James Pak witnesses his father's suicide and then travels throughout Europe to discover why his father did it. Melnyczuk shifts time periods and narrators throughout so you have to really concentrate on the text in order to determine if the chapter in question is set in 1989, 1949, 1969, 2004, or 1936 (and let's not get into whether you are in New England, Oxford, Austria, or near Chernobyl or which narrator it is). While hard to get into at first, the book grows on you, but the main narrator, James, is rather uninteresting. When the book switches back to him for the final few chapters, it gets boring, and the ending is a disappointment. Intersting, but not satisfying.
Genre: Fiction
Subgenre: Historical fiction/Family Trauma Fiction
Location: New England, Oxford, Austria, Russia
Cliches: Son with troubled relationship with father, who became depressed alcoholic after mysterious tragedy, Heathcliff Syndrome, One Night Stand = Love of Lifetime
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: No, you really need to concentrate on text to be able to keep up--and some sections require rereading
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes, as long as there are no kids or jerks distracting you.
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: No
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Farm Sanctuary, By Gene Baur--286 pages
It has been way to long...Here's to hoping I can be better about posting!
Baur details his career as a animal rights advocate--specifically as an advocate for farm animals. His stories of downed animals (animals in stockyards who are so ill they cannot stand, but are carted off to be slaughtered for food anyways) are particularly heartbreaking, and the book definitely puts one off eating meat. Baur's writing style leaves a little to be desired, as the book is informative, but boring. Some sections just read as a list of "I did this, then I did that, oh, and I met this celebrity." The best part of the work are the several profiles of rescued animals which are incorporated throughout the book.
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Advocacy, agriculture.
Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Watkins Glen, New York, and Orland California.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes--chapters are short and can easily pick up where left off.
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Sadly, no.
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: no.
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No. Although it would be a good book to read when getting ready to start a diet, as it puts you off meat and dairy.
If you like, try this better book: Fat Land by Greg Crister. While Crister's book is more about the food industry as a whole, both books deal with the issue of mass production of food, and Crister's writing style is much more inviting and engaging.
Baur details his career as a animal rights advocate--specifically as an advocate for farm animals. His stories of downed animals (animals in stockyards who are so ill they cannot stand, but are carted off to be slaughtered for food anyways) are particularly heartbreaking, and the book definitely puts one off eating meat. Baur's writing style leaves a little to be desired, as the book is informative, but boring. Some sections just read as a list of "I did this, then I did that, oh, and I met this celebrity." The best part of the work are the several profiles of rescued animals which are incorporated throughout the book.
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Advocacy, agriculture.
Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Watkins Glen, New York, and Orland California.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes--chapters are short and can easily pick up where left off.
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Sadly, no.
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: no.
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No. Although it would be a good book to read when getting ready to start a diet, as it puts you off meat and dairy.
If you like, try this better book: Fat Land by Greg Crister. While Crister's book is more about the food industry as a whole, both books deal with the issue of mass production of food, and Crister's writing style is much more inviting and engaging.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Do You Like Books? Do You Like People?
"If you like books and people, then librarianship may be the career for you"--just check out this career film series classic from 1947: http://www.archive.org/details/Libraria1947
From the Prelinger Archives
From the Prelinger Archives
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Cubs Nation by Gene Wojciechowski--417 pages
Wojciechowski covers a different aspect of the Cubs organization over every game of the season--interviewing players, broadcasters, Dusty Baker, various coaches, and more interestingly--the fans and people who make their living indirectly through the Cubs--musicians who play outside Wrigley for change, beer vendors, and many, many others. The book works best when the author covers these folks, rather than the manager, broadcasters, and players--who have all been covered elsewhere ad nauseum. Recommended.
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Sports
Location: Chicago
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes--the short chapters make it easy to start and stop as needed.
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: Yes, in most sections
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No--it will only make you more desperate for baseball season to begin.
If you like, try this better book: The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty by Buster Olney. I'm not a Yankees fan, but this book is excellent--one of the best baseball books I've ever read. Olney makes things I thought I'd read about before fresh.
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Sports
Location: Chicago
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes--the short chapters make it easy to start and stop as needed.
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Good Enough Plane Reading to Distract You From Kids or Jerks on Plane: Yes, in most sections
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: No--it will only make you more desperate for baseball season to begin.
If you like, try this better book: The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty by Buster Olney. I'm not a Yankees fan, but this book is excellent--one of the best baseball books I've ever read. Olney makes things I thought I'd read about before fresh.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (240 pages)
I read this book to see if it would work for the One Book, One Campus project I am working on. It is an interesting book, with Ehrenreich going undercover in various jobs--waitressing, a dietary aide in a nursing home, a maid, a Wal-Mart clerk, and seeing if she could live on the wages.
The book brings home how difficult it is to live on $5-6 an hour (especially in terms of housing). Ehrenreich can get a little preachy and repetitive at times (yes, we know that you're a PhD, thanks for reminding us, again), and the whole scene at the Maine tent revival just seems like a pointless indulgence, it adds nothing to the narrative and just makes her come across as petty.
One really great thing about the book is that she is honest about her shortcomings--when she cheats on the budget she's set for herself, on flaws in her personality, especially the section where she's working at Wal-Mart and notices how the person she's becoming, the "Barb" on her nametag, is much different than the "Barbara" she is in real life. It is not a perfect book, it starts off strong and starts to lag in spots, put it is a perfect book for a book club discussion because the conversations about it could go in so many different directions.
A perfect tie-in for any book group would be to read this book, then watch Sullivan's Travels.
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Current Events/Social Issues
Location: Key West, Florida; Portland, Maine, and Twin Cities, Minnesota
Cliches: Muckraking journalist goes undercover--living the life of the underprivileged to expose the system's flaws.
Hey, I Guess this is Different: The whole section about the drug tests for her jobs at Wal-Mart and Menards and her travails in trying to pass them--it is a pretty funny section.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Will Make You Seem Smart, Hip, or Sensitive at Parties: Yes, but be careful, might also make you seem sanctimonious.
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: Yes--will make you appreciate what you have
If you like, try this better book: Downsize This! by Michael Moore (Moore before he became an annoying caricature)
The book brings home how difficult it is to live on $5-6 an hour (especially in terms of housing). Ehrenreich can get a little preachy and repetitive at times (yes, we know that you're a PhD, thanks for reminding us, again), and the whole scene at the Maine tent revival just seems like a pointless indulgence, it adds nothing to the narrative and just makes her come across as petty.
One really great thing about the book is that she is honest about her shortcomings--when she cheats on the budget she's set for herself, on flaws in her personality, especially the section where she's working at Wal-Mart and notices how the person she's becoming, the "Barb" on her nametag, is much different than the "Barbara" she is in real life. It is not a perfect book, it starts off strong and starts to lag in spots, put it is a perfect book for a book club discussion because the conversations about it could go in so many different directions.
A perfect tie-in for any book group would be to read this book, then watch Sullivan's Travels.
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Current Events/Social Issues
Location: Key West, Florida; Portland, Maine, and Twin Cities, Minnesota
Cliches: Muckraking journalist goes undercover--living the life of the underprivileged to expose the system's flaws.
Hey, I Guess this is Different: The whole section about the drug tests for her jobs at Wal-Mart and Menards and her travails in trying to pass them--it is a pretty funny section.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Will Make You Seem Smart, Hip, or Sensitive at Parties: Yes, but be careful, might also make you seem sanctimonious.
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: Yes--will make you appreciate what you have
If you like, try this better book: Downsize This! by Michael Moore (Moore before he became an annoying caricature)
Friday, May 06, 2005
Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin (228 pages)
The first of the Rebus' novels has the detective on the trail of a serial killer that targets young children. Rankin's plot has a few too many coincidences, but its a first novel, so no big sin. The villian is a cliche not worthy of an A-Team rerun, but the atmosphere Rankin creates keeps you from putting the book down unfinished.
While more fun in later novels, Rebus is interesting enough in this book to bring you back for more. Rankin's real strengths in this novel are his descriptions of Edinburgh and the supporting character narratives--Rebus' brother Michael, Jack Morton, Gill Templar, and Jim Stevens--all are interesting, and while the novel is a bit uneven, there are spots when writing from these characters point of view the book shines (particularly the last few sentences of the epilogue, which spur the imagination on to the possibilities of a better novel never written). Not the best of the Rebus' books, but a decent, quick, read.
Genre: Mystery
Subgenre: Police Procedural
Location: Scotland
Cliches: Detective with alcohol issues, detective known mainly or solely by his last name, divorced, awkward relations with child, pesky/immoral journalist on trail of story and/or detective, detective has trauma in past (of the caused amnesia variety), family issues, serial killer with link to detective, serial killer targeting kids, detective has partner with drinking problem, detective sleeping with a colleague, detective is one night stand type--but sensitive, detective is big reader of the classics, detective listens to jazz and/or classical music.
Hey, I Guess this is Different: Late father and brother both made living as hypnotists.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Will Make You Seem Smart, Hip, or Sensitive at Parties: Probably Not
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: Yes
If you like, try this better book: Happy Birthday, Turk! by Jakob Arjouni.
While more fun in later novels, Rebus is interesting enough in this book to bring you back for more. Rankin's real strengths in this novel are his descriptions of Edinburgh and the supporting character narratives--Rebus' brother Michael, Jack Morton, Gill Templar, and Jim Stevens--all are interesting, and while the novel is a bit uneven, there are spots when writing from these characters point of view the book shines (particularly the last few sentences of the epilogue, which spur the imagination on to the possibilities of a better novel never written). Not the best of the Rebus' books, but a decent, quick, read.
Genre: Mystery
Subgenre: Police Procedural
Location: Scotland
Cliches: Detective with alcohol issues, detective known mainly or solely by his last name, divorced, awkward relations with child, pesky/immoral journalist on trail of story and/or detective, detective has trauma in past (of the caused amnesia variety), family issues, serial killer with link to detective, serial killer targeting kids, detective has partner with drinking problem, detective sleeping with a colleague, detective is one night stand type--but sensitive, detective is big reader of the classics, detective listens to jazz and/or classical music.
Hey, I Guess this is Different: Late father and brother both made living as hypnotists.
Good Plane and/or waiting in line Reading: Yes
Good Enough Reading to Keep You Distracted From Plane Movie: Yes
Will Make You Seem Smart, Hip, or Sensitive at Parties: Probably Not
Can read when depressed and/or when winter: Yes
If you like, try this better book: Happy Birthday, Turk! by Jakob Arjouni.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Welcome to I Prefer Reading
This blog is devoted to reading and encrouraging others to read more. I'm not a genre snob. While partial to mysteries, I'm game to read anything, as long as it passes the 50-page rule (that a book is interesting after 50 pages). According the Stephen King, if you're over the age of 50, you can subtract the number of years over 50 you are from the 50 pages (so If you're 57, and a book has not hooked you by page 43, you can give it up--so many books, so little time after all).
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