Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Death by Leisure: A Cautionary Tale
by
Chris Ayres (Goodreads Author)
The hilariously intrepid young author of War Reporting for Cowards returns from Iraq only to dive head-first into another absurd, terrifying world: the American leisure class. Like Hunter Thompson crossed with one of David Brooks’s bobos in paradise, Ayres embeds himself in LA’s “liesuretocracy”: an over-the-top world of caviar facials, billionaire charity balls, souped-up...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
February 15th 2009
by Atlantic Monthly Press
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
234)
Ok let's cut the shit. I don't like Chris Ayres and I don't like people like Chris Ayres -- and it sounds like L.A. is crawling with them. That said, Chris Ayres is one hell of a funny guy. Whining, self-deprecating, unabashedly materialistic, and hopeless with the women... I mean, the guy sells his furniture on craigs list as a ploy to get women to talk to him??? Would I take the guy's phone call? No fucking way. Did I think I'd finish a semi-autobiography by the guy? Not on your life. But I di...more
A pretty quick read that follows the author as he moves to LA from back-of-the-woods English town. This is a few years before the housing crisis of 2007, so he - predictably - goes hogwild with credit cards, personal loans, and a ridiculous ARM loan on "the perfect bachelor pad". He also leases a Range Rover.
This book actually reminds EXACTLY of "Save Karyn" but from a guy's POV. Except whereas Karyn was saved by her website and then got a book deal, Ayres went straight for the book deal about...more
This book actually reminds EXACTLY of "Save Karyn" but from a guy's POV. Except whereas Karyn was saved by her website and then got a book deal, Ayres went straight for the book deal about...more
This book should be required reading. I'm not kidding. If you want to understand why the economy (and the weather for that matter) is so ridiculously horrible, you should read this book. I barely understood why the housing market collapsed until I read this book. Hilarious and yet disturbing, Chris Ayres delivers another homerun. And if you haven't read War Reporting For Cowards (also by Ayres) yet, check it out, definitely worth your time and money.
This is a fun and funny book about Ayres experience living in LA leading up to and into the housing collapse. He does a great job making fun of himself which is a good quality. And you can stop to examine your own ridiculous excesses and follies when you know his are at least as bad. It's not earth-shattering but it is fun to read.
Chris Ayres wanted everything now: a million-dollar home, a super-hot girlfriend, a credit-card-enabled life of leisure, a cushy job. He moved from a sheep-raising village in England to LA, where indeed he could get everything now. Be prepared to laugh out loud!
Great storytelling from an English reporter diving into life in L.A., and about overconsumption and the breakdown of our economy and environment, though you often feel that Ayres doesn't do enough in the way of practicing what he preaches, or...learns.
This book was quite funny in parts, but large stretches made me zone out (mostly the authors musings on environmental downfall and the impending apocalypse). I would rate this a 4 and 1/2 for humor alone but the other parts really dragged it down.
A very funny look at greed in Los Angeles right before the "bubble" burst. You should condemn the author fior his excess, though you can't, because it's too much fun. Not great literature, but fun to read.
I think this guy is up there with P.J. O"Rourke with his insight into what the current world is like and with very funny and insightful views that describe the world as it is even though those realities aren't always easy to see in the here and now.
Very smart and engaging. Laugh-out-loud funny all the way through. He sums up our current culture of consumption like nobody else. Think Jon Stewart meets Ricky Gervais.
A thoroughly enjoyable tale of financial crash and burn in Los Angeles......I felt a strong shudder of "hmmm.....I'm heading down the same path" as I read it.
A great book. Laughs on every page, and a good reminder that our society, in the perspective of sanity and rationality, is incredibly delusional.
Highly entertaining fish-out-of-water story (here the fish is an Englishman in LA) with nuggets of Deep Thoughts about overconsumption and the apocalypse.
A British reporter living in Los Angeles with Gatsbyesque excess covering showbiz. Bizarre, exaggerated, humorous.
Mildly amusing - the poor man's Chuck Klosterman but nowhere as witty or funny as Klosterman.
I am SO glad I don't have to live in LA... Although if I did live in LA, I could write a book about it. Just like Chris Ayres did.
I picked this up because I really enjoyed the laugh-aloud tale of Ayres' "War Reporting for Cowards". But his sophomore "Death by Leisure" was lacking. While amusing and a quick read, "Death by Leisure" -- upon some Googling of the topics the author brought up -- was more of a rehash of Ayres' columns strung together under the umbrella of environmental and economical references. I liked it as a quick read, and could relate, having known some of the LA culture as well as the realities of being a...more
Commentary about the environment is hidden in his wish to be rich.
Fucking hilarious!
This is a must read book for everyone who is wondering what the hell happened to the economy in the past 2 years. As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us". The recent crisis in Europe will make its way to China--this is a "Domino Theory" that is a real threat--and the people who are overusing and overbuying will have to get a clue.
a must-read for any aspiring blagger
Well written, but lacking in substance. Reading this book was like eating popcorn. You don't actually enjoy it, but you keep eating it anyway.
Fairly amusing. fun, but with a bit of a lack of foucus. If you want to read something good by him, do war reporting for cowards- all the fun, but he was forced to focus on a unifying theme.
Yes, Kate, I finally finished it.
And unlike Ashley (who gave me this book), I actually liked Ayres' second book at least as much as his first.
And unlike Ashley (who gave me this book), I actually liked Ayres' second book at least as much as his first.
A fantastic read! A rollercoaster ride filled with that self depeicating humor that makes you squirm and laugh all at the same moment.
how high-flying US lifestyles have contributed to environmental and economic collapse...Sierra Club magazine thinks it's good.
what a GREAT book: very funny, thoughtful & insightful, social criticism at its finest; outsider's perspective on L.A., and insider's perspective on pop culture & media, conspicuous consumption (and the weather), and the economic bubble. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Apr 28, 2013
Luke
marked it as to-read
Apr 27, 2013
Ervin
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
