Books That My Eyeballs Have Alighted Upon in 2009: Part 1

So I write a list of the books I read as I read 'em, you may have noticed it nestled discreetly on the right hand side of this blog. Keeping this list encourages me to finish books instead of reading five at once and never getting to the end of any of them. Reason number two is that on rare occasions I will read a book, it will have no impact on my brain, I will forget it, and I will end up reading it again years later accidentally. I can only recall this happening with Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, but my reading time is valuable and that was a repeat I could not afford. Plus who does not appreciate a list? (Probably those rare people without a hint of OCD in their personality, but who's ever met one of them?)

I usually seem to arrive at about 50 books read in a year, but I find that this year I have only arrived at 29! What could be the reason for this? I don't feel like 2009 has been a book-scarce year. I suspect the last couple of months have let me down. I have been so busy, and although I commute a lot it is now by bus and not train - I get sick if I read on the bus. Reason number three is that I picked up this whacking great volume of Great American Short stories, a collection that was edited by a bloke (Tobias Wolff) who is clearly a miserable bastard, and all the stories were depressing/tragic/thwarted. This unhappy reading experience put a hitch in my efforts.

The upside of only reading 29 books is that I feel I can easily review the entire lot. So I think I will, both for my own edification and hopefully your blog-perusing pleasure. Ahem, let us begin:

1. Changing Places - David Lodge

An amusing and accurate look at the contrasts between the US and UK university systems, which seems relevant for today though set in the 60s. I especially liked it having experienced both sides, what with my transatlantic study.

2. Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger

If Zooey Deschanel is named after it, then it's good enough for me.

3. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For - Alison Bechdel

Ok, anyone who is queer, likes comics, has read Bechdel's excellent Fun Home or who likes gossip with a soupcon of politics should read this. I think that covers just about everybody. Thoroughly absorbing. (Although this edition doesn't have every single DTWOF strip Bechdel has ever written/drawn, and I wish it did - I began to suspect the sexy ones were taken out. Maybe that is just evidence of my one track mind.)

4. Small World - David Lodge

Another David Lodge, with more satire of US/UK cultural difference, and the backbiting literary world. I would not recommend reading too much Lodge at once, because you start to feel every character is basically weak or a scumbag, and no one has a happy ending. Too much depressing with your funny, basically.

5. The Best Creative Nonfiction Vol.II - Ed. Lee Gutkind

So interesting! My favourite essays I instantly wanted to photocopy a dozen times and send to all my friends. But then I did not get around to it. C'est la vie.

6. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

My gf has just read this, and she said that although while reading it she felt it was a fantastic book, the details started leaving her brain as soon as she was done. I agree - I can remember hardly anything, and it's not even a year. Does this mean it had no permanent impact on me? Does this mean it wasn't as good a book as I thought at the time? It is about a hapless nerdy kid and his lack of romantic play, and there are a lot of informative footnotes about the Dominican Republic.

7. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick Flynn

Totally forgot I read this. That's another buzz-receiving title that didn't stay with me.

8. Sharp Teeth - Toby Barlow

You have to read this book. I know it might not seem promising - a verse novel about werewolves set in LA - but it's worth it. Lyrical, beautiful imagery, and the plot was enthralling. Trust me, I will set you upon the right reading path... Here, I blogged about Sharp Teeth before (includes pictures!)

9. Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Moore has done far better since he did Watchmen, in my opinion. Check out Top Ten instead, is my advice. The plot felt exactly like something a teenage boy would appreciate if he was trying to be deep, and I hated the artwork - so garish and 80s!

10. Americana - Don DeLillo

I like DeLillo, but this felt like a bit of a juvenile work. It took me a long while to get through, it was a hard slog. I would recommend White Noise instead. That seems like that has a similar theme but a more consistent tone - which you could summarise as American modernity making you feel a bit iffy.

11. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married - Marian Keyes

THE MOST DEPRESSING READING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. I don't want to talk about it. But I wrote about it here.

12. Molly Fox's Birthday - Deidre Madden

A quiet, intelligent book about friendship between quiet, intelligent and calm people. Produced a feeling of serenity and studiousness.

13. The Flight of Icarus - Raymond Queneau

Another lovely Oneworld Classic edition. This is a funny little book, written like a play script, about literary characters escaping from their novels and running amok. I think my friend Hannah would like it.

14. The First Person and Other Stories - Ali Smith

I love me some Ali Smith, and I love her short stories. However, I do not think this is her best. It felt somewhat insubstantial.

15. Pirates! In an Adventure With Napoleon - Gideon Defoe

Hilarious! I freaking love these books. However you never know if your sense of humour is the same as everyone else's. Totally a no-brainer for me, though: Funny pirate books, what's not to love?


That will do for now. I will return later with the next 14 "reviews". I bet you are on tenterhooks.

Happy Deer-Snow-Tree Day

Here is last year's Christmas card. I will not put up a picture of this year's card, because that would spoil the surprise.


But anyhow, this is all to say that I am feeling festive and seasonal, and I am spending all sorts of time doing seasonal crafting activities. ALSO I want to wish you all Happy Holidays! Woo!

Victorian Ark Building

This semester I have been taking a relief print class, and I love it. So much fun! I have also been driving myself crazy working on enormous intricate prints that take me ages and give me a headache, but that's another story. Here's one I completed earlier, with a few photos I took along the way showing some of the intermediate stages of production. (This was made using a lino block, since that's all this class is covering - woodcuts are maybe for a later class.)

Step One
First sketches - this is a building on my campus, by the way.

Step Two
Finishing up the drawing of the building.

Step Three
Adding in some animals - giraffe, finch, okapi, anteater and moose.

Step Four
Tracing the sketch over to the lino block, adding details and going over it in Sharpie ready to carve out.

Step Five
Printed the lino block in black ink. Note that the image is reversed.

(Click for full view)

As ever, apologies for my crap camera on these pictures. Also I may have missed a few steps.

I think the print turned out pretty well. I have a lengthy explanation as to the artistic intentions of the print, if anyone is bothered, but in the main I just thought it would be an interesting image. Printmaking is fun, yo!

EDIT: I added in a better scan of the finished print.

Metal Tiger

Hey, check out what I just bought:

Kiriko Moth, Rebuilding, 2007

$5 from Etsy plus postage, thank you very much. I'm not sure this is the kind of thing I'd usually go for, (art nouveau steampunk) but it's so cute and well-executed I couldn't help myself. Plus I am a sucker for a 'Lady and the Tiger' theme.

So Kiriko Moth (I suspect that is not her real name) does lots of illustrations in a similar vein - birds, flowers, foliage, lovely people, animals and birds. I would recommend a little trawl through her blog.

Oop North

So this isn't going to be remotely interesting for anyone but those who have been to my home town and who, er, aren't there now. It's a pretty small group of readers.

But: They have been redoing the square outside the railway station for maybe a year now, at vast expense and inconvenience, and it is finally finished!

As far as I can tell, all they have done is repaved everything in pretty much the same stone as it was before, moved the statue of (former Prime Minister) Harold Wilson, and put in some fountains. They are the kind of fountains where it's just a random jet of water coming out of the ground, at an unexpected time.





This is fun for the kids, but it really helps to have hot weather, and when is it ever hot in this rainy Northern town? About two days a year, that's when. So I am skeptical. (My Mum tells me people have been writing into the paper to complain about the fountains making the pavement wet and slippy. Which, see aforementioned rain - sometimes that gets on the pavement too.)

So, I am skeptical about the square redevelopment project. And that's my twopennorth for the day.

Basstastic

It's Gossip Girl day!!


I tell you, there had better be some more Chuck Bass time in this episode, or I am mutinying. Maybe Ed Westwick is shooting a movie or something, because he has hardly been in it lately. Last episode, instead of some satisfying Bass shenanigans, the three most boring people in the show/universe somehow managed to have a threesome. And all Chuck did was show up about twice to be the voice of reason to Blair's craziness. Something not right there. Although I did enjoy him chatting up a bloke a couple of eps back - "You think I never kissed a guy before?"

Also, here is an interview with my other major man-crush, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

..........

I think I had better write something soon about some celeb ladies I fancy. As much as I have a straight-on for Chuck and Joseph, there's a chance that new visitors to this blog might not even realise I am a raving lesbo. And we can't have that.

Benson Bubbler

Made a little postcard-sized print yesterday. This is a Benson bubbler, one of about 40 drinking fountains dotted around Portland. They were donated to the city in 1912 by a very rich fellow called Simon Benson who was keen on philanthropy and being teetotal (hence water fountains, rather than beer fountains). I am very fond of these cheerful bronze fountains, they make the vicinity look fancy and they are beautifully designed.

TP Roll on the Fan is My Fave

Watch this video through to the end, and you will know what madness feels like. It's actually quite calming. Go on, I dare you.

P.S. It's a bunch of people doing weird things, but then again I just described half the internet to you.

(Courtesy of Kitsune Noir.)

Frosty New York Night

Snow Shovellers: New York, by Clare Leighton, woodcut?

My Dad just bought this print and sent me a scan of it. He probably bought it for about £3.50 in Rare and Racy, knowing him. Some people have all the luck. (Although he has been known to spend £80 on a rare brick, so he is not exactly a bargain hunter, to my mind. I suppose value for money is relative.) By the way, Rare and Racy is my Dad's favourite print and book shop in Sheffield.

This week I have been working on a lino cut, and this print, which my amateur guess says is a woodcut, pretty much blows me away. I wish I could do this. Maybe one distant, halcyon day...

Lesbian Romance Tuesday

Fabulous new Chanel ad that I thought we might all enjoy looking at.

Karl Lagerfeld, 2009

It apparently references the famous love affair between famous historical lady-lovers Violet Trefusis and Vita Sackville-West, which is nice.

Ha-Ha-Happy Halloween

YOUR BOYFRIEND:


No but seriously folks, Happy Halloween! To mark the occasion I thought I would share with you a small sampling of the total enthusiasm with which Americans approach this, the best of all the pagan holidays. I live in a pretty nice neighbourhood with a lot of families and kids, and they've gone all out with decorating their yards for Halloween. I took a few pictures today - and again, this is just a small sample. I swear there is a giant inflatable ghost Merry-go-Round on a lawn around here somewhere...



This poor pumpkin man was ambushed on the way up to the porch. Very sad.


What is that big orange thing by the door? Is the Human Torch a Halloween monster?

The ENTIRE YARD was full of stand-up thingies. I am impressed.

Best. Doorway. Ever.

Why yes, that is a giant inflatable Halloween snowglobe. (??)

Scuse me, m'aam, your kleenex collection seems to be caught in that tree.

Skeletal witch fortune teller?

Look at the creepy lady in the window to the left!

I love these little pumpkin lights, they're so cheerful.

Horrid skeletal scarecrow trying to escape.

Is that the giant prize pumpkin from Trader Joe's? Or just another hugemungus pumpkin?

I just like the way he's just sitting out on the porch there.

Ah, the classic vomiting cyclops pumpkin.

"Herein lies Fox News"? Bloody liberals.

And so say all of us.

(Obviously these houses will look so much better in the dark with everything lit up, but sadly my camera is too sucky to capture that. )

Red Roofs

My Dad sent me over some great pictures of Lisbon - my folks went to Portugal a couple of weeks ago (lucky buggers, oh well I am in America so we all get to be foreign). The one in the middle is a giant elevator thing which sends you up to a walkway to the top of the hill. Pretty damn cool.

All Around You People Are Having Hilarious Conversations

So this evening I was doing something that all hip yet minimalist young people must do from time to time: pruning my facebook profile page. It is a precarious and delicate activity, because of course your facebook profile must precisely yet modestly distill all the cool things about your personality into a few short lists.

Anyhow, so I felt my profile was too cluttered and a little stale, so I basically deleted a whole bunch of stuff from there. (I also added "Freakin' out the straights" to my 'Activities' box, but that's by the by.)

Sadly, I had to make the tough decision to viciously cut out all my carefully accrued Facebook quotes, gathered from several years of humorous occasions and the sparkling witticisms of my friends. But I could not bear to delete them forever! Too cruel! Therefore here they are, preserved for eternity on another bit of the internet:

Charlotte: "Do you think Hannah could be Jesus? Like, actually sent from God?"
Hannah: "What? What?! What's going on? What's this Jesus business?!"

Kaia: "We are incurring God's thunder-wrath with cigarettes and lesbianism!"

Garon: "W'chaaaa... BAM!!"

Lauren: "Only afterwards did I realise that this wasn't a good idea..."
Me: "Nonsense. Best idea ever."
Lauren: "No, I mean it gave me a wicked awesome wedgie!"
Me: "Oh. Fair enough."

Lydia: "I was just talking to Robin, I was looking away...and when I look back Jen is pulling pretzels out of her pants."

Hannah's Travel Journal: "I was soon to learn that English people go to the pub whenever they have five free minutes."

Me: "All I got of that conversation was Tim sitting in a box and saying 'erogenous'"
Tim: "That's how I roll."

Susie: "That bat keeps looking at me!"
Kaia: "That's its butt."

Kaia: "Oh no! Burritos is going to come out of me!"

Some best celebrity quotations:

Eddie Izzard: "I like my women like I like my coffee... in a plastic cup!"

Romy White: "Would you excuse me? I cut my foot before and my shoe is filling up with blood."

U-Turn, on Weeds: "Thug means never having to say you're sorry."

Better Work Ethic Than Me

Look at the amazing watercolours Lucy Knisley put up on her Art Journal, over at livejournal, this week. She is fantastically talented. And guess what, she did all these while she had the flu. To keep herself occupied while sick. I cannot even do such things when I am at the peak of health. (See the whole selection of watercolours here.)


Anyway, the moral of this story is that you should check out Lucy Knisley's website, titled Stop Paying Attention, and maybe friend her on livejournal, which may be a stalkery thing to do, but I've done it anyway, and it's worth it to see the amazing illustrations she produces.





P.S. I have mentioned Lucy Knisley before, in a post on diary comics. Knisley does good diary comics, too.

Defend Equality - Love Unites

Shepard Fairey has designed another fantastic poster, where you can appreciate the design and also go "right on!!" Go gay marriage! Down with Prop 8! Boo! Yay!

Hey, if you are in Portland come to the downtown Oregon Equality March, it's on October 24th. I'm going, and I will probably be wearing this. (Because sometimes consumerism and the fight for equality can go together.)

Some (Very) Amateur City Photography

Had a bit of a wander around Portland yesterday taking pictures, ostensibly for an art project but also because I like wandering about cities, and also because I especially like wandering about Portland. I Heart PDX, for reals.

This is a terrible picture of the view from the bus that I take every day to university, as it crossing the Ross Island bridge. I never get tired of this view.

This is a parking lot.

Lanterns at the Portland Art Museum.

Posters at Music Millennium on Burnside.

The Big Pink

Chinatown

A hilarious and random 24-hour art exhibit called the Church of Elvis, or something? You feed it a quarter and it tells your fortune and says funny things to you. It's on 4th and Couch, I would recommend a visit.

Union Station

So last time I saw this building it was painted blue and it was several blocks away... they moved it. On trucks. Crazy American houses made from wood.

I really like this bronze domed tower block.

A Benson bubbler.

A single Benson bubbler.

And finally, I cannot refrain from taking dozens of out-of-focus pictures of Stumptown mugs. Look at that lovely shiny red mug right there. Yum yum.