Member: anna_in_pdx

That will work. I'll see you then - Pioneer Place at the food court then?

posted by solla at 8:51 pm (EST) on Nov 13, 2009

Any day next week would work for me.

posted by solla at 8:52 pm (EST) on Nov 12, 2009

Really like your twin reviews right now! That is all.

posted by slickdpdx at 12:53 pm (EST) on Nov 12, 2009

Dear Anna,
I was just learning how to add a picture to a post. After several false starts... Have a look at

http://www.librarything.com/topic/45451 Message #84

Jumping straight to a specific message, I am still working on.

I think the Max & Lizzy SAGA will continue for a while yet. :-)

Guido.

posted by guido47 at 10:21 pm (EST) on Nov 6, 2009

Hi Anna,

I just saw that you posted over at the Salon. Good to "see" you again. Thanks for the official invite to the group. I've been enjoying it.

My best,

Teresa

posted by theaelizabet at 2:05 pm (EST) on Oct 28, 2009

Yes, I'm reading it, but, as you said, it is pretty short, and I could easily read the Desert at the same time. I'd like to reread it too.

posted by solla at 8:48 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2009

Anna, I just got caught up on your reviews, including the Guns of August. You made me want to read it. I only know disconnected bits about WWI, including the lead up where it seemed to have been seen as needed for a kind of "cleansing", to it's effects on artist like Max Ernst and Franz Marc. I remember reading a journal of a young British (as I remember it) soldier stationed in the Bosporus

posted by solla at 9:25 pm (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

Thanks Anna, I saw the first bit of Genesis published in The New Yorker. It seems that R. Crumb is following in the footsteps of H.G. Wells and T.S. Eliot in embracing mainstream religion in their later years. Must have something to do with going by one's initials. Maybe that's not quite an accurate assessment of R., but I seem to remember from the article that he is a bit more mainstream now.

I treasure the copies of Zap! that I have, only lately connecting the Zap! to satori. Don't know if that's an official connection, but I think it fits with Mr. Natural's philosophy which is very close to Zen IMHO. I especially like the concordance I mention in my review, which I only "got" recently after reading the Zen koan related by Alan Watts.

In regard to Genesis, mainstream or not, R. couldn't go over the top. Just staying close to the original is going over the top!

I envy your personal connection with the R. But I enjoy reading along with you even more.

Wilf

posted by WilfGehlen at 3:23 pm (EST) on Oct 2, 2009

I feel exactly the same about Tuchman's book as you do. Great review.

posted by tomcatMurr at 11:28 am (EST) on Sep 19, 2009

Good for you Anna! He be a lucky man!

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 7:41 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2009

oh wow! nice new pic too! You're young! You lie when you say you're 40, you fibber you!

;-)

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 7:26 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2009

You rock Anna! The sock puppets will forever hold you dear in their hearts of yarn!

The Master & Margarita is swiftly being elevated into my all-time personal top 10. Unlike Ulysses, it's complicated, but understandable- and fun-complicated & convoluted, never tedious. I like the way you're reading it - nice and slow, absorb it all in - it definitely is a pageturner, so it's easy to miss details. But like Wilf said too, read it for enjoyment the first time, then you can go back and disect it some as much as you like. That's how I'm reading it. Though I am a bit behind, but I'm finding that all the notes in the salon are then just right there ready to go, so being a bit behind (but I'm catching up) does have its advantages. Fabulous leadership over there, David, Mac, Wilf - as usual.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 7:24 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2009

“The people that get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.” -- George Bernard Shaw

“Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” -- Calvin Coolidge

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” -- John Quincy Adams

“For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward ... Discipline is the foundation upon which all success is built. Lack of discipline inevitably leads to failure.” -- Jim Rohn

posted by theoldman at 8:26 am (EST) on Sep 14, 2009

I'm glad that someone agrees with me. In other news, I got attacked in a Facebook discussion the other day when I suggested Moby Dick was not a great book. =P

posted by chamberk at 7:57 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2009

But of course I'll be reading M&M - wouldn't miss it for the world. Though I truly did not realize, as in Ulysses, how vast the amount of material it draws upon. I will humbly follow our leaders and trust that they will in fact fill in all allusions and references that might not be so obvious to such literary laity as I.

Am glad the book arrived safely and is now in your good hands. Sort of breathing a sigh of relief that you won't be reading it right away because I'm still so anxiety-ridden that I inadvertently inverted that dowry issue. Do let me know, whenever you do get to it, if I was accurate or not, as I did not end up having time to go back and re-read the pertinent sections.

I do think this'll be our best group-read yet. Though I must say I do feel lost and oddly out of place w/out the hottie and all her friends. It's a much quieter salon w/out her input. But maybe that's a good thing now, eh?

Best,
Brent

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 10:48 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2009

I've finished reading it, but I want to read it again, and I will wait for you. Right now I have a ton of reading to do of books I had on hold at the library that took forever, and then all came at once. I'm sure they are all on hold by someone else - actually i know they are as I checked - so I need to get them read. One of them is M & M. So, like you said, probably after M&M.

posted by solla at 9:38 pm (EST) on Aug 26, 2009

*gg*, hook, line and sinker ;-D. Welcome to the club.
There is the "HMS Surprise" group here on LT, you know... and not to forget, the Gunroom (which it is the Patrick O'Brian list of the world!) *feeds the addiction*

posted by GirlFromIpanema at 4:34 am (EST) on Aug 20, 2009

I see you logged all those Lloyd Alexander books you read as a kid. I've only read the Book of Three, and I wasn't a kid.

posted by solla at 9:00 pm (EST) on Aug 19, 2009

Hi, I see you have started on the Aubrey/Maturin Canon. First read-through or repeat offender ;-)?
GFI (from the 40-somethings group)

posted by GirlFromIpanema at 2:23 pm (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

Thanks!
:)

posted by tomcatMurr at 9:46 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2009

The Desert came, and I've read a little. I've been writing a lot and not reading as much. How are you doing with the heat? I hope it lets up soon.

posted by solla at 1:53 am (EST) on Aug 2, 2009

Anna,
So, what is your take on Joyce's use of metempsychosis? With Poe, it is transmogrification of human into animal--a horse, for instance. With Joyce, is it the hidden character within a person that blooms when pressed? Is it Bloom as Ulysses? Bloom is a mere mortal, Ulysses a classical hero. Does Bloom achieve heroic proportion as we get to know him?

He is a mensch, as most others we see in Dublin on June 16, 1904 are not. He attends Dignam's funeral, a passing acquaintance, and does not hesitate in pledging a donation and in fulfilling the pledge. He is long-suffering as a down-trodden minority. He helps out Dedalus when Dedalus is incapacitated.

He is transcendent. Ulysses sees Penelope as a prize he must retake. Bloom sees Mollie as a prize he is willing to give up, Greater love hath no man than to give his wife . . .. They have had a rough patch and he fosters change to recover what is lost, with the hope that what he sets free will return of her own will. I would say he surpasses Ulysses.

posted by WilfGehlen at 9:07 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2009

Hey, I just got an email from Amazon that my order, the Desert, was shipped and I can expect it by July 28. Do you think we could slip it in between then and Sept (Master and Maigarita)? I'd like to. I am on vacation next week, but maybe we could have some lunch discussions after that.

posted by solla at 9:18 pm (EST) on Jul 23, 2009

Thanks I hope that book was good to read!!!

posted by OliviaBrooks123 at 4:46 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2009

Yes, isn't that cat something, iambic pentameter even (well mostly). I'm going to have to drop her a line. Glad you were able to use the ap. I'm going to revise the rest that I made so they are picture books, instead of cards, but I have been more diligent on my novel lately and not focused on anything else. My goal is to finish the first draft when I have a weeks vacation at the end of August. I think I can do it, but part 3 will be very bad. Well, Annie Lamont (Bird by Bird) says we have a right to a "shitty first draft."

Erin and I are off to Corvallis this afternoon for our poetry reading.

posted by solla at 2:19 pm (EST) on Jul 13, 2009

Hi, do you like "Personal History "

posted by OliviaBrooks123 at 4:12 am (EST) on Jul 11, 2009

Thank you for your kind thoughts. We must have a lot in common because I see that Enrique thinks you are me (http://www.librarything.com/topic/64764#...).

posted by PekoeTheCat at 9:15 pm (EST) on Jul 10, 2009

http://www.librarything.com/review/40168...

Perfect review of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel

posted by slickdpdx at 1:52 pm (EST) on Jul 10, 2009

I see you recently added two books about Cats. You show very good taste.

posted by PekoeTheCat at 9:02 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2009

Hey, good review. so now I want to know who the Spanish poets were.

posted by solla at 8:59 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2009

Pleased to give the second "thumbs up" to your Tomcat review. Very nice!

posted by Makifat at 1:22 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2009

Unsolicited opinion re: Strange & Norrell. I loved it. The gentle slow and ornate storytelling. The realistic/magicial/but ever so slightly alternate history angle. Its got nice old timey English/fairy thing pulled off amazingly well. Only thing I didn't like was the end. But it was, I am sure, a hard book to end. I didn't actively dislike the end. I wished it could go on and on.

posted by slickdpdx at 8:27 pm (EST) on Jun 29, 2009

Hi Anna!

I read the first 75 pages and quit. Not my cup of tea. However, I remember slick saying he read it and really liked it. So you might want to check his opinion too. Maybe I bailed out too early, or maybe I was too distracted at the time as is often the case with me and books.

Good hearing from you!
Brent

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 7:33 pm (EST) on Jun 29, 2009

You look so great

posted by OliviaBrooks123 at 4:17 am (EST) on Jun 29, 2009

That would be great to have lunch together. I have been bringing my lunch so the waterfront or the square would work out. I am on SE 3rd and Washington. Pretty much any day would be okay. I suspected you might have changed buses. I am still catching the #10, and I still manage to be about 10 minutes early for work in the morning. In the afternoon I rush from work to make it by the scheduled time, but so far the bus has been late every day. I worried that it would be to crowded for me to read, but so far it has been fine.

posted by solla at 10:56 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2009

Anna: I just posted about place and identity and writing on my blog. If you have a few minutes:

http://cliffjburns.wordpress.com

posted by CliffBurns at 6:26 pm (EST) on Jun 4, 2009

Anna:

I envy you reading ANNA KARENINA and here's why:

http://www.redroom.com/blog/cliff-j-burn...

posted by CliffBurns at 12:39 pm (EST) on May 22, 2009

It was very helpful. The working title of the next one is "Life Afterlife".

posted by EricCGibson at 3:57 pm (EST) on May 15, 2009

Excellent! Thanks Anna - and good luck with the new job! As John Muir once said, "The mountains are calling, and I must go."

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 8:04 pm (EST) on May 11, 2009

Good morning Anna,

Wonder if you might do me a favor? Uh-oh! No, it's nothing horrible. I'm heading up to the Sierras next Wed. for a long weekend away (and hopefully to acquire some fresh images/perspectives/insights/details for the book - and to hike of course!) without my computer...so...I'm requesting, if you're available, that you and Bokai keep an eye on the group for me, you know, the usual, welcome new members if you notice any, prop reviews if and when you notice them, and just check in and keep things moving in the light (though educational) direction too.

What say you Lass? Are you game? Let me know.

Best,Brent

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 11:49 am (EST) on May 9, 2009

Well I'm the one who didn't read the description, and Amazon makes it easy to do returns. Thanks for inviting me to the other group.

posted by solla at 10:51 pm (EST) on May 8, 2009

Thnaks for the reference. You were right I will likely spend way too much time there!

posted by EricCGibson at 9:20 pm (EST) on May 8, 2009

Ouch. I realize I am a bigger rookie than I thought I was (and believe me I know I am a rookie!), you are going to laugh, but my first reaction was "Okay who is Gary Stu?" I googled it and I think you are right. I will recover from my chagrin and my next novel will be better thanks in part to reviewers like you.

Thanks again Anna!

posted by EricCGibson at 11:29 am (EST) on May 8, 2009

Well, I totally blew it. The copy of Desert arrived and it is in French, which I cannot read at all. According to Amazon the Enlish version has not yet been released. I pre-ordered it, but they did not say when it would be released.

posted by solla at 9:11 pm (EST) on May 6, 2009

Thanks. We aim to crack up.

posted by EnriqueResurrected at 6:41 pm (EST) on May 5, 2009

Catching up on my reading (thread version) this morning, I noted that you will continue to be gainfully employed. Congratulations!!

posted by Makifat at 9:48 am (EST) on May 5, 2009

I am so sorry for not having noticed your Bigfoot review sooner! I don't know how I missed it. Well done, Anna, though payback's a you-know-what! ;-)

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 3:27 pm (EST) on May 4, 2009

Hi, I hadn't read the end of the Ullyses thread, but I did today, and was happy to read you now have a permanent job. Is it still downtown with the city? Anyway, congrats. I'm happy for you, although, if it was me, I'd probably try to finagle a break in between.

posted by solla at 11:23 pm (EST) on May 1, 2009

Well, I checked the library and found my hold was really on 7 copies that were ordered but not arrived - ordered on 3/3 which would seem like plenty of time to arrive, but I saw that another book order last December was still not there. So, I ordered it from Amazon, and it is supposed to arrive May 5. Also, order a replacement for my lost copy of The Animal Family, one of my favorites.

posted by solla at 11:57 pm (EST) on Apr 30, 2009

Hi, just read your review of the autobiography of Bigfoot. It was very entertaining. I saw your last pages of Ulysses group was deciding on a new book. I put one of your suggestions, the Desert, on hold at the library. Hopefully, it will come through in time if you decide on reading it. I don't think the library had the 2666 that was mentioned.

posted by solla at 11:06 pm (EST) on Apr 28, 2009

Thank you! It's gorgeous! And that's a great link too!

posted by tomcatMurr at 9:01 pm (EST) on Apr 28, 2009

Thanks for your comment, anna!
Which Baudelaire were you thinking of?

posted by tomcatMurr at 6:02 am (EST) on Apr 28, 2009

Ah, okay, only last week, now I don't have to feel guilty!
:)

posted by glowing-fish at 6:49 pm (EST) on Apr 26, 2009

Oh, I thought that "Flight to Arras" was a good book, but it was interesting to see how contemplative a war book could be made. I don't know if an American would ever write a book quite like that!
Anyway, I will add you back...I don't know how long ago you added me, I haven't been on here for a while.
Welcome back to Portland!

posted by glowing-fish at 6:35 pm (EST) on Apr 26, 2009

Just a note to say thanks for posting a link to your old (soon to be new again?) blog. I found the first several entries really amusing -- and got the same results on both quizzes! -- plus particularly enjoyed your 11-22-06 entry. Anyway, wanted to let you know that you decision to share was appreciated. :)

Elizabeth

posted by Fullmoonblue at 12:20 am (EST) on Apr 9, 2009

Important Answers may be found in the Group Description. Where I go you cannot follow. But be of good cheer, for I am with you always, even unto the end of the Book.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 7:04 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2009

I was so happy when I read that you thought the clan of the cave bear was horrible. You are the only person I know of who agrees with me. I felt like it was a lie - which is the worst thing I can say about a book, not meaning factually untrue (though in this case that too) but a lie about what is real. And I thought it was racist as well with this little white girl running around discovering everything. Also, I thought the descriptions of beatings, rape, etc. was not from the victom's perspective but was more like a description of rape meant to tintillate the reader.

posted by solla at 4:03 am (EST) on Mar 28, 2009

Nothing to do with quilting, so I thought I'd post to you directly--have you read tanstaafl's review of the book of mormon? Talk about stitches! Hmm, guess this could have gone on the quilting thread, but we're already going in so many directions my head is spinning.

posted by WilfGehlen at 3:51 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2009

Later today we will post our giveaway (30 copies)...so watch for it and hopefully you can get a free copy.

Best regards,

eric

posted by EricCGibson at 10:49 am (EST) on Mar 4, 2009

well, our small town library had a copy, which was the one we first read, before we bought our own and sent our son who's in the Minneapolis area a paperback copy. So i'm reasonably sure a metro library in a "groovier" area of the country will also have a copy!

..a little more info from another comment i made elsewhere:

"is a nifty graphic novel set in Egypt, primarily Cairo, featuring a djinn, an Egyptian drug runner, an female Israeli Def. Force soldier and a prospective suicide bomber, a naive American journalist (surrogate for Wilson, i'm sure) and a rather more jaded Egyptian semi-underground journalist. And then they're the assorted bad guys and bad spirits. Despite the cast/setting, Wilson, an American converted to Islam who lives as a journalist in Cairo, keeps a guardedly optimistic atmosphere*. Not great lit, a bit predictable, but original and very sweet.
*just the wary hint of optimism is a great relief given other books and graphic novels dealing w/ the middle east. One of the really good ones (more about media distortion of coverage, esp. middle east war coverage) is Lappe's much grimmer graphic novel [shooting war].

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 3:33 am (EST) on Feb 22, 2009

just out of curiosity, after noting yr faith(s) (i didn't know that Sufism could exist independently of Islam till you mentioned it) have you read G. Willow Wilson's "Cairo"? A recent graphic novel set in ..duh...Cairo. Our household happens to have enjoyed it immensely. But i thought of you because the author is an American convert to Islam (sig. younger than we) who moved to Cairo after college and has been living there are a journalist for a good while.

A cat and a lion both figure prominently in "the rabbi's cat" v1 & 2 which is set in Algeria between the world wars.

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 9:03 pm (EST) on Feb 21, 2009

I just laughed so hard I think I bruised a rib. :)

posted by Medellia at 7:19 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2009

I can be whimsical in how I assign my tags, and it's possible that my "satire" tag in particular blurs the line between satire and allegory a bit too much. That said, I think both White's and Nesbit's works are at least as satirical as, say, Orwell's 1984 in the way they set up stark contrasts and let the reader draw the conclusions themselves. Yes, both Arthur and the children are supposed to be learning these points too . . . but since they don't learn them all that very well, I think the point might still stand. But I think mostly I was just using the term loosely to mean that they were commenting on their own societies by creating none-too-subtle, and often exaggerated, fictional parallels.

posted by Alixtii at 12:44 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2009

Suh-weet! There's still time. Most of us are deluded anyway, no matter how many annotated helps & reference guides we possess -- thinking it's possible somehow to ever be truly "prepared" for Ulysses.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 5:21 pm (EST) on Feb 17, 2009

Thanks for the interesting library! I see you've met Medellia12 & tomcattMurr...yes they are indeed interesting libraries (and people) too! Though I've yet seen your posts in the snob group but must make a point of doing so. Both Med & tom btw, are in a group along w/me and many others which is setting off for the summit of Mt. Ulysses on March 1st. After I reciprocate your interest momentarily, I'll then send you an invite.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 4:46 pm (EST) on Feb 17, 2009

Right back atcha on the interesting library! I've also been enjoying your Lit Snobs posts, particularly the audiobooks thread--we're in complete agreement there. If you ever have recommendations (esp. Mideast/N. African lit, as most of what I've read & own is sub-Saharan Africa), they are always welcome.

posted by Medellia at 3:43 pm (EST) on Feb 17, 2009

Thanks for adding me to your interesting libraries! Yours is very interesting too! I'm enjoying your comments on the Literary Snobs Group. I suspect that many of the others are just playing at being snobs (I mean Ian Banks, come on!).

Murr
:)

posted by tomcatMurr at 9:09 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2009