1) Then We Came to the End (M.)
2) The Shell Game (name withheld for national security purposes)
3) Working Stiff (MH)
4) Down and Out in Paris and London (Haubenreich)
5) Atlas Shrugged (RS)
6) White Castle (Korobi)
7) Confederacy of Dunces (MB)
8) Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of New China (AB)
9) The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (TYH)
10) Dhalgren (Jeff)
11) Catch-22 (TK)
12) Disgrace (RS-2)
Finished:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Hsien)
Cereus Blooms at Midnight (Sarah)
Then We Came to the End (M.)
So I just finished up M.'s recommendation (or more accurately, one of MANY recommendations she gave me), which was Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. As with almost every suggestion for reading that I've ever received from M., I was not disappointed to trust her recommendation. 8.5 out of 10.
The book is sort of hard to describe, so I'll keep it simple. It's about the hilarious, absurd, and idiosyncratic things that unfold in office culture, but is taking place during the collapse of the bubble and 10 year bull market in 2001. There's also some intense and incredibly human moments in the book that I didn't really expect.
I've established that I fucking BLOW at writing about books, but I want to mention that it is extremely readable and is the type of book where I would actually pick it up and read half a page while taking a piss. Or...even more telling...I read the book while walking home from the subway station on a beautiful sunny day, stretching my 7 minute walk into a 15 minute read/walk. I then got home and stumbled around my apartment stone blind for about 5 minutes because the sun's ultra-bright reflection on the pages made my field of vision one giant sunspot. (And because my eyes are naturally, genetically, and wonderfully squinty to begin with). It's pretty much the best sort of book to read. Why? Because you'll enjoy it.
I've started reading Shell Game, but I have to admit that I can tell I am going to find the book very upsetting. The best way to describe it is imagine if The Da Vinci Code plumbed the depths of oil economic, oil politics, the Middle East, and the past 8 years instead of looking for the Holy Grail. The research appears to be fairly meticulous with the fictional and real facts separated with enough skill that it seems fairly easy to not get misled. I imagine if this book caught fire the way the Da Vinci Code did, things would be very different...(mostly because it actually matters.) So, since I find these sorts of eye-openers so upsetting, I am going to move onto Working Stiff or Down and Out in Paris and London at the same time...
Incidentally, I have been reviewing the 2008 US Dep't of Energy report on oil reserves and potential drilling in the ANWR...and I have to say that it sounds like the categorically wrong way to deal with our problems. A fairly generous estimate of recoverable oil in ANWR is about 10 billion barrels, with production only coming online in 10 years. The US currently consumes 20 million barrels of oil each day, and it continues to grow. After some arithmetic (which I still didn't do without a calculator) it turns out that if we are lucky, ANWR oil could sustain the US for 500 days 10 years from now. These proposals cannot seriously be about the public good...but only appear rational from an oil lobby/profit standpoint. Luckily, it doesn't seem like anyone's really pushing this proposal anymore. (I haven't looked into offshore drilling, so RS, don't ask.)
Anyhow, I'm in San Francisco now. The flight over was miserable, but I did get to watch "Definitely, Maybe" and "27 Dresses" back to back while outlining my Bar Review Contracts handout. Since it's already been established that my guilty pleasures are quite public, quite non-masculine, and quite ridiculous, I have to admit that I actually liked "Definitely, Maybe." "27 Dresses" on the other hand just made me want to walk around slapping people just in case they related to the movie. That was NOT a good movie. (P.S. Cyclops should never be cast as a leading man. His face was born to be disliked.)
(Oh, and add Josh Lucas too.)
12 comments:
Keep spouting economic nonsense re oil companies. I have many great arguments against this asinine windfall oil tax.
Not that McCain's ideas are all the much better.
RS
So I think you should watch Enchanted.
-M.
RS: Did I spout economic nonsense in this one? I don't remember saying anything controversial unless you're contesting the implication that oil companies have a huge influence in government. (At which point I would laugh).
M. Seriously? Or no? (I just looked up the movie. Amy Adams and Isla Fisher are two different people?!?)
i have to say, i am annoyed (for reasons i can't quite identify) that the book recommendations got turned into this review and x out 10 blog thing. i guess i should have known when there were 'rules' to suggesting books. i'm sure i'm just being weird about it, but for some reason it irks me.
Enchanted pretty much ruled. Can't deny it.
Sarah: That's a good point. Mostly because my input is prety much meaningless. Frankly, this wasn't a planned sorta thing...and the "rules" initially were really to avoid getting like a hundred recommendations which would leave me with no real direction. (If you haven't figured it out by now, there's a certain level of free will and choice that I personally don't like all that much.)
I might as well continue...I tried to say something about the books as I read them, turned out I couldn't, and just ended up assigning numbers as a last resort. Given my general failure at it, point taken.
I guess I'm gonna have to see Enchanted now. I just noticed Cyclops makes an appearance in this movie...and since he's billed as a Prince, he must be the bad guy.
Sweet.
i think my annoyance has to do with the more with the medium than anything. like...you recommend a book to someone and then usually discuss it (A to B, B to A), but on a blog, the person just gives their opinion (A to B, C, D, E, F)...i need a chart or something. i have no idea if that made any sense...but i think it's the medium.
but yeah, not a failure...but maybe if the reviews could be less like an actually review you'd put in a magazine and more personal. although then you run into the problem of ruining the book those who haven't read it when you say 'oh and sarah, that tiger who turned into a killer robot was insane'. i dunno, i guess i was interested in the whole thing because i always liked discussing books with people. you should really just ignore me and do it how you like...it is your blog of course, and i don't have any good solution to a problem posed by blog format in general.
Aside from the medium issue, I think the best word is "pretentious" (although it's entirely not meant to be directed at any sort of "public" but at a very small circle of people I'm very comfortable with or trust...hence the racism and non-public nature.)
The underlying idea of the blog though, is probably a reflection of the empty social life I had when I first got to Cambridge...although more recently I just like it because it seems to be the best way I've found to keep in touch with people I don't get to see...which I guess in turn leads to these random things I just sorta post. (I actually sorta wish that most of you had something similar...)
Nevertheless, I really didn't like trying to post about these books...so I'm probably going to stop.
Even my friend Mike, who seems to only like movies by Bergman, Truffaut or Fellini, liked Enchanted. Haven't seen it myself.
wha? continue with the thoughts and musings, I enjoy hearing opinions about reads. even in blogoform.
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