Just a little post to celebrate the fact that Harry Potter number 7 will be released in 24 days(!!!) I am already planning to sequester myself in my apartment for as long as it takes to discover the fate of Harry and friends (and enemies). Like the people in this NYTimes story, I HATE spoilers, so I am prepared to create an Internet and TV-free zone during this time period.
However, I don’t yet have a game plan for purchasing the book. Most of the bookstores around here are having release parties Friday, July 20, where you can buy the book at midnight. That sounds like fun, but I also have a totally irrational fear that some annoying kid will buy the book, flip to the end to see what happens and start talking about it. So, plan B is to slip into Barnes and Noble first thing Saturday morning, ears covered, buy the book and slink away without any human interaction.
Hopefully I will avoid any incidents where I start pushing little kids out of the way to get to Harry, as Stephen King has (jokingly, I think) threatened to do.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Armchair travel
After I started this blog, I poked around a little and discovered that there are a LOT of other book bloggers out there. Those bloggers have started a host of “reading challenges,” which vary in detail but basically involve reading a number of books that are related by a theme during a given time period. There have been challenges for classics, mysteries, etc. This looked like great fun, so I decided to join “The Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge.” From July 1 to Dec. 31, each participant must read six books that fit the theme. This seemed like a good opportunity to get to some of the books that have been on my shelf for a while. Here are the ones I chose:
“Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal’s Journey From Down Under to All Over,” by Geraldine Brooks
“A Walk in the Woods,” by Bill Bryson
“The Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage,” by Alfred Lansing
“Beneath the Metropolis: The Secret Lives of Cities,” by Alex Marshall
“The Bookseller of Kabul,” by Asne Seierstad
“Assassination Vacation,” by Sarah Vowell
“Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal’s Journey From Down Under to All Over,” by Geraldine Brooks
“A Walk in the Woods,” by Bill Bryson
“The Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage,” by Alfred Lansing
“Beneath the Metropolis: The Secret Lives of Cities,” by Alex Marshall
“The Bookseller of Kabul,” by Asne Seierstad
“Assassination Vacation,” by Sarah Vowell
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Slow is the new fast
One way to measure the worth of a book is whether reading it has caused you to do things differently. That is definitely true for “In Praise of Slowness,” by Carl Honoré, which I finished last week.
The author, a Canadian journalist, relates his investigations into a variety of movements (Slow Food, meditation, yoga, flexible work schedules, making cities more walkable, etc.) that all have the same purpose: to slow down and break free from the constant rush of daily life and its time-saving (but soulless) accessories - fast food, BlackBerries, etc.
Honoré launched this project after reading about a series of “one minute bedtime stories” in the newspaper and thinking what a great idea that was. He realized then just how obsessed he had become with saving time, to the point where he was willing to sacrifice time with his son in order to make a few more phone calls for work.
Here is how Honoré describes the “Slow movement”:
“What the world needs, and what the Slow movement offers, is a middle path, a recipe for marrying la dolce vita with the dynamism of the information age. The secret is balance: instead of doing everything faster, do everything at the right speed. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes somewhere in between. Being Slow means never rushing, never striving to save time just for the sake of it. It means remaining calm and unflustered even when circumstances force us to speed up.”
Since reading this book, I have embraced many of its ideals and become more committed to a few “slow” things I was already doing. I’ve started meditating every day, cooking more, going to yoga classes (finally), and I’m cutting back on TV (easier to do in the summer when there’s nothing on anyway ;) ). I’m also trying to make more time for reading (hooray!).
The author, a Canadian journalist, relates his investigations into a variety of movements (Slow Food, meditation, yoga, flexible work schedules, making cities more walkable, etc.) that all have the same purpose: to slow down and break free from the constant rush of daily life and its time-saving (but soulless) accessories - fast food, BlackBerries, etc.
Honoré launched this project after reading about a series of “one minute bedtime stories” in the newspaper and thinking what a great idea that was. He realized then just how obsessed he had become with saving time, to the point where he was willing to sacrifice time with his son in order to make a few more phone calls for work.
Here is how Honoré describes the “Slow movement”:
“What the world needs, and what the Slow movement offers, is a middle path, a recipe for marrying la dolce vita with the dynamism of the information age. The secret is balance: instead of doing everything faster, do everything at the right speed. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Sometimes somewhere in between. Being Slow means never rushing, never striving to save time just for the sake of it. It means remaining calm and unflustered even when circumstances force us to speed up.”
Since reading this book, I have embraced many of its ideals and become more committed to a few “slow” things I was already doing. I’ve started meditating every day, cooking more, going to yoga classes (finally), and I’m cutting back on TV (easier to do in the summer when there’s nothing on anyway ;) ). I’m also trying to make more time for reading (hooray!).
Friday, June 15, 2007
A feast of books
On Wednesday, my book group met to discuss “The Feast of Love,” by Charles Baxter. Everyone liked the book and said they would recommend it, although some (including me) found the first half a little depressing. It definitely picks up by the end though, if you stick with it. Each chapter of the novel is narrated by a different character in the book (some characters get more than one chapter), and Baxter did a good job of capturing each one’s voice, especially the teenage girl who was a central character.
Sadly, this was the last meeting of the group—our leader is moving away :( I’m kind of addicted to book group now though, so I’m thinking about starting a new one.
Since the group is ending, I thought it would be nice to list the books that we’ve read. (This is an incomplete list, because I’ve only been a member for a little less than two years, and it started a year and a half before that.) One of the nice things about the group is that I ended up reading a lot of really good books that I never would have chosen on my own (“The Lovely Bones” is a good example of this).
“The Known World,” by Edward Jones
“Straight Man,” by Richard Russo
“The Lovely Bones,” by Alice Sebold
“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” by Haruki Murakami
“The Plot Against America,” by Philip Roth
“March,” by Geraldine Brooks
“Saturday,” by Ian McEwan
“Running With Scissors,” by Augusten Burroughs
“On Beauty,” by Zadie Smith
“The Inheritance of Loss,” by Kiran Desai
“The History of Love,” by Nicole Krauss
“The Voyage of the Narwhal,” by Andrea Barrett
“The Feast of Love,” by Charles Baxter
and a few I didn’t read when I was a delinquent book group member:
“Mating,” by Norman Rush
“Good Scent from a Strange Mountain,” by Robert Olen Butler
“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” by Tom Robbins
Anyone want to join a new book group? :)
Sadly, this was the last meeting of the group—our leader is moving away :( I’m kind of addicted to book group now though, so I’m thinking about starting a new one.
Since the group is ending, I thought it would be nice to list the books that we’ve read. (This is an incomplete list, because I’ve only been a member for a little less than two years, and it started a year and a half before that.) One of the nice things about the group is that I ended up reading a lot of really good books that I never would have chosen on my own (“The Lovely Bones” is a good example of this).
“The Known World,” by Edward Jones
“Straight Man,” by Richard Russo
“The Lovely Bones,” by Alice Sebold
“The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle,” by Haruki Murakami
“The Plot Against America,” by Philip Roth
“March,” by Geraldine Brooks
“Saturday,” by Ian McEwan
“Running With Scissors,” by Augusten Burroughs
“On Beauty,” by Zadie Smith
“The Inheritance of Loss,” by Kiran Desai
“The History of Love,” by Nicole Krauss
“The Voyage of the Narwhal,” by Andrea Barrett
“The Feast of Love,” by Charles Baxter
and a few I didn’t read when I was a delinquent book group member:
“Mating,” by Norman Rush
“Good Scent from a Strange Mountain,” by Robert Olen Butler
“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” by Tom Robbins
Anyone want to join a new book group? :)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Eight random things
MyWombinations has tagged me to write eight random things about myself, so here goes:
1) I am a crazy Red Sox fan: When they were in the 2004 World Series, I took three days off from work to make sure I could watch all potentially series-clinching games. Seeing the World Series victory parade (duck tour boats cruising down Tremont St., loaded with Red Sox) is one of my all-time favorite memories.
2) My favorite toy when I was 4 years old was a Ronald McDonald doll. You’d think this was a triumph of McDonalds’ pervasive marketing-to-children scheme, but I actually ended up a McDonald’s-hating vegetarian. I just liked that he was yellow (my favorite color) and had that goofy grin.
3) If I had followed my original post-college plans, I would have recently finished a Ph.D. in neuroscience - unless the misery of spending 24/7 in a lab made me throw myself out a window first.
4) My favorite movie is (please don’t mock me) “Bridget Jones’ Diary.” I can’t help it, it just makes me laugh and laugh.
5) I have weird food rules. For example, raisins by themselves are OK, but anything with raisins in it is unacceptable. I won’t eat raisin bagels, and I will painstakingly remove the raisins from any dish (say, salad or couscous) that has raisins in it. Dried cranberries, on the other hand, are perfectly fine.
6) When I was little, I had a cat named Muffy and a hamster named Puffy.
7) I am a kick-a$$ parallel-parker.
8) I have read all of Jane Austen’s novels except for “Mansfield Park,” which I have been putting off for years because once I finish it, I will have no more “new” Jane Austen to read. (I had to get a book-related item in this post somehow :) )
OK, those are my eight things. Now I’m supposed to tag eight more people, but I don’t know eight other bloggers, so I’m going to tag two:
Paulie, aka bosoxguy
Mimi37 at perpetual expat
These are the rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
1) I am a crazy Red Sox fan: When they were in the 2004 World Series, I took three days off from work to make sure I could watch all potentially series-clinching games. Seeing the World Series victory parade (duck tour boats cruising down Tremont St., loaded with Red Sox) is one of my all-time favorite memories.
2) My favorite toy when I was 4 years old was a Ronald McDonald doll. You’d think this was a triumph of McDonalds’ pervasive marketing-to-children scheme, but I actually ended up a McDonald’s-hating vegetarian. I just liked that he was yellow (my favorite color) and had that goofy grin.
3) If I had followed my original post-college plans, I would have recently finished a Ph.D. in neuroscience - unless the misery of spending 24/7 in a lab made me throw myself out a window first.
4) My favorite movie is (please don’t mock me) “Bridget Jones’ Diary.” I can’t help it, it just makes me laugh and laugh.
5) I have weird food rules. For example, raisins by themselves are OK, but anything with raisins in it is unacceptable. I won’t eat raisin bagels, and I will painstakingly remove the raisins from any dish (say, salad or couscous) that has raisins in it. Dried cranberries, on the other hand, are perfectly fine.
6) When I was little, I had a cat named Muffy and a hamster named Puffy.
7) I am a kick-a$$ parallel-parker.
8) I have read all of Jane Austen’s novels except for “Mansfield Park,” which I have been putting off for years because once I finish it, I will have no more “new” Jane Austen to read. (I had to get a book-related item in this post somehow :) )
OK, those are my eight things. Now I’m supposed to tag eight more people, but I don’t know eight other bloggers, so I’m going to tag two:
Paulie, aka bosoxguy
Mimi37 at perpetual expat
These are the rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Monday, June 11, 2007
"Ma Vie en France"
This happens every year—while watching the French Open on TV, I start to dream of strolling down the Champs-Elysées and sitting at little sidewalk cafés eating pâtisseries and drinking café au lait.
Since I don’t have airfare to Paris hiding in my couch cushions, I decided to do my traveling vicariously. After watching Nadal defeat Federer (again!), I scoured my bookshelves and came across “My Life in France,” by Julia Child, which I bought after reading “Julie and Julia” (see my post about that book here). Just what I was looking for. I’m only on the first chapter, but I’m already enthralled by Julia’s descriptions of the fantastic French food she ate when she first arrived in Paris with her husband after World War II.
Interesting to note that Julia, whom we now know as a master of French cooking, had almost no cooking experience before living in France. One of the earliest dishes she attempted was brains simmered in red wine—an effort she describes as "a disaster." Her husband, Paul, later put it more diplomatically: "Her first attempts were not altogether successful..."
Since I don’t have airfare to Paris hiding in my couch cushions, I decided to do my traveling vicariously. After watching Nadal defeat Federer (again!), I scoured my bookshelves and came across “My Life in France,” by Julia Child, which I bought after reading “Julie and Julia” (see my post about that book here). Just what I was looking for. I’m only on the first chapter, but I’m already enthralled by Julia’s descriptions of the fantastic French food she ate when she first arrived in Paris with her husband after World War II.
Interesting to note that Julia, whom we now know as a master of French cooking, had almost no cooking experience before living in France. One of the earliest dishes she attempted was brains simmered in red wine—an effort she describes as "a disaster." Her husband, Paul, later put it more diplomatically: "Her first attempts were not altogether successful..."
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Hold the fava beans
Dear Oprah,
Why, why did you have to pick a book that I have been meaning to read for the past two years? Now I have to wait at least another year to read “Middlesex,” so no one will see me on the train and think I’m blindly following your recommendations. You have been really messing with me recently—I’m also dying to read “The Road,” but of course now I can’t.
As the NYTimes put it so well in an article today about competitive dinner parties:
“For him, serving a dish that is on the menu at several good restaurants in the city right now — a fava bean salad with shaved pecorino, for instance — would be like being caught reading ‘The Lovely Bones’ right after Oprah Winfrey endorsed it.”
Darn you, Oprah!
Why, why did you have to pick a book that I have been meaning to read for the past two years? Now I have to wait at least another year to read “Middlesex,” so no one will see me on the train and think I’m blindly following your recommendations. You have been really messing with me recently—I’m also dying to read “The Road,” but of course now I can’t.
As the NYTimes put it so well in an article today about competitive dinner parties:
“For him, serving a dish that is on the menu at several good restaurants in the city right now — a fava bean salad with shaved pecorino, for instance — would be like being caught reading ‘The Lovely Bones’ right after Oprah Winfrey endorsed it.”
Darn you, Oprah!
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