Oh, what a looovely day it is today. Self feels like singing. She’s on the couch, where she spent the morning grading papers. She reald an absolutely fascinating student paper on “Tool,” the heavy metal group, which enlightened her on Tool’s mastery of The Fibonaci Method. Then self realized she was probably not going to Bali in the fall (as she would have done if she weren’t teaching — ha ha ha ha!)
For a while self was engrossed in a TV show that re-enacted the Russian airline disaster of long long ago, when a pilot allowed his 14-year-old son to sit at the controls and the plane ended up crashing. What seems to have happened is that the plane was on auto-pilot, but something went wrong, and the boy did not have the arm strength to manipulate the levers manually, and his father could not help him because centrifugal force (the plane was in a steep dive) kept him pinned to the wall of the cockpit and he was unable to reach the controls to help his son.
After that uplifting program, self switched to the “Dog Whisperer”, and saw Cesar Millan helping singer Patti LaBelle with her dog problem.
Then self began to ponder what other writing contests she could still join this year.
Then self realized she had not posted about The New York Times Book Review in a month (amazing!), so now she will proceed to list the books she is interested in reading after perusing the 11 May 2008 issue of The New York Times Book Review (and at this point, self can’t be expected to remember how many issues she’s skipped, though she thinks it might be as many as two or three):
(1) After reading Ben MacIntyre’s review of Richard Bausch’s “brilliant” 11th novel, Peace:
Richard Bausch’s Peace
(2) After reading Bruce Barcott’s review of Louise Erdrich’s new novel, The Plague of Doves:
Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves
(3) After reading Kathryn Harrison’s review of Honor Moore’s account of growing up with her (bisexual) father, The Bishop’s Daughter: A Memoir:
Honor Moore’s The Bishop’s Daughter: A Memoir
(4) After reading Jonathan Miles’ review of Brian Hall’s fictionalization of the life of Robert Frost, Fall of Frost:
Brian Hall’s Fall of Frost
(5) After reading Marcus Mabry’s review of Robyn Scott’s Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood:
Robyn Scott’s Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood
(6) After reading James Glanz’s review of Patrick Cockburn’s biography of radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq:
Patrick Cockburn’s Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq
(7) After reading Maggie Scarf’s review of Andrew Sean Greer’s novel, The Story of a Marriage:
Andrew Sean Greer’s The Story of a Marriage
( 8 ) After reading Alana Newhouse’s review of Lily Koppel’s (fascinating) The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal:
Lily Koppel’s The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal
