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August 15
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B
is currently reading:
Middlesex (Paperback)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
bookshelves:
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my rating:
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August 14
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B
gave
to:
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (Hardcover)
by Mary Roach
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my rating:
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recommended to B by:
Mal
read in August, 2008
B said:
"Having read Mary Roach's other books Stiff and Spook, Bonk was a pleasant new subject to have science tackle. Plus, it's just fun to say. Bonk bonk bonk.
Stiff is still my favorite. I'm not certain what that says of me, preferring the subject...more
Having read Mary Roach's other books Stiff and Spook, Bonk was a pleasant new subject to have science tackle. Plus, it's just fun to say. Bonk bonk bonk.
Stiff is still my favorite. I'm not certain what that says of me, preferring the subject of cadavers over sex, but let's not dwell on that too much, shall we?
I certainly learned quite a bit about penises having read bonk. My gracious! I liked penises before this book; I've always thought they were pretty neat, but now? Now! Well, they just really are special. I think I might know a bit more about what makes them work. I kind of want to play with one. I wish I could have a penis for a pet.
I learned some about vaginas too and orgasms and there was this part where this man did an experiment and dressed lab mice in very tiny pants. I liked that part.
For the most part, I enjoy Roach's little footnotes that read as personal asides to her research, but it can sometimes come off as talking to herself as she's googling. Yes, Mary. We all google. It is interesting where googling can take you. But focus, my dear. You are writing a book.
The big discovery of Bonk was nice. That people have better sex if they like one another. Yay! Good to know...good to know.
Oh and also, if you get a lady pig off before you inseminate her? She'll have more babies.
Bonk bonk bonk. ...less
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August 03
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B
gave
to:
Some Girl(s): A Play
by Neil LaBute
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
B said:
"LaBute is probably one of my favorite writers of natural speech these days. I did The Shape of Things a few years ago, and this is my first interaction with him since then, but having memorized a monologue for an audition, he's just so good at natur...more
LaBute is probably one of my favorite writers of natural speech these days. I did The Shape of Things a few years ago, and this is my first interaction with him since then, but having memorized a monologue for an audition, he's just so good at natural speech rhythms. He makes things so easy to say! More playwrights need to make things so easy to say. He's also a genius at capturing the uncomfortable. Ugh. It's hard to read, some of it. Which makes it even harder to see on stage, I'd imagine. But I like that. I think it's difficult. He has this Chekhovian thing going where people are saying things that are not what they're thinking, but he takes that to a new level and leaves this really nice grey area of ... I'm not sure how to put it, but you don't trust them. You don't trust that his characters trust themselves and you're not certain that they are certain what they want or even if they know what they want. It's just... Good. Good flawed human characters that speak like humans. Even though everyone says it's just High Fidelity on stage. I've never seen High Fidelity, so I think it's a pretty brilliant idea. I think I may like theatre that makes my skin crawl as opposed to theatre that makes me want to get up and dance. LaBute satisfies that. Very well. ...less
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B
gave
to:
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Hardcover)
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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my rating:
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read in August, 2008
B said:
"It took me one hundred years of solitude to read this book. I do enjoy detailed quirky character descriptions and bizarre scenes and stories intertwined, but... I just got the feeling that I was reading the entirety of One Life to Live. It was lik...more
It took me one hundred years of solitude to read this book. I do enjoy detailed quirky character descriptions and bizarre scenes and stories intertwined, but... I just got the feeling that I was reading the entirety of One Life to Live. It was like reading a very long-running Spanish Soap Opera. I'm not sure I really cared enough about them to remember who they were and how they were related. That's probably a problem, huh. And maybe kind of the point of the novel. Oh well!
Hmm. What I learned from this book though is that I want to have sex on a hammock. Sometime. Because it seems like it would be fun. ...less
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July 12
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B
gave
to:
Big Stone Gap (Big Stone Gap, Book 1)
by Adriana Trigiani
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
B said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Then it got me thinking that maybe I'm the town spinster who everyone is outwardly fond of, them swinging by and being quirky, but inwardly...Inwardly they ...more
This book started off great and Whoopi Goldberg loves it, so who am I to contest Whoopi?
Then it got me thinking that maybe I'm the town spinster who everyone is outwardly fond of, them swinging by and being quirky, but inwardly...Inwardly they pity her.
Then she goes and falls in love and left me being the REAL town spinster and I got depressed.
This was one of those books that ended a chapter and a half before it ended. I mean, it was over. Everything was tied up nicely, but then they had to go on a vacation and end with a chapter and a half of "How I spent my summer vacation". Totally unnecessary.
Sorry, Whoopi.
But parts of it were great!
Though I shant be reading the remaining two in the trilogy, I don't think. But who knows? I'm the town spinster after all. I'll probably have some time on my hands......less
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May 28
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B
gave
to:
The River King (Paperback)
by Alice Hoffman
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended to B by:
The bookshelf at the house I'm living in for a while
read in May, 2008
B said:
"I love this book. I am sad it is over. I don't think I've ever had a celebrity crush on a character in a novel before, but that Abel Grey is just so deliciously flawed. I want him. In my pants.
The whole story telling is so skin-tingling mys...more
I love this book. I am sad it is over. I don't think I've ever had a celebrity crush on a character in a novel before, but that Abel Grey is just so deliciously flawed. I want him. In my pants.
The whole story telling is so skin-tingling mysterious what with the suicides and the ghosts and the fish and the brambles. It's almost soggy when you hold the novel in your hands, swollen with juicy wet story. Mmm. I dig it, this author's style, her voice. Plus, it takes place in a made up town in Massachusetts, so I felt so much closer to the seasons, the way it feels to walk outside and take a breath in November. I like that.
This fish book is not for everyone though, probably. If the thought of mixing love and death and grief and fish and ghosts and brambles doesn't appeal to you, then skip it. If it does? Prepare to be rewarded...in a soggy sort of way. ...less
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May 06
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B
gave
to:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Hardcover)
by Sherman Alexie
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended to B by:
Chad Luck
recommended for: 11-16-year-olds everywhere
read in May, 2008
B said:
"I wish I had a book like this to read when I was 14. I'm promptly lending my copy to one of my favorite 12-year-olds. She will then learn the definition of a boner and her mother will probably have to talk with me about that, but I don't care becau...more
I wish I had a book like this to read when I was 14. I'm promptly lending my copy to one of my favorite 12-year-olds. She will then learn the definition of a boner and her mother will probably have to talk with me about that, but I don't care because I had to learn the definition of a boner from Vicky Harris and I would have rather learned it from Junior, the Indian in this book. ...less
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April 02
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B
gave
to:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
by J.K. Rowling
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my rating:
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read in March, 2008
B said:
"I'm not sure if you all do this, but I save books. I think I am the last person in the world to complete this book. I just... Didn't want it to end. And so I waited....and waited....and waited. Until I couldn't handle it anymore! And I read it....more
I'm not sure if you all do this, but I save books. I think I am the last person in the world to complete this book. I just... Didn't want it to end. And so I waited....and waited....and waited. Until I couldn't handle it anymore! And I read it. And now I'm done. And now I'm sad.
Do you know that the last chapter that begins with "19 years later" I even saved? I saved that one for a week. Sigh.
It was certainly exciting, this particular round. Certainly. One of my favorite moments was the escape from the bank on the back of the blind dragon. Yay. One moment that sticks out for me, sticks in me may be the better way to put it is when Dumbledore was talking about why he hadn't told Harry everything, why he had revealed pieces here and parts there so that he would come to the journey when the time was ready, when he had the knowledge to deal with it, this is in the smokey weird ephemeral Kings Cross place with the flayed baby writhing on the floor, and he says that he figured the Granger girl would slow him down. That's why he gave her the book of children's stories, that's why he wanted her with him. And I thought, really? THAT'S why? That's awful. Isn't it? Kind of.
Anyhow, that in the heat of battle Ron/Hermione kiss was worth reading all the dang books for, worth the price of admission. I never really fell for the Ginny love interest piece, was never really rooting for them, it all felt a bit incestuous, but I'm glad they all got together to breed, I suppose.
Eh, I'm just pointing out the very few parts that I can criticize because I'm holding it against them that they're over. That it's over. Read. Done.
And now to place it on the shelf...
Or return it to my friend who let me borrow his copy back in August as the case may be. "You STILL haven't read it???!!!" Ahem. ...less
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March 20
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B
gave
to:
Essential Self-Defense: A Play (Paperback)
by Adam Rapp
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in March, 2008
B said:
"This play is mysterious and wacky and creepy and great. There's a punk rock librarian karaoke host in it! I should have been cast as the punk rock librarian karaoke host, but I wasn't. I have the hour and a half call back and "thank you for a...more
This play is mysterious and wacky and creepy and great. There's a punk rock librarian karaoke host in it! I should have been cast as the punk rock librarian karaoke host, but I wasn't. I have the hour and a half call back and "thank you for auditioning, but..." email to prove it. Pfft. It's still a wonderful play though. It has rats and wolf men and bizarre poetry songs and a Russian and making out and a gurgling sewage hole in the middle of the stage and giant foam suits. I'll go see it. ...less
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