Wants to read The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood
book
Rated The Russia Shift 8/10
Ending was just an ok payoff for an otherwise very interesting world. Good art.
Rated The Story of Mary Maclane 6/10
<div>RIP Mary MacLane, you would've loved livejournal, tumblr, and AO3. We would have lost you to Poster's Madness years ago.<br><br>Mary MacLane, if you didn't know, was Winnipeg-born, but it was in Butte, Montana, where she gained notoriety as a "wild woman" who was going to write about herself and whatever else she wanted, and if that includes fanfiction about the Devil and shading Charlotte Brontë, then so be it!! <br><br>She was bisexual, feminist, angry, lonely, one child of many, breathing in mining fumes, confident, funny, complex, and unfortunately, a big Byron and Napoleon fan. You're not reading her for great literature, but I love that a Butte gal got everyone up in arms, circa 1902. #ButteAmerica<br><br></div>
Rated The Sad Bastard Cookbook: Food You Can Make So You Don't Die 8/10
<div>This book accomplishes what it set out to do — remind people who have a hard time feeding themselves while depressed that there are very basic things you can eat. The intended audience might skew towards those in college/new adults in general, people who have not spent a lot of time cooking for themselves, even when they feel capable.<br><br>The recipes within are less about measurements and more about adequate ideas, with variations depending on how much effort you might want to put into a dish. Even though I have been (to toot my own horn) a really good cook for almost 20 years now, and even though certain prep methods contained within made me go "I CANNOT imagine doing it like that," I know I'm not exactly the intended audience! People who like cooking for themselves and love new recipes are going to be like "Peanut butter on a spoon? Seriously???" But that's not the point here! The point is, when you're knee-deep in some sort of awful circumstance, sometimes you really need someone to say, "Hey, it's fine if all you manage is some instant oatmeal right now."<br><br>BTW, the ebook version of this is free online, so if you need a little extra help, that's one less hurdle to deal with.</div>
Rated The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid (26-Mar-2015) Paperback 8/10
<div>Even when I figured out whodunit, I didn't know the WHY until near the end, which is a great sign of McDermid's skill as a mystery writer. That said, I wish some of the dialogue was less expository, and I wish she didn't have such internalized fatphobia. Still, I am enjoying the Karen Pirie series.</div>
Rated The Story of a New Name 10/10
<div>I wish I'd started on Ferrante when these books came out! I was even on the list for review copies!! AND YET.<br><br>Better late than never!<br><br>Anyway, this book was even better than MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, which I also loved.</div>
Rated The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing 10/10
<div>Somehow this book had escaped my attention before now, but I'd read a quote from it on some site or another that I liked so much, I almost immediately ordered a copy from Thriftbooks. Now this is some great art about art.</div><div><br></div>
Edited 86d ago
Rated Doctor Who: The Third Doctor Adventures, Volume 5 8/10
<div>Pretty solid set! I don't know if I'm 100% on Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor, though he's fine enough, but Jon Culshaw as the Brig is great.</div>
Rated The Thing About Thugs 8/10
In some ways, the darker elements and seeing the killer's point-of-view reminded me of Patricia Highsmith's work, though she did not set any of her stories (that I know of) in Victorian times. The methodical way everyone justifies their bad behavior, killer or not, is also very much like her. The difference is that Khair doesn't write with underlying disdain for society. There is still an element of magic, though not the fantastical kind. It's magic in the form of hope, the willful suspension of disbelief, and the transforming power of a good story. I certainly recommend tracking down this book.<br><br>(My full review appears on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-thing-about-thugs-by-tabish-khair.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)
Rated The Trees 9/10
<div>A near-perfect collection of short stories in a pleasingly compact package. There were so many instances where I thought, "Wow, what a sentence!" that I'm glad that the translator, Robin Myers, also gets proper billing on the cover. I have not seen this work in its original Spanish, nor is my Spanish good enough to where I could fluently read it, but I know that translation is its own work of art.<br><br>These short stories are full of beautiful descriptions, human difficulty, and a different way of looking at the stories of the natural world. I definitely recommend it.</div>
Rated The Underworld 8/10
Very much enjoyed this, probably more so because it is a stretch of road with which I am familiar. A book full of grieving, realistically messy people (though the book is not one I'd call a tearjerker at all), doing the best they can, even when the best they can might be a poor decision anyway.
Wants to read The Universe of Us (Volume 4)
Rated The Vital Abyss 7/10
<div>Some interesting supplemental material.</div>
Rated The War Master: Escape from Reality 10/10
<div>The Master causing problems with fictional characters we already know? Yes of course this is a good time.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: The War Doctor, Vol. 4: Casualties of War 10/10
<div>This whole series with John Hurt is really great, but this fourth installment is perhaps the best of the bunch. Leela turns up too, which answers some questions about what happened to her in the Gallifrey: Time War installment I recently listened to, so I'm glad I heard that one first, even if it's not wholly essential to have done so.</div>
Rated The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide 8/10
Though this book is not at all heavy reading, I certainly recommend it as thinking material. Is it worth the $15 cover price? I don’t know — that depends on your love of tattoos more than it does literature, I think. Perhaps it’s more of a book you buy as a gift for others. Still, it’s always interesting to hear the stories behind why people choose to decorate their bodies in the way that they do, though I imagine that for any living writer, seeing their words as tattoos must be both bizarre and flattering.<br><br>(Full review on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/10/world-made-flesh-edited-by-eva-talmadge.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.)