14th5of2008

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070) The Blot by Tom Neely, finished August 6

Look around the internet. Everyone is perplexed by this book. I've read it twice and, well, I'm mystified. But that lack of intellectual slapdown means I appreciate the book more as a painting than a story. I get that the woman is some sort of godlike creature and arriving at happiness requires passage through suffering, but questions of sin and love and community are not easily parsed. I recommend the book with only one reservation: cartoon nudity. Consider yourself advised. a very short time indeed

069) Strange Stories for Strange Kids edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, finished August 6

The Big O gave this book to me and it's great. A little clubbish maybe, but good. A good set of comics for us to read together. Just as soon as he gets back from the mountains. (And I really need to find some more of Crockett Johnson's Barnaby.....) three days

068) Survival Rates by Mary Clyde, finished July 30

I read the first half of this book until 3am on a night I couldn't sleep. It was good. The first few stories built a beautiful box, then opened it, but the stories ended before I got to see what was inside. Frustrating. "Victor's Funeral Urn" broke that pattern and with it my attitude towards the stories changes. The collection in similar in theme and intimacy to Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize-winner. Only instead of starring Indian-Americans it features Southwestern Americans, including some Mormons. (Clyde is LDS herself.) I started Lahiri's book after Survival Rates, but it went back to the library before I could finish it. Too bad. Good book. Anyway, Clyde's book is good stuff. Not precisely of my taste, but an excellent example of its type. If you, like me, have a chance to grab it for fifty cents, do it. maybe two weeks

067) A Week in October by Elizabeth Subercaseaux, translated by Marina Harss, finished July 29

This book was not good. It wasn't bad either. The best thing is that my review copy had a much better cover than the hardcover:



Good thing:
Interesting form (chapters alternate between an autobiographical account written by a dying woman and her husband as he reads it and wonders how true it is)
Bad thing:
The reading sections are horribly dull--some consist entirely of the husband having a sudden urge to wake up his wife and ask if it's all true. Over and over again.
I try to make allowances for books in translation, but the fact is that sometimes the problems are plainly not the translator's fault, while the things I liked best about the book could be her doing. Which isn't to say the book is terrible. But it has a cheap trick ending (which, by virtue of its existence, was not surprising) and is filled with that weird modern nihilism which makes things so little fun to read. Which isn't too say I didn't like it (though I didn't). Which isn't to I do like it (though I do). I am whelmed with ambivalence. I wish the list of good things and the list of bad things would tip one direction or the other, but I can't care enough to write it out. For what it's worth. couple weeks

066) Lehi in the Desert & The World of the Jaredites by Hugh Nibley, Ph. D., finished July 29

I've been wanting to read the Jaredite portion of the books for years and years and years, but I have to say the Lehi half was much more interesting and compelling. I don't know how well Nibley's research has held up (one if his own tenets is that constant discoveries require constant reappraisals) but this was a fascinating read and well worth the time spent with it. Go find a copy. (There's one in our ward library if you're local.) eight months

Previously:

065) A Son Is Forever by various, finished July 29 064) Good ol' Snoopy by Charles M. Schultz, finished July 13 063) Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi, finished July 13 062) A Doré Treasury edited by James Stevens, finished July 12? 061) Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; finished July 8 060) The Enoch Letters by Neal A. Maxwell, finished July 059) Sock Monkey: The Inches Incident by Tony Millionaire, finished July 3 058) The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 by Thomas Ott, finished July 2 057) Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi, finished July 1 056) 300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, finished June 16 055) Fox Bunny Funny by Andy Hartzell, finished June 16 054) Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss by Martha Weinman Lear, finished June 15 053) The Mystery Guest by Grégoire Bouillier, trans. Lorin Stein, finished June 14 052) The Legend of Spud Murphy by Eoin Colfer, finished June 10 051) Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood, finished June 10 050) 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 27 043) 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) The Eleventh Five ( 051 / 055) The Twelfth Five ( 056 / 060) The Thirteenth Five ( 061 / 065)