Blurred Line

I'm starting to get a little excited -- the release of Burn Rate is inching ever closer. More on that in the future, but really it's part of the reason that I haven't been writing as of late. The other part was that I just couldn't put down The Poisonwood Bible. I know I'm a little behind the boat in picking up that one, and I can see why.

Also, like any hockey fan, I had one eye on trade deadline deals for the whole day yesterday. All I can say is: Ottawa, WTF? Another unproven goalie? Oh well, at least we came out better than the Leafs. My opinion, for any Toronto fans, is that Brian Burke is on crack. Anyway, on to more important business...

The book: The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver.
The plot: The Price family goes to the Congo for missionary work. Father Price tries to convert the villagers, but fails to understand Africa. His wife and four daughters toil along side him until a tragedy sends them in their own directions.
IMO: An absolutely wonderful book. The four daughters, who tell the bulk of the story, are perfectly drawn characters, and Kingsolver does a great job with the mother as well. One of the book's shortcomings is the family's patriarch, who is so one-dimensional he's almost unbelievable -- although the book does have an explanation for his singlemindedness. Additionally, the momentum of the book flags a little near the end. Most of the book takes place over the space of two years during the family's mission work, while the final 100 pages or so tie things up over the next 25 years and become rather more politically-minded. Still, though, it's an extremely well written book and one I highly recommend if you haven't had the chance to read it yet.

This brings my totals to 6 books read for the year and 9 acquired (I couldn't help myself when I found a copy of Trainspotting over at Bookmooch).

On the Radioblog: Finally managed to get the latest CD, Cantos (and latest is probably the wrong word, since it came out in 2006, and I just discovered he's got a new one out at the end of the month) from one of my favourite artists, A.J. Croce (Jim Croce's son, in case you're wondering). I've been listening to Croce for years, from his progression from a bluesy pianist to his current pop oriented albums. So, you can imagine how pleasant a surprise it was when I found that this was his best album yet. He can still play a mean piano, and he also picks up a guitar on a number of tracks (and does a damn good job with it -- and when he's not playing, Ben Harper shows up with his guitar). Settling on a song wasn't easy, but I have to go with the kickass Paul McCartney cover "Maybe I'm Amazed. Just press ZAP on the player.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Thursday, March 05, 2009 - Excuses; Brian Burke on crack; The Poisonwood Bible; A kickass Paul McCartney cover I'm starting to get a little excited -- the release of Burn Rate is inching ever closer. More on that in the future, but really it's part of the reason that I haven't been writing as of late. The other part was that I just couldn't put down The Poisonwood Bible. I know I'm a little behind the boat in picking up that one, and I can see why. Also, like any hockey fan, I had one eye on trade deadline deals for the whole day yesterday. All I can say is: Ottawa, WTF? Another unproven goalie? Oh well, at least we came out better than the Leafs. My opinion, for any Toronto fans, is that Brian Burke is on crack. Anyway, on to more important business... The book: The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. The plot: The Price family goes to the Congo for missionary work. Father Price tries to convert the villagers, but fails to understand Africa. His wife and four daughters toil along side him until a tragedy sends them in their own directions. IMO: An absolutely wonderful book. The four daughters, who tell the bulk of the story, are perfectly drawn characters, and Kingsolver does a great job with the mother as well. One of the book's shortcomings is the family's patriarch, who is so one-dimensional he's almost unbelievable -- although the book does have an explanation for his singlemindedness. Additionally, the momentum of the book flags a little near the end. Most of the book takes place over the space of two years during the family's mission work, while the final 100 pages or so tie things up over the next 25 years and become rather more politically-minded. Still, though, it's an extremely well written book and one I highly recommend if you haven't had the chance to read it yet. This brings my totals to 6 books read for the year and 9 acquired (I couldn't help myself when I found a copy of Trainspotting over at Bookmooch). On the Radioblog: Finally managed to get the latest CD, Cantos (and latest is probably the wrong word, since it came out in 2006, and I just discovered he's got a new one out at the end of the month) from one of my favourite artists, A.J. Croce (Jim Croce's son, in case you're wondering). I've been listening to Croce for years, from his progression from a bluesy pianist to his current pop oriented albums. So, you can imagine how pleasant a surprise it was when I found that this was his best album yet. He can still play a mean piano, and he also picks up a guitar on a number of tracks (and does a damn good job with it -- and when he's not playing, Ben Harper shows up with his guitar). Settling on a song wasn't easy, but I have to go with the kickass Paul McCartney cover "Maybe I'm Amazed. Just press ZAP on the player. Cavan blogged at 6:04 PM \| 0 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart