Rereading -

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson

Still as awed and amazed by the astronomical numbers and the surprisingly understandable writing style.

:glasses:

Just finished the fifth Game of Thrones book, A Dance with Dragons. I understand that George R. R. Martin is borrowing the narrative arc of Lord of the Rings, where the Fellowship of the Rings (AKA the children of Winterfell) must be scattered far and wide to fulfill their personal quests before they can be reunited for a single purpose. But whereas Tolkien kept his characters separated for one book, Martin is going on five. And didn't I read that there's at least two more books planned?? I can't figure out what I'm more frustrated by: the near-misses and waylaid quests of books four and five, or the fact that I'll no doubt be reading the sixth book as soon as it's out. Arrgh.

Next up: Cruddy by Lynda Barry!

I am currently reading Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich by Joachim C. Fest. I think the title is self-explanatory especially if you know anything about the ending of the Holocaust and Hitler's reign of terror.

i absolutely loved where the streets had a name and would recommend it to anyone. abdel-fattah deals with the occupation in a way that's extremely humanizing and very real, though not heavy-handed or overly political. the book is written in the voice of a young girl and it's at a middle school reading level (possibly even younger), although some of the topics can get a bit emotional.

after i finished that i read accidents of nature, a book by harriet mcbryde johnson, who was a disability rights activist and lawyer. it was amazing :) it's a young adult book as well, geared more towards teens, and it deals with issues of disability rights and coming of age as a disabled young person, but is set in the 70s. i could relate a lot to it. she also has a memoir, too late to die young, that's awesome too :)

okay, I admit I'm actually giddy over the upcoming release of the Hunger Games movie. Just ran across this image, can't resist posting.

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz...0igdo1_500.jpg

reading "journey from the center to the page" now :)

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With wisdom for writers at any level and in any genre, nationally known writing and yoga instructor Jeff Davis shows writers how yoga’s principles and practical tools can deepen their writing practice and increase their versatility writers. A grounded guide to the body-mind-imagination connection, this book shows ways for writers to reconnect with their deeper intentions for writing, sustain concentration and confidence when writing, and write with an authentic voice.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...er_to_the_Page

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i didn't care for the anti anarchist sentiment that seemed randomly sprinkled throughout but this one is really very interesting

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sex & disability ed. robert mcruer & anna mollow
The title of this collection of essays, Sex and Disability, unites two terms that the popular imagination often regards as incongruous. The major texts in sexuality studies, including queer theory, rarely mention disability, and foundational texts in disability studies do not discuss sex in much detail. What if "sex" and "disability" were understood as intimately related concepts? And what if disabled people were seen as both subjects and objects of a range of erotic desires and practices? These are among the questions that this collection's contributors engage. From multiple perspectives—including literary analysis, ethnography, and autobiography—they consider how sex and disability come together and how disabled people negotiate sex and sexual identities in ableist and heteronormative culture.

fiction period piece
 

Set in the late 1890's, it is a crime novel.
He did a great job with food descriptors and this tends to draw me in.


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Last night, I finished Cruddy by Lynda Barry... I loved Barry's weekly cartoon strip years ago, and her world of quirky adolescents. Cruddy is a novel, but her characters still come off as exaggerated, absurd and cartoonish. And yet it works.

It's also very dark. It has this weird disturbing sociopathic twinge to it, reinforced by the main character (an adolescent girl raised as a boy) referring to her parents as "the mother" and "the father." Well, that, and the trail of carnage and destruction she leaves. If you like your reading to unsettle you, this is the book.

On another note... I just got an iPad. Can anyone recommend their favorite ereader app?

Just started In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard. Her last book, Boys of my Youth, is on my top 10 favorite books list. She's got a knack for capturing the tiniest and often conflicting details of a child's view, that dread feeling of "mom's going to kill me when she finds out" combined with the exhilaration of doing whatever it is that's about to get you in trouble. And she's hilarious. This book looks like it's on the same path- here's the first paragraph:

"We can't believe the house is on fire. It's so embarrassing first of all, and so dangerous second of all. Also, we're supposed to be in charge here, so there's a sense of somebody not doing their job."

Off to read more. :)

"The Alienist": Great read and written by an historian, so many of the venues described in this novel probably did exist! You must read "Angel of Darkness"!