trinityofone

Thanks to everyone who commented previously: I did acquire a copy of The Queen of Attolia, and I do plan to read it!

( 81. Bloodroot — Amy Greene ) If you like that sort of thing, you will probably like this, but clearly it’s not a trope that does a whole lot for me.

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( 82. The Good Son — Michael Gruber ) I was never able to shake that cold, anonymous airport feeling.

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( 83. Tokyo Fiancée — Amélie Nothomb ) this book just increased my desire to go to Japan.

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( 84. Expiration Date — Duane Swierczynski )I am so, so ashamed that we are actually the same person.

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( 85. Tongues of Serpents — Naomi Novik )Next book, please!

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( 86. The Possessed — Elif Batuman ) Roz Chast should do more book covers; it always makes me want to read whatever they grace.

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( 87. The Enchanted April — Elizabeth von Arnim )I’ve lost my train of thought. I really do need a vacation.

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( 88. Elliot Allagash — Simon Rich ) Elliot Allagash isn’t worth having a novel named after him.

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( 89. Waiter Rant — Steve Dublanica ) It was a nice alternative to constantly refreshing notalwaysright.com, anyway.

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( 90. Bill's New Frock — Anne Fine ) There’s a ’90s elementary school reminder that I didn’t need!

Total Reviews: 90/229

I swear someone is standing outside my window with a hose, because there is no way it can or should be raining this much in Los Angeles.

( 61. Our Hero — Tom De Haven )this book is a joy to read: a thoughtful investigation into why stories and characters are so important, into how an alien from Krypton can help us think about what makes us human.

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( 62. Alone With You — Marisa Silver ) We all already know that I never learn.

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( 63. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest — Stieg Larsson ) If characters like Lisbeth—if women in central, heroic roles—can seep into the collective subconscious the way Han Solo and hundreds of years of male heroes sunk into mine, then maybe the next girl (or boy) growing up won’t have to have some big revelation about how she can write women in her stories. She’ll already know.

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( 64. The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — Ed. by John Joseph Adams )I would like to see “Commonplaces” collected in other books, because then this one would truly be completely unnecessary.

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( 65. Hotel Iris — Yoko Ogawa ) I really don’t recommend that people unfamiliar with Ogawa start here; build up a tolerance and then see if you are strong and brave enough. I am not.

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( 66. The Thief — Megan Whalen Turner ) is there any reason for me to continue?

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( 67. & 200. Blackout & All Clear — Connie Willis ) Oh, Max, Max: we need to invent time travel for you.

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( 68. Trickster — Ed. by Matt Dembicki ) this is a genre of storytelling that never ceases to delight and entrance me.

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( 69. Catching Fire — Suzanne Collins ) I actually did the “Man, there aren’t a lot of pages left here; how is she going to wrap this...wait a minute!” thing.

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( 70. Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life — Steve Almond ) Is Scott-Heron’s three-minute, thirty-four-second song more powerful than Almond’s whole book? Possibly, but that just proves Almond’s point.

Total Reviews: 70/210

Home sick with a disgusting cold! At least I managed something semi-productive?

( 41. Hellblazer: All His Engines — Mike Carey ) why hasn’t any of Paul Jenkins’ run on this title been collected as trades? I loved that run. Am I the only one?

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( 42. A Short History of Women — Kate Walbert ) instead of wallowing how 'bout try to be awesome? And maybe fight people with swords.

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( 43. Fat Vampire — Adam Rex ) you really hope the slightly charred guy in the lab coat can do better next time. Maybe next time he’ll land that Nobel Prize.

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( 44. Déjà Dead — Kathy Reichs ) Instead I got a depressingly straightforward police procedural, anchored by a lot of stiff, mostly colorless characters and a protagonist who, in being rendered more “relatable,” becomes much less interesting than her TV counterpart.

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( 45. Why Translation Matters — Edith Grossman ) When those instant language-learning chips become available, sign me right up.

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( 46. Giovanni’s Room — James Baldwin ) you should read this.

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( 47. Life After Life — Paul Jepson & Tony Parker ) you sympathize and feel repulsed by them in turn, often within moments of each other.

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( 48. Ramayana: Divine Loophole — Sanjay Patel ) blue people are hot when James Cameron isn’t making them part of something politically and racially skeevy.

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( 49. The Forty Rules of Love — Elif Shafak ) I’d like to learn more about Sufism as well. Book recommendations, anybody?

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( 50. Bill Bryson’s African Diary — Bill Bryson ) I’d recommend either thinking of the book as a gift-with-donation, or getting it from the library.

Total Books: 50/197

Hey, and now that the Renegade Angels reveals are up, I can finally post this booklog! (Yes, that is the excuse I am going to continue to use for being so miserably behind.)

( 21. Patriotism — Yukio Mishima ) it’s a snuff film. But it’s an unusually stylish and well-directed one.

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( 22. Trout Fishing in America — Richard Brautigan ) PLEASE EXPLAIN RICHARD BRAUTIGAN AND TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA TO ME. I DON’T GET IT.”

I’m sure that would go over well.

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( 23. If on a winter’s night a traveler — Italo Calvino ) I guess I can say I finally get what the big deal about Calvino is. Success!

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( 24. Bad Nature — Javier Marías ) Hell, go ahead and throw in that Nobel Prize.

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( 25. Tales of Desire — Tennessee Williams ) It’s also possible that my brain simply never recovered from the SURPRISE CANNIBALISM.

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( 26. Everything Matters! — Ron Currie, Jr. ) I found it seriously disappointing to see the same tired paths being ploughed again and again.

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( 27. Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned — Wells Tower ) Reading this collection will leave you feeling rather ravaged. And kind of like you might want to don a bunch of plaid and pose for the front of a Brawny paper towels package.

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( 28. Wild at Heart — Patricia Gaffney ) She should write an amnesia or a bodyswap book. I'd totally read that.

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( 29. Invisible Cities — Italo Calvino ) Can someone who was affected positively by this book tell me why it worked for them?

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( 30. Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever — Justin Taylor ) That's how I feel about this Tetris story. And, uh. That's not a sentence I get to write often.

Total Reviews: 30/82

If my occasionally remembering to update this booklog is not enough for you, you can enjoy a daily dose of book nonsense on my work blog! (And if these occasional booklog posts are far more than enough...um. Sorry?)

So last night, my roommate discovered mold growing all over the walls of her bedroom, and this morning we noticed that the wall of our kitchen that adjoins the bathroom (as her bedroom does) is bubbling and puckering. Obviously, we have a leak of some kind—gosh, I wonder if that could be connected to the hole in the bathroom ceiling we told the landlord about in December, which he just patched over without investigating the cause? So now we have to wait two days for anyone to fix it, and the job may be so extensive that we won't have anywhere to live while they repair. Oh, and also, this afternoon our neighbors got into a violent altercation and we had to call the cops on them. Happy Valentine's Day, us!

So here's some distraction booklog. SIGH.

( 1. Candide — Voltaire ) it would be nice if cravats came back. Cravats are hot.

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( 2. The Valley of Fear — Arthur Conan Doyle ) Doyle’s Holmes and Watson are like pizza and sex for George Carlin—even when they’re bad, they’re pretty good.

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( 3. The Liars’ Club — Mary Karr ) it’s not something I can examine or read with any pleasure.

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( 4. The Adventure of the Ectoplasmic Man — Daniel Stashower ) after Jude Law’s impeccable Watson from the new movie, I am feeling a tad spoiled.

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( 5. The Impostor’s Daughter — Laurie Sandell ) I never have to think about this stuff when I’m reading about fighting crime or blowing up spaceships.

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( 6. Sum — David Eagleman ) I guess happiness, or even hopefulness, aren’t intellectually stimulating enough.

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( 7. Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded — John Scalzi )I think Scalzi’s scathing sense of humor—which I enjoy—may be better taken in small doses than absorbed all at once like this.

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( 8. The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity — Mike Carey ) one of the most electrifying graphic novels I've read in a long time.

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( 9. The Unnamed — Joshua Ferris ) “I will be wary of what Ferris does next.”

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( 10. The Checklist Manifesto — Atul Gawande ) I love how Gawande makes you think about systems, communication, and simple ways in which the world can be made better.

Total Reviews: 10/35