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Showing posts from January, 2013

Can't wait for this to come in the mail

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The sweatshirt, not the guy. And it's for me, not Christopher. I sized down, so hopefully it will fit. I'm hoping for a slouchy-slim look, anyway. I could easily spend my entire next paycheck at Everlane .

2012 Review of Literature, Part 1

2012 was one of the first long periods where nothing I read was required -- no book lists, thesis bibliographies, or courses to answer to. So I decided to go in as many directions as possible, finally reaching for books I said I'd read just not now and digging into new authors I'd never considered (and on more than one occasion, running out the door for the bus and yelling, "I'm running late! Christopher, toss me something to read quick !"). My only real guidelines, though were 1) books I'd never read before, 2) no two books by the same author within the year, and 3) make an effort to try authors/genres/styles I'd never tried. And the results were all over the place but really satisfying. (My only real regret is not writing down my reactions as I went. As such, the reviews get more detailed the further down the list.) So here, in chronological order, is part 1: Crime and Punishment , Fyodor Dostoyevsky I actually read most of this in autumn 2011 a

The Smiths, "The Queen Is Dead"

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I've listened to this maybe a dozen times today. Such an interesting musical commentary on adolescence, isolation, and Britain in the 1980s.

The Doors, "Riders on the Storm"

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I spent the last six years in school for classical music, following orchestra schedules, hunting down rare texts in foreign languages, and sifting through scores on staff paper. But lately all I've wanted to read is rock criticism, pop biographies, and studies on anything post-1960s counterculture. It's this whole world of untapped scholarship waiting to be crafted. I remembered the brilliance of WorldCat recently and will be interlibrary loaning more than one Jeff Buckley book.

2013 Reading

New year, new list. I think this time I'll comment as I go instead of trying to remember my reactions at the end. Grace , Daphne A. Brooks The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll , Simon Reynolds and Joy Press A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley , Jeff Apter A Wished-for Song , Merri Cyr Anne of Green Gables , Lucy Maud Montgomery Jeff Buckley: Mystery White Boy Blues , Anthony Reynolds Picnic at Hanging Rock , Joan W. Lindsay Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition , Douglass Seaton Anne of Avonlea , Lucy Maud Montgomery Anne of the Island , Lucy Maud Montgomery Leaves of Grass , Walt Whitman Heartland of the Imagination: Conservative Values in American Literature from Poe to O'Connor to Haruf , Jeffrey J. Folks Racechanges: White Skin, Black Face in American Culture , Susan Gubar All the King's Men , Robert Penn Warren The Turn of the Screw , Henry James Margaret Fuller: A New American Life , Megan Marshall The Forsyte S