Translated by Ivan Morris
Read: November 2008
Rating: Most delightful.
I think I like Sei Shonagon herself more than I like her writing. She’s a fantastic character in and of herself–willful, witty, clever, eager to entertain, proud, and quick to judge. All of this comes across through her own recounts of her days, which are honest in that [...]

By St. Augustine
Read: Jan/Feb 2008
Rating: MAKE IT STOP.
Every time a new semester starts, I try to be really on the ball and keep up with everything. Take lots of notes, etc. This slowly falls away as things progress and I get comfortable. Unfortunately, this was the first book assigned to my memoir class.
Is it sinful [...]

By Kurt Vonnegut.
Available @Amazon.com (but I’m too lazy to link right now)
Read: September 2007
Rating: PHWOAR.
See the cat, see the cradle?
Book is farking brilliant. My apologies that I’m not more coherent about it, but I thought it was brilliant.
Vonnegut is my new personal hero. In the course of Cat’s Cradle he needles modern science, scientists, and [...]

By Charlotte Lennox
Go, go! Get it! @Amazon.com
Read: February 2007
Rating: Treasured
I truly don’t know how this book fell so completely out of favor. The Female Quixote was written in mid 1700s, about a young woman who, like Don Quixote, lives in her fantasies. Arabella reads romances, all of which are set in the ancient Greco-Roman [...]

By Daniel Defore
Read: January/February 2007
Rating: Not Unpleasant
I try to use only one word in the ratings, but there isn’t really an equivalent for ‘not unpleasant’ without outright saying ‘pleasant’, which isn’t really the same thing. And then you get into all this double-plus-ungood stuff and Big Brother descends to take you away. So, 2 words. [...]

By Alexandra Sellers
Read: November 2006
Rating: BLECH.
(This one has some bad language. Sorry.)
Remember that school project about Christian Romance Novels? Well, I got an A on it. But my punishment was having to read this garbage.
I’m not a stranger to fantasies that involve the dangerous, the forbidden, submission, and the otherwise impossible. Hell, that’s what [...]

By Susan May Warren
Read: November-December 2006
Rating: Surprisingly Enjoyable (woah, 2 words!)
Again, school project, the same as Lambert’s Pride. I discovered that Harlequin has, in fact, been publishing evangelical Christian Chick Lit! Yes, Chick Lit! How’s that to make your head spin?
Josey has accepted Christ into her heart, but she has yet to find a man [...]

By Euripides. Translated by W. S. Merwin & George E. Dimock.
Read: October 2006
Rating: Mixed.
This is the Oxford University Press edition, with both a scholar and a poet working on the translation. The play itself is only, say, 1/3 of the book itself. (Brings back memories of Ayn Rand’s Anthem.) This was a blessing, as I’m [...]

Since time and interest don’t allow for every book to get its own lengthy review, I’m going to do some mini-reviews. Clod save us all.
This install comes from the 2006 50 Book Challenge, which is going great guns, thanks. Books 1-20 were read during this time period. This mini review includes:

Yentl’s Revenge (Essays on Judaism [...]

By George Orwell
Rating: Phwoar
Read: April 2006
I read this once before, in junior year of high school. I didn’t like it so much then. But now I’m in awe, sort of like the JK Rowling phenomenon. I really like it this time. And I’m amazed by the theory and complexity. It is so COOL.
I still hate [...]

By Jack Kerouac
I’m not going to tempt you with a link. It’s too awful.

Rating: ERLACK.
Read: March 2006
It’s not really true to say that I’ve read this… I stopped after 40-some pages because it was just too awful. It’s Fitzgeraldian–and that is not a compliment when coming from me.

Here’s something new. I had to read these for class. I hated both. So you’re going to get DOUBLE the fun in one review! Yay!
The Trial
Franz Kafka

Get it if you dare @Amazon.com
Rating: Ugh
Read: Feb 2006
I am now quite certain Kafka was on snuff. Or something.
You know those dreams where you’re doing something, and you know [...]

By Lucy Kaylin
Rating: +serene+
Read: February 2006
I’m taking a class on Womens’ Spirituality this semester and this was our first long assigned reading. I really, really like it.

Adam Ashforth
Rating: Decent
Read: December 2005
I’m unsure how to categorize this one. It was required reading for my Apartheid & After class. The main issue? Witchcraft.

By Maya Angelou
Rating: Enjoyeable.
Read: Junior year, 2002-2003
I have to say it was fairly enjoyable. I’m always suspicious of much-revered works and authors, but I always go in with an open mind, because, afterall, there must be some merit to be found.
Her life is interesting, and never dull. Her insights and observations keep one reading. There [...]

By Robert Cormier
Rating: Traumatic.
Read: 7th grade, 1998-99
I was assigned to read The Bumblebee Flies Anyway for class in 7th grade. And I have loathed it ever since. As I am now in college, it is difficult for me to remember specific details, but I will try to define why Barney and I never got along.
There [...]

By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Rating: One big fat middle finger up Fitzgerald’s arsehole.
Read: Over the summer between my freshman and sophomore years, 2001.
Frankly, the most self-indulgent piece of tripe I’ve ever been forced to read. It was a summer reading assignment, and one of two terrible books I brought on a visit to my grandmother’s. I [...]