Saturday, March 10, 2012
March Book of the Month: Excavation by James Rollins
via goodreads.com:
High in the Andes, Dr. Henry Conklin discovers a 500-year-old mummy that should not be there. While deep in the South American jungle, Conklin's nephew, Sam, stumbles upon a remarkable site nestled between two towering peaks, a place hidden from human eyes for thousands of years. Ingenious traps have been laid to ensnare the careless and unsuspecting, and wealth beyond imagining could be the reward for those with the courage to face the terrible unknown. But where the perilous journey inward ends--in the cold, shrouded heart of a breathtaking necropolis--something else is waiting for Sam Conklin and his exploratory party. A thing created by Man, yet not humanly possible. Something wondrous . . . something terrifying.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
February Book of the Month: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan
There has to be a moment at the beginning when you wonder whether you’re in love with the person or in love with the feeling of love itself.
If the moment doesn’t pass, that’s it—you’re done. And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it’s even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover’s face.
How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Book of the Year Award 2011
After a close vote, the winner of the Pleasant Hill Book Club Best Book of 2011 goes to....
Water for Elephants!
(2nd place- In the Heart of the Sea)
(3rd place- City of Thieves)
After a not so close vote, the run away winner for Pleasant Hill Book Club Worst Book of 2011 goes to....
The People of The Book! Truly a classic in bad writing.
(2nd place- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)
(3rd place- Plan B)
Congrats also go out to PHBC mamber Erica S. for choosing both the Best and Worst books of the year! Well done!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
What One Unemployed Irishman Did With 1.4 Billion Euros
via Yahoo News
What would you do with $1.82 billion worth of shredded money? In Ireland, people build houses out of it — at least that's what Dublin-based artist Frank Buckley did. The unemployed artist originally wanted to create a gallery for his series of mixed-media artworks called "Expressions of Recession," but he ended up building a house instead.
Buckley has been working roughly 12 hours a day every day since the beginning of December. During the early part of the construction process, he made bricks out of the decommissioned Euros Ireland's mint lent him. In all, around 50,000 money bricks went into building the house that consists of a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room. He plans to continue expanding the house that sits on an empty office building to include a kitchen, a shower, and a patio.
If you're wondering how it feels to live in a house made out of paper currency, he said that it's quite warm inside: "Whatever you say about the Euro, it's a great insulator." Frank is one of the countless people all over the globe affected by recession, and he built the house because he "wanted to create something from nothing." It will take around seven more weeks to complete building his new home, but Buckley (who's been living in the house since December) welcomes any visitor who wants to take a look at his billion-dollar masterpiece.
Irish Times via Treehugger
This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca
What would you do with $1.82 billion worth of shredded money? In Ireland, people build houses out of it — at least that's what Dublin-based artist Frank Buckley did. The unemployed artist originally wanted to create a gallery for his series of mixed-media artworks called "Expressions of Recession," but he ended up building a house instead.
Buckley has been working roughly 12 hours a day every day since the beginning of December. During the early part of the construction process, he made bricks out of the decommissioned Euros Ireland's mint lent him. In all, around 50,000 money bricks went into building the house that consists of a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living room. He plans to continue expanding the house that sits on an empty office building to include a kitchen, a shower, and a patio.
If you're wondering how it feels to live in a house made out of paper currency, he said that it's quite warm inside: "Whatever you say about the Euro, it's a great insulator." Frank is one of the countless people all over the globe affected by recession, and he built the house because he "wanted to create something from nothing." It will take around seven more weeks to complete building his new home, but Buckley (who's been living in the house since December) welcomes any visitor who wants to take a look at his billion-dollar masterpiece.
Irish Times via Treehugger
This article was written by Mariella Moon and originally appeared on Tecca
Neil Gaiman on Lewis, Tolkein, and Chesterton
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2014230-a-speech-i-once-gave-on-lewis-tolkien-and-chesterton
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Stephen Colbert with Maurice Sendak
Both videos are hilarious. Great line about e-books at the end of the second one.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2 | ||||
| ||||
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Michael Lewis Discusses Boomerang on The Daily Show
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive - Michael Lewis Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive - Michael Lewis Extended Interview Pt. 2 | ||||
| ||||
Michael Lewis Discusses Boomerang on Charlie Rose
Favorite quote from clip, "We have socialism for capitalists, and capitalism for everyone else."
Sunday, January 15, 2012
2011 PHBC Book of the Year Awards Ballot
Book of the Year Award 2011
The process has begun and the ballots are ready...
Best Book of the Year
In the Heart of the Sea
Water For Elephants
City of Thieves
Worst Book of the Year
Plan B
The People of the Book
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Voting will take place February 1st! Stay Tuned!
The process has begun and the ballots are ready...
Best Book of the Year
In the Heart of the Sea
Water For Elephants
City of Thieves
Worst Book of the Year
Plan B
The People of the Book
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Voting will take place February 1st! Stay Tuned!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
January Book of the Month: Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge.
Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish.
Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles beyond our shores is so brilliantly, sadly hilarious that it leads the American reader to a comfortable complacency: oh, those foolish foreigners. But when he turns a merciless eye on California and Washington, DC, we see that the narrative is a trap baited with humor, and we understand the reckoning that awaits the greatest and greediest of debtor nations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
What is the Country Reading?