http://chile.galangal.org a website by liza daly Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:56:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "It's not a rip-off, it's an homage." The second of my BEA haul, this alternately frustrating and compelling fantasy novel aimed at the NPR set is getting a major publicity push, with not just an official website but also multiple fictional ones as well. (The fan art could be more ... http://chile.galangal.org/the-magicians-by-lev-grossman/ I went to Book Expo America this year and mailed back two boxes of books just like I did at the American Library Association conference last year. I think this year's crop will be less fruitful than ALA's, but I know I got a few good books already, and ... http://chile.galangal.org/the-city-the-city-by-china-mieville/ At the end of 2008 a number of book blogs published their best-of lists, and whenever I had a spare minute I made a point of hunting down the Amazon Kindle sample chapters. Netherland came up repeatedly, and when it made the news recently (the president is apparently reading ... http://chile.galangal.org/netherland-by-joseph-oneill/ This book clearly was written for only one person -- me -- and yet it's been enormously popular and has already landed its author lucrative book and movie deals. I'm happy for him, because even though I thought the novel was ultimately a disappointment, I still smile when I ... http://chile.galangal.org/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-by-seth-grahame-smith/ I loved Adventureland, and if you're anything like me you will too. Wistful teen romantic comedy! Set in the 80s! Soundtrack by Yo La Tengo! Forget the part about the hazy nostalgia of lost youthful love, though. For verisimilitude, movies like this should include a coda in which twenty years ... http://chile.galangal.org/adventureland/ Everybody was talking about Bolaño this year because of 2666, but Dan got 2666 for Christmas and I got The Savage Detectives. We started reading them around the same time, and despite the fact that 2666 is at least twice as long, I finished a month later. I'm not sure ... http://chile.galangal.org/the-savage-detectives-by-roberto-bolano-dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands-by-jorge-amado/ Slashdot CNET ZDNet (1) (2) Wired http://chile.galangal.org/meanwhile-in-my-other-life/ I'm watching the dog chew on a stuffed hedgehog.  "I wonder what stops her from doing this to our faces while we sleep." The dog noses inside the toy and disembowels it.  Stuffing is strewn all over the rug. "I'll take first watch," Dan says. http://chile.galangal.org/a-conversation-over-dinner/ Some friends of mine and I decided to go to the inauguration.  It was pretty expensive, and I was told at the gate that Barack Obama had declared that his economic stimulus package required that everyone pay in cash. I happened to have enough money so I gave it to the ... http://chile.galangal.org/i-have-a-dream/ You just don't.  Nobody does. People like to speculate on the IQ of various celebrities. A popular one recently was Sarah Palin ("likely somewhere between 110 and 115").  We may also have "learned" that Beyonce's IQ is 124 (or is it 110?) And nobody can agree on Einstein's putative IQ, except ... http://chile.galangal.org/sorry-you-dont-have-a-200-iq/