Stefan Read: 2011

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Bossypants - Tiny Fey (audiobook)

Bossypants started off great with some very funny stories from early life. Tina has a funny, self-deprecating style akin to her 30 Rock character that shone through during this reading. There were some real great one-liners that I found myself texting off, and more than a few grins were spread broadly across the GO train despite myself. However nearing the latter half of the book it started to wane slightly. The reliving of the Sarah Palin impersonations was quite interesting however. Also that "Prayer for a Daughter" is brilliant.

Audiobook aspect: My first true attempt at an audiobook I found it difficult to always be paying attention. The ticket taker comes to check you and "what was the last part about?" It's not that easy to scroll back. Or to take note of exact quotes for your friends, you have to relisten. Also it isn't quite so easy to mark your page and come back exactly to it (if you go off and listen to something else on your ipod in the interim). If it weren't for Tina reading this herself - and putting some hilarious expression into it - I wouldn't have bothered.

6.5
(Oct/Nov 2011)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Headhunters - Jo Nesbo

The third in a line of stealthily devoured novels following the extended read of It, this was a seven day rental that I returned in five. Interesting in that the narrator/lead character was a self professed ass that you disliked but wanted him to get through anyway. Action packed in a linear fashion it was quite entertaining, if a little simplistic, like an action movie. No wonder it is being made into a film. The ending of him returning to his wife is a tiny bit hard to take, as well as a few other slightly unbelievable plot devices.
7.5
(October 2011)

Ape House - Sarah Gruen

A book that flew by in a weekend and kept twists and turns coming. Not that it was fantastically written, in fact, in ways it felt more like an amateur novel than Water for Elephants. I can't deny how I lapped itI up though and was intrigued by the science behind the animals communication. It also knocked reality television which I can appreciate.
7
(Thanksgiving, October, 2011)

Between The Assassinations - Aravind Adiga

For a collection of separate stories a majority of them really drew me in in short time. His writing style pulls you along even if the endings of many were disappointments in that there was often little resolution. However with another story coming it wasn't all that upsetting. Vivid pictures of India are drawn and brings up all the colourful memories of travels there, not to mention summoning yearning to return.
7
(Fall 2011)

It - Stephen King

This whopper of a horror story, both in size, breadth, and scariness took me for a ride. After turning off the film one scene in (alone, during a storm, in a new house, at night) I started into the book against the bookkeeper's advice. The character development is quite an accomplishment and the stories within stories are some of the best parts. For example the domineering and controlling relationship that Bev is in with her asshole husband Tom is utterly appalling and sickening, yet seems so possibly real. In the middle I did find things waning as they came together in their grown up state but when the reminiscing about childhood began in earnest, and started flipping back and forth from present-day the pages too began to flip again. The last quarter made it worthwhile, though the conclusion was slightly mediocre after all of that buildup. With so many very common horror scenes and themes in films to this day, it makes me wonder whether King drew on tried-and-true elements for this, or whether this set the bar and was borrowed from for years to come. All in all it was worth it.

Film: The film watched a couple months after completion of the book was mostly a disappointment. Yes there were scary elements but so many of the more interesting aspects were left out, and the development just didn't quite seem to be there (even in 2.5 hours of film). The younger kids were much more interesting as I didn't enjoy the casting of the adults.

(Summer, most of it, 2011)

Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux

Absolutely adored every moment of the theatrical version. The written account was intriguing, and it was cool to hear the explanations behind all the 'supernatural'. It made the ghost out to be more of a monster, but I still did have empathy for him. After the play I actually was torn and thought that I may have preferred if the Phantom had ended up with the girl.

Found it odd at times that certain things were mentioned repeatedly with no real explanation afterward. The unnamed man, more horrible than Erik himself, is also intriguing.

Took me a long time to get through during a busy month or two but did draw me in.

-Translation by Lowell Bair

(Spring 2011)

Anansi's Boys - Neil Gaiman

Odd that I'd choose a sci-fi book, and that was only as a mistake. However the parts grounded in real life were quite enjoyable and actually rather amusing, whereas I got stuck repeatedly on the mumbo-jumbo fantasy parts. Hence why I spent 6 weeks completing it. However in the end I would say that it was enjoyable, but I'd much prefer his writing if it were regular fiction.

(Early 2011)

Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton

His final book, published post-mortem, was supposedly found in a completed state after his 2008 death but I have my suspicions that the publisher may just be cashing in on the name one last time. Regardless of this conspiracy theory I enjoyed this for fast-paced fiction. Things moved quick - with every conceivable problem being thrown at the pirate crew, er privateers, and them managing to escape each time. Battles were not overly drawn out which was nice, and necessary as there were so many to fit in. Despite being fun fiction there was also a great deal of interesting facts and ways of life regarding the 17th century Jamaican life, and that of pirates, that added greatly.

(January 2011)

Bloodletting and Other Miraculous Cures - Vincent Lam

A Giller Prize winner (2006) and deservedly so. The collection of short stories repeats characters but with sufficient time gaps to force you to fill in between. For a first novel it was remarkable how well he got you into the characters heads in a very realistic way, and was equally interesting the viewpoints - especially those of our trusted MDs. I relished this book, not wanting it to end, and that was the only disappointment. Firstly that it ended, and secondly that it ended on a page where I turned it and expected to find more but was left without any closure. Still wonderful, especially as I'm usually not a fan of short story collections.

(January 2011)

B is For Beer - Tim Robbins

Listed as 'A Grown-up Book for Children, or a Children's Book for Grown-Ups' the story touched as it should. Told from a curious 5 year old's perspective it captured the young girl's innocence, with slight maturity of the author. The story was seemingly straightforward with much underlying it. Very quick read as it pulled me along for a one-day ride.

(Winter 2010)

A Long Way Down - Nicky Hornby

Quite an absurd premise to open with - four people on the same rooftop on New Year's Eve planning to commit suicide - it seems morbid and ridiculous. However Nick pulls off a story, from the inside of each character's head, that fits a very realistic bill and is in fact quite funny at times.

(Fall 2010, Contiki, Australia)

White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

In the vein of the opening of Life of Pi, or perhaps more aptly like Slumdog Millionaire, this story gives a true glimpse of the underbelly of India. I found myself not wanting to accept that the horrible parts of society mentioned were reality but it was told with such conviction that it's hard not to be true. Far from a happy ending it is awful yet satisfying in some weird way. A sign of a well-written book that it can have that effect. Read in a week while in Melbourne I burned through the final 100 pages on the last day without problem.

8.5

(Fall 2010, Melbourne)

Player One - Douglas Coupland

Covering similar ground to the previous year's Generation A this book moved quickly ('a novel in five hours') though perhaps due to this haste I didn't feel it cut all that deep. It was slightly unnerving to see how little it could conceivably take to plunge society into apocalyptic-like conditions. A few neat ideas conjured up but not my particular favourite. Seeing Coupland read, albeit a chapter I'd already read, was a neat experience - to experience things out loud with a room full of people - I was much more inclined to react audibly than while by myself. He is an odd character to interview with seemingly disjointed stories that only sometimes relate back to the question in any meaningful way.
6.5
(Fall 2010)

Generation A - Douglas Coupland

Handful of interswapped first-person accounts from bee sting survivors in the near future after extinction of bees. Smooth read, interesting enough though became collection of short stories near end which can be frustrating. Ending was slightly confusing and not entirely satisfactory. Worth it since it was a quick read anyway. 6.5 (Fall 2010)

Juliet, Naked - Nick Hornby

An engaging and well-written story that kept me at it for some reason although it wasn't necessarily a page-turner. Read in only a few days the story revolved around fictitious recluse singer-songwriter but included elements I could relate toas a music fan, and real-life references. The ending sort of lacked resolution, though it was obviously intended that way. 7.5 (Fall 2010)

Packing for Mars - Mary Roach

Packing for Mars "The curious science of life in the void" Very interesting, playfully written overview of the science going into the different aspects of space exploration, from anti gravity to food to animals in space and bathroom breaks. Would read more by Roach. 8 (Fall 2010)

Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland

Read in a weekend or so. The first part, while she's still in the coma was amazing and made you think about and evaluate life and its purpose and all that. The post apocalyptic wake-up and beyond was a little out there and seemed to take away from the book in my opinion. (Canada Day weekend - 2010)

Adverbs - Daniel Handle

Very oddly written, with each chapter being a new story despite overlapping names at times. Wasn't happy when there was no resolution in the end, though the writing itself was very interesting and wacky (Summer 2010)

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Bonk - Mary Roach

Bonk - The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Great fun in the Mary Roach style. Plenty of weird old undercover experiments and all that, some interesting finds too! Comparable to Packing for Mars (and read around the same time - October 2010). Another book that keeps you racing to the footnotes.

(October 2010)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Machiavelli in 90 Minutes

Very informative and quick as promised, analyzed why he wrote what he did in context to his life

(Summer 2010)

No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

Excellent, violent but descriptive (had already seen the movie)

(Summer 2010)

Slapstick (or Lonesome No More!) - Kurt Vonnegut

Oddball throughout, disappointing ending.

(Summer 2010)

Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

Inspirational

(Summer 2010)

Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde

Very quotable, great.

(Summer 2010)

The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld

A fictional interpretation of Freud's factual visit to America - a visit which left him with a very bad taste in his mouth. The book had too many characters that I lost track of over the many weeks that it took me to finish. The psych stuff was interesting to some degree though I'm not sure how true it all was, and some of it was too Sherlock Holmes-esque to be believable. By the end I just wanted to know how it all turned out with regards to the murder and the explanation was satisfactory.

(6/21/10)

Animal Farm - George Orwell

A rather literal re-write of Soviet Revolution leading up to WWII, it gets away with saying what it is by replacing human characters with animals. Teaches lessons about the corruption of people who gain power, also a foreshadowing of the way controllers rewrite history in order to retain control that is so prevalent in his later book, 1984.

(4/30/10)

The Island of Dr.Moreau - HG Wells

Written as if written by a non-author which is annoying at times because things are smoothed over while other beasts are described in detail. It was a quick enjoyable read, though I thought it would get a bit deeper into the morals behind scientific inquiry.

(Spring 2010)

In Defense of Food - Michael Pollan

Broad overview of the food system and some plain and solid advice for making better eating decisions

(March 2010)

A Brief History of Canada - Reindeau

A Brief History of Canada - Second Edition. Roger Reindeau

A really readable history of Canada from the first visit by the vikings through to Paul Martin 2007. Could even read it front to back and learned so much more about Canada than I'd realized - a great primer for deeper studies as it covers a lot of ground quickly.

(Spring 2010)