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'if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.'
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Jessica - see my blogger profile -
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a blog filled with things that have been written, things for you to read.
this page is a small part of the universe.
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i loved these books as a child
from 'Whose Side Are We On?'
stats on reading
i read
100 Notable Books of 2007
if you love writing
from 'All Quiet on the Western Front'
the best paragraph
Shakespeare
librarything
It was a pleasure to burn. - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
'Cause Sadie moved like water poured
The shapes she shaped had angels floored
She knew her walk turned wind to fire
A wink from Sadie turned brains to mire" -Tim Seibles, The Ballad of Sadie LaBabe
Friday, March 28, 2008
i loved these books as a child
Sweet Valley High is back. but this time, the girls are skinnier. the gawker feels this is to ensure "preteen and teenaged girl readers are sufficiently insecure about their bodies."the girls have gone from a size 6 to a size 4. oh, that was so necessary.
posted by Jessica at 9:04 AM -
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Friday, February 29, 2008
from 'Whose Side Are We On?'
by Howard Becker, 1967To have values or not to have values: the question is always with us.
When sociologists undertake to study problems that have relevance to the
world we live in, they h d themselves caught in a crossfire. Some urge them
not to take sides, to be neutral and do research that is technically correct and
value free. Others tell them their work is shallow and useless if it does not
express a deep commitment to a value position.
This dilemma, which seems so painful to so many, actually does not exist,
for one of its horns is imaginary. For it to exist, one would have to assume,
as some apparently do, that it is indeed possible to do research that is uncontaminated by personal and political sympathies. I propose to argue that it is not possible and, therefore, that the question is not whether we should take sides, since we inevitably will, but rather whose side we are on.
* later he calls sociologists politically liberal.
posted by Jessica at 3:20 PM -
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Thursday, January 17, 2008
stats on reading
snatched from here:58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high schoolthis is terrible! i am so glad i am a 'reader' and encourage my child to do so as well. aside from other benefits, it's fun to lose yourself in a good novel.
42% of college graduates never read another book
80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years
57% of new books are not read to completion.
Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
posted by Jessica at 8:35 AM -
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Wednesday, January 02, 2008
i read
41 books in 2007. this is less than last year, and i know exactly what the problem is. it is not that i am reading less, inf fact i am for sure reading more, but journal articles. these are not books. FYI, i read 56 books in 2006 and 43 books in 2005. i miss fiction.speaking of, i need to get on ordering books for this semester.
posted by Jessica at 12:59 PM -
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Tuesday, December 04, 2007
100 Notable Books of 2007
here's the top ten, from the NY Times.THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER. By Tom Perrotta
AFTER DARK. By Haruki Murakami
THE BAD GIRL. By Mario Vargas Llosa
BEARING THE BODY. By Ehud Havazelet
THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS THAT HEAVEN BEARS. By Dinaw Mengestu
BRIDGE OF SIGHS. By Richard Russo
THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO. By Junot Díaz
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. By André Aciman
CHEATING AT CANASTA. By William Trevor
THE COLLECTED POEMS, 1956-1998. By Zbigniew Herbert
i haven't heard of a one.
posted by Jessica at 1:03 PM -
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
if you love writing
then you are not like Rachel Toor. here is an excerpt from a great, and well-written, article."Each time I’m in the throes of writing a book, I realize that I have somehow forgotten how exhausting it is, how much it hurts. After writing for a couple of hours, I have to go lie down, wrist thrown across an aching forehead. It helps only a little to remember that I am not alone, to think of George Orwell’s comment that "writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness."
It’s not only doing the work that’s hard, it’s also the recognition that you never quite know when it’s over. Once you get through the labor of creation, there’s the torture of revision. You can revise for months. For years. You can convince yourself that, unlike a Thanksgiving turkey, it’s never going to be done. In a way, having deadlines, while adding cuticle-chewing stress, can be a boon.
I will allow that there may be people who like various aspects of the writing process. For some, it may be the excitement of facing a blank page. (Hate them!) For others, it could be a sense of getting a sentence just right. (Jerks!) There may be those who like the revision process, who can go over what they’ve produced with a cold eye and a keen ear and feel a satisfaction in making it better. (Liars!)"
read the whole thing here: Love to Write ? Keep It to Yourself
posted by Jessica at 2:34 PM -
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Thursday, October 04, 2007
from 'All Quiet on the Western Front'
by Erich Maria RemarqueI am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. I see that the keenest brains of the world invent weapons and words to make it yet more refined and enduring. And all men of my age, here and over there, throughout the whole world see these things; all my generation is experiencing these things with me. What would our fathers do if we suddenly stood up and came before them and proffered our account? What do they expect of us if a time ever comes when the war is over? Through the years our business has been killing;--- it was our first calling in life. Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happen afterwards? And what shall come out of us?
posted by Jessica at 1:39 AM -
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Sunday, September 02, 2007
the best paragraph
yahoo answers, well, answers. i'm not sure what is going on here.The plastic clown hanging aslant from the paper streamers caught Megans attention particularly. “That will make a fine start. A very fine start for a very new beginning,” she said while fishing her Zippo out from her ratty backpack. Since the plastic took a while to catch, the lighter became hot but Megan did no flinch, but only grimmaced behind her spectacles.
Megan was already two blocks away when she heard the sirens. She would have turned to see the smoke but her new MaryJane shoes were pinching her terribly, and she could only think of pladding straight forward toward home to take them off. Though she could smell already the vaporizing tar from the roof of Mrs. Hurtelot's house, she was no longer thinking of fine beginings, but of a plate of Oreos and a frosty glass of milk.
posted by Jessica at 8:49 PM -
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Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Shakespeare
“Men at some time are masters of their fates:The fault...is not in our stars, but in ourselves...”
posted by Jessica at 8:42 PM -
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Saturday, July 21, 2007
librarything
i found this neat book club, as it is described. there's no way i would ever really catalogue all my books, but it is neat for suggestions. i see potential here that i would never take advantage of.posted by Jessica at 9:08 PM -
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