Monthly Archives: January 2007
Bruno Schulz’s The Street of Crocodiles
I have very mixed feelings about this book; at times I hated it and at others I laughed or admired the writing or felt I could appreciate what Schulz was doing. Sometimes I was horrified by it. It’s a series … Continue reading
More on Johnson
Based on what I’ve read so far in The Life of Johnson, Johnson was a lovely letter writer, although an unreliable one. Boswell includes quite a few of his more interesting letters — both business ones and personal ones — … Continue reading
Filed under Books, Nonfiction
Jane Kenyon’s Otherwise
Over the weekend, I finished Jane Kenyon’s book of poems, Otherwise, a book I’ve been slowly reading my way through for a good five months or so. It’s sometimes hard, actually, to finish a book after spending such a long … Continue reading
My day
Today is my birthday (I feel strange drawing attention to that, because I don’t generally draw attention to myself, which is weird … because I blog … but I’m mentioning it because I want to talk about my gifts), and … Continue reading
My ranking
I have a national USCF (United States Cycling Federation) ranking! All you need to do to get one, actually, is to ride in a USCF race and finish it, so it’s not like it’s a big deal, but I was … Continue reading
Filed under Cycling
Old School
Preparing myself for the one ride on the indoor trainer I’ve done so far this winter (mentioned in yesterday’s post), I went to the library to get an audiobook to listen to while I pedal. I picked up Tobias Wolff’s … Continue reading
Winter riding: a cycling post
After weeks and weeks of ridiculously warm winter weather, it’s finally gotten cold around here, so I’ve had the chance to go riding in below-freezing weather. This is the first year I’ve ridden regularly throughout the winter, and I’m in … Continue reading
Filed under Cycling
Johnson and writing
I’ve gotten to the part in Boswell’s Life of Johnson where Johnson is writing twice-weekly essays published as The Rambler. This is what Boswell says about it: The first paper of the Rambler was published on Tuesday, the 20th of … Continue reading
Filed under Books, Nonfiction, Writing
So Long a Letter and other things
I began classes today, and while I won’t be really busy for a couple weeks when the first sets of papers come in, I’m still feeling a bit in shock — there’s a lot of new stuff to take in, … Continue reading
Yay me!
All those years of church-attending and Bible-studying were good for something … Thanks to Bardiac for the link. You know the Bible 100%! Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but … Continue reading
Filed under Books
Reading time
There’s a post up at Metaxu Cafe (originally posted here) asking people how much time they spend reading — and asking for hard numbers, and numbers not including time spent on newspapers or the internet, but time spent with books … Continue reading
Filed under Reading
The Groves of Academe
A couple days ago I finished Mary McCarthy’s novel The Groves of Academe, and found it just the thing I needed back when I needed something fun to read. I must say that I’m fonder of her essays than I … Continue reading
Blogging and the body follow-up
The author of the article on blogging and the body I posted about a few days ago, danah boyd, has found my blog and left a couple comments. As they are interesting ones, and ones that clarify what she was … Continue reading
Filed under Blogging
Currently Reading
I have begun reading Boswell’s Life of Johnson (which you may have noticed over in the “currently reading” section of the sidebar — I feel conflicted over those book lists, the “Currently Reading” one and the “Books Read” one because … Continue reading
Filed under Books, Nonfiction, Reading
New books
While I hate shopping — loathe and despise it — especially when it’s shopping at the mall, it’s made more bearable if I can stop by a bookstore when I’m finished. So the Hobgoblin and I went our separate ways … Continue reading
The blog as a body?
I didn’t get through many of the articles on blogging I linked to the other day, but the one by danah boyd I quoted from I did read thoroughly, and it had some interesting ideas (if you check out the … Continue reading
Filed under Blogging
Articles on blogging
Thanks to The Reading Experience, I just spent an hour or so reading through some of the articles in the latest issue of Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture; they’ve got an issue on blogging. Here’s one excerpt, from danah boyd’s … Continue reading
Filed under Links
Buddenbrooks (and other things)
I finished Buddenbrooks yesterday, and now when it’s time to begin another book, I’m wishing I were already in the middle of one. I’m feeling tired and anxious about the new job, and in these circumstances I find it difficult … Continue reading
Book reviews
In light of Bloglily’s recent post on book reviews (if you go there, make sure to check out the comments too), I found this passage particularly interesting — it’s by H.L. Mencken and I found it in Michael Dirda’s book: … Continue reading
Book by Book
I finished Michael Dirda’s Book by Book yesterday and have mixed feelings about it. When Dirda sticks to discussing specific books and giving book lists, he’s quite interesting and the book is a pleasure to read. When he begins to … Continue reading
Filed under Books, Lists, Nonfiction
