http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/640919 en-US Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:51:58 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 28845269 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:51:58 -0700 Review25316820 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25316820 Butt Book: Best Of The First 5 Years Of Butt Magazine (Paperback) by Bruce Labruce
bookshelves: currently-reading
I'm reading this in bits, since it's basically just highlights from the magazine. I'm loving the interviews, and it's just nice to see a magazine that takes a non-cookie-cutter, non-Abercrombie, smart, pervy approach to gay culture. The photos range from sexy to unfortunate, but even the not-so-pretty ones help add to the overall aesthetic and sense of mission. ]]> 35044893 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:48:44 -0700 Review30137435 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/30137435 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling
bookshelves: currently-reading
I'm a bit late to add this, already about 200 pages in, and it's so much better already than Order of the Phoenix. I pretty much already know the surprise ending, but I'm curious to see how they get there. ]]> 28850666 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:31:45 -0700 Review25320935 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25320935 to: The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America Are Winning the Culture War (Paperback) by Dan Gilgoff
This book was a great in-depth look at the origins and evolution of the Christian right more broadly and Focus on the Family in particular. Despite the title it was pretty even-handed, treating his subjects with relative objectivity. As someone used to just thinking of the religious right as big bad guys, it was fascinating to seea more nuanced look at the different branches of the movement, the different ideologies, and how they relate to the larger evangelical community. The prose is very engaging, and it's definitely a page-turner for politcal junkies, particularly folks who closely followed the 2004 election and the state and federal campaigns for anti-gay marriage amendments.

Oddly enough, the most interesting chapter was towards the end, looking at how the Democrats post-04 were trying to close the gap with Republicans among religious voters. The book was published last summer, I believe, but it pretty much describes Obama's whole approach to talking about religion. It's almost prophetic. ]]> 29737790 Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:22:10 -0700 Review26017336 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/26017336 to: The Confusions of Young Törless (Paperback) by Robert Musil
A dark, dense, compelling read. It's simultaneously about the intrigues and backstabbing that goes on at an elite German military academy (think a much smarter all-male version of Cruel Intentions) mixed with a dense and complex look at a young boy trying to make sense of the world, his emotions, sexuality, philosophy, and pretty much everything else in life. The author tries to communicate the title character's inner state, including all the feelings that he does not have words to describe. That can make it a little challenging to get through sections that are mostly inner monologue full of obscure metaphors and uncertain jumbles of images, but I think the writing does an effective job of showing the character's inner turmoil and angst without providing cliched explanations for them.

The author's treatment of homosexuality is particularly interesting. It might have something to do with the novel having been published in 1906, but the sexuality seems to alternate between being very explicit and then very obscure and hidden. There are no easy answers, no characters who come out the of the closet and identify themselves as gay liberationists. Instead same-sex desires are something that are a fact of life in the all-male environment but something that all the students have to reconcile with their future expected lives as married members of society's upper crust.

But the book's less about sexuality and more about human cruelty, about the forces that drive people to do horrible things to each other, or to refrain from doing so. Not exactly a breezy summer read, but I found in highly compelling. ]]> 28855811 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:41:54 -0700 Review25325082 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25325082 Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Warren Zanes
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 28855773 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:41:41 -0700 Review25325051 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25325051 Prince's Sign O' the Times (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Michaelangelo Matos
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 28855480 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:39:43 -0700 Review25324814 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25324814 The Best American Essays 2007 (Paperback) by David Foster Wallace
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 28852523 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:19:39 -0700 Review25322428 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25322428 The Best American Magazine Writing 2007 (Best American Magazine Writing) by American Society of Magazine Edts
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 28845296 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:28:24 -0700 Review25316846 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25316846 What They Did to Princess Paragon: A Novel (Paperback) by Robert Rodi
bookshelves: to-read
]]> 28845052 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:26:21 -0700 Review25316658 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25316658 Working Stiff: The Misadventures of an Accidental Sexpert (P.S.) by Grant Stoddard
bookshelves: to-read
]]>