- Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter. A pastiche of short stories, many in classic pulp style, strung together with some connective narrative to make into a somewhat interesting whole. Diverting but ultimately kind of hollow, the main character is pretty thin.
- Meat Market by Bruce Feldman. Nonfiction, Bruce sits inside the Mississippi team for a year following primarily their recruiting travails under (now former) head coach Ed Orgeron. Life on the margins of bigtime college football is tough for the players and the teams, gives me new appreciation for coaches that are able to lift programs up from the doldrums.
- Nothing To Lose by Lee Child. Another Reacher tale, this one is one of the weaker in the series, or maybe I am just Reachered out. This book starts to feel like it is heading toward Stephen King territory with Apocalyptic cults which seem to have possessed whole towns.
- The Watchman by Robert Crais. A Joe Pike thriller, this one is far more satisfying than the Reacher tale above. Characters are more human, and thus resolution of plot is far more satisfying.
Posts Tagged Nonfiction
Recent Books
Dec 14
June Books
Jul 6
- We Disappear by Scott Heim. Drug addict son returns to small-town childhood home to care for dying mother and unwrap the mysteries of her life. Some bizzare david-lynchian moments. Just ok, never really hooked me.
- Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston. Central premise about corruption, government subsidies abuse. Some solid examples but way too much diatribe. One good prescriptive recommendation — 100% public funding of all political expenses, no gifts whatsoever. Oh and I hate the “the rich are taking ever more of the pie” argument — this may well be true but the analysis is terribly incomplete — there is no discussion of globalization, of the incredible advantages the US had post-WWII that are finally being whittled away, there is no discussion of the fact that a growing economy naturally will create more spread at the high end of the income distribution.
- A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Strap on your hard hat because this is a relentless and long tale of tragic injustices and disasters battering away at every character in the book. No one ever achieves a balance, tragedy rips away at their joy. No one comes away untouched, many die. If this book is truly reflective of India in the 60s and 70s, man that was a tough time.
- Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan. A real ripsnorter. Nanotech, virtual tech, multiple layers of conspiracy, a hard-bitten anti hero. My second read of Morgan and both have been great fun.
- The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. A solid book exploring the nature of happiness; community, sharing, connections, a sense of a greater purpose, and a laid back approach to life all seem to be key.
- The Thing About Life Is That One Day You’ll Be Dead by David Shields. Reflections on mortality. I don’t really get it, he seems to be yelling at his readers and his father “don’t you get it? How can you be so carefree? We are all going to die” and my response is so what? How would I live differently? Am I supposed to be more dour and depressed, and how would that make things better?
- An Army At Dawn by Rick Atkinson. The story of the US Army at dawn of WWII in North Africa — disorganized, soft, bickering, self-centered. All this was blasted away as the army learned how to fight and as the men ill-suited to war were rendered casualties. At the start, we viewed this as someone else’s war. By the end of the North African campaign, the war was deeply personal to the army with resultant changes in behaviour.
- Silver Spoon Kids by Gallo, Gallo, Gallo. Trite examples, middle school vocab, shallow thinking. If you have no moral compass whatsoever and can’t bring yourself to engage in deep thought or true acts of compassion, I guess this book is for you. I’d personally recommend almost any classic or autobiography or meaningful nonfiction (any of the other books mentioned) as a better way to develop morality, and of course real engagement with real people in your community.