14 - Charlotte Street, by Danny Wallace
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day
RATING: Not Good
Jason just almost met a cute girl on Charlotte Street. After helping her with her bags into a taxi, he realizes that he has a (old school) disposable camera, belonging to her... and decides to track her down.
In the image of early Nick Hornby, Wallace creates a Jason who is not doing well in his career and is really insecure... but unlike Hornby, I don't really care about the character.
Ended up skimming most of the book and reading the end. Yep, he finds inner strength and gets the girl. Bleh.
This blog is a simple review of every book that I read... For all books I’ll tell you why I picked it, how long it took me to read it, and give it a rating (burn it, not good, meh, good, very good, and required reading). I ask (encourage?) all readers of my blog to post their thoughts of any of the books in my comments :). Thanks!
Sunday, April 28, 2013
2013-13 - The Chemistry of Tears, by Peter Carey
13 - The Chemistry of Tears, by Peter Carey
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Week
RATING: Meh
Telling two parallel stories, Catherine, a conservator at the Swinburne Museum who is grieving the loss of her (married) lover by rebuilding an automaton... and Henry who commissioned the creation of the automaton to amuse his dying son 150 years earlier.
Carey writes beautifully... characters that you appreciate and whose head you (as the reader) can fit into. The transitions between the two stories are well thought out and flow well. But, the story is a bit too much on the fringe of normal, and ultimately drags on too long.
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Week
RATING: Meh
Telling two parallel stories, Catherine, a conservator at the Swinburne Museum who is grieving the loss of her (married) lover by rebuilding an automaton... and Henry who commissioned the creation of the automaton to amuse his dying son 150 years earlier.
Carey writes beautifully... characters that you appreciate and whose head you (as the reader) can fit into. The transitions between the two stories are well thought out and flow well. But, the story is a bit too much on the fringe of normal, and ultimately drags on too long.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
2013-12 - Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell
12 - Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day
RATING: Good
This essay by Orwell is ... interesting. I enjoy language and thought I'd enjoy the essay in which Orwell rails against lazy writing. Idioms and metaphors simplify language to the point where even the writer does not actively engage with the message. Wordiness is not a trait worth promoting. Use active verbs rather than passive ones.
Curiously, before I got to read it, but while I was carrying it around, I had a conversation about grammar with someone who was struggling to quote Orwell, and we were able to dig it out: Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
:)
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day
RATING: Good
This essay by Orwell is ... interesting. I enjoy language and thought I'd enjoy the essay in which Orwell rails against lazy writing. Idioms and metaphors simplify language to the point where even the writer does not actively engage with the message. Wordiness is not a trait worth promoting. Use active verbs rather than passive ones.
Curiously, before I got to read it, but while I was carrying it around, I had a conversation about grammar with someone who was struggling to quote Orwell, and we were able to dig it out: Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
:)
2013-11 - American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
11 - American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
WHY I PICKED IT: Reco by my friend Khalyani
ELAPSED TIME: 4 Days
RATING: Burn it
If I was anywhere that I could find more books to read, this would not have made the blog because I really did not want to finish reading it... but given that I was jet lagged in Gaza, I was kind of stuck.
Patrick Bateman works on Wall Street. He is rich. He is ...well dressed. He is not a nice guy (and neither are his friends and colleagues). He is also a psychopath who randomly kills people... starting with random homeless people, but building up to colleagues and random women (prostitutes and women that he's dating.
This book is narcissistic. I truly do not understand the point of it... and why enough people would find it interesting to make it a best seller. Is it that it's so graphically violent? If anybody knows, I'm interested to understand...
Until then, please do not waste your money buying this book or your time reading this book.
WHY I PICKED IT: Reco by my friend Khalyani
ELAPSED TIME: 4 Days
RATING: Burn it
If I was anywhere that I could find more books to read, this would not have made the blog because I really did not want to finish reading it... but given that I was jet lagged in Gaza, I was kind of stuck.
Patrick Bateman works on Wall Street. He is rich. He is ...well dressed. He is not a nice guy (and neither are his friends and colleagues). He is also a psychopath who randomly kills people... starting with random homeless people, but building up to colleagues and random women (prostitutes and women that he's dating.
This book is narcissistic. I truly do not understand the point of it... and why enough people would find it interesting to make it a best seller. Is it that it's so graphically violent? If anybody knows, I'm interested to understand...
Until then, please do not waste your money buying this book or your time reading this book.
2013-10 - Brain on Fire, by Susannah Cahalan
10 - Brain on Fire, by Susannah Cahalan
WHY I PICKED IT: Book Club
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: Very Good
Susannah had what appeared to be a mental breakdown... and then what appeared to be a psychiatric condition. Fortunately, she had parents who simply would not believe it, and pushed and committed themselves to finding doctors who would find the true disease and help her.
Her experience identifies fundamental flaws in our medical systems... not just regarding access to care (although that is a key issue), but also the propensity of doctors to jump to conclusions based on their own field of study, and their challenges raised by the lack of communication between doctors of different specialties treating the same patient.
This is also a really warm story. Her partner, her parents, and her friends were truly supportive during a truly scary experience. Highly recommend.
WHY I PICKED IT: Book Club
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: Very Good
Susannah had what appeared to be a mental breakdown... and then what appeared to be a psychiatric condition. Fortunately, she had parents who simply would not believe it, and pushed and committed themselves to finding doctors who would find the true disease and help her.
Her experience identifies fundamental flaws in our medical systems... not just regarding access to care (although that is a key issue), but also the propensity of doctors to jump to conclusions based on their own field of study, and their challenges raised by the lack of communication between doctors of different specialties treating the same patient.
This is also a really warm story. Her partner, her parents, and her friends were truly supportive during a truly scary experience. Highly recommend.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
2013-09 - All my friends are Superheroes, by Andrew Kaufman
09 - All my friends are Superheroes, by Andrew Kaufman
WHY I PICKED IT: Saw it at a book store in London
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day
RATING: Good
This short book is really ... odd. 249 superheroes in the city of Toronto, but none of them are Super Evil. Also, none of them have been able to monetize their powers; they're just really good at one thing.
Tom's wife The Perfectionist can reorganize a mess by willing it to be perfect. But in the six months that she's been married, she cannot see Tom because her ex-boyfriend (The Hypnotist) made him invisible to her. This is the story of how Tom met, fell in love with, and married The Perfectionist... and how he got her to see him again.
Good if you want something lighthearted to pass an hour or two of your time...
WHY I PICKED IT: Saw it at a book store in London
ELAPSED TIME: 1 Day
RATING: Good
This short book is really ... odd. 249 superheroes in the city of Toronto, but none of them are Super Evil. Also, none of them have been able to monetize their powers; they're just really good at one thing.
Tom's wife The Perfectionist can reorganize a mess by willing it to be perfect. But in the six months that she's been married, she cannot see Tom because her ex-boyfriend (The Hypnotist) made him invisible to her. This is the story of how Tom met, fell in love with, and married The Perfectionist... and how he got her to see him again.
Good if you want something lighthearted to pass an hour or two of your time...
2013-08 - Hikkomori and the Rental Sister, by Jeff Backhaus
2013-08 - Hikikomori and the Rental Sister, by Jeff Backhaus
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: Good
This is the story of Thomas, an American who has opted to shut himself into his bedroom (a hikikomori)... and Megumi, a young Japanese woman who is hired to engage him and bring him back to the world. What follows is a touching tale of how Megumi (a reluctant Rental Sister) engages Thomas, and draws him back into the world (and in so doing re-enters the world herself).
That Thomas is married and his wife is struggling with his retreat, despite a common loss, adds a layer of complexity.
Despite it all, and although I did emotionally connect with these characters, I don't think they've made a mark on me... and are ultimately forgettable.
WHY I PICKED IT: Picked it up at an airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 2 Days
RATING: Good
This is the story of Thomas, an American who has opted to shut himself into his bedroom (a hikikomori)... and Megumi, a young Japanese woman who is hired to engage him and bring him back to the world. What follows is a touching tale of how Megumi (a reluctant Rental Sister) engages Thomas, and draws him back into the world (and in so doing re-enters the world herself).
That Thomas is married and his wife is struggling with his retreat, despite a common loss, adds a layer of complexity.
Despite it all, and although I did emotionally connect with these characters, I don't think they've made a mark on me... and are ultimately forgettable.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
2013-07 - Boomerang, by Michael Lewis
07 - Boomerang, by Michael Lewis
WHY I PICKED IT: I've read The Blind Side and Moneyball and enjoyed them both.
ELAPSED TIME: 5 days
RATING: Very Good
Michael Lewis' latest book is a travelogue of countries hit by the Global Financial Crisis. In his usual style the storytelling is engaging and concepts are easily understood. That he is able to get interviews with the key players from each of these countries, and sprinkles in stories from others that he encounters, ties the decision-making and the impacts of those (seriously flawed) decisions together in easy-to-read vignettes.
What do people want to do if they and/or their governments are (essentially) given blank checks?
a) Iceland - Their banks loan their citizens $100 billion to buy foreign companies. Unfortunately, they don't know what they're doing and they buy weak companies that are not worth what they paid for them.
b) Greece - Their government racks up $1.2 trillion in government debt by increasing spending significantly above what they could hope to collect in taxes (and fail to collect that).
c) Ireland - Their local banks loan their citizens 34 billion euros to invest in property in Ireland. Unfortunately their property is not worth anywhere close to that, and their government decided to bail out the banks.
d) Germany - Their local banks decide to invest overseas ($180 billion in losses and counting)... without bothering to learn what the underlying assets are about, and whether AAA-rated bonds are truly risk free (they're not).
Now the German government gives money to the European Union rescue fund, so that it can give money to the Irish government, so that the Irish government can give money to Irish banks, so that the Irish banks can repay their loans to the German banks. Awesome.
WHY I PICKED IT: I've read The Blind Side and Moneyball and enjoyed them both.
ELAPSED TIME: 5 days
RATING: Very Good
Michael Lewis' latest book is a travelogue of countries hit by the Global Financial Crisis. In his usual style the storytelling is engaging and concepts are easily understood. That he is able to get interviews with the key players from each of these countries, and sprinkles in stories from others that he encounters, ties the decision-making and the impacts of those (seriously flawed) decisions together in easy-to-read vignettes.
What do people want to do if they and/or their governments are (essentially) given blank checks?
a) Iceland - Their banks loan their citizens $100 billion to buy foreign companies. Unfortunately, they don't know what they're doing and they buy weak companies that are not worth what they paid for them.
b) Greece - Their government racks up $1.2 trillion in government debt by increasing spending significantly above what they could hope to collect in taxes (and fail to collect that).
c) Ireland - Their local banks loan their citizens 34 billion euros to invest in property in Ireland. Unfortunately their property is not worth anywhere close to that, and their government decided to bail out the banks.
d) Germany - Their local banks decide to invest overseas ($180 billion in losses and counting)... without bothering to learn what the underlying assets are about, and whether AAA-rated bonds are truly risk free (they're not).
Now the German government gives money to the European Union rescue fund, so that it can give money to the Irish government, so that the Irish government can give money to Irish banks, so that the Irish banks can repay their loans to the German banks. Awesome.
Monday, April 1, 2013
2013-06 - Therefore Repent, by Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam
06 - Therefore Repent, by Jim Munroe and Salgood Sam
WHY I PICKED IT: Found it in a Vancouver bookstore
ELAPSED TIME: 1 day
RATING: Meh
This graphic novel was ... interesting. The end of the world has happened and those left behind post-rapture are struggling to survive. There are those who are hoping for a second rapture (and being extra good) and everybody else is simply eking out a living.
With that as a backdrop, Raven and The Mummy, the protagonists in this tale, are a couple who are also struggling to hold on to their relationship.
WHY I PICKED IT: Found it in a Vancouver bookstore
ELAPSED TIME: 1 day
RATING: Meh
This graphic novel was ... interesting. The end of the world has happened and those left behind post-rapture are struggling to survive. There are those who are hoping for a second rapture (and being extra good) and everybody else is simply eking out a living.
With that as a backdrop, Raven and The Mummy, the protagonists in this tale, are a couple who are also struggling to hold on to their relationship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)