July 2009
60 posts
THIS IS THE BOOK I PICKED FOR BOOK CLUB →
I hope it is well received, I really like this writer and I am going to represent Poles to the book club.
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INVITATION TO A BEHEADING
This morning I finished Invitation to a Beheading, by Vladimir Nabokov. Since I knew how the book would end right from the beginning (the back cover told me how) I focused mainly on Nabokov’s style and prose as I read this book. The back cover also told me that Invitation to a Beheading was similar to Kafka’s The Trial, so I looked for Kafkaesque-ness as I read. Not paying attention...
Bdgan Yiddish Policemen’s Inion this morning on a work break. I love it so far, I love detective stories in general.
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“You know what a kind creature I am: it’s such a small thing, and...”
– Marthe, Invitation to a Beheading, Vladimir Nabokov
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“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”
– Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden
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I FINISHED AND STARTED A BOOK YESTERDAY
The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera isn’t a novel and it is not philosophy and it is not nonfiction. The Art of the Novel is almost literary criticism. I felt as though Kundera was indulging his readers by explaining himself a little bit; explaining is motivations and influences. I found that his greatest motivation, both in writing this book and his others, was defense and portrayal of...
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BOOK CLUB
I had a meeting with my book club yesterday, and even though I had read the book, Joan Didion’s The White Album, pretty early in the month I still had a good handle on it. We ate tortilla chips and guacamole in honor of California, where the book took place. My turn to pick the book we’re reading is next, and I am trying to decide on something really good. Does anyone have any...
61 essential postmodern reads →
booktumbling:
chicklit:
sometimesagreatnotion:
ewilcox:
Well, this is my new favorite book list. I usually hate lists, but this one has ICONS!! And they’re different colors!! And I haven’t read nearly enough of them!
Also, I LOVE the fact that The Scarlet Letter, Hamlet, and Tristram Shandy are all on here as postmodern “progenitors.” Yes, yes, and yes.
I’ve read some of...
THE ART OF INFLUENCING ME TO READ SOMETHING
I’m reading The Art of the Novel by Milan Kundera right now, and basically all it’s doing is telling me about books I should have read by now. I’ve been noting the books Kundera is rhapsodizing; using as examples of exemplary literature. I have read about two of the authors he’s mentioned so far, and one of them as recently as two months ago! Luckily there is so much...
How do you feel about Hemingway? http://booksijustread.tumblr.com/
RT @bryanwoods Hemingway will always be a failed KGB spy to me. http://bit.ly/kN9ha
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THE GARDEN OF EDEN
I just finished up Ernest Heminway’s The Garden of Eden, without much effort of will or force I finished it in a day and a half. I really liked it. I like most Hemingway, but this book seemed to stand out to me. The healing and hurting in this book was inhuman. The main character, David, is a womanizing writer who is a selfish alcoholic so maybe Ernest was a little “too...
Nabokov is in my top 5 favorite writers of forever. http://booksijustread.tumblr.com/
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I JUST READ 'PALE FIRE'
After a little bit of a dry spell, today I finished Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. This book is an oddity. Any possibilities it might house are stated by the author, and yet I still wasn’t sure what exactly it was- this includes plot, characters, story and, yes, poem. Because the book is a poem- and its annotations.
Let me begin by saying I never trusted the protagonist at all. I almost...
My view- http://yfrog.com/ebdytj
RT @ami_with_an_I “The mission for book publishers should be to create a product that’s irreplaceable & indispensable” http://bit.ly/4osh8d
Just became book buddies as someone dragged ‘Pnin’ out of their bag while I was holding ‘Pale Fire’. Same publisher/cover design, too!
Running suggestions so far: @bicycles “Too many poets, not enough pros(e)”? Too cryptic. Maybe she won’t understand.
I want to confront a mean librarian, what should I say?!
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COMPLAINT
I’d like to lodge a complaint against the librarian at my local library because she if very mean. She has the best job ever and can’t even muster the effort to smile or say hello. All she does is yell, nag and ignore. I wonder if she has ever even made a book recommendation or gone out of her way to encourage anyone in their reading. If I could, I’d get her fired and take her...
My slightly belated thoughts on the recent law banning blasphemy in Ireland are as follow… http://booksijustread.tumblr.com/
RT @ PeoplesBkPrizeSunday - a day to relax and vote for your favourite books for The People’s Book Prize www.peoplesbookprize.com
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IRELAND, AND BOOKS
A law was recently passed in Ireland banning blasphemy. I want to make sure I do everything in my power just to let people know about this. This is a law enforcing the most basic censorship- a law that would have stopped the very beginnings of the United States of America. Under this law, any action or material that is offensive to a religious person is outlawed- not only making statements or...
DISCUSSION OF WHY THE NEW IRISH BLASPHEMY LAW IS... →
RT @michelehumes NYPL Bryant Park: Looks like the Sistine Chapel, smells like a cross between sweet-and-sour sauce and a gym shoe.
They’re reading Henry and Mudge Take a Vacation, and it’s adorable. http://yfrog.com/03gz6dj
ME TOO! RT @rebeccaaaa http://bit.ly/13wm3e I’m totally buying Playboy in November. #Nabokov
RT @rebeccaaaa bought six books at once. forgot about the carrying-them-around part. sunburned shoulder is sad. http://twitpic.com/9mveq
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JUDGING A PERSON BY THE COVER OF THE BOOK THEY'RE...
So I try not to be snobbish or judgmental about books, and reading in general. My problem is an honest confusion with people who do not read literature. I do not think we should only read Dickens and Melville, but conversely, I do not think we should only read Grisham and Twilight.
I try hard to mix genres, authors, time period etc in my reading bag, and I think I benefit from it. I feel...
Do you judge people by the books they rave about? http://bit.ly/192I50 (via @mawbooks)
RT @ThtsWhatSheReadNew favorite: http://tiny.cc/5H2oc Photo collection of literary-themed tattoos. Shhh, don’t tell the Silverstein estate!
RT rebeccaaaa just finished ‘sometimes my heart pushes my ribs’ & a re-read of ‘said the shotgun to the head,’ currently: ‘the collector
RT dyroff @booksijustread I finished The Metamorphosis on the 2 train
AWESOME PUBLISHING COMPANY →
Do you dog ear your books and get hassled for it? Me too, kind of. But I have this rebuttal handy: http://booksijustread.tumblr.com/
RT bookeditor1 Just finishing a GREAT summer read: Made in the USA by Billie Letts.
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Damaged Goods are Good
I’m not one to get angry if my book is a little dog-eared. I don’t mind cracked spines or bent covers and sometimes, if I’m really tired I even do that thing with my paperbacks that kind of turns one side into a tube. I don’t believe in the sanctity of a book; I don’t think a book needs to be pure and clean to be appreciated. While I don’t actively write on...
RT @katyhersh ARCs in for The Dream of Perpetual Motion. Beautiful, bizarre steampunk novel