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	<title>meredithdias.com</title>
	<link>http://meredithdias.com</link>
	<description>Writer, editor, and book fiend.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:28:16 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Books Read in 2010</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Books read in 2010:

Maxxed Out - David Collins
Flying in Place - Susan Palwick
Kushiel&#8217;s Chosen &#8211; Jacqueline Carey
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Miles from Nowhere - Nami Mun
After Dark - Haruki Murakami
Breathers: A Zombie&#8217;s Lament &#8211; S.G. Browne

A German Love Story - Rolf Hochhuth
Kushiel&#8217;s Avatar - Jacqueline Carey
World War Z - Max Brooks
Kokoro - Natsumi Soseki
The [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2010/02/11/books-read-in-2010/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Notes on War and Peace</title>
		<description><![CDATA[(Cross-posted from Goodreads, with a few minor changes.)
January 4, 2010 ~
In all likelihood, I will be chipping away at this slowly. As much as I&#8217;d love to steamroll through this in less than a week (like I did with A Suitable Boy), I have several other books on my plate, including the last installment of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2010/01/08/notes-on-war-and-peace/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Books Read from July 2008 &#8211; 2009</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So, why am I keeping a reading log beginning in July 2008? Pretty arbitrary date, right? The thing is, before then, I was a casual reader. I picked up a book every few weeks or so (though I bought them pretty regularly), and I hardly knew my local library. Then, a friend of mine recommended [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/11/30/books-read-from-july-2008-present/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Book Review &#8211; Fear of Flying by Erica Jong</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
I am really enjoying this book so far. The opening chapters serve up some rudimentary feminism, along with a healthy dose of skepticism aimed at Freudian psychoanalysis. The narrator, Isadora Wing, has grown to objectify men&#8211;she wants the &#8220;zipless ****&#8221;, an experience untainted by expectation or friendship or prior [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/10/02/book-review-fear-of-flying-by-erica-jong/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>On Book Cover Design&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A random entry containing some of my favorite book cover designs:
As you can see, I prefer minimalist designs for the most part. The photo doesn&#8217;t do justice to the Naguib Mahfouz cover, though. There is beautiful gold foil that shimmers in the light.
]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/09/14/on-book-cover-design/</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Freelancing in a Recessive Economy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, so many entrepreneurs wonder how it is possible to succeed during a recession. Undertaking any business venture in today&#8217;s economic climate feels intimidating, especially with so much emphasis on the ailing economy and astronomical costs of living. Let&#8217;s face it. For a gaping majority of Americans, these are not prosperous economic times. However, we [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/08/29/freelancing-in-a-recessive-economy/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Book Review &#8211; This Is All by Aidan Chambers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[**spoiler alert** (I have marked this as spoilerish in content, but wish to reiterate here that this review contains MAJOR spoilers.)
If I could, I would give this book 3.5 stars; however, since that isn&#8217;t an option, I will give it 4. I try very hard not to grade a book down when the ending doesn&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/08/29/book-review-this-is-all-by-aidan-chambers/</link>
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		<title>Book Review &#8211; Beijing Coma by Ma Jian</title>
		<description><![CDATA[**spoiler alert**
There are three major periods of Beijing upheaval in this amazing novel, and Dai Wei survives them all: first Chairman Mao&#8217;s Cultural Revolution, then the crackdown at Tiananmen Square, and finally the beautification of Beijing for its Olympic bid, which brings his mother&#8217;s housing complex to rubble around him. Through all of this turmoil, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/08/29/book-review-beijing-coma-by-ma-jian/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Book Review &#8211; The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie</title>
		<description><![CDATA[**spoiler alert**
This was my third foray into Salman Rushdie (the first two being &#8220;The Satanic Verses&#8221; and &#8220;The Enchantress of Florence&#8221;). What made this reading experience so pleasurable, beyond the exquisite and sometimes raw prose, was being familiar enough with Rushdie&#8217;s work now to recognize a few universal themes. Perhaps most notable are the following [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/08/29/book-review-the-ground-beneath-her-feet-by-salman-rushdie/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Book Review &#8211; The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata</title>
		<description><![CDATA[What strikes me about a lot of Kawabata&#8217;s post-war fiction is its attendant silence. There are no melodramatic climaxes, no cheap tricks to shock the reader&#8217;s sensibilities. What plot contrivance, after all, could rival the horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, of World War II itself?
The eerie quietude of Kawabata&#8217;s post-war Japanese fiction mirrors the silence [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://meredithdias.com/2009/08/29/book-review-the-sound-of-the-mountain-by-yasunari-kawabata/</link>
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