Monday, March 5, 2007

I'm not sure what this says....

At the CPAC, Ann Coulter calls a clearly hetero man a "faggot" (I think -- the attempt at humor was so bad it was subject to interpretation, but I think she meant to call John Edwards a "faggot," and not in the British slang for cigarette sense) and gets press (which is, of course, WHY she did it). My only response is that a "coulter" is the blade part of a plow, the part that gets dragged through dirt.

Meanwhile, on the high road, Barak explains why he's "black enough."

http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/?last_story=/ent/video_dog/politics/2007/03/05/barack/

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Book Chat

Anyone who knows me knows that I read. A lot. A LOT. Blame my parents. I don't think they feel the least bit bad about it.

I've read a spate of really good books lately, and thought I'd list 'em. I've read a lot of the Iraq War and "Pile on the Bush Adminstration" tomes, and they are of varying value and interest. I find Cobra II most interesting simply because military strategy is not my field.

The Best of the Best so Far, in no way a complete list, and in no particular order:


Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

You can see this happening.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Creepy.

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

A bit far-fetched, but good.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Marvelous.

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
by Douglas G. Brinkley

How that feckless moron Nagin got himself reelected is a mystery.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, Sandra Smith (Translator)

Another voice silenced by Hitler.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

This was just fantastic.

Next to my bed:


Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley

I always preferred the Decameron to the Canterbury Tales.

Traveler by Ron McLarty

I loved The Memory of Running

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried is genius.

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama

As cynical as I am, and as angry as I am about the direction this country has taken in the past six years, I'm not ready to give up on my country.

Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen

Inés of My Soul by Isabel Allende, Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator)

I'm about halfway done with this one.

The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud

People either love or hate this one.