tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34909452011-04-21T18:36:57.747-05:00It's not just a book; it's an adventure!Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comBlogger2681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1140123452124215222006-02-16T14:56:00.000-06:002006-02-16T14:57:32.140-06:00

I am feeling the urge to blog again. Maybe if I lie down the feeling will go away.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1095726444532338032004-09-20T19:25:00.000-05:002004-09-20T19:27:24.533-05:00

Howdy. This is just to let you know I weathered Hurricane Ivan just fine. I spent the storm drinking beer while watching the rain. Life is sweet.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1090804241795362362004-07-25T20:07:00.000-05:002004-07-25T20:10:41.796-05:00

Hi Guys. Yup, ‘tis me again. I have been setting up housekeeping and nagging my boss about yearly reviews/ raises but haven’t had much posting time. My supervisor is about 5 months behind in giving people their raises but I’m the only one who’ll regularly nag her about it. I’m also the only one without kids and thus am the only one who doesn’t "need" the job. I need it, believe me, but getting

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1086562266838427362004-06-06T17:48:00.000-05:002004-06-06T17:51:06.840-05:00

Check in Time. It’s me again. I moved over Memorial Day weekend and I have no Internet connection. I also have no cable. I am happy about the no cable thing but will have to find some way of rectifying the off-line situation. My computer is deader than disco and I can only go online when I visit my parents. I am also quite traumatized by the loss of Ronaldus Magnus. I will be wearing black

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1084763742861010262004-05-16T22:15:00.000-05:002004-05-16T22:15:42.860-05:00

OLS Update. Fr. Deering gave a mondo hoss homily on contraception today. Did your priest? He decided to hit it hard because Bishop Foley wrote his weekly editorial in the diocesan newspaper about the mortal sin of contraception. Did your bishop? Neener, neeners aside, Deering was rockin’. He hit on the history of the contraceptive mentality, the Humanae Vitae, the social breakdown and

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1083891578906035942004-05-06T19:59:00.000-05:002004-05-06T20:02:51.826-05:00

Arm Chair Pietists. Greg Popcak asks an interesting question in this post, i.e. how much are you willing to sacrifice for Christ. How much are you willing to give He Who gave you all? Some? Most? Everything? I would have more respect for Greg’s question if it weren’t for his history of ignoring just this very question. Quick summary: the Church calendar is filled with feast days of saints.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1083891465685641832004-05-06T19:57:00.001-05:002004-05-06T20:00:58.640-05:00

The Atlantic Monthly. I have decided to cancel my subscription to the Atlantic Monthly. It isn’t worth my time or my money anymore. It used to be a truly great magazine but is now pretty run of the mill. It’s Suburban Liberalism at its most banal. I dread its coming in the mail. I know full well that I’m going to skip most of the articles. Even the double-barreled fun of PJ O’Rourke and

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1083891422129521072004-05-06T19:57:00.000-05:002004-05-06T20:00:15.090-05:00

I’m Still Here. I haven’t been posting much lately. Now that I’ve whomped you upside the head with that hefty chunk of obviousness, I’ll get down to it. Life has been hairy lately. Work is in end-of-the-month crisis mode, a new romance has begun and is about to get squashed like a bug (luckily I will be doing the squashing. Why do I attract all the freaks? From here on out no dating anybody

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1082767069439414422004-04-23T19:37:00.000-05:002004-04-23T19:40:49.780-05:00

Prisoner of Vandam Street by Kinky Friedman. This was a disappointment. I know Kinky is ending the series. He said as much in his reading. The book wasn’t bad, just a let down from his usual dark humor. There was way too much scatalogical humor and his usual acidity came off as just being mean. The Kinkster over-reached himself in trying to inject far too much meaning into his story. He

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1082597444369172282004-04-21T20:30:00.000-05:002004-04-21T20:33:42.826-05:00

Our Hearts Were Young and Gay by Cornelia Otis Skinner. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!! This is the funniest thing I’ve ever read! This beats King ! It beats O’Rourke! It beats Grizzard! It’s like a Groucho monologue in heels! I was busting a gut on every page. The book tells the tale of Cornelia’s trip to Europe with her friend Emily and the jaw-droppingly hilarious mayhem that ensues. From ship to

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1081557720903249612004-04-09T19:42:00.000-05:002004-04-09T19:44:46.996-05:00

Happy Easter. Having been pretty postless for the past week or so, I won’t be getting much better before next week. My personal and professional lives have conspired to ensure that I am in total overload. Good thing I’m a pessimist so I don’t have any of that “hope” stuff dragging me down. I have nothing very inspiring to say about Easter, so I’ll just wish you all a happy one. My Easter

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1081557334084865492004-04-09T19:35:00.000-05:002004-04-09T19:38:49.186-05:00

Instant Replay; The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer. God I miss football season. It starts again on Sept. 9 at New England where the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots will again defeat the dopey Colts. I’m not sure I’ll make it. I have a big biography of Vince Lombardi saved up in case I need some methadone-reading come June. Oh, yeah, Kramer’s book. It was a very funny and very

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1080877281578711662004-04-01T21:41:00.000-06:002004-04-01T22:01:37.920-06:00

Get Thee Behind Me S(a)T(an) Blogs. Okay, so it’s not that bad yet but I emphasize yet. Am I the only one finding St. Blog’s Parish to be a near occasion of sin? Regular reading of St. Blog’s has me alternating between hatred of the Church and hatred of the self-righteous pricks hurling anathemas like vases. I thought I was a self-absorbed, judgmental know-it-all! The Word according to St.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1080273141158969992004-03-25T21:52:00.000-06:002004-03-25T21:54:52.186-06:00

Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home by Harry Kemelman. This was boring as hell.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1079751930401023882004-03-19T21:05:00.000-06:002004-03-19T21:07:56.060-06:00

Common Courtesy by Judith Martin. Amen Sister! Er, make that Miss Sister. Miss Manners takes on the modern boor-ocracy that is America. This was a very short book (only 70 pages) but it packs a wallop. It’s funny as heck too. The problem of manners in an egalitarian society is a tricky one. It is hard to know how to treat people according to their station when society refuses to admit it

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1078972775152636512004-03-10T20:39:00.000-06:002004-03-10T20:41:51.326-06:00

Final Days by Barbara Olsen. Wow this was good! If you want book and chapter on the pure corruption of the final days of the Clinton presidency, this is it. Olsen walks through each incident, outlining with a lawyer’s precision, each bought pardon, each abuse of presidential privilege, and each ideological temper tantrum. The section on the bought pardons was jaw-dropping. Olsen followed the

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1078972734319904062004-03-10T20:38:00.000-06:002004-03-10T20:41:10.500-06:00

Songs About Jane by Maroon 5. Yep, another music review. This one gets a solid 3. It ain’t that good. There are 2 great songs, 1 kinda catchy one, and a whole lot of benign filler. The good songs are the radio hits Harder to Breathe and This Love. The kinda good one had a nice hook but failed to make any real impression on me. I don’t even remember which song it was. While the filler on

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1078804785055620752004-03-08T21:59:00.000-06:002004-03-08T22:01:59.826-06:00

Hi Erik Erik has kindly responded to my post below and because Enetation is screwed up I'll reply to his comment here. Erik says I exaggerate when I say that no cuisine is worth the hype. Let me clarify: I am mostly Italian and wop is my favorite cuisine. But it still isn't worth hyperventilating over. Kinda hard to eat when strapped to an oxygen tank. My point is that as a foodie trend,

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1078194903762907692004-03-01T20:35:00.000-06:002004-03-01T20:37:11.000-06:00

French Home Cooking by Claire de Pratz. This was very good, but does bring out how repetitive French cooking really is. Hold on let’s start over: this satisfied my kitsch jones but is of very little practical use. FHC is a 1956 reprint of a 1925 cookbook. It gives mostly general cooking times, but even those you have to wonder about considering the greater heat production of modern stoves.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1078194704095514802004-03-01T20:31:00.000-06:002004-03-01T20:33:51.373-06:00

How To Protect Yourself From Crime by Ira A. Lipmann. This was a Reader’s Digest special I got for $1 at Barnes and Nobles. Yes, you can get 300 page books for a dollar at B&N. You can if you’re me anyway. It was full of useful information but of the kind that gets reprinted every few months in most mainstream home magazines. Lock your doors, be aware of your surroundings and scream like

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1077672194066367032004-02-24T19:23:00.000-06:002004-02-24T19:25:15.420-06:00

For Oddity’s Sake. Just to give you a taste of the weirdness that is Bama, I have been advised, in very strong terms and by myriad trustworthy people, that I should not, under any circumstances, go to Mass on Ash Wednesday until after work. If my work schedule only permits morning Mass, I was told to skip the obligation. Seems Catholicism is still a firing offense in enough places here in

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1077505051767277732004-02-22T20:57:00.000-06:002004-02-22T20:59:30.733-06:00

Update. Nana visiting. Will try to post if I can tear myself away from the tabloids she buys.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1076892251243091372004-02-15T18:44:00.000-06:002004-02-15T18:56:49.983-06:00

Creating a Beautiful Home by Alexandra Stoddard. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I couldn’t really tell you anything about it. I can but it’s quite vague. This is a book that lays out a philosophy of life concealed within a philosophy of decorating. If you haven’t read any Stoddard, you won’t get it. This woman treats Beauty as if it quite naturally had a capital letter. She talks about

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1076385149529222182004-02-09T21:52:00.000-06:002004-02-09T21:54:15.513-06:00

Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars by Robert V. Remini. As always, Remini hits one out of the park. Robert V. Remini is the pre-eminent Jacksonian and is pretty much Da Man for the first half of the 19th century. He has written extensively on Andrew Jackson and his works include the definitive 3 volume biography and several other works focusing on specific issues or persons of the Jackson Era.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1075521016121151762004-01-30T21:50:00.000-06:002004-01-30T21:51:52.890-06:00

30 Number 1 Hits by Elvis Presley. Yes, a music review. I bought this used at Coconuts a few weeks ago. On a scale of 1 to 10 I give it an 8. Most of the songs were great (hello, it’s an Elvis hits collection) but a few were stern reminders that oldies songwriting could be very silly. I was a little embarrassed to realize how lazily I had listened to the King before. I hadn’t paid too much

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1075259346548387902004-01-27T21:09:00.000-06:002004-01-27T21:10:40.123-06:00

The Encyclopedia of Homemaking Ideas by Barbara Taylor Bradford. This was so tiki-fabulous I could die! It’s from 1968 and cost me whopping $0.99 at the thrift store. Did you know Walter Cronkite once had fake redwood veneer floors? I didn’t until I read this thing. The Encyclopedia is a perfect time capsule of late 60s design. It consists of pages of photographs interspersed with

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1074571023890977492004-01-19T21:57:00.000-06:002004-01-19T22:00:22.466-06:00

UFOs of October by Robert Bove. The sweetest pleasures in life are often the simplest. There are few pleasures sweeter than a good poem and there are few things simpler. Not easy, mind you, nor simplistic, merely simple, direct, and pure. A good poem is the sublime convergence of word, vision and expression. Robert Bove has turned out a book of simply good poetry. UFOs was a pleasure to

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1074139418857649312004-01-14T22:03:00.000-06:002004-01-14T22:04:59.623-06:00

Update. I have decided to restart my reading schedule with some brain candy. That's usually a good idea when you fall into a reading rut. When your mind has fallen out of the reading habit, you need to ease back in. Jumping straight into great Literature can overwhelm your reawakening brain. Brain candy, on the other hand, will exercise your reading muscles and make subsequent reading much

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1074138847602948392004-01-14T21:54:00.000-06:002004-01-14T21:55:28.450-06:00

The How to Book of the Mass by Michael DuBruiel. This was a great book. I heartily recommend it for any Catholic, actual or wannabe. First off, I want to say that this is not “Mass for Dummies.” This is a moment by moment enlightening of the central event of Christian worship. From the entrance procession to the dismissal, this book explains what we do and why. By breaking it down to

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1073441331826442632004-01-06T20:08:00.000-06:002004-01-06T20:10:04.496-06:00

Lives of the Saints by Omer Englebert. This was interesting but too fluffy for my tastes. I can’t fault Fr. Omer’s (I ain’t typing that surname again) scholarship, which is undoubtedly top notch for the time period. This is a reprint from a 1951 edition. The entries were well written. That is unsurprising considering the author wrote a series of very popular novels in the early half of the

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1073441199529256422004-01-06T20:06:00.000-06:002004-01-06T20:07:52.233-06:00

New Links. I linked the great T.S. O’Rama for reasons of pure greatness. I am also linking the Bookslut. She’s interesting but sometimes irritatingly lefty. Get thee to NRO, woman!

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1073354162363473562004-01-05T19:56:00.000-06:002004-01-05T19:57:13.360-06:00

Post Game Report. I have decided to add a new feature to my game plan. I am adding a Post Game Report. That’s where I’ll stick books after I finish them so I’ll remember to post on them. Clever, eh?

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1073097615077759632004-01-02T20:40:00.000-06:002004-01-02T20:41:23.373-06:00

The Dreaded Re-Alignment. Having run smack dab into a literary flying wedge, I am on a search and destroy mission in my library. The violent mixing of that metaphor is only a hint of things to come. I am cycling all the books on my Active Roster (except the ones I’ve finished, of course) and my Practice Squad back into the stacks. Then I’m going to redraft my read team. There comes a point

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-10730975278240132004-01-02T20:38:00.000-06:002004-01-02T20:39:56.140-06:00

Wahoo! Whoopee! I just found out that the 1960’s Dutch Catechism and Wilhelm’s Christ Among Us have both had their imprimaturs revoked. First, I didn’t know you could do that. Second, I own both books! Jenn-u-wine heresy. I may actually have to get around to reading those.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1073003284632471702004-01-01T18:28:00.000-06:002004-01-01T18:29:12.030-06:00

My New Year’s Resolutions. First off, Happy New Year!!! In honor of the New Year I am making some resolutions. Here they are: 1. I will post more often. I know I have been very lax about posting. The last few months have been awful but that doesn’t excuse me from wallowing. Wallowing is a fine southern tradition. You can do it indoors and avoid scaring the horses. But the time to wallow

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1071538832377165752003-12-15T19:40:00.000-06:002003-12-15T19:41:22.826-06:00

Vogue, November through December 2003. I haven’t been in much of a reading mood but I did finally read these. Woe unto me, Vogue has entered its pre-election “we are meaningful” phase. What does that mean? Lots of vapid, lefty cheerleading, that’s what. The Womanhood as Disease articles of the past few months were the warm-up. Now it’s the full-frontal Leftism. First there’s the obligatory

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1070327721275032542003-12-01T19:15:00.000-06:002003-12-01T19:15:58.263-06:00

Update. Okay, I really haven’t been reading much lately. I have been plugging away at the Remini and a couple of the other, more devotional, books but I really haven’t been getting anywhere. My reading has shriveled like a slug in a salt mine. To recap what little I can tell you about the ‘Ski family saga: The federal investigation by the Treasury Department just might be related to the

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1070327684913094402003-12-01T19:14:00.000-06:002003-12-01T19:15:21.903-06:00

Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh. I officially like this author. Her stuff is well-written, with plots intricate enough to require that you pay attention but not so intricate you wish for a higher body count so you can stop trying to remember who’s doing what to whom in the drawing room. This one involves a murder after a country manor party, an unsuitable suitor, an inheritance, and danger. The

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1070327615848514082003-12-01T19:13:00.000-06:002003-12-01T19:14:12.856-06:00

Thereby Hangs a Tale by Charles Earle Funk. I finished this a while ago and never bothered to post on it. It’s interesting but a bit dull. You have to be much more into word etymologies than I am to get into it. It was great way to pass time and to decompress an overworked brain. The book is a dictionary-ish compilation of histories of common, and by now uncommon, words. Nothing jumped out

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1068083399581286522003-11-05T19:49:00.000-06:002003-11-05T19:49:57.410-06:00

Church Moment. What the heck is up with the sadistic choirs now? I go to Mass at SFX this week for the second time in years upon years. I usually go to OLS or HIoP but thought I’d give ye olde home parish another try (add own lurid parish implosion story here). Last week blew big time. The choir was doing that “Let’s take the main prayers and sing them at weird tempos and then add some

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1067312717437909412003-10-27T21:45:00.000-06:002003-10-27T21:45:16.476-06:00

Earth to Jesus . . . I can’t go into it right now but if y’all could find it in your hearts to toss some prayers up for my sister Hon and the mini-munchkins Ola and Pojo, please do so. This a time of great trial and she and the rest of the ‘Ski family are in dire need of some ora pro nobis action.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1067312672458248862003-10-27T21:44:00.000-06:002003-10-27T21:44:31.506-06:00

The Drudge Manifesto by Matt Drudge. If this man tries to write anything other than a headline please break his fingers. This transcended mere “suck.” Imagine an entire book written by that email idiot who writes everything lower case. Or thinks WriTing liKe tHIs makes him ee cummings. It’s an email format book. How they stretched an AOL IM chat into a 247 page book defies belief. I

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1067312575212953552003-10-27T21:42:00.000-06:002003-10-27T21:42:54.290-06:00

Bazaar, November 2003. This sucked. This was the platonic ideal of waste of time. Not this issue, this magazine. I’m not going to bother writing this one up anymore. Just assume it was dull and unimaginative. Don’t waste your money. Don’t waste your airline miles. I swear I didn’t pay for this. I got the stupid thing to use up miles on an airline I won’t be flying on anymore. I have

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1066956752981901582003-10-23T19:52:00.000-05:002003-10-23T19:52:32.376-05:00

Clothed With Gladness by Sr. Mary St. Paul. I really did not like this. It was a series of sketches meant to illustrate the life of Clare of Assisi, as opposed to biographizing her. I guess it is supposed to be an aid to contemplation but it was mostly an aid to annoyance. It presumes a much greater knowlegde of the life of the subject than any given reader would have. Maybe a Clare devotee

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1066956658286310152003-10-23T19:50:00.000-05:002003-10-23T19:50:57.706-05:00

Guide to Texas Etiquette by Kinky Friedman. This was hilarious. If you are a Kinky fan, you know what you’re getting. If you aren’t, it’s indescribable. Who else could write chapters on “Big Hair for Jesus?” Only the man who sang the immortal ballad, “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore.” The section on Texas clothes and hair is great The section on the infamous Racehorse Haynes, the

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1066360809987840652003-10-16T22:20:00.000-05:002003-10-16T22:20:51.270-05:00

Happy Anniversary! Happy silver anniversary to my beloved Pappa! Today marks 25 years since Karol Wojtyla was elected to the Throne of Peter as John Paul II. He is a most worthy successor to the Apostles. From proclaiming Christ to taking down the Commies, Pappa has made history. The other sites are issuing cheeery blessings like Sto lat or Multi anni or even giving serious commentary.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065661387827178792003-10-08T20:03:00.000-05:002003-10-08T20:03:07.920-05:00

Bazaar, October 2003. Total, total waste of time. Nothing interesting fashion-wise and the articles were brainless lefty slop. Exhibit A: the article on why genetically altered foods will rise from your crisper and kill you in your sleep. Okay, so it was more like why Frankenfoods are really, really scary. Just ask the scientist from Greenpeace, who’ll give you a perfectly unbiased opinion.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065661300542485032003-10-08T20:01:00.000-05:002003-10-08T20:04:27.233-05:00

Vogue, September 2003. Same old fashion. No surprises. Looks like a same old, same old kind of year for your wardrobe. Nothing to go ga-ga over. I will, however, go into a spitting rage over the “health” article on the new anti-menstruation pill for women. Gee whiz, those ever so helpful researchers have come up with a pill that will cure you of your menstrual cycle. This great “advance”

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065661099912521002003-10-08T19:58:00.000-05:002003-10-08T19:58:19.270-05:00

The FBI’s Most Famous Cases by Andrew Tully. So what if I’m the only person on earth who’d like this. It's from 1965 and I paid a whole dollar for it. This was swell. The book is a series of short summaries of FBI cases from the 30s through the 60s. No summary is long enough to be truly informative but each is just long enough to give core of a case. I like old true crime because it shows

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065317603841979762003-10-04T20:33:00.000-05:002003-10-04T20:33:23.500-05:00

Throw Down your Piggy Bank Where You Are; or The Secrets of Carmelite Budgeting. I went back again to the dreaded Library Bookstore and made another donation. This time I took about 20 books. I have been going through my personal library and getting rid of books I won’t read again or didn’t particularly like. Most are recent buys but others date from high school or earlier. Here Der

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065317349037312222003-10-04T20:29:00.000-05:002003-10-04T20:29:08.753-05:00

The Best Loved Poems of the American People by I. Forget. I’ll pan a lot of mud to come up with a nugget of gold but this is ridiculous. The occasional great poem was surrounded by so much dreck that, in the end, it wasn’t worth finding. Maudlin, sentimental, half-though-out, and half-baked. If these are America’s favorite poems we are in serious trouble. It was the “poems about God” section

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065149235780495472003-10-02T21:42:00.000-05:002003-10-02T21:47:46.526-05:00

Update. I got rid of the Injured Reserve because I decided it was stupid. Yes, this does interrupt the near perfection of my football themed library but that's a sacrifice I will have to make. I have also given away a truckload of books in the past week or two. Most are books I liked but wasn't really going to read again. More were ones I really hated. I threw out a few old books from

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065148687286914082003-10-02T21:36:00.000-05:002003-10-02T21:38:06.880-05:00

What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us by Danielle Crittenden. Welcome to Whateversville; population Danielle. Nothing bad about the book, just nothing to make you go ga-ga over. It’s a surface study form the early 90s about the failures of feminism and the ways it has betrayed the modern woman. That’s a topic that deserves a better treatment than it got here. Crittenden makes a lot of good points

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1065145412468522472003-10-02T20:42:00.000-05:002003-10-02T20:43:31.983-05:00

Believer Redux In The True Believer, Eric Hoffer had an interesting section on the fanaticism of converts. Instead of focusing on the converts you’re thinking of, he focused on involuntary converts. He said the proverbial “fanaticism of the convert” is dwarfed by the fanaticism of the forced convert. According to Hoffer, the forced convert becomes more fanatical than his converters in order

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1064281087238319642003-09-22T20:30:00.000-05:002003-09-22T20:38:06.860-05:00

I Know, I Know. I’m way behind on my posting but I’m trying to catch up. Here are a few of the books I’ve finished. Oh, and about the wine. The vineyard is Morgan Creek. They don't have a website but here's a listing of Bama vintners. Ah yes, the wine. The grape is muscadine. The wine was pretty good. It’s a rather festive table wine. Sweet, with a hint of hearty grape-y-ness. I tried

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1064280367025713892003-09-22T20:24:00.000-05:002003-09-22T20:26:06.806-05:00

The History of the Popes by Enrico Lanzioni. This was a simple overview of the reigns of the 263 Popes, from St. Peter down to our current pappa John Paul II. The book does not go in-depth but does give a short synopsis of each papacy and, overall, gives a view of the Christian church from the beginning. Both the religious nature of the papacy and it’s political significance are covered. This

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1063759452662973152003-09-16T19:42:00.000-05:002003-09-16T19:44:12.590-05:00

Raffles by E. W. Hornung. There’s a word for this book and the word is crap. This cost maybe $0.75 at the thrift store. When I think of the 20 oz. Coke I could have bought with that money, I’m peeved. Raffles, subtitled the Amateur Cracksman, is a gentleman thief. He steals because he’s too good to work. His felonious feats are narrated by his adoring protégé/henchman Bunny. Maybe you can

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1063759306626448362003-09-16T19:39:00.000-05:002003-09-16T19:41:46.576-05:00

Vogue, August 2003. I read this weeks ago and remember nothing in it. Which is as a summer fashion mag should be. Fun, frivolous, and nothing to tick you off. It was very relaxing. One article did stand out. Dodie Karazajian or however she spells it wrote an article on why she decided not to have children. It was very good and very honest. It all boils down to a combination of marrying

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1063247753992286912003-09-10T21:28:00.000-05:002003-09-10T21:35:54.013-05:00

Food A La Erik. Winter? What's winter? Do you mean that 3 weeks in January when I have to wear long sleeves? Erik asked in the Hell comments box below about how foodies survive here in the hinterlands. First, I do not live in the hinterlands but in The Southern Promised Land, the One True State, the Land Where Literature is Alive and Prized, a Land So Beloved of the Lord that all Prayers are

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1062814180909383602003-09-05T21:09:00.000-05:002003-09-05T21:09:40.893-05:00

Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot! People Who Wear White Shoes After Labor DayCircle I LimboVoluntary VegetariansCircle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy WindThe Tolerant and DiverseCircle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & SnowLeftistsCircle IV Rolling WeightsMurderers and RapistsCircle V Stuck in Mud, MangledRiver StyxSocialists, CommunistsCircle VI Buried for EternityRiver PhlegyasPedophilesCircle VII Burning

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1062641139088636692003-09-03T21:05:00.000-05:002003-09-03T21:05:39.116-05:00

I Don’t Mean This in a Bad Way . . . Protestantly speaking, why can’t the Episcopalians ordain an openly gay bishop? I don’t mean “their denom, their rules”, I mean, seriously, why not? Who exactly has the authority to say “you can’t do that!”? (I do want to get it out of the way that I find it absolutely hilarious that a religious denomination founded for the express purpose of letting a man

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1062377244480436752003-08-31T19:47:00.000-05:002003-08-31T20:01:16.986-05:00

Happy Birthday To Me! OK, so my natal event was commemorated on August 15 but I recently got the last of my presents. My first present was from moi and consisted of a Chrysler PT Cruiser. Steel blue, if you must know. Her name is Frieda and she is a most elegant horseless carriage. My latest present was from my brother. Making his purchase at around 10:30 pm on 8/15 itself, his gift is

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1062376866832396622003-08-31T19:41:00.000-05:002003-08-31T19:41:06.816-05:00

The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking by Br. Rick Curry, SJ. Well, the first thing you learn with this book is that the Jesuits do, indeed, have brothers. I didn’t know that. Well, I do now and so do you. This is one of the best baking books I’ve come across. Most of the others, including my own dear Fanny Farmer Baking Book, can be a bit intimidating with either far too many recipes, leaving

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1062376629485142572003-08-31T19:37:00.000-05:002003-08-31T19:37:09.483-05:00

Harper’s Bazaar, September 2003. It takes a lot to make a completely forgettable September issue. I mean, September is the big month for fashion mags. Yet this issue was a tremulous mist in a season that called for gale-force winds. The Unfortunately Named One is on the cover, looking like an old slag trying to impress her daughter’s friends. She’s doing the pseudo-hip-hop thing. If this

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1061689759277720272003-08-23T20:49:00.000-05:002003-08-23T20:49:19.190-05:00

Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana and The Last Word on First Names, both by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran. I have to say I was mondo disappointed in these two. Yes, the were fun to read, nicely breezy, and had a sharp attitude. Yes, they had lots of names. Yet both works fail as baby name books because they don’t give the meanings, etymologies, and historical

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1060652804164860762003-08-11T20:46:00.000-05:002003-08-11T20:46:44.023-05:00

The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. This is a very good book but I’ll be giving it away anyway. I’ve read it a couple times before and I don’t think it holds up to the third reading. After one or two readings the book has fulfilled its function. The book is a novelization of a real event, the Great Train Robbery of 1855. The protagonist, Edward Pierce, gathers a crew of Victorian

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1060388764197201452003-08-08T19:26:00.000-05:002003-08-08T19:26:04.130-05:00

When Sisterhood Was in Flower by Florence King. I loved this book! This was laugh out loud hilarious. King, the misanthrope’s misanthrope, takes on the Feminist Movement in all its 1970’s glory. How can you not love a book that starts, “Call me Isabelle”? With closed mind and open legs, Isabelle heads to Boston to write. There she gets bombed, literally, into the life of a Boston Brahmin/

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1059265612283221302003-07-26T19:26:00.000-05:002003-07-26T19:26:52.336-05:00

Personal Time. Note: This post was published on Spinsters on Father’s Day but I thought I’d re-run it now. If the Spinsterians got to laugh at me I don’t see why you shouldn’t. I went to Confession today. I had thought about going for a while but wasn’t really intending to go today. After work, I headed out to get a Father’s Day present for the Notorious G.U.P. But as I drove to the store,

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1059265240902788102003-07-26T19:20:00.000-05:002003-07-26T19:20:40.950-05:00

Franken-Mega-Merton. From No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton. This quote stands alone because it deserves to. This is something to think about, not babble about. “The tremulous scrupulosity of those who are obsessed with pleasures they love and fear narrows their souls and makes it impossible for them to get away from their own flesh. They have tried to become spiritual by worrying about

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1059265118685628512003-07-26T19:18:00.000-05:002003-07-26T19:21:19.456-05:00

Modern Manners by P.J. O’Rourke. I really didn’t like this one. It was bad. Not “Packers losing at Lambeau” bad, but definitely “Alec Baldwin movie marathon” bad. Especially with no Beetlejuice. MM was originally published in 1983 and it shows. If Cheech and Chong bathed more often they would be this book. It’s a tacky hangover from the 70s. It might have made a decent short piece but it

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058751855165092952003-07-20T20:44:00.000-05:002003-07-20T20:44:15.206-05:00

Revenge of Mega-Merton. From No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton. Yes, I am still working on this. I pulled about 8 pages of quotes. I am also fairly obsessive and when I start a pointless project, gosh darn it, I finish it. “To have a spiritual life that is spiritual in all its wholeness – a life in which the actions of the body are holy because of the soul, and the soul is holy because

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058751623009268492003-07-20T20:40:00.000-05:002003-07-20T20:40:23.046-05:00

Larousse Gastronomique, ed. by Paul Hamlyn. No, I did not actually “read” the stupid thing. Hello! It’s a dictionary. I did, however, flip through it and read whatever caught my eye. This is a dictionary of French culinary terms, ideas, ingredients, and whatnots. Look up “doubler” and you’ll find that it means to fold something in two. Look up “veal” and you’ll get a definition of veal,

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058751510805897082003-07-20T20:38:00.000-05:002003-07-20T20:38:30.840-05:00

The Best of the Cheapskate Monthly by Mary Hunt. This is a rehash of all those “Save Thousand$$$ at the Supermarket” articles that fill your Mom’s Family Circle subscription. Nothing new but it’s a nice reminder of good money-saving techniques. Some of the advice is good, like “don’t shop hungry”, “pay off your balance every month”, "watch out for false bargains”, but most of it is old news.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058751439085501642003-07-20T20:37:00.000-05:002003-07-20T20:37:19.173-05:00

Harper’s Bazaar, August 2003. This one wasn’t so bad but it was still a waste of time. It featured a couple of nice things but not nearly enough to make reading it worthwhile. I take it I really am supposed to know who this Deborah Messing woman is. She’s on the cover and has a fawning interview inside. It would be so much less stressful on us TV-phobic fashionistas if the mags stuck with

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058317309256082172003-07-15T20:01:00.001-05:002003-07-15T20:01:49.133-05:00

Hi There. The news has been especially boring lately. Yet these new poems from Robert Bove are anything but boring. These are wild. Kung Fu poetry rules.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058317268270392612003-07-15T20:01:00.000-05:002003-07-15T20:01:08.143-05:00

Kateri Tekakwitha by F.X. Weiser. This was really neat. Weiser tells the story of Kateri Tekakwitha and the world she lived in. He combines Kateri’s story with a fascinating look at the tribal life of the Mohawks. It’s not in-depth but it’s intriguing. Kateri was a Mohawk Indian, one of the Iroquois Nations. Her mother was an Algonquin Christian and her father a Mohawk chief. The smallpox

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058064849157204842003-07-12T21:54:00.000-05:002003-07-12T21:54:09.036-05:00

Civil Rights by Thomas Sowell. Brilliance. Sheer brilliance. This was published in 1984 and much of its contents have been repeated in Sowell’s columns and in his later books. The advantage of reading this book is to see Sowell’s entire analyses of the Civil Rights vision and how it affects the world we live in. This is especially timely considering the Supreme Court’s recent pronouncement

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1058064665797875512003-07-12T21:51:00.000-05:002003-07-12T21:51:05.680-05:00

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh. I liked this one a whole lot better than the last one. It’s a 1980 reprint of a book first published in 1934. The story takes place at weekend party in a country estate. One of the guests buys it during a game of Murders. Everyone seems to have a solid alibi. So who dunnit? Like I said, this one was really good. The writing was just as novelly but the story

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057804786726943862003-07-09T21:39:00.000-05:002003-07-09T21:39:46.783-05:00

Oh Yes. Der Flosmeister wrote me to say that I have horribly mangled the description of a book I bought. In my big brag post on my latest thrift finds, I mention a novel called Mariette in Ecstasy. I said it was about a visionary nun whose visions may be the result of a brain tumor. It isn’t. Mariette is about a nun with stigmata. Lying Awake is the tumor/vision one. He does say both are

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057804701009379072003-07-09T21:38:00.000-05:002003-07-09T21:38:21.066-05:00

Update. I will soon be posting on the books I’ve finished. The Marsh, Weiser, and Sowell are done. I just need to find time to write on them. I’ve started some new ones. The Crichton is my purse book. I’ve read the Great Train Robbery twice before but I found my old copy and am reading it again. I first read it in high school when it was assigned for summer reading. It was the only good

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057804644403897562003-07-09T21:37:00.000-05:002003-07-09T21:37:24.463-05:00

Vogue, July 2003. Not much of an issue really. Summer is a slow season fashion-wise. I assume they are gearing up for September. Demi Moore is trying to revive her career. I could take this moment to mock Kabballa, which Demi currently follows, but I think that little fad will implode from its own mental bass-ackwardness. Kabballa is the latest Hollywood fad for thinking oneself spiritual

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057804525082089492003-07-09T21:35:00.000-05:002003-07-09T21:35:25.150-05:00

The Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2003. This issue was fine but I skimmed a lot. One of the big articles was on America’s role as ruler of the universe. Okay, it was Supremacy by Stealth, how to rule the world without ticking everyone off. I think, I didn’t read it. I have had my fill of “America and the New World Order” articles. If I read the same article about the same topic one more

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057456849006117282003-07-05T21:00:00.000-05:002003-07-05T21:00:49.043-05:00

Note. Yes, I know the commebts are screwed up. I took them off the blog and then reposted the script. I hope it works. If it doesn't, you can always email me.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057456778312198502003-07-05T20:59:00.000-05:002003-07-05T20:59:38.376-05:00

Life is Worth Living by Fulton J. Sheen. This is a first printing from 1953 that I picked up at a library sale. I would definitely say this is a life-changing book. Not in a big, dramatic waterfall way, but in a constant, wearing, river kind of way. Sheen doesn’t hit you over the head with blinding brilliance, although that’s certainly there. Instead he presents a solid Truth in such a

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1057456347211962872003-07-05T20:52:00.000-05:002003-07-05T20:53:06.940-05:00

Quotemaster Fulton. Here are some quotes I pulled from LiWL. God’s purpose in imposing laws on things was to lead them necessarily to their perfection; and God’s purpose in giving man the moral law was to lead him freely to his perfection. – Ch. 2, “War as a Judgment of God.” What we are attempting to do now in our Western world is foolishly to preserve the fruits of Christianity without the

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056851045824048782003-06-28T20:44:00.000-05:002003-06-28T20:48:48.683-05:00

O Say Can You Sheen. I finished Life is Worth Living and will post on it soon. Probably tomorrow. I have started the book on Kateri Tekakwitha. LiWL is unbelievably amazing. I know there is a cause for Sheen, so how do I sign up?

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056851001721384382003-06-28T20:43:00.000-05:002003-06-28T20:43:21.633-05:00

Question. My big, honkin’, bragging post below ends with a book called In Pursuit of Love: Catholic Morality and Human Sexuality (.99) by Vincent J. Genovese, S.J. It is by a priest but it doesn’t have a Nihil Obstat or an Imprimatur. It was published, obviously, by a university press, not a Catholic one. My question is, how can you tell if a book is good doctrine without the nihil and

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056850934723253362003-06-28T20:42:00.000-05:002003-06-28T20:42:14.653-05:00

Stop Me, Before I Read Again! The absolute last thing I need is more books, so what do I do? That’s right, I go buy more books. I’ve bought a few sporadically in the last few weeks. I’ve hit Books-A-Million more often than I should. But I had been very good about not buying books for the past week or so. You see, I was semi-employed as a nanny for about 2 years and my budget for living was

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056589915572864202003-06-25T20:11:00.000-05:002003-06-25T20:11:55.606-05:00

Summer Solstice. I interrupt this literature blog to present a music review. I went to a concert by the Red Mountain Chamber Orchestra on Saturday. The RMCO is a semi-amateur outfit. They don’t get paid but they are way too professional to be true “amateurs” in the modern sense of the word. I went because I’m a Vivaldi freak and the advertised set list had Vivaldi on it. They played one

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056589707624039412003-06-25T20:08:00.000-05:002003-06-25T20:08:27.653-05:00

Baby Names Around the World by Bruce Lansky. Published in 1999; 394 pages. I got it off the clearance rack at Barnes and Nobles and I should have left it there. This was supposed to be brain candy but failed at that. I have a silly addiction to baby name books although I am in no danger of reproducing. Names, their meaning and history, are just cool. This book was not cool. It claims over

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056589588492957242003-06-25T20:06:00.000-05:002003-06-25T20:06:28.523-05:00

Harper’s Bazaar, July, 2003. Dang it, I thought I wasn’t getting this thing anymore. No such luck. I checked the front cover and I get another full year. Curse those airline miles. Can I cancel a subscription I’m technically not paying for? Do I get my miles back? Oh, yes, the magazine. It sucked.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-3907819212003-06-25T14:31:00.000-05:002003-03-15T17:52:19.246-06:00

The Things That Matter Most by Cal Thomas. This is a collection of Thomas’s columns reworked to form a larger essay on the state of the culture. I enjoyed it, but got antsy towards the end. I liked the book but got a little bored with it. Thomas traces the failed promises of liberalism (liberation from traditional morality and responsibilities and the idea of government as savior) from their

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056075946001608852003-06-19T21:25:00.000-05:002003-06-19T21:41:24.916-05:00

Mega Poetry Post. I mentioned in my post on the Best Loved Poems that said volume would qualify as an ideal example of bad poetry in my mega-post on the subject. Lady Peony of Mossville sagely inquired what the heck I was talking about. So I went back and found my original Poetry Rant and am reposting it here. I do so for two reasons: first, vanity. Second, I now have a comments feature and

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056075891945862602003-06-19T21:24:00.000-05:002003-06-19T21:41:01.010-05:00

Poets Against Sanity. I suppose by now you’ve heard of the cancellation of the White House poetry symposium. Laura Bush wanted to shine a spotlight on poetry, especially the work of Dickenson, Whitman, and Hughes. One of the invited poets, Sam Hemphill, decided to turn the event into an antiwar protest. The White House canceled the event to avoid a scene. Now the idiot poets are complaining

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056075320956981772003-06-19T21:15:00.000-05:002003-06-19T21:15:21.053-05:00

Yes, I am Officially Obsessed. As I have been preaching lately on poetry and its modern abusers, I probably ought to present my credentials so to speak. After lambasting those who are guilty of poetic malpractice, I ought to better explain why I think so. I also should present evidence in favor of those I purport to be Poets in good standing. I will take a moment to explain myself, as Good

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056074374354971282003-06-19T20:59:00.000-05:002003-06-19T21:08:59.463-05:00

Exhibit A. So here is a listing of some bad poets, followed by some good ones. I’ll try to introduce each and tell what is good or bad about them. Bad Boys Adrienne Rich. Okay, okay, you’re a leftist lesbian already. At her worst, her poems get kicked, cut, punched, mangled, bent, folded, stapled, and mutilated, all to fit them around her identity politics. This site is a collection of her

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1056074165852307422003-06-19T20:56:00.000-05:002003-06-19T20:56:05.733-05:00

I Know You’re Obsessed, But What Am I? As events conspire to prolong my poetry obsession, I present two new poets I forgot to include yesterday. J. Bottum. I only discovered him recently. I’ve only found his stuff in First Things. I don’t have a grand theory of him but I like him. Here’s Baptism, The Winter Orchard, and The Fall (which is longer and very impressive). Here’s the Google

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1055387465427627662003-06-11T22:11:00.000-05:002003-06-11T22:11:05.390-05:00

The Best Loved Poems. This thing is going very slowly, as I knew it would. There’s a lot of poems in here. It’s going even slower due to the craptacular nature of the poems. Note that they are the Best Loved, not the Best Written. Remember my megapost on the Nature of Poetry, both Bad and Good? This would be the ideal example of Bad.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-1055387157140067722003-06-11T22:05:00.000-05:002003-06-11T22:09:59.833-05:00

The Misbegotten Son by Jack Olsen. Published in 1993; 581 pages; $ .99 at a thrift store. I really didn’t like this one. It was lurid. The book details the crimes of Arthur Shawcross, child killer and serial killer. Shawcross killed two children, was put away for 25 years, was released early, and went on to kill 11 prostitutes in Rochester, NY. You’d think that would be innately interesting.

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3490945.post-953934152003-06-06T21:05:00.000-05:002003-06-06T21:05:39.550-05:00

Some Highly Recommended Favorites. I have a few favorites from my time at Docsouth. I mentioned the Elliott book before. It has some very strong female characters and I enjoyed it. The one you have to read, right now, I’m serious, is the Adventures of Nat Love. Love is a famous cowboy and he wrote one hell of a book. It is funny and exciting and everyone who worked with it loved it. Check

Lee Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12960486212983267391noreply@blogger.com