Books

Posted: February 8, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Book of Sand | Leave a comment

I’ve updated my list of recommendations. New additions are in bold.

  • Classic that won’t take 3 years to read: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orzcy
  • Classic that might take you 3 years to read: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  • Fiction you can analyze to death: Watership Down by Richard Adams (but it really is just about rabbits)
  • Everyone should probably read: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  • Children’s to make you swear never to have kids: The Wouldbegoods by E. Nesbit (obviously it didn’t work for me)
  • Non-fiction you can use for trivia: The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker
  • Children’s read-aloud: A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
  • Great audiobook: Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
  • Excessively surreal and obscure: Under Plum Lake by Lionel Davidson
  • One of the only WWII books I’ve enjoyed: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • One of my favorites: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  • YA fiction to make you appreciate teenage hormones: Angus, Thongs, and Full-frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
  • YA fantasy: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
  • YA fantasy: Sabriel by Garth Nix
  • After you read Hamlet again: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
  • Underappreciated classic: Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
  • Complete emotional drain: Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip
  • When you want to feel confused and not yourself: The Stranger by Albert Camus
  • Bestseller: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (recommended with hesitation)
  • Science fiction, I suppose: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  • If you’ve never read C.S. Lewis: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
  • One of my other favorites: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (recommended with caution: vulgar language)
  • Picture book: Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Sharmat
  • On a grouchy day: Judy Moody by Megan McDonald
  • Movie adaptation: K-PAX by Gene Brewer (it’s ok to see the movie first)
  • Because I don’t know what genre you like: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
  • And one for good measure: A City in Winter by Mark Helprin

Also, I really want to read this book – Shackleton’s Last Voyage. I heard someone quote from it in a talk…six or seven years ago. I’ve been trying to get a copy ever since, but it looks like there was only one printing and copies easily sell for $200+. I saw one that went for $3,000. Imagine my luck, though, when I found an electronic edition yesterday! I still have a dream of owning a real copy someday. Check it out:

Picture go normal

Posted: February 7, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: All's Well That Ends Well | 1 Comment

It’s been a long, rough week. Last Saturday I went to the ER with an ear infection (and lest you think me ridiculous for going, I thought my ear hurt every bit as much as the almost-ready-to-push contractions, except without any pauses. And it was my ear, face, and neck instead of my middle.) and haven’t been able to hear much in my left ear since then. I’ve been exhausted, partially from the medication, partially because I’m still fighting a bad cold, and partially because I have a small child, so despite being back at home for most of the week I haven’t found the energy to write.

Yesterday I hosted a baby shower for my neighbor.

I decided I don’t really enjoy baby showers.

It went well: I made some amazingly cool cupcakes (but forgot my camera, so I’ll post pictures when I get them from my neighbor), came up with two great games, and crafted favors that turned out surprisingly well. Also I made an alligator stamp. It is super cool.

But I’m not a take-charge sort of person, or a comfortable-in-large-groups-of-strangers sort of person, so it was awkward for me to try directing and organizing a bunch of women. I mostly just wanted to go home and sleep.

This coming Saturday, I’m hosting another baby shower.

It will be much better, I hope.

The Bwun is crying in his crib. It doesn’t sound like he’ll give up anytime soon. Maybe it’s time to go get him and see if he’ll take a bottle of warm milk – I even added some Hershey’s syrup. He likes cow milk during the day, but at night just wants to nurse. So far weaning seems like way more trouble than it’s worth.

Anyway, here’s a nice gift idea if you need one!

Vine Floral crib bedding by Skip Hop

(I’m not expecting, but at some point I do want to have a girl; this is on sale and I love it. Even if you hate it, you could be nice and buy it for me!)

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