Long Time No See

So I have finally found some time to read again. I've finished several of my final projects so things are starting to wrap up. If you want to see what I've been doing you can visit my portfolio. Not all of it works yet, mostly because I already got a job so it has not been a priority. However, most of it should work within the next month. Anyway, I should be posting more now that grad school is letting me have a little more time for other things.

New Books and the dangers of the Public Library

I received an e-mail from grandma yesterday advising me to get a book called "Castles in the Air" about a woman and her husband/boyfriend/fiance/something who move into a dilapidated castle in Northern Wales. I found it at the lib, but on the way through the stacks I spotted 2 other books on my new booklist!

So, I also picked up "Stolen Figs: And other adventures in Calabria" by Mark Rotella and "Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books" by Paul Collins.

I have high hopes for "Sixpence House" as it is about a family who move to Hay-on-Wye.

I'm almost done listening to "Don't Get Too Comfortable", which Cali recommended below. It's pretty funny. I also recommend it.

I've decided, in order to read all my books in time to get them back to the library before the late fees begin accruing, I will just have to stop unpacking and cleaning my new apartment.

I finished the "Flame Trees of Thika", but I did so under the pressure of moving and mounting library fines, so I can't really say that it was a relaxing or enjoyable process. I still recommend the book, though.

Enjoy the weekend!

d

Sad, Sad Me

This is just to apologize for not posting in a loooong time. I haven't been able to read much because I am trying to graduate on time. It really stinks too because Jeremy has been sick and so he's been reading non-stop. He's always wandering into the office saying "I just finished another book!" or "Boy was that a good one!". Hmph. So anyway, you all will have to pick up the slack for me for the next few weeks.

Max's Reccomendations

Max has apparently been reading tons of Welsh stuff and sharing with Grandma but nobody else. I haven't been able to keep up but she did e-mail me today....

"you should read some Gwyn Thomas I think; he's a comedian from the 60s, I think he's funny and he was really famous for a while so you might actually be able to find his stuff. maybe. some of these books are rather obscure so I don't know how feasible it would be for you to find them. He's funny in a dark sort of way at times but i did actually laugh out loud at some of his short stories."

So this is really from Max.

I Need More to Read!

S is for Silence

Great book, another Grafton mystery. I am listening to it right now and can hardly wait to get back to the gym to get on the eliptical and put on the headphones. So, if I want to excersize it has got to be a great read. I'm sure it is not going to expand my mind nearly as much as anything A.J. is reading, but, who wants to expand their mind when they are sweating?

Other books I'm reading include the 2nd in the Paddington Bear series. We are getting through these quickly since I turned off satilite TV during Lent. Stella has made me read so many chapters a day of Paddington, she doesn't like for us to say "Paddington Bear" only "Paddington", that my throat is sometimes scratchy. Of course he is always doing something terrible which reminds me of Stella!

You don't want to read what I'm reading

I just thought I'd say hello and thanks to Cali for setting up the blog. I just checked out three books from the law library on what law school is like, and I doubt you want to read those, although on her 'vacation' here this week, Mom managed to get through two of them. Paul, any reading recommendations for a person thinking about going into Tax Law? Please don't say the U.S. Tax Code. ;-P
I would offer my recent reads as suggestions, but I have a feeling no one will find them very interesting. I recently read a couple more Paul Theroux books - he is a long-time travel author who became famous for his books about travelling by train (in Asia and down the Americas)...he also does fiction. I am in the middle of The Black Sheep by Honore de Balzac. This is my second book of his and I am enjoying his wry commentary on the maneuvering of the French after the Revolution to advance their political/social status. I am also slowly trudging through Schindler's List, and I wonder WHY this ever became such a hit?? The story is important, of course, but the way it is written is confusing and tedious! Finally, I picked up 'Avoiding Prison and other Noble Vacation Goals' at the used bookstore the other day...this young woman has a quirky sense of humor that is getting me through the book, but her idiotic tendency to fall in love with guys in or just about to be in prison in Central American countries is kind of exasperating.
So, to conclude, you don't want to read what I'm reading.
(But I thought I would let you know, in case you wondered why I hadn't posted anything.)

Leah's Recommendation: Amelia Peabody

These are great. Turns out curse of the Pharoh isn't the first though. I started reading it and there were a lot of references to past adventures so I got suspicious. Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first although both books have been realy fun. What a great feminist heroine! Thanks Leah.

Anonymous Rex

Ok, Ok. I just picked this one up on a whim, I know it looks dumb. But it was great! A perfect spring break kind of book. Sort of a noir spin where dinosaurs walk among us as human imposters. The main character is a Rapter disguised as a human running a failing private investigation office. A lot of the detective work is done through a strong sense of smell. At first I thought it was too much, but then I was grateful for the twist to what would of otherwise been a pretty regular PI in LA kind of book.

Don't Get Too Comfortable

This is what I am currently reading and it is hilarious. I almost avoided it because David Rakoff is a "new york writer" which is something I normally avoid like the plague. You know, the back of their books usually have words like "psychological" on them. But then I read the inside cover and it turns out he writes for This American Life which is my favorite. Also, he turns out to be very similar to me (except that I'm not male, gay or a new yorker). This is the excerpt which I totally identified with:
"Like most people, I like to think of myself as being spontaneous, ready for anything, fun. This is the evening's second hard-won insight: I am neither spontaneous nor ready for anything. I suspect that others would probably regard this news as about as momentous and surprising as when I decided to come out (which was about as momentous and surprising as if I had bravely announced to everyone that I had dark hair and opposable thumbs). I am no fun at all. In fact, I am anti-fun. Not as in anti-violence, but as in anti-matter. I am not so much against fun--although I suppose I kind of am--as I am the direct opposite of fun. I suck the fun out of a room. Or perhaps I'm just a different kind of fun; the kind that leaves one bereft of hope; the kind of fun that ends in tears."
I read this this weekend instead of going out. You may see what I mean.

Recent Reads/Listens

Well I finished the Hitchhiker as read by Stephen Fry in 2 nights. It was addictive. He does some excellent alien voices, I wonder if they can get him to read the rest of the series.

I also finished the Mangoes book. Also very good and I had to go buy some fish this week - still no leftover papaya...

I also checked out "More Book Lust." Cali, if you haven't read "Book Lust" you should go to the lib and get it. It's an annotated bibliography of books to read and it's written by a former public librarian. I found "More Book Lust" in an odd part of the library - I think people may pull it from the shelf and flip through it, go find something else and leave the it behind.

Next it's on to "The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood" by Elspeth Huxley. I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great weekend!

d