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<![CDATA[Karen added 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41929365
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Hardcover)
byJunot Díaz bookshelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Karen added 'Me Talk Pretty One Day']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41929221
to: Me Talk Pretty One Day (Paperback)byDavid Sedaris
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<![CDATA[Karen added 'A Natural History of the Senses']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/41192538
to: A Natural History of the Senses (Quality Trade Paperback)byDiane Ackerman
I learned:
A piece of fugu (puffer fish) toxin, small enough to fit under a fingernail, is enough to kill someone mid-meal. The real fugu expert chef can leave just enough toxin in a soup for your lips to tingle but not to kill.
I found some of the scientific explanations rather booooring. Then when she tried to be poetic or metaphorical, sometimes it would work and at other times, it seemed melodramatic, insincere, or ridiculous. Also the topics and scenarios just seemed to flit from one to another (albeit smoothly) and was confusing.
I enjoyed Taste, Vision, and Postscript the best. Postscript seemed the most honest as she was talking about writers and seemed to know what she was talking about. Hearing and Touch were not that interesting to me, perhaps because there were a lot of scientific explanations.
I liked the cover design of soft green petals and the title, although I think the title was misleading because a "Natural History" usually means to explain the essence and progression of something in an organized fashion. Maybe she meant Natural to mean a softer, flowing (and confusing) manner of writing.
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Karen
took the never-ending book quiz.