New hat design, a simple fairisle. (A christmas gift)
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With the acclaimed (yet bawdy) poet and playwright Christofer Marley deceased, the members of the Prometheus Club turn to the heir apparent: Kit's roommate, friend, and rival, William Shakespeare. Will Isn't quite so sure about his new role in navigating the political intrigues of court, especially when magic is involved. Nor can he forget the loss of his friend Kit.

Kit, however, isn't quite as dead as the mortal world believes. Absconded by the Fae, he becomes a prisoner of Queen Mebd and her court. Even as he is bound by immortals, Kit can't let go of his old life and continues to worry about Queen Elizabeth, Will, and the foul persons who maimed and almost murdered him. And as the author of Faustus, Marley knows better than anyone what is at stake.

I am extremely torn about this book. Bear did a masterful job. It's beautifully researched. Unlike most books set in the Elizabethan period, she captured the very dialogue of the age, complete with wit and meter. Magic aside, it feels accurate and real. The characters are fully-rounded and complex. Will and Kit are very different men, driven by very different motivations, and both are geniuses in their own way.

However, the negative. Yes, I'm probably a prude, but geez there was a lot of sex in this book. Graphic sex - gay, straight, incest, and more. Sure, it was well-written, but it became excessive and aggravating, especially toward the ending. Some of it was part of character development, but not all, and some of it could be well implied without such detail. Even though I'm curious about the second book in this duology, I won't be picking it up because I fear it will include more of the same.

In summary: an artfully-rendered historical/urban fantasy, but not for prudes.

I am not lucky enough to have a decent local fabric store. What are your favorite online sources for fabric? I'm not having too much luck with google. I'm particularly interested in jerseys and lurex, but am happy with any ideas. Ebay is fine, too!

Thanks!

( o41. communication as... : perspectives on theory; gregory j. shepherd, jeffrey st. john & ted stripas, eds. )
I read this for a graduate Communication Studies seminar, and I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it more than my classmates. But such is life. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to explore communication studies past the undergraduate level. I think it gives a fair account of the many different angles that are pursued under the name 'communication studies.' Though a few of them kind of turn me off.

Here is the product description from Amazon: In Communication as...: Perspectives on Theory, editors Gregory J. Shepherd, Jeffrey St. John, and Ted Striphas bring together a collection of 27 essays that explores the wide range of theorizing about communication, cutting across all lines of traditional division in the field. The essays in this text are written by leading scholars in the field of communication theory, with each scholar employing a particular stance or perspective on what communication theory is and how it functions. In essays that are brief, argumentative, and forceful, the scholars propose their perspective as a primary or essential way of viewing communication with decided benefits over other views..

Genre : Non-fiction, academic, reference.
Length : 296 pages.
Rating : 3/5 = Worth the read.

( o42. critical reading and writing for postgraduates; mike wallace & alison wray. )
Here's another book I read for my seminar. Though I appreciated it, I found it a bit dry. Helpful, but dry. Go go SAGE publishing!

Here is the product description from Amazon : This guide to critical reading and self-critical writing is a must-have resource for postgraduate students and early-career academics. It is packed with tools for analyzing texts and structuring critical reviews, and incorporating exercises and examples drawn from the social sciences.

Genre : Non-fiction, education, academic.
Length : 240 pages.
Rating : 3/5 = Worth the read.

( o43. bright-sided: how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined america; barbara echrenreich. )
I have never read any of Barbara Echrenreich's other books, but I'm curious about doing so after reading this book and talking to other people. I do get the distinct impression I might like those other books more than this one. The basis behind the book (as the title implies) is that America is in a state where positivity rules, but happiness does not necessarily follow. Nor are the two essentially related. Positive thinking in and of itself may not be such a bad thing, but there are limits, and in this book published just a few months ago, Echrenreich sheds light on and expands upon them. While I may not like all that she has to say, I think she brings up an interesting point of view, and I find her opinion to be entirely valid, as much as anyone else's, anyway. What I really liked was her inclusion of self as well as her research of the history of positive thinking. Some complaints I've heard is that she didn't go far enough or hit the big issues we continue to deal with. While I tend to agree, I realize that she had to stop writing and get the book out at some point.

A review from Publishers Weekly (as quoted on Amazon) : Starred Review. Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) delivers a trenchant look into the burgeoning business of positive thinking. A bout with breast cancer puts the author face to face with this new breed of frenetic positive thinking promoted by everyone from scientists to gurus and activists. Chided for her anger and distress by doctors and fellow cancer patients and survivors, Ehrenreich explores the insistence upon optimism as a cultural and national trait, discovering its symbiotic relationship with American capitalism and how poverty, obesity, unemployment and relationship problems are being marketed as obstacles that can be overcome with the right (read: positive) mindset. Building on Max Weber's insights into the relationship between Calvinism and capitalism, Ehrenreich sees the dark roots of positive thinking emerging from 19th-century religious movements. Mary Baker Eddy, William James and Norman Vincent Peale paved the path for today's secular $9.6 billion self-improvement industry and positive psychology institutes. The author concludes by suggesting that the bungled invasion of Iraq and current economic mess may be intricately tied to this reckless national penchant for self-delusion and a lack of anxious vigilance, necessary to societal survival. (Oct.)

Genre : Non-fiction, health, sociology, culture.
Length : 256 pages.
Rating : 3/5 = Worth the read.

(o44. the year of the flood; margaret atwood. )
Though I was not altogether very fond of The Handmaid's Tale, I was excited to hear that Atwood was coming out with another book. And so she came out with The Year of the Flood in September, and I happened to like this book much more than the former. I don't know if it's her choice of language, the way she paints the world and her characters, but something draws me in. It's set in the near future and leaves you with so many questions as you see through the eyes of two characters. Perhaps, after reading The Handmaid's Tale, I've gotten used to this unusual form of storytelling, so I was ready to follow along. It was hard to put down. And only after I'd read it did I hear about the direct connection to Oryx and Crake, which she published in 2003. Though I think you are expected to have read Oryx and Crake beforehand, I'm not unhappy about reading it afterward. I think I like this way better.

A review from Amazon : The long-awaited new novel from Margaret Atwood. The Year of the Flood is a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to her visionary power.

The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners--a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life--has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible.

Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers...

Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo'hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue. As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can't stay locked away...

By turns dark, tender, violent, thoughtful, and uneasily hilarious, The Year of the Flood is Atwood at her most brilliant and inventive.

Genre : Fiction, speculative fiction, science fiction.
Length : pages.
Rating : 4/5 = Pretty darn good.

( o45 - o49 : the southern vampire mysteries; charlaine harris. )
I'd wanted to get through the entire series by the end of the year, but apparently school has decided to ruin that show. I was able to get through the first four, though, and they are:
Dead Until Dark (May 2001)
Living Dead in Dallas (March 2002)
Club Dead (May 2003)
Dead to the World (May 2004)

I don't expect I need to give a long explanation of the series. Here is what Wikipedia has to say on the matter : The Southern Vampire Mysteries (informally known as The Sookie Stackhouse Novels / Chronicles and retronymed the True Blood Series upon their reprinting) is a series of books written by The New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, first published in 2001. In The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, Harris has developed a detailed mythology. Her series describes an alternate history which assumes that the supernatural is real and that vampires have only been public knowledge for a couple of years. Other supernatural beings, such as shapeshifters, werewolves, etc. exist, but do not go public until later in the series. Its history has otherwise unfolded so identically to that of the real world that the series contains occasional references to popular culture.

The series is narrated in first person perspective by Sookie Stackhouse. She is a barmaid and telepath in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. The first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. The ninth book, and sixteenth story, Dead and Gone was released on the 5th of May 2009. Harris is contracted to write at least 10 books, the next of which is entitled Dead in the Family will be released in May 2010. During the True Blood panel at Comic Con 2009, Charlaine Harris revealed that she has signed a contract for three additional books.

Why you should care : It is, in my opinion, well written (certainly by comparison to other books involving the supernatural). I also think that Harris provides a really interesting perspective. The fact that it's through a girl and that she's human is surely redundant. But for one thing, the girl's not a teenager. For another, she impresses me as being a normal human (cut the telepath jokes; it kept me wary during the first book). And it's unlike most of the other vampire books I've read (admittedly, not many). It's kind of refreshing. The books are short and very easy to read. I'm not in love with them, but I'm going to make the effort to finish the series.

Genre : Fiction, speculative fiction, science fiction.
Length : 292 + 291 + 292 + 291 = 1166 pages.
Rating : 4/5 = Pretty darn good.

( o5o. holidays on ice; david sedaris. )
After reading and enjoying Me Talk Pretty One Day and receiving a recommendation, I gave David Sedaris's Holidays on Ice. I'd like to think I appreciate Sedaris's humor, and sometimes I do, but I don't think I did as much with this one. It's a short book of six stories, and I found three of them to be pretty amusing. The book is full of dry humor and I'm fond of the mockery.

Genre: Humor, fiction, short stories.
Length: 134 pages.
Rating: 3/5 = Worth the read.

( o51. odd and the frost giants; neil gaiman. )
Being a huge Neil Gaiman fan, I found this at a bookstore and had to give it a read. I was not let down in the least. This is the story of a young man who finds himself dealing with Norse gods and giants. What I love most about Neil Gaiman's stories concerning young people is the way he portrays them as clever and child-like. I'm also a sucker for mythology. The book is a quick read and includes illustrations by Brett Helquist. I'd definitely recommend it.

Genre: Fiction, young readers, myth and legend.
Length: 117 pages.
Rating : 5/5 = Would (and will) read it over and over again.

--

Currently reading: Andre Agassi's Open. Since it's long and late in the year, I'm putting it into my 2010 reading list, which can be found here. Happy hols!

Book 143: Hurry Down Sunshine: a Father's Memoir of Love and Madness
Author: Michael Greenberg, 2008.
Genre: Non-Fiction. Mental Illness.
Other Details: Hardback. 236 pages.

“I feel like I’m travelling and travelling with nowhere to go back to”, she said in a moment of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place I could not dream of or imagine. I wanted to grab her and bring her back, but there was no turning back.

This memoir, written by New York novelist Michael Greenberg, chronicles his 15-year old daughter's acute psychotic episode during the summer of 1996.

At first he attributes Sally's behaviour to a typical teenage spell but as it becomes progressively bizarre he is urged by his wife's therapist to take her to an emergency room. From there Sally is quickly admitted to a psychiatric hospital and Michael and those close to him have to come to terms with Sally's condition. She is diagnosed as bi-polar, which in her case presented at a young age, and for a time is heavily medicated. Once released from hospital Sally begins the slow process of reclaiming her life with the assistance of her family and mental health professionals.

Alongside Sally's story, Greenberg also offers medical and literary perspectives on mental illness. He details how psychotropic drugs work and even offers his own account of their effects when he takes Sally's medication in order to understand what she is experiencing.

I found this a well-written, powerful and very honest account.

It all seems so obvious now. Railroading, North American style, is long strings of coal or grain or ethanol or automobile cars staying out of the way of the time-sensitive stack trains. Recently, I observed some children watching trains from the Chesapeake Bagel store, and they're attuned enough to contemporary practice to wait for the end of the train before they finish counting the engines.



Marc Levinson's The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, the subject of Book Review N^o. 48, suggests that it wasn't at all obvious, and that (as in the emergence of any industry standard) what we see today is not necessarily what any of the pioneers intended.

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(Cross-posted to Cold Spring Shops.)

On What Grounds

Cleo Coyle

Coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi has been tricked into sharing the apartment above The Village Blend with her ex-husband, Matt. Naturally she's unhappy with the situation, and her feelings towards Matt are complicated. The fact that she might be developing feelings for a certain Lieutenant Quinn doesn't help simplify things.

When Clare finds the Village Blend's pretty young assistant manager unconscious and near death at the foot of the coffeehouse's basement stairs she is certain that Annabelle had not met with an accident, in spite of the conclusions of the police and the hospital. Clare is determined to find out who wanted Annabelle dead, even if it puts her in danger.

I loved this book! It was a very fun, light cozy mystery, (if any book about murder can be called fun and light.)

On What Grounds was the perfect blend of plot and characters set against a backdrop so steeped in coffee that I swear I could smell it brewing!

On What Grounds is the first in The Coffeehouse mystery series. There is great scope for character developement as the series progresses, and I can't wait to read more! I'm completely hooked!

Cleo Coyle is actually the pen name for a husband and wife team, who also write The Haunted Bookshop mysteries under the psuedonym Alice Kimberly. I highly recommend both series!

Book 141: The Lost Symbol
Author: Dan Brown, 2009.
Genre: Conspiracy Thriller.
Other Details: Hardback. 509 pages.

I read this much anticipated third outing for Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon in September a few days after its release. Its plot centres on Washington D.C. and its 'secret history' linked to Freemasonry. Brown also weaves in material on the field of Noetic Science (aka parapsychology) and links with ancient mystery traditions.

The formula is very much the same as in the previous two books as poor ole Robert Langdon is forced to rush around a city, pursued by baddies and maybe-baddies while solving a series of cryptic clues while the clock ticks towards a countdown. Here it is the life of his mentor, Peter Solomon, that is at risk. The pace of the book means that there is little time for character development just non-stop frantic action from start to finish. Although I found myself gripped during the two days it took to read it, on reflection the plot was not as engaging as that of Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. Perhaps this was because it was restrained by the central role assigned to the well documented Freemasons over groups such as the Illuminati and Priory of Sion, which allowed for more creative licence.

In so many of the Da Vinci-clones I get the sense that the conspiracy or historical mystery is little more than a hook for the author than a genuine interest, whereas with Brown my impression is that he has a genuine respect for the ancient mystery traditions and has an interest in how these may have been transmitted down the ages. It is quite obvious that Brown holds Freemasonry in high esteem and I am sure that they and the folks over at The Institute of Noetic Sciences were very pleased at the positive publicity they gained with the book's publication as indeed was the Washington D.C. Tourist Board as The Lost Symbol has generated fresh interest in the city's architecture.

Although not great literature I still enjoyed this as a page-turning thriller even if the end felt a bit preachy.

Book 142: The Fulcanelli Manuscript (aka The Alchemist's Secret)
Author: Scott Mariani, 2007
Genre: Conspiracy Thriller
Other Details: Hardback. 224 pages.

Ben Hope had been an elite soldier though now uses his skills to rescue kidnapped children. Then Ben is approached by a millionaire businessman who requests that he trace an ancient lost manuscript whose secret could save a dying girl. Ben soon finds himself on the strangest mission of his life with dangerous enemies in hot pursuit. Ben teams up with Roberta Ryder, a beautiful American scientist, who helps him crack the various codes associated with the quest for the manuscript. The trail leads them from Paris to the ancient Cathar strongholds of the Languedoc, where lies an astonishing secret which has been hidden through the ages.

This was a very quick and easy read. It was a fairly standard thrillerwith an attractive leading man with the usual weight of the world on his shoulders and a strong female lead to match him. There was a fun clash of personalities in the early pages, which made me hope for a love affair. The central baddie was a complete nasty piece of work with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, so no ambiguity there. Maybe overall a little stereotypical but still fun. I was pleased to find Scott Mariani has gone on to write other books with Hope as protagonist. Perfect fare for a little escapism.

Book #98 -- Helen Fisher, Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love By Understanding Your Personality Type, 243 pages.

My mom gave me this one to read because she was curious where I ranked. It's interesting - some things fit rather well, but others not so much. Most of what she states should be obvious, but it's interesting to see it laid out.

Progress toward: 363/365 = 99.4%

Books: 98/100 = 98.0%

Pages: 24507/25000 = 98.0%

2009 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

Mario Vargas Llosa – The feast of the goat

Vargas Llosa wrote many beautiful books, some of which I had read when I discovered this volume. A story about a country I learned to like a lot, that has been very important for me, written by an author I love to read. Try to find a better combination.

The goat in the title is Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator in the Dominican Republic from 1930 ‘til 1961. His nickname likely stems from his many sexual escapades, preferably with (very) young girls.

Three storylines make up the novel. The story of the dictator himself, the daily business in and around the palace, in the local prisons, the parties, the girls, his staff and the politicians surrounding him. The second point of view in the book is a group of dissidents with a plan to kill the evil dictator. Their preparations and especially the last hours before the murder are well lit in this book.

Finally there is the story about Urania Cabral. Her father was a minister, she grew up surrounded by many people who never saw or didn’t want to see the evil schemes a country living under a dictator inevitably has. We follow her, years later, for the first time back in her native country after years in exile in the United States. This storyline is responsible for the title ‘novel’ on the cover of this book. She is the fictional character, it is because of her looking back in time that the reader gets to know what an animal the dictator actually is.

Vargas Llosa manages well to mingle the three story lines. He draws you in, bit by bit, which means that halfway into the book, you (the reader) must have an idea what will happen next, how it will all end, but mainly you’re so curious you want to continue reading. To me, that is a sign that a book must be well written, the author manages to drag you straight in.

Given my background, ten months in the Dominican Republic at the end of my study, this book is certainly recommended. A few aspects had my extra attention. The sisters Mirabal obviously appear in this novel. Any story about the resistance in Santo Domingo cannot ignore their role. In this book their role is small though, not more than a mere mention. Then again I had already read a children’s book while I lived there and later the brilliant ‘In the time of the butterflies’ by Julia Alvarez.

But the best supporting role to me has to be Joaquin Balaguer. Prime minister under dictator Trujillo, president after he died. Not only that. Over thirty years later, on my first entry into the country, he is back into power. Without any doubt he is the most important politician in the country during the last century. Not the dictator, but the man who lived to be a politician and was beyond ninety when he died, still in a support role for the current president, turned out to be the most historical figure in this book.

Vargas Llosa has written a beautiful book about a country that for many remains only known as a holiday destination. Somewhere in the Caribbean whit many luxury All Inclusive Resorts near fabulous beaches. Where everybody always seems to be optimistic, where life is always fun.

Unfortunately life wasn’t always fun, this book certainly proves that. Better than an ordinary history book, more catchy than a nivel, this book is recommended for anyone who likes to read about politics, who likes thrillers, good stories, true stories, history, basically anybody eager for a good book.

Quote: “When I see a beauty, a real woman, a woman who manages to get into your head, I don’t think about myself. I think of the Boss. Certainly, about him. Would he like to hold her on his arms, would he want to make love to her? I have never told this to anyone else. Not even to the Boss himself. But I’m sure he knows. He knows that he is my first thought, even when it gets to that area. And let me make one thing clear, I adore women, Agustin”

(p.298 Dutch translation, English version my own translation)

Number: 09-059
Title: Het feest van de bok (Orig.: La fiesta del chivo)
Author: Mario Vargas Llosa
Language: Dutch (Orig.: Spanish)
Year: 2001
# Pages: 446 (12558)
Category: Literature
ISBN: 90-290-7779-4

Much more via WikiPedia

Hey everyone!

This is more a discussion topic about hand embroidery, so it would be great to see the different opinions about certain things!
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135. The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad, trans. by Ingrid Christophersen
              About an Afghan family in Kabul in 2001.  Not a typical family, since the father is a bookseller, and so literate and rather well off.  Very interesting and I really couldn't put it down, but it was also depressing and down-right creepy.  Depressing just because the people were so mean to each other, and didn't seem like they're ever going to escape from the traps of war and culture.  Depressing and creepy because of the lives of the women.  Yeah, I know, cultural sensitivity and all that, but Burkas?  Honor Killings?  A girl having a vitamn D deficiency, in Afghanistan, because she never leaves the house?  These things all made me sad, and reading about some things that happen to women there just gave the heebie-jeebies.  Good book though.

136. Troilus and Cressida - William Shakespeare
               A tragedy set during the Trojan war.  Troilus is a younger brother of Hector, and Cressida is the woman he loves.  Don't be fooled by the title though, as it's not really about them, since they get about two scenes together, and most of the action focuses on Hector and Ajax and Achilles and the fighting.

131. Andromache - Euripides
                A play about Andromache, the wife of Hector, after the Trojan War, when she is a slave and concubine of Achilles' son.  Lots of drama.

132. Any Woman's Blues - Erica Jong
             A book about a woman's obsession with sex and men, one man in particular, which is ruining her life.  Not the greatest of books, but some of it rang true to me.

133. First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third-World Adventure Changed My Life - Eve Brown-Waite
              A really great book about the author's peace corps experience and time in Uganda.  I laughed out loud for most of the book.  Highly recommended, especially if you've lived abroad doing development work.

134. The Snow Leopard - Peter Matthiessen
                 About the author's trip in Nepal, to the Crystal Monastery, looking for the snow leopard and the blue sheep.  He also focused on his studies of Zen Buddhism.  This was written in a journal form, with each section dated.  All the parts about his trip and his impressions were in very short, almost haiku like sentences, while the sections on his past life and about buddhism were more traditional.  A beautiful read.

127. The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien
            After a  starting this two years ago on the other side of the world, I'm done!  While the first time I tried to read this I got bored quickly, this time it was good.  Maybe it helped that I was re-watching the LOTR at the same time.  It helped for me to make notes on who was who in the beginning.  Anyway, this made me want to reread The Hobbit and the LOTR, but I think I'll never appreciate this book the way a true fan would.  It's just too complex.

128. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America - Bill Bryson
                 Another of Bryson's travel books, but I think this one was his worst.  It didn't seem that funny, and he really spent a lot more time whining.  Also, he rather cheerfully admitted to taking his frustrations out on waitresses and such, and that didn't endear me at all to him.

129.The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII - William Shakespeare
                    This was my least favorite of the History Plays, mostly cause it seemed like a big butt-kissing fest.  That could be because it was written during Elizabeth's reign, or it could be that I'm slightly more familiar with the history of this king than I am with the War of the Roses, but it seemed really glossed over.  Henry VIII especially, who wasn't a bad guy (despite the annulments, divorces, and beheadings) but was just manipulated by others.  Right.

130. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
                The first volume of the collected works.  Also thoroughly enjoyable.  Included A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, as well as the Adventures of, the Memoirs of, and the Return of Sherlock Holmes.

( 1-59 )

60. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - I actually read this one back in September but I forgot to add it onto here. Whoops. It was a short read but it was cute.

We continue our survey of writing on the financial crisis of 2008-09 with Thomas E. Woods's Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse. Book Review N^o. 47 will be relatively short, as the subtitle takes away any possibility of a review including spoilers. Mr Woods covers some of the same history as columnist Michael Lewis did in Panic (reviewed here) and he offers a different policy perspective from Paul Krugman in The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 (reviewed here). Where Professor Krugman sees merit in Keynesian countercyclical fiscal policies and changes in government regulation of financial markets, Mr Woods sees none. In his view, the government's mortgage agencies and the Federal Reserve created and enabled serial bubbles, and those agencies cannot be depended upon to undo the effects of the unwinding of the bubbles. He'd rather offer (this being a Regnery book, it's more likely to appeal to the converted than to change minds) a potted Austrian business cycle explanation for the bubbles and a return to money backed by precious metals. His use of the Austrian business cycle models would probably not satisfy a serious historian of economic thought, and, although I remember only enough of income theory and monetary economics to be dangerous, I would have liked first, a more careful explanation of why exhaustible resources (which is what gold and silver are) that have uses in industrial processes and in ornamentation as well as in stores of value are necessarily superior to other mediums of exchange -- that's not as easy as it looks; second, an explanation why a central bank with a common reserve requirement is necessarily inferior to competing banks with different reserve positions -- anyone who claims that all cash transactions were once upon a time backed by precious metals has not thought through the origins of fractional reserve banking in the receipts issued by goldsmiths; and third, a more careful analysis of the ability of a central bank to monopolize the creation of money -- researchers having identified M₁ through M₅ or M₆ when I was in graduate school, and I'd be startled if there weren't more definitions including ever more creative instruments of credit.

(Cross-posted toCold Spring Shops.)

how does mod podge and colored tissue paper mix when being put onto cardboard? onto wood?

i just wonder if the colors will bleed together. i want to start making decorative boxes with homemade soaps in them as presents and i think the tissue paper would make a good base. thanks in advance.

71. Snuff - (12/28) - Chuck Palahniuk 208p

a little more than 4 stars ...

"Porn is a job you take after you abandon all hope."

I had extremely low expectations of this book, as it was widely panned, even by Palahniuk fans. I'm not sure I understand why. It's actually pretty brilliant even though I can't say I "loved" it, doesn't mean it wasn't great. It's what Palahniuk does, and I thought it was done well.

Cassie Wright, an aging porn star, decides to end her career by breaking the world record for a gang bang and has 600 men assembled. The story unfolds though 4 of the characters in the waiting area. Three men, and Cassie's assistant.

At first I thought, "leave it to Chuckie P to think of something like this." But there was so much detail I started to suspect it was based on fact, and in fact, it was. This story was originally inspired by Annabel Chong who set the record for 251 sex acts in 10 hours with 70 or so different men. Tragically, that record was broken in 2009 by Lisa Sparxxx who was penetrated by 919 at Eroticon in 2004. Now let me just state for the record, I HAD NO IDEA that this kind of thing went on in the world.

Was I edified by reading this book? No. I was exposed to something I knew nothing about. It was both fascinating and gruesome. Sad, raw, gritty, hopeless ... revolting. The book was dappled with Hollywood factoids, typical Palahniuk grossness, and moments of humor. In many ways, it was thought provoking and I'm glad I finally buckled down and read it.

70. Altar of Eden - (12/27) - James Rollins 416p
4.5/5 -- Review behind the link


69. Shades of Grey: A Novel - (12/23) - Jasper Fforde 400p

5/5

Quintessential Fforde!

9.3.88.32.025: The cucumber and the tomato are both fruit; the avocado is a nut. To assist with the dietary requirements of vegetarians, on the first Tuesday of the month a chicken is officially a vegetable.

If you've read and loved Fforde in the past stop right here. There's no need to read this review. Shades of Grey is Fforde at his Ffordy best. Buy, read, enjoy.

I really feel that this is one of those books that it's best not to know anything about before you start reading it. But you seem rather committed to reading this review, so I'll continue.

It feels like there's a nod to both Brave New World and We, though I've never read anything quite like this. Once again, Fforde takes us into a cleverly devised fictional world, filled with his satire, humor and social commentary. A world where the cause of death could be "mildew", "Nightloss", or accidental beheading by the guillotine at the linoleum factory.

Green is the drug of choice, and beige is quite rightly Hell, and I can't even begin to expound upon the Perpetulite.

"I'm not a big fact person," said Mr. Crimson, who was honest, even if a twit. "Unproved speculation is more my thing ... "

This book is the first in a trilogy. Enjoy.

68. Chronic City - (12/12) - Jonathan Lethem 480p

4.5/5 - Review behind the link

67. The Woods - (12/4) - Harlen Coben 418p

2/5

This isn't my normal type of book but I do enjoy them on occasion. However, I think my expectations were too high after all the hype. I just thought it was stupid, with really mediocre writing and unnatural attempts at humor.

Books I'm looking forward to in 2010 can be found here

My complete list can be found here