What I read in 2003
Hold mouse over starred items to read reviews/random thoughts.
Click on the author/title to see some favorite quotes.
12/22/03 Michael Crichton Timeline
12/15/03 Steve Martin Pure Drivel
12/04/03 J. R. R. Tolkein The Fellowship of the Ring
11/19/03 Stephen King Wolves of the Calla
11/03/03 Lemony Snicket The Slippery Slope
10/22/03 Philip Pullman The Tiger in the Well
10/16/03 Jeanette Winterson Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
10/12/03 Charles Dickens The Old Curiousity Shop
10/08/03 Philip Pullman The Shadow in the North
09/29/03 Philip Pullman The Ruby in the Smoke
09/26/03 Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi The Seeing Stone
09/25/03 Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi The Field Guide
09/22/03 Michael Crichton Travels
09/12/03 Stephen King Wizard and Glass
09/11/03 Stephen King The Wastelands
09/07/03 Stephen King The Drawing of the Three
09/05/03 Stephen King The Gunslinger
08/23/03 Natalie Babbitt Tuck Everlasting
*08/23/03 Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography
Pure silliness from the people who brought us A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book delves into the history of Lemony Snicket, the elusive author of the story of the three Baudelaire children , exploring his connection with his subjects through a series of anecdotes, letters, photographs and the like. A fun and fast read, and a good way to while away a few hours while waiting to read about the next terrible thing to befall the Baudelaires.
*07/08/03 Robert Anton Wilson Schrödinger’s Cat Trilogy
Alternate universes, weird sex and drugs. Lots and lots of drugs.
* 07/06/03 J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The day I received the slip of paper in my mailbox telling me that my book had finally arrived, I walked around humming Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay with the words "I got my book today" floating around to the tune in my head. I couldn't wait to get home and pick it up. Of course, I was still in the middle of reading book 3, and had vowed to re-read all the Harry Potter books before embarking on the new one. I also wanted to be sure that I took my time and enjoyed it, as I know lots of people who speed read through it the night it came out, and after months of anticipation, I didn't want it to end too quickly. I was glad that I waited, and also that my friends and co-workers were obliging in not telling me anything about the book, even that my favorite character from Prisoner of Azkaban finally returned to the series.
*07/04/03 J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
By the time this book came out, I was totally hooked on the series. I think the premise of the book was really cool, the wizard competition allowed for a lot more magic than in the previous books, and I think that the humor and action were well balanced by the darker tone of the book as a whole. And maybe it's because I'm a girl, but I love the part where Harry and Ron finally get around to asking Hermione to the dance, and she responds that just because they hadn't noticed that she was a girl, didn't mean that no one else had. Go her.
*07/02/03 J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
This is still my favorite of the Harry Potter books. Lupin is the best. I guess I always go for the tragic hero types. Then there's Sirius, the dementors, the great scene with the boggart (I can't wait to see this on film, it should be hysterical), Care of Magical Creatures...what's not to like? I think that the series really starts to find its stride here, adding characters and subplots that aren't all tidily wrapped up at the end of the book.
06/30/03 J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
06/27/03 J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
06/21/03 Garth Nix Mister Monday
06/17/03 Philip Pullman The Amber Spyglass
06/13/03 Philip Pullman The Subtle Knife
06/09/03 Philip Pullman The Golden Compass
06/08/03 William Goldman The Silent Gondoliers
05/28/03 Peter S. Beagle The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and other odd acquaintances
06/02/03 Lemony Snicket The Carnivorous Carnival
05/26/03 Lemony Snicket The Hostile Hospital
05/23/03 Jhonen Vasquez Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
05/20/03 Lemony Snicket The Vile Village
05/18/03 Lemony Snicket The Austere Academy & The Ersatz Elevator
05/15/03 Lemony Snicket The Miserable Mill
05/13/03 Lemony Snicket The Wide Window
05/10/03 Lemony Snicket The Reptile Room
05/09/03 Lemony Snicket The Bad Beginning
04/29/03 Richard Skinner The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari
04/27/03 Merrill Markoe It's My F---ing Birthday
03/31/03 Tom Wolfe The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
*03/20/03 Robert Lasner For Fuck's Sake
I found this book completely by accident while browsing the shelves in Newbury Comics one day. How could I not buy it, with a title like that? Sometimes, life is funny. I had a vacation planned to New Orleans, and the novel opens with the character going on vacation to that city. As it turns out, I brought the book with me on my vacation to read, and enjoyed reading about the debauchery of others, while feeling thankful that we had missed the Mardi Gras season. I'm all for debauchery, but New Orleans in the "off" season is plenty debauched for me. Also, it's nice to read about someone whose love life is more screwed up than mine.
03/07/03 William Shakespeare Pericles
02/25/03 Tom Stoppard Travesties
02/20/03 Charles Dickens Bleak House
02/15/03 Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods
* 02/12/03 Michael Chabon The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
I've owned this book for years, started it several times, but had difficulty finishing it for one reason or another. I don't know whether it's just because I was feeling nostalgic for the 'Burgh, but it seemed much more appealing this time around and I was able to slog my way through the slow beginning and get to the part where it actually starts to get good.
The story follows Arthur in the summer after his graduation from college, during which he tries to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. As I am still struggling with this problem some 8 years after my own graduation, I guess I can empathize. It's really strange to see the names of places and things that I used to know in a work of fiction. It makes them seem sort of surreal, and all the names seem bizarre and somehow exotic, seeing them in print: the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, the Cathedral of Learning, the Wok Inn, Schenley Park. Other places, not mentioned in the book spring to mind: the Youghigheny River, Boulevard of the Allies, Squirrel Hill. I'm reminded of the times that we went sledding on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning, using pieces of cardboard, or plastic trays stolen from the cafeteria, and night skating at the Schenley Skating Rink, walking home through Squirrel Hill in the cold night air, french fries at the O, rainy days at the Carnegie Museum, clubs on the Strip, visits to the Andy Warhol museum and the Carnegie Science center, riding the incline, cruises on the Gateway Clipper, hanging out in the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, riding the Jackrabbit at Kennywood Park...in short, all the good stuff that somehow I never think about when I think about the 'Burgh, even when I'm there.
The one thing that I noticed that was odd about the book, was that no one seemed to have a Pittsburgh accent...although maybe I'm just supposed to use my imagination.
* 02/10/03 Tom Stoppard Arcadia
This is one of my favorite plays of all time. I was first exposed to Tom Stoppard, and Arcadia when I went with my father and stepmother to see the play when it opened at the Huntington Theater in Boston in 1995. I absolutely fell in love with it. I don't think I ever knew, before then, that someone could combine physics, and algebra, and love, and sex, and death, and landscaping, and humor, and drama and literature and have it all make sense, even to someone who knew next to nothing about most of these topics. Some might find the whole thing pretentious, but I love it.
Since my introduction to the play, I have seen it performed twice and have read it probably a dozen times, or maybe more. Someday I would like to overcome my stage fright and play Hannah, as I'm already too old to play Thomasina. "Septimus, what is carnal embrace?" may be the best opening line for a play ever.
I've decided that when (if) I grow up, I'd like to be Tom Stoppard. If only the job weren't already taken.
02/01/03 Margaret Atwood The Edible Woman
01/21/03 Anne Rice Blackwood Farm
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