So today, after reading Nymeth’s glowing review of Fingersmith, and discovering that I wanted to reread Fingersmith more than I wanted anything, I reread Fingersmith and enjoyed it much more this time, now that I knew everything that was coming. Actually I enjoyed it enormously and it was just what I was in the mood for; it was like being desperately thirsty and having a great big class of cool, clean, delicious Baton Rouge water. Which was good because I am feeling sickly today, and actual cool, clean, delicious Baton Rouge water doesn’t taste as nice as it normally does.…
2 CommentsReading the End Posts
I started reading this in Bongs & Noodles one time, a while ago, and I got bored. I am more easily bored when I’m reading at Bongs & Noodles than I am in real life – maybe because Bongs & Noodles is all full of loads of brilliant books, and my time there is finite. Anyway, then I read about it over at Superfastreader’s blog, and it sounded so good I decided to reconsider. As often happens, I was very pleased that I did. The Meaning of Night is all about a Victorian gentleman called Edward Glyver who conceives a…
3 CommentsThe library doesn’t know I have this book. They should do – I didn’t sneak out with it or anything – but somehow it’s not on my list of checked-out books. As such, I haven’t felt any sense of urgency about reading it, so it’s been sitting patiently on the floor of my bedroom for quite some time now, waiting for me to get to it. And I thought today was a good day for it – I read it on the drive to and from my uncle and aunt’s house today for my first! crawfish boil! of the season!…
2 CommentsI picked this up at the library a little while ago, and realized when I got it home that I had read about it here before checking it out and completely forgotten. Weird. You wouldn’t think I’d be able to manage being uninterested in a memoir about someone whose father was a faith healer. But I just never got interested in this. For someone with such a colorful life, this guy has written a book that was surprisingly bland (yeah, I mixed that metaphor. Got a problem?). Even before I began to suspect that Mr. Smith genuinely believes in his…
Leave a CommentI loved Jump at the Sun. I feel like I’ve loved all the books I’ve read lately, but I just looked at my past few reviews, and no, it hasn’t been that way. I just loved The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox so much it feels like it was a bunch of books; plus, I’ve been reading Jump at the Sun for several days and loving it. I didn’t expect to love it, because I try to steer clear of books about people being miserable and bored with their suburban families and their suburban lives. However, it is only April,…
Leave a CommentLet us begin with two girls at a dance. They are at the edge of the room. One sits on a chair, opening and shutting a dance-card with gloved fingers. The other stands beside her, watching the dance unfold: the circling couples, the clasped hands, the drumming shoes, the whirling skirts, the bounce of the floor. It is the last hour of the year and the windows behind them are blank with night. The seated girl is dressed in something pale, Esme forgets what, the other in a dark red frock that doesn’t suit her. She has lost her gloves. …
7 CommentsAccidentally on Purpose: A One-Night Stand, My Unplanned Parenthood, and Loving the Best Mistake I Ever Made, is a memoir about Mary Pols getting pregnant completely accidentally at the age of 39, from what was meant to be a one-night stand. I got it off the library display case for New Nonfiction yesterday, and read it that evening. Because I like memoirs. Well, I like memoirs but. I like memoirs, but books like this bring up all my serious, grave concerns about memoirs. On the one hand, I want them to be honest – I feel so let down when…
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