Tribe.net. Local Connections $item.owner.firstName http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#7ec8cd55-de76-473c-904d-d31b18306611 2009-06-30T17:52:48Z 2009-06-30T17:52:48Z

Don't worry about it. No one was paying any attention.

$item.owner.firstName 2009-06-30T17:52:48Z Canela, too hot for you http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#66bb63f3-c7de-444d-b537-e6c4229c830d 2009-06-30T10:52:36Z 2009-06-30T10:52:36Z

"rid of", yeah. Sigh...

Canela, too hot for you 2009-06-30T10:52:36Z Canela, too hot for you http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#d51477fc-c7a8-4089-bdff-24674d3b1265 2009-06-30T10:52:11Z 2009-06-30T10:52:11Z

a teeth gritting effort to get RID OFF, that should have read. Where is my spell checker?

Canela, too hot for you 2009-06-30T10:52:11Z Canela, too hot for you http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#04533746-417f-449b-8db8-1896e976f3ce 2009-06-30T10:50:27Z 2009-06-30T10:50:27Z

And that book actually exists. http://www.amazon.com/Bedrock-Lisa-Alther/dp/0452277760/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246358645&sr=8-8 It is always interesting to read a book when you can observe the author at making an effort to get his or her novel on the road. As I said, Bed rock starts off very ambitously ("Her mind was as wise as the countless skins her belly had rubbed against during the last 20 years" or something), and then, after this promising introduction, it turns out that the promising heroine is some small time housewife going out on some "adventure" or whatever. On the other hand, if you have ever read "Love in the time of the Cholera" by Garcia Marquez (a Noble prize winner for a reason), you will know that after making a teeth gritting effort to get the dullness and unreadability of the tale during the first 20 pages (hang in there, reader!) a novel can turn into a firework of absurdities and the ironies of life. But it takes a certain mind to pull that off... Keep reading, Snert.

Canela, too hot for you 2009-06-30T10:50:27Z Canela, too hot for you http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#cb23b491-c065-4598-93a6-e04888ad97b8 2009-06-29T18:18:19Z 2009-06-29T18:18:19Z

Alas, you must have stolen that equation off my blog, Snert! Your book sounds better than the opening lines of the ambitious "Bed rock" which turned into a total flop later down the pages.

Canela, too hot for you 2009-06-29T18:18:19Z Snert http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#c2e5666d-c924-4065-bf5d-4f857272d559 2009-06-29T18:05:52Z 2009-06-29T18:05:52Z

I just finished a book about using your body as a tool for measurements. I forgot the title. I didn't know the the San Adreas fault moves as fast as your fingernails grow. Ok, that's a fantastic opener line. Beat's the hell out of, "Hey, Babe, what's your sign?" (I ususally get told, "Stop." I've polished my routine, now I ask inane questions to see if she's listening. 'Is yer dog out of therapy yet? I heard something about a boxer And a beagle. Is your cat out of rehab for her meth addiction? I get their attention!) In college several students used a person to measure how long a bridge was. 142 Sam's plus an ear. I'm 1 Snert tall and that's 1.8223 m.

Snert 2009-06-29T18:05:52Z Canela, too hot for you http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#63a30747-e34d-4a3a-8357-7f5b0e6e5bc0 2009-06-29T11:30:54Z 2009-06-29T11:30:54Z

http://noonehome.tribe.net/thread/3b56c71c-fb28-4955-af35-2f687419677d

Canela, too hot for you 2009-06-29T11:30:54Z $item.owner.firstName http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#f1f3825b-7fa5-4b1c-bf94-9d574ef9d9f8 2009-06-12T03:22:38Z 2009-06-12T03:21:52Z

You're on to something there. The other characteristic of the professional expat is the total lack of sense of humor. A lack of sense of humor is quite conspicuous and a severe handicap in one's homeland, like in the well known Astrid case, but by traveling to Japan or the Mideast, these damaged individuals can immerse themselves in an environment where their stunted sense of humor will be explained away and dismissed as a cultural or linguistic difference.

$item.owner.firstName 2009-06-12T03:21:52Z $item.owner.firstName http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#8a79652b-2ea8-4ae5-89ef-8e6bcf7a95e8 2009-06-12T03:04:09Z 2009-06-12T03:04:09Z

The professional expats, they talk about books in an empty fashion, the same way they devour the experience of travel to foreign lands. They don't really experience anything. They just consume the local flavor as something to fill the emptiness inside them. I think that is why the professional expats are so into Isabelle Ebherhardt. She was one of them. She was a thrill seeker, driven by a horrible emptiness deep inside, that drove her to travel to dangerous places and ultimately brought her to an early, tragic and pointless death. Those who feel ill at ease in their own skin, in their own home, they descend like foreign service locusts upon so many far flung outposts, seeking to find something that is missing. As Dorthy learned in the Wizard of Oz....

$item.owner.firstName 2009-06-12T03:04:09Z $item.owner.firstName http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#48c89527-10ff-41e7-a2be-942593b78965 2009-06-11T21:04:17Z 2009-06-11T21:04:17Z

She's been a trendy author to claim as one of your favorites for some time among pseudo-Arabists and the ex-pat crowd. It is a name you can drop while trying to impress the other expats at the lounge. There's little chance you were required to read her in college unless you were doing middle eastern studies, so its a good chance your collegue won't have read it and you can feel superior. She's a noteworthy travel writer for her time and place, especially considering that it was something that women weren't supposed to do at the time. But for people to claim she's their favorite writer or to make a big fuss about her, that is pure pretense, an act. Pretentious, to say the least. Her life story is more interesting that her works. But I do not admire writers based on their life stories. I admire them for their literary works.

$item.owner.firstName 2009-06-11T21:04:17Z $item.owner.firstName http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#8f76ee67-140f-4f40-b012-c9c121831e85 2009-06-08T14:26:27Z 2009-06-08T14:26:27Z

Isabelle Eberhardt is one of those authors who is more famous for her travels and deeds than for her slim volume of literary works. I'm still quite astonished that Hollywood has not made a major motion picture about her short life. Who would they cast? Gwyneth Paltrow, that would be my guess.

$item.owner.firstName 2009-06-08T14:26:27Z $item.owner.firstName http://ijustfinishedreading.tribe.net/thread/f61af1e3-a2d4-4794-87bf-23dab1f179d6#18255a21-920f-4e66-8eff-7998a80ae2f4 2009-06-08T04:16:42Z 2009-06-08T04:16:42Z

Reread it, just to make sure I did not miss anything the first few times I read it. Nope.

$item.owner.firstName 2009-06-08T04:16:42Z