en-US Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:07:34 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 4983
- After the bomb, Dad came up with ice / Terry Southern
- Vonnegut's Cat's cradle / William S. Doxey
- The private person as public figure / Jerome Klinkowitz
- Cat's cradle / Richard Giannone
- Tangled up in you : a playful reading of Cat's cradle / John L. Simons
- From formula toward experiment : Cat's cradle and God bless you, Mr. Rosewater / Jerome Klinkowitz
- Playful genesis and dark revelation in Cat's cradle / Leonard Mustazza
- Bokononism as a structure of ironies / Zoltan Ab di-Nagy
- Mother night, Cat's cradle, and The crimes of our time / Jerome Klinkowitz
- Vonnegut's invented religions as sense-making systems / Peter Freese
- Icy solitude : magic and violence in Macondo and San Lorenzo / Wendy B. Faris
- Vonnegut's cosmos / David H. Goldsmith
- Cosmic irony / James Lundquist
- Cat's cradle : Jonah and the whale / Lawrence R. Broer
- Hurting 'til it laughs : the painful-comic science fiction stories of Kurt Vonnegut / Peter J. Reed
- The paradox of "awareness" and language in Vonnegut's fiction / Loree Rackstraw.]]> 258 Harold Bloom 0791071685 Kevin 4 vonnegut, highbrow Slaughterhouse Five).]]> 4.36 2002
author: Harold Bloom
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2010/08/23
shelves: vonnegut, highbrow
review:
Helen and I both don't know what to say about this book, but we both liked it. An interesting story and definitely a different feel than the only other Vonnegut book I have read (Slaughterhouse Five).
]]> 30119 Come in... for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins.

Shel Silverstein, theĚýNew York Times bestselling author of The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and Every Thing On It, has created a poetry collection that is outrageously funny and deeply profound.

You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings stretches the bounds of imagination and will be cherished by readers of all ages.]]> 176 Shel Silverstein 0060513039 Kevin 5 humor, poetry 4.34 1974
author: Shel Silverstein
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: humor, poetry
review:
A classic, loved it as a child, and as many people before me have noticed, there is a lot of stuff I completely missed back then.
]]> 92143 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9781888963144.

An American graphic novel first! The complete 1300 page epic from start to finish in one deluxe trade paperback.

Three modern cartoon cousins get lost in a pre-technological valley, spending a year there making new friends and out-running dangerous enemies. After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone are separated and lost in a vast uncharted desert. One by one they find their way into a deep forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures. It will be the longest -- but funniest -- year of their lives.]]> 1332 Jeff Smith Kevin 4 Bone comics into one volume. I had asked for it because I remembered reading Bone as a child but never did find out how it ended, so when I saw that there was a one-volume edition I thought it would be great to finish it.

I ended up rereading the whole thing. Smith has a really cool artistic style, and keeps a sense of fun alive through the story. At times the story seems kind of like a generic fantasy story or maybe a bit of a ripoff of Lord of the Rings but I almost regret saying this because I still like the story in its own right.]]> 4.45 1991
author: Jeff Smith
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: comicart, adventure, fantastical, anthology
review:
Helen got me this trade for Christmas in 2005, which compiles the entire story arc of the Bone comics into one volume. I had asked for it because I remembered reading Bone as a child but never did find out how it ended, so when I saw that there was a one-volume edition I thought it would be great to finish it.

I ended up rereading the whole thing. Smith has a really cool artistic style, and keeps a sense of fun alive through the story. At times the story seems kind of like a generic fantasy story or maybe a bit of a ripoff of Lord of the Rings but I almost regret saying this because I still like the story in its own right.
]]> 1202
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives -- how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
(front flap)]]> 268 Steven D. Levitt 0061234001 Kevin 5 economy
For the most part, I like the examples in this book. It also does an excellent job of introducing the certain way of thinking and analyzing problems that the economist uses, and shows how it is broadly applicable.]]> 4.01 2005
author: Steven D. Levitt
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: economy
review:
I know I am not the only one who found this book really interesting. Most of Levitt's topics fall into the category of behavioral economics, which uses economic methods and modeling in an effort to try and explain a lot of phenomena that although arguably economic are outside the traditional domain of the economist. I really find behavioral economics an interesting field but it sometimes walks a fine line between economics and just plain statistical analysis or psychology on the one hand and also between useful scholarship and pseudoscience on the other hand.

For the most part, I like the examples in this book. It also does an excellent job of introducing the certain way of thinking and analyzing problems that the economist uses, and shows how it is broadly applicable.
]]> 601472

The book includes new interviews with students at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, and Columbia. In these conversations, the students--the next generation of elite economists--colorfully and frankly describe what they think of their field and what graduate economics education is really like. The book concludes with reflections by Colander, Klamer, and Robert Solow.


This inside look at the making of economists will interest anyone who wants to better understand the economics profession. An indispensible tool for anyone thinking about graduate education in economics, this edition is complete with colorful interviews and predictions about the future of cutting-edge economics.]]> 280 David Colander 0691125856 Kevin 2 economy, reference 3.38 2007
author: David Colander
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 2007/06/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: economy, reference
review:
Part of my dissatisfaction with this book may stem from the fact that the one I got from the library is the one published around 1989 and not the "Redux". I read several websites that recommended it as helpful to anyone considereing graduate study in economics. There was some information that was useful about this, and the culture and environment of economics Ph. D. students and the economics departments of major universities. I personally just didn't get what I was looking for out of it.
]]> 157265 400 John J. Palmer 0937381888 Kevin 5 reference, beerandbrewing
I am glad I have both books and find both useful for different reasons.]]> 4.42
author: John J. Palmer
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: reference, beerandbrewing
review:
I correctly guessed from my first looks at this book that it was written by an engineer or something of the sort. While the Complete Joy of Homebrewing is an excellent introduction to the topic and has more recipes, this one is probably easier to use as a reference for the different steps of the process. There is also a better troubleshooting guide and it makes better use of illustrations and tables, charts, etc. Finally, Palmer makes more of an attempt at being exhaustive on the topics he discusses whereas Joy is more helpful at first because it does not overload with information.

I am glad I have both books and find both useful for different reasons.
]]> 10975 366 William Faulkner Kevin 5 highbrow, faulkner 3.86 1929
author: William Faulkner
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1929
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: highbrow, faulkner
review:
I really like Faulkner and this book is both my first introduction to him and also my favorite of his out of what I have read. Seems like I keep ending up writing reviews for widely read classics, so a plot synopsis or any analysis I could give seems redundant. Instead, I'll just wholeheartedly recommend this one.
]]> 22206 Lullaby is a comedy/drama/tragedy. In that order. It may also be Chuck Palahniuk's best book yet.]]> 260 Chuck Palahniuk 0099437961 Kevin 4 lightreading, palahniuk Survivor this is one of the books by Palahniuk that I like best. This one is perhaps the most bizarre of his books, which takes some doing.]]> 3.76 2002
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: lightreading, palahniuk
review:
Along with Survivor this is one of the books by Palahniuk that I like best. This one is perhaps the most bizarre of his books, which takes some doing.
]]> 22283 Fight Club comes this wickedly incisive second novel, a mesmerizing, unnerving, and hilarious vision of cult and post-cult life.

Tender Branson—last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult—is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. Before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child and humble domestic servant to an ultra-buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah, author of a best-selling autobiography, Saved from Salvation, and the even better selling Book of Very Common Prayer (The Prayer to Delay Orgasm, The Prayer to Prevent Hair Loss, The Prayer to Silence Car Alarms). He'll reveal the truth of his tortured romance with the elusive and prescient Fertility Hollis, share his insight that "the only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage," and deny responsibility for the Tender Branson Sensitive Materials Sanitary Landfill, a 20,000-acre repository for the nation's outdated pornography. Among other matters both bizarre and trenchant.

Not since Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night and Jerzy Kosinski's Being There has there been as dark and telling a satire on the wages of fame and the bedrock lunacy of the modern world. Unpredictable, compelling, and unforgettable, Survivor is Chuck Palahniuk at his deadpan peak; and it cements his place as one of the most original writers in fiction today.]]> 289 Chuck Palahniuk 009928264X Kevin 5 palahniuk, lightreading 3.92 1999
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: palahniuk, lightreading
review:
This is probably my favorite of the Chuck Palahniuk novels that I've read. The story follows the only survivor of a millenarian suicide cult through the days leading up to his own death. Along the way you can find the usual Palahniuk oddness and dark humor coloring the story.
]]> 565867 320 Eddy Joe Cotton 1400048095 Kevin 4
If you can't tell, I was on a big freight-hopping jag for a bit. Apart from Evasion, this is probably the train bum memoir that I enjoyed the most.]]> 3.68 2002
author: Eddy Joe Cotton
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2003/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: adventure, americana, hobotrainbum, lightreading, memoir, outdoor, travel
review:
One man's story of his first ever freight hopping trip. Tells a little bit about his learning the ropes from some kind strangers and a lot of trial and error.

If you can't tell, I was on a big freight-hopping jag for a bit. Apart from Evasion, this is probably the train bum memoir that I enjoyed the most.
]]> 104440 353 Duffy Littlejohn 094462734X Kevin 5
I can't say that I have personal experience on this one, although there is something inside me that really wants to try this.]]> 4.29 1993
author: Duffy Littlejohn
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: hobotrainbum, adventure, americana, outdoor, reference, travel
review:
One of the only and the most complete how-to on hopping freight trains (I have one other but cannot find it on goodreads). Periodically updated but when I got my copy five years ago even the latest one is several years out of date; this is relevant because merger-mania and cost-cutting have both made the amount of freight trains and rideable cars trend ever lower over the past several decades. Security is also tighter in freight yards since September 11.

I can't say that I have personal experience on this one, although there is something inside me that really wants to try this.
]]> 581915 The Jungle contains an introduction by Ronald Gottesman in Penguin Classics.

Upton Sinclair's dramatic and deeply moving story exposed the brutal conditions in the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the nineteenth century and brought into sharp moral focus the appalling odds against which immigrants and other working people struggled for their share of the American Dream. Denounced by the conservative press as an un-American libel on the meatpacking industry, and condemned for Sinclair's unabashed promotion of Socialism and unionisation as a solution to the exploitation of workers, the book was championed by more progressive thinkers, including then President Theodore Roosevelt, and was a major catalyst to the passing of the Pure Food and Meat Inspection act, which has tremendous impact to this day.]]> 412 Upton Sinclair Kevin 3 3.69 1906
author: Upton Sinclair
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1906
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: chicago, americana, historical, leftist
review:
I get the feeling that a lot of people skim this one or stop reading before the Socialist Paean at the end. Where I found the book as a piece of literature less than up to snuff, I was still fascinated by Sinclair's description of working-class life on the South Side. The gross-out factor of what happens in Packingtown is of course notable, but for me it is the whole big picture of life for Chicago's poorest a century ago.
]]> 54666
The New York Times bestseller, praised as "hilariously funny . . . the only way to understand why so many Americans have decided to vote against their own economic and political interests" (Molly Ivins)

Hailed as "dazzlingly insightful and wonderfully sardonic" (Chicago Tribune), "very funny and very painful" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "in a different league from most political books" (The New York Observer), What's the Matter with Kansas? unravels the great political mystery of our day: Why do so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests? With his acclaimed wit and acuity, Thomas Frank answers the riddle by examining his home state, Kansas-a place once famous for its radicalism that now ranks among the nation's most eager participants in the culture wars. Charting what he calls the "thirty-year backlash"-the popular revolt against a supposedly liberal establishment-Frank reveals how conservatism, once a marker of class privilege, became the creed of millions of ordinary Americans.

A brilliant analysis-and funny to boot-What's the Matter with Kansas? is a vivid portrait of an upside-down world where blue-collar patriots recite the Pledge while they strangle their life chances; where small farmers cast their votes for a Wall Street order that will eventually push them off their land; and where a group of frat boys, lawyers, and CEOs has managed to convince the country that it speaks on behalf of the People.
]]> 332 Thomas Frank 080507774X Kevin 3 politics 3.84 2004
author: Thomas Frank
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: politics
review:
Some good points and suggestions that the left wing in the US should really take to heart, although it is already largely out of date. I feel like the tone of this book was still kind of condescending to Middle America, even as it tried to show the harm that such attitudes had caused.
]]> 52184 788 Karl Marx 039309040X Kevin 4 3.98 1971
author: Karl Marx
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1971
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: economy, highbrow, politics, leftist
review:
A lot of people who either didn't read Marx or didn't read him closely enough assume they have nothing to gain from him if they aren't Marxists. His ideas, fittingly enough, were dialectally informed by and informed the thinking of non-Marxist thinkers about the economy. Also very interesting insights into humankind and the way the world functions that you don't need to have a certain political bent to get anything out of.
]]> 11078 J. Maarten Troost 0385606435 Kevin 4 3.88 2003
author: J. Maarten Troost
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2004/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: humor, southpacific, travel, internationaldiplomacy
review:
Troost's first book about his years with his wife on the South Pacific island of Tarawa in Kiribati. Really funny, and edifying about one of the remoter corners of the world.
]]> 4267 His quest for answers and explanations is both hilarious and poignant, and he comes across a huge range of characters while trying to distinguish between pop and real life...]]> 323 Nick Hornby 1573228214 Kevin 4 3.90 1995
author: Nick Hornby
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2001/02/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: lightreading, music, humor, sawthemoviebeforeireadthebook
review:
I really liked the movie, but I liked the book even more.
]]> 4397 The Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanized—and sometimes outraged—millions of readers.

First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads-driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.

A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America.
Ěý
The Grapes of WrathĚýsummed up its era in the way thatĚýUncle Tom’s CabinĚýsummed up the years of slavery before the Civil War. Sensitive to fascist and communist criticism, Steinbeck insisted that “The Battle Hymn of the Republicâ€� be printed in its entirety in the first edition of the book—which takes its title from the first verse: “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.â€� At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.

This edition contains an introduction and notes by Steinbeck scholar Robert Demott.]]> 464 John Steinbeck 0143039431 Kevin 4
If you ask me, the protagonist, Tom Joad, is one of the least interesting parts of the book. His character did not entirely come alive for me, and in an odd way even though he is central to the book he felt more like a plot device to move the story forward than anything else. I find this especially odd since there are other characters like Ma Joad that I did not feel this way about. I have noticed that characterization is often lacking in highly policical fiction (I am also thinking of The Jungle as an example of this) and in light of that it is not completely surprising.]]> 3.99 1939
author: John Steinbeck
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1939
rating: 4
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: highbrow, americana, steinbeck
review:
I really like Steinbeck's storytelling style and he is in fine form in this book. A really interesting story, inspiring and heartbreaking both. I also found Steinbeck's descriptions of the Southwest along Route 66 and of California's Central Valley quite evocative.

If you ask me, the protagonist, Tom Joad, is one of the least interesting parts of the book. His character did not entirely come alive for me, and in an odd way even though he is central to the book he felt more like a plot device to move the story forward than anything else. I find this especially odd since there are other characters like Ma Joad that I did not feel this way about. I have noticed that characterization is often lacking in highly policical fiction (I am also thinking of The Jungle as an example of this) and in light of that it is not completely surprising.
]]> 114363
"The study of the art of motorcycle maintainence is really a study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon." -- Robert M. Pirsig

"Profoundly important... full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas... It is intellectual entertainment of the highest order." -- "The New York Times"

"It lodges in the mind as few recent novels have... The book is inspired, original... As the mountains gentle toward the sea--with father and child locked in a ghostly grip--the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism... The analogies with "Moby Dick" are patent. Robert Pirsig invites the prodigious comparison... What more can one say?" -- "The New Yorker"

"It's a miracle.. sparkles like an electric dream. Freshness, originality... that seduces you into loving motorcycles, as tender in their pistons as the petals in the Buddah's dawn lotus." -- "The Village Voice"]]> 380 Robert M. Pirsig 0553277472 Kevin 5 metaphysics, spirituality
The book itself interstices Pirsig's account of a motorcycle road trip with his son and some friends with the story of his personal and professional struggles developing his philosophy of "the metaphysics of quality". There is also some history of philosophy, although this is to provide an exposition for Pirsig's arguments, so he cherry-picks the stories and interpretations that he tells. This is fine because it is not meant to be a primer on classical or any other kind of philosophy; I don't really have an extensive philosophy background but the little I did know helped I think.

Not that they have anything to do with the book, but I have a couple of stories about it. I figure that most people who have any interest in this type of book are already pretty familiar with it, so I won't say too much about it other than that I couldn't put it down and I wholeheartedly recommend it. While I don't agree with Pirsig's entire viewpoint, most of it rang true and even that which didn't was still an excellent impetus for introspection.

I got a copy at a used bookstore (I'm pretty sure it was ) on a trip up to San Francisco with my girlfriend and a mutual friend. At first I had been browsing, and had found a cool coffee table book on phrenology which the lady at the counter chatted with me for a little bit. Encouraged by the chatting, I asked her if they had a book I had been looking for, The Secret Teaching of All Ages by Manly P. Hall, which is an encyclopedic reference about the occult, masonry, astrology, etc. (although it is reprinted in paperback, the original book had lots of charts, illustrations, etc that would not fit in the smaller paperback format and had to be abridged, so I was looking for the original, which I am told is something of a collector's item in certain circles).

At this point, the warmth drains from her face. There is an ominous, beginning-of-a-movie-like silence, and she informs me, "No. I don't sell that book. I'm a Christian." When I ask for further clarification, she says that the book contains "a secret spell to undo the universe" and that she didn't want any part in helping anyone undo the universe, so she would not sell the book even if she had it.

Well, things got kind of awkward at this point, and while trying to avoid eye contact with her, I saw a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in a stack of books waiting to be shelved, and tried to help myself. My friend Ian H had told me it was really good and I figured I'd check it out. She swatted my hand away and sent someone to get me a copy off the shelf. She told me that it was by far the most popular title that they sold.

I didn't get around to reading the book until almost a year later, when me and Vinny were on our rail trip to and through Hokkaido. The book got really water damaged during our ill-fated hike up and down Rishi-fuji-zan right around when I was reading Pirsig's mountain climbing allegory. A lot of the stuff about how when "you can't move forward, you move sideways" and etc. resonated with my at times aimless wanderings over the past couple of years.

So, in summation, you'll really like this book, unless you instead think it's interminable, rambling, and obtuse like this review.]]> 3.61 1974
author: Robert M. Pirsig
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.61
book published: 1974
rating: 5
read at: 2006/08/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: metaphysics, spirituality
review:
Well, this book is not for everyone, and I have certainly heard people say that they found it overblown, pretentious, pointless, etc. but I loved it and found that what I read and my life experiences as I read it formed a didactic and interesting dialectic with the content of the book.

The book itself interstices Pirsig's account of a motorcycle road trip with his son and some friends with the story of his personal and professional struggles developing his philosophy of "the metaphysics of quality". There is also some history of philosophy, although this is to provide an exposition for Pirsig's arguments, so he cherry-picks the stories and interpretations that he tells. This is fine because it is not meant to be a primer on classical or any other kind of philosophy; I don't really have an extensive philosophy background but the little I did know helped I think.

Not that they have anything to do with the book, but I have a couple of stories about it. I figure that most people who have any interest in this type of book are already pretty familiar with it, so I won't say too much about it other than that I couldn't put it down and I wholeheartedly recommend it. While I don't agree with Pirsig's entire viewpoint, most of it rang true and even that which didn't was still an excellent impetus for introspection.

I got a copy at a used bookstore (I'm pretty sure it was ) on a trip up to San Francisco with my girlfriend and a mutual friend. At first I had been browsing, and had found a cool coffee table book on phrenology which the lady at the counter chatted with me for a little bit. Encouraged by the chatting, I asked her if they had a book I had been looking for, The Secret Teaching of All Ages by Manly P. Hall, which is an encyclopedic reference about the occult, masonry, astrology, etc. (although it is reprinted in paperback, the original book had lots of charts, illustrations, etc that would not fit in the smaller paperback format and had to be abridged, so I was looking for the original, which I am told is something of a collector's item in certain circles).

At this point, the warmth drains from her face. There is an ominous, beginning-of-a-movie-like silence, and she informs me, "No. I don't sell that book. I'm a Christian." When I ask for further clarification, she says that the book contains "a secret spell to undo the universe" and that she didn't want any part in helping anyone undo the universe, so she would not sell the book even if she had it.

Well, things got kind of awkward at this point, and while trying to avoid eye contact with her, I saw a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in a stack of books waiting to be shelved, and tried to help myself. My friend Ian H had told me it was really good and I figured I'd check it out. She swatted my hand away and sent someone to get me a copy off the shelf. She told me that it was by far the most popular title that they sold.

I didn't get around to reading the book until almost a year later, when me and Vinny were on our rail trip to and through Hokkaido. The book got really water damaged during our ill-fated hike up and down Rishi-fuji-zan right around when I was reading Pirsig's mountain climbing allegory. A lot of the stuff about how when "you can't move forward, you move sideways" and etc. resonated with my at times aimless wanderings over the past couple of years.

So, in summation, you'll really like this book, unless you instead think it's interminable, rambling, and obtuse like this review.
]]> 153197 320 Stuart Dybek 0312424116 Kevin 4 anthology, chicago, memoir The Coast of Chicago. I don't really talk about individual stories, but to be honest I don't remember which stories were in which book anyways.]]> 4.08 2003
author: Stuart Dybek
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: anthology, chicago, memoir
review:
Please check out my review for another one of Dybek's anthologies, The Coast of Chicago. I don't really talk about individual stories, but to be honest I don't remember which stories were in which book anyways.
]]> 153196 212 Stuart Dybek 0226176584 Kevin 4 memoir, chicago, anthology The Coast of Chicago. I don't really write about individual stories but I can't really remember which ones were in which book in any case.]]> 4.20 1980
author: Stuart Dybek
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: memoir, chicago, anthology
review:
If you are curious about this one, check out what I had to say about Dybek's other book, The Coast of Chicago. I don't really write about individual stories but I can't really remember which ones were in which book in any case.
]]> 618291 Don't let ease of reading fool you--Vonnegut's isn't a conventional or simple novel. He writes, "There are almost no characters in this story, & almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, & so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..."
Slaughterhouse-Five, named from the building where the POWs were held, isn't only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it's as important as any written since '45. Like Catch-22, it fashions the author's WWII experiences into an eloquent plea against butchery in authority's service. It boasts the same imaginative humanity & gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in his other works, but the book's basis in fact gives it a uniquely poignant humor.]]> 205 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 0385312083 Kevin 4 vonnegut, highbrow 3.96 1969
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2005/12/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: vonnegut, highbrow
review:
I don't know what to say about this one, either. It was really compelling though, and I got through it in just a couple of days last winter in the trailer. A nice blend of dark humor, social commentary, and an interesting idea.
]]> 412732 On the Road put the Beat Generation on the map, The Dharma Bums is sparked by Kerouac's expansiveness, humor, and a contagious zest for life.]]> 244 Jack Kerouac Kevin 4 3.94 1958
author: Jack Kerouac
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1958
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: outdoor, spirituality, beat, adventure
review:
I don't know how much I can say about this book that is really that interesting since it is pretty widely read and there are lots of good discussions of it available. As is typical of Kerouac's writing, there are parts where he gets a little rambly and self-indulgent and loses the reader; however, there are also some transcendent moments and fascinating observations. I particularly like the part at the end of the book where Kerouac tells about his time as a watchman at a fire outpost in the Pacific Northwest.
]]> 292055
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, third edition, includes:

* Getting your home brewery together: the basics -- malt, hops, yeast, and water
* Ten easy lessons for making your first batch of beer
* Creating world-class styles of beer (IPA, Belgian wheat, German Kölsch and Bock, barley wine, American lagers, to name a few)
* Using fruit, honey, and herbs for a spicier, more festive brew
* Brewing with malt extracts for an unlimited range of strengths and flavors
* Advanced brewing techniques using specialty hops or the all-grain method or mash extracts
* A complete homebrewer's glossary, troubleshooting tips, and an up-to-date resource section
* And much, much more

Be sure to check out Charlie's The Homebrewer's Companion for over 60 additional recipes and more detailed charts and tables, techniques, and equipment information for the advanced brewer.]]> 432 Charles Papazian 0060531053 Kevin 5 beerandbrewing, reference 4.29 1980
author: Charles Papazian
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1980
rating: 5
read at: 2007/02/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: beerandbrewing, reference
review:
This book is more of a reference than anything, but for that it is great. There are loads of recipes and excellent discussions of the different ingredients, the processes, and some nice layman's terms explanations of some of the chemical concepts involved in brewing. This book was an excellent introduction for me but now that I am starting to get the basics down I am still finding it a useful resource.
]]> 425175
His rival: Lajos VarjĂş, the Inspector Clouseau of the Iron Curtain, whose knowledge of police work comes from Hungarian-dubbed episodes of Columbo. His deputy is nicknamed "Mound of Asshead" because of his propensity for crashing police cars. His forensics expert, known as "Dance Instructor" for his lucrative side career teaching ballet, wears a top hat and tails on the job.

Welcome to Julian Rubinstein's uproariously funny and unforgettable account of crime in the heart of the new Europe. With a supporting cast that includes car wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk army generals, cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, the Johnnie Cochran of Budapest, and a hockey team that seems to spend as much time breaking the law as it does practicing, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber gives us the most charming outlaw-hero since the Sundance Kid—and the Sundance Kid didn't play hockey.

As the Eastern bloc slips off its communist skin and replaces it with leopard-skin hot pants, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is here to screw in the pink lightbulbs. Part Unbearable Lightness of Being, part Pink Panther, and part Slap Shot, Julian Rubinstein's tale is a spectacular literary debut—and a story so outrageous that it could only be true.]]> 319 Julian Rubinstein 0316071676 Kevin 5 Cops and America's Most Wanted.

Ambrus has a fascinating story filled with moments that seem too out there to be true, but his story is also that of Hungary and Romania during the turbulent 90s after the fall of the Iron Curtain.]]> 4.03 2004
author: Julian Rubinstein
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2009/12/16
shelves: historical, crime, centralandeasterneurope
review:
I really liked this one and would recommend it to pretty much anybody. It is the story of Attila Ambrus, a down-on-his luck hockey goalie who became a minor celebrity in Budapest as a serial Bank Robber and frequent subject of a Hungarian TV show that is reminiscent of a combination of the American Cops and America's Most Wanted.

Ambrus has a fascinating story filled with moments that seem too out there to be true, but his story is also that of Hungary and Romania during the turbulent 90s after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
]]> 417783 304 William Faulkner 0871401673 Kevin 0 currently-reading 3.12 1927
author: William Faulkner
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.12
book published: 1927
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/07/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 31093 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, takes us on a poignant and passionate journey as mysterious and compelling as his first life-changing work.

Instead of a motorcycle, a sailboat carries his philosopher-narrator Phaedrus down the Hudson River as winter closes in. Along the way he picks up a most unlikely traveling companion: a woman named Lila who in her desperate sexuality, hostility, and oncoming madness threatens to disrupt his life.

In Lila Robert M. Pirsig has crafted a unique work of adventure and ideas that examines the essential issues of the nineties as his previous classic did the seventies.]]> 480 Robert M. Pirsig 0553299611 Kevin 0 to-read 3.83 1991
author: Robert M. Pirsig
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 70420
New to this edition : This revised edition, newly updated to consider the banking crisis and economic turbulence of the last four years, is essential for anyone who has wondered why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great, or why they can't seem to find a decent second-hand car, or how to outwit Starbucks. Senior columnist for the Financial Times Tim Harford brings his experience and insight as he ranges from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States to reveal how supermarkets, airlines, and coffee chains--to name just a few--are vacuuming money from our wallets. Harford punctures the myths surrounding some of today's biggest controversies, including the high cost of health-care; he reveals why certain environmental laws can put a smile on a landlord's face; and he explains why some industries can have high profits for innocent reasons, while in other industries something sinister is going on.

Covering an array of economic concepts including scarce resources, market power, efficiency, price gouging, market failure, inside information, and game theory, Harford sheds light on how these forces shape our day-to-day lives, often without our knowing it. Showing us the world through the eyes of an economist, Tim Harford reveals that everyday events are intricate games of negotiations, contests of strength, and battles of wits. Written with a light touch and sly wit, The Undercover Economist turns "the dismal science" into a true delight.]]> 288 Tim Harford 0195189779 Kevin 4 Freakonomics but it also maybe delves into a wider variety of subtopics. Some of the examples here are a little more politically charged, also.

If you made it through Freakonomics and are still interested in another economics book, I will recommend this one but I did like Freakonomics better.]]> 3.81 2005
author: Tim Harford
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves:
review:
Another good popular economics book. Maybe not quite as accessible or fun as Freakonomics but it also maybe delves into a wider variety of subtopics. Some of the examples here are a little more politically charged, also.

If you made it through Freakonomics and are still interested in another economics book, I will recommend this one but I did like Freakonomics better.
]]> 1170344 648 U.S. Department of the Navy 1557502218 Kevin 4 reference, historical 3.72 1902
author: U.S. Department of the Navy
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1902
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves: reference, historical
review:
They didn't have other editions on goodreads but the one I read was actually a 1944 edition that belonged to my grandfather on my father's side. Being as how the guide to common international naval flags includes Nazi and Imperial Japanese insignia, I think I can guess without ever having seen the current version that pretty much all of the other information has changed too. I remember reading this eagerly as a 13 year old and I have looked through it a few times since. There are some interesting bits about sailing and survival at sea and the like but mostly it is cool as a kind of historical curiosity.
]]> 136092 285 U.S. Department of Defense 0967512395 Kevin 4 reference, outdoor 3.97 1970
author: U.S. Department of Defense
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves: reference, outdoor
review:
Large parts of this book are completely peripheral to the military aspect of it -- lots of tips for outdoor survival that I have seen elsewhere or that seem like great suggestions. This manual is certainly not written with ecological impact in mind, but it is intended for the kind of situations where that probably wouldn't be the first thing on your mind in any case. Mostly the focus is on general survival skills that would be good in any emergency situation, although there are some times you are reminded that it is a military manual when all of a sudden there is reference to "making contact with your unit" or some such. There is also a section on makeshift combat weapons which I read out of curiosity.
]]> 791196 192 Michael Jackson 0789435276 Kevin 5
Fun to browse through and educational about beer which is wonderful if you are like me and totally into learning all about beer. On the downside, looking through it generally makes me want to run out and buy some sort of really expensive imported beer so I can try it. It also fuels fantasies of actually owning all of the correct glasses to serve the various drinks in some day if I ever hit the Lotto jackpot or something.]]> 4.29 1998
author: Michael Jackson
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves: beerandbrewing, coffeetable, reference
review:
A journey around the regions of the world and their unique beer styles -- how they taste, why they taste the way they do, and some highly recommended examples of each written by beer expert Michael Jackson (not THAT Michael Jackson; I suspect he feels like the Michael Bolton character in Office Space).

Fun to browse through and educational about beer which is wonderful if you are like me and totally into learning all about beer. On the downside, looking through it generally makes me want to run out and buy some sort of really expensive imported beer so I can try it. It also fuels fantasies of actually owning all of the correct glasses to serve the various drinks in some day if I ever hit the Lotto jackpot or something.
]]> 22289 Been looking for a naked mannequin to hide in your kitchen cabinets?
Curious about Chuck's debut in an MTV music video?
What goes on at the Scum Center?
How do you get to the Apocalypse Café?

In the closest thing he may ever write to an autobiography, Chuck Palahniuk provides answers to all these questions and more as he takes you through the streets, sewers, and local haunts of Portland, Oregon.

According to Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic Geek Love, Portland is the home of America's " fugitives and refugees." Get to know these folks, the " most cracked of the crackpots, "as Palahniuk calls them, and come along with him on an adventure through the parts of Portland you might not otherwise believe actually exist. No other travel guide will give you this kind of access to " a little history, a little legend, and a lot of friendly, sincere, fascinating people who maybe should've kept their mouths shut."

Here are strange personal museums, weird annual events, and ghost stories. Tour the tunnels under downtown Portland. Visit swingers' sex clubs, gay and straight. See Frances Gabe's famous 1940s Self-Cleaning House. Look into strange local customs like the I-Tit-a-Rod Race and the Santa Rampage. Learn how to talk like a local in a quick vocabulary lesson. Get to know, I mean really get to know, the animals at the Portland zoo.

Oh, the list goes on and on.]]> 176 Chuck Palahniuk 1400047838 Kevin 3 Insomniac with Dave Attell. I get the impression from interviews with Palahniuk that I have read that contrary to many of his readers' expectations, his personality is really pretty normal. In some ways non-fiction from him may let down readers who are expecting something other than what they get, which a catalog of cool little kind-of-indie places.]]> 3.54 2003
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves: lightreading, travel, historical, palahniuk
review:
Something a little different from Chuck Palahniuk: a kind of travelogue of some of his favorites among the more eccentric things Portland, OR has to offer. Each essay provides a little bit of history as well as information about a different site or aspect of Portland. Maybe a bit of an odd comparison but it reads like a book version of Insomniac with Dave Attell. I get the impression from interviews with Palahniuk that I have read that contrary to many of his readers' expectations, his personality is really pretty normal. In some ways non-fiction from him may let down readers who are expecting something other than what they get, which a catalog of cool little kind-of-indie places.
]]> 22290
Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from being a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better, and that salvation hides in the last place you'll ever want to look.

The narrator must exact revenge upon Evie, her best friend and fellow model; kidnap Manus, her two-timing ex-boyfriend; and hit the road with Brandy in search of a brand-new past, present and future.]]> 297 Chuck Palahniuk 0099285444 Kevin 2 palahniuk, lightreading 3.97 1999
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1999
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2007/07/06
shelves: palahniuk, lightreading
review:
Meh. It was OK. Wasn't amazing.
]]> 122574
Getting Stoned with Savages tells the hilarious story of Troost’s time on Vanuatu—a rugged cluster of islands where the natives gorge themselves on kava and are still known to “eat the man.� Falling into one amusing misadventure after another, Troost struggles against typhoons, earthquakes, and giant centipedes and soon finds himself swept up in the laid-back, clothing-optional lifestyle of the islanders. When Sylvia gets pregnant, they decamp for slightly-more-civilized Fiji, a fallen paradise where the local chiefs can be found watching rugby in the house next door. And as they contend with new parenthood in a country rife with prostitutes and government coups, their son begins to take quite naturally to island living—in complete contrast to his dad.]]> 239 J. Maarten Troost 0767921992 Kevin 2 The Sex Lives of Cannibals, so naturally when I heard that he had put out a companion to the first book I ran out and got it. Troost's later life experiences in two other nations in the region just didn't get me going the same way. This one was OK, nice entertainment, but I just can't recommend it wholeheartedly like I could Cannibals.]]> 3.86 2006
author: J. Maarten Troost
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: adventure, humor, memoir, internationaldiplomacy, southpacific, travel, lightreading
review:
I got this one because I really liked Troost's other South Pacific book, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, so naturally when I heard that he had put out a companion to the first book I ran out and got it. Troost's later life experiences in two other nations in the region just didn't get me going the same way. This one was OK, nice entertainment, but I just can't recommend it wholeheartedly like I could Cannibals.
]]> 90416 180 CrimethInc. 097091010X Kevin 3 Evasion available. I'm no anarchist myself, but there are parts of the worldview in this book that really engage me. There are also interesting tidbits on the history of anarchy as CrimeThink gives an exposition of their particular worldview.]]> 3.82 2001
author: CrimethInc.
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: anthology, crime, leftist, lightreading, politics
review:
This anarchist collective is the same one that made Evasion available. I'm no anarchist myself, but there are parts of the worldview in this book that really engage me. There are also interesting tidbits on the history of anarchy as CrimeThink gives an exposition of their particular worldview.
]]> 84342 288 CrimethInc. 0970910118 Kevin 5
In addition to his train stories, he tells about squatting in abandoned houses in suburbia and living off of a sort of modern conception of "the fat of the land": a combination of perfectly good things people just throw away and scamming companies like Wal-Mart that I personally don't have that much sympathy for in this equation.

I think what makes this one so cool is that it is a train story but it is also so much more.]]> 3.56 2001
author: CrimethInc.
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: adventure, anthology, hobotrainbum, leftist, lightreading, memoir, outdoor, travel
review:
My favorite train bum book but it is so much more too. This is also the most recent account, compiled from a zine that I believe was done around about the late 90s/early 00s by a train-hopping, dumpster-diving, vegan, straight-edge hardcore kid.

In addition to his train stories, he tells about squatting in abandoned houses in suburbia and living off of a sort of modern conception of "the fat of the land": a combination of perfectly good things people just throw away and scamming companies like Wal-Mart that I personally don't have that much sympathy for in this equation.

I think what makes this one so cool is that it is a train story but it is also so much more.
]]> 54961
Hoboes fascinated Conover, but he had only encountered them in literature and folksongs. So, he decided to take a year off and ride the rails. Equipped with rummage-store clothing, a bedroll, and a few other belongings, he hops a freight train in St. Louis, becoming a tramp in order to discover their peculiar culture. The men and women he meets along the way are by turns generous and mistrusting, resourceful and desperate, philosophical and profoundly cynical. And the narrative he creates of his travels with them is unforgettable and moving.]]> 304 Ted Conover 0375727868 Kevin 3
I liked it, but I liked some of the other train stories I read better.]]> 4.06 1984
author: Ted Conover
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: adventure, americana, hobotrainbum, memoir, outdoor
review:
This train memoir is from a guy who decided to go freight hopping as a sort of academic sociological research project. Some interesting moments, and a picture of the seemy underbelly of Reagan's "morning in America".

I liked it, but I liked some of the other train stories I read better.
]]> 17716 109 Samuel Beckett Kevin 4 3.85 1952
author: Samuel Beckett
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: drama, metaphysics, highbrow, spirituality
review:

]]> 194746 No Longer Human, this leading postwar Japanese writer's second novel, tells the poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas. In consequence, he feels himself "disqualified from being human" (a literal translation of the Japanese title).

Donald Keene, who translated this and Dazai's first novel, The Setting Sun, has said of the author's work: "His world � suggests Chekhov or possibly postwar France, � but there is a Japanese sensibility in the choice and presentation of the material. A Dazai novel is at once immediately intelligible in Western terms and quite unlike any Western book." His writing is in some ways reminiscent of Rimbaud, while he himself has often been called a forerunner of Yukio Mishima.

Cover painting by Noe Nojechowiz, from the collection of John and Barbara Duncan; design by Gertrude Huston]]> 176 Osamu Dazai Kevin 4 historical, highbrow 3.99 1948
author: Osamu Dazai
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1948
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: historical, highbrow
review:
This book is a fictionalized story but apparently is at least quasi-autobiographical about Dazai's feelings of depression and alienation in prewar Japan. It is definitely not a good book if you are looking for something uplifting.
]]> 22904 --penguinrandomhouse.com

Two Introductory parables: Before the law --
Imperial message --
Longer stories: Description of a struggle --
Wedding preparations in the country --
Judgment --
Metamorphosis --
In the penal colony --
Village schoolmaster (The giant mole) --
Blumfeld, and elderly bachelor --
Warden of the tomb --
Country doctor --
Hunter Gracchus --
Hunter Gracchus: A fragment --
Great Wall of China --
News of the building of the wall: A fragment --
Report to an academy --
Report to an academy: Two fragments --
Refusal --
Hunger artist --
Investigations of a dog --
Little woman --
The burrow --
Josephine the singer, or the mouse folk --
Children on a country road --
The trees --
Clothes --
Excursion into the mountains --
Rejection --
The street window --
The tradesman --
Absent-minded window-gazing --
The way home --
Passers-by --
On the tram --
Reflections for gentlemen-jockeys --
The wish to be a red Indian --
Unhappiness --
Bachelor's ill luck --
Unmasking a confidence trickster --
The sudden walk --
Resolutions --
A dream --
Up in the gallery --
A fratricide --
The next village --
A visit to a mine --
Jackals and Arabs --
The bridge --
The bucket rider --
The new advocate --
An old manuscript --
The knock at the manor gate --
Eleven sons --
My neighbor --
A crossbreed (A sport) --
The cares of a family man --
A common confusion --
The truth about Sancho Panza --
The silence of the sirens --
Prometheus --
The city coat of arms --
Poseidon --
Fellowship --
At night --
The problem of our laws --
The conscripton of troops --
The test --
The vulture --
The helmsman --
The top --
A little fable --
Home-coming --
First sorrow --
The departure --
Advocates --
The married couple --
Give it up! --
On parables.]]> 486 Franz Kafka Kevin 4 4.37 1911
author: Franz Kafka
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1911
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: centralandeasterneurope, highbrow, fantastical
review:
Well I like Kafka for the same reasons that a lot of people do. I particularly like "In the Penal Colony" as well as that one about the talking primate. Kafka manages to tap into something genuinely otherworldly in a way that is pretty rare.
]]> 244261
Bruno Schulz's untimely death at the hands of a Nazi stands as one of the great losses to modern literature. During his lifetime, his work found little critical regard, but word of his remarkable talents gradually won him an international readership. This volume brings together his complete fiction, including three short stories and his final surviving work, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass. Illustrated with Schulz's original drawings, this edition beautifully showcases the distinctive surrealist vision of one of the twentieth century's most gifted and influential writers.]]> 160 Bruno Schulz 0140186255 Kevin 5 4.18 1933
author: Bruno Schulz
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1933
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: centralandeasterneurope, anthology
review:
This is a really cool book, and I would never have heard of this if it weren't for Carlos. A little bit like Kafka insofar as its kind of surreal feel and Central European setting (I am getting more use out of the centralandeasterneuroope tag than I would have expected), but I don't find it nearly as dark or grotesque. Very good for autumn.
]]> 4953 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is the moving memoir of a college senior who, in the space of five weeks, loses both of his parents to cancer and inherits his eight-year-old brother. Here is an exhilarating debut that manages to be simultaneously hilarious and wildly inventive as well as a deeply heartfelt story of the love that holds a family together.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius is an instant classic that will be read for decades to come.]]> 530 Dave Eggers 0375725784 Kevin 4 highbrow, humor, memoir 3.70 2000
author: Dave Eggers
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2004/10/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: highbrow, humor, memoir
review:
Liked this one, don't have too much to say at the moment though.
]]> 5107 It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school...

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

The Catcher in the Rye is an all-time classic in coming-of-age literature- an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.

J.D. Salinger's (1919�2010) classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.]]> 277 J.D. Salinger 0316769177 Kevin 4 americana, highbrow 3.81 1951
author: J.D. Salinger
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1951
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: americana, highbrow
review:

]]> 4268 305 Nick Hornby 3426615355 Kevin 2 humor, lightreading High Fidelity but it was still OK. I wasn't on the trolley as far as where Hornby was going with his point, though. I also thought some of the humor was a bit heavyhanded.]]> 3.24 2001
author: Nick Hornby
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2001
rating: 2
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: humor, lightreading
review:
Didn't like this one as much as High Fidelity but it was still OK. I wasn't on the trolley as far as where Hornby was going with his point, though. I also thought some of the humor was a bit heavyhanded.
]]> 375782 Fight Club is now recognized as one of the most original and provocative novels published in this decade, Chuck Palahniuk's darkly funny first novel tells the story of a god-forsaken young man who discovers that his rage at living in a world filled with failure and lies cannot be pacified by an empty consumer culture. Relief for him and his disenfranchised peers comes in the form of secret after-hours boxing matches held in the basements of bars. Fight Club is the brain child of Tyler Durden, who thinks he has found a way for himself and his friends to live beyond their confining and stultifying lives. But in Tyler's world there are no rules, no limits, no brakes.]]> 208 Chuck Palahniuk 0805062971 Kevin 4 4.11 1996
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2001/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: sawthemoviebeforeireadthebook, palahniuk
review:
Another one where I ended up liking the book even better than the movie, although the movie is pretty faithful.
]]> 209889 1040 Robert K. Massie 0345375564 Kevin 4 4.30 1992
author: Robert K. Massie
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2000/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: historical, politics, internationaldiplomacy
review:
This book tells the story of the naval arms race prior to (and, arguably, leading to) the First World War by telling the stories of many of the personalities that shaped this story. What I liked most about this story was being able to relate to the human aspect of such a monolithic historic event while also gaining a peek into the world of international diplomacy.
]]> 1445 536 Thucydides 0872203948 Kevin 3
All joking aside, not exactly a page turner but of obvious historical interest. The core story of Athens' hubris and downfall is definitely resonant with me but the style employed by Thucydides isn't really something that draws me into the story or something I can relate to very well.]]> 3.85 -411
author: Thucydides
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.85
book published: -411
rating: 3
read at: 2004/07/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: historical, classicalperiod, highbrow
review:
My term paper on this book was originally titled "The Peloponnesian Bore".

All joking aside, not exactly a page turner but of obvious historical interest. The core story of Athens' hubris and downfall is definitely resonant with me but the style employed by Thucydides isn't really something that draws me into the story or something I can relate to very well.
]]> 890 “I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why.�

They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation. Laborers in California's dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. But George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own.

While the powerlessness of the laboring class is a recurring theme in Steinbeck's work of the late 1930s, he narrowed his focus when composing Of Mice and Men, creating an intimate portrait of two men facing a world marked by petty tyranny, misunderstanding, jealousy, and callousness. But though the scope is narrow, the theme is universal: a friendship and a shared dream that makes an individual's existence meaningful.

A unique perspective on life's hardships, this story has achieved the status of timeless classic due to its remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films.]]> 107 John Steinbeck 0142000671 Kevin 5 The Grapes of Wrath but I definitely found it more emotionally arresting. I was really drawn into sympathizing with George and Lennie.]]> 3.88 1937
author: John Steinbeck
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at: 1998/01/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: americana, steinbeck, highbrow
review:
This is probably my favorite Steinbeck novel. It is brief, so there is not as much in the way of detailed panaromas or such things like you might find in, say, The Grapes of Wrath but I definitely found it more emotionally arresting. I was really drawn into sympathizing with George and Lennie.
]]> 5695 0679734511. (ISBN13: 9780679734512)

Inspired by the true story of a political murder that horrified Russians in 1869, Fyodor Dostoevsky conceived of Demons as a "novel-pamphlet" in which he would say everything about the plague of materialist ideology that he saw infecting his native land. What emerged was a prophetic and ferociously funny masterpiece of ideology and murder in pre-revolutionary Russia.]]> 733 Fyodor Dostoevsky Kevin 4
Partly due to my lack of historical context, I couldn't quite always tell which parts were meant to be jokes at the characters' expense and which parts were in earnest. Also, having read this book made Love and Death that much more amusing when I saw it recently.

A bit of a slog, which can be a turnoff at times but seems to happen with translated novels. I genuinely enjoyed the novel and am glad I read it.]]> 4.31 1872
author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1872
rating: 4
read at: 2005/07/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: centralandeasterneurope, highbrow
review:
I was supposed to read this one for school but it was so long that I had to sacrifice finishing it to focus on classes that were, you know, in my major. I went back and read it from beginning to end a couple of years later. I am glad I did; it gives you a window into the mindset of the Russian aristocracy and intelligentsia of the time, as well as some interesting commentary from Dostoevsky and quite a bit of dry humor.

Partly due to my lack of historical context, I couldn't quite always tell which parts were meant to be jokes at the characters' expense and which parts were in earnest. Also, having read this book made Love and Death that much more amusing when I saw it recently.

A bit of a slog, which can be a turnoff at times but seems to happen with translated novels. I genuinely enjoyed the novel and am glad I read it.
]]> 87989
As he reminisces and writes, placing the pages carefully in his antproof case, we learn that he was a World War II ace who was shot down twice, an investment banker who met with popes and presidents, and a man who was never not in love. He was the thief of the century, a murderer, and a protector of the innocent. And all his life he waged a valiant, losing, one-man battle against the world’s most insidious enslaver: coffee.

Mark Helprin combines adventure, satire, flights of transcendence, and high comedy in this "memoir" of a man whose life reads like the song of the twentieth century.]]> 528 Mark Helprin 0380727331 Kevin 4 adventure, historical, memoir
The story follows the convoluted, frequently implausible life of its author from childhood in upstate New York and as a Wall Street courier to an insane asylum in Switzerland prior to WWI then back to NYC to piloting fighters over Nazi Germany then back again to Wall Street as an investment banker and then finally to old age in Brazil after having robbed Stillman and Chase. The one common thread of these stories is the protagonist's ongoing hatred of, and often violent reaction to coffee.

So, from that brief synopsis, you can tell that it is quite the unusual story. I am told that the way that the story is continually interrupted by tangents, asides, and whimsical improbabilities is a hallmark of Helprin's writing style.

All in all it was a good story, if unusual, and kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next.]]> 4.02 1995
author: Mark Helprin
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2007/06/01
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: adventure, historical, memoir
review:
My father has been recommending this book to me for some years, and I finally got to reading it after he gave me a copy for Christmas this year.

The story follows the convoluted, frequently implausible life of its author from childhood in upstate New York and as a Wall Street courier to an insane asylum in Switzerland prior to WWI then back to NYC to piloting fighters over Nazi Germany then back again to Wall Street as an investment banker and then finally to old age in Brazil after having robbed Stillman and Chase. The one common thread of these stories is the protagonist's ongoing hatred of, and often violent reaction to coffee.

So, from that brief synopsis, you can tell that it is quite the unusual story. I am told that the way that the story is continually interrupted by tangents, asides, and whimsical improbabilities is a hallmark of Helprin's writing style.

All in all it was a good story, if unusual, and kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next.
]]> 16703
But homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. He and his half-Tlingit partner, Berko Shemets, can't catch a break in any of their outstanding cases. Landsman's new supervisor is the love of his life—and also his worst nightmare. And in the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose. Out of habit, obligation, and a mysterious sense that it somehow offers him a shot at redeeming himself, Landsman begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy. But when word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, Landsman soon finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, hopefulness, evil, and salvation that are his heritage—and with the unfinished business of his marriage to Bina Gelbfish, the one person who understands his darkest fears.

At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, an homage to 1940s noir, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.
(front flap)]]> 414 Michael Chabon 0007149824 Kevin 0 to-read 3.72 2007
author: Michael Chabon
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/07/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 4929 Kafka on the Shore, a tour de force of metaphysical reality, is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle—yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.]]> 467 Haruki Murakami 1400079276 Kevin 0 to-read 4.14 2002
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 153198
A child's collection of bottle caps becomes the tombstones of a graveyard. A lowly rightfielder's inexplicable death turns him into a martyr to baseball. Strains of Chopin floating down the tenement airshaft are transformed into a mysterious anthem of loss.

Combining homely detail and heartbreakingly familiar voices with grand leaps of imagination, The Coast of Chicago is a masterpiece from one of America's most highly regarded writers.]]> 192 Stuart Dybek 0312424256 Kevin 4 chicago, memoir, anthology
Some of the stories seem like hokey nostalgia bits but most of them I found interesting, well-written and compelling. Dybek really makes his characters come alive; his old neighborhood is also very vivid and is in a sense a major character itself. I think that maybe I got more from this book since I spent my college years in Chicago, although I was not particularly familiar with this part of town when I read the books.]]> 4.07 1990
author: Stuart Dybek
name: Kevin
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2005/01/01
date added: 2007/05/09
shelves: chicago, memoir, anthology
review:
One of several anthologies of short fiction by this author that I have read. Dybek blurs the line between fantasy and fact in his quasi-memoirs about growing up in Chicago in the Pilsen / Little Village area of the South Side in the 1960s. This time period was when white flight and deindustrialization were beginning to afflict Chicago and this part of town was in the middle of its transition from a predominantly Polish Catholic neighborhood to a predominantly Mexican Catholic neighborhood.

Some of the stories seem like hokey nostalgia bits but most of them I found interesting, well-written and compelling. Dybek really makes his characters come alive; his old neighborhood is also very vivid and is in a sense a major character itself. I think that maybe I got more from this book since I spent my college years in Chicago, although I was not particularly familiar with this part of town when I read the books.
]]> 7670
Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study. One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.

Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.
--back cover]]> 327 Michael Crichton 0060541814 Kevin 3 3.92 1969
author: Michael Crichton
name: Kevin
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1969
rating: 3
read at: 1995/01/01
date added: 2007/05/09
shelves: scifi, lightreading, adventure
review:
I read this book when I was pretty young. Mostly what I remember is the crusty old Chuck Yeager Buzz Aldrin type bum guy who was always getting drunk on cans of sterno. I really liked it, although at the time I had not yet learned to make the distinction between just for fun books and literary books. I'm also not as keen on Michael Crichton as I used to be, but I bet I would still like this book.
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