All posts by Buffy

never let me go. speculative fact??


In Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro does such a brilliant job with first person narration – realistic, casual, conversationalist – that he completely lulls the reader into a false sense of something. Not security, necessarily, but something. And that false sense of something is more telling than the story itself. It’s Ishiguru’s genius. His

barrak hussein obama. and the lincoln bible.


“Mr Obama swore his oath of allegiance on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration in 1861, held by the new First Lady Michelle Obama.” Apropos, I watched the inauguration in a pirate’s patch today. Now I’m getting ready to watch SAY ANYTHING…in the same patch.

oryx, crake and crumpets


Dear Flynn, I agree. It is a mite on the impolite side to turn down a generosity like sausage. Also, if you grew up in West Virginia in the 80s, you’re kinda like a war baby. Rations and all. Force of habit. I ate a crooked crumpet smothered in full fat maple syrup last night

the notebook…yes, that one.


We’re making plans to visit my grandparents. Sooner rather than later. Until last year I traveled to the States twice a year, each Spring and Summer, to spend a month with them at their home in Iaeger, West Virginia. Racked up air miles like nobody’s business and went to bed feeling not-so-bad that I missed

sick and tired and prufrock


I’m getting so tired of sick. I know. I moan. But I’m not accustomed to not hearing and not tasting and not being able to push my body to run and jump and stay awake for more than six hours at a stretch. It’s only temporary and SO VERY SILLY of me to complain but

epictetus


You are a soul carrying a corpse, as Epictetus use to say. In any case remember that in a very brief time both you and he will be dead, and shortly after not even your names will be left. – My Man Marcus (Aurelius)

the year of silence. kevin brockmeier.


Moments of mysterious silence. ALL SILENT. And then it’s gone. Leaving everyone wondering and feeling a weird sense of loss. Like someone or something had jerked them away from a warm light they didn’t know they were moving toward. It seems appropriate and eerie that I should read Kevin Brockmeier’s “The Year of Silence” today.

moose


Thanks to the Glandular Fever I’m convinced I’ve got…I’ve managed to spend a lot of time reading this week. Last night I finished up the following: “MOOSE”, by Stephanie Klein. I’m a four year fan of Klein and Greek Tragedy. I read her first memoir “Straight Up and Dirty” the day I brought it home.