DSL September Read: Dusty's Pick

The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies.

posted by Gwen @ 5:57 PM 7 comments

DSL August Read: Gwen's Pick

Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South by Roy Blount, Jr.

It won my heart on page 198: "My goal in life is to make some tiny headway toward lifting from Southerners some tiny bit of the burden of having to prove that we are being tongue in cheek. For Southerners, the price of irony is eternal vigilance."

posted by Gwen @ 9:35 AM 12 comments

DSL July Read: Karen's Pick

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss

As Jay said in the movie Clerks, "He speaks some English, but he cannot speak it good like us."

posted by mary_m @ 12:58 PM 12 comments

DSL June Read: Mary's Pick

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Originally published in 1948, this little charmer came back into print a few years ago. Its author is best known for writing 101 Dalmatians, which is much, much better than the cartoon.

I Capture the Castle is about a writer who lives in a mouldering castle with his two daughters and their stepmother, Topaz, a former artist's model. The writer hasn't published anything in years and sits around in a corridor of the castle pretending to be writing, but really just reading detective novels. And Topaz walks around naked a lot, "communing with nature." And the two daughters are just a wreck. And then their fortunes change for the better, and everything really goes bats.

I wanted to suggest this book back in February, but thought, nah... it's too Jane Austen-y. While there's a certain Pride & Prejudice vibe, this book is way funnier. I read it a few years ago, and thought it was hilarious, but don't remember how it turns out. Brady read it more recently and thought it was kinda depressing, but charming.

So, see what you think.

posted by mary_m @ 10:04 PM 19 comments

DSL May Read: Gwen's Pick

Drive Like Hell: A Novel by Dallas Hudgens

Here's the book I picked for May. I hope it's not too hard to get ahold of. Like I said, I don't know much about it but happened upon a description and the rumor that Mike Cooley thinks it's awesome, and that's all I needed to know.

From Booklist: "When Luke Fulmer was just 10 years old, his father--an amateur stock-car driver--taught him to drive, saying, "It's best to learn young." Luke turns 16 in 1979 and finally gets his much-anticipated driver's license, but he immediately steals his neighbor's car and smashes it, so the local magistrate suspends his license. His overwhelmed mother, Claudia, has had enough: her oldest son, Nick, is already a two-time felon. She decides to spend the summer elsewhere, and she sends Luke to live with his brother Nick, hoping he'll learn from Nick's mistakes. So begins an endless summer during which Luke works pit crew for a stock car driver, dates a kleptomaniac, meets Jack Nicklaus (the golfer), and retrieves a duffel bag of cocaine for his brother. He also does a lot of illegal driving and learns that there is nowhere in the world he feels more in control than behind the wheel of a car. It's a good thing, too, because young Luke must keep it together while his family, his girlfriend, and maybe even his future are all taking a dive."

posted by Gwen @ 3:22 PM 27 comments

DSL April Read: Dusty's Pick

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

posted by Gwen @ 12:48 PM 18 comments

DSL March Read: Karen's Pick

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace... One School At a Time by Greg Mortenson

from the PW review:

"Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Co-author Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts."

posted by mary_m @ 7:18 PM 13 comments