Well there it is of course... I already knew it.
This weekend in preparation for my friend Amy coming into town I was moving some furniture around and wouldn't you know it. I just about ripped my big toe nail off on my right foot. Normally when this happens I scream holy murder obscenities. But not so much this time. Don't get me wrong I was still making most of the Providence Seaport a little rosy in the cheeks, but I threw in a couple more of the Holy baby Christian Jesus and the mother of Sweet Hell that hurt, and left out a couple of the C. U. Next Tuesday's. I am not proud that I still have a mouth like the bastard child of a sailor and a trucker; but... it is progress.
So my favorite used bookstore in Providence, Cellar Stories, was having their big 40% off the whole store sale this weekend and I made out like a bandito. I picked up:
So let me explain. The version of A Portrait... that I got was really this really neat hardcover illustrated edition. The version of The Dead that I picked up is this great case study, so what happens is they take a short story, in this case The Dead, and they put the complete story in the book. Then, they put in five critical essays that explain the texts from five unique points of view. It is very cool. And the last one that I need to explain the High School Handbook, which is actually a grammar book. Because, I have a horrible confession to make and that is that I hated grammar in high school, did the absolute bare minimum to graduate and I have regretted it ever since. So I am basically retaking my high school grammar class, which is embarrassing. The crux of the situation is that most of the stuff I will probably know, probably from osmosis. But I don't know why I know it, so I am going to work through this book and hopefully, when everything is said and done, I will know my grammar a whole lot better than I do now.
Last but not least, I am for some inexplainable reason fascinated by Eastern Europe. (Actually if you are a regular reader you will know that it all stems from Dracula and vampire mythology.) So I was delighted to finish reading this book called Budapest by Chico Buarque. I give it two gigantic thumbs up. I don't want to get into it too much, because the thought of doing book reviews still disgusts me. But it is basically about a man who is a ghost writer and how he falls in love with, becomes obsessed with and masters the Magyar language. Magyar is an interesting language to have as a subject because it is one of those languages that is slowly dying, spoken by fewer and fewer people because of globalisation and the influence of cold war politics, blah blah blah. But any way if you like language and writing, I would recommend this book, quick read but not lacking in substance. Really neat story.
And that about wraps it up.
I would love to tell you what I was listening too when I was typing this up, but the truth is I was listening to Nicky, my wife, wrapping up some old clothing storage bags we had for the trash. You can't dance to it, but I like the rhythm.
So my favorite used bookstore in Providence, Cellar Stories, was having their big 40% off the whole store sale this weekend and I made out like a bandito. I picked up:
So let me explain. The version of A Portrait... that I got was really this really neat hardcover illustrated edition. The version of The Dead that I picked up is this great case study, so what happens is they take a short story, in this case The Dead, and they put the complete story in the book. Then, they put in five critical essays that explain the texts from five unique points of view. It is very cool. And the last one that I need to explain the High School Handbook, which is actually a grammar book. Because, I have a horrible confession to make and that is that I hated grammar in high school, did the absolute bare minimum to graduate and I have regretted it ever since. So I am basically retaking my high school grammar class, which is embarrassing. The crux of the situation is that most of the stuff I will probably know, probably from osmosis. But I don't know why I know it, so I am going to work through this book and hopefully, when everything is said and done, I will know my grammar a whole lot better than I do now.
Last but not least, I am for some inexplainable reason fascinated by Eastern Europe. (Actually if you are a regular reader you will know that it all stems from Dracula and vampire mythology.) So I was delighted to finish reading this book called Budapest by Chico Buarque. I give it two gigantic thumbs up. I don't want to get into it too much, because the thought of doing book reviews still disgusts me. But it is basically about a man who is a ghost writer and how he falls in love with, becomes obsessed with and masters the Magyar language. Magyar is an interesting language to have as a subject because it is one of those languages that is slowly dying, spoken by fewer and fewer people because of globalisation and the influence of cold war politics, blah blah blah. But any way if you like language and writing, I would recommend this book, quick read but not lacking in substance. Really neat story.
And that about wraps it up.
I would love to tell you what I was listening too when I was typing this up, but the truth is I was listening to Nicky, my wife, wrapping up some old clothing storage bags we had for the trash. You can't dance to it, but I like the rhythm.
posted by V. at 10:10 PM
2 Comments:
why are book reviews disgusting?
loved what you said about your wife! -- I was listening to Nicky, my wife, wrapping up some old clothing storage bags we had for the trash. You can't dance to it, but I like the rhythm.
Bad memories.
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