read 50 books in 2008

40. Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death – M.C. Beaton.
39. Marsha Mellow and Me – Maria Beaumont.

I just finished up Volume VIII in the Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman, World’s End. It was just as good as the rest but def a lil strange. I liked the idea of a “resting place” at the junction of various worlds. Interesting…..

Just one short season ago, major league center fielder John Roper had it all: the looks—and personal life—of a sports hero and the public’s adoration. But this hot property’s lucky streak has run out. After a World Series disaster, fans diss him, shock jocks mock him and his dysfunctional family hassles him for money he really can’t spare. Now it’s up to him, and Hot Zone publicist Amy Stone, to get his life back on track.

Amy finds it’s easier said than done. What with the constant intrusions of his nutty family, a crazed fan playing stalker, and Roper’s refusal to put his own needs first, she’s starting to think that life in the fast lane isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But when the two retreat to a secluded lodge, the sexy center fielder throws Amy a curveball—one she never saw coming.…

I was able to do this one quickly, it’s a very fast play to read, so I used it to keep up pace.

32.Cyrano de Bergerac-Edmond Rostand
Very good play, I felt like I breezed though about all 200 pages of it in a couple of hours, good for someone who needs more numbers for this goal. :)
Right now i’m working on a couple of longer novels(Don Quixote for example), so I figure i’ll probably do some more plays when I can because they tend to go very fast.

Utterly fantastic. I can’t remember the last time a book sent me into a laughing fit (oh wait, I can) or had me so utterly gripped in the same way.

If you haven’t yet discovered the wonders of Mr Fry, I highly recommend you do so. I must warn you though, he is rather thoroughly British and as such some cultural references may be lost on non-British readers. Not to worry though, just skip the chapter explaining (I’m not sure that’s the right word, as I still don’t bloody understand, but I can’t think of another) cricket and you’ll be fine.

Happy reading. :)

I guess the aim of these types of books is to collate information about a very broad topic and condense it into something the uninitiated can understand. I’m not sure how well this book achieves this as it was a tad verbose at times (or maybe just boring…) and some of the graphs meant to be helpful were, if you’ll excuse my dirty mouth, fucking whack. It did the collating part pretty well I guess, explaining syndicalism pretty well, dipping into the whole individualist vs. communitarian argument, exploring primitivism a bit and all that jazz. The last couple of chapters in particular, dealing with the anti-globalization movement and the use of violence as a revolutionary tactic, were pretty fab. Although it did contain a few quotes from Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre, I would’ve liked a lot more on anarcha-feminism. And although I concede this is largely an intellectual book, I would’ve liked more stuff about current struggles worldwide where anarchism is being put into practice. So aye. Although it was a bit of a struggle at times I was really interested by many of the books and essays the author referenced and hope to investigate further in the near future.

tl;dr – Meh.

Transformations – Anne Sexton

I haven’t watched this show in ages, but this book caught my eye as I was browsing through the parenting section at our library. It was a nice, quick read, and I think I picked up a few good pointers on some of the issues we’re currently struggling with like food and staying in bed. Overall, nothing too earth shatteringly enlightening.

3/5

31. Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA, by Kris Radish 7/22/08

This book was pretty good. It was written as memoirs from an elderly father to his young son. It was rather emotionally engaging without being cheesy.