Cereus Blooms at Night.

1) Cereus Blooms at Night (Sarah)
2) The Shell Game (name withheld for national security purposes)
3) Then We Came to the End (M.)
4) Working Stiff (MH)
5) Down and Out in Paris and London (Haubenreich)
6) Atlas Shrugged (RS)
7) White Castle (Korobi)
8) Confederacy of Dunces (MB)
9) Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of New China (AB)
10) The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (TYH)
11) Dhalgren (Jeff)
12) Catch-22 (TK)
13) Disgrance (RS-2)

Finished:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Hsien)
Cereus Blooms at Midnight (Sarah)

[Edit: Having just finished writing this, I suggest you don't bother reading the post. It sucks and it is very boring.]

So I finally finished Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, recommended by Sarah. It took a little longer than I would have liked, but given the hecticness of graduation, living free, compiling family history, bar/bri, and constant cooking (tonight steamed red snapper, jie lan cai/Kai lan/Chinese broccoli, rice, and kim chee)...I wasn't able to read as much as I had hoped.

Anyway, I liked this book a lot, though I cannot say that it was one of those experiences that left me awestruck with moments where I would jerk my head up from reading, mouth agape, and irrationally look around the (empty) room just to check "did anyone else just see/read/feel that?! Dammit!" (I hope you know what I'm trying to communicate there...) To be honest, I find those moments pretty damn rare, and I guess wonderfully so...so all things considered, this book is a winner. I gave Kavalier and Clay an 8...so I think I would give this like a 6.8.

[I deleted several written paragraphs I had about this book...because what I had written was utterly stupid and boring.]

It turns out that I REALLY suck at trying to discuss books...so I don't think I'm going to try to after this other than just saying whether I liked it or not.

Anyhow, on to bed, and then onto Then we Came to the End (M.) or Shell Game if either is available at my local bookstore.

Oh, and my mom gave me a DVD full of old family photos. I think of these three, my favorite is the way I imagined Native Americans in the top right, not to mention my lifelong racism in the bottom.