30. Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (8/29/2011 - 9/2/2011)
I cannot quite decide how I feel about this book. I did not like the main character, but the quest she has embarked on (the plot!) is interesting and engaging; I did find myself asking if I could cook all of Julia Child's 524 Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes in a year (answer: probably not, and I probably wouldn't want to. More later). Since the story is a non-fiction memoir, the author obviously cannot help being unlikable, and I do have to give her some props for being willing to bare her most awful moments as a human being to her audience. But like I said, I didn't like her. She pitched hissy fits constantly, probably once every three or four chapters, so to me she came off as very childish. In addition, I just found her to be generally unlikable -- there are instances wherein she seems to be cruel to her husband for no other reason than spite, where she takes her friends for granted in their support, and I just could not relate to her despair over her lack of success as an actress (she lives in New York, where she works as a secretary while waiting for her 'big break' - really?). I have to say that I suspect part of this is my annoyance over her lack of motivation: while she undertakes this huge cooking thing, she never once auditions for a part or seems to try to find another job -- so why should I care that she's miserable? She's not trying!
Anyway. The story itself is fascinating -- the things that the French would apparently eat are disgusting, which makes their placement in a modern NYC kitchen almost hilarious. For example, Julie cooks calves' brains a number of times, makes aspice (which I'm still not 100% what it is) out of hooves, creates sauces out of bone marrow, and NOT ONCE do she or her husband hesitate to eat these things. I personally would never undertake any sort of pledge that would require me to eat brains or bone marrow, but they don't seem to be bothered! That's not true -- they are bothered by the bone marrow the first time (but not the second!). They never seem bothered by the brains.
There are some instances when the author imagines what Julia Child's life was really like; these scenes are based off letters and journals obtained from Julia and her husband, and they are generally very good. Unfortunately, they are very short, and I would definitely have enjoyed more of them. Someone told me that the movie version of this book is really good, especially the scenes with Meryl Streep (who plays Julia), so perhaps there are more scenes with Child imagined in the movie.
Overall... I'm not sure I'd recommend it. The cooking misadventures are often funny, and a few are outright hilarious, so I did enjoy the reading experience. But the main character is so unlikeable that that may cancel out the funny moments. I'm not sure -- like I said when I started, I'm still not sure if I liked this book or not.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
29. Dune
29. Dune by Frank Herbert (8/11/2011 - 8/28/2011)
Thus far in this experiment, I think this is the longest that I've taken to read a book. To my credit: Dune IS almost 900 pages long (closer to 1,000 if you read all the appendices). And it's an awesome 900 pages -- I'd never read Dune before but had always heard great things; hell, the cover of the book calls it "science-fiction's supreme masterpiece!" Now, I'm not 100% sure it's the best sci-fi book ever written, but it's up there with the best sci-fi I've ever read.
Dune is the story of the Atreides family, who are moved to the desert planet of Arrakis (aka, Dune) and soon betrayed by their enemies. Some insight is given into the minds of these enemies throughout the book, but the majority of the tome focuses on the life of the Ducal heir, Paul, who will be ultimately be accepted into the Fremen as Muad'dib -- essentially, as the Fremen savior that has been prophetized for generations. There are many interwoven layers to this plot -- the Bene Gesserit women who have been planning for the coming of their own savior, the movement to transform Arrakis into a veritable Eden, the stealthy workings of the Emperor and his Sardauker, the betrayals of the Harkonnen family, and the list goes on.
That being said, I do caution against delving into Dune too quickly. The narrative style takes some getting used to; for probably the first 250-300 pages, almost all of the action takes place off the page and you as the reader are learning about it through characters talking about what happened. Don't get me wrong, it's still super interesting stuff! But it's secondhand. That does lend some authenticity to the narrative, but it is a little difficult to get used to. In some areas of the start of the novel, I felt like I was reading something close to Asimov's Foundation (book 5 on this list) wherein characters would discuss the plan and then the story would jump to after it had been successfully completed. And just like with Asimov: it's a little disconcerting until you get used to it. This does change, like I said, around page 300 or so, and from there on out, all action is being carried out in front of you on the page. It is, in my opinion, after this point that the true genius of Herbert comes forward in the writing.
Herbert has done something truly amazing with Dune -- he has created a plot so complicated yet so simple to follow and understand and, most importantly, believe that I as a reader could not help being entirely enthralled from start to finish. There were moments where I would quite literally forget that I was sitting in my living room; I was so engrossed, I almost believed I was a Fremen warrior following along as the story of Muad'dib unfolded around me. I think at one point I actually yelled at my fiancee when he interrupted my reading to ask me a simple question -- I believe my exact words were something like "Go away, they're trying to kill the main character and he CAN'T DIE!" When I started, I was skeptical that Dune was a masterpiece; now, on the other side of the plot (but not even close to finished with the appendices, which are actually useful for the first time in fiction's history since Tolkien), I completely agree. Dune is amazing. Future science fiction reading will never be the same.
Thus far in this experiment, I think this is the longest that I've taken to read a book. To my credit: Dune IS almost 900 pages long (closer to 1,000 if you read all the appendices). And it's an awesome 900 pages -- I'd never read Dune before but had always heard great things; hell, the cover of the book calls it "science-fiction's supreme masterpiece!" Now, I'm not 100% sure it's the best sci-fi book ever written, but it's up there with the best sci-fi I've ever read.
Dune is the story of the Atreides family, who are moved to the desert planet of Arrakis (aka, Dune) and soon betrayed by their enemies. Some insight is given into the minds of these enemies throughout the book, but the majority of the tome focuses on the life of the Ducal heir, Paul, who will be ultimately be accepted into the Fremen as Muad'dib -- essentially, as the Fremen savior that has been prophetized for generations. There are many interwoven layers to this plot -- the Bene Gesserit women who have been planning for the coming of their own savior, the movement to transform Arrakis into a veritable Eden, the stealthy workings of the Emperor and his Sardauker, the betrayals of the Harkonnen family, and the list goes on.
That being said, I do caution against delving into Dune too quickly. The narrative style takes some getting used to; for probably the first 250-300 pages, almost all of the action takes place off the page and you as the reader are learning about it through characters talking about what happened. Don't get me wrong, it's still super interesting stuff! But it's secondhand. That does lend some authenticity to the narrative, but it is a little difficult to get used to. In some areas of the start of the novel, I felt like I was reading something close to Asimov's Foundation (book 5 on this list) wherein characters would discuss the plan and then the story would jump to after it had been successfully completed. And just like with Asimov: it's a little disconcerting until you get used to it. This does change, like I said, around page 300 or so, and from there on out, all action is being carried out in front of you on the page. It is, in my opinion, after this point that the true genius of Herbert comes forward in the writing.
Herbert has done something truly amazing with Dune -- he has created a plot so complicated yet so simple to follow and understand and, most importantly, believe that I as a reader could not help being entirely enthralled from start to finish. There were moments where I would quite literally forget that I was sitting in my living room; I was so engrossed, I almost believed I was a Fremen warrior following along as the story of Muad'dib unfolded around me. I think at one point I actually yelled at my fiancee when he interrupted my reading to ask me a simple question -- I believe my exact words were something like "Go away, they're trying to kill the main character and he CAN'T DIE!" When I started, I was skeptical that Dune was a masterpiece; now, on the other side of the plot (but not even close to finished with the appendices, which are actually useful for the first time in fiction's history since Tolkien), I completely agree. Dune is amazing. Future science fiction reading will never be the same.
28. The Interpretation of Murder
28. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld (8/3/2011 - 8/10/2011)
This is totally strange book that I picked up on a whim from the clearance section of my local bookstore; the plot involves using Freudian psychology to solve a murder mystery, and it's very unusual. Set in the turn of the century, the book imagines what Freud's first and only visit to America might have been like to make him deem Americans as savage and underdeveloped. So there is no claim of factual evidence to support that happenings of the book; Jed Rubenfeld is apparently just fascinated by Freud. And also by Hamlet, judging by how the main character, a psychologist named Stratham Younger, waxes poetic about the deeper meaning of Hamlet roughly 100 times in the course of the book.
Despite its weird set up, it's actually not a bad book -- if you a) know a little about psychology (all I know is what my GenEd Psych class taught me and that was just about enough) and b) can get through all of the psychological politics that take place. The murder mystery part itself is pretty straightforward -- several young women are attacked and brutalized, one is murdered and the other suffers amnesia, which is how the psychologists (who just happen to be staying in the same hotel) get involved. It's a good mystery, full of twists and turns and adventures into odd spots in early 1900s New York.
But the psychology stuff gets old pretty quick -- Jung, Freud's disciple, is cold and aloof, which distresses the others but to the reader is merely unlikeable, and there is some sort of cloak-and-dagger trio working in the background to keep Freud from making a series of speeches at a well-known university -- which is explained by the end but really isn't satisfying in that it doesn't seem really necessary for the plot. There is also some questioning among the psychologists as to who they should be allied with in the psychology world, which is a little confusing and I suspect that one would need a detailed grasp of psychological history to fully understand.
I did overall enjoy the book and if you like psychology and murder mysteries, you would probably really enjoy it as well. But I do have to point this out: since many of Freud's theories are largely debunked within the psychology community, the book takes on a whole different layer of amusement. After all, since his ideas about the human psyche are what ultimately solves the mystery, I must wonder: if someone else's psychology was applied, would there have been a mystery in the first place?
This is totally strange book that I picked up on a whim from the clearance section of my local bookstore; the plot involves using Freudian psychology to solve a murder mystery, and it's very unusual. Set in the turn of the century, the book imagines what Freud's first and only visit to America might have been like to make him deem Americans as savage and underdeveloped. So there is no claim of factual evidence to support that happenings of the book; Jed Rubenfeld is apparently just fascinated by Freud. And also by Hamlet, judging by how the main character, a psychologist named Stratham Younger, waxes poetic about the deeper meaning of Hamlet roughly 100 times in the course of the book.
Despite its weird set up, it's actually not a bad book -- if you a) know a little about psychology (all I know is what my GenEd Psych class taught me and that was just about enough) and b) can get through all of the psychological politics that take place. The murder mystery part itself is pretty straightforward -- several young women are attacked and brutalized, one is murdered and the other suffers amnesia, which is how the psychologists (who just happen to be staying in the same hotel) get involved. It's a good mystery, full of twists and turns and adventures into odd spots in early 1900s New York.
But the psychology stuff gets old pretty quick -- Jung, Freud's disciple, is cold and aloof, which distresses the others but to the reader is merely unlikeable, and there is some sort of cloak-and-dagger trio working in the background to keep Freud from making a series of speeches at a well-known university -- which is explained by the end but really isn't satisfying in that it doesn't seem really necessary for the plot. There is also some questioning among the psychologists as to who they should be allied with in the psychology world, which is a little confusing and I suspect that one would need a detailed grasp of psychological history to fully understand.
I did overall enjoy the book and if you like psychology and murder mysteries, you would probably really enjoy it as well. But I do have to point this out: since many of Freud's theories are largely debunked within the psychology community, the book takes on a whole different layer of amusement. After all, since his ideas about the human psyche are what ultimately solves the mystery, I must wonder: if someone else's psychology was applied, would there have been a mystery in the first place?
27. Sphere
27. Sphere by Michael Crichton (8/1/2011 - 8/2/2011; has yet to be finished -- see entry) (restarted 9/26/2011 - 9/29/2011)
This is really embarrassing but I physically lost this book the day after I started reading it. AND I have a) yet to recover my copy, and b) yet to find a copy available at a library near me (all the copies are checked out! argh!).
Here's what happened: I put this book in my car along with my planner and a new pair of shoes in their box. After I left home, I realized that my driver's side door was open and the car sensor was not registering it as open, so I sorta panicked. At a light, I opened both my side and the passenger side doors to see if the sensor was broken for both or just for my side (it turned out to be just my side). When I did, I'm about 90% certain that Sphere fell out of the car onto the road. I didn't notice this at the time as I was waiting to get on the freeway but by the time I got home and realized what had happened, someone had taken it or something because it was no longer on the road. I still haven't been able to figure out why someone would take it, but as my fiancee suggested, "Hey, free book!"
So as of right now, I have not yet finished this book.
Update: I started Sphere again on 9/26/2011 after obtaining a copy from yet another book fair and finished it 9/29/2011.
I really like this book. I hear a lot that Michael Crichton isn't actually great literature, that he's more akin to intellectual drivel, but I happen to enjoy his writing.
This book is ultimately about what happens when you place about 6 people at the bottom of the ocean in a life-threatening situation and then watching what happens to all of them psychologically. All of these people bring strengths to the investigation of what appears to be a spaceship from the future that crashed onto the bottom of the ocean. The problem is that something inside the spaceship brings the unconscious thoughts of any given individual to life, so that the underwater environment in which they are all living is threatened by poisonous snakes, jellyfish, and a gigantic squid. Once they figure out that these manifestations are being created through someone's thoughts, they quickly turn on each other -- hence the psychological thriller tag that this book carries.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for something easy to read that will inspire some thinking. I was certainly left thinking about my own deepest fears after finishing it -- and I was really glad that the chances of me encountering something this scary in real life are pretty much nil.
This is really embarrassing but I physically lost this book the day after I started reading it. AND I have a) yet to recover my copy, and b) yet to find a copy available at a library near me (all the copies are checked out! argh!).
Here's what happened: I put this book in my car along with my planner and a new pair of shoes in their box. After I left home, I realized that my driver's side door was open and the car sensor was not registering it as open, so I sorta panicked. At a light, I opened both my side and the passenger side doors to see if the sensor was broken for both or just for my side (it turned out to be just my side). When I did, I'm about 90% certain that Sphere fell out of the car onto the road. I didn't notice this at the time as I was waiting to get on the freeway but by the time I got home and realized what had happened, someone had taken it or something because it was no longer on the road. I still haven't been able to figure out why someone would take it, but as my fiancee suggested, "Hey, free book!"
So as of right now, I have not yet finished this book.
Update: I started Sphere again on 9/26/2011 after obtaining a copy from yet another book fair and finished it 9/29/2011.
I really like this book. I hear a lot that Michael Crichton isn't actually great literature, that he's more akin to intellectual drivel, but I happen to enjoy his writing.
This book is ultimately about what happens when you place about 6 people at the bottom of the ocean in a life-threatening situation and then watching what happens to all of them psychologically. All of these people bring strengths to the investigation of what appears to be a spaceship from the future that crashed onto the bottom of the ocean. The problem is that something inside the spaceship brings the unconscious thoughts of any given individual to life, so that the underwater environment in which they are all living is threatened by poisonous snakes, jellyfish, and a gigantic squid. Once they figure out that these manifestations are being created through someone's thoughts, they quickly turn on each other -- hence the psychological thriller tag that this book carries.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking for something easy to read that will inspire some thinking. I was certainly left thinking about my own deepest fears after finishing it -- and I was really glad that the chances of me encountering something this scary in real life are pretty much nil.
26. Silence of the Lambs
26. Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris (7/24/2011 - 8/1/2011)
I was surprised by this book. I've seen the movie, but it's been a really long time but I do remember how emotionally charged and creepy it was. The book was good, but I'm just not sure if the book was better than the movie.
The plot of the book and the movie are nearly identical. A young FBI agent, Clarice Starling, is brought in to help solve the murders of a series of young women by a serial killer that's been nicknamed "Buffalo Bill." The FBI agents in charge of the case want Starling to talk to the imprisoned serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter -- nicknamed "Hannibal the Cannibal," which tells you all you need to know about his crimes -- to try to understand the mind of Buffalo Bill. The majority of the plot of the book unfolds as a game between Lecter and Starling; Starling has suffered through some major trauma in her life, and Lecter delights in making her recall her tragedy in exchange for information about Buffalo Bill. As the case unfolds, it becomes clear to the reader that Lecter actually knows exactly who Buffalo Bill is and he's just toying with Starling. The climax of the book is amazing (and also long -- which makes the final few moments that much more awesome) so I won't give away any details.
The book is full of super-interesting details about what it's like to be an FBI agent and hunt down a serial killer, and the suspense at the end is stunning. The insight into the mind of Lecter is scary -- both in his thoughts and the potential that Lecter's created inner dialogue is totally accurate of serial killers' minds. Yikes.
But the book itself, while fascinating, is almost clinical about its main character. I did not get to know Clarice Starling the way I was expecting to; in fact, I'm not sure that I know any more details from the book than I did from the movie. Hannibal Lecter is certainly creepy in the book, but I have to say that I think Anthony Hopkins brought the character to life more effectively that Thomas Harris.
I was surprised by this book. I've seen the movie, but it's been a really long time but I do remember how emotionally charged and creepy it was. The book was good, but I'm just not sure if the book was better than the movie.
The plot of the book and the movie are nearly identical. A young FBI agent, Clarice Starling, is brought in to help solve the murders of a series of young women by a serial killer that's been nicknamed "Buffalo Bill." The FBI agents in charge of the case want Starling to talk to the imprisoned serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter -- nicknamed "Hannibal the Cannibal," which tells you all you need to know about his crimes -- to try to understand the mind of Buffalo Bill. The majority of the plot of the book unfolds as a game between Lecter and Starling; Starling has suffered through some major trauma in her life, and Lecter delights in making her recall her tragedy in exchange for information about Buffalo Bill. As the case unfolds, it becomes clear to the reader that Lecter actually knows exactly who Buffalo Bill is and he's just toying with Starling. The climax of the book is amazing (and also long -- which makes the final few moments that much more awesome) so I won't give away any details.
The book is full of super-interesting details about what it's like to be an FBI agent and hunt down a serial killer, and the suspense at the end is stunning. The insight into the mind of Lecter is scary -- both in his thoughts and the potential that Lecter's created inner dialogue is totally accurate of serial killers' minds. Yikes.
But the book itself, while fascinating, is almost clinical about its main character. I did not get to know Clarice Starling the way I was expecting to; in fact, I'm not sure that I know any more details from the book than I did from the movie. Hannibal Lecter is certainly creepy in the book, but I have to say that I think Anthony Hopkins brought the character to life more effectively that Thomas Harris.
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