i can't really sing, so

This concluded my "winter break" reads & dove into the beginning of the semester! These books were a great way to start the year. I feel like I read pretty diversely this past month? What a read spanned over time--most of it in the 20th century, but then some Plato. I read men and women, I read American and non-American writers, I read things in translation as well as things written originally in English. I read plays, novels, poetry, philosophy. I didn't really think, when I was doing this reading, about how wide of a scope I was covering compared to past months, but now that I look at, it's interesting to note. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines This was a book I checked out from the Breaux Bridge Library, but now will, for sure, have to acquire a copy. Ernest J. Gaines is a Louisiana-born writer, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has a center named after him that houses resources about him and his work. He's UL's writer-in-reside...

I read a lot in December. Perhaps to counteract one-book November? I am not sure. I think I just found the time and the energy to immerse myself into my reading, chose the right books, and thoroughly enjoyed a good number of them... books read: December Bend Sinister by Vladimir Nabokov I picked this book up because during lunch before I went to work, I finished the book I had been reading. I searched and searched in Book Trader for something. Book Trader is one of those can't-go-there-to-find-something-specific bookstores. I grabbed this book because the copy I found was a limited edition with an interesting textured cover that had a modern painting on both the front and back. The book was excellent. I immediately recommended it to at least two or three readers I know. Nabokov has a way of weaving stories you'd never think to create yourself with human emotions, tendencies and specifics that make you think "I do that!" or "I know someone who would think like t...

I started to read Their Eyes Were Watching God in September, and after I finished it, I borrowed Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov from a friend. After reading this, I decided that since I am normally a translation-phobe, that I would focus October on reading only translations. So except for TEWWG , a translation month it was, just in time for my transition into life in the City of Brotherly Love... books read: OCTOBER Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston I read this in highschool, but I knew that I needed to reread it after reading an essay by Zadie Smith, in her new non-fiction book that will be out this month. Smith talked about how enormously influential the book was on her as a teenager, how it had an affect on her not only as a young black woman in England, but also as a human being. Hurston's book is a must read as both a teenager and again as an adult. I look forward to reading more of her work. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov Th...

my weekly book purchases This week, I was a good girl, and I only bought two books. One full-priced, one dollar book. I am proud of myself. These are economically trying times! Here we go... Apollonio, Umbro. MIRO . New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1969. [paperback] I have a Grosset & Dunlap Degas book that I've frequently used to collage by cutting out the pretty color pictures. These little volumes are so good because they have a short amount of text in the front, explanations of each of the art pieces featured in the book and then color plates of the artist's work that takes up most of the book. I liked this one because Miro is sort of all over the place, he starts out fairly impressionistic and then gets into that weird stuff (that apparently is based on real life things that make sense, so someone told me) that looks like lines and symbols and lots of precise colors. Towards the end of the plate collection, there's some sculpture of his as well. My favorite thin...