Post Punk Kitchen Forum

One letter at a time, FF. ;)

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks. So far my favorite part has been his own experiences in the Altered States chapter but it has all been really interesting.

Of course I loved The Orphan Master's Son. I had no doubt that I would, but wow. I just, I can't even. Some of it just ripped me apart.

I'm now reading I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley (a Flavia de Luce novel), for something light. I generally enjoy these books, but Flavia's precociousness is grating on me a bit right now. I'm not sure why. I'm hoping to get through it quickly and move on to Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh (so I can then get her newer book if I like it; read the review of the newer book, and it sounds good though).

the Beth Ditto memoir...i got it as a gift...i was about to pick it up.

Finished The Unicorn Sonata by Peter S. Beagle. Its no Last Unicorn, but I think it was meant for maybe 7-9 year olds, I probably would have loved it at that age. Also so far the only unicorn narrative I've found where a elderly woman of colour saves the day.

Now reading the Immortal Unicorn anthology.

I've been on a mystery/crime kick lately, so I started reading the Sue Grafton alphabet series a couple weeks ago and now I'm on "D". It's not exactly highbrow literature, but they're entertaining.

They get a lot better. I think by F on she has really hit her stride.

Yeah, I already feel like they're getting better. If nothing else her descriptions of the various people the protagonist encounters is getting more interesting.

oh yes, i read this book many years ago. it was excellent, and sad, but excellent.

I am rereading the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. I received Inheritance (Fourth book) for Christmas 2011 and still haven't gotten around to reading it, because I am psychotic and need to reread the other three. And I lost Eldest for a while and I obviously couldn't move on to Brisingr without finishing Eldest.

I finished Le ventre de Paris a few days ago and it might be the least vegan novel ever.

(Interestingly, I had a blood check that week and I couldnt help but thinking of the black pudding making scene while the nurse was taking my blood :P)

(cooool!)

I finished Bad Science the other day and moved on to Bad Pharma. Apart from a few instances where I felt he was writing for a male audience (e.g., when he suggested buying a kid's microscope and looking at "your" sperm), I really, really liked it. It was pretty eye-opening and rage-inducing, and so far, Bad Pharma is more of the same. If you read Bad Science and think you might want to read Bad Pharma, you can pretty much skip the chapter about pharma in BS because he repeats parts almost verbatim in BP.

I ended up absolutely hating the book! SO many children's fantasy books are thinly veiled religious propaganda but this wasn't even that. It's God this and the Lard that. Somehow I was not prepared for that.

Yes, yes! I finished it this past week, and it was so great! It left me feeling really sad, but...it was still great.

I have now started V. by Thomas Pynchon. So far, so good.

Dude, awesome. How did I not know about this. (I went to a SSION show when I was 19 and I saw a girl next to me wearing a white marshmellow outfit and was like whoaaa and then later realized it was Beth!)

I'm reading Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood.

Just started Baker Towers this morning, so I'm not sure what to think about it, but I've heard good things. I read a wonderful review of Jennifer Haigh's newer book (News from Heaven: The Bakerton Stories, a collection of short stories with the same characters as Baker Towers), so it lead me to checking this one out.

I just read Prodigy by Marie Lu, which was a big improvement on Legend.

Now I'm listening to Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and I am completely surprised by how much I'm enjoying it, even if it's filled with all the usual ingredients of paranormal YA.

Plus I'm reading The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead and loving it.

I think it is really under the radar? Because I tried searching on Amazon when it came out and did not find it. Then my friend sent me a copy...

I just finished The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams. I know it sounds like terrible, but I loved it. Just started The Seventeen Solutions by Ralph Nader.

I started Black Sunlight by Dambudzo Marechera, and it's super fascinating and written in an intense stream-of-consciousness technique that never explains any contexts... but it's so violent that I can't continue right now. Shall probably have to put it aside and read some harmless love story or something instead until I think I can deal with it.

I'm about to start East of Eden.

I've been rereading all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I'm on the fifth one and I don't know if I read this far as a child so it's all new now. I'm so glad for modern medicine.

I really want to finish The Sexual Politics of Meat! I found it surprisingly good, I thought it was just going to be about advertising. However I had to put it down when she was talking about how abusers use pets against their victims, it triggered me and I'll probably have to skip the rest of that chapter if I pick it up again.

I thought it was just going to be some men treat women like meat rant, but it totally wasn't. It also totally clarified for me why I feel the same way when I get put down for being a woman as when I get put down for not eating meat. I feel like I can stand up for myself a little better now. Finish it! I didn't get upset about the pets thing, maybe cause all I ever had was a goldfish.