Shameless Plug for the Redheaded Stepchildren of SWPNS

I've updated my two oft-neglected blogs, Bibliomania and Let's signing this week, so please go and check them out! (The links are on the right sidebar.)

Baby Update

We went to the doctor again this morning and we got to see our first stomach ultra-sound (up until now they'd been sticking a camera in my hoo-ha; sorry TMI!) The baby was much bigger, almost 9 centimeters and we saw it moving its little arms and legs and we saw the line of the spine. It was excellent. It seemed like the baby was very genki, almost dancing around.

The doctor told also us that I'm now in the safety period so I can exercise more and get dental work done (this is a biggie since I somehow chipped a tooth 2 weeks ago and had been waiting for the doctor's OK to visit the dentist.)


Also it's not definite yet, but we saw something that looked like it might be baby balls. The doctor said it looked awfully suspicious, but that it's still too early to tell.

PS Also check out a new post on Bibliomania

Passenger to Frankfurt

New Post on Bibliomania: World War Z

I wrote my first review on Bibliomania in over a year, so go and check it out!

World War Z: Check it out!

Also don't miss the post under this one; you can see our new tattoo!

Check it out: New Bibliomania Post

I've written my yearly review of books and posted it on Bibliomania. Please go and check it out!

Click Me!

New Post on Bibliomania

I wrote a new post for my book blog for the first time in almost 8 months, so check it out if you like,

here

or click on 'My Other Blog' on the right...

It has my best and worst picks for last year (my years run from May to April for some reason...) and I promise to try to start updating it more frequently!

I'm going to get the 2nd half of the house update up here one of these days too, so hold your breath!

Goog Afternooner!

Bibliophilia (or is it really Bibliomania?)

Last May I started a book journal; no real reason for it, I just thought it would be fun to record my impressions and see how many books I actually get through per week, per month etc. Well, it's almost a year later and I'm now on book #96. Hopefully I'll be able to hit 100 before the end of April.

So my new project, starting tonight is to blog a short (probably extremely short) review along with a rating for each of the 100 books!

P.S. This will be done on a separate blog, the link for which you can find at the top of the links list on the right!

Goog Eveninger!

OMG! Kewl New Feature!!! (Not)

As you may or may not have noticed. I've added a new feature above the links section to indicate what I'm currently reading. Not that I think anyone really cares, but just in case you did... (and I'm thinking here mostly of Mom, Dad and Julie) you could go to Amazon and check out the book that I'm reading now...

So that's that. Now I'll be off to my last ever French lesson at NOVA since my points run out today!

Goog Afternooner.

Review: A Rabbit's Eyes

Rating: ☆☆☆

Title: A Rabbit's Eyes

Author: Haitani Kenjirou

Genre: Fiction (Japanese)

Read: 16th Nov 2005



Comments: I was randomly looking through the Japanese Lit section at Kinokuniya when I picked this up. The story of an inexperienced though extremely earnest young elementary school teacher in a bad part of Kobe who sets out to turn the homeroom from hell into a class of little angels; this book is quite a tear-jerker.

The story is set on 'the wrong side of the tracks' at a dirty and neglected elementary school situated right next door to a garbage disposal plant. Most of the students are the children of the disposal plant workers and they live and play amidst the filth and squalor of the plant; catching rats and pigeons, scrapping with each other, and sometimes scamming the other students for money to buy food when Dad gambles or drinks away his paycheck. The view this book offers is a far cry from the spic-and-span, regimented image most people have of Japanese schools.

The story begins with young Miss Kotani taking the reins of a first grade classroom only to retreat to the teachers room before the end of the day in tears, after a student named Tetsuzo kills the pet frog the children were raising for a nature project. Although terrified of the boy (who later attacks her and one of his classmates as well) she is determined not to see him as a bad child and with the help of a gruff but lovable senior teacher Mr. Adachi (known as the Yakuza teacher); she sets out to befriend him and the other disposal plant children.

Over the course of the book she becomes close to the plant children, by listening to them and treating them with respect where previous teachers had thought of them as human garbage and refused to allow them to help at meal times for fear they would contaminate the school lunches. She shares their lives and learns that even the seemingly bizarre and uncommunicative Tetsuzo (he rarely says more than yeah, no or uh-huh) has something to offer in the form of an encyclopaedic knowledge of flies (which he breeds at home).

Although the characters are cliched, the dialogue rather contrived (or perhaps just badly translated), and the plot as a whole sappy in the extreme, there's no denying that this is a very touching, heart-warming, and affirming book that will have you in tears for pages at a time. I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to have a good cry.

Quote: "I'd rather have chocolate than sincerity."

A Rabbit's Eyes

Goog Niter!

PS: re-edited to gel with the new format

Two For The Price Of One: (Warning Severe Babelfish-osity Ahead)

BEFORE YOU READ THIS, READ THE ORIGINAL ENGLISH VERSION DIRECTLY PRECEDING

When I choose this, I the attaching and others of Japan it is passing by the section, looked at the Kinokuniya optionally. But the sutra of the part where the Kobe is bad it is shallow being very serious, the story of young elementary school teacher it started in order to turn the homeroom from the hell to class of small angel; It is the jerker where it becomes and pulls this book and tears.

As for story tracks It is put with the side which between the the is different; Being ignored to becoming dirty, elementary school puts the following door the right to the plant of trash place amount. The majority of the students is the child of the worker of planting ones of dealing, impureness impureness of the plant and the performing play in the squalor you live,; The father bets that payment inspection or, or occasionally in order to buy each other throwing away and the food in drinking case other study raw for the money scamming contagion characteristic rut/rat and the pigeon. The view which this book offers is the scream from the spic directly, as for the span, the image which most people have the school of the day book the regimented.

The Tetsuzo end of day of damage after the student who is shown, before killing the pet frog which the child has raised because of the professional ject of character is retreats the story to the teacher room which is, is the bridle of the classroom of 1st class is taken in the , it is young, from the Kotani beginning. Whether the boy (her of that classmates and and it attacks one after the saw our and others it is known someone) as a bad child and (as Yakuza teacher) in help of the person of gruff loveable senior teacher it is decided in Adachi him, but because it does not meet as for her; She him and the child of planting ones of dealing of other things started to the befriend.

Before she inquires about those in course of the book, is close to the child of the plant the point by handling those, becoming those thoughts and those permitting the fact that the meal because of the fear dyeing of having school lunch dirtily occasionally helps the stopping/deciding and others is was in the teacher as a trash of the human. She shares life, queer, the uncommunicative Tetsuzo (he rarely, can obtain on the surface with no or uh-huh many and does not say) to grow (him propagates something the fact that it offers) erudition learns the fact that in the form of knowledge at the house.

Quality translated the cliched, (or perhaps exactly badly), and the extreme, the there' Sappy it is plotted is devised with S the dialogue which on the other hand as all body you are impressed this very, the heart-warming, with is in the book of assertion it denies that there are no times when but you of damage for the page at the foremost time the. As for me to being whoever, nominates that very the good scream the wants.

Review: nymphomation

Rating: ☆☆1/2

Title: nymphomation

Author: Jeff Noon

Genre: Science Fiction

Read: 1st Nov 2005

Comments: Nymphomation takes place in a dystopic future (well it was future when it was written (set in 1999, written in 1997), but now it's past... anyway...) version of Manchester England, where the populace is in thrall to a strange new lottery based on dominos. It's a bleak place where anything and everything is corporate-sponsored including the schools and the cops, and the air is filled with bio-mechanical advert bugs called blurbflies. A group of renegade mathematicians and hackers thinks there's something fishy about the whole domino system and especially the so-called jealousy killings of lottery winners, so they decide to try to break the system. Sounds like a good idea, no? But...

I have really mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand it has a really great premise, some cool characters, a interesting and well developed backdrop and a writing style which is very modern, flashy, playful and fun to read, but (and this is a very big 'but') it's just not believable. Noon's trying to write science fiction, and he gets the fiction part really down pat, but he totally fumbles on the science, which makes it almost painful to read at times.

There are all kinds of things that are just inexplicable, (or maybe just badly explained), the main one being the blurbflies and their weird reproductive abilities, but all of the computer and hacking stuff seems like it was written by someone who doesn't have clue about computers and sounds almost magical rather than technological... Also, he likes to talk about how all of these characters are supposedly brilliant mathematicians, and he mentions all of these supposedly complex equations, but he never shows them to us other than a few off-handed mentions of quadratic equations (?!?).

So I guess I'd have to give it a C. The writing really is quite fun, but the fakey-ness of all the science bits is just too much.

Next up on the list is 'Joy in the Morning' from the Jeeves series by P.G. Wodehouse. If you've never read any Wodehouse I recommend that you start now! He's probably the funniest writer I've ever read.

Quote:"It’s domino time! Domino time! Dom, dom, dom, dom domino time!"

nymphomation

Goog Eveninger!

PS. re-edited to gel with the new format

At Last!

Finally! For a while I wasn't able to add any pictures, but it seems like I can again now. So I should have the 'Elizabeth and Mary review up for eveyone tomorrow, as I'm too tired to finish writing it tonight.

Goog Niter

P.S. I think the not-being-able-to add-pictures thing may be due to the fact that I've gone over my quota of image space or something (I'm just guessing here, because after I deleted a few old images I was able to start posting again), so I'm gonna start erasing the images that go with the old posts and just leaving text.

P.P.S Apparently this wasn't the case at all, must have just been some kind of weird hitch in the server or something, and I've gone back and replaced all the pictures that I had previously deleted.

Day Off: Part Two

I just got back from having dinner in Osaka. I've been going to Kobe a lot lately but I haven't been to Osaka at all, so it was nice to see the city again and I'm proud to say I somehow managed to elude the Siren song of Kinokuniya.

Also the long train ride to and from gave me ample reading time so I've almost finished 'Elizabeth and Mary'. I have to admit I really enjoy long train rides for exactly that reason. In fact, I've been known to take the local rather than the express just to have more time to sit and enjoy the feeling of have a nice long relaxing read on the train.

So hopefully I will finish 'Elizabeth and Mary' tonight and have a review up by either tomorrow or Thursday.



Goog Niter!

Review: The Big Sleep

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Title: The Big Sleep

Author: Raymond Chandler

Genre: Crime

Read: 27th May 2005






Comments: Good, I liked it. The story was pretty standard detective story stuff, but I guess since Chandler's basically the father of the genre, that's why it IS the standard. Probably for its time (it was originally published in 1939 in case anyone was wondering) it was a lot more ground-breaking. The writing however, was something else. Absolutely 100% great. Even before I'd read this I'd heard homages and parodies of his style, but there's really no comparison. I'll let the man speak for himself though.

"It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars."

Pretty sweet opening, eh?

Marlowe's first encounter with the wild daughter of the millionaire who hired him is gold too...

" 'I don't see what there is to be cagey about' she snapped. 'And I don't like your manners.' 'I'm not crazy about yours,' I said. 'I didn't ask to see you. You sent for me. I don't mind you ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a scotch bottle. I don't mind you showing me your legs. They're very swell legs and it's a pleasure to make their acquaintance. I don't mind if you don't like my manners. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me.' "

And on and on... It's really just brilliant the whole way through. But as they used to say on 'Reading Rainbow'(Levar where are you now?) Don't take my word for it... Just let me know if you want to borrow it. The Library of Becki is open 24-7!

Quote: see above

The Big Sleep

Goog Niter! I'm off to watch 'Queen Margot' for about the 9 millionth time.

P.S. re-edited to gel with the new format

Visa etc.

So today I went to Kobe to update my visa for the first time ever. It was way quicker than I thought it would be and I found the building right away, thanks to Luke's great directions. ("It's near the giant tetris piece.") The staff were really nice and helpful and put up with a few stupid questions that I had, which made me happy. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm an American, but I almost expect that public servants are going to be rude and unhelpful, so when they're not it's rather a pleasant surprise.

I had some free time afterward so I did what I always do: went straight down to Tokyo Random Walk and bought some books. (Sometimes I swear I think I'm supporting that place single-handedly.) Here's the rundown:

'The Bell Jar' by Slyvia Plath- I read some of her poetry when zi was in my wanna-be poet phase in highschool and quite liked it, but I never read the novel, so better late than never...

'Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Vol. I' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- Just good to have around I guess, and since mystery seems to be fast becoming another favorite genre of mine I thought it would be good to have some of the master...

'The Sandman: Book of Dreams' edited by Neil Gaiman- This one's kind of a gimme. I knew I had to have it the second I saw it. It's a book of short stories set in the Sandman universe by a whole bunch of great authors: Tad Williams, Susanna Clarke and (are you reading Mom?) Gene Wolfe...

'Liquor' by Poppy Z. Brite- Another gimme... I've loved Poppy since I first read her stuff back in highschool (did my senior paper comparing her and Charlotte Bronte in fact), but I haven't read anything of hers lately, so it should be a treat...

That's all for now since I've got a date to go to Karaoke with Non-chan, Kon-sama and a whole bunch of other people tonight, but I should be putting up that review of 'The Big Sleep' soon. I finished it a few days ago, but I haven't gotten around to writing it yet. The next review should probably take even longer though since right now I'm reading 'Elizabeth and Mary' which is a dual biography of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. It's fascinating stuff, but still a bit slow-going...

Goog Niter!

P.S. Today's image (as you've probably guessed) again has nothing what-so-ever to do with this post, but it's what came up on a Google Image search for 'Japan visa' so there you have it...

Review: Gifts

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Title: Gifts

Author: Ursula LeGuin

Genre: Fantasy

Read: 13th 0ct 2005








Comments: Well, I finished 'Gifts' in about a day flat. It was wonderful.

I love reading LeGuin because she really understands the human condition and her characters, even in short stories, are always three-dimensional, fully-realized, living, breathing people. Her imagination is overflowing and you can sense the love she's put into imagining all the details of each world she creates, its customs and folkways, religion, language, history, dress; everything is there.

But more than that, where she really shines is in showing us the beauty and pain of our relationships with each other. The small kindness that breaks the heart, the well-meaning betrayal, the yearning to understand another, the void of loneliness, and the quiet strength of the spirit. Everything that is good and true about people, she captures.

I can recommend this to everyone. It's very quiet and slow-moving and understated but it's the stuff of true poetry; beautiful, tragic, but ultimately hopeful.

I also highly recommend her short story 'A Fisherman of the Inland Sea' which I found in a collection called 'Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century' It's probably the best love story I've ever read. (If you can even call it a love story...)

Quote: “...'If power is shown, a gift must be offered. That is important. Remember it. Tell me what I said.' 'It’s important if you show power to offer a gift too.' My father nodded approval. 'The gift’s gift,' he said..."

Gifts

PS- re-edited to gel with the new format

The Intelligencer

Rating: ☆

Title: The Intelligencer

Author: Leslie Silbert

Genre: "Literary Thriller"

Read: 10th Oct 2005




Comments: Where to begin?

As I expected, it was mostly crap, but at least it was fairly decently researched crap. There are basically 2 plot lines going on; one is a modern day thriller with a tough but sexy (groan...) female P.I. out to decode an ancient manuscript believed to be the work of a famous Elizabethan spy, the other is the story of the manuscript itself and centers on the playwright Christopher Marlowe and the part he played in Elizabeth I's secret espionage network.

The Elizabethan parts were not terrible, although, like many bad authors, Silbert seemingly can't help putting in way too much exposition which would be better left to footnotes or something of the like. She also can't resist adding an extraneous (semi-) romantic interest for the Kit Marlowe story when the plot was carrying along just fine without it. (This is one of my pet-peeves about mass-market movies, books, etc. anyway. They always feel that regardless of genre, people won't get into the story without a little splash of sex, no matter how irrelevant it may be.)

The modern-day parts, on the other hand, were dead awful and used and abused every spy-novel cliché ever invented. The characters were one-dimensional ( the beautiful and dangerous heroine with a tragic secret, the outrageously over-sexed best friend, the gentleman cat-burgler [nickname 'The Cat', natch..], the millionaire playboy with a hot bod and a face 'to put a Versace model to shame') and simply traded bad one-liners rather than having actual conversations, and the degree of autobiographicality (is that even a word?) was horrendous (the heroine, like the author, quit a career in Renaissance scholarship to become a private eye). As a whole it's badly written and even the characters' internal monologues are cliché-ridden and on occasion almost embarrassing to read; e.g. "While Kate disappeared onto the opposite shore, Jack also wondered how she would react if he ever told her that he'd been in love with her for as long as he could remember."

All of which I might have been able to forgive if the book had at least partially delivered on its promises of being a literary thriller. But unfortunately it didn't. There was a little bit of code-breaking that went on, but it was all too pat, too cut-and-dried with no room for suspense, no theories tentatively advanced to be proven wrong later, no stunning breakthroughs. In fact, almost all the actual deciphering occurs off-stage with the heroine simply coming back later and saying "Oh by the way I deciphered the texts and they say blah blah blah..." Now, where's the excitement in that? Also, I'm obviously no chemist, but I can't imagine the something written with lemon or onion juice would still be visible 500 years later, even if it was locked in an airtight box.

So, I'm going to have to give 'The Intelligencer' a 'D' and recommend that you don't read it, unless, like me, you are a sucker for even bad code-breaking cloak-and-dagger stuff.

Quote: "The dress was tight, and it clung to her perfect breasts like cellophane."

(Now, is it just me, or does cellophane kinda crinkle rather than cling? I guess cellophane sounds better than 'plastic wrap' though...)

The Intelligencer

P.S. re-edited to gel with the new format

Review: Emma

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Title: Emma

Author: Jane Austen

Genre: Classics

Read: 7 Oct 2005





Comments: Here is, as I promised, my first review. (Although perhaps ramblings would be a more accurate description.)

Just finished reading 'Emma', and I quite enjoyed it. I find it difficult sometimes to accurately gauge the seriousness of various supposed breaches of propriety in these old novels though, since mores and customs have changed so much. The attention to various subtle distinctions in rank, and the absolute pride in snobbery and classism that everyone displays is also a bit jarring; and not really knowing very much about the period, (I find anyway) it's difficult to asses whether the author is in agreement with the sentiments of the characters or subtly parodying them.

Leaving that aside for the moment though; it was a very amusing and charming book and I particularly liked the long rambling speeches from Miss Bates, and the cheerful nastiness of Mrs. Elton, who was definitely a character everyone can love to hate.

Next on my list is 'The Intelligencer' (see below). I like to alternate classics with trash, as I think it gives a fuller appreciation of both.

Quote: "A young farmer, whether on horseback, or on foot, is the very last sort of person to raise my curiosity. The yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do. A degree or two lower, and a creditable appearence might interest me; I might hope to be useful to their families in some way or other. But a farmer can need none of my help, and is therefore in one sense as much above my notice as in every other he is below it."

Emma

Goog Niter!

P.S. re-edited to gel with my new format

Colonel Mustard

I've been being so good this month and saving money, ($1000, Dad would be proud) but yesterday I went on a bit of a splurge in Sannomiya. I got a wonderfully awful yellow sweater, and (of course) some books from Tokyo Random Walk (the best English bookstore in the Kansai).
I got:
The Intelligencer, which is one of those 'literary thrillers'. I'm prepared to be disappointed, but I just can't help myself; I love these things even when they're really bad.
The Big Sleep, which should be a safe bet since it's a classic. Surprisingly enough I've never read any Chandler so I thought I'd pick it up while I'm on my classics binge.
Gifts by Ursula LeGuin, just because I love everything she's written, and it was ridiculously reasonably priced for an imported hardcover.
Nymphomation, I've never heard of the author (Jeff Noon) but the title caught my eye as did the fact that it's set in Manchester (maybe you should check it out John!)

I'm gonna be posting my reviews of things as I read them as well, so that's something to look forward to (or, for Kate, to avoid?).