Wants to read Other People We Married
book
Rated The Rise 6/10
<div>There are way too many characters stuffed into this 85 page story, and not enough dialogue tags, but after recently reading some heavier fare, a simply murder mystery procedural was still an enjoyable balm —though that does sound funny to say, considering the subject matter.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: I Am The Master 10/10
Oh I loved this. A bit meta, well-suited for headphones, the Master being devious. It's great.
Rated The Age of Innocence 10/10
<div>Edith Wharton is one of the best to ever do it.</div>
Rated Station Eleven 10/10
Honestly, this might be the best book I've read (so far) this year.
Rated The Starlite Drive-In 8/10
Edited 48d ago
Rated Frost in the Low Areas 10/10
An outstandingly good book of poetry. I let this collection of poetry languish unread in my collection for far too long. <i>Finally</i>, I’ve read it, and it’s magnificent and feels personal and is exactly what I’m looking for when I want a book of poetry, somewhat in the same way I love Tracy K. Smith’s work.<br><br>(This mini-review also at <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2015/05/the-delight-in-reading-lists-and-challenges-20-suggestions/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated Earthlings 7/10
<div>Interesting, but wtfffffffff</div>
Rated Beautiful Ruins 10/10
Let's get one thing out of the way up front: <i>Beautiful Ruins</i> is an absolutely perfect book, and if you read any review that claims otherwise, then that reviewer is trying too hard to be a smug killjoy and they should not be trusted. You should perhaps ask them if they also enjoy popping children's balloons and talking on their phone during movies because only a jerk would hate on this book.<br><br>In Sara-parlance: <i>I wanted to hug this book's face off.</i><br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/07/beautiful-ruins-by-jess-walter.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated Northanger Abbey 6/10
<div>For a sense of completion, I carried on with the audio version of this book that's part of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55873397.The_Jane_Austen_Collection_An_Audible_Original_Drama">The Jane Austen Collection: An Audible Original Drama</a>, which is full cast and narrated by Emma Thompson. I liked this fine, but it might be my least favorite of the Austen books. The sendup of gothic romance bits were amusing, and there are the usual excellent Austen-style cutting remarks, but otherwise, Catherine is more or less at the whims of others.</div>
Rated Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 8/10
<div>I was surprised by how much liked this.</div>
Rated Bad Feminist 10/10
Of course I recommend this wholeheartedly.
Rated Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic 10/10
Excellent. Would love to see the musical.
Rated Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional 10/10
<div>I have followed Isaac Fitzgerald's literary career ever since he was an editor at The Rumpus back in the late 2000s, and it's been great to see where he's gone since then. A couple of these essays, I read wherever they were originally published, though long enough ago that I don't know whether or not they changed in any significant way. This is a great memoir, full of honest, insightful memories, and it's also interesting to see what was happening "behind the curtain," so to speak, during some of the times I was paying attention to his professional work. He's the same age as I am, so some of his childhood attitudes and memories felt very familiar, even though I did not grow up in the same area (and my childhood was considerably more stable). Like, of course you just get up to shit in the woods and are glad for only loose supervision! Of course every teen boy was obsessed with Fight Club and the Pixies after the movie came out! I definitely knew guys like the friends he describes.<br><br>Also, Zeitgeist sounds like an amazing bar.</div>
Rated One Day 10/10
One Day is an excellent book — one filled with as many funny moments as there are heart-crushing. One of the best books I've read all year.<br><br>(Full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-day-by-david-nicholls.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>)
Wants to read Beautiful and Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry
Rated The Thing About Thugs 8/10
In some ways, the darker elements and seeing the killer's point-of-view reminded me of Patricia Highsmith's work, though she did not set any of her stories (that I know of) in Victorian times. The methodical way everyone justifies their bad behavior, killer or not, is also very much like her. The difference is that Khair doesn't write with underlying disdain for society. There is still an element of magic, though not the fantastical kind. It's magic in the form of hope, the willful suspension of disbelief, and the transforming power of a good story. I certainly recommend tracking down this book.<br><br>(My full review appears on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-thing-about-thugs-by-tabish-khair.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated The Zero 10/10
Not in recent memory have I read a book so enthralling, heartbreaking and with such deadpan humor. In what he calls his "9/12" novel, Jess Walter’s <i>The Zero</i> follows "hero cop" Brian Remy, who is trying to make sense of the world while also suffering from memory lapses. His journey is at once bewildering and mournful, and though I’m not one to go on about perfect first lines, Walter had me at the outset:<br><br><blockquote>They burst into the sky, every bird in creation, angry and agitated, awakened by the same primary thought, erupting in a white feathered cloudburst, anxious and graceful, angling in ever-tightening circles toward the ground, drifting close enough to touch, and then close enough to see that it wasn’t a flock of birds at all — it was paper.</blockquote><br><br><br>Is it a long first sentence? Yes. Does it matter? Absolutely not.<br><br>Part existential crisis, part satire, <i>The Zero</i> also presents some of the ridiculousness of government during this time. There’s talk of “evildoers” and an entire agency dedicated to collecting all those scraps of paper, The Department of Documentation. “Things will be better when all the paper has been cleaned up.” Cops and firefighters are getting agents and their faces on cereal boxes; tourists pose for photos by the wreckage. Even in the event of a national tragedy, capitalism and consumerism worm their way into the larger discussion.<br><br>(Full review can be found at <a href="http://therumpus.net/2010/07/sara-habein-the-last-book-i-loved-the-zero/">The Rumpus.</a>)