FakeMeaty

2012-01-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

What a way to start the year.. especially with two distopian novels. But of course we all realized that vampires and such would taper off, and books like the Hunger Games with a message that ignites some perspective about the system would prevail, especially over stories that involve gushing about the trivial qualms concerning the teenage libido. I know Orwell's 1984 wasn't the first novel to question the ways of the government control, but it certainly put ideas of Big Brother and the Thought Police into the mainstream. Although written 60 years later, Patrick Ness pulls the same themes into his book and does it provokingly well. In the first book of the Chaos Walking trilogy, Todd is the last citizen to become a man in a town where everyone can hear each others' inner dialogue, including those of the animals. The Noise has somehow drove those in charge to enforce the notion that silence, as well as not having come of age into adulthood means that one is hiding their sins and needs some kind of convertion. This means the women have been obliterated and the men are left to the unspoken initiation of the army that will kill to conquer the rest of the new world. (yea, abruptly said). The premise seems to hint more towards the ugly side of American history... colonization and such in another time/universe, but it is all about those in control instilling fear and violence to gain power.

The beauty of it is the development of all this, as the reader experiences with the young protagonist the confusion, self-doubt, desperation, and yes, chaos of having to leave one's home and family without definite reason. Plus the emotion of not knowing where to go and encountering groups of people who will act on their misgivings just because of the town one has came from. I realize that 1984 carries its own set of meanings, but like Catcher in the Rye I am sure I was the last few people who read this book and who was not assigned it in high school English. So it does seem to be understood and redundant to mention...

Let me add that, as my personal preference, it was not my favorite of Orwell even though it stands to still be enjoyable and nonetheless a classic. Clergyman's Daughter and even Keep the Aspidistra Flying I still found to be not as cold as this, but he is still deserves every bit of reputation he has. (Still TBR is The Road to Wigan Pier). Zamyatin's WE is also worth picking up as it was said to be the main influence for it.

200th.

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

As a later work of Nabokov, this 100 or so pager felt more like a test of comprehension...oh how awful. The story itself is actually pretty good, but Nabokov was obviously flexing his dexterity as an established writer at that... I guess the awful part about it is the after effect of how I will honestly admit that the I didn't understand the damn meaning of it all. It starts off somewhat comic, Hugh Person (pronounced Parson) is checking into a hotel in Switzerland where he is to meet with the author R. and go about editing his new novel. Hugh is sort of a clumsy character with a livelihood that is far from exceptional, but he goes through the typical motions of self-consciousness from his father's tendencies and falling in love with Armande, a woman who all of a sudden gives him her hand in marriage, which seems to originate from nothing more than pittance or a sudden knock in the head. In an abrupt and somewhat non-sequential line of events, his life gradually turns mad as he murders his wife, retraces his past, and becomes insane. It's hard to imagine how two decades and four different trips are supposed to fit in this slim thing, but Nabokov does do it seamlessly... chapter by chapter it flies, but at the same time it takes awhile to realize what hit. I still don't know what it all means...I also don't think it really matters.

So despite some hardships- life altering moments - character enhancers in 2011, looking back I did have a pretty decent love affair with some stories and managed to gain a ton of favorites. As of the moment, I'm still dedicating my next few reads to the classics... way overdue. My acclaimed list of favorite books read in 2011:

Collected Stories of Richard Yates
Laughter in the Dark - V. Nabokov
On a Winter's Night a Traveler - I. Calvino
The Post-Man Always Rings Twice - J. Cain
Into the Looking Glass Wood - A. Manguel
Invention of Morel - Bioy Casares
The Invention of Hugo Cabret - B. Selznick

Runner-ups:
Austerlitz - W. B. Sebald
Catch-22 - Heller
Just Kids - P. Smith
Story of the Eye - G. Bataille
Revolutionary Road - Yates
Clergyman's Daughter - G. Orwell
Full Tilt - D. Murphy
America is in the Heart - C. Bulosan

Cheers.

199th...

2011-12-15T20:10:00.001-08:00

[Mini shadow box. xmas art show 12.16.2011]

I know there's a movie out, and yes for many, including myself, it drives a motivation to read things. What a gorgeous book.. I know I've said that about a lot of books, but I'm saying... yea read this tome in a janky e-reader and it will not be the same. Well an iPad would be alright. The merging of drawings and text to tell Hugo's story is utterly magical, and for a juvenile book its intelligent,visually well executed, and its incorporation of film history is enough for parties (young and old) to enjoy. Tre beau.

Etc., Go Russian

2011-11-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

Perfect for my Disneyland trip via occupy landscape...

Edit: Actually I don't know how perfect it was... this book took me almost a month too read. With all the concentration I needed.. bringing this on my Disneyland trip was more distracting than anything. I won't go into the Disneyland trip cause there was nothing close to a vacation that became of it.

Despite the month - or what I feel is the longest time I've spent on a book, I'm pretty damn happy I read this. When I finally got over the fact that it is not exactly chronological, it was pretty damn funny, ridiculous, cynical... and yes, it did feel like Heller was yelling words from the pages. I have to admit that this is the first war book that I can genuinely admit that I enjoyed. Heller seriously packed each sentence with quick wit, sometime too quick that to catch the novelty of each sentence, one might have to do a re-read. Each character is also animated in his own right and one gets to know Yossarian, Hungry Joe, Nately, Milo, Cathcart, chaplain, and the rest all too well. Definitely a play on how absurd war can be and its more relevent than ever.
Reminded me a bit of Abby's Monkey Wrench Gang with its black humor and the rebellious energy it exudes.

I'm ready to pick this up again. It's dark and cold outside, as opposed to the beach weather we had when I first tried to pick it up, to literally read on the beach. Right.

It's over or just beginning.

2011-11-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

Yes, there are books out there that need time and patience, and this one definitely tested mine. First, it's a f'ing gorgeous book. Sebald is unique in the way he writes because he tends to incorporate beautiful pictures. Sort of like the surrealist story Nadja, and Sebald even did the same when he wrote the introduction to The Tanners, which is how I decided to read Sebald. That in itself is its own novella. With this book in particular, he writes without chapters or paragraphs or quotations, although the entire story consists of an on going conversation with traveler and a fellow he meets on the way named Austerlitz. So one can easily imagine how this story can drag and test one's patience because unlike other books, the climax is hard to detect and honestly, if Sebald did format this with quotes and paragraphs, it would look the Austerlitz here is a mere rambler.

Through the perspective of the traveler, we learn that Austerlitz is on a journey to discover his whereabouts. As a child he was adopted by a couple who practically lived in the church, however through the steps he traces his original name, then his parents, then finds the person who can tell him about his mother, while he yet still has to learn what happened to his father. As he digs deeper, he finds that as Hitler and the Germans imposed their power in Prague, Austerlitz was sent away, while his mother, once a famous opera singer, was trying to find a way out of the city, except to be sent out with thousands of others to internment. The charm of this book is in its composed, meditative temper; the curiosity of Austerlitz and his interest in architecture and purposes of structures, like a fort; the genial relationship that the traveler and Austerlitz share as they cross paths time after time, and in each instance we learn more about Austerlitz's personal journey; and lastly the keen insights that are interwoven throughout, for instance:

"The only animal which has remained lingering in my memory is the raccoon. I watched it for a long time as it sat beside a little stream with a serious expression on its face, washing the same piece of apple over and over again, as if it hoped that all this washing, which went far beyond any reasonable thoroughness, would help it to escape the unreal world in which it had arrived, so to speak, though no fault of its own. Otherwise, all I remember of the denizens of the Nocturama is that several of them had strikingly large eyes, and the fixed inquiring gaze found in certain painters and philosophers who seek to penetrate the darkness which surrounds us purely by means of looking and thinking."

"...there is really no reason to suppose that lesser beings are devoid of sentient life. We are not alone in dreaming at night for, quite apart from dogs and other domestic creatures whose emotions have been bound up with ours for many thousands of years, the smaller mammals, such as mice and moles also live in a world that exists only in their minds whilst they are asleep, as we can detect from their eye movements, and who knows, said Austerlitz, perhaps moths dream as well..."

The best thing of all is that its all autobiographical... a beauty.

So if you can't tell I passed my e-port!!! Yes, that means I am graduating, and even though it is in a job market that stinks... I can honestly and genuinely say that I at least enjoyed every bit of what I studied and I think its one of the best choices I could have made. Yes I will sleep well at night. So I guess here I will share a part of it, especially once I look back in a year and wonder what it all means.

Professional Philosophy

My professional philosophy is rudimentary to my interests in libraries and to the access of information, and it reflects my beliefs, values, and attitudes regarding the profession of librarianship. The basis of my professional philosophy stems from my studies as an undergraduate, as well as my job and volunteer experiences within and outside the information field. As some are quickly able to discern the occupation that they wish to dedicate their lives to, it took me awhile to come to terms with a profession that could incorporate my wide range of interests from visual design to methods of classification to social behavior. As my educational background are in the schools of Mass Communication and Journalism, as well as in Sociology, this has stirred my passion for studying the behavior of people in a media laden environment. I realized that I had the natural creativity, knack for catching onto trends, and reveled in conducting social research. I have seen that these have become assets while in the program and they have incited my interests even in traditional librarianship.

Prior to enrolling in a graduate program, I learned that using my time and energy to fuel profit driven business left me unfulfilled, however it was in working for a digital assets company that a coworker of mine suggested that I should consider working in a library. Since then, I have found that librarianship allows me to stick to my ideals, thrive intellectually, as well as serve my community. As libraries adhere to all classes of knowledge and librarians must often take on a variety of roles, in the Spring of 2009, I finally was able to recognize that my professional fulfillment lay in the constant stimulation and altruistic nature of public librarianship. My professional goal and focus in the program has been to work as a reference librarian for a public library, which is constantly affirmed through my occupations as a bookseller, library aide, tech helper, and student assistant for a special library.

Before I enrolled in SLIS, I left my office job to work at a used bookstore, which I currently am employed by today. As Recycle Bookstore serves as a bibliographic institution for the city of San Jose, here I have been able to thrive in providing reference, connecting books to their readers, and sustaining an ongoing relationship with those in our community. It is in this position that I was first able to apply one of the fundamentals of what I believe the profession stands for, which is to facilitate the ease of access to information and satisfy the information needs of users. The concept of facilitating access and satisfying information needs relies on the service aspect of reference, which is defined in Competency I. I firmly stand by the importance in not only conducting an adequate reference interview, but in the approachability of any professional or staff who represents the library. It is in this concept that I believe requires empathy, friendliness, and acknowledgment of the user's needs. As a bookseller, I have had the opportunity to apply these concepts that I have learned in my courses by being proactive in helping patrons, as well as utilizing our materials and other bibliographic resources for their needs. The ability to conduct a proper reference interview is crucial, as it aims to pinpoint the objective of one's information search, and ensures relevance and efficiency with one's efforts. The respect that we must have for users, I feel is ingrained in how we treat them and the extent they feel they can rely on the library to serve as a functional and humanistic resource in their lives.

In addition to working at Recycle Bookstore, I have also spent my time working as an aide for Alameda Free Library, and have volunteered at the Berkeley Public Library as a tech helper. In these positions are where I emphasize my second fundamental value to unbiasedly serve library users, and strive to provide free and equal access. This belief is expressed in my values and professional ethics that are emphasized in Competency A. In order to unbiasedly serve patrons and provide equal access, I feel that this must surpass ideas in terms of race, age, and class, but also consider the unique abilities and perspectives of how information can adequately reach all library users. This value also aims to promote intellectual freedom, as well as resist censorship by dismissing judgment, respecting privacy, and adhering to the confidence of others.

Finally my experience as a student assistant for the Information Technology (IT) department at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has provided me with experience working in archives and records, and currently in a special library. It is in these experiences where I have been able to apply my professional attitude to guarantee efficient and relevant information for the entertainment, education, and enlightenment of all people in the community. This idea is further emphasized in Competency F where developing collections includes aspects of determining the needs of users, acquiring relevant materials, remaining up to date with interests, and various preservation practices so materials are suitable for use. Although my long-term objective is to work in a public library, my experience ay LBNL has given me insight concerning the preservation of information, as well as how to find information for the specific research needs of our clients through our electronic journal databases and acquiring resources through interlibrary loan.

As my MLIS is close at hand, I feel that attaining this degree is only the starting point of my profession in libraries and the information field. As many may perceive that the ambition to become a librarian stems from a natural love of reading and books, this is only partial to what I have come to understand as pertinent.

Contribution to My Community

As a reference librarian, I plan to contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities in a number of ways. My experiences working and volunteering in a public library has reaffirmed my beliefs that the library is a principle institution that disinherits notions of class, gender, status, and background, as well as exists to provide programs and services that subscribe to information literacy, self-education, and quality resources for those who may not have other institutional means of access to them.

My responsibility as information professional, and in my future prospects as a reference librarian for a public library are in line with my intrigue to the theories of sociology. As we live in a diverse society, I feel it is important to recognize the needs of others and adhere to the perspectives of each individual in the community. In order to contribute to the cultural well-being of my community, as a reference librarian I will consider the diverse perspectives of the role of information in each individual’s value system, as well as promote and facilitate access to the materials and services that reflect all cultural and ethnic perspectives that are represented. This includes maintaining an incessant knowledge and collection of resources that are native to the countries represented, as well as those that adequately support the various viewpoints of groups in the population. Adhering to the public library’s mission of equal access, I will strive to ensure that programs and resources are visible and obtainable, as well as foster the diversity that persists.

The value of public libraries to society are immeasurable, however it is in this economic climate that those in the profession must constantly work to keep library doors open through the marketing and advocacy of the public libraries' free resources and services. As a public library strives to ensure free and equal access, I feel that I am responsible for the methods and principles in which libraries can provide services and resources to better the lives of all individuals in the community. I strongly believe that power of information lies on those who can uninhibitedly use it to express themselves, communicate with others, and attain knowledge to grow within them. As my work and volunteer experiences have provided me with the opportunity to incorporate these fundamentals, I feel that my professional objective of public librarianship will directly contribute to the creation of opportunities for others and the welfare of society.

Cheers!

2011-11-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

You know I can't really explain why I picked up this book. Well I thought I heard or read something about a H.G. Wells' story about a character traveling through time and something about the thought that if he can bring any two books to the future, what would it be?
I wish I can make this post more interesting and tell you what my two picks are... but the only thing I can tell you that it wouldn't be the Bible or the Tao Te Ching or whatever. I also actually never found that part of the story, so there goes that. Anyway, this book is pretty simple and I'm sure everyone knows the who (the time traveller), the where, and what. So like all classics there is some great insight involved. Definitely another story that supports how there are plenty of underlying truths in fiction. (I say this cause I never thought prior... "I only like to read non-fiction" type). A couple quotes that reign:

`It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers. '

`I grieved to think how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide. It had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease, a balanced society with security and permanency as its watchword, it had attained its hopes--to come to this at last. Once, life and property must have reached almost absolute safety. The rich had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler assured of his life and work. No doubt in that perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social question left unsolved. And a great quiet had followed. '

2011-10-30T22:05:00.001-07:00

"Entertaining but not sufficiently original or witty to be the kind of noncomformist manifesto to which it aspires." - A fellow on GoodReads. His one liner describes this book best, and possibly that's all I feel it deserves. Well I'll go on anyway. I think Mohr is a good writer, and he did describe the Mission pretty accurately. My qualm is that he tried to convey the typical cliche that good hearted souls exist even in the dingiest dives.... yea typical bad kid with a good heart. We get it. Definitely would recommend it to a suburban kid just out of high school or someone who may have just got into reading. 'Alternative' Live 105 here. Well..I can actually think of 10 other books I would rather recommend. Don't believe it when folks refer him to a Bukowski of some sorts. Yea they have the drinking part right... but that's as far as the comparison goes. A closer comparison is a Chuck Palahniuk for those who need a tame script due to their weak stomach. Or how about a liberal Nicholas Sparks with tattoos and a drinking problem... I guess that's going to far. Definitely a jock with a conscience. I'm done.

2011-10-10T18:27:00.001-07:00

2011-09-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes certain books are attractive enough to pick up. There are times when I've been disappointed because I bought a book cause of its cover/title/synopsis/ etc etc...and it was just inaccessible when I came down to reading it. I still wonder how can one increase their chances of reading the right book at the right moment, and avoid misreading a book just because you weren't in the right mood.

This was one of those books was just sooo attractive, but then I struggled with not knowing a damn thing about the author... so it was one that I would pick up and put back on the shelf. Borges did write the introduction for this book and compared him to Kafka and James' The Turn of the Screw. I honestly didn't feel like meshing my tired brain with someone I would perceive would be a favorite of Borges. Yes, Borges is genius but he's a tough cookie. Well down the reading line, I found out that Bioy Casares is one of the most talented and under the radar Argentine writers out there, and for once I believe the hype! Bioy Casares was his buddy, but he never had the acclaim he deserved cause Borges was in the spotlight at the time. Nonetheless, this story is eerie in a seemingly distopian time/ space (Philip K. Dick-ish), and is full of this sinister romance that you can never tell if it truly exists only in the protagonist's mind, or if it is a part of the conspiracy that surrounds him.

The story is a diary of a fugitive who retreats to this deserted resort island. He believes he's the only one there, since the resort is known to have some vaporous disease that gradually eats away at the hair, nails, skin, and flesh of humans. Until one day a gang of tourists arrive and he can't decide whether they consist of the authorities that are after him, but he ends up falling for a gypsy-type woman that he sees by the shore staring at the sunset every day. Despite his fears, he tries to grab her attention and profess his love for her.... without doing so he feels he doesn't have a point in living... but he soon finds that all she has to offer is a blank stare, and the other visitors won't even acknowledge his presence. Even the buildings and its objects wouldn't budge - the holes he tore into the museum basement are sealed, the curtains won't move aside, the doors are automatically locked during certain times, etc. As the title bears, its a pretty twisted scenario.

Yea it was a surprisingly good read... to the point that I picked up all his other books (my weakness). Cheers.

Snooze Button

2011-09-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sleeping in is a love/hate. I sleep in on my days off and feel like Ive wasted my morning. I wake up early to go to work, then feel so beat and even pop advils to kill my headache - I rush home and nap for 3 stupid hours. I miss plans with friends, am stuck writing again until midnight and then geared up for another sleepless night. So Ive been in a weird kind of mood. I'm 28 years old, which is young, but not really. I'm stubbornly single, but amidst graduation and having my freedom again, I feel like I want to find that person to settle down with. Then I'm having all of these afternoon surreal dreams about having re-sparked old flings, etc etc. OMG am I going to end up as this old haggard librarian with cats and books?! Sheesh...

2011-09-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

I have 20 more pages left... Orwell rules school.

Edit: I really like this book.... she's a 28-year old daughter of a stingy clergyman who rides her bike to and fro, and generally works to do some good for her community - even if it means massaging the legs of her old haggard neighbor, making costumes out of scraps for the church plays, and being constantly hit on by desperate, balding divorcee with 'bastard' children who ceaselessly tries to stir her away from her beliefs. The conflict is that she may not even believe in God, or does she force herself because she's a victim of habit and this is all she knows? well it doesn't really stop there, cause Orwell has to make the situation absurdly sour... so in the midst of all her charity, she loses consciousness and wakes up not knowing her identity and being banned from her old town. She ends up feeling true hunger... walking 20 miles a day with other young bums to pick barley in the fields with the gypsies, living in dingy whorehouses, then later becoming a teacher of a private school that lacks integrity (this seemed like a scene out of a R. Dahl book). All in all, it ends brilliantly, like all classics do... we find that her memory loss was caused by this sort of ignorance and poor acceptance of her fate. I guess virgins - spinsters didn't have a lot of options in those days.

2011-09-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

Cain is the cream cheese on my bagel. I couldn't believe how much controversy, treachery, and web of alibis he packed into this skinny thing. Its really good. I thought it was similar to "the postman..." but hardboiled mysteries swing that way sometimes. Such a fan.

If Cain is the cream cheese, this is the jam! I can't believe I picked up two copies of this book on accident... whoopsies. Its like the time I picked up Block's book "Nymph" for a YA class. Yea right. Unlike Block, these are pretty fly and are written to the supherb extent of Georges Bataille. I didn't mean to rhyme, but I'm stoked.

Okay now back to writing...

I lied.

2011-09-03T19:56:00.000-07:00

I said that Denis Johnson book would be my last leisurely read, but instead I picked up the No. 1 bestseller of non-fiction. I guess there is power in repetition, and like the Shadow of the Wind, I feel like I read a legitimate, wholesome story, but there was nothing more to it. Yea, never believe what Campbell readers pick up for their bookclubs paying with their Nordstrom credit cards.

So this is about the HeLa (hee-la) cell that is infamous in science for leading to vaccines for polio, cancer, and an endless line of other diseases. It is truly immortal, and this book not only explains the science behind the cell, but also confronts the ethics in medicine like patient's consent, property rights, legitimacy of making millions off of a living or dead being's tissue, etc. It also brings up some touchy, but pertinent American history i.e Tuskegee syphilis experiment, etc. I thought this was the most interesting, but all in all Rebecca Skloot isn't a very good writer and her white, upper class point-of-view is still that. I understand she tried to be journalistic and minimize the bias, but sometimes she just made the Lacks seem naive and thoroughly uneducated by focusing on their misunderstandings of the situation, quoting blatant fallacies and outlandish remarks. Honestly, I think that Rebecca Skloot just ran out of actual facts to write about, and all she had left was the Lacks family and her own autobiographical stance in journalistic endeavors trying to uncover this. She took the total bestseller path by cutting the scientific facts, making an emotional tie with those involved, being brief in all focuses (the science, the ethics, the history). I guess I'm being harsh, but I really felt like I was missing something... like substance. ?

Yea well I'm also procrastinating with school to write this meaningless review. It's still the No. 1 bestseller after all. How can I be wrong with thousands of dollars floating in for Miss Skloot. Wow that motivation drained quick.

It's that time of year.

2011-08-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this was the last 'fun' book I chose to read before the semester starts. It was just 'okay'. Well at least its my last semester. Good bye world for the next 5 months.

2011-08-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

Did I mention I have exactly a week until my life is put on hold and I hope I will finally be able to get this degree. My feelings have been back and forth with this...not necessarily what I'm learning (cause I really like what I am learning!), but the job market, competition, difficulty getting experience, and the whole high nose, lip curl librarian culture. Three years later, I still can't see myself doing anything else. Sometimes I think I will be perfectly happy at the bookstore too, but then I've been really happy at the library, especially when I get to be the more general Q&A with patrons. Librarians are probably one of the most undervalued professions.. not really monetary wise, but sometimes I get tired of hearing the lack of staying power with the profession. What, do you think the same thing too? Well read this f***ing book. Yea its a motivating read for me before the semester.

Well its not really a read.. I've been listening to it on audiobook. The library's Overdrive e-book/ audiobook service is a dream. I will really be reading...

2011-08-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

G. K. Chesterson's The Man Who Was Thursday became a bit debatable... it felt like a secret society, mildly prophetic spy novel, but it was nonetheless good!

Joined another 'book club'. I know it's Asian American studies' curriculum, but I never had the motivation to read this until now. Things that surprised me.. how brutal it was to be brown in those days with serious animosity towards immigrants that you never hear about in American history.. its dramatic and emotional. It's also amazing how he was constantly beat down in his life, but he still dreamed, read, worked and remained faithful and supported his family. I was also really surprised about all the literary references and how deep into reading he was. In almost all of John Fante's novels/novellas, he talks about working in the canneries with Filipinos and here Bulosan talks about working in the cannery and reading Fante. A similar story that this reminded me of is You Can't Win. Yea that's a pretty strong compliment.

I don't even remember

2011-08-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

but I haven't quit. Yea like I said, I don't really remember what books I have read lately, but I am still on it. I attempted to read John Sayles' Moment in the Sun, but I will get back to that giant thing.

Instead I picked up.. and am in official fan of Cain. This title reminded me more of a Yates story with the web of love triangles. No murders here, but a lot of heart break.

I am also reading How to read literature like a professor, which I should have read years ago, and just like Manguel's books, it has hooked me onto more reads. For the first time I thought, f*** I might not read all the books I want to by the time I croak.
Right now I'm reading the classic

.

It's a nightmare, its anarchy, it bloody sunday... its a fucking old book. But its fantastic!

I know I used to rant more about what I thought about this book and that...hey let's have coffee instead.

whooa

2011-06-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

the art show went surprisingly well. I sold my first art pieces! yea both of them!!! Nathan did help me jazz up the 'bad seed' piece, so I pretty much owe it too him. I did kind of detest it at the end.
Nate also displayed my bday present. Folks wanted to buy that too, but I said nooo.

Our things up high.Bad Seed - sold!

My present up close.

Porch piece- sold!

Read this shorty and it wasn't as grand as I thought. A book of letters and a supposed love story from an ongoing book exchange, but I didn't get any of that. Another mild read, but I still think the snail mail is charming.

But A. Manguel is making me oh so happy.

I'm sayng "no".

2011-06-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't been reading as much, nor biking, nor doing well in the library world. I quit my internship after one week cause on top of 3 jobs and classes- I need time to sleep, paint, be sane. Really, I need the 'me' time so I won't feel like giving up everything, changing my name, shaving my head, and then leave to Mexico City.

I tried to read some shorties, after reading the 400+page Boneshaker that left me feeling "ehh" and really mild. I always think Hesse is going to lead me through some spiritual limbo, so I read Journey to the East, and I found it okay. A little too secret society-ish for me, but it was fine.

So this Friday, I was able to contribute 2 pieces for this show. They are not final, but I think it is okay. I will probably post the final work later (most likely not). I've been thinking what I will do after library school... yea work at a library and do art/ take art classes. duh.

So after all this humm bugging, oh yea I turned 28 yay me - I am looking back to my cute book club. Crash by Ballard caused a bad turn ..it was the first book we abandoned. But I think Alberto Manguel will save us. Essays on books, reading, and the world... Hurray!

I'm sorry I neglected you FakeMeaty

2011-06-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Currently plowing through:

Fini

Hamster running the wheel

2011-04-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I am mighty comfortable in this new, but temporary job... in an office. The environment I've dreaded and everyone is nice, intelligent, hardworking, and they treat their employees well! I have a month left of school, two months of DUI class, and then start summer school in the midst of that- work three jobs that are equivalent to working full time, but nothing more. I miss making things, riding bicycles.. - okay mostly those two things that I somehow picked up because I didn't have so much to do. I still have read to keep some sanity, but as my friend said "You have been reading a lot of violent books lately." I think when anything is referred to L'Stranger and existentialism, the only way they can express that is through violence... so I think that it just happened to be a common theme. Have I ever added that The Stranger is a favorite and really made me interested in reading again.

This book I am reading now, and he is apparently what is to Spain as Celine is to France. I still can't sense the maddening aspect of it halfway through, but we'll see. It's very good so far.. its tragic, but in a dark humorous way. I guess I'm a little desensitized after reading...

This was apparently Camus influence for the Stranger, and it has to be one of the most entertaining and intelligent things I've read. I am not a huge mystery reader, but this is fantastic..

A second part! I loved Books, but this was so so. I read halfway through the short memoir and I wasn't fancied by it. It is more about his career and his famous friends are interesting- Kesey, Sontag, blah blah.. I guess I get turned off by name droppers, even though its unintentional for the most part.. (i.e. Patti Smith).

3 lbs heavier

2011-04-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yikes. Out of shape, yes.

I loved his short stories and I can see how this story is a bit of an extension of his bitterness, ramblings against nuclear families, the dirt between fingernails, and the mundane tendencies of picture perfect marriages. Frank and April Wheeler are from parents who never wanted to have kids, and the Wheelers seem to try to define their lives by their marriage, home on revolutionary road, steady income, and family - even though their minds are in denial that what they believe and how they chose to live will change and be nothing like the conservative neighbors around them. The affairs with Mareen Grube, happy hour with the Campbells, and the only strike of truth from Mrs. Givings insane son John are still refreshing and simple. Yea, but this story ended too predictably. I can see how the story in the time it was written (60's) was a kick in the head for the American Dream scheme, and it still works. I think if I still lived with my parents in suburbia and was going to school to work in a cube for a corporation, I would say "hell yea", this is what should happen to those white picket fence families, but I vowed to never fall into that lifestyle...so ho hum.

Reading this now.. and its refreshing. weeeeeee

Getting Taller

2011-03-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Lately, my memory has been lacking and a major part of me feels like I don't have time to do what's dear to my heart. I don't have the time to paint - I don't bike as much (although the 40 mile paradise loop kicked my behind) - I don't get to read as much, but I am trying to speed along in school and get out of this library program. In the mean time, I finally copped a temporary "boring" (yes-even the archivist I work for said it!) job at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and turned in my graduation candidacy form for December 2011. I WANT OUT.

On a book note, On a winter's night a traveler was one of the best books I've read everrrrrrr. Like I said, Calvino is a genius and the book is a mind f***. Well how can one book touch you the way 10 books would? yea it is literally an orgy of good literature. Yes, I said it. Next up is Revolutionary Road by R. Yates that I have been anxiously awaiting to start. In the mean time I had a nice time with

WANKY!

and

a fantastic breezy read in and out of East Bay history - bookstores galore. I can't express how proud I am to work for a library with a brand new zine collection. :)

I don't feel like writing into detail, cause its the one thing I am trying to get away from. Trying to get out of school in time won't let me.

A good morning = Coffee & Calvino

2011-03-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

I was stuck in a whirlwind. DUI, endless school work, working 6 days during one week, and 4 birthdays (of my closest friends). I also somehow managed to make a piece for an little record art show and its hanging, but obviously needs some more work.

To maintain some sanity, I started a couple books and I will finish them. I owe it to myself.

Halfway and I will get back to it.

This one I couldn't put down!, except that I had to start on my next book in my "cute book" book club...

This is some really intense reading! A bit off and everywhere like Perec's A Life's Manual, but still engaging in its own way. Okay I have a thing for book where the author talks to his reader. I also books about books. The first couple pages are amazing!

In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres and acres The Books You Needn't Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the out girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You'll Wait Till They're Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody's Read So It's As If You Had Read Them, Too. Eluding these assaults, you come up beneath the towers of the fortress, where other troops are holding out:
the Books You've Been Planning To Read For Ages,
the Books You've Been Hunting For Years Without
Success,
the Books Dealing With Something You're Working On
At The Moment,
the Books You Want To Own So They'll Be Hand Just
In Case,
the Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This
Summer,
the Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your
Shelves,
the Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable
Curiosity, Not Easily Justified.
Mow that you have been able to reduce the countless embattled troops to an array that is, to be sure, very large but still calculable in a finite number; but this relative relief is then undermined by the ambush of the Books Read Long Ago Which It's Now Time To Reread and the Books You've Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It's Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them.

Perfect for the morning, like a jog or bike ride before I start the day. (except with this I can fatten up with sourdough and butter with black coffee). MMMmmmm

2011-02-11T23:13:00.000-08:00

I'm reading two f***ing fantastic books right now!! Amongst the ho-hum of a chaotic month (or chaotic in my mind maybe), this is making me happy. So happy.

My first Nabokov book and I can see how Lolita is such a classic. Yea, this is about another fella who leaves his wife for a young mistress, but this story just swallows you whole - more than halfway through and just started the book today! Okay it helps that its about 100 words per page. I also have grown a liking to writers who fill you in on what to expect right away...

"Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he love; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster."

This book is a book for book lovers... its essentially an inside story to the rare book trade, but focuses on the book trade's most notorious thief. So I was a little uncomfortable that I am no longer one of the only who know what "deckled pages" and "pictorial boards" are, as well as how many copies of Poe's first published poem exist in the world - 14!. Whatever I love it and it all takes place in San Francisco too.

2011-02-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's hard to remain optimistic these days. I've been trying to get a job in Oakland in something related, but I've missed my opportunities or they just lack in general. I applied for something new, and I honestly refuse to be hopeful.

Despite the long commute, I decided to work at the bookstore an extra day a week. With a second job, school, and soon to be other legal matters, I decided that I can't f*** around anymore. Yea I submitted to growing up for a little bit. Letting go of the fun...

I've been waiting to read this one for awhile and it's okay. I love all the wine and crazy characters... Pilon is something else. I guess I wasn't in the right mood to laugh my head off.

Things that make me happy at this very moment

2011-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

More than halfway through his short stories. Holy mother. This guy is brilliant! He made me miss my stop on the bus..

Early gift exchange.

A New Year

2011-01-26T23:10:00.001-08:00

I think it takes a few weeks to get settled in. Today I started school and am realizing how f*cked up it is not being able to drive. The cat's have fleas... I haven't been able to finish a book in days. I stormed through Norwegian Wood and Just Kids, but only made it 2/3 of the way of Monkey Wrench Gang and halfway through Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. I wasn't even able to finish 86 pages of Kerouac's Tristessa , but that's somewhat forgiving. Richard Yates short stories have been amazing, but short stories aren't satisfying me at this moment.

Ever since the clusters show and spending time with my passionate friend/coworker/art meandering creature - I have been trying to make more things. One being a life size "Geeshie Wiley" that was accepted into this blues house show in San Jose.

Title of Art: Geeshie "Geechie" Wiley Medium: Mixed Media Creation Date: 01/09/11 Size: 70"x42"x2" Weight: For Sale?: for sale Price: $400 Original?: original Comments: The only remnants that are left of Geeshie Wiley are her handful of songs, which include one of my blues favorites "Last Kind Words". Her legal name is unknown, and there are no photos of her that exist.

An incomplete version....

The characters of this book were fantastic... on the cusp of being outsiders and clinically insane. All living in a type of surreal world. I think I would have adored this book in college...the protagonist just turned 20. Hypersexed, conversational, and without a f***ing climax.. Did I say sexual? casual sex written all over.

I have never listed to a Patti Smith album in my life, and am afraid to. Yes this is the cafe/ hip/ beatnik thing to read...but it did win the National Book Award. It is a sweet story of the relationship of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe..full of photos and elbow rubbing with famous folks - complete with a stay at the Chelsea Hotel and hanging at the same diner with the Factory kids. The starving artists, book hounding, blurbs of noteworthy times in history, and innocent relationship early in the book is beautiful. Patti's later rants are a bit dry - you can tell she likes to name drop Ginsberg, Burroughs, Hendrix, and Joplin - just to name a few. I did feel something was missing - like she held back her true emotions, but it is after all a book devoted mostly to Robert. Yea the cool girls that walk around Oakland have some resemblance.

Geez this is good and f***ing hilarious! And its all about fighting the man and saving the canyons. Yes...the Monkey Wrench Gang is out for the kill of nature's destroyers. I really only was able to make my way through 2/3 of the book, before I got distracted with the 2 titles above. I did have to cop an anniversary copy for myself w/ Crumbs illustrations. I will get back to this.

Drug addicted - Mexico City meanderings... its an attractive book, but its god dammn Kerouac. I know I'm jaded - and I would have loved this before - but it's so stylized I can't handle it.. one day when I'm drugged.

I'm reading this book right now.. over 200 pages in - on the fifth character -and I am soooo tempted to put this sh*t down. Well I want to know what happens and how all these 9 characters in different cities around the world are interlinked. I am starting to feel like I am becoming engrossed in some cryptic, secret society situation - and I hope and pray that this is NOT the case! sigh.

I have yet to read his novels, but just five stories in and already I can tell this is going to be amazing...timeless like Dorothy Parker but in a wider range of situations and with less cynicism.
Edit: This has been one of the best collections of short stories I've read yet. I fucking love this book. I LOVE THIS BOOK.

Purely - Strictly

2010-12-28T11:00:00.000-08:00

Why being out of school rules

2010-12-28T10:55:00.001-08:00

I completed my 2 reading blogs! -

Popular Materials

Young Adult Materials

I am definitely more proud of my YA one. One day I will try to consolidate them all..

But now -

....to be continued.

Why Library School Slaughters

2010-12-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

The idea of humanity taking a next big evolutionary step is a fairly common element in sci-fi. What did you think of the collective-gestalt idea?

Even though it was hard to grasp, I did appreciate the collective gestalt idea and it was something I didn't expect in a sci-fi book. I usually enjoy books that say something about one's way of thinking and their behavior, Agree with Amy - I think Sturgeon presented the evolution of humanity in a style that is very much outside of the box - did not expect this in reading sci-fi. I liked the idea that even though each character individually had some strange incompetence, when they all came together, they complemented each other and sought to protect the entire homo-gestalt. In contrast, if the group was missing the strongest trait of one of the characters or killed off one another, it would be a kind of self-harm to the homo-gestalt.

The book included minority characters at a time when that was still probably a controversial notion. Does it still seem to be a progressive element of the book?

I understood this as a question of his use of language or terms... such as the use of "idiot", mongoloid, and negroes, which are not politically correct. I can see how at the time Sturgeon used characters with traits that were once considered 'inferior' (especially in the 50's ) to set the basis for the evolution of gestalt... It still is unfit by today's standards to degrade anyone for their abilities or race, but after the initial shock of seeing the terms being used, I still think if you can overlook the descriptions, he is still able to convey his ideas about how each character came together with what at the time was perceived as inferior to evolve into one thriving being..

Do the dissonant voices of sections one two and three contribute to the author's concept of a gestalt for you the reader?

I thought the voices were too disjointed to the point that I could not grasp the fact that each character was there to complement each other and be a part of the overall homo-gestalt. The three parts also seemed to have to far of a time span (which was not acknowledged in any part of the story), and I think the dissonant voices became more of an overall distraction. If each character was given more depth or a memorable personality that I could connect to, I could come to my own conclusion about the concept of 'gestalt' (which would have been more meaningful for me as a reader), than having to piece together the concept which is explicitly laid out in the last 40 pages.

Spoilage - Duane Michals - Love

2010-12-01T23:24:00.001-08:00

2 more weeks...

2010-12-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

I miss freely updating this with all the ramblings and nonsense of the last book I've read.... still I've been collecting, awaiting the day when I can read all the books I want. Recently a dear friend/ bookstor-ee spoiled an early xmas present...

A 1926...

What Burroughs says in the introduction to the edition I have...
I first read You Can’t Win in 1926, in an edition bound in red cardboard. Stultified and confined by middle class St. Louis mores, I was fascinated by this glimpse into an underworld of seedy rooming-houses, pool parlors, cat houses and opium dens, of bull pens and cat burglars and hobo jungles. I learned about the Johnson Family of good bums and thieves, with a code of conduct that made more sense to me than the arbitrary, hypocritical rules that were taken for granted as being “right” by my peers.

An erotic accident

2010-11-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

I can hardly update this thing cause I'm busy updating and trying to fulfill my 379 book requirement for this semester... no not really. but 85 books for a YA class and 30 books for another, which puts me at a mid semester tally of 34 books for my databases and 10+ others for miscellaneous review assignments. Sh*t not even close. So on one of my book shopping binges for my classes I picked up this one, in addition to Weetzie Bat.. and it fulfills neither course.

It's fantasy erotica seemingly out of Penthouse letters? but still pretty fly. I'm a 27 year old grown ass woman. I can read this and be free to admit that it was pretty good! (except its neither YA (what the author is known as) or SF (what my work categorized it as). Porn baby in a cute little purple book.

2010-11-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

If I looked in the mirror someday and saw no dark circles under my eyes, I would probably look better. I just wouldn't look like me. - Sarah Vowell

2010-09-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

So I'm a week into school... I've been able to read things by choice, in a way, but its always with the underlining purpose that I have to write some review or compare and contrast or recommend similar titles, the write some sort of paper or make a database or blog in this case... yea library school. I've read some awesome YA books.. Ender's Game, Mockingjay!, The Real Life Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and now MAUS.. which have all been f***** amazing! I'm officially hooked. I guess my mood will change when I have to read romances for my other class.

Well fortunately I finished my YA book for the day, and found this at the library for the train ride home.

It's a the one and only commencement speech that he gave, and it was widely talked about after his suicide. Yea I know Infinite Jest is carried around like an accessory by cool kids and self conscious intellects, but this is amazing... you can afford to read this meager 137 page book with anywhere from 3 - 50 words per page. Amazing!

Last 'adult' leisure read..

2010-08-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

School starts in one week... :(

The plot was laid out for me right on the jacket, and I knew exactly what was going to happen, and still - geddamn this book is so good! Even though it was written in 1899, it's still reeks of greed, detrimental relationships, abuse, murders, insanity, steam beer and whiskey... all in San Francisco!.

McTeague meets the only heartthrob in his life through pulling her teeth. When then get married, Trina wins $5,000 in the lottery, but becomes more and more stingy (a miser) in the process..to the point that she has to lie and compromise their living situation just to save the money for a rainy day. Without a degree, McTeague can no longer practice dentistry..then he gets tired of the job hunts and all of Trina's penny pinching, so he steals her money and flees the first time with just the money she saved, then returns to murder her and flees to the desert with the $5,000. .... then as tragic and beautiful, lays to his fate in death valley handcuffed to the dead soul that found him. Well it's written more humorously than that.

yeeee

2010-08-11T18:22:00.001-07:00

2010-08-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

Yea so I read the damn thing.. I mean I liked it enough to finish. I really didn't give a shit about the millions of kroner laundering or how corrupt the big businesses were. Pretty typical. The investigative reporting was modern, smart and engrossing. The methods of sexual assault and murder of the women and animals according to literal translations of bible verses were damn shocking and graphic. Salander (the girl with the dragon tattoo) was ambiguously attractive, rebellious, and intelligent... she's an advocate against the abuse of women. Her part was the epitome of exercising revenge.

Dude... how typical is the ending... I'm going to spoil this shit...
yea of course the girl who fucking disappeared and is presumed dead, is still alive and has some prime time reunion with the rich fuck who was trying to find her. Of course the girl with the dragon tattoo who doesn't trust a male soul and is all for women empowerment, falls in love with Blomkvist (the journalist) and the same guy who is the lustful, nice guy with a couple other female companions.

Happy bestseller schmeller book day... I was suckered again.

Hi I'm tired.

2010-07-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

If you haven't read him already then poo on you.

Of course Bandini is just getting by and on the brink of becoming famous as a writer, without selling out to Hollywood by writing gaudy screen plays. Still broke, his love here is an elderly widowed woman who makes him food and sleeps by his side in her bed. Then there's the Filipinos, etc. Same ol' good stuff.

Panda for Amanda

2010-07-22T13:04:00.001-07:00

Panda for Amanda, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

"It was the voice of a woman who is glad to be alive, who indulges herself, who is careless and indigent, and who will do any-thing to preserve the modicum of freedom which she possesses." - Henry Miller Quiet Days in Clichy

2010-07-21T23:58:00.001-07:00

"...if you want to know how to enjoy life, you also have to know what sadness is. Otherwise it isn't worth a damn."

Thanks Celine for scattering my brain, thank Keret for balancing it with your 1 - 4 pages short stories about every persona imaginable with a touch of cynicism, erotica, morbidity, and humor. This author, who is apparently a household name in Tel Aviv, is genius. Well loosely. But really how many people can establish a plot, characters, with some depth, surprise, and relativity in less than 5 pages? well less than 5 short, spacey pages. He made me laugh about decapitated rabbits and children left to fend for themselves on top of refrigerators. You can find/read most of it on Google books. Thanks library.

2010-07-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Why was this thing such a killer to trudge through. I think the afterword by William Vollman reminded me why it's tolerable and why I am not insane for losing my place and train of thought within a thumb full of pages.. yea the transitions between places and events are lose or merely nonexistent. I still found myself reaching for this... even though after hours of pessimism, I still found it awesomely funny and entertaining. I was told to read the book before I read anything about Celine. The same friend who recommended it also later said "I hope it didn't piss you off." Apparently he was insane and the further you read into it, the more his thoughts are broken and jagged. I loved that he hated the world, the bourgeoisie, and he would not buy into civilized bullshit. Even though his take on existence is daunting, he is insightful and I still feel there is truth in his rantings. He is still a great writer and his wanderings from the first World War to Africa to New York to Detroit without any sense of a calling is refreshing. Okay it did help me get through the 5.5 hour flight with a new born crying baby and an angry, bitter couple from Manhattan.

"Maybe what makes life so terribly fatiguing is nothing other than the enormous effort. We make for twenty years, forty years, and more to be reasonable, to avoid being simply, profoundly ourselves that is, vile, ghastly, absurd. It's the nightmare of having to represent the halt subhuman we were fobbed off with as a small-size universal ideal, a superman from morning to night."

Sleep No Sleep Sleep

2010-07-15T09:49:00.001-07:00

"... Even memories have their youth... when you let them grow old, they turn into revolting phantoms dripping with selfishness, vanity, and lies..." - Celine

ph: by Andoo

I am back after a week stint of big city. I like getting away from home, okay who doesn't. This was my fourth time checking out the city and its been a different experience every time. Okay, this time around made me realize how old I'm becoming... it was more of a mellow stride through BK and Manhattan, but I know I still have some growing up to do...

Sunday 07-11-10
"Time flies past from days to years. Tendencies don't seem to change much in people, enough where enemies can be friends again - vice versa. You also see how people grow or don't - evolve for the better or stay the same in irksome ways. Bonding - banter over stiff drinks that take years for beings to accustom their palates and where the history is there; the nostalgia that surmounts the bitterness is stronger with both time and drunken similarities. 'You two are a dangerous combination. Always trying to out drink each other.' - T.A."

"San Jose is such a sinkhole."

Plus "I forgot how subways - the feel, sound, faces - relax me... When I'm about to leave, I finally know my way around."

Back in Oakland with my one love...

NY bound carry on: 7 days 7 nights

2010-07-06T22:02:00.001-07:00

NY bound carry on: 7 days 7 nights, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

So I'm leaving tomorrow for my first real vacation in years. Yea, like I'll be in a plane 1,000+ miles away!

Okay... what I really think about is how much time I get to dive deep and read. So after much contemplation... Journey to the end of the Night by Celine and The Third Eye by Rampa are the chosen. I guess Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Game of Thrones will have to wait....

"When you have no imagination, dying is small beer; when you do have imagination, dying is too much."

"It's as black as an asshole."

I'm telling you this book is already amazing.

_______________________

"Yes I read. I have that absurd habit. I like beautiful poems, and all the beyond of that poetry. I am extraordinarily sensitive to those poor, marvelous worlds left in the dark night by a few men I never knew." - from a surrealist book, read by Nate in a blurred drunken state.

"My mind'sa dark and cloudy, my mind'sa gone to my feet." - Blind Willie McTell

2010-06-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

Talk about beastiality! So a guy with a sociology degree and nothing to do becomes interested with a hobo that is parked in his neighborhood and lives inside an old yellow chevy. After some pestering, he's finally able to warm up to the guy and they drink a ton of alcohol then become friends. Then he slits his throat. Yea that all happened in the first 15 or so pages. That was the best part... well okay its still gets better. Still intrigued with the hobo, he gets into the car only to find four snakes slithering around. After some warming up the snakes become his compadres and lovers. They start terrorizing towns killing crowds of people at random. About 100 pages later... while I'm sitting at my volunteering gig at the library trying to finish up this book... it starts to get erotically uncomfortable when the snakes with their handler do 'magic powder', have orgies one by one with him, then all together slithering up and down and around his phallus until his 'semen drips', but its not just him, the snakes want more too. They also eat up the bits of his first lover snake cooked in marijuana.

What the fvck. Yea the talking snakes and the murders was surprising and comical.. but shit. ... ... 3 snakes and a man sex... then cannibalism.. awkward! Yea the title is literal.

Here we aren't, so quickly

2010-06-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

After trudging through the last book, I appreciate how these quick, perverse, drug induced stories entertained. So in quite a few the main guy liked to "knuckle" twat including one of a thick stripper, as well as his comatose sister that he soon after pulls the plug on. In others, the protagonist is drugged up and makes a visit with a suburban mother that is convinced he has it all together with his degree and fronted job helping children. Then there's the kid that observes from a far his fat friend get constantly bullied and tortured bloody by nail clippers and sewing scissors from other kids in summer camp, then they all witness his downing of a big plastic jug and jump to his death from a canoe into the river. Simply twisted, dark, refreshing and smart.

Something that is also worth picking up is this weeks issue of the New Yorker that features 20 writers under 40... about 8 of them have stories in this issue, one being Jonathan Safran Foer's story, Here We Aren't So Quickly. It's something I didn't expect from him..really in his other books he just sounds like a stinkin' nice guy, but I like how this story showed his edge. Too bad I tore the thing out to give to my coworker and it got folded up and lost forever in a drunkin' state of getting kicked out of the Mumlers show at Blank Club for being too intoxicated... I guess that's something else. But.. I think this resonated with me due to my sudden interest in detrimental relationships, which sound like they can be perfect (trips, marriage, stable job, children), then they end in an entrapment of loneliness. Yea this is just that.. so f'in great.

2010-06-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm wasting my summer away. Working more, but not having enough money to buy toothpaste and contact fluid. I wanted to read more, but only managed to finish this mediocre 500 page booger of a book. My torso is swollen from all the meat and liquor that I've been consuming over the past 3 weeks. I have about 2 more months of summer and I absolutely cannot let it wither away into a tiny blip of a stupid blog post or page in my notebook. fuck!

It takes place in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil war. Daniel, the son of a bookseller is introduced to this sanctuary of "Forgotten Books", and stumbles upon "The Shadow of the Wind" by an author Julian Carax. He's very keen of the book and wants to find more writings by the author, but finds that there are none because they have been bought up and burned mysteriously by a character that obviously does not want them to exist. The more he digs into the situation, the more he finds that not only is someone purposely trying to rid his only copy, but those that are involved in someway or another with the author and his books are being killed off as well.
I do believe that a writer should be able to get to the point in 200 pages or less. This also lives up to the rep that 'bestsellers' carry... frivolous banter; contrived twists and turns; enough characters that causes one to lose track and ask, why does this matter? Yes, this was one of those books. The beginning and ending was fantastic...but midway it just had to have the blips of pubescent eroticism, betrayal, murders, and lies that are read much as prime time entertainment, rather than being literary stimulating. Okay I did really like that "The Shadow of the Wind" was really a book about the devil, and the imagery of Daniel (?) walking into the abandoned room filled to the brim of crucifixes.

Last time I listen to a customer in Campbell.

2010-05-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Pretty uneventful, but interesting to say the least. He's an aspiring literary critic (and later becomes reputable for it) that moves amongst Chilean's elite poets and authors through Farewell (the best lit critic out there), and even crosses paths with greats like Neruda and attends his funeral. He is also a priest, but just because of the events that played out as a child (not wholeheartedly). This wasn't a one night event as I previously thought, but a stream of thoughts, ideas, and mild ramblings that are exchanged amongst him and Chile's high society. I found myself puzzled.. wasn't I just reading about him wandering through the streets at night and now he's giving three different lessons to these officianados on Marx and Engels? It was still interesting enough to follow through with it and the rants about literature and Chile and all the abouts that keep the culture prosperous despite tough times, but I do miss the mild suspense I get from reading his novels.

Summer Vacation

2010-05-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

I've been jumping to and from different things... mostly without any intentions of finishing. I feel like I'm searching for some kind of justification to turn away from the ways I have been raised... like do I really need all these material things and this job to feel secure? satisfied? Honestly, I am broke as hell, but I am having the time of my life. Okay... well the whiskey helps.

Aside from picking at different things... Walden, Will of Doubt, The Wisdom of Insecurity, etc. for the reasons I mentioned above... I finally got around to reading her short stories, which I felt were perfect and really fucking enjoyable.

I love her cynicism about women and how the can really act or fall into this overemotional, dependent, ditsy, jealous role just because of their men. Yes, thank god there was someone in the '50's that spoke up and revealed the ugly truth about marriage and pitiful relationships. AND its hilarious! well smart, witty, creative, and pokes fun at the lifestyle of high class New York. Pretty stinkin good.

2010-05-20T00:17:00.000-07:00

"I have no money, no wife, no auto. I have no dog. I have neither a radio set or a rubber plant - I have no troubles".

No, it's not the chubby dude from Shallow Hal. An autobiography and bestseller from the '20s by an outlaw with a conscious. After a lifetime of burglaries, socializing with deviants, and stealing to get by - then years served with some escapes from prisons throughout North America, and a decade long 'hop' addiction, this guy has been through it all. It sounds grim, but its the complete opposite, it's more of a story of trying to live outside of the confines of society, but then getting caught and beaten down by the failing legal system - which back then consisted of torture by lashes, straight jackets, and the like. Black, even though labeled a convict, is intelligent, and lives by keen rational and integrity - yea, he even made sure there were no kids in the houses he stole from. After years of stealing and being acquitted by a judge that finally saw the potential in him, he kicked his habit and worked as a librarian for a paper in San Francisco. I'm fascinated with his sincerity and loyalty that he always kept and expressed to those that he felt showed him good throughout his lifetime. He also read the encyclopedia 3x through, plus every book he could get his hands on (with the exception of the bible - ha!) It came to the point that I began to root for him through his bag snatching and jewel heists, so that he could get a decent room and something to eat. He really does break down the discrepancies of the legal system - the pointless brutality of convicts where he advocates for progress. It's all local too.

happy mother's day mom

2010-05-08T17:58:00.001-07:00

You created a monster. I mean a nice, presentable young woman.

a misaligned universe

2010-05-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

my planets are out of orbit.. something is throwing my days completely off.

I received my first failing grade on an assignment. F as in F*****tard.
I missed a shift that I was supposed to cover for someone yesterday.
I am supposed to be at a bridal shower, but I got lost on my bike in Walnut Creek. Literally the two different directions each had a non- discoverable street.
BUT there are some play things - free mumlers show, free yeasayer show, and luda on repeat keeps me feeling ok. I hate when there are a couple days, where everything is leaving me saying WHAT THE F^%*!!!! and causes me to drink massive amounts of tequilla and forget, then question my purpose in life. Should I really be in library school?

So... I have no idea why I read through this thing. It started off so promising, and ended up more as a history/anthro lesson... and sorry to spoil, but the lost city of Z is still a theory. The writer, who went to search for this city, found what anyone else would expect to find in the Amazon - heat, tribesmen, and trees. Okay it wasn't that bad. I really did like the stories of the disappearing explorers, cannibals, flesh consuming diseases, and the thrill every one of the explorers had of discovering the unknown. P.H. Fawcett is the main guy here, not the writer at all (even though it starts off as his planned exploration)... I am seriously shaking my head. Here is Fawcett looking like a San Franciscan.

2010-04-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting on the fence with this one. I think it's so short, and the shortest of all Pynchon novels that I can read it again. I don't know how much I like stories that don't tell you what the protagonist is after right away. I mean I understand, that you have to see how it is for her to be on the search for something she isn't sure about either, but it also doesn't help that Pynchon writes so descriptively that he's telling you what was on the TV in the same room the conversation is going. If what is on TV is significant to the story? I probably just missed it. I did like how post-modern it was, all the secret society snooping, and that the setting is in the Bay Area (up Telegraph, over the Bay Bridge, off of Howard, etc.) I don't get stories with coded meanings...

okay I'll get back to my homework now....

google quote of the day

2010-04-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.

-Christopher Morley's last words (whoever the hell you are).

2010-04-25T01:08:00.000-07:00

I've been so distracted and all over the place lately. I think I realize that I have a big problem growing up.

So I don't know how I feel about this guy yet. Am I really going to try to explain what this thing is about? A mildly fantasy/ dream scape novel that switches back and forth between the main characters' parallel universes. The first half is that he's a part of some research/ experiment of the mind gone wrong. The second half sounds more like a dream of his where he is separated from his shadow and ponders being one with it again. It's confusing because you can't determine which is reality versus which is just a world in his conscious. I did like the pop culture references...["Bob Dylan sounds like a child singing to the rain"], the search to learn about unicorns, and lastly how the main character spends the last of his days. There is always something interesting about someone who knows that their world is going to end soon, and does what he wants to make it worthwhile. I also think that Murakami is a bit of a chauvinist, cause of all his random sex spiels with his character's librarian lover and spurts of having to talk about the character's being so well read (I read Balzac and Turgenev..'you don't read anything modern?' I've read Razor's Edge 3 times) uh yea. More or less a good read, and I just might be on of those who read everything by this guy. Okay probably not. The getting slit in the stomach was a bit much for me to handle.

The Politics of Happiness

2010-04-10T20:59:00.001-07:00

lovely, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

One common measure of how clean a mountain stream is to look for trout. If you find the trout, the habitat is healthy. It's the same way with children in the city. Children are a kind of indicator. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.

All this pedestrian infrastructure shows respect for human dignity. We're telling people, "You are important -- not because you're rich or because you have a Ph.D., but because you are human." If people are treated as special, as sacred even, they behave that way. This creates a different kind of society.

-Penalosa's thoughts via Bicycle Diaries

2010-04-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

So I'm cheating and I'm blogging about this right before I finish the last 30 pages. I actually didn't expect that much and that is when things tend to turn out better. (I guess that's the way I see things in general anyway.) So the whole biking thing is pretty minimal compared to David Byrne's opinionated rants with everything that he comes across in his travels. He has a fold up bike that he packs with him almost everywhere and does include a tips and what to wear guide at the end. What really pulled me towards this book is that he writes about the places that I have been i.e. London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Manila, San Francisco-duh, and New York. Even though his biking insights were nominal, I really began to appreciate his perspective about things... his anti corporate, advocacy, music and art spiel (does insanity really make a good artist).. he's more down to earth and had some legitimate insight. He also really knew his history about Manila and the Marcos' and martial law.

"Language is primarily a useful tool born out of a need for control... What may have begun as an instrument of social and economic control has now been internalized by us as a mark of being civilized..." One of his ideas about why tribes in the Philippine had to begin to adopt a formal language.

It's good for a bit of personal philosophy (that at least I can say I agree with some of his pov) rather than a book about travels, biking, and music reference... It really is his stinking diary written for the masses. one thumb up.

2010-04-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

Pavel: Are you going to blog about this?

Okay yea I'll blog about it. My thighs and calves are girthier and the ride was beautiful, until we got to Palo Alto. People are always nice and you can tell when you've reached city lines when the road is cracked and rocky. The cities in the "ghetto", 3rd st and East Palo Alto always have to the most character and look like they have the best places to eat. Santa Clara and anything around San Thomas, Central expressway are horrid and make you travel the most indirect way.

The hardest part was overcoming boredom on expressways, then tired arms, numb toes from the cold, and burning eyes and thighs. I am still soooooo thrilled about it, and it was the best way to spend my last Saturday of Spring break. Oh yea... all with a psi of 80. ouch.

P.S. - I love boathouses.

wierdo 1am

2010-04-04T08:59:00.001-07:00

wierdo 1am, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

the average American will eat 21,000 entire animals in his lifetime

2010-03-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Yeesh. I believe when I first decided to cut meat from my diet I was 19 going on 20. I thought of it to be unethical, cruel, contradicting, and it made me lose a good 10 lbs over the course. I ate seafood, then gradually cut out the fish, then milk, and eggs. I did this for about 4 more years (even in the PI)... and then I sometimes ate chicken wings <3, then I ate all seafood, then I had steak in Argentina..so on and so forth. I am still a conflicted person, but I did read this over dinner of a hot link, and after buying from the store hummus, soy bacon, drumsticks and a pack of salami. I do like wings and love sushi, but it's true that being free of meat gives you a clear mind. All of a sudden you're no longer conflicted with your ideals.. but the trade off is you get all the annoying 'why don't you eat meat' fuss dealing with everyone and anyone else in every meal you don't eat by yourself.

We have been disconnected with how our food is made, and have a disregard for animals because of the way we perceive their role in our social and cultural existence. A lot of what Foer describes in here is similar to Schlosser, Cook, and Pollan in their pov of the food industry. It's even the same sentiments that Sinclair expressed in Jungle, which is that factory farming is as unethical as life gets and what is in the meat we eat is really making us sick. Foer dug deep in his research, and he mostly proves points on how animals, even fish are intelligent and have the receptors for pain and emotion. Not too much of a influencing point (animals communicate and have feelings too?), but it is true that most of us can't eat a porkchop, after seeing a pig get his snout cut off and skinned while conscious. Or even how our Thanksgiving meals are nothing like what the Pilgrims had...and chickens get dipped in 11% chemicals (apparently it says on the label) and the water used to clean contaminated birds (feces soup). Are we really that ignorant? I know I am...

..how about if not eating meat is not such a big deal. and the USDA sucks.

I'll try it again...

2010-03-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy Bolano. .. okay. Well I have ditched a couple...
So it's a half half deal. Really. The plot was interesting, a doctor (Monsieur Pain), who goes to treat this woman's husband who's dying of hiccups, but two spies are on his tail and bribe him leave the husband be... then some weird shit happens and then he's in a movie theater, then things don't make much sense... I'm kind of tired of trying to find some deeper/ hidden meaning amongst all this. Everyone was raving about this book... but I say mehhh. I'll do a reread and get back to you...

its' ez

2010-03-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

I have a terrible habit of getting distracted and reading halfway through a book, then abandoning it for something else (Okay with the intention of returning to it.. abandon is such a harsh word). It's not that whatever I am reading is such a boring book, but I am an impulsive person. I am! I go with what I feel with a lot of things in my life, which leads to a lot unfinished business, but a lot of nice surprises. One would think that I also have regret from being impulsive, but I've learned that I become more embarrassed than regretful, and that's okay.. and maybe explains why I am an awkward being...

So I'm single damnit and being a late twenty something, I started/am becoming anxious about it. I'm in a new city and friends aren't around as often. I am used to being with someone and having attention... I'm narcissistic ... I am not trying to justify reading this book in the span of a night alone in the creepy neighborhood bar over well whisky sodas, then over my cataloging lecture in the morning. I loved it.. it's exactly what I needed and it makes me realize I'm not a f-ing lunatic girl with unrationalized emotions.

I like her cause she's gutless, honest, and even though I'm not promiscuous...it's good to hear that the guys she's been with have sucked like the ones I have dated (well Pavel was okay), and she reveals a lot of truth to the situation. I also appreciated her late twenty going onto thirty spiel at the end. The twenties do suck.... and when you're thirty you can just say "NO".

Poetry Chain (just started) and made my Monday...

2010-03-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

From a long time friend...

"here is an adam sandler-ish email:

i really miss eating pie with my old friend, sarah
because she now lives in oakland, being a ballah

it was nice chatting with you once again
hopefully, an email tag chain we can begin

we can talk about anything, including philosophy and art
or the big and little things we bought from wal-mart

i'm glad we got in touch
so much it made me want to rhyme as such

so here's to a good beginning with this email chain
during sunny days and also when there is rain

i'll be waiting for your reply
if it is in rhyme, that would would be pretty fly"

A terrible response -

"How did you find any time to write a rhyme?

I'm falling asleep on the job
and this is the only thing that's keeping me from being a slob.

I miss the pie and the nachos at midnight,
those days felt like my youth without the hindsight.

But the emails are fine,
they remind me of when I first met you in 1999!

Let's talk life, art, music, and the rest
the only thing I wouldn't speak about is Tara Patrick's .....

(Oh wait.. yes I would!)

Let me continue...
how does the world spin for you?

Mine has become blurry and my memory is faltering
I am hoping that I will finally land a job that is life altering

Books keep me calm and keep me busy,
and they never question my morals like Friedrich Nietzsche.

I hope next time this will make more sense,
But I don't have the caffeine in me to form my next sentence."

2010-03-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

I really liked his set of short stories, and I thought that this would be just as interesting (see below). Maybe my comprehension is out of whack, but I wish I spent the time reading this on Crime & Punishment instead, which is far more engrossing read than this was...also considering I have 300 more pages to read vs. this 160 page booger. It's a book is a narration of a bunch of imagined different cities by Marco Polo. I did like the city without walls and roofs, and only water pipes to define it, as well as the city and death segments, which is more of what I was hoping to see with Calvino. But maybe I just don't get it... or I like things more literal. Life: a User's Manual by Perec (another book I have 100 more pages left and never returned to...yet) is by far more interesting and structured if you want to talk in terms of space and buildings and people and things.

2010-03-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to define this guy. As a collection of more than 30 or so stories, some ranging from a couple pages to ten, he doesn't have one focus or perspective, but 20. Some stories reminded me of Arenas and Borges, others sounded like text from a Stephen Hawking book. What I liked the most that they all had a tinge or more of social commentary and I also enjoy stories that reveal a bit of truth about us or humanity. Some things I didn't enjoy too much were the streams of consciousness that consisted of too many details and things I didn't care about, even though some times after explaining a drip of water that traveled through a long maze of pipes to hang at the tip of a faucet, he somehow was able to incorporate a sentence or two about why it matters... Okay I don't think it all matters... I even tended to skip over the dialogues, which are terribly irksome to read for me. But I enjoyed his mysticism, insightfulness, and the element of surprise that many of these short stories throw at you in the end.

This was the story he ended with, but this part reminded of my friend Justin and the conversation he carried on the 22 hour train to Berlin.

"Today, after time has churned its way through billions of minutes, billions of years, and the universe in unrecognizable from what is was in those first instants, since space suddenly became transparent so that the galaxies wrap the night in their blazing spirals, and along the orbits of the solar systems millions of worlds bring forth their Himalayas and their oceans according to the cosmic seasons, and the continents throng with masses whether jubilant or suffering or slaughtering each other, turn and turn about with meticulous obstinacy, and empires rise and fall in their marble, porphyry and concrete capitals, and the markets overflow with quartered cattle and frozen peas and displays of brocade and tulle and nylon, and transistors and computers and every kind of gadget pulsate, and everybody in every galaxy is busy observing and measuring everything, from the infinitely small to the infinitely large, there's a secret that only Nugkta and I know:
that everything space and time contains is no more than that little that was generated from nothingness, the little that and that might very well not be, or be even smaller, even more meager and perishable. And if we prefer not to speak of it, whether for good or for ill, it is because the only thing we could say is this: poor, frail universe, born of nothing, all we are and do resembles you." Washington Post, 3 June 1985

cathedral v.2 - feathers

2010-03-05T13:11:00.001-08:00

cathedral v.2 - feathers, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

I think I'm starting to slightly peeve about collections that have stories that I already have read... well at least this had a handful of new ones. I always will adore you...

Berkeley rant

2010-03-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

throwback

2010-03-02T09:15:00.001-08:00

I haven't been able to finish any books lately. I've been on the short story kick -
John Fante's Wine of Youth & the Essential Checkov. heart.

edit:Okay Fante's short stories was mostly a memoir of his days in catholic school and nutty Italian parents. I got a lot of kicks from it... the last two stories are even more of a kick cause they each are about Filipino guys that migrated to the U.S. and are trying to find their American girls. HAhahahha... okay I'm done.

My flickr account is expiring tomorrow. Should I really throw another 24.95 at something that essentially won't change my life?

, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

ChrisT Apt 9 circa 2007

2010-02-27T18:07:00.001-08:00

"A man does not exist until he is drunk." -Ernest Hemingway

Taoism rules school

2010-02-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

Super cute and insightful all at the same time. I like how simple this was and how much it made me reflect on how I live my life. Taoism (DAOism) prospers in living in the nature of things, wisdom not knowledge, etc etc etc.

The Bisy Backson has to be the personality that is the most saddening because it seems like its in everyone and its killing.... wtf is a Bisy Backson? He is "a creature who is perpetually doing things and always running around frantically trying to finish things"... he has a goal in mind, but doesn't know exactly what... to attain a new ______ (insert material thing here). but then what? he has to accomplish another goal. when can he exactly live?

Perfect for a warm, sunny afternoon.

Jesus' Son: Stories

2010-02-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

I tried my best not to get through these too fast, and I feel like I need to go back and do a reread. Each one is different, but have a layer of a good for nothingness, runaways, on the run, mildy perverted, meth head personalities. But each story is like picking the most sordid looking guy that no one wants to take a second glance at in a run down town and peering into a scenario of their everyday existence. In some stories the things that happen are insane to the 'tame folk', but johnson makes a conversation with a guy who has a scar on both cheeks from having a bullet blasted through his face a fish in water - solemn occurrence.

Edit: I should add that I took a second over to listen to this book, and it was still a scuzzy and wicked time. It still feels like walking in a desolate town in a winter's day in South Dakota, jumping into the only bar then sleeping with the town's only whore. haha like I know what any of that feels like.

silly

2010-02-13T09:56:00.001-08:00

silly, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

2010-02-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

So how many people have read this book? Not me until today. For awhile I had all these preconceptions about it that kept me away from it.
1) it's high school curriculum
2)catcher in the rye is for boys, as the bell jar is for girls
3)the movie Chapter 27, which is about the guy who murdered John Lennon was heavily centered around this book... if you heard Jared Leto's voice reading some of it.. uhh I did not want to hear his voice when I read this.

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants live humbly for one." quoted from the "flitting" English teacher that rubbed Holden's head while he was sleeping. A good quote said by a creepy guy!

But it's fantastic. Franny and Zooey was also wonderful, as well as Raise high the roof beam & Seymour an introduction. I'm so mad at myself for holding off until his death notice to read this. Plenty of what Holden Caulfield thinks about is it... its relevant angst. Even as a 26 year old. Ouch....

R.I.P. J.D. Salinger

2010-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

edit A fast, but awesome read.... has the "and so on(s)." and the "hi-hos", but its an autobiography of a post apocolyptic president of the united states, who is a complete genius with his sister, when they have wild orgies and tear up everything around them. They are ugly monsters and when they were kids, raised as retards and pulled apart by psychoanalysts, but together they came up with theories and ideas that even the miniature Chinese sought.

I'm not kidding. What did you expect?

2010-02-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

Let me clear a few things up... so this novel was supposed to be a couple of things, which is "funny" and a great "summer" fiction (light?) read.. that is why I picked it up. Well I don't regret it, but I can't recall a time it was a laugh out loud kind of book and I felt it was laborious more than a few times. I even felt like abandoning the damn thing. It also is supposed to be about a family...more specifically 5 siblings, but I really only recall four, and the story mostly revolved around one Tanner, which is Simon.

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this, but it is appealing and a stimulating read. Simon pretty much wanders from job to job , city to country, house to backally room, and really it seems like he is never satisfied. The guy has something to say about everything.. like he literally goes off at every guy who hired him to the point that he doesn't have job reference or experience for anything - and doesn't want it for a matter of fact, but he somehow manages to talk his was into a new job and into a free place to live, etc. (He tends to say everything about anything that a lot of us have wanted to say those in the higher ups or about those around us..oddly). He is really onto something here... nothing too eventful happens, but it is as he is moving through life nonchalantly and through his interactions with others and insight into the way people move and work..he concludes that a profession doesn't merely make a man, cause either way we'd be the same as we age no matter what we end up doing. He appreciates the small things that he senses day to day, concludes that real freedom is from being what they say is poor, and having the disadvantage is not an ultimate tragedy...

I also read that this was the last novel he wrote before he landed in a madhouse... hrm.

India

2010-01-30T17:06:00.001-08:00

India, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

She's the sweetest thing in my life at the moment.

Her favorites: tummy rubs, yarn and feathers, lap naps, and a clean litter box

Dislikes: vacuums, slamming doors, too many treats, and being chased.

1 year, 2 mo.

Her previous name was JUJU Bee.ewwww.

2010-01-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

This set of short stories weren't as exciting as I expected them to be, but they were still entertaining and a bit awkward in terms of plot and relationships between characters, but that's always a good thing in my book. In one story, the kid gets an erection from his mother that sleeps next to him in the nude, but they believe he's the son of God. Another is a giant frog that lands in a guy's living room and asks to fight the worm underground to stop the earthquake. Yea...err. The best is still "Honey Pie"... they all have something to do with the earthquake...but yea.. hrmm ahhh I think it's missing something... like insight? depth? mmmhmm

2010-01-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

Darryl suggested this book, and my other girl pal loved his first book. I liked the photos and graphics and play with space and images, which made this book more entertaining that not. It's about a 9 year old kid in Manhattan, who is inventive, intelligent, but obviously traumatized about what happened in 9/11. He finds this key in his late father's closet and searches the burroughs of New York to find where the key belongs. Along the way he meets a handful of New Yorkers who all have their own interesting stories to tell. You also get to learn about his family ties (like his grandparents relationship), which isn't the most charming aspect of the book. This left me feeling more sad, then engaged with their family and his quest to find out about his father. My favorite parts have to be the 9 year old's inquisitive dialogue and correspondence with his hero Stephen Hawking.

2010-01-15T13:08:00.000-08:00

Matilda rules. Dahl rules. This reminded me slightly of lemony snickets cause the adults are evil and assume that a child knows nothing. In this case her parents are nitwits and Mrs Trunchbull is the devil and a child abuser! Thank goodness there is Miss Honey who actually believes in Matilda. More so I wish I was Matilda and that I had the mental capacity to read Dickens and all the classics by the age of 5, possess the power to outsmart people 10 times my age and levitate things with my mind, and instead of crying and complaining when things don't go my way, I get even!

2010-01-15T00:41:00.000-08:00

What a tripped out novel. So apparently this author has some kind of following, and his latest book received the national book award. I was able to pick up Jesus' Son for 10 cents at the craft depot by my apt, but only got to read the first story, which was insane... it was a hitchhiker that was picked up by a family and survives a car wreck. I think I'm saving these stories form some occasion or mood. Not sure what.

I found this one, which I read right away (rare!) and I could not put it down. A guy - Lenny English" who failed at hanging himself, travels to a town where men cross dress and women are mostly lesbians. He gets hired to be a detective, as well as DJ for a radio station. He spends his time with Leanna - churchgoer/lesbian/subject of his detective work; then searching for a missing son/artist; and trying to get by. He's odd to everyone around him and feels like he already died, but is likeable and you can't help but feel bad for the guy at times. I'm sure I am missing a lot of the underlined meaning and its filled with plenty philosophical, funny, and also too smart for my ass remarks. But one of my favorites is:

Leanna came back to his mind. She liked to put her head on his chest and listen to his heart. "How could one person ever hurt another after doing this?" She'd ask him the first time. "But we do".

2010-01-12T00:04:00.001-08:00

After finishing Cathedral and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, we ran out of his books, and I want more! I don't know what it is about him that resonates with me. His stories are not the happiest, nor do they take place in any big city or near the coast (yes middle america here), but they are realistic and tell the most about people emotions, intentions, tendencies, etc., which I think is refreshing. They are absurdly funny at times too. Luckily, my coworker/friend who turned me onto Carver, also recently copped his last stories, which is only in print in the UK and let me borrow them. I have to say that they are a bit more dark and gloomy, but they all hold a lot of truth to the situations each story contains. I really feel like it's what I needed... it fills two voids..one the time it takes for a different Carver book to be sold back to us and two, which is reading something a bit more down to distract me from other happenings (like below). What do I read next? they say Cheever, Chekov, and then there's always Murakami...

What the hell

2010-01-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

As dumb as it is that I am blogging about my fucking breakup, I don't have much of an avenue to dump this on. I hate it. All the energy, time, and emotions for nothing. We can go through the cliches: take and apply all that you have learned, there's always something more out there, etc. etc., but I hate it. I'm sick of self medicating or trying to meet this person or trying to put myself out there. What for? Just to get all worked up and throw a couple of decent years away.

2010-01-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

Before the Hunger Games, Collins wrote a series of these books, which is about a kid who falls through a vent into a underland with killer rats, giant roaches, spiders, and bats. He also gets to find where is lost father has been all these months. I think it's a pretty interesting setting, it's also so predictable, but I think that's what happens with a book for 8 year olds or some age group like that. Her writing is still smart, but even though I copped the second one at the thrift store, I don't think I'll be reading onto the fifth, unless something really superduper interesting happens... sigh.

2010-01-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

With my short attention span and curiosity, I copped this from work. I am usually against the "sampler" type of book, but I tried to take it more as "short stories" and I really did not want to dedicate myself to murakami and his plethora of books, but I did want to discover what all the hype was about. I am glad I checked this out. Not only did I find out what books I did not care about reading, I found a bunch that I want to check out, and my goodness is he a great writer. So really every story in here has been interesting and extraordinary, with the exception of the first part of the lieutenant story from the Wind up Bird Chronicles, which I think I will not pick up, but the second part that mentions the skinning alive of a soldier and the details being thrown into a well and pissed on was alarming. I don't think I'll be a Murakami ultimate fan so I'm into the mixed bag of stories in here. Really, he seems to convey something different in each story, and it seems you really can't get the gist of him from one stinkin' novel.

2009-12-30T11:11:00.001-08:00

winter reads... I think this free time, as well as being stuck at my parents house has made my head whirl. I am honestly A.D.D, except for that last Carver book. So I'm really reading a few things at once. On top of the Underland Chronicles, Ender's Game, etc. a REALLY FUVKING good graphic novel that I found used a work and am reading it REALLY slow cause I dont want it to end...

"Meet Asterios Polyp: middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. In a tenacious daze, he leaves the city and relocates to a small town in the American heartland."

The graphics are good, the story is well written, and much of it is way above my mental capacity, like getting all into that philosophy biz of existence. really! but I LOVE IT.

2009-12-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

I keep wanting to read more and more... these stories aren't as 'complete; as Cathedral, but he leaves a lot to wonder about and I really dig each one. Of course it would be wrong to have all of them be sappy love stories, but he does have a few with happy endings and of course with a gin on ice. I want to read more more!

2009-12-29T21:55:00.001-08:00

party with us!, originally uploaded by ter -ri -fic!.

2009-12-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is really good. I always have low expectations for sequels and things of that nature, but I think this is better than the first.. I don't think I can talk much about this without giving the story away... but the things that I like especially is the secret uprising, __________, ___________________, ________________, and __________________. I caught myself "oh my goshing" out loud and in front of my girlfriends... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really don't know why people are stuck on vampires.... how can one not want to read about a smart, independent teenage girl who is saving the nation from inequality, hunger, and a tyrant of a government? There is a slight love story, but not as gushing as that twilight business..

2009-12-16T10:00:00.000-08:00

My two hour commute is probably the greatest thing that has happened to me bookwise. I get four hours a day to read and rest and read... the only thing is trying to catch the bus in time to walk home around midnight. Around this time I am paranoid!

A coworker/friend bought this book for me, cause it's one of his favorite authors. I've heard a lot about this guy, not only from my work, but apparently he's Murakami's fav and just a really contemporary classic guy. FYI: a first edition copy of his first book we sold for $260!!!

A book of short stories..

A few that stick out to me.. the first story "the feathers", is pretty much a guy who brings his wife to dinner at a coworker/friend's house, except his friend and his wife are pretty eccentric, moderately middle America - bad teeth, ugly baby, a peacock for a pet. Others were the dishearted baker who repeatedly calls the parents of a dead son to pick up the son's birthday cake; an man who looses his job and makes a place on the couch for months, while remaining optimistic to his wife, as well as misses that their fridge has broken; a father whose wife's leaves him and he has to rely on sitters for his kids, then he gets a fever that may be caused from more than his health;....err I know I can go one and on...

but the beauty of it all is even though many are sad, there is a tinge of humor in it all. It exemplifies the human condition, and in each story, its first person has a different voice and persona, where you can't always tell who they are (even if it is a woman or man), but you feel like you are a part of them...many with a hearty dose of cynicism... yes!

Now I just need to be a GREAT interviewee

2009-12-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

Dear Sarah:

Congratulations! You were successful in the examination for the Library Aide.

Your name has been placed on the Eligible List in Category 1. The categories are as follows:

Rank 1 (90-100) = Best Qualified
Rank 2 (80-89) = Well Qualified
Rank 3 (70-79) = Qualified

Settling in

2009-12-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

Somethings:

I have a new awareness - aka - don't carry anything important enough that you aren't willing to give up when someone has a gun in their pocket.

Right before closing, guy called my work looking for a job, and started cursing then said something about wrapping a head a hitting it with hatchet. Guns all of sudden didn't scare me as much.

I got my first Oakland parking ticket for street cleaning. $63!!! No parking late at night, car payments, and spilled pots of soil in my back seat = I hate having a car.

Attempting to hold in place the massive amounts of paper in my tilted drawing desk by a quart of paint, I managed to spill white paint in my new room.

Bart ride + Bus Ride + Light rail = 2.5 hour commute. The slowest thing is the F*ing LIGHTRAIL!!

I met my first friend taking public transportation. She's awesome. Her name is Keema. She's latina, tomboy, and mildly gangster, but she's 26, works at an organic food distribution company, likes to read, and "Cloudy with a Chance of meatballs" was also her fav childhood book. MINE TOO!!!!

I had three papers to write to end my semester. I finished 2, but the 10 page single spaced research paper, ended up being 9 paged double spaced. Well I'm not the only slacker.. did I tell you that my professor for this paper is in the hospital? and this is in addition to a deer accident and 2 funerals that she had this semester.

I haven't been reading, but now I can.. I did manage to finish the great....

Why is Vonnegut so nutty, but so true to the nature of man? In this book, the narrator is researching the scientist who created the atom bomb for a book, and digs himself deeper into the family of the mad scientist. Next thing it's the end of the world because of the "ice-nine" that turns all water into crystal and then nothing can survive. It comes with a made up religion and everything.

Really, with all the chaos, being here feels great.

loves in SJ (stolen moments)

2009-12-01T22:26:00.000-08:00

Almost out of here...

2009-11-27T22:59:00.000-08:00

After 26 years in this damn city, I am finally moving! Not going too far, but it's definitely a new place to explore. Goodbye San Jose.

I'm so sleepy

2009-11-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

some odds and ends..

I got my first low grade on a paper (85%), but it was only cause of my bad grammar. (Which is okay, cause at least my thesis was good!) That's what happens when I wait until the day before to complete a 6 or so page paper, which is happening more often then not. I once had a professor tell me I should looking into ESL (English as a second language) writing labs. ouch.

a customer at work "You know what happens when you get older? you realize that everyone is full of shit. See the Iraq War and War in Afghanistan?"

after watching the horrendous Food, Inc. I started to think that I really should watch what I eat. Today my coworker did a run to McDonalds and I ate a hormone inflated McChicken. The fries were honestly stale and chalky. I also got laughed at for ordering an orange juice with my McDonalds meal. I figured after all the beers and bad stuff I ingested yesterday.. I think I needed a bad meal to do me over.

I put in $4 bucks (3 bills and change) in my gas tank and the gas light didn't turn off.

the end.

Darryl's really pushing the 3 star reviews or something.
(edit: the movie was gnar, but well done! if you read omnivore's dilemma it seems to be really similar in content)

For those that don't want to read Pollan's big adult book, there's a young reader's edition that I picked up which is cheaper, has less text, but more pictures! a little dumbed down , but good!)

2009-11-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Did I also mention that those loud mouthed know it alls (see 2nd blog down) also had a thing against hemingway? maybe that's why I felt inclined to punch 'em in their wannabe literary chinky faces.

A biography of his time spent in paris, it talks about his friends, the likes of G. Stein, E. Pound, Joyce, and Fitzgerald. Here he is 25, hasn't been recognized as a writer yet (sun also rises was just in the works).. he's poor, but happy. Some nice insight into the personalities of some classic writers. After this I understand that Fitzgerald is a controlling, asshole of a drunk, but there's a part called "a matter of measurements" where he feels inadequate and confides with hemingway about this..cause his wife said his curve and size couldn't make any woman happy. wanky!

Okay..so if you are ever with a friend in a cafe... mind the people studying around you. If you have to be such a narcissist (where you must talk so everyone can hear you) and like to talk about people, watch what you say..cause I really think the things a person says about others is a reflection of what they really are and trying to hide... i.e. hipsters who talk shit about hipsters. Have you realized only hipsters really use that word?

I HATE that word.

the end.

Current State of Living v.2

2009-11-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

loud mouth know it alls in a coffee shop.

2009-11-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

How obnoxious are little asian hipsters who "don't like new york, more specifically brooklyn because there are too many hipsters, but love san francisco because 'even though they crunch granola' they are more 'real'."

yea she has the droopy forever 21 beanie, skinny jeans in her boots, and everything.

Just get over yourself and shut the fuck up.

I am a bad book clubber

2009-11-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

It sounded like a good read...
I honestly didn't read through every chapter, cause I didn't care for a lot of the things he was saying. Some of the shorts sounded like an a narrative of the episodes I have seen on tv. I am a huge Bourdain fan..I've read kitchen confidential and cook's tour, which were great, but I realize that these were the pieces that didn't make it in any other publication, other than this book and therefor fell short. He is self-actualized in this book, which is a huge problem. He sounds like a rich tourist trying to act cultured that's telling others not to do the touristy things.

hrmph. I did like some of the shorts, especially his rants about the pesky customer and how all the restaurant workers remember, his visit to Brazil, old Manhattan, and his 4 friends.. aka his fav novels (one which was Down and Out in Paris and London ...I knew Bourdain wrote too much like Orwell at times.!!!) I did go through every chapter and picked what I actually wanted to read through. I realize that maybe I actually had enough of this guy where his food writing and traveling has become uninteresting-ly predictable.

Sorry Julia... I failed.

the librarian of all librarians

2009-11-12T12:28:00.001-08:00

I have been sitting on this book awhile.. it's apparently some of his most famous stories, and I have to admit with library school, it's not necessarily an appealing read because it's very demanding. Once you're engulfed in one of his stories, you find it to be profound and so unique... kind of dream like with a some mysticism. Some of the more memorable ones:

Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius- Uqbar is a place he discovers as a result of tracing the origins of an encyclopedia

The Circular Ruins - a man and his dreams

The Babylon Lottery

The Library of Babel

Funes, the Memprious - a man who suddenly regains a memory beyond belief -a young man with an old soul

Death and the Compass

The Secret Miracle - a man has a death sentence and asks God to prolong his life a year longer so he can finish his story...the year is granted, but it's right before his execution and only in his own mind