Lately I’ve been receiving a lot of review copies of novelty books. I wanted to review Crap Taxidermy, a self-explanatory photo book based on a Tumblr, but it depressed me too much. Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World is much more my style, although it too has a Tumblr feel about it, and my feelings on bloggy books are mixed. Unrelated to the movie of the same name, Lost in Translation is a collection of foreign words that have no equivalent in English.
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Book Report: Lost in Translation
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Routine Business
I don’t remember when I first realized that the word “routine” didn’t have a negative connotation for most people. But I know it must have been a shock. I grew up with a mother who never drove home the same way twice because “who knows what you might discover down a different street?” In our house “routine” was a little bit of a dirty word; it was something necessary but distasteful, like poop or taxes. I can remember her tone as she would groan, “Back to the routine,” at the end of every school vacation.
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Book Report: Delicious!
Delicious! is a completely realistic novel, but in it, debut novelist Ruth Reichl does some significant world-building. The aesthete’s New York City is full of foodies with unique personal style who notice architectural details and interior design. In this world, “artisan” is more than a buzzword and taxis are for tourists – locals walk so they can observe the changing seasons and appreciate the details of urban life. It would all be insufferably fabulous if Reichl wasn’t so adept at sharing the sensual nature of their artistic appreciation, and if the characters themselves weren’t completely developed, three-dimensional, interesting people. Even when you don’t like them, you believe in Reichl’s characters.
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August by the Numbers
image Gratisography.com
It’s that time of the month again, folks – time for blog statistics! Read on for links to the most popular posts of the month and a list of intriguing search terms that led readers down this Crooked Road. Read More