Norwegian Wood: Readalong Post 5: The Final Chapter (or two)

Well well well. Here we are. And I'll bet you're all expecting a huuuuuge dose of vitriol from me, but I SHALL NOT RENDER IT FORTH. Or something.

Because while I might have wanted to shout praises when I realized I'd finally read the last words of the novel, I will not say that it is a bad book. It is a book, however, remarkably not for me.

First off, though, let's hit some of the good stuff of these last two chapters. One: did anyone listen to the first song Reiko plays in memory of Naoko? 'Dear Heart'? Because it is FANTASTIC.

And the lyrics are just kind of heartbreaking in the context of the book.

Two: "'Naoko was choosing death all along.'" YES. What an excellent observation, Book. This explains all her choices and attitudes. Too bad it happened like five pages from the end.

Three: Telling Midori she shouldn't change anything about herself? Awwwwwww. I will FULLY admit that a lot of the reason I hated this book is because every character acted like an ex-boyfriend who was constantly emo and constantly telling me things to change about myself. So that right there? Made me a MUCH bigger fan of Toru.

However. Sentences like the following, I cannot handle:

It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.

sorrow itself would envelop me in deep darkness until the tears came.

One windy evening, as I lay wrapped in my sleeping bag, weeping

In woods as dark as the depths of her own heart, she hanged herself.

No no no. Remember that drunken parlor maid thing from yesterday? THAT'S what I want. Not sorrow enveloping people in deep darkness and weeping in sleeping bags. I acknowledge that this sort of thing exists, and for people who want to read about it, it is swell that this book is here. But I am not one of those people. OH, and I wanted to point out that while at first, I was NOT down with Midori completely ignoring Toru when he was depressed and needed someone, it was probably a much needed wake-up call. Anyway, Murakami, I might try you again in ten years, but not before that.

Oh yeah, check out Paperback Girl's breakdown of a Murakami novel. Murakami posted it in facebook, so, y'know.

The Woman in White this April. It'll be our best readalong yet, people.

The Emerald Atlas, aka Oh, I Didn't Know I Was Going on a Reading Trip to AwesomeTown

I haven't finished this book yet, but screw it, I'm reviewing it now.

First off, I want to point out that I haven't read ANY bad reviews of this. Meaning on the blogs I've seen. I'm sure someone on Amazon was a turd about it, but that's Amazon, so screw it.

Secondly, no bad reviews? DESERVEDLY SO. This is the best YA book I've read in a while. Although wait, I was totally on board with The Mysterious Benedict Society...ok, this is the best YA book I've read since The Mysterious Benedict Society, which I will ALSO laud to the skies.

What's the plot, you ask, O Potential Reader? There are three kids who when they're essentially infants are sent away from their parents (on a cold, wintry night, obviously); the car they're in is chased by mysterious black shadowy men who can climb on the sides of buildings (THIS TRICK ALWAYS TERRIFIES ME), but they are magically whisked away just in the nick of time to -- an orphanage. And then for the next ten years they get shuttled from orphanage to orphanage, each of course getting progressively worse, until finally they're sent to a mysteeerious place in what I assume is Connecticut, but like...MagicConnecticut (which makes sense with their state slogan: "Full of Surprises" -- magical surprises!).

Anyway, basically they find a magic book and a magical old man and an evil witch and it's their destiny to save the world, etc etc. You know how these things go. BUT it is funny and has well-drawn characters and DWARVES and dialogue like this!:

“You truly are a moron, you know that? When you have something to say, say it. Instead of blundering about like a drunken parlor maid.”

 AND

She heard Emma saying that she bet Miss Crumley had planned all this, and Michael replying that he very much doubted that, and Emma saying something about Michael’s head being shaped like a turnip.

How can you not love an author who uses 'drunken parlor maid'? Mr. Stephens, I salute you. This is one of the few books I would just recommend willy-nilly, regardless of your reading preferences. Oh, excellent YA! You are so worth reading. 

Prussian Royalty & Time Travel (this post isn't as exciting as that sounds)

I get really nasty about people trolling my blog for gifs. And by 'trolling' I actually mean 'searching for the gif and only coming to my blog to download it.' Even though I've TOTES done that to other people. This extends to me going into an old post and changing a gif filename to something obscure so it won't show up on Google Image anymore. And now that I've admitted that, I am done with FridayConfessional™.

Hannah (whose newly-created blog is here) and I are going to end up reading Iron Kingdom: A History of Prussia for a year. We keep assigning ourselves these optimistic readings for next time, and then the day before we're supposed to meet, we text each other with something along the lines of "I've read two pages so far; let's cut that in half." That's because it has sentences like this:

Under these conditions Lutheranism, sustained institutionally by the network of local church patronage, became the ideology of provincial autonomy and resistance to central power.

I want to time travel back to when I was 14 and show myself what I'm reading right now. "You aaaare reading a Japanese novel that you unsurprisingly don't like; a history of Prussia with a girl you'll meet in college; a book about Margaret Thatcher (don't worry about it); and a young adult novel about some kids and some magic. You know how that goes."

On the Prussian front (hah! puns!), I'm totally into Frederick the Great/Hans Hermann von Katte and NO ONE HAS WRITTEN THEM A GAY NOVEL. This is ridiculous. I was sure that  some time in the past four decades, SOMEONE would have done this. I don't want to have to be the one to do it, people. Even though that would be a hilarious addition to my resume. So someone get crackin'.

Giveaways By the Lazy

'The lazy' being me. I still owe Red from What Red Read a book (I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN, RED), but it's been a while, and I'm gonna give away some more. Because I don't want to think of a topic today.

ALSO because my friend Katie, whose hilarious anecdotal blog is here asked if I wanted some free books to give away, and I said sure.

This is maybe the weirdest book assemblage ever in the history of giveawaydom. Maybe.

Yeah. These.

Apparently the Sookie Stackhouse is no. 8, so...there's that, and then Roses, Roses is a mystery, and the really awesome part is the Uncle Tom's Cabin which, you'll notice, is by "Mrs. Stowe." Fantastic.

Just leave a comment if you want to enter. I don't care if you're a follower. And do it by...I guess...midnight the evening of Saturday the 28th? Yeah, that.

To possibly some of your chagrin, Katie also offered me The Time Traveler's Wife and I said "ABSOLUTELY NOT" (or something along those lines). That's right. I'd rather offer you Sookie Stackhouse than that book. I hate it. I hate it an almost unconscionable amount. When I think of it, this happens in my head:

So! Free books. Those're good. And if you don't want any of them, you can always give them to someone else and look like an awesome person.

You Go, Glen Coco

Awwwwww damn, look what today is:

LOOK AT HOW SAD SHE IS. WE CANNOT HAVE THAT. Not from the author of Ethan Frome. Good Lord I love that book. We have to RECOGNIZE.

OKAY. Thanks to Anne, occasional-commenter-but-not-a-book-blogger, I was made aware that today is Edith Wharton's 150th birthday. ONE-HUNDRED-AND-FIFTY. A similar occasion will not come around again until we are all Very Very Old, so let us celebrate!

Do you have any favorite Wharton books? What are they? And if anyone flames her, so help me...IT IS HER BIRTHDAY. No mean comments today. NONE. I don't care if they made you read Ethan Frome in high school and thusly you hate it. We are looking for edifying experiences today.

Personally, my first book of hers was House of Mirth, which I liked but did not love until I re-read it in college. The first time I read it I was 14, it went completely over my head, and I just kept re-reading the parts where she and Selden kissed, because that was all I cared about at 14. When I read it in college, I wanted to squish Lily Bart and tell her everything was all right.

My experience with Ethan Frome was one of my favorite Book Reading experiences ever. I was 19, living in Chicago on my own while I took a year off college to do an internship, and I knew no one up here, so I just read a lot. And watched a lot of Futurama. I got Ethan Frome, stayed up until 2 a.m. reading it, and when the ending happened, I cried like nobody's business. Crying over a book at 2 a.m.? Excellent. The only other book that's made me do that is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And no, it wasn't for Dumbledore. It was for Amelia Bones. AMELIAAAAAAA!

I'm glad she was born, and it's awesome that she can inspire that feeling 150 years after the day. EDITH WE LOVE YOU.

Norwegian Wood: Readalong Post 4: Omg It's Almost Done

What does 'wind my spring' mean? 

I assumed it was 'wind my watch' but then why wouldn't you just say 'wind my watch'? And why not on Sundays? And that actually doesn't make sense with the context it's in, so WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

I am NOT feeling this book. Just...not. I'm gonna be really, really glad when it's done, and then guess what's probably happening! Unless someone links me to another blog that's doing it and that one looks equally as fun! Woman in White Readalong. April. For some reason, everyone has this on their TBR list for this year, so let's just do it and be delighted by Wilkie Collins.

Toru kind of seems like this clay that gets refashioned by whichever character he's with. Which irritates me a whole lot. Whoever he's hanging out with, he'll adapt to their way of life, meaning he feels like an empty character, and yes, this is of course on purpose and it Says Something about how he's dealing with his friend's death, but it doesn't do it for me. He does retain his personality, and sometimes he feebly tries to fight back against what the person he's with is doing, but he always fails. And lines like "I stretched out in bed and stared at my calendar as dark feelings came over me"? You've read my blog. Does that seem like my jam? THAT IS NOT MY JAM.

I did enjoy "my room had the chill of an aquarium" and him talking about getting "an egg sandwich and a Coke." Whenever anyone adds "and a Coke" to their food order, I instantly think their order sounds delicious. Because I don't like egg sandwiches, but damn. Coca-Cola is a fine beverage. The height of this for me, is Blues Brothers when they order "four fried chickens and a Coke." "And some dry white toast." I will eat that someday. By which I mean I will eat a quarter of a chicken. And some toast and a Coke. Mmmm.

I took a fanfic break in the middle of the reading this morning and read about the Doctor and River Song gettin' busy in the TARDIS while she's wearing a catsuit. That was pretty damn great. 

61 more pages for next week and we're done. DONE!

edit: Laura's post has made me think that I was perhaps interpreting the winding spring thing a bit too literally. PERHAPS.

Books That Simultaneously Probably Suck But Are Awesome

It's Monday, I'm currently rejuvenated by delicious delicious coffee, and I want to talk about bad books.

Or rather, books you love that aren't the ones you immediately mention to people. I've done two posts on fanfiction and why it makes me maybe the happiest of all the things I read, but in terms of actual, published works, what are the books you love but maybe possibly hide from view? I feel like this could be touchy in the book blog world, because rather than elevating ourselves by the fantastic works we've read that Suburban Housewives wouldn't touch because they weren't sanctioned by Oprah (thank God I don't have a wider readership or I'd get lambasted for that), these would be books that could and probably are loved by millions -- books that appeal, oh dear I'm going to do it, to our sensibilities rather than to our sense (sorry, had to).

Here are some of my favorite shitty books:

Percy Jackson - I LOVE PERCY JACKSON. This is a less embarrassing choice, because a few respected book bloggers readily admit they read it. But is Rick Riordan the most intellectually esteemed of authors? Well, no. But his stories are well-paced, and they've helped me keep my Greek and Roman gods straight. And my gosh, he's imaginative. I've read everything he's written for kids now, except Son of Neptune, but that's sitting on my shelf waiting.

Water for Elephants - Okay, I had a few issues with this book (mainly the fact that Jacob is ALWAYS EMO), but I feel like it's one of the more embarrassing choices because 1) super-popular, and 2) they made a movie out of it starring Robert Pattinson. But I seriously loved Sara Gruen's writing. I have The Ape House on my shelf and WILL get to it. I will.

The Fear Street Saga - OMG. You guys. Not everyone remembers these, but back when Fear Street was The Thing to Read for 11-year-olds, there was a three part series that came out, with the titles The Betrayal, The Secret, and The Burning. A reviewer on Amazon summarizes the first one with:

Living in 1692 Massachusetts, Susannah Goode was an innocent, naive young girl. Her only mistake: loving the son of her family's bitter rivals, the Fiers. A young man whose angry father sentenced Susannah and her mother to burn at the stake, leaving Susannah's father so devastated that he turns to the black arts and curses the Fiers for all eternity.

And the rest of the series deals with them and their cursedness! I would re-read that series right now if I had it. It's got historical crap AND intense drama. Like every scene. I think one of the Fiers laughs himself to death, and someone else gets walled into a room. Actually I think that might be the same person. So he dies of the laughing and the..the walling. If someone said "Here, you can read this Edith Wharton novel, or The Secret by R.L. Stine," I would totally choose R.L. Stine.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - Yeah, I said it. I read this book, and not only enjoyed it but loved it. LOVED. This is partially because I was reading it while visiting my best friend in Houston, and it has a lot of meditations on friendship, which I of course applied to us as we got drunk and watched reruns of Designing Women, and that trip was just fantastic, so the feelings of the trip are intertwined with the book for me now. But beyond that, I do love the characters, and I think the writing, while not A.S. Byatt, is good enough to merit a re-read.

The Historian - It seems popular to hate on The Historian, but suck it, I have a Paul/Helen playlist on my iPod. I mean, ok, is the last fourth perfect? No, it is not. But the vampire librarian scared me so much I couldn't read the book at night, and her descriptions of landscape and language are wonderfully done. AND a ridiculous amount of time in the book is spent in libraries. And yes, Paul/Helen. I love them. When I read a certain pivotal scene with them, I had to pause, put the book down, and bury my face in my arm out of happiness. This is making me want to re-read it.

I know I have much, much more embarrassing books I love, but I didn't list them on goodreads, and I don't have my shelves in front of me right now, so ALAS! And to conclude, here's a baby hugging some puppies:

Victorian Murderesses - Yeah, NOW You Want to Read This

Do you ever have people whose stuff you read online and you're secretly like "If you knew me we would be BEST FRIENDS but for now I'm just going to quietly stalk you and not comment on your stuff because then I might go overboard and who wants that really certainly not me"?

Yeah, no, me neither.

So it's Friday. A scant 11 days until the dreaded end of January where book reading trends for the year will perhaps be set, and I STILL HAVE NOT FINISHED A BOOK. This is getting ridiculous. I did, however, start two more. Yes, I understand. But I like starting books. And I hate the middle of books. And I keep reaching the middle of books.

This is me today (and I suspect a number of you):

So blame the subject matter for today on that if you will.

This week I was on TruTV's site, reading about serial killers, as y'do, and when I got to the Scottish 'Bible John', there was a little paragraph discussing other Scottish killers. Among them was Madeleine Smith, who possibly (almost definitely) poisoned her ex-fiance with arsenic in 1857 when he threatened to expose her letters to him. According to the article, the letters, "when read aloud, caused a scandal in the Victorian courtroom."

How do you not then look those up?

After quite a bit of toil, but with my end goal in sight (i.e. pervy letters), I found them on a Harvard archive, located here. There are 149 of them, and DISAPPOINTMENT, very little raciness. Damn you, Victorians, and your easily shocked sensibilities!

What I found from wading through almost all of the letters, for I will put up with much to read Victorians writing about sex, was that the sentiment was overly effusive and generally disgusting. I mean, I knew this about the Victorian era, but as only the best novelists have been filtered down to us, I've almost never experienced it. Example:

Adieu dear love. I shall answer the rest of your letter again. Adieu sweet one of my soul, my own ever dear & ever beloved husband, much much love to you beloved pet. I am thy own true wife thy fond and ever devoted and loving, Mimi L'Angelier

This is to the guy she later dumps for someone richer, and then poisons. So I feel like she was perhaps not being COMPLETELY sincere. 

Here's the extent of the raciness: they write about how she didn't bleed after doing it (shut it, it's my blog, I'll refer to sex how I want), and how whoa, that was weird, but there must be some explanation; then how BAD they feel about having done it. This is probably the part that caused the Victorian courtroom to have apopolexy (from her to him, spelling strangeness intact -- keep in mind 'love' = sex):

Would you were beside me and I would fall asleep on your bosom dearest love. What would I not give to place my head on your breast kiss and fondel you – and then I am sure you would kindly love me – but some night I hope soon we may enjoy each other – what delightful happiness to be loved by a dear sweet husband – our love then shall be more than we shall be able to express.

Bow chicka bow wow. She does seem like a pretty terrible person from her letters. But she got let off with 'Not Proven,' which basically means "We're pretty sure you did it, but no one can prove you were around him when he got poisoned, so we CAN'T convict you."

I do want to say that there were precisely two sentences that made me have either one of those 'oh, what a lovely sentence' or 'connections across Time!' moments. They are: I often wish I could get a peep into futurity and This is such a cold horrid night -- the wind is howling -- and rain -- it makes me feel so sad.

THAT latter sentence makes me like her the slightest bit. But she poisoned a guy and that's not okay. So fie on you, Madeleine Smith.

I'd Make an Obstetrics Joke, But I Don't Know Any

Er...so I rather unexpectedly won a ten volume set of Poe from Forgotten Bookmarks. He does giveaways pretty often, and they tend to be old books (i.e. nice for one's shelves). This is the second giveaway I've won in like a month (the other was from Laura at The Scarlet Letter). I shall stop entering for a time, as clearly the Giveaway Gods have marked me as The Chosen One, and it's not fair to everyone else.

You know how I made my Excel spreadsheet about what I was going to read this year, and how I wasn't going to go to the library and check out books just to have new books and would finally clear out some of my shelves? Yeah, no. No, that's not happening.

But check out this book that looks kind of popular and crappy, but I shall explain why it might not be!:

As an opera singer, I'd like to say that I hate the word 'diva.' Not just because of its prior-to-the-'80s connotation of someone who's difficult to deal with -- I could handle that -- but because it's been appropriated by pop singers, and this irritates me. Anyone who can screech up to a C and walk with some kind of attitude is labeled a diva. And then there's the actual meaning of the word, which is essentially 'goddess' (see 'divine' and 'Dio'). I'm a proponent of the American opera singer (obviously) and we've developed more of an image as the easygoing, down-to-earth, nice singers, thereby rather eschewing this nasty stereotype, thank God.

That being said, I was scanning the shelves of the Harold Washington Popular Library last night, and The Doctor and the Diva? Of COURSE I'm going to pick that up. I skimmed the plot and it said it was set in 1903 (score, because current favorite time period) in America (I can deal with that) and about an opera singer whose husband desperately wanted children, and the entrance into their lives of a young dashing obstetrician. 

I read the first ten pages on the El, and yeah, ok. Her name is Erika, which feels SLIGHTLY weird for the time period, but fine, and she's a mezzo, which has made me instantly fall in love with her (mezzos, I love you all, let's get married). For those unaware, mezzo-sopranos are the lower range on the vocal scale, and tend to play "witches, bitches and boys." Basically, if you're a mezzo you're probably not going to get the guy. But you do on occasion get the girl. What with the whole playing a boy thing.

She seems a bit fed-up with her husband, and I expect tomfoolery and shenanigans with the handsome doctor. Whose last name is Ravell. RAVELL. I feel like I'm reading a romance novel. I probably am. But with opera!

The writing is decent enough; Amazon calls it "book-club friendly," which makes me cringe, but ok. I am, of course, only ten pages in, so maybe it gets completely terrible or swooningly terrific. We shall see.

And let's end with a quote from Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, which I was still enjoying. This is ACCURATE, yo:

The giver of the book is not exactly ripping open her soul for a free look, but when she hands over the book with the comment that it is one of her favorites, such an admission is very close to the baring of the soul. We are what we love to read, and when we admit to loving a book, we admit that the book represents some aspect of ourselves truly

She later essentially says "When a friend lends a book to you, or recommends one, and you don't like it, don't shit all over it. Because that's not cool." Agreed.

SOPA and PIPA - Fun With Terrible Legislation!

My blog's not going dark or whatever, because 1) I don't know how to do that, and 2) Not that many people read this in the grand scheme of things. Or in any scheme of things. So really I'd just be making my father unhappy, and who wants that on their conscience?

HOWEVER. Did you know that if SOPA or PIPA passes, my blog could be shut down because of one of the many amazing gifs I use? 

Say goodbye to this hilarity

"WHAT?" I hear you cry. "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE. WHAT CAN BE DONE?"

Omg SO MANY THINGS. But mainly writing or calling (calling is way more effective, AND makes you feel like an awesome participant in the citizen-government relationship) your senator or representative and saying something along the lines of "I violently oppose this bill, sir or madam. Whose leg are you trying to pull here! The constituents', my good sir! The CONSTITUENTS' legs and we do not appreciate the government manhandling our appendages in such a way! Nay! Forswear your support for this piece of legislation or I withdraw my support from you, sir! From YOU!"

Check out Wikipedia's awesome Contact page. Awesome meaning it's simple and easy to use. Like Wikipedia. Unless PIPA or SOPA passes, in which case we won't have Wikipedia and HOW WILL I FIND OUT ACTORS' NAMES? IMDB, you say? That place is riddled with ads, people! RIDDLED.

How d'you like them apples? "NOT AT ALL" is the correct answer.

Wikipedia, Reddit, Tumblr and The Oatmeal all have information pages set up as to what SOPA and PIPA are, and why they're the worst thing since George Lucas said 'Hey guys, what about a Star Wars PREquel?' So check those out and SAVE THE INTERNET AND FUNNY GIFS.

Norwegian Wood: Readalong Post 3: Wherein I Get More Annoyed With This Book

YOU GUYS -- YOU GUYS. I've figured it out. Naoko is a serial killer, and she killed her sister and Kizuki. BAM. Book SOLVED.

You're supposed to solve books, right?

But seriously, best. twist. ever.

Let's see...the lesbian part bugged me. I think just because I was watching the Daria episode last night where a bisexual woman attempts to "seduce" Jane, and Jane's like "Hey, shifty spiderwoman temptress, don't try to make me gay." And I'm not saying that was Murakami's goal, but it just kind of furthers this vision of lesbians as trying to convert others, or being into all women. Meaning Reiko's statement of "I never feel desire when I look at a woman," ok, that makes sense, but not wanting to have sex with Naoko doesn't NOT make her a lesbian. It's not like you're attracted to every single member of your gender if you're gay.

Ahem. Not to go off on a tangent that doesn't really matter to the overall plot. Let's get back to Naoko being a serial killer!

"She didn't leave a note, either. Really, it was exactly the same, don't you think?"

Ah, the wily killer. Ever taunting the unknowing. 

Ok, so we've got that, and then the unfortunate lesbian portrayal, and then there's this weird insular quality to the whole book. The rest of the world seems almost completely shut out. Like it's THERE, but it's shadowy. Which I guess is ok, because who needs the rest of the world? Nobody! Unless you're Dickens. Then the entire world is just dandy and yes, he would like to use it all in his book, thankyouverymuch.

People are still depressed; Naoko's less annoying. I just want to tell the characters a little something I learned from Meet the Robinsons:

Also, peeling grapes, what's that all about? Other cultures being weird, THAT'S what that's about.* Also chapter 6 was the longest chapter in the history of longdom. That is not cool.

*note: I am not actually xenophobic


addendum: You guys -- my friend Nahree at Etudesque has joined us and DREW something. I am in awe of people who can draw and/or dance, as I can do neither. This is all very exciting.

BEA Post, Number the First

Ok, I wasn't going to update today, but tomorrow's Norwegian Wood day (no, I haven't finished the reading as of yet) and THUS, I ask now: WHO IS GOING TO BEA IN JUNE?

I am currently planning to. My brother lives in Queens and so it's really only the admission price plus airfare from Chicago, which caaan be reasonable. The plan is to fly in Friday night, go to the Book Blogger Con Monday, then BEA Tuesday and maybe Wednesday morning, and leave Wednesday evening. Because, y'know. I got work and shit. 

TRUE it is four and a half months away, but LET'S PLAN, PEOPLE. Also I want to meet you so we can be all awkward around each other. It will be good times.

A Detour and a Little Quote

The best laid plans of mice and men, etc etc. I went to the library today, eschewing my carefully planned out reading list for the year. I AM SORRY, but I saw The Iron Lady Saturday, and by gum I think I might see it again. Not because I thought it was an absolutely stellar bit of filmmaking (although it was quite good) but because I went into it knowing about Thatcher only what was provided by Billy Elliot the Musical (by the way, I hate Billy Elliot the Musical), and now I am reading a book about her and so I would see it again with a different perspective. Important.

Now, I want to quote something from this book — it's not politically polarizing in any way, so don't get all in a premature huff — but first I want to tell a story about the extreme determination evinced by one (me) at the Chicago Public Library around 1:30 p.m. today.

I saw this movie yesterday. I went home, looked up what books the library had on Thatcher, picked one, looked at Amazon reviews, and promptly entered the call number into my phone so I could go pick it up after church.

Feeling very smug/self-satisfied about the whole situation, while simultaneously ashamed for having the entirely unoriginal idea of checking out a book about a person whose biopic I'd just seen, I went up to the sixth floor of the Harold Washington branch of the library (this is the main branch — it takes up an entire city block and has escalators; I love the escalators), walked over to DA589.7, looked on the shelf, and behold, my book was not there. Somewhat flummoxed, I glanced at surrounding shelves. Sometimes idiots put books where they're not supposed to be. Or, speaking as a former library worker, very very tired shelvers do.

But no! There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters was NOT on the shelf, despite the catalogue proclaiming it to be. Losing no time, I strode purposefully to one of the nearby computers, looked up the book again and — A-HA! It had been returned December 20th. With recent staff cuts, and an already slow shelving process, this meant that it was most LIKELY on a shelving cart somewhere. I walked back and forth across the rather large floor, searching for the shelving carts, until finally! There they were, laid against the wall. But they were all BA, HL, or just D. No DA. A library employee (he had a plastic badge — this is how I could tell) passed me at least twice, making me feel like scanning the shelving carts was something of an illegal venture. But I would not be put off by this. No indeed!

In a last ditch attempt, I turned round, my eyes searching for some sign of DA. And then —! the shelves behind me! They were full of books to be placed on shelving carts! And there — THERE was DA. After a brief glance through, I could tell they weren't in numerical order, but there, second shelf down, was my precious book! I snatched it off the shelf and headed off before that suspicious employee came back around.

And now, this book sitting on my rather messy bed, I will here type up the slightly amusing quote that you had to wade through all that to get to:

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in 1925 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, above her father's grocery shop. Isaac Newton, too, was raised in Grantham, and in between, nothing of note happened there.

I LIKE THIS AUTHOR. I went into it with a somewhat pessimistic attitude, because she's described as a "journalist" and who likes or trusts journalists? AND she's an American, and you know what we're like. But no, her writing is fantastic, and she's obviously intelligent. I am mightily impressed.

SO ENDETH THE POST.

In Lieu of Staying Home Watching Doctor Who Reruns, I Am Doing This

January! What are you doing to me!

It's the 13th and I have as of yet to finish a single book. Why? BECAUSE I'M BUSY YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE. No, for reals, it's because I've started a billion books and so I've read like 40 pages of each and finished none. But this being a book blog and me having stayed up until 1:30 last night scrolling through tumblr and therefore having NOTHING relevant to say aside from this, here are my thoughts, O Denizens of the Internet!:

Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia - Hannah and I have shortened our rather optimistic reading amount for each week. Here is a sample sentence from the current, deathly chapter: "In 1723, after much deliberation, Frederick William decided that the solution was to merge the two rivals into an omnicompetent super-ministry that bore the unwieldy title ‘General Chief Directory for Finance, War and Domains’, but was known simply as the General Directory (Generaldirektorium)."

...it's not bad. Most of it's quite interesting. And I know a lot more about the disgusting 30 Years' War now. But the focus of the current chapter is on administration, and administration just sucks.

Rats, Lice and History - I'm terrified to leave the house with this book, since my dad's kept it in pristine paperback condition since 1967, and I have a tradition of taking lovely paperbacks that have stood the test of time and reducing them to scraped-up, worn-out pieces of refuse. Also it's very sciencey and that is Not My Forte, but I shall trudge onwards and learn things.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair - Someone semi-recommended this on their blog and I cannot remember who. I checked it out from my library's Kindle section, and I actually very very much like it so far. I thought the fact it was more a memoir than a chronicle of reading would put me off, but I like the narrator, and it's not terribly long anyway.

Rules of Civility - This is that Manhattan-in-the-1930s book some people *cough*DeadWhiteGuysandbooksidoneread*cough* have raved about. I am, of course, only about 40 pages in, but I kiiiind of love it. It wasn't on my reading schedule until December, but I've already totally screwed that schedule up.

Gigi - This isn't too bad. It's just in French. And since it's a print book, it's harder for me to look up words (i.e. I have to open a dictionary, or sit at my computer in front of WordReference), so I'm missing a fair amount of innuendos. It's Gigi, and by Colette, so it's all saucy and whatnot. I dislike missing sauciness, but I've had this copy on my shelves for at least three years and it needs to be read.

Norwegian Wood - ...we all know about Norwegian Wood.

Norwegian Wood: Readalong Post 2: The Readening

Ahahahaha MAN what a terrible place to stop reading, right? But did I go on? No, I did not. Partially because I just now finished, but ALSO because I have my superpower of always being able to put down a book, no matter how close to the end/cliffhangery it is. Some would say this makes me a bad reader. This is probably true.

All right. Chapters 1-4 of Norwegian Wood. Let's all agree that all the parts with Naoko are REALLY REALLY DEPRESSING AND HARD TO GET THROUGH. Or maybe that was just me. Whenever she showed up I was like "ARGH LEAVE" and then she left and things were good again.

Here're a couple things that bugged me, both of which have to do with the translation (cultural AND linguistic, tyvm):

1. "It's really, really deep,” said Naoko, choosing her words with care. She would speak that way sometimes, slowing down to find the exact word she was looking for.

...what? Do you know when I assume someone ISN'T choosing their words with care? When they use 'really'. I use 'really' and I think NOT AT ALL about what I'm writing. So if you're emphasizing what a careful wordsmith someone is, "It's really, really deep" doesn't seem like the ideal example of their ability. So what I'm assuming is that there's an issue with the translation here, and that this section makes sense in Japanese.

2. That whole thing with him walking behind her on their walks. What the WHAT? Cultural differences, I don't get you: When summer vacation ended and the new term started, Naoko began walking next to me as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do.

Yeah. It IS the most natural thing in the world to do. In America. So I don't understand this at all. If I went for a walk with someone and they kept walking "a yard behind" it would be AWKWARD. So awkward. Japan, I don't get you.

So, you know all that stuff with him grasping at light and obviously not being able to catch it, because it's light? That's been repeated. So it obviously means something. But I find that I don't care at all what it means, so I guess that layer of the book's gonna be lost on me. Actually, most of the stuff where he wants you to actually think is going to be lost on me, which is unfortunate, but while I can acknowledge that he's Very Good Indeed, he's not the kind of writer who resonates with me.

I'm sad that Storm Trooper's gone, and I like Midori. I like pretty much everyone except Naoko. And sometimes the main character.

Onward with chapters 5&6! If you want to read more, you of course can, but I've decided not to accelerate the readings because I am reading OTHER THINGS and do not want to devote more time to be being depressed by Murakami.

I Took a Two and a Half Hour Nap and Am Now Updating My Blog. As Befits a Winner of Life.

You guys kick ass. When my friend wrote her "Suggest things for me to read" post on facebook, I got to be all smug and think 'Oh, you want book suggestions? Let me ask the HORDE OF EDUCATED PEOPLE I HAVE ACCESS TO.' And you all recommended things that made me proud to be your fellow book blogger. *wipes away tear*

Now. Europa Books at State and Chicago. Do you know how much French lit they have? THIS MUCH:

They're all new. Omg. I cannot even. The only French books I own that are new and therefore weren't purchased from some weirdass independent used bookstore were either for a class, or given to me by people traveling back from France. So most of mine are kind of beaten up. And the foreign language pickings at weirdo used bookstores? They are slim. Meaning you'll find like five copies of Le Mariage de Figaro and then some random translations of Stephen King. But THIS. THIS place has Balzac and Zola and de Beauvoir and ERIC-EMMANUEL SCHMITT and Sand and basically everyone awesome. It's also all hugely expensive, which makes me a sad panda. But SOMEDAY. Someday I will go and buy something of George Sand's other than Indiana, and I will read it and go "GEORGE SAND I WANT TO SMUSH YOUR FACE. IN AN AFFECTIONATE WAY."

Your quote for today from Rats, Lice and History is "Among the adages and proverbs which tend to become the philosophy of the thoughtless, one of the most dangerous is: 'Seeing is believing.'"

The end.

A Challenge to Be Met on the Field

All right, book nerds, impress me.

My friend is looking for fiction to read. She usually does non-fiction (meaning 84, Charing Cross Road was perfect for her and yes, she's already read it and possibly its sequel), but wants to branch out. This is what she's looking for:

- Smart and thoughtful

- Including books/libraries is good but not required

-Tedious = bad

From personal experience and what she's recently told me, I know she likes Ender's Game (although who doesn't?) and its ensuing books; she just read The Name of the Rose, Middlesex, and re-read The Historian, but she only likes the beginning of that because, let's face it, that's the best part.

She's studying to be/kind of is a rare books librarian, and she likes Reformation history, because she's a lovable weirdo.

OH and she loves Gone With the Wind. A lot. Because she's good people.

SUGGEST THINGS. I will only make fun of you if you skimmed this post and suggest something I said she already read. Oh, or if you say something by Nicholas Sparks. Because that's just silly.

How Many Maps of Germany Is Too Many?

I should be reading about Prussia at this very moment, but instead I'm listening to Spotify and eating Dirt Chocolate (my office friend Doug got a box of chocolate that he dropped on the floor by me and all the chocolate spilled out and now we're slowly eating it, but it is now Dirt Chocolate).

I will, however, share one of the more hilarious of the sentences I've read thus far in Iron Kingdom: "He was the feudal overlord of the Duchy of Prussia, a Baltic principality that had been controlled by the Teutonic Order until its secularization in 1525, and was ruled thereafter by Duke Albrecht von Hohenzollern, a cousin of the Elector of Brandenburg."

Screw you, Europe! You know what history consists of here? "This used to be a colony and is now a state." "Oh, ok."

I have printed out four maps of Germany/Prussia that I keep by me so that when they refer to Frankfurt/Oder, I don't get confused by going "BUT THIS IS DISCUSSING THE EAST AND FRANKFURT IS IN THE WEST ACCORDING TO MAP #3." Because then map #1 will show that there is indeed another Frankfurt on the Oder River, which is in the EAST.

Hannah has assured me that it'll get easier when they reach the 30 Years' War, which is about to happen. Thank God. Y'know, sort of.

Top Ten Tuesday: Wherein This Year Shall Be Awesome

All right, for those not participating in the readalong, I'm posting this (lies! I just really wanted to do this Top Ten Tuesday). Also, ARE YOU WATCHING SHERLOCK? Because the new series premiered in the UK on Sunday and OMG it has Irene Adler and I watched the new episode twice yesterday. Damn, people.

Mmm updated Sherlock Holmes

Oh right, Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. The topic this week is Top Ten Books I'm Excited to Read in 2012. I have this whole year mapped out already, so here we go:

1. The Iron Kingdom - My readalong book with my friend Hannah for Jan/Feb. I read like three nonfiction books last year, which is UNACCEPTABLE. We shall learn about Prussia and it shall be glorious.

2. A Doll's House - The completely awesome actress Janet McTeer was in a production of this (no, I didn't see it) and ever since then, I've wanted to read it. Plus people reference it a LOT, so cultural..help. With reading it. It'll be useful for that is what I'm saying. 

3. Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of '80 - So, the story with Dickens and me is that back when he was my #1 Homeboy, I went through a bunch of his books. And then I said "Whoawhoawhoa, self. He's not writin' no more. So you calm that down and read ONE of his books per year." And I'm kind of big on doing things chronologically, so I started with Pickwick Papers and last year was The Old Curiosity Shop. I ended up loving The Old Curiosity Shop, so hopefully Barnaby Rudge doesn't suck.

4. Cranford - I started this last year and liked it mightily. I'm not a big fan of North and South, but maybe when NOT working off an Austenian template, Gaskell's way better.

5. The Crimson Petal and the White - I got this last year and still haven't read it but I SO WANT TO but it's GIANT and I never seem to have time. It will be read this year, and I am 98% sure I'll love it. Postmodernism! 19th centuryness! A miniseries starring Romola Garai! I ask for no more.

6. The Grapes of Wrath - Everyone knows that East of Eden is one of the Best Novels of All Time, and I say that without my usual I'm-saying-this-but-don't-really-mean-it hyperbole. No, it for reals is. So I'm assuming Grapes of Wrath is at least half as decent, because GIANT STEINBECK NOVEL.

7. Prep - I don't know why I'm looking forward to this so much, but I really, really am.

8. Rules of Civility - Okay, confession, I don't have this on my schedule until December, but I started it this morning and I LIKE IT SO MUCH I'm going to keep reading it. Oops. My spreadsheet for 2012 reading has been carefully weighted for each month with happy/depressing books. This throws a wrench into the works. But you know what?

9. Notre Dame de Paris - This was assigned for my Hugo/Balzac class in 2007. I never finished it, because UNABRIDGED HUGO IN FRENCH. But I need -- NEED -- to finish it, and that will happen this year. YOU SHALL MOCK ME NO MORE, DEAD MAN. (i have some animosity towards Hugo)

10. Notes on a Scandal - I love this movie. It is swell. I expect the book to be at least equally swell.

Bring it, 2012.

Norwegian Wood: Readalong Post 1: The Thinkening

So here we are. 2012 and we're going to read Murakami's fifth-but-first-really-popular-here-as-far-as-I'm-aware novel. Have people read other books of his? I have not. I've avoided him for quite some time, mostly because I tend to read jaunty works from the earlier part of the 20th century, OR comedic essay collections OR Victorian novels. And he seems very Not That Way. 

Also, I should face it, I don't read a lot of foreign novels. BUT that's at least partially because Complit makes one very big on reading things in their original language, and translation bugs me. But since I'm probably never going to make myself learn Japanese, I need to get over that.

I'm assuming this'll be good. I haven't heard anyone say they hated it, which tends to be a positive sign. We shall know as of next Tuesday! Chapters 1-4! If everyone wants to just plow through, we can amend the reading schedule, but let's see how the first week goes, yes?

You can find the other participants (most of them, anyway) at this post heah. The way we did the last readalong is people update with their thoughts, and we kind of journey around and have discussions. AND IT IS AWESOME. So do please participate. 

ONWARD, BOOK BLOGGERS.

Auld Lang Syne and Typhus

Ah, a new year. Welcome to 2012, book bloggers! If the world ends this year, I'll be a little disappointed, but in case it does, let's all try to have just a bit more fun. And I guess be nicer to people.

You know what's lovely? Reading books that belong to people we love. More specifically, parents or grandparents, because most of the time, they're books they enjoyed when they were closer to our age and reading them can make you feel like you understand them just a bit better.

All my grandparents have passed away, as my parents skew a bit on the older end of the spectrum, and we got most of their books. These, and a bunch of my parents' older books reside in their basement. When I visit home, I like glancing around down there, and I usually pinch at least one and bring it up to Chicago (shh — don't tell them; only my dad apparently reads this, so Hi Dad! I'll return them!).

Last Christmas I found this completely fantastic gem from 1935, reprinted in 1967 (when my dad was 27, i.e. the age I'm going to be this year):

It's a biography of typhus by a bacteriologist! Who is kind of wandering and funny, with lines like "Having written the preceding paragraphs, we read them over and came to the conclusion that there was little in them that mattered very much."

Oh, and check this out: "But having ascended to these cold heights by laborious upward paths of reason, they sit down in their metaphysical toboggans and swish back into the warm and comfortable vales of theology."

Anyway. I am delighted by it.

Hoping you've all started out with similarly fun books. HAPPY 2012! I leave you with a gif of Alex Kingston and Matt Smith having a grand time.