2014 Book Challenge

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp

I'll write a more detailed review in the book club topic, but basically I didn't like this much. I found it difficulty to read, and tediously slow. There's also so much attention to the details of bureaucracy. Far more than I could manage. I found the characters unlikable, which I suppose is deliberate. Also the dialogue seems to mainly consist of huge monologues, occasionally with short interjections. Anyway, I'm mainly glad to have finished

[dp]

1. Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard 298pg
2. New Perspectives on Yugoslavia: Key Issues and Controversies edited by Dejan Djokić 224pg
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
4. Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson 224pg
5. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 569pg
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka 328pg

[bigdirtyfoot]

6. The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, 326 pg.

I re-read this book as part of an effort to read through all of Vonnegut's novels, and enjoyed it even more this time around. I took more time with digesting the text, which led to more understanding and entertainment. Vonnegut shows a great flair for plot and character development, and the novel is packaged in a easily-digested writing style. Five stars this go around!

Here was the original review I wrote for this book, back in 2009:

Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan was suggested to me by my college astronomy professor as one of the best science fiction tales of the twentieth-century. It took me three years to get around to reading it but I would agree that it is a great novel, and possibly a philosophical work as well.

Composed in the late fifties, this book focuses on two main characters - Winston Niles Rumfoord, a man who lives on Titan and has been converted into pure energy, and Malachi Constant, the richest man in the world. Rumfoord can only materialize on Earth every fifty-nine days to tell the Earthlings about what will happen in the future. Although he is isolated on Titan, which is one of Saturn’s moons, he knows everything that has ever happened and everything that will ever happen. Rumfoord informs Constant that he will mate with Beatrice, Rumfoord’s wife, on Mars, and that they will have a child named Chrono. The plot is very well-developed and has enough twists and turns to keep the reader occupied.

What I found especially interesting about this book is the character development. They have enough flaws so that the reader dislikes the characters while also sympathizing with them. It’s tough to find a character to like completely, but it’s equally difficult to find one to hate.

Vonnegut provides an interesting roller-coaster ride through philosophy. The story reveals what luck means, how god is indifferent and that we are merely pawns for other creatures in the universe with a different set of goals. Vonnegut’s take on reality-as-we-know-it is interesting because he shows how each answer to the question of life is meaningless.

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]

I'll write a review in the book club topic, but I really enjoyed this. It's a lot like The Castle I thought, but the prose is particularly better.

[dp]

1. Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard 298pg
2. New Perspectives on Yugoslavia: Key Issues and Controversies edited by Dejan Djokić 224pg
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
4. Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson 224pg
5. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 569pg
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka 328pg
7. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee 220pg
8. The Modern Predicament by George Scialabba 149pg
9. Language and Identity in the Balkans by Robert D. Greenberg 205pg

[bigdirtyfoot]

7. Mother Night, Kurt Vonnegut, 268 pg.

Another great novel by Vonnegut, Mother Night is about an American spy in World War II that became a powerful Nazi propagandist for Germany. The story is told in first-person by the propagandist, Howard W. Campbell, Jr.

The novel starts with Howard in an Israeli prison as he prepares to stand trial as a Nazi war criminal. But since he was truly an American spy acting as a Nazi, the question arises - is he really guilty? Vonnegut does a great job distorting the concept of black and white, right and wrong.

I enjoyed this one a lot, and it was a pretty quick read. So far I have been impressed with Vonnegut's novels, and I'm looking forward to reading his next one, Cat's Cradle.

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]
8. Dune by Frank Hebert 412pp [ebook - google]

I really enjoyed this. It's epic. I especially liked the first part (of 3 parts), which was all about political intrigue and plot twists. After that it did become a lot more straight forward, and it reminded me of the Ender series somewhat, in having a god like hero who can do everything perfectly (which isn't the case at the start). Still, it was a great read, and strongly influenced by desert ecology, which is cool. I doubt I'll read any more of the series, but I recommend this. Medieval Sci-Fi is a strange genre, but works well.

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]
8. Dune by Frank Hebert 412pp [ebook - google]
9. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 226pp

Review in book club.

[bigdirtyfoot]

8. Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, 287 pg.

Review in book club.

[Pasquar]

1) The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World's Most Wanted Drug Lord by Malcom Beith 288 pg
2) A Million Little Pieces by James Frey 430 pg
3) Ruminations by KRS-ONE 233 pg
4) Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman 512 pg.

This book took me WAY too long to read.

I wanted to read this book for a while because it's been one of the most important recent books in the study of Psychology of Judgement & Decision Making, is a NY Times bestseller (less important to me, but a factor nonetheless), and the fact that Kahneman received a Nobel Prize in Economics (despite being a Psychologist). The main gist of the book (explained in numerous different ways) is that our (imo) humanness and processes of cognition, perception, and decision-making are not aligned with the "rational agent" philosophy of economics. His research over the past couple of decades has contributed a lot to this field, including the founding of "Prospect Theory".

I've read many books like this and have to say that this one, though useful and valuable, was disappointing. I personally felt that the book could have been a full 1/3 shorter and really didn't like Kahneman could write in a way that didn't feel academic. I honestly don't know why it is a NY Times bestseller because as someone who has a higher than normal interest in Psychology of Judgement & Decision Making, I found it dragged on and was boring at least 1/2 of the time. I kept imagining being someone who wasn't a Psych major or who doesn't have this specific interest in this subject and how they would feel about this book. He used evidence of studies and experiments, which I do appreciate and am interested in, but I feel he over-explained a lot of the methods and intricacies of these - that's what footnotes are for. I feel he could have delivered the same message in a more concise and less academic (more down-to-earth) fashion. I know Kahneman has written several other books, but I'm not going to read them based on this one. I'd rather read something from Dan Ariely (who wrote "Predictably Irrational", which I read in 2012 or 2013) who has the ability to make things flow better and make something more readable when discussing academic psychological research.

[bigdirtyfoot]

9. Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, Kim Knoot, 142 pg.

I approached this book with very little knowledge about Hinduism and an open mind. The author does a good job of presenting Hinduism in an unbiased manner, which I appreciate. She does not shy away from discussing the caste system and the treatment of women and untouchables.

The stories found in the religious texts were extremely interesting to me and I may consider reading some of these texts for more understanding. I was not as interested in the cultural aspects of Hinduism toward the end of the book.

I'd recommend this to someone with an open mind who wants to learn more about Hinduism because it is a great overview.

[dp]

1. Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard 298pg
2. New Perspectives on Yugoslavia: Key Issues and Controversies edited by Dejan Djokić 224pg
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon 152pg
4. Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson 224pg
5. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 569pg
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka 328pg
7. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee 220pg
8. The Modern Predicament by George Scialabba 149pg
9. Language and Identity in the Balkans by Robert D. Greenberg 205pg
10. Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee 156pg
11. Every Day Is For the Thief by Teju Cole 162pg
12. On the Edge of Reason by Miroslav Krleža 182pg
13. Submergence by J.M. Ledgard 209pg
14. Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee 229pg
15. The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson 204pg
16. Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner 181pg

I'm still in on the Book Club, I'm just behind... I am in Croatia currently and will soon be going to Bosnia for 10 weeks so book availability isn't the greatest. I did however bring Leaving the Atocha Station (this being the 4th time I've read it, his new novel, 10:04 comes out September 2nd and I can't ever remember being this anxious and excited to read a book), Innocents Abroad by Twain, and Don Quixote with me, so I'll at least be up with Don Quixote. I got about 50 pages into the Nabokov book club book and just couldn't keep going.

In terms of books 10-16, I can't account for the Coetzee. I don't even really like him much. For somebody who writes so much about emotions its hard to believe he's ever actually felt any. (I think I may have stolen this thought from my brother)

This has been a slow year for me. I've had other stuff get in the way and I don't like it. It will be tough to reach 50 this year.

I've read zero female authors this year. Pathetic on my part.

[bigdirtyfoot]

10. Pattern Recognition, William Gibson, 367 pg.

Review is in the Modified Book Club thread. I definitely enjoyed this one. It features an internet forum as well!

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]
8. Dune by Frank Hebert 412pp [ebook - google]
9. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 226pp
10. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson 356pp

Review in book club. Summary; Very good.

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]
8. Dune by Frank Hebert 412pp [ebook - google]
9. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 226pp
10. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson 356pp
11. Divergent by Veronica Roth 487pp

I couldn't really tell whether this was deliberate Christian propaganda in a CS Lewis style, or just heavily influenced, but it's very Christian, especially in moral values. Also really anti-knowledge. Like not just afraid of knowledge, but pushes the idea that knowledge is evil, as well as all those arguments about atheist being nazis. Full of references to Christian parables, and very much in a conservative fundamentalist view. I imagine Anglicans would find it almost as annoying as I did.

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]
8. Dune by Frank Hebert 412pp [ebook - google]
9. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 226pp
10. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson 356pp
11. Divergent by Veronica Roth 487pp
12. Time Out Of Joint by Philip K dick 199pp [ebook - google]

Excellent. Review in Book Club.

[bigdirtyfoot]

11. Spook Country, William Gibson, 373 pg.

The second book in the Blue Ant trilogy, after Pattern Recognition. Out of all the books I have read by Gibson, I judged this to be his weakest contribution. The characters and plot were not very captivating, and the ending was anticlimactic. However, it is a Gibson novel, and as such it is chock-full of impressive prose and social commentary. I found the beginning two-thirds of the novel to be fairly uninteresting and slow-paced. The last third made up for it and actually grabbed my attention. I would only recommend this book if someone was reading the Blue Ant trilogy already. Certainly not a good place to begin if someone was looking to read some Gibson.

[Pasquar]

1) The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World's Most Wanted Drug Lord by Malcom Beith 288 pg
2) A Million Little Pieces by James Frey 430 pg
3) Ruminations by KRS-ONE 233 pg
4) Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman 512 pg.
5) Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty by Paul Gorski 216 pg.
6) Native Son by Richard Wright 419 pg.

Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty was a required book I had to read in preparation for a summer program called "Freedom Schools" which I taught a class of mostly low-income students of color (mostly black, some latino). It was an okay book. The tagline is "strategies for erasing the opportunity gap". I thought that was misleading because about 3/4 of the book was background research and statistics highlighting structural racism and classism and how this affects low-income students. In the end, there were very few "strategies" to take away.

Native Son is a classic. Written in 1940 set in Chicago, the main character accidentally kills a rich young woman and finds that in the wake of the accident, he didn't regret it and that it was the first time he felt truly free in his life. The whole book is a big exploration into race and the Black experience. It is definitely unique to read, as we are used to seeing important books about race with a black person as the protagonist, not the antagonist. So it's a very interesting perspective that gets to a lot of important deep questions. It's definitely a "timeless" book.

[Jeremy]

11. Spook Country, William Gibson, 373 pg.

The second book in the Blue Ant trilogy, after Pattern Recognition. Out of all the books I have read by Gibson, I judged this to be his weakest contribution. The characters and plot were not very captivating, and the ending was anticlimactic. However, it is a Gibson novel, and as such it is chock-full of impressive prose and social commentary. I found the beginning two-thirds of the novel to be fairly uninteresting and slow-paced. The last third made up for it and actually grabbed my attention. I would only recommend this book if someone was reading the Blue Ant trilogy already. Certainly not a good place to begin if someone was looking to read some Gibson.

Cool Dave. Good to hear you're continuing with that trilogy. I assume you'll read the third. Have you read Burning Chrome yet? I've just been slowly going through some of Gibson's short stories (and I'm waiting on Distrust that Particular Flavour too). Johnny Mnemonic (that led to the Keanu Reeves movie) is amazing. It's so disappointing that the Dance Dance Revolution fight was cut from the movie

[Jeremy]

1. Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell - 126pp
2. Brain-Based Parenting: The neuroscience of caregiving for healthy attachment by Daniel Huges & Jonathan Baylin - 272 pp [ebook - google]
3. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon - 152pp
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - 600pp
5. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson - 561pp [ebook - kobo]
6. The Castle by Franz Kafka - 305pp
7. Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov 223pp [ebook - google]
8. Dune by Frank Hebert 412pp [ebook - google]
9. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut 226pp
10. Pattern Recognition by William Gibson 356pp
11. Divergent by Veronica Roth 487pp
12. Time Out Of Joint by Philip K dick 199pp [ebook - google]
13. Insurgent by Veronica Roth 525pp

Hooray I read another book. I have to point out that the page number is completely misleading. There's about as many words on 4 pages as there is on one page of Don Quixote (which I'm still getting through). I read the first book in one day, and this one in two days, and it wasn't an obsessive read for 24 hour sort of day (in fact they were all working days). It's really short and quick to get through. Time Out of Joint is a longer book.

Given that I didn't like the first book, it was a bit of an impromptu decision to read the second. I guess I wanted to find out what happens and I wanted something very light and pulpy to break up the mood from the two books I am reading (Catch 22 and Don Quixote, which are both fun, but had been getting me down a little, mainly with their pacing).

I feel like these are the sort of books I shouldn't write too much about, for fear of spoiling the plot. I did enjoy this one more than the first, mainly because it was less obviously preaching fundamentalist Christianity, and less anti-intellectual than the last one. It actually did acknowledge that science is useful for medicine. It's just all the general curiosity in finding out how things work that is bad

I did appreciate that the plot is a lot more complex than the last. There's a lot of political intrigue and the allegiances of the characters changes a lot. A lot of the characters are amazingly petty and annoying, especially in the face of being in what is essentially a genocidal war. I guess a big reason for the success of these books is that the characters essentially behave like stereotypical teenagers, despite the setting, and so it's easy to see how teenagers in particular can relate to it.

Anyway I'm sure I'll read the third book. Despite my problems it is entertaining, and I've got this far so I might as well continue.