possibly useful

I have had several people start reading my journal just lately; and I've been writing in it since 2002. And, well, there're an AWFUL lot of book reviews, and I know some of you probably skip over those, and others of you probably only read those. So I went through and marked all my old entries (through January of this year) that had any content in them as memories, thus sorting them for easier reading (book reviews are in their own category, for eg). Not that anyone's expected to dig through my archives - just in case you wanted to anyway.

The list of categories can be seen here.

Polysyllabic Freshman Tale of the World; Beholder's Passage; Year of Brujah Ravnos

The Year of Our War, by Steph Swainston
Fantasy set in a world where there are several humanoid races, more than one alternate dimension, and a Circle of immortals that are only immortal until someone deposes them by being better at whatever they do. Odd and lovely, a bit too role-playing-game-structured (the characters and plot felt designed rather than grown? is that what I'm saying?). Surprisingly funny. Not sure what is up with all the hype and counterhype in reviews.
(31/250)

Polysyllabic Spree, by Nick Hornby
A romping collection of essays (originally written for The Believer) tied together by discussions of what the author had been buying and reading in any given month. Like a really good review blog. How could I not love it? Yum.
(32/250)

My Freshman Year, by Rebekah Nathan (pseudonym)
Middle-aged anthropology prof goes back to school as a student. Pretty interesting, nothing really shocking, and some of her conclusions are kinda dubious (she kind of hits 'the average student' and 'international students' and ignores everyone else), but I liked reading her perspective anyway.
(33/250)

The Tale of Hill Top Farm, by Susan Wittig Albert
First in a series starring a fictionalized Beatrix Potter. Very cosy and fun. Also, the animals? Talk. Like Beatrix Potter animals would. (And, no, people don't understand them, that would be kinda twee. It's just really sweet. Really. I am looking forward to further volumes.)
(34/250)

A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage
The history and influence of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca Cola. Very intriguing, the sort of book that makes one keep bothering one's spouse by reading little snippets aloud. Want to read his The Victorian Internet now.
(35/250)

Clanbook: Brujah, by Justin Achilli et al
Clanbook: Ravnos, by Robert Hatch
The links aren't exactly right on those because the books are out on loan and I don't have the ISBNs to pull up the exact editions I read. They were quite entertaining, satisfying some of my curiosity about the clans in question. Anyone have novel recommendations? The only novels we have at my store are from the Dark Ages set.
(36,37/250)

Booking Passage, by Thomas Lynch
Essays about Ireland and his Irish relatives/friends and being Irish-American and some bits of other stuff. I really enjoyed it but I wouldn't recommend starting on him by reading this. I think Bodies in Motion and at Rest is better.
(38/250)

The Beholder's Eye, edited by Walt Harrington
Subtitled "A Collection of America's Finest Personal Journalism", which, whatever, I don't really see the logic of the label despite a copious introduction explaining it. Anyway, there are two important things about this book: a) Damn, these are some fine essays, I highly recommend them. b) The tone of the book is overwhelmingly butch. 10 of the 12 essays were written by men; one of the two female-written essays is about hunting with Inuit in Greenland; the others cover such topics as boxing (more than once), dog-fighting, and Marlon Brando. I wonder if the author would say that the sort of thing he's after has traditionally been a masculine pursuit?
(39/250)