July 24, 2007
Moby Dick
By Herman Mellville
I read this because the gal I tutor had to read it, and I wanted to help her out.
Oh, the pain. Note to self: next time, read the Cliffs Notes.
It wasn't as horrid as I'd been given to expect, but for every interesting chapter of plot, there are at least five chapters of "omg, look how much whale research I did!" showing off. I usually like tangents and whatnot, but Melville manages to make them dull as mud. Blech.
Book 16 in 2007.
November 15, 2005
The Penultimate Predicament
by Lemony Snicket
Read this while standing in line to get it stamped and signed by Dan Handler. I'd say it's another slam-dunk in the Series of Unfortunate Events, and I really enjoyed it. Good show.
But doods, don't read it if you haven't read the others, it won't make sense. :)
(Book 29 in 2005)
August 05, 2005
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte
Well, I finally got around to reading this. I knew the story, of course, but hadn't ever read the book in spite of tutoring a couple kids who had to read it.
It's weird... the last volume gets a bit predictable but overall I kind of liked it. I like Rochester as a character, he's pretty cool.
(book 23 in 2005)
May 03, 2005
Zoetrope: All Story
This is an unusual collection of stories and essays. Many were taken from Francis Ford Coppola's magazine of the same title, but some were written just for the compilation. The magazine and the collection are the outgrowth of Coppolla's idea that movies need to return to the era of great storytelling. With Zoetrope, he is trying to encourage great storytelling.
Some of the stories are great. Some are dull. Same with the essays. I really enjoyed the collection as a whole, though, especially the short essay by Mamet about Drama.
(Book 16 in 2005)
February 11, 2005
Good in Bed
by Jennifer Weiner
This was a christmas gift, and it is not at all what I expected. For one thing, it's a lot more depressing! The early parts are madcap comedy, but by the halfway point, it's really serious and kind of scary. I'm halfway tempted not to finish it because I know what's going to happen (it's pretty friggin obvious), but ... well... my friends have really liked it and it was a gift. SSo I will slog through and give it a chance to surprise me.
May 26, 2004
Cold Streets
By P.N. Elrod
Yet another Jack Fleming book! YAY! This one was fun, and we got to see a much darker side of Jack, our gumshoe vampire hero, than we have in past books. Hooray!
May 18, 2004
Zen and the ARt of Motorcycle Maintenance
By Robert Pirsig
Just started this today and it's already making me all introspective. Scary.
April 03, 2004
Siddartha
by Herman Hesse
Not sure how to classify this one. Short. About religion.
I suspect that this tale of an Indian youth's search for enlightenment more compelling if I were someone who believed in enlightenment in the Buddhist sense. As it stands, though, I was mostly pleased by the anti-establishment tone of it. Siddartha insists that enlightenment cannot be taught, that following a teacher and trying to achieve enlightenment that way is pointless (at least for him) because it is impossible for the teacher to explain exactly how he achieved enlightenment (because true enlightenment cannot be captured in words).
SO... yeah.
I mostly read it because I have a student working on it for school. I was unimpressed.