Archives: books
- Ravenclaw
According to The Harry Potter Sorting Hat Personality Test, I'm a Ravenclaw - but just barely: Ravenclaw 75, Hufflepuff 73, Slytherin 68, Gryffindor 65 But, Lisa took the test for me, and is convinced that I'm quite Slytherin: Slytherin 85, Gryffindor 62, Ravenclaw 61, Hufflepuff 38 One of us has a perception problem, at least when it comes to me! What house are you?... - Beach
Marci was in town for a job interview at Harvard, so we took wednesday off from work, and headed for "the beach":http://www.google.com/maps?q=good+harbor+beach&ll=42.621885,-70.628587&spn=0.019260,0.031311&t=k&near=Gloucester,+MA&cid=42615833,-70662500,16941471628673446076&num=10&start=0&hl=en in Gloucester. So much less crowded on weekdays... Having just finished "Tipping Point":http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html, I dug into a couple hundred pages of Malcolm Gladwell's new book, "Blink":http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html... ...and, we enjoyed a big jug of homemade Sangria.... - Harry Potter 6
Well, it was yet another quick read, but Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was fun. I thought it was very satisfying, but not as enjoyable as books 4 & 5. I’d hate to spoil anything, but Designweenie brings up one potential inconsistency.... - Saul Bellow
I have very few literary heroes, but Saul Bellow is one of them. Since I read Henderson the Rain King in high school, I’ve admired his wit, and ability to charge the most ordinary among us with great thoughts and purpose. His characters didn’t always succeed in life, but they were cast with such ironic humor, that it hardly mattered. I was sorry to hear that he died yesterday, at the age of 89. I never got to meet him when I was a student at BU, however I did help rescue a manuscript of his from his misbehaving computer,... - SimpleBook
Dan Cederholm of "SimpleBits":http://simplebits.com/ has written a book, "Web Standards Solutions":http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593812/suckahs-20/, which arrived today with it's familiar "cover":http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1590593812.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg. I'm interested in streamlining my site, improving on semantic markup, etc., so I hope that Dan's book will be a good reference. Oh, and I love his "redesign":http://www.simplebits.com/notebook/2004/06/14/fresh.html. It seems that "everyone":http://www.mezzoblue.com/ is "refreshing":http://www.stopdesign.com/ their "sites":http://www.capndesign.com/ these days.... - McSweeney's Quarterly Issue 10
McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales arrived in the mail today, and it's something to behold. Guest-edited by Michael Chabon, it revives the notion that short-story writing can be as varied in theme and form as longer format writing. It's the celebrity issue: Neil Gaiman, Michael Crichton, Dave Eggers himself, Harlan Ellison, & Rick Moody, & all proceeds to benefit 826 Velencia. Complimenting this truly wonderful writing, is the design, which resembles a pulp publication from the 1940s, a time when the short-story could take the form of a western, science fiction, detective, or horror. The illustrations are fun, and... - You Shall Know Our Velocity
I've been reading a lot lately, just not talking much about it. I finally finished getting through McSweeney's Issue No. 5... I had previously just skimmed it. While visiting Kunta in Brooklyn, we stumbled into the McSweeney's store on 7th ave, and I found it such an odd, futilely amusing place. I mean, your typical McSweeney's reader isn't inclined to buy and sport a tshirt, is he or she? And as for the other random items they sell, though I enjoyed pawing through them, they aren't at all desirable to purchase. I guess that's not the point: McSweeney's is as... - Biography of an Architectural Icon
I started reading this book, Divided We Stand, a biography of the building of the World Trade Center. Written before the collapse on September 11, though informed by the earlier bombing in 1993, the author offers context and cultural comment on what was arguably the world's most famous building (were they one or two buildings?). What is especially shocking is that not only was it one of the last cataclysmic 'urban-renewal' mega-schemes held over from the 60s, (it was completed in 1972), that eliminated 16 blocks of low-income (though thriving) commercial space, but also it was the largest government-sponsored real... - Katya Katya Katya
I read Paul Greenberg's first book Leaving Katya, after hearing an interview with Bruce Gellerman on WBUR, and I was so very pleased. The least I can do is recommend it to anyone who's gone through a 'Russian phase'. And, I suspect the author is a web-savvy guy, cause he found me, and sent me this e-mail:... - Pagan's Head, from Pop-Fiction to Pop-Biography
The Times has a nearly glowing review of Pagan Kennedy's new book, a historical biography of the African-American missionary William Henry Sheppard. Kennedy used to write this silly 'zine' called Pagan's Head in the 80s, from a crappy little house on Farrington Street, in my neighborhood. 666 and I swapped books by Pagan Kennedy, and I always found her writing quirky and fun. I can't believe she's getting good reviews for writing something more academic...... - To continue with the Harry
To continue with the Harry Potter books thread, of which i have read none, the producers of the 700 club have posted an article titled What's A Christian To Do With Harry Potter?, with such insightful analysis as: If you've ever had a conversation with another believer (my emphasis) about Harry Potter, you've probably discovered that it can be a very divisive issue. And division in the body of Christ can be as dangerous as any affect Harry could have on children. I guess the religious right is preaching tolerance in the 21st century. But, looks to me like Pat... - Presley and Harry Potter
Presley has been reading the Harry Potter books lately, (with great enjoyment i might add). Slate has a funny article in their culturebox, about fantasy writers.... - Finally finished Sampoo Planet, by
Finally finished Sampoo Planet, by Douglas Coupland, (the oh-now-so-extinct zeitgeist writer of the early 90s), and found myself enjoying it quite a bit. The Gen-X thing might be pass�, considering many of Coupland's readers went on to make intenet cash in the mid to late 90s, but i found a strong identification with his characters. And while i can't say that i am a 21-year-old Reagan youth, in the early 90s, in a very small, northwest town near a toxic Superfund site, growing up wiith Hippy parents, struggling with "making it" in corporate America... i can identify with the struggling... - David Sedaris's One-Man Christmas Comedy Show
david sedaris, a regular contributor to NPR, is doing a run of his one-man christmas comedy show in boston: Sedaris began work in December of 1992 as one of Santa's elves in the Manhattan Macy's "SantaLand" department. After observing fisticuffs between mothers in line with their rambunctious progeny awaiting their turn to sit in the lap of a lecherous, drunken Santa, Sedaris penned the "SantaLand Diaries."... - i'd love to get my hands on...
i'd love to get my hands on this book 'Typography: Macro- + Microaesthetics', by Willi Kunz......
All
Technorati Profile