3.31.2008

3.31.08

Asking for flowers is like asking you to be nice...




The rest of the cd is probably good too, I just am so addicted to this song I can't focus on the rest.
POSTSCRIPT: The rest of the cd is AWESOME.

3.27.2008

3.27.08

Sorry for the extended silence, I have been sick all week so there was a definite lack of posting desire.
I finished reading No Country for Old Men the week after vacation but honestly I wasn't really sure what to say about it. Lack of punctuation seemed to lend emotion to The Road, and having never before read any other book by Cormac McCarthy, I assumed this lack to be an anomaly. This was apparently a wrong assumption since No Country also lacks punctuation. It was difficult to follow the spoken dialogue, especially since McCarthy writes in a way that captures how people really do talk - you know in a backwards, roundabout sort of way. (How to explain...sometimes people talk how Willy Nelson sings.)
I have begun reading The Emperors Children (chosen on a whim in an airport bookstore last year).
Anyway, now to non-literary drivel: I'm knitting in the hopes that it will keep my hands occupied and prevent eating (which is pretty much all I think about lately- Why am I hungry all the time? It is a mystery.) I have been home a lot this week so there is actually something to show. It is (hopefully) a fitted Eyelet Cardigan that has eluded me in the past. Look! It has a back:And completely non-literary and non-knitting related: I couldn't for the life of me remember who sang this song but it finally came to me today:

3.20.2008

3.20.08

HAPPY UNBIRTHDAY JEN!{You thought I forgot didn't you?}
This is for you:

My peoples are finally returning from vacation today! YAY! (This is all dependent on the snow not falling too thick. Yes, it is the first day of Spring and snowing)
Completely unrelated..... this song has been circling me for awhile:




3.12.2008

3.12.08

Here is the vacation book list:

1. Turn, Magic Wheel - Dawn Powell *

2. The Princess of Burundi -Kjell Erikson *
3. Smoke and Mirrors - Neil Gaiman *
4. My Home is Far Away - Dawn Powell *
5. Living to Tell the Tale - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *
6. The Life of Charlotte Bronte - Elizabeth Gaskell *
7. The Road - Cormac McCarthy #
8. Life of Pi - Yann Martel €

9. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen €
10. Day by Day Armageddon - J. L. Bourne #
11. Silent in the Sanctuary - Deanna Raybourn ¥
12. The Hours - Michael Cunningham ¥
13. Black and Blue - Anna Quindlen ¥
14. The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella ¥

* = Books I packed
# = Books locoweed packed
€ = Books Beth packed (we need a commenter's name for Beth, any suggestions?)
¥ = Books found at Casa de las Tortugas (which I never would have normally read but was desperate and out of books. The majority of books I found in Mexico were in German, what does this tell us about English speaking/reading travelers? I was, unfortunately, not all that surprised.{There was that one title I saw 'De Lady and De Cowboy', sadly, also in German. Too bad, I'm sure it would have been one diverting read.})

The Road was the best - far and away, the best (ie: the most disturbing). I couldn't put it down. Locoweed reasoned that this was due to there being no chapter breaks, but I really don't think they would have made any difference. The subject matter is grim (to say the least) but the book is beautiful. We started speculating about how it could be adapted as a movie and who should play the main character. He isn't ever named. (I, of course, voted for Clive Owen because, well, he's Clive Owen.) I just discovered on Wikipedia that such a film is already in the works with Viggo Mortensen. I am pleasantly surprised by this choice, I think he can probably do the role justice.
Note: According to Amazon, The Road is a book Oprah has CHOSEN. Can she leave nothing unsullied?

Living to Tell the Tale: I reach the middle of this book only to discover that 30 pages were missing due to a printing error. This I discovered right at the point where Gabriel Garcia Marquez was told to 'Put up your hands' by a uniformed man with a rifle. You can imagine my consternation (alright, outrage) especially since this autobiographical novel was gripping and my book supply was dwindling. I picked up a replacement at Title Wave and am now reading the ending.

Zombies were, of course, a major topic for discussion during vacation after reading Day-By-Day Armageddon. In the spirit of this, I leave you with this gratuitous link (how many chances do you get to post a link containing Iggy Pop and Zombies?)


3.10.2008

2.10.08

I am trying frantically to catch up..........
The bright spot in all of this are all the VSL emails that were waiting for me. If all of you haven't subscribed to this by now (especially after all my proselytizing)......well, I'll think of something terrible.
My (so-far) favorites : these monsters
and this:

3.07.2008

3.7.08

Well........
the jig is up, Steve has owned up to being locoweed (i think beth thought i would be mad - this i concluded since she kept saying 'please don't be mad'. really, i'm not the least bit mad.)

so: HI EVERYONE.

Jon, quit slacking and get back to work.