52Books

The Rolling Stones - You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:37:27 -0500

The Rolling Stones - You Can’t Always Get What You Want

#45: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami And Murakami...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:30:00 -0500

#45: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

And Murakami does it again. For the life of me, I will NEVER understand how someone can come up with such intricate and imaginative plot lines. Wind-Up Bird kind of wound me up in its convoluted characters, leaving me unsure of what I had actually read. Even now, I think I know what happened and simultaneously wonder what it was all about. But what I love most about Murakami, and particularly this book, was that even though I felt left in the dark at times I knew that I was in good hands. Being vulnerable in a book is, without a doubt, a very strange feeling. On the other hand, the suspense that Murakami left for me was a comfort. Almost as if being moved along a very long highway, the story kept me moving forward without once feeling the need to look back.

Essentially, one could quote the hell out of this book or take it as a whole. It’s one that can easily be broken down, but I prefer to think of it as the sum of its many parts. There’s a lot to grasp here and I’m sure I’ll be looking into it, but in the meantime I think I’ll let the idea of it all settle a bit. Wind-Up Bird begs to be taken seriously, so if you’re in the mood to work a little or be dragged into a completely different world, give this book a go.

Can you tell the difference between Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue and Danielle Steel’s No. 1 bestselling novel Rogue?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:06:33 -0500

Can you tell the difference between Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue and Danielle Steel’s No. 1 bestselling novel Rogue? :

No, no I cannot.

Bob Dylan - It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:24:32 -0500

Bob Dylan - It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

#44: 33 1/3, Highway 61 Revisited by Mark Polizzotti As...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:24:00 -0500

#44: 33 1/3, Highway 61 Revisited by Mark Polizzotti

As promised, I read another 33 1/3 on today’s flight between Texas and New York. There is something to be said for absorbing this kind of album while flying over the general midwest, but when I was trying to understand the breakdown of each individual song, I realized it was a futile effort at best. This book tried with all its might to bring Dylan history into the music. It took each beat and brought to the accompanying lyrics a sense of wonderment that I’m not sure Dylan himself would have understood. In fact, I’ve come to the possibly presumptuous and probably ill-informed opinion that the prolific myth behind Highway 61 Revisited is not only something in which we want to believe, but a thrill that brings us to others who want feel the same. Basically, I wonder if my decision to focus on this album while feeling as if I had two directions home rendered the entire experience moot. While Dylan may have wanted the listener to feel lost, or at least to identify with his own confusion, I found it incredibly comforting to know that my birthplace and current residence can always be revisited. And revisit them I will, again and again.

Dusty Springfield - Breakfast in Bed

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:38:35 -0500

Dusty Springfield - Breakfast in Bed

#43: 33 1/3 Dusty in Memphis by Warren Zanes This is the...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:38:00 -0500

#43: 33 1/3 Dusty in Memphis by Warren Zanes

This is the first book in the 33 1/3 music series and it combines two of my favorite things: great albums and literary merit. In this edition, Zanes becomes slightly tangential in his writing about Springfield’s iconic voice and what he calls “the imaginary South”. The book isn’t so much a history of factual circumstance, but an academic breakdown of an album that represents an era and a place that may or may not actually exist. It explores his own relationship to Dusty in Memphis as well as its place in the history of soul. The writer says “the South is the place that we are more real than we feel” and that music such as Dusty’s creates exactly the same thing. In fact, I read the whole book while on a plane from New York to Dallas last night. If I learned anything, it’s that listening to an entire record (or mp3 version of said record) and then putting it on repeat while reading a 33 1/3 is probably one of the better ways to travel home. So far, I haven’t been able to find better distraction from the general horribleness of the middle seat. And like any new obsession, I plan to read another one on my way back.

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:26:14 -0500

M.I.A. - Paper Planes

"I never trust people with no appetite. It’s like they’re always holding back on you,..."

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:52:34 -0500

“I never trust people with no appetite. It’s like they’re always holding back on you, don’t you think?”

- Haruki Muakami, Hardboild Wonderland and the End of the World

thebronzemedal: paperbackgirl: This is tonight! And you should...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:28:49 -0500

thebronzemedal: paperbackgirl:

This is tonight! And you should be there!

Wikipedia: List of people in fiction with claimed eidetic (photographic) memory

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:01:14 -0500

Wikipedia: List of people in fiction with claimed eidetic (photographic) memory

#42: Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote I’ve...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:57:00 -0500

#42: Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

I’ve seen the movie version of this story several times and I have never figured out why people like it so much. I understand the attraction to iconic Audrey Hepburn but the movie just isn’t that great. The story in print form, however, made a lot more sense. It doesn’t hold back any flamboyance, which I was surprised to find, and Holly Golightly isn’t nearly as annoying. I mean, that scene at the end when she can’t make up her mind about Buster and throws out her cat? I hate that part of the movie! But now that I’ve read this book, I feel as though I need to read it again. Capote knows decadence and he understands the mystery of New York. The writing invites the reader to join in the drama even if you feel you’ve had enough of it. That’s how I know that even if I wasn’t wearing a little black dress and looking through a window of jewelry, I’d still feel rather glamorous.

This edition of the book included 3 different short stories as well. Each of them very different, they are worth looking into because they have the kind of story telling I don’t see much anymore. They are simple, straight-forward, and seem to have a wistful feeling that Truman Capote continued to have in his own life. The kind gentleman working alone at Alabaster Bookshop recommended this book to me and I have half a mind to go back and thank him. After all, the best question in a place like that is always, “What’s the best thing you’ve read lately?”

Side Note: In an incredibly fun turn of events, I finished Breakfast at Tiffany’s on the the train this morning then walked to work only to see Phillip Seymor Hoffman looking aloof outside a coffee shop. It’s kind of weird to see someone who played an author on film right after you’re finished reading one of his books.

Wilco - I’m Always in Love

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:14:36 -0500

Wilco - I’m Always in Love

#41: The World According to Garp by John Irving When I saw John...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:22:00 -0500

#41: The World According to Garp by John Irving

When I saw John Irving last week, he carefully explained to the audience that everything he writes is somehow related to his biggest fears. Of course, this is exceptionally true in Garp, where just about everything everyone is ever afraid of actually happens. Some parts of life are scary, such as death or loss of a great love, and when I was reading about them here I felt what I can only describe as overwhelming appreciation. Not only was Irving able to develop characters with depth but he also gave them the flaws that so many of us attribute to a single defect within ourselves. I guess what I mean is, the characters in Garp have the kind of quirks I like to see in real life.

On a somewhat related note, I’ve been trying to write this review for a couple of days now and the above paragraph is all I’ve been able to get out. There were times when I became sort of angry that I didn’t have a whole lot to put out there. What I think this means about the book is that it offers a story - not much more, not much less. It tells a multi-generational family tale that and while it certainly had an effect on me, it does not leave a whole lot for discussion. The novel just is what it is. I used to think I had to be able to discuss themes and characters and ongoing issues here, but I understand now that this interpretation isn’t always necessary. Sometimes it’s best to let a book be and move on to the next.

Sometimes it’s not about what you buy at the bookstore,...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:05:24 -0500

Sometimes it’s not about what you buy at the bookstore, but what you leave behind.

(via paperbackgirl) It’s that time again…

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:59:36 -0500

(via paperbackgirl)

It’s that time again…

"Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person..."

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0500

“Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.”

- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Spin Doctors - Two Princes

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:23:19 -0400

Spin Doctors - Two Princes

John Irving at Barnes & Noble Union Square, Tonight 7pm

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:41:15 -0400

John Irving at Barnes & Noble Union Square, Tonight 7pm:

I’ll be there for sure. And for the John Irving enthusiast, Ryan has pointed out this great chart of recurring themes.

While I find this painting by the tolliop Etsy shop to be quite...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:29:00 -0400

While I find this painting by the tolliop Etsy shop to be quite endearing, it’s the description of the paper that really takes the cake. She says:

This is a print of an original painting. The print measures 8.5” x 11”, although the actual image size is about 5.5” x 6”. I use Hahnemühle Fine Art Paper, an acid free, all cotton watercolor paper with a parchment surface and special coating for excellent image sharpness and optimum color gradation.

But all this minutae is neither here nor there. It doesn’t tell you what you really need to know about this paper, which is that I would use some to line a nest and bear my young in it. And the first word out of my baby’s mouth would be Hahnemühle. Then I’d slip a piece of it into my pocket, and when no one was looking, I would take it out and we’d gaze at each other for hours. And I would start talking to my paper, telling it all kinds of stuff, I mean I would really let it into my mind. We’d have all these inside jokes that only WE would laugh at. And that paper would just get me, you know? Because Hahnemühle paper? It’s THAT good.

In fact, her love of paper may just be equal to my love of cake. So I guess it’s not too weird.