January 2011
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Book Review: Music for Chameleons
Book #108 of 2010
This book is kind of odd. It has what I can only call short stories at the beginning, a nonfiction novella in the middle, and “conversational portraits” at the end. It’s also written by the fabulous Truman Capote, so I was really looking forward to reading it.
Handcarved Coffins, the novella, I saved to read till last, and I’m glad I did. It’s a...
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“So, yes, of course I feel nostalgic, even if I am longing for a time which never...”
– Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch
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“To point out that works of art were beautiful did not justify their creators....”
– Quentin Crisp, The Naked Civil Servant
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“But — but — why did she suddenly feel, for no reason, that she could...”
– Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
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Book Review: The Easter Parade
Book #102 of 2010
“There were worse things in the world than being alone.” — Richard Yates, The Easter Parade
I’ve been wanting to read Yates quite a while. I was in a bookstore trying to chose between his books, and I picked up The Easter Parade. I was intrigued. I’d wanted to read Revolutionary Road, but I had recently seen the movie and I wanted to shake it out...
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“Words! Mere words! How terrible they were! How clear, and vivid, and cruel! One...”
– Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
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My Most Anticipated of 2011
I read everything Unferth wrote last year (all two books), and I’m definitely glad I won’t have to wait long for another fix. Her prose is beautiful, and I’m glad McSweeney’s gave her such a great springboard.
With six Murakami reviews in a year, I think you guys should be pretty well acquainted with the fact that I love this man, and I cannot wait for IQ84, and I...
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Book Review: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common...
Book #95 of 2010
It’s a book about books. It’s amazing. You go through the different stages of Fadiman’s life with books, her ideas about how books should be treated, how they should be shelved, ordered, categorized, lent, given, about dedications, stories, influences, words. It’s not a how-to, it’s a how I did it. I really, really loved it, and I burst out...
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Book Review: You Shall Know Our Velocity!
Book #94 of 2010
“Thoughts are made of water and water always finds a way.” — Dave Eggers, You Shall Know Our Velocity
I started reading this in Bahrain. I got on a plane to London. I read it on the tube a lot. I read it in a cab. I read on the train out to a friend’s. I read it in the cinema when the attendant fell asleep and started the movie a half hour late. I had...
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“Lying there in the dark with the uncanny taste of a peach from some phantom...”
– Cormac McCarthy, The Road
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Book Review: The Road
Book #92 of 2010
“Each the other’s world entire.” — Cormac McCarthy, The Road
When I started reading this, this is what I knew: it was a post apocalyptic novel, it has rave reviews and I’d seen the movie’s poster but nothing else. I wish I hadn’t seen the poster, because I would’ve liked to imagine them on my own, but after getting into the book...
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“Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said....”
– Cormac McCarthy, The Road
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Book Review: Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common...
Book #95 of 2010
It’s a book about books. It’s amazing. You go through the different stages of Fadiman’s life with books, her ideas about how books should be treated, how they should be shelved, ordered, categorized, lent, given, about dedications, stories, influences, words. I really, really loved it, and I burst out laughing at the first essay, where Fadiman and her husband...
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Book Review: The Easter Parade
Book #102 of 2010
“There were worse things in the world than being alone.” — Richard Yates, The Easter Parade
I’ve been wanting to read Yates quite a while. I was in a bookstore trying to chose between his books, and I picked up The Easter Parade. I was intrigued. I’d wanted to read Revolutionary Road, but I had recently seen the movie and I wanted to shake it out...
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Book Review: You Shall Know Our Velocity!
Book #94 of 2010
“Thoughts are made of water and water always finds a way.” — Dave Eggers, You Shall Know Our Velocity
I started reading this in Bahrain. I got on a plane to London. I read it on the tube a lot. I read it in a cab. I read on the train out to a friend’s. I read it in the cinema when the attendant fell asleep and started the movie a half hour late. I had...
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Book Review: The Road
Book #92 of 2010
“Each the other’s world entire.” — Cormac McCarthy, The Road
When I started reading this, this is what I knew: it was a post apocalyptic novel, it has rave reviews and I’d seen the movie’s poster but nothing else. I wish I hadn’t seen the poster, because I would’ve liked to imagine them on my own, but after getting into the book...
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Book Review: The Little Prince
Book #93 of 2010
“Men have forgotten this basic truth. But you must not forget it. For what you have tamed, you become responsible forever.” — The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I have been wanting to read this for a while, but never found a copy in stores and for some dumb reason never ordered it online. Anyway, I found a copy for £2, bought it, and read it the...
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“It’s hard to reconcile my personal beliefs with an entire institution like the...”
– Sufjan Stevens (via fuckyeahsufjanstevens)
I love this man so fucking much.
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“It’s hard to reconcile my personal beliefs with an entire institution like the...”
– Sufjan Stevens (via fuckyeahsufjanstevens)
I love this man so fucking much.
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Book Review: The Other Hand (aka Little Bee)
Book #91 of 2010
“Learning the Queen’s English is like scrubbing off the bright red varnish from your toenails in the morning after a dance. It takes a long time and there is always a little bit left at the end, a stain of red along the growing edges to remind you of the good time you had. So, you can see that learning came slowly to me.” — Chris Cleave, The Other Hand
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“If I was telling this story to the girls from back home, I would have to explain...”
– Chris Cleave, The Other Hand (aka Little Bee)
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“This is the trouble with happiness — all of it is built on top of...”
– Chris Cleave, The Other Hand (aka Little Bee)
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My Most Anticipated of 2011
I read everything Unferth wrote last year (all two books), and I’m definitely glad I won’t have to wait long for another fix. Her prose is beautiful, and I’m glad McSweeney’s gave her such a great springboard.
With six Murakami reviews in a year, I think you guys should be pretty well acquainted with the fact that I love this man, and I cannot wait for IQ84, and I...
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Book Reviews: First Love / Pythagoras & His...
Combining two because I don’t have much to say about either.
Book #88 of 2010
This was my introduction to Turgenev. I was looking forward to the book, because he was Russian author I hadn’t read before, because it was about love, because it was novella and I needed something short at the time. I did enjoy the story, and I felt for Vladimir, but it didn’t engage me completely....
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Note to my followers: I’m going to be churning out book reviews like mad over the next week or ten days. I ended last year 29 reviews behind, and I want to review them so that I can be caught up for this year. I’m going to skip some books that I have nothing to say about, and I’ll be combining books I have little to say about into group reviews. Mostly, though, the reviews will...
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Book Reviews: Cathedral / Will You Please Be...
Books #90 and #117 (of 2010)
“My eyes were still closed. I was inside my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.” — Raymond Carver, Cathedral
I’ve heard people say that Carver is boring, or too monotonous. I don’t agree. His writing is beautiful, realistic and sparse. I’ve put off writing this review for so long because I...
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2010 in Concerts
Mumford & Sons Marcus Mumford and the rest of boys are one of my favourite bands, so this was a really really wonderful experience. I was standing at the very front and I got the set list afterwards, both of which were great. But the band was phenomenal. They made it so fun — seeing the camaraderie between them, the laughing, the jibes and the passion, made it a truly memorable...
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