 The City We Became by N.K. JemisinI am not a fan of NY. This book is a huge celebration of all things New York, with a great magic system and some cosmic horror thrown in for fun. But if you do not like NY it is very hard to slog through all of the celebration. Now, if there was a sequel to take place in Orange County I would be all in! View all my reviews |
Category: Book
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The City We Became (Great Cities, #1) by N.K. Jemisin (Goodreads Author)
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The Agony of Eros by Byung-Chul Han
The Agony of Eros by Byung-Chul Han
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another great book by Germany’s greatest thinker. Simple, straightforward, and helpful—there is a good reference to everything from Shades of Grey to Kierkegaard. it is strongly recommended for fans of theory which he defends against an article on AI in Wired magazine. Very fun.
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Inland Empire by Melissa Sue Anderson
Inland Empire by Melissa Sue Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A great think piece of Lynch’s final film.
Written by that lesbian you bummed cigarettes from while reading Derrida in the cool off-campus café. The book starts super strong. Has good bits on acting. Devolved into reflections on #MeToo and representation — including some interesting asides on the male gaze. And finishes with a reflection on Inland Empire’s uplifting ending.
A good read
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The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I think that this is a good book, and the writing is solid. I read it right after Handmaid’s Tale which is likely a mistake because the two books are tightly coupled and very similar in terms of structure and style. I found the ending of this one less impactful–the epilogue is not as shocking and the interconnection of all the story pieces feels rather forced. Glad this was written, but not sure I would recommend it to anyone.
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The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier, Gideon Emery (Narrato
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My daughter Kate with a degree in economics from UCI disagreed with so much of this it was hard for me to enjoy. Like the thought, frustrated with the arguments.
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The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life by Rick Warren, Daniel G. Amen, Mark Hyman
The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life by Rick Warren
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
a simple diet book. I like the community faith-based approach and the stories are nice, but overall in the end it just reads like another common sense diet book.
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Ill Will by Dan Chaon
Ill Will by Dan Chaon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is surprisingly good. A simple murder story, but it has all these wonderful character reflections and useful observations on modern society. There is a good deal of post-modern experimental writing. Does not fall into the art book category, but has its moments and Chaon is someone to watch going forward.
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Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality Jaron Lanier
Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality by Jaron Lanier
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
This was a tough read for me. Lanier is a personal hero–my 2024 resolutions (code, film, jazz) were taken from his talks. This book is trash. He is self-serving, name-dropping, and sees himself as the hero in every story (even when humbly discussing his faults, he sounds pompous). I am not sure what I was looking for, but this is not it. His victimhood, lack of self-reflection, and pride in every step is a survival mechanism but he does not have the academic chops to grok the meaning. I think that may be the fundamental failure of this book. It is an undergraduate work.
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Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany by Norman Ohler, Shaun Whiteside (Translator), Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)
Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany by Norman Ohler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A fantastic book about drugs during World War Two within the Nazi leadership–excellent information, significant research, and fantastic writing. I stumbled into this book from a notebook blog by the author, Ohler, who wrote during raves (which I think is fantastic). It is strongly recommended for history fans, drug researchers, and fans of weird history.
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The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han
The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
epic. so epic.
The idea that control has been replaced by achievement is just gold. This is a must read for just about everyone alive. I have no idea if this is taken seriously in the academy, but I found it like profound and an invitation for further study.
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David Given Schwarm 