1993 (approx) - 2009.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
My book list
I've been editing it and adding to it quite frequently! I hope someone other than me really likes my "Ho-Hum" visual.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Books, etc. on my list
Comments/reviews/recommendations welcome! My updates as noted.
DVD's
Sunshine Cleaning This is a story of the lives of 2 sisters, one who is a single mother who cleans houses, and the younger sister who lives with the Dad who ends up joining her sister in a new business venture. Okay, that synopsis sounds so boring - read the review!
Waste of time. Who made this film? It is mostly just very disturbing and weird. Junebug is a film about a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago who travels with her husband to meet his family in small-town North Carolina.
Funny Face (1957). A fashion magazine editor sets out to find a beautiful, brainy new model, eventually finding her shelving books in a dusty Greenwich Village bookstore. I think this is a musical, so I might not really want to watch this.
The Ice Storm takes place during Thanksgiving week, 1973 and looks at the lives of a very dysfunctional family. Actually, I just read the longer review of this movie and it looks pretty depressing. Oy vey.
While You Were Sleeping (1995). This movie stars Sandra Bullock who I mostly dislike but I'll try again with this Cinderella remake set in Chicago. Ouch, I just read a review that it "should appeal to the unoriginal Sleepless in Seattle crowd who doesn't want to be challenged." But this from another critic: "This is the first romantic comedy I've seen in a long time that, by the third act, doesn't forget about being funny."
_______________________________________
The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James. When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself. (lifted from Amazon.com)
Naked Emperors, Scot M. Faulkner. A memoir of 1990's government service and trying to implement efficient business practices on a dysfunctional House of Representatives.
Fatal Journey: The final expedition of Henry Hudson, Peter C. Mancall. The story of why Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage was doomed - he lost the trust of his crew.
Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. Released 20 years ago as a companion to a 2-hour PBS special. It's a kind of Cliff Notes to the techniques and recipes of Julia Child.
This was pretty amusing. Yeah, and depressing, because now I know: I Am Old. How Not to Act Old: 185 Ways to Pass for Phat, Sick, Hot, Dope, Awesome or at Least Not Totally Lame, Pamela Satran. Arranged as a series of rules to overcome the generation gap. Not sure about this one - sounds like the idea could be better than the execution.
A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary, Alain de Botton. This philosopher/author will spend a week at Heathrow interviewing agents, passengers, airline executives, and then will compile his findings into a book which will be distributed free to 10,000 Heathrow travelers.
An Absolute Scandal, Penny Vincenzi. Set in London during the 1980's when the scandal at Lloyd's of London was unfolding, the book follows a set of families whose fortunes are entangled in this financial drama - kind of a Madoff-like setting.
Terrible. Don't bother. Horrible writing. None of the characters were likable or believable. (Full disclosure: I was stuck without a book at Salisbury for about 8 hours so did have to suffer through it.) All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Janelle Brown. “A withering Silicon Valley satire . . . From the ashes of their California dreams, the three [women] must learn to talk to each other instead of past each other, and build a new, slightly more realistic existence—but not without doses of revenge and hilarity. Brown's hip narrative reads like a sharp, contemporary twist on The Corrections.”—Publishers Weekly
Eh, could've been better. Cute set-up but the text could have been expanded to simply explain the true origins of the idioms, but maybe I'm expecting too much. Birds of a Feather: A Book of Idioms and Silly Pictures. No explanation needed. This book's subject is a natural!
City Chicks: Keeping Microflocks of Laying Hens as Garden Helpers.
Doesn't this book jacket just make you want to read the book?
I didn't even get past the first chapter. Eh. Not a fan. A Change in Altitude, Anita Shreve. This novel takes place in Africa in the 1970's when a couple moves there for a year and an accident takes place that changes their lives.
Precious: A Novel, Sandra Novack. Another novel set in the 1970's in rural PA.
Random article: Paint, Easel, Bug Spray, Gun... I never have been drawn to the Art section of any newspaper or magazine - my eyes glaze over no matter how hard I try to stay interested - but this article was interesting and humanized the very-lofty experience of landscape painting.
I really wanted to read this book, but it was too much thinking for 10:45 p.m. I hope someone tackles it. The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science, Richard Holmes. I heard an interview with this author and maybe it is just a British accent, but he made this book sound like a must-read, even though I am usually mystified by philosophers and early science; I think the topic makes me feel not well-educated and there you go...a terrible sentence to demonstrate my less well-educationalism. :)
House of Cards: Love, Faith and Other Social Expressions, David Ellis Dickerson A memoir by an ex-greeting card writer. How can you not want to at least skim this?
The Jungle Grapevine, Alex Beard. The game of "telephone" transported to the African grassland and played by Turtle, Bird, Elephant & Snake.
Faith, Hope & Ivy, Phyllis Naylor. The mountain girl Ivy June is chosen for a program where she goes to live with a girl from the bustling city of Lexington, KY.
The Unfinished Angel, Sharon Creech. In a tiny village in the Alps an angel meets an American girl who has come with her father to open a school and together they rescue a group of homeless orphans. Jeez, sounds heavy for a kids book? This could be the equivalent of the infamous Aki & the Fox which I loved, but most of my kids found depressing & sad, something I only found out much, much later. Sorry! In my defense, though, the School Library Journal calls it a "quiet, reassuring tale of friendship."
DVD's
Sunshine Cleaning This is a story of the lives of 2 sisters, one who is a single mother who cleans houses, and the younger sister who lives with the Dad who ends up joining her sister in a new business venture. Okay, that synopsis sounds so boring - read the review!
Waste of time. Who made this film? It is mostly just very disturbing and weird. Junebug is a film about a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago who travels with her husband to meet his family in small-town North Carolina.
Funny Face (1957). A fashion magazine editor sets out to find a beautiful, brainy new model, eventually finding her shelving books in a dusty Greenwich Village bookstore. I think this is a musical, so I might not really want to watch this.
The Ice Storm takes place during Thanksgiving week, 1973 and looks at the lives of a very dysfunctional family. Actually, I just read the longer review of this movie and it looks pretty depressing. Oy vey.
While You Were Sleeping (1995). This movie stars Sandra Bullock who I mostly dislike but I'll try again with this Cinderella remake set in Chicago. Ouch, I just read a review that it "should appeal to the unoriginal Sleepless in Seattle crowd who doesn't want to be challenged." But this from another critic: "This is the first romantic comedy I've seen in a long time that, by the third act, doesn't forget about being funny."
_______________________________________
The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James. When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond, who, beneath his veneer of charm and cultivation, is cruelty itself. (lifted from Amazon.com)
Naked Emperors, Scot M. Faulkner. A memoir of 1990's government service and trying to implement efficient business practices on a dysfunctional House of Representatives.
Fatal Journey: The final expedition of Henry Hudson, Peter C. Mancall. The story of why Henry Hudson's search for the Northwest Passage was doomed - he lost the trust of his crew.
Julia's Kitchen Wisdom. Released 20 years ago as a companion to a 2-hour PBS special. It's a kind of Cliff Notes to the techniques and recipes of Julia Child.
This was pretty amusing. Yeah, and depressing, because now I know: I Am Old. How Not to Act Old: 185 Ways to Pass for Phat, Sick, Hot, Dope, Awesome or at Least Not Totally Lame, Pamela Satran. Arranged as a series of rules to overcome the generation gap. Not sure about this one - sounds like the idea could be better than the execution.A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary, Alain de Botton. This philosopher/author will spend a week at Heathrow interviewing agents, passengers, airline executives, and then will compile his findings into a book which will be distributed free to 10,000 Heathrow travelers.
An Absolute Scandal, Penny Vincenzi. Set in London during the 1980's when the scandal at Lloyd's of London was unfolding, the book follows a set of families whose fortunes are entangled in this financial drama - kind of a Madoff-like setting.
Terrible. Don't bother. Horrible writing. None of the characters were likable or believable. (Full disclosure: I was stuck without a book at Salisbury for about 8 hours so did have to suffer through it.) All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, Janelle Brown. “A withering Silicon Valley satire . . . From the ashes of their California dreams, the three [women] must learn to talk to each other instead of past each other, and build a new, slightly more realistic existence—but not without doses of revenge and hilarity. Brown's hip narrative reads like a sharp, contemporary twist on The Corrections.”—Publishers Weekly
Eh, could've been better. Cute set-up but the text could have been expanded to simply explain the true origins of the idioms, but maybe I'm expecting too much. Birds of a Feather: A Book of Idioms and Silly Pictures. No explanation needed. This book's subject is a natural!
The photos are kid-friendly (could have included more), but the text and the acrostics may be more interesting for the adult reader, especially the last few pages where he explains his compositions. African Acrostics: A Word in
Edgeways, Avis Harley. Eighteen poems written as acrostics.
Bird in Hand, Christina Kline. Author of a The Way Life Should Be: A Novel.
Paris in the Third Reich, David Pryce-Jones. Interest in this subject matter was sparked by our visit to a French historical museum and Lindsey's accompanying explanation of the content; free admission in Paris usually means the content is all in French, no English translations. The book is about daily life in Paris during the 1940's; it includes interviews with German Occupation officials, more than 100 photos with the caveat that many of the photos were taken by a propagandist photographer, commissioned to convey the idea that occupied France was a happy place.
I would say the world really doesn't need another adaptation of this story. I've never been a fan of children's books that use real objects in the illustrations; they seem creepy. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Lauren Child. The reviewer began the article by questioning whether the world really needs another adaptation of this story, but then concludes with an emphatic yes.
Parallel Play, Tim Page. This book is a memoir by a Pulitzer-prize winning music critic about growing up with Asperger's.
The Mind at Work, Mike Rose (2004). The author tries to show how mentally absorbing work can be, no matter how lowly the occupation.
The House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital, Samuel Shem (1978). This book has been compared to M*A*S*H, similarly bawdy and irreverent, just a different medical setting.
SuperFreakonomics. The authors continue to apply economic theory to sociological issues and current events. One of the chapters looks into the economics behind carjacking.
Edgeways, Avis Harley. Eighteen poems written as acrostics.
Bird in Hand, Christina Kline. Author of a The Way Life Should Be: A Novel.
Paris in the Third Reich, David Pryce-Jones. Interest in this subject matter was sparked by our visit to a French historical museum and Lindsey's accompanying explanation of the content; free admission in Paris usually means the content is all in French, no English translations. The book is about daily life in Paris during the 1940's; it includes interviews with German Occupation officials, more than 100 photos with the caveat that many of the photos were taken by a propagandist photographer, commissioned to convey the idea that occupied France was a happy place.
I would say the world really doesn't need another adaptation of this story. I've never been a fan of children's books that use real objects in the illustrations; they seem creepy. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Lauren Child. The reviewer began the article by questioning whether the world really needs another adaptation of this story, but then concludes with an emphatic yes.Parallel Play, Tim Page. This book is a memoir by a Pulitzer-prize winning music critic about growing up with Asperger's.
The Mind at Work, Mike Rose (2004). The author tries to show how mentally absorbing work can be, no matter how lowly the occupation.
The House of God: The Classic Novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital, Samuel Shem (1978). This book has been compared to M*A*S*H, similarly bawdy and irreverent, just a different medical setting.
SuperFreakonomics. The authors continue to apply economic theory to sociological issues and current events. One of the chapters looks into the economics behind carjacking.
City Chicks: Keeping Microflocks of Laying Hens as Garden Helpers.
Doesn't this book jacket just make you want to read the book?
I didn't even get past the first chapter. Eh. Not a fan. A Change in Altitude, Anita Shreve. This novel takes place in Africa in the 1970's when a couple moves there for a year and an accident takes place that changes their lives.Precious: A Novel, Sandra Novack. Another novel set in the 1970's in rural PA.
Random article: Paint, Easel, Bug Spray, Gun... I never have been drawn to the Art section of any newspaper or magazine - my eyes glaze over no matter how hard I try to stay interested - but this article was interesting and humanized the very-lofty experience of landscape painting.
I really wanted to read this book, but it was too much thinking for 10:45 p.m. I hope someone tackles it. The Age of Wonder: How the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science, Richard Holmes. I heard an interview with this author and maybe it is just a British accent, but he made this book sound like a must-read, even though I am usually mystified by philosophers and early science; I think the topic makes me feel not well-educated and there you go...a terrible sentence to demonstrate my less well-educationalism. :)
The Glass Castle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls. Horrific childhood, insane parents, successful children. Of course.
Spoiled, Caitlin Macy Short stories of modern women, obsessed with social status.
Ick. Bad writing, didn't get past the first few pages. Who are these editors passing this stuff along? April & Oliver, Tess Callahan. I just read in a review that the author actually uses the phrase "chiseled jaw." Bad. I don't like it already. Randomness: This writer is from New Jersey
Spoiled, Caitlin Macy Short stories of modern women, obsessed with social status.
Ick. Bad writing, didn't get past the first few pages. Who are these editors passing this stuff along? April & Oliver, Tess Callahan. I just read in a review that the author actually uses the phrase "chiseled jaw." Bad. I don't like it already. Randomness: This writer is from New JerseyHouse of Cards: Love, Faith and Other Social Expressions, David Ellis Dickerson A memoir by an ex-greeting card writer. How can you not want to at least skim this?
The Jungle Grapevine, Alex Beard. The game of "telephone" transported to the African grassland and played by Turtle, Bird, Elephant & Snake.
Faith, Hope & Ivy, Phyllis Naylor. The mountain girl Ivy June is chosen for a program where she goes to live with a girl from the bustling city of Lexington, KY.
The Unfinished Angel, Sharon Creech. In a tiny village in the Alps an angel meets an American girl who has come with her father to open a school and together they rescue a group of homeless orphans. Jeez, sounds heavy for a kids book? This could be the equivalent of the infamous Aki & the Fox which I loved, but most of my kids found depressing & sad, something I only found out much, much later. Sorry! In my defense, though, the School Library Journal calls it a "quiet, reassuring tale of friendship."
More clippings, part 2
Last time I was in Annapolis, I ordered Fish Tacos from Ram's Head Tavern; they were very good, though way too spicy for me. This recipe has been kitchen-, er, deck grill-tested by Chris Middleton of Charleston, SC and his verdict: "Needs avocado, or something." Which is probably a polite way of saying it's perfect for my wimpiness..jpg)
This Pan-Roasted Corn & Tomato Salad is another attempt to like Mark Bittman's recipes. I see nothing to not love here. 
Now this Upside-Down Chocolate Pudding Pies has real potential! I like how they use real heavy cream instead of Cool Whip, I like their expectation of "good-quality" chocolates though I always cheap out to Toll House chips, and I could definitely try their Mexican Chocolate or Mint Chocolate variations. Look for these appearing soon!
Cake Ice Cream doesn't really need a recipe does it? So why did I tear it out?
Cereal report
No, not even close, just a more expensive version of regular old Corn Flakes. Sigh. The wait continues.
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