Wants to read Other People We Married
book
Rated The Scarlet Letter & the House of the Seven Gables 8/10
(I only read the introductory chapters from the editor and The House of the Seven Gables, so that is what my rating is based on. I've read the Scarlet Letter, and I didn't like it, but that was over ten years ago and I was a teenager, so I'm not sure what my assessment would be today.)
Rated Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional 10/10
<div>I have followed Isaac Fitzgerald's literary career ever since he was an editor at The Rumpus back in the late 2000s, and it's been great to see where he's gone since then. A couple of these essays, I read wherever they were originally published, though long enough ago that I don't know whether or not they changed in any significant way. This is a great memoir, full of honest, insightful memories, and it's also interesting to see what was happening "behind the curtain," so to speak, during some of the times I was paying attention to his professional work. He's the same age as I am, so some of his childhood attitudes and memories felt very familiar, even though I did not grow up in the same area (and my childhood was considerably more stable). Like, of course you just get up to shit in the woods and are glad for only loose supervision! Of course every teen boy was obsessed with Fight Club and the Pixies after the movie came out! I definitely knew guys like the friends he describes.<br><br>Also, Zeitgeist sounds like an amazing bar.</div>
Rated Before You Knew My Name 7/10
<div>This is an interesting take on the "body of a young woman found murdered" mystery genre, and even though how it shakes out feels almost a <em>bit</em> coincidental, I was definitely invested enough before then. I also appreciated that our second protagonist has her reasons for pursuing an answer, and that pursuit does not focus much on teaming up with the NYPD, and it is more circumspect when it comes to "true crime" as a hobby. Her reasons aren't a hobby, but I also wish <spoiler>she had not pursued romance in the end. I get that it demonstrates she's pursuing something healthier, but I maybe would have preferred that, with the help of seeing her new friends, she was more committed to finding out who she was outside of men and the terrible things that they do.</spoiler></div>
Rated Pachinko 10/10
<div>This was absolutely as amazing as everyone said. Loved it. Glad I finally read it.</div>
Rated One Day 10/10
One Day is an excellent book — one filled with as many funny moments as there are heart-crushing. One of the best books I've read all year.<br><br>(Full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2010/08/one-day-by-david-nicholls.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>)
Wants to read Please Don't Be Upset and Other Stories
Wants to read Beautiful and Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry
Rated Doctor Who: The Forgotten Army 6/10
This is definitely a Doctor Who novel that is more suited for younger readers, since it's a bit more simplistic in both plot and writing style. Tell a kid, "The Doctor is investigating a prehistoric mammoth and tiny soldiers in New York," and I'm guessing they'd be on board immediately. As an adult, I still enjoyed it well-enough. However, Minchin tried a bit TOO hard to play up the contrary parts of Amy's character, along with some of the Doctor's more common turns of phrase, and they didn't quite ring true. So, not essential reading, but not wasted time either.
Rated Letter from the Birmingham Jail 10/10
Rated Just Kids 10/10
One of the best, most affecting memoirs I have ever read. Just Kids is a love story — a love story between people, a love story about art — and a story of sacrifice for what one believes is their destiny. <br><br>My full review can be found on <a href="http://glorifiedloveletters.blogspot.com/2011/01/just-kids-by-patti-smith.html">Glorified Love Letters</a>.
Rated Frost in the Low Areas 10/10
An outstandingly good book of poetry. I let this collection of poetry languish unread in my collection for far too long. <i>Finally</i>, I’ve read it, and it’s magnificent and feels personal and is exactly what I’m looking for when I want a book of poetry, somewhat in the same way I love Tracy K. Smith’s work.<br><br>(This mini-review also at <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2015/05/the-delight-in-reading-lists-and-challenges-20-suggestions/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated The Boxcar Librarian 7/10
<div>Okay, the research seams REALLY show during the first half of the book, but the research is good, so the "Yes, girl, we can see you searched a bunch of different words for storyteller" are not too distracting. Once the story gets cooking, the "Look at me trying hard to get it right" falls away, and we're more invested in what is happening to these characters specifically. Brianna Labuskes does seem to get a lot right about Montana, despite not being from here, and it's nice to have a story that is about books and workers' rights and not forbidden romance at the ranch. For awhile, I was more invested in Alice and Collette working together, so once we switched back to Millie's point of view, had literally forgotten who she was and needed half a page or so to remember. That's kinda on me, but also, Millie's importance doesn't come to the forefront until the end.<br><br>Also, I expected there to be more queer people? Or maybe I read certain characters that way, like Sidney, and kept waiting for the reveal and... I mean, it's fine! I was just surprised.<br><br>Still, I was invested in how this all shook out. It was a little tidy for my taste, but ymmv.</div>
Rated Doctor Who: Something Inside 8/10
Another "amnesia" story. Man, that whole "regenerating under anesthetic" thing is rough on a Time Lord! The brain worm seems like a precursor to the memory worm used on the show, and it's a little bit funny to hear things like, "It's the brain worm!" and take it seriously, but this is a pretty good story all the same.
Rated Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers 6/10
This was ok. I liked the sections dealing with taking your work and your family seriously, but when she got into tattoos being detrimental to the souls of one's children, she lost me a bit. It's a lovely tribute to her grandmothers, but not all of it is practical advice.<br><br>(My full review can be found on <a href="http://persephonemagazine.com/2012/07/06/book-review-dont-sing-at-the-table-by-adriana-trigiani/">Persephone Magazine</a>.)
Rated Emma 10/10
<div>Dare I say that this is my favorite Austen I've listened to this year? I listened to the version available through <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55873397.The_Jane_Austen_Collection_An_Audible_Original_Drama"><strong>The Jane Austen Collection: An Audible Original Drama</strong></a>, narrated by Emma Thompson and other actors doing much of the dialogue, and it's great. I also think this might be one of the books for which I've only seen one adaptation — not the Gwyneth Paltrow one, but the Romola Garai/Jonny Lee Miller BBC miniseries — unless we're also counting Clueless, which I do. (Much like I also count 10 Things I Hate About You as a Taming of The Shrew adaptation, which is probably the best one for that story.)<br><br>But yes, Emma's great. Funny, knowing, and at times, cutting. Not that the other books aren't, but this one is also paired with a little less "What will people think?!" Emma considers herself an expert in most everything until she's reminded otherwise, and it's fun to read that process of her figuring out how to be a better friend.</div>