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a.s.
Valinor
Dec 31 2008, 4:23pm
Views: 1421
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"Read the books you already own!": The Weekly Book Review Thread, New Year's Edition
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Can't Post
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That's my New Year's Resolution: "Read The Books You Already Own and Quit Finding Some You Just Think Are Too Good to Pass By Without Spending Cash".
Oh, and: "Quit Making Library Request Lists That Are More Than Ten Books. Each. At Two Separate Library Systems In Neighboring Cities".
Who does that? LOL.
Anyway, I know I am not alone in my stacks of Books I Mean To Read; in fact, I know a few of you are thinking to yourself I've been spying on your personal stacks sitting next to that last bookshelf you bought only 18 months ago and swore would take you five years to fill up...
My reading has been all over the place this week, as I have an extended number of days-off. However, I did have to pause and celebrate the holidays with my family a little bit. Grin.
I read Cold In Hand, the latest in the Detective Resnick series by John Harvey. It got such excellent reviews this year that I really had to read it, and I wasn't disappointed. Now I will have to go back and see which of the other Resnick novels are available at our library (hey! breaking New Year's resolutions and it's not even officially 2009 yet!) because this was an unusual example of the genre. Grief very finely observed and reported. Anyone else a Harvey fan? I wish I'd discovered him years ago.
I re-read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, because that is this month's book club pick and we will be discussing it next week. I loved it every bit as much as the first time I read it; perhaps even more, now that I have also read Home. I think Gilead may be in the top ten of my favorite books of all time, and I so admire what Robinson has done in the two novels, interplaying the different points of view about the events of a long lifetime shared by two friends and their families. I do so hope she does another novel focusing on Lila or Glory.
I finished the audiobook version of Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan. I don't think I've read any other O'Nan books (I could be wrong, I tend to forget author names), but this was a lovely book. The point of the story isn't to solve the mystery of what happens to Kim. The point is life lived in connection with other people, and how that defines and composes life itself. Very nice, recommended by me.
Too bad the reader kept mispronouncing the city "Aa-kron" with an emphasis on both syllables (instead of "ACK-run"); Is that how they pronounce it in Greek? LOL.
Now I am reading a book I bought a while ago (see? I can stick to New Year's Resolutions, at least briefly) and keep "meaning to" get to: The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism", ed. by Bernard McGinn. Since I am such a beginner (but a searcher must start at the beginning, I suppose), this is a good introduction for me because it is broken down by themes or subjects and not simply a chronological order without explanation. It is also interesting, and the comments by McGinn really help the neophyte make sense of some of the mystical writings in which I tend to get lost and then start arguments in my head with long-dead writers whose writings I am reading in translation and way out of social context.
LOL.
I am reading it because I am on some kind of search, true, but also because I am reading The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris, which I have also "been meaning to" get to. I bought it used, sort of a "find" in my favorite used book store, although it had been previously recommended to me. So far, so good. Hard to put down, actually.
Holy Cow, this post is long!! See what happens when I have time on my hands?
That's it for me. But what about you all? Do you have New Year's Resolutions pertaining to books and reading material? Please share. And tell us what you have been reading this week, too.
Happy New Year!
a.s.
"an seileachan"
Some say once you're gone, you're gone forever, and some say you're gonna come back.
Some say you'll rest in the arms of the Savior, if sinful ways you lack.
Some say that they're coming back in a garden: bunch of carrots and little sweet peas.
I think I'll just let the mystery be.
Iris DeMent
Call Her Emily
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User
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Time
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"Read the books you already own!": The Weekly Book Review Thread, New Year's Edition
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a.s.
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Dec 31 2008, 4:23pm
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No more books til we've read the ones we've got!!
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Jazmine
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Dec 31 2008, 4:35pm
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Sister of Another Mother!!!
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a.s.
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Dec 31 2008, 4:45pm
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Anathem and War for the Oaks
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Laerasėa
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Dec 31 2008, 5:22pm
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Emma Bull & Neil Gaiman are good friends
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Magpie
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Dec 31 2008, 8:02pm
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We can only choose what to do with the books we are given
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Lily Fairbairn
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Dec 31 2008, 5:49pm
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Working my way through my book Christmas gifts
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Elberbeth
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Dec 31 2008, 6:19pm
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Christmas reading
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Nienna
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Dec 31 2008, 6:54pm
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A new book I got for Christmas: "Nathan Hale" by M. Williams Phelps
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Aunt Dora Baggins
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Dec 31 2008, 7:22pm
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Review and Summary
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Bladorthin
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Dec 31 2008, 7:41pm
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another interesting take on the story
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Annael
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Dec 31 2008, 9:46pm
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I know what you mean!
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Compa_Mighty
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Dec 31 2008, 7:47pm
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Have you thought about the bathroom?
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Aunt Dora Baggins
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Dec 31 2008, 8:23pm
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the used-book store is my salvation
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Annael
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Dec 31 2008, 9:50pm
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The Indigo King
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Magpie
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Dec 31 2008, 8:08pm
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Kushiel's Mercy (and a book recommendation on Christian mysticism)
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Annael
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Dec 31 2008, 9:34pm
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**takes notes
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a.s.
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Dec 31 2008, 10:08pm
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another book recommendation, then
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Annael
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Dec 31 2008, 10:15pm
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Christian mysticism? *perks up*
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Kyriel
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Jan 1 2009, 12:32am
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**takes more notes
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a.s.
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Jan 1 2009, 2:01am
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I went to a lecture
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Annael
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Jan 1 2009, 4:21am
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Actually, it can be a lot funnier than that
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Kyriel
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Jan 1 2009, 1:07pm
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we had a whole lecture about
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Annael
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Jan 1 2009, 4:50pm
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*copies notes from a.s.*
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Menelwyn
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Jan 1 2009, 9:05pm
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Did you read Kushiel's Mercy
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Ataahua
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Dec 31 2008, 11:43pm
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hard
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Annael
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Jan 1 2009, 4:16am
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Oh dear. Would you believe (and forgive me for reading)
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Tintallė
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Jan 1 2009, 2:35am
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at the risk of being a "reverse snob"...or something, I think
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a.s.
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Jan 1 2009, 10:28pm
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no judgment here
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Annael
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Jan 2 2009, 12:41am
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There's an interesting split in the fandom (some Twilight spoilers)
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entmaiden
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Jan 2 2009, 2:24am
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well . . .
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Annael
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Jan 2 2009, 3:31pm
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I think the approach was the same for all three
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entmaiden
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Jan 2 2009, 3:57pm
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That's not what I hated about the fourth book.
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Laitholiel_the_SeaElf
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Jan 3 2009, 4:07am
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I can understand that (book four spoilers)
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entmaiden
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Jan 3 2009, 4:33am
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I loved the Twilight series
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entmaiden
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Jan 2 2009, 2:13am
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How Fiction Works.
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N.E. Brigand
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Jan 1 2009, 11:19pm
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Cather and Robinson
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a.s.
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Jan 2 2009, 12:56am
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I have!
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bearwen
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Jan 5 2009, 8:48pm
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