Books read recently by J. Zimmerman
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Books read Best books read in 2010. Best writers of poetry and prose |
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"Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry."
[Jefferson's 1785 statute] |
{ June : roku-gatsu (see also books on learning Japanese) 2011 }
(6.30.2011)
See also his A Poke In The I
This is the first of the 'Karla Trilogy' and it makes the most sense of them all. A brilliant exploration of spies and loyalty and disloyalty.
John Le Carré's read:
With a cover and eight internal illustrations that are photographs of nine different Cornell boxes.
Quite good, though my favorite is "The Little Boxes" by Vasko Popa (translated by Simac. The later poems are more interesting and less obscure than the earlier poems.
Simic books read:
One of his better books. Favorite include:
Simic books read:
Reported books by Mary Oliver:
Shows the variety of interpretations of the religion in the practices of Islam's leaders through the centuries to the present.
An aggressive unsympathetic protagonist: I am missing the point of the value of this book.
Not bad. His protagonist (Kurt Wallander) reminds me of Rebus.
Mankell's read:
Rambling. Disappointing. Skimmed it.
A pattern appears in Mankell that seems to include many of these ingredients:
Mankell's read:
{ May : go-gatsu (see also books on learning Japanese) 2011 }
(5.31.2011)
This is another brilliant book from the Tuttle Language Library for the final panic revision before the final exam for the Introduction to Japanese course.
Christie's enjoyed:
A selection of poems from his books, chronologically:
Some of the later poems are very good. The later poems are more interesting and less obscure than the earlier poems.
Simic books read:
Includes some excellent work and some ho-hum work. A lot of senryu.
Kagan examines the Athenian general's "objective" history and "reveals the ancient historian's biases and prejudices — and his clear intention to spin events his own way". Nicely done.
The most poetic is John Hollander's "Swan and Shadow" while the most creative is Mary Ellen Solt's "Forsythia".
Ah, witch and vampire tourism by an American author: here we are at Oxford University, England, where what Harkness (page 1, line 7) calls the fall term is called Michaelmas -- or at least it was when I was there. So from line 7, what I'd hope would be a nostalgic JK Rowling for grown-ups quickly becomes irritating and lightweight enough that I'm done.
Skimmed the first few and last few chapters, and released it back to the 40 people on my local library's waiting list.
A good if macabre and overly-relying-on-coincidence mystery.
Mankell's read:
Includes: a haiku by J. Zimmerman.
A nice mixture of local and ex-pat suspects.
A terrifying story of life in Afghanistan for the last several decades, from the viewpoint of three women. The book's portion on life under the Taliban has the dystopia air of Atwood's parallel universe The Handmaid's Tale, except that was a futuristic novel, and this is a novel of the world in which we live, and is astonishingly sexist and abusive.
Again a somewhat unpleasant assortment of suspect characters.
An uncomfortable group of suspects. Poirot is unhappy in 'retirement'.
Amazing soap-opera type story of desire, loyalty, and betrayal.
Hope to return to this when I'm further along, including a solid start with Eleanor Harz Jorden's Reading Japanese.
{ April : shi-gatsu (see also books on learning Japanese) 2011 }
One poet says beware of your empty outbox. Another poet says beware of your bewares. |
A slowish story of the depression and aging of a prodigal lover and (it turns out) father, who is not as isolated as he seems to want to believe.
As delightful as her Color: a Natural History of the Palette.
The story is a little confusing because it's non-linear. But it gives a vivid picture of Napoleon's energy and appetites.
Favorite quote:
"There is no point in reading one of Shakespeare's plays.
They make me feel sorry for him."
Napoleon Bonaparte. |
A "cozy" thriller set in a small fictitious African state: nice to listen to while cleaning the house.
Gilman's read so far:
A little light but does include how to txt in 11 different languages.
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