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The Mummy at the Dining Room Table - EMINENT THERAPISTS REVEAL THEIR MOST UNUSUAL CASES
Edited by Jeffrey Kottler and Jon Carlson
The good news? I'm not as weird and f%$*&@ up as I thought I was. At my dining room table, for example, you'll not find a mummy. You may find a 9-year-old wearing a cape (we are partial to Batman, you see), but no, no mummy (Doctor Who flash: Are you my mummy? Muuuummy...). The bad? I was up all night because I couldn't put the damn thing down and I missed my pilates class.
Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas
by Louise Rennison
This is a book for individuals in their early teens. The reason I'm reading it should be because I try to read the books the young'uns read so we can talk about them, but it's actually because I laugh my ass off with the further confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Apparently, I'm very much in touch with my inner 12-year-old. Which could also explain my Hello Kitty robe.
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I've read mucho Lone Wolf and Cub and am reading American Gods again and some etymology books keep me company while I wait in traffic, for food, other people..., but have failed to log in those (I find the subject of etymology fascinating beyond the telling of it, but don't worry - today I'm not going there.).
Edited by Jeffrey Kottler and Jon Carlson
The good news? I'm not as weird and f%$*&@ up as I thought I was. At my dining room table, for example, you'll not find a mummy. You may find a 9-year-old wearing a cape (we are partial to Batman, you see), but no, no mummy (Doctor Who flash: Are you my mummy? Muuuummy...). The bad? I was up all night because I couldn't put the damn thing down and I missed my pilates class.
Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas
by Louise Rennison
This is a book for individuals in their early teens. The reason I'm reading it should be because I try to read the books the young'uns read so we can talk about them, but it's actually because I laugh my ass off with the further confessions of Georgia Nicolson. Apparently, I'm very much in touch with my inner 12-year-old. Which could also explain my Hello Kitty robe.
=#=
I've read mucho Lone Wolf and Cub and am reading American Gods again and some etymology books keep me company while I wait in traffic, for food, other people..., but have failed to log in those (I find the subject of etymology fascinating beyond the telling of it, but don't worry - today I'm not going there.).
[Book 5] Assis
Jul. 31st, 2005 10:51 pmDom Casmurro by Machado de Assis
I've been reading this once a year for the last twenty years (+-). The book was assigned to me in school and I fell in love with it immediately. Machado de Assis is, simply put, the best Brazilian literature (or any other) has to offer. It's sad that no translation can really capture the infinite subtleties he skilfully weaves into the text - everything has a meaning - but it's still well worth reading (after all not everybody gets to read Tolstoy or le mot juste Flaubert in their original incarnations).
Dom Casmurro is a humbling masterpiece. In all these years, it has never lost its appeal to me (I still have my first copy full of annotations and commentaries) and I suspect I'll still be wondering about Capitu's betrayal for many years to come.
I've been reading this once a year for the last twenty years (+-). The book was assigned to me in school and I fell in love with it immediately. Machado de Assis is, simply put, the best Brazilian literature (or any other) has to offer. It's sad that no translation can really capture the infinite subtleties he skilfully weaves into the text - everything has a meaning - but it's still well worth reading (after all not everybody gets to read Tolstoy or le mot juste Flaubert in their original incarnations).
Dom Casmurro is a humbling masterpiece. In all these years, it has never lost its appeal to me (I still have my first copy full of annotations and commentaries) and I suspect I'll still be wondering about Capitu's betrayal for many years to come.
[Book 4] Page
Jul. 29th, 2005 11:16 pmComment Je Suis Devenu Stupide by Martin Page
The translation for the title would be How I Became Stupid (my French badly needed the exercise) and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's quite French (what that means to me may not be what it means to you) in its commentary on life as we know it and does its job with spirit and intelligence (I almost feel like apologising for using the word). Still, I'm conflicted. You see, I understand Antoine (the one trying to tell you how he became stupid) all too well and I guess that was the problem. The hit was too close to home.
The book itself is what a book would like to be: entertaining, sharp (I so want to say intelligent again) and giggles funny. Fine, maybe not all books aspire to those epithets, but I'm confident this one was aiming in that general direction.
Anyway, like the girl said: it's not the book, it's (probably) me.
The translation for the title would be How I Became Stupid (my French badly needed the exercise) and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's quite French (what that means to me may not be what it means to you) in its commentary on life as we know it and does its job with spirit and intelligence (I almost feel like apologising for using the word). Still, I'm conflicted. You see, I understand Antoine (the one trying to tell you how he became stupid) all too well and I guess that was the problem. The hit was too close to home.
The book itself is what a book would like to be: entertaining, sharp (I so want to say intelligent again) and giggles funny. Fine, maybe not all books aspire to those epithets, but I'm confident this one was aiming in that general direction.
Anyway, like the girl said: it's not the book, it's (probably) me.
[Book Log 3] Eggers
Jul. 23rd, 2005 06:01 amShort Short Stories by Dave Eggers
He made me laugh. Right out loud. The kind of laugh you let out when somebody tells you a joke that sounds familiar, but with a surprising punch line. Perhaps it's because I too have wanted to correct a total stranger's crossword while waiting for a flight in some foreign airport. Or maybe it's just that the guy is that good. Whatever the reason, the feeling it left me with was quite welcome.
Yes, I realise he's famous - but you must understand that I have to find these people all on my own.
Truth be told, it was the young'un who pointed out the slim as 90's heroin chic book to me.
He made me laugh. Right out loud. The kind of laugh you let out when somebody tells you a joke that sounds familiar, but with a surprising punch line. Perhaps it's because I too have wanted to correct a total stranger's crossword while waiting for a flight in some foreign airport. Or maybe it's just that the guy is that good. Whatever the reason, the feeling it left me with was quite welcome.
Yes, I realise he's famous - but you must understand that I have to find these people all on my own.
Truth be told, it was the young'un who pointed out the slim as 90's heroin chic book to me.
[Book Log 2] Bernard
Jul. 9th, 2005 11:45 pmMadame Bovary, C'est Moi: The Great Characters of Literature and Where They Came From by Andre Bernard
Andre Bernard has three books that have tickled me: Rotten Rejections: The Letters That Publishers Wish They'd Never Sent, Pushcart's Complete Rotten Reviews & Rejections and Now All We Need Is a Title: Famous Book Titles and How They Got That Way. Even if you don't use these books for comfort, they are a pretty interesting read. You'll get to know what book became Trimalchio in West Egg and which female character was spared the cruel fate of being called Pansy.
Having read these over and over again (pieces here and there), it was really a no brainer when I came across Madame Bovary, C'est Moi: The Great Characters of Literature and Where They Came From while looking for more bag books*. I picked it up, devoured it during yesterday's waiting room interlude and then read it again - this time marking new characters in new books I now have to buy.
*Slim enough to be carried about.
[Book Log 1] Hornby
Jul. 5th, 2005 04:01 amLong Way Down by Nick Hornby
"Even though our problems had driven us up there, it was as if they had somehow, like Daleks, been unable to climb the stairs."
"I knew that the girl was called Buffy, because that's what it said on the poster..."
Mr. Hornby missed the >Dalek< episode, but it's easy to forgive him when he goes on to mention Buffy - all in the same book.
( Unspoilt )
Note: To give credit, where credit is due:
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coraline's own book log is the inspiration for this one.
