Saturday, January 19, 2008

Misster-Kitty: Book Whore.

I've always been a reader, ever since I was a wee thing. But from time to time I fall off the wagon and go months without reading a book.

Well, since Christmas I'm back on the wagon. I read both books I received from my parents for Christmas:
-Historic South End Halifax. -Peter McGuigan.
And
-A Maritimer's Miscellany. Clary Croft.

I'm also half way through one of the two books I got myself as Post-Christmas Gifts:
-Sex with Kings. -Elanor Herman. ...and when that is done, I'll be reading:
-Much Depends on Dinner. -Margaret Visser.
...and then once that's done I'll read the five books I picked up today at Chapters with gift cards I got for Christmas:
-Lamb. The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. (great title eh?)
-A Dirty Job.
-You Suck. A Love Story. ...all three by Christoper Moore. (I can't remember where I heard about him, but I'm very much looking forward to all three!)
...and then...
-The Highest Tide. Jim Lynch.
-The Last Witchfinder. James Marrow

The last two were in the Remainders Bin. God I love me some Remainders... Ain't nothing like getting some $30.00 and $40.00 hardcovers for under $6.00!!!

Books books books, I lurv em!
So what are you reading?

13 comments:

Maria said...

I picked up the February issue of Cosmo today and I plan to start reading it tonight. LOL

Cheryl (a.k.a Sherri, and vice-versa) said...

Well, you asked -- so, an excerpt from LRH. He likes to define things.
"Aberrations, under which is included all deranged or irrational behaviour, are caused by engrams. They are stimulus-response, pro- and contrasurvival. Psychosomatic ills are caused by engrams. The engram is the single source of aberrations and psychosomatic ills. Moments of 'unconsciousness', when the analytical mind is attenuated in greater or lesser degree, are the only moments when engrams can be received. The engram is a moment of 'unconsciousness' containing physical pain or painful emotion and all perceptions, and is not available to the analytical mind as experience. Emotion is three things: engramic response to situations, endocrine metering of the body to meet situations on an analytical level, and the inhibition or futherance of life force."

Reading too much of this hooey could definitely make one insane. I love how things are defined as being BOTH and EITHER/OR. Definitely trying to cover all bases. You see, Misster Kitty, the problem is these engrams, which you can't see, hear, touch, smell, or taste. They get you when you're unconscious. But you don't even know they're there! Whoa...dude. And I believe that the Pseudotologists also maintain the engrams come from aliens....but I'm not that far into the book yet.

I just can't take the man's writing style. He likes to provide a glossary for things like "present time: the time which is now and becomes the past as rapidly as it is observed. It is a term loosely applied to the environment exisiting in now." Yet, defines his own terms (like 'engram') in a completely circular manner. Don't know if I can make it through 600 pages of it.

Sean Newbury said...

OYE! ok, um, Cheryl... time to put the LRH down and pick up a Cosmo... LMBOBO

Cheryl (a.k.a Sherri, and vice-versa) said...

Sorry about the long babbling post -- I should do that on my own blog! On another note -- please post what you think of the Christopher Moore books -- I am attracted by his covers and titles, but have yet to read one of the books.

I'll need something entertaining, should I ever get through Dianetics.

Though, I am also reading some Terry Pratchett ("Making Money") -- which is kind of fantasy-satire. Much more relaxing.

Ma Horton said...

You must read 'Water for Elephants " ....excellent .

Anonymous said...

I read a little bit of everything, and in fits and starts, too. I usually get the momentum going every summer at the cottage. I also read quite a bit on the bus when I used to take it to work, but I drive now.
I like celebrity biographies and murder or legal mysteries. I've read everything John Grisham ever wrote (including Playing for Pizza, his latest); most of Stephen King (all-time favourite book and movie, The Green Mile); a lot of Jonathan Kellerman since fellow bloglodytes suggested him; and currently, a book I stole from StepMama when I was up north over the holidays. It's by Laurie Breton, and is called Point of Departure. I'll stock up before going to Cancun in a couple months.

Sean Newbury said...

Cheryl, DO post a nice entry about ol' L-Ron... (I like that... makes he seem hipper... gives him a little more street cred. Know what I'm sayin'?)

"dianetics" Always makes me think of 'Diuretics'...

Ma, you know I almost picked it up, but well I had an armful already I will get it though, you're not the first to mention it.

NGB, Yea, I tend to have eclectic tastes in books too, although I will admit, that like my taste in movies, I do have an incredible bent toward the humorous, if not irreverent novels. None more so than "Live from Golgotha" (Gore Vidal) which I highly recommend to all. (It's basically the story of Saint Timothy and how he is contacted by NBC / GE - from the future, as technology has advanced to where not only can we go back in time but we can broadcast from there live and NBC wants to broadcast the crucification - Live on TV (hence the title of the book) But instead of a clear cut plot line, things run amok as rival Networks and Astral Mediums join in the fray, including none other than Shirley McLaine. I'm telling you, it's a hoot!)

I am also a huge fan of :
-Books of List (It feeds my Inner OCD monster)
-Anthologies of Essays (Diane Ackerman's "A Natural History of the Senses" and "The Moon by Whale Light" should not be missed)
-Mythological anthropology, especially books on human ritual and societal evolution (Margaret Visser's "The Rituals of Dinner" was 'devoured' in a couple of days and so I am very much looking forward to "Much Depends on Dinner")
-Anything Vamperic
-good old classics: Dickens, Poe, Wolfe, Coward
-I also like to read Cookbooks

Oh and I'm fond of the occasional paranormal/occult/esoteric book. In fact, I went to the local Magic Shop yesterday and picked up three titles, (two of which I'm now reading along with "Sex With Kings" *):
-Communicating with Spirits *
-Druid Magic
-Sacred Paths for Modern Men - A wake up call from your 12 archetypes


....books. Dontca just luv 'em!

Cheryl (a.k.a Sherri, and vice-versa) said...

Dianetics: you'll laugh out loud.

Anonymous said...

Enjoy the Christopher Moore books, Kitty. I became addicted to them a couple of years ago. "Lamb" is hysterical, it made me laugh out loud (must be the Catholic upbringing...) Don't miss "The Stupidest Angel" - a true Christmas classic! Have fun!

Jerome said...

Have you ever read any Jasper Fforde? From the sound of things, his Thursday Next books would be right up your proverbial alley.

Sean Newbury said...

I'm not familiar... What's he like?

Jerome said...

Hmmm. How to explain?

From Amazon's description of The Eyre Affair:

Fforde's heroine, Thursday Next, lives in a world where time and reality are endlessly mutable--someone has ensured that the Crimean War never ended for example--a world policed by men like her disgraced father, whose name has been edited out of existence. She herself polices text--against men like the Moriarty-like Acheron Styx, whose current scam is to hold the minor characters of Dickens' novels to ransom, entering the manuscript and abducting them for execution and extinction one by one. When that caper goes sour, Styx moves on to the nation's most beloved novel--an oddly truncated version of Jane Eyre--and kidnaps its heroine. The phlegmatic and resourceful Thursday pursues Acheron across the border into a Leninist Wales and further to Mr Rochester's Thornfield Hall, where both books find their climax on the roof amid flames.

Sean Newbury said...

Hey Anonymous... (If that is your REAL name! heh) I'll let you know as soon as I'm into them. I've never purchased 3 books by one author without having read anything proir. But, and I know this is sooooooo cliché... but I DO judge books by their cover and that's why I snatched up the three I did. Without having read them I am sure I'm gonna love em!

And Jerome... I'm SO SOLD! I'm gonna look JF up. Muchos!