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August 24
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Jochs13
is currently reading:
The Cider House Rules (Hardcover)
by John Irving
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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August 22
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New comment on Heather's review of
Love Walked In
(see all 2 comments)
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August 09
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Jochs13
gave
to:
The Things They Carried (Unbound)
by Tim O'Brien
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Jochs13 said:
"Although the flow of the book seemed a bit off, I still really enjoyed this. The book almost feels like a collection of stories rather than a novel, but that being said, each chapter was engaging and a few were beautifully written.
My favorite c...more
Although the flow of the book seemed a bit off, I still really enjoyed this. The book almost feels like a collection of stories rather than a novel, but that being said, each chapter was engaging and a few were beautifully written.
My favorite chapter was about the man returning to his hometown post-Nam, and realizing that his life could no longer function after his war experience. I especially liked the chapter's closing passage: He pulled into Sunset Park and stopped in the shadow of a picnic shelter. After a time he got out, walked down to the beach, and waded into the lake without undressing. The water felt warm against his skin. He put his head under. He opened his lips, very slightly, for the taste, then he stood up and folded his arms and watched the fireworks. For a small town, he decided, it was a pretty good show .
For some reason that image of the man wading into the lake really stuck with me; to me this passage embodied all that was tragic about O'Brien's Vietnam. ...less
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July 26
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Jochs13
gave
to:
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (Paperback)
by Chuck Klosterman
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended to Jochs13 by:
My english teacher
recommended for: Pop culture nerds, the McSweeny/Believer crowd, people who shop at Urban Outfitters
read in July, 2008
Jochs13 said:
"This was my first encounter with Klosterman, and I must say that I found him to be a funny, talented writer. His essays are insightful and witty, and his distinctly post-modern views were interesting, although sometimes a little exasperating (I stil...more
This was my first encounter with Klosterman, and I must say that I found him to be a funny, talented writer. His essays are insightful and witty, and his distinctly post-modern views were interesting, although sometimes a little exasperating (I still can't really get my head around the whole 50-50 probability concept). My english teacher's thesis about these McSweeny/Believer generation of writers (I hate to categorize, but let's face it, this is where Klosterman easily fits) is that they are conciously blurring the lines; blurring the lines between fiction and non-fiction, between fiction and music, fiction and film, etc. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs certainly validates this thesis with it's mix-cd (NOT mixtape, that would be too 1994) format. Each chapter even has it's own liner note (not unlike the Barret Rude Box Set liner notes in Lethem's Fortress of Solitude). I found this format to be engaging, if not entirely groundbreaking.
My one issue with the Sex, Drugs is that Klosterman often seems to complain about the "hipsters." He claims to despise their bandwagon trendiness, their pretentiousness, their ahbhorance of mainstream country and love of Uncle Tupelo. However, by crusading against the hipsters, he too comes off as pretentious. It's like he is so concerned with being "alternative" that he's created his own brand of hipster snobbery. Also, I was not joking when i recommended this book for those who shop at Urban Outfitters. This shamelessly "hip" clothing store, which Klosterman would theoretically despise, features several of his books (this one included) in their "literature" section near the check-out. Despite these issues, I really did enjoy this book, and if the reader can get past the pretentiousness he/she will definitely dig it....less
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July 24
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Jochs13
marked as to-read:
Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power (Paperback)
by Victor Davis Hanson
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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July 22
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Jochs13
marked as to-read:
Trinity (Mass Market Paperback)
by Leon Uris
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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July 11
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Jochs13
gave
to:
Motherless Brooklyn (Paperback)
by Jonathan Lethem
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended to Jochs13 by:
Cindy Wall
recommended for: The Eggers McSweeny's Crowd, those looking for an unconventional detective story
read in July, 2008
Jochs13 said:
"There are a lot of things I liked about this book: When I first opened Motherless Brooklyn, I thought Lionel's outburts would be disruptive and interrupt to the flow of the story, but by the first chapter's conclusion I basically glossed right over t...more
There are a lot of things I liked about this book: When I first opened Motherless Brooklyn, I thought Lionel's outburts would be disruptive and interrupt to the flow of the story, but by the first chapter's conclusion I basically glossed right over them (like Gilbert and Danny), which I think is a credit to Lethem's power as a story-teller and wordsmith. As in Fortress of Solitude, Lethem writes beautiful, sometimes dazzling, passages. Still, the story and characters couldn't hold my attention the same way that FOS did. It could be that I simply plunged into FOS further because I was reading it for a class, or that the Zen/Buddhist stuff in MB really bored me, but I simply didn't have the same connection with Lionel and Frank that I had with Dylan, Mingus, Barret, etc. in Fortress of Solitude....less
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July 07
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Jochs13
marked as to-read:
Beach Music (Paperback)
by Pat Conroy
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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June 30
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Jochs13
read and liked
Jenni's
review of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto:
"Recommended for: English majors who like to play deconstruction, hipsters who used to make mix tapes,anyone who knows of Lloyd Dobbler, guys who are really into music and didn't get laid until college, the girls who love them
Forgive me for wha...more
Recommended for: English majors who like to play deconstruction, hipsters who used to make mix tapes,anyone who knows of Lloyd Dobbler, guys who are really into music and didn't get laid until college, the girls who love them
Forgive me for what I'm about to do. I'm really not a complete curmudgeon, and I feel nefarious for the review I'm about to give, mostly because everyone I know likes this book, but I simply can't promote all of these essays as refreshingly creative and brilliantly written pop culture analyses.
(disregard this review with respect to Tracks [the essays are tracks for the metaphorical mix CD Klosterman has created:] 2, 5 , 12, and 15)
Klosterman is that witty and perspicacious guy in the Misfits Tee we all know from college who began dating around his sophomore year when women realized he was smart and amusing (and Klosterman himself attributes this to the Woody Allen/MiaFarroworDianeKeaton paradigm). But in Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs he seems as if he still has to prove how hip, smart, and deserving of ladies (and attention)he really is. There's a telling point when Klosterman is discussing country and alt country music (see "Toby Over Moby") and chastises hipsters for their elitism and fickleness, but simultaneously, Klosterman name drops obscure little bands, and makes sure to let readers know what hallowed and respected hipster singers inhabit his CD shelf ( he has 17 Dylan and Phair albums, to be exact).
Actually, there's no shortage of evidence about how hip, cool, and sensitive Kklosterman is. This collection is his ode to his coolness, and it feels amateurish. These are the essays we've all virtually written after rounds of drinks at the local dive bar. These are the musings of anyone who has ever had any knack or talent for deconstruction (or charming, somewhat intellectual bullshit) after overdosing on Mountain Dew and the equally empty calories of Teen dream television (Klosterman chooses Saved By The Bell and MTV'S first Real World here).
Klosterman's writing is problematic because many of these essays feel like they were written for a junior composition class (although I have to admit, Klosterman would certainly be a favored student). I can practically feel the teacher's notes on the pages: "Chuck, need to end with a WOW! statement" --- all the ending sentences are the mass produced Eng 300 variety: concise, annoyingly clever, and they sort of pertain to something mentioned in the essay.
The good news: These essays will resonate with you, overeducated hipster reader. If you grew up in the 80s and early 90s, then you will get these, and they will likely be the encapsulation of everything you and your drunkard Chuck Taylor wearing, irony branded, PBR drinking buddies discussed on the long walk home from the party. I admit, Chuck Klosterman amused me, but mostly because he wrote down all the thoughts my friends and I used to discuss. ...less
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