clearing my bookshelf, one page at a time…

i iz a bookworm again.  finally.  after a prolonged stall in my reading (i just couldn’t stay focused), i’m suddenly ~all up in that~: 
 
stephen king, “under the dome”: my only problem, lately, has been the ability to stay awake for more than a page at a time… and let me just say, this is NOT a book that you want to have fall on your nose after you’ve dozed off reading.  at least not in hardback   if you like stephen king, if you loved the stand, you’ll ~love~ this book - small town, going about it’s daily business, when suddenly from out of nowhere, a dome appears over the town, blocking them off from the rest of society.  if you’ve ever read “lord of the flies”, this is the stephen king version.  gruesome, horrifying, and gripping.

richard kadray, “sandman slim”: seriously, you can’t go wrong with a book about an assassin from hell who comes back to earth seeking revenge on those who sent him to hell.  anti-heroes of the world, rejoice!  fun book, reminiscent of “the dresden files” by jim butcher.

“Hell’s a circus run by mental patients. Heaven’s a gated community where we’re the bastard stepkids the real kids hate.”

“While it’s giving me a migraine right now, I think the fact that I’m not an expert on corpse disposal says alot of good things about me and my life choices.”

ursula k leguin, “wizard of earthsea”: into the “dislike” pile.  i like fantasy books.  i love stories about knights and wizards and whatnot.  i just prefer them to not be dry and boring ;o i suspect that people who liked tolkien would like this quite a bit, but it’s not something i enjoyed.  i didn’t care about the characters and, after an entire book of the boy wizard searching for his demon, the ending was just a relief. 

pat conroy, “the great santini”: i read this simply because i’d loved “the water is wide” and no, i’ve never seen the movie and it didn’t disappoint - it was really good!  a semi-autobiographical story about pat conroy’s own childhood and his growing up under the strict hand of his military father.  it’s interesting to note that the depiction of him so upset pat conroy’s father that he struggled to make changes and the two of them repaired their relationship.  also, reminded me of how bizarre my father could be at times.  ;o

paulo coehlo, “the alchemist”: i wanted to like this book.  it’s a simple little tale about a boy and his search for treasure, following a prophetic dream.  i’m told that it’s inspirational, a metaphor for life, and simply enchanting.  mostly, i found it trite and overly simplistic.  “don’t worry, be happy!” people always annoyed me in much the same way.  over here in the *real world*, there are more complexities than that. 

john connolly, “the book of lost things”: zomg, i love, love, loved it!  honestly, it took me 4 tries to read it, because the very beginning of the book is soooooooooooooo sad.  i’d get to a certain spot and just have to put it down.  finally, i was able to get past that spot and i was soooooooooooooooo glad that i did.  beautiful, beautiful book about a little boy dealing with the death of his mother and his travels through the world of his books.  i’m fairly certain that just about every fairy tale was worked into the boy’s fantasy world and the blending of all of these tales is simply magical.

“For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and in every child there lies the adult that will be.”

“He would talk to them of stories and books, and explain to them how stories wanted to be told and books wanted to be read, and how everything that they ever needed to know about life and the land of which he wrote, or about any land or realm that they could imagine, was contained in books. And some of the children understood, and some did not.”

“Before she came ill, David’s mother would often tell him that stories were alive. They weren’t alive in the way that people were alive, or even dogs or cats. (...) Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by torch light beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world. (...) They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination and transform the reader. Stories wanted to be read, David’s mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life.”

so a couple of winners, a couple of meh.  and a much lighter bookshelf

Blogged, Just for Fun, books, Comments (2)
Tagged as: books,quotes,iluffhellsassassin June 30, 2010 @ 08:00 am

couldn’t have said it better myself…

You should be cautious about knowing who I am. It irks me. To be known. It’s fucking impolite. To think you know someone. As if a someone is just so. “I know you!” Oh do you now? How about now?

You should be wary of names and photographs. They are liars. They freeze what wants to melt.

I have stared long into mirrors. I don’t know me. Why should you? I don’t pound out letters to find myself. Let’s burn that fucker down. I am not some butterfly pinned to a science project.

How do you get from moment to moment? Focus now. Shit. You missed it. You have to watch. Have you ever watched yourself from here to there? Focus hard enough and things get blurry.

A self is a product of blurred distinctions. But what of that blur? That’s where it’s at. You think you’re some thing but you’re not. You’re a bomb.

i just discovered the notorious bhj... better late than never.

Blogged, Life, Lists, Personal, Just for Fun, Writing, Comments (2)
Tagged as: quotes,links,peoplewhokickass August 12, 2009 @ 12:33 am

if, by rudyard kipling

one of my favorite poems, in honor of national poetry month

Continue Reading...

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Tagged as: quotes,writing,poetry April 17, 2009 @ 12:45 pm

the wisdom book

i want this book.

“no one can teach me who i am.  you can describe parts of me, but who i am and what i need, these are things i have to find out myself.” - chinua achebe

“your best work is your expression of yourself.  now you may not be the greatest at it, but when you do it, you’re the only expert in it.” - frank gehry

“love something.  i think we’ve got to learn to love something deeply.  i think it’s love.  it sounds sentimental as hell, but i really think it is.” - andrew wyeth

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Tagged as: art,books,quotes,videos February 26, 2009 @ 03:57 pm

check out kurt vonnegut’s motivational posters

see the rest of the set at sloshpot

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Tagged as: quotes February 24, 2009 @ 03:48 am