Marley's profile

459 ratings | 98 reviews
avg rating: 3.30
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Marley's bookshelves

read (479)
currently-reading (3)
to-read (220)
books-i-own (169)
women-writers (153)
2007 (60)
ya (48)
college (41)
nonfiction (39)
books-i-rescued-from-the-trash (35)
read-and-reccomend (30)
cookbooks (29)

highschool (27)
theory-feminism (26)
knitting (23)
stopped-in-the-middle (23)
hipster-bookclub (21)
books-from-stoop-sales (19)
back-in-the-day (16)
2008 (16)
sex (16)
read-this-now (13)
dystopia (12)
wishlist (12)

food (12)
books-about-books-reading-writing (11)
bookclub (10)
books-ive-read-en-francais (10)
paris-france-french (10)
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essays (6)
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artist-stuff (5)
crafty (5)
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books-i-have-out-from-the-library (3)
hilarious (3)
theory-gender (2)
elementary-school (1)

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Marley is currently reading

	07/01 Marley is currently reading: Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century (American Century) by John F. Kasson bookshelves: 2008, currently-reading, nonfiction	my rating:
	Marley said: "borrowed from Charon " add a comment
	06/07 Marley is currently reading: The Devil Wears Prada (Paperback) by Lauren Weisberger bookshelves: books-i-own, books-i-rescued-from-the-trash, currently-reading, women-writers	my rating:
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	04/12 Marley gave to: WOMEN'S WORLDS: The McGraw-Hill Anthology of Women's Writing in English Across the Globe (Paperback) by Robyn Warhol-Down, Diane Price Herndl bookshelves: books-i-own, currently-reading, women-writers	my rating:
	add a comment

Marley's recent updates (rss)

July 23

Marley gave

to:
The Liars' Club: A Memoir (Paperback)
by Mary Karr
bookshelves: women-writers

my rating:

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July 11

Marley gave

to:
Cat's Cradle (Paperback)
by Kurt Vonnegut
bookshelves: dystopia, wishlist

my rating:

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April 15

Marley read and liked Cyrus's review of The Savage Detectives: A Novel:

" A good way to explain how I feel about this book is to say that as much as I liked it, I'd be reluctant to recommend it to most people. I give it four stars because though it was a very "postmodern" and "experimental" novel, i...more A good way to explain how I feel about this book is to say that as much as I liked it, I'd be reluctant to recommend it to most people. I give it four stars because though it was a very "postmodern" and "experimental" novel, it was a rare example of a time when both of those adjectives aren't synonymous with "pretentious".
The book is about the experiences of a group of young poets in 1970s Mexico City. The narrative is broken into three main sections. The first and third are told from the point of view of a seventeen year old member of the group, who is in the inner circle of two of the founding members of a short lived school of poetry, "visceral realism". The middle and longest, most challenging part of the book is a series of interviews with literally dozens of characters who tell of their experiences with two of the Visceral Realists, one of whom seems to be a thinly veiled version of Bolano himself. There is a skeleton of a plot, dealing with the major protagonists involvement with a prostitute who has left her pimp and must go on the lam. The middle section of the book all takes place after the climactic event of the book, but never gives away exactly what that event was, and though its not laid out in chronological order, it extends about twenty years forward in time from the narrative's starting point.
Now, if you're reading the book for plot, or even character development you might be disappointed, everything you learn about the main characters is told from some other minor character's point of view. The result is that even though they don't come across as flat or stereotypical they seem to exist in a shadowy realm where others' perceptions of them are more important than any objective reality. Most of the characters major and minor are literary types and so the book is full of literary references, lessons on poetry terminology and other things of that nature which can understandably bore many to tears.
The reason I liked the book in the end, despite having to force myself to soldier on after the first 400 pages or so, was that though the book was unique in its delivery, and wasn't aiming to entertain, it had a lot to say. It seems that Bolano was writing some sort of testament. He wanted to get at why literature is important, even though so much of its value is subjective and so many who claim to be creators of it are only pretenders. The middle section of the book created a sort of panoramic view of the world of literature while constantly swirling around various motifs and symbols. I found that if I didn't allow myself to expect a neat resolution of the situation set out in the first section of the book, the short pieces in the middle section read like extremely accomplished short stories which used wildly varying points of view and settings and were interesting on their own merit.
I can understand why some were disappointed in this book especially considering the hype around it, but I think if you take it on its own terms you will see that it deserves the accolades. ...less "

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April 12

Marley liked a trivia question:
Why does Mrs. Frisby turn to the super-intelligent rats of NIMH for help? see if you know the answer »

Marley liked a trivia question:
What fourth-dimensional discovery allows Meg Murry and her companions to travel large distances across space in A Wrinkle in Time? see if you know the answer »

Marley liked a trivia question:
How many daughters does King Lear have? see if you know the answer »

Marley took the never-ending book quiz.

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August 22

Marley gave

to:
The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1)
by Philip Pullman
bookshelves: ya

my rating:

read in January, 2004

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August 20

Marley marked as to-read:
Twinkle's Big City Knits: 31 Chunky-Chic Designs (Hardcover)
by Wenlan Chia
bookshelves: knitting, to-read, wishlist

my rating:

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Marley marked as to-read:
How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table (Hardcover)
by Russ Parsons
bookshelves: food, nonfiction, to-read

my rating:

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see all 479 of Marley's books »

Marley's favorite quotes

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
— Douglas Adams (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)

tags: humor, scifi

967 people liked it

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye."
— Miss Piggy

tags: humor

947 people liked it

"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

68 people liked it

"No good at life, but very funny sometimes with the commentary."
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

10 people liked it

Marley's groups (recent posts)

Goodreads Feedback — 1002 members — last activity 2 hours, 22 min ago
This is a place to give feedback about Goodreads. Feature ideas, bugs, or any other suggestion for improvement. The Goodreads staff monitors this gr...more

Goodreads Librarians — 1458 members — last activity 5 hours, 51 min ago
A place where people can work together to correct book issues on Goodreads. Examples include combining editions, contacting librarians, fixing book an...more

Knit 1 Read 2 — 137 members — last activity 06/04/2008 10:55AM
What are you knitting? What are you reading? Do you have a favorite knitting book? Put down your needles and let's talk about it here!

WORD swap — 9 members — last activity 07/04/2007 10:53AM
Friends of WORD unite! Let your voice be heard, tell us what books you love/hate/can't wait to read.

Marley's friend comments

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from mina

09/13/2007 01:42PM

Good point about the locale. I'm loving it here in SF. Come visit me! I can't guarantee I'll be available from law school but there's a place for you to stay. Millie

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Marley's friends (40)

	Laura Hogan 875 books 105 friends
	mina 55 books 16 friends
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	Gyda 50 books 23 friends
	Kate 280 books 2 friends
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	dusty rebel 294 books 12 friends
	Yashira 0 books 3 friends
	Helena 25 books 44 friends
	Melanie 123 books 23 friends
	Ulla 57 books 8 friends
	Scott 0 books 7 friends
	Rebecca 9 books 14 friends

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