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May 14
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Tung
is currently reading:
Sports Illustrated: Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Reilly (Hardcover)
by Editors of Sports Illustrated, Rick Reilly
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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May 08
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Tung
gave
to:
No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories (Hardcover)
by Miranda July
bookshelves:
short-stories
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Tung said:
"Miranda July is your typical all-around artistse – accomplished filmmaker, performance artist, and writer. This collection of short stories (in almost everyone’s Top Ten list for 2007) is her first published book, although half the stories in her...more
Miranda July is your typical all-around artistse – accomplished filmmaker, performance artist, and writer. This collection of short stories (in almost everyone’s Top Ten list for 2007) is her first published book, although half the stories in here were previously published in elite literary mags like The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope. She is the epitome of contemporary pop fiction, to me the generation of young writers who grew up with the minimalist fiction of Raymond Carver. (It’s no surprise, then, that Dave Eggers, George Saunders, and Amy Hempel wrote three of book jacket quotes for this book.) And there is much to like in July’s prose – it’s filled with creative metaphors (for instance, she compares an attractive person with a glaring fault to “the optical illusion of a vase made out of the silhouette of two people kissing. Now it is a vase . . . now it could only be two people kissing . . . oh, but it is so completely a vase.”), and it’s filled with cleverly crafted insights (for example, she notes that “People tend to stick to their own size group because it’s easier on the neck. Unless they are romantically involved, in which case the size difference is sexy. It means: I am willing to go the distance for you.”). And like a Saunders or a TC Boyle, the characters in July’s stories are all quirky (like the attractive lady who has an eye-catching birthmark removed who then mourns its loss) and the situations they find themselves are just as quirky (like a young girl who decides to teach a group of elderly people how to swim, only there is no pool or body of water in the town they reside in, so she fills large bowls of water in her house and has the old people place their faces into the bowls and scoot along the floor). But some of July’s stories also share my one gripe with contemporary pop fiction writers: many of their stories lack real depth. The stories strive for profundity, and hint at profundity, but the emotions they’re trying to convey seem more like creative writing exercises (making the everyday seem more than that) rather than descriptions of real feelings borne out of real experiences. For example, the story “It Was Romance” describes two women who attend a seminar on romance and when they return from a break, one of them sees the other crying and they hold each other and cry with each other, and they experience real romance. Sorry, that’s more artsiness than depth. Another minor gripe I have with July (and the other writers like her) is that all of the stories are about melancholy and loneliness. Artsy people need to lighten up. Overall, though, only a few of the stories were like this, and there’s enough quality minimalist prose in here that compensates for the artsiness. A recommended read. [For those interested, my favorite three stories were “Something That Needs Nothing”, “This Person”, and “The Shared Patio”. My least favorite were “Birthmark”, “Majesty”, and “It Was Romance”.]...less
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Tung
is currently reading:
August: Osage County (Paperback)
by Tracy Letts
bookshelves:
currently-reading,
drama
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my rating:
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May 05
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Tung
gave
to:
The Westing Game (Puffin Modern Classics)
by Ellen Raskin
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Tung said:
"Yes, this is a children’s book – a Newbery Medal winner from 1978. This was also my absolute favorite book from when I read it as a third grader until I was in middle school and discovered fantasy fiction. I saw it in a used bookstore and decided...more
Yes, this is a children’s book – a Newbery Medal winner from 1978. This was also my absolute favorite book from when I read it as a third grader until I was in middle school and discovered fantasy fiction. I saw it in a used bookstore and decided to press my luck and re-read it, hoping it wouldn’t disappoint me as other childhood favorites had done upon a re-reading (I’m looking at you, Hitchhiker’s Guide…). It didn’t. The Westing Game begins with sixteen seemingly random individuals invited to live in a beautiful building called Sunset Towers. The individuals are then invited to the reading of the will of the wealthy Samuel Westing, recently found dead. But rather than a standard will reading, the sixteen individuals are divided into pairs and given envelopes filled with random words from which they must decipher who the murderer of Samuel Westing is. Winner receives $200 million, and the game is on. The rest of the book details the connection of the individuals to each other, and the revelation of each of the team’s sets of clues. Two decades later in a re-read, and the solution to the mystery is far more obvious than it was to me in the third grade. But the way Raskin unfolds each set of clues, and finds plausible ways to attempt to mislead the reader with the clues, and two decades later, I can better appreciate her wordplay. A definite must-read for elementary school kids, and a recommended read for adults who missed reading this gem when they were in school. Still one of my favorites....less
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April 24
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Tung
gave
to:
The Contortionist's Handbook (Paperback)
by Craig Clevenger
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my rating:
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read in April, 2008
Tung said:
"The protagonist of this story is a twenty-something forgery artist with a photographic memory, a head for numbers, and six fingers on his left hand, and the story begins with him recounting the numerous times in his life he’s overdosed on drugs –...more
The protagonist of this story is a twenty-something forgery artist with a photographic memory, a head for numbers, and six fingers on his left hand, and the story begins with him recounting the numerous times in his life he’s overdosed on drugs – and if you think that one sentence description is ridiculous and fascinating, you should definitely read this book, because that ain’t the half of it. John Vincent is the main character’s real name, but the book is told as a series of chapters titled by various aliases John has assumed. The narrative jumps all over the place – from the present where a mental health specialist is assessing John as a suicide risk (he OD’d on pills to combat a recurring migraine), to various instances in his past with his abusive and alcoholic father, to his time in a juvenile delinquency hall, to his life on his own faking his identity. The book describes in great detail how he goes about determining his names and obtaining fake driver’s licenses and social security cards – to the extent that I feel 70% confident I could pull off identity theft and fraud. The dialogue and scenes between the mental health specialist and John in the present day are amazing, as the first person narrative describes how and why John answers certain questions the way he does – to trick the assessor into believing he’s not a risk (Clevenger specifies which questions are asked and why certain answers are suspicious and certain ones are not; very well-researched). The prose in this was one of my biggest pleasant surprises of the year – it’s quick and sharp and hard-hitting, almost noir-ish in a way; as original a voice and narrative as I’ve read in years. The only issue some might have with this book is its apparent lack of a coherent plot: most of the book proceeds in flashbacks and present-day excerpts, but it doesn’t feel like its leading somewhere. And then in the last 20-30 pages, the author pulls you to the present and the book ends as if John has run out of relevant memories to share. It feels a bit abrupt, but to me, it’s consistent with the character and atmosphere of the whole book. One of the more entertaining books I’ve read this year; highly recommended....less
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Tung
gave
to:
The Last Shot (Paperback)
by Lynn Schooler
bookshelves:
non-fiction
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Tung said:
"The book details the importance of naval blockades and battles during the war (economic pressure on the South); why England played a role in delivering the Shenandoah to the Confederates and looking past its initial voyage despite its supposed neutra...more
The book details the importance of naval blockades and battles during the war (economic pressure on the South); why England played a role in delivering the Shenandoah to the Confederates and looking past its initial voyage despite its supposed neutrality (dependence on cotton, as well as fear of the growing American might); and the ship’s primary mission as it sailed around the world (to destroy Union merchant ships, especially whalers). Schooler’s narrative follows the ship’s secret launch from England to its random attacks in the Atlantic, to its devastating three-day ship-sinking splurge near the Arctic Circle – which occurred months after the end of the Civil War unbeknownst to the ship’s crew – to its final return to England to escape Union forces. It is an interesting examination of the last shots of the Civil War – fired three months after Lee’s surrender at Appamattox, and thousands of miles away from the East Coast. Schooler delved into the personal logs of many of the ship’s officers, so his narrative ably describes the personalities of the major characters on board the ship. In fact, he quotes from so many logs and sources, he’s able to really set the scenes, filling them with dialogue that feels real. My only issue with the book is that it lacks action in lots of places. You expect action in Civil War books; most of the ship encounters described here are handled as if between noblemen – the captains of most captured ships surrendered without a shot being fired. When the book reaches its climax in the Bering Strait, and more than two dozen ships are destroyed by the Shenandoah, it’s handled in a dozen pages, mainly listing the names of the ships and how many prisoners were taken, or what goods were commandeered. Despite, the lack of action, however, it’s a thoroughly researched work, and a mostly engaging read. Non-civil war buffs will want to rate this book slightly lower; civil war books should make this a definite read....less
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April 19
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Tung
took the never-ending book quiz.
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April 12
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Tung
gave
to:
Reveal: Where Are You?
by Greg L. Hawkins, Cally Parkinson
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Tung said:
"Willow Creek is one of the largest churches in the United States. They are a trend-setter in the way they outreach to communities and serve in ministries, and churches across the country use their resources and model themselves after what Willow Cree...more
Willow Creek is one of the largest churches in the United States. They are a trend-setter in the way they outreach to communities and serve in ministries, and churches across the country use their resources and model themselves after what Willow Creek does. In 2004, Willow Creek hired a former McKinsey partner as a consultant and conducted a three-year study with over 11,000 surveys and 120+ personal interviews to examine everything they did in order to see whether or not they were helping Christians grow in their faith, and whether or not their outreach and ministry strategies were making a difference. In August 2007, they released their findings in this book, and openly admitted that their current strategies and lines of thought were not effective at all. Obviously, this has been the talk amongst Christian communities since then. I liked the transparency and candor that is found in this book. I think the book also does a good job of breaking down their findings in a way that helps the reader understand the underlying data. It’s actually one of my criticisms of the book: it’s written in a way that makes me feel like an adult is speaking to a child – lots of exclamation marks, lots of buildup as if all of their findings were some fantastic revelation, lots of repetition, etc. I did like the appendices in the back written by Eric Arnson (the consultant), which are like a crash course summary of the science behind market research. It’s about time churches are run more strategically, and this book shows them how to do that. I highly recommend this for every pastor, elder, deacon, or ministry leader of a church....less
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April 11
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Tung
gave
to:
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (Hardcover)
by Dinaw Mengestu
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Tung said:
"The book takes it name from a line from Dante’s Inferno, referring to the wondrous things seen by a character who leaves Hell and enters Heaven. Apt title for a book about immigrant life in the US, whose main character escapes the horrors of civil ...more
The book takes it name from a line from Dante’s Inferno, referring to the wondrous things seen by a character who leaves Hell and enters Heaven. Apt title for a book about immigrant life in the US, whose main character escapes the horrors of civil war in Ethiopia. The book surprised me as I assumed it would be a story about the journey from Africa to America; instead, the book mostly ignores the past and focuses on the difficulty of making a life for oneself in America as an immigrant. The main character (Sepha Stephanos) owns a tiny store in a run-down, mostly African-American neighborhood of Washington, DC. A Caucasian woman and her biracial daughter move next door to the store, and as Sepha begins a relationship with the woman and her daughter, his perspective on his life in America changes. I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I think the writing is fairly well-done. Mengetsu’s prose conveys his thoughts on immigrant life very clearly: he details the isolation and loneliness of their lives; he shows through the dialogue between Sepha and his friends (they mostly discuss African revolutions and coups) how difficult it is to escape your past; he contrasts middle class lives in Africa with lower class lives in America (for immigrants who flee from one to the other), and how the beautiful things on the other side aren’t often what they appear to be. On the other hand, the book ultimately falls short in the end due to a lack of any real action. Mengetsu’s narrative structure alternates between the present and the not-so-distant past, swapping between the two every chapter. In the chapters that take place in the present, the narrative hints at the failed relationship between Sepha and the Caucasian woman and the “big events” that drove her away. But the author takes an awful long time to get to the action. In fact, two-thirds of the way through the book on pp. 147, Sepha is musing to himself and says, “What is the grand narrative of my life?” I was asking myself the same question at that point of the book, since it didn’t seem like it was going anywhere, and nothing traumatic was happening. And when these big events do get explained, they aren’t that big, they get described quickly, and we’re past them in just a few pages. When your narrative sets you up for grand events, and these grand events don’t materialize, you’re left feeling disappointed. A nice, easy read, but one that left me wanting much more from it....less
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May 08
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Tung
is currently reading:
The Long Walk (Mass Market Paperback)
by Stephen King, Richard Bachman
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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