Questionable

Don't read this book

Grrrrrr. I haven't been this pissed off about a book for a long time. The book, In the Woods, by Tana French won the Edgar award a few years ago. It also got good pub on NPR and in the NY Times. I like well-written mysteries so I was happy to settle into a long (400ish page) whodunit set in Ireland. The book begins with a description of two mysteries - one in the present and one in the past. The writing is lush and vivid. Even though it slowed in the middle, I was gobbling up the pages as quickly as possible. Had I figured out who committed the present killing and what happened to those kids who disappeared 20ish years earlier? Were the two crimes connected?

Do you want to know why I'm pissed off? I'm sorry. You'll just have to wait for a few years until I write another blog post.

That's right, after spending half the book on one of the mysteries, the book never resolves it. And it doesn't even setup for another book. Although after browsing the web, I guess that's what is going to happen, which doesn't even make sense since the entire mystery was covered in this book.

What a waste of time.

Book review: The Appeal

I don't write a lot about the books I read, because often, by definition, they are crappy. But I felt The Appeal by John Grisham deserved a mention for just how awful it is. I generally like Grisham's legal stuff (I don't read his other books). They are usually entertaining enough and the stories are engaging. However, this book is so predictable, contrived, and horrid, I can't believe he wrote it. The whole thing is basically an opinion piece bashing corporate owned judges and supporting trial lawyers. While I sympathize with his politics, I read his books to escape, not to endure a lecture. I could even go along with his approach if the book had something other than incredibly stereotypical characters and a stupid ending. Don't bother with this one.

Book meme tag

The squab tagged me:

Total number of books: I really have no idea. A few years ago, I got rid of 1,000, but I still have six tall bookshelves double full.

Last book read: The first two Dexter books (Hey! I was on vacation). I'm not reading the third. They are just a bit too gruesome and dark for me. The Showtime series has a lighter tone.

Last book bought: Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. I loved Empire Falls and am looking forward to reading this one.

Five meaningful books: This is a tough one. Books are meaningful for different reasons. I came up with this list pretty quickly. If you ask me tomorrow, I'm sure I'd have other books and different reasons.

Charlotte's Web: This was my favorite book as a kid and one that I read many times.

Self-direction in Adult Learning by Ralph G. Brockett and Roger Hiemstra: This was the first book in graduate school that resonated enough with me so that I was able to build a number of papers and part of my dissertation off its themes.

Birds of Minnesota Field Guide by Stan Tekiela: I use this simple little book at least once a week. It sits on my desk for easy reference.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen and House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus: Tie for the two most depressing books I've ever read.

The St. Paul Parks Treasure Hunter's Guide by Steve Worthman: Maps of every park in St. Paul. It includes descriptions of monuments, inscriptions, murals and more. This book has changed my treasure hunting abilities and the entire hunt completely.

What book do you read over and over (or want to read over and over)?

I don't read books over and over. There are too many new ones and time's a wastin'.

Exceptions: I read a couple of the Harry Potter books a second time so I could remember what happened. I'll read Jonathan Strange again if the sequel ever gets published (although it may not be necessary since the sequel supposedly isn't about Strange or Norrell). I also read The Stand a few times and could imagine reading it again.

As a kid, I liked to re-read books and I read Charlotte's Web many, many times (and I think I cried each time).

Random thoughts

I haven't been able to put together a coherent blog post for a while, but I have a lot on my mind like:

Amazon announced a new book reader thingy in the last week. It is going to compete with Sony's. I've always liked the idea of an e-reader, particularly for crappy fiction, but I can't find a reason to buy one. First, I am not going to purchase $25 books that I can't resell or give away. I want to be able to "check out" a book for a month or so and then delete it. Couldn't there be a library service or maybe a subscription fee? I also want to be able to move web pages or other similar documents to it while I'm sitting at my computer. I often come across blog posts or PDFs I want to read later. It would be great if I could just drag them to my e-reader and then read them from my lawn chair. (Yes, I know an iPhone or something similar could work for web sites and blogs, but then I need a reliable wireless internet connection. What about on airplanes or places without free internet? Or, better yet, make the iPhone or something similar compatible with different ebook platforms.)

You know what I've found interesting lately with the twins' development? I like how they've started to name things without prompting or assistance. And the names generally have nothing to do with books or tv shows they've seen. I also have been curious about their increasing understanding of the passage of time, days of the week, time on the clock, yesterday, today, tomorrow.

J's great uncle had some major thing to do with Somalia (then called Somaliland) after WW2. He is in his 80s and has lots to say on the subject so J is making a quick trip to England later this fall to interview him and put together a Wikipedia entry. In the late fall there are reasonable tickets to England except for the fees which are $200 on that flight.

Are you trying to tell me that the mom in England killed her child, hid her (presumably in a big freezer), waited three weeks, put her in the trunk of a rental car, and then hid her again? Whatever.

Kottke posted a link today to a list of good documentaries found here. Given my love for many of these films, I have new items for the netflix list.

And finally, I found a stick in my morning granola sludge. A STICK! An email to the company is coming.

Book Recommendation: The Wild Trees

In a summer filled with reading garbage from Daniel Silva, John Lescroart, and Tami Hoag, I came upon a fantastic non-fiction book from Richard Preston (he wrote The Hot Zone and writes, I think, for the New Yorker). The book, The Wild Trees, discusses the scientists who study the tree canopies of very large trees. In the U.S., the focus is on the west coast redwoods. Only since the late 80s and early 90s have people studied the ecosystems of the trees. The book reads like a fast-paced novel. There are historical bits, romance, and the author's own tree climbing experiences.

As I progressed through the story, I was fascinated to learn that whole other plants and shrubs live in or within the canopy of the redwoods. They get their water and nutrients right from the host tree. Even lizards, which have never been to the ground, are found living among the tops of the redwoods, where water is plentiful enough to keep them alive.

In addition to the biological information there is much to learn about tree climbing. I hate heights, so I can't imagine walking up the side of a 350ft tree. However, I'm glad someone has the drive to get up there and catalog the species. If I have one small quibble about the book, it is that instead of photos drawings are included to illustrate the tree details. But that isn't reason not to read this book.

Harry and Hairy

Harry Potter - The Movie
Good enough. I liked it more than the avid fan and about as much as the critics. I knew it had to be drastically cut back from the book. There was no way to capture everything in 2ish hours. I didn't love that Sirius' death was changed to include the killing curse, but that was really my only big complaint.

Harry Potter - The Book
I fully expected Harry to live, but I still thought the book would be much darker with many more deaths. But I shouldn't have considering the book is for kids. I missed Hogwarts. I missed the other DA and OOTP members. I really grew to like the other school kids and their absence from much of the book made it less compelling. The camping was tedious. The Hallows stuff was a distraction. Rowling pulled away from the important deaths to make them less emotional. Was this an effort to make it less jarring for the wee ones? Probably. In the end, I liked it well enough, but I was disappointed to some degree. I expected something more emotional and with more battles. The beginning and the end were decent, but the middle was just filler.

Hairspray - The Movie
I wasn't sure I even wanted to go to this movie because of Travolta's presence, but my curiosity got the better of me and I went tonight while J was at GeekGroup. Since I started grad school and have been consumed with doing critical analysis, I can't see social commentary movies like this without picking apart every word, scene, and casting decision. (I've never seen the musical and I only vaguely remember the first movie). Generally speaking, I am not going to be a huge fan of a fat acceptance (and racial equality) movie casting almost all thin people with the exception of the African American mother. Making things worse is the role of the white mother being played by a thin man wearing a fat suit (who is also a gay-hating Scientologist). I get that in the original movie John Waters cast a transvestite as the white mother, but this movie is really just a watered down, family friendly version of the musical. Thus, I don't understand casting Travolta as the mom. To make matters worse, I found Travolta to be extremely distracting. I didn't like the character - she was really superfluous, but I also didn't like him. The voice, the squinty eyes, the strange singing. Blech. Every time he was on the screen I found myself looking at my clock or rolling my eyes. He and his character really ruined the movie for me. On the positive side, I loved Queen Latifah, she stole the show. I also liked Michelle Pfeiffer. Christopher Walken was underutilized and the lead girl was fine, but she certainly didn't wow me. 

You know what's driving me nuts?

In the newest John Sandford book, which I am now reading, the dust jacket talks about a murder in Minneapolis. In the story, the murder is in St. Paul. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It is not that I am particularly loyal to St. Paul. I've lived in both cities. I like them both. I'd move back to Minneapolis in the right circumstances. I just can't stand the inaccuracy in the book's description. They are two different cities. They have different names.

Why didn't the editor care? Can it be because the publisher thought it would sell fewer copies?
Boy, the dust jacket talks about a murder in St. Paul. If it was in Minneapolis, I'd buy the book. But, because it is in St. Paul, I'm not going to buy it.

Or, that the publisher worried that Sandford's fans hadn't heard of St. Paul?
Boy, this dust jacket talks about a murder in St. Paul. I wonder where that is? All the previous books talk about the main character living in St. Paul, but I'm not a fan of the main character living there, so I guess I am not going to buy it.

Or maybe, the publisher is afraid the name St. Paul will not be appealing to new readers.
Hmm, here I am in the bookstore looking for something to read. Oh, what's this? A book about a murder in St. Paul. I've never heard of that city. I guess I'll try another book.

Come on! The Prey books are huge. This is the 17th book in the series and every single one has some action set in St. Paul.

I heart Larry Millett

Larry Millett's AIA Guide to the Twin Cities came out this week. I got my copy yesterday. I'm already schlepping it all over the neighborhood. I'm a tourist in my own town.

Seriously, this is one of the most fantastic and wonderful guides to the Twin Cities I've ever seen. It rivals any big city architecture guide that I've purchased for traveling.

The biggest bummer for me is that he is doing a tour of my neighborhood next week. As soon as the note ran in our local newspaper I called to make reservations. The tour is full - apparently the Friends of the St. Paul Library ran an article in Mpls.St.Paul magazine and it filled up from that publicity. What pissed me off is that 80% of the subscribers to the magazine are from the western suburbs. Not one single resident from our neighborhood got a ticket to the tour (at least according to the person I talked with).

What's even sadder is that I subscribe, but I am always a few months behind in my magazine reading.

Library Love: Rosetta Stone (Spanish and English) available at the SPPL

I love libraries. I grew up in the library. The St. Paul library has been very good to me. When I need a book not found in the St. Paul system, I look it up on World Cat, request it, and it arrives at my local branch. I get an email and pick it up.

The St. Paul library (and I assume the Minneapolis library) has some of the same research catalogs found in an academic institution, which I think is a great asset to those who are not enrolled at a university. There is also access to All Data, the car repair database (from inside the library only). Today while looking for something else on the library website (which could use an update) I discovered access to Rosetta Stone FROM MY HOUSE. I can't believe I can do the Spanish exercises from the comfort of my couch, without having to buy them!!!

Contrast my experience with those of my sis-in-law. While living in PA, she didn't even have access to inter-library loan. If she wanted a book not available at her local branch, too bad. Now, living in Wisconsin, she has access to a great little jewel of a library. The kids go every week for story time which includes songs and puppets followed by puzzle doing with the other story-time kids.

Please support your libraries!