coda Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Really disappointed with Dave Eggers' The Circle. I'm reading his non fiction book, Zeitoun, at the moment. About a Syrian American's experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina. Enjoying it but I've just found out something about his later life which is going to influence the rest of the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Really disappointed with Dave Eggers' The Circle. I'm reading his non fiction book, Zeitoun, at the moment. About a Syrian American's experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina. Enjoying it but I've just found out something about his later life which is going to influence the rest of the book. I think my problem is that I was expecting The Circle to something else. I chose it expecting more geek freakery like Cryptonomicon but it is just corporate IT schlock. I have nothing against decently written schlock but I think even as schlock it fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I've gone back to the excellent Berlin Noir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Started to read The Road last night but found it quite difficult to get into. I'm not sure the style of writing is really my thing. He seems to have something against commas, and some of the sentences don't really read all that well. I'll stick with it though. It irks me a bit but I'm sure it's just a stylistic thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I've gone back to the excellent Berlin Noir. I love Bernie Gunther but like a few series I've read them all in the wrong order and got myself a bit muddled. I read Prayer by Kerr not long ago and wasn't as impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I've gone back to the excellent Berlin Noir. I love Bernie Gunther but like a few series I've read them all in the wrong order and got myself a bit muddled. I read Prayer by Kerr not long ago and wasn't as impressed. You do really need to read them in order although Prague Fatale seemed a bit forced. Still a fantastic series though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 25, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted July 25, 2014 David Downing >> Alan Furst >> Phillip Kerr. IMHO, natch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Half way through Freakonomics, have Super Freakonomics lined up afterwards. Interesting take on statistics, delivered in laymans terms. Its been a slow read as I normally get through a book every three days and its been a week so far, but interesting none the less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 30, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted July 30, 2014 I find economics and stats the most boring things imaginable, so I was intrigued by the idea that 'Freakonomics' might make it interesting. Nope. Still boring as ****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I can see that Mooney, but its keeping me going at least. Superfreakonomics may get bumped for Narcissism epidemic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I can see that Mooney, but its keeping me going at least. Superfreakonomics may get bumped for Narcissism epidemic. I enjoyed the Freakonomics series hugely. As the title suggests the results are supposed to be counter-intuitive and it does come as a surprise to find that working for MacDonald's is a better paid job than dealing drugs, and the reasons the price of a blow-job plummeted after WW2, are likely to make you feel grateful. I can't remember which book it is in but my favourite tale is the one about the Bagel guy who ran an honour system of payment, which revealed so much about human nature and, yes, the higher the salary the more dishonest. As for The Narcissism Epidemic, the whole subject of narcissism has become a massive growth area in pseudo-psyche books and once you've read one of these books you'll see narcissism everywhere you look, just like you'll see Aspergers everywhere if you read a populist book about that. Books by the same authors reveal them as pandering to a certain readership, like women who want to explain the failure of their relationships by claiming their partner was a narcissist, with titles like When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself (note that there aren't any female narcissists). So just some academics trying to get some of Dr Phil's gravy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I usually dont dip into these sorts of books, but was looking for something completely different to what I had been reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Just finished reading a book called "blindness" basically blindness starts spreading like a disease, it's instant and rather than being plunged into a world of darkness they only see white, like a constant shining light, all apart from one woman who takes it's upon herself to guide a small group of people through their new life. It was pretty hard going, large chunks of text with no paragraphs, the people don't have names and there is no quotation marks when people are talking. It's pretty shocking though, when you read it you realise just how **** and impossible life would be, names would mean nothing, homes would mean nothing, food would become sacred etc etc Good book but tough to get through at times purely cuz of the style of writing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted August 3, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2014 Books by the same authors reveal them as pandering to a certain readership, like women who want to explain the failure of their relationships by claiming their partner was a narcissist, with titles like When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself (note that there aren't any female narcissists). The book that, as far as I can tell, started the narcissism gold rush made an interesting identification of prototypical narcissism... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Books by the same authors reveal them as pandering to a certain readership, like women who want to explain the failure of their relationships by claiming their partner was a narcissist, with titles like When You Love a Man Who Loves Himself (note that there aren't any female narcissists). The book that, as far as I can tell, started the narcissism gold rush made an interesting identification of prototypical narcissism... http://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=y8CfnZbrYrU Thanks! Reading the Amazon reviews (the negative reviews are the only ones worth reading) it looks like the perfect confection, which provides some tasty grist for the same readership who buy celebrity-centred magazines, all neatly packaged in pseudo-medical psycho-babble, the inevitable conclusions of which, provide maximum opportunities for handwringing about the state of the modern world, and achieves what all celebrity-watchers yearn for: reassurance that celebrities are all more miserable than the reader. Pick a copy up with your groceries, today! So another doctor who traded in his reputation for a shed-load of dollars. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) Wrong thread Edited August 3, 2014 by leemond2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphouneso Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Finally got round to reading Murakami's 1Q84. I'm a big fan of Murakami and I think that's what made me hold off on reading this for a while, it's a huge book, both in size and in importance to him as a writer, and I didn't want it to be a disappointment. It's fantastic. I've read a few reviews about it being unnecessarily long, or too repetitive, and to a certain extent I can understand some of this criticism. The book is repetitive in parts, but it's told from the perspective of more than one character and so the repetitive parts are generally the re-telling of an event from a different perspective, and they are a different perspective, and if you pay attention there are subtle differences. One of my favourite things about Murakami as a writer is his ability to make the mundane seem so poignant, despite his novels being full of long descriptions of people ironing or preparing food you never feel like these episodes are unnecessary because they're so well written. There is a little less of this in 1Q84, not everything feels absolutely necessary, however for me it never dragged. I was absolutely absorbed in this novel for eight days straight, and if afterwards I'd have been asked what I'd done for the last week part of me would have been sure I'd spent the week in 1980s Japan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 3, 2014 Share Posted August 3, 2014 Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich. Recommended to me by a couple of friends and it's quite enjoyable. Owes more than a passing nod to American Gods and I still haven't made my mind up yet whether all the very specific references to places in London are good or bad. I guess they are in there to appeal to those who know London (work has taken me there 4 or 5 times a week for more than ten years so I guess I am in the camp who is somewhat familiar with our capital city) but they just feel like a cheap way of buying reader attachment to the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 11, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted August 11, 2014 (edited) New James Elroy (Perfidia) out next month. A return to the Dudley Smith LAPD saga, but set earlier (1941). Really looking forward to this one. EDIT: Better still, apparently part one of a 'second LA Quartet'. Edited August 11, 2014 by mjmooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 11, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted August 11, 2014 Got through this on holiday. Very enjoyable, but very geeky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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