Posts Tagged ‘review’

So far in my fruitless quest to read as close to 100 books as possible in 2010, I’ve been pretty pleased with the variety in my choices.  Fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, science fiction…and now, a memoir.  Truthfully, the only reason this book stuck out to me was because of the title: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. C’mon, you have to admit it’s catchy.

I’ve always liked the television-ized version of the curmudgeon (i.e. House, Frank Barone, Perry Cox…the list goes on) and sometimes I fantasize about being a wise-cracking smart-ass in real life. Unfortunately, much like the title, I would quickly lose friends and alienate people. At least…a lot more than I naturally do now.

Anyway, the book follows the times of Toby Young, a journalist from England who decided to try to strike it big with riches, fame and fortune - not to mention hot women - in the bustling city of New York. It’s the cultural mecca of fashion, finance, food and other finds (see what I did there?)…the modern Rome, if you will. Who says he can’t conquer it and be a part of the ruling class?

As you may have already guessed from the title and the snippet that I discussed earlier about curmudgeons, Toby ends up screwing up. A LOT. Spectacularly, I might add. I thought that his writing style was pretty easy to follow, although he does tend to go on tangents quite a few times. Although he admits multiple times in his memoir that his is a celebrity-gawking whore, I can’t help but…well, just dislike him quite a bit through a few parts of the book. I find it sort of ironic how he complains that he is going nowhere when everything he did was just plain stupid. In fact, even the “funny” stories in the book weren’t even that funny. Some of them were just a bit cringeworthy.

In the end, I found it interesting that he was able to neatly tie it up in a rather…well, conclusive ending. It’s almost as though this memoir was made to be a movie: unlikely protagonist, hijinks, fall from grace, and salvation. Did he deserve the ending that he got? Eh.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that he just comes across a bit like a self-entitled brat…and yet he was able to get a book deal which was then turned into a movie. It’s like being okay with that stupid book by Tucker Max. Moral of the story with these books? Be a complete idiotic, self-indulgent jerk and write a book and make $$$. Almost makes me re-think my strategy when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Almost.

Would I recommend it?  Mmmm….not really.  You wouldn’t really be missing out on much if you decided to pass this over. Of course, if someone out there loves this book, I’d sure like to know why.

As a kid, I read about the Japanese Internment camps during World War II.  Although I knew about them, it always felt as though textbooks tended to gloss over that segment of American history. It felt like the books tended to note it as an afterthought, something like “during World War II there was a lot of anger after Pearl Harbor and Japanese citizens were rounded up and sent to camps where they lived in squalor…terrible, terrible thing…moving on!”

As a result, I didn’t really get a feeling of how…well…REALLY SAD and difficult it must have been for people back then until I read the short novel When The Emperor Was Divine.  It’s written in a very simple prose from the perspective of a family, and it provides very rich details.  I really appreciated the book and the subtle conveyance of how the events unfolded. The author helped me better understand the feelings of shame, confusion, loneliness and sadness that the Japanese American citizens felt.

What made it even more interesting to me was the fact that the family lived in the Bay Area.  I walk up and down the streets each day not thinking that less than 100 years ago, people lived very different lives.  It’s hard to imagine how to deal with the rampant racism that went on back then.  Although there are times where I roll my eyes at ignorance, it’s a very different thing to be surrounded by it every day. I think it is even more difficult to imagine being punished for something you did not do…but merely because of who other people THINK and perceive you to be: a monster. Something to put away, out of sight. A mere scapegoat.

Is it one of my favorite books so far?  Well, no. But it’s a simple read and I’m glad I read it.  I think this would be a very good book for teachers to put on the classroom reading list in middle school or high school.  More than anything, it gives a new, deeper perspective on events that happened in our own backyard…thing that Americans felt were “righteous” but were clearly wrong.

I feel like this is the type of book I would usually write about in a book report and analyze all the nuances and imagery.  But, luckily I’m in the real world now…so I won’t. If anybody else has read this book, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Ah, Tuesday. It’s still a little hard to get oriented to this new week, especially after a three-day weekend.  After sorting through my “blah” moments during Valentine’s Day and taking it fairly easy on President’s Day, it was actually quite nice to get back to work.  In addition to getting back to the ‘ol 9 to 5 (and many times beyond 9 to 5) job, I decided to finally jump back on my task of reading as many books as possible.

I’m still in the midst of reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but I did get sidetracked by a new library book - A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book.  In fact, one of the reasons I was so keen on reading it was because of the title.  I know the old adage goes: “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but I fail to see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to judge it by its name.

The basic premise is that a neighbor’s dog is killed with a garden fork.  Christopher, the narrator and main character, has decided to get to the bottom of this.

At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised.  Although there were parts that I skimmed over a little bit (the main character is autistic, and a mathematical savant) overall, I love how the story unfolds through his eyes.  The protagonist’s voice is no nonsense, factual, yet human and full of unspoken simple longing.  Although he can’t explain the reasons why the people around him act the way they do, it’s enough for the reader to understand the depth and breadth of the people that love him.  It’s not a sappy happy ending, but it’s still one that makes you feel good.

I think another reason why this book really spoke to me was because I read Born On A Blue Day last year, a rather autobiographical book by a real mathematical savant, Daniel Tammet.  Because my brother is mildly autistic (albeit not a savant) I can in some ways empathize with how the main characters feel.  It’s feels as though I have a little window into understanding what makes my brother tick, especially when it was difficult to fathom when I was growing up with him.

Definitely an easy read and highly recommended to someone who enjoys fiction or has a personal connection with autism.

As some of my friends know, I borrowed the books from the Twilight series because I decided that it was too much of a cultural phenomenon for me to ignore. It’s hard to resist figuring out what exactly moves an entire group of people spanning from teeny-boppers to cougars. With many people warning me that it would not be a pleasant ride (I tend to have a streak of cynicism when it comes to teeny-bopper angst drama) I decided to dive right in anyway.

I wanted to reserve all of my thoughts until I completed the series. I nearly did complete the series, except I decided to lapse in my marathon reading due to my excursion for Asia. Last night, after settling down a little early due to a cold, I thought I’d complete my Twilight Series Experiment and finish the whole thing.

And for some reason, I could not finish it. And here is why: I picked up the last book, Breaking Dawn, read a few pages, and came across this sentence:

He was both dazzling and dazzled.

When I read that, I just closed the book.

For those of you who didn’t read the books and just watch the movie, I won’t spoil it for you…even though I really want to. Actually, you know what…if you love this series and have never FULLY read it, don’t. Because I will add spoilers, so you know what you are in for. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Basically, the sentence is the narrator (Bella) talking about how Edward is just SOOO beautiful and WAIT! He’s soooo enamored with her.  Gawsh.  How cute.  Barf.

First of all, I just want to preface this by saying that I tried my hardest to give these books a shot. In fact, many friends and colleagues whom I adore and respect absolutely swear by this series. Fine, okay. I can see its appeal. But then, the whole appeal of it is exactly why I can’t stand it.

In a nutshell, I believe most (not all) Twilight fans love the series because:

1. Almost any reader who has ever felt awkward, out of place, unattractive, mediocre and plain can place themselves in the narrator’s shoes. Helloooooooo, teenage years!

2. Almost any reader who has ever had a crush on the attractive, amazing, unattainable blah blah blah guy in junior high/high school/college/life will swoon because Edward is *sew hawt* … we know he is hot because S. Meyer loves to tell us so.

3. Who wouldn’t want to have a kid and still maintain that rockin’ teenage body that transforms into an even MORE amazin’ rockin’ teenage body. Yes, people, moronic spineless whiny-baby (aka the main character) gets knocked up and turns into a vampire.

The reason why I really just can’t wrap my head around his book? All of those reasons above. I’m all for escapism, or traveling to another world through books. But this book basically panders to the worst type of longings — that a strong, hot, RICH guy will swoop in and take care of everything for you. That yes, you are plain and klutzy but it’s cool because when you find that guy, you’ll be validated in your existence.  Gosh, he may hurt you, but he loves you just SOOOO much.

Oh, and vampires are teh hawtness and super nice and not going to eats you dead. And the kicker is..these books are targeting YOUNG GIRLS. Young girls who don’t know any better. Young girls who, subconsciously or not, may think that defining your life by a guy is A-OKAY and pretty super.  As for the adult women who swoon over this…I don’t get it.

And the writing? Okay, I do not claim to be any sort of professional, nor to even claim that I possess more talent than S. Meyer. Truthfully, I hate to judge any writer’s work, especially given that she did, indeed, create an empire on her stories (props to you, S. Meyer, for that).

That said, I simply vomit and die a little inside each time I encounter the word “smolder” or “dazzle.”

Sample sentences? Don’t mind if I do:

“He smiled the kind of smile that would have stopped my heart if it were still beating.”

“I felt as cold as snow - there was no fire in me.”

I won’t even go into how these sentences make me want to bang my head against a hard object. A lot. Of course, despite my grumblings about the poor choice in words (Smolder? Really? C’mon, at least try to break a LITTLE further away from the trashy-novel cliche words, please! You might as well talk about his “hulking manliness” or something if you’re going to use words like that) and my problems with the weak sauce main heroine and one-dimensional hero…some things that were neat were how the families worked and were organized. The werewolf pack for instance. But, yeah. That’s pretty much all I got.

Anybody care to agree or disagree? Please don’t hate. Appreciate.