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The Crapture of the Nerds
The Rapture of the Nerds: A Tale of the Singularity, Posthumanity, and Awkward Social Situations Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross Tor Books Note to self: when I write a book, never start with...
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Holy Yum
Jerusalem: A Cookbook Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi Ten Speed Press This cookbook wooed me. I first saw it in Barnes & Noble, a gorgeous standout from all the other formulaic Food Network...
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A Space Opera That Doubles As A Weapon
I endeavored to read the colossal Peter F. Hamilton novel in hardcover after much encouragement from my boyfriend, who had “heard good things,” and happened to be hovering around me while I was in the...
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Peckish? Paltrow.
It’s All Good Gwyneth Paltrow Grand Central Life & Style There are plenty of reasons to roll your eyes when it comes to Gwyneth Paltrow. Like the way she sends out her cute blog...
View ArticleCuckoo’s Rawling
I felt pretty fancy the day I snagged the last copy of Cuckoo’s Calling off the shelf at Barnes & Noble. The news had just broken about JK Rowling writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, and...
View ArticleGay Paree!
If America had parents, our proverbial parents would probably be England (the overbearing Father) and France (our loving and flighty Mother). But Paris would be our delightful, worldly, wise,...
View ArticleThe Rook
Ah, September is finally upon us—which means very soon we will have crisp weather and fiery-colored leaves, but it also means (for those of us in school) that we’ve been working our way slowly through...
View ArticleOut Of The Shadows And Into The Light
Some conversations have a way of staying with a person—looping in and out of consciousness, changing the framework of perception from that point on. Years ago I was working at a bookstore when such a...
View ArticleThe Future’s So Bright
A few years ago I found myself carrying around The Singularity Is Near, written by Google’s director of engineering, Ray Kurzweil. I had every intention of finishing it, but was only able to drag...
View ArticleHere’s Looking At You, Kid.
Old movies are strangely comforting. I was going through a really rough time period when I found myself staying over at a hospital waiting-room for most of a week. After roaming hallways and the empty...
View ArticleOne Is Silver And The Other Is Gold
Why would anyone read the same book more than once, when there are so many books to read? In a scene from the film Memento, Guy Pierce asks his wife this question as she reads a book she’s read...
View ArticleAbout A Boy
I don’t want to talk about what happens in the beginning of Louise Erdrich’s National Book Award winner The Roundhouse. It’s the kind of opener that might cause some people to close the book and walk...
View ArticleHow I Wonder What You Are
Einstein said that his advances in science were in part due to never losing a sense of childlike wonder about the world. Every few years I’m inspired by a similar awareness and pick up a book on dark...
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Five Strange Books That Will Open Your Eyes And Change Your Life Forever
Strange Christmas books to amuse and delight. This list should round out any holiday collection. 5. Place this next to Polar Express on your coffee table for a little variety. 4. Edward Gorey retells...
View ArticlePhotographs of the Ordinary, By the Ordinary
Volume 4, Tattered and Lost: Cakes, Picnics, and Watermelon Bins of old photographs are easily found at thrift stores and antique shops. I seem to remember one such bin of yellowed images at a Chico...
View ArticleA Tale For The Time Being
The promise of a new world can be intoxicating, causing a person’s life to come into a completely different focus. Books can offer passage to these places. Some have the ability to eclipse reality...
View ArticleOne Kick
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? Fall is right around the corner, which means one can curl up by the fire with a cup of coffee and a great book…okay, I’m jumping the gun right? Nevertheless, if you’re...
View ArticleMastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
by NEGIN RIAZI Who doesn’t know Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective? Immortalized not only in literature and film, but in TV series as well; over the years played by William...
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