false24398364true5622322read3true2952127currently-reading15true2952126to-read16true5454680possibly-never-getting-around-to193false3182982fiction149false3182987non-fiction98false3182992series91false3183002academic77false3182991short-stories71false3182977cultural-studies62false3182971young-adult49false3182974sociology46false3183022borrowed-library39false3182995gender28false3183015music27false3182978popular-culture23false3183005consumption17false3183018journalism17false3182973media-studies10false3183025biography8false3183021heavy-metal8false3183008sci-fi6false3182994humor2false4762652gave-away
<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77653602
to: Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites (Paperback)byMitchell L. Stevens bookshelves: academic,
non-fiction,
sociology
It would be hard for me to say enough good things about this book -- Stevens does a masterful job marshaling participant observation data that in less skillful hands might fall flat. His findings not only offers insights about the role of academics, race, and athletics in elite college admissions; Stevens also creates a powerful argument (and genuine innovation in the sociology of education) connecting the rise of higher education in the United States, the transition from a Fordist to a post-Fordist economy, and the emergence of what Annette Lareau terms "concerted cultivation" as the primary method of middle-class child rearing. The concluding chapter contains so much thoughtful analysis and raises so many questions that I can only hope it will somehow be a springboard for his next project.
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'The Official Preppy Handbook']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75680657
The Official Preppy Handbook (Paperback)
byLisa Birnbach bookshelves: currently-reading,
humor,
popular-culture
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'Devious']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77653556
Devious (It Girl, #9)
byCecily von Ziegesar bookshelves: fiction,
series,
to-read,
young-adult
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'I Will Always Love You']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76618623
I Will Always Love You (Gossip Girl, #12)
byCecily von Ziegesar bookshelves: currently-reading,
fiction,
series,
young-adult
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'Love the One You're With']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74730898
to: Love the One You're With (Gossip Girl: The Carlyles, #4)byCecily von Ziegesar bookshelves: fiction,
series,
young-adult
Has Alloy pulled the plug on this series already? I can't find anything online to say so, but let's just say this book feels like it could be the last in the series. I have to wonder if the new original characters Gossip Girl book coming out in November isn't testing the waters to see if they'd do better just continuing the series with those characters in college than having Constance Billard: The New Class in high school (similarly to how they've really pushed out Jenny and Eric as characters in the most recent season of the show).
But anyway, if this series is getting axed, this book encapsulates many of the reasons why this would happen. It took me over a week to read, and Gossip Girl shouldn't take more than two days, max. Why? The characters in The Carlyles are just not in any way compelling. In the original series, Blair is at once hilarious, terrifying, and at the same time sympathetic. Serena is ditsy, artless, and yet relatable. These new folks though? Avery spends the whole book "screeching" at one person or another, and comes off more Tracy Flick than Blair Waldorf. Baby's personality (as well as her dress size, of which we're constantly reminded) appears to also be a size zero -- there's just nothing there. And Owen is a tedious, testosterone-addled killjoy. Characters who barely even existed in the original Gossip Girl universe (think for example Nate's friend Anthony Avuldsen) seem fascinating by comparison.
As if I haven't been complaining about this enough with the Private series, this book finds the group on vacation on yet another private island. Snooze. This means half the lesser characters aren't even in the book (not that we can keep track of them anyway), and we get introduced to some new ones who aren't exactly noteworthy (the British girls are especially obnoxious). However, at least here the focus remains so much on who's hooking up and who's breaking up that we don't have to spend too long on all the details of being at a luxury resort.
Long story short, whether this is the end of this series or it still has legs (I mean really, if they're willing to put out obvious crap like Alphas, why not keep the Carlyles alive?), it goes to show that CvZ really did have something when she wrote the first few original Gossip Girl books. Simply taking a bunch of rich Manhattan teens, dressing them in Chloe dresses and Balenciaga bags, and setting them free to go at each other does not a successful series make. The first Gossip Girl series had characters who were fabulous but also deeply flawed, and their dramas with family and friends kept the series much more lively than any of the hookups or breakups did. Most of all though, they were funny.
I'm interested to see what happens next, and hoping that they'll at least make an effort to save the Gossip Girl franchise, if not this particular iteration of it. I Will Always Love You had better be good. It's our last best hope for saving this particular type of teen series, and I can't let these books die. Not least because I REFUSE to read books about vampires.
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'American Hair Metal']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75680751
to: American Hair Metal (Paperback)bySteven Blush bookshelves: heavy-metal,
music,
non-fiction
Finally got my hands on this book and it. is. AWESOME! Mostly images, which is great because to read who he's written for (various pop culture rags like Spin, the Village Voice, currently a contributing editor for Paper), it comes as somewhat of an eyebrow-raiser that Steven Blush writes like one of my undergrads. Simple, declarative sentences that don't really relate to each other and kind of just pile on with no real structure of being an actual paragraph save for the fact that a designer made it sit on its own on a page, hence the block of random text takes on the visual appearance of a paragraph.
But for the most part grammar doesn't even matter, because the book is SO photo heavy -- amazing stuff I'd never seen before, and not the usual Neil Zlozower. Not that I don't love his stuff, but the lack of Zloz is probably what makes this book feel so fresh; these aren't pics you've seen a zillion times before.
And what Blush lacks as a writer, to whatever extent he was in charge of the content here, he does a lovely job as a curator. You've got obscure bands like Teeze and Nitro cheek by jowl with Poison and Motley Crue. And most of the text isn't even his; instead, he's culled choice quotes from interviews in Rip, Circus, Hit Parader, Metal Edge, etc. to give the book a flavor of what the boys in these bands were saying about them AT THE TIME, instead of in some watered-down, Behind the Music musing.
The other thing I will say that I liked a lot about this book -- even though, again, in terms of style and grammar the author could really benefit from a critical editor -- is how much it focuses on some of the more sociological perspectives on metal. He actually touches on topics like the politics of whiteness, the tension between androgyny and homophobia, and the overall conservatism of the genre. In an interesting way, this book seems to fit best as a photo and caption-heavy companion to musicologist Robert Walser's Running with the Devil, in my opinion the best book ever written about the genre.
And oh, did I mention the pictures!?!?! Clear, full-color, uncluttered... I want to wallpaper my house with pages from this book. Also, I wish I could give it an extra star just for making me pause to remember the existence of DIAL MTV.
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'Then We Came to the End']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74728725
to: Then We Came to the End (Hardcover)byJoshua Ferris bookshelves: borrowed-library,
fiction
You know, I often complain in my reviews that I read the same things over and over again, but then when I try to branch out, this happens. I thought that 1 star was "hated it" and 2 was "didn't like it," but apparently 1 is "didn't like it" so 1 star it is for this book. It probably started out at around a 3 for me, was a 2 by the time I had 100 pages or so left to go, and in the end was a 1.
I feel like this is the kind of book where somewhat dopey people would say "oh you'll really like this if you like The Office" and slightly brighter folks would say "if you like Douglas Coupland you'll definitely like this." Neither of these things are true. Nor will you definitely like it if you've actually worked at a failing ad agency, as have I.
Who will like this book? Fans of precious, pointless use of the first person plural. People who enjoy the blog "Stuff White People Like." Chicagoans who like recognizing familiar place names and restaurants. Anyone who would complain the movie Office Space isn't heavy-handed enough. Those who believe national tragedies can't be referenced too often. Middle management fanatics. People who can easily suspend disbelief.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'Sunset Boulevard']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74730972
Sunset Boulevard (A-List: Hollywood Royalty, #2)
byZoey Dean bookshelves: fiction,
series,
to-read,
young-adult
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<![CDATA[Tiny Pants added 'The Gum Thief: A Novel']]>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73928639
to: The Gum Thief: A Novel (Hardcover)byDouglas Coupland bookshelves: borrowed-library,
fiction
Another almost five star, save for the ending! Nonetheless, repeat it with me -- Douglas Coupland is back. I loved this novel, which unfolds as a series of letters and touches on themes from throughout his prior ten novels -- the monotony of corporate jobs, the similarities and differences between humans and other animals, the difficulties of being able to choose your friends but not your family.
In addition to the letters, there's a novel within the novel that is amazing, not only enjoyable on its own (it's sort of like a Zadie Smith novel on LSD) but also neat in that you get to watch it unfold, and see how the character writing it brings in bits and pieces of his own and other's lives. Really quite a clever device on the part of Coupland.
Though I don't want to spoil it, I will say my only complaint is with the ending, which I found extremely unsatisfying. I'm not sure what I wanted to have happen, but definitely not what did.
Also in the author blurb in the back claimed JPod is being made into a TV series -- since it's been 2 years, I can only assume this never happened (which if you read my review of that one, you'll know I think is for the best).
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