Suggest-a-book
Posted September 10, 2008
on:- In: Bibliophilia | Reviews | Top Lists | Wishlist
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You’re a reader. You’ve arrived at a reader’s page. Perhaps you’ve browsed around and see that we may share a taste in books. Well, here is an opportunity to leave me (and others) a book suggestion. The comments are open!!
Kidlit, Plays and a Memoir
Posted January 27, 2016
on:- In: #95books | Biography | Book Links | Drama of Life | Fantasy | History | Kidlit | Letters | Memoir | Plays | Quotes | Reviews | Young Adult
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More reading! I must admit, I’m enjoying this…it’s been awhile since I put reading on my priority list. It’s helped that I’ve been a bit sick the last few days, so I’ve done nothing but read!
#8 – Leslie Darbon‘s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced. A play! Yes, I’m sure I’ll read a few more in the coming weeks. I do enjoy plays, the theatre and the like – as evidenced by my other blog, Theatrical Thoughts (also a bit neglected unfortunately). This one we had around because my husband had been in it years ago…and to be honest, I didn’t know the story. Turns out, it’s a Miss Marple story, so there was an added bonus!
#9 – Ronald Millar’s Abelard and Heloise: A Play. This one I’ve had hanging around for a bit, waiting to read it. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been fascinated for awhile about the tragic story of Héloïse D’Argenteuil and Peter Abelard. The play dramatizes events of the story, with a strong philosophical/religious angle. Not bad, in that it humanizes the characters a bit more, and gives Heloise a very strong role.
#10 – Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret (now a movie!) A friend loaned me this absolutely delightful, cinematographic novel, and I can see (get it?) why it was snapped up as a film. I haven’t seen it yet, but I will soon. It’s truly a wonderful little novel, although at 500+ pages it seemed far more daunting than it was! Selznick, being an illustrator, has drawn a goodly part of the book, so it was really a matter of a couple of hours of looking and reading.
#11 – Roger Ebert‘s Life Itself: A Memoir. The first movie reviews I ever paid attention to were his and Siskel’s – how could I not pick up a copy of his memoirs? Some things stand out in a book full of interesting moments and pithy observations:
“The main thing wrong with a movie that is ten years old is that it isn’t thirty years old. After the hairstyles and the costumes stop being dated and start being history, we can tell if the movie itself is timeless.” (page 157)
“There is a test for an actor who, for a moment, is just standing there in a scene: Does he seem to be just standing there? Or does he, as John Wayne did, seem to be deciding when, why, and how to take the situation under his control?” (page 253)
(Regarding his inability to eat/drink/speak) “What’s sad about not eating is the experience, whether at a family reunion or at a midnight by yourself in a greasy spoon under the L tracks. The loss of dining, not the loss of food. Unless I’m alone, it doesn’t involve dinner if it doesn’t involved talking. The food and drink I can do without easily. The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments, and memories I miss. I ran in crowds where anyone was likely to start reciting poetry on a moment’s notice. Me too. But not me anymore. So yes, it’s sad. Maybe that why writing has become so important to me. You don’t realize it, but we’re at dinner right now.” (page 383)
Overall, a highly enjoyable, meandering memoir. I didn’t realize that they’d made a documentary of this book, and his life. Now I have to look that up!
That’s 11 books in a month, at this rate, I should be able to finish 95+!
The First Installment
Posted January 10, 2016
on:- In: #95books | Biography | Letters | Memoir | Photography | Writing
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So I’m undertaking the #95books challenge for 2016, and I’m 3.5 books in. This is not keeping me on the 2 books/week schedule, but I’m sure I’ll find some shorter ones along the way. Or I’ll just become more accustomed to curling up and reading again…
#1 – Steven Pinker’s The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. I admire Pinker – a linguist who can describe the most complex ideas in beautiful, simple terms. And who better than a linguist to get into the style guide genre? This was a Christmas gift to my husband, and I snapped it up for my first read of the year.
#2 – Gerald Clarke’s Capote: A Biography. This book has been on my TBR pile for a couple of months. I like the writing by Truman Capote that I’ve read, so I was motivated to know more about his life. This is the classic biography that was the basis for the bio-pic a few years back (2005 actually), starring the fabulous (and sorely missed) Philip Seymour Hoffman. Clarke’s book is wonderfully readable, and shows great respect for a talented and troubled man.
#3 – Sylvia Wolf’s The Digital Eye: Photographic Art in the Electronic Age. I’m not calling this one a cheat, but some might. It’s a book of fascinating photography, with a long introductory essay. I spent the time to go to each mentioned plate to savour it, contemplate it…so it took me most of the day to read. Anyway, does reading mean it can be only words?! A Christmas gift to me, so readily at hand.
#4 – Gerald Clarke’s Too Brief a Treat: The Letters of Truman Capote. Turns out, I had this on my shelf, but had never read it. Now that I have the background of the full Biography, it’s time to read these. I’m half-way through. Likely to finish today.
4 books in 2 weeks…maybe I am on track!
#95books 2016
Posted December 28, 2015
on:- In: #95books | Wishlist
- 3 Comments
I’ve not been doing a lot of reading lately. Odd, I know, for someone with a book blog. But, as I’m sure you’ll see, the blog has been quiet for a couple (few?) years. It’s time to change that.
Book lover and writer Jonathan Ball wrote of his #95book challenge a couple of years ago – and I like it! He’s got some good, basic tips to stay focused, and I’m inspired. I’ve already started – my year will be from December 26, 2015 to December 26, 2016.
It is my intention to write here periodically with lists of the books I’ve read – and thus revive the blog as well. Revive my reading habit, revive my writing habit…and hopefully revive my brain!
Books suggestions always welcome!
Now Online: David by Earle Birney
Posted May 25, 2013
on:- In: Poetry | Young Adult
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It was just brought to my attention that the famous truly Canadian poem David by Earle Birney is now online!
This is a poem read by Canadian high school students, and I think for the most part they actually enjoy it, because while it’s long, it’s a clear story in a setting that many of them know and understand.
And here it is, courtesy of the University of Toronto Libraries — annotated even!
A sample:
2 All week in the valley for wages, in air that was steeped3 In the wail of mosquitoes, but over the sunalive weekends5 Poker, the wrangling, the snoring under the fetid6 Tents, and because we had joy in our lengthening coltish7 Muscles, and mountains for David were made to see over,8 Stairs from the valleys and steps to the sun’s retreats.II10 To a curling lake and lost the lure of the faceted11 Cone in the swell of its sprawling shoulders. Past12 The inlet we grilled our bacon, the strips festooned13 On a poplar prong, in the hurrying slant of the sunset.14 Then the two of us rolled in the blanket while round us the cold15 Pines thrust at the stars. The dawn was a floating17 To snow like fire in the sunlight. The peak was upthrust18 Like a fist in a frozen ocean of rock that swirled19 Into valleys the moon could be rolled in. Remotely unfurling20 Eastward the alien prairie glittered. Down through the dusty23 Strides. I remember, before the larches’ edge,24 That I jumped a long green surf of juniper flowing26 Spilled on the moss. Then the darkening firs27 And the sudden whirring of water that knifed down a fern-hidden28 Cliff and splashed unseen into mist in the shadows.
Number 1 Geek
Posted September 3, 2011
on:Ernie Cline is the Numero Uno geek on the Internet…or at least the one who has carved out his niche of geekdom, and becoming successful for actually being a geek.
Spoken word…a screenplay actually produced (that would be the Star Wars homage, Fanboys), and now a novel — Ready Player One:
Simply put, the novel is a distopic look at our world in a possible near future, where all energy is focused on one enormous simulation game…which is, for various reasons, absolutely replete with 80s pop culture references and recreations. Did I mention it features video games? And it has references to absolutely everything and anything that was popular in a pretty limited time frame…
Not enough for you? The audio book, which I am in the midst of right now, is read by Mr. Wil Weaton!
And it’s a good yarn! Thanks, Ernie!
- In: Bibliophilia | Erotica | Photography | Reviews
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I’m not a big coffee-table-book consumer. This actually surprises me, since I absolutely love photography, and consider myself a decent amateur photographer. (My flickr.com profile!)
Maybe I like my books nicely wrangled on shelves.
But, I am a purist. My love affair with digital photography has absolutely nothing to do with its myriad possibilities, and everything to do with storage. While I appreciate the wonders that can be accomplished with a digital toolkit, deep down inside I truly believe that a photo that needs to be re-touched is not a good photo.
Maybe it’s a theme — my coffee black, my music a little unhinged, my fiction a bit wild, and my photography untouched.
Which brings me to the book Untouched — photography by Johnny Rozsa
This one was passed on to me by raincoaster, who received it from Glitterati Incorporated themselves….And it’s a gorgeous book, a collection of completely un-retouched photos from 30 years of Johnny Rozsa‘s career.
A sample…showing us that yes, Angelica Huston never needed touching up to be absolute perfection:
And the colourful Leigh Bowery and the rather tragic Trojan (a model who died in 1986 at 20):
The rest of the book is a who’s-who of the famous, the not-so-famous, the beautiful and the interesting…in uncompromising photos. Rozsa definitely has a vision, and this thick tome captures it well.
Rich’n’Meaty language
Posted March 21, 2011
on:- In: Bibliophilia | Book Links | Poetry | Ramblings | Speculative Fiction | Top Lists
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This fabulous video-fied talk of Stephen Fry‘s reminded me this morning of what I find fabulous about language:
I may get itchy Sharpie fingers when I see signs with inappropriately-placed apostrophes, and I still geek-out to things like my friend’s t-shirt that reads “Does anal retentive have a hyphen?” [Answer: depends on your style sheet?], but give me rich, frenzied writing any day over the terse and uptight.
Give me the verbal lushness and inconsistency of spelling and punctuation of Keri Hulme’s The Bone People (which I’ve already blogged about here)….
…. or the crazy richness of image that is The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway (again, previously blogged here)….
…. or the rich neologisms of Earle Birney (see AngloSaxon Street in this post).
Your favourites?
Lori
Annotations & Resolutions
Posted January 2, 2011
on:So the other day, I was alone in a little restaurant near my work, having a late lunch…and I was bookless! And notebook-less, and newspaper-less…I’m sure you get the picture.
The guy sitting a couple of tables over was also eating alone…[DIGRESSION: I was told once that the friendly Philippine people will go out of their way to ensure that a friend/co-worker/what-have-you does not eat alone. Then there are cultures where people turn away when they’re eating or drinking, for privacy. What a lovely odd world we live in.]
So, this guy was eating alone…no, I did not join him. He was completely en-booked. He didn’t need anyone. But he was not just reading, he was reading, margin-note-taking, notebook-note-taking…rather frantically.
And there was me, so bereft of reading material that I frantically tried to see the cover of the paperback he was perusing so thoroughly, just to read something!
Do I want to read like that? No. I may take the odd note, and if I were to get an ereader, I’d want one with note-taking capability, but I have no need to be obsessive about it. What I resolve to do is to ensure that I’ve got a book (or something!) with me at all times. I can’t believe I’ve come to this point, where I have to remind myself to carry reading material!
Plus, I want to blog more — about books and reading, obviously. Perhaps not the Post-A-Day challenge, but at least the Post-A-Week. We’ll see how that goes.
Read on!
New-to-me
Posted September 13, 2010
on:- In: Bibliophilia | Drama of Life | Memoir | Poetry | Quotes | Ramblings | Used Bookstores
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My #1 pleasure in life? Browsing in a bookstore, esp. a second-hand bookstore, or one with piles of discount, ‘remaindered’ books…I love the never knowing of rummaging these piles.
Anyone else with me? (If you’re ever in Victoria, check out Munro’s Books, for those sale tables and extensive selection of new books)
Today’s treasures:
The Book of Martyrdom & Artifice: First Journals and Poems 1937-1952, Allen Ginsberg.
Random excerpt (p168 in my copy):
“January 13 [1947]
Tried tea and junk tonite for second time.
Hip conversation:
“You bug me.”
“I bug you?”
“Yeah, you bug me.”
“I bug you.”
“You bet you bug me.”
“Well, you bug me.”
“So, I bug you.”
Hmm. Art?
I also picked up Rita Mae Brown‘s memoir, Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser. First couple of chapters are fun…but then her writing is always fun.
Well, I seem to have been in a gay mood, now that I look at it. Must have been the discussion this morning over breakfast about the local baker who discriminates against those of alternate sexual persuasion. Guess where I don’t buy cupcakes?
Lori
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