wheelspinner
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Post by wheelspinner on Jan 8, 2010 7:30:33 GMT -5
Now, back to Malcolm Gladwell, or off into the quirky The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers Aaargh! Finally, another Moers fan. That was a fantastic book, but so was Rumo and so was Bluebear, etc, etc. Anyone who ever claims to me that Harry Potter is original fantasy writing, I tell them to read Moers and Susannah Clarke. They are the real deal, Moers in particular. His books just pour wild imagination from every single page; to me there has not been a creative mind quite like his since Dr Seuss.
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Post by wheelspinner on Jan 8, 2010 8:05:32 GMT -5
Finished The Cry of the Sloth. I don't usually like epistolary novels - Les Liaisons Dangereuses is the only one that's really grabbed me. This one didn't do it for me either, although there are some real belly laughs at the pomposity of Savage's protagonist, Andrew Whittaker, as he comes to grips with the mundanity of trying to eke a living as a tenement landlord whilst seeing his vaunting literary ambitions crumble.
Next up, I am going to read two books. Superfreakonomics (horrible title) for daytime reading, and And Another Thing on the bedside table. It will be interesting to see how much of a travesty Eoin Colfer makes of Douglas Adams' treasured characters.
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Post by Georgina on Jan 9, 2010 0:25:48 GMT -5
Was that the sound of delight or pain? It's actually delightful so far. It's fun and engaging and silly yet it's a mature, adult voice. I began reading Fool by Christopher Moore, and it's delightful too. It's a re-telling of King Lear from the point of view of a court jester. Rather in the same vein as Lamb with the story of Jesus told from the perspective of his best friend, Biff. Also quirky and fun. I wonder which will keep me up all night tonight.
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Post by wheelspinner on Jan 9, 2010 7:38:56 GMT -5
I've read Lamb and Fluke; I decided I'm not a Christopher Moore fan. Have you read Christopher Buckley by any chance?
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Post by wheelspinner on Jan 9, 2010 7:39:48 GMT -5
Was that the sound of delight or pain? Excitement. :-)
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Jan 11, 2010 1:51:24 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Jan 11, 2010 1:51:24 GMT -5
I've read Lamb and Fluke; I decided I'm not a Christopher Moore fan. Have you read Christopher Buckley by any chance? No, I haven't read Christopher Buckley, but I have heard of him and he's now on my reading list. I enjoyed Lamb in an "easy read" sort of way. The character who told the story was amusing, but -- I don't know -- maybe I've just heard the "Jesus story" end-to-end so many times that it didn't feel especially fresh. It was nice, light entertainment, though, that's better than most. Fluke I could not get through to save my life. It's not often that I don't finish books. I didn't finish that one. I read You Suck: A Love Story that redeemed Moore for me as a fun, quirky sort who could offer palate-cleansing reads without annoying the beejeezbeez out of me with lousy, trite, run-of-the-mill, cliche-ridden nonsense that had me rolling my eyes and talking back to the book. That's why I'm willing to give Fool a chance. So far it's pretty good. Generally if I want out-there, really quirky stuff I head for Tom Robbins. That's hardly light fare, though. More than once I stopped and re-read one paragraph over and over, disbelieving that someone could string those words together into that entirely bizarre yet profound and word-delicious thought. His books take effort, which I don't mind and I'm that's not a criticism in the least. They're just not fluffy enough to entertain me and give my brain a break all at the same time. On a totally other tack, Moers is deceptively fluffy with a whole bunch of undercurrent. I'm really enjoying the book.
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Jan 11, 2010 4:10:23 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jan 11, 2010 4:10:23 GMT -5
I've read Lamb and Fluke; I decided I'm not a Christopher Moore fan. Have you read Christopher Buckley by any chance? No, I haven't read Christopher Buckley, but I have heard of him and he's now on my reading list.. Start with Thank You For Smoking, which was made into a hilarious movie. Christopher is the son of William F. Buckley, BTW.
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Jan 20, 2010 4:50:50 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jan 20, 2010 4:50:50 GMT -5
Finished Superfreakonomics. (Still hate the title).
As with the first book, this is just a collection of essays that value anecdotal evidence and small samples over scientific consensus. The authors place a high value on information that runs counter to perceived wisdom. Nowhere is the weakness of this more evident than the chapter on global warming, where the authors report the thoughts of Nathan Mhyrvold, a computer scientist, and a bunch of his colleagues expressed in a meeting, and place more weight on those off-the-cuff thoughts than on the preponderance of scientific publications on this subject for a decade or more.
The final essay is well worth reading; an eye-opening account of an attempt to teach capuchin monkeys to use money. It's hilarious.
Next up is The Little Stranger. Finally, I've got to one of the books on my list.
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Jan 21, 2010 10:14:47 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Jan 21, 2010 10:14:47 GMT -5
I'll be interested to hear what you make of Waters' new book, WS. I'm mid The City of Dreaming Books and having a whole bunch of fun with it. I'm alternating that with Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran that's a neurological approach to understanding the weirdness of human thinking. From the back of the book "Dr. V.S. Ramachandran uncovers answers to deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address, including why we laugh or become depressed; how we make decisions, deceive ourselves, and dream; why we may believe in God; and more. This inspired medical sleuthing and etc." It's fascinating reading, a great augmentation to another book I read entitled Caveman Logic that's an evolutionary psychologist's approach to weird human thinking and this one's an evolutionary neurologist's approach to similar ideas. Really interesting stuff.
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Jan 27, 2010 2:30:07 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jan 27, 2010 2:30:07 GMT -5
Finished And Another Thing. Mostly harmless.
Now concentrating on Sarah Walters.
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Feb 23, 2010 6:45:26 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Feb 23, 2010 6:45:26 GMT -5
Got through a flurry of reading, thanks to the long flight to India and back.
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters Arctic Chill, Arnaldur Indridason The Harmony Silk Factory, Tash Aw Dean Spanley, Lord Dunsinay.
All of them excellent, in their own way.
Next is Tracey Kidder's Strength in What Remains.
The downside of the India trip is that books are very cheap in India. Sooooo ...
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Feb 23, 2010 9:27:14 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Feb 23, 2010 9:27:14 GMT -5
That certainly is a flurry of reading. I tend to be a slow, plodding reader, sampling each and every word. It doesn't help that I'm constantly mid-several books at the same time. I'm not quite through The City of Dreaming Books yet, but I'm enjoying it immensely. I purchased a copy for a young friend who absolutely devoured the book and now is whining to me that she'll never be able to read another book because that one was so wonderful.
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Feb 24, 2010 2:49:18 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Feb 24, 2010 2:49:18 GMT -5
That certainly is a flurry of reading. I tend to be a slow, plodding reader, sampling each and every word. It doesn't help that I'm constantly mid-several books at the same time. I'm not quite through The City of Dreaming Books yet, but I'm enjoying it immensely. I purchased a copy for a young friend who absolutely devoured the book and now is whining to me that she'll never be able to read another book because that one was so wonderful. Guess what I found in India? A new Walter Moers, called The Alchemaster's Apprentice. I snapped it up, of course (at greatly reduced price, I might add).
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Post by wheelspinner on Mar 9, 2010 2:53:26 GMT -5
Finished Strength in What Remains. I was quite disappointed. First because the story is too reminiscent of Dave Eggers' What Is the What, which I read not so long ago. I was also disappointed that Kidder wrote it as a straight 3rd person narrative. Kidder's strength is writing about a situation from multiple points of view; he has done this brilliantly with an IT project, building a house, a small town, and so on. This book could have been written like that, but is now only a pale imitation of his best work. Moreover, Kidder inserts himself into the last act, mostly to play up how dumb his questioning was to Deo; this was a maximum fail as a stylistic move.
Now reading something very different: Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza. War reportage in the form of a graphic book; not something I've ever seen before.
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Mar 10, 2010 3:20:48 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 10, 2010 3:20:48 GMT -5
Finished Footnotes in Gaza. Well! On reading this book, you'd struggle to have the slightest amount of sympathy whatsoever for the Israelis in the conflict with the Palestinians. It deals with two Israeli attacks in Gaza in 1956, where civilians were rounded up, maltreated and killed indiscriminately. Sacco's book is an attempt to show where the hardline of some Palestinians stems from, and the fact that these resentments go back generations.
Sacco is too close to Palestinian activists to be seen as totally impartial, but unless his book is total fantasy, Israel has a lot to answer for.
Next up is the latest Arnaldur Indridason, Hypothermia. These Reykjavik thrillers are outstanding character studies centering on a solitary police veteran with deep personal problems and an obsession with missing persons, stemming from a childhood tragedy. Great stuff.
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Mar 10, 2010 3:36:22 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Mar 10, 2010 3:36:22 GMT -5
Wow, your reading list is simply full of uplifting joy, isn't it? Recently finished Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by V. S. Ramachandran MD, PhD. It's both a technical and easy read about how the brain functions and helps us describe ourselves and how we perceive the world. That's a bad description. It's fascinating and left me wondering about the nature of reality. Which sounds deep, I suppose, but it's kind of freeing while confusing. Anyway, good information on Amazon about it www.amazon.com/Phantoms-Brain-Probing-Mysteries-Human/dp/0688172172And I'm now reading How We Decide as recommended by a friend who read it and now wants to constantly reference it in any and all discussions, so I need it to keep up. After Ramachandran's book, this one is pure bubble gum. Interesting, yes, but anthropomorphises things like dopamine neurons such that the author has them demanding certain actions, asserting preferences and whatnot. It's certainly a New York Times Bestseller level of reading material, but not entirely bad.
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Mar 10, 2010 5:17:30 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 10, 2010 5:17:30 GMT -5
Wow, your reading list is simply full of uplifting joy, isn't it? Just for you, I'll read the new Walter Moers next. That'll lighten things up a bit.
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Mar 10, 2010 10:07:22 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Mar 10, 2010 10:07:22 GMT -5
Aw, I feel so special. My young friend who absolutely fell in love with The City of Dreaming Books found the The Alchemaster's Apprentice on sale, used, online. (That and every other Moers book. She's a true convert now.) I'll have to borrow it from her. His books a truly fun and a delight even when the story is at its darkest. I enjoy the way that his books refer to each other and characters overlap.
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Mar 12, 2010 16:22:58 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 12, 2010 16:22:58 GMT -5
Finished Hypothermia. One of the better entries in the series, with Erlendur investigating a series of cases that share the common characteristic of being apparent suicides. Indiridason doesn't just deliver a police procedural, the book contains quite a bit of philosophising about the potential for life after death. That's the sort of thing that makes these books a cut above the run-of-the-mill crime thriller.
As promised, now reading the latest Moers. Two totally original ideas in page one alone. The guy has an imagination on overdrive.
Having put down one graphic book, I've also picked up another - Asterios Polyp.
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Mar 12, 2010 16:44:00 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Mar 12, 2010 16:44:00 GMT -5
Good heavens you read quickly. I'm rather a plodding sort when I read. I tend to pay close attention to the words and sentences and how they all connect together, and I guess that slows me down.
Moers is astoundingly original.
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Mar 12, 2010 23:50:29 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 12, 2010 23:50:29 GMT -5
Good heavens you read quickly. I read on the train - a good two hours every day, minimum. It really gives me the irrits when book blurbs and reviews insist on comparing him to J.K. Rowling. She is nowhere near his league in either imagination or writing, and they write in totally different genres. (Just like some idiot compared Russian vampire series The Night Watch to Rowling. Que? I think it's because Rowling and Dan Brown are the only authors' names most people even know).
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Mar 13, 2010 2:48:04 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Mar 13, 2010 2:48:04 GMT -5
Yes, that's likely akin to the book synopsis should the book's contents have anything to do with Japan. Immediately one reads comparisons to Shogun. (I'll bet that's an outdated reference, huh?) And. while I've cut my daily commute to five minutes should I run into traffic, I do miss the bus time I used to have to sit and read with nothing else to distract me twice a day. I suspect I got through books more quickly then too. That's how you're doing it.
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Mar 14, 2010 2:30:52 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 14, 2010 2:30:52 GMT -5
Finished Asterios Polyp. That's an extremely challenging graphic novel. Lots of high-culture allusions and clever use of graphics to reinforce the characters and action.
Now that I have done the narrative read, I will have to read it again for subtext. There's a lot there.
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Calluna
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Mar 16, 2010 13:01:24 GMT -5
Post by Calluna on Mar 16, 2010 13:01:24 GMT -5
G, you might be happy or surprised that I actually did enjoy Year of the Flood. I had downloaded both books at the same time, so figured I might as well read it since I had it...I figured at worst it would help me fall asleep at night.
It was way better than Oryx and Crake. I did struggle to keep track of which character I was reading about (this is because I rarely have long blocks of time to read, so my reading was fragmented and I'd forget which of the characters was narrating the chapter I was on), but I think they were more developed and more rounded to seem like real people. The story flowed better in general.
I'd really have to strongly disagree that Oryx and Crake had any basis in science. Science fiction, yeah, but it was poorly done to the point of seeming forced and too much of an obviously in-your-face slam on scientists without seeming to know anything about it...it was too cheesy to suspend disbelief or try to think of it as just a fictional fantasy world rather than a really obnoxious political commentary. The Year of the Flood dropped some of the pretense, and the characters were more dimensional...I liked seeing a character who was just going along with the wackiniess of a fringe group out of convenience rather than because she was brainwashed into it, and seeing how that played into the role she adopted in the group, and how she found some things they did to have merit, or decided they were harmless enough not to worry about, and then had things she was inwardly mocking.
I did read The Handmaid's Tale before, and thought that was just okay. The other Atwood book I read was Surfacing. That was relegated to the pile of wacked out books my freshman English instructor (or as the wacko would remind us..."Part-time visiting lecturer" as if that made him more important...still a glorified TA) made us read because he took the job so late that they were the only books left to choose from that the bookstore had already ordered, or something like that. We had our assigned essays to write for every book we read in that course, and the instructor would insist we always include personal examples to support our arguments. How many college freshmen do you know who would have personal examples to talk about relevant to a book like Surfacing? And if they did, how many of them would want to share that? (We had the same issues with writing about Freud's Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis...yes, that was another book from that course.) I was doing horribly in that course until I talked with some other students and found out they were just making up their own fiction for personal examples. (I have to tell you, the instructor must have thought one of my classmates had the most wacked out roommate ever! All her examples had to do with confrontations with her fictitious roommate...ha ha.)
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Mar 18, 2010 23:00:39 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Mar 18, 2010 23:00:39 GMT -5
Actually, Callunabear, as I now know that you far prefer plot-driven novels, it doesn't surprise me at all that you'd enjoy The Year of the Flood more than Oryx and Crake. Flood is far more plot driven and Oryx is much more concept driven. I know that most Americans I've spoken with about books are familiar with A Handmaid's Tale because it's taught in schools in the States. I read it for the second time, too, in university English class. First time was when it was initially published and it had more impact in 1985, having only just survived 1984 and the Orwellian world hadn't taken over. It isn't one of my favourites of her books. It's okay. I'm so sorry that someone made you read Surfacing. I would not recommend that book to anyone unless they were making a study of 1970s feminist writing rife with navel gazing. It's not one of my favourites. I doubt you'll be able to get them on Kindle, which is too bad. But if I were going to steer you to Atwood novels I would absolutely point you to Lady Oracle, Alias Grace and The Robber Bride . And although The Robber Bride hinges hugely on the personalities of the characters, the story is terrific and fast-paced and keeps you hooked. Maybe I can mail some to you. It's interesting to me that you felt Atwood was in-your-face and slamming scientists in Oryx when I know that wasn't her intent at all. I know that because I sat and listened to her talk about the book, live and in person. And I've read and listened to her talk about her family, who are all scientists, pretty much save her, and her physicist nephew about whom she tells charming stories, and her father who was an entomologist and as a result Atwood spent huge hunks of her childhood living in the wilds of northern Ontario. Her science knowledge is actually pretty good and up to date and her intent was to help bridge the conversation between scientists and regular-non-scientist-type folks. I could blather, but I won't. That's an interesting view you took away from that book, Calluna.
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Mar 21, 2010 14:16:32 GMT -5
Post by Calluna on Mar 21, 2010 14:16:32 GMT -5
I was never assigned A Handmaid's Tale, so don't remember why I read it. It might have been one of those that popped up as a super-cheap or free Kindle version, or might have been one of those "If you enjoyed reading that, we recommend this" type recommendations from Amazon or someplace else that I sometimes take my chances with, or maybe someone was talking about it and I decided to read it to understand the context of the conversation.
And, unfortunately, many of the books I was tortured with in college were of the feminist, navel-gazing variety (what a great description of a genre...lol). Part of this is because I attended a women's college, and partly because the English department was full of wackos. I already explained about the nutso Freshman English lecturer. He still remains the worst of the bunch, not only for the assignments, but also for the seemingly arbitrary grade assignment...even on the flip side of being the professor rather than student now, I cannot find anything to redeem his approach to that course. To this day, I will never know how or why the essays I spent days writing, proofing, revising, thinking through, etc., were only worth a C, while the ones I wrote in a few hasty hours finishing around 3 AM on the morning of an 8 AM class would earn an A. Apparently, he liked incoherent rambling better than reasoned argument.
Anyway, the other two courses I took had a decidedly feminist goal to them. The one was supposed to be that way; it was an honors seminar course taught by one of the deans of the college (remember, this is a women's college) and while I can't recall the title of the course, it was generally about social awareness and used a variety of novels as the jumping off point for discussion. I actually enjoyed that course even if I didn't enjoy all the novels. Though, I think it was the third time I was assigned to read The Great Gatsby for a course, so I did exceedingly well in discussing all the symbolism in that book...ha ha. I liked that book better the first time I read it than the third time...that got to be a bit much.
The third course I took was Introduction to the Novel. That one I took as a summer course. It filled some of the core requirements we had for courses outside our majors, and I thought it would be good to take in the summer when I'd usually sit around reading all day anyway. I actually enjoyed a lot of the books for that course, but not so much while I was actually taking the course...I hadn't anticipated how quickly we'd have to race through reading the books in a summer course. I re-read most of them later. That course was taught by a really militant feminist...of the don't shave your legs while wearing army-green shorts variety. She chose a bunch of classic romance stories to discuss the role of women in them. But, despite her having a clear agenda in her course, at least the novels selected did actually all fit a cohesive theme that seemed to bring the course together, rather than just being random, wacky things chosen because they were the only thing the bookstore could provide on short notice. She was also pretty cool about realizing the pace for the class was excessive, though unavoidable, so sort of hinted to us that if we couldn't read the whole assignment, we should skim quickly through sections and hope that we'd fill in the gaps during class discussion.
Anyway, this is all a long way of saying that now that I know that Atwood writes more of a variety of books that appeal to different types of reader, maybe I'll give some of the other ones you've recommended a chance.
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Mar 21, 2010 14:28:36 GMT -5
Post by Calluna on Mar 21, 2010 14:28:36 GMT -5
It really gives me the irrits when book blurbs and reviews insist on comparing him to J.K. Rowling. She is nowhere near his league in either imagination or writing, and they write in totally different genres. (Just like some idiot compared Russian vampire series The Night Watch to Rowling. Que? I think it's because Rowling and Dan Brown are the only authors' names most people even know). Now, now, some of them get compared to Stephen King too. Right now, I'm sitting here contemplating reading the book my brother-in-law gave me as a Christmas present. A quote from the reviews on the back of the dustcover: "Like Sherlock Holmes versus Moriarty or Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader...another classic struggle between good and evil." Um...a reviewer that would lump together Sherlock Holmes and Star Wars as "classic" was among the best they could find? Let's just say there's a reason I've been staring at this unopened book since Christmas, and it's not because I'm just enamored with the cover art.
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Mar 22, 2010 4:31:47 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 22, 2010 4:31:47 GMT -5
I swear, I'm a danger to myself and all of my loved ones. Borders had a big sale here which bought prices down to Indian levels. I went nuts, buying the following: Tokyo Year Zero, David Peace Chinese Lessons, John Pomfret Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein The Value of Nothing, Raj Patel De Niro's Game, Rawi Hage City of Glass, David Mazzuchelli and Paul Auster The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot Solar, Ian McEwan Epileptic, David B The Big Short, Michael Lewis Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis Phantoms in the Brain, V.S. Ramachandram (thanks for the tip, G) Girl With Glass Feet, Ali Shaw Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde Dancing to the Precipice, Caroline Moorhead What's Right, Waleed Aly That ought to keep me going for a while.
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Mar 22, 2010 8:41:25 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Mar 22, 2010 8:41:25 GMT -5
Right now, I'm sitting here contemplating reading the book my brother-in-law gave me as a Christmas present. A quote from the reviews on the back of the dustcover: "Like Sherlock Holmes versus Moriarty or Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader...another classic struggle between good and evil." I need an emoticon with googly-shocked eyes here. Skywalker and Darth Vader are examples great literary characters representing the struggle between good and evil, huh? Eep.
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Mar 24, 2010 4:00:57 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Mar 24, 2010 4:00:57 GMT -5
Just read What's Right? The Future of Conservatism in Australia, by Waleed Aly. Aly is a leading commentator and academic in politics here. This is a longish essay about how the various conservative philosophies (conservative, liberal, neo-conservative and neo-liberal) have reached a point where they are all failing. The book was a great refresher on what the core principles of these movements are, and explains how the embrace of neo-liberalism has wrecked more traditional conservatism. It's no diatribe, and a very intriguing read.
Still dipping into Walter Moers for my bedtime reading, but I'm craving substance lately, so I'm going to start on Raj Patel's The Value of Nothing.
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