january

I love, love, love this great language of ours. And not just the language. The history of it as well. I should have gone to college to be a linguist instead of an artist. (Why can't I love things that make money? Finance? Business?)

While listening to The Adventure of English, I thought, wait. What? The Welsh, Celts and the rest had NO influence on English? None at all? How is that possible? It just seemed wrong somehow. But what do I know? Like I said, I'm just an artist. So I was glad to hear this opposing theory. It sounded so much more plausible.

In addition to loving our language, I also love that the author read his own book. His jokes and inflections were so much better than it would have been coming from a third party.

This book is written in a way that anyone with a passing interest in English would understand it. It doesn't have the long lists of words that are ever present in The Adventure of English.

I've been putting off reading this book for 2 reasons. First, it's on the Oprah book list. I'm not a huge fan of Oprah. She's the reason we have Dr Phil and I can't forgive her for that. Secondly, guilt. Plain and simple. We are a product of our histories. Many white people claim that they don't understand the anger black people have for us. They say, "I've never owned a slave. I'm not responsible for what happened to their ancestors." Perhaps not. But we are still guilty. We're guilty of turning a blind eye and of forgetting our collective history. And for this reason, I was afraid of the pain this book might cause me. A tightness in my chest, and a desire to do anything I can to make it right, knowing there is nothing that can be done.

But I had nothing to fear. This book blew me away. I can't even describe how beautiful and brilliant it is. I can't believe that people (men, of course) rejected this book during her lifetime. Since there is nothing I can say to convey how glorious this book is, let me quote some lines from the book:

"Janie stood where he left her for unmeasured time and thought. She stood there until something fell off the shelf inside her.Then she went inside there to see what it was. It was her image of Jodie tumbled down and shattered. But looking at it, she saw that it never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams. Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over."

"She didn't read books, so she didn't know that she was the world and the heavens boiled down to a drop. Man, attempting to climb to painless heights from his dunghill."

"They didn't talk too much around the store either. Anybody that didn't know would have thought that things had blown over. It looked so quiet and peaceful around. But the stillness was the sleep of swords."

"Rumor, that wingless bird, had shadowed over the town."

"Then she starched and ironed her face, forming it into just what people wanted to see."

Wow. Just wow. These are the most beautiful words I have ever heard.

There is one thing about this book that disturbs me though. It is the way the men treat the women. In part, it is the time in which the book was written. But I can not write it off so easily. Ladies, don't we still sometimes let ourselves be treated in a less than honorable way? It can be so easy to give up our dreams for comfort and security. But isn't that the point? This is one woman's journey of shrugging off the dreams of everyone else and finding her own happiness.

I only got this Audible book because it was on sale, and because I hadn't read it in a few years. You can never go wrong with Pride and Prejudice. This will be the 5th time I've listened/read the book, and it just keeps getting better.

I know that Flo Gibson was an amazing woman. As a woman myself, I have absolute respect for what she accomplished in her life. But her voice annoyed me. I think of Elizabeth Bennett as a delicate and feminine character, but Ms. Gibson made her sound like a man. I wanted to reach through time and space to give her a throat lozenge and some hot water with honey and lemon.

But really, it's just a minor thing. I still enjoyed the book.

What I didn't like about it:

1. In the letters that the father writes to the daughter he goes into waaay to much detail. No real person would describe how a person sat, what they ate, the way the wind felt, what someone was wearing down to minute details, in a letter.

2. Parts of the story were too contrived. The author was trying too hard.

3. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with the characters, especially the ones they meet in Istanbul. I think I needed to see those names instead of just hearing them spoken.

What I did like:

1. I love books that give lengthy explanations based in history.

2. I don't like gorey, suspenseful books, so I thought it was great that Dracula is mostly an historian, even though he still bites people.

3. Books! I love books about books!

4. I liked that the author didn't go into too much backstory about how Vlad became a vampire. He just did. Now we have to deal with it.

Overall, I liked this book. It had it's flaws, but I was entertained.

This is the second Barbara Kingsolver book I've listened to. The other one was Flight Behavior. I feel exactly the same way about both of these books. I was entertained while I listened to them, but afterward they left me feeling underwhelmed. Nothing in me changed because of these books. But perhaps my expectations are too high. I've listened to several interviews with Ms. Kingsolver and I found her to be quite entertaining and fascinating. I know that both of the books I've listened to by her are based loosely on her own experiences. I could listen to her tell stories about her real life all day long, but I could do without her books.

My husband is very much opposed to listening to audiobooks, and don't even get him started on ebooks. "If you can't hold it in your hands and smell the pages as you turn them, then it's not a real book." But every once in awhile I'll entice him with a book by someone he loves. Penn Jillette is one of those people.

I have been an atheist for a long time, but my husband is still on his spiritual journey. It was very funny to me when he finished this book, took out his earphones and declared, "Oh my BOB! I'm an atheist!" I've known for awhile that he was headed in that direction. He just needed Penn Jillette to push him past his fears. Humor can sometimes do the job that scientific proof can't.

The downside is that Penn Jillette is a loud, over the top entertainer and my husband is a tech nerd who works on computers. While it's just fine for PJ to go around shouting out about the glories of atheism, it's not so great for a nerd from NC to do the same. I learned a long time ago that you have to feel people out before you tell them you don't believe there is an almighty creator. But the hubs is so excited about his new self-discovery that he goes around telling random people. The car salesman for instance. Thankfully we had already signed all the papers, otherwise I think we would have been asked to leave. The man got very pale and spluttered some unintelligible words before getting up and walking away from us.

What the other reviewers have said is true. Penn Jillette is obnoxiously foul mouthed. But didn't you know that when you bought the book? Haven't you seen his show? Or worse, that movie all those comedians did about the dirtiest joke in the world, The Aristocrats? I find it interesting that the biggest objection to this book isn't that he rejects the existence of god, but rather, that he has a dirty mouth. Oh yes. And he name drops. Well, of course he does! He's a famous guy that knows other famous people. He isn't very likely to say, "I was hanging out with this guy I know that does magic, I think his name is Bob..." No. He's going to say, "When I was hanging out with Siegfried and Roy backstage..." These are the kinds of people he is surrounded by, so of course they will be part of his story.

I liked many things about this book. He speaks so lovingly of his parents and sister, and has the right idea about what being a father means. I also loved what he said about saying, 'I don't know.' As you get older, you start to realize that you aren't always the smartest person in the room. Sometimes the only answer you can give is, 'I don't know.' So, for now, I don't know if there is an elephant in my bathtub, but now that I'm thinking about it, I better go check.

I'm a book lover. I don't mean, I like to read and have a few books. I mean, I read a couple hundred books a year and have a room devoted just to books. (Oh what I would give to have an old fashioned library with a fireplace and a sliding ladder!) This being the case, I was immediately in love with this book. The gentle, slow way the author talked about rare books, you could tell that she loves them too. I liked the slow, plodding pace of the book. It didn't drag, nor did it rush.

I was totally in to this book until about hour 12. It started with a little irritation at the frequency that the author used the word twin. I was thinking of starting a drinking game. I would take a shot every time she said twin. Then I thought better of it, as it was before noon, and I would surely be too trashed to make dinner for my family that night. I digress. Back to the twin irritation. As I said, it was a mild irritation. I would roll my eyes and continue listening in the hopes that Miss Setterfield would pull herself together and get back to the good stuff. But then....

But then...no. It's too terrible to talk about. But I must continue, if only to caution future listeners.

I can't quite put my finger on the exact point that it started. It was a slow, gradual slipping. One that you could dismiss because the first part of the book had so much promise. But by hour 14 there was no denying it. The book was taking a headlong leap into the deep abyss.

I know that an author can't make everyone happy. They would go mad if they tried. I read reviews for books that complain the ending was too abrupt and left them scratching their heads. (Her Fearful Symmetry, for example. Hmm. Also about twins.) Then there are the reviews that say the ending was too well explained. (Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore.) I liked the ending of both books. But this book was different.

The reader is taken on a strange journey and asked to believe some things that seem outlandish. After the outlandish bits, then we are told the Thirteenth Tale. That part is interesting and should have been the end of it. But no. There is an epilogue, then a post script, then a...well I don't know what to call it. It just got weirder and weirder.

I am disappointed that a book with so much potential turned out to have an unbearable ending. It ruined the whole book for me.

I had tickets to see David Sedaris and I was brushing up on some of his older books to refresh my memory beforehand. As always, a delightful listen. I've read all of his books, but I much prefer listening to him read them. The very best part of this book is that he sings in the voice of Billie Holiday. It's one thing to read the story and the words say, I sang a commercial jingle in the voice of Billie Holiday. It's a whole other thing to actually hear him sing a jingle like Billie Holiday. Brilliant!!!

I'm a huge fan of David Sedaris and would recommend all of his books. And if you have a chance to see him perform, even better. Not only is he funny, he's also very nice. When he signs your book, he looks directly at you and asks you questions, then writes something personal just for you. When I saw him recently, he stayed and signed books until one in the morning. He looked exhausted, but he was gracious and engaging.

I love, love, love this movie. I usually re-watch it a couple times a year. When I saw this book on sale, I thought, why not?

At first it reads just like the movie, word for word. Once you get into it, it starts to give you more. In a movie you must have dialog to convey thoughts, feelings and intent. Not so with a book. This book gives a little more backstory to most of the characters and lets you in on their thoughts.

Most of the time I love the book and hate the movie, but you can't go wrong when the book was written based on a movie that is already awesome. It's a win/win. I would still like to read the original graphic novel, though.

Although this book was written as a cautionary tail of how not to live your life, I thought Moll Flanders was an admirable heroine. Besides the fact that she popped out ten babies and never raised a single one of them.

I'm astounded at the age of this book. While it is very outdated, it isn't at the same time. What I mean by this is, while doctors today would never diagnose a high fever as love sickness, and we don't rely on horses as transportation, basic human nature has not changed. The characters express the same hopes and desires that we have. This book is timeless.

And I learned a few things by listening to this book. For instance, did you know that imported lace was banned in nearly all European countries? Lace was so valuable that it could be used as currency. So each country wanted to profit from local lace sales and not contribute to the wealth of other countries.

It was worth the read just for that little tidbit of knowledge that took me on an hour long internet search.

Girls, how many times have you had this, or a similar, conversation?

Him: But, why?
You: Because, I just don't like you that way.
Him: But how do you know? You haven't even given me a chance.

This is usually followed by begging and pleading, late night phone calls "just to hear your voice" and random flowers showing up at your doorstep. It would seem that boys haven't changed much in a couple hundred years. Or maybe it's just me and I shouldn't have dated all those moody artists in college.

The above is the basic story in this book. It was written in 1774 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This book was an artistic expression of his own life. He had become infatuated with a woman named Charlotte, who rejected him and married someone else. The Sorrows of Young Wether is an epistolary novel, written in letters, all from the main character, Werther, to his good friend, Wilhelm. The letters read like a diary, becoming increasingly disturbed as Wether's hopes of winning over Charlotte become more remote.

Jim Donaldson is a great narrator. His performance becomes more and more emotional as the book progresses, following along with the characters moods, until he sounds like he's a crying, blubbering mess. He makes you really see the emotions. But it is somewhat uncomfortable to listen to.