April 6, 2017
another dystopian tale
a fun read
The Rook by Daniel O'MalleyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I found the concept of this story compelling; a "new" person waking up in someone else's body and life situation. The modeling of amnesia in this way was pretty cool. But to me, the telling of the story felt contrived and shallow. There were a few times it almost grabbed me - the reunion with a family member for example. And there was no shortage of plot turns, action, and suspense. I did not expect it to wrap up in the way it did. But in the end, it felt two dimensional, and oddly enough, familiar. The message and method of the story seemed to me like a combination of a bunch of stories i already knew: X-Men, Harry Potter, The Hitchhikers Guide, Clue, Ghostbusters, MIB - as if they were all thrown together into a big box and shaken vigorously. In the end, the story felt too familiar to grab me afresh, although it must have been great fun to write. I really wanted to love this book, two of my Goodreads friends loved it, but i just couldn't pull it off. It's a fun read.
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March 25, 2017
excellent Amazon series!
So glad i went back and started over on this excellent Amazon series The Man in the High Castle! Looking forward to a Season 2 binge soon!
March 20, 2017
delightfully written travelogue
A Russian Journal by John SteinbeckMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
"A Russian Journal" is a delightfully written travelogue chronicling John Steinbeck's two month visit to Stalin's Russia during 1947. He hoped to capture the Russian people and lifestyle as it was. And to supplement his writing, he took along Robert Capa, the famous wartime photographer to add photos. The book is full of Steinbeck's wit and charm, and feels very human. The stories and experiences are not relayed as cold dry facts, but rather are told in a warm and at times humorous way. Steinbeck lends his wonderful prose style to the account, and includes not only what he and Capa see and hear, but also comments on their experience traveling and lodging in a Russia still rebuilding after the vast Nazi destruction. This is not an academic work, nor is it a complete reference or guide on the subject of Russia or the Russian people in 1947. And it is not at all political. Rather, it is a enjoyable and fun account of two fellows on a quest to see Russia and met her people. I loved reading this, Steinbeck is one of the master storytellers.
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March 12, 2017
one crazy-ass story
On the Road by Jack KerouacMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
How very serendipitous that i should finish this book on the author's 95th birthday! RIP Mr. Jack Kerouac. This is one crazy-ass story. I don't know how much of it actually happened, but i believe it is based on real events. It has been referred to as the "Huckleberry Finn" for the author's generation. This story is one (no, actually, MANY) wild ride(s)! It is said to define a generation, or at least a sub-culture of a generation. I just realized that Jack Kerouac and my father were born in the same year - 1922. I am pretty sure that my dad experienced this period of history differently than Sal and Dean in the story, but even with the differences, i see some similarities. Sal's background was different than that of my dad. I do know however that my dad loved to travel. Dad, rather than taking the bus or a travel bureau car, preferred his motorcycle. I do not know how widely he traveled before settling down with my mom, but he never lost the love of traveling across the US and eventually around the world. We made many trips between southern California and the Ozarks of Missouri in my childhood, and dad continued to travel after us kids were grown and gone. I wonder if that love of travel and the open road was truly a part of his generation.
As i said earlier, this story is a series of wild journeys taken in a very different time, but they do capture a freedom and inquisitiveness that continues to be a part of our culture. This was probably the last days an adventure of this type could be undertaken, with the Interstate highway system just around the corner. Although William Least Heat-Moon was able to experience the same flavor of adventure in his excellent Blue Highways journey, with decidedly less flamboyance. Maybe the blue highways are a part of all of us. I certainly like to unplug and hit the road to see where it leads, and hope to do it again soon.
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ps. Oh boy, a movie version http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337692/
pps. The movie did NOT do justice to the book and missed major themes. Don't waste 2 hours watching it.
March 1, 2017
too close to home for comfort
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray BradburyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wow, this was a great book to follow up Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"! The central message of this classic story was not what i expected, but the close resemblance to our American culture and society today was downright creepy and scary. We are literally watching this unfold in so many aspects of our culture. This is really happening. I got the creeps when i heard the upcoming season of DWTS mentioned with anticipation and excitement. This is too close to home for comfort. Wow!
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February 26, 2017
what it means to be human
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 6 by Philip K. DickMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
this is a really nicely done graphic novel presentation of the entire text of Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", which is the novel on which he film Blade Runner was based. This is my first reading of the novel, but i plan to return to it in its non-graphic format later this year. A great story which gives the reader much to think about related to what it means to be human. This is a beautifully done series.
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February 25, 2017
another must-read
Brave New World / Brave New World Revisited by Aldous HuxleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a collection of two classic works by Aldous Huxley. I have heard about "Brave New World" nearly all my adult life, but had never read it. Written in 1931, "Brave New World" is a brilliant, chillingly prophetic story of what life could be like in a controlled utopian world 700+ years in our future. Huxley's keen foresight, wisdom, and conceptual depth and breadth are amazing. Some of the details of the tale may seem a little dated or "weird", but the concepts are dead on target. A picture of a future society designed for peace, happiness, abundance, and efficiency is painted with enough detail to portray both the perceived advantages, but also the dark dangers to the individual. The reader cannot help but connect the events and concepts in this story to what we have seen unfold in our world over the past 80+ years since it was written. This tale serves as a serious warning of what happens when individual freedom and humanity are traded wholesale for the well being of the group or society, and what is lost in the process.
"Brave New World Revisited" is a collection of essays written by Huxley in 1958 to address and update many of the concepts and predictions laid out in the 1931 tale. One by one he lays out the various aspects of "Brave New World" that have taken shape in merely 27 years since the original work was written. Reading each of these essays which connect the dots between the 1931 predictions and the 1958 reality, it is far too easy to extrapolate them to today, 2017. The catalysts which accelerated these predictions toward the 1958 period are even stronger today; technology, overpopulation, over-organization, instant communication via the internet, mass media controlled by corporations and the top 1%, etc. Again, the reader cannot help but connect major aspects in warped utopia of "Brave New World" to specifically what has unfolded and continues to unfold TODAY! The warning is urgent and frightening. I especially loved the last 2-3 essays in which Huxley puts forth some potential ways to avert his predictions, and to win back the humanity and community of our species. Sadly, in spite of his 1958 proposals of ways to turn things around, the past 59 years have not seen any perceivable reversal, but rather an acceleration toward the bizarre utopia portrayed in 1931. Humanity is not winning. Rather, we are happily along for the ride down the drain, in our soma induced bliss. It is very scary. This is a must-read. (see also https://www.huxley.net/ )
A side note: Aldous Huxley died on Nov 22, 1963, the same day as C.S. Lewis, and most notably, President John F. Kennedy. Because of JFK, both the Lewis and Huxley deaths were a footnote in the media. Having read nearly all of the C.S. Lewis works, and now some of Huxley, i feel that i should find something by JFK to read - just to be complete. :)
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February 12, 2017
Beware
1984 by George OrwellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had not read 1984 since i was a high school student, under the ominous cloud of my fundamentalist evangelical brainwashing. I had planned to re-read it recently, in light of the nature of politics in the U.S. this year, but did not have a copy. After hearing that Amazon SOLD OUT of the title around the time of the Trump inauguration, i had the luck of running across a copy in the Little Free Library box in our neighborhood!!! (https://littlefreelibrary.org/)
WOW! This book is amazing. I can't imagine being able to absorb the message and depth of this book at high school age. The warnings and prophecy conveyed through this superbly told tale are not only brilliant, but have deep implications in the society in which we live in today's world. It is equally relevant in the U.S. as it is in other "modern" nations and governments. It is unnerving to see so many of the dystopian concepts and techniques used by Big Brother being used by the U.S. government today, especially in this neo-GOP regime that took control of the White House and Congress in January. This book deserves its status as a classic, and should be read and discussed by every literate citizen while it is still permitted. The warnings conveyed are real dangers that threaten us all today. Beware.
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February 8, 2017
Reminder: Book Sale this weekend!
Reminder: Book Sale this weekend!
With the closing of Main Library for a two-year renovation, the Friends of the Durham Library book sales will be moving to Northgate Mall. There will be a final book sale at Main Library on Saturday, February 11, 2017, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sunday, February 12, 2017 from 1 – 4 p.m.
https://durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/
With the closing of Main Library for a two-year renovation, the Friends of the Durham Library book sales will be moving to Northgate Mall. There will be a final book sale at Main Library on Saturday, February 11, 2017, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sunday, February 12, 2017 from 1 – 4 p.m.
https://durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/
February 6, 2017
well researched and articulated manifesto
Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In by Bernie SandersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I arrived a little late to the Bernie Sanders party, but i'm glad i got to read his latest book. If our political landscape had more people with values and ethics like his, we indeed could have "A Future to Believe In". In the first 1/3 of the book Senator Sanders tells this story of his political life, up through the end of the primary. The last 2/3 of the book is a well researched and articulated manifesto to save our nation and our people. It is loaded with statistics and data, and explanations of how things political and governing work (actually, DON'T work). Lots of good information to put to use as we reaffirm our fight to reclaim our nation for our people - ALL our people. Great read that i highly recommend!
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January 18, 2017
a choice collection
The Long Valley by John SteinbeckMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a choice collection of Steinbeck's short stories. I enjoyed them very much, both in the stories and in the telling. This collection also includes The Red Pony stories, which i had already read. Reading them a second time helped reveal to me their special nature, parts i missed the first time through. I definitely recommend this collection!
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January 12, 2017
January 8, 2017
WOW. Bruce :)
Born to Run by Bruce SpringsteenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I just finished it - WOW. I can't wait to listen to him reading it in the audio book version.
WOW. Bruce :)
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December 29, 2016
as only Cormac McCarthy can do
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A nicely written story of searching, love, determination, and moving on, wonderfully told as only Cormac McCarthy can do. Looking to see the Matt Damon / Penélope Cruz movie now. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149624/
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December 28, 2016
December 21, 2016
December 18, 2016
more frightening and sobering than ever
Animal Farm by George OrwellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
As we approach the changing of the guard in the US, and the new and very disturbing Trump administration, i thought i'd take some of my reading time to revisit some classic dystopian tales from my early years. I have not read Animal Farm since i was in high school, over 40 years ago. Reading it today is more chilling than ever. Looking back on my life, and the events of the past 40+ years, it is quite easy to see that we in the US have not escaped the fate that the prophecy of Animal Farm portrays. Rather, we are settling comfortably into it, as dull witted to it as the "lower animals" were in this brilliant story. And as we move into 2017, it is clear that the pigs at the top are much more equal than the rest of us. A classic, prophetic, brilliant tale, more frightening and sobering than ever before. Now to get my hands on a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four, another on my high school reading list.
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