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Thoughts about Blue Angel, Francine Prose

(I haven’t called this a review because it isn’t one. I have some thoughts, but mostly I want to know what y’all think about some stuff.) Says a Boston Review review of Blue Angel:… more →

Jenny's Books

Thoughts about Blue Angel, Francine Prose — 30 comments

Jenny wrote 6 months ago: (I haven’t called this a review because it isn’t one. I have some thoughts, but mostly I … more →

Tags: blue angel, Francine Prose, I sort of miss playing the bird game because it was ver, ho ho ho testosterone allergy, vixen is a good word, the book does acknowledge the trope at one point but no, I'm cross about this book

Review: Fanpire: The Twilight Saga and the Women who Love It, Tanya Erzen — 20 comments

Jenny wrote 7 months ago: Beacon Press, publisher of Fanpire, says: Why have the Twilight saga’s representations of roma … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, Captain Hammer told me to sit Peterson in Week 1 and he, Fanpire, I know the word is not really supposably so don't get c, my friend The Fake Rebecca Hall said that Jane Eyre was, okay yes I did just say that about Adrian Peterson to s, Tanya Erzen, twilight

Review: The Secret to Lying, Todd Mitchell — 18 comments

Jenny wrote 7 months ago: I am writing this review from the wonderful coffee shop I frequent on weekend mornings, and there is … more →

Tags: 2 Stars, it is not safe for me to schedule posts in advance beca, my forays into Candlewick Press have not been roaring s, The Secret to Lying, there was not a lot on TV this summer so I hate-watched, Todd Mitchell

Review: The Art of Making Magazines — 9 comments

Jenny wrote 7 months ago: Magazine-making is a career not far off from my own that I am not sure I would like to attempt. Fact … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, all spin and grin and no jam and gin, Columbia School of Journalism, Susan Sontag is really cool, The Art of Making Magazines, the choice-supportive bias in my opinion is a good and , would anyone who has read Ruth Reichl's books care to s

Review: A Long, Long Sleep, Anna Sheehan — 13 comments

Jenny wrote 8 months ago: In a way, I did this to myself. I should know by now that I do not like, and have never liked, scien … more →

Tags: 2 Stars, A Long Long Sleep, Anna Sheehan, Fairy Tales, my next Candlewick Press book is going to be awesome, Otto was cool and Bren was boring, talking about Inferi made me sad because of Dumbledore , there really were a lot of cool details of the sci-fi w

Review: The Defining Decade, Meg Jay, PhD — 21 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: You know what I’m happy about? I’m happy that before reading The Defining Decade — … more →

Tags: 2 Stars, I have a conflicted relationship with adulthood but for, it is sad when therapists write about their theraping i, meg jay, The Defining Decade, the sections where she talked about her therapy clients

Review: The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson — 32 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: You know that Philip Larkin poem? You definitely do. Even if you don’t know anything about Phi … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, hoaxes are fun to read about NOT TO EXPERIENCE, I cannot overstate my aversion to hoaxes IN REAL LIFE; , I feel like stating out loud my love for hoaxes is like, Kevin Wilson, National Poetry Month, never play a trick on me; I am in no way equipped to de, Philip Larkin, the ending was good insofar as things ended pretty well

Review: The Twisted Thread, Charlotte Bacon; and a question about a literary trope with which I have lost patience — 26 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: The Twisted Thread is a book I’d never heard of by an author I’d never heard of, but it … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, "The police would never believe me" is an obnoxious exc, calling bullshit on literary tropes, Charlotte Bacon, I know it's nonsense because it feels silly in The Vamp, just realized it's been months and months since I updat, remember when Sally Sparrow went to the police and they, The Twisted Thread

Review: Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld — 27 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: I went to the library the other day and got all the available books classified under the heading … more →

Tags: 2 Stars, Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld, I Love My Parents, when my parents come visit anywhere I am super proud of, hi Mumsy! hi Daddy! I love you guys!, I started writing this post feeling cranky but talking , boarding school books, if this hadn't been a boarding school book I'd have giv

Review: The Future of the Past, Alexander Stille — 25 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: This book was so cool! (Except for the unacceptable way there was no index. What nonfiction book ski … more →

Tags: 4 Stars, Ancilla Grumium placat. Grumio ancillam placat., Caecilius est in horto, Homer is amazing so well played library at Alexandria!, I like the books about the family in Pompeii including , please do not solder an ancient Roman artifact if you f, seriously who doesn't index a nonfiction book? COME ON.

Review: Copenhagen, Michael Frayn — 6 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: Ah plays. I bought Copenhagen in 2009 at the glorious glorious book sale in my hometown (oh my God t … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, Copenhagen, Drama, fictionalized versions of scientists' lives, I just saw The Great Muppet Caper for the first time th, I think Philip Seymour Hoffman did it; you?, Michael Frayn

Review: No Bone Unturned, Jeff Benedict — 12 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: The problem with nonfiction is that I always want specialized stuff and the libraries don’t wa … more →

Tags: 2 Stars, No Bone Unturned, Jeff Benedict, archaeology, kennewick man, poor Doug Owsley gets called in any time there has been, I have a big man-crush on Randy Shilts, cultural property controversies

Review: The Judas Kiss, David Hare — 1 comment

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: You won’t believe me but it’s true: I didn’t know this play was about Oscar Wilde. … more →

Tags: 2 Stars, Oscar Wilde, David Hare, experiments in reading plays, The Judas Kiss, Bosie is horrible, Robbie Ross was a sweet lamb and I won't hear anyone sa, I'm glad y'all are here to tell me not to give up on au, at the Oscar Wilde bar I had tequila shots for the firs

Review: Ground Up, Michael Idov — 12 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: This is a book about a couple who open up a coffee shop on the Lower East Side, with the notion that … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, yeah I said it; New York doesn't know how to do good ou, when I feel sad I think about how in the future I'm goi, I love shows like The Vampire Diaries where the charact, oh Lord I am so excited about my present for Daddy and , Ground up, Michael Idov, I would never open a business because I would know I wo

Review: Becoming Shakespeare, Jack Lynch — 8 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: What I wanted: A corrective emotional experience to How Shakespeare Changed Everything, which I hate … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, "no theater and no Christmas" sounds like the White Wit, I long and long and long to see a panto and deeply regr, and "desultory" sounds like gagging, I miss the olden days when you could say "diverse" for , y'all may notice that remarks about my TBR shelf have l, dearest darling Shakespeare, Shakespeare seems like a very springtime person for som, continue to stand by for my inadequate but effusive pra

Review: The Peacock Spring, Rumer Godden — 34 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: As I write this review, I am in a state of near-perfect happiness. I will tell you why. I am sitting … more →

Tags: 3 Stars, Favored authors, books set in India (hooray), LOVE RUMER GODDEN MORE!, not that many people write characters with unflinching , Rumer Godden, seriously why would you go to all the trouble of honori, the New York Public Library only has like nine books by, The Peacock Spring

Review: A Dark-Adapted Eye, Barbara Vine — 45 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: Thus far, I have read two Barbara Vine books, the other being Anna’s Book, and I have liked th … more →

Tags: 4 Stars, A Dark-Adapted Eye, all mysteries should introduce little extra twists righ, any thoughts on what Barbara Vine book I should read ne, Barbara Vine, Barbara Vine told the end before she told the middle, I seem to be reading more mysteries than usual this sum, of course it's hard to keep track of all the books I'm , oh gosh I sure was crazy about the end of this book

Review: Persian Fire, Tom Holland (or, awesome stories) — 36 comments

Jenny wrote 1 year ago: May I tell you a story about Athens? Please be aware that you can’t answer “no” to … more →

Tags: 5 Stars, persian fire, Tom Holland, it pleases me that this post incorporates an awesome st, classical antiquity is my favorite because I do not hav, it was good in the LOTR film when Arwen was all "If you, Cavafy, A.E. Housman also has a poem about Thermopylae of which, my true apologies to Iran for any overtones of bloodthi

Review: Nox, Anne Carson — 24 comments

Jenny wrote 2 years ago: Yes, I bought it. I bought it, and it was amazing. Y’all talked me into it. I was stacking the … more →

Tags: 5 Stars, Nox, Anne Carson, Catullus Catullus Catullus Catullus Catullus, liminal means "thresholdy", since I have brought it up I am wildly fond of the word, thanks for talking me into buying this!, who even knew Disney could make Roman Empire jokes?


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