Hello, fellow bibliophiles of bookish! I'm looking for non-fiction recs centering on the culture of Italy. I'm not sure how to describe what I'm looking for, since I'm not much of a non-fiction reader normally and I don't read a lot of travel accounts...but I guess I'm looking for something that's very evocative of a certain aspect of the setting, the culture, and the people? Along similar lines, I'm also looking for some good places to start with in reading about the culture and history of ancient Mesopotamia (it can focus on just one empire, like Sumerian or Babylonian, or be a survey of that entire time, or whatever). A book that contains photographs of the art and architecture along with a good text would be great, although obviously if need be I can just poke around on Google Images for those.

If this helps in clarifying what I'm looking for and why: Basically, I'm working on a fantasy (science fantasy?) novel of mine set in a non-Earth dimension/world/whatever, and I've been stuck for the longest time in trying to figure out some sort of aesthetic or culture for the main setting. So my current desperate plan of attack is to take various aspects of different Earth cultures, merge it into something mostly unrecognizable as such, and add my own personal touch. In this case, I chose Italy because I'm finishing up on an art history class about works from the Italian Renaissance, and ancient Mesopotamia because that's a subject that's interested me for a while but which I haven't done a lot of reading on.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Books I'm interested in:

* The Outlander (Series) by Diana Gabaldon
* Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke
* The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
* Angel Time (Song Of The Seraphim Series) by Anne Rice
* The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

And quite possibly every book ever written by Alice Hoffman (In Chronological Order, starting with "Property Of" and ending with "The Story Sisters")

Any recommendations on which one I should start with? I plan to read them all, but is there one in particular that you think is worth reading more than the rest?

I used my Garmin 305 today for the first time on a 4.6 mile run around a local lake.

My husband and I both got them, and today we ran together for the run.

His took a while to find sattelite, which I know is normal, but mine COULDNT FIND IT. It finally asked me if I was indoors or had moved more than a few hundred miles away. I tried to answer "yes" to the last question in case that somehow helped, but I had to turn it off and back on. It eventually found sattelite.

Then we ran. There was some tree cover, but nothing crazy I wouldn't think since it says it can handle "dense tree cover". At the end of the run, we both looked down - his was fine, mine had lost sattelite at 4.17 miles. Also, at no point when I looked down did it say anything other than - - : - - for pace.

Do you think I got a "dud" or is this somewhat normal?


( on the plus side )

I am running my first "race" on Thanksgiving--a 5 mile Turkey Trot that I was talked into by a friend. I have never really been much of a runner and am neither fast nor good at long distances. I have only recently been able to run 3-3.5 miles, and just today ran my longest yet: 4.4mi.

But it took me 53 minutes. So now I feel good about finishing--I know I can do it, even if it will be tough--but what if I am so slow that I come in dead last and embarrass myself and my friend? Someone has to be last, right?

Am I being nuts?

Author: Nicci Gerrard
Title: Things We Knew Were True
Pages: 309
Grade: A-

I think this book had the effect on me that the Time Traveller's Wife was supposed to, but never did. It's really well written and very emotionally charged; it's been a while since a book has left me in tears but this one succeeded.

The story is about three sisters who have to deal and cope with a family tragedy that turns their lives upside down. The characters are well developed and three dimensional, particularly Edie, who is the protagonist. If you've ever been that shy, bookish teenager with a penchant for troubled, dreamy boys, then you'll probably relate to 17 year old Edie very well. One of my favourite things about the book was how well it described first love - the awkwardness, the excitement, the obsession. After Edie falls in love with Ricky, her first boyfriend, something happens that tears her family apart, and she has to leave everything and everyone she's ever known. Some twenty years later, she's called back to her hometown and is forced to re-examine all the places and people she was forced to abandon.

Despite this, the book is most definitely not a romance. Its main themes are grief, sex, family relationships, suburban society, thwarted teenage dreams and the attempts to reconcile oneself with those lost dreams once you hit your middle years. It's divided into two parts that serve to contrast these two stages in life in a particularly effective yet extremely harsh way. It's a little depressing, to be sure, and very gritty - the characters are unapologetically real and some are alarmingly familiar - but there is plenty of warmth and humour to balance it out. It won't exactly cheer you up, but it won't leave you feeling completely depressed either. Thought provoking is probably the best way to sum it up.

The prose is simple and easy to read. It's poetic and descriptive without going too overboard. I finished it in a single afternoon and was left in a huge jumble of emotions. Definitely recommended!

06 - January Jones
12 - Mad Men

HERE @ terminologique

My fourteen year-old son and I are both big fans of Mad Men. And we both have crushes on the schoolteacher, Miss Farrell. We understand Don Draper's attraction to her.

Hi there! I need some help understanding somethings in 1984, because I tried asking my oldest brother who's read the book to clarify it and he told me to figure it out on my own and I asked my friend too and he tried to explain it but nothing made sense.

( Confused )

Asterios Polyp
by David Mazzucchelli
Grade: A-

One of my favorite superhero stories (and probably my favorite Batman story) is Batman: Year One, written by Frank Miller and with gorgeous art by David Mazzucchelli and dark, pastel-like colors by Richmond Lewis.

So I was naturally looking forward to a graphic novel completely by Mazzucchelli.  Minus Frank MIller (not so gritty) and Richmond Lewis (brighter color schemes) Asterios Polyp looks completely different from that earlier work.  Even Mazzucchelli's art looks different - he's got two more decades of experience.  He still has beautiful lines, but now it's more like Tintin with brushes of Kyle Baker energy.  His techniques are far more varied now and this book almost catalogs the possibilities for opening up the page.

The story itself... well, tough to describe.  It's mainly flashbacks in the life of Asterios Polyp, architect instructor, and how his marriage crumbled.  I didn't think it was working for me till it neared the end and the fugue-like structure started coming together.  It's really a love story and a really unique one.  Plus the ending is both sad and funny and unexpected and yet completely plausible in structural terms.  Neat book.

Sad, but true: An indie bookseller's job is...



Find out if the rumors about Robin are true. Queersupe has compiled an A-Z list of gay comic book characters.


The Guardian UK imitates the impotent ire of indie British booksellers, b*tches about How Waterstone's Killed Bookselling.


Sometimes the best way to introduce a link is to just quote the linked-to article's title: J.J. Abrams Finishes Reading Dark Tower, Decides Not To Adapt It. Ouch.


Mr. Rogers was an inspiration to countless puppet-loving, trolley obsessed, postman-fetishizing kids. So why the hell are they defaming his memory with this stomach-churning statue?


I was born a few years too late to enjoy this particular cultural touchstone, but Maxim's 12 Superheroes Who Should Be On '70s Vans makes me wish I was around when the airbrush artist was king.

I don't know if anyone has ever suggested/discussed this:

Could Joan have been a nurse when younger, perhaps in a war zone?
Two reasons I wondered: She springs into action when the guy's foot is mowed over with an almost doctor-like reaction, and then in one episode when she's still having an affair with Roger she won't eat the lunch he ordered--because it's in the room and she says she 'doesn't like food so close to the bed, it reminds her of a hospital.'

I'd love to hear what anybody thinks!! : )

Mirrored from brigidkeely.com/wordpress.

There are places that are between places: hallways, doorways, stairways, elevators, alleyways. They are not places proper. People do not live there, they simply pass through from one place to another. Crawl spaces, the space under the bed, closets, the space between the ceiling and the floor above it: they are places that do not have life, that do not have light. Untouched as they are by humans, half hidden and in the heart of humanity, they are the perfect place for other things to set up homes in. People do not live there, but that does not mean they are uninhabited.