wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Post by wheelspinner on Apr 5, 2010 7:25:33 GMT -5
Finished The Alcemaster's Apprentice. Moers does it again. Echo the Crat finds himself apprenticed to Ghoolion the Alchemaster. When he realises the Faustian contract that he has committed to, he seeks the help of a spoonerist Tuwituwu and the sole surviving Uggly in Malaisea, the city where everyone is ill, all the time.
Also finished Raj Patel's The Value of Nothing. Patel's thesis is that market economies are failing because they are unable to price the externalities involved in buying and sellign a product (in his example a burger costs $200) and that these costs end up being picked up by taxpayers and non-market players. He argues for a return to a modernised version of the commons, as a way of getting social costs back into market pricing. A cult in the USA has apparently hailed Patel as the Messiah, so his book should probably be read.
Now reading The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. I'd never heard of this book, but I picked it up in India because it was cheap and looked interesting. It's a rollicking ripping yarns kind of novel set in Dickensian London.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Post by wheelspinner on May 6, 2010 8:21:25 GMT -5
Wow! It's taken me a whole month to finish another book. I never realised that.
Just finished 13 Bankers, by Simon Johnsan and James Kwak. This is a fantastic book on the US financial collapse, looking right back as far as the Populist movement. After giving some historical background, the authors dive into giving us a detailed account of the weakening of financial regulations, product innovation and new debt instruments, massive increases in the size of banks and a much greater appetite for risk. They also give a clear account of how the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington has pretty much quelled any voice that might be raised in opposition to all this.
Johnson and Kwak make a very solid case that the only solution for the USA is a tough one; impose a firm limit on asset size and break up any banks that are Too Big To Fail. They point out Standard Oil as an example where this step had to be taken. They don't mention it, but AT&T is clearly another, so there is recent precedent for this.
On a side note, this is the first real book that I have read using the Kindle reader on my iPhone. I have to say, I think it was a problem. I had a lot of navigation problem and often lost my place. It doesn't seem to have a quick way to go back to where you were, so it was like having your bookmark fall out every day. Annoying. There were some good aspects, such as the ease of navigation between footnotes and text. It was also great for reading on the train, where I can never get a seat anymore, so a big book (and a real Kindle) would be awkward.
Now it's back to the Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. I'm barely tolerating this one, and can't wait to finish it and move on.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
May 14, 2010 7:22:23 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on May 14, 2010 7:22:23 GMT -5
Finally finished The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. No way will I be bothering with the sequel.
Now reading The Girl With Glass Feet. Enjoying it so far.
The trains being what they are, I have been reading on the iPhone a bit when I commute. (I can't manage a book standing up). On the iPhone, I 'm reading P.G. Wodehouse's Mike, the first book in the Psmith series. Very what-ho, public school and lashings of cricket. Makes you want to rush out and vote Tory before dashing off to the village fete for a glass of Pimms.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
May 30, 2010 3:25:49 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on May 30, 2010 3:25:49 GMT -5
I finished The Girl With Glass Feet. Very good book. Set on a remote island, it's both an inventive fantasy and a quirky love story involving a girl with a strange malady, a painfully shy photographer and a reclusive biologist who has discovered a new species of moth-winged cattle. Smith's prose is highly ornate, but once you get past his pastoral style it's a great read.
I'm now reading two books. The first is After Dark by Haruki Murakami, which has been on my list for a year or two. My eBook for the train commute is most appropriate: Traffic, by Tom Vanderbilt. It's about how we are all such a-holes once we get behind the wheel of a car, and what causes us to be that way. Reading it on a crowded peak hour train is perfect for that early morning dose of schadenfreude to get the day started right.
|
|
|
Up Next
May 30, 2010 11:27:51 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on May 30, 2010 11:27:51 GMT -5
Just finished (finally) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance . Not what I expected, exactly, although I don't know what I did expect. Last weekend I read a really crappy (are there any other kinds, really?) James Patterson novel because I was thrown-off by the fact that it wasn't a thriller. I thought perhaps it was another "James Patterson" and/or possibly he put more effort into books not thrillers. While I was entirely wrong, it did allow me to set a new personal-best for reading a novel all in one go in less than four hours. I was impressed. For smatterings of entertainment, I'm reading You're a Horrible Person, But I Like You , which is a collection of the advice columns from The Believer magazine. The questions are answered by guest columnists who are generally comedians or comedy writers. There are several of the cast from The Daily Show along with Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garofalo, forty-five comics in total. The book made me spit coffee once and made me laugh until it hurt another time. Loads of fun. Also reading (and also going to be a quick read) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. An allegorical piece of fiction that reminds me in a number of ways of Siddhartha in its simplicity of writing and ideas. ( Siddhartha actually bugged the carp out of me because of the huge fuss surrounding the supposed depth and meaning and spirituality of the book and it was trite and facile and elicited one big, "duh! Really?" from me.) It's fine, as far as these sorts of books go. And, um, something else. Oh, various non-fiction that I'm picking at as usual. A couple of people I know have the Sony Readers and another couple of people I know have the Kindle. They're all thrilled with their e-books. If I had a train or bus commute to and from work, I'd have one by now. Meantime, I'm still trying to decorate and don't know how I'd do that without books. I've heard nothing but good things about the Sony Reader so far, though. I've got my eye on an Aluratek Libre because, for the price, it's a much more muscular piece of technology than the others and comes with more standard equipment, such as an AC adapter to recharge the thing, not just a USB recharger. I have more wall sockets available to me (especially if I'm travelling) than I do computers to recharge an e-book. You can get an AC adapter for the Sony e-book, but it costs extra. The USB cord comes with the thing. Stuff like that. The Sony is prettier, but the Aluratek is way meatier.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
May 30, 2010 21:31:00 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on May 30, 2010 21:31:00 GMT -5
Ill stick with the iPhone as an eReader, I think. I can use that on the train one-handed while holding on with the other. A kindle would be too bulky for that; I might as well just take a book.
|
|
|
Up Next
May 31, 2010 7:02:43 GMT -5
Post by MacBeth on May 31, 2010 7:02:43 GMT -5
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ..... have not thought of that in years. Might need to give it a second look now that decades have passed
|
|
|
Up Next
May 31, 2010 23:08:31 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on May 31, 2010 23:08:31 GMT -5
Ill stick with the iPhone as an eReader, I think. I can use that on the train one-handed while holding on with the other. A kindle would be too bulky for that; I might as well just take a book. Have you held one and tried them out? They're easy, easy, easy one-hand reading and operating. And light. And you don't have the problems of losing your place and whatnot. I'd never buy a Kindle, though. I'd hate being restricted to purchasing my books from Amazon. I can certainly see, though, how the iPhone would be even lighter and more convenient and one less gadget to cart around with you.
|
|
|
Up Next
May 31, 2010 23:09:26 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on May 31, 2010 23:09:26 GMT -5
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ..... have not thought of that in years. Might need to give it a second look now that decades have passed Blast from the past, huh? I'd not read it, and it was on my list of books to read because it's a book you should read. So I've read it. I can see why/how it was revolutionary for its time.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 2, 2010 3:38:48 GMT -5
Ill stick with the iPhone as an eReader, I think. I can use that on the train one-handed while holding on with the other. A kindle would be too bulky for that; I might as well just take a book. Have you held one and tried them out? They're easy, easy, easy one-hand reading and operating. And light. And you don't have the problems of losing your place and whatnot. I'd never buy a Kindle, though. I'd hate being restricted to purchasing my books from Amazon. I can certainly see, though, how the iPhone would be even lighter and more convenient and one less gadget to cart around with you. Yeah my cousin got one for Christmas. It is about as big as a paperback, although not as thick. I just can't see how I could hold it as securely in one hand as I can with the phone. That and the phone is free, a Kindle is $260. I can just download the Kindle app for free and buy the same books off Amazon I can get for a Kindle. The only difference is the screen size, and the Kindle is probably easier on the eyes. I can live with that.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jun 5, 2010 17:55:59 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 5, 2010 17:55:59 GMT -5
Roared through After Dark. It's a novella really, and quite a good one. Not as good as Kafka on the Shore, but better than the average Murakami.
Time for a bit of lighter fare: Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey.
|
|
Pax
Are We There Yet? Member
quod erat demonstrandum.
Posts: 5,103
|
Up Next
Jun 16, 2010 11:47:43 GMT -5
Post by Pax on Jun 16, 2010 11:47:43 GMT -5
I won't read anything by James Patterson... "Maximum Ride" was enough. And I'm astonished he's managed to stretch that out into five more books or so. I could write books like that with my eyes closed. Call it jealousy. Probably is.
In any event... got done reading the only novel I've even cracked in the last three years... "I, Lucifer," by one of Britain's "Best young writers." I do think he's an excellent writer, well read, certainly has an extensive vocabulary... he seems well-traveled as well, and manages to work that seamlessly into the book. The book is about God giving Lucifer a chance at redemption by allowing him to live as a human being for 31 days. It is written in first-person, as a diary of sorts; perhaps, stream-of-consciousness. And what a stream it is. Lucifer is nothing if not ADD.
It is a pleasure to read, and its take on various biblical events is very interesting. For instance, according to this Lucifer, Adam was a sweet guy but not all that bright, and Eve actually had more of a mind of her own. That is, while Adam "rejoiced when it was sunny, and rejoiced when it rained," Eve "didn't particularly much have a problem with rain, but didn't particularly find it something to be thrilled about either, so built a shelter." That of course sets the stage for why it was Eve, and not Adam, who had the independence (presence?) of mind to be the one to eat of the Tree of Life.
OH! One other interesting thing out of this: Keeping in mind that Adam was made by God to be so unswervingly HAPPY with everything... Lucifer's take on Adam, humanity, and the nature of choice was this: that essentially, "When it came to God's giving humanity the choice to worship Him or not, with Adam he stacked the deck: He created a creature that, while technically capable of choosing not to worship God, was nevertheless made in a way such that it would never occur to him even to question it."
There are interesting philosophical twists like that throughout the book.
Another one was this: Lucifer complains that people blame him for Christ's crucifixion. (I didn't know that, but let's go with it.) He says he was the LAST one that wanted that... that the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament were so ridiculously draconian that for millenia they were having to pull triple shifts in the welcome room of Hell while St. Peter's sole real responsibility was to keep too much dust from settling on the turnstyles at the Heavenly Gates. Jesus' crucifixion was going to seriously put a dent in Lucifer's quota, and that's the last thing he wanted, he said.
Anyway, interesting book. The one thing that it failed on was the one thing that I thought would make it most interesting... unless I missed it somehow: The book, I thought, would be about what would happen if Lucifer truly got to experience life as a human being. If he would LEARN something from being human. Something real. He did learn SOME things... like, what sex really feels like, and what beauty looks like through human eyes. He developed a new respect for what human souls really are, though as far as I can tell it wouldn't change his treatment of them in any way. As far as I can tell, there was no epiphany, no real self-reflection. I'll leave it there if others want to read it. I think it's worth reading, if only for the very original take on a number of historical and philosophical viewpoints.
Sorry, one more thing. The book, several times, in some different ways, referred obliquely to the notion that evil is "absence from God." That's putting it a bit simplistically, but it'll do, here. That helps me to understand, perhaps, why fundamentalists are so insistent that having a personal relationship with God (or Jesus, if you prefer) is requisite for leading a moral life. That is, to live apart from God (as an atheist does, for example) MEANS to be absent from God, and therefore, to be evil. It also explains why, come to think of it, they think it's also required for going to Heaven, because, how can you go to Heaven and be near God if your entire life was lived unrepentantly and deliberately absent from God -- even if that life was otherwise one that God would approve of?
|
|
|
Up Next
Jun 16, 2010 23:34:14 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Jun 16, 2010 23:34:14 GMT -5
You make that book sound fascinating, Pax. I've added it to my Chapters wish list, and I'll get it next time I order. Thanks!
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jun 17, 2010 3:47:00 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 17, 2010 3:47:00 GMT -5
You make that book sound fascinating, Pax. I've added it to my Chapters wish list, and I'll get it next time I order. Thanks! Ditto. What is Chapters, by-the-bye?
|
|
|
Up Next
Jun 17, 2010 9:11:40 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Jun 17, 2010 9:11:40 GMT -5
Oh, Chapters is our big chain Canadian book store. Like Barnes and Nobles in the States.
|
|
Pax
Are We There Yet? Member
quod erat demonstrandum.
Posts: 5,103
|
Up Next
Jun 18, 2010 6:58:12 GMT -5
Post by Pax on Jun 18, 2010 6:58:12 GMT -5
You're welcome, G. :-). I hope you and WS enjoy it as much as I did!
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jun 19, 2010 7:25:43 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 19, 2010 7:25:43 GMT -5
You're welcome, G. :-). I hope you and WS enjoy it as much as I did! I probably would if I could find it. :-( Guess I'll have to trawl the library.
|
|
|
Up Next
Jun 19, 2010 10:58:46 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Jun 19, 2010 10:58:46 GMT -5
Are you just looking for it in local stores, WS? Because Amazon has it. Amazon has an AU branch, does it not?
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jun 19, 2010 19:19:29 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 19, 2010 19:19:29 GMT -5
Are you just looking for it in local stores, WS? Because Amazon has it. Amazon has an AU branch, does it not? There's no local Amazon, and the drop in the $A has made Amazon US a bit unappealing for now. I'm finding books now cost the same from shops here as from Amazon, and no currency fees. Right now, I'm only buying from Amazon if I'm after an eBook. They're always cheaper.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jun 24, 2010 7:36:36 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 24, 2010 7:36:36 GMT -5
Finished Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic. This was a fascinating book, full of surprising and counter-intuitive analysis of how traffic works, why we drive the way we do, what is safe and what is not, and so on.
It was kind of like Freakonomics, only dedicated to a single issue.
Vanderbilt's conclusion is a pretty good summary of what the book is about:
"On the road we make our judgments about what's risky and what's safe using our own imperfect human calculus. We think large trucks are dangerous, but then we drive unsafely around them. We think roundabouts are more dangerous than intersections, although they're more safe. We think the sidewalk is a safer place to ride a bike, even though it's not. We worry about getting into a crash on "dangerous" holiday weekends but stop worrying during the week. We do not let children walk to school even though driving a car presents a greater hazard. We use hands-free cell phones to avoid risky dialing and then spend more time on risky calls (among other things). We carefully stop at red lights when there are no other cars, but exceed the speed limit during the rest of the trip. We buy SUV's because we think they're safer and then drive them in more dangerous ways. We drive at a miniscule following distance to the car ahead, exceeding our ability to avoid a crash, with a blind faith that the driver ahead will never have a reason to suddenly stop. We have got to the point where cars are safer than ever, yet traffic fatalities cling to stubbornly high levels. We know all this, and act as if we don't.
I'm still reading Shades of Grey as my "physical" novel and have now started Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Club for my commuting ebook.
|
|
|
Up Next
Jun 24, 2010 22:25:07 GMT -5
Post by Georgina on Jun 24, 2010 22:25:07 GMT -5
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. More new books to join my already impressive line up of To Be Read books. I have I, Lucifer now but feel compelled to munch into My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey first. This promises to be a fascinating read, written by a woman who is a brain anatomist (neuroanatomist) who "experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life -- all within four hours - Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognised she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was completely lost. I would take her eight years to fully recover". [That's from the back cover.]
So, as a brain doctor/scientist, she was able to a) recognise what was happening to her, b) understand the physiology of what was going on such that she can describe the experience coherently now that she's recovered. A few chapters in and it's riveting.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jun 30, 2010 7:48:50 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jun 30, 2010 7:48:50 GMT -5
Finished The Double Comfort Safari Club. Pretty standard entry for this series; no better or worse than the rest of them.
I find myself wishing that McCall Smith would pay more attention to plot. Would it hurt him to give Precious a really tough case to solve, something with some real twists to give the readers a jolt? These books read more like travelogues now.
|
|
Pax
Are We There Yet? Member
quod erat demonstrandum.
Posts: 5,103
|
Up Next
Jul 1, 2010 15:24:18 GMT -5
Post by Pax on Jul 1, 2010 15:24:18 GMT -5
G, you might enjoy "The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," which is a compendium of stories about people who find themselves with various neurological ailments.
|
|
|
Post by Georgina on Jul 2, 2010 2:27:39 GMT -5
I've heard of it, Pax, and I think I'll add it to my ever-expanding-reading list. I recently read Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramacharndran, M.D., PhD with a forward by Oliver Sacks, the fellow who wrote The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Ramachandran's book is a more in-depth medical/scientific look at the phenomenon and stories that Sacks relates. And, quite honestly, has led me to believe in the absolute nonsense of human perception. A whole bunch of the world stopped making sense while a whole bunch more really did. If that makes any sense.
|
|
Pax
Are We There Yet? Member
quod erat demonstrandum.
Posts: 5,103
|
Post by Pax on Jul 2, 2010 7:29:15 GMT -5
I haven't read those books but I agree probably the most irritating thing to me is when a character is just unbelievably stupid. Bringing up a close second is when an otherwise intelligent character does something unbelievably stupid. And I of course mean "unbelievably" in the literal sense, as in, the writer got lazy.
It's not a book but that was one of the major problems with the TV show "Heroes." For five seasons, the writers were constantly getting the characters to do out-of-character or just plain stupid things just to get a script of a certain length out by a certain deadline. I might have some sympathy for the difficulty of being brilliant every week, but so many other shows manage to do it, such as Bones, Lie to Me, House, etc. (Unrelatedly but another problem I had with where they took this show with the wonderful premise of good (and bad) people who wake up one day with amazing powers is that after FIVE YEARS they were still the same disorganized, whiny, self-absorbed pricks they'd started out being when we first met them.
|
|
|
Post by Georgina on Jul 2, 2010 9:21:22 GMT -5
A friend of mine loaned season 1 of Heroes to me and keeps insisting I watch it. I haven't gotten around to it, and I'm beginning to think I may very well not.
|
|
Pax
Are We There Yet? Member
quod erat demonstrandum.
Posts: 5,103
|
Up Next
Jul 2, 2010 19:44:21 GMT -5
Post by Pax on Jul 2, 2010 19:44:21 GMT -5
It's probably not as bad as I make it sounds, G, but knowing you, there are better ways to spend your time.
|
|
|
Post by Georgina on Jul 7, 2010 0:40:35 GMT -5
I appreciate your appraisal and will heed your well considered advice, Pax.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Post by wheelspinner on Jul 8, 2010 7:59:40 GMT -5
Just finished my latest ebook, Roseanna by Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. This is the first of the Martin Beck detective series, set in Sweden. Wahloo and Sjowall were a husband-and-wife writing team who churned out ten of these police procedurals in the 60s and 70s. Fervent Communists, they were some of the main influences for Stieg Larsson, which is how I stumbled upon them.
The book is a gritty police drama about a girl whose murder presents a total mystery to Beck and his team; she can't be identified and nor can they find anyone who had anything to do with her.
Beck is a really memorable character, and the books don't seem at all dated, compared to a lot of 60s detective fiction. A glowing intro is written by the legendary Henning Mankel, and Michael Connolly also chimes in with a blurb. I've already downloaded book 2.
|
|
wheelspinner
Are We There Yet? Member
Nobody's perfect, I'm a nobody, so ...
Posts: 4,103
|
Up Next
Jul 13, 2010 3:16:16 GMT -5
Post by wheelspinner on Jul 13, 2010 3:16:16 GMT -5
I finally finished a "real" book - Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey.
This is very different from Fforde's usual mash-up of comedy, detective story and characters from literature or nursery rhymes. It's a (pretty) serious sci-fi about a world where your position in society is determined by the amount of the colour spectrum you can perceive. The upper caste are Violets, the lowest ranks are the Reds, and the Greys - who have no colour vision - are like Epsilons in Brave New World, fit only for drudgery.
Fforde's main character is Edward Russett, a Red who promises to have strong colour perception (in his band) and therefore go onto a leadership position. He is however a rebellious youth, and he and his father find themselves exiled to the outer regions for a while.
There Edward meets Jane Grey. (Fforde can't entirely resist his urge to drop literary references: the Greys include, Jane, Zane and Dorian). Jane is even more rebellious than he and takes an instant dislike to him. The novel deals with Edward's gradual realisation about the true nature of the society he lives in, and his emerging alliance with Jane.
It's a pretty good book, with two more to come. I'll certainly read the second to see where Fforde takes it from here.
For my next "real" book, I am reading Blind Descent by James Tabor, an account of the search to find the deepest cave on Earth.
|
|