January batch

Burroughs, Augusten – Magical Thinking: True Stories, 2004 – B. Burroughs’ voice has shrunk on me. Third book and I’m heartily sick of him, his self-pity, narcissim, and cruelty.

Didion, Joan – The Year of Magical Thinking, 2005 – A.

Donaldson, Jean – The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs, 1996 – B+. Great content, confusingly organized.

Done, Phillip – 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny:Life Lessons from Teaching, 2005 – B.

Ende, Michael – The Neverending Story, 1979 – A- . I’d only seen the movie and finally got around to reading it. Although the beginning is twee (the rockchewers live on mountains that they’ve eaten holes into so they’re called the “Cheeziewheezies”), it’s an exciting book with some magical images and lots of creativeness. Favorites: Perilin the Night Forest which turns into the Desert of Colors, and the Silver City which stands in Moru, the Lake of Tears (“the violet-blue water of the lake was so salty and bitter that only silver…could withstand its corrosive action…”)

Funke, Cornelia – Inkheart, 2003 – B

Grothe, Mardy – Oxymoronica: Paradoxical Wit and Wisdom From History’s Great Wordsmiths, 2004 – A-

Keller, Robert (with Suzanne Meredith) – House Proud, 2003 – no grade (good in its own weird local way–Keller is an amazing character who gave me a tour of the Phelps Mansion in Binghamton, so I couldn’t resist this book!)

Martin, Steve – Shopgirl, 2000 – B+. Also read after seeing the movie, which was better.

Sparks, Nicholas – True Believer, 2005 – B-. Not as bad as I thought it would be!

Watts, David – Bedside Manners: One Doctor’s Reflections on the Oddly Intimate Encounters Between Patient and Healer, 2005 – A-