Review: Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

slow at the start, gets better. very dense read.

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Review: Zone One

Zone One by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Too clever by half. A dense frustrating read that was tough to get through.

Not recommended.

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Review: Brainrush

Brainrush by Richard Bard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Meh. This book needed some editing. Unrealistic even for fiction.

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Review: A Delicate Truth

A Delicate Truth by John le Carré
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Always a struggle to get through Le carre. No different here. Really proves the fact that the British and Americans are two people separated by a common language.

As for the plot. Pretty good. Ends badly.

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Review: A Slight Trick of the Mind

A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A sad story about an ancient Sherlock Holmes who has lost almost everything.

Typically not the type of book I read. Very sentimental and subtle. However, as a sherlockian, I enjoyed it. Very plausible and fitting description of what the twilight days of Sherlock Holmes might be.

A film version is in the works staring Ian mckellen.

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Review: Running Blind

Running Blind by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Typical reacher. Obvious who done it though. Red herrings were good however

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Review: This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral — plus plenty of valet parking! — in America’s Gilded Capital

This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral — plus plenty of valet parking! — in America’s Gilded Capital by Mark Leibovich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Gossipy tell all about the most self important people in the world - the press and dignitaries who live and work in DC.

Attempts to give the reader some insight into the clubby world of DC and clearly settles some insider scores.

Really the only shocking thing is that Washington is as bad as everyone says it is and thinks it is. High school culture money grubbing agendas stupid people. It's all there.

Unless your a political junky, I wouldn't recommend. But if you are, it's pure gold.

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Review: One Shot

One Shot by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One of the better reacher stories. I can see why they used this one for the movie (although the movie changed some stuff)

Recommended.

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Review: The Enemy

The Enemy by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another reacher story - actually back story as this one happens in 1990.

My 3 stars pretty much says it all: good if your into the reacher series.

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Review: Tripwire

Tripwire by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Read enough of these now to say tripwire is one of the best reacher stories.

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Review: Our Kind of Traitor

Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very typical Le carre : tough read, layered and dark.

An acquired taste.

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Review: A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

typical reacher. good fun.

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Review: CyberStorm

CyberStorm by Matthew Mather
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Pretty typical end of the world story based on the idea of cyberattack.

Ending was pretty predictable in addition to being abrupt.

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Review: Reamde

Reamde by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very long book. Very long. Basically it's a hacker/terrorist action thriller. Except because its so detailed and well, long, it doesn't exactly "zip" like many action books. What redeems it is that Stephenson is clearly very very talented (this is the first book of his I have read).

That said, giving it three stars because it is so slow to get going and I was not found of the fact that he has so so much Almost needless detail and loves to jump from point if view to point of view and back and forth in time. This break in the flow of the story was mildly annoying. For these reasons I give it 3 stars instead of 4.

Recommend however if you have the time.

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Review: Bad Monkey

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A crazy funny detective story set in the Florida keys.

Really well done.

Highly recommended.

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Review: The Dinner

The Dinner by Herman Koch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Giving this 3 stars. It was a tough call. The plot mesmerizing and disturbing the book is very well written. But in the end, it was disappointing. There only reason the characters seem to behave in the way they do is some unknown genetic disease.

I'd recommend it with the warning that if you are a parent, it will tug on your worst fears.

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Review: The Closing of the American Mind

The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Decided to read this to see if it was relevant at all. The sad answer is yes, but it flaws are even larger with age.

Most of bloom's arguments are of the "get off my lawn" sort of grumpy old men. Nearly all of part I falls into this category.

Part 2 is more philosophy than anything else and bloom's mastery of it is unquestionable.

Part 3 is mixed: in some ways dated, in some ways more relevant.

Regardless, bloom's contention: that a liberal education does not exist is even more true now than it was back in 1987. Despite his call to arms over 25 years ago, almost nothing has been done. The vast majority of america's universities are simply mechanisms one endures to get a job (or, given the most recent economic conditions, not get a job).

While much of the political conservative world internalized Bloom in the 1980s and 90s, I think one thing they miss is that bloom really takes no stand one way or the other on "right" vs "left" as we currently understand them (but he did have strong - not good - opinions on the 60s and the "radical left" of that era).

In the end, a tough book to read whose arguments are interesting but whose evidence is stale. Sadly, Bloom died in 1992 but it would have been fun to hear what he would have said 25 yrs later.

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Review: A Reader on Reading

A Reader on Reading by Alberto Manguel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Went back and forth on this book 3 stars or 4? Went with 4 because its so well written. Many of the essays are exquisite many are annoying.

I despise Alice in wonderland so the fact that it is woven throughout nearly every essay grated.

Overall if you are looking for essays on reading and literature as well as some nice insights on authors, I recommend. Personally, I probably wouldn't have read.

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Review: The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity

The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If your a political junky a fun read.

The one knock is that for most political junkies, much of this book is already known. Indeed, given the lengthy notes and bibliography, most of the stories in here have been reported in prior books and articles. What this book does quite nicely is put them in a coherent context.

There is little to no original history and the sections on the more recent presidents (George w bush, Barack Obama) are quiet thin.

Nevertheless, recommend.

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Review: How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer J. Adler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book deserves a detailed review but, I think the best review I could give it is this:

Oh how I wish I had read this when I was 18!

Highly recommended.

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