Luminous Books

Trilogies...and Other Multi-Book Series.

2009-08-19T11:23:00.011-05:00

Last year I read my first multi-book series. I realize this is absurd, 26 is too old to first pick up a series book, particularly when you are an avid reader. Which leads to another confession. Most of my life I have been hung up on classics. I really like them, and there are so many of them you can go on reading them forever. So when that's all you read you don't really realize how much work they are. You don't really get that books can have a more pure element of joy and fun to them. You get snobby and you think why would I bother reading that when I still have all these other books to read....

Anyway, that ended last summer when I was convinced to pick Harry Potter, we all know I did this begrudgingly, and then I loved it. And then I went crazy with series'. Twilight. Sookie Stackhouse. Outlander. And yesterday I finally picked up Lord of the Rings. All this to say, I am hooked. So when I saw that Abe books put out a Top 10 Trilogies list, I thought, I must put this up on Luminous (okay, yes, there are other factors too, living in a new city, no job, lots of reading time and all those 10 best lists going on over at Panda's...still.) So here is what they say are the 10 best. Most of these I don't even know:

1. Nick Bantock's Griffin & Sabine
2. Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials
3. Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast
4. Robertson Davies' Deptford
5. Louis de Bernieres' Latin America
6. Paul Auster's New York
7. Phillip Kerr's Berlin Noir
8. Roddy Doyle's Barrytown
9. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars
10. Peter Dickinson's The Changes

So tell me, what are your 10 best...multi-book series?

A Fond Farewell

2009-01-25T11:07:00.004-06:00

Dear Luminous Readers,

Thank you for stopping by and being so faithful to my blog. Sadly, my goals and intentions have changed a bit since I started this blog nearly three years ago, and as a result I have done a crappy job of updating and maintaining it. Which means, it is time to retire. Obviously, my love for reading has not been swayed, but my desire to blog about the books I read has--- and thus it's demise. I attempted to make a list of all the books I read last year (which you can see below) it's not complete but it proves that I have been doing a poor job for a while of writing about them for awhile. Ah, well, thanks for a few good years. Read on, read on!

Yours Truly,

Amber

Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer

Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer

New Moon. Stephenie Meyer

Twilight, Stephenie Meyer

Dreams from my Father, Barack Obama

Cataloging and Classification, Lois Mai Chan

The Archivist, Martha Cooley

Black Swan Green, David Mitchell

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Book 7, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Book 6, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Book 5, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Book 4, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Book 3, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Book 2, J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone Book 1, J.K. Rowling

Little, Big, John Crowley

The Amateur Marriage, Ann Tyler

The History of Love, Kate Atkinson

The Coming of the Book, Lucien Febvre & Henri-Jean Martin

The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields

Born on a Blue Day, Daniel Tammet

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke

A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson

Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World, Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone

The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

The Archivist by Martha Cooley

2008-11-13T22:01:00.005-06:00

The Archivist has been around for a good ten years. Every now and then I see it pop up on a shelf at some over crowded book store, hidden among thousands of other books. The summary intrigues, the blurbs confirm its place in history, this book is a gem. The writing is eloquent, the plot, well it constantly thickens, the story grabs and then pulls you in and leaves you wondering "seriously, this is her first novel?" I only wish I had read Cooley sooner.

Matt, is an aging archivist at a well recognized, yet unnamed, east-coast school. He has in his charge of, among other items, a sealed vault of letters T.S. Eliot wrote to his would-be mistress, Emily Hale. (If you don't know the story here, it can all be summed up with a single picture, of which I have yet to find, but will do my best. Eliot meets Hale, Eliot marries Vivienne, Vivienne goes crazy and is institutionalized, all the while Eliot maintains a relationship with Hale, one which he can never fully confirm or dismiss.) To make things a bit more intriguing, Matt once had a wife who was unable to keep the lines of reality and fiction from blurring together...sound familiar, wait there's more. Then Matt meets a young woman Roberta (read here Emily Hale) and she is both the key to his unleashing of the past and his pursuit of the future. Okay, so you are thinking this sounds obvious and too easy. Now add in an absurd understanding, on Cooley's part, of Eliot's work. Plus questions of love, religion, faith, insanity, books, solitude and so much more. There is so much in this novel. And the real kicker is, Cooley makes it look like a walk in the park. It feels so simple yet you finish it and there are so many questions. It penetrates the souls of its characters and a bit of the reader as well. I don't even know how to fit it all in. So I end with this blurb, which I think sums it up well:

"Remarkable...Though Cooley has twinned the tales of poets and madness, Christians and Jews, caretakers and gatekeepers and betrayers, the stories never appear contrived, only very, very human." -Martha Baker, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

To Read Or Not to Read...Harry Potter

2008-10-23T19:24:00.005-05:00

Right, so you may have noticed my lack of posting over the last few months. There are many reasons for this, but lack of reading is not one of them. I finally started the Harry Potter books, years after the rest of the world, in August. And today, I closed the cover on book seven--The Deathly Hallows. It feels a bit absurd to be posting about Harry Potter. In part because it's like posting about some fad that has come and gone. And what can I say that has not been said already?

So I write this post to anyone who has not read the books. Those people whose camp I was in just a few months ago. Maybe you are like me? You read the first few books, and you were not feeling it! I mean really how many books do you have to read in a series to start getting into it? Or you have seen all the movies, and while you like them, they have not inspired you to read the books. After all why read them when you can watch them in two hours. Possibly, you are just so sick of hearing about them from everyone else that it puts you off. Trust me, I understand.

But here is the thing. Generally, if nearly everyone you know is raving mad about something, be it good or bad, there is some truth to it. And its probably worth checking out. I admit I begrudgingly picked up the books, but I am so glad I did. Particularly books five, six and seven. They are so good. The ending so very much lives up to seven books of climax and that my friends is quite a feat! Yes, I know the writing leaves a bit to be desired but Rowling more than makes up for it with the story and I promise the writing does get better as the books go along. I promise, you will not be sorry. Even if you hate them--you can hate them with just cause!

On a final note, I will say this. I think the first two books are easily replaced by the movies, so if you are on the edge and don't have time for all seven, watch the first two movies and start with the third book!

Your Old Book

2008-09-18T11:56:00.006-05:00

I always enjoy stories like this one. It makes me excited for the other hidden secrets that shall reveal themselves in time.

110 years ago a man named Charles H. Hackley donated a stack of books to his local library. The library Incorporated the books into their collection and then shelved them, storing one book, already 50 years old in a glass storage case on the library's second floor where rare and fragile books were kept where it was eventually forgotten. "In 1999, library personnel started going through the books in that case, [and] discovered the Book of Mormon." According to the Muskegon Chronicle, "It was one of 5,000 books printed in 1830 by Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after he said an angel named Moroni guided him to gold tablets documenting the teachings and lives of ancient tribes." The book is likely to fetch around $70,000. Talk about a gold mine!

Ever wonder if you have a valuable book hidden in the far reaches of your attic or basement. It is possible. Many of the rare books that come on the market today are books were simply overlooked for a few generations. But how to know?

A great place to start is by reading a small publication found on the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section site called , Your Old Books. It will teach exactly what makes a book rare and how you can go about figuring out the potential value of your item. The number one rule: demand that is greater than the supply. You could have the only copy of a book in existence, but if no one wants it...well, then no one freakin' wants it.

If you read through this document and you are still convinced that you might have discovered a gold mine, then its time to start doing some research. Sites like ABAA.org and abebooks.com, can give you an idea of how many copies of a book are currently being offered for sale.

If you are now nearly willing to bet your pets life that you have a book that could pay off all your students loans and still leave enough money for a down payment on your dream house, then its time to contact a book seller. Don't bother going to your local library, it is against the law for them to tell you how much your book is worth.

Good luck, and be sure to report back to Luminous when you strike gold.

The right to read.

2008-09-05T13:29:00.002-05:00

Politics is not something that I have ever brought to the pages of Luminous before, but this story isn't just politics, it is about books and politics and therefore I feel confident that the story fits well to luminous' mission. That is: anything related to books.

Sarah Palin has been the talk of the town for a whole week now. A few disturbing things have come to our attention about Mrs. Palin but this bit of news takes the cake for all of us who have dedicated our lives to the right for intellectual freedom.

Shortly before becoming mayor Ms. Palin approached librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, at the Wasilla town library about the possibility of banning some books, which books Mrs. Palin would not say. Anne Kilkenny, a Democrat "who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. 'They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,' Ms. Kilkenny said."(NYT.)

Mrs. Emmons, of course resisted all efforts at censorship, in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights. And how did Mrs. Palin respond to not getting her way? She fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office. Mrs. Palin under estimated her constituencies, who made a great show of support for the librarian in question, and she was untimely given her job back.

So what is the big deal here?

Our whole system of government was based on the idea that the purpose of the state was to preserve individual liberties, not to dictate them. The founders uniformly despised many practices in England that compromised matters of individual conscience by restricting freedom of speech. Freedom of speech – the right to talk, write, publish, discuss – was so important to the founders that it was the first amendment to the Constitution – and without it, the Constitution never would have been ratified.

How then, can we claim that the founders would support the restriction of access to a book that really is just about an idea, to be accepted or rejected as you choose? If the library is doing its job, there are lots of books in the collection that people won't agree with; there are certainly many that I object to. Library collections don't imply endorsement; they imply access to the many different ideas of our culture, which is precisely our purpose in public life. The best way to know your stance on an issue after all is to have a grasp of the opposing view point. Libraries, of course, provide evidence that not everybody agrees with each other; but that's true, isn't it?

Harry Potter Book Club?

2008-08-28T16:39:00.003-05:00

Let me take you back two years: It's the summer of 2006 and I am a few years out of undergrad and desperate for a dialogue about books. After much arm twisting to get a book club going and still no compliance on the part of my loved ones (I even tried to sneakily read books that friends were reading, books I had no interest in, just so I could talk to someone about books) I started this here blog. I figured, this way I could process what I was thinking about and maybe, just maybe, someone would come along who had read or was reading the book and talk to me. For the most part its been a success.

Now, part two. Harry Potter (henceforth referred to as HP). I read the first two HP books a long long time ago. Like in the late 90's. And, well, this was before the craze and I just did not get that into them. Years go by and slowly HP creeps into EVERYONE'S LIFE. But I refuse to partake, because I tried, and we did not work, and that was enough for me.

So along comes a certain friend, who shall remaine anonymous, with a sneaky little idea. The friend tells me he wants to start a book club, obviously I am giddy with joy, as he predicted. "What shall we read?" I wonder aloud. I should have seen it coming. "Harry Potter." Dang it! What is a girl to do? She has no choice. So I am in a Harry Potter book club. We have already meet once, for the first book, after which we watched the movie. I'm was probably the most negative. But it was really great anyway.

We are meeting again for discussion of books 2 & 3 next weekend. And, believe it or not, I've read both the books already. And even started the fourth one prematurely. Suffice it to say, I've moved past the poor writing and am totally into the story. I LIKE HARRY POTTER! Who woulda thought?

Now here is a fun little video for you to enjoy:

Man Booker Longlist

2008-07-29T10:26:00.005-05:00

'Tis that time of year again. The Man Booker Committee has announced their longlist fiction. In regards to the actual list, Chair Michael Portillo commented:

"With a notable degree of consensus, the five Man Booker judges decided on their longlist of 13 books. The judges are pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and UK. We also are happy with the interesting mix of books, five first novels and two novels by former winners."

And the potential winners are:

Aravind Adiga The White Tiger
Gaynor Arnold Girl in a Blue Dress
Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture
John Berger From A to X
Michelle de Kretser The Lost Dog
Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs
Mohammed Hanif A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency
Joseph O'Neill Netherland
Salman Rushdie The Enchantress of Florence
Tom Rob Smith Child 44
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole

I bet Rushdie wins. Anyone want to go up against that??

Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, by Diana Gabaldon

2008-07-24T10:23:00.004-05:00

This is my first post on Luminous, and I am admittedly scared. I wanted to write some elloquent, powerful analysis of the two tomes that have comprised my summer reading thus far. But I realized that such expectations would proabably keep me from ever posting. So, here is a brief response to the first two books of a 6-part historical fiction/romance series by (best-selling...dare I say that) author, Diana Gabaldon.

Claire Randall, a mid 20th-century woman, is caught in an unconventional love triangle that spans 300 years of history. On a vacation/research tour in the Scottish Highlands with her husband, Frank, Claire ventures off one afternoon and finds herself displaced. When she awakens, she realizes that while she vaguely recognizes the landscape around her, she knows she is not in the same place she just came from. Claire quickly learns that she has just traveled back to the 1700s!

Action immediately ensues as Claire is rescued from a harassing Englishman, Jack Randall, by James "Jamie" MacKenzie Fraser, a Scotsman. The relationship that develops between Claire and Jamie is the primary focus throughout the series (at least thus far). It is a relationship that the reader cannot help but support, regardless of the cost.

There was a secondary short-term "relationship," (perhaps better described as an encounter) that began in the first book between 2 of the above mentioned characters, while it's affects were explored further in the second book. It was this disturbing encounter that I found unforgetable. Not only for it's darkness, but for it's redemption. It was a glimpse into the emotionally and physically painful window of sacrifice in the name of the one (or even ones) you love.

So, would I recommend this series? If you are looking for something with a little history, a little (ok more than a little) romance, a little steaminess, a lot of adventure, and time traveling(!), then I would recommend you read Outlander. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. But if you do, there is good news!...The series is 6 books long; and each one is around 600+ pages (in small print), so you have time to revel in your facinatation with the story and it's characters.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

2008-07-15T10:53:00.008-05:00

The History of Love. You have seen it on the EL, or at the bus stop, or maybe a friend read it a few months ago. It's on display in the window at the local book stop. Whatever the case, you have heard about it. It's everywhere. That is basically why I picked it up. Sometimes curiosity gets the best of me...and if everyone else is doing it...I know that is not a good reason, but I just can not help it. Anyway. So I read The History of Love. It's a mere 250 pages and by all means fits the definition of a light summer read. There are at least four different narrators in the novel (I think maybe a fifth one shows up for a chapter but don't hold me to that) and some of them are really great. Such as Leopold Gursky, a persnickety old man with a fondness for making people uncomfortable by forcing them to come in contact with his aging body. He's great and hilarious (laugh out loud funny) and also charming and heartbreaking. Then there's 14 year old Alma Singer, and all I have to say to Krauss on this one is: "did you let your husband right this part?" These chapters are incongruous with the rest of the text and sound like they have come straight out of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...which is too bad, not because that book was bad, I rather enjoyed it, but because that book has already been written.

Okay, so you want to know how the book is already? I get it. It's a lot of fun for the first third. Bland and un-notable (if that's a word) for the second third (I almost put the book down and gave up). The final third, well it was good. The stories came together pretty nice, although there were a few things that were never resolved that kinda irked me. But over all it was enjoyable. And it gives you a little more time with Gursky, who I really had a fondness for. So, should you read the book? Well, maybe if you are sitting at the beach and feeling kinda go-with-the-flow. Or if you happen to have a copy laying around and nothing else to read. Then sure, read it. It's good, but it won't knock your socks off. And if you can get over the fact that she pretty much plagiarized one of her husbands characters (and apparently he doesn't mind) then yeah, you will like it.

Sister Carrie

2008-06-30T17:53:00.002-05:00

For my first post on the Luminous blog, I am going to jump in with the all-encompassing Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. As a lit person, I probably should have read this novel a long time ago as it represents a fundamental shift in the history of the American novel. Fortunately, I was never asked any questions about it because up until last week, I thought that the main character was a nun...which I soon learned wasn't the case.
I finished the book in the wee hours of Friday morning because I couldn't put it down. I also couldn't escape the world of the book for the rest of the weekend. Dresier's detailed depictions of Chicago and New York are amazing, probably even more for those of you who live in those cities and know all of the landmarks referenced. These meticulous details filled out the world of the novel and played a large role in drawing me into the book and making me care about the characters.
Dresier also does a great job of showing both Carrie and Hurtwood as products of choice and environment. They are trapped within a system, but they are still responsible for their own decisions. Because of this, I still can't decide whether I feel bad for them as helpless victims or see them as products of their own decisions. I guess this dichotomy is why I still can't shake the book. It is definitely worth a read, even if it is just to help you avoid looking stupid when talking with lit professors!

book-a-licious...so delicious.

2008-06-09T20:40:00.003-05:00

About a year ago I came across an image on the internet of a scene from Alice in Wonderland cut out of a book. My heart skipped a beat with excitement and I immediately printed off the image and pasted it on to my planner so that I could look at it every day. Its still there, but the mysterious creator has finally been discovered, and her name is Su Blackwell. She has tons of other awesome pieces of book art that you can drool over on her website. Take a look see for yourself, I promise you will not be disappointed.

Calling all co-authors...

2008-06-03T16:41:00.003-05:00

Hello friends and other readers!!

Luminous is looking for some new co-authors to post about book related stuff. Books you are reading, books you want to read, books you've and loved (or maybe hated), book news, book awards. You name it. All we ask is that, should you commit to posting, you post at minimum, once a month. Seriously, could you be less obligated? Of course, we would love it if you posted more than the minimum. Interested? Or interested in at least trying it out? We can give you a free trial posting period if you are curious. Just email me (Amber) or post to this response!

Buttercups

2008-06-02T21:36:00.005-05:00

I haven't much time for reading novels as of late, but I was reminded today of one of my all time favorite passages ever in a novel. Here it is, with some text chopped off on either end. If you find yourself entranced, you can read more in the The Brothers K by David James Duncan.

I was hiking a south-sloping headland on the Strait this morning, trudging along in a funk the beautiful but long-lost cause of which chivalry demands I not name, when the sun burst out of the fog, and so did I, I guess, because all of a sudden I found myself standing so funkless that I felt naked in a huge marshy meadow just blazing with early summer buttercups. A sunlit lake of brilliant yellow, Natasha. With me grasping, nearly downing in the middle of it. And I’d scarcely noticed the coming of spring.

The word “stunning” may describe the meadow. But not “stunning” the adjective: this yellow hit like a fist. This was Stunning the Noun. And it Its presence (odd as this may sound) Everett the Noun vanished.

Want proof that I vanished? Probably not, knowing you. But being the skeptical sort, I do. So let me mull this event over a little:

You and I didn’t make it close enough to Spring for you to learn this about me, but I’ve never liked to pick flowers. Blossoming is a sexual activity, and anything engaged in sex ought, it seems to me, to be left alone. Yet in the lake of buttercups, the instant after I vanished, what remained in my place dripped Stunned to its knees and began, regardless of my opinion, to pick buttercups as fast as it could work its fingers.

So good.

2008-05-15T12:34:00.005-05:00

It's deceiving, I know. That little box on the the right side of your computer screen. You are thinking, "Is she reading or is she not?" "She says shes reading this or that book," but then you never hear about it. Well, I am here to confirm your suspicions, its true I have been doing some extra-circular reading as of late. Since we moved north I have gained nearly four hours of train time a day. This means, I now have almost TOO MUCH time to read and yet somehow still not enough time to post about my readings. So here is a review of some of the books I've read over the past few months.

A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson
How I have been able to make it to 26 and not have read a Bill Bryon book I have no idea. I kinda wonder if I maybe have bad friends. I mean how could no one have insisted that I read one of his adventure stories. The point is, A Walk In The Woods, is wonderful. It's the perfect book to pick up when you are aching for summer to come but can't actually go outside without at least a warm sweater on. It gets you through that last stretch of barren winter trees without going losing your mind. Oh, and did I mention that it's f*@king HILARIOUS! Goodness me, I had to put it down at times because I was crying from laughter. Highly recommended!

Harry Potter and The Sorcerers Stone by J.K. Rowling
One part curiosity, one part peer pressure...this was what got me to pick up the first book in the Harry Potter series again. That's right, I read the first two books back where there were only two books in the series and did not love them enough to keep going. So I figured, since I enjoy the movies and my husband (and nearly everyone else) is obsessed with the books I might as well give it a try again. So I read the first book again. And it was okay. Sorry. I know, scandal. But it just isn't amazing. It's cute and enjoyable but not that enjoyable. That's all I really have to say. Oh, and yes, I do plan to continue on reading them...eventually.

The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
Okay, so I am actually smack dead in the middle of this one now, but really it is hard to go wrong with Anne Tyler. She just is a great novelist. End of story. That said, while reading this novel I have had a very real sense of being a woman of a different generation from her. I can't quite put my tongue on it yet but maybe some of you know what I am talking about. It is as if her female characters have this ridiculousness to them. As if to be a woman means you must have an element of absurdity--which is probably true in reality--but the problem is, it's not a universal characteristic, in Tyler's book it is distinctly female.

Last thing, I started reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and wow is it slow!! Can someone please give me the encouragement I need to keep on? I'm only 60 pages in, the writing is beautiful, but honestly it puts me right into a beautiful nap everytime I pick it up.

Well that's it for now. I will be back with a few more soon (I hope).

Two worlds become one

2008-04-18T16:32:00.003-05:00

My two favorite things have finally merged: books and food. That's right! All around the world on April 1st bibliophiles, book artists, and food lovers gather to celebrate the book arts and the (literal!) ingestion of culture for the Edible Book Festival. Participants create edible books that are exhibited, documented then consumed. Some of my personal favorites from this year event held at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are: Robinson Mouss-o, Grape Moments in Literary History, Clockwork Orange & Lard of the Rings.

I love Harry Potter. I no longer love J.K. Rowling.

2008-04-15T17:41:00.003-05:00

I don't know if you are following this, but a gentleman has been keeping a Harry Potter Encyclopedia online, which Rowling has said that she loves. Now the Encyclopediast, Steven Vander Ark, is being sued by Rowling for copyright infringement.
That's fine. I don't mind that. What is the problem? This:
"Rowling (her name rhymes with bowling, rather than howling), testified Monday that the Harry Potter characters she created are as dear as her children, too precious to allow an inferior Potter encyclopedia to be published without letting the world know the ordeal is draining her of her will to write."
Apparently someone existing, who loves her work so much that he has devoted 9 years to her work (albeit as an "inferior writer," sorry dude) and wants to add something to the understanding of the Potter world is "draining her of the will to write?"
It's a good thing Tolkien or C.S. Lewis or you know, every popular writer that has ever written a book had a bit stronger of a constitution regarding their reading public.

Carol Shields, again.

2008-03-20T15:12:00.007-05:00

We all know how much I love Carol Shields, so telling you I loved The Stone Diaries might sound a bit like beating a dead horse--but before you stop reading, hear me out. First off, I don't think The Stone Diaries is quite on par with Unless, I doubt I'll even think anything is on par with Unless. So if you haven't read Unless yet and you are wondering which of her books you should read I still recommend that over The Stone Diaries. That said there are lots of similarities about the novels. Both are the first person narratives of a woman trying to figure out her place in the world. Both understand much of who they are through their relationships with others. And both of them have won some pretty hefty awards. The Stone Diaries in particular has won the Pulitzer for fiction, The Governor General's Award, The Prix de Lire in France, The U.S. National Book Critics' Circle Award and Unless was shortlisted for the Booker.

The Stone Diaries begins in 1905 with a woman who shockingly discovers she is labor, shockingly because her naivety has kept her from realizing she was even pregnant. And thus begins the life of Daisy Stone, a child brought into the world as her mother leaves it. This is in part why she never really understands who she is or who she is supposed to be. As if she never got the chance to live the life she was supposed to have. We follow Daisy through childhood, college, marriage, life as a widow, married again, motherhood, widowed again and on into old age. Its begins at the beginning of the century and ends at the end of it. Its a beautiful story told that spans an array of situations and emotions and has the ability to sweep you off your feet and into a different life--and to help you get there book even includes a series of family photographs inserted into its pages. It does have some drawbacks though, it starts off slow and the climax is possibly somewhere around 3/4 of the way through--thus the ending seems somewhat unnecessary at times, or maybe just anti-climatic. But that's not much of a complaint if you think about some of the crap people are reading. Carol Shields does what she does best in this novel, that is portray the beautifully quotidian lives of women. In an interview with the NYT's after the book came out she said, "Someone wrote me a letter, saying, 'I wish Daisy had tried harder.' Well, I didn't think there were enough novels about women who didn't make the historical record."

More books about books...

2008-03-04T14:53:00.005-06:00

As you all know I haven't much time for extra-curricular reading, and poor luminous has taken the brunt of the fall. I've thought about posting about my readings, but how many of you really want to know the antonym of insects or how to tell an american cockroach from an oriental one. Few of you, I'm positive. I am curious to know what books you are reading though, and I think our other visitors are too. A few sentences would do for a posting, a might just be the life blood that keeps luminous going.

That said, I did recently finish a book. Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. The writing was simple, the ideas mostly dull and yet I read it cover to cover--never mind the fact that it took me three months. If you are interested in learning key words that come up in the book business (and by that I do mean the used and rare books business) this book is a great primer. From foxing and sizing to rag paper and red rot, there are many great terms scattered through out the book that anyone interested in working with books for a living should probably know.

That said the couple who co-authored the book are both supposedly writers but didn't come to have a love for book collecting until their mid-thirties. Whaaa? And if they had really read all the books that claim to have read, I would think their writing would be more refined and poetic. But alas, it's not. It also takes them all of 200 pages to and thousands of dollars to come to the conclusion they started off with. $7,000.00 for a book isn't reasonable for the average person. Lord knows how they were able to afford this "hobby" on writer's salaries. But since they the dropped book collecting like a bad habit by the end of the book, I guess it's not worth spending too much time trying to figure out.

want something to look forward to?

2008-02-12T16:10:00.002-06:00

I was browsing the non-book website Rottentomatoes, and came across this story and thought, whoa, awesome. It said:
"After the extraordinary success of No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers are hitting the books again, this time adapting Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union. The two will direct the film after their next announced project, the dark comedy A Serious Man."
I haven't yet read Chabon's latest book, but I love his work and have read all his other books (except Summerland). The Coen's can do pretty much anything, it seems, and Chabon is a graceful and wonderful storyteller, so start anticipating.

The Time Travellers Wife

2008-01-18T14:07:00.003-06:00

I loved this book.

With that I shall start by saying, before I picked up Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife, I knew I would either hate it or love it. Everyone I've meet who has read it has the strongest of feelings about it. But lucky me, I was head over heels, unabashedly in love with everything about it. For seven short days I stopped reading it only to sleep (and then I would dream about it) and sometimes to eat. For those of you who are living in a different world, or maybe a different time and have not heard about the book. It is the love story of Henry DeTamble and his once and future wife Claire Abshire. Henry time travels (uncontrollably) backwards and forwards through time. The book opens with Henry in his late 30's and 40's visiting young Claire as a small child, where she first falls in love with him. When Claire is grown and meets Henry in "real" time, he has no idea who she is--because hes too young--and so the love story blooms again but in a more sophisticated and tangible manner.

It gets better though, the book has a third (and arguably my favorite) major character, Chicago. If one gets nothing else out of this gem of a book its Niffenegger's love for this wonderful city. Her visual of the buildings and streets and venues are worked into every page. She relives concerts, (Violet Femme's early 90's appearance at the Arragon--of which I know of at least one other person who was there). She gives you the ins and outs of her favorite records stores, restaurants and all other things perfect about Chicago. It's an intimate and quotidian tour in your very hands.

I love love loved it.

Disclaimer: This is the first novel I was able to read in months. And as you all know by now, I live and breath for the moments in which I can curl up with a novel. So, it is possible that Niffenegger book may not have struck me so intensely had it just been one of many I was in the middle of. So, on that note, if you know you enjoy the same kinds of books as me...what the hell are you still doing here?!? Go get it...NOW! But if you generally find my likings disagreeable then please by all means stay the hell away (from the book, not me.)

p.s. the paper quality of the book is also amazing.
p.p.s if you aren't into reading, it will soon be a film.

English Major? Part II

2008-01-14T10:08:00.000-06:00

Stanley Fish is back in the Times, defending his article that the study of Humanities serves no purpose. He clarifies his point (it's not that works of literature and art do nothing, it's that studying them in a classroom does nothing) and he reestablishes his point (real world understanding and academic understanding are independent).

"All of this should not be taken to mean, as it was by some, that I am attacking the humanities or denigrating them or declaring them worthless. I am saying that the value of the humanities cannot be validated by some measure external to the obsessions that lead some (like me) to devote their working lives to them– measures like increased economic productivity, or the fashioning of an informed citizenry, or the sharpening of moral perceptions, or the lessening of prejudice and discrimination."

Well, Stanley. You've made your point pretty clear. And reluctantly, I might have to agree with parts of it. ("What benefit do literary studies hold out to those asked to support them? Not much of anything except the (parochial) excitement experienced by those caught up in arcane discussions of the mirror stage, the trace, the subaltern and the performative." Half the time, I bore my wife and friends with my discussions of 16th century religious discourse surrounding Lancelot Andrews' influence on drama. If the wife can't listen, what hope is there?) And yet. I do think studying literature, not just reading it but breaking it down in the classroom can "sharpen moral perceptions" and "lessen prejudice and discrimination." So.

English Major? What good will that do you?

2008-01-07T10:27:00.001-06:00

Stanley Fish has an Op-Ed in the NYTimes today on the what value can be found in studying the humanities. (answer: "none whatsoever")

" Do the humanities ennoble? And for that matter, is it the business of the humanities, or of any other area of academic study, to save us?The answer in both cases, I think, is no...Teachers of literature and philosophy are competent in a subject, not in a ministry. It is not the business of the humanities to save us, no more than it is their business to bring revenue to a state or a university. What then do they do? They don’t do anything, if by “do” is meant bring about effects in the world. And if they don’t bring about effects in the world they cannot be justified except in relation to the pleasure they give to those who enjoy them."

All this time I thought I was "do"ing something that had an effect on the world. Oh well, Fish, you've always been the reader-response man. Short-sighted, in my opinion.

Harry Potter 8.

2007-12-30T10:57:00.000-06:00

"Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has strongly hinted for the first time that she could write an eighth book in the series. Rowling, 42, admits she has 'weak moments' when she feels she will pen another novel about the boy wizard. One of her biggest fans – her 14-year-old daughter Jessica – has already put pressure on her to revisit the character... However, if an eighth novel were to be written, Rowling concedes it is unlikely that Harry would be the central character."

...

That would be more interesting that her "political fairy tale" for adults. Leave that to Philip Roth.

book report: Deep Economy

2007-12-19T20:04:00.001-06:00

I read the first economics book of my life. Bill McKibben, author of the famous The End of Nature, put together Deep Economy to investigate the current economic trends of the U.S., arguing essentially that for the first time in the history of human civilization, a selection of people no longer believe More is equal to Better. If we as humans want to continue down the road to Better, slowly more and more people will realize that not only is More not the same, but it is often antithetical to Better.
McKibben attempts to demonstrate the error of the standard economic model of "growth=good" and turn it upside down to local is better, smaller is better, community is better. But it will cost economic growth. Of course, the United States doesn't want to hear anything but growth growth growth, so McKibben, using agriculture, radio, entertainment and production examines models that have been in place for years, whether we have been aware of it or not. What I found to be the most interesting examination is McKibben's look at Cuban Agriculture post-Fall of Soviet Union. Why Cuba? Because "with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba fell off a cliff of its own and became the first place in the world to face peak oil." Peak oil is the threat, and McKibben finds those places in the world that have existed without the threat or after the threat of peak oil.
It's a good read. Some of the most interesting parts of Deep Economy are simply the collection of numbers and research that exists that I haven't seen elsewhere, especially in regards to China ("By some estimates, (China) needs to add an urban infrastructure equivalent to Houston's every four weeks just to keep pace"!).
It gets redundant towards the end, but it's worth a week for sure.

2007-12-17T13:04:00.000-06:00

Men sat there gaping, gasping
at his strange, unearthly sheen,
as if a ghost were passing,
for every inch was green.

I know I can't be the only one geekin' out over this.

preserving history one page at a time

2007-12-12T11:54:00.001-06:00

Believe it or not I have finished my first full semester of grad school (I'm still in the not period). And to celebrate I've decided to post on Luminous. Why? Well, because I can, thats why.

So here is something I thought you might be interested in. In doing research for my literature review I came across Project Gutenberg an online book catalog that allows you to download books. Its pretty great, if you are into that sort of thing. I used it to look up some rather obscure books, so I can only imagine they have some more popular picks as well...though I can't confirm this as of now. If you support the project they could use your help editing their books...the objective is the more people proof reading, the more books they will be able to make public. If you are interested follow the hypertext.

Thanks again to all of you for continuing to visit luminous in my absence. You are much appreciated. Now I am off to pick up my first novel in months!! Woohoo!!

Pullman and the Compass thing.

2007-12-05T13:25:00.000-06:00

I am thinking about reading His Dark Materials. People seem to like it. At least the first one, the last two I hear less wonderful things about, but still, some.
Anyway. With all the hullabaloo surrounding the release of the movie and religious uproar (which I am generally a huge fan of) and that only makes me very interested and whatnot.
Seriously, there are some huge fans of Pullman, and youth fiction around this area. Should I read these three books?

He is Legend.

2007-11-27T10:08:00.000-06:00

I don't really read science fiction or horror novels much these days. When I do it's usually because there's a film version coming out, and it looks awesome. Well, I Am Legend was no different. I heard about the film over a year ago, thought it sounded awesome, and now I've just finished the book. I Am Legend, the book by Richard Matheson, you should read it. It will only take you a few days.
For those who like post-apocalyptic fiction, or science fiction, or just an interesting piece of work, it's a wonderful read. It's like a modernist "literature of of the mundane" set in the most terrible scenario imaginable. Sure, it's a "vampire" novel, but it's not really a vampire book. It's far more an experiment in morality. If you were the last human being on earth, what ethical and moral code would restrain you? That's Robert Neville's position. Everyone on the planet has been infected by the plague of 1975, and turned into either a vampire (someone who died from the plague and came back to life) or was infected but never died, and therefore is technically living with an illness. Robert, who spends his nights drunk and his days killing sleeping and hiding infected, thinking about women, and missing the world, is also pleasantly a deep-thinker, bringing up some of the most interesting moral dilemmas we know. While trying to figure out how to cure the illness, he murders thousands of "sick" people, living with a germ they happened to come upon. He also believes that it was the human wars, bombs, and germ warfare that caused such devastation. How then, can these others deserve to die? Why shouldn't he be the one to die? He is after all, the new legend, the rumor of the last man; it is the infected now who are the majority in the world.
There is a brilliant moment in I Am Legend, when Robert has been alone for about 2 years. He opens the door in the daytime and a dog runs by. For 2 years, never has a living creature been seen in the daytime; then a mangy mutt. He takes it in; it dies, and it is heartbreaking. Richard Matheson delivers on moments like these. It's a lovely scene in a scary and delightful book. And the ending, oh man. I can't wait to see Will Smith give us this ending. They better not change the ending. It is fucking unbelievable.
I Am Legend.

Holiday Reading?

2007-11-22T14:09:00.000-06:00

If you're looking for a book or two to read over the holidays, the New York Times has posted their annual 100 Notable books of 2007. The list is long and I know that I (czf) have not read any of them, since I haven't read any new books this year. However, take a look and see if there is anything you want to read. Then read, and let Luminous know how it was.
Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday from Luminous, the bookblog you love to read.
I find this picture hilarious. That kid looks like Denise the Menace or Richie Rich. So.

2007-11-13T18:18:00.001-06:00

Borders Books has solved the reading problem. Finally. How, do you ask, how can they finally bring the people into the stores to buy those books and start reading once again? Television. "A new strategy at Borders will reinforce the message that its stores are not just about books: the company has been installing 37-inch flat-screen televisions to show original programming, advertisements, news and weather." Of course, these tvs aren't there for people to really watch, because the store's about books. "The screens are “not designed to be intrusive,” Mr. Jones said. Rather, he said, they are “part of a master plan to create content that will do several things for us,” like directing traffic to the Borders Web site and paving the way to more cross-promotional deals with large media companies."
Yeah. So now, when you come to the store, you can more efficiently be directed back to your house to buy online. WooHoo!

Norman Mailer Dies

2007-11-10T10:50:00.000-06:00

Norman Mailer, the combative, controversial and often outspoken novelist who loomed over American letters longer and larger than any writer of his generation, died today in Manhattan. He was 84."

Fairwell, Norman. Someday I promise to read the Naked and the Dead.

Rowling Makes another odd Harry Potter Choice

2007-11-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

Luminous will not transform into a blog solely focusing on Harry Potter. However, here is another post about Harry Potter. "J.K. Rowling has completed her first book since concluding the tale of teen wizard Harry Potter -- an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Wonderful. It's nice to see she's still writing.
Get this crazy shit. You know how Harry Potter is popular, and that adults and children the world over love and adore everything Harryish? Yeah? That must be why Rowling is printing seven copies of "Beedle the Bard". 7! "Only seven copies of the book are being printed, Rowling said Thursday. One will be auctioned next month to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts...The volume, bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with silver and semiprecious stones, will be auctioned at Sotheby's on December 13 with a starting price of $62,000. " Whatever. I want to read the damn thing too.

In another J.K. note: Here is the picture of Rowling that accompanies CNN's article.
Is that really her? Does she look different to you than when she first came out and started writing the Harry Potter?

Wealth. What can't you do?

The Never-Ending Story

2007-10-29T12:43:00.000-05:00

Today's NYTimes has (another) story on Dumbledore, and I thought I would post it, because I like this part. It's thoughtful and handles the question of whether Rowling's Dumbledore is the reader's.
Then, this: "Her heroes are the hybrids, the misfits, those of mixed blood, all bearing scars of loss and love: the half-giant Hagrid, the mudblood Hermione (whose parents were not wizards), the poverty-stricken Ron, the orphaned Harry. Perhaps speaking of Dumbledore as gay was just a matter of creating another diverse rebel against orthodoxy."
Lovely.

Harry Potter and the Half Gay Headmaster

2007-10-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

J.K. Rowling has revealed to her legion of adoring fans that Hogwarts Headmaster and the embodiment of good motives, Albus Dumbledore, is in fact gay. For those of you who have read the books, this won't come as much of a surprise (I think), but that's not what interests me in this discussion.
What interests me is the amount of control that Rowling maintains over the Harry Potter universe after the series is completed and written. She did not include any overt reveal involving Dumbledore's homosexuality in the novels, I imagine deliberately, but there are things to make you wonder. Why do that if you are going to come out and say it later? Let people argue over it, that's part of the fun of reading.
For example, I believe that Jonah in Knocked Up is a closeted homosexual (this link is not work-friendly). That can't necessarily be right or wrong, right? If Judd Apatow came to my house and said, Sorry Chris, but Jonah is straight, what would that mean? I would still think he is gay. Shouldn't Rowling leave these kinds of questions to readers if she has not addressed them in the books? There were times in the HP novels when I thought several different characters might be gay, including Dumbledore. Now Rowling has come out and said, yes, Albus is gay, this whole time, aren't you shocked? Should authors be doing this after the fact?

Booker Winner

2007-10-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

Anne Enright, author of The Gathering, has been awarded the 2007 Mann Booker Award for Fiction. Tis' yet another book to add to my already too long list of reading to be done over christmas break .

From the Mann Booker Site:
Over and above her prize of £50,000, Anne Enright is guaranteed a huge increase in sales and recognition worldwide...and a designer-bound edition of her book.
When asked what she was going to do with the winnings, she said she didn’t know - ‘perhaps a new kitchen!’ - and joked that she had bought a new dress that morning which she was pleased she could now afford.
For more information about the winner for this year’s Man Booker Prize please read the official press release.
Anne Enright was interviewed following the announcement by BBC Newsnight which you can view again at BBC Online.
To read a short Q&A with Anne Enright after the shortlist announcement please click here.

the Civil War

2007-10-12T12:04:00.000-05:00

I have undertaken to read the mighty The Civil War: A Narrative. It's a giant. Three volumes (thanks BMO) of hulking 800 page glory. I started it about, oh, 6-8 weeks ago, and let me tell you this: it's slow going. I'm only 250 pages into the first volume, "Fort Sumter to Perryville," but I thought I would share some of the lessons I have learned.
1) Lincoln was one badass son of a bitch. Most people kind of know this, but I don't think most really know quite how badass he was. Unafraid to sit back and take the heaps of criticism that he wasn't doing enough, making no public reference to the Confederacy (which would legitimate their existence), calmly seeing to the dirty business with confidence. He's quite the literary character.
2)Lincoln was one unapologetically emotional man, which makes me love him the more. On hearing the death of his friend Ned Baker in the war, Foote writes:
"Lincoln sat for five minutes, stunned, then made his way unaccompanied through the anteroom, breast heaving, tears streaming down his cheeks. Orderlies and newspapermen jumped to help him, but he recovered his balance and went on alone, leaving them the memory of a weeping president."
Is there any better image of Lincoln than as a president stumbling, weeping down the streets of the capitol. Love it.
3) Foote was one badass writer. See the above quote for evidence. There are so many names, locations, rivers etc. in this damn book, and I have heard of about ten percent, but Foote handles the narrative engagingly, and keeps you moving. Plus his writing is smooth and wonderful. Read the opening paragraph of the book for proof.
4) I kind of sympathize with Jefferson Davis. This is certainly something I did not expect, and I think is a testament to Shelby Foote.
5) Despite 4, the segregationists as a whole don't seem to have gotten a worse rap than they deserve. At least at this early second year in the war that I've reached, they're as reprehensible as you would imagine.
6) Ulysses S. Grant's real name is Hiram Ulysses Grant. His nickname at Academy was Uncle Sam, and when he recieved a congressional appointment, the papers took the initials and the document read Ulysses Simpson Grant. Grant never wanted to tangle with the red tape to change it. Weird.

Pi Comes To Life

2007-10-10T08:45:00.000-05:00

A new edition of Yann Martel's loved book, Life of Pi, recently hit the shelves, and this time it's illustrated. In order to find the right illustrator for the job publisher Jamie Byng created a cast-your-illustration-competition. To enter all you had to do was pick a scene and illustrate it as you understood it. 1800 people responded with submissions but only could win. That one person was Tomislav Torjanac from Croatia. Wanna see the illustrations? Visits Torjanac's site for a sneak preview.

How does he make the images so visually stunning? "First he sketches out the scene before painting it in oils and with a fairly free hand. Once he has completed this stage he photographs the painting, then runs it onto his computer, at which point he finishes the illustration using various digital techniques. The end result combines the painterly qualities of a great oil painting with the modern sophistication of a digital print."

Turns out Pi isn't the only well known book Torjanac has illustrated. The Cat and The Devil, by James Joyce is also an eye twisting spectacle and worth sneaking a peak at. Weather you can find a copy in English or not, I can not say.

Also, if you really liked the feel of spending in pounds when you bought In Rainbows you can buy a signed copy of the illustrated Life of Pi for a mere twenty five pounds.

Prison Library Book Removal

2007-09-24T11:43:00.000-05:00

The US Bureau of Prisons has been considering removing all books concerning religion that do not fall onto pre-approved lists from their libraries. Critics of the plan, from both right and left sides of the country are speaking out to try to stop the decision. The Republican Study Committee released this statement: "We must ensure that in America the federal government is not the undue arbiter of what may or may not be read by our citizens.”
The NYTimes article (linked above) on the subject contains links to each religion and their approved reading lists. it's an interesting thing to see. The Philokalia is on the list, which I'm sure makes for common prison reading. Also, "A Muslim Girl's Guide to Life's Big Changes" gets to stay. Huh. Siad one inmate, "I’ve seen the list of approved books, and 99 percent of them, we never had to begin with."
What do you all think about this? Should we take books that might incite violence in people out of the hands' of prisoners? It seems like a hard thing to justify.

OBOC2007

2007-09-10T09:28:00.000-05:00

The city of Chicago has made their choice for this fall's One Book, One Chicago: Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Published in 1952, The Crucible, was written as a allegory on the McCarthy era. His depiction of the mass hysteria during the Salem witch trials was meant to show us the way of our errors during "the red scare."

And since the Salem witch trials have come up...I learned, rather interestingly, last night while reading Glut that the witch trails were (on at least one level) a result of the printing press! Today we take printing as a given but when it was first discovered by the masses it caused a whole lot of bloodshed. "The problem?" you ask. A shift in thinking. Everyone was suddenly forced to alter their outlet for expressing themselves; from a oral and image driven culture to a very left brain linear word context. The printing press as a result caused mass hysteria. As the old tradition, one which held women in a almost mystical regard (think virgin Mary) went out the window and mass organizations began to form (again because of the printing press) women started getting burned at the stake. And in Germany, where the press was invented, and most widely used for the first 100 years after its creation, the witch burnings were by far the most severe.

I've gotten off the subject. If you want to join in on the fun of reading The Crucible with the city (you don't have to be in the city itself), take a peak at the official guidebook, which gives you a concise history of the era, CPL resources, additional reading and of course locations of book clubs meeting around the city. Also noteworthy, the Steppenwolf is producing the play and the hubby and I are going to try and go if you are interested in joining us.

And then there were six...

2007-09-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

The Man Booker shortlist of six was announced today at a press conference at Man Group plc in London. Following the meeting, Howard Davies, Chair of Judges commented: “Selecting a shortlist this year from what was widely seen as an exciting longlist was a tough challenge. We hope the choices we have made after passionate and careful consideration, will attract wide interest.” Isn't that what they said last year, and the year before that? Ah, well. The novels are (drumroll please!):

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
"Ambitious, linguistically driven, high-octane epic with a metaphysical aspect set around a group of modern-day misfits in Ashford, Kent."

The Gathering by Anne Enright
"The story of the 12-strong Hegarty family, narrated by 39-year-old Veronica as she mourns the suicide of one of her siblings and tries to reconstruct the life of her grandmother."

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
"A young Muslim man's loves and losses, daubed against the tumultuous backdrop of the political unrest that followed the attacks on the World Trade Centre on 9/11."

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
"2007 Commonwealth prize-winner set in a village on the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville during a brutal civil war there in the 1990s and narrated by a 13-year-old girl who has a love of Dickens instilled in her by an inspired teacher."

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan"Novella about the agonisingly awkward wedding night of a young, innocent, couple in the 60s and how it sets the course of their lives."

Animal’s People by Indra Sinha
"Dark and harrowing but also very humane portrait of a community in contemporary India whose lives were ruined 20 years ago by an American chemical company, and what happens when a young American doctor arrives in their midst."

Wish I was reading...

2007-09-04T19:56:00.000-05:00

I am reading more than ever now that I am back in school, but it is by no means the sort of stuff I am usually reading: fiction. So today I post about a book I really want to read, but do not actually have time to read. Which is The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I have been hearing about TTW for a few years now, and everyone who has actually read it either loves it or hates it. Every time someone recommended it another person suggested I stay away. Thus I just could not decide what to do.

Then I started library school and everyone was talking about how wonderful it was (second only to Harry Potter). THEN I found out she is really active in the world of book arts and it all came together. What originally attracted me to the book it self was the pages. They are perfect. The weight it just right, the pages have the perfect amount of gloss to them and they move so freely. All books should be published (physically) as this one. Oh, and don't even get me started on the binding, it's near orgasmic. Last thing, it all takes place in my beautiful city of Chicago, and one block over from my apartment last year. So seriously, what is there not to love?

So, I've picked up a copy. And it sits on my shelf daunting me. I suppose it will be the first book I pick up over Christmas break in December, but damn that seems far away.

And let me not forget to mention, for those of you who are like me and may never have the opportunity to read it, it will be a movie next year...

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

2007-08-27T09:07:00.000-05:00

"This is a wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight, filled with sorrow and a great sense of humor. Elizabeth Gilbert is everything you would love in a tour guide, of magical places she has traveled to both deep inside and across the oceans: she's wise, jaunty, human, ethereal, hilarious, heartbreaking, and God, does she pay great attention to the things that really matter."
-Anne Lamott

I admit I was hesitant to read Eat, Pray, Love when I first saw it popping up around town. It seemed overly emotional and girly and honestly too religious for me. But it would not go away, it was everywhere, in everyones hands, I saw people miss their train stops over this book! And so, when I had the opportunity to pick up the book for a bit less than cost I thought, "Why not?" And thank goodness I did. It was so enjoyable.

The book takes place after a very difficult divorce (enter what I thought was going to be the too emotional and girly part) but Gilbert was smart enough not to give us all the nitty-gritty of her divorce and so I didn't feel like I was listening to a stranger complain about how hard life is. It is split into three different sections (corresponding with the title) and takes place in three different countries. Eating in Italy, Praying in India and Loving in Indonesia. I too love to travel and have no money to do so right now which made reading a book about travelling the next best thing after being there myself. Each section was a bit better than the previous and the ending came together quite well. I closed the book and thought, "Look at how far she came over a single year!" It was a nice reminder that you really can turn lifes lemons into lemonade.

Also, it wasn't until after I started Eat, Pray, Love that I realized why the authors name was so familar to me. Elizabeth Gilbert is also the author of The Last American Man, another peice of non-fiction that was exceptionally well written. If Eat, Pray, Love is a woman's novel than The Last American Man is a novel for a man's man. But this is just reinforces how versitile she is. Both of these books seem to be directed for a certian people group but both go far beyond what you expect from them. If you are looking for something to read either of these books will fill a few days of your time in a very pleasent manner.

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

2007-08-23T08:41:00.000-05:00

Sadly I think my excitement to read Hammett's The Maltese Falcon may have gotten the best of me--and the novel. There I was going around telling everyone..."they say its the best detective novel ever written!!" Well, it is good, of course, but best ever? The real weakness for me was all that convoluted secrecy. I know what you are saying..."Amber, it's a DETECTIVE novel, you aren't supposed to know everything!!" I understand but the whole book I was very patient about waiting to be let in on what was really going on. And then finally everything gets wrapped up in the last 20-30 pages and you realize, you pretty much new everything that was going along already. Yes, there is a bit more information but there wasn't enough for what I had built it up to be.

Now that I am thinking about it, I cannot believe I went around telling everyone it was (supposed to be) the best detective novel...obviously I am going to give that title to Crime and Punishment. My favorite of all the novels ever written (talk about a title that is hard to live up to)!!

After all this negative talk I feel I should say it was a fun book to read. And very cinematic in its nature. The setting was always shrouded by cigarettes and sexy women with bright red lipstick. And then you have the suave and handsome hero who is always just barely escaping the law. It is hard to resist. If you do not go into the book thinking it is going to be one of the greatest novels you will ever read I have no doubt you will really enjoy it.

And for those of you that are interested (and are in the small minority of people who live near by) the movie is now second in our queue, which means we will be watching it sometime next week!

When I was a kid...

2007-08-13T08:35:00.001-05:00

Since we are on the topic of Children's book I thought I would take a moment to mention some books I recently came across that I loved as a child. Please, someone else tell me you remember "reading" Frank Asch. I stared at these books for countless hours when I was just a wee thing, totally mesmerized by the pictures, so desperately wanting to eat mooncake!

Other favorite childhood books??

Mrs. and Ms. Bush Write Children's book.

2007-08-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

(Author and Bush twin Jenna shows her rawker/edgy side)

This is one of the more interesting book stories I have read lately. As you all follow the story of the Bush twins, I don't need to tell you that Jenna Bush is already a published author of a book called Ana's Hope, about her time with UNICEF. This I gathered from the cover.
Now she's teaming up with her mother to write a picture book (?) about kids that don't like reading. Just what kids not interested in reading books need: a book of pictures about how reading sucks. "It’s a book that I’ve always wanted to write," says Laura Bush. She also said it was going to be difficult writing a book of pictures, because "In a picture book, there are so few words." Got that?

A Man Booker Dozen

2007-08-08T13:53:00.000-05:00

The Man Booker announced its long list today, they are:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker

Self Help by Edward Docx

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

The Gathering by Anne Enright

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Gifted by Nikita Lalwani

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

Consolation by Michael Redhill

Animal's People by Indra Sinha

Winnie & Wolf by A N Wilson

The long list for those of you who (justifiably) don't keep up with Man Booker's inner workings is the first round of finalists for the yearly prize (which I believe comes in October). The long list will soon turn into a short list and then everyone will go mad trying to read all the short list books before a finalist is chosen, right?

My only comment about the list: "Ian McEwan again!"
I've never read him, but doesn't it seem they have their nose up his ass a bit?

Unless. Already. Not Yet.

2007-08-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

Back in January, azf read Unless, by Carol Shields. She loved it, started talking about it frequently, recommended it to everyone she talked to, and went online and bought several copies cheap to distribute to people in order to make them read it.
So I read it. Now I'm coming on to Luminous to encourage people to read it. If you didn't take azf's word, you probably won't take czf's word. But I'll add my name to the chorus, and recommend Unless, because it's absolutely brilliant. My Goodness.

A little something awesome.

2007-07-24T12:03:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't have enough on your plate as it is, I highly suggest taking a moment to stop by Turning the Pages a project hosted by the British Library. They've used new software to digitize books and the end result is absolutely stunning. Really, you must take a look for yourself to get the full experience. (Side note: you need to use Internet Explorer, Mozilla doesn't open this application properly.)

A little something to keep in mind, the program is designed to consider the physical aspects of the book (i.e. they film the pages of the book turning to capture the weight of the page and how the light reacts to illuminated elements). They also include supplemental interpretive information such as recordings of a piece of written or printed music, a translation of a text, or a reading of a play found in a book and a magnifying lense to get an up close and personal look. Rather than attempt to merely duplicate various aspects of the book, they utilize new media to further contextualize the book.

A fellow library student told a story of how The Queen of England showed up for the unveiling of this project where the final coding was finished only moments before they were to present the project to her. The on-site TTP books utilize touch screens. Having finally debugged everything right before they Queen's arrival, they were foiled by her silk gloves. Someone else had to turn the pages for her. The screens were not glove-accessible.

Also, you might want to take a look at University of Illinois equivalent of TTP. I met the two people who are responsible for making all those images available to you. They are very nice and diligent folks and deserve a little pat on the back for all their hard work.

No love for Jane Austen these days

2007-07-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

I'm a pretty big Jane Austen fan. Well, pretty much just Pride&Prejudice, which is one of my favorites. But you know who doesn't love her books? Publishers. David Lassman, the director of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, has been unable to find a publisher for his novel. Which I am sure he thinks is brilliant. Curious to find out how difficult it is to find a literary agent today, he took three of Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Pride&Prejudice, changed names and locations and whatnot, and sent them out to 18 of the U.K.'s biggest publishing house.
They were all rejected. What is amazing is that Lassman did not even change or take out the first line of P&P, one of the most famous and quoted opening lines in literary history. Only one response from the publishers noticed any connection to any Austen (and it wasn't the opening line). For shame.

Keep on Readin'

2007-07-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

Luminous is at a point of transition, if you haven't already noticed. It's not that I haven't been reading, because believe me, I have. I am just hesitant to swamp you with more information than you want, or not even more information per se but information that you might not be interested in. Information about the Federal Depository Library Program maybe (did you know you can access any "public" govt doc via your FD Library, find your library here)? Or how about Copyrighting and Fair Use? Which would of course lead me to talking about Creative Commons, for you artistic types looking for the balance between copyrighting and fair use. No? Well then, how about this...I finished my school reading this weekend and now I have my head in Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Has anyone read it? "They" say its the greatest mystery novel ever written. And while I have just started the novel and am usually hesitant to rave about a book before I finish it (lest it take a nose dive at end) I really am enjoying it thus far. It is a very cinematic novel, I can literally see Sam Spade's cigarette smoke rising from his dimly lit office as I delve into the pages. And no, I have not see the movie...yet. But here is a pretty kick ass poster for the movie to peak your interests.
Also, as I don't have the time for those great big and often slow reads, (think the Russian's) I am looking for books that I can really get into but won't keep me from school work. Hence the mystery novel. Please let me know if you have any book recommendations that I just must read.

Muir in Alaska 'preaching glacial gospel in a rambling way'

2007-07-09T18:08:00.000-05:00

So. I'm reading Travels in Alaska by John Muir, which I expected to be good. But I honestly didn't expect him to be such a beautiful writer. For being one of the great ecologists and environmentalists (not a word in his day, but oh well) of U.S. history, he sure can also use words. I wanted to share some of his odd mix of Thoreauishness mixed with actual interaction with nature. Here are two parts I like:
After a fellow climber had both his arms dislocated and Muir brought him down a glacier on the side of a mountain, foot by foot for about a half a day: "Here I took off one of my boots, tied a handkerchief around his wrist for a good hold, placed my heel in his arm pit, and succeeded in getting one of his arms into place." Jesus.

Before a mountain covered in glacier. "Standing here, with facts so fresh and telling and held up so vividly before us, every seeing observer, not to say geologist, must readily apprehend the earth-sculpturing, landscape-making action of flowing ice. And here too, one learns that the world, though made, is yet being made; that this is still the morning of creation; that mountains long conceived are now being born, channels traced for coming rivers, basins hollowed for lakes."

Tolkien and Rowling.

2007-07-04T18:46:00.001-05:00

The last two books I have read are Harry Potter year 1 and 2. Before that I read Lord of the Rings. It's been an interesting back to back series. J.R.R. can write extremely well. He tells a great story and moves me with the words that he uses. J.K. doesn't really know how to write. It's just the case. She tells a good story and creates wonderful characters, but doesn't have any capacity to command the language (for God's sake leave adverbs alone unless you know how to use them!).
But that's no surprise.
Here are some things that I have thought of in these reading experiences:
LOTR is a book about Sam having children. That's really it. Everything in the series is family, but Sam's in particular.
Harry Potter is pretty funny, which I didn't expect. Fred and George are sweet. Does every book make the school hate Harry and think he's bad and then turns out he's actually the good and saving guy?
Do you think that Sam goes to the Grey Havens as it said in the appendix? It leaves it open as a tale of legend, which is definitely a part of LOTR, and I think he does, but I like how it could just be legend.
Everyone says Rowling hits her stride in year 3, which I hope is true. I have enjoyed the first two books, but to be honest, not all that much.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2007-07-02T09:27:00.000-05:00

Believe it or not, Luminous has been around for a whole year as of last Saturday, June 30th. Thanks to all of you who have come by and read our ranting and raving and a special thanks to those of you who humor us by posting comments every now and then. The ZF's and Luminous would be nothing without you.

Other notable birthday's on June 30th:

Susan Hayward, Actress in the movie adaptation of "Valley of the Dolls" written by Jacqueline Susann, whose birthday is not June 30th but August 20th and interestingly enough also tried to become an actress after being a successful writer wasn't enough.

Frank Marcus (a.k.a. Frank Ulrich Marcus) playwright/critic, and author of "The Killing of Sister George" which I believe was popular at one time, long before I was born, he has likely written other things as well...look into him if you are interested. (b. 1928)

& "Iron" Mike Tyson, youngest heavyweight boxing champ (b. 1966)--who has no relation to books, as far as I know...

Because People like Potter

2007-06-27T11:28:00.000-05:00

A first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sold for 18,000 bucks. That's a lot of money for a book that's, what, 10 years old? If I had a copy, I would sell it. The initial run of Philosopher's Stone produced between 500 and 1000 copies.
I'm getting excited about the new film, and have even been throwing around the idea of reading the books this summer if someone wants to donate the series to me.

Meanwhile, I wonder what I could get for my first edition copy of Seven Story Mountain, by Thomas Merton. Probably 50 dollars. If only millions and millions and millions of adults and children worldwide would go crazy of over a Catholic monk's autobiography written 60 years ago...then I could pay off some credit cards

Rushdie becomes sir Rushdie. This upsets people.

2007-06-20T11:48:00.001-05:00

Salman Rushdie has been knighted, and the peeps who wanted him dead before have been reminded why they wanted him dead to begin with (it wasn't the broadway version of Midnight's Children, but according to my Rushdie class Professor, it may as well have been). Protesting has flared up to denounce the Queen's decision, made because of Rushdie's contribution to literature. Three of his books are awesome, so I won't fight it.

Two become One...

2007-06-18T14:31:00.000-05:00

Many of you were witnesses, some 15 months ago, to mine and Czf's marriage...thought by all to be the moment in which we joined ourselves together...through thick and thin...till death do us part.

I am here to tell you, this past weekend, we officially embarked on our greatest union yet. The bringing together of our libraries! Czf has been pushing this merge for sometime, but clearly his fear of commitment is nowhere near mine. Albeit, through some series of events, which I now recall with only the smallest amount of clarity, I agreed to the merger. Friday night we sought out our V5 ballpoint pens and initialed all of our books in preparation for the great amalgamation. And then, we did it. Thinking it a good idea for me to start the process so that I couldn't blame anyone later for going against my will, I personally took the first step and inter-mixed all four of our copies of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice.” It was a little daunting but not horrible. Though I admit I left at that point for a bit of “fresh air” and Czf finished the rest of the mingleation. So, it is done. Our two libraries have become one and Czf and I are now officially together no matter what. And you know, it looks pretty good too.

On that note, I will buy anyone a beer who can guess which author we have the most work by.

2007-06-12T15:56:00.000-05:00

As of yesterday I am officially a student. Which means a few things for you...

1. Unless some sort of miracle intervenes there will be little to no extra-circular reading taking place for me.

2. The reading that will be taking place will be very specific to libraries, of which I doubt most of you are all that interested in.

3. The combo of 1 & 2 means if I post about anything it will most likely be about libraries.

4. If you don't want this to happen you can choose one of two roads...
--more travelled...stop visiting luminous.

--less travelled but better...send me a little written response to the books you are reading. The "responses" don't have to be up to par with the writing of those you are reading, just a little sometin'-sometin' for your friends to read about and tell you, you are wrong for thinking that way...it's real fun, I promise.

On that note, I've kicked off my school reading with the most recent Library Trends Journal subtitled, "Libraries in Times of War, Revolution, and Social Change." Awesome.

Lastly, I finished "The Name of The Rose." Also awesome.

Harry Potter Casts Money-Losing Spell on Bookstores.

2007-06-11T00:06:00.000-05:00

The new Harry Potter book is upsetting bookstore owners. The book is going to sell 9-10billion copies, but according to this article from Reuters the stores won't be making any money. '"Everywhere you go there is huge, ridiculous discounting by the chains," said Graham Marks, children's editor at the British-based trade magazine Publishing News. "They are literally not going to make one penny out of the book. It is stupid -- just throwing money away ... The world has gone mad."'
Apparently Wal-Mart and Amazon, Borders and Barnes&Noble can afford to slash the prices so far that competing bookstores are also forced to cut their prices just to sell their copies. "A lot of independent bookstores won't be selling Potter. They say it would be cheaper to buy it from a supermarket than the publisher."

on a side note, Harry Potter appears to like BlocParty, which is cool.

Puke!

2007-06-05T14:07:00.000-05:00

Well, I don't know how to feel about this...Oprah (I cringe to even put her name on here) has picked the next book for her book club, Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides. I suppose this is good for Eugenides, his sales will skyrocket because for some reason people listen to her. I just wish he had pulled Franzen on her...sigh. But, apparently if you delcine an invitation by The "O" you are outcast from society.... Yes people, this is the same "O" who is obsessed with The Secret. If you don't know what the The Secret is consider yourself blessed. The author argues that all you have to do to achieve success is think it. For example, "If you want to be skinner, start thinking skinny. And stop looking at Fat people." I wonder if that was the method Oprah took to lose all her fat?

Either way, Middlesex is a great book and you should read it, if you haven't already.

Assault on Reason

2007-05-24T13:30:00.002-05:00

Al Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason, came out this week. There is an excerpt in Time Magazine if anyone else is interested. The three pages in Time are quite good.
But I wanted to mention a wonderful, wonderful sight from Tuesday. At the large university I attend there was a group of students holding signs, apparently boycotting Al Gore, or his book, or something. I didn't talk to them. But one of the signs being held up read:
"JUST LIKE THE LUDDITES OF THE 19TH CENTURY AL GORE REPRESENTS THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMANITY."
I'm serious. The sign which was boycotting a book called the Assault on Reason made the above argument. It might be one of my all time favorite protest signs. It shows a committment to creativity while extending absolutely no interest in what the Luddites, or Al Gore, represent. Priceless.
waste some time with animated Al Gore:
To see Al Gore argue with Bender about Global Warming, click here.
To see what the world would be like if Al Gore won the 2000 election, click here.

Go Tell It On The Mountain

2007-05-17T11:42:00.000-05:00

I recently read Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin for One Book, One Chicago. I haven't actually meet anyone else in the city who read or is reading the book, not even so much as a passer-by on the train, which is a shame. Because it's a brilliant novel. The heart of the story takes place on the main character, John Grime's, 14th birthday. Each section flashes back to an earlier time in the life of John's elders, the very people who are shaping his own life. The stories are heartbreaking, particularly when you know that Baldwin admitted to the book being a sort of biography of his own life. Langston Hughes summed the novel and Baldwin's writing perfectly when he said, Baldwin "is thought-provoking, tantalizing, irritating, abusing and amusing. And he uses words as the sea uses waves, to flow and beat, advance and retreat, rise and take a bow in disappearing...the thought becomes poetry and the poetry illuminates the thought." Damn. I would love to read another one of his books, but he has quite a few, does anyone have any recommendations for me?

One last piece of good news, Go Tell It On The Mountain was Baldwin's first novel, published at the age of 30. This means all you slacker's out there who didn't live up to Keats still have a chance of writing the great American novel.

Encyclopedia of Life

2007-05-09T10:16:00.000-05:00

An initiative to create a multi-media Encyclopedia of every living species was announced today. Right now that means 1.8 million animals, plants, and other forms of life. But the number of living species grows daily, for example we currently know of 4-5 thousand different species of Beetles but it is suspected that there could be up to a million more out there that we don't know about. Needless to say, nothing like this has ever been done before and it will take a massive global effort to even come close to achieving the reality. Dr. James Edwards who today was officially named Executive Director of the Encyclopedia of Life backs me up on my last statement, “[Amber is right,] through collaboration, we all can increase our appreciation of the immense variety of life, the challenges to it, and ways to conserve biodiversity. The Encyclopedia of Life will ultimately make high-quality, well-organized information available on an unprecedented level. Even five years ago, we could not create such a resource, but advances in technology for searching, annotating, and visualizing information now permit us, indeed mandate us to build the Encyclopedia of Life.” You can watch a video about the project at their official webpage.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

2007-05-03T09:12:00.000-05:00

I did not know until today that Micahel Chabon had a new book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and it's even out in paperback! How sad. Some of you, I know, met Chabon a few years back, I know this because I was there with you. But if you weren't so lucky, Borders has a online book club thingy, of which their latest pick was The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Mr. Chabon, and you can watch the whole event unravel right at your desk while at the same time getting all the Chabon you ever wanted. (Side note: His facial expressions are much more notable when you can actually see his face.) Still, the new book sounds dramatic and steamy and very Chabonish. It takes place in Alaska during and following WWII. The questions he is asking, "How different would the world be today if we had allowed all those persecuted Jews populate Alaska until the war was over?" So, read it and report back already would ya? Or maybe you have already read it, it has been out for a while after all.

Oh and thanks to the internet I found Chabon's personal calender, it turns out he is going to be doing a reading in Chicago soon. That is Mon May 21 6pm @ the Chicago Public Library, 400 S State St, Chicago, IL . Be there, or else.

Okay fine, if you live in Minnesota and you do not want to drive down and attend the event with the ZF's you can still see Chabon. He will be at the Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange Street, St. Paul on Tue May 22 @ 7pm.

**Chabon on the mind** Terry Gross interviews Michael Chabon today on Fresh Air. You can stream the episode at the shows website.

What are you eating?

2007-05-01T10:44:00.000-05:00

AZF and I made a recent book purchase that I have been reading in free moments throughout the past four days. It's called What To Eat. It cuts through all the fat and tells you what's what (cuts the fat, come on). I've been thinking more and more about what we eat and what the consequences of those decisions are. It's not as much a hippification of dietary habits so much as, seriously, is it really hard to just be healthier and more aware? It's like the environment. Even if the world will not be destroyed by global warming, what's the big deal with treating the earth better? Same with food. There is no negative impact in learning a little more and doing things a little better. The opposite, however, we know has such negative impacts. And the 35 billions pounds of chicken breasts this country eats annually can't be helping our hearts.
(this is probably the most political I will ever be able to get on Luminous, so I'm taking it.)

White Noise

2007-04-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

I finally finished my first Don Delillo novel! I say finished, instead of read, because I've picked up most of his novels at least once, so I've read plenty of his novels, but I never seem to finish them. White Noise I had picked up at least twice before I was finally able to get all the way through. That said, I am aware that most of you have strong feelings about White Noise, strong positive feelings, so I want to clarify that this isn't a book bash. I am going to blame my unlove on a few things and well see if we can meet in the middle somewhere.

1. I'm told old, I don't have that dreamy college student thing going for me anymore. Point being, it just not as easy to get wrapped up in the world of White Noise, or the fame that DeLillo has.
2. Americana Literature: in general I find it "obvious". Please don't shoot! Maybe it's that it so NOT obvious I can't even being to grasp it.
3. Too many years of too much hype. Lets face it, people have been talking about how great White Noise (and Delillo in general) is for so long that it would just be impossible for me to find it as great as the build up.

So here's the thing, I didn't hate White Noise, but I definitely didn't love it. There were parts that were rather humors and I did actually laugh out loud on the train (you can imagine how embarrassing that is) and of course the writing is obviously the product of someone who is very talented.

That's not enough to make you love a book though. I was left wondering what the point was. Maybe it's that Delillo is trying to make us really look at our American way and all our White Noise, well I get that, I mean I am actually a part of this society, but then what? What does he want us to do besides admit we are so distracted we don't even know ourselves? This is how I usually feel about Americana lit (see point 2)(not that I have read a ton of it.) I spend 300 or so pages with your book but its all just to point out the obvious. I don't need a book to be reminded that I spend 9 hours a day on a computer, I read books to get away from that.

As contrived as the ending was, I did kind of like it, but it came long after I assumed there would be nothing redemptive about Jack's character. I am sure someone wants to fight me on that comment, and I wholly welcome it, please tell me why I'm so so wrong. And what does Wilder's tricycle ride across the interstate signify?

Erik Larson in the White City Tonight.

2007-04-19T09:31:00.000-05:00

For those of you who live in Chicago, Erik Larson will be sharing anecdotes and 'war stories' derived from his books Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck tonight at the Crown Auditorium Theater. Admission is free and it should be a good time. Personally, I found Devil in the White City to be one of the more gripping stories I have read in the past few years. His writing brings alive that feeling of excitement that surly came with building a new city--making you feel like you just stumbled across some previously inconceivable technology. While at the same time being let in on the twisted events of one of the country's scariest mass murderers. The best part about it, it's non-fiction. And if you are fortunate enough to live in the White City while reading it, you can spend your lunch breaks looking for old Daniel Burnham buildings--and you probably aren't alone.

And speaking of going to readings, I am wondering what authors all our Luminous readers have been fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have heard speak. I have not been to too many readings myself but I think Dave Eggars (the first time) is still my favorite.

UPDATE: For a man who has proven himself to be a master in writing about murders Erik Larson was surprisingly (and welcoming) socially adept, not to mention very funny and horrifyingly intelligent albeit not in that cocky way some people are. I had a great time, and no, not just because he called George Bush, Julius Ceaser.

Cormac McCarthy wins Pulitzer

2007-04-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

The 2007 Pulitzer prizes were anounced, and the winner for fiction is The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. I am surprised to see our beloved WH has not posted upon this over at pandas, but seeing as he has gone AWOL from the blogosphere, here it is.
From what I understand The Road is a dark, violent book, scathing at times, horrible, yet you know hopeful (some say). For example, here is a quote lifted from the review by Publisher's Weekly: "Beyond the ever-present possibility of starvation lies the threat of roving bands of cannibalistic thugs." I guess it only seems appropriate to see The Road end up on Oprah's Book List, then. If you have read The Road and want to discuss the deeper messages McCarthy finds within this dark and troubling story, please direct your comments here.

Here is a complete list of the Pulitzer Winners. (I had my money on Debbie Cenziper from the Miami Herald to win best local reporting. It was Debbie's year).

The Devil and The Angels

2007-04-16T11:54:00.000-05:00

Emak and I are taking a class this time around entitled Angels and Devils in Medieval Literature. It's pretty awesome, if you like reading Anglo-Saxon poems in prose translations (which everyone knows is not the way to read them, but do you know Anglo-Saxon?)
Our texts include the aptly named LUCIFER, ANGLO-SAXON POETRY, the wonderful VISIONS OF HEAVEN AND HELL BEFORE DANTE, and of course, DANTE.
Medieval representations of the devil are pretty damn awesome. It's not like that's news or something, but it's still worth noting. I've become a pretty big fan of the Harrowing of Hell as a theological precept from the day. It allows for me to get Judas into heaven without having to committ any grave acts of heresy. Except for maybe getting Judas to heaven. Just read the Gospel of Nicodemus.

Kurt Vonnegut, book writer, humorist, dies

2007-04-12T09:54:00.001-05:00

I learned my lesson last time I mentioned the death of a certain philosopher to use no wit or humor when reporting these stories. So this time, I will just link to the story from the Old Grey Lady about the death of Kurt Vonnegut. He was 84.
Here's a wonderful little note from the Times about the same author who wrote Slaughter House Five. "To Mr. Vonnegut, the only possible redemption for the madness and apparent meaninglessness of existence was human kindness." Or, as Mr. Rosewater puts it in God Bless you Mr. Rosewater, "God-damn it, you've got to be kind."

So. Mr. Vonnegut, adieu.
I found this picture on Google. It seemed appropriate.

Kurt Vonnegut Dies

2007-04-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Kurt Vonnegut died last night in Manhattan at the age of 84. According to the New York Times, his wife, Jill Krementz, said that after a fall several weeks ago, the author had suffered brain injuries. Born in 1922, Vonnegut was the youngest of three children and lived through the Depression, his mother's suicide, and being captured as a prisoner of war during World War II. His famous book, Slaughterhouse-Five, is based on his experience during the war. After the war, Vonnegut worked as a newspaper reporter and studied at the University of Chicago before his first book, Player Piano, was published in 1952. Vonnegut, who wrote fiction, plays and essays, is known for his 14 novels including Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.

HIP! HIP!

2007-04-02T12:01:00.000-05:00

CZFinke took his MA Comprehensive Exam on Saturday, there was lots of reading and studying that went into the test over the last five months!! And lots of partying when it was over! Lets all give him a big pat on the back...blogger style!

In case you haven't already read

2007-03-28T14:04:00.000-05:00

The Road by Cormac McCarthy, now is your chance. Oprah has made it her most recent book club pick. Dear oh dear she annoys the crap out of me...

And if you live in Chicago (or Illinois in general) the new One Book, One Chicago pick has been selected: Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin. I haven't previously participated in One Book, One Chicago-- but I plan to this time around and I am awfully excited about it. It has proven in the past to be a great way to unite our large and diverse city AND Chicago (i.e. Daley) sponsors all sorts of great (AND FREE) lectures and films surrounding the book pick. (Truth be told, I don't think anyone in Chicago reads this blog--so mostly I am writing to express how excited I am to read this book.)

And another book club option , which can have a bit of action via luminous if you are so interested, White Noise by Don DeLillo. I am reading the book here in my home city with a few other friends who also haven't read it yet, I think we are the last people alive to have not read it, which leaves me hoping many of you will have all sorts of opinions about it.

Tolkien Jr. finishes Tolkien Sr.'s final Lord of the Rings book

2007-03-25T13:52:00.000-05:00

Children of Hurin, the last book J.R.R. Tolkien began in the Lord of the Rings series, in 1971, has been finished and will be published next month. What? I don't know anything about Christopher Tolkien, but could the stakes be any higher? Is there a more beloved series than Lord of the Rings?

Here's another story from the old grey lady about Tolkien fans and Children of Hurin.

Stanley Cavell and the end of the exam series

2007-03-24T21:41:00.000-05:00

As the 7 people who stop in at Luminous know, I have been studying for my comprehnsive exam for my masters. Now, it's down to the wire, 7 more days to study and read from those wonderful texts I can nearly recite backwards. "wife a of want in be must, forutne good a of possession in man single a that, acknowledged universally truth a is It." See.
Anyway. I've been reading (over and over) Stanley Cavell's chapter on It Happened One Night from Pursuits of Happiness. He's pretty smart. I'm in to posting pictures of these scholars and philosophers. It makes a litte impression on me when I've been reading these people, and eventually to come around and take a look. They are usually older, white, often bespectacled, balding. Stanley here appears to be clutching his chest, which is never a good sign. Just hacking on you Professor Cavell. Love your work.

This isn't that interesting. Well it's a bit interesting to me.

The Year of Magical Thinking

2007-03-20T10:50:00.000-05:00

I picked up Joan Didion's most recent work this past weekend, The Year of Magical Thinking, and basically plowed through it. I found the book very moving and comforting, but how could you not? Its so personal and about such a difficult subject. I suppose the big shocker for me was that someone could have the ability to give others such a detailed inside look at their grief. In this case, it seems very self sacrificing--I suppose I think that because so many of the people who will pick it will be doing so because they need something to relate to, but personally I just don't know how she did it.

Here is an interview with Didion if you are interested.

Some books about books...

2007-03-18T22:19:00.000-05:00

It took me a while to get through Matthew Battle's book, The Library: An Unquiet History, but once I finally picked it back up I breezed through it and learned all sorts of interesting new stuff about the Library: from the burning of the Library at Alexandria, to Swift's arguing the Ancients over the Moderns, to just how crazy and backwards the genius of Dewy was. Each chapter had an over arching time frame it focused on and within the chapter a more specific event of that period meant to bring the reader in. Personally I would have been fine with out the fifty pages that focused on Swift (but maybe that's because of the aversion I have had towards him since college) which also happened to the part of the book that stopped me up for two moths, but I think some of you would really enjoy that part (namely, my husband). In short, if you find yourself in awe when you go into the library and would like to learn a bit more about it's history this book is a good place to start.

I found myself totally engrossed in Maureen Corrigan's book, Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading-so much so that I felt disgruntled existing in any world other than hers. I highly recommend picking it up if you are an avid reader, she not only gives you an amazing book list to look into but she also discusses so many great and new ideas that are fun to ponder. I particularly loved her idea of the "female extreme adventure novel" in which she argues that female characters, more often than we recognize, have extreme --life suspending--adventures that get passed over because they don't speak to that outward notion of adventure we have become so used to. She also discussed the "honorary male" or "learned androgyny" status women adhere to to be taken seriously in the world of reading--both in real life and in stories, an issue I struggle with in my life and therefore found very eye opening. If there is one book you should pick because of this blog, this is the book. It's wonderful.

Fun with Norton Critical Editions.

2007-03-15T12:59:00.000-05:00

As I continue to study for my comps, I get to read all kind of randomness published in the back of Norton Critical Editions. After readingthe Norton Importance of Being Earnest cover to cover, I am now reading through the Pride and Prejudice. Let me tell you, there is a wealth wonderful oddities and fun in there.
Here are two of the pleasures that I read.
The first is from some early Austen writing, called Love and Friendship. It is a dialogue about someone knocking on a door.

"My father started--"What noise is that," (said he.) "It sounds like a loud rapping at the Door"--(replied Mother.) "it does indeed." (cried I.) "I am of your opinion; (said my father) it certainly does appear to proceed from some uncommon violence exerted against our unoffending door." "Yes (exclaimed I) I cannot help thinking it must be somebody who knocks for admittance."

Seriously. This continues for about a page or so. Dizzyingly circular discussion about how they all agree someone is knocking on the door, and that whoever it is wants to come in. It's wonderous how it goes on and on.
The other fun thing has less to do with Austen. It comes from a critic named Richard Whately, who wrote an essay called "Modern Novels," published in Qarterly Review 24, in 1821. He's talking about how well Austen handles her Christianity by just not talking about it. I must say I was a tad surprised and comforted to read his great reasoning.

"For when the purpose of inculcating a religious principle is made too palpably prominent, many readers, if they do not throw aside the book with disgust, are apt to fortify themselves with that respectful kind of apathy with which they undergo a regular sermon, and prepare themselves as they do to swallow down a dose of medicine, endeavouring to get it down in large gulps, without tasting it more than is necessary."

Isn't that lovely. I think so. For kicks, Whately ends his essay with, "We know not whether Austen ever had access to the precepts of Aristotle; but there are few, if any, writers of fiction who have illustrated them more successfully." I couldn't agree more. There are few, if any, novels I know of that are more perfectly crafted and and exectued as Pride and Prejudice. I love it.

Speaking of taking an hour...

2007-03-13T11:33:00.000-05:00

I picked up O Pioneers! this past weekend as part of goal I set for myself, which is currently (not so cleverly) called Ten in Ten. Over the remaining ten months of 2007 I plan to read ten books I have had on my shelves for over a year- in addition to my normal reading. The first of which was O Pioneers! Needless to say, I am pretty excited about this. I have more books than I would like to admit that have been collecting dust for sometime now-and this is a fun way to pick up those books I have always wanted to have read but never really felt like reading. As for my reaction to O Pioneers!--well to begin with there is an exclamation mark in the title and that is just awesome. I think of this book as high school reading, and by that I mean, it is often required that highschooler's read it. Which is a damn shame. If I had read it in high school I know I would not have appreciated it at all, instead I am sure I would have found it boring and pointless. As it is, I have been out of high school for quite sometime, and I have to admit: I loved it! The characters, the long crafted speeches about the land, the heartbreak, I felt as though I was allowed in to this part of history that was formerly not open to me...and now I have some sense of how people lived and thought in the early 20th century. I should say, at no point did I feel I could empathize with the characters but Cather's prose really brought the time period alive. And for that, I am thankful. Not to mention, its so short there really isn't anytime to not like it.

As for the remaining 9 in 10, I plan to read:
Heart of the Matter
All the Pretty Horses
My Antonia
Big Rock Candy Mountain
White Noise
The Street Of Crocodiles
The Sea, The Sea
A Handful of Dust
& Cold Mountain

breaking news: Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde, Funny

2007-03-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

I've been pouring over Importance of Being Earnest, one of the texts on my comp exam. It is so damn funny. I know we all know that, but man, it's awesome.
For example:

If I am occasionally over-dressed, I make up for it by being immensely over-educated.

Algy: The truth is rarely pure, and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were, and Modern Literature a complete impossibility.
Jack: That wouldn't be at all a bad thing.
Algy: Literary Criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don't try it. You should leave that to people who havne't been at university.

It goes on and on. I just wanted to remind everyone. Take an hour and read it, it's good stuff.

Baudrillard: "Rest in...simulated secondary access to post mortem Peace" ?

2007-03-10T11:27:00.000-06:00

Jean Baudrillard has died. Our favorite Hyperrealist was 77. His life was spent detmerining that there was no reality to try to tap in to so you're better off not trying, or something.
During his life he wrote more than 50 books, denied that the first Gulf War took place anywhere outside the media, claimed that the current Iraq was is an attempt by America to "put the rest of the world into simulation, and most importantly, inspired, if you call it that, the Matrix, to which he said that the references to his work "stemmed mostly from misunderstandings." Sorry Larry and Andy. You just don't get it.

Here's a "picture" of what Baudrillard "looked like."

Author Identification:

2007-03-05T09:45:00.000-06:00

Last fall when I was seeking employment I happened to apply at this little independent bookstore in my neighborhood that specifically caters itself to Women and Children. After bringing in my application and resume they asked me to sit down for a short test that they require all potential employees to take. When they explained the test to me I was pretty excited but that excitement quickly turned to shock and resignation as I realized I didn't know as much as I thought I had. Well, this weekend, I happened to stop back in the store as for a copy and now I present it to you. Below is a list of female authors and the rules are simple: 1. Name a book written by the following authors. 2. No cheating, you are on the honor system. 3. Add up the number you know and post. And for those of you that are curious, I knew books by all of 12 of these authors, not so hot!

Toni Morrison

Mary Oliver

Sandra Cisneros

Sara Partesky

Octavia Butler

Ana Castillo

bell hooks

Jeanette Winterson

Lillian Faderman

Baraba Kingsolver

Margaret Atwood

Rebecca Walker

Gloria Steinem

Anne Lamott

Sarah Schulman

Leslie Feinberg

Gerda Lerner

Gish Jen

Amy Tan

Penelope Leach

Kathleen Norris

Mary Karr

Ursula LeGuin

Terry Tempest Williams

Audre Lorde

Zadie Smith

Jhumpa Lahiri

Alice Munro

Martha Nussbaum

Jane Hamilton

Annie Proulx

Susan Faludi

Adrienne Rich

What'cha Reading Now?

2007-03-01T12:53:00.000-06:00

I am reading Les Miserabls, and I have to admit, most of this book is more boring than any other book I have ever read. But I am only 150 pages in, so I have my fingers crossed.

Woland and Christ's Last Temptation

2007-02-24T18:48:00.000-06:00

It was by no means intentional on my part to read The Master and Margarita and The Last Temptation of Christ back to back but fate deemed it to be, and therefore I come to you with some curious similarities.

I suppose I found reading theses two books in succession so exciting because they seem to be about complete opposites (Jesus and the Devil, good and evil) but having read them together I realized they are more alike than opposite. Despite the obviously polarity of the main characters these books argue the same thing: it is not the experiences you have in life that matter, but your reaction to them.
Kazantzakis writes in his intro:

"This book is not a biography; it is the confession of every man who struggles. In publishing it I have fulfilled my duty, the duty of a person who struggled much, was much embittered in life and had many hopes. I am certain that every free man who reads this book, so filled as it is with love, will more than ever before, better than ever before, love Christ."

Kazantzakis took a story that is all too familiar to most of us and gave it just enough of a spin to piss off half of us and awaken the other half. And if you are part of the half that felt awoken by the novel you hopefully learned that it is not a particular moment(s) in your life that is most important but all the moments together that create your whole being—that create a final result.
In The Master and Margarita Woland is the true hero and “Yeshua is extraordinary only in his sensitivity and his naive belief in the goodness of man.” Woland, contrary to our usual understanding of the Devil not only believes in the goodness of man (we see this when he tests Margarita’s compassion with the criminals at the ball) but he himself embodies a goodness. He becomes even more powerful in that he also brings with him great strength and knowledge of the evils in the world—unlike naïve Jesus. Woland and Yeshua bring the same message, “compassion is preferable to revenge.” But Woland teaches this by directly involving himself in people’s lives instead of as “a defenseless human being who is beaten and hung on the cross.” The important difference here seems to be that Woland continues fighting with human nature’s lesser side, testing them through provocations, to make people compassionate instead of just expecting them to follow his lead, like Yeshua did on the cross.

In Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus is the hero that Woland is in The Master and Margarita. Kazantzakis writes his novel with an emphasis on a life of Jesus that is human and therefore relatable. Thus forcing the reader to see that his particular experiences aren’t the key issues but the ultimate decision it leads up to. Kazantzakis challenges our understanding of Jesus in the bible, without (I think) actually blaspheming: Judas is a hero, who turned in Jesus because he was asked, not as an act of betrayal; Jesus struggles with a burning desire to be with Mary Magdalene. Jesus doesn’t hear God’s voice clearly or at all most of the time which makes his ultimate decision not naiveté, divine direction or a simple belief in goodness, but as painstaking a decision as there ever was—to claim he is the Son of God and to die on the cross. Jesus leads by provocation—because he is as human as the rest of us.
Both Woland and Christ were created in these novels to make people live a life of goodness and compassion despite our more natural inclinations. And both do it by breaking the mold we have kept them in over the ages. They scream to us to do the right thing, to be the best person possible when it comes time to make a decision, no matter what life hands you.

And as a final note, if you couldn’t tell already, I sincerely loved both of these books.

Ann Patchett and Bernardo Bertolucci

2007-02-19T10:38:00.000-06:00

I know there are some fans of Ann Patchett and Bel Canto floating around out there. So I thought this would be a story of interest. It looks like Bernardo Bertolucci, one of the great living directors, who gave us Dreamers, Stealing Beauty, the Last Emporer, and Last Tango in Paris, is going to direct Bel Canto. The book must be sexy. Bertolucci doesn't mind doing sexy.

A poem while you wait...

2007-02-15T22:23:00.000-06:00

Parodos

Long ago, I was wounded.
I learned
to exist, in reaction,
out of touch
with the world: I'll tell you
what I meant to be-
a device that listened.
Not inert: still.
A piece of wood. A stone.

Why should I tire myself, debating, arguing?
Those people breathing in the other beds
could hardly follow, being
uncontrollable
like any dream-
Through the blinds, I watched
the moon in the night sky, shrinking and swelling-

I was born to a vocation:
to bear witness
to the great mysteries.
Now that I've seen both
birth and death, I know
to the dark nature these
are proofs, not
mysteries-

by Louise Gluck

YES!!

2007-02-13T14:00:00.000-06:00

For those of you that don't read Pandas and love books: WHB recently introduced me to a little site called LibraryThing. And as a book lover, let me tell you, IT IS AMAZING! I haven't gotten any work done for the past two days because I keep going back to the site and adding adding adding more books! It's so fun. And it gives you the opportunity to see what books your friends have.

cbhillstom and I (zumskifinke) have 70 books in common. I think that's a record!

Check it out.

North and South, and Iulius Caeser

2007-02-07T09:58:00.000-06:00

In between working on my thesis (very interesting) and studying for my comps (some less interesting & some quite interesting) I am currently reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Yes, I am still taking Victorian Industrial Novel. I know little about Gaskell, other than she was friends with Dickens, occasionally found him to be an obnoxious editor of North and South as it was published in Household Words, but recognized (as every one did) how brilliant he was and usually took his advice. As for Gaskell, well, Dickens liked her too. But so far she is a very striking writer. And I've learned that living in the North of England during the Industrial Revolution would have been less than preferable.

The other project I have recently attached myself too, which ended yesterday, actually, was translating the Ides Martiae from Latin to English for my Latin midterm. I learned that Caesar did not actually say 'Et tu, Brute?' as Shakespeare seems to have famoused. (Gaius Iulius Caesar non dicit 'et tu brute', sed 'et tu filii meus' inquit) Rather he said, 'You too, my son?' in Greek, something to the effect of 'Kai su teknon.'
Unrelated Update:
breaking news from cnn. Apparently they found the bodies of romeo and juliet (the 5-6000 year old version.

"The Boy with the Incredible Brain" Part 1

2007-01-29T11:16:00.001-06:00

"The Boy with the Incredible Brain" Part 2

2007-01-29T11:09:00.001-06:00

Holy Crap...

2007-01-28T18:56:00.000-06:00

Passing away a lazy Sunday evening watching TV, CZF and I came across and episode of 60 minutes and heard an incredible story about a English Man not much older than us by the name of Daniel Tammet. Tammet is a Savant--one of only about 50 known living in the world today-- but he differs in that he is also able to manage social interaction, something that has never been seen in before in a Savant. Some are describing him as the Rosetta Stone of brain's. Well, maybe you aren't impressed yet, but give me a second here to tell you some unbelievable facts about him that just might make your mouth drop: He used his incredible memory to learn the first 22,514 decimal places of pi. He recited the numbers at Oxford (on Pi day of course) it took him over five hours, and he didn't make a single mistake. He is also fluent in English, German, French, Spanish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Icelandic, and Esperanto. There was a documentary made about him, called Brain Man (U.S.) or The Boy with the Incredible Brain (U.K), in which he took on the task of learning Icelandic (known for being one of the most difficult languages to learn) in 7 days, and then went on a national Icelandic television show to be interview in the language, and is said to have spoken rather eloquently, although I can't confirm that with my Icelandic being so limited and all. If that weren't enough he has created three new languages called Mänti, Uusisuom, and Lapsi. And for the enjoyment of us all a memoir he wrote was released here in the states on January 7th, called Born on a Blue Day. You can buy an autographed copy of it on his webpage if you feel so inclined. As if I didn't already have enough books on my "to read" list...

Part III of III: Some books I plan to read...

2007-01-22T10:21:00.000-06:00

What's the point in talking about books if you don't list off all those books you are wanting to read. To begin with, here are the recommendations I got from you bloggers back in December:

Books & their Recommenders
Moby Dick by Herman Mellville; czfinke
Little, Big by John Crowley; DieDan
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell; annb
The Crow Road by Iain Banks; Scarlet Zapata
Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West; Bryant
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; whb
Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; Cat C.
The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco; jc
Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen; JDM

And some other books on my list...

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo: DePaul Reads Together, has chosen this beast of a book as the next book club option...I've always wanted to have read (past-tense) Les Mis but have never really want to read (present-tense) Les Mis. For some reason I group him with Tolstoy (why I'm not sure, maybe because they both wrote massive massive books) whom I'm not particularly fond of. We'll see, this one might not happen.

The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch: I've heard nothing but amazing things about Murdoch's writing, but haven't read a page of her work yet. If I'm not mistaken, I don't think I know anyone who has read her, but when she comes up in a book or a review or wherever writers come up she is always highly praised. I choose The Sea, The Sea because it's one of her more popular and well know novels & happened to win the Booker in 1978. Seems reliable. The story: Narrator, Charles Arrowby, is a tyrannical director-playwright who, after 40 years, again makes contact with his worn-out childhood sweetheart, bullies her without being able to change, and then starts an affair with an equally monstrous 18-year-old girl.

The Name of The Rose, Umberto Eco: Yes, I know its up on the list of recommended books, but I had to mention it again because I'm so damned excited about it.

Our Enduring Values, Michael Gorman: Yes, yes...it looks boring I know. But really its rather intriguing. It is about libraries after all.

The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila: I have been highly intrigued by the lives of the saints lately, particularly female saints. Which makes me pretty pumped about reading this book.

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading, Maureen Corrigan: Maureen Corrigan is the Fresh Air Book Critic and recently wrote about book about her life as a reader. I feel kinda cheesy wanting to read about about reading books, but then I heard Terry Gross interview her, and it really sounds awesome. And apparently she has a fixation with the Live of the Saints as well, so that will go good with the last book I talked about on this list.

Well, I suppose this could go on forever, and I should probably just go and read instead of talking about it...

That Revolutionary Spirit, pt. deux

2007-01-18T11:43:00.000-06:00

"We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity." Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil.

Awesome. It excites one to read something and get that charge that used cause sparks of fire in your stomach. Salinger and Kerouac and Merton, they all provided that little stir in the soul that originally made you want to read a book in the first place. I didn't think former prime minister victorian conservative Disraeli would draw from that same pool.
(Interesting sidenote-Disraeli was Jewish, which was pretty unwelcomed in England, to put it mildly--Jews were not given civil rights until the 1850s, about 25 years after Catholics were given civil rights. Anyway. Disraeli was the first, and so far, only Jewish Prime Minister of England.)
Here is a pitcture of Benjamin Disraeli, the latest to stir the waters of my soul.

That Revolutionary Spirit

2007-01-11T13:19:00.000-06:00

Well. I have a few minutes and thought I would comment a moment on what I'm reading, which is Sybil, by Benjamin Disraeli. My Victorian prof informed us that the first 80 pages or so were pretty dry. She's right.
But it picks up and I am very much enjoying the rallying feeling of the spirit of Disraeli. Standing up for the poor, leaving behind the landed gentry and joining the plight of the prols! "Home is isolation, there for anti-social. What we want is COMMUNITY."The PEOPLE, he likes to write in capitals.
There are The great ass characters, like Lord Marney, the landowner and one-who-keeps-down-the-millions (that's my homage to Heidegger). "I say that a family can live well on eight shillings a week!"
Also, there is some great religious stuff going on. It's pretty good, after the slough of despond that is the first eighty pages.
Here's a passage I much enjoy: "The Church of Rome is to be respected ast he only Hebrao-Christian church extant; all other churches established by the Hebrew apostles have disappeared, but Rome remains, and we must never permit the exaggerated position which it assumed in the middle centuries to makes us forget its early and apostolic character, when it was fresh from Palestine, and as it were fragrant from Paradise." Not bad from the mouth of an Anglican Vicar.
I know many find Victorian literature boring and dull (which about fifty percent of this book is) but I thought I would let you all in on the good parts.

What more is there to say?

2007-01-05T09:56:00.000-06:00

Paris Hilton has a book out: Confessions of an Heiress. Maybe I'm behind the times but I hadn't heard of it until this morning when Scarlet Zapta informed me of it. And according to at least one source she is reported to have said, "If I read, I would totally read this book." I guess that means we should read it too....

Part II of III: Some Books I'm Reading:

2007-01-03T12:05:00.000-06:00

Another important subject that I have not covered in a while, the currently reading list:

Stereotypically I never read more than one book at a time unless I am in school, I usually find that I get caught up in one and disregard the others, but lately this problem hasn't been bothering me so much. That or I've become a much better multi-reading-tasker. And I also find that I read more books outside of the literature genre if I read several books at a time, which is very nice. So as of right now...

Library: An Unquiet History; Matthew Battles: Yet another book that I discovered when looking through Mrs. Osborn's shelf. You can all guess why I decided to read it, I'm sure. Right now I am about half way through it and have found that I should probably be reading "The Idiot's Guide to World History" along side it, but alas you will not find that on my list. It is fun to be learning so much though. I'm also highly surprised at how well Battles, who works for the Widener Library at Harvard, pretty much convinces you that the Library is basically the center of everything. Here I was thinking I was the center of everything....

The Last Temptation of Christ; Nikos Kazantzakis: I know this one was posted on quite some time ago, and some of you have even picked it up and read the whole thing since then, but good news: I too have finally started it. Honestly, I wasn't the least bit excited to read it. I've heard the gospel stories, I've even read them (that's right, Bethel!). BUT much to my surprise, I'm really loving it. Now, I'm only 70 pages or so into it but I like that Christ has such a hard time with God and doesn't want anything to do with him. I know its fiction but it's changed my stagnant view of Christ a bit, and makes him much more relateable.

***In addition, I've decided to add a new feature to the blog. That is putting up pictures of the books I am currently reading in a side bar, so you can stay updated and I don't have to bore you with talking about them before I have ever finished reading them.***

New Years 2006!!

2007-01-02T18:35:00.000-06:00

The Newest of Newly Married Couples, and oh so cute!

Craig and Mandar, looking sexy!

...and a few drinks later!

Susan & Mystery Guest.

David feeling a little disoriented the next morning!

Part I of III, Some Books I've Read:

2007-01-02T11:08:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've written about any books I've read so I thought I would do a little highlight of the past few months reading...

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgokov: Despite taking me over two months to finish this beast of a book I can finally re-shelve it's beaten self back on my book shelf. The first half went horribly slow for me, I would read a few pages on the train and get nowhere with it, every chapter seemed to introduce a new character and I just couldn't get into it. But luckily the holiday break gave me plenty of time to finish it up and the second half not only breezed by but was rather enjoyable. It was funny, smart, enjoyably philosophical and had a fun-loving Devil right in the middle of it all, what more could a girl ask for over her Christmas break? I only wish I had read the whole thing with such enjoyment. The end wasn't quite as great as I expected. I had heard all sorts of fabulous comments about how great it turned out, but I found myself a bit confused, maybe because the Devil didn't fit my stereotype, who knows? What about those of you that have read it? I'm interested to hear what you think about the pace of the book and how it all came together. In the end, I can happily say that this book continues in holding up my love of Russia as depicted in novels. What a great place.

Unless, Carol Shields: I loved loved loved this book. Charissa recommended it to me and what a wonderful recommendation it was. Unless was the last book Shields (pulitzer prize winner) wrote before she died of cancer. Her reflections on being a writer and what it means to live your life in a worthwhile manner are expressed quite eloquently through her characters story. Personally I couldn't help but often get the impression that she wasn't really writing a fiction novel but scratching her frustrations down in a journal that she just happened to publish. Of course there very much is a story line that is fictional and it too is heartbreaking. Her main character, Reta Winter is a 44 year old writer whose oldest daughter up and dropped out of university one day to sit on a street corner in Toronto with a sign that says "goodness". It's an amazing story and the ending only reaffirms that. The point is, read it. It's well worth it and it'll only take you a couple days at the most.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John Wood: I discovered this book while listening to NPR back in my jobless days. The author was talking with Terry Gross (I think) describing the experiences he had that led him to give up a very high ranking position with Microsoft to bring books to remote areas of the East for children who had never even so much as seen dreamed they would get a chance to hold one in their tiny little hands. I picked it up right away (AND IT'S ONLY OUT IN HARDCOVER!!) and fell head over heels in love with this man and his organization, Room to Read. For someone who loves books and is interested in libraries as well, John Wood is a God-send. His NGO is only five years old but is spreading like wild fire. They have built over 3,000 libraries for children in the developing world and reached 1.1 Million children's lives, from new libraries to schools to scholarships for girls. It's an incredible organization, that just doesn't take no for an answer. And lets just be honest, how can you not love someone who gives their life to make the world a better place for children?

Happy Boxing Day!

2006-12-26T15:27:00.000-06:00

Howdy blogger friends and family. I write to you from Fido Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. We are spending this years holidays south of the Mason Dixon line. And oh what a holiday it's been! Due to a series of unfortunate events we haven't done much but read for the past several days, but I suppose that's a good thing in a way. I'm finally finishing up The Master and Margarita (to be reported on soon) and CZF has found himself reading The Boyfriend School and Hamlet...you wouldn't believe how well they go together. We hope y'all had a very merry holiday and of course, we love you dearly!

Also, prayers for my Pappaw, who is in the hospital, are greatly appreciated!

For those of you that care:

2006-12-21T14:57:00.000-06:00

You can go to J.K. Rowling's site learn the name of the last Harry Potter book. Although, I'm warning you-- it's a highly annoying process. I suppose it depends on how much you care. Oh, and here is Dumbledore's hat...hope it helps.

Best of Luck!

For those of you that clearly aren't wizards here is a little help...
-click on the pink eraser.
-click on the door at the end of the hallway in the mirror.
-click on the top part of the big door in the foreground.
-click on the ceiling of the hallway in the mirror.
-click on the spiderwebs
-click and hold the wind chime that is second to the right, when it turns into a key drag it and unlock the door.
-from there you are on your own, if you still can't do it, I don't know what to tell you.