It seems that my Burn It CD swap has inspired Brian to start one of his own - the Quintessential Burn. It's quintessential because this burn is all about songs that you can't live without.
The program's not quite ready yet, but you can go and let him know that you're interested in participating. Sounds like fun!
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Just a reminder, but if you're participating in Burn It - The Summer Edition, this weekend is the last weekend to work on your CDs. They're supposed to be mailed out by the end of the day Monday.
If you didn't get to participate this time, never fear. I'll do one of these in a few months for the fall (and I've already got the theme picked out!).
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The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates: normally I love anthologies and enjoy reading them greatly, but this one was an exception.
I've mentioned before that while I don't mind "vague" stories - stories where you don't really know what's going on, who the people are, or why they're there - full books of them always are tedious for me to make my way through. Unfortunately, most of the stories is The Collector of Hearts were of the vague kind, so I didn't really enjoy the book and couldn't wait for it to be over.
There were some good stories in it - notably "The Sky Blue Ball," "Death Mother," "Schroeder's Stepfather," "The Sepulchre," "The Sons of Angus Macelster," "The Affliction," "Unprintable," "Valentine," and "The Crossing." Mostly these stories had less of a vagueness to them and I felt it easier to connect to the characters.
All in all, not a bad book, but not really recommended unless you're a fan of the short story or of her.
(Finished on June 27, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)
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Christine reminded me about something I've been meaing to blog about since the weekend - Bravo's new show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
The concept is that five gay men, each a guru in one area (fashion, grooming, food and wine, culture, or interior design), help a straight man each week accomplish a mission - one guy needs to get ready for a gallery opening, one wants to get his place nice so his girlfriend will move in.
Steven and I have been totally loving it - especially the cool intro. The guys getting remade are great sports about it, which is cool. The Fab Five are also really funny, especially Carson, the fashion guru.
I highly suggest checking it out. And if anyone knows who sings the theme song, let me know. I can't find the answer anywhere.
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J. K. Rowling: the fifth, and longest, installment in the Harry Potter series.
This book was very different from the previous books in the series. Lots of moodiness from Harry (of course he is a fifteen year old boy; which of them are not moody?), far more injustices and horror than the previous books, and a general darkness that the other books just did not have.
Despite all of this (and the death of a major character, though I won't say whom), I still enjoyed this book and would come home from work and just read for a while.
Lots of readers have said, however, that they don't feel that this book was on par with the rest of the series and I do agree. Lots of the "magic" (pun intended) that the other books have really wasn't here - almost like Rowling's writing style had changed in between books. I think a lot of it had to do with the subject matter and the darkness of this book compared to the previous, but I did miss that certain something.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this book simply because by this point, I am so wrapped up in the characters that there is no way I simply cannot find out what is going on with them in their world.
(Finished on June 27, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)
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So, today I went to the mall to do some returns (eyeshadows that weren't quite like the one I'm looking for), peruse the bargain books at the B. Dalton (picked up Schindler's Ark and Batman: No Man's Land for under $9.00), and grab some Chik-Fil-A for some lunch.
I started to leave, feeling pretty good about my excursion, when suddenly I'm falling. I was walking in the food court and someone had spilled some of their water and not bothered to clean it up.
I landed on one knee and then fell forward onto my palms, snapping my silver mesh bracelet which gouged my wrist a little. I also scraped up my knees a bit and now I'm feeling really sore.
The thing that pissed me off the most, though, was that I was holding a Coke to take back to work and when I fell it spilled all over my new books and, worse of all, my new Burberry bag that I just adore.
There were several people, though, that hurried over to help me and I found it so very kind of them. Two Elizabeth Arden ladies were on their lunch break and they helped me up and one of them went and got me another Coke. A little boy stopped and helped move my bags out of the way and several other people got napkins and the cleaning lady to clear up the mess. They were all so nice and I appreciated their help so much.
I called my mom to see how to get the stain out and she told me to go and report it to the customer service people. They called a security officer out and he wrote down my information and then seemed a little confused what to do next. I told him I thought that the people who saw it happen might be over there, so we went back to the food court. A nice elderly couple who saw the whole thing, acted as witnesses for me.
After that we went to the building manager's office where a few brusque ladies "helped" me out. They kept saying that since the mall is private property they can't promise anything. Really, the only reason I went through this to begin with is because I don't want to have to buy a new purse if the stains won't come out. I just bought the damn thing. Seems that the least they could do would be pay to get my purse cleaned (that is if it can be cleaned). And it seems that they could have been at least a little bit friendly to me.
Steven said he'd look at it tonight and see if he could get the stains out, so I'm crossing my fingers. My feet and back are definitely sore, so I think it's time to go lay in the nice, cool bed.
So much for a pleasant lunch!
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Buried Bones by Carolyn Haines: another Delta mystery that's just as good as the first.
Once again we're back into Sarah Boothe's Souther world, but this time she's trying to solve the murder of one of Zinnia's most wonderful men - Lawrence Ambrose, an author who's secrets lead directly to his demise.
Once again, we have Jitty the ghost haunting both Sarah Boothe and Dahlia House, but it a good motherly way. We also have the convoluted relationship between Harold and Sarah Boothe that seems to never be able to decide which way to go. Tinkie and Chablis are even back and more fiesty than ever.
As I said about Them Bones, the characters are just so real and wonderful that you can't help but get sucked into the book. This one may be a bit more darker than the first, but it's still a great read and I can't wait to get the next book, Splintered Bones.
(Finished on July 9, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)
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Them Bones by Carolyn Haines: another fabulous female detective series. You just can never have enough books like these.
I completely loved everything about this book from the hot, steamy men to the dead, but very much alive and kicking, ghosts. The characters were great and while I suspected at first that they were going to be very generalized Southern belles and tough but sensitive Southern men I was pleasently disappointed. The people in this book are just that - people. They seem real and like individuals that I could know.
Another wonderful thing about this book is its Southerness, perfectly expressed by how much Sarah Boothe cares for Dahlia House and for the traditions that her life encompasses.
Let's not ignore the fact that this is a mystery - and a pretty darn good one at that. I had no idea who was going to show up at the end of the book and was pretty surprised at what happened.
All in all, highly recommended period no matter what background you hail from.
(Finished on July 2, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)
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The Lovely Bones: A Novel by Alice Sebold: I tried to tell some friends who came over this weekend why exactly this book was so good, but it seems hard for most of the people to get past the fact that this books is by a girl who has just been raped and murdered by a family friend as she watches down on her family from Heaven. Of course, her heaven has the high school that she went to with the wonderful architecture that she loved so, but they never have to go to class and their textbooks are Vogue and Seventeen.
Susie watches her family try and come to grip with the sudden hole that she has left in their midst. She can't influence them, but she cannot tear herself away from them either.
What moved me most about this book was the way that the characters - from the boy who gave Susie her first kiss to her sister to her little brother to the girl who felt her soul leaving this earth to her killer - were intertwined. The story's biggest impact on me was simply the way that one must learn to let go - not forget, no - but let go when a tragedy like this has occurred.
Sebold writes with a clear voice that makes all of the people in her book incredible real and alive. I can't help but worry for her family as they try and stay together. I can't help buy worry about Ray, the boy who kissed her - will he be able to move past almost having her?
Oddly, though, George Harvey, the man who killed Susie was never much in my mind. I think it was because I loved her family so, that as long as he wasn't near them to do harm, he didn't really matter much to me.
Despite the morbid tone to the idea of this book, this book does not ever come close to being morbid. In fact I found it full of promises, light, and hope and I hope that everyone will take time to read this amazing novel.
(Finished on July 19, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)
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Books of Blood (Volumes One to Three) by Clive Barker: I hadn't reread any of Clive Barker's books in quite some time, so when a co-worker and I ended up discussing some of his short stories, I had to immediately re-purchase the Books of Blood and immerse myself back into Clive Barker's world.
These stories are extremely visceral and it's easy to see why the term "splatterpunk" was coined with this type of writing in mind. His stories are very graphic and seem to have an underlying theme behind them - even though something horrible may be incredible horrible (a pig that speaks with a dead boy's voice, for example), these events are still awe-inspiring in the truest since of the word and the way that the human mind reacts to them can be widely different than one would expect.
To me, Barker's stories herein (and in most of his other work), the world exists with a veil that can be drawn away at any time. When I got done watching The Matrix for the first time, I was struck with the similarities between that world and the worlds that Barker creates.
Truthfully, I didn't enjoy all of these stories as much as I did when I read them probably a little over ten years ago. However, many of them were still as strong and as moving as they were then. The best of these are "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "In The Hills, The Cities" (probably my favorite story of his ever), "Dread," "Hell's Event," "Jacqueline Ess: Her Last Will and Testament," "The Skins of the Fathers," "Son of Celluloid," and "Rawhead Rex."
If you like your stories strong and disturbing this collection is for you. If not, may be best that you skip, but you'll never know until you try.
(Finished on July 27, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)
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This year's Blogathon is over and the grand total for donations is astounding. 432 participants raised $92,790.95! Isn't that incredible?
Donations are being taken for another 48 hours, so if you haven't donated already, please condisder doing so. Wouldn't it be great if the $100,000 mark could be broken?
Goddess Magazine's group blog managed to raise $255, slightly more than a quarter of Erika's goal. You can sponsor us here. We'd really appreciate it!
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I'm off to bed, but I wanted to let everyone know that they're doing a wonderful job on this Blogathon stuff! Good night and good luck to all!
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And for the record, the Fab 5 may seem stereotypical, but when I was coming to terms with my sexual orientation, it sure as heck would have been nice to see there are others like me. Face it, hetero-wannabes: there are five LIKABLE, OPEN and OUT GAY MEN.
Hey do you think you could send me All things Mp3 to my e-mail? I would appreciate it very much.
