false 17 34 32 true 5677497 read 1 true 1820433 currently-reading 1 true 1820432 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/30703534 to: Slam (Hardcover) by Nick Hornby
Definitely Nick Hornby's worst book so far. He's a storyteller, that's for sure, and a funny English bloke and all that, but it takes more to create a good novel. Character development is especially weak, and this book reads like it was written for teenagers, not about teenagers.

Mildly entertaining -- very mildly. Wouldn't recommend it. A little embarrassed I got through it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15273525 to: 1984 (Paperback) by George Orwell
Some people call 1984 over-rated but I don't like those people much. Well-paced, imaginative and the intensity of a true thriller in its closing pages, this book is Orwell's legacy for good reason. I also loved Animal Farm. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15332907 to: The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 (Paperback) by Dave Eggers
My favorite story in this collection is called "Over the River and Through the Woods" or something close to that. I remember thinking it was one of the best short stories I'd read.

The other fascinating short piece is "Why McDonald's French Fries Taste So Good," which I'd highly recommend reading. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18569274 The Idiot (Modern Library Classics) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/16299756 to: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Paperback) by Oscar Wilde
Engaging and clever, winding and twisting with Wilde's Nietzsche-esque reversals, bufoonery and exaggerated characters, this is a book I'm not sorry I read. At the same time, Lord Henry is pretty much Oscar Wilde's mouthpiece, speaking in aphorisms and self-indulgent, cheeky, wise-ass remarks, and that style gets tiresome at times.

Still, the controversy around the novel when it was first published in a literary magazine in 1890 is almost as interesting as the plot itself, twisting Victorian morality in knots and simultaneously smacking heavily of its most traditional values.

I liked this book, but it's perhaps for good reason Wilde's only novel; unless you're really into late 19th century London or mindfuck Wildean aphorisms, stick to his plays. My favorites are "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Lady Windermere's Fan." ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15095880 to: What Is the What (Hardcover) by Dave Eggers
My high-level comment, cheesy but true, is: I found the book moving and epic.

I love Dave Eggers, but this really resembles none of his other novels or short stories. He puts aside his sardonic wit and self-indulgent style and takes on the voice of the Sudanese refugee around whose life the book is based. It's a voice defined by humility and a unique kind of strength, couched in experiencing life as a survival exercise and in accepting tragedy after tragedy.

'What is the What' is graphic and viscerally powerful, but doesn't dwell with superfluous drama on the appalling plight of the Sudanese Lost Boys. It's relatively focused on telling the story. The near-absurd reality of the main character's life story requires little additional commentary to amplify what you feel as you take it in.

The only potential shortfall might be how the work is framed: it's told through the window of an event in the present -- Achak is in America, etc -- and looks at the story of his life up until that point as a series of something-like-flashbacks splayed across a 72-hour period in the present. While an interesting approach, I question whether this impacts the pacing favorably and wonder if a more traditional chronological approach might've made the book stickier.

Overall an excellent read. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15332695 to: How We Are Hungry (Paperback) by Dave Eggers
Some quality short stories here, especially Hand's surfing and sexytime adventures in Costa Rica and a very short but very poignant little story about a baker's dozen. ;-) ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15282959 to: Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts (Paperback) by Samuel Beckett
Fantastic play if you like absurdism. Wish it would come back to SF. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/15282907 to: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Paperback) by Tom Stoppard
This is a great play if you're into absurdism. ]]>