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Archive for December, 2011

Reviews: Case Histories, Kate Atkinson / The Invisible Ones, Stef Penney

Posted in 3 Stars, Heard about from the internets, tagged Case Histories, clearing off bookshelves is wonderful and cleansing, divorced private investigators, I think that divorced private investigators are too close to being picaresque for me to enjoy them, Kate Atkinson, one thing about living in New York City is that it clarifies your storage priorities wonderfully, sometimes when I read two very similar books very close together the faults of each one wash into the other and I end up not thinking very well of either of them, Stef Penney, The Invisible Ones on December 30, 2011 | 34 Comments »

Okay, my enthusiasm for my TBR shelf has cooled observably. The problem is that when I finish a book on my TBR shelf, I don’t have anywhere else to put it. It just goes back on my TBR shelf because that’s the only available storage. I need to move on selling discarded books to the [...]

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Review: Habibi, Craig Thompson

Posted in 2 Stars, Favored authors, tagged authors I love letting me down, Craig Thompson, fairy tales, graphic novels, grumble grumble grumble, Habibi, incest and rape, rape is upsetting enough to read about let alone see in a graphic novel let alone see in a graphic novel over and over for no discernable plot reason, too much rape goddammit, why have graphic novels stopped being awesome? did I read all the awesome ones? on December 27, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Nyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyynnnnnnnnggggg. Come on, dude. Is what I was saying throughout most of Habibi. I wanted to be saying what I was saying throughout most of Thompson’s previous book, Blankets, which was nothing actually because I was so breathless from the beauty of the story and the illustrations. I wanted that to be the case with [...]

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Review: Ground Up, Michael Idov

Posted in 3 Stars, Picked up randomly, tagged Ground Up, I love shows like The Vampire Diaries where the characters (good and evil) always have a plan and even if the plan gets messed up they're very good at improvising new plans which is soothing to me, I would never open a business because I would know I would fail, Michael Idov, oh Lord I am so excited about my present for Daddy and I hope it doesn't all go horribly wrong, when I feel sad I think about how in the future I'm going to have my very own entire tailgate and Captain Hammer's will grill things while Social Sister gets drunk from one beer, yeah I said it; New York doesn't know how to do good outdoors arts markets on December 22, 2011 | 12 Comments »

This is a book about a couple who open up a coffee shop on the Lower East Side, with the notion that it will be an upscale Viennese coffee shop, with Viennese pastries and perfect coffee and loyal clients, and Mark and Nina will grow old together as the couple who owns the coffee shop, [...]

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What’s making me happy

Posted in Misc., tagged I don't like actual devastating explosions so the ones I linked to do not feature human casualties, I keep thinking of songs I wish Paul Robeson had sung like "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow", Old Spice certainly does know how to advertise, Paul Robeson!, to clarify I am good at buying gifts for people I know not for your random relative about whom I know nothing, wouldn't it have been amazing if Paul Robeson had lived long enough to play Javert? on December 18, 2011 | 28 Comments »

1. The Christmas gifts I bought for everyone. I don’t know if y’all know this about me, but one of my best skills is buying gifts. I am good at buying gifts and it is also one of my favorite things to do in all the world. I feel happy whenever I think about the [...]

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Onomatopoeia representation of a cry of anguish!

Posted in Misc., tagged couldn't they sell stone-safe lipstick at the cemetery gift shop?, did you cry when Harry found the messages of support at his parents' old house? I did A LOT., now I can never smooch Oscar Wilde's grave and I very very very much wanted to, Rupert Everett is sort of my enemy now for trying to act like it isn't the case that something awesome just came to an end, visible expressions of love and joy just make me happy OKAY?, WHY., WHYYYYYYYYYYYY, wow this post ended up being super earnest on December 7, 2011 | 41 Comments »

Basically there have been two longstanding reasons that I want to go to Paris and they are these: 1. The Louvre. 2. Slathering on dramatic lipstick and going to Pere Lachaise and smooching Oscar Wilde’s grave. And you know, I’ve heard the Louvre is real great and all but when I imagine me in Paris, [...]

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Review: The Rehearsal, Eleanor Catton

Posted in 2 Stars, Heard about from the internets, tagged Eleanor Catton, everyone else read this book years ago but I took ages about it, I had Little Women paper dolls and Princess Diana/Prince Charles paper dolls when I was a kid, I used to love paper dolls actually, I wrote this review the day after reading the book and felt super awesome and prompt but now I am behind again and have taken ages to post this reivew, I wrote this review the day after reading the book and felt super awesome and prompt but now I am behind again and have taken ages to post this review, oh yeah and the timeline was all messed up and out of order which I sometimes like if the author can keep it straight for me but if not then not, Prince Charles always used to get kidnapped by the evil Beth and have to be rescued by Jo and Diana, The Rehearsal on December 5, 2011 | 12 Comments »

Every time I read a book set in a high school I am amazed that anyone got out alive. High school wasn’t the best years of my life or anything, but compared to the murderous hatred factories everyone in fiction seems to attend, I clearly went to Merciful Paradise High. Or else I had my [...]

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Review: State of Wonder, Ann Patchett

Posted in 4 Stars, Heard about from the internets, tagged "The Resemblance Between a Violin Case and a Coffin"? Come on! Tennessee m.f. Williams. Damn., Ann Patchett, I like Anne better with the E like Anne Shirley but I like Sarah better with an H in spite of Sara Crewe, not that State of Wonder is a bad title but just sort of meh, sometimes I worry that I'm bad at liking Serious Fiction, State of Wonder, Tennessee Williams was really so good at titles it's not even fair on December 3, 2011 | 28 Comments »

It comforts me when writers are bad at titles. Some writers are disturbingly good at titles, like Tennessee Williams. Some, like Ann Patchett, are not. I am not good at titles myself, although I keep meaning to embark on a project whereby I think of a title for the day before I go to bed [...]

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Jenny's Books

I read the end before I read the middle.

Archive for December, 2011

Reviews: Case Histories, Kate Atkinson / The Invisible Ones, Stef Penney

Review: Habibi, Craig Thompson

What’s making me happy

Onomatopoeia representation of a cry of anguish!

Review: The Rehearsal, Eleanor Catton

Review: State of Wonder, Ann Patchett

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