Summer Reading
My first entry to the book discussion... the last month has been full of reading for me, mostly because of the constant days of 105 degree temperatures here in Oklahoma. A note before I begin my short reviews: my reading tends to be of the lighter fare after reading journal articles and writing computer programs all day...
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman: Definitely a pop culture book through and through. Klosterman is a writer at Rolling Stone and you get the feeling that his audience for the book is essentially the same. I completely enjoyed the book but I (1) think I could take out any of the teams I've seen so far on VH1's World Series of Pop Culture and (2) Am in love w/John Cusack. If you've ever watched Saved by the Bell for countless hours even though you realized it was utterly cliche and totally unrealistic, this is definitely the book for you.
Indecision, Benjamin Kunkel: This book grabbed my attention simply due to the title and premise that a drug company could develop a pill to cure indecision. Truthfully, its about that period that many 20-somethings tend to go through trying to find out if your life is going in the "right" direction. Problem for me was i could never "get" the main character of Dwight, I found him at times to be interesting but also at times a little dumb. I didn't hate the book by any means, it was a quick, easy read... but there were times that seemed like the author was being deliberately obtuse, especially in the discussions of globalization and its effects on third world countries.
4th of July, James Patterson: To be honest, it took me a moment to even remember what this book was about--but that's typical for any Patterson novel, they all run together. This is another book in the "Womens Murder Club" series, yet this one is not so much murder club and only the SF police lieutenant Lindsay Boxer show. It reads like any other Patterson novel (suspicious murders, trials, deranged killer on the loose) and I finished it in a lazy weekend...
Goodnight Nobody, Jennifer Weiner: My first adventure into "chick mystery lit." I'm generally not a chick lit kind of person but I saw the book at target (on sale!) and intrigued me, mostly because I knew I wanted a similar light fare to the Patterson novel I just finished. It did the job... I liked the main character, her best friend, and her kids. I just had problems with the suburban "desperate housewives" town it was based in. The ending seemed a little far-fetched but the maze to get there was interesting enough to keep me going.
Candy Girl: A year in the life of a unlikely stripper, Diablo Cody: The blogosphere has had one interesting effect that not many people talk about: an addition of memoirs from all types of people, as suddenly everyone is an author. Truth (or slightly modified truth) can be stranger than fiction though and some very interesting stories that otherwise might go unknown suddenly have a format to be discovered. I picked up the book after catching an AP story about the author on cnn. The author does tend to give off that "better than you" vibe throughout the book, but if you're use to reading blogs (most tend to give off the same feeling to me anyway) it really shouldn't bother you. The story was incredibly interesting, but at the same time it also made me feel sorry for girls who actually use stripping as a profession-the house really seems to rip off their "entertainers". It was also amazing how "unsexy" a story about being a stripper was. The bizzaro custormers and other people she came in contact with over the course of a year begged to be talked about just to know what kind of people actually exist. A short book definitely worth the read if you can handle a bit of "crudeness" and are curious about a totally different world.
posted by wxkristin.
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman: Definitely a pop culture book through and through. Klosterman is a writer at Rolling Stone and you get the feeling that his audience for the book is essentially the same. I completely enjoyed the book but I (1) think I could take out any of the teams I've seen so far on VH1's World Series of Pop Culture and (2) Am in love w/John Cusack. If you've ever watched Saved by the Bell for countless hours even though you realized it was utterly cliche and totally unrealistic, this is definitely the book for you.
Indecision, Benjamin Kunkel: This book grabbed my attention simply due to the title and premise that a drug company could develop a pill to cure indecision. Truthfully, its about that period that many 20-somethings tend to go through trying to find out if your life is going in the "right" direction. Problem for me was i could never "get" the main character of Dwight, I found him at times to be interesting but also at times a little dumb. I didn't hate the book by any means, it was a quick, easy read... but there were times that seemed like the author was being deliberately obtuse, especially in the discussions of globalization and its effects on third world countries.
4th of July, James Patterson: To be honest, it took me a moment to even remember what this book was about--but that's typical for any Patterson novel, they all run together. This is another book in the "Womens Murder Club" series, yet this one is not so much murder club and only the SF police lieutenant Lindsay Boxer show. It reads like any other Patterson novel (suspicious murders, trials, deranged killer on the loose) and I finished it in a lazy weekend...
Goodnight Nobody, Jennifer Weiner: My first adventure into "chick mystery lit." I'm generally not a chick lit kind of person but I saw the book at target (on sale!) and intrigued me, mostly because I knew I wanted a similar light fare to the Patterson novel I just finished. It did the job... I liked the main character, her best friend, and her kids. I just had problems with the suburban "desperate housewives" town it was based in. The ending seemed a little far-fetched but the maze to get there was interesting enough to keep me going.
Candy Girl: A year in the life of a unlikely stripper, Diablo Cody: The blogosphere has had one interesting effect that not many people talk about: an addition of memoirs from all types of people, as suddenly everyone is an author. Truth (or slightly modified truth) can be stranger than fiction though and some very interesting stories that otherwise might go unknown suddenly have a format to be discovered. I picked up the book after catching an AP story about the author on cnn. The author does tend to give off that "better than you" vibe throughout the book, but if you're use to reading blogs (most tend to give off the same feeling to me anyway) it really shouldn't bother you. The story was incredibly interesting, but at the same time it also made me feel sorry for girls who actually use stripping as a profession-the house really seems to rip off their "entertainers". It was also amazing how "unsexy" a story about being a stripper was. The bizzaro custormers and other people she came in contact with over the course of a year begged to be talked about just to know what kind of people actually exist. A short book definitely worth the read if you can handle a bit of "crudeness" and are curious about a totally different world.
posted by wxkristin.