Books: actual non-fiction?
Sometimes you do things that break your normal pattern, and it seems like you're starting a new trend. And sometimes, you realize your new trend lasted for two iterations, and you've already gone back to your normal pattern.
This introduction was a long-winded way of saying I read two non-fiction books, and then I went back to fiction.
First was Neil Patrick Harris's recently released autobiography, Choose Your Own Autobiography. The gimmick is the book is structured like a choose your own adventure book, which may be a way to disguise Neil Patrick Harris is a really successful theatre kid (but a theatre kid nonetheless). I didn't find it bad per se, but his life just simply isn't all that exciting. I think the gimmick add to the book, but it was occasionally annoying, since you didn't know which parts of the book you've read and you've haven't. (I tried reading it straight through, ignoring the "Turn to page" commands, but that actually doesn't work all that well.) It's worth reading if you're a fan of his work, whether it's How I Met Your Mother or Dr. Horrible, but the artist's life is not that interesting.
Second was The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left by Yuval Levin. I can't remember what exactly made me think of Edmund Burke recently, but I was Googling for him or something and it led me to discover that book - and put a hold on it at the library. It's basically a Coles Notes version of both philosophers. At times, it does feel like a university essay turned into a book, in that it's structured like a standard compare and contrast paper, plus it's somewhat repetitive. I think it's a good book if you know a little about both men, but don't want to slog through the original source material to get a deeper understanding.
Finally, I ended up going back to John Irving, one of my favourite authors. Some writers just have certain motifs they always go back to, and Irving is definitely one of them. Whenever you read something new by him, you tend to notice a lot of the same details. So In One Person doesn't feel wholly new to anyone already familiar with Irving's book, especially The World According to Garp. Vienna, wrestling, transsexuals (a word specifically chosen in lieu of transgender)... it's all there. I don't think it's among his upper echelon of work because the narrator is a man in his 60s reminiscing, but so much of the book was about his time in high school. I don't know if Irving did a good job on selling that time of his life as being so definitive. When the book went through the AIDS crisis of the 80s, it was actually quite fascinating as well, and I wish more time was spent there. Overall it's above the level of "Only for completionists", but for newbies, there are better introductory Irving novels, and for Irving skeptics, it won't change your opinion of him.
This introduction was a long-winded way of saying I read two non-fiction books, and then I went back to fiction.
First was Neil Patrick Harris's recently released autobiography, Choose Your Own Autobiography. The gimmick is the book is structured like a choose your own adventure book, which may be a way to disguise Neil Patrick Harris is a really successful theatre kid (but a theatre kid nonetheless). I didn't find it bad per se, but his life just simply isn't all that exciting. I think the gimmick add to the book, but it was occasionally annoying, since you didn't know which parts of the book you've read and you've haven't. (I tried reading it straight through, ignoring the "Turn to page" commands, but that actually doesn't work all that well.) It's worth reading if you're a fan of his work, whether it's How I Met Your Mother or Dr. Horrible, but the artist's life is not that interesting.
Second was The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left by Yuval Levin. I can't remember what exactly made me think of Edmund Burke recently, but I was Googling for him or something and it led me to discover that book - and put a hold on it at the library. It's basically a Coles Notes version of both philosophers. At times, it does feel like a university essay turned into a book, in that it's structured like a standard compare and contrast paper, plus it's somewhat repetitive. I think it's a good book if you know a little about both men, but don't want to slog through the original source material to get a deeper understanding.
Finally, I ended up going back to John Irving, one of my favourite authors. Some writers just have certain motifs they always go back to, and Irving is definitely one of them. Whenever you read something new by him, you tend to notice a lot of the same details. So In One Person doesn't feel wholly new to anyone already familiar with Irving's book, especially The World According to Garp. Vienna, wrestling, transsexuals (a word specifically chosen in lieu of transgender)... it's all there. I don't think it's among his upper echelon of work because the narrator is a man in his 60s reminiscing, but so much of the book was about his time in high school. I don't know if Irving did a good job on selling that time of his life as being so definitive. When the book went through the AIDS crisis of the 80s, it was actually quite fascinating as well, and I wish more time was spent there. Overall it's above the level of "Only for completionists", but for newbies, there are better introductory Irving novels, and for Irving skeptics, it won't change your opinion of him.