Reading list

last updated: 11 January 2003 back to kcarlson - family - travel index

Reading - 2002 (by author, Recent, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, and older)

title

author

comments / quotes
(presence or lack is not intended to imply the book is bad or good, I do not regret reading any)

Coyote Blue Christopher Moore ....exposed to so many religions, Calliope had developed a malleability of faith that stayed with her into adulthood. Through the assimilation of many spiritual beliefs, without science or cynicism to balance them, Calliope was able to define everything in her world, accept the highs and lows of life with resolve, and never be burdened by the need to understand. Why understand when you can believe? For Calliope, every event was mystical and every moment magical...
....If they got what they wanted, how come they ain't feeling it? How come they still feel empty? Well, son, between you an dme there ain't no contentment, no satisfaction, this side of the grave....
....Each time he thought things had reached a plateau of weirdness, something even weirder had happened. The result, he realized, was that he was now accepting anything that happened, no matter how weird, without resistance. Chaos was the new order in his life....
....Action based on hope just felt better than the paralysis of certainty....

Good in Bed Jennifer Weiner ....Well, what else could he do? You say, 'I think we need some time apart,' and he either agrees with you and walks away clinging to whatever shreds of dignity he's got left, or begs you not to leave him, and looks pathetic. He chose the dignity cling....
....She was sorry for how he'd behaved, sorry he hadn't been there for me, sorriest of all that she hadn't known so she could have made him do the right thing. Which, of course, wasn't possible. You can't make grownups do what they don't want to do. But I didn't say any of that....

My Life on a Plate India Knight ....It is a well-known fact-- the best-know fact, in fact, a fact known to everyone in the entire world-- that sex stops being sexy once you've been seeing someone for more than six months, a year if you're lucky. And so what? It's only sex. It's only loins. And at the moment it's nothing at all....
....They'll think I'm one of those women who can't function without a crisis-- that I'm one of those sad bints who invent dramas out of nothing so they can feel their life is exciting and worth living....
....It's going to be okay. Of course it is. How could it not be? No one's died. It's going to be fine. Things could be worse, remember? Things could always be worse...

Drowning Ruth Christina Schwarz ....Had the craziness been there...all along? She'd seemed so transparent, with her heart on her sleeve, with her quick blush and easy laugh. She'd been amazed by the simplest things...
....You have to be careful with your feelings, I think. It's a mistake to let them go just because they're summoned....
....On a farm, the earth has secrets, and the weather has passions, but people don't matter so much....

Chasing Shadows Lucrecia Guerrero ....Sometimes it is better to pretend you cannot understand. Why make arguments?...
....Why can't you never just accept your fate, eh?
I make my own fate....

Border Crossing Pat Barker ....The fact is that when confronted by a number of disturbing events, the human mind insists on finding a pattern. We can't wait to thread the black beads on to a single string. But some events are, simply, random....
....And I keep looking back, and you know if you're not careful the present starts to destroy the past...
....I have to go now. My rabbit's gone wonky.... That's what a great love comes to -- a rabbit running between graves....

Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris ...anything worth doing turned out to be a girl thing....
....They themselves listened only to Greek music, an oxymoron as far as the rest of the world is conerned. Slam its tail in the door of the milk truck, and a stray cat could easily yowl out a single certain to top the charts back in Spata or Thessaloniki....
....I know it sounds calculating, but if you're not cute, you might as well be clever....
....I'm told it's not as glamorous as it sounds, but in terms of fun for the entire family, I'm fairly confident that it beats the sack race at the annual IBM picnic....

Practical Demonkeeping Christopher Moore ...."Are you saying that the human race was created to irritate Satan?"
"That is correct. Jehovah is infinite in his snottiness."....
...."You're trying to be tricky. What's morality?"
"It's the difference betwen what is right and what you can rationalize."
"Must be a human thing."
"Exactly."....
....The cloud of bats soon disappeared into the night, only to be replaced the next day by an equally dense cloud of landbound vermin: personal-injury lawyers....

Blackberry Wine Joanne Harris ....Their love was something which colored the air between them like sunlight....

In the Name of Salome Julia Alvarez ....She herself is worried about the emptiness that lies ahead. Childless and motherless, she is a bead unstrung from the necklace of the generations....
...a man's voice cried out, "What a man that woman is!" It was meant to be a compliment, I suppose....

see jane date Melissa Senate ....When I looked at a pack of cigarettes, especially a fresh pack, I felt instantly comforted. Everything in the world was as okay as it was going to get when I had a full box of Marlboro Lights in my purse. When I looked at a pack containing just a few cigarettes, I felt panicked -- a feeling that never settled until I bought a new pack....
....Plus, when you were used to the whole world falling all over you, it was probably a little tough to deal with parents who knocked you down to size....
....Hello? Were they on drugs? Hadn't I been through enough? ... I was over dating. For a long, long time. Clearly I sucked at it. I'd rather become a workaholic. At least it gave something back, like a promotion and a raise....
....Through the beauty, the strength and the supposed perfection of her existence, she exuded vulnerability. Not helplessness. Not fear. Vulnerability. And that was exactly what I had been so afraid to show my entire life. Terror at appearing vulnerable had kept me on the outside looking in, set me on the defensive and ready to attack to protect myself....

The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien (another re-read)
...Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow may bring. For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to bring worse than today, for many days to come. And there is nothing more that I can do to help it. The board is set, and the pieces are moving...
...the world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them....
....It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two...
....It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing....

Candide Voltaire (don't know how many times i've re-read this, a favorite book)
-- I should like to know which is worse, being raped a hundred times by negro pirates, having a butock cut off, running the gauntlet in the Bulgar army, being flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, being dissected and rowing in the galleys -- experiencing, in a word, all the miseries through which we have passsed -- or else just sitting here and doing nothing?
-- It's a hard question, said Candide.

The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien (another re-read)
....Deserves Death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends....

Beautiful Losers Leonard Cohen ....I wanted to smile at dogma, yet ruin my ego against it....
....I want to hammer a beautiful colored bruise on the whole American monolith. I want a breathing chimney on the corner of the continent. I want a country to break in half so men can learn to break their lives in half. I want History to jump on Canada's spine with sharp skates. I want the edge of a tin can to drink America's throat. I want two hundred million to know that everything can be different, any old different....

The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien (another re-read)
....All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us....
....Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it....
....Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story....

Away Jane Urquhart ....I would like to be able to walk in a field like this. These colors. These dances....
....They've always had this hunger, you see, for the day that words can be spun into meaning. Nothing could keep them from it....
....There's a rare kind of beauty to be got in hidden places....

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Christopher Moore ....In all these endeavors, he had experienced a meteoric rise to mediocrity and quit before total embarrassment and self-loathing set in. [He] was cursed with an artist's soul but no talent. He possessed the angst and the inspiration, but not the means to create....
....Scratch a cynic and you'll find a disappointed romantic....
....a smile was breaking there on her face. A smile with too much history, but a smile nonetheless....

"I can sacrifice," the woman said, "I can."
"F*** off, lady," Molly said, "Martyrdom's easy, it comes with the plumbing."

Joie D'Amour Anne-Marie Villefranche ....Women have their reasons, whether they understand them or not, for the multiplicity of ways in which they seek pleasure....
....Perhaps they can be summarized by saying that there was no visible trace of French descent to be discerned in her -- and when one has said that of a person, all has been said!...
....Men are complete idiots... show them a pair of drawers and they take leave of their senses. What stupidity!...
....She was capable of honest emotions and deceit at the same time -- without herself being able to tell the difference. In short, she was a woman....
....We are all foolish when we are young, especially girls....

Plasir D'Amour Anne-Marie Villefranche ....The true pleasure of shopping is not to need anything....
....But the dangers of celibacy are very great....

The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien (another re-read)
....We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't see what anybody sees in them....
....If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world....
....You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person... and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!...

Sick Puppy Carl Hiaasen ....Fresh out of school, he naively believed it was possible to find middle ground between the granola-head bunny lovers and the ruthless corporate despoilers....
....That's the thing about being a labrador retriever -- you were born for fun. Seldom was your loopy, free-wheeling mind cluttered by contemplation, and never at all by somber worry; every day was a romp. What else could there possibly be to life? Eating was a thrill. Pissing was a treat. Shitting was a joy. And licking your own balls? Bliss. And everywhere you went were gullible humans who patted and hugged and fussed over you....
....Son, I can't tell you what to do with your life ... but I will tell you there's probably no peace for people like you and me in this world. Somebody's got to be angry or nothing gets fixed. That's what we were put here for, to stay pissed off....
....She made me laugh.... I've gotten to where that counts more than, well, that other stuff. Which means I'm either getting real old or real smart....

"What I'm thinking is how much I want to need you."
"What if I feel the same way?"
"So we're both off the rails."

Cha Cha Cha Jane Heller ....You're in a room with a mass murderer, a terrorist, and a lawyer, and you have a gun with only two bullets in it. What do you do?
You shoot the lawyer twice....

....That's the real bummer about the cha cha cha -- the person who gets cha cha cha-ed comes out looking just as dopey as the person doing the cha cha cha-ing....

eat me Linda Jaivin ....Well, there's no logical reason at all. I just didn't think of it. I didn't get my Ph.D. in common sense, after all, I got it in film theory. As you know, they are completely unrelated fields....
....Even though he's really old, like in his forties or something [ouch! :-)], he's pretty cool....
....She realized that she'd finally met her living ideal: the heterosexual gay man....

`Reading - 2002 (by author, Recent, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, and older)`
`title`	`author`	*`comments / quotes`* `(presence or lack is not intended to imply the book is bad or good, I do not regret reading any)`

Coyote Blue	Christopher Moore	....exposed to so many religions, Calliope had developed a malleability of faith that stayed with her into adulthood. Through the assimilation of many spiritual beliefs, without science or cynicism to balance them, Calliope was able to define everything in her world, accept the highs and lows of life with resolve, and never be burdened by the need to understand. Why understand when you can believe? For Calliope, every event was mystical and every moment magical... ....If they got what they wanted, how come they ain't feeling it? How come they still feel empty? Well, son, between you an dme there ain't no contentment, no satisfaction, this side of the grave.... ....Each time he thought things had reached a plateau of weirdness, something even weirder had happened. The result, he realized, was that he was now accepting anything that happened, no matter how weird, without resistance. Chaos was the new order in his life.... ....Action based on hope just felt better than the paralysis of certainty....
Good in Bed	Jennifer Weiner	....Well, what else could he do? You say, 'I think we need some time apart,' and he either agrees with you and walks away clinging to whatever shreds of dignity he's got left, or begs you not to leave him, and looks pathetic. He chose the dignity cling.... ....She was sorry for how he'd behaved, sorry he hadn't been there for me, sorriest of all that she hadn't known so she could have made him do the right thing. Which, of course, wasn't possible. You can't make grownups do what they don't want to do. But I didn't say any of that....
My Life on a Plate	India Knight	....It is a well-known fact-- the best-know fact, in fact, a fact known to everyone in the entire world-- that sex stops being sexy once you've been seeing someone for more than six months, a year if you're lucky. And so what? It's only sex. It's only loins. And at the moment it's nothing at all.... ....They'll think I'm one of those women who can't function without a crisis-- that I'm one of those sad bints who invent dramas out of nothing so they can feel their life is exciting and worth living.... ....It's going to be okay. Of course it is. How could it not be? No one's died. It's going to be fine. Things could be worse, remember? Things could always be worse...
Drowning Ruth	Christina Schwarz	....Had the craziness been there...all along? She'd seemed so transparent, with her heart on her sleeve, with her quick blush and easy laugh. She'd been amazed by the simplest things... ....You have to be careful with your feelings, I think. It's a mistake to let them go just because they're summoned.... ....On a farm, the earth has secrets, and the weather has passions, but people don't matter so much....
Chasing Shadows	Lucrecia Guerrero	....Sometimes it is better to pretend you cannot understand. Why make arguments?... ....Why can't you never just accept your fate, eh? I make my own fate....
Border Crossing	Pat Barker	....The fact is that when confronted by a number of disturbing events, the human mind insists on finding a pattern. We can't wait to thread the black beads on to a single string. But some events are, simply, random.... ....And I keep looking back, and you know if you're not careful the present starts to destroy the past... ....I have to go now. My rabbit's gone wonky.... That's what a great love comes to -- a rabbit running between graves....
Me Talk Pretty One Day	David Sedaris	...anything worth doing turned out to be a girl thing.... ....They themselves listened only to Greek music, an oxymoron as far as the rest of the world is conerned. Slam its tail in the door of the milk truck, and a stray cat could easily yowl out a single certain to top the charts back in Spata or Thessaloniki.... ....I know it sounds calculating, but if you're not cute, you might as well be clever.... ....I'm told it's not as glamorous as it sounds, but in terms of fun for the entire family, I'm fairly confident that it beats the sack race at the annual IBM picnic....
Practical Demonkeeping	Christopher Moore	...."Are you saying that the human race was created to irritate Satan?" "That is correct. Jehovah is infinite in his snottiness.".... ...."You're trying to be tricky. What's morality?" "It's the difference betwen what is right and what you can rationalize." "Must be a human thing." "Exactly.".... ....The cloud of bats soon disappeared into the night, only to be replaced the next day by an equally dense cloud of landbound vermin: personal-injury lawyers....
Blackberry Wine	Joanne Harris	....Their love was something which colored the air between them like sunlight....
In the Name of Salome	Julia Alvarez	....She herself is worried about the emptiness that lies ahead. Childless and motherless, she is a bead unstrung from the necklace of the generations.... ...a man's voice cried out, "What a man that woman is!" It was meant to be a compliment, I suppose....
see jane date	Melissa Senate	....When I looked at a pack of cigarettes, especially a fresh pack, I felt instantly comforted. Everything in the world was as okay as it was going to get when I had a full box of Marlboro Lights in my purse. When I looked at a pack containing just a few cigarettes, I felt panicked -- a feeling that never settled until I bought a new pack.... ....Plus, when you were used to the whole world falling all over you, it was probably a little tough to deal with parents who knocked you down to size.... ....Hello? Were they on drugs? Hadn't I been through enough? ... I was over dating. For a long, long time. Clearly I sucked at it. I'd rather become a workaholic. At least it gave something back, like a promotion and a raise.... ....Through the beauty, the strength and the supposed perfection of her existence, she exuded vulnerability. Not helplessness. Not fear. Vulnerability. And that was exactly what I had been so afraid to show my entire life. Terror at appearing vulnerable had kept me on the outside looking in, set me on the defensive and ready to attack to protect myself....
The Return of the King	J.R.R. Tolkien	(another re-read) ...Well, no need to brood on what tomorrow may bring. For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to bring worse than today, for many days to come. And there is nothing more that I can do to help it. The board is set, and the pieces are moving... ...the world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.... ....It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two... ....It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing....
Candide	Voltaire	(don't know how many times i've re-read this, a favorite book) -- I should like to know which is worse, being raped a hundred times by negro pirates, having a butock cut off, running the gauntlet in the Bulgar army, being flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, being dissected and rowing in the galleys -- experiencing, in a word, all the miseries through which we have passsed -- or else just sitting here and doing nothing? -- It's a hard question, said Candide.
The Two Towers	J.R.R. Tolkien	(another re-read) ....Deserves Death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends....
Beautiful Losers	Leonard Cohen	....I wanted to smile at dogma, yet ruin my ego against it.... ....I want to hammer a beautiful colored bruise on the whole American monolith. I want a breathing chimney on the corner of the continent. I want a country to break in half so men can learn to break their lives in half. I want History to jump on Canada's spine with sharp skates. I want the edge of a tin can to drink America's throat. I want two hundred million to know that everything can be different, any old different....
The Fellowship of the Ring	J.R.R. Tolkien	(another re-read) ....All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.... ....Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it.... ....Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story....
Away	Jane Urquhart	....I would like to be able to walk in a field like this. These colors. These dances.... ....They've always had this hunger, you see, for the day that words can be spun into meaning. Nothing could keep them from it.... ....There's a rare kind of beauty to be got in hidden places....
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove	Christopher Moore	....In all these endeavors, he had experienced a meteoric rise to mediocrity and quit before total embarrassment and self-loathing set in. [He] was cursed with an artist's soul but no talent. He possessed the angst and the inspiration, but not the means to create.... ....Scratch a cynic and you'll find a disappointed romantic.... ....a smile was breaking there on her face. A smile with too much history, but a smile nonetheless.... "I can sacrifice," the woman said, "I can." "F*** off, lady," Molly said, "Martyrdom's easy, it comes with the plumbing."
Joie D'Amour	Anne-Marie Villefranche	....Women have their reasons, whether they understand them or not, for the multiplicity of ways in which they seek pleasure.... ....Perhaps they can be summarized by saying that there was no visible trace of French descent to be discerned in her -- and when one has said that of a person, all has been said!... ....Men are complete idiots... show them a pair of drawers and they take leave of their senses. What stupidity!... ....She was capable of honest emotions and deceit at the same time -- without herself being able to tell the difference. In short, she was a woman.... ....We are all foolish when we are young, especially girls....
Plasir D'Amour	Anne-Marie Villefranche	....The true pleasure of shopping is not to need anything.... ....But the dangers of celibacy are very great....
The Hobbit	J.R.R. Tolkien	(another re-read) ....We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't see what anybody sees in them.... ....If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.... ....You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person... and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!...
Sick Puppy	Carl Hiaasen	....Fresh out of school, he naively believed it was possible to find middle ground between the granola-head bunny lovers and the ruthless corporate despoilers.... ....That's the thing about being a labrador retriever -- you were born for fun. Seldom was your loopy, free-wheeling mind cluttered by contemplation, and never at all by somber worry; every day was a romp. What else could there possibly be to life? Eating was a thrill. Pissing was a treat. Shitting was a joy. And licking your own balls? Bliss. And everywhere you went were gullible humans who patted and hugged and fussed over you.... ....Son, I can't tell you what to do with your life ... but I will tell you there's probably no peace for people like you and me in this world. Somebody's got to be angry or nothing gets fixed. That's what we were put here for, to stay pissed off.... ....She made me laugh.... I've gotten to where that counts more than, well, that other stuff. Which means I'm either getting real old or real smart.... "What I'm thinking is how much I want to need you." "What if I feel the same way?" "So we're both off the rails."
Cha Cha Cha	Jane Heller	....You're in a room with a mass murderer, a terrorist, and a lawyer, and you have a gun with only two bullets in it. What do you do? You shoot the lawyer twice.... ....That's the real bummer about the cha cha cha -- the person who gets cha cha cha-ed comes out looking just as dopey as the person doing the cha cha cha-ing....
eat me	Linda Jaivin	....Well, there's no logical reason at all. I just didn't think of it. I didn't get my Ph.D. in common sense, after all, I got it in film theory. As you know, they are completely unrelated fields.... ....Even though he's really old, like in his forties or something [ouch! :-)], he's pretty cool.... ....She realized that she'd finally met her living ideal: the heterosexual gay man....

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