Eighty-Second Book The Activist : Renee Gladman
Krupskaya : 2003
Bought from Small Press Distribution for $11.00+

Started 4.27.06
Finished 4.27.06

The Line: "Paranoia cousins you in every encounter, every look given. Your mail comes and you must receive it with an extraordinary nonchalance, almost tossing it back at the carrier from lack of concern. Strangers ask you for the time and you are compelled to express your patriotism" (94).

This is fabulous,
like a new gown, Calvino,
like a dreamtiger.  ¶ 14:46 0 comments

  Eighty-First Book A Season In Hell & The Drunken Boat : Arthur Rimbaud
New Directions : 1961
Donated by someone a long time ago

Started 4.25.06
Finished 4.25.06

The Line: "I called to the executioners that I might gnaw their rifle-butts while dying. I called to the plagues to smother me in blood, in sand. Misfortune was my God. I laid myself down in the mud. I dried myself in the air of crime. I played sly tricks on madness" (3).

The introduction
states that Rimbaud dealt in arms.
And he lost a leg.  ¶ 15:20 0 comments

  Eightieth Book Story Of O : Pauline Reage
Book-of-the-Month Club : 1993
Bought at Park Slope Books for $5.00+

Started 4.23.06
Finished 4.25.06

The Line: " ' . . . the fact is,' said the other voice, 'that if you do tie her up, or whip her a little, and if she begins to like it--then that's no good either. We've got to move beyond the pleasure stage. We must make the tears flow' " (10).

Caught a few strong looks
when I read this on the train.
No come-hithers though.
  ¶ 15:03 0 comments

  Seventy-Ninth Book The Cement Garden : Ian McEwan
Anchor : 2003
Donated by Davy Rothbart
Recommended by Davy Rothbart

Started 4.21.06
Finished 4.23.06

The Line: "I had climbed over the mattress and was balancing on a ridge of broken wall, thinking about this, when I saw the handle of the sledgehammer in the grass. I jumped down and siezed it. Gray wood lice had been living under the massive iron head and now they ran backward and forward in blind confusion across the little patch of earth. I swung the hammer down on them and felt the ground shake beneath my feet" (48).

I once baked cement
brownies. I wanted them to
never come apart.  ¶ 13:51 0 comments

  Seventy-Eighth Book Pornocracy : Catherine Breillat
Jovian : 2006
Bought from Half.com for $12.56

Started 4.12.06
Finished 4.12.06

The Line: "Didn't you understand that it was nothing, that we had to free ourselves from the arrogance of the erect member, even if we are to like its initial and dazzling necessity; that the act which gives you such great importance and self-esteem is nothing but the clash of corruptible flesh" (102).

A man, a woman,
an exploratory romp
inside the vagi-  ¶ 19:44 0 comments

  Seventy-Seventh Book Damned If I Do : Percival Everett
Graywolf : 2004
Bought at Park Slope Books for $5.00+

Started 4.18.06
Finished 4.19.06

The Line: "He will not tell anyone that a fish has spoken to him. He will keep it inside his head. He will keep it next to the fact that lately he has not enjoyed sex with his wife. He will keep it next to his fear of escalators. He will keep it next to the fact that he hated the way his uncle hugged him just a little too long" (154).

I almost passed out
on the train while reading this
book, it's just that good.  ¶ 16:04 0 comments

  Seventy-Sixth Book Inside : Hélène Cixous
Schocken : 1986
Bought at Housing Works Used Book Cafe for $7.50+

Started 4.16.06
Finished 4.17.06

The Line: "Hurt? Nono, you know me, it doesn't hurt, here, you see my little finger all by itself on the sheet, swimming around in the blood like a tadpole, far away from my hand, well I think it's cute, look, you see, almost like a white tadpole in a red canal, hurt? it's far away, and yet my hand doesn't miss it" (125).

Add her to the list
of magical creatures, like
unicorns and dwarves.  ¶ 15:24 0 comments

  Seventy-Fifth Book The Suitors : Ben Ehrenreich
Counterpoint : 2006
Bought at Strand Book Store for $11.50+

Started 4.12.06
Finished 4.15.06

The Line: "Everyone's got a hustle, and takes what they can get. His old girl keeps her cloudy claws afloat around his heart. She slips beneath his eyelids each time he blinks. She sings in his ear when he's not listening. She dances round his bed when he's asleep" (154).

I love the part with
Jesus on the cross and a
vulture on his dick.  ¶ 14:30 0 comments

  Seventy-Fourth Book Morvern Callar : Alan Warner
Anchor : 1997
Bought at Strand Book Store for $1.00+

Started 4.6.06
Finished 4.11.06

The Line: "Bare, sitting on a beach with bluey sea so lovely like in brochures, the horse heads came out of the water but fixed to men bodies. All the bare bodies had a hand missing. The menhorses walked up and surrounded me. Blood came from the missing hands when they turned me over to attack" (45).

Jealous the whole time.
I too want a lover to
hack into pieces.  ¶ 16:51 5 comments

  Seventy-Third Book The Tombs Of Atuan : Ursula K. Le Guin
Simon Pulse : 2003
Bought at Housing Works Used Book Cafe for $2.00+
Recommended by Peter Rothbart

Started 4.2.06
Finished 4.5.06

The Line: "Full of vision, his eyes gazed through the black paintings on the walls, through the walls and the earth and the darkness, seeing the open sea stretch unbroken to the sunset, the golden dragons on the golden wind" (104).

I still get chills when
I read about dragons. What
can I say? They're hot.  ¶ 14:08 8 comments

  Seventy-Second Book Lenny Bruce Is Dead : Jonathan Goldstein
Counterpoint : 2006
Bought at Mercer Books for $3.95

Started 3.29.06
Finished 3.31.06

The Line: "Sex at eighteen had been like eating saltines over the sink in the middle of the night, petting a dog to make someone happy, saying hello over and over, faster and faster, eating a sandwich with tiny bites until you reach a point where you think you're never going to finish" (127).

I can't think of a
haiku that doesn't mention
sex or yogurt. See?!  ¶ 14:20 3 comments