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[booklog 2006]
Aug. 29th, 2006 01:02 pm56. Sir Apropos of Nothing, Peter David. it'd be silly fantasy fluff, except for a bit of meta-storytelling on the genre and an interesting exploration of exactly how far you can go with the idea of an anti-hero. it's still mostly fluff, but that's ok.
57. Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation, Olivia Judson. a dense but entertaining reel through the sexual behavior of, well, everything. there were bits that made me twitch (the same sorts of bias that shaped conclusions drawn by scientists in the 1950s also applies here; only the exact angle and details of the biases are different) but the wealth of information is impressive, and i quite enjoyed the read.
58. My Invented Country, Isabel Allende. a memoir, mostly centered on Chile and how it shaped her, and where it fits in her heart. she's been an exile (during the time of Pinochet -- her uncle was Salvador Allende) and an emigrant and a traveller for most of her life, and as always she writes well. i've read another of her memoirs, Paula, about her daughter; that one was beautiful in ways of grief and mourning and memory, and this one is not as tightly-written, still lyrical and poignant but lighter and more full of laughter.
one excerpt from the last pages, where she writes about immigrating to the US and settling in San Francisco:
"The entire world passes through San Francisco, each person carrying his or her cargo of memories and hopes. This city is filled with foreigners; I am not an exception. In the streets you will hear a thousand tongues, temples are raised for all denominations, and the scent of food from the most remote points of the world fills the air. Few people are born here, most are strangers in paradise, as I am. It doesn't matter to anyone who I am or what I do; no one watches me or judges me, they leave me in peace. The negative side of that is that if I drop dead on the street, no one will notice but, in the end, that is a cheap price to pay for liberty."
57. Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation, Olivia Judson. a dense but entertaining reel through the sexual behavior of, well, everything. there were bits that made me twitch (the same sorts of bias that shaped conclusions drawn by scientists in the 1950s also applies here; only the exact angle and details of the biases are different) but the wealth of information is impressive, and i quite enjoyed the read.
58. My Invented Country, Isabel Allende. a memoir, mostly centered on Chile and how it shaped her, and where it fits in her heart. she's been an exile (during the time of Pinochet -- her uncle was Salvador Allende) and an emigrant and a traveller for most of her life, and as always she writes well. i've read another of her memoirs, Paula, about her daughter; that one was beautiful in ways of grief and mourning and memory, and this one is not as tightly-written, still lyrical and poignant but lighter and more full of laughter.
one excerpt from the last pages, where she writes about immigrating to the US and settling in San Francisco:
"The entire world passes through San Francisco, each person carrying his or her cargo of memories and hopes. This city is filled with foreigners; I am not an exception. In the streets you will hear a thousand tongues, temples are raised for all denominations, and the scent of food from the most remote points of the world fills the air. Few people are born here, most are strangers in paradise, as I am. It doesn't matter to anyone who I am or what I do; no one watches me or judges me, they leave me in peace. The negative side of that is that if I drop dead on the street, no one will notice but, in the end, that is a cheap price to pay for liberty."
