It's that time of month again, where I regale you with what I read. Last month's reading included 10 books. My goal is 120, while I am also reading 52 books from around the world. Those will be delineated with an asterisk.
01. The Three Musketeers*, Alexandre Dumas.
It's no Monte Cristo, but the adventures of D'Artagnan and his friends the three Musketeers of the title are entertaining. And the character of Milady is as fascinating as it gets in fiction. I rather wish (SPOILER ALERT FOR 200 YEAR OLD BOOK) Dumas hadn't killed her off, because she was a formidable foe. And I don't like the way she went out, it wasn't true to who she was.
02. Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
Fisher's hilarious memoir of her substance abuse, her movie star family, and of course THAT MOVIE (George Lucas ruined my life is the title of one chapter!) kept me literally laughing out loud the entire time I was reading it. Can't wait to read more of her books.
03. Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man, Chaz Bono
A memoir of an identity search, Bono tells us how he always felt uncomfortable in his own skin. While his writing can come off as a little sexist, I think it's also his way of working through his issues with women and his shifting paradigm. I found it a fascinating read.
04. Bossypants, Tina Fey
I expected laugh-out-loud with this one. I didn't get it, but it also didn't disappoint. She reminded me of how much I loved (and still do) love improv. And I like that she didn't sugarcoat the glass ceiling for women in comedy. Highly recommended.
05. The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn
Julia Quinn writes good romance. Holy crap does she ever. Her heroines are Jane Austen-esque, but not in a rip off sort of way. And when she rips those bodices, dayum isn't the word! It's nice and refreshing to read a girly book that doesn't tax my feminist sensibilities.
06. Among Others*, Jo Walton
I will copy and paste my review from Goodreads because I think it sums this book up:
This book is the book for those little girls who grew up reading science fiction and fantasy, who were a bit outside of their peers, who were loners. This book is for me. And I loved the great use of historiography -- I have a wishlist chock full of scifi writers I hadn't even heard of thanks to this book. I know this year is young yet, but this is the best one I've read.
07. The Virgin's Lover*, Philippa Gregory
I keep trying and hoping that Gregory will recapture the magic from the first parts of this series. I am so disappointed -- there was a lot that could have been done with Robert, Amy, and Elizabeth. Instead she went for cliches. I wanted nothing to do with any of them after the first 30 pages.
08. Miserere: An Autumn Tale, Teresa Frohock.
A debut novel, this is the story of another world between ours and Hell. Lucian betrayed his lover to save his sister, but she didn't want saving. When he encounters the young Lindsay and saves her from Hell, he is given a second chance. A taut and gripping read, with just the right mix of fantasy and reality. I couldn't put this down. I couldn't believe this was a debut, because it was so intense and polished. Definitely worth a read.. It was my 2nd 5 star book of the year.
09. Some Dream for Fools*, Faiza Guène
The story of a young Algerian immigrant in France as she goes about her day to day life and struggles to keep food on her plate and her brother out of jail. I actually found this pretty funny -- I think that Ahlème is a very relatable character. Guène's characters are sparkling, and the scenes she spins are a great look at the underbelly of France.
10. 4000 Years of Uppity Women: Rebellious Belles, Daring Dames, and Headstrong Heroines Throughout the Ages, Vicky Léon
Like the women in war book I read in December, this book celebrates both well and lesser known women. I was happy to find a lot more emphasis on women outside of Europe and 20th century North America. They're short bits on each woman, but Léon has a bibliography for further reading.
Right now I'm working through 2 books: Smilla's Sense of Snow, Peter Hoeg, and World Without End, Ken Follet. They're slow going because they are long, and I will probably switch on and off from another couple of books in the interim. IN the mean time, you only have til 23 March to read THE HUNGER GAMES, dammit.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Book wrap-up!
Now let's talk about my best/worst list for books.
Worst Book: Rosamund's Revenge, Madeleine Conway. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE BOOK. This wasn't surprising though.
Unexpected Terrible Book: The Other Queen, Philippa Gregory.
Even if her books are never historically accurate there is enough bodice ripping and good imagery to go around. This book was historically accurate and SO COMPLETELY BORING.
Worst Series: Three Days to Dead, Kelly Meding. There's a whole series behind these books but I stopped after one. SO predictable.
Unexpected Surprise, Nonfiction: Hunting Eichmann, Neal Bascomb. Saw this on a National Geographic special and thought I knew the story. It kept me turning pages like nobody's business!
Unexpected Surprise, fiction: The Sookie Stackhouse series, Charlaine Harris. SHUT UP DON'T JUDGE ME. The last few books were mediocre bordering on terrible, but those first few? HELL YEAH.
And now, dun dun dun:
Runner Up Best Series of the Year: Parasol Protectorate Series, (Gail Carriger). A great fun steampunk Victorian series.
Best Series of the Year: Feed, by Mira Grant. They're a trilogy about zombies. I didn't expect to like it but I can't stop thinking about it. Amazing.
Runner up Best Young Adult Novel of the Year: A Northern Light, Jennifer Connelly. This was a book set in MY HOME REGION with a girl that reminded me a lot of myself. I may have shed a few tears. SHUT UP.
Best Young Adult Novel of the Year: Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta. A book that probably requires two readings, but is so spectacular and gripping you can't help but to finish it in one sitting.
Most Important Book I Read This Year: Shake Hands with the Devil, Romeo Dallaire. It's grisly, soul-destroying, and all true -- an eyewitness account of the genocide in Rwanda. It made me feel incredibly guilty as an American citizen.
Best Book of the Year: Feed & Deadline, Mira Grant. Seriously, I'm still thinking about these books months after I read them. SMH.
SO that's this year's wrap up! Stay tuned, I'm gonna post a meme that looks pretty awesome about reading habits next time.
Worst Book: Rosamund's Revenge, Madeleine Conway. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE BOOK. This wasn't surprising though.
Unexpected Terrible Book: The Other Queen, Philippa Gregory.
Even if her books are never historically accurate there is enough bodice ripping and good imagery to go around. This book was historically accurate and SO COMPLETELY BORING.
Worst Series: Three Days to Dead, Kelly Meding. There's a whole series behind these books but I stopped after one. SO predictable.
Unexpected Surprise, Nonfiction: Hunting Eichmann, Neal Bascomb. Saw this on a National Geographic special and thought I knew the story. It kept me turning pages like nobody's business!
Unexpected Surprise, fiction: The Sookie Stackhouse series, Charlaine Harris. SHUT UP DON'T JUDGE ME. The last few books were mediocre bordering on terrible, but those first few? HELL YEAH.
And now, dun dun dun:
Runner Up Best Series of the Year: Parasol Protectorate Series,
Best Series of the Year: Feed, by Mira Grant. They're a trilogy about zombies. I didn't expect to like it but I can't stop thinking about it. Amazing.
Runner up Best Young Adult Novel of the Year: A Northern Light, Jennifer Connelly. This was a book set in MY HOME REGION with a girl that reminded me a lot of myself. I may have shed a few tears. SHUT UP.
Best Young Adult Novel of the Year: Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta. A book that probably requires two readings, but is so spectacular and gripping you can't help but to finish it in one sitting.
Most Important Book I Read This Year: Shake Hands with the Devil, Romeo Dallaire. It's grisly, soul-destroying, and all true -- an eyewitness account of the genocide in Rwanda. It made me feel incredibly guilty as an American citizen.
Best Book of the Year: Feed & Deadline, Mira Grant. Seriously, I'm still thinking about these books months after I read them. SMH.
SO that's this year's wrap up! Stay tuned, I'm gonna post a meme that looks pretty awesome about reading habits next time.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Books, Yearly Roundup Style!
Okay, so according to my goodreads tabulator, I read 114 books. If I stick with their formatting -- the one that counts Time Machine and War of the Worlds as one book, I lose. If I don't, I win. So therefore, I win.
Roll Call!
January:
01. Highway to Hell: Dispatches from a Mercenary in Iraq, John Geddes
02. Esperanza's Box of Saints, Maria Amparo Escandon
03. Memories of My Melancholy Whores, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
04. The Lady in the Tower, Alison Weir
05. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson
06. The Translator: A Tribesman's Memory of Darfur, Daoud Hari
07. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, David Grann
08. Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab, Christine Montross
09. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
10. The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell
February:
11. A Place Where the Sea Remembers, Sandra Benitez
12. Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, Alison Weir (aka the book that Ate February)
13. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, Lauren Willig
14. Playing Baseball With the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War, and the Long Journey Home, Gary W. Moore
March:
15. The Manual of Detection, Jedediah Berry
16. Rough Justice, Peter Elkind
17. Ash, Malinda Lo
18. The Breaking of Eggs: A Novel, Jim Powell
19. The Better Part of Darkness, Kelly Gay
20. Poison, Sara Poole
21. Dime Store Magic, Kelley Armstrong
22. Harem, Dora Levy Mossanen
23. The Ghost Writer, Robert Harris
24. Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman
25. The Darkest Edge of Dawn, Kelly Gay
26. The Chess Machine: A Novel, Robert Lohr
27. Hunting Eichmann, Neal Bascomb
April:
28. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Romeo Dallaire
29. A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
30. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
31. Three Days to Dead, Kelly Meding
32. Podkayne of Mars, Robert Heinlein
33. Finding Nouf, Zoe Ferraris
34. Amalia's Tale: A Poor Peasant, an Ambitious Attorney, and a Fight for Justice, David Kertzer
35. The Other Queen, Philippa Gregory
May:
36. and the shadows took him, Daniel Chacon
37. A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages, Kristin Chenoweth
38. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
39. Working for the Devil, Lilith Saintcrow
40. Sixty-One Nails, Mike Shevdon
41. Bury Me Deep: A Novel, Megan Abbott
42. Naamah's Curse, Jacqueline Carey
43. Telex from Cuba, Rachel Kushner
44. Blue Nude, Elizabeth Rosner
45. Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta
46. A Northern Light, Jennifer Donnelly
June
47. Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer, Jo Marchant
48. Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy, Sarah Bradford
49. Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alison Weir
50. Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Portia de Rossi
51. The Greatest Knight, Elizabeth Chadwick
July
52. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
53. Heartless, Gail Carriger
54. Escape, Carolyn Jessop
55. Surrender the Dark, L.A. Banks
56. Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, Jon Lee Anderson
57. Mistress of Rome, Kate Quinn
58. Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue
59. Blindness, Jose Saramago
60. The Bad Girl, Mario Vargas Llosa
61. PopCo, Scarlett Thomas
62. The Welsh Girl: A Novel, Peter Ho Davies
63. The Flanders Panel, Arturo Perez Reverte
August:
64. The King's Pleasure: A Novel of Katharine of Aragon, Norah Lofts
65. Feed, Mira Grant
66. Point Omega, Dom Delillo
67. The Scarlet Lion, Elizabeth Chadwick
68. The Wars of the Roses, Alison Weir
69. Daughters of Rome, Kate Quinn
70. Classic Stories 1: The Golden Apples of the Sun/R is for Rocket, Ray Bradbury
71. Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, Crystal Renn
72. Christ Stopped at Eboli: A Story of a Year, Carlo Levi
73. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
74. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
75. Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul
September:
76. Chicks Kick Butt, Rachel Caine (ed.)
77. Rosamund's Revenge, Madeleine Conway
78. The Lady Matador's Hotel: A Novel, Cristina Garcia
79. A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
80. Caesar's Women, Colleen McCullough
81. Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris
82. Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
83. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester
84. A Palace in the Old Village: A Novel, Tahar Ben Jelloun
85. Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris
86. Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris
87. Rat Girl, Kristin Hersh
88. The Second Duchess, Elizabeth Loupas
89. Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
90. To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitane, Christy English
91. All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
October:
92. From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris
93. Snow, Orhan Pamuk (aka the book that ate October)
94. Dead and Gone, Charlaine Harris
95. Dead in the Family, Charlaine Harris
96. The Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses and Bastards, Philippa Jones
97. Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris
98. Deadline, Mira Grant
99. Tomorrow Sucks, Greg Cox (ed.)
100. A Partisan's Daughter, Louis de Bernieres
101. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
November:
102. Louisiana Vampires, Lawrence Schimel
103. The Story of a Marriage, Andrew Sean Greer
104. America Libre, Raul Ramos y Sanchez
105. Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris
106. The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir (aka the book that ate November)
107. The Time Machine, HG Wells
108. The War of the Worlds, HG Wells
December
109. Mr Cavendish, I Presume?, Julia Quinn
This was apparently book 2, but the first book just tells the story from a different perspective. I'll be reading it later, but for now I wanted to say I really enjoyed this romance novel. It had a pretty strong heroine, and there was a really really steamy bodice ripping scene. YES IT DID.
110. Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Philip K. Dick
A neglected classic for me, but I picked it up for 50c at Goodwill, and I really enjoyed it. I have a soft spot for dystopias. I want to rewatch the movie though.
111. The Illuminator, Brenda Rickman Vantrese
Much like Weir's Captive Queen, this is the story of a middle aged woman trying to survive in a man's world. And it's very bleak and depressing and ends terribly. I didn't like the ending at all -- it made little to no sense. Whatever, it satiated my need for historical fiction.
112. Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
I think this book loses something in today's world -- we don't have childhoods like these anymore, they're not that 1950s idyll that we imagine and harken back to. I do think that this book is more suited to television and movie than the text.
113. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.
Even more prescient today than it was when it was written. We're actually picking up on a lot of the tech he discusses -- the television in any room, projection tvs, the ability to direct and control what we see on the the television. However, the afterword and commentary completely soured me. Instead of responding to critiques about the lack of characters of other races or including women in his stories for more than decoration, he says that the critics should write their own stories and he'll continue to write his just white male universe. SMDH.
114. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
Surprisingly, I didn't care about the mysteries. I liked the flashback sequences, the descriptions of the country, the people. I really enjoyed everything in the book. I can't wait to read more of this series!
115. Hell Hath No Fury: True Stories of Women at War from Antiquity to Iraq, Rosalind Miles and Robin Cross.
YES this was great! It couldn't include anyone and everything, and I take a bit of dismay in the fact that a lot of women from Asia and Africa were merely described and not named, but I hope they'll expand on this topic in future texts. And what was wonderful were some of the source listings that they drew from, so I can harvest more stories of awesome women.
So that was my 115 books!
This year's challenge is to read 52 books from around the world -- each one from a different country. I received a kindle for Christmas, so this will be a bit easier, I think. I'm also gonna try to get 120 books in total this year, so I don't have to force it.
I will be posting my best/worst list sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Roll Call!
January:
01. Highway to Hell: Dispatches from a Mercenary in Iraq, John Geddes
02. Esperanza's Box of Saints, Maria Amparo Escandon
03. Memories of My Melancholy Whores, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
04. The Lady in the Tower, Alison Weir
05. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson
06. The Translator: A Tribesman's Memory of Darfur, Daoud Hari
07. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, David Grann
08. Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab, Christine Montross
09. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
10. The Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell
February:
11. A Place Where the Sea Remembers, Sandra Benitez
12. Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, Alison Weir (aka the book that Ate February)
13. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, Lauren Willig
14. Playing Baseball With the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War, and the Long Journey Home, Gary W. Moore
March:
15. The Manual of Detection, Jedediah Berry
16. Rough Justice, Peter Elkind
17. Ash, Malinda Lo
18. The Breaking of Eggs: A Novel, Jim Powell
19. The Better Part of Darkness, Kelly Gay
20. Poison, Sara Poole
21. Dime Store Magic, Kelley Armstrong
22. Harem, Dora Levy Mossanen
23. The Ghost Writer, Robert Harris
24. Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman
25. The Darkest Edge of Dawn, Kelly Gay
26. The Chess Machine: A Novel, Robert Lohr
27. Hunting Eichmann, Neal Bascomb
April:
28. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Romeo Dallaire
29. A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
30. The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
31. Three Days to Dead, Kelly Meding
32. Podkayne of Mars, Robert Heinlein
33. Finding Nouf, Zoe Ferraris
34. Amalia's Tale: A Poor Peasant, an Ambitious Attorney, and a Fight for Justice, David Kertzer
35. The Other Queen, Philippa Gregory
May:
36. and the shadows took him, Daniel Chacon
37. A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages, Kristin Chenoweth
38. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
39. Working for the Devil, Lilith Saintcrow
40. Sixty-One Nails, Mike Shevdon
41. Bury Me Deep: A Novel, Megan Abbott
42. Naamah's Curse, Jacqueline Carey
43. Telex from Cuba, Rachel Kushner
44. Blue Nude, Elizabeth Rosner
45. Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta
46. A Northern Light, Jennifer Donnelly
June
47. Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer, Jo Marchant
48. Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy, Sarah Bradford
49. Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alison Weir
50. Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Portia de Rossi
51. The Greatest Knight, Elizabeth Chadwick
July
52. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
53. Heartless, Gail Carriger
54. Escape, Carolyn Jessop
55. Surrender the Dark, L.A. Banks
56. Guerrillas: Journeys in the Insurgent World, Jon Lee Anderson
57. Mistress of Rome, Kate Quinn
58. Slammerkin, Emma Donoghue
59. Blindness, Jose Saramago
60. The Bad Girl, Mario Vargas Llosa
61. PopCo, Scarlett Thomas
62. The Welsh Girl: A Novel, Peter Ho Davies
63. The Flanders Panel, Arturo Perez Reverte
August:
64. The King's Pleasure: A Novel of Katharine of Aragon, Norah Lofts
65. Feed, Mira Grant
66. Point Omega, Dom Delillo
67. The Scarlet Lion, Elizabeth Chadwick
68. The Wars of the Roses, Alison Weir
69. Daughters of Rome, Kate Quinn
70. Classic Stories 1: The Golden Apples of the Sun/R is for Rocket, Ray Bradbury
71. Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, Crystal Renn
72. Christ Stopped at Eboli: A Story of a Year, Carlo Levi
73. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
74. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
75. Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul
September:
76. Chicks Kick Butt, Rachel Caine (ed.)
77. Rosamund's Revenge, Madeleine Conway
78. The Lady Matador's Hotel: A Novel, Cristina Garcia
79. A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
80. Caesar's Women, Colleen McCullough
81. Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris
82. Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
83. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester
84. A Palace in the Old Village: A Novel, Tahar Ben Jelloun
85. Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris
86. Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris
87. Rat Girl, Kristin Hersh
88. The Second Duchess, Elizabeth Loupas
89. Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
90. To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitane, Christy English
91. All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
October:
92. From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris
93. Snow, Orhan Pamuk (aka the book that ate October)
94. Dead and Gone, Charlaine Harris
95. Dead in the Family, Charlaine Harris
96. The Other Tudors: Henry VIII's Mistresses and Bastards, Philippa Jones
97. Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris
98. Deadline, Mira Grant
99. Tomorrow Sucks, Greg Cox (ed.)
100. A Partisan's Daughter, Louis de Bernieres
101. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
November:
102. Louisiana Vampires, Lawrence Schimel
103. The Story of a Marriage, Andrew Sean Greer
104. America Libre, Raul Ramos y Sanchez
105. Grave Sight, Charlaine Harris
106. The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir (aka the book that ate November)
107. The Time Machine, HG Wells
108. The War of the Worlds, HG Wells
December
109. Mr Cavendish, I Presume?, Julia Quinn
This was apparently book 2, but the first book just tells the story from a different perspective. I'll be reading it later, but for now I wanted to say I really enjoyed this romance novel. It had a pretty strong heroine, and there was a really really steamy bodice ripping scene. YES IT DID.
110. Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Philip K. Dick
A neglected classic for me, but I picked it up for 50c at Goodwill, and I really enjoyed it. I have a soft spot for dystopias. I want to rewatch the movie though.
111. The Illuminator, Brenda Rickman Vantrese
Much like Weir's Captive Queen, this is the story of a middle aged woman trying to survive in a man's world. And it's very bleak and depressing and ends terribly. I didn't like the ending at all -- it made little to no sense. Whatever, it satiated my need for historical fiction.
112. Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
I think this book loses something in today's world -- we don't have childhoods like these anymore, they're not that 1950s idyll that we imagine and harken back to. I do think that this book is more suited to television and movie than the text.
113. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.
Even more prescient today than it was when it was written. We're actually picking up on a lot of the tech he discusses -- the television in any room, projection tvs, the ability to direct and control what we see on the the television. However, the afterword and commentary completely soured me. Instead of responding to critiques about the lack of characters of other races or including women in his stories for more than decoration, he says that the critics should write their own stories and he'll continue to write his just white male universe. SMDH.
114. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
Surprisingly, I didn't care about the mysteries. I liked the flashback sequences, the descriptions of the country, the people. I really enjoyed everything in the book. I can't wait to read more of this series!
115. Hell Hath No Fury: True Stories of Women at War from Antiquity to Iraq, Rosalind Miles and Robin Cross.
YES this was great! It couldn't include anyone and everything, and I take a bit of dismay in the fact that a lot of women from Asia and Africa were merely described and not named, but I hope they'll expand on this topic in future texts. And what was wonderful were some of the source listings that they drew from, so I can harvest more stories of awesome women.
So that was my 115 books!
This year's challenge is to read 52 books from around the world -- each one from a different country. I received a kindle for Christmas, so this will be a bit easier, I think. I'm also gonna try to get 120 books in total this year, so I don't have to force it.
I will be posting my best/worst list sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Year In Summation Meme
What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Got an e-Reader. Worked as a blogger for the Times Union.
Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't really make them and I probably won't this year.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
Raquel, Amanda, Kim. Aww yeah, baby palooza.
Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank God.
What countries did you visit?
None. I barely even went out of the state I was so broke-sauce.
What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
More travel. That is the mega deficit in my life.
What date(s) from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Nov. 17. Besides the fact that it was my birthday, it was the (presumably) first of many birthdays shared with both the BF and his mother.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Reading 115 new books. I am amazed at myself - the original goal was 75.
What was your biggest failure?
I don't think I really had one. Lots of minor ones, but nothing major.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
...Surprisingly, no!
What was the best thing you bought?
Bus tickets to see BFFL Candice in NYC.
Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Many people. But first and foremost Jesse, because he actually knows me at this point and still enjoys my company. SMDH.
Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Besides the customers that I have some days? No one, really.
Where did most of your money go?
Rent, student loan repayment program.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Seeing my BFFL Candice 2x in one year. Seriously? That never happens. EVER.
What songs will always remind you of 2011?
I kiiiiiinda associate Carbon Leaf music with this year, bc when they played Alive at Five is when Jesse and I had our first date. Weaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak I know.
Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. Thinner or fatter? Ugh, heavier again. I usually don't mind, but I hate buying new clothes.
iii. Richer or poorer? I think it's about even, actually.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travelling! Cleaning all of the things.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Cleaning all of the things.
How did you spend Christmas?
Back home up north. My broski drove me up there and we watched Captain America, Thor, and X-Men:FC, and entertained two small children!
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2011?
I dunno. I had a surprisingly unembarrassing year. Although I get all embarrassed talking about things relating to the BF.
Did you fall in love in 2011?
Yeah, I did. Dammit.
How many one-night stands?
LOL no.
What was your favourite TV program?
American Idol, even though I wanted to throttle the television.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
I rocked my dress pants and still the NY&C tops I've had for years; off work it was all jeans and my Patriots hoodie.
What kept you sane?
Jesse.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope. Someday I will update the hate list, which really consists of like 3 people eve.
What was the best book you read in 2011?
I would have to say Feed by Mira Grant. Despite being about Zombies, I can't get it out of my head and for good reason.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Everyone is gonna say Adele, but they're not wrong.
What did you want and get?
An e-Reader. before you get mad at me and say "what about a relationship?" Well, I didn't want one and i wasn't looking.
What did you want and not get?
A middling camera and a new bed, but I will, oh I will next year.
What was your favourite film of this year?
The Muppet Movie. Haters may hate.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was the first of the tri-birthday -- Jesse and his mom have my birthday as well. We went to see Immortals after breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then we bummed around the mall and bought books, and then had dinner at Cheesecake Factory with his parents and sister. Then there was cake, and we went to Wolff's for our birthday boots, which he finished and I did not. He then encountered the unlocked construction equipment on the way home. Hilarity ensued.
What three things would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More travel, more music, more time with friends.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Henry Cavill and Michael Buble and David Cook. AKA the usuals.
What political issue stirred you the most?
Women's rights, but really any social justice issue.
Who(m) did you miss?
Candice & Phil & Julie & Raquel and all the other denziens of the internet I love of everyone ever.
Who was the best new person you met?
uh Clearly Jesse. I guessssssssssssssss.
What is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?
That opening your heart to others isn't nearly as scary as you expect it to be, and that sometimes people come into our lives when you least expect it.
What quote can be used to sum up your year?
HATERS GONNA HATE. :D
Got an e-Reader. Worked as a blogger for the Times Union.
Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't really make them and I probably won't this year.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
Raquel, Amanda, Kim. Aww yeah, baby palooza.
Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank God.
What countries did you visit?
None. I barely even went out of the state I was so broke-sauce.
What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
More travel. That is the mega deficit in my life.
What date(s) from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Nov. 17. Besides the fact that it was my birthday, it was the (presumably) first of many birthdays shared with both the BF and his mother.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Reading 115 new books. I am amazed at myself - the original goal was 75.
What was your biggest failure?
I don't think I really had one. Lots of minor ones, but nothing major.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
...Surprisingly, no!
What was the best thing you bought?
Bus tickets to see BFFL Candice in NYC.
Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Many people. But first and foremost Jesse, because he actually knows me at this point and still enjoys my company. SMDH.
Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Besides the customers that I have some days? No one, really.
Where did most of your money go?
Rent, student loan repayment program.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Seeing my BFFL Candice 2x in one year. Seriously? That never happens. EVER.
What songs will always remind you of 2011?
I kiiiiiinda associate Carbon Leaf music with this year, bc when they played Alive at Five is when Jesse and I had our first date. Weaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak I know.
Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Happier.
ii. Thinner or fatter? Ugh, heavier again. I usually don't mind, but I hate buying new clothes.
iii. Richer or poorer? I think it's about even, actually.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Travelling! Cleaning all of the things.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Cleaning all of the things.
How did you spend Christmas?
Back home up north. My broski drove me up there and we watched Captain America, Thor, and X-Men:FC, and entertained two small children!
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2011?
I dunno. I had a surprisingly unembarrassing year. Although I get all embarrassed talking about things relating to the BF.
Did you fall in love in 2011?
Yeah, I did. Dammit.
How many one-night stands?
LOL no.
What was your favourite TV program?
American Idol, even though I wanted to throttle the television.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
I rocked my dress pants and still the NY&C tops I've had for years; off work it was all jeans and my Patriots hoodie.
What kept you sane?
Jesse.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope. Someday I will update the hate list, which really consists of like 3 people eve.
What was the best book you read in 2011?
I would have to say Feed by Mira Grant. Despite being about Zombies, I can't get it out of my head and for good reason.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
Everyone is gonna say Adele, but they're not wrong.
What did you want and get?
An e-Reader. before you get mad at me and say "what about a relationship?" Well, I didn't want one and i wasn't looking.
What did you want and not get?
A middling camera and a new bed, but I will, oh I will next year.
What was your favourite film of this year?
The Muppet Movie. Haters may hate.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was the first of the tri-birthday -- Jesse and his mom have my birthday as well. We went to see Immortals after breakfast at Cracker Barrel, then we bummed around the mall and bought books, and then had dinner at Cheesecake Factory with his parents and sister. Then there was cake, and we went to Wolff's for our birthday boots, which he finished and I did not. He then encountered the unlocked construction equipment on the way home. Hilarity ensued.
What three things would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More travel, more music, more time with friends.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Henry Cavill and Michael Buble and David Cook. AKA the usuals.
What political issue stirred you the most?
Women's rights, but really any social justice issue.
Who(m) did you miss?
Candice & Phil & Julie & Raquel and all the other denziens of the internet I love of everyone ever.
Who was the best new person you met?
uh Clearly Jesse. I guessssssssssssssss.
What is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?
That opening your heart to others isn't nearly as scary as you expect it to be, and that sometimes people come into our lives when you least expect it.
What quote can be used to sum up your year?
HATERS GONNA HATE. :D
Friday, September 30, 2011
September books!
The #s represent the position read in year to date. I am closing in on my goal of 115 and and am contemplating upping it to 125. I want to see how October pans out before I do that.
76. Chicks Kick Butt, Rachel Caine and Kerri Hughes, Eds.
This short story collection of women writers with strong female characters was pretty darn good. It was a mix of authors I had read, others I wanted to read, and a third group that I had never heard of. My GoodReads synopsis (because I can't remember the story names at this point):
My favourite stories: "In Vino Veritas," Karen Chance; "Monsters," Lilith Saintcrow; "Nine-Tenths of the Law," Jenna Black; and "Monster Mash," Carole Nelson Douglas.
My interests definitely don't cover fey, necromancers, or nearly incomprehensible Norse mythology, so a few of these stories were less relevant to my sci-fi/urban fantasy interests. But you definitely can't go wrong with a bunch of kick-ass heroines.
77. Rosamund's Revenge, Madeleine Conway.
I had a great piece of luck picking Mario Vargas Llosa's book off the cheap books table at Christmas Tree Shop, but the last time I went it was covered in crappy romance novels. And I figured I would try one out to see if I was missing anything. At the very least I was hoping for a good old fashioned bodice ripping.
Well, Conway ripped something, but it wasn't a bodice. NO BODICES WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK. I am disappoint. Anyway, it was a bad rip off of Pride and Prejudice.
78. The Lady Matador's Hotel, Cristina Garcia
Another entry in the magical realism genre and I absolutely loved it. Garcia uses an interesting story framing device -- it's told from the perspective of several characters at the hotel over the course of the week, as well as the local media in an unnamed city in Latin America. The conclusion is quite obvious, but it is well worth the read.
79. A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
A man struggles to live life after his longtime lover's death. Also an interesting framing device -- positing us in as clear observers of the main character as almost a subject in an experiment, but watching him go through the motions of his life in a day.
80. Caesar's Women, Colleen McCullough
Book 4 in a series on Ancient Rome. McCullough posits that this story is really about the...errr...women around Caesar, but they are merely a framing device for the great man himself. And boy does she have a crush on him. It's very detail heavy -- I learned more about the Roman Republic in this book than I ever did in all the studying I did in Latin class and in the few history classes I took on Rome. If you can get through it, it's well worth it historically (even if Phil disputes her take on Marcus Tullius Cicero ;).
81. Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris.
What can I say? I really am enjoying these books. They are remarkably easy to get through and they're just like brain candy. Bits of problematic takes on race and sexuality crop up from time to time, so beware of that. And I can't get how all these supernatural people just find Sookie sooooooooo irresistible
82. Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
See #81.
83. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester.
I learned many new words! The story was a bit thin to be stretched out like it was, but I also loved the historiography work he put in on it -- the history of dictionaries is something we kind of take for granted. And the impetus for the book was an interesting anecdote in the annals of history. (PS: Americans helped write the OED. Including a guy from Troy NY!)
84. A Palace in the Old Village, Tahar Ben Jelloun
A man moves his family from Morocco to France to earn a better life for them. As he reaches retirement age, he realizes that it may have been a mistake -- his family has become Frenchified and barely recognizes the heritage he tries to give them. It's an interesting look at a generation gap and the ideas of the parents versus those of the children.
85. Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris
See #81
86. Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris
See #81
87. Rat Girl: A Memoir, Kristin Hersh
Hersh is the former lead singer for the band Throwing Muses. I knew of her from her solo efforts -- when I belonged to a Michael Penn fanlist on Yahoo groups, the members were raving about her, so I checked out her music. I saw her promoting the book on Twitter and during Borders' closing sale I picked it up. It's an unconventional memoir of an unconventional woman -- she started performing in bars at 14. During a year of her life in 1986 she ended up becoming diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she had to struggle to adjust to that diagnosis. It's an interesting way of presenting a time in her life where she says she doesn't remember much of it.
88. The Second Duchess, Elizabeth Loupas.
You knew I couldn't stray from my historical fiction for long! This one is the story of Barbara of Austria, the second wife of Alfonso d'Este, grandson of Lucrezia Borgia. His first wife, Lucrezia de Medici died in strange circumstances and he is believed to be the cause. As she is learning the lay of her new land, Barbara also must deal with the rumours of her predecessor as well as dodge whoever may be trying to kill her too. Also told from the perspective of Lucrezia's ghost, it's an interesting murder mystery in Renaissance Italy.
89. Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
See #81
90. To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Christy English.
I am a sucker for all things Eleanor of Aquitaine. She's one of my favourite historical personages and I can't get enough takes on her personality, either fictionally or historically. This book delves into her early life -- her rise to power in Aquitaine and Poitou, and her marriage to King Louis of France. English does a pretty good job of keeping us on Eleanor's side -- my only critique is that she keeps Eleanor at a bit of a distance from us. Otherwise, I almost think it makes a great bookend to Alison Weir's "The Captive Queen," a novel of Eleanor and her second marriage to Henry II of England.
91. All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
See #81, although I want more Sophie-Anne Leclerq. Just saying.
76. Chicks Kick Butt, Rachel Caine and Kerri Hughes, Eds.
This short story collection of women writers with strong female characters was pretty darn good. It was a mix of authors I had read, others I wanted to read, and a third group that I had never heard of. My GoodReads synopsis (because I can't remember the story names at this point):
My favourite stories: "In Vino Veritas," Karen Chance; "Monsters," Lilith Saintcrow; "Nine-Tenths of the Law," Jenna Black; and "Monster Mash," Carole Nelson Douglas.
My interests definitely don't cover fey, necromancers, or nearly incomprehensible Norse mythology, so a few of these stories were less relevant to my sci-fi/urban fantasy interests. But you definitely can't go wrong with a bunch of kick-ass heroines.
77. Rosamund's Revenge, Madeleine Conway.
I had a great piece of luck picking Mario Vargas Llosa's book off the cheap books table at Christmas Tree Shop, but the last time I went it was covered in crappy romance novels. And I figured I would try one out to see if I was missing anything. At the very least I was hoping for a good old fashioned bodice ripping.
Well, Conway ripped something, but it wasn't a bodice. NO BODICES WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK. I am disappoint. Anyway, it was a bad rip off of Pride and Prejudice.
78. The Lady Matador's Hotel, Cristina Garcia
Another entry in the magical realism genre and I absolutely loved it. Garcia uses an interesting story framing device -- it's told from the perspective of several characters at the hotel over the course of the week, as well as the local media in an unnamed city in Latin America. The conclusion is quite obvious, but it is well worth the read.
79. A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood
A man struggles to live life after his longtime lover's death. Also an interesting framing device -- positing us in as clear observers of the main character as almost a subject in an experiment, but watching him go through the motions of his life in a day.
80. Caesar's Women, Colleen McCullough
Book 4 in a series on Ancient Rome. McCullough posits that this story is really about the...errr...women around Caesar, but they are merely a framing device for the great man himself. And boy does she have a crush on him. It's very detail heavy -- I learned more about the Roman Republic in this book than I ever did in all the studying I did in Latin class and in the few history classes I took on Rome. If you can get through it, it's well worth it historically (even if Phil disputes her take on Marcus Tullius Cicero ;).
81. Living Dead in Dallas, Charlaine Harris.
What can I say? I really am enjoying these books. They are remarkably easy to get through and they're just like brain candy. Bits of problematic takes on race and sexuality crop up from time to time, so beware of that. And I can't get how all these supernatural people just find Sookie sooooooooo irresistible
82. Club Dead, Charlaine Harris
See #81.
83. The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester.
I learned many new words! The story was a bit thin to be stretched out like it was, but I also loved the historiography work he put in on it -- the history of dictionaries is something we kind of take for granted. And the impetus for the book was an interesting anecdote in the annals of history. (PS: Americans helped write the OED. Including a guy from Troy NY!)
84. A Palace in the Old Village, Tahar Ben Jelloun
A man moves his family from Morocco to France to earn a better life for them. As he reaches retirement age, he realizes that it may have been a mistake -- his family has become Frenchified and barely recognizes the heritage he tries to give them. It's an interesting look at a generation gap and the ideas of the parents versus those of the children.
85. Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris
See #81
86. Dead as a Doornail, Charlaine Harris
See #81
87. Rat Girl: A Memoir, Kristin Hersh
Hersh is the former lead singer for the band Throwing Muses. I knew of her from her solo efforts -- when I belonged to a Michael Penn fanlist on Yahoo groups, the members were raving about her, so I checked out her music. I saw her promoting the book on Twitter and during Borders' closing sale I picked it up. It's an unconventional memoir of an unconventional woman -- she started performing in bars at 14. During a year of her life in 1986 she ended up becoming diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and she had to struggle to adjust to that diagnosis. It's an interesting way of presenting a time in her life where she says she doesn't remember much of it.
88. The Second Duchess, Elizabeth Loupas.
You knew I couldn't stray from my historical fiction for long! This one is the story of Barbara of Austria, the second wife of Alfonso d'Este, grandson of Lucrezia Borgia. His first wife, Lucrezia de Medici died in strange circumstances and he is believed to be the cause. As she is learning the lay of her new land, Barbara also must deal with the rumours of her predecessor as well as dodge whoever may be trying to kill her too. Also told from the perspective of Lucrezia's ghost, it's an interesting murder mystery in Renaissance Italy.
89. Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
See #81
90. To Be Queen: A Novel of the Early Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Christy English.
I am a sucker for all things Eleanor of Aquitaine. She's one of my favourite historical personages and I can't get enough takes on her personality, either fictionally or historically. This book delves into her early life -- her rise to power in Aquitaine and Poitou, and her marriage to King Louis of France. English does a pretty good job of keeping us on Eleanor's side -- my only critique is that she keeps Eleanor at a bit of a distance from us. Otherwise, I almost think it makes a great bookend to Alison Weir's "The Captive Queen," a novel of Eleanor and her second marriage to Henry II of England.
91. All Together Dead, Charlaine Harris
See #81, although I want more Sophie-Anne Leclerq. Just saying.
Monday, September 12, 2011
11 September
I usually like to write about the Chilean September 11, but I came across this amazing poem on Tumblr and thought it was important to share it with you. It's long, but I'm not cutting it.
Emmanuel Ortiz (born 1974)'s poem, Moment of Silence:
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/music/Moment-of-Silence.mp3
Before I start this poem, I’d like to ask you to join me
In a moment of silence
In honor of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th.
I would also like to ask you
To offer up a moment of silence
For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes,
For the victims in both Afghanistan and the U.S.
And if I could just add one more thing…
A full day of silence
For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of U.S.-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation.
Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year U.S. embargo against the country.
Before I begin this poem,
Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa,
Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country.
Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin
And the survivors went on as if alive.
A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives’ bones buried in it, their babies born of it.
A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war … ssssshhhhh…. Say nothing … we don’t want them to learn that they are dead.
Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia,
Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.
Before I begin this poem.
An hour of silence for El Salvador …
An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua …
Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos …
None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years.
45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas
25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky.
There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains.
And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west…
100 years of silence…
For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here,
Whose land and lives were stolen,
In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears.
Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness …
So you want a moment of silence?
And we are all left speechless
Our tongues snatched from our mouths
Our eyes stapled shut
A moment of silence
And the poets have all been laid to rest
The drums disintegrating into dust.
Before I begin this poem,
You want a moment of silence
You mourn now as if the world will never be the same
And the rest of us hope to hell it won’t be.
Not like it always has been.
Because this is not a 9/11 poem.
This is a 9/10 poem,
It is a 9/9 poem,
9/8 poem,
A 9/7 poem
This is a 1492 poem.
This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written.
And if this is a 9/11 poem, then:
This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971.
This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977.
This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971.
This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.
This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes
This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told
The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks
The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored.
This is a poem for interrupting this program.
And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?
We could give you lifetimes of empty:
The unmarked graves
The lost languages
The uprooted trees and histories
The dead stares on the faces of nameless children
Before I start this poem we could be silent forever
Or just long enough to hunger,
For the dust to bury us
And you would still ask us
For more of our silence.
If you want a moment of silence
Then stop the oil pumps
Turn off the engines and the televisions
Sink the cruise ships
Crash the stock markets
Unplug the marquee lights,
Delete the instant messages,
Derail the trains, the light rail transit.
If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell,
And pay the workers for wages lost.
Tear down the liquor stores,
The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the Playboys.
If you want a moment of silence,
Then take it
On Super Bowl Sunday,
The Fourth of July
During Dayton’s 13 hour sale
Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful people have gathered.
You want a moment of silence
Then take it NOW,
Before this poem begins.
Here, in the echo of my voice,
In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,
In the space between bodies in embrace,
Here is your silence.
Take it.
But take it all…Don’t cut in line.
Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime. But we,
Tonight we will keep right on singing…For our dead.
EMMANUEL ORTIZ, 11 Sep 2002.
(Link to the tumblr post I found it in.)
Emmanuel Ortiz (born 1974)'s poem, Moment of Silence:
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/music/Moment-of-Silence.mp3
Before I start this poem, I’d like to ask you to join me
In a moment of silence
In honor of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th.
I would also like to ask you
To offer up a moment of silence
For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes,
For the victims in both Afghanistan and the U.S.
And if I could just add one more thing…
A full day of silence
For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of U.S.-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation.
Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year U.S. embargo against the country.
Before I begin this poem,
Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa,
Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country.
Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin
And the survivors went on as if alive.
A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives’ bones buried in it, their babies born of it.
A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war … ssssshhhhh…. Say nothing … we don’t want them to learn that they are dead.
Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia,
Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.
Before I begin this poem.
An hour of silence for El Salvador …
An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua …
Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos …
None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years.
45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas
25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky.
There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains.
And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west…
100 years of silence…
For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here,
Whose land and lives were stolen,
In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears.
Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness …
So you want a moment of silence?
And we are all left speechless
Our tongues snatched from our mouths
Our eyes stapled shut
A moment of silence
And the poets have all been laid to rest
The drums disintegrating into dust.
Before I begin this poem,
You want a moment of silence
You mourn now as if the world will never be the same
And the rest of us hope to hell it won’t be.
Not like it always has been.
Because this is not a 9/11 poem.
This is a 9/10 poem,
It is a 9/9 poem,
9/8 poem,
A 9/7 poem
This is a 1492 poem.
This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written.
And if this is a 9/11 poem, then:
This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971.
This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977.
This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971.
This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.
This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes
This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told
The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks
The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored.
This is a poem for interrupting this program.
And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?
We could give you lifetimes of empty:
The unmarked graves
The lost languages
The uprooted trees and histories
The dead stares on the faces of nameless children
Before I start this poem we could be silent forever
Or just long enough to hunger,
For the dust to bury us
And you would still ask us
For more of our silence.
If you want a moment of silence
Then stop the oil pumps
Turn off the engines and the televisions
Sink the cruise ships
Crash the stock markets
Unplug the marquee lights,
Delete the instant messages,
Derail the trains, the light rail transit.
If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell,
And pay the workers for wages lost.
Tear down the liquor stores,
The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the Playboys.
If you want a moment of silence,
Then take it
On Super Bowl Sunday,
The Fourth of July
During Dayton’s 13 hour sale
Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful people have gathered.
You want a moment of silence
Then take it NOW,
Before this poem begins.
Here, in the echo of my voice,
In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,
In the space between bodies in embrace,
Here is your silence.
Take it.
But take it all…Don’t cut in line.
Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime. But we,
Tonight we will keep right on singing…For our dead.
EMMANUEL ORTIZ, 11 Sep 2002.
(Link to the tumblr post I found it in.)
Saturday, September 03, 2011
BOOKS FOR JULY
Hello friends! I just finished another book, and I realized it's Sept 3! Time to talk about the books I read last month.
64. The King's Pleasure, Norah Lofts.
This was a historical Tudors novel written in the 1950s and boy does it show. The maligns on Anne Boleyn's physical character are present, and I felt that Lofts did a lot more telling than showing. I didn't like the foreshadowing usage. Read Anya Seton instead.
65. Feed, Mira Grant.
In the mid 21st Century, cancer and the common cold are cured, but unfortunately the side-effect was zombies. They're somewhat contained now, but the remaining human population no longer trusts its news media sources and is relying on bloggers for information. So Georgia and her brother Shaun get selected to cover a presidential campaign and end up in way over their heads.
Now I have such zombie fear as you've never seen. But I loved this book. Yes, there are zombie attacks, and they are scary. and the mysterious conspiracy isn't all that shocking. But the bond between brother and sister is really what drives the book.
66. Point Omega, Dom DeLillo.
I totally misinterpreted what this book was about. An aspiring filmmaker goes to the desert to seek out one of the masterminds behind the Iraq War and interview him. Instead he spends his time in the desert boring the hell out of the reader as he vaguely contemplates banging his host's daughter.
67. The Scarlet Lion, Elizabeth Chadwick.
A followup to "The Greatest Knight," continuing the Marshal family saga this time in the court of King John. A little repetitive at points, but I definitely enjoyed the story as much as I did TGK. If you're into medieval historical novels that really try to get it right, Chadwick is for you.
68. The Wars of the Roses, Alison Weir.
Another Weir compendium, this time about the historical roots and how the Wars of the Roses came about. It gets complicated especially toward the end when names are repeated apace. Thank goodness for the genealogical trees at the back of the book.
69. Daughters of Rome, Kate Quinn
A prequel of sorts to "Mistress of Rome," Quinn takes us to the year of Three Emperors by telling us the story through the lives of 4 women all named Cornelia. She continues her themes of having at least one woman in the story bed a strapping man who is a prisoner or in dire straits but is incredibly handsome and amazing. It is damned good reading, although a bit predictable.
70. Classic Stories 1: R is for Rocket & Golden Apples, Ray Bradbury.
Bradbury's writing always fuels in me a nostalgia for the space race age. The stories are ridiculously outdated, but they are nice to read in a "look how they saw this coming" sort of way. There are some of my favourite pieces in here including "The Long Rain."
71. Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, Crystal Renn (TW: eating disorders)
Renn is a plus-sized model who overcame an eating disorder trying to remain at a size 0 in order to stay in the world of modelling. She is funny, very interested in the statistics and reasons for disordered eating. This was an easy and good read, but I wish the editors had done a better job -- it's riddled with errors and bad transitions.
72. Christ Stopped at Eboli, Carlo Levi
Levi was exiled to an impoverished region in the mountains of Italy for a sentence of three years. He spent one in Eboli, and wrote a journal of his experiences. It is an incredible look at a place neglected by time and government. Keeping in mind that Levi is a bit sexist and classist, it is nonetheless a unique look at a place and time gone unmentioned in most of history, Italian or otherwise.
73. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal.
A science fiction book set in a Regency-esque England. It tries to be Pride and Prejudice, but it was more like The Wayward Muse and merely bored me. The magick in the world was a minor plot point that could have been excised. I was mostly whelmed by this book.
74. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris.
Okay NOW I see what all the hype is about. Everyone and their mom watches True Blood (except me and Phil). But seriously? Sookie Stackhouse is funny, interesting, and I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick little story and I look forward to the rest of the series.
75. Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul
Haters gonna hate. Some of the tales in here were really good looks at the contestants' views of the process, others were great looks at back stage workers knowing how they got the show to be the way it was, and others were just there.
I've read 3 more books in September so far, but you'll just have to wait til Oct to see what they are. Tell me what you're reading! I have to pick a new book to start, but since I cleaned up again at the Borders' closeout sale, I have plenty of choices!
64. The King's Pleasure, Norah Lofts.
This was a historical Tudors novel written in the 1950s and boy does it show. The maligns on Anne Boleyn's physical character are present, and I felt that Lofts did a lot more telling than showing. I didn't like the foreshadowing usage. Read Anya Seton instead.
65. Feed, Mira Grant.
In the mid 21st Century, cancer and the common cold are cured, but unfortunately the side-effect was zombies. They're somewhat contained now, but the remaining human population no longer trusts its news media sources and is relying on bloggers for information. So Georgia and her brother Shaun get selected to cover a presidential campaign and end up in way over their heads.
Now I have such zombie fear as you've never seen. But I loved this book. Yes, there are zombie attacks, and they are scary. and the mysterious conspiracy isn't all that shocking. But the bond between brother and sister is really what drives the book.
66. Point Omega, Dom DeLillo.
I totally misinterpreted what this book was about. An aspiring filmmaker goes to the desert to seek out one of the masterminds behind the Iraq War and interview him. Instead he spends his time in the desert boring the hell out of the reader as he vaguely contemplates banging his host's daughter.
67. The Scarlet Lion, Elizabeth Chadwick.
A followup to "The Greatest Knight," continuing the Marshal family saga this time in the court of King John. A little repetitive at points, but I definitely enjoyed the story as much as I did TGK. If you're into medieval historical novels that really try to get it right, Chadwick is for you.
68. The Wars of the Roses, Alison Weir.
Another Weir compendium, this time about the historical roots and how the Wars of the Roses came about. It gets complicated especially toward the end when names are repeated apace. Thank goodness for the genealogical trees at the back of the book.
69. Daughters of Rome, Kate Quinn
A prequel of sorts to "Mistress of Rome," Quinn takes us to the year of Three Emperors by telling us the story through the lives of 4 women all named Cornelia. She continues her themes of having at least one woman in the story bed a strapping man who is a prisoner or in dire straits but is incredibly handsome and amazing. It is damned good reading, although a bit predictable.
70. Classic Stories 1: R is for Rocket & Golden Apples, Ray Bradbury.
Bradbury's writing always fuels in me a nostalgia for the space race age. The stories are ridiculously outdated, but they are nice to read in a "look how they saw this coming" sort of way. There are some of my favourite pieces in here including "The Long Rain."
71. Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition, and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, Crystal Renn (TW: eating disorders)
Renn is a plus-sized model who overcame an eating disorder trying to remain at a size 0 in order to stay in the world of modelling. She is funny, very interested in the statistics and reasons for disordered eating. This was an easy and good read, but I wish the editors had done a better job -- it's riddled with errors and bad transitions.
72. Christ Stopped at Eboli, Carlo Levi
Levi was exiled to an impoverished region in the mountains of Italy for a sentence of three years. He spent one in Eboli, and wrote a journal of his experiences. It is an incredible look at a place neglected by time and government. Keeping in mind that Levi is a bit sexist and classist, it is nonetheless a unique look at a place and time gone unmentioned in most of history, Italian or otherwise.
73. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal.
A science fiction book set in a Regency-esque England. It tries to be Pride and Prejudice, but it was more like The Wayward Muse and merely bored me. The magick in the world was a minor plot point that could have been excised. I was mostly whelmed by this book.
74. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris.
Okay NOW I see what all the hype is about. Everyone and their mom watches True Blood (except me and Phil). But seriously? Sookie Stackhouse is funny, interesting, and I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick little story and I look forward to the rest of the series.
75. Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul
Haters gonna hate. Some of the tales in here were really good looks at the contestants' views of the process, others were great looks at back stage workers knowing how they got the show to be the way it was, and others were just there.
I've read 3 more books in September so far, but you'll just have to wait til Oct to see what they are. Tell me what you're reading! I have to pick a new book to start, but since I cleaned up again at the Borders' closeout sale, I have plenty of choices!
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