Luminous Airplanes - Paul La Farge

Despite the name it never really took off. I could identify to a degree as the main character, an IT tech, was sorting through some conflicted feelings with work, living situation and life. His brooding was an interesting peek into his thoughts, though the sorting through the past didn't always go anywhere worthwhile. One of those journeys that doesn't really have a particular conflict or resolution - the only interesting event that occurred during the book then got dropped and not really further explained. Well-written but a little disappointing after the initial promise.

5
September 2014

It's All About the Bike - Robert Penn

I wasn't so sure what this would be about (the bike! the bike!) but found it was a quick read that give some interesting background info about the creation and evolution of biking. Each component got a chapter to share the history and often a human-aspect of meeting someone who had devoted their life to that part. The only unfortunate part was that it made me want to actually have a really good bike; the one he built during the book ran him $5500 which doesn't seem so bad..

August 2014

7

The White King - Gyorgy Dragoman

This book is graphic without getting gruesome. Life under a horrid dictatorship is relayed through the eyes (and Hungarian to English translated, run-on sentences) of a young boy which allows for a genuine and naive look at terrible things that can easily be deciphered by the educated. Each disparate chapter encapsulated an important situation fraught with tension but when pieced together as a whole revealed the offensive truth. It still has me reeling.

September 2014
8.5

Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat - Hal Herzog

This book nicely walks through a lot of the contentious issues regarding human thinking about animals. It presents an open-minded view, sometimes a little more open than I would like from the omnivorous author, and backs most things up with scientific research in an easily digested form. Beyond that he also gets into the philosophical and compares a few of the leading views, pointing out inconsistencies in each and essentially reiterating the point that there are inconsistencies that are nearly impossible to practically avoid. The section about cockfighting was eye-opening as was the long reflection about scientific research on animals. Even the personal accounts made for interesting scenarios and hypotheticals to reflect upon.

September 2014
6

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfield

Before leaving for Europe for four months I received this Christmas present in the mail and just cracked the prologue. I was hooked but had a hunch it would be a book I would want to maintain in my collection, and not want to carry around a continent. Thus it was with great difficulty that I left it behind. When I was back I went beyond the prologue and it was all that I wanted, perhaps more. An inspirational and practical book that really had good lessons and values to instill. How perfect that the examples given to help drive the points home were drawn from time in space or preparing for that almost unreal experience. A true pleasure to read!

August 2014

8.5

A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson

I know that every review of Bill's books says "he could make reading the history of the phone book entertaining!" but it's true that somehow he took a literal walk in the woods and had me urgently reading along. An entertaining twist was the old 'friend' who tagged along with him for the beginning of the journey. However it's his ability to dig out the ridiculous history of a small place or a forgotten endeavour and present it in such an engaging and funny manner that makes him my writing idol. With this book I began a list of page numbers for things that I found extremely satisfying (usually due to snorting laughter) and will continue that with any of his subsequent reads.

July 2013 (yes 2013, it's late!)

7

Slam - Nick Hornby

I forget how much I enjoy Hornby until I pick up another and drink it in. The subject matter and likely target audience was probably teenage boys so it was an easy and fast read but I'm not going to let that take away from it - I laughed out loud repeatedly. Although it required some suspension of belief the way it was handled in such a logical manner made it unique. The kind of book that can get me back into relishing the thought of picking up my novel at any free point in the day.

July 2014
8

The Incredible Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

When I first picked this book up I was wary of the philosophy but once I was past that I began to burn through, devouring the remarkably honest, frank and realistic views expressed by the characters. Unfortunately this was just before joining a group tour of Europe where downtime was negligible and then the book went missing and months passed before I returned to it back on home soil. During the middling middle it started to meander as I realized it wasn't going to be a linear story with a driving storyline or ending. And although this turned out to be true there were more than enough striking quotes, messages and analogies that I ended up sharing around to make it a worthwhile read. I could see myself returning to it in the future, perhaps not in full but at least for reference to specific thoughts.

March - June 2014 (Eurotrip)
7

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk

Yes, the first chapter warned me that I wouldn't like the book but it also drew me in to wanting to prove it wrong. That was the way the whole read went and It wasn't until I was passed the point of no return that I decided I didn't like it. Hoping the ending would salvage it I carried on but besides the odd gem of a thought our paragraph most chapters went into have detail about ridiculous things that are trying to be passed off as normal, presumably for the shock value. The conclusion let much to be desired and I kind of want my time back.

Feb - Mar 2014 (Eurotrip 1)
2