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May 14
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Trin
gave
 
to:
Cranford (Penguin Classics)
by Elizabeth Gaskell, Patricia Ingham
bookshelves:
classics
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
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Trin
gave
to:
Mortified 2 : Love is a Battlefield (Paperback)
by David Nadelberg
bookshelves:
biography,
humor
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
Trin said:
"More hilarious and cringe-worthy excerpts from teenage diaries, letters, poetry, etc. This collection was released around Valentine’s Day and is romance-themed, which in my option makes it more monotonous and slightly less fun than the last one—w...more
More hilarious and cringe-worthy excerpts from teenage diaries, letters, poetry, etc. This collection was released around Valentine’s Day and is romance-themed, which in my option makes it more monotonous and slightly less fun than the last one—whither the Duran Duran self-insertion NC-17 fanfiction? It’s still full of painful/funny gems, however, such as:
Declarations of love!
You are my rose…(rose as in a beautiful flower and also rose as in Rose from Titanic)
Declarations of celebrity love—in verse!
My love for him will surely last forever more,
He starred on Star Trek beside Shatner (who’s a bore).
Deep political analysis!
Eric is dating Marsela, one of the girls from the barrio. I think these Nicaraguans should set some standards for themselves.
Screenplays that contain stage directions such as:
They totally have sex.
And dialogue including:
Lisa: You’re my first lover. I’ll never forget it. It was so hot—I had so many orgasms.
Relationship problems!
Ohh, I love Missy. I mean there’s certain things which I hate about her. Her refusal to see Star Wars, Batman and other movies. Her hatred for cheese.
(That last one, by the way, is what’s almost torn Siria and myself apart.)
As you can see, the book is highly quotable. If you like reading badfic or are fond of Schadenfreude, then you will be in heaven. If you have a bad embarrassment squick, on the other hand…not so much....less
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May 12
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New comment on Wealhtheow's review of
Cranford (Penguin Classics)
(see all 5 comments)
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New comment on Shelley's review of
Almost Perfect (Torchwood)
(see all 5 comments)
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May 08
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New comment on KBM's review of
The Man with the Golden Arm (50th anniv. ed.)
(see all 2 comments)
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May 07
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New comment on Trin's review of
Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander : a Bisexual Regency Romance
(see all 2 comments)
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May 06
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Trin
gave
to:
Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander : a Bisexual Regency Romance (Paperback)
by Ann Herendeen
bookshelves:
historicalfiction,
queerlit,
romance
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008, has a copy to sell/swap
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May 05
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Trin
gave
to:
Remember Me? (Hardcover)
by Sophie Kinsella
bookshelves:
fiction
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in April, 2008
Trin said:
"This would usually be the time when I would ask the largely rhetorical and semi-pathetic question, “Why do I keep reading Sophie Kinsella books?” Well, this time the answer is blatantly obvious—the plot of this one involves amnesia, yo, ...more
This would usually be the time when I would ask the largely rhetorical and semi-pathetic question, “Why do I keep reading Sophie Kinsella books?” Well, this time the answer is blatantly obvious—the plot of this one involves amnesia, yo, and I can never resist amnesia—and the question is kind of unfair. Because this wasn’t so bad—far less annoying than the last few Shopaholic books. Kinsella’s strength has always been her ability to create an amusing, fast-paced narrative, and coupled with the amnesia plot, I really didn’t want to put this book down. However, it also shares many of the same irritating traits as Kinsella’s other novels. The protagonist is once again a flighty, shallow woman who spends most of the book flailing and helpless, wriggling out of scrapes mostly through luck and/or the help of a strong, powerful man. Also, Kinsella really has no idea what it means to be poor. Not only are these novels full of rich people, the “poor” characters still have large country houses (but they smell kind of funny!) or can afford their own flats in London. Uh-huh. I wish I had your problems, ladies.
For what this was, it was fun enough. Actually, in some ways it’s becoming funnier in retrospect, because I’m realizing what the plot reminded me of. In Remember Me?, 24-year-old Lexi wakes up after receiving a bump on the head to discover that she’s actually a very different and successful 28-year-old version of herself who’s lost four years of her memory after a car accident. Which brings to mind a book I read as a teenager, The Other Side of Dark by Joan Lowery Nixon, in which 13-year-old Stacy wakes up after a four-year coma to solve a murder and embark on a vaguely squicky romance with a 23-year-old. Mostly I remember the latter book due to its having one of the most unintentionally hilarious last paragraphs ever: “My cheek glows from the warmth of his skin through his shirt, and I can hear the steady beat of his heart. I put my arms around him. I’m Stacy McAdams. I’m seventeen. And I’m definitely in the right body!” Ahahahahaha. I guess we should all be glad that in Remember Me?, Lexi merely engages in some rather embarrassing activities involving muffins.
Since this review has clearly descended into tangent city, I’d also like to call attention to something that was in no way Kinsella’s fault, but which made me want to laugh/cry almost as much as Stacy’s self-affirmations. Dear American publishers of English novels: We, your readers, are not idiots. We can figure out that, if a novel is set in London, “football” means the sport with the round ball and “crisps” are not some unfathomable food, even more impossible to decode than this “Philosopher’s Stone” I’ve heard stories of. We might, in fact, be reading this book set in London in part to soak up the English atmosphere and indulge our Anglophilia. So you are in fact helping no one when you take a manuscript from across the pond and do a find/replace on all the “British” terms, leaving you with a long scene that involves your heroine making repeated and unintentionally comic reference to a “packet of chips.” Yes, thank you for clarifying that the characters did not just purchase a plastic bag of French fries from a gas station; however, you’ve now got them sounding like poor confused souls with horrible mid-Atlantic accents. NO ONE SAYS PACKET OF CHIPS. Americans say bag of chips. English people say packet of crisps. Please choose one or, better yet, LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE. Next thing you know all novels will take place in North Generica, because god forbid readers be exposed to something unfamiliar or spend half a second feeling CONFUSED.
[/rant]
So annnnnnnyway…like I said, way way back in my first paragraph, this was actually pretty fun and diverting. Much better than the later Shopaholic books, and a perfectly decent beach or plane read. Or in my case, couch and bathtub read. If you’re in need of some froth, you could do a lot worse. After all, this is froth WITH BONUS AMNESIA....less
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May 04
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Trin
gave
to:
Scouts in Bondage: And Other Violations of Literary Propriety (Hardcover)
by Michael Bell
bookshelves:
booksaboutbooks,
humor
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
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Trin
gave
to:
Kafka's Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes (Hardcover)
by Mark Crick
bookshelves:
booksaboutbooks,
food,
humor
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in May, 2008
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Quirky humour
— 32 members
— last activity 1 day ago, 09:40PM
The Story Club
— 8 members
— last activity 14 days ago, 07:42AM
fandom_reads
— 70 members
— last activity 03/01/2008 07:23PM
