false 8 69 68 true 5997506 read 1 true 4711472 currently-reading 0 true 4711471 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/60770389 to: Women: A Novel (Paperback) by Charles Bukowski
A good read, but at least twice as long as it needed to be. I read an analysis of Bukowski somewhere that claimed his writings were just male "free bachelor" fantasy, and I guess it makes sense. I suppose that there's something that's elemental about Bukowski's persona. It's exaggerated and ugly and fiction, but holds a kernal of truth I think. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62988631 to: The Great Gatsby (Paperback) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50968198 to: Breakfast of Champions (Paperback) by Kurt Vonnegut
Not Vonnegut's best IMO. It lacks the essential kindness you might find in Cat's Cradle or God Bless You Mr Rosewater. There are thousands of authors ready to say something true and cruel about humans. Vonnegut, at his best, manages to say something true and kind about humans. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50976544 Jere's review of The Trial
by Franz Kafka

I didn't finish this one, but the first third was quintessential Kafka. It didn't really seem like it was ever going to resolve itself out of the twisted little maze he set up, and I lost interest. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39961706 Greg's review of Everyman
by Philip Roth

You know, it's probably good to read at least one or two Philip Roth books, but the dude seems to be a one-trick pony. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62985559 to: Animal Farm (Paperback) by George Orwell
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62985550 to: 1984 (Paperback) by George Orwell
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62978169 to: Survivor (Paperback) by Chuck Palahniuk
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62977573 to: Tales of the Jazz Age (Paperback) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I'm really starting to wonder why everything that Fitzgerald wrote was wretched and puerile with the exception of Gatsby, which was magnificent. Tales of the Jazz age is not a good collection of stories. None of them are entertaining or evocative, and there's something fundamentally shallow and cruel about the way Fitzgerald writes his characters. It's difficult to figure whether he's just a jaded misanthrope or just can't write his characters in a way to make them even a little bit sympathetic. Maybe both. ]]>