12
Aug
2009
The First Word by Christine Kenneally
Over on ye olde Twitter this week we’ve been discussing language–it’s origins, it’s usages, it’s variations, etc–on #litchat. It’s a grand time for the likes of me, and has given me the spirit to post about previously unreviewed language books. Unfortunately, for some at least, the reason why I haven’t reviewed them is because they would only be of interest to the most ardent of armchair linguists.
25
Jun
2009
The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore by Deepak Chopra
Isn’t this a pretty cover? I have green eyes, so these shades of green are colors I wear a lot, and I love matte golds, so the colors were what attracted me initially. The tree is obviously the tree of wisdom from Genesis, though that is never mentioned in the book. I was at Costco, looking for my “judge a book by its cover” book for the Take a Chance Challenge, and my husband was rushing me. He never ever goes to Costco with me, but it was kind of good that he was there, because it meant that I really did just pick up a book I liked because of its cover.
24
Jun
2009
The Chess Artist by J.C. Hallman
My brother-in-law bought this book thinking it was a guide to playing chess. He wasn’t wrong, per se. It is about chess, about chess theory, about different moves, with fantastical sounding names. And while you might pick up some new mad skillz, you’d have to be a far better chess player than I, who knows only how to castle and walk the pieces, in order to do so.
11
Jun
2009
Non-Fiction Challenge, Or, OMG, when will I stop?
Seriously? More Challenges? I can’t stop. Can’t can’t can’t. I’d just been thinking that I need more nonfiction with all of these challenges I’m doing, plus signing up for reviews of books from publishers/authors, when I stumbled across the Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by Trish at Trish’s Books. It’s already a month underway, but I can use a couple of cross-overs, plus some books that I really need to read because I’ve just–drumroll please!–started writing a novel. Perhaps I’ll blog on that stuff, but maybe not. We’ll see.
8
Jun
2009
The Pre-Printing Press Challenge
I’ve never done a reading challenge before. I don’t know why, I just haven’t. But I’m already hooked! I’ve just begun and have already signed up for three of them. I know everything that I’m reading for the first two, but I want to give them each their own special post.
4
Jun
2009
Buddha by Karen Armstrong
When it comes to religion, Karen Armstrong is an expert. She’s up there with Mircea Eliade, Joseph Campbell, Elaine Pagels, and no less prolific. But while she is an expert, she continues to be criticized for her lack of doctorate. Nonetheless, I read her many times in my Comparative Religion classes in school, and have since seen her speak. She may not have a Ph.D., but religion is her life. She’s an ex-nun, who came back to a religious vocation of sorts, as a writer on religion. She’s a daughter of Comparative Religion itself, a branch of study that emphasizes theory and cross-cultural analysis. Armstrong has particularly written about the “Golden Rule”, which she believes is found in all religions. Thus it is with great pleasure that I review Buddha.
2
Jun
2009
The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
This book was originally published in the U.K as “The Surgeon of Crowthorn: A Tale of Murder, Madness, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary”. The U.S. publishers kept the subtitle, but changed the main title to “The Professor and the Madman”, which, I have to say, I kind of like better. Anyways, a rose by any other name, right?
1
Jun
2009
Maus I & II by Art Spiegelman
I remember my sister having the first one over fifteen years ago. She was still living at home and going to college, which would make me… Let’s say 8. I wanted to look at them because they were cartoons, and she explained to me that they were about the Holocaust. I tried to read them anyways, but soon grew bored.
12
May
2009
The Stories of English by David Crystal
I am not afraid to admit to my nerdom. I fully embrace it, in fact. Dorkiness is another thing, which I usually try to hide. But nerdom is a key to my very being. And possibly no other sphere of my life exemplifies my nerdiness more than my love of etymology.
27
Apr
2009
Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell
I really try to use the tag, “must read” sparingly. Of the over forty reviews I have written as of this one, I have only used the tag three times. I used it on White Teeth, because it is probably my favorite favorite favorite book; it on Three Cups of Tea, because it offers a different perspective on the war on terror, particularly in Afghanistan/Pakistan, and thus is relevant to our political climate; and I used in The Ancestor’s Tale, because of it is a comprehensive, easy to read guide to evolution. I now use it again, for Joseph Campbell’s posthumously published Thou Art That.
