response 175 of 298:

Oct 17 11:43 UTC 1998

I think it's wonderful, which I assume means you'll hate it.  ;-)
I keep coming back to one story called "Which Is More Than I Can
Say About Some People," the last page of which brought a tear to
my eye.  This is a great book of stories.  I found out yesterday
that the story about the couple whose little boy has cancer is
autobiographical, which is very sad.  In that story, Moore puts
on display her resentment at being a writer and being expected
to write about such things, and then she writes brilliantly and
tragically about it.  A virtuoso performance.

response 177 of 298:

Oct 20 00:31 UTC 1998

I just finished voluntarily reading "5*" (that star should be a degrees sign;
just use your imagination) by Nicholas Christopher, who is my Favorite Poet
Of The Month. It wasn't as good as the other book of his I read, "Desperate
Characters", and it spent too much time sitting around being morbid, but it
was still well-written. 
For a class, I also just finished the Oresteia, which I suprised myself by
liking. A lot. 

response 179 of 298:

Nov 1 23:43 UTC 1998

Gerund, you do have my Gulag Archapalago!! You never answered my one of my
letters that asked you to return it. Caught ya! Well, enjoy.  I wouldn't have
time to read it anyway these days. I hope you return in in the same pristine
condition in which it was once entrusted to your care! (yeah, right..) <kari
gripes about gerund but actually she loves him and does not care>

response 181 of 298:

Mar 12 07:07 UTC 1999

  Currently reading "The Shipping News", which made a big splash a couple
  of years ago and has been on my list of eventual reads for quite some
  time.  Actually, though, I'm now glad that I didn't read it a few years
  ago when it was first recommended to me.  Since that time I've had a
  chance to visit Newfoundland (last summer) and the book is very successful
  at evoking memories of that forlorn and eerie place.  

  I'm enjoying it so far but unless there's a really *huge* payoff at the
  end I'm not sure I'd consider all of the attention it received (including
  the Pulitzer Prize) completely justified.  I'd recommend it without much
  reservation; I'm just not convinced that 100 years from now people will be
  talking about it as one of the most memorable novels of the century...

response 183 of 298:

Mar 13 13:56 UTC 1999

RE resp:181 - I read "The Shipping News" a few years ago and enjoyed it
immensely. I don't know far you are into it or what your payoff
standards are, but I certainly found the book more than rewarding enough
in the evocation of place, character development, and variety of
incident categories.

response 185 of 298:

Mar 13 18:34 UTC 1999

  re #183:  I'm certainly enjoying it.  It's just that I'm not bowled over
  by it..  Perhaps it's a case of over-enthusiastic recommendations creating 
  exaggerated expectations.  As I say, though, I'd certainly recommend it
  myself.  

response 187 of 298:

Mar 28 00:13 UTC 1999

The last book I read was Morgenstern's _The Princess Bride_

Currently, I am looking into reading something new.  I am unsure, yet 
as to what I want to read next.

response 189 of 298:

Mar 29 15:39 UTC 1999

        There's a used bookstore on Cross street in Ypsilanti near Vinyl Joe's
that has a rare two-colour edition of _Princess Bride_, with the 'real'
portions in red and the 'story' in black (or is it vice versa?) that might
be a real find for a fan.

response 191 of 298:

Sep 27 05:03 UTC 1999

The book I finished most recently is _The_Number_of_the_Beast_, by Robert
Heinlein.  I think this is the second time I read it; the first time was
July, 1980 (the publication date is August, 1980).

I'm working on _The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_.  I have a copy of
_Symbolic_Logic_ from the library, which I will probably read before I
return it.  (I read it the first time in 1980, too.)

response 193 of 298:

Oct 4 20:53 UTC 1999

I just finished _The Practice of the Wild_ by Gary Snyder, which I think was
reccomended somewhere in this conference, but I'm too lazy to find where and
by whom.  I was really impressed -- most "save the earth, stop
oppression"-type books make my mind turn off immediately no matter how much
I agree or disagree, but Snyder's writing really held my attention.  Not
surprising, given how much I like his poetry.

response 195 of 298:

Oct 11 05:16 UTC 1999

  It's about an alternate universe where Christ is seduced by the dark side.
  (Oh, no, wait, that's the Star Wars "prequel"..  Nevermind..)

response 197 of 298:

Oct 12 23:16 UTC 1999

To continue:

Jesus spends some time with a group much like the Essenes (kind of like Jewish
monks), and then begins a ministry much like that described in the Gospels,
but he is very unsure of himself.  Eventually he becomes more self-confident,
and goes to Jerusalem.  There, he sends his oldest and closest friend, Judas
Iscariot, to betray him to the Jewish leaders.  While on the cross, he is told
by an angelic figure that his debt is paid, and he can come down.  He marries
Martha *and* Mary (whose brother Lazarus was killed before he was arrested),
and later confronts Paul of Tarsus, who is preaching Christianity.  He is
dying in bed as Jerusalem burns in AD 70, when Peter and Judas come to tell
him how badly he screwed up.  He then prays for God to return him to the
cross, where he can correct the error that led to the rest.  God does, and
the rest, as they say, is history.

Anyone who notices an error in my summary is free to say so.

response 199 of 298:

Oct 15 20:05 UTC 1999

By Tesla, you do'nt mean Nikolai Tesla, do you?  He was dead long before raves
started, I think.