The Idiot Board Readers Corner - General Discussion

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Just finishing two books on opposite ends of the spectrum today.

1. The Hare with the Amber Eyes, by Edmund De Waal.
This book isn't my usual fare, but it was given to me by someone who knows my tastes well so I gave it a crack. It is amazing. The plot, such as it is, is hard to explain. The author comes from an obscenely wealthy Jewish banking family, and he inherits a number of netsuke, miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan. The book nominally traces the history of the netsuke, and along the way traces the decline of the once great Ephrussi family. Normally I would take one look at that plot and run screaming, but bear with me. One strangely fascinating part of reading this is the insight you (I think unwittingly) get into the author's mind. His thought process is so vastly different to anyone I've ever met that it's compelling. However, what really makes this book unique is the language. I've never seen anything like it. The author picks words I've never even seen before, and each one is absolutely perfect in context. I remain in awe of the way he crafts language to precisely and elegantly explain various concepts. If you are at all interested in writing, it is worth picking up this book just to watch a master work. However... I have a fairly broad vocabulary, studied Lit at Uni, and can't remember the last time I had to look up a word. This book, though, I had to read with an online dictionary nearby, because I was looking up probably 2-3 words per page. This can be frustrating. If you have a more classical education you might not suffer so much, but this isn't light, fluffy reading, at least for me. Consequently, I picked up:

2. On Stranger Tides, Tim Powers. I have two words which should tell you whether you will enjoy this book. The first is pirates. The second is voodoo. I love glorious pulp, and this book pulls it off a damn sight better than most. Sea battles and swordfights, mixed in with voodoo spirits and spells. This is a page turner, and moves at breakneck speed. It isn't the place to look for character development and emotional depth, but it is well written escapism. If you need something to read on your lunchbreak and you can't face puzzling over something like The Hare with the Amber Eyes, On Stranger Tides is ideal.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Dexter Series by Jeff Lindsay. I don't watch the show so I don't know how the books compare. Knocked out 3 since Thursday so they're quick, pretty adept little reads. Not great, not horrible. Darkly Dreaming Dexter (the first) opened up with some truly grabbing writing. Then it kind of died down with the artistic flares. I'm lumping them all together because, well, they're pretty interchangeable. Now all the characters are distinct, but they border on stereotype with nuances that hit you over the head. I also didn't give one crap about any of them. They are there, spit onto the page, without feeling. There's a formula to each book where it seems like it's less of a formula for the reader's familiarity and more of a running joke to the author. Here is this adroit, calculating serial killer making mistake after mistake ALL the time. And of course it all gets wrapped up neatly in a ridiculously abrupt, anticlimactic ending. This is why it seems kind of like a gag to me. Also the lack of understanding of "real" sociopathy/psychopathy is irritating. These would work better as overtly dark comedies instead of serious "thrillers" with gallows humor. Since you can plow through a book in a day or two, I suppose they're worth your time if you like the show. Doesn't make me want to Netflix Season 1 though.

The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume One by Edward Albee. Albee is famous for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." For good reason. It's one of the best character studies ever put down. About a late middle aged couple that spend a drunken evening sniping each other in the most heinous ways possible while sucking a newly wed couple into their miserable games. It is fucking epic some of the crap that gets said. Even more crazy that it was written in the early 60s. The ending is the only unsatisfying part, but how the hell else would something so vicious end? It seems to me playwrights write one outstanding piece then spend their careers chasing that and simultaneously boring the shit out of their audience. The seven other works are really throw aways. Uninteresting, go nowhere. Get a copy of Virginia Woolf instead. The others don't match once you read that. So we'll skip the in-depth analysis.

The Crusade Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf. I read another Crusades piece by a Brit. Took me about 4 months and don't remember a single goddamn thing. The problem with stuff like this is the author has to condense over a century of events, battles, names, lineages, tie them together, and do it all in under 400 pages. Maalouf is probably the more successful of the lot. Repetition of the names and a pretty coherent timeline. He draws mainly from Ibn Al-Athir who chronicled a lot of the first invasions. As far as I know it's pretty objective. Not at all a western-bashing piece, but a competent attempt to spit out facts, good or bad for either side. Some of the accounts speak so highly of the European commanders. It's amazing how much in-fighting took place in the Muslim lands. Instead of unifying to become a truly deadly force, incapable of defeat, the infighting, assassinations, power plays, and flat out fractious stupidity of pig headed rulers kept a much smaller European army (with some of the same issues) ensconced in parts of the Holy Land. The parallels between then and now are blatantly obvious. Great little read to understand what is going on in that part of the world, then and now. It really has not changed much.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Sh*t my Dad Says-Justin Halpern-Light, easy and full of decent anecdotes about his childhood. Not great, but not bad. I chuckled a few times in the 80-something pages.

The Ethical Slut-Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt-Worth reading, even if you are strictly monogamous. It details lessons about monogamy, being in control and aware of one's own emotions and emotional economies that are seriously enlightening.

The Next 100 Years-George Friedman. Ok, this is a very intelligent person who tries to predict where the world will be in 2111, more or less. After a certain point, trying to predict the future diplomatic relationships between Russia and Poland in 2087 is mental masturbation. The first half was interesting and made sense, the second half was just too...impossible. It sounded silly, in part because of statements like "In the 2080's, the Russians will....".

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Been reading quite a bit this summer, and getting through some stuff on my Kindle:

In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks by Adam Carolla:

I know a lot of people listen to his podcast, and the book is really more of the same. This is also the only case where I would consider buying both the book and the audio book, as they are different enough to justify the purchase of both. The book itself is actually a really quick read, and for a guy who claims to have never read a book in his life, Adam's writing is good. This is basically a book of rants, which coming from Carolla is a very good thing. The one thing I'll say is that there isn't much need to re-read the book once you've read it, because if you listen to his podcasts enough, you'll quickly recognize a lot of his rants as re-hashed from his rants in the podcast. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but it does take away when you know exactly where he is going and you know the punchline from the first line of the joke. Otherwise, a good read.

Grade: B-

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

This was recommended to me by a friend and avid reader, and I thought it was good. It is an older book, so many of you may have read it already. It wasn't quite the page turner that some other books were, but I still made it to the end, which is more than I can say for some other books I've tried reading. The humor is incredibly dark, but I also have a very dark sense of humor, so that works. If you don't know, this book is a memoir of how this kid grew up, which was in one of the most fucked up situations imaginable. His father was an alcoholic, his mother was batshit insane, and he actually spent most of his time living with his mother's psychiatrist and their family. He is also coming to terms with being a teenager and being gay.

By the end of the book, I was actually surprised. There were parts of the book that were difficult to read, which is saying a lot considering I am a person who (usually) has no boundaries when it comes to humor, but this guy finds humor in some of the most fucked up situations (including his own affair with a 20-something year old man). The fact that it is an autobiography, and that all of this happened, makes it even more uncomfortable when you reach some spots, but it is still a really good read and worth finishing.

Grade: B

World War Z by Max Brooks

I've never read a 'zombie' book before, although I found the idea of this book extremely intriguing. I loved the idea of this book being written in an oral history style, and reading about each the various countries and their reaction to the Zombie apocalypse has been really interesting. It is just a good alternate universe where the zombie virus starts, spreads, and causes serious repercussions throughout the world. How do they combat the zombies? Are nukes used? What countries thrive, and what countries falter?

As a guy who loves history, this is actually a really interesting look at the history of a people (that, obviously, hasn't happened). The book talks politics, history, and everything else, while keeping grounded within the stories of the people who lived through this major, world changing event. That, honestly, is one of the best parts of the book: it is told through single stories from people who lived through it, and he strings the stories together in a way that they create a larger narrative of the war. By the end, you have an idea of not only what it was like for individuals, but how the war changed the world, physically and politically.

I've really liked this book, and so far it is the best I've read this summer. It has also made me want to go back and re-read the other quasi-futuristic alternate-universe-told-through-oral-history book that I really liked, Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.

Grade: A

Next on my list is the "Song of Fire and Ice" series. I've downloaded the first 4 books as one big file on my Kindle, and I'm hoping to power through them by, say, October, at which point I'll pick up the new one. I also downloaded the first book in the Dark Tower series, as I've read a lot of raves about that series, too.

Basically, my next few months of reading is going to consist of reading all the series you people recommend. Thanks for usurping my time.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

World War Z is an incredibly well-done book, and really ought to have widespread appeal even to people who think zombies are silly. It's like how Battlestar Galactica would still be an excellent show in a different setting, WWZ holds up even without the inherent appeal of the zombs. Also, the government blasting Maiden's "The Trooper" for zombie battling is one of my favorite scenes I've read in a long time.

Good luck getting through Song of Fire and Ice (which I'm just starting because I don't have HBO so I haven't had anything spoiled yet) and The Dark Tower in any reasonable amount of time. Dark Tower is one of my all-time favorite series, but the thought of re-reading it is pretty daunting. Thousands upon thousands of pages. The good news is they're filled with awesome. Awesome characters, awesome story, and if you're a King fan, awesome references and tie-ins to his other stuff. Word of warning though, which I don't think is a spoiler: There comes a point in the last book where King breaks the 4th wall completely and has a note from himself that basically says "If you're happy with this as the ending, stop reading now. You won't like what's coming next." He's not lying. I don't know if there has been anyone who's ever read it who has actually stopped there, but I'd be a bit surprised if any of them were actually happy they didn't take his advice. Don't let that dissuade you from an otherwise superbly crafted and epic story though.


I'm starting Game of Thrones after just finishing Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. Stephen King rated it as one of the 3 best horror novels of the 20th century. Guillermo del Toro called it "a nightmare chronicle of predator and prey that will shatter your worldview forever. A true classic." It lives up to those incredibly high recommendations. It's about, in Simmons' words "mind vampires" (which sounds dumb and made me a bit skeptical at first). A group of people with the powerful psychic ability to force their way into peoples' minds and compel them to do whatever they wish. This is generally manifested as horrific acts of random violence, and the vampires have made a game of it, gathering yearly to compare whose were the best or most dramatic. The main character is a Jew who escaped from a death camp after a brush with one of these "vampires," an SS Oberst, and has devoted his postwar life to tracking down the German. I don't know how much else I can say without either sounding silly or spoiling plot, but it is a sweeping, exciting story that gets much bigger than just Saul Laski and his Oberst. It's long, 750ish small-print pages, and I think I read it in 3 days. Maybe 4. The last 200 or so pages were in one sitting. This book does vampires right - totally fucked up (life-size chess games where lost pieces are possessed into killing each other bare-handed, a scythe-wielding "honky-monster" rampaging through the Philadelphia ghetto, and loads more), and just believable enough to be pretty disturbing. Del Toro is right. Atlanta recently had a seemingly random shooting that included innocent bystanders, and the first thing that came to mind was this book. Read it. Enjoy it. It's good.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.

This is the first book by Selby I've read, I was eager to start with Requeim for a Dream but since I already was familiar with the movie I decided to give this a shot first. The book centers around several different groups of people in the seedy back alleys of Brooklyn and the hellish lives they all live. Drug addiction, violence, infidelity, spouse abuse, etc...

Not much of focused plot to this book, but I was fascinated with the writing style of this guy. The characters were fleshed out well, and the use of dialogue in the Brooklyn accent made the actions even more real. On some pages, Selby would use all caps to highlight a certain character's voice which I've never seen been done before. The tone is very dark. Sad and conflicted people, and not much happiness to be found here but it is well worth reading for it's powerful effect on the reader.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Colter: The True Story of the Best Dog I Ever Had by Rick Bass

It amazes me how shitty I am at writing about books considering I was an English major, but I guess I will give it another go.

If you are a dog lover odds are you will love this book. Rick Bass purchases Colter (a male German short-haired pointer) from his breeder friends almost as a favor as Colter is the runt of the litter. Colter however metamorphosizes into a bird hunting genius whose skill at finding and pointing birds far exceeds Bass's ability to actually shoot them. The book explores Bass's love for Colter, dogs in general, bird hunting, and the Montana landscape. I was familiar with Bass's fiction and knew he was a tremendous writer, but I was afraid that a book about a dog would be overly sentimental. Fortunately, Bass has the chops to navigate this and never lays it on thick enough to be distracting, in my opinion.

The book is a little repetitive (Colter is awesome, Montana is awesome, I suck at shooting, Colter is awesome), but at a short 180 pages it isn't bad. It's an easy read and it reminds you how much of an impact an animal can have on your life.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

In the Garden of Beasts by Eric Larson.

The author also penned The Devil in the White City, which was interesting enough to have me give this one a try. The book is about William Dodd, ambassador to Germany in the 1930s, and views the Nazi rise to power through his eyes. Incredibly well-researched and written. Larson puts you right in the thick of the uncertainty and unease that was a hallmark of the time by using transcripts of old memoirs and letters.

Definitely worth a read if you are into WWII or interested in the rise of fascism and dictatorships.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Selkirk's Island has been fascinating me. This book has been getting something of a bad rap because, frankly, the author doesn't write all that well. However, the story is so interesting that it is easily possible to overlook the technical problems. This is a biography of Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned alone on an uninhabited island for 4 years in the 1700s. In addition to being an incredible story of survival, the book gives you a glimpse of just how harsh life was back then. For example, a few hundred people set sail, and 18 make it back alive because the captains are so inept. The officers drag the sick and wounded on deck and deny them rations, in order to kill them off and keep the remaining supplies for themselves. It's just incredible. Well worth a read if you want to lose yourself for a couple of hours.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Anyone who has even a passing interest in diving should immediately read Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World. I really can't recommend this book highly enough. It meanders from personal anecdotes about Tim Ecott's diving adventures, through the history of diving and its offshoot industries, to hard science about maintaining human life underwater. I found the whole book totally fascinating, and I agree with this Amazon review:

I've already booked a refresher course at my local dive shop.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Portfolios of the Poor: How the world's poor live on $2/Day, by Darryl Collins, Jonathan Moruch, Stuart Rutherford and Orlanda Ruthven

I read this because I worked for a long time in microfinance and this was a series of studies done from 1999 to 2005 about some of the poorest households in South Africa, Bangladesh and India. I enjoyed it immensely, because it did an honest analysis of how poor people manage money, and it retracts some "givens" about the conventional wisdom about how the poor manage money and identifies some key financial instruments they need and why these instruments are successful. It applies very clearly to the Western ideas of finance as well, when you think about why things like credit cards, mortgages and insurance are so popular.

If you do not care about reading how the Grameen Bank (Mohammed Yunus) or it's subsidiaries work for 200 pages, save yourself the trouble.

I did like how it refrained from judging how the expenditures were used, and put a lot of the conventional microfinance wisdom in perspective. For example, one woman took out a loan to buy a gold necklace, on less than $2/day with kids to feed. The book explained that it was capital she could sell or pawn easily in case of emergencies, not some gaudy, frivolous expense to make herself look better. It also explained how the poor leverage tiny amounts of money received in spurts, to cover daily, weekly and monthly expenses.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Has anyone here read the Hunger Games trilogy? I'm going to be spending a few days in the hospital next week and was thinking about downloading these to my Kindle to help pass the time. Just wanted to see if anybody thought it was worth it.

 

The Idiot Board Book Club

I dusted off the first two very quickly and am working on the third. I think they are fantastic, quick, easy reads.

 

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I just finished (about five minutes ago) the trilogy. Overall it's pretty good, but it declines as you go. The first book is good, the second decent, but the third mires down pretty quickly and then never really gains a good rhythm. It has some good spots, but there's a lot of melodramatic wallowing that's similar to reading Order of the Phoenix if you've ever read the Harry Potter series. The ending is kind of meh.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Reading these now. The first one is pretty good, a quick read. The main character is a well-written, strong, female lead, the pacing is excellent and the melodrama isn't overwhelming. The thing I liked most about this was that the author didn't treat the characters like children at all. The violence was tremendous, brutal and constant, and the story was tense.

It is a book designed for teenagers, so there's plenty of angst, poorly understood political overtones, and even a love triangle to go along with the sweet child violence.

Still, the first one is enjoyable and worth the few hours it'll take to finish.

 

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Okay. Need some recommendations. I just finished the Wolf of the Plains Ghengis Khan series and got burned out reading the Sharpe series but love historical fiction. Any recommendations?

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

American Tabloid by James Ellroy (The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's A Rover round out the trilogy, but Tabloid was the best of the 3)
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Anything by Leon Uris, but especially Trinity (the story of the Irish struggle with the British crown) and Armageddon (the story of the Berlin airlift)

If you want to try offbeat history, Mark Kurlansky's "Cod: A World History" and "Salt" are excellent reading. Yes, books about a fish and a mineral.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Have you read Gallows Thief or The Saxon Tales by Cornwell? Great books.

 

Re: The Idiot Board Book Club

Conn Iggulden's Emperor series. Follows Caesar's life, takes a good deal of artistic license, and fills in a lot of blanks with good fiction.