Comments on: Book Catchup http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:49:22 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: plainy http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/#comment-179 plainy Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:50:38 +0000 http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/#comment-179 Nina, preliminary question: Who is Charles Lamb? Nina, preliminary question: Who is Charles Lamb?

]]> By: nina http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/#comment-178 nina Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:04:21 +0000 http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/#comment-178 lately, my reading has been cut way down because i met The Office and we are in a whirlwind relationship. i'm actually grateful for the writers' strike because it limits the amount of this show i can watch. but the stuff i have been reading has all been short. a new yorker catch up extravaganza yielded some excellent results, including an interesting geraldine brooks piece, a wonderful jonathan lethem story (the king of sentences), and another great atul gawande piece. anne fadiman has another incredible book of essays out, and i waited for months and months for it to go paperback and it didn't so i bought it hardcover and it was worth it. the essays are of varying quality (i think the book becomes less excellent as it goes along), but the preface and first essay cemented her position as my favorite writer of recent years. if you are interested in Charles Lamb, butterflies, ice cream, canoeing, arctic exploration, circadian rhythms, or coffee, there will be something you will enjoy. or if you are interested in reading itself, check out the also excellent earlier collection, ex libris, which gave me a total lisa-simpson- wishing-i-was-part-of-that-family-instead-but-realizing-they-are- too-smart-for-me feeling. also, thanks to the good suggestion of my book club, i am halfway through all aunt hagar's children and it is amazing. i don't know how i didn't know about edward p. jones since he won a genius grant and a pulitzer prize and lives in d.c., but i didn't, and i'm really glad i do now. I have always loved short stories, and these are truly excellent. has anybody read the known world? it was his big award winner and i suspect it was also wonderful. lately, my reading has been cut way down because i met The Office and we are in a whirlwind relationship. i’m actually grateful for the writers’ strike because it limits the amount of this show i can watch.

but the stuff i have been reading has all been short. a new yorker catch up extravaganza yielded some excellent results, including an interesting geraldine brooks piece, a wonderful jonathan lethem story (the king of sentences), and another great atul gawande piece.

anne fadiman has another incredible book of essays out, and i waited for months and months for it to go paperback and it didn’t so i bought it hardcover and it was worth it. the essays are of varying quality (i think the book becomes less excellent as it goes along), but the preface and first essay cemented her position as my favorite writer of recent years. if you are interested in Charles Lamb, butterflies, ice cream, canoeing, arctic exploration, circadian rhythms, or coffee, there will be something you will enjoy. or if you are interested in reading itself, check out the also excellent earlier collection, ex libris, which gave me a total lisa-simpson-
wishing-i-was-part-of-that-family-instead-but-realizing-they-are-
too-smart-for-me feeling.

also, thanks to the good suggestion of my book club, i am halfway through all aunt hagar’s children and it is amazing. i don’t know how i didn’t know about edward p. jones since he won a genius grant and a pulitzer prize and lives in d.c., but i didn’t, and i’m really glad i do now. I have always loved short stories, and these are truly excellent. has anybody read the known world? it was his big award winner and i suspect it was also wonderful.

]]> By: Bearolyn http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/#comment-163 Bearolyn Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:37:52 +0000 http://plain.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/book-catchup/#comment-163 I haven't read these, though I'm really interested in reading Kite Runner and, as a side note, think it's really strange the way the movie's being portrayed in previews given all the controversy with those kids. I'm reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Free-Life-Novel-Ha-Jin/dp/0375424652" rel="nofollow">Ha Jin's a Free Life</a>. Right now, basically, it's an account of a family that moves to the US and tries to make a new life after the Tiananmen Square massacre. So far, doesn't read beautifully (possibly due to the author's Chinese background) but is illuminating as a completely different perspective than my own in the US, and more about China's politics than I knew before. I haven’t read these, though I’m really interested in reading Kite Runner and, as a side note, think it’s really strange the way the movie’s being portrayed in previews given all the controversy with those kids.

I’m reading Ha Jin’s a Free Life. Right now, basically, it’s an account of a family that moves to the US and tries to make a new life after the Tiananmen Square massacre. So far, doesn’t read beautifully (possibly due to the author’s Chinese background) but is illuminating as a completely different perspective than my own in the US, and more about China’s politics than I knew before.

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