07/22/2007
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
I read these in one go while in Mexico. As Harry and his friends got older, the books became better reads for me. Her writing style is so clever, and her magical creations like the pensieve are genius. I also liked how J.K. stopped explaining all of the details from previous books in the last couple. We remember J.K. I promise.

04/18/2007
I Am Legend -- Richard Matheson
I felt like I had read this before, but I think it's because this story has influenced so many vampire/zombie stories.

Books I have forgotten to list (I've forgotten more... this is what I get for neglecting this list.):
The Time Traveler's Wife -- Audrey Niffenegger
Assassination Vacation -- Sarah Vowell
Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time -- Doris Pilkington
Girl with a Pearl Earring -- Tracy Chevalier
and Siddhartha again for class.

10/03/2006
A Wizard of Earthsea -- Ursula K. Leguin
The Tombs of Atuan -- Ursula K. Leguin
The Farthest Shore -- Ursula K. Leguin

An epic, intellectual fantasy series by one of my favorite authors. The magic focuses on the power of language, and how the world is created by being named.

Interesting first book in a huge scifi series. Psychohistorians are able to use mathematics to predict the possible future of large societies, and make steps to prevent a universal dark age for the benefit of humanity.

The first two books in the Temeraire trilogy. Naomi Novik is a big fan of the fantasy genre and Patrick O'Brian novels, and is able to combine them by adding dragons to the Napoleonic wars. Entertaining.

04/06/2006
The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini

It's been a long time since a book made me feel like crying over and over again. It was so intense, and some scenes were excrutiating to read. I enjoyed reading about the Afghanistan I would always see in the background in the photos of Afghan Hounds I looked at as a kid. I always imagined wealthy Afghans with these royal dogs prancing in their courtyards. It was always a beautiful place in my mind, and this book added more to my original impression. The ravaged and broken country it has become because of wars and the Taliban makes me sad that I will never see the country in its splendor.

I read this book months ago and forgot to post about it. All I knew about people with autism is that they don't have the same noise filters in their brains that most people have. They experience all the sounds and images of their environment all at once. This novel was an amazing feat of writing because Mark Haddon manages to put us in the mind of an autistic teenage boy. It was a different kind of coming of age novel I enjoyed very much.

03/25/2006
Persepolis -- Marjane Satrapi

Graphic novels that introduce me to a foreign place and time are starting to become a trend. She shows what it's like to be a hot blooded teenager in Iran during the "Cultural Revolution", and a horrible look at what could happen when religion is allowed to take over your government.

03/23/2006
Life of Pi -- Yann Martel

So good! This book has everything to do with humanity and our relationship with god(s), and nothing to do with a young boy in a lifeboat with a tiger.

America needs a Martin Luther Queen... seriously. I was so heartbroken about how far behind we still are. Equality seems impossible, but I hope to see it in my lifetime.

A fantastic introduction to this solitary country through the eyes of a Canadian animator. It's amazing to see the extremes a regime will go to in order to keep their people loyal and blind.

The Hiketeia was a neat story, but I felt like the other books were lacking something crucial. Wonder Woman was severely overshadowed by the other characters which was disappointing because I really wanted Greg Rucka's version of her as a person... not just a total badass.

04/11/2005
The Body Artist -- Don Delillo

Beautiful prose. It's been almost a year since I read this, but the images of her stretching and the bizarre paranormal happenings are still strong in my mind... along with a description of a pimple that I might post later if I find it. Not a solid story, but it's not supposed to be. A meaningful read about loneliness and an artist's insanity.

Stiff -- Mary Roach

A book about cadavers. Very engrossing. I read it on my way to my grandfather's funeral, and it made the whole experience a lot easier to get through. It contains tons of fun information, and left me hoping my dead body is sold to science after they harvest my organs.

Bel Canto -- Ann Patchett

A terrorist group in an unnamed South American country has taken a party of international political and business leaders hostage. You become attached to every character, which makes the inevitable outcome emotionally draining. The soprano star's relationship with the Japanese business man is incredibly touching without being sappy.

The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K. Le Guin

I was very cold while reading this. She's a brilliant scifi writer and this is one of her best. She creates a whole new society and explains their religion, customs, and politics. The inhabitants are all one sex, so reading it just to bash up preconceived notions of sex and gender roles is worth it by itself.

Choke -- Chuck Palahniuk
Invisible Monsters -- Chuck Palahniuk

Sex and drug addiction, transvestites, family decay, pathetic existences, absent morality... Chuck is brutal and includes lots of fun twists. Hooray. The rock collection in Choke and the many false identities in Monsters are hilarious.

07/14/2004
The Partly Cloudy Patriot -- Sarah Vowell

Considering my own inner struggles with the current political powers, this book was an appropriate read. I love her writing style because it's like reading her hilarious and poignant NPR segments that I've grown to love (imagine that). Her essays on nerds, presidents, 80's movies, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, sports, Mounties, and her obsession with American history all told in a very snarky and politically biased form are brilliant and funny. She really pins down the real reasons why it's so great to be an American, no matter what is going on in the world. My love for this country has taken new shape thanks to the cynical and lovely Sarah Vowell.

Supreme Power: Contact -- J. Michael Straczynski, Gary Frank

This is the origins of a comic book series called Squadron Supreme put out by Marvel around the time Alan Moore's Watchmen came out. It's an obvious revision of the Justice League, complete with Superman (Hyperion), Batman (Nighthawk), Flash (Blur), the Green Lantern (Spectrum), and allusions to a Wonder Woman and an Aquaman character. Revisionist comic book history with really great artwork. Good stuff.

Batgirl: Year One -- Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon

I've been following Gail Simone's Birds of Prey series for a little while now, so it seemed fitting to read the origin of one of my favorite comic book heroines of all time, Oracle. The story was awesome. The girl in me loved the beginnings of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon and the nerd in me loved the references to the new comic and the looming threat of the Joker. The artwork was also awesome. The dark colors and retro look made the whole package that much more amazing. Batgirl's whimsical and weightless action sequences were just too cool for school.

06/06/2004
Lucky Wander Boy -- D.B. Weiss

It's partly a first person narrative, partly a group of essays, and partly a satori. Andy Pennyman rediscovers video games from the early eighties through a unique experience working in Poland. It opens up what first seems like nostalgia, but quickly becomes his own search for meaning. Jobs, relationships, and the ridiculousness of day to day life all become a means to an end that seems trivial to everyone but him. He creates his own existence through his writing and his obsession.

The first in a series of Thursday Next novels. It's an alternate history of England. The whole world is obsessed with literature and the government is full of the secrecy, greed, and corruption that is not unlike what's going on in America today. It's fun to pick up on the literary references that are throughout. It's a quick read that incorporates the mystery, science fiction, and fantasy genres.

04/04/2004
Siddhartha -- Hermann Hesse

I immersed myself in this book while I was in Mexico City. I read the Shambhala Classics version, so the translation was done by an actual Buddhist. There was also a nice introduction about Hesse and the process he went through while writing Siddhartha. It's interesting to see how many Western ideas about sin and psychology were present in his writing. Life is suffering.

Channel Zero: Jennie One -- Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan

Same team that does the Demo comic. An alternate punk history that hits close to home. Political and social protest that's pretty brilliant.

Fables: Legends in Exile -- Bill Willingham
Fables: Animal Farm -- Bill Willingham
Queen & Country: Declassified -- Greg Rucka
Kingdom Come -- Mark Waid, Alex Ross
I want the toys!

02/09/2004
Graphic novels:
Jar of Fools -- Jason Lutes
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -- Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill
Promethea: Book One -- Alan Moore, JH Williams III
Green Arrow: Quiver -- Kevin Smith, Phil Hester
Green Arrow: Sounds of Violence -- Kevin Smith, Phil Hester
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns -- Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again -- Frank Miller, Lynn Varley
Superman: Red Son -- Mark Millar, Dave Johnson
Last of the Independents -- Matt Fraction, Kieron Dwyer

I've become so saturated with the DC Universe lately.

01/06/2004
I have let this go so long, I have forgotten a lot of what I have read. One day I will stop being a loser.

Dogs Don't Bite When a Growl Will Do -- Luke Barber & Matt Weinstein

My professor Luke Barber wrote this heartwarming book about how we could live happier lives if we were more like our dogs. It's self help that defies the genre. I love Luke Barber's course in Ethics. He's a brilliant man and a wonderful storyteller.

The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 4th Ed. -- James Rachels

I'm including this textbook because it has changed my life in so many ways. This is the other book used in Luke's class. It should be a mandatory read for all humans.

The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch -- Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean
Arkham Asylum -- Grant Morrison & Dave McKean
Batman: Year One -- Frank Miller
Batman: The Killing Joke -- Alan Moore
Sandman: Dream Country -- Neil Gaiman

Each one of the above graphic novels are essential reads if you're a fan or want to be one. A great graphic novel is a glorious work of art.

The Phantom Tollbooth -- Norton Juster

I could just read this over and over and over again. I read most of it to Crystal which just makes me want to know children so that I can read it to them.

Echo -- Francesca Lia Block

There is so much magic in everything that she writes. I always thought that her style would become tiresome after a while, but it's just as refreshing as Weetzie Bat.

The Da Vinci Code -- Dan Brown

I read this at my old friend Stephanie's request, and I really enjoyed it. I have studied Knights Templar history before, so it wasn't brand new information but it had a lot of neat facts thrown into a mystery that made it easy to read. The mystery itself was weak, but I think his intention was to make the theories more accessible to the millions of people reading it. Amazon.com gives a better review: "With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoteria culled from 2,000 years of Western history."

10/03/2003
Again, I've been a loser about updating this thing... I'm not going to list my textbooks. That would just be boring.

Me Talk Pretty One Day -- David Sedaris

Hilarious essays about his family, New York, learning French and living in France.

Fast Food Nation -- Eric Schlosser

Damn the man and burn McDonalds! The chapter on kid kustomers was especially frightening.

05/20/2003
I forgot to list these here when I read them, but I will mention them anyway because they were all amazing:
Empire Falls -- Richard Russo
Dreamtigers -- Jorge Luis Borges
Communist Manifesto -- Karl Marx
No Exit -- Jean Paul Sartre
Annotated Alice -- Lewis Carroll
Three graphic novels: Kevin Smith's Daredevil, Magneto, and Origin

03/22/2003
The Vagina Monologues -- Eve Ensler

Eve Ensler interviewed hundreds of women from many different backgrounds about their vaginas to come up with these monologues. I have never seen them performed, but I can see now why it has been important to so many women. In Gloria Steinem's forward, I read an argument that I had heard before but never found the source until now.

In the 1970s, while researching in the Library of Congress, I found an obscure history of religious architecture that assumed a fact as if it were common knowledge: the traditional design of most patriarchal buildings of worship imitates the female body. Thus, there is an outer and inner entrance, labia majora and labia minora; a central vaginal aisle toward the altar; two curved ovarian structures on either side; and then in the sacred center, the altar or womb, where the miracle takes place - where males give birth.

03/21/2003
Good in Bed -- Jennifer Weiner

Cannie Shapiro is a full figured woman who has just gone through a major breakup and is now on the hard journey to find herself and learn to love what she finds. Now you see why I picked it up? Some of it was so unbelievable and hokey, but the sarcastic way she dealt with most of her problems was hilarious so I kept reading. Not a great work of art, but it would be a good series on HBO like a larger woman Sex in the City. Oh, they are doing one? Imagine that.

03/11/2003
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress -- Sijie Dai, Ina Rilke (Translator)

A wonderful fable about romantic awakening and what reading can do to the imagination. Two city boys during Mao's re-education find some contraband Western literature translated into Chinese. The beautiful seamstress and the banned novels help them find escape from their unfortunate place in life and take them to exciting worlds they would have never thought existed.

03/06/2003
The House on Mango Street -- Sandra Cisneros

This book is written in small vignettes that read like short stories. They all center around a girl named Esperanza who lives in a ghetto in Chicago. It's about growing up in poverty and dealing with rough times. An impressive first novel. I can't wait to read Caramelo.

2/23/2003
The Lovely Bones -- Alice Sebold

Susie Salmon is a 14 year old girl that gets raped and murdered and then watches her family, friends and killer from heaven. Her neighborhood was entirely too confectionery to be believable and the end was a big bunch of sentimental crap, but the story was decidedly literary. A fluffy read. Two stars. ;)

1/27/2003
Cruddy -- Lynda Barry

Haven't updated this in a while, so it's going to be out of whack... Cruddy was all about white trash, drugs, knives, violence, dysfunctional homes, slaughterhouses, and a girl named Roberta. Her father calls her Clyde and pretends she's a mongoloid boy. She hangs out with two boys that escaped from a crazy house with a stash of stolen pharmaceuticals and some really dumb girl. It's one of the best and most fucked up books I have ever read.

The movie's better.

A brilliant young adult series where the Kingdom of Heaven is the bad guy.

A Harlequin Blaze that features a Hispanic woman and a "super sexy" chef. They have a restaurant together where the food revolves around a sex theme. They have lots of sex. The last one I'm ever going to read.

The last survivor of the Creedish death cult is sucked into becoming a religious superstar. An attack on consumerism. Big surprise. :) I love Chuck.

Can't stay away from Becky and Enid. Zero Girl was neat at times, but dumb. Lenore's a funny dead girl.

11/16/2002
The Last Unicorn -- Peter S. Beagle

My favorite fairy tale. The is the second time I have read this book, and it's even better now. It was exactly what I needed to get away from all the hubbub.

10/30/2002
One for the Money -- Janet Evanovich

I read this book in a span of about three hours. Stephanie Plumb is a hilarious character who decides to become a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie. A fun light book if you are ever in the mood for that kind of thing. A great book in that genre.

10/25/2002
All the Pretty Horses, the Crossing, Cities of the Plain -- Cormac McCarthy

These were abriged audio cassettes read by Brad Pitt. I had read the books before and they are amongst my favorites, but the Brad Pitt reading made it a little more interesting. Highly recommended. Granted, Brad Pitt's Spanish is pretty terrible, but he pulls off the Texas accents of the main characters beautifully. I love this man's voice. Cormac McCarthy is my absolute favorite Southern American writer. Read something by him if you haven't already. I cannot stress this enough. The man's a genius.

10/5/2002
Ender's Game -- Orson Scott Card

Brilliant! My new favorite in the science fiction genre. I already had been told how it would end, but it was still a surprise. I can't wait to read Speaker for the Dead, but I have to wait until it comes through my store.

10/4/2002
Batman: Harvest Breed -- George Pratt, Ken Lopez

When I read a Batman comic I want this artwork with a better story. I like the edgy, voodoo flavor, but the story and the dialogue were too simple... maybe just too young for me. The artwork though... exactly what I want in a Batman comic. That's how I think they should be. That or of course, Tim Burton.

9/18/2002
The Hottest State -- Ethan Hawke

I was not going to read this book. Crystal read half and said it was bad and fankly, I don't trust actors to be good writers. However, I didn't know that Vintage Contemporaries published the trade paperback. I know they publish great books, so I figured, what the hell. I finished the book yesterday after being such a snob.

It's emotionally grueling. The writing was well thought out and extremely witty. I loved the characters. Decker was an amazing minor character. I knew how it was to be inside William's mind during the best and worst part of his relationship with Sarah. I really understood for the first time how it feels to be male and not be having sex when you usually expect it. The fun and excitement of a new relationship was so real and their jaunt in Paris truly made my heart swell. I could feel the frustration and confusion he felt because of the intense, unrequited love he had for Sarah. She had such a low opinion of herself, due to her mother and a previous bad relationship, she could not trust him enough to fall in love. I have never read such an accurate account of being drunk while feeling completely rejected. My emotional response to this book was much stronger than I had ever anticipated. I wanted to put it down so many times because of how awful it made me feel for William, but I just could not stop reading. Silly girl.

9/11/2002
The Virgin Suicides -- Jeffrey Eugenides

A beautiful book that is among my favorites now. It's about high school lust, angst, uncertanties, and naïveté. It's amazing to me that adolescent boys could be protrayed as being so tender, curious, observant to a group of girls across the street that were completely untouchable. The macabre imagery is so vivid it made me feel almost sticky.

"It's the smell of trapped beaver," Paul Baldino said, sagely, and we didn't know enought to disagree, but we found it hard to imagine such an aroma issuing from the ventricles of love. The smell was partly bad breath, cheese, milk, tongue film, but also the singed smell of drilled teeth. It was the kind of bad breath you get used to the closer you go in, until you can't really notice because it's your own breath, too. Over the years, of course, the open mouths of women have blown into our faces ingredients of that original smell, and occasionally, poised over unfamiliar bedsheets, in the dark of that night's betrayal or blind date, we've greedily welcomed any new particular reek because of its partial connection to the fumes that began blowing from the Lisbon house shortly after it was closed up, and never really stopped. Right now, if we concentrate, we can smell it still. It found us in our beds, and on the playground as we played Kill the Man with the Ball; it came down the stairs of the Karafilises' so that Old Mrs. Karafilis dreamed she was back in Bursa cooking grape leaves. It reached us even over the stink of Joe Barton's grandfather's cigar, as he showed us the photo album of his Navy days, explaining that the plump women in petticoats were only his cousins. Strangely enough, even though the smell was overpowering, we didn't once think of holding our breaths, or, as a last resort, breathing through our mouths, and after the first few days we sucked in the aroma like mother's milk.

Reading right now:
A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin




hooray pitas