XX - Static, by Amy Goodman and David Goodman
WHY I PICKED IT: They sent it to me (signed!) when I donated money to Democracy Now!
ELAPSED TIME: 3 Days
RATING: Very Good
This book, about how the US Government lies and the Corporate Media perpetuate and communicate those lies to Americans (and others around the world), is brilliant. However, I couldn't finish it because it made me very angry. (VERY!).
That a government that purportedly stands for Human Rights and Democracy knowingly seeks to violates the first of those values and undermine the second of those values is maddening.
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!
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
2014-09 - American Rust, by Philip Meyer
09 - American Rust, by Philip Meyer
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by the saleslady at Small World Books, in Venice Beach (highly recommend that bookstore!)
ELAPSED TIME: 6 days
RATING: Good
Isaac English and Billy Poe are best friends, stuck in a dead-end Pennsylvania steel town. Isaac, left to take care of his aging father after his mother committed suicide and his sister went to Yale, and Billy who turned down a football scholarship in order to do nothing. As Isaac finally decides to leave town, the two friends get caught up in an act of violence that leaves one person dead.
The story of the weeks that follow this are told through their eyes, as well as Billy's mother, Isaac's sister and father, and the local police chief. Meyer writes warm characters that you can't help but empathize with and root for, and provides a glimpse into a community in small town America.
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by the saleslady at Small World Books, in Venice Beach (highly recommend that bookstore!)
ELAPSED TIME: 6 days
RATING: Good
Isaac English and Billy Poe are best friends, stuck in a dead-end Pennsylvania steel town. Isaac, left to take care of his aging father after his mother committed suicide and his sister went to Yale, and Billy who turned down a football scholarship in order to do nothing. As Isaac finally decides to leave town, the two friends get caught up in an act of violence that leaves one person dead.
The story of the weeks that follow this are told through their eyes, as well as Billy's mother, Isaac's sister and father, and the local police chief. Meyer writes warm characters that you can't help but empathize with and root for, and provides a glimpse into a community in small town America.
Monday, March 10, 2014
2014-08 - The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
08 - The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
WHY I PICKED IT: Book Club
ELAPSED TIME: 2 days
RATING: Very Very Good
What a fantastic story. Celie is a black woman in the Southern USA, and this is her story. Told through letters that she writes to God, and her sister (Nettie), and letters her sister writes to her.
Walker does a great job at writing a story that raises so many issues (and in a believable voice!):
- Race - From the prison-industrial complex, to the lynching of successful black people. From the impact on white kids of being raised by black women, to how white people treat black folks.
- Gender - From forced marriage and rape, to gender roles within the family.
- Sexuality - Homosexuality occurs without any internal bias; it's simply about emotional connection and physical gratification.
- Family - A family can be many different things, and is ultimately what you make for yourself.
- God and Religion - Love that poor and relatively uneducated people also ask questions like: What is God? and Why do we exist?
More than these themes though, this is a story of a woman with few choices who navigates a life and builds a family for herself. It is warm and loving, and I highly recommend it.
WHY I PICKED IT: Book Club
ELAPSED TIME: 2 days
RATING: Very Very Good
What a fantastic story. Celie is a black woman in the Southern USA, and this is her story. Told through letters that she writes to God, and her sister (Nettie), and letters her sister writes to her.
Walker does a great job at writing a story that raises so many issues (and in a believable voice!):
- Race - From the prison-industrial complex, to the lynching of successful black people. From the impact on white kids of being raised by black women, to how white people treat black folks.
- Gender - From forced marriage and rape, to gender roles within the family.
- Sexuality - Homosexuality occurs without any internal bias; it's simply about emotional connection and physical gratification.
- Family - A family can be many different things, and is ultimately what you make for yourself.
- God and Religion - Love that poor and relatively uneducated people also ask questions like: What is God? and Why do we exist?
More than these themes though, this is a story of a woman with few choices who navigates a life and builds a family for herself. It is warm and loving, and I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
2014-07 - The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers
07 - The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by the saleslady at Small World Books, in Venice Beach (highly recommend that bookstore!)
ELAPSED TIME: 2 days
RATING:Very Good
This is the melancholic tale of two American soldiers in Iraq in 2005. Private Bartle and Private Murphy become friends during basic training and go off to war together. The two friends are initially numbed to the death that they see all around them, and then Murphy decides that compassion and humanity are more important than preserving his mental health. It's not pretty and it doesn't end well; it's war
Powers writes lyrically when describing the environment, and clinically when describing the war. It's a beautiful contrast that draws you in, opens you up, and shows you the pain. Knowing what's coming, fairly early on in the book, doesn't soften the blow when it does finally happen.
I recommend this book. It will take you to an uncomfortable place, and open your eyes to how we compromise their humanity when we send young men and women to war.
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by the saleslady at Small World Books, in Venice Beach (highly recommend that bookstore!)
ELAPSED TIME: 2 days
RATING:Very Good
This is the melancholic tale of two American soldiers in Iraq in 2005. Private Bartle and Private Murphy become friends during basic training and go off to war together. The two friends are initially numbed to the death that they see all around them, and then Murphy decides that compassion and humanity are more important than preserving his mental health. It's not pretty and it doesn't end well; it's war
Powers writes lyrically when describing the environment, and clinically when describing the war. It's a beautiful contrast that draws you in, opens you up, and shows you the pain. Knowing what's coming, fairly early on in the book, doesn't soften the blow when it does finally happen.
I recommend this book. It will take you to an uncomfortable place, and open your eyes to how we compromise their humanity when we send young men and women to war.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
2014-06 - The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
06 - The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
WHY I PICKED IT: I wanted to catch up on Gladwell's older works.
ELAPSED TIME: 1 week
RATING: Meh
This is Gladwell's first book, and articulates how an idea or trend goes from being a niche idea into being a broad phenomenon. This can be a crime wave or the resurgent popularity of hush puppy shoes. The concept that there are people who connect to others, and their behaviour drives copycats is interesting.
Gladwell has since enhanced his style of making an point about social behaviour and augmenting it with good stories. This is clearly an early work, and simply not that great (although I can see why it was popular almost 15 years ago).
WHY I PICKED IT: I wanted to catch up on Gladwell's older works.
ELAPSED TIME: 1 week
RATING: Meh
This is Gladwell's first book, and articulates how an idea or trend goes from being a niche idea into being a broad phenomenon. This can be a crime wave or the resurgent popularity of hush puppy shoes. The concept that there are people who connect to others, and their behaviour drives copycats is interesting.
Gladwell has since enhanced his style of making an point about social behaviour and augmenting it with good stories. This is clearly an early work, and simply not that great (although I can see why it was popular almost 15 years ago).
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