Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Opening Sentence of the Day: Blue Planet in Green Shackles

. "We are living in strange times." -- from the author's Introduction, Blue Planet in Green Shackles by Václav Klaus. "For quite some time, I have been speaking and writing about the environment in a rather unsystematic way." --Chapter 1, Blue Planet. Václav Klaus is the President of the Czech Republic, a former Prime Minister of the country, and an economist by training and profession. His perspective on climate issues is fascinating. This is my "green" pick for the Colorful Reading Challenge. .

Teaser Tuesday: Underworld

. "Maybe they used to have jazz but stopped. The had a jazz policy that became a policy of no jazz, which is much the same thing if you examine it closely." -- Underworld by Don DiLillo. Huh? Just what does that mean? Most of this book is full of that kind of grandiose, meaningless, blather. It has a zillion characters, but almost no plot. It moves generally backwards in time, so what plot there is is a puzzle to put together as information about earlier events comes around later in the book. I find it needlessly confusing and pompous. Another problem I have with this book is that it is, literally, full of sh*t. It is scatological enough to make it to my sh*t list. Not only do the characters think about the subject, they philosophize about it, saying things like, "All waste defers to sh*t. All waste aspires to the condition of sh*t." I am definitely not cut out to be a DeLillo fan. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. .

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