Summer 2010 Reading
FINISHED
1. Contact, Carl Sagan
This was pretty good. Long but quick. Some parts I found a little boring (his science/math "bird walks" as my 7th grade language arts teacher called them) and others a little creepy (Sagan trying to describe the sexuality of a the main female character was just weird). I really liked his take on the caretakers of the universe. As far as the genre goes, I found the Mary Doria Russell's books about alien contact that I read last summer a little more satisfying, partly because I can relate more easily to her anthropological approach than Sagan's radio astronomy paradigm. But for a book that I just picked up randomly at B&N, I'm quite happy with the purchase.
2. The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, Ben Sherwood
Eh, I expected more. I was all prepared to just cry my eyes out (brothers! can't let go even in death! a dead puppy!) but it just fell flat. Honestly, I've cried more reading fanfic. And I totally guessed the twist in the middle. I think this is one case where the movie might be better than the book. If Zefron can't make me cry with this premise, then the four hours I took to read the book (and two hours for the movie) will have truly been time wasted.
3. The Story of my Life, Helen Keller
I read this unabridged version of the memoir, so it included three sections: Helen's original memoir written when she was 22, a section of letters Helen wrote throughout her youth, and a section by John Macy who was her teacher's husband. The foreword to this book was amazing in itself. Helen Keller was always that woman who was included in those biography collections for kids, but her life story was always watered down (pun? unintentional?) and she became a character in my head rather than a person. By reading this book, I got to understand her as a regular college kid bitching about classes. It's pretty neat. And the section of letters, while a little tedious to get through, gave real insight into how a person acquires language and learns how to make it work. As someone who hasn't read an autobiography willingly since Lance Bass penned his memoirs, I'm definitely glad I had some weird ambien shopping spree and this arrived on my doorstep.
4. Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War, Evan Wright
I couldn't put this book down. Seriously. I watched the miniseries first and was expecting to go all out with shipping whoever/whoever, but I was completely taken aback by it. It was rough and lewd and gory and just plain eh. I figured that Hollywood maybe messed with a little and that the book had to be better. And it so was. Wright has an amazing narrative voice and I was a hundred percent engaged throughout. I'm still kinda glad I sat through the miniseries 'cause I was able to visualize some of the action sequences that I probably would've just skimmed over. I could definitely see the parts that got more heavily dramatized and the other kinds of liberties they took with the manuscript. Ultimately, after reading it, I'm not incredibly proud of what the military has done, nor do I think that anyone who puts on that uniform is automatically a hero deserving of respect. They're normal guys (kind of) who joined an elite division of the USMC ("America's little pit bull" as Persons calls it) and ended up blowing through Iraq. They're a smidge insane and they're coping (again, kind of). It's interesting to read their stories as told by a liberal pussy reporter from Rolling Stone.
TO BE READ
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Stephen E. Ambrose
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, Margot Mifflin
Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe, Wingnut's War Against the GAP, and Other Adventures with the Totally Lost Tribes of America, Evan Wright
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Relic, Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child
Stardust, Neil Gaiman
1. Contact, Carl Sagan
This was pretty good. Long but quick. Some parts I found a little boring (his science/math "bird walks" as my 7th grade language arts teacher called them) and others a little creepy (Sagan trying to describe the sexuality of a the main female character was just weird). I really liked his take on the caretakers of the universe. As far as the genre goes, I found the Mary Doria Russell's books about alien contact that I read last summer a little more satisfying, partly because I can relate more easily to her anthropological approach than Sagan's radio astronomy paradigm. But for a book that I just picked up randomly at B&N, I'm quite happy with the purchase.
2. The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, Ben Sherwood
Eh, I expected more. I was all prepared to just cry my eyes out (brothers! can't let go even in death! a dead puppy!) but it just fell flat. Honestly, I've cried more reading fanfic. And I totally guessed the twist in the middle. I think this is one case where the movie might be better than the book. If Zefron can't make me cry with this premise, then the four hours I took to read the book (and two hours for the movie) will have truly been time wasted.
3. The Story of my Life, Helen Keller
I read this unabridged version of the memoir, so it included three sections: Helen's original memoir written when she was 22, a section of letters Helen wrote throughout her youth, and a section by John Macy who was her teacher's husband. The foreword to this book was amazing in itself. Helen Keller was always that woman who was included in those biography collections for kids, but her life story was always watered down (pun? unintentional?) and she became a character in my head rather than a person. By reading this book, I got to understand her as a regular college kid bitching about classes. It's pretty neat. And the section of letters, while a little tedious to get through, gave real insight into how a person acquires language and learns how to make it work. As someone who hasn't read an autobiography willingly since Lance Bass penned his memoirs, I'm definitely glad I had some weird ambien shopping spree and this arrived on my doorstep.
4. Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War, Evan Wright
I couldn't put this book down. Seriously. I watched the miniseries first and was expecting to go all out with shipping whoever/whoever, but I was completely taken aback by it. It was rough and lewd and gory and just plain eh. I figured that Hollywood maybe messed with a little and that the book had to be better. And it so was. Wright has an amazing narrative voice and I was a hundred percent engaged throughout. I'm still kinda glad I sat through the miniseries 'cause I was able to visualize some of the action sequences that I probably would've just skimmed over. I could definitely see the parts that got more heavily dramatized and the other kinds of liberties they took with the manuscript. Ultimately, after reading it, I'm not incredibly proud of what the military has done, nor do I think that anyone who puts on that uniform is automatically a hero deserving of respect. They're normal guys (kind of) who joined an elite division of the USMC ("America's little pit bull" as Persons calls it) and ended up blowing through Iraq. They're a smidge insane and they're coping (again, kind of). It's interesting to read their stories as told by a liberal pussy reporter from Rolling Stone.
TO BE READ
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Stephen E. Ambrose
The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, Margot Mifflin
Hella Nation: Looking for Happy Meals in Kandahar, Rocking the Side Pipe, Wingnut's War Against the GAP, and Other Adventures with the Totally Lost Tribes of America, Evan Wright
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Relic, Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child
Stardust, Neil Gaiman