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B
banana
banana yoshimoto
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| What I haven't added this book to my reviews? Stupid me. It's set in Nippon and is very dry and urbane and so oddly touching... like hearing "One of These Days" by Neil Young blaring out of a Japanese male's headphones on the Tokyo subway. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
January 2001 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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barrel fever
david sedaris
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| What more can I say? This is some funny stuff. I especially like the Christmas letter short story as I have of late become titillated with the Christmas letter phenom (as in, Mark and I have painted the bedroom this year and oh yes...we have a new addition to our family: Stripey kitty blah boring blah). Mr. Sedaris' writings are like a Vic Chestnut album (whom I just love especially that song that goes..."Dannnyyy, doesn't give a damn about the contras....he would rather dreeeeaammm than f#ck") |
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reviewed by: kristen |
January 2000 [link] |
recommend
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bastard out of carolina
dorothy allison
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| Published in 1992 to much critical acclaim, BOOC was turned into a movie directed by Anjelica Houston. The classic story of good women marrying bad men, the ending of this book made my heartache and it still haunts me. Set in Greenville, SC and told from the point of view of a pre-teen girl nicknamed "Bone", we follow her and her mother through the death of one husband and the marriage to another. If you aren't already depressed, read this one. It'll do it for you. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2004 [link] |
recommend 3 thumbs up
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bell jar, the
sylvia plath
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| Read this as I was in the depths of depression and desperately wanted some company. I really loved the parallels that it had to my life, but it just wasn't biting enough for me. As has been my meter for books read in the past, this book didn't stay with me. Unlike, Confederacy of Dunces (which granted I JUST read last year) this book has no retention value with me. I DO remember how she thought all the girls around her (wait it's coming back to me) were silly, and she/them slutted around, but in the end it just wasn't the depressing companion I wanted (I later found out the "Rituals" or Bukowski book were [see earlier review]). People tell me that she put her head in an oven - how's that for depressing - but I guess I wanted more. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
April 2000 [link] |
recommend
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bergdorf blondes
plum sykes
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BB is a silly little snippet of a read about "those" type of woman that roam the four corners of the earth - you know, the type on the look out for the perfect second husband (while still married to the perfect first husband), the perfect chloe jeans, the perfect valentino dress and just about a million other things that only the money of their trust funds or rich boyfriends can buy. Set in lovely NYC in all the hippest places, the main character "Moi" and her best friend, Julie Bergdorf (heiress to Bergdorf Goodman department stores) sleep-in until 11am, jet off to Cannes with Prospective Husband du jour and stress about their social calendar.
This is a great summer beach read, especially since your hair will emerge just the teensiest bit blonder. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
June 2004 [link] |
recommend
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best food writing 2003
holly hughes
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This is a compliation of essays from various magazine and newspapers with what is considered the "best" in food writing. The 51 essays are about everything from sustainable farming, to stinky cheeses to soups. A book to be read all at once or skipping around whenever your appetite needs to be tempted.
(The new Best Food Writing 2004 was published 10/10/04) |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
October 2004 [link] |
recommend
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best ghost stories of algernon blackwood
algernon blackwood
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| Algernon Blackwood had an amazing, complex and creepy imagination. These stories are haunting, not exactly gross-out-loud Steven King blood-and-guts-and-shit-spewing-everywhere, but more in like an am-i-imagining-things-or-is-this-place-out-to-kill-me way. The absolute best stories in the collection are "The Willows" (often viewed as the quintissential man vs. nature horror story, but really even scarier than that), "The Transfer", and "Accessory Before the Fact" (which actually gave me goosebumps reading it--you would never guess that it was originally published in 1914!). For only $8.21 at amazon.com, this book is a steal and Algernon Blackwood writes some amazing fiction. |
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reviewed by: victoria |
May 2005 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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big bad love : stories
larry brown
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| Everyone should read Larry Brown. He's a Raymond Carver re-incarnation in the blue-collar country. I adored his style and his isolationism. His characters were very rugged and real. I'm a sucker for drop out of life, sorrow-filled with wryness stories, and this was right up my alley |
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reviewed by: kristen |
September 2000 [link] |
recommend
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bladerunner or do androids count electric sheep
philip k. dick
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| While stoop shopping with my neighbors, Chris and Christina, they would always look for Philip K. Dick books. I asked who he was and they said "only the best science fiction writer ever". At my friend, Matt Johnson's house, I saw a copy of this book and asked to borrow it. It was a very good world. I greatly enjoyed it. Very quick read (for me three days). Now I'm looking for my second book of his to read. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
September 2000 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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blindness
jose saramago
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I must say I was so very excited to read this book as I found it on a weird website. (well weird in that I wasn’t expecting to go there. I was doing one of my things where I type in concepts I care about and see what comes up i.e. "truth, astrology, hypocrisy, honor"). This book seemed to embrace the concept which I recently discovered John Lennon espoused. I had always wondered what would happen if everyone were blind and whether then all the bias that is conferred on the beautiful, the black, the tacky, the tall, etc. would dissolve when shielded from the sight. John Lennon called this bagism which is a more beautiful concept as it lets YOU choose to shield your appearance from others by placing a bag over your body.
Anyhoo hooo hooo, this book wasn’t like that at all. It was about a disease that rabidly and rapidly affects a whole world. One falls blind infects the other blah blah blah. The first group of blind people get interred and chaos ensues and sub-animal acts go on. The trouble with this book as that I never really felt anything. It was anestithized oddly even with all the graphic depictions. I was also a bit clueless about the theme of the book. There was supposed to be some significance that the blindness was a white blindness instead of a black blindness (as in the victims saw white). I suppose this book was good in making you appreciate the things you take for granted, but beyond that? Hmmmmm. The book ended with someone ruminating that they weren’t really blind ever. I didn’t get that either. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
December 2000 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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bloodroot
amy greene
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| The plant bloodroot is a gorgeous white flower with toxic root sap that runs red, hence the name bloodroot. The book "Bloodroot" is about toxic family roots and relationships and couldn't have a more apt name. This is one of my favorites books so far of 2010. Set in rural and poor Appalachia, the book is broken up into sections told from the view of different characters. The first set of characters give you the back story of their own lives. The next set of characters gives you a little more back story and then a little bit more of the story to chew on. Wonderfully written and heartbreaking, the story revolves around the wild and spirited Myra Odom and her life with her Granny on Bloodroot Mountain. She then meets and marries the crazy and mean John Odom and life changes forever for her as well as her kin. Full of great southern writing – you gotta love a novel that mentions buying a Coke and a packet of peanuts to pour into it! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
March 2010 [link] |
recommend
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blow fly
patricia cornwell
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| The bazillionith book (really, the eighth or ninth) in Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta mystery series, it was by far the worst hunk of words ever. I really liked all the other Scarpetta stories. I wish I'd read the Amazon.com reviews before wasting an afternoon reading it. Poo. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2004 [link] |
recommend
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blue girl
charles de lint
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| This is one of Charles de Lint's most fun books in years. It's largely a departure from his usual style–it's a young adult novel, and doesn't feature any of his Native-American-style-spirit characters in it, but that doesn't mean it's not really good. Our protagonist, Imogene, is a down-to-earth wild girl who moves to a new highschool and decides to make one new friend. She chooses Maxine, her exact opposite (tame and polite), and it turns out that being friends enables them to balance each other out. But the course of true friendship never did run smooth, and things get majorly messy when (at Halloween, no less) some spirits get hungry for Imogene's soul. Add in a ghostly love triangle, five cranky ex-hobbs, and the usual highschool drama, and you get a fast-paced read told from several points of view. I highly recommend it. |
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reviewed by: victoria |
October 2005 [link] |
recommend
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blue sword, the
robin mckinley
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| This was my ALL TIME favorite book as a K-8 student. (I can't remember many books to write about today, so I am grasping at childhood.) It tells about the classic "late bloomer" on a world far far away. I love the magic and feudalistic world. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
August 2000 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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bonjour laziness: why hard work doesn't pay
corinne maier
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If you work in a cubicle hell and shudder with disgust every time your crap spewing asshole middle manager boss opens his/her mouth, this is the book for you. It's a fast read, so you can go to one of those book superstores, find a quiet corner, and read the whole thing. This book reinforced many things I have experienced in the business world.
For example, if you are an individualist capable of thinking and writing coherently, the corporate world is soo definitely not for you. If you think you can move up and advance, think again. The only people who do the work are the temps. Besides, the whole purpose of the corporate environment is to have tasks in order to have meetings in order to have tasks that lead to meetings. Thus, the cycle of life continues.
This book was a big hit in France and now has been translated into English. The French are really a lot more like Americans than either country can probably admit, and I really appreciated her fantasy of launching a revolution against CEOs and chopping off their heads. But alas, I think no such revolution will come soon. Realizing that you can't rebel against ideas clouded by gibberish, many intelligent people now do as little work as possible while playing as many computer games as possible. Fight the good fight, man. Fight the good fight. |
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reviewed by: jen |
July 2005 [link] |
recommend
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boy proof
cecil castellucci
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when i picked up this book, it was because I felt an instant connection with the title: "boy proof" was me in middleschool and highschool, there was no joking about it. When I started to actually *read* this book, the synchronicity of it all almost scared me. The main character is named Victoria, although she prefers to be called "egg" after her favorite sci-fi character.
Some notable quotes: "Boy proof. I have never been asked out. No boy has ever flirted with me. I am invisible to the opposite sex." (pg.6)
"During the trigonometry quiz, instead of solving any of the problems, I notice that the whole world is made up of angles and arcs. If I squint just the right way, I can make anything look like an angle...the bird in the air, outside the window, flying to the tree is unconciously measuring the arcs and angles. I can see the math all around me. But when it comes to putting it down on paper, I draw a blank. One thing I can answer for sure. I'm going to fail another quiz." (pg. 57)
"'Victoria, do you want to make some money for yourself?'
'Money is power in this corrupt world,' I say. 'What do I have to do?'
'You would be an Awkwardly Tall Elf,' Mom says. 'There are a lot of tall elves at the North Pole, and Santa is beginning to worry. It's only for one Saturday.' (pg. 69)
"That puts me right in my place. Pretty on the outside wins over pretty on the inside. I want to go home and leave them alone, but I'm downtown and I don't want to take the bus home. I wouldn't even know which bus to take from here." (pg. 99)
"Don't pull me out of the running yet, Dr. Gellar. I'm full of surprises."
"I know you are, Victoria," she says." (pg. 119)
"You know, Max. I've always been perceived as strange for one reason or another. I guess it's because of my overflowing amount of knowledge. Nobody seems to get what I'm talking about, so I just don't talk," i say.
"I know about that," Max says. "I call it loneliness." (pg. 137)
"There are more alien and monster doodles than notes and homework assignments written in my loose-leaf binder." (pg. 151)
"Max shoots his head forward and kisses my cheek roughly with his slightly dry lips. "See you" he says. He runs back to his car. He does see me. Because I'm not invisible anymore."
(pg. 196)
This book,as you may have gathered, seems to be slightly autobiographical (as in, of me). Which is really weird. But I really enjoyed it. And I dedicate it to my highschool self! |
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reviewed by: victoria |
October 2005 [link] |
recommend
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brave new world
adolphus huxley
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I had seen this book in my sister’s gift to me. She gave me
for Christmas a couple of years ago some playing cards with
52 great books described. This one was about “the future”.
Then, I recently saw the book referenced in some article I
was reading: “the whole idea had a decidedly ‘brave new
world’-ish cast”. I mentioned it at some party-talk, and got “I
can’t believe you haven’t read it”… so I did. This is the
first “hard” science fiction book I’ve read in my cognizant
adult life. I read the author’s preface, and it piqued my
interest a bit as he described how he would have improved
the book blah blah blah. At the end, someone who had
checked out the book before me had penciled in “beyond
prophet” after the introduction. This sincerely interested me
as I’ve only penciled in on one book (“the Blond Baboon”) and
I had done it on the inside cover in hopes that someone
would read the book. The book was quite engaging. Very
interesting and well thought out. I can completely say that it
ironed out my recent philosophy that all this horror and greed
and shit in society is only present because we must have a
good story for ourselves. The author presents us with a
futuristic society that has eliminated all negative things from
our society and has made us efficient, happy, and stratified
human beings. We are all content in our place. We take
drugs to pacify us. We worship Ford with his efficiency and
his vanguard-ness at delivering us from immobility. It was a
beautiful case of “be careful what you wish for”. It features
three characters who are beginning to come out of their
haze. What happens to them is moralistic and final. This
book was an excellent and detailed look at a bizarre and
philosophical future. It wasn’t really so much a novel as a
very long essay. Mr. Huxley seems more a philosopher than
a novelist, and I never got involved in the action. I felt merely
a tourist in a protective bubble visiting the future. It’s certainly
not a frou frou book, but rather one that tugged at my soul
strings. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
May 2001 [link] |
recommend
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breakfast with tiffany
edwin wintle
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| Wintle, at 40 and gay, decides to take in his sister's troubled 13-year-old daughter and and gets more than he bargained for - hello, she's a teenage girl! EEK! Tiffany arrives in NYC from Connecticut (yeah, it's the first time I ever heard of someone moving FROM Connecticut TO NYC, but there are bad parts of CT, too.) with failing grades, boy trouble and an attitude to rival all teenage girls. Despite some initial school troubles, more failing grades and running with the wrong crowd AGAIN, Tiffany's life improves with Uncle Eddy. Interspersed in the Tiffany saga is Eddy's own reflections on growing up gay, his own teenage years, his OCD issues and, the surprising fact that he's been HIV-positive and healthy for over 15 years. While not the most engaging book, it's endearing and sweet and you'll find yourself finishing the book rooting for Uncle Eddy the Saint. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
October 2005 [link] |
recommend
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bridge of sighs
richard russo
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| The only thing Russo didn't touch upon in this giant book is murder (the calculated kind, there is a drunk driving accident that kills people). Every other life event is in this book – birth, death, marriage, illness, homosexuality, alcoholism, child abuse, cancer – you name it, this book encompasses all of it. Just like Russo's "Empire Falls", he has woven this unbelievably intricate portrait of family-life in a small town and has not left out any details. You finish his books knowing more about the characters than you do yourself. At times the narrative falters but surprising and tender developments will engross you through the final page. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2009 [link] |
recommend
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bridges of madison county
robert james waller
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| (Bridges of Madison County and The Letter) Yeah I read them. People told me that I would love love love the Letter so much more than Bridges of Madison County. It may have something to do with the fact that my life was unraveling after college and I had just been rejected by a great man and adored by a mediocre one, but I bawled at Bridges of Madison County and constantly rolled my eyes at The Letter. I could see the maudlin quality in Bridges of Madison County, but something about the bitter, aching want of something so unattainable struck a chord with me. I don't think I'd recommend either of these unless you were feeling rejected. They are quick reads. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
September 2000 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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bringing down the house: the inside story of six mit students who took vegas for millions
ben mezrich
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starts off a little slowly but once you get to vegas, it's all money, baby. of course, i hated vegas when i was there but apparently you have to be a high-roller to have any sort of glamorous time there.
anyhow, an excellent look into card counting and gambling. wish i could learn how to count cards since these cats make bazillions and somehow, the more money they make, the more free stuff vegas gives them.
percent chance this is going to be made into a movie starring j. lo and ben? 82% (except most of the people in the book are of asian descent) |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2003 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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bringing home the birkin
michael tonello
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| Tonello's infectious memoir is about his turn as an Hermes re-seller and his obsession with the illustrious Birkin bag. After relocating to Barcelona, Tonello sells a few of his possessions on eBay, noticing that his Hermes items were the hottest things to go. As he schools himself in the art of Hermes collecting (some women go bonkers for the scarves and HAVE to have every one ever issued), he starts shopping the European boutiques and launches a very successful business online. His most devoted clients want the Birkin bag (these illustrious bags start at $7500 and sometimes fetch six digits with the most exotic being made of crocodile) – supposedly only 100 are made every year and there's a two year waiting list. On a whim, Tonello asks for one at a store in Spain and is surprised to get one. He makes a tidy profit on the bags and off he goes, sometimes scoring several bags a day at different shops. His story is so fun, his writing witty and by the end of the book, I wanted a Birkin, too. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
August 2008 [link] |
recommend
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brothel: mustang ranch and its women
alexa albert
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After years of badgering the owner of the Mustang Ranch, Alexa Albert is finally granted permission to visit the Ranch and conduct a study for her public health degree. She wants to research why the instances of STDs and HIV are so low in brothels. Not only does she interview prostitutes and pay them for their used condoms (eww!), she gets to live at the brothel (awesome!) The interviews and dinner table discussions provide us all the nitty gritty we could want about a brothel. Alexa is actually invited into a room with "Baby" to watch her "party" with a client - a disturbing but necessary addition to the ride. We also meet some of the clients -one guy visits five times a week! The author also includes historical and political information on brothels and is there when the IRS eventually closes the brothel down. While the book left me with much to think about, I'm still not sure why women sell their bodies. I now know far more about sexual fetishes than I thought possible - I probably could've lived my life just fine not knowing what a "load licker" was but, somehow, I feel enriched.
This book is available in paperback and may not be at your public library - I found it at the university library because it's considered a "sociology book". Also, you probably don't want to read it in front of your granny since the word "BROTHEL" is emblazoned across the front and spine. Read an excerpt at Amazon. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
April 2002 [link] |
recommend
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buddhism
christmas humphreys
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God. I thought I'd never get through this book. This is the third Buddhism book I've read. It's far better of an overview than the second one, but less explicit and approachable than "The Empty Mirror". It's taken me almost two months to read "Buddhism". I've been busy with school, AND this book is quite a headtrip - very involved and complicated (but not in a smug jerk way).
Hmmmmmmmm. Greg says I can now talk about buddhism now that I've read this book. That I'm informed enough.
I feel I could have foregone reading it a bit. In fact, I feel a bit less pure from reading it - as in now I may be "falling in the mahavinya line" or something. It was basically just a history of buddhism and an explanation of the various sects. It defined terms and explained actions.
I suppose you're going to have to read an overview of Buddhism in order to go further in your studies. This was good for that. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
September 2001 [link] |
recommend
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buried
robin merrow maccready
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| While classified as a "young adult" book, this is another situation where I wonder if it's YA just because the narrator is a teen as the story is actually quite disturbing. Claudine has spent the whole of her 17 years caring for her alcoholic mother who at varying times manages to sober up but always ends up falling off the wagon. While there hasn't been any physical abuse, Claudine has suffered emotionally and it shows through her OCD of making lists and obsessive cleaning. One night her mother goes on a drinking binge and disappears. Claudine assumes she's run off with her trucker boyfriend but tells everyone her mother is finally in rehab. The thrill of having the trailer all to herself and it being kept clean quickly wears off as Claudine falls into a mania of OCD and faint memories of the night her mother disappeared eventually come into view. A strange rust-colored stain near the front door and a garden in disarray give readers a hint that her mother hasn't gone that far and emotions, relationships and other things have been buried along the way. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
June 2009 [link] |
recommend
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but enough about me: a jersey girl's unlikely adventures among the absurdly famous
jancee dunn
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| Jancee Dunn chronicles her rise from lowly editorial assistant at Rolling Stone to kick-ass writer taking inventory in Madonna's office bathroom's medicine cabinet in this funny and charming memoir. From her humble roots in New Jersey to hanging out with rock stars who try to persuade her to do heroin (Scott Weiland and yes, Dunn happily mentioned names every chance she gets in an refreshingly unpretentious way), Dunn is completely in awe of the path that led her to her dream job. Between each chapter, Dunn gives tips of the trade on connecting with her writing subjects including bringing up unusual topics such as Dolly Parton's love of Velveeta cheese which resulted in Dunn being invited to Dolly's private apartment adjoining her office for a processed cheese snack. Dolly also gave her a hunk to take home which Dunn stashed in her freezer as a souvenir. Dunn also writes about her family – the world's sweetest family, really – and lovingly reminisces about growing up in the 80s. I'm looking forward to her recently published memoir "Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?" |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
August 2009 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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