recent musings:
2009 the very, very end of july: i am breaking new records in procrastination... just wanted to say, if you haven't yet found an independent bookstore (or several) in your neighborhood to love and court frequently, please do (www.indiebound.org). buy local--it's better for the soul, and books from your favorite independent bookstore are just more delicious. i swear!
shout out to some of my favorites:
moderntimes.org
forestbooks.net
greenapplebooks.com
moderntimesbookstore.com
citylights.com
waldenpondbooks.com
pegasusbookstore.com
dieselbooksense.com
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2009 january-march: i am mishima-obsessed. i am also, not surprisingly, obsessed with observing masculinity--it's performance and non-performance, it's performance by nonperformance. its absence and presence. the way it holds up and responds to expectations of itself. how far it might be stretched--its range... right now i am thinking of a extra scene in the criterion edition of "mishima--a life in four chapters" where a friend and fellow writer, donald ritchie, describes a conversation with mishima about suicide (one of many) where mishima asks why hemingway chose to kill himself the way that he did. there are apparently ways to die that are masculine and ways to die that are feminine--shouldn't this be absurd? isn't it? more later. i still have over a hundred, well, over 200 mishima stories to read, and masculinities to observe and compare...
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at a stop light recently, my newest book splayed on my lap, stealing lines while i waited for red to turn green or someone to honk at me, i thought again how annoying it is that i can't read and drive at the same time, safely and effectively. my interest in what happens on the next page can't wait sometimes till i make it from point a to b. (yes, it's partially why i take public transportation rather than drive most times.) also, wouldn't it be nice to read and sleep, read and shower and read and work at the same time, sometimes? i've sort of mastered brushing my teeth while reading, eating while reading, grooming my cats while reading, walking while reading, but there is so much more time in the day that could be reading time if i could just dream up the right equipment, or something.
i got to go and see salman rushdie last week in san francisco talk to npr's michael krasny. he autographed my copy of haroun and the sea of stories. i can't even begin to describe how thrilled i was to see him and hear him speak, and how much the signed book means to me. (i know, it's sort of ridiculous.) one of my favorite professors reminded me often not to put authors on pedestals, and if i did, to topple them often and vigorously. i'm working on it (sometimes, and admittedly not very well). i am going to see sherman alexie in december--that is going to be divine.
........
oh my, i'm a story whore...
while food might be the way to some people's hearts, the fastest way to mine and the best way to stay put once you're there, is to tell me stories (delicious ones of course) and read me pretty, pretty poems...
5 stars: love, love, love, love it--want to drown in its pages, kiss all its letters
4 stars: alright, i did really love this book, and i didn't want to put it down till it was spent; however, i'd rather not drown in it... maybe take a dip once in a while when it's hot outside
3 stars: i am glad i read it, because i wanted to... but if it were a person, i'd barely have a passing crush on it. the kind of crush that can only end in disappointment--oh, i thought you were another kind of story....
2 stars: sigh, it looked good on the outside. alright, maybe it didn't, maybe i was just bored. i hope this isn't a book i bought.
1 star: oh no, no, no...
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