libros mayo
the random stuff i read this month:
olivia joules & the overactive imagination by helen fielding, author of bridget jones's diary. i am definitly not a fan of chick lit but i found this book for 5 bucks in the bargain section at borders & for some reason it looked good. the london times said "if bridget jones shaped & named a certain kind of life in the 1990's, it looks as if olivia joules, helen fielding's new heroine, may do the same for the new decade." i admit i did like the protagonist. but i should warn you that if you decide to pick up this book you should be prepared for things like... a man who looks like osama bin laden showing up at a face-cream launch in miami. a girl that alternates back & forth between falling in love with said osama-look-a-like-man & thinking he is the head of a secret terrorist group. bombs on boats. drugs stuck in bags while in a foreign country. bombs in the oscar statues at the academy awards. & much more, all nicely wrapped up with a textbook happy ending in maui. not exactly a classic. however, if you want to be distracted this is the book for you.
on a completely different note, i just read the book messy spirituality by michael yaconelli & loved it. from the cover... "this book is for messy christians. christians with problems, christians who struggle, men & women who do things they regret. if you're haunted by your personal inconsistencies, doubts, addictions, failures, by all the things you think exclude you from God's pleasure, then messy spirituality not only will encourage you & perhaps even shock you - it will also free you... to embrace the high & low adventures of real-life faith."
other good stuff this month:
frangipani by celestine vaite, a book i found on the borders 'new voices' list, double act by jacqueline wilson, a british kids book from the bbc top 100 & criss cross by lynne rae perkins, the 2006 newbery winner. and i kindof hate to admit this, but i am about half way through 700 sundays by billy crystal. exactly the kind of book i would mock (mainly just because it looks like a typical celebrity biography) but i got too many recommendations so i had to try it. and as it turns out i will totally recommend it too. publishers weekly said... "Reading the book version of comedian Crystal's Broadway solo show can be initially off-putting. The jokes he uses to warm up his audience (on why Jews eat Chinese food on Sunday nights, his complaints about his circumcision, the nasal pronunciation of Jewish names, etc.) are distinctly unfunny on the page. But once Crystal is finished with shtick and on to the story of his marvelous Long Island family, readers will be glad they can savor it at their own pace. There's the story of Crystal's uncle Milt Gabler, who started the Commodore music label and recorded Billie Holiday singing 'Strange Fruit' when no one else would. Then there's the Sunday afternoon when Holiday takes young Crystal to see his first movie at what later became the Fillmore East. There's even Louis Armstrong at the Crystal family seder, with Crystal's grandma telling the gravelly-voiced singer, 'Louis, have you tried just coughing it up?' At the heart of these tales is Crystal's father, the man who bought his little boy a tape recorder when he announced he wanted to be a comedian and didn't scold when he recycled off-color borscht belt routines for family gatherings. Crystal's dad worked two jobs and died young, so they had maybe 700 Sundays together — but how dear they were."
olivia joules & the overactive imagination by helen fielding, author of bridget jones's diary. i am definitly not a fan of chick lit but i found this book for 5 bucks in the bargain section at borders & for some reason it looked good. the london times said "if bridget jones shaped & named a certain kind of life in the 1990's, it looks as if olivia joules, helen fielding's new heroine, may do the same for the new decade." i admit i did like the protagonist. but i should warn you that if you decide to pick up this book you should be prepared for things like... a man who looks like osama bin laden showing up at a face-cream launch in miami. a girl that alternates back & forth between falling in love with said osama-look-a-like-man & thinking he is the head of a secret terrorist group. bombs on boats. drugs stuck in bags while in a foreign country. bombs in the oscar statues at the academy awards. & much more, all nicely wrapped up with a textbook happy ending in maui. not exactly a classic. however, if you want to be distracted this is the book for you.
on a completely different note, i just read the book messy spirituality by michael yaconelli & loved it. from the cover... "this book is for messy christians. christians with problems, christians who struggle, men & women who do things they regret. if you're haunted by your personal inconsistencies, doubts, addictions, failures, by all the things you think exclude you from God's pleasure, then messy spirituality not only will encourage you & perhaps even shock you - it will also free you... to embrace the high & low adventures of real-life faith."
other good stuff this month:
frangipani by celestine vaite, a book i found on the borders 'new voices' list, double act by jacqueline wilson, a british kids book from the bbc top 100 & criss cross by lynne rae perkins, the 2006 newbery winner. and i kindof hate to admit this, but i am about half way through 700 sundays by billy crystal. exactly the kind of book i would mock (mainly just because it looks like a typical celebrity biography) but i got too many recommendations so i had to try it. and as it turns out i will totally recommend it too. publishers weekly said... "Reading the book version of comedian Crystal's Broadway solo show can be initially off-putting. The jokes he uses to warm up his audience (on why Jews eat Chinese food on Sunday nights, his complaints about his circumcision, the nasal pronunciation of Jewish names, etc.) are distinctly unfunny on the page. But once Crystal is finished with shtick and on to the story of his marvelous Long Island family, readers will be glad they can savor it at their own pace. There's the story of Crystal's uncle Milt Gabler, who started the Commodore music label and recorded Billie Holiday singing 'Strange Fruit' when no one else would. Then there's the Sunday afternoon when Holiday takes young Crystal to see his first movie at what later became the Fillmore East. There's even Louis Armstrong at the Crystal family seder, with Crystal's grandma telling the gravelly-voiced singer, 'Louis, have you tried just coughing it up?' At the heart of these tales is Crystal's father, the man who bought his little boy a tape recorder when he announced he wanted to be a comedian and didn't scold when he recycled off-color borscht belt routines for family gatherings. Crystal's dad worked two jobs and died young, so they had maybe 700 Sundays together — but how dear they were."
posted by Christy Childers at 7:32 PM
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