This is for all you Facebook fans (and if you're not, you should be! My vampire will be nice to you): The application iRead is pretty happy.
It allows you to write mini-reviews on books, look at other peep's reviews and favorite lists, track your own favorite books and even chuck books at your friends!
Just thought i'd share...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
French Revolution vs Afghan's seemingly endless war
Wow.
Who'd a thought we'd pick two books that seem so opposite, yet read side-by-side are so similar, albeit expressed very differently on the topic of Civil War.
1k Spelndid Suns ~ more immeidate, real and well, happening now. Made me sick to my stomach in the bigger picture of what atrocities go on and how little is done. While reading this i wanted to pretend this was in some dark age, but no. it stars in the 1950s & takes us to the present. showing how things have gotten worse, and not better up until perhaps the last chapter. there are many tails of "love" and "posseission" sometimes those two concepts meaning the same thing. but there are two main love stories; the platonic love of Mariam and Laila and then Laila and Tariq's romance from youth through separation through adulthood. Against these two threads is the atrocities that Afghanistan has witnessed over the last fifty years. but reading this novel, the love stories were familiar. the atrocities were not. i feel this was a novel written to teach others of these atrocities, gussied up as a work of fiction and some interesting characters.
Sentimental Schoolin' ~ more remote, bourgeois snobbery, but again the constant upheaval of governments form the back-drop for this novel, giving it vitality and authenticiy. Or is it again, an assumed back-drop ,for again the trials of our protagonist in here are familiar, while the current events of the novel are not. so again, we have a chicken-or-the-egg condumdrum. The tone of this book is so interesting to me, as we have the naive Fredric, creating his whole on unstated desires, loaded glances and trying to fit in, while skirmish after skimrsh ensue.
and i mean bourgeois by both definitions, the classic:
In the French feudal order pre-revolution, "bourgeois" was a class of citizens who were wealthier members of the Third Estate, but were overtaxed and had none of the privileges which the aristocracy held (however many bourgeois bought their way into nobility). *courtesy of wikipedia.
and today's usage:
marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity . * courtesy of mw.
Now do those definitions sound like any semi-fictional character we know...? i'd say so. so Sentimental Education could have just been about a selfish bloke who whines, broods and contemplates love in a lot of wrong places. but it is so much more than that; is it a story of unrequited love set against the Revolution of 1848. or is it vice-a-versa. Now we could argue over which is more banal, but in the end, the set-off eachother rather nicely, don't you think?
Who'd a thought we'd pick two books that seem so opposite, yet read side-by-side are so similar, albeit expressed very differently on the topic of Civil War.
1k Spelndid Suns ~ more immeidate, real and well, happening now. Made me sick to my stomach in the bigger picture of what atrocities go on and how little is done. While reading this i wanted to pretend this was in some dark age, but no. it stars in the 1950s & takes us to the present. showing how things have gotten worse, and not better up until perhaps the last chapter. there are many tails of "love" and "posseission" sometimes those two concepts meaning the same thing. but there are two main love stories; the platonic love of Mariam and Laila and then Laila and Tariq's romance from youth through separation through adulthood. Against these two threads is the atrocities that Afghanistan has witnessed over the last fifty years. but reading this novel, the love stories were familiar. the atrocities were not. i feel this was a novel written to teach others of these atrocities, gussied up as a work of fiction and some interesting characters.
Sentimental Schoolin' ~ more remote, bourgeois snobbery, but again the constant upheaval of governments form the back-drop for this novel, giving it vitality and authenticiy. Or is it again, an assumed back-drop ,for again the trials of our protagonist in here are familiar, while the current events of the novel are not. so again, we have a chicken-or-the-egg condumdrum. The tone of this book is so interesting to me, as we have the naive Fredric, creating his whole on unstated desires, loaded glances and trying to fit in, while skirmish after skimrsh ensue.
and i mean bourgeois by both definitions, the classic:
In the French feudal order pre-revolution, "bourgeois" was a class of citizens who were wealthier members of the Third Estate, but were overtaxed and had none of the privileges which the aristocracy held (however many bourgeois bought their way into nobility). *courtesy of wikipedia.
and today's usage:
marked by a concern for material interests and respectability and a tendency toward mediocrity . * courtesy of mw.
Now do those definitions sound like any semi-fictional character we know...? i'd say so. so Sentimental Education could have just been about a selfish bloke who whines, broods and contemplates love in a lot of wrong places. but it is so much more than that; is it a story of unrequited love set against the Revolution of 1848. or is it vice-a-versa. Now we could argue over which is more banal, but in the end, the set-off eachother rather nicely, don't you think?
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
March's Meeting was Delicioso!
Thanks for having us over last weekend, Ericka! Your home is lovely & that view, gosh.
I'm very glad you ended up not being at the first address i tried! :)
So excellent work my bookworm-pals!
Let's gear-up for next month's session & get reading!
I'm very glad you ended up not being at the first address i tried! :)
So excellent work my bookworm-pals!
Let's gear-up for next month's session & get reading!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
TTTW ~
Thoughts...?
i can't help to think of that adage: it is better to have loved and loss, then to have never loved at all.
i also can't help wanting a pair of mary-janes.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Bookclubbing ~ It isn't just for girls!
Dearest Llyr ~ you were a most excellent hostess! Thanks for having us all over for a lovely time! --can't wait until our next meeting!
Thinking more about inviting others, of course this isn't a girlz-only club. The other gender is more than welcome! --just in case my sincerity wasn't evident yesterday!
So yes, yes, the more the merrier!
Happy reading, my pretties & let's try & get some comments a-flying! that way we have even more fodder for next time!
Until then.... adieu!
Thinking more about inviting others, of course this isn't a girlz-only club. The other gender is more than welcome! --just in case my sincerity wasn't evident yesterday!
So yes, yes, the more the merrier!
Happy reading, my pretties & let's try & get some comments a-flying! that way we have even more fodder for next time!
Until then.... adieu!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Devil in the Details
Okay, i am just MOTORING through this one!
Most excellent pick, ms. Llyr!
Anyone else worried that their "childhood eccentricities" might actually have been a bit of an ocd cocktail?
Other thoughts....!?
Anyone else worried that their "childhood eccentricities" might actually have been a bit of an ocd cocktail?
Other thoughts....!?
Saturday, December 1, 2007
We're going on-line, honey!
Okay, so a couple of months ago we began a book club. And a couple things have become apparent:
1) my living room isn't big enough.
2) there are a whole lotta peeps out there who like to read (awesome)!
3) I don't think anyone's living room is ever going to be big enough!
As many of us talked about books & book club, it became clear that there is a need to BLOG this sheet. We are a limitless community (thanks to the internet), so why can't others participate? Oh, wait, they can!
So whether you are a telecommuter bookworm, missed the last soiree or just want to get some thoughts out and start "talking" about your current read, use this space!
Check here for what is up next for happy reading (in the header of this blog); post your thoughts (via comments!) on the latest bookclub selection or something new you happen to read!
And truly, the only real way this is going to work is if you spread the good word to your own posses & utilize this bloggy.
More to come!
snazzy reading!
christineeee
1) my living room isn't big enough.
2) there are a whole lotta peeps out there who like to read (awesome)!
3) I don't think anyone's living room is ever going to be big enough!
As many of us talked about books & book club, it became clear that there is a need to BLOG this sheet. We are a limitless community (thanks to the internet), so why can't others participate? Oh, wait, they can!
So whether you are a telecommuter bookworm, missed the last soiree or just want to get some thoughts out and start "talking" about your current read, use this space!
Check here for what is up next for happy reading (in the header of this blog); post your thoughts (via comments!) on the latest bookclub selection or something new you happen to read!
And truly, the only real way this is going to work is if you spread the good word to your own posses & utilize this bloggy.
More to come!
snazzy reading!
christineeee
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