June's reading

[geekchick]

Somewhat slowed down this month because I had to read textbooks rather than books I'd rather read. Non-textbooks read in June:

• Journeys through Oz, L. Frank Baum. This is actually a compilation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz that I found for $2.50 in a used book store. I can't believe I'd never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz before. Once I got to the point where I choked on my soda at the Scarecrow's discussion with Dorothy of why anyone would want to live in Kansas (" 'Of course I cannot understand it,' he said. 'If your heads were stuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains.'"), I realized that I'd been missing out by having only seen the movie and not read the book -- not that this means I'm necessarily chomping at the bit to try one more time to slog through The Lord of the Rings.


• Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life, Lama Surya Das. I really do find his writing to be engaging, and it's given me a lot to chew on. This is the other book purchased for a class but never read until now; again, I'm glad I got around to picking this one up and reading it.


• A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge. You know, I actually think I liked this better than A Fire Upon the Deep (even with my non-zero amount of arachnophobia ;)); it certainly felt to me most of the time like it moved faster.


• Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House, Cheryl Mendelson. I confess that I'm skipping back and forth through this book and using it more as a reference, I'm not reading straight through. I wouldn't have paid full price ($35) for this, but I found it overstocked at a B&N for $9.99 and had heard good reviews of it elsewhere. I've already picked up some helpful hints and have more than gotten my $10 out of it.

Comments

[bafleyanne.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading all of the original Baum Oz books. They're worthwhile, IMHO--and now I really want to own them. :)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I have all of Baum's Oz books (other authors picked it up; I'm especially curious to find "Paradox in Oz", the latest other-author installment). They are a bit musty as I've had them since I was a child and they were living in my mom's basement until recently, but they aren't falling apart, and I do have all 14.

Would the first (or rather next) couple of these be an adequate exchange for borrowing "Plan of Attack"?

[geekchick]

Would the first (or rather next) couple of these be an adequate exchange for borrowing "Plan of Attack"?

Yes, please. =)

[pixiecrinkle.livejournal.com]

I've been reading Home Comforts for about a year now. I love that book. I avoided getting it for so long, because it looked so much like a reference, but she has so much interesting niformation about the history of housekeeping too. It's reminded me of all sorts of stuff my mom used to do when I was very little, and stopped doing by the time I was in high school. :-)

[geekchick]

I love this book too, there's so much stuff she talks about that I just never knew (I've never had to deal with wood floors or a wood fireplace before). My mom wasn't a big housekeeper, not that I blame her with three slobby kids like my siblings and myself undoing all her work.;)

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I bought HC for myself, and then immediately went out and bought another for my mother, who then got one for my brother. I loved finally getting useful hints for maintaining a Western-style (as opposed to Japanese) household.

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

I loved A Fire Upon the Deep, but I just couldn't get into A Deepness in the Sky. I think part of it was that Pham was my least-favorite character from Fire. I wish Vinge would write a sequel about the Tines' world -- that story was what I liked best about the first book.

[geekchick]

I think most of the time I was reading Deepness I just wasn't really connecting Pham with the character in Fire; it didn't seem so much like it was any sort of prequel to me as it did an entirely separate story. I'd like to see a few more stories myself, including one about the Tines. I think I enjoy reading about the non-human societies more than I do any of the rest.