Tagged With: Reading

Wonder Boys It took me a long time to come back to Michael Chabon’s early books after reading Kavalier and Clay. I had in my head that Wonder Boys was frivolous and overly modern, possibly because I get the movie mixed up with the book. However, on re-reading it I remembered that this is actually … Continue reading »

Love and Friendship I re-read Love and Friendship last night, Jane Austen’s novella — novlette? novelina? — that she wrote while still in her teens. I’d forgotten how much of the later books can be found in here. For example: A young man speaks to people he’s met moments ago: “My father,” he continued, “is … Continue reading »

I’ve at last tracked down a copy of Thurber’s The 13 Clocks and The Wonderful O, as illustrated by Ronald Searle, and my delight in having found it is only surpassed by the fact that it turned out to be well worth finding. Thurber’s prose, especially in his kid books, rattles and giggles and riots … Continue reading »

Hoping I am not too late for a retrospective post, I present to you my best reads of 2007: Classic Fiction: Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald “Sometimes I think Gene and I are like Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald,” I told my dad after reading this. “Yes?” my dad said, choking on his burger … Continue reading »

It is December, the holiday month, and outside the weather is cold and drizzly and sometimes there is a snowstorm. (Never mind that it is sunny with blue skies and a temperate breeze actually. In my head there is snow.) When it’s cold and grey outside, and all you want to do is stay wrapped … Continue reading »

Why aren’t fantasy novels respectable? This is probably a stupid question that will be answered using the word “unicorn” a lot. But seriously, why not? I know there are more than a lot of badly-written fantasy books out there, but the same is true for standard fiction. And doesn’t it speak highly for an author’s … Continue reading »

I just finished another John Erskine book. As always, wonderful. I found my first Erskine at last year’s library sale. The name caught my eye because of my best friend Anais Nin, who had her first big extramarital affair with Erskine. It was $1, so I figured the Nin connection was reason enough to buy … Continue reading »

Mindy Kaling (who writes for and plays Kelly on The Office) co-authors a blog called Things I’ve Bought That I Love which I’ve been really enjoying. As the title suggests, this is an unapologetic paean to consumerist pleasures and I have seized it like a life raft as I float about in the non-consumerist sea … Continue reading »

I just finished The Corrections, which I picked up for $1 at the booksale per Sean’s endorsement, even though after reading the dust jacket I felt pretty confident the whole thing would just be way more reality than I wanted to deal with and would consequently depress me. Fortunately, no. The multitude of problems encountered … Continue reading »