I'm a happy booker

Jan 2007

As I mentioned in my last blog, I picked up a lovely book tonight: "100 Marvels of the Modern World".

And, as I also mentioned in the last posting, I have seen exactly one of said wonders in real life.

For anyone who is interested, that one Marvel of the Modern World is the Westward Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. I have seen it a few times, but I only have pictures from when Bean and I went, about a dozen years ago. I'm all right with this, but really, I had better get it in gear for the other ninety-nine.

Anyhoo, jotting down this little tidbit made me realize just how long it has been since I have done a book report, and heaven knows that I haven't stopped reading since then.

I have, however, slowed down quite a bit, because I have been filling my days with plenty of senseless tasks which make me happy (although I should really put laundry back up on that list, because otherwise I will have to set my clothes on fire to stop the spread of the Plague), such as Sudoku...because regular logic problems weren't twisting my noodle quite enough.

I can tell when I have been doing a lot of logic problems and Sudoku because my grey matter seems to writhe in my skull much in the way of a live snake being doused in kerosene...or so I would assume. Anyway, less reading goes on while I play Flowers For Algernon with numbers. I'll be condescending (more) to you all in no time.

Here is a very small selection of the books I have been reading over the last month or so; some I have started, some I have finished, and some will decorate my bookshelf for a few more months before I dig them out and devour them. This is by no means a definitive list.

American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers by Marc Hartzman

This book is pretty interesting, with some great black and white photographs and short biographies of many famous (or infamous) sideshow performers.

The truly valuable thing that I learned from this book is that there were a HELL of a lot of bearded ladies.

I can now stop shaving my mustache with nary a sense of regret, and be Jess-Jess the Dog Faced Girl with little or no trouble. Maybe I'll find a nice family to feed me and pick up my frighteningly copious piles of dooky with an inside-out sandwich baggy.

Strange Attractions by Emma Holly

This book is porn! YAY! Its not too badly written...although completely unrealistic. That's all right though, because it's PORN!

How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe by Thomas Cahill

I haven't started reading this book yet, but I can tell you a bit of the concept behind it here: During the Dark Ages (from the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne), learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from most of Europe.

Ireland's monks were instrumental in saving the most important writings of European culture, and thereby put their own unique stamp upon Western culture and civilization.

While this is all very interesting, I would also like to point out that in the center of the book is a picture of a pagan diety pulling open her no-no place. I mention this is because I have a five-year-old's sense of propriety sometimes, and also because she is pulling so hard that her yoni looks bigger than her head.

Einstein's Daughter: The Search for Lieserl by Michele Zackheim

This book is about the search for Lieserl Einstein-Maric, the illegitimate daughter of famed physicist Albert Einstein.

The conclusion that is drawn about Lieserl, who was born in 1902 and disappeared in 1903, may seem a bit shocking, but upon closer inspection is likely the only rational explanation, considering the times in which Einstein (and his daughter) lived. This was a compelling read.

The Third 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said by Robert Byrne


This is a quote book, plain and simple.
While I am partial to quote books, I can't help but think that I have seen others which are done better than this one. The thing that I DO like about the book is the collection of line cut drawings which lurk amongst the quotes.

This book will likely suffer that penultimate of fates, being sliced to ribbons and used to line the pages of my photocollage journal.

Yes, I am all right with that.

Selected Poems by Kenneth Patchen

I have to admit that I have never heard of this guy before, but this poem, beginning on the bottom of page 84, was worth the price of admission to me:

"O My Darling Troubles Heaven with her Loveliness"

O my darling troubles heaven
With her loveliness
She is made of such cloth
That the angels cry to see her
Little gods dwell where she moves
And their hands open golden boxes
For me to lie in

She is built of lilies and candy doves
And the youngest star wakens in her hair
She calls me with the music of silver bells
And at night we step into other worlds
Like birds flying thought the red and yellow air
Of childhood

O she touches me with the tips of wonder
And the angels cuddle like sleepy kittens
At our side

~~~~~
I do have oodles more books to share, but I will call it a night.
Night!
Lovies!