maribou | fragile bowl of cuckoo abundance; please kill these ten lies; brain fables tis princess talk

Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman (unabridged audio)
I really appreciated hearing Gaiman himself read these. Some of the stories, like "A Study in Emerald," were brilliant, a few missed the mark for me, and some of them were good, but had that ineffable thing that he does that makes prose read like a comic book (eg "Monarch of the Glen"). I'm not sure that's bad, it's just odd.
(28/250)

Rice Bowl Women, edited by Dorothy Blair Shimer
This collection of short excerpts from the writing of many different Chinese and Japanese women spanned several centuries. For the most part I liked the writings selected, and I have been reminded that I really really want to read The Tale of Genji soon. I was a bit frustrated with the selections from modern Japan because I thought they were much weaker than contemporary stories I've read elsewhere.
(29/250)

Abundance, by Sena Jeter Naslund
It took me a while to get into this novel about Marie Antoinette, but I loved it by the end. The writing style felt French to me, which was quite likely deliberate, and it was very absorbing.
(30/250)

The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood, by Susan Wittig Albert
Sweet little mystery with Beatrix Potter as the protagonist. The last one of these was disappointingly a bit twee, but this one is back in fine form and I'm very pleased with it.
(31/250)

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral history of Punk, by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
This was a lot of fun to read, and much 'trashier' than my usual selections. I mean, it was worthwhile, just the way it was presented felt so breezy and non-intellectual than most of the nonfiction that I read that I felt almost guilty romping through it.
(32/250)

By These Ten Bones, by Claire Dunkle
A satisfying little Scottish fairytale, not as amazing as her Hollow Kingdom books but I quite liked it.
(33/250)

Me and My Little Brain, by John D Fitzgerald (reread)
This is my favorite of the Great Brain books, I think I've read it at least 10 times, but not for a decade or so. It stood up extremely well, I should read a few more of them soon.
(34/250)

'Tis, by Frank McCourt (unabridged audio)
I love Frank McCourt's reading style so much. And parts of this were as wonderful as Angela's Ashes, for sure. I felt like it maybe could have used some editing though. It occasionally got a bit tiresome.
(35/250)

Talk Talk, by T. C. Boyle
What a relief this book was after the unimpressive Inner Circle. I am happy to welcome Mr. Boyle back into the ranks of 'authors I must read ALL of some day'.
(36/250)

The Princess Project, by Meg Cabot
A wee little book, of the type I keep around for when I am either a) very sick or b) about to go on a trip and jittery - in other words it wasn't terribly good but it was extremely palatable and not at all demanding.
(37/250)

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch
This book was WONDERFUL. People had been telling me I would like it since before it came out and I had been kind of stubborn and avoiding it but I finally did read it and it was just ... perfect. Very very satisfying, and since I was reading it in bed while sick, it resonated for me with old school adventure books like, say, Treasure Island, in a way that probably wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise.
(38/250)

Fables: Legends in Exile, by Bill Willingham et al
Loved the flavor of this, will be checking out the rest of the series.
(39/250)