http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/63076 en-US Sun, 11 May 2008 18:27:35 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 22046287 Sun, 11 May 2008 18:27:35 -0700
author: Brian Selznick
name: rory
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 11/07
date added: 05/11/08
shelves:
review:
A slightly doddering older man came into my library the other day and said, "I'm looking for a book. I can't remember the author or title. It's about a boy, and there's both pictures and words...." I guessed this book and I was right. That's one powerfully present book, eh?
]]> 22045237 Sun, 11 May 2008 18:21:32 -0700
author: M. T. Anderson
name: rory
average rating: 4.89
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 05/11/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
M.T. Anderson? Can do no wrong. In any genre, in any voice, under any ambition.
]]> 21617291 Sun, 11 May 2008 18:19:40 -0700
author: Judy Jones
name: rory
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/11/08
shelves:
review:
I don't think I'll ever really finish this, but it'll be on my bedside table for a good while. It's pretty much a text book, albeit a scattershot, funny, extra-fascinating text book. The subtitle's right--I didn't learn most of this stuff and/but I WISH I had. So far I've bolstered up my ability to converse about early film masterpieces and European philosophies of Self. And learned the titles of all five of The Leatherstocking Tales. And quizzed Kim about the major schools of political science. He did alright.
]]> 19164761 Sun, 11 May 2008 18:12:14 -0700
author: Alex Sanchez
name: rory
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/11/08
shelves: for-da-youf, started-not-finished
review:
Whoah, this was one of the least well-written books I've ever encountered. I can still see its value--Sanchez has produced a whole body of work dedicated to exploring contemporary gay teens' experiences and challenges, and surely that's an important subgenre. And this one throws in being Christian, too! But, wow, the writing. It's SO bad. Like an over-earnest, under-edited, middling-talented teen wrote it. Which...contributes to its authentic voice? I dunno. There's got to be better stuff out there.
]]> 21616417 Sun, 04 May 2008 23:28:47 -0700
I recently re-read "Fear and Loathing" and wondered how much of it, if any, was really journalistic. Seems like...yeah, he was really like that a lot of the time. There's a bit too much glorifying of Rolling Stone, and you can tell that Thompson's first wife and son try hard not to be downers about life with him, but people mostly seem to have adored him.]]>
author: Corey Seymour
name: rory
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/04/08
shelves:
review:
"Oral biographies" always seem...like cheating. You get 50 people to talk about someone, splice it up into roughly chronological chapters, throw in some candid pics, and you've got a book. But there's plenty to say about Thompson as so much of his legend was forged very forcefully (and maybe deliberately) by his constantly impressing people with his gonzo batshit-ness. That last sentence had a lot of adverbs, I know.

I recently re-read "Fear and Loathing" and wondered how much of it, if any, was really journalistic. Seems like...yeah, he was really like that a lot of the time. There's a bit too much glorifying of Rolling Stone, and you can tell that Thompson's first wife and son try hard not to be downers about life with him, but people mostly seem to have adored him.
]]> 19890915 Sun, 04 May 2008 23:13:13 -0700
author: Stuart Dybek
name: rory
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 03/08
date added: 05/04/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 17308017 Sun, 04 May 2008 23:11:52 -0700
author: Shirley Jackson
name: rory
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1962
rating: 2
read at: 04/08
date added: 05/04/08
shelves: started-not-finished
review:

]]> 19165154 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:54:04 -0700
author: Dan Ariely
name: rory
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves:
review:
Not as much of a fun ride as "Freakonomics," its obvious publishing predecessor. And I think I'd read the most interesting bits already in a piece in the New Yorker. I mean, I think we all know that we do stupid things when it comes to money and basic decisions.
]]> 19890904 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:52:19 -0700
author: Leslie Connor
name: rory
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
I think the only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that there's a BARRAGE of "my parent has a mental or social disorder that i'm only beginning to understand but i'm a strong, independent girl and WILL survive and perhaps even thrive" books out there right now. So it's hard to get very excited about one, even it's done so well.
]]> 19649391 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:49:17 -0700
author: Linda Peavy
name: rory
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves:
review:
Again, I'm reading a bunch of stuff to get ready for a Laura Ingalls Wilder party I'm hosting at the library. Funny, but this book didn't produce quite as many warm-fuzzies as Wilder's prose and Garth Williams' illustrations always do. Still.
]]> 19961107 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:48:07 -0700
author: Katherine Kirkpatrick
name: rory
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
Like my friend Erika, I'm easily taken with Arctic stories. I'd never heard of little Ms. Peary, but even the pictures and their captions made this children's nonfiction book worth picking up. Fascinating!
]]> 19961131 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:47:07 -0700
author: Timothy J. Bradley
name: rory
average rating: 5.00
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:

]]> 20119699 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:46:12 -0700
The story is a mischievous gremlin who blesses/curses a baby girl with the power to channel electricity. Not a terrible premise, but a VERY boring, unengaging story.]]>
author: Michael Brennan
name: rory
average rating: 2.61
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves: for-da-youf, started-not-finished
review:
This book was screwed up. Really--the copy I got from our library had the first volume completely repeated. So you read 40 pretty crappy pages only to find that the printer accidentally re-printed those 40 crappy pages again. Ugh.

The story is a mischievous gremlin who blesses/curses a baby girl with the power to channel electricity. Not a terrible premise, but a VERY boring, unengaging story.
]]> 20119733 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:43:32 -0700
author: Donald Zochert
name: rory
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1977
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/18/08
shelves:
review:
This was obviously published during the height of the tv show's popularity (so 70s! so fauning! such soft-core book jacket illustrations!) but it's worth a read if you're interested in more of Laura's family tree and history (and in the discrepancies between her books and the real timeline).
]]> 20487894 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:41:39 -0700
These books NEVER get old. I mean, they're old, sure, but they never lose their immersive magic.

Even knowing that Laura wasn't actually old enough to experience the Big Woods first-hand and that the Little House on the Prairie was kind of a bust and that the Banks of Plum Creek probably weren't as enchanting as she made them out to be...well, it doesn't matter. Wilder crafted some perfect stories, and I'm so excited to celebrate them with kids!]]>
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: rory
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 08/87
date added: 04/18/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
I'm re-reading several of the Little House books to prepare for a Laura Ingalls Wilder party that Shelley H. and I are doing at work next week.

These books NEVER get old. I mean, they're old, sure, but they never lose their immersive magic.

Even knowing that Laura wasn't actually old enough to experience the Big Woods first-hand and that the Little House on the Prairie was kind of a bust and that the Banks of Plum Creek probably weren't as enchanting as she made them out to be...well, it doesn't matter. Wilder crafted some perfect stories, and I'm so excited to celebrate them with kids!
]]> 19961187 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:35:02 -0700
author: Nigel Slater
name: rory
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 09/04
date added: 04/11/08
shelves:
review:
Yeah, I liked it a bit more than you, and probably only because I was steeped in England at the time (and liked his columns in the Sunday Guardian). Kim despises him, no surprise.
]]> 19890923 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:27:46 -0700
author: Sarah Weeks
name: rory
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/10/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
Very cute. About a kind-of-poor kid who somehow doesn't mind being poor at all (because he's so, you know, spirited) and almost gets famous (and loses his spirt) when he admits that he can use just his teeth to carve cheese into the shapes of states.
]]> 19890814 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:25:29 -0700
author: Kim Edwards
name: rory
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 04/10/08
shelves: started-not-finished
review:
This book read like it was written for 1. book clubs and 2. a Lifetime Channel "Special Event" movie. I didn't like any of the characters and didn't care even about the little girl. Which means that it's probably both a bad book and I'm a bad person.
]]> 19890755 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:23:32 -0700
author: Gary Paulsen
name: rory
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at: 08/90
date added: 04/10/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:

]]> 19890740 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:23:09 -0700
author: Wilson Rawls
name: rory
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 08/88
date added: 04/10/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:

]]> 19650273 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:49:10 -0700
author: Deirdre Dolan
name: rory
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 04/07/08
shelves:
review:
I adore this show, and the book was a hoot, too. It was a bit IMDB-y, with every episode's whole cast and synapsis and trivia, but it also had insights into the incredible improv process involved. What it didn't have was the final season, since HBO surprisingly brought it back for a sixth (and re-ended it in the most brilliant way).
]]> 19650198 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:47:11 -0700
author: Mo Willems
name: rory
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/07/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
Worthy of the same category as Go Dog Go.
]]> 19649519 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:46:01 -0700
I mean, every paragraph has something slipped in, usually in a cutesy or almost-feels-like-learning way. For example (adn these are all in the first few pages),

"I know what the school sundial says..."

"I wouldn't even qualify for a Nice Try stone tablet or honorable mention sheepskin."

"Again? Flames of Tartarus, that's the third time this week!"

"At that moment, Pegasus, an enourmous milky white horse, swept down..."

How good can historical ficiton if it just replaces modern day customs, personalities and objects with ye olde veneers? It's like the Flintstones!
]]>
author: Carolyn Hennessy
name: rory
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/07/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
This book ain't subtle. Obviously published to capitalize both on the tweeny-chicklet-lit boom and the success of The Lightning Thief, it's a pretty frothy mix of middle school angst and LOTS OF ANCIENT GREEK STUFF. It's the story of Pandora, if she were a school child.

I mean, every paragraph has something slipped in, usually in a cutesy or almost-feels-like-learning way. For example (adn these are all in the first few pages),

"I know what the school sundial says..."

"I wouldn't even qualify for a Nice Try stone tablet or honorable mention sheepskin."

"Again? Flames of Tartarus, that's the third time this week!"

"At that moment, Pegasus, an enourmous milky white horse, swept down..."

How good can historical ficiton if it just replaces modern day customs, personalities and objects with ye olde veneers? It's like the Flintstones!

]]> 19649431 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:38:04 -0700
author: Candice F. Ransom
name: rory
average rating: 2.50
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/07/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
BARF! This book is so sweet I could barely take it. And not good-sweet or even believably-sweet. I mean, come on. NO ONE'S experience with a step-parent is so blessed. Or maybe I'm just terribly jaded. Anyway, the book was boring as well as saccharine.
]]> 17308057 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:35:23 -0700
author: Joann Sfar
name: rory
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/07/08
shelves:
review:
This book's illustrations are beautiful. All washed out and watery and umber. Capturing Victorian England and the love affair with a mummy very well. The story is suprisingly flat for having so much action and escapdes shoved into such a thin volume. Not a great graphic novel, but a beautiful one.
]]> 19165017 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:47:42 -0700
author: Nathaniel Welch
name: rory
average rating: 2.00
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/31/08
shelves:
review:
Um, yuck. I'm not really reviewing the book because I can't get past the disgusting, sad images (over-lit, of kids on spring break). Which might actually speak well FOR the book.
]]> 18762028 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:44:48 -0700
author: Ken Jennings
name: rory
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/31/08
shelves:
review:
I thought this guy would drive me crazy (with jealousy, mostly), but he didn't. He came across as a really wry, normal, bright guy. And not too Mormon. I thought the whole book would be about his Jeopardy adventures, but I ended up craving more details about those (like, I wanted a list of all 75 of the Final Jeopardy questions he was up against, the answer, and whether he got it right). Still, the filler wasn't just that--it was a really varied, reverent look at trivia buffing. Me likey.
]]> 18762466 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:19:10 -0700
author: Bill Willingham
name: rory
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/27/08
shelves:
review:
I had read about this in Entertainment Weekly and was intrigued. I had NOT realized that there were actually 10 volumes out right now, or that I would read the first one and then go CRAZY with the desire to read the rest. And spend most of the wee hours of the mornings on my vacation inhaling them. Pretty marvelous reading, people--get to it.
]]> 17307955 Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:08:58 -0700
author: Geraldine McCaughrean
name: rory
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/27/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
Best book I've read in awhile. Immediately turned it over to Jen.
]]> 18579169 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:17:01 -0700
author: Nicholson Baker
name: rory
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 12/05
date added: 03/25/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 16874376 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:31:44 -0700
sorry. i hope you didn't like it.]]>
author: Elizabeth Crane
name: rory
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/19/08
shelves: started-not-finished
review:
oh my god! this book is so irritatingly cutesy-angsty-hipster-overly-everything! the first story features an exclamation mark after each sentence! how does this shit get published without the editors retching all over the manuscripts?

sorry. i hope you didn't like it.
]]> 18144449 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:26:21 -0700
author: David Wiesner
name: rory
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 01/07
date added: 03/19/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 14082731 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:19:57 -0700
author: Stewart O'Nan
name: rory
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/13/08
shelves:
review:
Shelley reminded me that I HAD read something by O'Nan, about a terrible hundred-year-ago fire. I adored that book, and I adored this one. Except, maybe, the ending. No, I loved that too, I guess. I just want someone to read this and talk about it with me.
]]> 12082334 Sat, 08 Mar 2008 08:58:53 -0800
This book is a collection of her professional letters. She was incredibly involved with her authors and illustrators, and made so many suggestions that you can see shaped the books in their perfect final forms. Plus, she's funny and unsentimental and awesome.

Here, Salon talks about it:
http://www.salon.com/books/sne...]]>
author: Leonard S. Marcus
name: rory
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/08/08
shelves:
review:
I cannot express how wonderful this book is. ESPECIALLY if you're into children's literature. My co-workers are going to go gaga over it; I can't wait to pass it on. Ursula Nordstrom (what a name!) was the head editor for children's books at Harper's for more than 30 years. She ushered so many classics into the world: Where the Wild Things Are, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Charlotte's Web, Harriet the Spy, Goodnight Moon, the Little House books, and so many more.

This book is a collection of her professional letters. She was incredibly involved with her authors and illustrators, and made so many suggestions that you can see shaped the books in their perfect final forms. Plus, she's funny and unsentimental and awesome.

Here, Salon talks about it:
http://www.salon.com/books/sne...
]]> 16341456 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:00:52 -0800
author: Jon Krakauer
name: rory
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/05/08
shelves: started-not-finished
review:
I know a lot of people read and were really moved by this book, but I can't continue. Page after page of it describes how girls are raped by the fathers, then married to their step-fathers, then abused by their own step-children, then expected to give their barely-teen daughters up to much older men for "spiritual marriage." I just can't stomach any more; it makes me so angry that authorities KNOW this shit goes on but mostly leave these "communities" alone.
]]> 14258859 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:56:56 -0800
author: Rebecca Solnit
name: rory
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/05/08
shelves:
review:
I'm not sure I actually read this. I looked at all the pictures and captions. I read the introduction and most of the footnotes. I skimmed several chapters. I got onto Wikipedia and read Muybridge's entry. I bought into the thesis: that the strange singularity of California produced both Hollywood and Silicone Valley, and that these places and concepts were in place well before the 19th century was over, and that they changed our world forever. But I didn't actually READ this book. It was too much like something college students are given--maybe some middle chapters, badly xeroxed--and then highlight the hell out of.
]]> 16905904 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:53:24 -0800
author: Frederik Peeters
name: rory
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/05/08
shelves:
review:
Besides not really liking the narrator/illustrator/author dude (oh, and the talking-to-a-wooly-mammoth tangent near the end), I thought this was a wonderful book. Made me want to gather up Kim and smooch him in gratitude that we're in relatively great health.
]]> 15990322 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:40:01 -0800
author: Lionel Shriver
name: rory
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/28/08
shelves:
review:
This book was actually too good. With tiny, shaley details, the author builds up a very believable marriage of two ex-pats in London. Then the wife is tempted by another man, and the book follows the two tracks her life will take if she does or does not kiss him. I was so into it, though, after a few chapters, that I couldn't help but flip to the back to see what the "right" choice was. Then I was hooked on the back end of the book, too, so I started reading backwards. But I think I lost interest before reading the middle 200 pages. Aren't I an obnoxious reader sometimes?
]]> 15990677 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:36:38 -0800
author: Adam Rex
name: rory
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/28/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
A really interesting book--the school essay of a girl living several decades in the future. Earth is invaded; her mom is abducted; she saves the world. But most Americans end up living in Arizona anyway. Great illustrations and maps and fake photos, but this probably should have been about 100 pages shorter at least. But kids love the alien-as-friend tale, so I'd recommend this to 4th-6th graders who were up for a big, fun book.
]]> 15991204 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:00:48 -0800
author: Bill Brittain
name: rory
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 08/89
date added: 02/21/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:
Heather was thinking about weeding this when I plucked it off her. How exciting! I remember this book very well--it was like a folksy Twin Peaks for my impressionable fifth grade brain. I re-read it on the train; it holds up. Too bad the cover (and, admittedly, the inside illustrations) are so awful.
]]> 12917499 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:58:37 -0800
SHUT UP. It was the story from "Jesus' Son" that really made me slam the book shut.
]]>
author: Jeffrey Eugenides
name: rory
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/21/08
shelves:
review:
Alright, Jeffrey Eugenides, I get it: love stories aren't always romantic, or sweet, or about love making it work. But this collection reeks of "high school AP English anthology" and tries much too hard NOT to include any romance, sweetness or love-making.

SHUT UP. It was the story from "Jesus' Son" that really made me slam the book shut.

]]> 14038074 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:35:32 -0800
Anyway, I gobbled this one up, but not because it was good. It was pretty airporty fare, and I think the author might share my obsession with "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" because I spotted some what seemed to be borrowed themes and characters.]]>
author: Chelsea Cain
name: rory
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 01/08
date added: 02/20/08
shelves:
review:
Why have I read two crime thrillers in the last month? Maybe because I keep fantasizing about killing the bus drivers who arrive at my stops fifteen freezing minutes after they're supposed to? No, probably because I've been taking book recommendations from "Entertainment Weekly."

Anyway, I gobbled this one up, but not because it was good. It was pretty airporty fare, and I think the author might share my obsession with "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" because I spotted some what seemed to be borrowed themes and characters.
]]> 8518303 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:31:29 -0800
author: Neil Gaiman
name: rory
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 10/05
date added: 02/20/08
shelves: for-da-youf
review:

]]> 11524080 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 13:16:41 -0800
author: Theresa Schwegel
name: rory
average rating: 2.94
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/17/08
shelves:
review:
I don't know if other people will like this book as much as I did; it really struck what felt like a personal chord. Maybe because I'm currently fascinated by the dynamics of others' marriages. And because my husband reports on a lot of Chicago crime, and I was interested in the undercover cop's experience. Anyway, I DO recommend this to people at all into crime novels.
]]> 12082370 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:51:54 -0800
Still, the subject is fascinating, and I had to keep reminding myself that Dan and his boyfriend were adopting in 1997, the year I graduated from high school, which was A LONG TIME AGO. We're talking way before David and Keith adopted thier boys on "Six Feet Under." Not that we're all fully enlightened now, but back then it was even harder for people to accept that two men should be given an infant.

Most interesting was the fact that their adoption was open, and that the birth mother--a voluntarily homeless teenager--was so involved in the process. I know this is becoming more and more a preferred option, but I didn't know much about how it was arranged. I have a few friends who were adopted in close adoptions, and I wonder whether they wish it'd been different.]]>
author: Dan Savage
name: rory
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/13/08
shelves:
review:
Dan can get really off-subject and preachy at times, but I think he's just used to being an advice columnist. That is, he's used to people hanging on his every word/tangent/quip. He's also used to his writing being finely edited, too, to fit into 16 inches of newsprint--and sometimes this book reads like it needs to meet an editor.

Still, the subject is fascinating, and I had to keep reminding myself that Dan and his boyfriend were adopting in 1997, the year I graduated from high school, which was A LONG TIME AGO. We're talking way before David and Keith adopted thier boys on "Six Feet Under." Not that we're all fully enlightened now, but back then it was even harder for people to accept that two men should be given an infant.

Most interesting was the fact that their adoption was open, and that the birth mother--a voluntarily homeless teenager--was so involved in the process. I know this is becoming more and more a preferred option, but I didn't know much about how it was arranged. I have a few friends who were adopted in close adoptions, and I wonder whether they wish it'd been different.
]]> 14817591 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:21:12 -0800
author: Dorothy L. Sayers
name: rory
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1987
rating: 2
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/11/08
shelves: started-not-finished
review:
I thought there was a great chance I'd dig these, since I like Agatha Christie so much, but no go. I found myself making fun of how boring certain passages were, and not caring whether I found out whodunnit. But I COULD see myself enjoying, like, an A&E mini-series of this book. The main character--a charming, over-confident almost-playboy--would probably be a lot of fun to portray.
]]> 14818451 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:59:01 -0800
author: Jon Krakauer
name: rory
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/07/08
shelves:
review:
I haven't seen the movie, but I think I do, now. I picked up this book on my way home from work and didn't put it down until I'd finished it, a few hours later, at home. Seriously, I was reading while walking up the stairs to my apartment. I didn't like Chris, the young man who died while on an Alaskan "hobo odyssey," but I wanted to hear his story very badly.
]]> 8522843 Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:56:33 -0800
author: Stacy A. Cordery
name: rory
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/07/08
shelves:
review:
Maybe I would have given this book another star (at least one of those 1/2 stars we're always wishing GoodReads would induct) if Alice Roosevelt Longworth hadn't made me feel bad about myself. I'm SORRY, Alice, if I can't be as magnificent as you--Gibson girl, world traveler, political persuader, salon mistress, power magnet. Hmph.
]]> 9554304 Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:00:51 -0800
* * * * *
Really into this so far. I'm glad she spends time going over so many details of her 15th and 16th year. Sure, she was a silly teenager in the 1950s, but she was also desperately struggling with the decision (though it was just barely HER decision) whether to follow her heart or enter into a polygamist union. I'm more than half-way through now and she hasn't had even one of her eventual 13 children. But because she really takes the time to contextualize her young life, I'm eager to follow her story through.

And, nope, I wouldn't have picked this up if I wasn't a fan of HBO's "Big Love." Down with the Principle!]]>
author: Irene Spencer
name: rory
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 01/08
date added: 02/04/08
shelves:
review:
Update: Funny, the first half of the book takes us to her 20th year....and then the second half zips through the next 2/3s of her life. I was terribly disappointed that we didn't get to hear more about her murderous brother-in-law or second husband. But I guess that just shows how interested I was. (And since her life was so shite, I'll forgive the dozens and dozens of anecdotes that do little but highlight the sense of humor she's so proud of.)

* * * * *
Really into this so far. I'm glad she spends time going over so many details of her 15th and 16th year. Sure, she was a silly teenager in the 1950s, but she was also desperately struggling with the decision (though it was just barely HER decision) whether to follow her heart or enter into a polygamist union. I'm more than half-way through now and she hasn't had even one of her eventual 13 children. But because she really takes the time to contextualize her young life, I'm eager to follow her story through.

And, nope, I wouldn't have picked this up if I wasn't a fan of HBO's "Big Love." Down with the Principle!
]]> 7550632 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:48:57 -0800