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June 02
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Noel
gave  to:
Bone in the Throat (Paperback)
by
Anthony Bourdain
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Noel said:
"Not. Bad.
Tried to read this once before, but the author's voice and repetitive cadence kept getting into my head. If anything, that's proof that I need to watch less TV. Also, the way food and kitchens come in to play right off the bat, a...more
Not. Bad.
Tried to read this once before, but the author's voice and repetitive cadence kept getting into my head. If anything, that's proof that I need to watch less TV. Also, the way food and kitchens come in to play right off the bat, and the way the food is described in scenes where it's not even important made it hard for me to take this book seriously at first. At much as I like Tony, I kept thinking "Your a chef! I GET it!"
Anyway, today was jury duty and I took this in with me, and before I knew it I was sucked into the world and the characters and once I was released from service, I came home and finished it. New York; kitchens; drugs; mobsters; cops; murders - you get the picture. It's not literature but it's a good story.(less)
"
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May 30
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May 25
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Noel
gave  to:
Homes and Other Black Holes (Mass Market Paperback)
by
Dave Barry
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my rating:
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read in May, 2009
Noel said:
"It often happens that there are pop culture things that I miss out on for years and years and years, either through obsession with other things, or lack of caring, or just... I'll get around to it someday.
Finally got around to Dave Barry th...more
It often happens that there are pop culture things that I miss out on for years and years and years, either through obsession with other things, or lack of caring, or just... I'll get around to it someday.
Finally got around to Dave Barry this weekend, and I gotta say: this guy gets PAID to write this shit? Like, he's famous for doing this? He's a best selling author? He's though of as a HUMORIST? REALLY?!?!?!?
I wouldn't even describe his 'observations' as low-hanging fruit; these jokes were picked up off the ground. Bill Hicks knocked some of these jokes down 20 years ago while climbing the comedy tree, reaching for a much better joke that he still deemed not good enough for his act. That last sentence was funnier than anything in the book. This book is devoid of anything approaching cleverness.
I mean:
"There are many different types of gardens to choose from, such as the flower garden which consists of flowers, the vegetable garden, which consists of vegetables, and the Japanese garden, which consists of Japanese."
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Really, you can FEEL Barry's elbow poking you in the ribs: Isn't that FUNNY? Aren't I FUNNY????
No, not really.
The best thing that can be said about this book is that it didn't take more than an hour of my time, including this rant.
So; Dave Barry. No, thanks. Clearly he has plenty of fans for whatever reason and I don't need to be one of them.(less)
"
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Noel
marked as to-read:
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Paperback)
by
Douglas R. Hofstadter
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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Noel said:
"Gave up. Will try again eventually.
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April 27, 2008
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Noel
gave  to:
Gravity's Rainbow (Paperback)
by
Thomas Pynchon
bookshelves:
catch-up-ratings
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my rating:
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January 11, 2008
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Noel
gave to:
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (Paperback)
by
Legs McNeil
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my rating:
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read in November, 2007
Noel said:
"I absolutely inhaled this. Legs' view is that punk was a strictly American phenomenon with its roots in The Doors, The Velvet Underground, The MC5, & The Stooges, and that the British got it completely wrong and basically killed the movement. And h...more
I absolutely inhaled this. Legs' view is that punk was a strictly American phenomenon with its roots in The Doors, The Velvet Underground, The MC5, & The Stooges, and that the British got it completely wrong and basically killed the movement. And he presents that argument well.
Pretty much everyone in the book appears to be exactly what I already thought:
* Jim Morrison was often drunk and frequently terrible live, and wrote really bad high school-grade poetry.
* David Bowie was a rather uptight guy until he fell in with the New York crowd.
* The MC5 were phony revolutionaries, using it as a marketing gimmick.
* Lou Reed is not, as you will see constant reference to, a scat-munching asshole. No, Lou Reed is a scat-munching douche.
* Patti Smith was a truly creepy girl with a tenuous grip on reality, who stalked the stars of the underground scene until they invited her in. (OK, I didn't know that before, but FUUUUUUUUck!)
* Everybody was SO. FUCKED. UP. I can't BELIEVE that more of them did not die...
* Almost everyone in the NY punk scene turned tricks at one time or another to make ends meet.
* Musicians are assholes, or so goes the refrain from the label A&R guy that signed a lot of these bands.
* Of course, so are label execs.
* Despite being just as fucked up, selfish, and self-absorbed as everyone else in the book Iggy Pop is the only guy that comes out looking good. I'm not even that much of a fan, but it's hard to hate Iggy.
So, highly recommended, is what I'm getting at here...(less)
"
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Noel
gave to:
A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.)
by
Howard Zinn
bookshelves:
catch-up-ratings
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my rating:
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November 28, 2007
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Noel
marked as to-read:
Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That Are Very, Very Bad for Me (Paperback)
by
Sarah Katherine Lewis (Goodreads author)
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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November 01, 2007
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Noel
marked as to-read:
Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World (Paperback)
by
Paul S. Collins
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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October 28, 2007
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Noel
gave  to:
Wolves of the Calla (Dark Tower 5)
by
Stephen King
bookshelves:
catch-up-ratings
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my rating:
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