>> finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks
(as you like it: II, i)


i'm really proud to come from an overcultured literate family. my mother and sister were english majors, i plan on being a creative writing major, and my father takes in entire paragraphs as fast as normal people read sentances. my home in bethesda is toppling with books. once on the news i heard dubyah say "i want to promote liter-at-CHEE in america." i think he meant 'literacy' but i am sure its the thought that counts in this case *snicker* i love books. i love their smell and being surrounded by them. i don't understand a home without books, or being able to set up a room for yourself anywhere without at least a few. i just wanted to share some of my current readings/thoughts and books that have affected me.

>> all book pictures/titles w/ star-bullets are linked to amazon or their websites.

list as of 8.9.04, the books i've read this summer (and recommend, yay.)
the hunger bone (rock 'n roll short stories) by debra marquart
i highly recommend it, the closest thing to compare it to would be 'almost famous' by its feel/content, but this book is more poignant, gritty & poetic. it'll make you jealous you weren't a roadie or random band member on the road in dives in the 70's or 80's. everyone she describes is so very whole, real, and sensual. and every band concept she is writing about is so well concocted you'll wish they were real and you could buy their whole collection. this book is electriclovely.
night train (issue III) print literary journal of short fiction
i picked it up at barnes & noble before i left for brandeis summer session, and it was fabulous bedtime reading by non-mainstream author submissions. a whole variety of topics. all sorts of adult and growing perspectives on travel, sex, living, working. a great journal i plan to look for in the future.
the world and other places by jeanette winterson
jeanette is one of my favourite authors. but she's sometimes even too surreally metaphysical passionate even for me, and i sometimes get lost and wish i didn't have so much trouble hanging on in her longer works. BUT, not with this book. this series of short stories not only runs the topic-gambant and narrative-poetic styles she can manage, but was an amazing sampling & a gorgeous & digestably insane & lush one for me as an old fan, and i think a brilliant collection to introduce anyone to her with.
the gunslinger (the dark tower, book I) by stephen king
doug recommended this to me. as it kept coming up in conversation. it is to him what pullman's 'his dark materials' trilogy has been for me...but in any case. this was the first king book i ever read. and i am really glad it was this one. it's not horrifically gore-y, but still somehow toes the line of metaphysical horror. it has some amazing phrasing, metaphors, ideas and language. it feels post-apocalyptic, but the shakespearean spark of inspiration (the tower itself) and the arthurian quest aspects are very present as well. tarot even plays a part. it is fantasy that somehow intertwines with cultural odds & ends of random generations from our own world. it is surreal, and familiar and peculiar and completely absorbing in its sensual detail. i had no idea such a pop culture writer could be so spiritual & profound & creative. i can't wait to keep reading, i have the second just sitting & waiting. so, thanks doug.
going out by scarlett thomas
m'sister/jesserker bought this, read it in 24 hours and then told me i must as well. i read it over a few days, and many insomniac nights, sometimes it was the time-passer or the cause of being up till 4, but wow. ok, so i'm an anglophile, and this is an amazing story of very quirky unique skewed english 20 something year old personalities. dealing with bizarre disorders that are pretty self-created or naturally cancerous. it's both grey & suburban and upbeat & tongue-in-cheek modern fairy tale-ish. i love the casual brit-slang & vocab and the vividness of everywhere the characters go. it's a great series of portraits and beautiful narrative. it manages to teach you how to think about what makes you happy and perceive the world, without you as a reader even realizing it. i was of course sad when i finished and there was no more!
dharma punx by noah levine
i picked this up in a buddhism section of a bookstore, of course tantalized by the vivid cover. i read the first two pages and decided of cousre to buy it. it follows the memoirist himself, noah levine from 10 year old surfer pothead, to emancipated 16 year old gutterpunk, through ju-v, and his introduction to meditation and his years of meditative introspection, becoming a punk monk in his own right. he never loses touches with his honest passions, true pleasure awareness and of course, slam dancing & pretty tattoos. this book gave me a lot to think about, as noah's undeniable willingness to change & grow made me feel silly, having rooted myself in so much spirituality alongside self-imposed pessimism. it really impacted me. i read it late into the night and all the next day to finish it. i highly recommend it. it made me so very happy, having so many friends that are the pieces of what noah had to go through. straight edger elitist, meditative-retreat addicts, activists, teachers and beautiful frustrated lost souls. it can all work out, if you let it.
salem falls by jodi picoult
another sister-rec, and what a gem. loosely based on the crucible, and utterly tangible in its descriptions. this time the finger-pointers are a secret & strange coven of teenage girls. this book radiates small town hungers & smells and yet the main and accuse-ed character gives us so much insight into atrocious bigger things. prison, a love of learning, teaching. the meditative land of love & diners. this is a joy to read if you like law & order-esque unravelings, procedure and a bit of magic. i adored it. this author has an amazing eye & sensibility.
in the land of winter by richard grant
i couldn't get enough of the borderline paganovels, so i dug up one i never got more than 40 pages into a few years ago, also from my sister. i suppose for the mainstream audience, you're not going to find any happy once upon a time tales of modern day witches. so this is another romp in closed-minded-ness. but the main character (who i think is a subconscious source of one of my all-time favourite magical names), Pippa is a true delight to read & follow. this book is sensual and you want desperately somehow, everything she does. fire, totems, mountains, and an end to the accusations. it's a lovely underdog tale, each chapter ends almost in haiku. there is something so delicate and wonderful and unquestioning of non-coincedences & magic occurances in this book. through Pippa, i saw so many opinions i have about kind souls, energy & earth-spirituality expressed, in regards to the mainstream reaction.


books i read this summer (for the 1st time) for my adolescent lit. course
the giver by lois lowry
over sea, under stone by susan cooper


books i RE-read for adolescent lit.
alice's adventures in wonderland (from 'the annotated alice' ~ martin gardner) by lewis carroll
his dark materials (trilogy) by philip pullman
harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban (year III at hogwarts) by j.k. rowling
catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger

a peek at my bedside. where the books lurk that are getting read/poked ocassionally.


un-started books. waiting to be read, neglected and tempting...

so yeah. i gots to get through the borrowed ones, methinks, eh what? hee.