Dave Haber Haber itibaren Platanos 740 61, Greece itibaren Platanos 740 61, Greece

Mostly a collection of previously published magazine articles. The Britney Spears interview is particularly of note. Klosterman has a way of unmasking his subjects. In fact, it seems possible that he never gets second interviews. And his article on Barry Bonds (pre-home run record) is the best take on the of steroids in baseball have read or heard. This is a strong collection (and typically hilarious) because it is like a best of. As a bonus Klosterman introduces each article with a brief reflection about the writing of it.

I've been meaning to read this book for years, ever since I first watched the film of the same name (and based loosely on the story). I must confess that the movie is one of my favourites. I've always found it enchanting and moving, even if it is romantic-supernatural fluff. If you're familiar with the movie, you'll know the basic characters from the book, but everything else is different. I was shocked at just HOW different. It really amazes me that someone condensed this story into the movie I know and love. In the book, things are darker, magic is less prominent and more insinuated, and the characters are not as cinematic; in fact, they too are darker, their flaws clearly apparent. Alice Hoffman has a way of writing that is surprising. A lot of her prose is over the top, romanticized, extraordinary in the realest sense of the word; and yet it works. It sets the scene and the mood exactly as you would wish; always reminding us of magic even as she refuses to spell (no pun intended) out what is practiced or how it works. As much as I enjoyed this book, I settled for 3 out of 5 stars because there were parts that were boring, and I sometimes had to push myself to keep reading. It is absorbing once you really get immersed in the story but sometimes that has been a struggle. Overall, I do recommend it, and I am interested in reading more of Hoffman's work.

I love how much story you get in the books and the day to day of life at Hogwarts.

“…that she has met him several times before only adds to what he calls her charming basket of imperfections. The only Buddha I could love, he says, is one who is capable of forgetfulness and sin.” “It’s sunny as Bermuda out here, and I’m still so high from the boat race that I can tell myself there’s nothing to be afraid of. Like sometimes when you go to a move and you get so lost in the story that when you’re walking out of the theater you can’t remember anything at all about your own life. You might forget, for example, that you live in a city where people have so many choices that they throw words away…you might forget that you never expected to be alone at thirty-one…or that all the people you know-without exception- have their hearts all wrapped around someone who won’t ever love them back.” “I’m scared,” I say again, but this time it comes out stronger, almost like singing, as though it might be the first step-in fifty five or a thousand-towards something like a real life, the very first step toward something that will last.” “It was the end of the old year, two weeks before my thirty-third birthday, the age my Catholic friend Tony said all things would be revealed to me…” “What I’d like to know,” Carter said, “is when we are gonna grow up enough to get over the idea that there’s some perfect person out there for each of is who’s gonna make every day of our lives like Paradise.” “This is Paradise, ” I said, “The three of us and Phaedrus, out on the wild wide sea.” “I’ve been doing some reading about the original Phaedrus…Phaedrus asks Socrates whether it is better to spend your life with someone who you’re compatible with, like a friend, or someone who you’re crazy for, someone who will make your life a living hell.” “And what does Socrates say?…he says you should be with someone you can get along with, and he spends thirty pages proving it…Logically….Like a theorem…Then he changes his mind and says you should be with the person who makes your live a living hell…What he says, is that when we fall full tilt in love with somebody, it’s because our soul recognizes another soul that it was mingled with on some previous plane…Even Socrates says we shouldn’t settle.” “I thought that life was like that, that you could frame it like a photograph, according to your need. It was that part of me…The very same part that knew that for every positive image there was a pure and perfect negative, that right on the other side of that piece of paper called making things up, was a whole other story, and that story was about learning to believe in the things that had been there all along.” “Find yourself a place you belong in the universe…a place where the dirt feels like goodness under your feet. Take the right picture and a man will walk into it. If you can bear him even a little, then for a while let him stay.” “What do you want me to say to Carter about sex?” “Tell him I’ve discovered that it’s very simple. That you have it, then you have it again, then you have it again; and then you get up and have breakfast.” “Everything good I’ve gotten in life I’ve gotten by plunging in, ” I said… “Sure,” she said, “and everything bad you’ve gotten in your life you’ve gotten by plunging in.” There was no arguing with that, so I stayed silent. “What are you thinking?” Marcus said. “That I don’t know who to be happy,” I said. “Strong and excited, spontaneous, even brilliant, but this happiness thing is like another girl’s clothes.” “It’s easy to believe being alone is the strong thing, but the river taught me long ago that it’s a stronger thing still to make yourself fragile. To say I love you, I dare you. I want you with me.”