false 48 330 207 true 5713639 read 3 true 418509 currently-reading 120 true 418508 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78948451 Independent People (Paperback) by Halldór Kiljan Laxness
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78677691 to: True Grit (Paperback) by Charles Portis
as always with a charles portis book: an effortless, enjoyable, often hilarious read. a damn good yarn about a 14-yr-old girl named mattie ross bent on revenging her father's murder. to aid her she employs marshall rooster cogburn because he is known to have "true grit." and, yeah, better'n the movie. new version supposedly in the works. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78209785 to: The True Deceiver (Paperback) by Tove Jansson
Rec'd ARC of this, just after reading Jansson's THE SUMMER BOOK (thank you, LibaryThing & NYRB). As in THE SUMMER BOOK, the writing here is as unadorned and crystal clear as the environment in which the story is set--in this case a cold, lonely winter in a small Swedish village. The "action" revolves around a young woman, Katri, who ingratiates herself into the solitary life of an older woman, Anna, a children's book illustrator, who lives in the largest house in the village. Through the course of year, I think, the two profoundly affect each other's understanding of themselves, unintentionally, helplessly. This was a very fast, absorbing read that really got under my skin. It's mythic, mysterious, tense, beautiful, unsettling, startling, deep. NYRB is doing english-speaking readers a great favor by bringing out Jansson's non-Moomin books. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75608924 to: The Summer Book (Paperback) by Tove Jansson
beautiful and pure, fills your heart with love. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77225908 to: Under the Glacier (Paperback) by Halldór Kiljan Laxness
odd, playful, mythic. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76466728 to: Eunoia (Paperback) by Christian Bök
a! e! let's go! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66446805 to: The World of Tibetan Buddhism: An Overview of Its Philosophy and Practice (Paperback) by Dalai Lama XIV
good overview esp if you have a dharma practice. might be overwhelming/confusing for someone unfamiliar with concepts. but if you're even remotely interested, don't sell yourself short. emptiness awaits. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75638525 to: Sleepless Nights (New York Review Books Classics) by Elizabeth Hardwick
a new all-time favorite. if you like james salter's prose stylings, you'll appreciate hardwick's. don't know why this isn't mentioned as a great new york book. beautifully written characterizations/archetypes.

"The torment of personal relations. Nothing new there except in disguise, and in the escape on the wings of adjectives. Sweet to be pierced by daggers at the end of paragraphs.

"Sometimes I resent the glossary, the concordance of truth, many have about my real life, have like an extra pair of spectacles. I mean that such fact is to me a hindrance to memory.

"Transformations and miracles of the will were not beyond J. He was quite handsome, but also soft and rounded and as determined against sports as if he had been born with a handicap. But one year he began the recreation of himself in a daily horrible contest with barbells, push-ups, excruciating exercises. And slowly the neck thickened, the chest expanded, the muscles of the arms were visible. An appalling lifelong force had entered his being, leaving his self intact but accompanied always by this screaming, exercising twin, a twin who called out in the morning and again in the evening, calling for time, breath, pain, sweat. By enormous effort, he finally succeeded in looking like others. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3427239 to: Novels in Three Lines (Paperback) by Félix Fénéon
jealousy, murder, suicide, abuse...people haven't changed one iota in a hundred years. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4927510 to: Beware of Pity (New York Review Books Classics) by Stefan Zweig
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