Just to make some noise, I am reading A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by Konigsburg, one of the many books I bought at The Tattered Cover. It's good! Entertaining! Funny! Not quite what I expected from what is basically a biography about Eleanor of Aquitaine. But she's a sassy lady, that Eleanor. I haven't read any of Konigsburg's books for younger people in such a long time - it's been her YA stuff, like at Simmons. I read her George last month and that was great, too. Any E.L. Konigsburg commentary?
Oh my good heavens. Someone just put books in the book drop, which is LIKE, 15 feet from the circ desk. I can SEE her! No eye contact, of course. Why put books in the drop when 20 seconds would mean I don't have to go out into the cold, unlock and pry the damn thing open, and fish around for the books? I bet they are overdue and that's why she won't come in - let's check.
- - - - - - -
Oh yes, can I call them or what? That's $7.75 in fines, a broken bag for the kids' book and tape combo and that's not even all they have out. No actual books, just magazines and books on tape. Light readers, they are.
Don't get me wrong - I love magazines. But I think they should be tempered with books.
Is anyone else reading?
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- The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
- Absolutely, Positively Not - David LaRochelle
- Zap - Paul Fleischman
- Stay with Me - Garret Freymann-Weyr
- Blow Out the Moon - Libby Koponen
- The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
- American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
- Kalpana's Dream - Judith Clarke
- The Body of Christpher Creed - Carol Plum-Ucci
- The Canning Season - Polly Horvath
- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
- Wrecked - E. R. Frank
- Burning City - Ariel & Joaquin Dorfman
- Stuck in Neutral - Terry Trueman
- Criss Cross - Lynne Rae Perkins
- Sandpiper - Ellen Wittlinger
- Looking for Alaska - John Green
- Full Service - Will Weaver
- Black Hole - Charles Burns
- Autobiography of My Dead Brother - Walter Dean Myers
- Geography Club - Brent Hartinger
- So B. It - Sarah Weeks
- A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray
- Bound - Donna Jo Napoli
- Fortune's Bones: The Manumission Requiem - Marilyn Nelson
- The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place - E. L. Konigsburg
- Chasing Vermeer - Blue Balliett
- The Gravedigger's Cottage - Chris Lynch
- House of Stairs - William Sleator
- HOOT - Carl Hiaasen
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6 comments:
Funny you should mention Konigsburg - I was just helping Katya with a Crit paper which she chose to write about From the Secret Files, which I haven't read since I was ten and thus don't remember. It may have been the first book I was supposed to read for homework, and I think that frazzled me to the point where I could not enjoy the actual reading.
And I was just talking with someone about how the cover of the Shuyler Place book (a big fat pink rose)depressed me when Konigsburg's books so carefully draw in both male and female readers. Damn marketing!
Still reading Lirael, slowly but surely. It's not as good as Sabriel. You, and KDawg, were right on that point.
And bad news: I made an overly friendly gesture and lent my copy of Naked to my roommate for her various flights this holiday season. What was I thinking?
And funny YOU (JoBiv) should mention Sedaris. I am painstakingly making my way through Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Somehow, after hysterically laughing (to the point of tears) through his other books, I'm finding it very difficult to read more than five pages at a time. I might just be lazy, but I definitely think this is not his best. Oh well. I'm about 30 pages from the end, and I know I can do it. Just call me the little engine...
But after that, I have Eats, Shoots & Leaves to read (an early Christmas present!), which I have been dying to devour. I don't think it's a sit-down-and-read-cover-to-cover kind of book, but I'm excited to hear what this Brit has to say.
SUs...
WHAT! I'm reading Dress too and just quoted a passage for Alec. I have only read ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY but so far I like this one (I'm on page 59). Here's the part I read to Alec:
talking about his parents buying a beach house when he was little
"'But it's perfect,' my father said. 'A real beauty, just like your mother here.' He came from hehind and pinched her on the bottom. She laughed and swatted him with a towel, and we witnessed what we would later come to recognize as the rejuvenating power of real estate. I'ts what fortunate couples turn to when their sex life has faded and they're to pious for affairs. A second car might bring pople together for a week or two, but a second home can revialize a marriage for up to nine months after the closing.
That is some funny stuff...
I read Me Talk Pretty One Day a few months ago and loved it. Dana has a few of his oral bits (that sounds dirty) on an This American Life CD. Jesus Shaves, I think.
I liked Me Talk Pretty One Day, but my favorite Sedaris stuff is some of his essays and stories in Barrel Fever and Naked. He seriously is BRILLIANT. And yes, I wrote that in all caps.
I finished Dress this weekend, and I stand by my original comments: not his best. It just felt forced and not really funny and the endings weren't really punctuated (or they tried to be but felt phony) and many of the stories didn't have a driving force. Some were funny (and that quote, JLiz, is quite funny), of course, but I just didn't feel the book overall was impressive. But that's okay. He's allowed one, I figure. And I'm sure others think it's brilliant, so that's fine, too. Even though they're wrong.
KIDDING!
I took a brief glance at Holidays On Ice at Booksmith - they had CDs for $32. I hate money.
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