Space Station Mir

47. Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire Finally finished the Wicked Years. Out of Oz finishes the story in some ways, and just leaves it open again. Oh well. I don't know how much closure I expected. Still best read for the dark and amusing riffs on the land of Oz. 48. The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory (audiobook) One of my favorite of Gregory's, and I've read nearly everything by her. Katherine Parr is, in my opinion, the most interesting of Henry VIII's wives, both because she survived and because she was one of the first women to publish in English. Also, I wasn't aware of the relationship between her and Anne Askew, a contemporary female preacher, a relationship which is central to Gregory's novel. As usual, Gregory takes an inventive approach to history, creating the highest possible stakes drama (as if the Tudors weren't dramatic enough!). I've also felt that Gregory's later books, like this one, and The White Princess , feel m...

1. Two of the bloggers I follow went to Jonathan Safran Foer readings recently, as did I. It's interesting to hear the different takes on him and his work. When I saw him, he was introduced by his mother and his whole family was there! I didn't realize he'd grown up in D.C., so that was quite a surprise. It also made more sense why his new book is set here. He read the passage about the urinal that he's apparently read elsewhere. Although I loved his first two novels, I'm not sure how I feel about this one...I did start reading Here I Am , but I haven't gotten to the urinal scene yet. 2. I missed the National Book Festival and the Baltimore Book Festival and all the other bookish events the weekend before last because I was sick. I hate that I missed Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Ann Goldstein and so many other interesting writers. At least I saw JSF the week before. 3. I just celebrated Rosh Hashanah, and spending that time concentrating on how I can be a better pe...

I've wanted to read Cold Comfort Farm ever since I learned it is one of Boston Bibliophile's favorite books . Her allusions to it piqued my interest, and while browsing in the library the other day, it caught my eye. Gibbons' wit suffuses this offbeat, Austen-inspired novel. First published in 1932, it's set in early twentieth century England, when the recently orphaned and consummate cosmopolitan young Flora Poste resolves to rely on the generosity of her country cousins, and furthermore, adjust their lives to her convenience. Flora remarks to a friend: I am only nineteen, but I have already observed that whereas there still lingers some absurd prejudice against living on one's friends, no limits are set, either by society or by one's own conscience, to the amount one may impose upon one's relatives (15). Zingers like these abound, and this gem and the one below were two of my personal favorites. In her equally amusing foreword, Gibbons notes that s...

45. Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell This is the third of Gaskell's novels that I've read, and my favorite. Interestingly, it's earlier work than the other two. It seems to me that she was more honest and raw here in her opinions about class divisions. North and South and Cranford also both address divisions between mill workers and mill owners, but North and South is more nuanced, while Cranford is almost a farce. Mary Barton is more radical. Mary and her family (and their friends and neighbors) suffer extreme loss, and the consequences that follow are appropriately drastic. Highly recommended, and unfortunately, very relevant in the present day. 46. A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire Finally, after holding onto the final two books for a few years, I finished the Wicked Years series. A Lion Among Men jumpstarts the story again after the possible ending in Son of a Witch . We backtrack to events that took place during Elphaba's life, and the book focuses ...

When I travel, I like to read books related to travel. And, I finally did use my ereader on vacation---after I finished reading the two physical books I brought. 40. Better Than Fiction 2 This is a collection of nonfiction stories by celebrity writers. I found it an interesting read, but nothing was a huge standout. One story has nuns chasing Italian boys away from American girls. 41. Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It I wanted to read this book as soon as I heard about it, and I found it in the store right before I left for my trip. It's a collection of stories about people inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love. Now, before reading Eat Pray Love, I would have thought this was hokey, but now, I can sympathize with the "bathroom floor club," as one writer here puts it. These are more like vignettes, about the moment that changed everything, which at first was disappointing, since each story is only a few pages, but, I realized that each story packs more punc...

I watch so many fantasy and scifi shows--any other fans out there? What shows have I missed? Classics 1. Star Trek I'm a fan of all the iterations of Star Trek , although most recently we re-watched the first couple seasons of Enterprise (which contained most of my favorite episodes from that show so I'm not sure if I want to continue). I really love S2 E5 "A Night in Sickbay," which features Captain Archer's beagle, Porthos. 2. The X-Files I didn't watch this in real time, but so far, we're somewhere in season...seven, I think? I love Mulder and Scully, especially the one-offs (but, you know, also the continuing stuff). S3E4, when they encounter a real psychic, is one of my favorites, but there are so many to choose from. 3. Babylon Five I watched individual episodes while this was airing, but I never watched in sequence or really got the overarching plot. If this were airing right now, I guarantee it would be one of the most popular shows...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and the Bookish ! Most of these are from college or graduate school, since a lot of the books I read in grade school I had read on my own before we read them in school. 1. Tripmaster Monkey by Maxine Hong Kingston 2. Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum by Aemilia Lanyer 3. The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary 4. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy 5. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin 6. The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox 7. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev 8. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer 9. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo 10. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

1. After North and South , I've gone straight on to another Elizabeth Gaskell novel that's been on my TBR shelf, Mary Barton . Unfortunately, my puppy got to it before I did, but despite that, I've been enjoying it so far. It was the first written of the novels of hers I've read, and it feels like the most honest and--I think--the best. 2. I'm listening to the audiobook The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory. It's about Henry VIII's sixth wife, Katherine Parr, the one who survived. However, I realized that the title makes it sound quite more salacious than it is, and I wonder what people passing by, who see the case on the seat in my car, think. So far, I'm enjoying it, but I dislike that Gregory credits Parr with giving Elizabeth the "woman with the heart and stomach of a king" line. 3. Also, it is hard to read historical fiction in a time period you've studied--so far, in Taming of the Queen , there's an inaccuracy when ...