tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37765822011-12-03T09:06:37.933-06:00the agony and ecstasy of a reading lifeStefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comBlogger11811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1168190203204967532007-01-07T11:14:00.000-06:002007-01-07T11:17:20.563-06:00

I've up and moved to a new location! Please visit me at somanybooksblog.com

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167584821017355552006-12-31T11:05:00.000-06:002006-12-31T11:07:13.416-06:00

Posted at the new location.

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167512643136949312006-12-30T15:01:00.000-06:002006-12-30T15:05:15.793-06:00

Today we have Emerson's take on English Literature. English here does not mean the language, but the country. And following along with his other essays in English Traits, he does not hesitate to name the good, the bad, or the ugly. What made English lit great, and you will notice the past tense here which we will get to later, according to Emerson are English traits he has expounded on in

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167426625322137682006-12-29T15:07:00.000-06:002006-12-29T15:15:43.743-06:00

Time for me to get on the reading year in review bandwagon. I would have done it sooner but I was waiting to see what other books I'd finish. So far I have finished 54 this year but should be making that 55 as I am less than 100 pages from finishing volume 2 of Proust. The mid 50s is my annual average, only once have I ever gone over 60 and that was just after I finished college and didn't have a

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167341106991034792006-12-28T15:23:00.000-06:002006-12-28T15:25:07.023-06:00

I was going to show some self-restraint. I was going to hold onto my book gift cards from Christmas until next year. I imagined even so long as the middle of January. So much for that idea. What was I thinking? The following books should arrive on my porch by January 2nd, courtesy of my sister's and parent's book card generosity:The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia. "Among gang warfare and

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167259112680920832006-12-27T16:32:00.000-06:002006-12-27T16:38:32.713-06:00

Margaret Atwood. Does just the mention of her name make you swoon like it does me? Next to Virginia Woolf, Atwood is my favorite prose writer. She has a dry sense of humor and the ability to choose just the right word. I also love that she takes risks. No one can accuse her of writing the same book over and over again. I finished reading Moral Disorder this afternoon. Would you be surprised if I

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167249710965891162006-12-27T13:51:00.000-06:002006-12-27T14:01:51.003-06:00

Okay, so I've set up a blog at wordpress. I am not able to tinker with the template unless I fork over some cash. I'd prefer the post font to be bigger and I'd like the color to be more burgundy than red (I do have other color options like blue, bright green, orange, and purple) but it isn't bad. What do you all think? (In case you can't tell, I'm a bit ambivalent. I can't decide, Blogger or

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167169443380801422006-12-26T15:36:00.000-06:002006-12-26T15:44:03.413-06:00

The problem with reading a book about the history of western philosophy is that one encounters authors/philosophers that one has heard about but never read. I am now faced with the decision to either make it a point to read them or consign them to the bin of "books I'd like to read if I were immortal." The difficulty with tossing them into the bin, of course, is that I know I will lose out. I

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167144922704998202006-12-26T08:49:00.000-06:002006-12-26T08:57:14.016-06:00

After an inconclusive chest x-ray and a bunch of other tests, it turned out the upper respiratory infection was minor. The real problem was heart failure. So we said goodbye to Kamir last night.

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1167090698563962802006-12-25T17:38:00.000-06:002006-12-25T17:51:38.593-06:00

Today has not turned out to be a very festive day. We had to take our cat to the emergency vet because he hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon and he was having trouble breathing. The little cold he had last week turned into a whopper of an upper respiratory infection in the blink of an eye. He's spending the night at the hospital hooked up to an IV. We'll know more in the morning. We are

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166907460862732002006-12-23T14:53:00.000-06:002006-12-23T14:57:40.900-06:00

This week Emerson writes about English Universities and Religion. I didn't like either of these chapters very much. Emerson has lost his humor and light and hearty tone that he began English Traits with and I am not quite sure what the point of these two chapters is. But maybe I will find something interesting as I try to write about them. Emerson has great admiration for English universities,

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166805624911518172006-12-22T10:35:00.000-06:002006-12-22T10:40:24.943-06:00

Happy first day of winter to everyone! My Bookman and I are celebrating the Winter Solstice today because of work schedules and all that. It snowed yesterday, not a lot but enough to cover the ground and shovel the sidewalk. It couldn't have been more perfectly planned. We'll be bundling up and taking a walk later which will thrill the dog. He loves walking in the snow. Today also means an extra

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166749045375616602006-12-21T18:51:00.000-06:002006-12-21T18:57:25.410-06:00

I finished listening to The Gunslinger a few days ago. I enjoyed it, but as many of you said, it is not as good as the rest. That was quickly evident when I began listening to The Drawing of the Three the other night. Lobstrosities and finger and toe amputation. Yikes! There was certainly no gradual building of story to begin this one. There was a sort of prologue in which The Gunslinger was

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166663897471267562006-12-20T19:13:00.000-06:002006-12-20T19:18:17.503-06:00

I got this meme from Sylvia who gave me the letter "P" Poetry. Remember the poetry meme Cam started? If that doesn't explain why poetry is one of my favorite things that start with "p" then I'm not sure what else will do it. Penguins. Because they are beautiful, amazing birds. They are also irresistibly cute and always impeccably dressed for a party. Pumpkin. Especially when it comes in the form

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166575949978531232006-12-19T18:49:00.000-06:002006-12-19T18:52:30.010-06:00

I finished reading J.C. Hallman's book The Devil is a Gentleman. I've mentioned it a couple of times. Now that I am done I can say with certainty I enjoyed the book greatly. Since it was gifted me by Ella before she moved to Dubai, I must say another thank you to her. What I liked was not just getting a glimpse into so many different religions, though that is the main fascination. The writing

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166489196712154012006-12-18T18:43:00.000-06:002006-12-18T18:47:12.263-06:00

I'm feeling rather challenge challenged of late. So many good ones like the Winter Classics Challenge, the Chunkster Challenge, and of course, the one I am in the middle of and not doing well on, the From the Stacks Challenge. As you can see from my sidebar, I have only crossed off one of the five books on my Stacks Challenge list. I am reading On Beauty and Being Just, but even though it is a

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166309621071483012006-12-16T16:51:00.000-06:002006-12-16T16:53:41.106-06:00

This week Emerson writes about English Wealth and Aristocracy. Where some of his previous lecture/chapters have been rather casual and humorous, in these two Emerson becomes more, well, Emersonian. He reverts to his old tricks of talking up how great something is, gets you excited and buying in on it or angry about how he could be so blind to other factors, and then he rips off his disguise with

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166226891941176672006-12-15T17:52:00.000-06:002006-12-15T17:54:51.973-06:00

Histories of western philosophy always seem to start with Plato (even when they're talking Socrates almost everything we know about him came from Plato) and that is where The Passion of the Western Mind starts too. The books don't start with Plato because we don't know anything before that, but because, apparently, Plato represents a big shift in thought up to that time. Prior to Plato

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166143945983542512006-12-14T18:47:00.000-06:002006-12-14T18:52:26.013-06:00

I was going to write a post today about Plato and Forms and Ideas and Archetypes and make a comparison between Plato's Idea of Beauty and Elaine Scarry's ideas on beauty, but I got sidetracked. Scarry writes for several pages about Matisse and palm trees in his paintings. Frankly this was tedious. She analyzes the paintings but there are no pictures of the paintings only not very well executed

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166057408403912942006-12-13T18:48:00.000-06:002006-12-13T18:50:08.436-06:00

I've been ambling my way through Virginia Woolf's diary for a couple of years now. I am reading volume three at the moment (when I say amble, I mean amble). I hadn't picked it up in a few months but a recent post of Sandra's about how much she is loving volume one reminded me what I am missing. So I picked it up again. When I read the diary, I like to read an entry or two before bed. The other

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1166017571712510272006-12-13T07:39:00.000-06:002006-12-13T07:46:11.743-06:00

Can I just say how much Blogger has been driving me nuttier than usual lately? And I haven't even converted to the beta version! I am wondering if I should put up with it anymore? I am thinking about moving locations and even registering my own domain name. I am considering Word Press. Somanybooks.com and .net are already taken so I would devise a variation. But is it worth it? After three years

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165970970397760822006-12-12T18:49:00.000-06:002006-12-12T18:49:30.433-06:00

Sometimes books take such an unexpected turn. Like the other night I was pedaling away on my stationary bike listening to The Gunslinger. Things have been going along at a steady pace and I am enjoying it. But I'm thinking, gosh this is such a boy-book, so unemotional and when Roland does have any emotion he is either confused or surprised by it. Then there is the book's reader, Frank Muller, who

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165882287213859882006-12-11T18:04:00.000-06:002006-12-11T18:11:27.246-06:00

We still haven't given in and opened the boxes from Barnes and Noble. I even had a coworker who offered to assist. I was for it, but my Bookman said we should just leave it since Solstice is now less than two weeks away. I mostly don't think about the boxes, but yesterday I had a little pang when I saw the New York Times was reviewing the Leonard Woolf bio. I didn't read the review. I couldn't,

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165702438810165142006-12-09T16:10:00.000-06:002006-12-09T16:13:58.846-06:00

More on Emerson and his study of English Traits. This week we have Character and Cockayne. Emerson begins the chapter on character by addressing the reputed moroseness of the English by declaring "I do not know that they have sadder brows than their neighbors of northern climates." What a comfort. The English aren't really morose per se, it's the French who "have spent their wit on the

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165622745575256152006-12-08T18:04:00.000-06:002006-12-08T18:05:45.620-06:00

I've always been a bit grumpy about the whole "truth is beauty, beauty is truth" thing. I can understand the first part about truth being beautiful, because it is, though I don't usually think of it in those terms on a day-to-day basis. But how could beauty be true? I'm not so dumb that I don't know that beauty can be used to hide a lot of ugliness and even lies. And there are things that are not

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165539298856537422006-12-07T18:46:00.000-06:002006-12-07T18:54:58.943-06:00

First, I must apologize for my obvious inability to communicate in yesterday's post. I was trying to say that blogging/writing this week has been like pulling teeth, nothing has been coming out easy. But then I thought back to when I was 17 and had my wisdom teeth pulled out and how that wasn't such a hard thing after all. So I corrected myself but did it badly since now you all think I had my

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165453706884487992006-12-06T19:03:00.000-06:002006-12-06T19:08:26.916-06:00

This is one of those weeks when writing feels like pulling teeth. Okay, I'm being over dramatic a tiny bit. I've had my wisdom teeth pulled and they knocked me out and when I woke up I was high as a kite. Not an altogether unpleasant experience. What I'm getting at is that the thoughts and the words have not exactly been flowing. It's been more like a long slog through thick mud or walking

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165366281177920862006-12-05T18:42:00.000-06:002006-12-05T18:51:21.206-06:00

These last few days I've not been doing much book reading. Instead I've been engrossed in reading the latest edition of Bookforum. This is an extremely dangerous magazine and should be read with care. I've already turned down a bunch of pages and I haven't even read all the articles yet! Some of the more interesting tidbits I've found are a review of the movie of Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165278476683715082006-12-04T18:20:00.000-06:002006-12-04T18:27:56.716-06:00

I began reading Elaine Scarry's On Beauty and Being Just over the weekend. Dorothy had some great posts about the book awhile back and between her and Proust I decided this was a book I had to read. What strikes me right off is Scarry's assertion that "beauty brings copies of itself into being. It makes us draw it, take photographs of it, or describe it to other people." This reminds me of

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165098969652720332006-12-02T16:32:00.000-06:002006-12-02T16:36:09.686-06:00

It's Emerson time again. This week I read about English manners and their love of truth. At times I found myself wondering if Emerson actually ever met any real English people because so much of his description seems to have come from a novel. He says things like, "the one thing the English value is pluck. The word is not beautiful, but on the quality they signify by it the nation is unanimous."

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165079033586695922006-12-02T10:36:00.000-06:002006-12-02T11:03:53.670-06:00

I thought I'd do a short post on my mambo class last night instead of putting it in yesterday's comments. Nothing horrible happened, or at least I didn't do anything embarrassing. I can't say as much about some of the partners I danced with though but that's the chance you take in group classes especially when they are not posted at a certain experience level. No one in the class was a brand new

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1165015609555609152006-12-01T17:25:00.000-06:002006-12-01T17:26:49.586-06:00

Just a quickie tonight because I've got plans that are big and non-bookish for a change. You see, Tony Dovolani and his competition partner Elena Grinenko, who have both appeared on Dancing With the Stars as professional partners, are at my dance studio. Tony is giving a group mambo class and I and my husband will be among the students. Not only is he on TV, but he is also a champion latin

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164935396550038312006-11-30T19:09:00.000-06:002006-11-30T19:10:11.916-06:00

After starting and stopping and wondering if I would ever get back to it, I finished Madame Bovary a few days ago. Since then I have been trying to figure out what to say about it. There is so much in it. I was going to write about it yesterday but the cookbook came and gave me a respite. So I read the introduction last night, hoping for something that would answer all my questions only to

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164848012642407922006-11-29T18:47:00.000-06:002006-11-29T18:53:32.686-06:00

I came home from work this evening to find someone from a publisher had sent me a book. Since I was not asked nor did I ask for it, it was a complete surprise. Even more of a surprise when I opened the padded envelope to find a big cookbook! I do not cook. This is not because I can't, I can cook just fine as long as I have a recipe to follow. I don't cook because I don't like to. For some reason

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164762985486406302006-11-28T19:13:00.000-06:002006-11-28T19:16:25.516-06:00

Just coincidentally to yesterday's poetry meme, I finished Patricia Smith's book of poetry, Teahouse of the Almighty, over the weekend. I've mentioned the book twice before and now that I have finished it I can say the whole books is really wonderful. Smith has a strong voice and knows how to use it. I enjoyed the way she plays with sounds and words and rhythms. Sometimes the poems come in a

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164676268850200292006-11-27T19:05:00.000-06:002006-11-27T19:11:08.886-06:00

Hobgoblin has tagged me with Cam's poetry meme. The first poem I remember reading/hearing/reacting to was a silly kid rhyme: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, Was he?My Grandma had these tiny children's books that were the size of matchbooks. There were twelve of them and they lived in a little box. I was probably about six. My sister and I loved these

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164490221698670362006-11-25T15:22:00.000-06:002006-11-25T15:30:21.730-06:00

Another week of fun with Emerson as he delves into the psyche of the English, this time to expound upon their abilities. Everything comes down to race, which, as Emerson sees it, means the English are a fortuitous mixture of Scandinavians (Saxon and "Northmen") and Normans (French). This lends the English both democratic and aristocratic principles, making of them a people of "antagonisms and

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164397047979809252006-11-24T13:34:00.000-06:002006-11-24T13:37:28.023-06:00

My Bookman and I had a dilemma today. We have had a 10% off your entire purchase coupon on top of our membership discount from Barnes and Noble. That in itself is not a dilemma, that is a great thing. The dilemma happened when the store we went to did not have all the books we wanted. Instead of driving to a different store where they had a few of the books and ordering the rest and losing out

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164297713970958372006-11-23T09:55:00.000-06:002006-11-23T10:01:54.013-06:00

This being Thanksgiving and Thursday, what better than a Thankful Thursday Thirteen! To make this remotely interesting, please assume I am thankful for all the usual things like my husband, a good job, my health, etc, etc. Of course I'm thankful for that stuff, who wouldn't be? What else am I thankful for? Plenty! The blue sky. I enjoy good science fiction now and then and have read books that

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164243237067113322006-11-22T18:52:00.000-06:002006-11-22T20:25:25.203-06:00

I didn't grow up in Minnesota, I grew up in southern California so in school I learned the history of California. But now I live in Minnesota and I know very little about the state's history. I don't have children so haven't learned any history by proxy. And while there are actually a number of historical novels set in the Twin Cities and other parts of the state, I never thought to actually

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164158511188822972006-11-21T19:11:00.000-06:002006-11-21T19:21:51.223-06:00

There was nothing tedious about Eugene Field's book Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac. It was sometimes quaint, sometimes folksy, nearly always tongue-in-cheek, and good for a snicker, a chuckle, or an outright guffaw from time to time. I mentioned in a previous post Field's first love--The New England Primer and Captivity Waite. Later in the book we learn Captivity's fate. She married, had children

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1164070789567970292006-11-20T18:57:00.000-06:002006-11-20T18:59:49.600-06:00

I finished Lewis Buzbee's book The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop last week. When I began the book I mentioned that there was something about it I didn't like. I can now say what that something is. But first I must lead up to it a little. The book is billed as a memoir and a history. The history part is the history of the bookseller. Sometimes it is interesting, sometimes sort of bland like he is just

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163971443437191082006-11-19T15:18:00.000-06:002006-11-19T15:24:03.470-06:00

A busy Saturday yesterday prevented me from doing the usual Emerson post but Sunday works just as well. Chapter four of English Traits, Race, is a hoot. At first I thought it was going to be a more typical Emerson argument debunking racial theories of the times. But it turned out to be more of a history of the English character as influenced by the races of those who invaded the country long ago

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163782934482913882006-11-17T10:56:00.000-06:002006-11-17T11:02:14.526-06:00

Last night on my way home from work I caught the tail end of an NPR story on an interesting new cd called Strange Conversation by Kris Delmhorst. She has taken poetry by Walt Whitman, Robert Browning, e.e. cummings and others and turned them into songs. My Bookman was already home when I arrived, had the radio on and had heard the whole thing. As soon as I walked in the door he asked me if I had

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163722100228153992006-11-16T18:05:00.000-06:002006-11-16T18:08:20.300-06:00

Another meme! This one from Kate.How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you? I don't remember learning how to read, but I know I knew how before I got to kindergarten. Maybe since my parents and grandparents and babysitting cousins always read to me it was no big deal when I started reading the book to them. I think my learning to read was a group effort with the bulk of the

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163635463510435132006-11-15T18:03:00.000-06:002006-11-15T18:04:23.556-06:00

You'd think that with all the reading I do books would make frequent appearances in my dreams. They don't. They show up so rarely that when they make themselves known I am surprised by it. Like last night. I dreamed about Proust. I was sitting with a few other people around a table. We had notebooks and pens and various editions of Proust spread out all over. I don't remember there being a

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163552760846927582006-11-14T19:03:00.000-06:002006-11-14T19:06:00.876-06:00

This month's short story up for discussion at A Curious Singularity is Katherine Mansfield's "At the Bay." Mansfield is one of those "I've always meant to get to" authors for me so this has been a nice chance to, well, get to her. My antennae were up as I read because I so love Virginia Woolf and Woolf had such a love/hate relationship with Mansfield. I hoped for some insight about why Mansfield

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163467604026814722006-11-13T19:23:00.000-06:002006-11-13T19:26:44.076-06:00

Litlove has come up with a new meme, this one has aspirations. What part of the past would you bring back if you possibly could? I feel like such a copycat, but Dorothy has it right: summer vacation. It is one of the many things wasted on the young! What character trait would you alter if you could? My shyness. I am quite shy with strangers and in groups larger than four. Even when I have to do

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163280852431672812006-11-11T15:32:00.000-06:002006-11-11T15:34:12.463-06:00

This week's Emerson wasn't quite as fun as last week's when he related his first trip to England and his visits to famous authors, but it was, nonetheless, enjoyable. Chapter two is about sailing to England--from Boston to Liverpool--on his second trip there. He was more famous by then and was invited by a group to come and do a circuit of lectures. He didn't want to go, he admits "I am not a

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163205554899074782006-11-10T18:37:00.000-06:002006-11-10T18:39:14.930-06:00

This is sort of off topic today. I'm looking for information and advice from librarians, wanna be librarians or used to be librarians. You see, I have come to the conclusion I am in need of a career change. Aside from just finding a new and different job, I am also thinking about a return to grad school, this time to study library and information science. Yes, I am thinking being a librarian with

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163120380135173062006-11-09T18:58:00.000-06:002006-11-09T18:59:40.166-06:00

Not only do I have the Buzbee book I mentioned yesterday from my library but I have The Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac by Eugene Field too. This is one of the books Christopher Morley mentions in The Haunted Bookshop. I am so glad my library has it and that I felt compelled to investigate. I started reading it last night and I am enjoying it so much I think I am going to have to see if I can

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1163035628657852582006-11-08T19:23:00.000-06:002006-11-08T19:27:08.690-06:00

Iliana mentioned yesterday that she is a Barnes and Noble member and got a spiffy holiday catalog. I felt slighted since I too am a member and did not receive a catalog. But, lo and behold! What should be in my mailbox today but the catalog! If I had Will Robinson's robot from Lost in Space he'd be frantically waving his arms and shouting "Danger! Danger!" right now. I have no such warning system

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162946823396409382006-11-07T18:44:00.000-06:002006-11-07T18:47:03.430-06:00

Now that the RIP Challenge is done and I don't have to worry about finishing The Fourth Bear before it's due back at the library, I've picked up Proust again. The problem with Proust, if one could call it a problem, is that he makes it hard to pay attention to the words on the page. Time and time again I start reading and within five minutes or so he's got me thinking about my own past and

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162861478548066732006-11-06T19:03:00.000-06:002006-11-06T19:04:38.593-06:00

I finished reading The Fourth Bear, Jasper Fforde's latest last night. I had wondered how he was going to manage to pull together all these wild and seemingly unrelated pieces, but he did. And of course there was much cleverness involved. One of the things I enjoyed about the book was the characters would sometimes make comments about the story and the author. For instance, there is a very minor

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162757701211657812006-11-05T14:14:00.000-06:002006-11-05T14:15:01.243-06:00

Emerson took a back seat yesterday to grocery shopping, purchasing new dance shoes, enjoying the "warm" weather, and watching X-Men. But that's okay because he has been a perfect Sunday morning read. The next several weeks I'll be working my way through the chapters of Emerson's book English Traits. The book was published in 1856 and is based on a series of lectures he gave. Emerson first

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162662441495852382006-11-04T11:28:00.000-06:002006-11-04T11:47:21.526-06:00

I had sworn off all challenges for the rest of the year, but Overdue Books has issued one that I actually have a chance of achieving. All I have to do is read five books I already own between now and January 30th. Easy right? Well, considering I have two books waiting for me at the library it might not be a walk in the park, or a piece of cake. But I will give a go. Here's my five:On Beauty and

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162598041056800122006-11-03T17:49:00.000-06:002006-11-03T17:54:01.086-06:00

Now that the cold is settling in and I have had to revert to a stationary bike going nowhere fast, I thought this year I'd try something different. Usually I listen to music. I have a few CDs with songs that help me through a workout. But that gets old fast, listening to the same songs over and over again. My Bookman is an audio book aficionado and has a small audio library of choice books. I am

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162515075493285162006-11-02T18:46:00.000-06:002006-11-02T19:01:00.703-06:00

A long day at work and my mind is rather empty. Some may ask how this is any different than usual. To you I respond with an appropriately blank stare (and I might be able to summon up some drool for you too). It's odds and ends today. I have really mixed feelings about Time Traveler's Wife being made into a movie. Part of me thinks it will be fun. The other part of me is screaming, "Nnnnnoooooo!

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162427453140478712006-11-01T18:30:00.000-06:002006-11-01T18:30:53.200-06:00

I'm about halfway through Jasper Fforde's The Fourth Bear. I'm not sure what to make of it yet. There are lots of funny moments but as a whole the book is all over the place. There's about three major plots going and subplots popping up like weeds. I will be quite interested to see how, or if, Fforde manages to pull it all together by the end. Two things of particular amusement however, have

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162319524875955662006-10-31T12:27:00.000-06:002006-10-31T12:32:04.906-06:00

I am not a scary book aficionado so I asked my husband what was the scariest book he ever read. He said Stephen King's The Dead Zone because you are on the edge of death for the whole book. I saw the movie and that was enough for me. For some reason I have seen lots of scary movies. I don't watch scary movies anymore because being scared has ceased to be fun. But since I don't have books to

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162254879475847152006-10-30T18:31:00.000-06:002006-10-30T18:34:39.506-06:00

If you're from some place like San Francisco or Seattle, Chicago or New York City, you probably get used to seeing your town mentioned in various media. But when you are born and raised in a town in southern California of about 75,000 people (now up to 95,000) called El Cajon, you are kinda surprised to see the place in print. I mean, the city isn't exactly a destination of any kind. It sits in a

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162141729991239752006-10-29T11:03:00.000-06:002006-10-29T11:08:50.046-06:00

Cross-posted at Slaves of Golconda What a whirlwind of a book Indiana is! Illicit love, running away, suicide, silent suffering and more. The book is about a lot of things but what sticks with me most is the selfishness. All the characters are selfish in one way or another and they all suspect each other of it but never themselves. The only one who is honest about his selfishness is M. Delmare.

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1162066475822359142006-10-28T15:12:00.000-05:002006-10-28T15:14:35.866-05:00

I could not guess what Emerson had in store for me in his essay New England Reformers. What a nice surprise it turned out to be. He begins the essay talking about the myriad reform movements of the last 25 years (1819-1844) and even pokes fun at them before coming around and saying that they all came initially from a legitimate protest against "existing evils" and some of them even brought about

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161981749021131902006-10-27T15:39:00.000-05:002006-10-27T15:42:29.066-05:00

Another mental health day off from work today. What better way to spend it than reading The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley? What a delightfully fun book it is too. The final book on my RIP Challenge list turns out to be a mystery rather than a ghost story. The bookshop in the story is called The Haunted Bookshop, but as the proprietor, Roger Mifflin (his original story can be found in

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161892680458388132006-10-26T14:56:00.000-05:002006-10-26T14:58:00.493-05:00

When my Bookman came home from work last night he found me crying over Indiana. No, not the character of Indiana, or Ralph, or Raymon or any of them. I was crying because of what happens to Ophelia. It was so unexpected and so uncalled for that I felt like I had been whacked on the head with an oar. Why did George Sand do that? She could have kept her out of that mess. It's not as if it added all

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161819715901151592006-10-25T18:35:00.000-05:002006-10-26T07:49:48.523-05:00

No one has ever accused me of being an innovator or an early adopter. I usually fall in somewhere among the crowd, as with the "five things" meme. Since I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts, it's a good crowd to fall in with. So here you go, five things you probably not know about me:I was one of the inaugural players on my high school girls varsity soccer team. Thanks to Title IV and a bunch

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161732225955667332006-10-24T18:21:00.000-05:002006-10-24T18:23:45.990-05:00

I've been trying to compose a post on Proust and love for the last week or so but have not managed to get my thoughts together for it. Tonight is no exception. In fact, it seems I can't get much thought together at all this evening. I am therefore resorting to an old standby when things get desperate: a reading update.   If you could see the corner of my desk--well you could if I took a picture

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161647112695339502006-10-23T18:41:00.000-05:002006-10-23T18:47:12.773-05:00

When all the leaves have been blown off the trees and each day the temperature is not as warm as it was the day before, when the gloom of late fall settles in to stay awhile and going outside requires more than just slipping on sandals, one of the best things to do to is go to the bookstore of course! My Bookman and I visited Half Price Books this weekend and came home with some great finds:

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161529594257931492006-10-22T09:56:00.000-05:002006-10-22T10:06:34.293-05:00

Dovegreyreader has an interesting link to The Gender Genie. Paste in a blog post or some other text and the Gender Genie will guess whether the author is male or female. It even gives you a score and a spiffy graph breakdown of male and female keywords. The answer from the Gender Genie is based on an algorithm. Who decides what words are male and what words are female I have no idea. I put in my

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161469257420282102006-10-21T17:19:00.000-05:002006-10-21T17:20:57.450-05:00

The title of the post is what has got to be the best Emerson sentence ever. It appears in the essay Nominalist and Realist, and as near as I can figure, means something like, we came for the parts and not the whole. But seeing as how condiments are sometimes the best thing about a meal, it might make a perfect kitchen motto. For some reason I found the essay difficult to grasp. I had to read it

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161377571154299852006-10-20T15:51:00.000-05:002006-10-20T15:52:51.196-05:00

I've not mentioned that I've been making my way through The Best Supernatural Tales of Arthur Conan Doyle so slowly that I fear I won't have time to get to the fifth and final RIP Challenge book. To be sure, the stories are filled with ghosts, a mummy, mesmerism, and all brand of supernatural mayhem, but on the whole they are sort of boring. Maybe if I had read them in their own time I would have

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161303425642311152006-10-19T19:15:00.000-05:002006-10-19T19:17:05.680-05:00

Susan has inspired a list making frenzy with her Thursday Thirteen post on the thirteen classics she wants to read in 2007. It's never too early to start planning next year's reading and there are a bunch of classics I've been meaning to get to. So I thought I'd give my own list a shot:Tristram Shandy by Laurence SterneAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyLolita by Vladimir NabokovThe Metamorphisis by

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161212314781874302006-10-18T17:53:00.000-05:002006-10-18T17:58:34.816-05:00

I am currently a library delinquent. My copy of Indiana was due yesterday so I logged on to my library's website to renew it. Imagine how surprised I was when it wouldn't let me! Apparently there is only one copy in the Minneapolis library system and someone else has the nerve to want to read it right now! I wish there was some way of contacting that person to negotiate--I just need it for two

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161128573015159282006-10-17T18:39:00.000-05:002006-10-17T18:42:53.056-05:00

I like to think I provide a certain amount of entertainment for anyone who drops by, but from time to time I can be useful too. I've come to the end of my browsing through The New Book of Lists where I found a list called "16 Tips for Removing Household Stains." Two of the tips are book-related and so of course I have to share them with you:Hot Drinks on Blanket While Reading in Bed. Rinse

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1161041983768898402006-10-16T18:36:00.000-05:002006-10-16T18:39:43.803-05:00

This weekend was the Twin Cities Book Festival. It is not a huge, multi-day event like some major book festivals you've probably heard about. Our festival is one day and fits inside the large cafeteria at a local community college in Minneapolis. The author events take place in one of two conference rooms. But it is fun. And while it wasn't crowded, there was definitely a crowd. In the

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160870788445729202006-10-14T19:05:00.000-05:002006-10-14T19:06:28.486-05:00

Emerson's essay, Politics, seems like it could have been written today and fits nicely into the adage "the more things change, the more they remain the same." He says things like:The same necessity which secures the rights of person and property against the malignity or folly of the magistrate, determines the form and methods of governing, which are proper to each nation and to its habit of

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160780249309120502006-10-13T17:56:00.000-05:002006-10-13T19:53:31.313-05:00

Tess Gallagher last night was wonderful. Good thing too since we braved snow flurries and wind chill in the teens to see her. Gallagher read from and talked about her new book, Dear Ghosts (this is Graywolf Press's site and in you are interested, there are a few poems from the book you can read). She looks a lot different than when I saw her ten or so years ago. Then she had long hair and I

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160780166176795782006-10-13T17:53:00.000-05:002006-10-13T17:56:06.223-05:00

Everyone's literary knowledge is quite impressive! The only one no one got was Tenderness. If I didn't have the answers in front of me I would have failed miserably. Now, without further ado:First Impressions = Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen All's Well That Ends Well = War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (you were right Brandon, don't second guess yourself!) The Sea-Cook = Treasure Island by Robert

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160692062095277762006-10-12T17:24:00.000-05:002006-10-12T17:27:42.136-05:00

My Bookman and I are off to see Tess Gallagher read from her new book of poetry Dear Ghosts, her first book in 14 years. I've heard her read once, at a memorial reading for Jane Kenyon, that is actually where I first learned about her. So I am looking forward to the reading. Now for a little something for fun. A contest to test your literary knowledge. The following list consists of the original

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160610763555330222006-10-11T18:52:00.000-05:002006-10-11T18:52:43.596-05:00

Recently Sylvia wrote a great post about her reading notes and even has a photo from her notebook. I am so impressed by her note taking that I have been thinking about my own note taking--or lack thereof--ever since. I mentioned yesterday that I considered giving up on Proust. One of the reasons was the note taking. I diligently made notes on the top of nearly every page of Swann's Way. It was

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160525138582267092006-10-10T19:04:00.000-05:002006-10-10T19:05:38.633-05:00

Cross-posted at Involuntary Memory I am moving along through In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower. I am not moving along as fast as I would like, but even slow is good considering after finishing Swann's Way I had a day or two of resistance to continuing the endeavor. But I am glad I am doing so because this volume is really good. There is a section I very much enjoyed recently that every

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160427470273131502006-10-09T15:53:00.000-05:002006-10-09T15:57:50.310-05:00

Since I read I am Legend by Richard Matheson as a RIP challenge book, and since my Bookman had read the book long ago, we rented the movie The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston. Talk about your B movie! There were great liberties taken with the story from the book. Instead of vampires the movie made them into regular people who just couldn't go out in daylight. But so you could tell the

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160342809023619252006-10-08T16:26:00.000-05:002006-10-08T16:26:49.066-05:00

I have re-read Emerson's essay, Nature, and pronounce it wow. There is so much in it that I could go on and on and on. It's one of those essays that would be fun to sit around a fire with a bunch of friends and stay up all night just talking about it. BikeProf had a great post about Emerson the other day which made me wish I was in his class. Emerson's writing seems at its best when he is ga-ga

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160260393167533162006-10-07T17:30:00.000-05:002006-10-07T17:33:28.833-05:00

There are days which occur in this climate, at almost any season of the year, wherein the world reaches its perfection; when the air, the heavenly bodies and the earth, make harmony, as if nature would indulge her offspring; when, in these bleak upper sides of the planet, nothing is to desire that we have hear of the happiest latitudes, and we bask in the shining hours of Florida and Cuba; when

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160160003631845012006-10-06T13:31:00.000-05:002006-10-06T13:40:03.696-05:00

My subscription to the New York Review of Books will soon be expiring as the frequent notices of renewal in my mailbox keep reminding me. This is the first time I ever subscribed to it and I was disappointed. I didn't find much on fiction and there seems to be a big focus on political books and issues. There is nothing wrong with that, just not what I'm looking for. I have no plans to renew it,

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160051918983900782006-10-05T07:29:00.000-05:002006-10-05T16:16:26.600-05:00

Literate Kitten has a Halloween meme so I thought I'd take a book break and play along.What is you favorite work of horror fiction? This is hard because I don't read a lot of horror fiction because I have a tendency to get nightmares. So I'm going to go with Shirley Jackson's story "The Lottery" for sheer creepiness. What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy? I can't choose a favorite

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1160005048335742482006-10-04T18:35:00.000-05:002006-10-04T18:37:28.376-05:00

Another RIP Book completed! I finished I am Legend by Richard Matheson. If my Bookman had not insisted I read it for the challenge I never would have. He is an enjoyer of all things vampiric and I am rather indifferent (thought I loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Our copy is a 1954 book club edition with an appropriately pulp-y cover. A man, presumably the hero, stands atop something we cannot

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159917988760659782006-10-03T18:26:00.000-05:002006-10-03T18:26:28.790-05:00

I finished reading The Looking Glass Wars the other day. I must say I quite enjoyed it. The book is no earth-shattering classic to sit alongside Lewis Carroll's books, but it is entertaining and sometimes that's all one wants. The story is not a complete reworking of Alice in Wonderland. Beddor takes pieces of the Alice books and turns them into a different story, familiar but not a retelling.

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159836641951802282006-10-02T19:46:00.000-05:002006-10-02T19:50:41.993-05:00

The stars have aligned and poetry is everywhere. Dorothy has a great post today about poetry. But even before that, I was thinking about it. I've somehow managed to up my annual poetry book quotient from an average of one per year to two so far this year and I am well on my way to three. Plus, since my Bookman and I moved all of our poetry books upstairs, I've dipped into more of them than I ever

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159635999252303592006-09-30T12:06:00.000-05:002006-09-30T12:06:39.296-05:00

I very much enjoyed Emerson's essay Gifts, probably because I am in agreement with him on the matter. Emerson is bothered by what is given and the manner in which it is given. Plus, Emerson also admits to having difficulty choosing gifts (gotta like him for admitting that). There are many problems when giving a gift beginning with why. Are you giving a gift in order to put someone in your debt?

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159626478319812842006-09-30T09:21:00.000-05:002006-09-30T09:27:58.350-05:00

You Are Impressionism You think the world is quite beautiful, especially if you look at it in new and interesting ways. You tend to focus on color and movement in art. For you, seeing the big picture is much more important than recording every little detail. You can find inspiration anywhere... especially from nature.What Art Movement Are You? Yes, that's about right. I love how change in light

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159571723687811082006-09-29T18:15:00.000-05:002006-09-29T18:17:47.543-05:00

One of the lists I found yesterday was a list of lipogramatic novels. Now it's a good thing the introduction to the list included a definition of lipogram because I am really bad at remembering literary terms. The only ones I can reliably get are sonnet and haiku. I'm pretty good with points of view too. Ask me what an anagram is and I will give you a blank stare. And I am hopeless if I have to

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159488525314091802006-09-28T19:05:00.000-05:002006-09-28T19:09:29.550-05:00

I was taking a brain break at work today while browsing the Cannongate website. They have a book that caught my eye, The Book of Lists. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who love lists and those who don't. I love lists. So I looked up the book at my library and requested it. In the meantime, I've been having fun looking at lists on the Cannongate site. These are not lists from the

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159400938665071412006-09-27T18:48:00.000-05:002006-09-27T18:48:58.696-05:00

Now that the weather has turned too cold to comfortably enjoy lunch outdoors, I have had to retreat to the staff break room. I worried that I was not going to get to read at all today as several chatty people would not leave me alone. But the book gods smiled upon me for a change and somehow as I neared the Pit of Despair, everyone suddenly left the room and for nearly 45 minutes I was the only

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159315417410636682006-09-26T19:02:00.000-05:002006-09-26T19:03:37.450-05:00

In addition to finishing The Monk over the weekend, I read two Virginia Woolf short stories, "The Evening Party" and "Solid Objects." Both are quite short. In "The Evening Party" we are at a party and we catch all kinds of pieces of conversation about literature and other things. There is a character in the story , Professor Brierly, who, the text's note tells me, is a forerunner of the

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159229400954124852006-09-25T19:08:00.000-05:002006-09-25T19:10:00.996-05:00

Cold and raining, Saturday was a perfect day to make an effort to finishing reading The Monk. I curled up on my reading chaise and ignored the dust bunnies, the email I am overdue in answering, the computer, and other books. I had a cup of coffee and some cookies. I read and read and read and oh my gosh I couldn't stop. I yelled at the characters, I laughed at them, I held my breath in horror.

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159052969378716452006-09-23T18:02:00.000-05:002006-09-23T18:09:29.410-05:00

The winner of a copy of The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor is Susan! Thank you all for playing. Your favorite characters and the reasons were great. In case you are wondering who my favorite character is, I'm torn between the Caterpillar and Humpty Dumpty, but I think I'll have to go with Humpty. His philosophical rambles and the idea of an egg sitting so blithely atop a wall, well, it

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1159048715671830122006-09-23T16:51:00.000-05:002006-09-23T16:58:35.720-05:00

I find Emerson's essay Manners to be rather disturbing. Perhaps I missed something somewhere and someone more enlightened than I can set me straight. But it seems to me that Emerson begins the essay by talking about the horrors of the "Feejee islanders getting their dinner off human bones," the Tiboos who live in caves, the Bronoos who don't have proper names, and other uncivilized "savages" to

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1158962798562343072006-09-22T17:03:00.000-05:002006-09-22T17:06:38.613-05:00

Everyone thought she had made it up, and she had tolerated more taunting and teasing from other children, more lectures and punishments from grown-ups, than any eleven-year-old should have to bear. But now, after four years, it had arrived: her last, best chance to prove to them all that she had been telling the truth. A college scholar had thought enough of her history to write it up as a book.

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3776582.post-1158882984761649832006-09-21T18:55:00.000-05:002006-09-21T18:56:24.800-05:00

Cross-posted at Involuntary Memory My mind feels rather dull today. I don't know if it is due to the weather--cold and rainy--or the stressful week at work I've been having (I'm beginning to think it might be time to look for a new job), or maybe my brain really is dull and I'm just now coming to the realization. Whatever the case, I have been meaning to write about Proust all week but have

Stefaniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14943596258182968212noreply@blogger.com