Archive for the 'polysyllabic spree' Category

Books Purchased:

More Six-Word Memoirs edited by Smith Magazine
The Road to McCarthy by Pete McCarthy
Ireland: True Stories of Life on the Emerald Isle edited by James O’Reilly
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

Books Read:

Inklings by Jeffrey Koterba (library)
Stitches by David Small (library)
Permanent Rose by Hilary McKay (library)
Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger (re-read)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

Previously Reviewed: Inklings, Permanent Rose, The Help, The Sixty-Eight Rooms

Stitches is a graphic novel memoir by one of my favorite children’s book authors, David Small. Stitches is everything that his children’s books are not: dark, angry, and sad. Like his children’s books though, it’s fantastic. A graphic novel was the perfect medium for his story, the illustrations give you a unique look into his memories and experiences. While the story of his childhood is sad, it’s not a depressing book. The story ends with forgiveness, and it from what I know of his life now it seems happy and successful. I enjoyed reading Stitches, and it’s one of the best graphic novel memoirs I’ve read.

I re-read Nine Stories for our February book club, and it was interesting to revisit it now that I’ve read (and re-read) all of his other published work. Teddy and The Laughing Man were my favorites this time around.

Also in February – I finally read The Hunger Games. I’ve been hearing awesome things about this YA Dystopian series for over a year. It did not disappoint… I literally could not put the book down. I’m glad that I read it on a weekend so that I didn’t have to. :) It effortlessly brings you to that highly coveted reading place where you’re completely engrossed in a true adventure on the page.

Little Bee was an impulse purchase and read. It has a lot of critical acclaim and I’d read many positive reviews. I enjoyed reading it, and appreciated the insight into the experiences of a refugee. The point of view changes back and forth between the two main characters, and I enjoyed the narration by the refugee, Little Bee, much more. I thought it was an interesting and well written novel, but it didn’t move me the way that I expected it to, and when it ended I felt surprisingly indifferent to it, which was disappointing.

Books Purchased:

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker

Books Read:

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
Indigo’s Star by Hilary McKay
McCarthy’s Bar by Pete McCarthy

Previously reviewed: Shades of Grey, Wishful Drinking, The Left Hand of Darkness, McCarthy’s Bar

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers: This novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, and was reviewed very well, so when I saw it in a bargain books section for $5 I couldn’t leave it there. It’s an unique book, it’s written from the perspective of a young Chinese woman who moves to England to attend school to learn English. She doesn’t know a lot of English when she arrives (the beginning of the novel) and so her writing voice is in choppy, ‘beginner’ English. As her English improves, the writing throughout the book gets cleaner, with a lovely simplicity. She writes about the discoveries she makes about the language, and what things confuse her. It’s a really interesting look into what it’s like to learn a new language by leaving your comfort zone and immersing yourself in it, along with the loneliness and struggles that come from being on your own in a foreign country. As the title suggests, the book is centered around a romance with an English man she meets shortly after moving to London.

44 Scotland Street: This is my first Alexander McCall Smith book, and I liked it. It was originally serialized in a newspaper, so the chapters are very short. It switches perspectives from character to character and back again, and that made for a very quick, fun read. I have the second book in this series out from the library right now, Espresso Tales. It’s still a bit shocking to me how much/fast Alexander McCall Smith writes, and the number of different series he has going right now.

Indigo’s Star: After loving the first Casson family book, Saffy’s Angel, I had to get the second book and continue reading about these great characters. Indigo’s Star was just as enjoyable, and now I’m reading the third, Permanent Rose.

Books Purchased:

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (present)
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (present)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (present)
The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford (present)

Books Read:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Room With a View by E. M. Forster
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay (library)

December was my worst reading month of 2009, due to too much holiday fun. :) On the plus side though, I was able to post full reviews for every book read – each title above is linked to its review.

Books Purchased:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Cathedral by Raymond Carver
Funny Business: Conversations With Writers of Comedyby Leonard Marcus
Eat, Memory edited by Amanda Hesser
Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink edited by David Remnick
The Paris Review Interviews vol. IV edited by Philip Gourevitch
Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner

Books Read:

Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger (re-read)
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Mating Season by P. G. Wodehouse
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer
Funny Business: Conversations With Writers of Comedy by Leonard S. Marcus

Previously reviewed: Time Was Soft There.

I re-read Franny and Zooey for book club. I didn’t think it was going to be possible, but it was even more spectacular the second time. I’m happy that the other members love Salinger as much as I do, and want to re-read his other books for book group as well. Also, even upon a second reading, my favorite line remains:

Lane spotted her immediately, and despite whatever it was he was trying to do with his face, his arm that shot up into the air was the whole truth.”

I’ve been meaning to post about The Magicians for a while now. I haven’t yet because I didn’t really like it and the thought of writing a whole post about it never seemed that appealing. The novel seemed to drag quite a bit, but it mainly came down to the reason I’ve come up with for most novels that I don’t like: I didn’t like the characters. I can get through just about anything happily if I care about the characters, most crucially the main character. The only character I remotely liked was Alice, but thought she was underdeveloped. Also, there was a piece of the plot that was unresolved, which bothered me.

One of the best things about the universe must be that P. G. Wodehouse wrote so many books while he was alive. Whenever I need a dose of awesome, I read one of his novels. The Mating Season, like every other Wodehouse novel I’ve encountered, did not disappoint. Here are a few of my favorite lines:

He shimmered out, and I subjected Catsmeat to a keen glance. I am told by those who know that there are six varieties of hangover  -  the Broken Compass, the Sewing Machine, the Comet, the Atomic, the Cement Mixer and the Gremlin Boogie, and his manner suggested that he had got them all.”

“What with one thing and another, singing a bit too much in the bath and so on, I was about five minutes behind scheduled time in reaching the post office, and when I got there I found Gussie already at the tryst.”

I had never read Ethan Frome before, and I’m not sure why someone didn’t find out and whack me over the head. This is a fantastic book, and it’s so short that there’s really no excuse for not reading it. I enjoyed every aspect of this tidy little classic, but I think what I appreciated most right away was that it felt so much like a dark Gothic tale. The beginning reminded me somewhat of Wuthering Heights - the fact that the person who finds out the story and is able to tell the tale is someone who is unrelated to and not present in the events of the plot. Instantly when I started reading it I was transported into a different world: the world of a great story. I could tell I was in good hands, and I settled in for the adventure. It’s hard to describe how a good novel transports you into another place and state of mind, but it’s wonderful when it happens.

I’m planning on doing a full post about Funny Business by Leonard S. Marcus, because it’s a unique book that deserves some more attention.

Also… Funny Business was the 100th book I’ve read this year, so I’ve officially hit my goal. :)

Books Purchased:

The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart
Fire by Kristin Cashore
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers (fur covered edition)
Bright-sided by Barbara Ehrenreich

Books Read:

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (re-read)
Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon
Making Mischief by Gregory Maguire
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

Previously reviewed: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma, Look at the Birdie.

It was a good reading month, thanks to a trip to DC with a great, long bus ride, and the Read-a-Thon.

This month I read two books for my book group. The Jungle Book served as inspiration for Neil Gaiman, so it was interesting to read it before I re-read The Graveyard book. The Jungle Book is completely different from the Disney movie, and absolutely worth reading. They transport you straight back to childhood and the magic of listening to adventure stories read aloud to you before bed.

If you have ever smelt the night air and felt a sudden urge to race out into the darkness and howl at the moon and dance wild in the shadows, then The Jungle Books is the book for you. -from the introduction by Christopher Paolini

I’m behind on book reviews, but look for posts coming soon for Her Fearful Symmetry; Juliet, Naked; The Secret Lives of People in Love; Cherries in Winter; Making Mischief; and The Wild Things.

Books Acquired:

Books Purchased September 2009

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Pilgrims by Garrison Keillor
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
The Most Beautiful Book in the World by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
For Grace Received by Valeria Parrella
Best American Non-Required Reading 2009 edited by Dave Eggers
The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones (present)
Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer (present)
A Spy on the Bus by Margean Gladysz (present)
Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation by Gregory Maguire  (present)
Cooking With Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson (present)
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This month’s “books purchased” pile is really a “books acquired” pile, because I got many great books as birthday presents. This stack makes me joyful.

Books Read:

Books Read September 2009

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut (re-read)
The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy
Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni
I Love You More Than You Know by Jonathan Ames
The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones

Previously reviewed: Gourmet Rhapsody, Graceling, The Dud Avocado, Margherita Dolce Vita, and The Tenth Muse.

I re-read A Man Without a Country in September. I like to re-read this collection of essays by Kurt Vonnegut at least once a year. It makes me happy.

The Day the Falls Stood Still is a new novel that was selected for Barnes and Noble’s “BN Recommends” program. It was interesting to read a novel set around Niagara Falls. It’s a great example of how a well-researched historical novel can help you learn a lot about a place or subject, even if the specific story told is fiction. The falls were a thrilling and dangerous place at the turn of the 20th century, I really enjoyed learning more about what daily life was like living near them. The love story at the heart of this novel was beautiful.

I’ve been meaning to read something by Jonathan Ames for a long time. He’s frequently compared to several other essayists I enjoy, so I wanted to give him a shot. I picked up a copy of I Love You More Than You Know for $1 at the KPL Friends of the Library book sale. A blurb on the book’s cover says that he’s a “darker David Sedaris,” which I think is an accurate assessment. I enjoyed this collection, but it’s not for the squeamish, prudish, or faint of heart.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Books Purchased – August 2009

Books Purchased:
Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandell
A Room With a View by E. M. Forster
Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy
Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery

Another month where I bought fewer books than I read. :) I found a lot of great books this month, most of them at Strand. Two of these were purchased because I read a book that I loved so much I needed to buy the author’s other book (The Secret Lives of People in Love and Gourmet Rhapsody).

My book group is reading The Graveyard Book for October, so I’ll be re-reading it to prepare. Before I read it again, I want to read the book that inspired Neil Gaiman, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. I got the new extremely cute (and affordable) Puffin Classics edition.

I’m really loving Europa Editions – a publisher that translates popular books in Europe and makes them available in the US. (The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery are both Europa Editions.) Last year I was painfully aware of how my list of books read was lacking much diversity. It’s nice to see a publisher dedicated to bringing the best books in Europe into the US with great translations. So when I read a review Amanda posted of another Europa book, Margherita Dolce Vita, I was interested right away. Strand had a copy for 50% off, and I plan on starting it soon.
I’m also adoring Vintage Classics’ new editions – their covers are gorgeous. I have all their Jane Austen editions, and also Villette by Charlotte Bronte. So when I saw A Room With a View by E. M. Forster was out in a new Vintage Classics edition, I had to get it.

Books Read – August 2009

Books Read:
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (re-read)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (re-read)
Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
The Impostor’s Daughter by Laurie Sandall
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Blankets by Craig Thompson
George, Being George edited by Nelson W. Aldrich Jr.
(Odd and the Frost Giants is not pictured because I read a digital advanced reading copy of it.)

Previously reviewed:
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler
When You Reach Me
Odd and the Frost Giants
George, Being George

After re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and seeing the movie three times in the theater in July, I felt seriously unresolved. (Despite the fact that I’ve read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows twice and thus definitely know what happens.) So, soon after, I decided to open up book 7 for the third time. I think it really says something about the HP books that even though it was my third time through in three years, I still couldn’t put the book down. I think I’m going to end up re-reading all or most of the series every year. I can’t stay away from Hogwarts for too long.

Another book that was a re-read this month was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I read it two years ago, and enjoyed it then. I probably would not have re-read it again so soon, but my friends and I selected it as the first book for our newly formed book group. It was an incredible novel to discuss together. We talked about the book for three full hours, and had an amazing conversation. This book is a great novel on its own, and I highly recommend it for book groups.

I adored Love Begins in Winter by Simon Van Booy. It’s a collection of five short stories. The stories are wonderful, mainly because of Simon Van Booy’s writing…it’s absolutely beautiful. Immediately after I finished it I had to buy The Secret Lives of People in Love, his first book of short stories.

And lastly, I read two graphic novel memoirs. Blankets is the story of Craig Thompon’s first love, and his growing up in general. It’s a beautiful graphic novel. The illustrations are lovely. I loved his story and felt the heartbreak and hopefulness of his experiences. The Impostor’s Daughter is about Laurie Sandall’s relationship with her father – a con man who has been lying and scamming his friends and family his entire life. It was an interesting story, and I think I appreciated the story more in graphic novel form that I would have a traditional memoir.
My complete Polysyllabic Spree book lists can be found here.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Books Purchased – July 2009

Books Purchased:
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I’ve been wanting to read American Gods, and I found it new for $5.95 at Strand. I’ve also been wanting to get A Confederacy of Dunces for a long time, and I found a like-new copy at the KPL Friends bookstore for $2.

Books Read – July 2009

2 comments

Books Read:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (re-read)
Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (re-read)
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli (library)
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume (re-read)

Previously reviewed: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Baking Cakes in Kigali, and Lolita.

I re-read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince before going to see the movie. I did really enjoy the movie, I think it was extremely well done. I also think that this movie, even more than any of the others, shows how much of the story you miss if you only watch the movies. There was so much that had to be left out of the movie – so much of Tom Riddle’s history that was fascinating to learn.

I also re-read Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty. I had read this, and the sequel (Second Chances) during my first year of college. The third book came out a few years later, which I bought but never got around to reading. Since then two more books in this series came out (the fifth one is the final). I remembered the first two as being light, fun books and was sorry that I hadn’t kept up with the series. So I decided to start again from the beginning and re-read the first two and go on to read all five. Sloppy Firsts was very fun to read again – it’s different from a lot of what I’ve been reading lately and it’s a great book for summer. I’m looking forward to the next four.

Asterios Polyp is a new graphic novel by David Mazzucchelli. It’s extremely impressive, and I enjoyed every minute of reading it. I checked it out of the library, but I know I’m going to need to buy my own copy sometime soon. I definitely recommend reading it. If you’re interested, there’s a five page excerpt posted on NYTimes.com.

Rather impulsively, I sat down outside while in Michigan and re-read all of Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret. I hadn’t read this in years, and it was fun to re-read it. It’s one of the quintessential coming of age books that no girl’s childhood should be complete without reading.

My full Polysyllabic Spree list is located here.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

This is a little late – I feel sort of drained creatively and am struggling to write anything. Hopefully I snap out of this writing rut soon.

Books Purchased:

Books Purchased – June 2009

Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins
Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Literary New York by Susan Edmiston and Linda D. Cirino
77 Love Sonnets by Garrison Keillor
American Eve by Paula Uruburu
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I bought fewer books than I read this month, which is excellent!

I picked up Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins at Strand, and randomly opened to page 39. The poem on the page (“I Go Back to the House for a Book”) caught my eye. It’s a great poem, and if you’d like to read it yourself, I found it online here.

Books Read:

Books Read – June 2009

The Long-Winded Lady by Maeve Brennan
Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin
The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright (library)
Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott (library)
American Eve by Paula Uruburu
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction by J. D. Salinger
Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright (library)
Chicken With Plums by Marjane Satrapi (library)

Previously Reviewed: The Long-Winded Lady and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction.

Another Marvelous Thing is the first work of fiction that I’ve read by Laurie Colwin. It’s a novel in short stories about a man and woman who are both married, and are having an affair. I enjoyed this and I like Laurie Colwin’s style, and am glad I have more of her novels to read.

I read the next two books in the Melendy Quartet by Elizabeth Enright – The Four Story Mistake and Then There Were Five. I enjoyed these as well and am looking forward to the last book in the quartet – Spiderweb for Two.

Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott finally came in for me at the library. It was exactly what I expected: a cute, fast, and fun YA book.

American Eve is a biography of Evelyn Nesbit. She was a iconic “it girl” at the turn of the 20th century and the most photographed woman of the era by age 16. She was at the center of the “crime of the century” when her mentally ill husband, Harry K. Thaw, killed her former lover, Stanford White in 1906. This is a fascinating biography – a very readable account of Evelyn’s rise to a life in the spotlight and her very twisted and troubled relationships that lead to her downfall. I’m reading Lolita right now, so it’s very interesting to have read this first. So far there are several similarities and parallels.

Chicken with Plums is a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, the author of Persepolis. It’s the story of her great-uncle, set in Tehran in 1958. She is such an excellent storyteller, and so talented. I don’t know if she has anything new in the works, but I certainly hope so.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)

Books Purchased:

Books Bought – May 2009

Alice, Let’s Eat by Calvin Trillin
Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin
A Big Storm Knocked it Over by Laurie Colwin
The Lone Pilgrim by Laurie Colwin
A Very Private Eye: An Autobiography in Dairies and Letters by Barbara Pym
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Best American Short Stories 2008 edited by Salman Rushdie
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
American Food Writing edited by Molly O’Neill
Alone in the Kitchen With an Eggplant edited by Jenni Ferrari-Adler
I Love You More Than You Know by Jonathan Ames
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenburg
Food With the Famous by Jane Grigson
The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher
The Best American Non-Required Reading 2002 edited by Dave Eggers
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
A Mess of Everything by Miss Lasko-Gross

A lot of books this month – due mainly to trips to Michigan and Milwaukee that involved a lot of book shopping. I won’t write about every book on the list, but I will comment on some of my best finds this month:

-I picked up three of Laurie Colwin’s fiction books from Strand, for about $5 each. Very excited to try her fiction after loving her two collections of food writing essays.

-I was extremely excited to find a hardcover copy of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks for $3.98 at the Milwaukee Borders. Emma and I both got ourselves a copy.

-Food with the Famous is a book I had never heard of until I found it in the food section of Renaissance Books in Milwaukee. (I had heard of Jane Grigson, the author, before – Laurie Colwin writes affectionately about her books.) In this book, Grigson explores the culinary lives of famous women and men. It contains recipes and the social history of the food mentioned in classic literature and that famous figures ate. The featured people include: John Evelyn, Parson James Woodforde, Jane Austen, Thomas Jefferson, Rev. Sydney Smith, Lord & Lady Shaftesbury, Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, Claude Monet, and Marcel Proust. For example – one of the foods in the Jane Austen section is White Soup – what it is, how it originated, and how to make it yourself. This book is out of print now, but there are used copies on Amazon Marketplace that are reasonably priced.

Books Read:

Books Read – May 2009

Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace (re-read)
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenburg
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
Lucky by Gabrielle Bell (library)
Escape from “Special” by Miss Lasko-Gross (library)
When I’m Old and Other Stories by Gabrielle Bell  (library)
The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (library)
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
A Mess of Everything by Miss Lasko-Gross
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

I talked about the Betsy-Tacy series last month, and here are links to my reviews of A Homemade Life, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet, and Shanghai Girls. I’m planning a separate post about Mrs. Dalloway, since it’s one of my summer reading list books.

I read a lot of graphic novels this month. It helped me to read a decent number of books even though this month was incredibly busy. :) I read several graphic novels by Gabrielle Bell and Miss Lasko Gross before their event at Strand. It’s hard to pick a favorite of the five graphic novels I read this month – I enjoyed them all in different ways, and the three artists are very different. It was fun to discover Miss Lasko-Gross, I hadn’t heard of her until I saw she’d be with Gabrielle Bell at Strand. Her books are memoirs, and her style is very different then most of the graphic novels I’ve read. She uses very deep, rich artwork with a lot of shading, and the effect is gorgeous and moody. A Mess of Everything is the sequel to Escape from “Special” – and I’d recommend starting in order if you’d like to read them yourself.

I also read the first book of the Melendy Quartet by Elizabeth Enright, The Saturdays. This was a fantastic children’s novel, and I can’t believe I hadn’t read it before now. The Melendy family includes four kids (two girls and two boys), their father, and their lovable live-in housekeeper, Cuffy. Of course the children have all kinds of adventures, and get into the occasional mischief. In The Saturdays, they decide to pool their allowance each week so that one of the four can go out in the city on a Saturday and have their own adventure: going to a museum, opera, etc. Reading The Saturdays was great fun, and I’m looking forward to the other books in the quartet; I currently have the next two checked out from the library.

May Book Events:

I went to three great book events in May:
Neil Gaiman (Part of the Pen World Voices festival) 5.2.09
Gabrielle Bell & Miss Lasko-Gross (Strand) 5.19.09
Lisa See (Barnes and Noble on 82nd Street) 5.27.09

As always, my complete Polysyllabic Spree can be found here.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)