Tony's profile

89 ratings | 75 reviews
avg rating: 3.73

Tony's bookshelves

read (89)
currently-reading (3)

to-read (6)
re-reading (0)

cloud shelves | see all bookshelves »

Tony is currently reading

	08/19 Tony is currently reading: Something Wicked This Way Comes (Mass Market Paperback) by Ray Bradbury bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	add a comment
	07/21 Tony is currently reading: Carry Me Like Water: A Novel (Paperback) by Benjamin Alire Saenz bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	add a comment
	04/21 Tony is currently reading: Escape from Freedom (Paperback) by Erich Fromm bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
	add a comment

Tony's recent updates (rss)

August 19

Tony made a comment on Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time:

Tony wrote: "By providing education and scholarships, the women are temporarily leaving the home, but they are co...more "

August 02

Tony read and liked David's review of Watchmen:

"I just finished reading Watchmen by the very intense Alan Moore of V for Vendetta fame. I've been on a bit of a comic book/graphic novel kick recentl...more I just finished reading Watchmen by the very intense Alan Moore of V for Vendetta fame. I've been on a bit of a comic book/graphic novel kick recently after completing a whole host of non-fiction work for use in my Master's thesis. The Watchmen is one of those books that anyone who cares, or cared, about comic books and superheroes should read. Set in an alternate American time line, skewed by the existence of masked vigilantes (read: superheroes), Watchmen explores an America that wins the Vietnam War, never catches Nixon as a crook (in fact electing him to a third term), and then makes it illegal to be a superhero without doing so in service of the government.
Like Moore's other work, there are some very thinly veiled critics of the Reagan/Thatcher era. Moore visions a cowboy Americana were everyone is in it for themselves, notions of morality are arbitrary and strictly enforced, and the only officially recognized victims are those already in power. Moore exaggerates phenomenon to make a point about them the same way a satirist might. However, Moore seems instead is reading from the Orwell literary playbook here, warning of how this course of society could devolve. Like Orwell saw an inherent danger in Stalinism, Moore is warning of the dangers of the emerging framework of the Neo-Conservatives. Tough-love for the poor, welfare for the rich, jingoism, and fundamentalism are all part of Moore's world, then called Reaganism. Although Moore personally saw this through Thatcher, the basic reactionary quality was the same on both sides of the Atlantic.
This book touched my personally because it hit upon a discomfort, stemming from an initial fascination, with heroes. I spent many hours of my childhood loving Superman. Lex Luthor, by then a crooked businessman and not the crazed scientist of earlier years, was always the easy personification of evil. His occupation always reflected an area of society that created fear (mad scientists in the 60s, corporate vultures in the 80s, and now I hear politician). With Lex Luthor as the the ultimate evil, Superman by contrast became the ultimate good. The Christ metaphors were never lost on my as a child. The most recent movie did everything but use the phrase "my only begotten son" when describing Superman. And for a time the notion that all we needed was a hero was very comforting to me. However, as Moore would be quick to point out, that desire for a hero is easily exploited.
There are many people much more schooled in comics and superheroes than I that can tell you how much Watchmen changed the genre. I simply know that it did. Characters became more sophisticated and moral choices became less clear. But it is clear to me why this is such a landmark piece. Moore has that ability of all great writers to chastise and console in the same breath, on the same thought. He tells his readers that superheroes are pathetic refuge from reality, but then invites you to share in that fantasy. And for a time you are taken with this world, think maybe there could be a place for superheroes in our world. Then the end comes and you realize what kind of world our supposed heroes really want to bring us. ...less "

add a comment

August 19

Tony gave

to:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time (Paperback)
by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

my rating:

read in August, 2008

Tony said: "I'm in the middle of this book for a non-fic book discussion that I lead, and I'm honestly not enjoying it. I echo what others have said so far, in that the writing slobbers over Mortenson so much that it's distracting.

It definitely seems like...more "

add a comment

Tony is currently reading:
Something Wicked This Way Comes (Mass Market Paperback)
by Ray Bradbury
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

add a comment

Tony gave

to:
The Monster of Florence (Hardcover)
by Douglas Preston, Mario Spezi

my rating:

add a comment

July 21

Tony gave

to:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley (Mass Market Paperback)
by Malcolm X, Alex Haley

my rating:

add a comment

July 19

Tony read and liked Stewart's review of Dandelion Wine:

"I enjoyed reading this book when I was in my early 20s, but only re-reading it in my 50s have I realized what a wonderful novel "Dandelion Wine" is, what an amazing evocation of summer in a small town. The summer evoked is 1928, but it coul...more "

add a comment