false 15 429 204 true 5631413 read 1 true 4723445 currently-reading 220 true 4723444 to-read 4 true 5404019 in-queue 145 false 4740919 too-long-ago-to-review 68 false 5412499 1001-read 55 false 4740939 reviewed 40 false 6431087 literary 23 false 6431121 love 21 false 6431236 identity 20 false 6431194 culture 19 false 4850285 to-read-again- 18 false 6431100 diversity 18 false 6431209 generational--epic- 18 false 6431072 history 17 false 4850474 old-favorites 16 false 6431061 non-fiction 16 false 6431221 life-and-death 15 false 6431118 religion 15 false 6431139 parents-affecting-children 14 false 6431135 sex 13 false 6431233 women 13 false 6431130 politics 11 false 4850333 -post-modern-book-club-reads 11 false 6431035 bio-auto-bio 11 false 6431184 friendship 10 false 6431174 tragedy 10 false 6431212 science 9 false 6431113 world-lit 9 false 6431144 nature-the-outdoors 9 false 6431183 good-v--evil 9 false 6431029 humor 9 false 6431088 classic 8 false 4850507 great-books-club-in-high-school-rea 8 false 5412931 1001-2006-removed-read 7 false 6431208 experimental 7 false 6431131 bildungsroman 7 false 6431149 unreliable-narrator 6 false 6431226 mythology 6 false 6431225 child-narrator 6 false 6431261 philosophy 6 false 6431028 magical-realism 5 false 6431240 technology 5 false 6431234 books-about-books 5 false 6431255 language 4 false 6431215 food 4 false 6431188 economics 4 false 6431237 time 4 false 6431230 american-dream 3 false 4855789 first-reads 3 false 4874040 tar-review 3 false 6431177 word-play 3 false 6431128 dystopia 2 false 6431066 chick-lit 2 false 6431381 hella-sweet-book-club-read 2 false 6431222 music 2 false 5404050 matt 1 false 6431081 fantasy-science-fiction 1 false 6431263 young-adult-or-childrens-lit <![CDATA[Bucket is on page 206 of Things I've Been Sil... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78752960 Bucket is on page 206 of 288 of Things I've Been Silent About ]]> <![CDATA[Bucket is on page 135 of Things I've Been Sil... ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78752960 Bucket is on page 135 of 288 of Things I've Been Silent About ]]> <![CDATA[Bucket added 'Things I've Been Silent About']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78752960 Things I've Been Silent About (Hardcover) by Azar Nafisi
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> <![CDATA[Bucket added 'Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78285018 Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel (Hardcover) by John Irving
bookshelves: to-read
]]> <![CDATA[Bucket added 'Elegy for a Fabulous World']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73094252 to: Elegy for a Fabulous World (Paperback) by Alta Ifland
bookshelves: bio-auto-bio, culture, first-reads, food, literary, magical-realism, politics, reviewed, tar-review
I thoroughly enjoyed the first half, where each story seemed to feature the same narrator and everything seemed at least semi-autobiographical. "The Nonexistence of Adelaide Bauer" and "The Wedding" were my favorites in this section. As I moved into the second half, I loved "Milk, or How I Became an American Citizen" but through the next few stories I found myself drifting away a little bit. The lovely narrator disappeared in "Sawdust Power" and "The Random Bus" was only saved from being too cutesy because it was short. I didn't care at all for "The Vanished and the Sisters." Ultimately though, I liked the flow of this book. With the next story, the new delve into surrealism and a little bit of magical realism hooked me. Looking back on the book as a whole, I think it worked. The change in style may not have been gradual enough for me, but it was authentic. I loved the line, "Happiness is when you don't vomit," and the moment when the orphan discovers she has "bouncing breasts!" made me laugh out loud.

Themes: magical realism, Ukraine, communism, family, immigration, human quirkiness, food
]]> <![CDATA[Bucket took the never-ending book quiz]]> http://www.goodreads.com/trivia 2164930 Bucket took the never-ending book quiz.
questions answered: 8854
correct: 4608 (52.0%)
skipped: 21
best streak: 92
questions added: 2
]]> <![CDATA[Bucket added 'Parable of the Sower']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77625878 Parable of the Sower (Paperback) by Octavia E. Butler
bookshelves: to-read
]]> <![CDATA[Bucket added 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77625805 Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking (Hardcover) by Jeff Hertzberg
bookshelves: to-read
]]> <![CDATA[Bucket added 'The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77562162 The Locust and the Bird: My Mother's Story (Hardcover) by Hanan Al-Shaykh
bookshelves: to-read
]]> <![CDATA[new comment from Bucket]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/238840-short-and-sweet-review-of-persepolis-the-film-from-the-new-yorker-in Bucket made a comment in the Hella Sweet Book Club group:

A striking new animated production, made in France but rooted in Iran. Its origins lie in two graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, who has co-directed the movie version with Vincent Paronnaud. She is plainly the source for her heroine, also named Marjane, who is born in Tehran during the Shah’s regime and grows up to witness the revolution of 1979; the mood, at first exultant, is soon darkened by a new sense of repression and threat. Marjane is an instinctive foe of the system, though her idea of rebellion is to listen to Iron Maiden in her bedroom, and a period spent as a student in Vienna ends in frustration and woe. Most of the film is in black-and-white, with sharply clipped and unshaded images; there is no denying their clarity and wit, yet the childish simplicity—like the general inexpressiveness of the faces—eventually pales, not least as Marjane leaves her own childhood behind. In the French version, the voice of her grandmother was supplied by Danielle Darrieux; U.S. audiences hear that of Gena Rowlands. A fair trade. ]]>