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trinityofone1. CR and I had an awesome housewarming party on Saturday *waves to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akukorax, iamsab, ebrooklynw, chele74, & nenar*; I drank an entire bottle of wine, which, okay, was maybe not the best idea, but seriously, how come I STILL feel hungover and gross? That's not fair, man. Good times should lead to good feelings, I think.
2. I'm loving Doctor Who so much right now it kind of hurts.
3.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sgabigbang kicked my ass some more.
4. I turned down a job offer, because it paid badly and seemed degrading. Watch me regret this when I subsequently have to work at McDonald's!
5. Books:
Week 24: 11-17 June
137. The Assault on Reason, Al Gore — An excellent account of How We Are Screwed. Gore presents his case for what he thinks is wrong with America, the essence of which is that reasoned discourse has all but disappeared. Not only is the average person uneducated about the world (the statistics about the percentage of Americans who still believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the September 11th attacks are truly frightening), but our elected officials don't even debate issues anymore, instead focusing their time and efforts (and tons of money) on television campaign ads. No wonder the country sits immobile and lets the Bush Administration tromp all over the constitution.
Anyway, this was not a pleasant read—I spent most of the time gripping the binding more and more tightly and getting angrier and angrier. It is an important book to read, though—though I worry of course that most of the people who do read it will be, how shall I say, the choir? That's the real question, I think—how can we reach out to those people who don't necessarily agree with us, who are not necessarily so well informed? Gore thinks the internet might hold the key. I don't know. I just don't know.
138. The Dreyfus Affair, Peter Lefcourt — This book cheered me up immensely. It's about a Major League shortstop who suddenly realizes that he's falling in love with his second baseman. It's one of my favorite slash clichés—the slow tease of that first stirring attraction; the one guy teaching the other all he knows—and it builds really nicely. The writing's kind of slap-dash trashy, but I actually found the central romance to be rather sweet, and it's about baseball, a gay romance involving baseball, and that's just an unstoppable combination for me, really. I think you would all enjoy reading it. Especiallyhoney_babes. *g* I literally devoured it in one sitting—I don't think I even got up to use the bathroom.
139. An Abundance of Katherines, John Green — Former child prodigy Colin Singleton has two problems: one, he doesn't think he's really turned out to be a genius so much as a guy with a super-absorby brain and a passion for anagrams; and two, he's been dumped by nineteen different girls named Katherine, and the latest, Katherine XIX, has really broken his heart. To try to solve this problem, Colin's best friend Hassan decides that they should go on a road trip—which they do, though it ends abruptly in the small town of Gunshot, Tennessee, a community supported entirely by a factory that makes tampon strings and that is supposedly the final resting place of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
I clearly want to continue describing the plot, because it is just so crazy and fun. This whole book is wonderful, everything that The Beautiful Miscellaneous should have been but wasn't: it's funny, it offers a great look at the unique way Colin thinks—including FOOTNOTES and DIAGRAMS!—and is lively and original—a book deserving of a genius. I loved it a lot.
140. The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman — A humorous fake almanac. I was kind of disappointed by this, actually. It's certainly bizarre and quirky, and there were definitely moments that made me smile, but all and all it was just...much less funny than I thought it was going to be. Hodgman's humor is very dry; maybe I just picked this up when I wasn't quite in the right state of mind for dry. Will possibly try again later—the hoboes will still be there, of course, planning their revolution.
141. Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler — After loving The Jane Austen Book Club so much, I was really expecting to love this, too; however, I found it disappointing. It's Fowler's first novel, published more than a decade before Book Club, and I guess it shows—Sarah Canary contains a great cast of characters, including a struggling feminist and a Chinese immigrant whom I loved, and it makes evocative use of its setting, the Pacific Northwest in the early 1870s. Yet nothing really seems to come of the various bar fights, the river boat chase, the escape from the mental institution, the kidnapping, or the tiger attack. I closed the book feeling like neither the actual plot nor—worse—the emotional plot had really resolved.
I'm still very interested in reading more of Fowler's work, because I love that she's willing to genre-blend and she creates really memorable characters. This book, however, felt like the efforts of a really interesting novelist that just utterly failed to work.
142. A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson — Reread. I was just in the mood. It was interesting, because the last time I read this book I had just discovered Bill Bryson and I read a whole bunch of his books all at once; this time I got to see more clearly how this one stood out from the pack. It's definitely not my favorite—I think that would probably be Notes From a Small Island, if only because I am equally bewitched by the subject matter—but it's a solid effort all around. I think the best stuff is the stuff about Stephen Katz, who was also Bryson's traveling companion in the flashback parts of Neither Here Nor There. Katz has an actual character arc, which is unusual, I think, for a nonfiction work—I like the development of his and Bryson's prickly friendship as they hike the Appalachian Trail, and the part at the end where they get separated still sends me into a panic even knowing how it turns out. Not my favorite Bryson, but definitely a good one.
Total Books: 142
Now this week I really need to stop reading and really concentrate onsgabigbang. *is doomed*
akukorax, iamsab, ebrooklynw, chele74, & nenar*; I drank an entire bottle of wine, which, okay, was maybe not the best idea, but seriously, how come I STILL feel hungover and gross? That's not fair, man. Good times should lead to good feelings, I think.2. I'm loving Doctor Who so much right now it kind of hurts.
3.
sgabigbang kicked my ass some more.4. I turned down a job offer, because it paid badly and seemed degrading. Watch me regret this when I subsequently have to work at McDonald's!
5. Books:
Week 24: 11-17 June
137. The Assault on Reason, Al Gore — An excellent account of How We Are Screwed. Gore presents his case for what he thinks is wrong with America, the essence of which is that reasoned discourse has all but disappeared. Not only is the average person uneducated about the world (the statistics about the percentage of Americans who still believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the September 11th attacks are truly frightening), but our elected officials don't even debate issues anymore, instead focusing their time and efforts (and tons of money) on television campaign ads. No wonder the country sits immobile and lets the Bush Administration tromp all over the constitution.
Anyway, this was not a pleasant read—I spent most of the time gripping the binding more and more tightly and getting angrier and angrier. It is an important book to read, though—though I worry of course that most of the people who do read it will be, how shall I say, the choir? That's the real question, I think—how can we reach out to those people who don't necessarily agree with us, who are not necessarily so well informed? Gore thinks the internet might hold the key. I don't know. I just don't know.
138. The Dreyfus Affair, Peter Lefcourt — This book cheered me up immensely. It's about a Major League shortstop who suddenly realizes that he's falling in love with his second baseman. It's one of my favorite slash clichés—the slow tease of that first stirring attraction; the one guy teaching the other all he knows—and it builds really nicely. The writing's kind of slap-dash trashy, but I actually found the central romance to be rather sweet, and it's about baseball, a gay romance involving baseball, and that's just an unstoppable combination for me, really. I think you would all enjoy reading it. Especially
honey_babes. *g* I literally devoured it in one sitting—I don't think I even got up to use the bathroom.139. An Abundance of Katherines, John Green — Former child prodigy Colin Singleton has two problems: one, he doesn't think he's really turned out to be a genius so much as a guy with a super-absorby brain and a passion for anagrams; and two, he's been dumped by nineteen different girls named Katherine, and the latest, Katherine XIX, has really broken his heart. To try to solve this problem, Colin's best friend Hassan decides that they should go on a road trip—which they do, though it ends abruptly in the small town of Gunshot, Tennessee, a community supported entirely by a factory that makes tampon strings and that is supposedly the final resting place of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
I clearly want to continue describing the plot, because it is just so crazy and fun. This whole book is wonderful, everything that The Beautiful Miscellaneous should have been but wasn't: it's funny, it offers a great look at the unique way Colin thinks—including FOOTNOTES and DIAGRAMS!—and is lively and original—a book deserving of a genius. I loved it a lot.
140. The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman — A humorous fake almanac. I was kind of disappointed by this, actually. It's certainly bizarre and quirky, and there were definitely moments that made me smile, but all and all it was just...much less funny than I thought it was going to be. Hodgman's humor is very dry; maybe I just picked this up when I wasn't quite in the right state of mind for dry. Will possibly try again later—the hoboes will still be there, of course, planning their revolution.
141. Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler — After loving The Jane Austen Book Club so much, I was really expecting to love this, too; however, I found it disappointing. It's Fowler's first novel, published more than a decade before Book Club, and I guess it shows—Sarah Canary contains a great cast of characters, including a struggling feminist and a Chinese immigrant whom I loved, and it makes evocative use of its setting, the Pacific Northwest in the early 1870s. Yet nothing really seems to come of the various bar fights, the river boat chase, the escape from the mental institution, the kidnapping, or the tiger attack. I closed the book feeling like neither the actual plot nor—worse—the emotional plot had really resolved.
I'm still very interested in reading more of Fowler's work, because I love that she's willing to genre-blend and she creates really memorable characters. This book, however, felt like the efforts of a really interesting novelist that just utterly failed to work.
142. A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson — Reread. I was just in the mood. It was interesting, because the last time I read this book I had just discovered Bill Bryson and I read a whole bunch of his books all at once; this time I got to see more clearly how this one stood out from the pack. It's definitely not my favorite—I think that would probably be Notes From a Small Island, if only because I am equally bewitched by the subject matter—but it's a solid effort all around. I think the best stuff is the stuff about Stephen Katz, who was also Bryson's traveling companion in the flashback parts of Neither Here Nor There. Katz has an actual character arc, which is unusual, I think, for a nonfiction work—I like the development of his and Bryson's prickly friendship as they hike the Appalachian Trail, and the part at the end where they get separated still sends me into a panic even knowing how it turns out. Not my favorite Bryson, but definitely a good one.
Total Books: 142
Now this week I really need to stop reading and really concentrate on
sgabigbang. *is doomed*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-18 10:57 pm (UTC)I hope you're right about the job. I think you are. How is your job/tuition situation going?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-18 11:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-18 11:09 pm (UTC)I'm glad AIB would give you the loan, though. You WILL totally make it work. And hey, maybe they'll randomly just drop some extra money in your account. I've heard they do that sometimes. Um. Second-hand, of course...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-18 11:16 pm (UTC)I think maybe that you should pass on your, uh, second-hand information to me, because I'd sure like to know how to get AIB to be that nice to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-19 04:00 am (UTC)I'm not sure why AIB took a fancy to me. Maybe they like Americans? (Though God knows why.) Or people who are frightened of their ATMs?
I admire your brother's dedication to Being Tall.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-06-19 10:16 am (UTC)I do not think we question why AIB did what they did. I think from various banking scandals over the years that AIB don't really know why they do what they do. I think you just take the money and run.1
It is K's one real talent, I feel he should cultivate it.
1 Note: I originally wrote 'take the monkey and run.' Different thing entirely.