Coffeespoons

Read: 1/28/09 I was supposed to finish my Don DeLillo book, but I couldn't get past the middle, so I turned to this one just to have a sense of accomplishment. The book was given to me last Christmas by a good friend, to whom I also gave a Time Warp Trio book last holiday season. We didn't plan this, of course. Turns out, this book that he gave me is the first in the whole series (whereas the book I gave him was the ninth). The series is so named because on Joe's 10th birthday, he receives a book from his magician uncle. His two friends, Sam and Fred, persuade him to open it, thereby triggering the book's power. For the book is no ordinary book! (Imagine that.) When it is opened, it transports the three unwitting friends into different time periods. Told in the same Scieszka humor, (for which, I suppose, he is named the first Children's Laureate) the Time Warp Trio is short, fun, and witty. Moreover, it comes with a television series and a website with cool games! ...

Read: 1/22/09 You know how when you read a book, you suddenly stop in the middle, put the book down and stare off into the distance because you're just so struck by the beauty and immensity of what you read? This book had a lot of those moments for me. Like many good novels, the story of this Pulitzer Prize winner can be summarized in just one short paragraph. However, it's the explanation of why and how it happened, told in the most lyrical manner, that captured me. This book is peopled with women, decidedly strange but beautiful for their loss and their understanding of transcience. And I happen to be big on pained yet dignified and stalwart women. Definitely not a fast read, but a highly worthwhile one. 5/5 stars

Read: 1/20/09 Yes, I like YA. No, not because I teach high school, though I sometimes use it as an excuse to read some YA fiction. However, there are instances when I temporarily lose my taste for it, especially after I've read a really good adult contemporary novel. But then, I go back to YA, usually when I read a terrible adult contemporary novel. This is not really the case here. But I thought I'd give myself a break after going through a non-fiction book (which I reiterate, I enjoyed). So I picked up this book which had been on my shelf for the past month. First heard about Eva Ibbotson after my "baby" for Kris Kringle had a lot of her books on her wishlist. I found this specific title in Book Sale one day and thought I might as well try her out. The verdict: Not bad. Very British, yet cute. Island of the Aunts gives a lot of kids their ideal fantasy about being away from their parents, who, for one reason or another, are so caught up in their adult lives and thus...

I hardly ever read non-fiction for leisure. Actually, I don't at all. This book, however, is the first non-fiction book I've read that I thoroughly enjoyed. Never mind that I'm not a hiker nor a nature-lover. Never mind that I have no idea where the Appalachian Trail is (well, now I do, and you can, too! Good 'ol Wikipedia). The fact is, Bryson is hilarious, and therefore highly entertaining. Aside from its entertainment value, the book is full of interesting facts about nature, hiking, and the US itself. I'm glad I read it and I'm actually looking for more Bryson now to see how consistent he is. Read: 1/19/09 5/5 stars

Last year I read The Blind Assassin by Atwood, and it left me reeling because of its beauty and pain. So, I thought, "This must be her best. 'Cause it's so damn beautiful that she can't possibly write like this consistently." I was proven wrong. Though I still prefer Blind Assassin , let me assure you that Alias Grace is written with the same hauntingly beautiful prose. And it's not just the prose that's haunting--it's also the subject. Grace Marks was a real-life maid who was accused of murdering her employer and his housekeeper-cum-paramour. The events occurred in Canada in the 18th century, and Grace Marks's story and guilt were subject of much debate. According to the historical accounts, Grace was in cahoots with James McDermott, another individual who worked for Thomas Kinnear, Grace's employer. Marks and McDermott allegedly murdered Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, the housekeeper, out of envy and greed. They ran away together, but were ...

By other standards, this is not really a marathon. Specifically, I'm referring to the standards of the power readers at Play Book Tag , who can down 10 books or more in a week. By my standards, though, considering that we're only a little over three weeks into the year, and one-third of the books I've read are Charlaine Harris', I therefore declare this as a marathon. Book 1: Club Dead The third book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, alternatively known as the Southern Vampire mysteries. For those unfamiliar with the Southern Vampire mysteries, the first book in this series, Dead Until Dark, is the basis for the HBO series True Blood . And because I seem to be into vampires (no, not because of Twilight. Although I did enjoy reading those...), I picked up on this series right away after my brief infatuation with Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series (which I'm totally over now). Anyway, Club Dead features a new and, perhaps, unwelcome development in the story-...

Ignorant me always thought Tourette's was a condition that made the individual involuntarily spout out obscenities. This book educated me. Turns out that Tourette's is a tic, and the individual does feel the need to get rid of this tic verbally, but the ensuing exclamations are not necessarily obsceneties. They can be plays on the language. Lethem created a great character here. Lionel Essrog, our protagonist, is an intelligent adult with Tourette's syndrome. So, because of his verbal tics and other compulsions, everyone, even those closest to him, think he's crazy and therefore stupid. The book is touted as a detective story, though I found it less of a detective story than a homage to Brooklyn (duh. title.) and a fascinating insight into the mind of a Touretter. Essrog is one of four orphans taken under the tutelage of small-time mobster, Frank Minna. Essrog and his fellow orphans brand themselves as the Minna Men, working for Frank well into their adulthood. However,...

A short but powerful play. The Elephant Man is John Merrick, a horribly deformed man. The appellation refers to his humongous head. Anyway, initially Merrick works as a virtual prisoner in a freakshow, till he is "rescued" by a kindly doctor, who transforms him into the toast of society. Highly intelligent, especially when all the socialites see Merrick as a reflection of themselves. The play itself won the Tony and other awards, I hear. There happens to be a movie entitled the Elephant Man, released in 1980, with Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, and John Hurt as Merrick. The movie isn't based on the Broadway play, though. This is the trailer , which is awful, by the way. However, if you want a quick but thought-provoking read, I recommend the book. Can't recommend the movie, though, as I haven't seen it yet. Read: 1/4/09 5/5 stars

Here are the challenges that I'm committing myself to for 2010. You'll also find here links my reading goals or resolutions for the year. Challenges for 2010: My personal reading goal  is to read 41 titles from my TBR. I chose these 41 books because each is present in at least one of the lists in my perpetual challenges. Considering this reading goal, I've officially joined the following challenges: The 2010 TBR Challenge hosted by Miz B Books for this challenge: A Confederacy of Dunces  by John Kennedy Toole A Tale of Two Cities  by Charles Dickens Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  by Philip K. Dick I Capture the Castle  by Dodie Smith Nineteen Eighty-Four  by George Orwell Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha  by Roddy Doyle Smilla's Sense of Snow  by Peter Hoeg  - DONE The Age of Innocence  by Edith Wharton The New York Trilogy  by Paul Auster (DONE) The Sea  by John Banville Titus Groan  by Mer...

My first book for the year. I started it towards the end of 2008, actually, but it wasn't the sort of book you could read in a day. Well, maybe for other people, but not for me. March is the title character, whom others will more likely know through Little Women. Of course, this time, it's not Meg, Jo, Beth, nor Amy. And not even Marmee. It's the under-exposed patriarch of these virtuous females, Mr. March, who does not appear much in the book, on account of being in the Civil War. Brooks's novel, the 2005 Pulitzer prize winner for fiction, traces the adventures of Mr. March through the Civil War, with numerous flashbacks of his youth, his courtship of Marmee, and his involvement in their nation's history. Make no mistake, this is not written in the same vein as Little Women. Yes, the language and style may be the same, but these characters are revealed to be not so virtuous after all. It is not a tell-all, however, and the four little women hardly enter the picture...

Well, so here I am. Blogging. I could rehash Holden Caulfield's first paragraph in Catcher, but that would be smacking of unoriginality. Suffice it to say that I am a private person, so I don't want to talk about my life here. Then again, what I will talk about constitutes a great part of my life, so there go my petty preferences... The General Plan, as it states in my title, is a blueprint of something in my life that I am totally in control of (which is generally how I like things to be. Unfortunately, they're mostly not.). What I read. I'm talking about leisure reading stuff--not the kind that work or school requires me, though I do take leisure in a lot of them. So, here is my general plan, placed in this blog for posterity's sake and for voyeuristic pleasure (yours, of course, whoever you are reading this blog.:)) I have informally committed myself to the following long term reading challenges, namely: 1) The Pulitzer Project - no time limit 2) The Complete Bo...