i'm currently reading two novels (one's almost finished, so it's "safe" to overlap, otherwise i start confusing the characters! ):
So Young, Brave and Handsome by Leif Enger (he wrote Peace Like a River, which may be my favorite book ever). This is a Western of sorts, much like his last one, and it's so good. Maybe not AS breathtakingly great as his first one, but pretty close. He's a superb writer.
and
The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle. This one is killing me, since it's about a family that takes in a foster child who has been sexually abused by his own parents. Honestly, when I bought it I wasn't entirely sure of the nature of the "ordeal" the child had been through, which is how the back cover described it. Now that I'm into it and I care about the characters, I want to finish it, but it's beginning to disturb me to the point that I wake up at night thinking about it and getting upset about the whole thing, since I know this kind of horrible shit actually happens. I'm about half way through it, and I find myself hoping that someone kills his parents. That's all I can see right now as a satisfying resolution, but as I told a friend recently, I'm hoping that reading this book (which is very well written, btw, not in any way exploitive) will make me a better person, and maybe I'll be satisfied with something short of their painful annihilation. :(
Next up: Dreams From My Father by (soon to be President) Barack Obama
"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Barack Obama."
"Obama's main opponent in this election on November 4th (was) not John McCain, it (was) ignorance."~Michael Moore
"i'm feeling kinda righteous right now. with my badass motherfuckin' ukulele!"
~ed, 8/7
The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle. This one is killing me, since it's about a family that takes in a foster child who has been sexually abused by his own parents. Honestly, when I bought it I wasn't entirely sure of the nature of the "ordeal" the child had been through, which is how the back cover described it. Now that I'm into it and I care about the characters, I want to finish it, but it's beginning to disturb me to the point that I wake up at night thinking about it and getting upset about the whole thing, since I know this kind of horrible shit actually happens. I'm about half way through it, and I find myself hoping that someone kills his parents. That's all I can see right now as a satisfying resolution, but as I told a friend recently, I'm hoping that reading this book (which is very well written, btw, not in any way exploitive) will make me a better person, and maybe I'll be satisfied with something short of their painful annihilation. :(
:( some books can really take it out of ya.
The Astoria??? Orgazmic!
Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
Chicago 07? And love
What a different life
Had I not found this love with you
had to read 'night' for school last semester or something. one of the blandest books i ever read. the way he described the whole thing it just seemed so boring. i really didnt care about anything he mentioned. his story telling is about as deep as the paper its printed on.
I had to read that in high school as well. I don't remember being particularly moved by it either.
even tho its been sitting on my shelf for a while now, im finally finishing up stephen kings dark tower - halfway thru the second last book, one to go - are these ones ever going to be put to screen???
I heard that JJ Abrahams and Damon Lindelof (the guys behind "Lost") are developing it. I don't think it will come out anytime soon. I think it would work best as an HBO show or miniseries similiar to "John Adams".
I just recently read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer and I need to promote it on here. Really amazing book by a very good author. Anyone who enjoyed Everything is Illuminated would surely enjoy this book. Check it out.
“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’” - Kurt Vonnegut
About halfway through "Dear American Airlines" by Jonathan Miles and I only started it a couple hours ago. A very quick read, but in the most brilliant of ways. Reminds me a bit of Coupland, especially his latest novel, "The Gum Thief", more stylistically than in plot. (The whole thing is basically a venomous letter to American Airlines about the fucked up state of the narrator's life and how it all boils down to a canceled flight.) In reality, missing the flight is just the breaking point for a man whose life has been spiraling downwards for decades. Miles is a brilliant and captivating new novelist and I highly recommend this for anyone that might be pondering their lives while waiting around in airports this month!
2003: Toronto
2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
2006: Toronto 1 & 2
2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
2010: Buffalo
2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle 2016: Toronto 1 & 2 2022: Hamilton/Toronto 2023: EV Seattle 1&2
I had to read that in high school as well. I don't remember being particularly moved by it either.
I remember not being moved or interested in anything I read in high school, so I can see where you (and others, apparently) are coming from, but I don't understand how someone cannot be touched by this book. The guy saw babies being thrown into the fire. His whole family was murdered and so many people starved to death.
Are you all so insensitive/numb that this doesn't stir some kind of anger or grief inside you?
I just purchased "Fugitive Pieces" so I am going to read that... I am in the midst of "IT" but I have read that so many times I think I can pick it up and leave it from time to time
I remember not being moved or interested in anything I read in high school, so I can see where you (and others, apparently) are coming from, but I don't understand how someone cannot be touched by this book. The guy saw babies being thrown into the fire. His whole family was murdered and so many people starved to death.
Are you all so insensitive/numb that this doesn't stir some kind of anger or grief inside you?
Calm down. I was in high school and I barely remember reading it. Move on and stop being morally superior to everyone.
Just finished "Clapton" and "Son of a Witch". "Son of a Witch" was like all the other Maguire books I've read, just ok. I heard there is a third book in the "Wicked" series coming out this year called "A Lion Among Men" that will focus on the Cowardly Lion.
Now I'm reading "50 Great Short Stories" and "Don't Know Much About History".
I remember not being moved or interested in anything I read in high school, so I can see where you (and others, apparently) are coming from, but I don't understand how someone cannot be touched by this book. The guy saw babies being thrown into the fire. His whole family was murdered and so many people starved to death.
Are you all so insensitive/numb that this doesn't stir some kind of anger or grief inside you?
it was written so matter of a fact. its like nazis used babies as target practice. ok i already knew the nazis did horrible things... thanks for the bland discription mr author person. he should have had his story ghost written.
it was written so matter of a fact. its like nazis used babies as target practice. ok i already knew the nazis did horrible things... thanks for the bland discription mr author person. he should have had his story ghost written.
Right.
Just because you don't particularly care for a book about the holocaust, does not mean you are "insensitive/numb" to the horrible things that happened.
Started "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" today on lunch. A very interesting little play, I believe originally in Italian...? It's definitely a classic satire on power and I'm loving it. The character known as "The Maniac" got me laughing out loud up in the lunchroom, and I hardly ever laugh out loud when reading, even though I always have my nose in a book. Very political, but lots of fun. Similar to the style of Catch-22 I'm finding...well, if Catch-22 had been a play. It's quite amusing though.
2003: Toronto
2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
2006: Toronto 1 & 2
2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
2010: Buffalo
2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle 2016: Toronto 1 & 2 2022: Hamilton/Toronto 2023: EV Seattle 1&2
Comments
So Young, Brave and Handsome by Leif Enger (he wrote Peace Like a River, which may be my favorite book ever). This is a Western of sorts, much like his last one, and it's so good. Maybe not AS breathtakingly great as his first one, but pretty close. He's a superb writer.
and
The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle. This one is killing me, since it's about a family that takes in a foster child who has been sexually abused by his own parents. Honestly, when I bought it I wasn't entirely sure of the nature of the "ordeal" the child had been through, which is how the back cover described it. Now that I'm into it and I care about the characters, I want to finish it, but it's beginning to disturb me to the point that I wake up at night thinking about it and getting upset about the whole thing, since I know this kind of horrible shit actually happens. I'm about half way through it, and I find myself hoping that someone kills his parents. That's all I can see right now as a satisfying resolution, but as I told a friend recently, I'm hoping that reading this book (which is very well written, btw, not in any way exploitive) will make me a better person, and maybe I'll be satisfied with something short of their painful annihilation. :(
Next up: Dreams From My Father by (soon to be President) Barack Obama
"Obama's main opponent in this election on November 4th (was) not John McCain, it (was) ignorance."~Michael Moore
"i'm feeling kinda righteous right now. with my badass motherfuckin' ukulele!"
~ed, 8/7
Verona??? it's all surmountable
Dublin 23.08.06 "The beauty of Ireland, right there!"
Wembley? We all believe!
Copenhagen?? your light made us stars
Chicago 07? And love
What a different life
Had I not found this love with you
The Chris Farley Show
A Quiet Belief in Angels
Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Hoping to free up some time to finish all 3 by the end of July.
Saturday is the only book by him that I've read. I enjoyed it.
I had to read that in high school as well. I don't remember being particularly moved by it either.
I heard that JJ Abrahams and Damon Lindelof (the guys behind "Lost") are developing it. I don't think it will come out anytime soon. I think it would work best as an HBO show or miniseries similiar to "John Adams".
Crime And Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
It is for my book club.
Not really too into it yet.
And I don't feel right when you're gone away
2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
2006: Toronto 1 & 2
2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
2010: Buffalo
2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle
2016: Toronto 1 & 2
2022: Hamilton/Toronto
2023: EV Seattle 1&2
I remember not being moved or interested in anything I read in high school, so I can see where you (and others, apparently) are coming from, but I don't understand how someone cannot be touched by this book. The guy saw babies being thrown into the fire. His whole family was murdered and so many people starved to death.
Are you all so insensitive/numb that this doesn't stir some kind of anger or grief inside you?
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
and thats when you find other books to fill in the gaps.
but be careful cause one day you could wake up and find yourself surrrounded by piles of books like me. its a shocking addiction.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
you are so right! I just ordered a book called The Long Walk about Soviet prisoners that walk to China to escape!
i thought you were reading " My sexy voice " ???????
let me know when your done with that ! that sounded good too!!
"To question your government is not unpatriotic --
to not question your government is unpatriotic."
-- Sen. Chuck Hagel
Calm down. I was in high school and I barely remember reading it. Move on and stop being morally superior to everyone.
Now I'm reading "50 Great Short Stories" and "Don't Know Much About History".
it was written so matter of a fact. its like nazis used babies as target practice. ok i already knew the nazis did horrible things... thanks for the bland discription mr author person. he should have had his story ghost written.
Right.
Just because you don't particularly care for a book about the holocaust, does not mean you are "insensitive/numb" to the horrible things that happened.
"Mr. Author Person" is funny.
2005: Kitchener/Hamilton/Toronto
2006: Toronto 1 & 2
2008: Hartford/EV Toronto 1 & 2
2009: Toronto/Philadelphia 3 & 4
2010: Buffalo
2011: Montreal/Toronto 1 & 2/Hamilton
2013: London/Buffalo/Vancouver/Seattle
2016: Toronto 1 & 2
2022: Hamilton/Toronto
2023: EV Seattle 1&2
oh shit ! i almost forgot about the shaving scene!! my god, that gave me nightmares!!! ouch !!!
what about the toilet bowl part, where dude gets his junk stuck between the seat and and the rim of the bowl!!!!!
"To question your government is not unpatriotic --
to not question your government is unpatriotic."
-- Sen. Chuck Hagel
gotta love a book like that:)