The Rabbi's Sight Hound; Make Love in Waiting When the King of the Old West Finds Garbage Soup

[maribou]

How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale, by Jenna Jameson
Okay, this was extremely trashy. But intelligent! And fascinating. Very very trashy.
(222/200)

Sight Hound, by Pam Houston
This story is told from so many points of view I lost track. Including some animal narrators, which ought to be annoyingly schlocky but manages to be awkwardly endearing. I liked how several of the characters started out strong and were only gradually revealing of their weaknesses and quirks - it made it more like actually meeting people. Pam Houston is still the bomb.
(223/200)

The Rabbi's Cat, by Joann Sfar
I loved this book. Not only is it laid out in classic BD style (er, that's bande dessinée - think Tintin, lots of words), the story is moving and smart and bittersweet. And the drawings are just wild enough to be original, just traditional enough to be comforting. Mr. Sfar? Also the bomb.
(224/200)

Princess in Waiting, by Meg Cabot, read by Clea Lewis(unabridged audiobook)
I think that I like this book, but slightly less than the previous entries in the series. I'm not sure about my feelings because I loathe the new narrator with the loathing of a thousand suns. Ew ew ew ew. I didn't think the line between 'self-deprecating, wry, perceptive, and sweet' and 'whiny, bratty, spoiled, and stupid' was the least bit fuzzy, but apparently it is. Because Ann Hathaway's rendition was very much the former and Clea Lewis' rendition is ever so much the latter. BLEAH. She also reads the next one, I suspect I may have to switch back to reading this series rather than listening to it.
(225/200)

When the King Comes Home, by Caroline Stevermer
Intriguing quasi-Renaissance-art story, quasi-fantasy. I liked it a lot, but I think I was expecting something more mordant than I got. Still, very good story, liked the characters, liked the Christian and Arthurian allusions; this author continues to live up to my high expectations.
(226/200)

Stories of the Old West, edited by John Seelye
This was my bathtub book for the last few months, so the first few authors are kind of fuzzy in my mind at this point. But I really enjoyed both the stories and the biographical introductions. I have an affection for Victorians that seems to extend to cowboys, if that makes any sense.
(227/200)

Finding Serenity, edited by Jane Espenson and Glen Yeffeth
A few of these essays were clunkers, but most were so engaging that I gained a new understanding for certain people's penchant for reading while driving. I didn't actually read while driving, or even at red lights, but I kept saying "Okay, just one essay before I get out of the car," or "Okay, just one essay before I pull out of the parking spot."
(228/200)

Garbage Land, by Elizabeth Royte
I had to keep reminding myself to read this book. It's a good book, informative and engaging, but the subject matter is so depressing - I loved the author's last book, The Tapir's Morning Bath, and hadn't stopped to consider that biologists in the Amazon is a much more cheering subject than the realities of waste management in the United States. Doom doom doom de doom doom.... but well worth reading, despite lingering feelings of horror.
(229/200)

Glass Soup, by Jonathan Carroll
I have stated many a time how much I love Jonathan Carroll's books, and the love continues unabated. A caveat, however: I think that he is getting further and further into his own headspace - and I wouldn't recommend starting with this book, or the one before it. This isn't a criticism; I like each new book as well as or better than the last - I just think they're a much better read when you aren't dealing with completely unfamiliar ground. I want to use the word 'esoteric,' but I'm too food-muzzed to know how I want to use it, or if I even really think it applies.
(230/200)

Comments

[doctorpepper.livejournal.com]

That's my take on all of Carroll's out of print stuff, as well (or at least out of print when I read it; I think Kissing The Beehive, for one, may have been reprinted) -- there's "Carroll for beginners," "Carroll for converts," and "Carroll for devotees," which tends to describe the OOP. The stuff that stays in print, like Sleeping in Flame and Land of Laughs, I'm comfortable recommending to anyone -- other things, less so. It's like he's his own very specific subgenre -- and just like there are science fiction books anyone can enjoy, there are ones that are only going to be appealing (or even legible) to fans.

[maribou]

Exactly.

mwahahahahaha!

[apotropaic.livejournal.com]

I have/read "How to Make Love..." and I totally agree with your assessment. Definitely entertaining.

Just read "Necklace of Kisses" by Francescia Lia Block last night... feeling a little ambivalent.

I bought "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion, but I don't know if I should spare the time to read it because I have another final coming up.

Re: mwahahahahaha!

[maribou]

I have both of those on my 'to read soonish' list... your comment about finals made me think about all the great books I first read during finals week - KSR's Blue Mars, Wade Davis' One River, Rand's Anthem... I always found I needed to make the time in order to not drive myself up a wall.