Well, not much anyway. Everyone has talked about it so much now (Colleen had some great posts and comments on her blog), I don't need to repeat it. It was a wonderful book, a perfect end to the story; I read it all in one 10-hour sitting on Saturday. And though I was sad it's over, I'm looking forward to reading all the books again sometime soon.
In other reading news, I just had another bout of my Mafia obsession. Finished Wiseguy and The Last Mafioso, which I picked up at a recent garage sale. Wiseguy was great; it's the book on which the movie GoodFellas is based. The Last Mafioso was only okay -- I was a bit dubious as to how someone could so distinctly remember word-for-word conversations that were 30 or more years old.
I've moved on to the delightful Sex with the Queen. It's such a guilty pleasure -- a little bit of history along with some very scandalous details.
Hope to have some crafting news soon; I'm back to knitting and have another new craft I'm working on.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Woo Hoo!
According to Amazon.com, my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is currently in Detroit, having left Maumee, Ohio, yesterday. I still think there's a chance I may get it today. Can UPS really deliver the millions of pre-ordered copies in one day? Are they as good as Santa Claus?
I didn't want to go to a store to buy it tomorrow. I'm rather deathly afraid of mean people yelling out spoilers. So I will go on a media blockade, probably starting later today. No more Web, no more TV -- I'll probably even avoid the paper tomorrow morning.
I'll be back next week to blog about the book like everybody else. Have a great weekend.
I didn't want to go to a store to buy it tomorrow. I'm rather deathly afraid of mean people yelling out spoilers. So I will go on a media blockade, probably starting later today. No more Web, no more TV -- I'll probably even avoid the paper tomorrow morning.
I'll be back next week to blog about the book like everybody else. Have a great weekend.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Beware the Web!
Attention all Harry Potter fans -- You probably want to avoid the Web as much as possible in the next few days. USA Today is reporting that someone allegedly photographed pages of The Deathly Hallows and put it on the Web. I was browsing through StumbleUpon yesterday, and happened on a plain text page that seemed to contain spoilers. I'm not sure if it's true or not -- as soon as I realized what it was, I changed the page. But I may have found out key plot details accidentally (let's just say I really hope what I read is wrong). So watch where you travel on the Web!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Adding to the Stash
It's been about six months since my last trip to one of my local second-hand bookstores. I got eight books for about $28, and that includes a trade paperback and a Virago Modern Classic. The full list:
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I read The Moonstone (again) last year and I've heard about The Woman in White many times.
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. Seems like something I should read given that I was an English major. And my boss highly recommended it.
The First Man in Rome. Thanks to Siew for the reminder about Colleen McCullough's series about Julius Caeser. I was very disappointed that they only had one of the series of six, but at least it was the first one. I'll be checking out Half.Com for the rest.
This Side of Paradise and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I really haven't read enough 20th century literature, so I think it's time. I'd had enough Fitzgerald in school (from reading The Great Gatsby three times in about 18 months), but I think it's finally been long enough that I can try some more.
Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger. When I've had my fill with Fitzgerald and Collins for awhile, this will be a nice bit of fluff to cleanse the palate.
The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor, a Virago Modern Classic. I wouldn't even know about Elizabeth Taylor or Viragos if it weren't for Danielle. I'm looking forward to a book I otherwise wouldn't have picked up.
Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman. Really, isn't the title enough just to make you want to pick it up and check it out? In this case, I read the author's Sex With Kings, and it was quite intriguing. This looks to be the same. Even better? It was a trade paperback with a 10-page color center insert for only $5.00!
Still a little ways to go with Caeser. But it's going to be hard not to pick up one of these before I do!
Also -- I've finally updated my blogroll. Check out some of the really cool blogs I'm reading.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Reading, But Not Blogging
Well, I'm keeping up with reading lots and lots of blogs, but writing my own seems to have fallen by the wayside. Work has been pretty busy the last couple of weeks and grad school sucks up an enormous amount of time.
But -- I start vacation on the 4th and my current class ends this Saturday. So hopefully I can get back to some regular blogging.
In reading, I'm still slogging my way through Caeser. It's interesting, though a bit dry. I have to say, most of my knowledge of Caeser comes from Cleopatra or Rome -- neither of which are very reliable sources. Plus, both of those really only deal with the last few years of Caeser's life. Right now, Caeser is campaigning his way through Gaul (I just love the names Romans gave to parts of what is now modern-day France -- wouldn't it be cool to say "Yes, I live in Transalpine Gaul."?) Yes, I know, I'm a geek.
Caeser was dry enough that I needed a break. I tend not to do that, because there's a strong likelihood that after my break, I don't go back to the book I was reading. I was once halfway through War and Peace and stopped to take a break. Big mistake. Anyway, I polished off Stephen King's Night Shift in the last few days. Stephen King was really one of the first "adult" writers that I read. Reading these short stories again was pleasantly nostalgic -- and really creepy at the same time. The man sure knows how to scare the bejeebers out of his readers.
But -- I start vacation on the 4th and my current class ends this Saturday. So hopefully I can get back to some regular blogging.
In reading, I'm still slogging my way through Caeser. It's interesting, though a bit dry. I have to say, most of my knowledge of Caeser comes from Cleopatra or Rome -- neither of which are very reliable sources. Plus, both of those really only deal with the last few years of Caeser's life. Right now, Caeser is campaigning his way through Gaul (I just love the names Romans gave to parts of what is now modern-day France -- wouldn't it be cool to say "Yes, I live in Transalpine Gaul."?) Yes, I know, I'm a geek.
Caeser was dry enough that I needed a break. I tend not to do that, because there's a strong likelihood that after my break, I don't go back to the book I was reading. I was once halfway through War and Peace and stopped to take a break. Big mistake. Anyway, I polished off Stephen King's Night Shift in the last few days. Stephen King was really one of the first "adult" writers that I read. Reading these short stories again was pleasantly nostalgic -- and really creepy at the same time. The man sure knows how to scare the bejeebers out of his readers.
Friday, June 15, 2007
To The North
When I picked up To The North by Elizabeth Bowen, it was primarily because it was a Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics Edition. The distinctive cover immediately caught my eye on the shelf of the used bookstore. But I'd never heard of her or the book.
I had a hard time getting into it. To The North is the story of Cecilia and her sister-in-law Emmeline. Cecilia is widowed but has a suitor in the form of the rather passionless Julian Tower. Emmeline, quiet and gentle, is surprised by her attraction to the "predatory" Mark Linkwater. Bowen's writing style is a bit flowery for me and took a little getting used to. Here's an example:
I had a hard time getting into it. To The North is the story of Cecilia and her sister-in-law Emmeline. Cecilia is widowed but has a suitor in the form of the rather passionless Julian Tower. Emmeline, quiet and gentle, is surprised by her attraction to the "predatory" Mark Linkwater. Bowen's writing style is a bit flowery for me and took a little getting used to. Here's an example:
But intense experience interposed like a veil between herself and these objects. When he spoke or approached it was for an instant as though the veil parted; something unknown came through -- though he was all the time formlessly near her like heat or light. His being was written all over her; if he was not, she was not: then they both dissipated and hung in the air. But still something restlessly ate up the air, like a flame burning.It was a little odd at first, but her style grew on me. Once I got to the halfway point, I had a hard time putting it down. There are several other novels and short-story collections of hers available, and I would definitely read her again.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Books and Movies
I finished two books over the weekend. The first was The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein. It's sort of a biography of Mary Shelley, her husband, Percy Shelley, Lord Bryon and John Polidori -- especially revolving around that infamous night in 1816 when they challenged each other to write ghost stories. Shelley's Frankenstein is the most popular, but I've read Polidori's Lord Ruthven and it's quite good. It's supposedly the first fictional appearance of a vampire in the form we recognize today -- and the model for all vampire characters since. Poor Lord Bryon -- Lord Ruthven is supposedly based on him and it doesn't paint a very nice portrait.
Mary Shelley's life was unbelievably sad; her mother died in childbirth, her father never paid her any attention and she lost her first three children at very young ages. But I learned a lot about her and I'm very tempted to pick up Frankenstein to read it again.
After The Monsters and Mao, I needed something a little lighter and I cruised through The Nanny Diaries in just a couple of sittings. It was exactly what I needed -- something light and fluffy with just enough of a character to root for. It's structured almost exactly like The Devil Wears Prada, but I liked The Nanny Diaries much better.
I've also seen a bunch of good movies lately. Notes on a Scandal was kind of like watching a train wreck; you didn't really want to see it but you couldn't pull away. Judi Dench is unbelievable. I don't watch many foreign films but Zhang Yimou is fascinating to me. I watched Curse of the Golden Flower and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Seriously, watch one of his films sometime. I'm sure I'll get comments about this, but I can't think of an American film director who shoots movies like that. It's almost like color is another character in the movie. Curse of the Golden Flower is Hamlet-like with lots of family intrigue and violence. And definitely worth seeing.
Finally, last night I watched The Queen. I'd had the movie in the house for more than a week and a half, yet I kept putting it off. I think I really didn't want to relive that terrible time when Diane died. I was a very impressionable 15 years old when I got up at 4 am to watch her get married; and she was only four years older than I was. It was hard to have to sit through her death again. And let's just say the members of the Royal Family do NOT come off very well in this film. It is, of course, difficult to judge some of the conversations. You know the Royal Family isn't talking about that and I doubt Tony Blair is either -- so how accurate they are is anybody's guess. Still, given what the public saw, the conversations seem realistic. And Helen Mirren is, of course, fantastic as Queen Elizabeth.
Posts will continue to remain spotty as graduate school takes up more time than I imagined. But my refuge is still reading for my own pleasure, and I'm going to try to do as much as I can.
Mary Shelley's life was unbelievably sad; her mother died in childbirth, her father never paid her any attention and she lost her first three children at very young ages. But I learned a lot about her and I'm very tempted to pick up Frankenstein to read it again.
After The Monsters and Mao, I needed something a little lighter and I cruised through The Nanny Diaries in just a couple of sittings. It was exactly what I needed -- something light and fluffy with just enough of a character to root for. It's structured almost exactly like The Devil Wears Prada, but I liked The Nanny Diaries much better.
I've also seen a bunch of good movies lately. Notes on a Scandal was kind of like watching a train wreck; you didn't really want to see it but you couldn't pull away. Judi Dench is unbelievable. I don't watch many foreign films but Zhang Yimou is fascinating to me. I watched Curse of the Golden Flower and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Seriously, watch one of his films sometime. I'm sure I'll get comments about this, but I can't think of an American film director who shoots movies like that. It's almost like color is another character in the movie. Curse of the Golden Flower is Hamlet-like with lots of family intrigue and violence. And definitely worth seeing.
Finally, last night I watched The Queen. I'd had the movie in the house for more than a week and a half, yet I kept putting it off. I think I really didn't want to relive that terrible time when Diane died. I was a very impressionable 15 years old when I got up at 4 am to watch her get married; and she was only four years older than I was. It was hard to have to sit through her death again. And let's just say the members of the Royal Family do NOT come off very well in this film. It is, of course, difficult to judge some of the conversations. You know the Royal Family isn't talking about that and I doubt Tony Blair is either -- so how accurate they are is anybody's guess. Still, given what the public saw, the conversations seem realistic. And Helen Mirren is, of course, fantastic as Queen Elizabeth.
Posts will continue to remain spotty as graduate school takes up more time than I imagined. But my refuge is still reading for my own pleasure, and I'm going to try to do as much as I can.
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