lizzielou.com

JANUARY – MAY

>Battlestar Galactica & Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? – Steiff and Tamblin (eds.): I was an early fan of this pop culture and philosophy series, but some of these later volumes seem to miss the mark a little. This was more on the critical-review-cultural-studies side of things versus tv/movie-demonstrating-philosophical-concepts side. I was reading for the latter. Not that it wasn’t pretty interesting overall, it just wasn’t what I was hoping for. Also, there has been a marked decrease in the quality of these later volumes (as the quantity increases — there are volumes for scads of things now, baseball to The Sopranos) which results in many, many, many typographical errors and shitty copy editing. Really, it was bad. (And this coming from someone who chose to use the word “bad” instead of “appalling” because she isn’t quite sure if she is spelling “appalling” correctly.) And then Ashley chewed off half the cover. Comprehensive and apparently delicious as well. [ 3 ]

>”Vanity Fair” : I was gifted a subscription to the magazine. After I slog through the articles about financial mismanagement and corrupt government, I get to reward myself with pictures of pretty people and stories about the things they do with their pretty selves. [ 3 ]

>Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight – Joss Whedon, et al.: I thought this was ending at number 22 or 24 like an actual TV series but it’s kept going. It’s good, although being able to have more fantastical creatures and things (no special effects budget issues at play) it does stretch the suspension of disbelief a little. This sounds ridiculous to say about a vampire comic book, but a certain kind of ‘realm of possibility’ was established with the show and the comic goes a little too far sometimes. I’m just sayin’. [ 4 ]

>I See You Everywhere – Julia Glass: I think how this story was constructed was more interesting than the story itself. It was nice and kinda moving and about sisters and stuff. Actually, maybe I can’t decide yet. I guess if I still occasionally think about those characters then maybe it was better than I give it credit for. Hmmm. [ 3 or 4 ]

>Skim – Mariko and Jilliam Tamaki: High school lesbo drama! A little “Loving Annabelle” in parts, a little “Heathers” in others, it was ultimately something new. Recomended! [ 4 ]

>WordPress for Dummies: I was too much of a dummy to get through this book before it had to go back to the library.

MAY – present

>Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven – Susan Jane Gilman: This is a memoir about SJG’s travels to China back in the 80’s. I also listened to the audiobook (read by the author) and found them both to be well worth it. [ 4 ]

Double Cross – James Patterson: More crap; can’t help myself. [ 2 ]

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite – David A. Kessler: This is timely book about how the crappy food industry works to make us (ok, some of us… me) eat too much of things that are bad for us. No duh, right? Still an interesting read to go along with ‘Fast Food Nation’ and the like. [ 3.5 ]

Alice Fantastic – Maggie Estep: I’ve hearted Maggie Estep for so long, ever since “No More Mister Nice Girl” back in the everlovin’ 1990’s. Her fictions are entertaining and always present some novel characters and situations that make them stand out. This latest one has lots of nice touches. [ 4 ]

& Still working on:
The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven: A Novella and Stories by Moody, Rick
A History of the Ancient World by Starr, Chester G.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Bourdain, Anthony d
Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey
A Cook’s Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Bourdain, Anthony
The Last Empress by Min, Anchee
Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays by Wallace, David Foster
Hitchcock and Philosophy by Drumin, William A.
True Crime: An American Anthology by Schechter, Harold
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America by Weiland, Matt