Rob's updates http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/77842 en-US Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:28:47 -0700 60 Rob's updates http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 23728644 Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:28:47 -0700 Review21321746 <![CDATA[Rob added 'Guns, Germs, and Steel']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21321746 Guns, Germs, and Steel (Paperback) by Jared Diamond
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> 23728746 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:44:26 -0700 Rating344299 <![CDATA[Rob Whelan voted on a review]]> http://www.goodreads.com/ 77724 Rob read and liked lowell's review of Evening Is the Whole Day: A Novel:

"I'm going to go ahead and call this my favorite novel of the decade. I've never, ever, EVER, believed in characters as deeply as I believe in the inhabitants of The Big House. You know what - forget the decade! This is as good a novel as I know of, a...more "
]]> 20591254 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:20:12 -0700 Review18918490 <![CDATA[Rob added 'Evening Is the Whole Day: A Novel']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/18918490 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars to: Evening Is the Whole Day: A Novel (Hardcover) by Preeta Samarasan
bookshelves: bedside
]]> 253361 Tue, 22 May 2007 13:03:31 -0700 Comment23969 <![CDATA[new comment from Rob]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1342883 Sean's review of The First Book of Jazz (Dark Tower Series)
by Langston Hughes

Wait -- "Dark Tower Series"? I think he ripped off Stephen King on that one.

Either that or, you know, Robert Browning. ]]> 253362 Sat, 19 May 2007 07:28:41 -0700 Comment22749 <![CDATA[new comment from Rob]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1306121 Preeta's review of The World of Pooh: The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner (Pooh Original Edition)
by A.A. Milne

Oh come ON! That remark was taken way out of context. Eeyore's poem to Christopher Robin is undeniably a masterwork. But in a few scenes in particular, re-read by my adult self, it's clear that Milne is simply going through the motions, and Eeyore's portrayal (and the sympatheticity of his character) suffers as a result.

I might also point out that A. A. Milne was not, in fact, a wonderful father; but that's a low blow, and serious literary criticism such as this should avoid that sort of thing. ]]> 253363 Fri, 18 May 2007 15:13:34 -0700 Review1300675 <![CDATA[Rob added 'Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1300675 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars to: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Paperback) by Anne Lamott
I enjoyed it, and I hardly write fiction at all.

But her prose is pleasant to saunter through, she's got some good stories in there, and she makes the connection. I read most of it standing next to the bookshelf. ]]> 253364 Fri, 18 May 2007 15:08:12 -0700 Review1300657 <![CDATA[Rob added 'The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1300657 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars to: The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (Hardcover) by George Saunders
]]> 253365 Fri, 11 May 2007 15:20:03 -0700 Review1166447 <![CDATA[Rob added 'The God Delusion']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1166447 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars to: The God Delusion (Hardcover) by Richard Dawkins
I feel like giving it anything more than a 3 would be wrong (I mean, come on - I gave The Corrections and One Hundred Years of Solitude a 4), but he does what he set out to do quite well, in utilitarian prose that's quite easy to read.

I've been an atheist for a long time, but religion is still a topic I spend a decent amount of time thinking about (partly because of the debates I get into online, partly because the previous generation in my family is still quite religious), and this book was a mixture of good review of what I've already discovered, plus a dose of background and scientific research for support.

One new idea to me that I kind of liked: his point that it's wrong to refer to young children by their parents' religion (e.g., a young Muslim boy, a newly-baptized Catholic baby, etc.), because it treats indoctrination as assumed, and it creates separations where they don't exist. Religious belief is a choice, and a young child isn't mentally equipped to make such a choice. No one would refer to a Keynesian child, or a Marxist child, based on their parents' belief in an economic system. Or a better example: would you ever speak of an atheist child?

Dawkins is interesting as well, because so many atheists maintain that religion, even if based on false beliefs, are still generally beneficial -- Dawkins doesn't buy it.

His arguments here aren't as solid as the rest of the book, though. I actually agree with him in principle (though we'd need a better replacement than science books and TV), but his arguments here aren't as solidly founded as the rest of the book (for one, the "mainstream" religious family is bad because they validate the extremists). Fortunately, it's not a primary focus, and doesn't harm the function of the thing as a whole.

Anyway, particularly if you're a puzzled agnostic (and I think that covers a lot of people...), it's worth a quick read. ]]> 253366 Fri, 11 May 2007 14:37:17 -0700 Review1166149 <![CDATA[Rob added 'The Corrections']]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1166149 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars to: The Corrections (Paperback) by Jonathan Franzen
There are some sections and characters that don't play as well as the rest for me, but that's the only thing that keeps this one from being a 5 (which I think of as something like "not written by human hands"). Here, I'm harsher on the imperfections because of the parts that really were transcendently good [Jonathan Franzen, as you are undoubtedly reading this, take note].

The opening chapter had me grinning ferociously at the pages in front of me, and many of the later passages transcribing Alfred's mental deterioration (and Alfred and Enid's interactions) were fantastic.

It's about a family (Alfred and Enid are the aging parents), and about adult (more or less) children coming home for Christmas; it leaps outward and back into their pasts from there. Lives falling into ruts, falling together, falling apart. There's quite a lot of humor. But the alarm bell has been ringing for years. ]]>