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jainabee's reviews
509 reviews
Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies by Lauren Redniss
4.0
I'm a sucker for this multi-media collage stuff. Plus, who doesn't love a Follies gal still kicking up her heels into the next millenium?
While the book is appealing and fancy and shares the fascinating history of this great woman, it fell short of my grand expectations. Perhaps it's just an aesthetic difference, but that's what it's all about, right?
While the book is appealing and fancy and shares the fascinating history of this great woman, it fell short of my grand expectations. Perhaps it's just an aesthetic difference, but that's what it's all about, right?
In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer
4.0
Like his "Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon" novel, it took me a long time to get into this, but once I did, it threw me around like a good mosh pit. Spanbauer is a patient writer, as at ease with brutality and blasphemy as he is with the most tender and discreet emotions.
But like many a good mosh pit, it seemed more like a tribute to that urge than the urge itself. Even the most harrowing or passionate scenes were so classically constructed that the emotional impact fell short of what the scene called for. Perhaps I am a poor reader, because I know that this is great writing.
Where the emotions and images resonated the strongest and purest were in the delicate, internal moments of our moustachioed protagonist. Sexy Einstein.
Speaking of which, Spanbauer is the master of unusual and tenacious catch phrases. Every time he wrote "Another New Yorker gone to Hell," I heard a car alarm, right on cue. The writing is vivid, sensual, and almost musical. Plus, this would make an excellent film.
But like many a good mosh pit, it seemed more like a tribute to that urge than the urge itself. Even the most harrowing or passionate scenes were so classically constructed that the emotional impact fell short of what the scene called for. Perhaps I am a poor reader, because I know that this is great writing.
Where the emotions and images resonated the strongest and purest were in the delicate, internal moments of our moustachioed protagonist. Sexy Einstein.
Speaking of which, Spanbauer is the master of unusual and tenacious catch phrases. Every time he wrote "Another New Yorker gone to Hell," I heard a car alarm, right on cue. The writing is vivid, sensual, and almost musical. Plus, this would make an excellent film.
Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan
5.0
I'm more familiar with some of these stories from his spoken word album, "Listening To Richard Brautigan." Now I read all of his work in that same slow, reverent manner. This is careful writing. The title story is one of my favorites of all time, bar none. I cry every time I read or hear it.
The Best American Comics 2008 by Lynda Barry, Matt Madden, Jessica Abel
4.0
I really enjoy this series, and Lynda Barry as guest editor is bonus. Gorgeously printed and every page is a gem. But my favorite thing about it (as with most anthologies) is discovering new favorites. This edition introduced me to "The Salon" by Nick Bertozzi, which I went out and bought as soon as I could. Now on to review THAT!!!
The Salon by Nick Bertozzi
5.0
I learned that Picasso— as interpreted through the mind and ink of Bertozzi— is flippin' hilarious! I wish I could get my hands on some of that blue absinthe.
The Sanctified Church by Zora Neale Hurston
4.0
It's difficult for a modern person to appreciate the true genius of ZNH's work, nearly a century after she began her anthropological magic. It's easy to take for granted, or even be "over" the colloquial speech patterns written phonetically, the spotlights on obscure-but-fascinating folks. It's easy to forget she was an academic, and these are her reports.
Reading this made me crave more. Thankfully, more is available.
Reading this made me crave more. Thankfully, more is available.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
3.0
Amazingly clear insight into the real experience of loss and fear and death and grief.
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
5.0
Leonora teeters hoveringly between undulating tendrils of canine howls and shards of erupting perplexities.
The Seventh Horse And Other Tales by Leonora Carrington
5.0
An intoxicating traipse through the jagged, dripping splendors of this marvelous woman's imagination. A wonderful place to start if you're curious.