was such a multi-faceted woman, full of whimsy and genius. I feel she and I will become very good friends.
]]> 6212156 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 13:56:32 -0700
author: James Baldwin
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 09/14/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6199630 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:28:23 -0700
author: Melody Green
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1989
rating: 3
read at: 01/97
date added: 09/14/07
shelves:
review:
i remember liking this for the time in my life when i read it. i don't know if i would now...
]]> 6199604 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:27:12 -0700
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1853
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 09/14/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 6116528 Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:20:55 -0700
author: Jerry Hopkins
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at: 01/00
date added: 09/12/07
shelves:
review:
Man, it has been forever since I read this - but it's freaking enlightening. Admittedly, I loved Jim Morrison because of my Val Kilmer phase - which I would say is pretty far from over.
]]> 1934509 Tue, 04 Sep 2007 09:18:47 -0700
I was finishing the last page on an airplane and an 80 year old yoga teacher looked at me and quietly summed up this book. "I remember reading that. It blew my mind..." She had read it in 1965!

I have always considered myself a political pacifist. I realized this is because I shelter, absolutely shelter myself from the horrifics of war and violence. I have always chosen to live in the dark because I KNEW the rage would overtake me if I chose to care. Well, Trumbo sure as hell got me to care. Even if this never changes the fact that I don’t vote...this absolutely got me to give a damn and know why I hate war.

I would have made my students read this when I was teaching - if I had known about it.

If you don't read anything this year - read this.

This book is like my first love. It will appear to me in my sleep. It will haunt my mind forever. It will be the year 2058, and I will see a young girl reading this on a airplane and be launched into delicious nostalgia.


]]>
author: Dalton Trumbo
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 09/04/07
shelves:
review:
Every time I read a book, I feel committed to it as if to a relationship. That relationship can be an infatuational fling, a carnal attraction, a passionate love, a committed best friend, a life partner...whatever form it takes will depend on how much I will remember it. Johnny Got His Gun got completely under my skin.

I was finishing the last page on an airplane and an 80 year old yoga teacher looked at me and quietly summed up this book. "I remember reading that. It blew my mind..." She had read it in 1965!

I have always considered myself a political pacifist. I realized this is because I shelter, absolutely shelter myself from the horrifics of war and violence. I have always chosen to live in the dark because I KNEW the rage would overtake me if I chose to care. Well, Trumbo sure as hell got me to care. Even if this never changes the fact that I don’t vote...this absolutely got me to give a damn and know why I hate war.

I would have made my students read this when I was teaching - if I had known about it.

If you don't read anything this year - read this.

This book is like my first love. It will appear to me in my sleep. It will haunt my mind forever. It will be the year 2058, and I will see a young girl reading this on a airplane and be launched into delicious nostalgia.



]]> 4936757 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:51:30 -0700
author: Thomas Moore
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 08/07
date added: 08/22/07
shelves:
review:
I have listened to the first three chapters of this book, and just like Care of the Soul - Thomas Moore successfully weaves philosophy, literature, mythology, psychology, and theology into one very simple and effective package. He again reminds us to think of depression and melancholy as gifts to be enjoyed - and to be learned from...not to be CURED by a therapist or ERASED by medication.
]]> 3973718 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:41:28 -0700
So anyway, Geek Love is about this family of carnies (carnival workers - to the less colloquially gifted) that decides to chemically engineer their children. The wife takes arsenic and radioisotopes while pregnant, and the result is a family of freaks. One has fins, one is a hunchback albino dwarf, one is a set of twins attached at the hip. They embark on this Machiavellian sibling rivalry that is wildly entertaining and emotionally gripping.

I think Dunn copped out with the ending though - I think she didn't know what to do with the characters, so she just ended it...I hate to give it away, but I thought it was a sloppy ending indeed.

That being said, she does overwhelmingly succeed in questioning our society's views on the normal vs freakish. I found myself affected by that worldview as I walked around downtown, feeling all of a sudden very sympathetic towards the less than normal demographic that hangs out west of 3rd.
]]>
author: Katherine Dunn
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1989
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 08/22/07
shelves:
review:
What is with Portland? Oregon brews these freakish, fantastical authors - fascinated with the off color beauty of the grotesque. Not to say that both Palahniuk and Dunn are not genius's, but it's weird man. Weirdly coincidental.

So anyway, Geek Love is about this family of carnies (carnival workers - to the less colloquially gifted) that decides to chemically engineer their children. The wife takes arsenic and radioisotopes while pregnant, and the result is a family of freaks. One has fins, one is a hunchback albino dwarf, one is a set of twins attached at the hip. They embark on this Machiavellian sibling rivalry that is wildly entertaining and emotionally gripping.

I think Dunn copped out with the ending though - I think she didn't know what to do with the characters, so she just ended it...I hate to give it away, but I thought it was a sloppy ending indeed.

That being said, she does overwhelmingly succeed in questioning our society's views on the normal vs freakish. I found myself affected by that worldview as I walked around downtown, feeling all of a sudden very sympathetic towards the less than normal demographic that hangs out west of 3rd.

]]> 4936258 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 08:32:40 -0700
author: Sylvia Cassedy
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1985
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/22/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 1778980 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:00:23 -0700
author: Oscar Wilde
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1895
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/16/07
shelves:
review:
I seriously love this play. Oscar Wilde is at his best with sarcasm, subtle dry humor, and drippy satire. I have read this a couple of times because my students acted it out in class; I really love that Wilde seems to transcend time and space, and my kids all really loved it. Definitely read this - but if you can see it performed, even better. It wasn't meant for a rainy day sitting alone, rather - a dark wooded theatre and a gin martini...that you will drop on your muslin dress as you laugh your proper ass off.
]]> 4334439 Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:56:58 -0700
author: Tennessee Williams
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/16/07
shelves:
review:
Does seeing the play count as reading it? In this case, I do think so. I remember seeing it in Ashland, OR with Jackie-and we had a great time. It was a break from our normal Shakespearean plays, so I found it refreshing and direct. Probably worth the read - more so worth the watch.
]]> 4474790 Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:05:33 -0700
I also think the form is interesting...the entire book is written in poetry. ]]>
author: Karen Hesse
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 04/00
date added: 08/13/07
shelves:
review:
I remember reading this while I was student-teaching 8th graders. It's absolutely riviting (for that age group) and I am glad to have read it...even if it was grade 8 reading level.

I also think the form is interesting...the entire book is written in poetry.
]]> 4358801 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:06:16 -0700
author: Ambrose Bierce
name: Mme. Bookling
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1911
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/10/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 4358799 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:06:12 -0700