11th5

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055) Fox Bunny Funny by Andy Hartzell, finished June 16

I love the art of creating an entire book without any words. And this was was unexpectedly affecting at times. I recommend it. Without words, it won't take you long.

before leaving the library

054 Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss by Martha Weinman Lear, finished June 15

My apologies to Katya. She went to all that effort to recommend some nonfiction to me and, well, I can't remember where my copy of Boggs is. Ever since Lady Steed rearranged the books, apparently, it's been somewhere other than where I think it should be. And the rest of her list? I never remember to bring it to the library.

Which makes this book so apropos, I suppose. According to the book, Science Agrees that middle-age starts at 45. Well, I can't find my glasses now. Or Boggs. Or a whole lot of things.

I checked out this book mostly to make Lady Steed laugh and hear her tell me, yep, you need that. I would probably skim the interesting parts, but mostly I got it so my wife would laugh at me (does that sound desperate?). But I ended up reading the whole thing. Well, not reading reading, but I did "read" the whole thing, even if it was in a way that means it'll never sink into my longterm storage. Crap.

Is that ironic?

Anyway, the book was interesting. Lots of fun science and anecdotes. Breezy.

Oh, and if you want to share your own "Most Embarrassing Memory Lapse", Lear is working on a second book now and she wants to know. Email WhereDidILeaveMyGlasses@hbgusa.com. Or, you know, leave it in the comments here. Even better.

about couple weeks but i don't remember exactly

053) The Mystery Guest by Grégoire Bouillier, trans. Lorin Stein, finished June 14

I can't speak with authority on the original French, but in translation, Bouillier is a lovely writer with his page-long sentences and little refrains. All the same, if this book hadn't been a mere 126 pages, I don't know that I would have finished it.

It's 1990 and the woman who up and disappeared on him four years ago calls up, apropos of nuthin, and invites him to a party. Bouillier recounts his thoughts through that call, through the party, through moments over the next fourteen years; he draws analogies and parallels between himself and space probes; defines himself with the aid of wine bottles and novels and turtlenecks.

This book was evolutionary for me [sic]. It has reshaped my thoughts on what memoir can be, in terms of voice and scope and purpose. And if his first book, coming out in translation this fall, is as short as this, I think I may well read it.

four days

052) The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer, finished June 10

Fun read. I hadn't read any of Mr Colfer's better known books and I needed something to read on the way home from the library that wouldn't get added to the stack. Enter evil librarian. (Isn't it always the case?)

maybe half an hour

051) Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood, finished June 10

I should note that many of my comments here should not be generalized to Margaret Atwood's entire oeuvre but confined to this book; I do not choose, however, to demarcate between which should and which should not. So ha.

She sure can be a ponderous writer, can't she? She'll take a harmless little joke and force it to be a deep consideration of all things human. Each and every comma screams I AM GREAT ART! I'm not joking: the punctuation is clearly arranged to effect a sense of Importance.

Atwood is impossible to discuss without mentioning feminism. So much of so much ends up being on the battle of the sexes, with the men never coming off to well, even if they do tend to win. But I wouldn't have you dismiss it as that kind of feminism because that would be taking it too far. Sometimes. Sometimes it would be taking it about the right far.

None of which to say Atwood isn't a fine artist. I like a lot of her work and some of the bits of this book-of-bits I liked as well--or at least appreciated. Sometimes that's all you can really ask of me.

(All of which reminds me: I want to reread The Handmaid's Tale......

couple weeks

Previously:

050) Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category edited by D. Eggers, K. Shay, L. Epstein, J. Warner and S. Kleid, finished June 9
049 Bikeman by Thomas F. Flynn, finished June 5
048) Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, finished June 5
047) The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, finished June 2
046) Sixty Poems by Charles Simic, finished May 30
045) Replay by Ken Grimwood, finished May 28 044 The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future by Thomas Nevins, finished May 27
044 The Age of the Conglomerates: A Novel of the Future by Thomas Nevins, finished May 27
043) W;t by Margaret Edson, finished April 19
042) Halo and Sprocket Volume 1: Welcome to Humanity by Kerry Cullen, finished May 17
041) Storm Front by Jim Butcher, finished May 16>
040) 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill, finished May 9
039) I Am the President of Ice Cream by Geoff Sebesta, finished May 4
038) On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, finished May 3
037) The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, finished May Day
036) The Drifting Classroom Vol. 1 by Kazuo Umezu, finished April 30
035) The Complete Peanuts 1965 - 1966 by Charles M. Schulz, finished April 29
034) Nextwave: Agents Of H.A.T.E Volume 1: This Is What They Want by Warren Ellis et Stuart Immonen et al, finished April 29
033) Batman: Hush, Vol. 2 by Jeph Loeb et al, finished April 29
032) Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 by Jeph Loeb et al, finished April 28
031) Chéri by Colette, finished April 17
030) Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett, finished April 13
029) Animal Farm by George Orwell, finished April 8
028) Macbeth by William Shakespeare, finished April 7
027) On the Road to Heaven by Coke Newell, finished April 4
026) The Great American Citizenship Quiz: Can You Pass Your Own Country's Citizenship Test? by Solomon M. Skolnick, finished March 23
025) Long After Dark by Todd Robert Petersen, finished March 23
024) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, finished March 21
023) Robot Dreams by Sara Varon, finished March 10
022) The Complete Peanuts 1963-1964 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 9
021) Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, finished March 7
020) Unorthodox Practices by Marissa Piesman, finished March 5
019) Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta, finished March 4
018) A War of Gifts: An Ender Story by Orson Scott Card, finished Leap Day
017) Watership Down by Richard Adams, finished February 26
016) Old Boy Volume One by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, finished February 25
015) Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, finished February 18
014) Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, finished February 15
013) Trusting Jesus by Jeffrey R. Holland, finished February 11
012) Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham et al., finished February 11
011) Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach, finished February 4
010) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, finished February 3
009) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, finished LDotFMotNY
008) Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio by Andrei Codrescu, finished January 22
007) Marriage Lines: Notes of a Student Husband by Ogden Nash, finished January 22
006) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, finished January 20
005) The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time by Douglas Adams, finished January 14
004) Lord of the Flies by William Golding, finished January 10
003) Rising Sun by Michael Crichton, finished January 7
002) The Marketing of Sister B by Linda Hoffman Kimball, finished January 2
001) Animal Farm by George Orwell, finished January 1



The First Five ( 001 / 005 )
The Second Five ( 005 / 010 )
The Third Five ( 011 / 015 )
The Fourth Five ( 016 / 020 )
The Fifth Five ( 021 / 025 )
The Sixth Five ( 026 / 030 )
The Seventh Five ( 031 / 035 )
The Eighth Five ( 036 / 040 )
The Ninth Five ( 041 / 045 )
The Tenth Five ( 046 / 050)