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August 11
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Jen
marked as to-read:
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel (Paperback)
by Gregory Maguire
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Jen
marked as to-read:
Twilight (Twilight Series, Book 1)
by Stephenie Meyer
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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July 31
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Jen
gave
to:
What Is My Dog Thinking?: The Essential Guide to Understanding Pet Behavior (Hardcover)
by Gwen Bailey
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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recommended to Jen by:
Ryan
read in July, 2008, has a copy to sell/swap
Jen said:
"Just a slim photo-essay book, "What is my dog thinking?" still manages to get across some very cool information in an easy-to-understand format. It's also an interesting side-note that, in Britain, Blue Cross is an animal protection group....more
Just a slim photo-essay book, "What is my dog thinking?" still manages to get across some very cool information in an easy-to-understand format. It's also an interesting side-note that, in Britain, Blue Cross is an animal protection group. Could you imagine flashing your insurance card over there?
Thanks for the gift, Ryan!...less
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Jen
is currently reading:
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela : The International Bestseller (Paperback)
by Nelson Mandela
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Jen said:
"So far, the autobio. has some great childhood/college stories that are the perfect mixture of humor and reflection. I'm still getting over that, as a luxury, one of the wives of his adopted father (a chief) kept a beehive under her floorboards, so t...more
So far, the autobio. has some great childhood/college stories that are the perfect mixture of humor and reflection. I'm still getting over that, as a luxury, one of the wives of his adopted father (a chief) kept a beehive under her floorboards, so that she could just lift a floorboard and get wild honey whenever she wanted it. ...less
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July 25
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Jen
gave
to:
Lonesome Dove (Mass Market Paperback)
by Larry McMurtry
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008, has a copy to sell/swap
Jen said:
"The characters were so charismatically drawn that I sped through this book in half a week, which I haven't done in years. Even the characters who would have been boring people to talk to were humorous in the narrative. Gotta say -- you often hear h...more
The characters were so charismatically drawn that I sped through this book in half a week, which I haven't done in years. Even the characters who would have been boring people to talk to were humorous in the narrative. Gotta say -- you often hear how this or that book "romanticises the time" or the profession that's in the storyline -- not once did I say "boy, I wish I coulda been a cowboy," or even alive at that time and place. The details on the bugs alone creeped me out, not to mention the misinformed hygenie. (The hookers thought that if they soaped off a customer, it would ward off diseases, and one customer advised another that getting drunk before visiting a hooker would also prevent "his pecker coming off in his hand.") It was only after getting a good start on the novel that I discovered it was the third out of a series of five. (I think I got that right.) Good to know, or the ending would have been disappointing. It seems that this tetrology is like one book, and I just picked up the middle section....less
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July 18
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New comment on Atrebs's review of
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
reply to this comment
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Jen
gave
to:
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (Paperback)
by David Sedaris
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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Jen
gave
to:
Celtic Fairy Tales (Paperback)
by Joseph Jacobs
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in July, 2008
Jen said:
"A surprising collection, Celtic Fairy Tales was written with the intent to interest English schoolchildren in Celtic lore -- a humbling bit of information, since I was often confused when the author threw in Gealic vocabulary and unfamiliar se...more
A surprising collection, Celtic Fairy Tales was written with the intent to interest English schoolchildren in Celtic lore -- a humbling bit of information, since I was often confused when the author threw in Gealic vocabulary and unfamiliar sentence structure, no doubt in an attempt to remain true in his translation. (For example, apparently a "hoodie" refers to some kind of crow, which can talk and cause no end of trouble in a fairy tale.) I was also fascinated to learn that the Celtic bards were introduced to Homer's epics, Indian tales, Buddhist parables, Arabian Night stories, and that all these influences show up in Celtic retellings of stories from other cultures. There's even a precursor to a modern urban legend: a prince finds his beloved greyhound smeared with blood and his son's nursery covered in gore. Only after killing his dog does he notice that his son is alive, near a dead wolf. Seeing the inter-cultural influences gave me a new view of old Europe: even in the 10th century, people of different languages and lands were managing to share entertainment across a continent....less
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Jen
gave
to:
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Hardcover)
by Garth Stein
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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read in June, 2008
Jen said:
"The rubric-users in the crowd will know what I mean when I say I really wanted to give this book a "2plus". I enjoyed reading it and found some parts downright adorable. Like a charming benchmark writing paper that I love, but star...more
The rubric-users in the crowd will know what I mean when I say I really wanted to give this book a "2plus". I enjoyed reading it and found some parts downright adorable. Like a charming benchmark writing paper that I love, but starts with "i didnt no my sister liked ise creem so much intil won importent sumer day" (with a heart-dot over the "i"), I just can't give this book a "3". The dog-philosophy sections were silly, but occasionally cute. The racing sections, however, were dreadful. Partly because I couldn't give a fig for racing, I skimmed these. They layered on the pretentious "depth" of the book. The author must think the audience won't grasp his points and reflections unless he spells them out slowly and repeatedly. However, it was definitely worth it, and I scrolled to the last page with a smile....less
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