Way better than I thought it would be, and I thought it would be good. Even enjoyed this more than Barrack's book, A Promised Land which was also excellent. This is at times more human, more aware and accessible than her husbands. His was a look inside the mindset and the job, this was a look inside the mind of a decent human and excellent woman.
Highly recommended.
Book 70 Songteller
Surpisingly sweet insight into the unbelievable Dolly Parton, talented and amazing. A god botherer, but like Richard Coles - in a nice way. Rare.
Book 71 Us Three
Disappointing. I expected funny, but it was 95% melodrama. I was sick of everyone by the end.
This is odd, its ambitious and clever, but ultimately unlikable despite how well it's made. It did remind me heavily of The Day Of The Triffids. Something incredible, humans try to survive, moving round a lot, the military step in when a simple solution is found, new world order is pretty much the same as the old, with less people learning nothing. Clever though.
Did I mention clever?
Been on my list for years, ever since I saw Nate interviewed on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. A victim of his own success and all the syndromes he describes. A very good way to get your head around the predicting of events, and the fact that you really can - but also can't.
Lenny Bruce has always been a hero of mine, a man with boundaries, but not in the same places as most people. Hilarious and so far ahead of his time, you'd think he was a time traveller fed up with the short decades of the 40s to 60s when he died, far too soon. This book is funny and just amazing.
Lenny Bruce, a hero.
Has quickly become my fave science writer, and these short but lucid explanations are a great pimer for modern things that people say they "don't get" when it comes to Physics, the Universe and the next great frontier.
Poetic and erudite, will have to seek out more by this guy soon.
Like Tom Hanks himself, these stories are gentle, well crafted, oozing in talent and amazingly accessible. Which is a bit of a problem, because there is no threat here. The tension is mild, even when one character meets his end, it's only grisly if you think about it, otherwise it's wistful.
Still great writing though, the kind of book you'd enjoy in a hammock, on the beach or in the bath. Maybe not all at the same time though.
Decent action thriller, and a good palate cleanser. Nothing outstanding and nothing that grates the senses, could see it being a movie on Netflix. Writes "American" well for a Kiwi author.
This is like a song by Celine Dion, there's absolutely talent, but I am not a fan of the content. There is too many allusions, which are hammered to death by the writer. Clever once or twice, but the number of times he swings the sledge hammer of the number 1001, just gets tiresome. Also the constant calling out of what would happen next and how the death or major change to a character is coming, might be in line with his Arabian Nights obsession (seriously find a new allegory, how many books is it now?) - it gets irritating.
Beautiful language, but it hides misogyny and racism, whether the authors or a "product of its time" - it's a veneer over ugly thoughts and petty.
One of those books I bought a while ago and put down as I struggled with it. I loved Normal People and consumed whole, in one go on a flight 2 years ago. So I bought this and nursed it for ages, I enjoy the writing, the insights and the structure of it all. The characters I found difficult to enjoy reading about though. I kept seeing the worst in the ordinary, which to be fair was probably the point (well done you), but apart from the Indie Film ending, it was a roller coaster of struggling with the first half, enjoying the last third of it.
My math is awsm obv.
Fascinating look into how music works, how it has evolved, all the weird things that impact it in ways you've never thought of, and how David Byrne works too.
It's a kind of half and half, a bunch of ideas, history and sideways looks at the holistic product we call music and then a history of the Talking Heads, David Byrne and his collaborations and why he did them that way.
I found it endlessly interesting and could easily have consumed more.
Still well paced and a cracking read, just less so by comparison.
Every quote on the cover of this book is actually true. I started off thinking it was twee and silly, too constructed and too clever for it's own good. But then I could not put it down and I cried at the end.
Dammit.
If you've played Uncharted (especially 4 - A Thief's End) then Henry Avery and some of his exploits are a known quantity, albeit ramped up for the scale of the game. In this interesting/entertaining/gripping piece on it, they turn into not only a game of cat and mouse but also a global history lesson. And of course the parallel story of the bigger and more effective Pirate, The East India Company.
A bit of guesswork is involved, as there are gaps in the record, but they are clearly signposted in the narrative.
Didn't know this was a real person, or that he invented so many things. A man ahead of his time, but only because he was of his time. Interesting to think he'd probably be vilified today, for his methods, but maybe he was just clever enough and adjustable enough to find even more inventive solutions when standing on the shoulders of other giants.
Who knew Margaret Atwood wrote comics? I guess this is much more her speed of comic than say the Marvel DC milieu. Covers Canadian pride, set against imperialist invasion from America, alignment with allies shifting during WW2, a comic within a comic and the skewing of male stereotypes, (and added anti-homophobia for good measure).
Dense dialogue for a comic and some big ideas in only 108 pages, but still if you're going to go and do a comic, it should stand out.
Usually a solid contender, but I struggled with this one. The first 5-10 chapters are confusing, and I get that it's supposed to add some mystery and get you hooked, but I couldn't follow who was who or why they were in any given space. Eventually it does get going but feels like it was written to make a movie, not as good as the Rebus type novels, but eventually an ok story. Though the tech is waaaaay out of date now.
Need more of his books now.
A bunch of short stories, and a slim volume of them. Kind of a Tales Of The Unexpected for the Black Mirror generation. Some better than others, all variants on the ghost/in the machine/rework of the old story genre.
Worth a look
If you couldn't get through the cold of A Brief History Of Time, but still want to know more, feel more, about the physics of the universe, and specifically the fleetingly endless thing we call time? This is your book.
Condescending. Which I guess in an ironic, heroic and tragically Greek twist I may be guilty of myself.
A bit like Freakonomics, and Noah Yuval Hariri, mixed with some Frederick Wiseman. That's Malcom Gladwell. This book looks at the "freakish" outliers to show you that far from extraordinary individuals they are more the extraordinary circumstances feeding them.
I suspect that anyone's opinion on this topic, much like my own will be fueled by disagreement or confirmation bias.
Still a great read about how things work.
Might have to read the next two as well, I burned through this one quickly.
This started well and ended badly. The wit, charm and biting satire of the first half (at least I thought it was) gave way to melodrama and what felt like an underlying misogyny. While there are occasional attempts at empowerment, the author seems to revel in the fact that women were property, and men were there to protect them. I can seem various attempts to make the woman stand up for herself, and the men make sure the women in their charge are protected and revered.
Yet I could not shake the feeling that this was just a veneer, and that the message here was harking back to a time that was somehow more polite, gentlemanly and ... better? Maybe I have misread this terribly, but I grew annoyed at the sarcasm, the bridling and the endless cultural referencing.
Well written and wryly observed, self serving (though who's autobiography is not?) but still entertaining and not draining despite it's length. Easy to follow and engaging from start to the end of the first term. Might be a while before the second volume gets a try, even though it's not yet out.
Huge improvement on Bill Clintons "My Life" and ... well I have no intention of attenpting anything from the bog orange baby, so this is me for a while on Presidents.
If you have the time and you even vaguely like his tone, make the effort.
Laboriously long, confusingly strung together, and a mostly good idea, delivered badly. Too much description of the circus and how amazing everything is. Like the author loved the idea of all this and then just wrote, wrote and then wrote some more to deliver a plot that wove through it.
I could not garner much empathy for the protagonists, and by the end the ridiculous set up of the "game" was so diluted and esoteric that it held no interest and no stakes in anyone winning or losing.
Good idea, just could have been so much shorter, tighter and less worshipful of a concept.
Good enough I may read another.
Unexpectedly great, an author I had never realised I know from his other works, translated to films I loved and now here he is, decades after his death appreciated as one of the unsung heroes of old school Sci Fi. I really enjoyed this book, looking to the future and while out of step with the technology of now, the vision and clarity of experience he has is amazing and on the money.
If you have the time to find his work, you totally should.
Very hard to take anyone seriously who rails, rightfully, against being judged because of the way he looks (Well-dressed, south-Asian, Gay) but then unashamedly judges everyone on their appearance alone. Is it the same? No. Is there some equivalence? No. But does it annoy? Yup.
Lightweight and entertaining, and relatively self-aware apart from the above. Yet his personality annoys mine. I prefer JVN, simple really.
I can see why it won the Booker, it's densely populated with character and imagery. Enough tragedy to fill a Oscar winning fillum to be sure. The strength is in the omnipresent terror of the troubles, and the omniscient knowledge of gossip in a community. You're never really sure who or what is going on, but slowly as the story reveals itself, those half thoughts in your head fully form and you realise you don't need to know someone's name to know who they are.
I loved reading this until the end - then it totally pantsed the climax/resolution. Such a shame, because the tension, the stakes and the characters were all on the money until the impossibly helpful ending came along and introduced a whole bunch of coincidences, twee confessions, ridiculous new set ups and miracle pregnancies.
I did like the irony of Cassie watching the Big Bang Theory, only to be played by one of the cast in the inevitable TV version of this thrilling - but flawed - airport thriller.
If you're an animal lover then you'll probably enjoy this book, if not then it's argument no matter how persuasive, won't mean much. There are a lot of anecdotes and most of them are very compelling, to me if nothing else. At some point though you're either going to agree that animals are much closer to us with personality and emotions, than we care to treat them, or you won't care.
All our medicines are treated for safety on animals before being used on humans, but when they prove to be effective they remain human only. That's the crux of this argument, so gently and beautifully presented.
Of course I already think we should treat them better. But not fully on board with rabid activism. Two wrongs don't make a right after all. Not sure where this thought is leading.
Good book, worth a read.
Another in a long line of Harry Bosch novels. I've read a couple and struggled with them. The stories are deep and well planned, but the main character is bloody annoying and old school in a White/Toxic Male Privilege kind of way. However weirdly though when embodied in Titus Welliver on the small screen in the Amazon TV show, that works. On the page he's creepy and grumpy and a bit of a dick, and much harder to tolerate.
This particular book felt like a whole bunch of characters, situations and shout outs to other authors were all shoe horned in. The basic plot and resolution were satisfying if somewhat predictable.
Good for fans I guess?
Enjoyable fluff, until it suddenly isn't. Then just as suddenly Fluffy again, turned dark on a dime. So like JVN himself (who I saw doing his stand up live) it's all OTT Queen and Yass Bitch! There's immediately a deeper and more nuanced observation or opinion under each OTT layer.
Provocative and Human, Joyful and Sad, Straight and Gay Talking.
A glorious book of contradictions and confessions.
He goes there, you should too.
Has some interesting anecdotes and some lite-weight data, but it mostly comes to life when she wholly quotes other authors. Mostly in love with her own sense of American-ness and the sound of irony being dropped from a great height.
As far from a scientific look at food as it is from being about "who we are" being not just Americans.
Another winner from English/Aussie author Jane Harper. Out of the three I have read this is the least rated, but that still puts it better than a lot of books. The resolution twisted a few too many times and landed with a stretch. Compared to The Dry which was tighter and Lost Man which was more relatable in the characters.
Still a great book, well written and gripping.
Fast becoming my new fave author. The voices and the settings are so Australian it makes me homesick for my second homeland. Damaged and deep, she pulls apart the onion layers of the family with surgical precision, or maybe it's peeling of layers of sun-burnt skin?
Either way I flew through this one like I did The Dry, and as much as I enjoyed the movie version these books are very engaging and well written. Recommended for any Aussie or Aussie adjacent.
I laughed, like a lot. Out loud on occasion. Nice turn of phrase, definitely quirky and scrappy, though hardly a nobody anymore. Like most people who suddenly are the subject of expectations, the impostor syndrome looms large.
Unrelentingly funny and fast paced, like a hamster on speed.
A whimsical and unbelievable story that is as charming and likeable as anything I have read. It's silly, it's satirical, it's sensible and in the end it's just a lot of fun. It's basically Forrest Gump, but here Forrest is a 100 year old Swede whose life unfolds in an astounding way while murdering/manslaughtering and absconding with way too much money.
It's a great commute read, holiday read or even just a "I want something lite and happy to read" read.
Having said that - still enjoyed it. Glad I read the Midnight Library before this though, as his writing and perspective has improved and his angle much more emotionally inventive than this.
Another "can't put down" page turner. Set in rural Australia and fraught with tension and heavy with secrets. I was thinking it would be a good slow read after racing through a very different Aussie novel, but I was so wrong. It's pacing, characters and settings were just too good.
I really want to go see the film now, might pop to the Lido and check it out.
This book is not for everyone, it contains a lot of sex but not the titillating kind. Instead it's bleak, desperate and damagingly self-inflicted.
BUT. I really loved the writing, the raw brutal honesty in her self-deception and sabotaging behaviours. Less of a desperate cry for help and more of a desperate cry to be heard.
Again, this may offend/disturb people, but I still felt compassion and empathy for the narrator no matter what she does.
Beautiful written, but exhausting in it's bold and vicious satire. I didn't revel in it's cutting humour, but I absolutely ate up his prose, his style and turn of phrase.
It's about racism, post and pre modern types, and everything in between.
It's also nihilistic, and for once the journey was so much better than the destination.
Good for fans of amazing writing and uniquely clear voices.
Or, How to be an Asshole in 5 minutes or less.
The crux of nearly every "suggestion" or "strategy" is to lie to the person you're talking to. Or misrepresent, or manipulate (badly).
It's out of date advice wrapped in the comfort of an expert, one of the things he literally warns you off. Also not convinced that the use of pronouns is as random as he makes pains to point out. I started to notice that the Agression, Anger, Strength examples were stacking up male, and the Flattery, Jealousy, Attraction examples skewed female.
As his premise is lie to the liars, I assume that the "random" thing was also .... a lie.
Skip.
