This is the March selection for the PALS book club (suggested by my friend Sean), and I straight up DEVOURED it in less than 24 hours. (Not hard to do...moreThis is the March selection for the PALS book club (suggested by my friend Sean), and I straight up DEVOURED it in less than 24 hours. (Not hard to do with a book this short, but mostly achieved by not putting the book down during lunch or at the gym.) I loved it from beginning to end - the mystery, the dialogue (oh my GOD THE AWESOME DIALOGUE), the time period, the Nick/Nora dynamic, the characters, the crazy terminology - absolutely everything. It's almost shocking to me that I've never read any Dashiell Hammett before now, but you can bet that I'll be running out to buy The Maltese Falcon as soon as possible.
In fact, I might stick exclusively to '30s mystery novels from here on out - I forgot how completely enjoyable reading a mystery can be. I don't think I've ventured into the genre since my Nancy Drew and Boxcar Children days, and gumshoe-ing is so much more enjoyable when it also involves characters that regularly stay up til 5 a.m., have cocktails before breakfast, and say the most deliciously clever things to each other. It also kept me guessing until the end - I really had NO IDEA what was coming, and now that the mystery is solved, I'm tempted to read the book again immediately with that knowledge.
Loved it to pieces, and can't wait to read more.(less)
Didn't enjoy this as much as Blink or The Tipping Point, but Malcolm Gladwell is always an interesting, enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
...moreDidn't enjoy this as much as Blink or The Tipping Point, but Malcolm Gladwell is always an interesting, enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
Gladwell defines outliers as "things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience," and in this book he examines the circumstances that actually create outliers, because their stories are not always as simple as they seem. From the Beatles to Bill Gates, from geniuses to rice paddies to plane crashes, Outliers shows again and again that successes (and failures) are never just flukes, they are actually the products of background, opportunity and the amount of effort applied.
The thing I took away from this book is that while natural talent and genius go a long way towards making someone a shooting-star type success, it really is hard work (sometime ten thousand hours worth of hard work) and taking advantage of the opportunities presented to you that can really make you excel. While most of the outliers Gladwell describes can attribute their success to extraordinary luck, it shouldn't be discouraging when we aren't presented with the same serendipitous circumstances. It is, in fact, easy to overcome your background and your cultural legacies, and to create your own opportunities - with good old-fashioned hard work. I guess it isn't "easy," because it is "hard work" we're talking about - but recognizing the systems that perhaps are inadvertently preventing success, and working to overcome the disadvantages those present will go a long way in helping you become an outlier yourself.
The section on math at the end of the book reinforces this the most - because it is the students who will work on a difficult problem, who will try and try again instead of giving up, who can be the best at mathematics. Not just the students who are innately "good at math." (less)
A friend loaned this to me, thinking I might like it - and he was right. Somehow I've managed never to have read any Hunter S. Thompson (no Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas...moreA friend loaned this to me, thinking I might like it - and he was right. Somehow I've managed never to have read any Hunter S. Thompson (no Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas, or even Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail - despite the fact that I went to BU and it seems like ALL of my friends were required to read it), so this was my first encounter with the author.
I have to admit, at first I was somewhat disappointed - not that I'm a huge fan of tangents and monologues and introspective soul-searching in my fiction, but this book started off with a lot of "this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened," which left me a little disappointed ("THIS is what everyone has been talking about?"). But things picked up, and not only did the story become more interesting - I also started to see the larger picture of what the story really meant. It was still and incredibly light & quick read, but I was happy to discover that it has some depth.(less)
The February PALS selection - which I had been wanting to read, as did a few other members of the club. LOVED IT. I don't read a lot of non-fiction ...moreThe February PALS selection - which I had been wanting to read, as did a few other members of the club. LOVED IT. I don't read a lot of non-fiction anymore (though I'm working on Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers right now, and I hope to read Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals soon), and I certainly don't read a lot of historical non-fiction. Plus, I've just never been that interested in late 1800's American history anyway - I mean, who is? Well, now - I AM.
While the book club decided that Larson went a little crazy with his foreshadowing (seriously, the part with the Ferris wheel was about to make me crazy) and overall there were several other issues with his prose, I still adored this book, and barely noticed any issues with the writing. Learning about all of this was fascinating - the fair itself, the architects, Buffalo Bill Cody, the meals they ate at the time, and the overall picture of the 1890's in general, which is something I knew absolutely nothing about. And every time my interest waned the tiniest bit, it was on to an ominous chapter about H.H. Holmes anyway - the first serial killer in the United States. Running parallel tales side-by-side kept things interesting, and in perspective, and proved to be more enjoyable than either story would have been alone.
I only have two questions:
- Who wants to go to Chicago? I really want to see where this all went down.
- Who can recommend something else to read about this time period? I'm overwhelmed at the thought of trying to track down something this entertaining and engaging, though if it exists, I certainly want to find it. (less)
This was our January selection for the new book club I started this year - the Paper Apples Literary Society (PALS). I chose it because it was open-e...moreThis was our January selection for the new book club I started this year - the Paper Apples Literary Society (PALS). I chose it because it was open-ended, really, and because it appeared on a number of "great books for book clubs" lists. I wanted to make sure we had something to talk about.
I enjoyed the book, though I wish it could have been a bit tighter, more concise. The consensus at the club meeting was that it might have made a better short story than a novel (and I know I have to read The Things They Carried, because everyone tells me it's O'Brien's best work). I did enjoy the way the story was presented though - the events unfolding after her disappearance juxtaposed with "evidence" and the hypotheses of what might have happened.
Probably wouldn't read it again, but I may recommend it. And for the record, I was the only one in PALS who didn't agree on what happened to Kathy. If you ask me, I'll tell you what I think.(less)
Picking up the newest Nick Hornby was the best possible way I could have kicked off my 2010 reading, and even with all the books I hope to have ahead ...morePicking up the newest Nick Hornby was the best possible way I could have kicked off my 2010 reading, and even with all the books I hope to have ahead of me this year, I think Juliet Naked is going to be hard to beat.
First of all, it's hard for me not to love a Hornby book (thought I still can't get through Fever Pitch), and it's particularly hard not to love a Hornby book that's so closely tied to music. Add his incredible knack for nailing emotions and relationships and the incredibly complicated, never black-and-white reality of what it is to feel and doubt and question and self-analyze and change and grow and love, and Juliet, Naked falls into place next to About A Boy and High Fidelity in my list of my favorite books by the author. I loved this from top to bottom (and admittedly fell a little in love with Tucker Crowe) and could barely put it down, which is why I managed to finish it in a little over 24 hours. Granted it's short and a quick read, but mostly that's because I was completely smitten.
I think the thing I loved the most about this book is that alongside the little truths Hornby always drops into his writing - shining little clear moments where you're like "yes, that is EXACTLY what it's like" - he also touches upon the complicated business of loving music in Juliet, Naked, which obviously hit close to home. The passion (and borderline obsession) that goes into loving and listening and living through music is something I will always be able to identify with, and as long as Hornby continues to be able to put it into words, I think he will always be one of my favorite authors.(less)
**spoiler alert** Really enjoyed this, but I was surprised that I actually didn't enjoy it as much as the movie (how often do you say that - that the ...more**spoiler alert** Really enjoyed this, but I was surprised that I actually didn't enjoy it as much as the movie (how often do you say that - that the movie was actually better?).
While I loved the additional imaginative elements that were impossible to capture in the film - some of the physical descriptions of the island's geography, some of the crazy animals, things along those lines - I really missed the added sweetness of the film, because it was the small moments from the movie that are absent from the book that really stayed with me after my trip to the theater. (That and there doesn't seem to be as much humor - I remember giggling my way through much of the movie.)
Mild spoiler alert - I also really really missed the whole Bob and Terry element from the film. That and the fact that my TWO FAVORITE parts of the ending are completely missing left me a little sad, a little disappointed, abut mostly just ready to watch the movie again.(less)
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