Looking back through my (very…extensive) computer diary, which I started at age 16, I found an entry from my freshman year of college that begins, “What, March already? I’m going to wake up tomorrow and be thirty.” OKAY THEN
Posts By: Claire
2017 Reading List, Part 4
The Idiot, by Elif Batuman: Someone recommended this to me after reading my book-in-progress, though it would have been a delightful recommendation regardless. It’s my pick for my office holiday party book exchange. A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman: Very…treacly. Too twee for me, though I understand the appeal, I guess. Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead: Brutal and brilliant. I LOVE the conceit of a literal railroad. Prosperous Friends, by Christine Schutt: This was quick, captivating, and totally depressing…. Read more »
November
I’ve never done very well with Novembers. It’s the darkness, the cold, and the lack of sparkly markers of time (I know–Thanksgiving–somehow it doesn’t have the same effect as Christmas lights). I tried walking around my room just muttering “hygge, hygge, hygge” as if I could summon it, but that didn’t do anything (YET). So I’ve been playing scrabble online, reading, and whenever the temperature shifts back to the 60s, pretending that a) it’s still late summer b) climate change… Read more »
Did you ever notice that “hear” has “ear” in it?
the irony of doing an “overheard” post when my right ear has been stuffed up for two weeks. Overheard… on the street: -No reason to cry, baby. There will be more fluffy stuff up ahead. -You know what they say–when one door closes, another–another door’s gonna close. -It’s a PHILODENDRON. That’s the name of that plant, bro. PHIL-O-DEN-DRON. with my students: -Solving for x is almost as good as eating a cookie…should I make that my motto? -(while reading an… Read more »
DJs and Graphic Designers
A few weeks ago I went to a yoga class with a live DJ (it was very hard to vinyasa rather than dance). I had a hard time paying attention to the poses because I was trying to remember all of the mash-ups the DJ created, and also thinking about what mash-up name I could give each creation. Such as (*denotes the ones I was fond of musically): *”Don’t You Want a Bad Romance?” (Human League + Lady Gaga) *”How… Read more »
Words With “Friends”
Immediate sidenote: I laugh every time at “May the best friend win.” What is that? It’s like a game we used to play in Latin class in high school that we (and our teacher) called “Who’s the better person?” That didn’t have anything to do with the rules or the concept, that was just the title… I play Words With Friends with some actual friends, but mostly strangers–and I enjoy that, because it means I have more games going. Occasionally… Read more »
2017 Reading List, Part 3
A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan: I liked the conceit more than the actual book, though I did enjoy it well enough. American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, by Nancy Jo Sales: I read this mostly on an airplane, and it was so depressing I started sobbing. Granted, I also thought I might have appendicitis and was afraid my appendix was going to burst somewhere over Nebraska. Jungle of Stone, by William Carlsen:… Read more »
2017 Reading List, Part 2
A God in Ruins, by Kate Atkinson: I was still in Morocco and reading on my Kindle, and I wish I had had a hard copy of this so I could look back more easily. I don’t know if you NEED to read Life After Life before reading this, but I would recommend. And I’d recommend both. Cities I’ve Never Lived In, by Sara Majka: This is really plain prose, and somewhat bleak. I was more interested as I went… Read more »
2017 Reading List, Part 1
The Trespasser, by Tana French: I love that Tana French’s books are all set within the same world and threaded together via the main and supporting characters. You can generally read most of them without being spoiled about the rest, with the exception of In the Woods and The Likeness (which is still my favorite). Oryx and Crake (reread), by Margaret Atwood: One could technically categorize 70% of this list as “post-apocalyptic,” leaving out only the police procedural, the WWII… Read more »
#HashtagWars
I love any absurd Twitter hashtag game, like #FatIndieBands or #TrueLoveInFourWords or whatnot, but I always get a little deflated by the fact that, by the time I realize they are happening, people have thought of everything already. So I thought I would make my own… Ruin a childhood toy in one letter: Lite Bite Rainbow Brute Skinky My Little Phony GI Joke See N Pay Power Heels Kinker Toys Not going to lie–I had a pretty strong level of… Read more »
