Corporate America
Good book overall. Very well written corporate satire. I love corporate satires, and satires in general, and considering the author worked for several bigtime corporations his experience comes through in the writing.The only problem I had is more a personal one - without giving anything away, the ending was a little unbelievable. That's most likely the point, but the scope of it was too out there and pulled me out of the narrative.
Overall though, this is a good book and worth your time.
Crisis on Multiple Earths, Vol. 5
Read this for sake of continuity, to get a better handle on the Crisis story arc. Decent stories in this collection.I was mostly interested in the Darkseid three issue story, having had not too much background on him, and this story was good but he seemed to be defeated too easily. Then again, they had to wrap up the issue...
Anomaly
Read 50 pages of this. Though it's beautiful, with large panoramic illustrations, the main storyline seems trite, seems like it's been done before. I've seen other reviews that said pretty much the same thing.Still, read it for the art and you may enjoy the storyline, the space operaness of it all...
Economix: How and Why Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work), in Words and Pictures
Excellent overview of economics, throughout the US history and all the other countries we deal with. All this from a leftist's point of view, and illustrated throughout with a cute and funny comic style.I read this to get a better picture on how my money circulates, who has it (not always me), and where it goes. If you don't want to wade through several weighty tomes on the subject give this one a look see.
Recommended!
Spoiler alert: money is good, but some people have more of it than others.
, in Words and Pictures - Michael Goodwin, Dan E. Burr, David Bach, Joel Bakan)
Cubes and Punishment
Haven't read Dilbert in a while, so this came as a real pleasure. I honestly don't know how Scott Adams gets it so damn right all the time! Just amazing funny stuff.
The Sociopath Next Door
Listened to this audiobook. Unfortunately I had just finished the Psychopath Test, which was excellent so this book seemed a little redundant.The overall theme is human conscience - what is it, what does it mean to have it (for the individual and society), and what does it mean to lack it.
My problem with this book is that conscience is an ability, and doesn't reside anywhere in the body, so the brunt of the argument is in essence abstract. I wanted to hear about real life sociopaths, which are dealt with, but also wanted to hear more about the physiological basis of sociopathy, not what the book is all about.
Luthor
The idea of Luthor as a good guy, and Superman as a red-eyed unknowable alien is interesting in the abstract.Even though he's a good guy, Luthor has some underhanded ways of dealing with bad guys. And, a serious lack of empathy. And even though Superman is a good guy he's basically mute, and scary.
I wanted to see more of Luthor's strange ways, get into his mindset but the comic stays more of the surface and doesn't go deep enough. But I say - give me more madman, more stonecold maniacal leader!
Something Happened
I wanted to finish this book, and got about a third of the way through (200 pages). I was reading this for insight into a workingman's life in the early 60s, but this book goes on and on. Seemingly endless paragraphs of internal rambling, at first captivating but soon wore me down because there seemed to be no end in sight.I do recommend this book, with the one caveat that it not be read at night when you are at all sleepy.
My Friend Dahmer
Goddamn this is a good book. I read it in one day; couldn't stop. Disturbing, engrossing, and super creepy, the story of a teenage friendship with a soon to be serial killer is a one of a kind graphic novel that stays with you.Derf Backderf used news reports, interviews, and personal stories to paint a picture of a strange boy who was basically a cipher to his few friends, and who would soon reach national prominence in the most gruesome way possible.
All this is set in smalltown suburban life in the 70s, a weird midpoint between the heady days of 60s free love, and the chilly conservative Reagan era 80s. This was a time when smoking pot was commonplace, and when a freak like Dahmer could go by unnoticed.
You don't feel sorry for Dahmer, with his tortured private life and personal hell, but in Mr. Backderf's deft portrayal, Dahmer is someone you want to spend time with, without getting too close.
Highly recommended.
Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
Want to know why humans are so interested in stories, why we get a hug kick when we find out what's going to happen next? This book will help you figure out why stories are important, and it'll show you how you can keep this in mind when you work on your own stories.I'm editing one book and working on another, and Wired For Story has helped in both of these projects. The author's suggestions have helped me get rid of passages and sentences that don't work for the book, even if they were something I loved. And when I work on my next book these suggestions help me keep focused on moving the story along, and not flying off into digression land.
I absolutely love this book. My copy is filled with sticky tags of all the interesting places that I wanted to look at later.
Highly recommended to any writer who wants a new insight into the writing process, and how they can help tell stories worth reading!
The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
Just amazing, I loved this book. I listened to the audiobook and because the author read it, it made the experience that much better. He's got a great voice and puts his emotion into his reading.I didn't know much about psychopaths before reading this, but now I feel I do. That is, know enough to make me more interested. Who knew how many of them are walking around us, masked from view by their ability to make believe they're just like us, and have actual human feelings.
The book covers how the author, a journalist, gets pulled into psychopathy, who and what is a psychopath, and the potential pitfalls of spotting (and treating) psychopaths.
If you're at all interested in psychology, in strange personalities, and in good writing this book might just be for you.
Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World
I'm a first time writer (just finished my novel), and I picked up the audiobook version.There's good stuff in here, but the book's geared towards people who want to generate revenue, or create bigtime buzz from their blogs, from their online presence. Some of this applies to me, and the parts that were geared towards the business side of things I skipped.
The author has a distracting habit of making lists to keep things readable and easy to digest. I don't know how these play out on the page, but listening to the audiobook reader go through list after list made me want to skip to the next track, which I did quite often.
If you get one good idea from this book, or if it stirs up your creativity in any way then you should read this. And if you do get some good ideas I'd love to hear about them!
Soft
Three people, three different backgrounds and lifestyles, one soft drink. It's a thriller, and so well written. This book flew by, because the writing was crisp, but not spare, the characters not at all stereotypical (there's plenty of backstory).But what I liked most was the choices Rupert Thomson makes in his descriptions - he doesn't show you everything, only just enough so the reader has to do a bit of work.
This book's well worth your time, if you like a literate and somewhat scathing noirish read.
Definitely recommended.
The Stand
I tried, I tried to read this one, but just couldn't do it. Could be I picked up the expanded restored edition, that drove me away. This book is so long, the writing so long winded to seem stream of consciousness, and not in a good way.There are 50 page digressions where Stephen King digs into a character's backstory, that by the time you return to the main story arc I couldn't remember where I was.
The basic scenario is great, and if Mr. King could edit out all the digressions it'd make for a much better read!
