Adam’s Profile

944 ratings (4.25 avg)
517 reviews

http://grimisham.blogspot.com/

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Adam rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Tribes of America: Journalistic Discoveries of Our People and Their Cultures by Paul Cowan	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Wonderfully balanced dispatches from the start of America’s culture wars. Cowan is an worthy writer that takes some from the new journalist school with little of their self-indulgences, focusing on the subject and issue at hand. He reported on most o...more
May 17, 2013 01:34pm · see review
Adam liked Matt's review of The Tribes of America: " Fascinating parallels to our current day and age. My favorite chapters would have to on the Boston busing crisis and the trucker strike. The '70s: So different and yet so similar (cf. conspicuous consumption, Jimmy Carter). "
May 17, 2013 01:34pm · see review
Adam rated a book 3 of 5 stars Tenth of December by George Saunders	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Saunders was a remarkable fresh voice when I first encountered him. His combination of surreal settings and technology mixed with the dirt and grit of human experience and an absurdist vision of American life and workplace mores placed him in the pan...more
May 15, 2013 08:49am · see review
Adam rated a book 4 of 5 stars Pastoralia by George Saunders	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 15, 2013 08:48am
Adam rated a book 3 of 5 stars In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 15, 2013 08:48am
Adam rated a book 5 of 5 stars CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 15, 2013 08:48am
Adam rated a book 3 of 5 stars Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Second nonfiction I have read recently that has evoked Dante’s inferno for me. Sacco and Hedges takes the reader on a tour of our sacrifice zones. Areas that capitalism and other forces (racism and classism mainly) have made into third world failed s...more
May 07, 2013 04:19pm · see review
Adam liked Amy's review of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt: " I liked the concept of combining essays with graphic novel-styled depictions of personal stories, however this book felt too much like propaganda to me. There are five sections - struggles of modern-day Native Americans, Camden, environmental dest... " Read more of this review »
May 07, 2013 04:18pm · see review
Adam rated a book 4 of 5 stars Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror and Deliverance in the City of Love by David Talbot	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dante is often quoted (I paraphrase) as finding heaven the hardest to write of all the sections of his Divine Comedy. I wonder if the writer Talbot had similar difficulties on certain sections of this exuberant popular history of one of my favorite c...more
May 07, 2013 04:18pm · see review

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Quotes Adam Likes

“The optimist sees the future as a rabbit sees the oncoming truck - getting bigger, not closer.”
― Steve Aylett

18 people liked it

“Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biologic state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole.”
― William S. Burroughs

tags: beat, satire, science-fiction

65 people liked it

“I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.”
― J.G. Ballard

tags: imagination, immortality

73 people liked it

“No matter how good the idea, there’s always an advocate extreme enough to deter people.”
― Steve Aylett

3 people liked it

“Civilised life, you know, is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is we forget after a while that they are illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down around us.”
― J.G. Ballard

tags: fish-in-water, normalcy, the-trouble-with-forgetting

134 people liked it

More quotes Adam likes…