Alan Moore: Watchmen
Scott Heim: We Disappear: A Novel (P.S.)
Karen Logan: Clean House Clean Planet
stodgy and outdated, and pretty much every recipe is baking soda, vinegar, and essential oils, but still useful and is a great way to remind you that you really don't need Windex in your life nor half the other toxic chemicals we think make life cleaner. (****)
Chelsea Cain: Heartsick
Totally a Silence of the Lambs ripoff, but a good one so far.
Philip Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect
Clive Barker: Mister B. Gone
David Mitchell: Number9Dream
I little too disjointed with all the dreams and the stories within stories, but great for comparison with his later, better crafted novels. (***)
Philip Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Austin Grossman: Soon I Will Be Invincible
Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist
Again. (****)
Jennifer Ouellette: The Physics of the Buffyverse
Funny, Informative, but the Buffy references seem a bit forced. Hoping her earlier, more generic book is better. (***)
Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler's Wife
I didn't get through it. I found the POV a too dull, maybe I just have to try it when in a different mood. (**)
Natsuo Kirino: Out
Interesting mystery. I don't normally go for them. (****)
Marisha Pessl: Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Pedantic. Everyone is raving about this book and honestly I just found the narrator snotty and full of herself. (**)
China Mieville: Un Lun Dun
Derivative. (**)
Ronald Kessler: The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI
(***)
Robin Williams: Non-Designer's Type Book
Awesome reference to typography the "look" of writing. Clear, concise and you don't need a degree in graphic design to get it. I liked it so much I ran out and bought the whole non-designer box set. (*****)
Dave Singleton: The Mandates: 25 Real Rules For Successful Gay Dating
I was insulted by this book. Several of the man-dates are perpetuate the idea that only "manly" gays can get a date. Throw out your Madonna CDs and hide your skin care if you want a date. Jack from Will and Grace, and Oscar fucking Wilde are both listed as bad role-models. Apparently courage in an oppressive society, having a brilliant mind and considerable talent are nothing compared to a bit of queeny. Oh, and Jack is always the one with all the dates. Go Figure. (*)
Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems
Too much Cesar, not enough about the dogs. (**)
Orson Scott Card: Enchantment
Even when I hate the premise, Card finds away to make me enjoy his stories. I know what it is, Orson Scott Card is one of the best writers of character driven fiction around. This one is a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a Russian slant. I picked it up only because part of it takes place very near where I went to college. I know random. (****)
Kevin Brockmeier: The Brief History of the Dead
When you die you go to an enormous city of the dead where you get to exist as long as someone alive remembers you. Brockmeir is getting compared to David Mitchell, but really Mitchell does it better. (***)
Keith Donohue: The Stolen Child
Charming, but another one of those two voice books where both characters sound far too much alike. And yeah I know metaphor/same person, I get it. Still, it left me unconvinced. (***)
Michael Cunningham: Specimen Days
If The Hours is Cunningham's look at women by way of Virginia Wolfe, then Specimen days is his look at men though an oily Walt Whitman lense.
Katherine Albrecht: Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID
Earnest and scary description of how corporations and the government plan to destroy our privacy. The book is repetitive and badly paced, but the earnestness and honest research redeems it.
Check out www.spychips.com. (***)
Tucker Max: I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell
Crazed adventures of a drunken asshole. It is an unusually frank look at the childish way a lot of guys actually think. (****)
David Mitchell: Black Swan Green
Ray Kurzweil: The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology
(***)
Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Karen Salmansohn: Enough, Dammit: A Cynic's Guide to Finally Getting What You Want out of Life
Gregory Stock: Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future
The concept is great, but I was hoping for a little more speculative opinion in addition to the authors oft redundant arguments for germ line manipulation. Mr. Stork makes a good point, but then he keeps making it. Over and over again. Germ line manipulation is inevitable, we're already headed there. Ok we get it. (***)
Laura Penny: Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit
Incisive and witty as hell, with a lot to think about, but the wit can actually be overbearing if you read the book all the way through. For this reason, I recomend reading it a chapter at a time in multiple sessions, like a short story collection. Don't hesitate to skip around in the book, each chapter stands alone quite well. (****)
William R. Clark: Are We Hardwired? : The Role of Genes in Human Behavior
Interesting but a little slow to get to what you really want to read. A bit technical at time. A later chapter is all about homosexuality. (***)
Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
Another Ishiguro story about yearning and loss, this time in a semi-science fiction alternate present. It will make you want to call that guy who you let get away because you were too afraid to take a chance. (****)
Neil Strauss: The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
Alternate Title:
How to Manipulate Chicks and Why You Shouldn't: A True Story and Really, I Mean It, See I am Boffing that Drummer Chick From Courtney Love’s Band (*****)
Barbara Ehrenreich: Bait and Switch : The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
(***)
Patrick Hanlon: Primalbranding : Create Zealots for Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future
(***)
Ian McEwan: Saturday
(***)
Clive Barker: Everville
The Books of the Art are my favorite unfinished Triolgy. This is the second and a masterpiece in expanding a modern myth. Too bad Barker still hasn't published the promised book three 15 years later. (*****)
Walter Moers: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear
Speaking of which...how you uh, how you comin' on that novel you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice litte story you're working on there? Your big novel you've been working on for 3 years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protaganist? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Gotta story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yea, talking about that 3 years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah?
Posted by: Mighty Mouse | September 03, 2008 at 05:24 PM
New boyfriend!!! well whats his name????? and where are the pics? So have you read any of the Twilight books? Suppose to be the new Harry Potter! Angela LOVES them. i read them too. They are great! You should read them! I bet you fall in love with Edward!!! Love, Tina
Posted by: Tina | September 11, 2008 at 09:30 AM