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- Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
- A sort of melancholy but redemptive book about a past romance.
Overall, an enjoyable read, sort of tranquil. But (and I'm not
sure if this was Murakami's fault or his translator's) words like
"wowie zowie" are a bit jarring to see. Argh.
- The Girl with Curious Hair, David Foster Wallace
- Generally good short stories, although some, a mixed bag. The
roundabout storytelling in "Little Expressionless Animals" was excellent.
"The Girl with Curious Hair" and "My Appearance" were hilarious. Didn't
care for "Lyndon" or "John Billy".
- Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace
- This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for some time, intimidating
me with its enormity. It shouldn't have. It's good. I read this
constantly for about a week or so, after school ended and before I
started work. I'm not so much a travel person, and, as it was, this
was one of the better vacations I could ask for. Particularly good
points, besides witty, funny prose: amazing detail about Boston, and
the first time I'd thought about Medusa in a long, long while.
- The Life of Insects, Victor Pelevin
- Mmmm...what Dan said.
- South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami
- Haruki Murakami has tricked me into reading romances. When
I started with him, he was writing science-fictiony hard-boilers,
and slowly, he's moved towards romance. Well, not in the harlequin
sense, but still. He made me cry while on the exercise bike. He
made me realize that stories can't teach you everything.
- Jen told me to note this back in February, but I kinda forgot
to, so I'm doing it now. She says the progression isn't quite what
it seems because his writing order is different from the translation
order, and because Norwegian Wood is more pure-romantic than
Wind-Up Bird, and Norwegian Wood was written earlier.
Oops. But hey, maybe the pattern is there, but with some noise.
- I may have misstated her, so she should correct me if I did.
- Americana, Don DeLillo
- Wow. Great first novels always make me somewhat jealous and slightly
worried.
- A Tenured Professor, John Kenneth Galbraith
- A light satire about a Harvard economics professor who takes over
the stock market and invests in "good" causes, by a Harvard
economics professor. Very funny, in that dry, witty Cantabridgian
elite sort of way. Oh, I miss my days of being part of, yet
simultaneously mocking, my surroundings of elevated Bostonian
liberal snobbery. Kevin D., you would get a kick out of reading
this book.
- The White Guard, Mikhail Bulgakov
- I did not like this book as much as The Master and Margarita,
but that's my fault, not Bulgakov's. In general, I'm just not so
into war stories, but I'm still glad Sean made me read it. The reader
gets an amazing sense of the confusion and fear in Kiev in 1918.
The epilogue at the back of Sean's copy of The White Guard is an
essential read, providing a good epilogual (is that a word?) context.
maybe, if read again
- Operation Shylock, Philip Roth
- I have a fondness for self-referentiality in fiction. The problem
with this is that appreciation for self-referentiality tends to be
built from an understanding of context, and that, I did not have
for this book. Alas. I keep feeling like I missed out on something
funny because I don't know enough about Israeli politics. And,
unfortunately, the story itself was not compelling enough for me to
feel fulfilled after reading this book.
maybe
- Glyph, Percival Everett
- Young prodigy baby born to literary theorist and artist. Craziness
ensues. Okay, but not as spectacular as I'd hoped.
- A Vaudeville of Devils, Roberto Girardio
- A very mixed bag of short stories. Some of them, too cheesy for
me to take (like "The Primordial Face" and "The Defenestration of Aba
Sid"). Others, a good idea, but not carried out wonderfully ("Arcana
Mundi"). One, beautiful ("The Dinner Party").
- The Humument, Tom Phillips
- An illustrated book created from another book. Cute conceit,
a little cheesily done.
- House of Spirits, Isabel Allende
- This book is charming. I'm not so sure I like charming. So it's
not really the book, it's me. One of those epic sagas about a family
in growth, then in decline, and then in a sort of redemption at the
end. It's well written, although like many of its kind, a little
too breezy in areas.
- My Year of Meats, Ruth Ozeki
- Gift from Amy. Fun read, but very very light. That, and a little
preachy. But mostly it was the lightness that bothered me. Oh well.
- Ratner's Star, Don DeLillo
- Prodigy, signal from stars, hiding in big holes in the earth.
Some parts sound almost as if Contact cribbed from it. Many parts
were a bit self-absorbed in its own technicality. Still, amusing.
- Girl in Landscape, Jonathan Lethem
- Less than amazing, but I think that may be because I have weird
issues with books written from young girls' points of views. I always
want to relate, and never can, and maybe I just try too hard.
no
- Hannibal, Thomas Harris
- Yeah, had to read it. Eh, not amazing. Nice disgusting touches,
but I am too jaded to be affected. All right ending, though.
non-fiction
- Everything for Sale, Robert Kuttner
- Really great book! The sections on the history of various
industries (health care, money markets) took me a long time to read,
though, but I think that's because of my complete ignorance in those
areas, because, in contrast, the section on public choice theory went
like a breeze. The book was thorough and well written. On the other
hand, you pretty much know it's biased, but hey. I can deal. "Your man
Kuttner," as Justin calls the author, in talking to me.
- Somewhere in the Night, Nicholas Christopher
- Book about film noir. Really not that insightful, just gives a
book report of many films in the genre and raves about them. Tries
to connect them to certain themes, but it didn't really carry for
me. Alas.
- Inequality Reexamined, Amartya Sen
- Written by the 1998 Nobel Prize winner for economics. One of his
more written- for- normal- people books, although it's still a bit too
complicated for my usual style of reading while on the exercise bike.
But interesting. Begins with how all major philosophies want "equality,"
and only differ along what "equality" entails. He argues that equality
should take into account differentiated *abilities* to achieve utility.
- Seduced by Science: How American Religion Has Lost Its Way, Steven
Goldberg
- Steven Goldberg (I keep getting waitlisted out of his classes) has
written an amazing book again. This time, an insightful look into the
relationship between law, science, and religion. He makes the argument
that by relying too heavily on the arguments and "basis" of science,
religious groups and leaders in America end up undercutting the
inherent value of their faiths. It's a similar argument to that
made by Stephen Carter in Culture of Disbelief (I think. I must
admit I haven't read the book; I've only heard Carter speak) concerning
religions' overreliance on the law.
- Anyway, it's a pretty neat book. If it wasn't hard backed and
expensive, I'd send it off to Kevin D.
- Sexual State of the Union, Susie Bright
- Oh dear, could I be *beyond* Susie Bright? I must confess, I did
not enjoy this book nearly as much as her others, yet I cannot discern
any substantive difference. Maybe because, during the past year, the
subject of sex has been less salient to me than in most years. Maybe
because I've heard her same old stuff before. Maybe because, dare I
say it? sex is not as exciting a topic anymore.
- Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, Kary Mullis
- Amy gave this to me for Christmas. Random essays of the 1993
Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry for inventing PCR, about his life,
about chemistry, about women and his love of them, about the joy of
surfing, about the OJ trial (since PCR played a large evidentiary
role), about his belief in psychic phenomena, and about his
experiences with pot and LSD. Really. Good lines like: "There is a
general place in your brain, I think, reserved for 'melancholy of
relationships past.' It grows and prospers as life progresses,
forcing you finally, against your better judgment, to listen to
country music."
- He seem to hate environmentalists, though, and I have a problem with
that. But if I can set that aside (which unfortunately, I can't) I
would probably have been amused by the chapter which was a
not-all-that-disguised snipe at Prof. Molina, who won the Nobel Prize
for his discovery of ozone depletion. As it was, I wasn't so amused.