The Love Hexagon

I just finished The Love Hexagon. I actually quite enjoyed this book. Once I got into it, it just breezed past. Which, in my opinion, makes for a good book. I liked it better than Sutcliffe's other book, Are you Experienced. I thought the characters were more realistic and funny. (Even if some of them did annoy me a bit… that’s to be expected.) The dialogue was also witty and sharp. All and all, a quick fun read.

The Worst Noel

I finished two more books: The Worst Noel and American Dreams.

The Worst Noel

Honestly this book bored me. I thought this was going to be a funny book that I could read around the holidays. All it turned out to be was annoying. A few of the stories were midly funny, but the rest I just felt like the authors were trying way to hard to make you laugh. I was hoping for something similar to Holidays on Ice, by David Sedairs (which I LOVED), but this was a far cry from that.

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American Dreams -- Sappahire

I really liked this book. I reminded me a lot of "A Piece of Cake" (which I think I still like better). I was very raw, emotional, sexually charged, and honest. I realize that many people might be uncomfortable about some of the topics in this book (incest, rape, lesbianism, sexism) but I find the stuff not only fascinating, but real.

Sapphire is truly gifted. She knows how to get deep within the reader and rattle perceptions of African Americans as well as women. This work was a eye-opening glimpse into the lives of people many of us would like sooner to forget or put out of our minds

Polysyllabic Spree and Anthropology

I finished two more books. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby and Anthropology by Dan Rhodes.


Honestly, I just couldn't handle this book . I thought Hornsby was cocky and completely obnoxious. He just rambled and rambled about most books I had never heard of. (Now granted, he is British, so a lot of the books he yapped about may have just been published over there.. but still). He acts like he knows everything there is to know about the book word. He named dropped like crazy. I just couldn't deal with this book at all.... sorry.


Anthropology was a mildly entertaining little book. The idea itself was quite amusing -- little tiny stories all 101 words about girlfriends. Some stories I found hilarious (Pumpkin) while others were annoying. But, so it goes. The names of most of the women in the book I thought quite odd, but it really added to the charm of the book. It was a nice little 3 hour read.

The Beautiful Things Heaven Bears

I really thought I was going to enjoy this book. I am usually very interested in immigrant experience type stuff and anything to do with Washington, DC.
I made it about 3/4 of the way through the book before I gave up. I got to that point where you are just reading the pages, but not really reading the pages, you know? It started off really well, but got really choppy as things went along. The character development I thought was pretty poor, which is disappointing because the characters had real potential I thought. I got bored. I didn't care about the characters. The main character I thought was a bit of a wimp. His friends had potential, but I felt like they never went anywhere. I thought this book was a bit disappointing. I did however enjoy his depiction of Washington, DC. I thought it was true and accurate for the most part. So it goes.....

Bunny Tales

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I had recently finished Playground by Jennifer Saginor and wasn't very impressed, as it didn't really give me very much info I was seeking. I find the Playboy Mansion and the whole stigma around it fascinating.

I thought this book was well written and very honest. St. James really got to the nitty gritty of things and it was appreciated. I think she touched on almost every subject someone who was interested in this lifestyle and the Playboy Mansion could have wanted to know about. The sex (real details), the cat fights, the celebrities, the money, the plastic surgery and a great insight into Hugh Hefner himself.

At times I thought St. James was a little contradictory, but for the most part I really enjoyed her tell all. I think many people may be surprised about what life really is like as on of the "Girlfriends" vs. what it appears to be on TV. St. James herself is very well educated and I thought I had good view of the world, and for her to write this book I thought it very bold. Good for her for telling it how it was, even if it put a negative light on Hefner and the whole facade. I somehow doubt that someone a less cultured would have the guts or the interest to write something similar.

Books in Bulk?

I was reading in the New Yorker last night about how Strand's Bookstore offers Books-by-the-Foot service, which provides ready-made libraries for private homes, stores and movie sets.

Apparently you can choose from three different options; "Bargain Books," a random selection of hardbacks, which is the cheapest at ten dollars per foot of shelf space. For thirty dollars, you can customize the color. For seventy-five dollars, you can get a "leather-looking" library, which is "often mistaken for leather."

They apparently get most of their business from movie sets and the like, but recently they have been getting lots of inquires from celebrity types. These people come in and say they want so many books this color or this size for their shelves.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! These people can't even pick out their own fucking books? I can't believe it. How lazy can someone be! One of my favorite things to do when I visit someone's home for the first time is to check out their bookshelves. I think it says a lot about someone. This whole "book-by-the-foot" thing is so bogus. It totally blows this out of the water. So basically when you go into these people's houses you aren't getting a good idea of that specific person's tastes and interests, but that of someone who works at the Strand's bookstore who picked them out. Urgh. I find it disgusting. (And you can also guarantee that these people haven't read one single book on these shelves.) I think the whole point of having a library or even a bookshelf in your house is NOT to show off how intelligent you want people to think you are. But to display your tastes and interests. That's what makes it interesting.

I am proud to say that I own 1630 books currently (according to my Librarything Catalog and I picked every last one of the books out myself!

On a side note, this article did have a few interesting tidbits. It talks about with all the technology that is out there, they pick out books for movie sets, that have to be very careful. In the article is says, "Although prop books are meant to be seen and not read, they have to evoke a mise en scene, inside and out. For Indiana Jones, the filmmakers specified that the books cover such topics and paleontology, marine biology, and pre-Columbian society. They have to be in muted colors and predate 1957. With high-def, people can just freeze the film and say 'Oh, that's so inappropriate.'"

Instead of wasting time freezing movies and looking at the bookshelves, people should actually READ.

Okay end of rant for the day.

Playground by Jennifer Saginor

This book was mildly entertaining. The story was interesting enough, but in the end, I was pretty annoyed.

The constant name dropping and referring to of everything 80's got really old. It seemed that in very paragraph it was stated what 80's song was playing in the background or what 80's style of dress she was wearing. I got the point after the first 30 pages... but it just kept going. Like the reader was going to forget that this took place in the 80's. The name dropping of the countless celebrities also got old. We got it, thanks.

It was interesting however, that she ended up a bisexual. This made me wonder if this was more do to circumstance than anything else. After spending so much of you life around beautiful, naked women all the time, was that really a surprise? It was sad to read about how messed up her family, mainly her father, was. It made me a bit depressed.

Next up: Bunny Tales

I also would have liked to hear more about her life after starting college. She breezed through that in like 15 pages. I think more could have been done with this part of her life.

Anyhow, again, mildly entertaining, but nothing more.