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K.R.H

K.R.H

I read a lot, or try to anyway, and highly value good writing and story telling. For me it doesn’t matter what a story is about, just that the journey is worth while.

I’ve taken and passed the 50 book challenge.
http://www.shelfari.com/groups/10773/discussions/124336/K-R-H-s-Books-For-2009

I’ve taken and passed the 100 book... more »
  • Chicago IL/Vancouver B.C
  • member since December 29 2008

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Public Notes

  • Norbert P

    Norbert P says

    You liked 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro'? You will like 'A Moveable Feast' even better, a lively description of Paris and a vivid account of Hemingway's early years as a writer. I always prefer non-fiction to fiction but in Hemingway's case it never really becomes clear what's what. Anyway after having read it you'll possibly go on with 'The Sun also Rises', again Paris and then of course Spain.

    posted 2 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    My boss was successful in his quest of forcing me to setup a Facebook account. It was a requirement for demoing his company's Facebook game, which I'm helping develop the design for. I'm not in the least bit interested in actually using Facebook ... not only is it a grandiose waste of time, but I'm not sure how many people I'd want to get in contact with that I'm not already in contact with? At least now I can see your Ireland pictures. Search for "Susan Mercedes".

    posted 7 days ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    I WHIPPED PERCY AND HE LIKED IT

    THE TASTE OF MY EMBITTERMENT

    I WHIPPED PERCY AND HE LIKED IT

    I HOPE HE DON'T MIND IF I DITCH IT

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    LOL May you always drink deep!

    I'm still working my way through "The Titan's Curse". I soon as I read the chapter title "I Have A Dam Problem" I laughed my first laugh. You've got that right, Riordan!

    I can't believe you liked "Saturday" to any degree. I also can't believe McEwan gets worse than that. Ugh.

    So, how are "The Vampire Diaries"? And I've completely forgotten about "Dexter". Have you been keeping up with it?

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    Yeah, Riordan certainly "betrayed" her character (but at least he got the mythos correct). Haha! So far, "The Titan's Curse" is just like the other two books: immature, annoying, but with an occasional glimmer of hope in modern takes on certain myths!

    I can't believe you enjoyed "Saturday" to any degree. Well, I'll admit there were some parts that piqued my interest ... but said parts were soon gobbled up by stream-of-consciousness tangents that soured me to the whole experience of reading the book.

    I hear you on Dan Brown. That sort of describes my love-hate relationship with Michael Crichton: the content of his books are laughable but he certainly knows how to write a page-turner!

    I liked Michael Cunningham's "Specimen Days" so I'm looking forward to reading his other books, including "The Hours".

    LOL @ "The Vampire Diaries". I stopped watching it after the first episode. Although know it's wooing me back by dissing its [even worse] competitor. And I think that blond chick was full of it: you can read the first book and it still won't make any sense. In fact, it'll make less sense, given that Bella's bitchiness is hard to ignore.

    Can't wait for the CDs. :DDDD And you betcha, I'm already looking over my collection to see what else you'd like ...

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    Wow I can't spell worth a damn. "It" minus the extra "t", and "portrayed" not "betrayed"!

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    Congrats on reaching your goal!! Damn, I wish I had as much time to read as you! Haha. Keep going, you'll reach the 200 in no time.

    "2666" is dragging on again. The author is the kind who doesn't get to his point quickly. I find it frustrating to read. He also goes off onto tangents a lot ... I'm not sure if it's stream-of-consciousness or what, but it gets irritating.

    Ha! I finally finished "The 120 Days of Sodom". It started out so hilarious but then it dovetailed into ... really disturbing violence and smut. It was almost as if Sade was rushing through it (well, he DID write it in 37 days). The last two parts were almost in point form and not as well refined as the first. I'm conflicted about the 2-star rating I gave itt: I did enjoy reading the first part, but the rest was meh n' bleh.

    I started reading "The Titan's Curse" ... I now understand what you meant about how Artemis is betrayed. Nice one, Riordan.

    I haven't read any of Dan Brown's books yet. He seems to be interested in conspiracy theories? Hahah, I totally laughed out loud when I read your comment on puritanical America. You know, I've read a couple of letters and essays by the founding fathers in the last while and I too wonder what they'd say if they knew what America's become ... heck, they're probably rolling in their graves as we speak.

    I'm slowly adding my list of comics to Shelfari, now that I've found it. I can't believe how many comics I've read! There's more to come, but it's so grueling to have to manually add books to Shelfari ...

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    This isn't even a quarter of them :p

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    I added my comics / graphics novels / manga ;) (And not even half of what I've actually read ... Shelfari doesn't have many of them).

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    LOLZ I WILL NOT IGNORE IT! DOWN WITH THE REPUBLICANS!!!!!!%!$@! *pickets the Internetz*

    I need to reorganize my shelves too. If only to find some books I've ... misplaced.

    DeLillo definitely seems to ramble on without getting anywhere. That said, a book like "Underworld", which is upwards 850 pages long, probably only gave me a glimpse at its true point at 70 pages in. I just don't think it needs to be that long. There was endless description ... it made me appreciate authors who can create evocative textual imagery with a few short lines of description all the more.

    I just finished the first story in "2666". It was a little meandering and had some, um, interestingly written narrative structures thrown in at parts, but it came together in the end. It was all of a happy and bittersweet and sad ending, for reasons that only spoiling can explain. I'm interested to see how the other stories compare.

    Sorry to hear that the books you're reading aren't that great (so far). Hopefully they'll pick up!

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    GOOD JOB! You resisted the urge despite the temptations surrounding you (and I'm sure they were all very tempting).

    I really need to try "Underworld" again. I didn't even not enjoy it. If I recall rightly, I was forced to take it back to the library, and it was just too big a book to get through in the time I had left. Sigh.

    KD = Kraft Dinner, yes. Haha. Or "Mac 'n Cheese" as it's known in America?

    You know, I was just thinking that. I hadn't realized the stream-of-conscious narrative style was so prevalent. Maybe we're detecting further bias on behalf of the makers of the "1001" list?

    And yup, my old identity has been shelved along with my domain. I've thrown my virtual mantle to the dust!

    Wow, I didn't know that about "Never Let Me Go". I'm not sure what to think. One of my favourite parts of the book is the vicious rivalry between the young children, and I'm not sure how well that would translate to film.

    "2666" is going more slowly than expected. Well, actually, I didn't know what to expect. It's another foreign book I discovered. I'm only about a quarter of the way through ... I'll probably have more to say later? Haha.

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    Ugh, not more books! At least I'm holding myself at bay AND getting through the stack, bit by bit at a time. I can't believe you've read that many books already this month ... I wish I had the leisure!

    "Orlando" sounds pretty interesting, so I think I'll check that one out first. Thanks for the rec!

    Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the other Percy books. That's too bad about Artemis (although not surprising).

    That's neat about the Canadian author. I'm amazed when I find an instance of Canadian culture in America, because the infiltration of culture always seemed one-way to me (that is, America --] Canada).

    Great quote by Don DeLillo! Sometimes his verbosity yields pure gold.

    Sorry, I was going to write more but I resorted to KD and now I feel tired. :( Yes, KD is a legitimate excuse.

    posted 2 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    I haven't actually started "Catch-22", but it's ... next. Yes.

    "The Crying Game" is another movie analysis text. As far as I know there isn't a novel.

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    Have I complained about the tiny height of this comment box before? If not, I should have.

    Naked Lunch! I did know it was based off, er, "reality", but I didn't know to what extent. That's really interesting! Thanks for the info. I definitely need to check out the movie. Although unlike my tardur-ish friend Victoria I'm not overly fond of surrealist works. ;) Burroughs certainly seems to have gotten away with murder, literally ... junkie artists aren't always cut slack, either.

    Ahaha I have the "Library Compulsion" sickness as well. I'm working my way through the stack, too. But it's seriously a little too moat-like for my comfort.

    Congrats on finishing "To the Lighthouse"! I ~can't wait~ until I get started on it. ;) Haha. Glad to hear it picked up at the end. And I hear you on the stream-of-consicousness narrative. With very few exceptions I can't usually handle it either.

    I'll add another movie-based-on-book-yet-superseding-it example: "The Notebook"! A classic example. :)

    And definitely some works can't really be bridged into other media without distorted some fundamental part of them. Not that I can think of any examples right now. But I'm sure you can?

    Yeah, censorship. (And it was "Transformers 2".) I know it's not as bad here as other places, not nearly. I've seen the lists of banned books in the US and it just makes me shake my head. Harry Potter -- really? [Insert sarcasm here] Actually, speaking of this example reminds me of a bit of reading I just completed on the witch trials of Europe and the US. Not to be presumptuous but it seems like the people who have a problem with "witchy" books like Harry Potter must not have a good grasp of of the history of the witch hunts, in particular how utterly flawed they were. I mean, what are these people thinking? That witchcraft is a reality? That little children are going to morph themselves into wizards, perhaps not of the goodly Harry Potter fare? Insanity.

    Since you mentioned him, I'm making my through "The 120 Days of Sodom" ... I see now what you meant by the Marquis de Sade's "repetitive" style. Despite its fiendishness and extravagance and major shock value, I'm ... getting bored with it. And I'm only on the eleventh day. ;) Haha.

    I see you've started to read "The Titan's Curse". Any improvement in the Percy Jackson series?

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • AYMS

    AYMS says

    If I can find my copy of The Castle....I seem to have misplaced a few things when I moved into my grandparents' house. Wicked is harder for me to get into that I thought! I missed a chance to se the musical in San Francisco, which is a shame. Tickets were over $80, and I had issues with an ATM down there.

    Heh, we talk about books on Facebook too already. :) Good to see you though. xD

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Book lover

    Book lover says

    I am liking it very much... the first 80 pages was a tough slog.

    I am not finished yet. The verdict has just come in. Please do not tell me how it ends (if you have read it).

    I will report back when I finish.
    thanks for asking!
    : )

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    I was at the library today and was soo tempted to pick up one of the many Plato manifestos ... but I held off. Must. Not. Be. DISTRACTED.

    Haha, your comments on film adaptions of novels resembles criticism towards fanfiction. I think there's something to be said about working within a different medium, and the novel and the film are invariably different mediums (perhaps not "invariably" ... I do think of reading books as enacting "cinemas of the mind", quote originator unknown). Sometimes screenplays can beat the stuffing out of the material from which they were derived, which is embarrassing for the original author but kind of good for the story itself. There's something deeply satisfying when a simple change of hands reveals the hidden quality of a roughly hewn gem.

    Sorry about the Harry mix up, although I was actually referring to my well-known hatred of his character, not yours. It's true that he's not as quick-witted as many of the other characters (although I wouldn't say he's one of the slowest, and I have to take into account his grafted-on ignorance -- not of the Wizarding World, but that which is handcrafted by his "protectors", like Dumbledore). Percy is clearly suffering. I seriously wonder if he doesn't actually have ADHD, that it wasn't just a [weird and unconvincing] excuse for his ability to read only Ancient Greek.

    I hear you wtr teen maturity and experiences across NA cultures. I mean, just compare what media is available for absorption: "Saved By The Bell" versus "Degrassi".

    I do know about the 100 Book Challenge Group, but with school taking my time, I don't think I have a chance of making it through ... this year! I think I'll try it for the next.

    Yes, I heard about "Pi" the movie. I'm sort of used to crappy fiction being made into crappy blockbusters these days. I guess I have a "what else is knew!" attitude towards it, haha.

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • kairilily

    kairilily says

    Hi there! I'm just dropping by to welcome you to The 100+ Book Challenge. The idea of the group is pretty much self explanatory - try to read 100 or more books in a one year period. If you do have any questions, please feel free to send a message to me or Tenia. In the meantime, good luck reaching your goal!

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    To be honest, it's the only book of Plato's I've read (I think). I've been meaning to read more, but looking at all the textbooks I have to get through, not to mention the books I'm already reading right now ... I probably won't be able to get to them for a while.

    "The Vampire Diaries" were written a long time ago for a preteen audience and aren't that good, so I'm no surprised if your library doesn't have them. I did watch the pilot last night, and was extremely unimpressed. There were too many contrived and awkward moments, and the acting was mostly atrocious ... the only parts I enjoyed were when Stefan's brother was on screen (he reminds me of a cross between Spike, like you say, and Brian from the American QaF). The show is different from the book -- honestly, it's like they were looking for an excuse to make a vampire show and only remembered now and then to include aspects from the book.

    I'm making my way slowly through the 1001 list ... I'm hovering at around 40. My goal is to make my way to 100 by next summer, but we'll see ... I have so many textbooks to read.

    Hey! Don't rag on the ADHD kid! ;) Naw, Percy's a damn moron, and it's frustrating to read from his perspective (and Harry, despite his flaws, is like a breath of fresh air in comparison. By the by, I liked Harry Potter when he was a kid. It wasn't until his getting pampered by the Wizarding World lent him the leisure to reinvent himself as an emo icon for the magical youth of England that my view of his character soured). In general I find that older authors who write juvenile fiction tend to overdo the "juvenile" part, making the characters more immature and, let's face it, stupider than the kids who are reading the books really are. That's why I steered clear of books targeted to my age group when I was a kid. It wasn't just unrealistic ... it was offensive. I find it hard to believe that people forget what it was like at that age, and I question, if they do, whether these authors should be writing for an age group of whose mental facilities they have no understanding.

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Katie

    Katie says

    The Plato book is a very quick read, I liked it. Oh, the philosophy that can come out of writing a simple love letter! It also has some unintentionally atheistic moments (Plato's basically like "Egads! We've forgotten the gods exist! *prayerprayerprayer*).

    Try "The Old Man and the Sea"! Which does have a point! And even brought a bit of a tear to mine eye! And I'll try one of his longer works. Which is probably a lot more trying. And then we'll see. See what? I don't know. But something.

    "The Scarlet Letter" is so far a bore. The socio-political commentary of the time is of no interest to me.

    I actually didn't read "A Clockwork Orange" the book--I read a collection of essays on the movie. And it was good. I should pick up the book soon, though. The language was designed to be difficult, to build intimacy with the book as you learn it ... to hide brutalities that only become apparent on a second reading.

    I was disappointed to find that the full length version of "The Vampire Diaries" available on the publisher's website has been cut down to a 100 pg version, so I have to go borrow the book to finish it, I guess. I'll try to catch the TV show today too, if I can find it.

    Damn you've added a lot of books, haha! You're almost at 1000!

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )


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