Matthew's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 11 May 2025 13:50:01 -0700 60 Matthew's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Pale Fire: A Poem in Four Cantos by John Shade]]> 8926302
40 Pages in Book 1 "Pale Fire," 48 Pages in Book 2 "Pale Fire" Reflections, 80 Index Cards

2 Paperback Books in a deluxe box]]> 50 Vladimir Nabokov 1584234318 Matthew 0 to-read, in-my-bookcase 4.36 1962 Pale Fire: A Poem in Four Cantos by John Shade
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: to-read, in-my-bookcase
review:

]]> A Thousand Splendid Suns 128029
With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end it is love that triumphs over death and destruction.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of a wounded country and a story of family and friendship, of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond, and an indestructible love.]]> 372 Khaled Hosseini 1594489505 Matthew 4 4.44 2007 A Thousand Splendid Suns
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: lifehack-30-lifechangers, read-ab, historical-fiction, yes-i-cried
review:

]]> Jasper Jones 6854366
Note: This edition is now out of print.]]> 299 Craig Silvey 1741757746 Matthew 0 4.01 2009 Jasper Jones
author: Craig Silvey
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves:
review:

]]> Pnin 395042 Librarian Note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

Pnin is a professor of Russian at an American college who takes the wrong train to deliver a lecture in a language he cannot master. Pnin is a tireless lover who writes to his treacherous Liza: "A genius needs to keep so much in store, and thus cannot offer you the whole of himself as I do." Pnin is the focal point of subtle academic conspiracies he cannot begin to comprehend, yet he stages a faculty party to end all faculty parties forever.]]> 191 Vladimir Nabokov 0679723412 Matthew 0 3.85 1957 Pnin
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: in-my-bookcase, started-but-gave-up, would-like-to-finish-one-day
review:

]]> The Shining (The Shining, #1) 11588 497 Stephen King 0450040186 Matthew 4 4.28 1977 The Shining (The Shining, #1)
author: Stephen King
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1977
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, horror, movie-was-great, read-ab, surprised-i-liked-it, usa
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men]]> 41104077
Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women�, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.]]> 448 Caroline Criado Pérez 1419729071 Matthew 5
The closest analogy I can offer is this: Imagine sexism and misogyny are the moon. You know they exist. You might even think you understand them.

Then, this book drops you on the moon.

I can't imagine how it might feel for a woman to read this.

This is a disturbing, disorienting, staggering piece of research—it’s also a nightmare.

Everyone on earth should read it. But for one group, it should be legally mandated: prospective medical students.
]]> 4.35 2019 Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
author: Caroline Criado Pérez
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: non-fiction, read-ab, truth-stranger-than-fiction
review:
Indescribable.

The closest analogy I can offer is this: Imagine sexism and misogyny are the moon. You know they exist. You might even think you understand them.

Then, this book drops you on the moon.

I can't imagine how it might feel for a woman to read this.

This is a disturbing, disorienting, staggering piece of research—it’s also a nightmare.

Everyone on earth should read it. But for one group, it should be legally mandated: prospective medical students.

]]> <![CDATA[Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)]]> 40604658
Until something goes wrong. . . .

In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.]]> 450 Michael Crichton 0307763056 Matthew 2 4.38 1990 Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)
author: Michael Crichton
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1990
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/08
date added: 2024/06/16
shelves: a-slog-to-the-end, disappointed, movie-was-better-than-the-book, movie-was-great, read-ab
review:
Hard to believe this crappy book inspired one of the best films ever made.
]]> <![CDATA[The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3)]]> 11734
Coleman Silk has a secret, one which has been kept for fifty years from his wife, his four children, his colleagues, and his friends, including the writer Nathan Zuckerman. It is Zuckerman who stumbles upon Silk's secret and sets out to reconstruct the unknown biography of this eminent, upright man, esteemed as an educator for nearly all his life, and to understand how this ingeniously contrived life came unraveled. And to understand also how Silk's astonishing private history is, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, "magnificently" interwoven with "the larger public history of modern America."]]> 361 Philip Roth Matthew 2
He also thinks America is being destroyed by political correctness, but holds up the most ludicrous, idiotic, impossible McGuffin to support that view.

This entire book is trash. ]]> 3.89 2000 The Human Stain (The American Trilogy, #3)
author: Philip Roth
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at: 2023/11/24
date added: 2023/11/24
shelves: havent-seen-the-movie, problematic, read-ab, usa, oh-well-not-for-me
review:
I hate confusing the views and thoughts of a character with those of the author, but in this case... yeah, Roth definitely believes sexually abused children grow up to be superior lovers.

He also thinks America is being destroyed by political correctness, but holds up the most ludicrous, idiotic, impossible McGuffin to support that view.

This entire book is trash.
]]> The Death of the Poet 21345137 416 N. Quentin Woolf 1846689333 Matthew 0 to-read 4.21 2014 The Death of the Poet
author: N. Quentin Woolf
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Shipping News 7354
A vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary American family, The Shipping News shows why E. Annie Proulx is recognized as one of the most gifted and original writers in America today.
(back cover)]]> 337 Annie Proulx 0743225422 Matthew 0 to-read, pulitzer-winner 3.88 1993 The Shipping News
author: Annie Proulx
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1993
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/31
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winner
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage]]> 13191935 1 Ann Patchett Matthew 5 read-ab, surprised-i-liked-it
Highly recommend.]]> 3.89 2013 This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
author: Ann Patchett
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2013/06/01
date added: 2023/06/24
shelves: read-ab, surprised-i-liked-it
review:
A deeply satisfying, very short little essay about one woman’s (true!) experiences with love, relationships, family and � of course � marriage. And this particular true story seems to have more twists and turns than you would think possible. I was engaged from beginning to end.

Highly recommend.
]]> <![CDATA[The Umbrella Academy Volume Two: Dallas Deluxe Edition (The Umbrella Academy, #2)]]> 49107179 Now a NETFLIX original series with a second season coming soon!

This deluxe edition hardcover collects the complete second series, Dallas, with an expanded 36-page sketchbook. The hardcover book comes in an illustrated slipcase featuring art by Gabriel Bá; also included is a portfolio containing a new unique print from the artist.

The Umbrella Academy is despondent following the near apocalypse created by one of their own and the death of their beloved mentor Pogo.

Trouble is--each of them is distracted by their own problems. The White Violin is bedridden. Rumor has lost her voice--the source of her power. Spaceboy has eaten himself into a near-catatonic state, while Number Five dives into some shady dealings at the dog track, and The Kraken starts looking at his littlest brother as the key to unraveling a mysterious series of massacres . . . all leading to a blood-drenched face-off with maniacal assassins, and a plot to kill JFK!]]> 216 Gerard Way 1506718051 Matthew 0 to-read, in-my-bookcase 4.22 2009 The Umbrella Academy Volume Two: Dallas Deluxe Edition (The Umbrella Academy, #2)
author: Gerard Way
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/16
shelves: to-read, in-my-bookcase
review:

]]> When We Were Orphans 28923
Christopher Banks, an English boy born in early-twentieth-century Shanghai, is orphaned at age nine when his mother and father both vanish under suspicious circumstances. Sent to live in England, he grows up to become a renowned detective and, more than twenty years later, returns to Shanghai, where the Sino-Japanese War is raging, to solve the mystery of the disappearances.

The story is straightforward. Its telling is remarkable. Christopher's voice is controlled, detailed, and detached, its precision unsurprising in someone who has devoted his life to the examination of details and the rigors of objective thought. But within the layers of his narrative is slowly revealed what he can't, or won't, see: that his memory, despite what he wants to believe, is not unaffected by his childhood tragedies; that his powers of perception, the heralded clarity of his vision, can be blinding as well as enlightening; and that the simplest desires--a child's for his parents, a man's for understanding--may give rise to the most complicated truths.

A masterful combination of narrative control and soaring imagination, When We Were Orphans is Kazuo Ishiguro at his best.]]> 320 Kazuo Ishiguro 0571225403 Matthew 3
A very easy to book to read, but added up to� not much at all.]]> 3.53 2000 When We Were Orphans
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at: 2022/08/18
date added: 2022/08/19
shelves: brit-lit, gives-me-itchy-feet, historical-fiction, read-ab, reminds-me-of-england, wwii
review:
Closer to ★★½ but with ½-star ratings unavailable on ŷ, I just can’t bring myself to round anything by Ishiguro down to ★★.

A very easy to book to read, but added up to� not much at all.
]]> <![CDATA[The Little Pocket Book of Pug Wisdom: Lessons in life and love for the well-rounded pug]]> 28481481
Renowned illustrator Gemma Correll presents sage advice for all pugs in this collection of hilarious cartoons.

Life for a pug can be confusing. On the one hand, people stop in the street and squeal at the cuteness of your appearance, but on the other people don't take too kindly to your desires to fart at will or lick yourself in public. So how does today's pug learn to navigate through the pitfalls of the modern world? With THE LITTLE POCKET BOOK OF PUG WISDOM of course!

Divided into two sections, this hilarious guide will teach a pug everything he or she needs to know about life, love, and everything in between-whether that's how to greet strangers or prepare the perfect meal.]]> 128 Gemma Correll 1909313866 Matthew 0 to-read 4.29 The Little Pocket Book of Pug Wisdom: Lessons in life and love for the well-rounded pug
author: Gemma Correll
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories]]> 9889 here.

It's New York in the 1940s, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour till breakfast at Tiffany's. And nice girls don't, except, of course, Holly Golightly. Pursued by Mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a fragile eyeful of tawny hair and turned-up nose, a heart-breaker, a perplexer, a traveller, a tease. She is irrepressibly 'top banana in the shock department', and one of the shining flowers of American fiction.

This edition also contains three stories: 'House of Flowers', 'A Diamond Guitar' and 'A Christmas Memory'.]]> 157 Truman Capote Matthew 5
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is definitely in my Top 10 for fiction. As for fictional characters?� Golightly may be close to the top.

Never Love A Wild Thing]]> 3.76 1958 Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories
author: Truman Capote
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1958
rating: 5
read at: 2014/05/06
date added: 2022/06/15
shelves: favorites, havent-seen-the-movie, usa, read-ab, nyc
review:
This is a very special, very wonderful piece of fiction. It says something about the strength of Capote’s creation that Truman himself lists Holly Golightly as his favourite character. This is understandable: she is simultaneously pitiable, enviable, powerful, vulnerable, superficial and complex. In other words, an almost-impossibly accurate manifestation of the human condition.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is definitely in my Top 10 for fiction. As for fictional characters?� Golightly may be close to the top.

Never Love A Wild Thing
]]> <![CDATA[In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)]]> 30051010 Featuring a fictional version of himself - 'Marcel' - and a host of friends, acquaintances, and lovers, In Search of Lost Time is Proust's search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time, and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities.]]> Marcel Proust Matthew 3 read-ab 3.54 1913 In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)
author: Marcel Proust
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1913
rating: 3
read at: 2021/07/01
date added: 2022/04/09
shelves: read-ab
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A History of the World in 10½ Chapters]]> 43980 Beginning with an unlikely stowaway's account of life on board Noah's Ark, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters presents a surprising, subversive, fictional history of earth told from several kaleidoscopic perspectives. Noah disembarks from his ark but he and his Voyage are not forgotten: they are revisited in on other centuries and other climes - by a Victorian spinster mourning her father, by an American astronaut on an obsessive personal mission. We journey to the Titanic, to the Amazon, to the raft of the Medusa, and to an ecclesiastical court in medieval France where a bizarre case is about to begin...

This is no ordinary history, but something stranger, a challenge and a delight for the reader's imagination. Ambitious yet accessible, witty and playfully serious, this is the work of a brilliant novelist.

]]> 320 Julian Barnes 0679731377 Matthew 4 3.90 1989 A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/01
date added: 2022/04/09
shelves: brit-lit, covid-19-lockdown, historical-fiction, read-ab
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Through the Window: Seventeen Essays (and One Short Story)]]> 15823284 272 Julian Barnes 0345805518 Matthew 2
Barnes is a fine essayist, but this just wasn’t my jam. I really wasn’t in the mood for literary essays, and probably should have stopped reading when I realised that, instead of persevering with a book that didn’t reach me at the right time.

Barnes remains one of my favourite fiction writers, but future-me take note: literary essays are best consumed one at a time, when the mood strikes, and not crammed together into one huge book]]> 3.73 2012 Through the Window: Seventeen Essays (and One Short Story)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2012
rating: 2
read at: 2021/08/14
date added: 2021/10/10
shelves: almost-didnt-finish, covid-19-lockdown, disappointed, non-fiction, oh-well-not-for-me, read-ab
review:
It’s not you, Julian, it’s me.

Barnes is a fine essayist, but this just wasn’t my jam. I really wasn’t in the mood for literary essays, and probably should have stopped reading when I realised that, instead of persevering with a book that didn’t reach me at the right time.

Barnes remains one of my favourite fiction writers, but future-me take note: literary essays are best consumed one at a time, when the mood strikes, and not crammed together into one huge book
]]> Fake House: Stories 860219 Linked by a complicated past, the characters are driven by an intense and angry energy. The politics of race and sex anchor Dinh's work as his men and women negotiate their way in a post-Vietnam War world. Dinh has said of his own work, "I incorporate a filth or uncleanness to make the picture more healthy--not to defile anything."
While Fake House delves into the lives of marginal souls in two cultures, the characters' dignity lies, ultimately, in how they face the conflict in themselves and the world.]]> 192 Linh Dinh 1583220399 Matthew 0 to-read 3.76 2000 Fake House: Stories
author: Linh Dinh
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mister Babadook 25733077 Jennifer Kent Matthew 0 to-read 4.50 2016 Mister Babadook
author: Jennifer Kent
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Antkind 45013049 Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York.

B. Rosenberger Rosenberg, neurotic and underappreciated film critic (failed academic, film-maker, paramour, shoe salesman who sleeps in a sock drawer), stumbles upon a hitherto unseen film made by an enigmatic outsider—a film he's convinced will change his career trajectory and rock the world of cinema to its core. His hands on what is possibly the greatest movie ever made—a three-month-long stop-motion masterpiece that took its reclusive auteur ninety years to complete—B. knows that it is his mission to show it to the rest of humanity. The only problem: The film is destroyed, leaving him the sole witness to its inadvertently ephemeral genius.

All that's left of this work of art is a single frame from which B. must somehow attempt to recall the film that just might be the last great hope of civilization. Thus begins a mind-boggling journey through the hilarious nightmarescape of a psyche as lushly Kafkaesque as it is atrophied by the relentless spew of Twitter. Desperate to impose order on an increasingly nonsensical existence, trapped in a self-imposed prison of aspirational victimhood and degeneratively inclusive language, B. scrambles to recreate the lost masterwork while attempting to keep pace with an ever-fracturing culture of "likes" and arbitrary denunciations that are simultaneously his bete noire and his raison d'etre.

A searing indictment of the modern world, Antkind is a richly layered meditation on art, time, memory, identity, comedy, and the very nature of existence itself—the grain of truth at the heart of every joke.]]> 720 Charlie Kaufman Matthew 0 to-read 3.74 2020 Antkind
author: Charlie Kaufman
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Garden of Evening Mists 12031532 448 Tan Twan Eng 1905802498 Matthew 0 to-read 4.11 2011 The Garden of Evening Mists
author: Tan Twan Eng
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Man's Search for Meaning 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Matthew 1
I genuinely wanted to enjoy it but wound up absolutely hating it.

I’m naturally skeptical of anything that might be found remotely anywhere near the self-help shelves. This skepticism amplifies as the publishing date goes further back in time. I had so many issues with this book, it’s hard to even know where to begin.

For one, there wasn’t anything remotely scientific about Frankl’s methods or theories. Everything was extremely observational and filtered through the most unimaginable biases. I’m not claiming that double-blind, randomised, peer reviewed observations are impeachable� otherwise the heroic work of wouldn’t be necessary. However, there’s no doubt the scientific method is a hell of a lot better at uncovering truths than the subjective observations of a single individual.

Then there’s the issue of “old fashioned� thinking, which this book was riddled with. And ٳ󲹳’s hardly unexpected considering the 1946 publication date. In 2021, we just understand so much more about the spectrum of disordered thinking, the spectrum of neurodevelopmental conditions, the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity� in other words, we understand things better now than we did 80 years ago, so it’s ludicrous that a book filled with dated and misinformed ideas should still be appearing on lists of life-changing books in 2021.

To keep the list of critiques flowing, I hated his attitudes toward sex and sexuality. Frankl explains that all-male environments like army barracks often (yes, often apparently) lead to homosexual encounters. However, no such “sexual perversions� occurred in the concentration camps, which Frankl attributes to undernourishment. Yes, he said that.

Here’s another passage that is extremely sticky:
“Normally, sex is a mode of expression for love. Sex is justified, even sanctified, as soon as, but only as long as, it is a vehicle of love. Thus love is not understood as a mere side-effect of sex; rather, sex is a way of expressing the experience of that ultimate togetherness which is called love.�

I think Frankl might have been a demisexual. Which is great! Fly that demisexual flag Viktor, and embrace your spot on the asexuality spectrum my friend. But to incorporate that very specific, very niche ideology into a book whose title implies universality� yikes.

And then � wait for it � he explains how his self-invented logotherapy can help address the “sexual neuroses� of “frigidity�. Not much empathy for his fellow asexual comrades, it seems.

And if this laundry-list of complaints weren’t enough, Frankl appears to have zero self-awareness. And all that space where self-awareness should have gone appears to have been filled with self-confidence. There are quite a few little stories where someone with a years-long issue appears to have been miraculously healed by Frankl in just a few short sessions, and sometimes just one conversation. Like the time he “helped� a rabbi whose entire family was murdered by Nazi’s by explaining � I kid you not � that perhaps the rabbi’s meaning of life was to be:
“purified through these years of suffering, so that finally you, too, though not innocent like your children, may become worthy of joining them in Heaven?�

What in the actual fuck? Frankl’s self-confidence seemed to have gotten a real boost from this discussion because he concludes:
“For the first time in many years he found relief from his suffering through the new point of view which I was able to open up to him.�

Yeah, if I were that rabbi I also would’ve pretended to be “cured� just so I could get far away from your toxic advice.

So here’s what it boils down to: I think Viktor Frankl sits somewhere on the cult-leader spectrum. Not as bad as Keith Raniere, L. Ron Hubbard, and David Miscavige, but somewhere on that spectrum. Imagine those guys but without the sinister motives.

I warned you right up front� I absolutely hated this book.
]]> 4.38 1946 Man's Search for Meaning
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1946
rating: 1
read at: 2021/07/15
date added: 2021/07/14
shelves: lifehack-30-lifechangers, a-slog-to-the-end, almost-didnt-finish, covid-19-lockdown, disappointed, faith, help-yourself, non-fiction, oh-well-not-for-me, problematic, read-ab, total-utter-rubbish, trash, whats-the-fuss
review:
I read this book because it often appears on those lists of “books that will change your life�, and I’m nothing if not a list-completist.

I genuinely wanted to enjoy it but wound up absolutely hating it.

I’m naturally skeptical of anything that might be found remotely anywhere near the self-help shelves. This skepticism amplifies as the publishing date goes further back in time. I had so many issues with this book, it’s hard to even know where to begin.

For one, there wasn’t anything remotely scientific about Frankl’s methods or theories. Everything was extremely observational and filtered through the most unimaginable biases. I’m not claiming that double-blind, randomised, peer reviewed observations are impeachable� otherwise the heroic work of wouldn’t be necessary. However, there’s no doubt the scientific method is a hell of a lot better at uncovering truths than the subjective observations of a single individual.

Then there’s the issue of “old fashioned� thinking, which this book was riddled with. And ٳ󲹳’s hardly unexpected considering the 1946 publication date. In 2021, we just understand so much more about the spectrum of disordered thinking, the spectrum of neurodevelopmental conditions, the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity� in other words, we understand things better now than we did 80 years ago, so it’s ludicrous that a book filled with dated and misinformed ideas should still be appearing on lists of life-changing books in 2021.

To keep the list of critiques flowing, I hated his attitudes toward sex and sexuality. Frankl explains that all-male environments like army barracks often (yes, often apparently) lead to homosexual encounters. However, no such “sexual perversions� occurred in the concentration camps, which Frankl attributes to undernourishment. Yes, he said that.

Here’s another passage that is extremely sticky:
“Normally, sex is a mode of expression for love. Sex is justified, even sanctified, as soon as, but only as long as, it is a vehicle of love. Thus love is not understood as a mere side-effect of sex; rather, sex is a way of expressing the experience of that ultimate togetherness which is called love.�

I think Frankl might have been a demisexual. Which is great! Fly that demisexual flag Viktor, and embrace your spot on the asexuality spectrum my friend. But to incorporate that very specific, very niche ideology into a book whose title implies universality� yikes.

And then � wait for it � he explains how his self-invented logotherapy can help address the “sexual neuroses� of “frigidity�. Not much empathy for his fellow asexual comrades, it seems.

And if this laundry-list of complaints weren’t enough, Frankl appears to have zero self-awareness. And all that space where self-awareness should have gone appears to have been filled with self-confidence. There are quite a few little stories where someone with a years-long issue appears to have been miraculously healed by Frankl in just a few short sessions, and sometimes just one conversation. Like the time he “helped� a rabbi whose entire family was murdered by Nazi’s by explaining � I kid you not � that perhaps the rabbi’s meaning of life was to be:
“purified through these years of suffering, so that finally you, too, though not innocent like your children, may become worthy of joining them in Heaven?�

What in the actual fuck? Frankl’s self-confidence seemed to have gotten a real boost from this discussion because he concludes:
“For the first time in many years he found relief from his suffering through the new point of view which I was able to open up to him.�

Yeah, if I were that rabbi I also would’ve pretended to be “cured� just so I could get far away from your toxic advice.

So here’s what it boils down to: I think Viktor Frankl sits somewhere on the cult-leader spectrum. Not as bad as Keith Raniere, L. Ron Hubbard, and David Miscavige, but somewhere on that spectrum. Imagine those guys but without the sinister motives.

I warned you right up front� I absolutely hated this book.

]]> Certain Woman of an Age 55423134 Certain Woman of an Age, to the Minetta Lane Theatre, where it was recorded live for Audible Theater. In this "fearless and vulnerable" (Chicago Tribune) one-woman show, Trudeau opens up - with refreshing candor - about her extraordinary life and her encounters with some of the most important icons of our time. It's a gripping portrait of motherhood, marriage, life-altering tragedy, and personal triumph. Co-written with Alix Sobler and directed by Kimberly Senior, Certain Woman of an Age is a funny, honest examination of one of the world's most fascinating figures.]]> 0 Margaret Trudeau 1713577062 Matthew 4 4.00 2020 Certain Woman of an Age
author: Margaret Trudeau
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/11
date added: 2021/07/11
shelves:
review:

]]> The Dictionary of Lost Words 53531721 384 Pip Williams Matthew 0 to-read 4.42 2020 The Dictionary of Lost Words
author: Pip Williams
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Vigilance (Storycuts) 13023052
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 18 Julian Barnes 1448128811 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.86 2011 Vigilance (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> Hygiene (Storycuts) 19631533
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 19 Julian Barnes Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.50 2011 Hygiene (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bark / The Silence (Storycuts)]]> 17431493
In 'The Silence', a composer attests that silence is the logical conclusion to music. He considers the silence that has been in effect throughout the interminable wait for his Eight Symphony, and how it will segue into the silence that will follow the end of his life - a life he claims to have sacrificed on the altar of his art.

Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 29 Julian Barnes 1448128706 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.71 2011 Bark / The Silence (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Short History of Hairdressing (Storycuts)]]> 17431495
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 22 Julian Barnes 1448128722 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.76 2011 A Short History of Hairdressing (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> Appetite (Storycuts) 17431496 16 Julian Barnes 1448128730 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.43 2011 Appetite (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> The Fruit Cage (Storycuts) 17431499
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 26 Julian Barnes 1448128765 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.29 2011 The Fruit Cage (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> The Revival (Storycuts) 17431500
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 18 Julian Barnes 1448128773 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 3.75 2011 The Revival (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Story of Mats Israelson (Storycuts)]]> 17431501 26 Julian Barnes 1448128781 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 4.00 2011 The Story of Mats Israelson (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Things You Know (Storycuts)]]> 17431502
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.]]> 18 Julian Barnes 144812879X Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab 4.09 2011 The Things You Know (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:

]]> Knowing French (Storycuts) 20031713
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table .]]> 23 Julian Barnes Matthew 4 4.00 2011 Knowing French (Storycuts)
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2021/07/09
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: short-story, read-ab, covid-19-lockdown
review:

]]> A Life with Books 15735364
A Life with Books is published as a pamphlet, with cover art by Suzanne Dean, the renowned designer responsible for the cover of Julian Barnes� Man Booker-winning The Sense of an Ending.]]> 27 Julian Barnes 0224097261 Matthew 0 to-read 4.05 2012 A Life with Books
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Homage to Hemingway (bound within) the New Yorker Magazine]]> 25241416 24 Julian Barnes Matthew 0 to-read 4.00 2015 Homage to Hemingway (bound within) the New Yorker Magazine
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Death 33876549
Selected from the book Nothing to be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes

VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.

A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human

Also in the Vintage Minis series:
Calm by Tim Parks
Drinking by John Cheever
Babies by Anne Enright
Psychedelics by Aldous Huxley]]> 128 Julian Barnes 1784872601 Matthew 0 to-read 3.61 2017 Death
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Only Story 35570812 Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.

First love has lifelong consequences, but Paul doesn’t know anything about that at nineteen. At nineteen, he’s proud of the fact his relationship flies in the face of social convention.

As he grows older, the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen.

Tender and profound, The Only Story is an achingly beautiful novel by one of fiction’s greatest mappers of the human heart.]]> 272 Julian Barnes 1473554799 Matthew 0 to-read 3.58 2018 The Only Story
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Man in the Red Coat 45170477 The Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending takes us on a rich, witty tour of Belle Epoque Paris, via the life story of the pioneering surgeon Samuel Pozzi

In the summer of 1885, three Frenchmen arrived in London for a few days� shopping. One was a Prince, one was a Count, and the third was a commoner with an Italian name, who four years earlier had been the subject of one of John Singer Sargent’s greatest portraits. The commoner was Samuel Pozzi, society doctor, pioneer gynaecologist and free-thinker � a rational and scientific man with a famously complicated private life.

Pozzi's life played out against the backdrop of the Parisian Belle Epoque. The beautiful age of glamour and pleasure more often showed its ugly side: hysterical, narcissistic, decadent and violent, a time of rampant prejudice and blood-and-soil nativism, with more parallels to our own age than we might imagine.

The Man in the Red Coat is at once a fresh and original portrait of the Belle Epoque � its heroes and villains, its writers, artists and thinkers � and a life of a man ahead of his time. Witty, surprising and deeply researched, the new book from Julian Barnes illuminates the fruitful and longstanding exchange of ideas between Britain and France, and makes a compelling case for keeping that exchange alive.]]> 311 Julian Barnes 147357403X Matthew 0 to-read 3.67 2019 The Man in the Red Coat
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Lemon Table 37585
The characters in The Lemon Table are facing the ends of their lives–some with bitter regret, others with resignation, and others still with defiant rage. Their circumstances are just as varied as their responses. In 19th-century Sweden, three brief conversations provide the basis for a lifetime of longing. In today’s England, a retired army major heads into the city for his regimental dinner–and his annual appointment with a professional lady named Babs. Somewhere nearby, a devoted wife calms (or perhaps torments) her ailing husband by reading him recipes.
In stories brimming with life and our desire to hang on to it one way or another, Barnes proves himself by turns wise, funny, clever, and profound–a writer of astonishing powers of empathy and invention.]]> 241 Julian Barnes 1400076501 Matthew 5 3.69 2004 The Lemon Table
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/08
date added: 2021/07/08
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, not-what-i-was-expecting, read-ab
review:
Every time I finish a book by Julian Barnes, I feel a slight sadness that I will eventually run out of things he has written.
]]> Between the World and Me 25489625 “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.�

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,� a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.]]> 152 Ta-Nehisi Coates Matthew 5
In 1991, when my grandma visited Hawaii, I was distraught with jealousy, but I also remember feeling the inevitability of my fate. I had never left my home state, and the idea of owning a passport seemed like an impossible luxury. I (thought I) knew I would never get a chance to visit, so had to satisfy myself with requests for luggage-friendly Americana (i.e. Reece’s Pieces and Sea Monkeys). I ate one Reece’s Piece per day until the pack was gone, and then neatly folded the empty, trademark-orange packaging and stored this special, secret trophy in my sock drawer.

When I finally did visit, I was in my 20s. Old enough to realise that I should pretend not to be visibly overcome with exhilaration. But ٳ󲹳’s exactly how I felt. The curtain protecting my idealised Emerald City was still very much intact.

In hindsight, you would think that three-month road-trip might’ve at least tugged on the curtain. I visited The Lorraine Motel in Memphis where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. I met grown adults in Louisiana who had literally never heard of Australia. The shocking wealth disparity on full display in San Francisco barely triggered anything more than slight surprise. There were countless clues that my Emerald City was perhaps a mirage.

But something happened on November 9, 2016. The election of Trump was a distinct turning point in my perception of Emerald City. It didn’t happen overnight, but it happened quickly. By the end of his presidency the curtain was gone.

It’s clear to me now� the curtain hiding the truth of my Emerald City was made from my own blind privilege. And behind that curtain is a nation built on slavery, police brutality, guns, white supremacy, and religious extremism.

Which brings me to Between the World and Me. This is an astounding work.

This book explores, with great sensitivity and intelligence, the heartbreaking consequences of black Americans navigating a home built on slavery, police brutality, guns, white supremacy, and religious extremism.

But Coates also touches on another, more insidious, aspect of America that rarely gets much attention, which is the blinkered, ignorance of many Americans. For example, I’m no longer surprised when Americans don’t realise that police murdering their own citizens isn’t an everyday occurrence in other countries. Coates himself admits to being a victim of this one-eyed naiveté, right into his well-educated adulthood. I was glad to see this specific examination of America included the author spending some time away from America, looking back at his homeland with the benefit of healthy distance.

Education, information, facts, and thoughtful examinations are all wonderful and essential things. But nothing teaches a person the truth of their home, like leaving their home.]]> 4.40 2015 Between the World and Me
author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/02
date added: 2021/07/02
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, covid-19-lockdown, read-ab, usa
review:
The United States of America has always been my Emerald City. Growing up in 1990s outback Australia, I had a super narrow little window into this foreign world via my Archie comics, Stephen King novels, Hollywood-on-VHS, and reruns of American broadcast television sitcoms.

In 1991, when my grandma visited Hawaii, I was distraught with jealousy, but I also remember feeling the inevitability of my fate. I had never left my home state, and the idea of owning a passport seemed like an impossible luxury. I (thought I) knew I would never get a chance to visit, so had to satisfy myself with requests for luggage-friendly Americana (i.e. Reece’s Pieces and Sea Monkeys). I ate one Reece’s Piece per day until the pack was gone, and then neatly folded the empty, trademark-orange packaging and stored this special, secret trophy in my sock drawer.

When I finally did visit, I was in my 20s. Old enough to realise that I should pretend not to be visibly overcome with exhilaration. But ٳ󲹳’s exactly how I felt. The curtain protecting my idealised Emerald City was still very much intact.

In hindsight, you would think that three-month road-trip might’ve at least tugged on the curtain. I visited The Lorraine Motel in Memphis where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. I met grown adults in Louisiana who had literally never heard of Australia. The shocking wealth disparity on full display in San Francisco barely triggered anything more than slight surprise. There were countless clues that my Emerald City was perhaps a mirage.

But something happened on November 9, 2016. The election of Trump was a distinct turning point in my perception of Emerald City. It didn’t happen overnight, but it happened quickly. By the end of his presidency the curtain was gone.

It’s clear to me now� the curtain hiding the truth of my Emerald City was made from my own blind privilege. And behind that curtain is a nation built on slavery, police brutality, guns, white supremacy, and religious extremism.

Which brings me to Between the World and Me. This is an astounding work.

This book explores, with great sensitivity and intelligence, the heartbreaking consequences of black Americans navigating a home built on slavery, police brutality, guns, white supremacy, and religious extremism.

But Coates also touches on another, more insidious, aspect of America that rarely gets much attention, which is the blinkered, ignorance of many Americans. For example, I’m no longer surprised when Americans don’t realise that police murdering their own citizens isn’t an everyday occurrence in other countries. Coates himself admits to being a victim of this one-eyed naiveté, right into his well-educated adulthood. I was glad to see this specific examination of America included the author spending some time away from America, looking back at his homeland with the benefit of healthy distance.

Education, information, facts, and thoughtful examinations are all wonderful and essential things. But nothing teaches a person the truth of their home, like leaving their home.
]]> The Grapes of Wrath 18114322
First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads—driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into Haves and Have-Nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity. A portrait of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, of one man’s fierce reaction to injustice, and of one woman’s stoical strength, the novel captures the horrors of the Great Depression and probes into the very nature of equality and justice in America. At once a naturalistic epic, captivity narrative, road novel, and transcendental gospel, Steinbeck’s powerful landmark novel is perhaps the most American of American Classics.]]> 496 John Steinbeck 067001690X Matthew 3 ]]> 4.06 1939 The Grapes of Wrath
author: John Steinbeck
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1939
rating: 3
read at: 2021/06/19
date added: 2021/06/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, modern-library-10-best-novels, le-monde-10-books-of-the-century, classics, covid-19-lockdown, havent-seen-the-movie, read-ab, usa
review:
TIME MAGAZINE
]]> The Berlin Stories 16810 The Last of Mr. Norris and Goodbye to Berlin, which make up The Berlin Stories are recognized today as classics of modern fiction.

A charming city of avenues and cafés, a grotesque city of night-people and fantasts, a dangerous city of vice and intrigue, a powerful city of millionaires and mobs - all this was Berlin in 1931, the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power.

Here are Mr. Norris, the improbable old debauchee mysteriously caught in the struggle between Nazis and Communists; plump Fräulein Schroeder, who thinks an operation to reduce the scale of her üٱ might relieve her heart palpitations; the Landauers, a distinguished and doomed Jewish family; Sally Bowles, whose misadventures in the demimonde were popularized on the American stage and screen by Julie Harris in "I Am a Camera" and by Liza Minelli in "Cabaret."]]> 401 Christopher Isherwood 0811200701 Matthew 4 ]]> 4.04 1945 The Berlin Stories
author: Christopher Isherwood
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at: 2021/06/25
date added: 2021/06/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, classics, covid-19-lockdown, read-ab, wwii
review:
TIME MAGAZINE
]]> <![CDATA[The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death]]> 193755 Elle, suffered a massive stroke that left him completely and permanently paralyzed, a victim of "locked-in syndrome." Where once he had been renowned for his gregariousness and wit, Bauby now found himself imprisoned in an inert body, able to communicate only by blinking his left eye. The miracle is that in doing so he was able to compose this stunningly eloquent memoir, which was published two days before Bauby's death in 1996 and went on to become a number-one bestseller across Europe.

The second miracle is that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is less a record of affliction than it is a celebration of the liberating power of consciousness. In a voice that is by turns wistful and mischievous, angry and sardonic, Bauby tells us what it is like to spend a day with his children; to imagine lying in bed beside his lover; to conjure up the flavor of delectable meals even as he is fed by tube. Most of all, this triumphant book allows us to follow the flight of an indomitable spirit and to share its exultation at its own survival.]]> 132 Jean-Dominique Bauby 0375701214 Matthew 3 love this book, I found the story-behind-the-story more interesting.

Considering the circumstances, this is no doubt an impressive work. I’ve never used the word masterpiece in a ŷ review but this certainly qualifies “as a work of outstanding creativity, skill, or workmanship�.

My rating is missing some stars because I really struggled through the � I cringe to say it � boring descriptions of Bauby’s faaaabulous pre-stroke life. We really didn’t need to know all this background to appreciate his loss.

If only each and every single letter had not been so painstakingly dictated� I guess someone may have had the courage to edit out those lackluster bits.

Chapters dealing with Bauby’s pre-stroke life: �
Chapters dealing with Bauby’s post-stroke life: ★★★★★]]> 4.00 1997 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
author: Jean-Dominique Bauby
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2014/03/14
date added: 2021/06/25
shelves: buzzfeed-32-lifechangers, read-ab, non-fiction, a-slog-to-the-end, disappointed, struggled-a-bit, translated, havent-seen-the-movie, a-little-frenchie
review:
Like some others who didn’t love this book, I found the story-behind-the-story more interesting.

Considering the circumstances, this is no doubt an impressive work. I’ve never used the word masterpiece in a ŷ review but this certainly qualifies “as a work of outstanding creativity, skill, or workmanship�.

My rating is missing some stars because I really struggled through the � I cringe to say it � boring descriptions of Bauby’s faaaabulous pre-stroke life. We really didn’t need to know all this background to appreciate his loss.

If only each and every single letter had not been so painstakingly dictated� I guess someone may have had the courage to edit out those lackluster bits.

Chapters dealing with Bauby’s pre-stroke life: �
Chapters dealing with Bauby’s post-stroke life: ★★★★�
]]> <![CDATA[The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)]]> 2052
Librarian's note: this is an alternate cover edition.]]> 231 Raymond Chandler 0394758285 Matthew 1

I hated this because our protagonist, Marlowe, is a homophobic, misogynistic bigot.

I’ve read all the reasons why this shouldn’t bother me, including:
� Marlowe is a product of his environment
� Readers shouldn’t apply today's sensibilities to a book from a different era
� These views were a widely accepted mindset in 1939
� If you're going to read literature from the past, you're going to encounter the prejudices of the past

These counterpoints are all factually correct, and remind me of the �can you separate the art from the artist?� question. Most of the time I can. Good art is good art, even if the artist was (or remains) troubling.

But The Big Sleep isn’t good art created by a troubling artist. The Big Sleep is just problematic at its core. It’s not a question of separating the art from the artist� the art itself is rotten. No counterarguments could convince me to enjoy spending any amount of my time in the company of a protagonist who says things like "she didn’t mind the slap� Probably all her boy friends got around to slapping her sooner or later. I could understand how they might."]]> 3.96 1939 The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)
author: Raymond Chandler
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1939
rating: 1
read at: 2020/04/14
date added: 2020/12/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, covid-19-lockdown, read-ab, usa, oh-well-not-for-me, problematic, crime, movie-was-meh
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

I hated this because our protagonist, Marlowe, is a homophobic, misogynistic bigot.

I’ve read all the reasons why this shouldn’t bother me, including:
� Marlowe is a product of his environment
� Readers shouldn’t apply today's sensibilities to a book from a different era
� These views were a widely accepted mindset in 1939
� If you're going to read literature from the past, you're going to encounter the prejudices of the past

These counterpoints are all factually correct, and remind me of the �can you separate the art from the artist?� question. Most of the time I can. Good art is good art, even if the artist was (or remains) troubling.

But The Big Sleep isn’t good art created by a troubling artist. The Big Sleep is just problematic at its core. It’s not a question of separating the art from the artist� the art itself is rotten. No counterarguments could convince me to enjoy spending any amount of my time in the company of a protagonist who says things like "she didn’t mind the slap� Probably all her boy friends got around to slapping her sooner or later. I could understand how they might."
]]> I, Claudius (Claudius, #1) 18765
I, Claudius and its sequel, Claudius the God, are among the most celebrated, as well the most gripping historical novels ever written.

Cover illustration: Brian Pike]]> 469 Robert Graves 067972477X Matthew 5

What an absolute delight, and total surprise.

I came to this novel with zero interest in, or knowledge of, the Roman Empire. I’m now utterly intrigued and have invested a good amount of time reading the biographies of even the relatively minor characters.

But, so far, nothing comes even close to I, Claudius� I consider it to be a small masterpiece of historical fiction. Insanely clever, extremely accessible, deadly funny, viciously brutal and completely captivating. One of the most unputdownable books I’ve read in years.]]> 4.24 1934 I, Claudius (Claudius, #1)
author: Robert Graves
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at: 2020/04/20
date added: 2020/12/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, brit-lit, covid-19-lockdown, historical-fiction, favorites, made-me-lol, not-what-i-was-expecting, surprised-i-liked-it, truth-stranger-than-fiction
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

What an absolute delight, and total surprise.

I came to this novel with zero interest in, or knowledge of, the Roman Empire. I’m now utterly intrigued and have invested a good amount of time reading the biographies of even the relatively minor characters.

But, so far, nothing comes even close to I, Claudius� I consider it to be a small masterpiece of historical fiction. Insanely clever, extremely accessible, deadly funny, viciously brutal and completely captivating. One of the most unputdownable books I’ve read in years.
]]> <![CDATA[Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West]]> 394535 Blood Meridian is an epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the Wild West. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.]]> 351 Cormac McCarthy Matthew 2

In some ways, this was a perfectly apt COVID-19 lockdown read. It was a great reminder that we have literally dragged ourselves up from the most violent, bloody, brutal, vile, evil muck imaginable, and somehow ended up here in 2020 with swimming pools, Netflix, polymerase chain reactions, and meditation apps. We’re a resilient, persistent species and � despite our best efforts at self-annihilation � have managed to thrive. The senseless and wicked acts of Blood Meridian had a strange effect on me, and I’m genuinely struggling to articulate it in these peculiar quarantined times. Maybe I was reminded that humanity has seen and survived much worse. And maybe I was reminded of just how ultimately disposable we all are.

A nihilistic take, I’m sure. Lockdown has done weird things to me.

However, I hated most of this book. Not because it was sickeningly violent and perverted but because it was something much worse� Blood Meridian was mostly boring.

A fascinating story (much of it based on disturbing actual events), with an utterly mesmerizing central character (Judge Holden will haunt my nightmares, I am sure of it), and a wickedly satisfying ending� told in the most banal, boring, and hackneyed way possible.

McCarthy’s style just isn’t for me. No, it wasn’t just detached� I could’ve tolerated detached, as it reminds me of this great comment in another review: “The best condemnation of violence is simply to depict it�. That’s a great point, and I loved the amoral and unconcerned depiction of death.

A fan of Blood Meridian wrote: “McCarthy's primitive writing style emphasizes this primal, bloody landscape like a Jonathon Edwards sermon.� My only response can be, each to their own. Taste is a notoriously subjective concept.

And I’m also happy to exist in the minority (Blood Meridian is often shortlisted for the Great American Novel).

I can understand people loving this book, and I’m sure my feelings toward it will warm with some distance. But for now, the mind-numbing prose is still ringing in my ears, so it’s way too soon for me to even think about recommending this book to anyone.]]> 4.18 1985 Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1985
rating: 2
read at: 2020/04/30
date added: 2020/12/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, covid-19-lockdown, historical-fiction, horror, not-what-i-was-expecting, usa, a-slog-to-the-end, oh-well-not-for-me, violent, western
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

In some ways, this was a perfectly apt COVID-19 lockdown read. It was a great reminder that we have literally dragged ourselves up from the most violent, bloody, brutal, vile, evil muck imaginable, and somehow ended up here in 2020 with swimming pools, Netflix, polymerase chain reactions, and meditation apps. We’re a resilient, persistent species and � despite our best efforts at self-annihilation � have managed to thrive. The senseless and wicked acts of Blood Meridian had a strange effect on me, and I’m genuinely struggling to articulate it in these peculiar quarantined times. Maybe I was reminded that humanity has seen and survived much worse. And maybe I was reminded of just how ultimately disposable we all are.

A nihilistic take, I’m sure. Lockdown has done weird things to me.

However, I hated most of this book. Not because it was sickeningly violent and perverted but because it was something much worse� Blood Meridian was mostly boring.

A fascinating story (much of it based on disturbing actual events), with an utterly mesmerizing central character (Judge Holden will haunt my nightmares, I am sure of it), and a wickedly satisfying ending� told in the most banal, boring, and hackneyed way possible.

McCarthy’s style just isn’t for me. No, it wasn’t just detached� I could’ve tolerated detached, as it reminds me of this great comment in another review: “The best condemnation of violence is simply to depict it�. That’s a great point, and I loved the amoral and unconcerned depiction of death.

A fan of Blood Meridian wrote: “McCarthy's primitive writing style emphasizes this primal, bloody landscape like a Jonathon Edwards sermon.� My only response can be, each to their own. Taste is a notoriously subjective concept.

And I’m also happy to exist in the minority (Blood Meridian is often shortlisted for the Great American Novel).

I can understand people loving this book, and I’m sure my feelings toward it will warm with some distance. But for now, the mind-numbing prose is still ringing in my ears, so it’s way too soon for me to even think about recommending this book to anyone.
]]> Ubik 12346742 227 Philip K. Dick 0547572298 Matthew 4

I normally have enough time while reading a book to be certain what (if anything) I’d like to say about it by the time I’ve reached the last page. Not the case with Ubik� I read this book very quickly, and found it so enthralling I wasn’t thinking about the book at all� I was too busy being engrossed by it, overcome by it.

From the first page, I was captivated, and I stayed that way until the very end. I even had one of those rare “NO WAY!� moments, where you stop reading, look up at some distant, unfocussed spot in the room and say out loud “NO WAY!�.

The only thing left for me to do is hope that Michel Gondry’s film adaptation gets off the ground� what a perfect choice for bringing this slippery, malleable, metaphysical fiction to the screen.]]> 4.10 1969 Ubik
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/05
date added: 2020/12/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, covid-19-lockdown, usa, science-fiction, metaphysical
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

I normally have enough time while reading a book to be certain what (if anything) I’d like to say about it by the time I’ve reached the last page. Not the case with Ubik� I read this book very quickly, and found it so enthralling I wasn’t thinking about the book at all� I was too busy being engrossed by it, overcome by it.

From the first page, I was captivated, and I stayed that way until the very end. I even had one of those rare “NO WAY!� moments, where you stop reading, look up at some distant, unfocussed spot in the room and say out loud “NO WAY!�.

The only thing left for me to do is hope that Michel Gondry’s film adaptation gets off the ground� what a perfect choice for bringing this slippery, malleable, metaphysical fiction to the screen.
]]> Infinite Jest 6759
Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.

Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.]]> 1088 David Foster Wallace Matthew 1

I’m the confused guy in the crowd, mouth agape, wondering how this book has a 4.29 ŷ rating, and near-universal acclaim. Am I the only one who can’t see the emperor’s new clothes?

I found it charmless, boring, hollow and—worst of all�loooooooooo(x1088)ng.

Because I’ve already spent way too long reading this book, and don’t want to waste another moment trying to articulate all the reasons I found it unbearable, I will instead just quote directly from :

“Whatever his gifts, DFW’s writing is preternaturally good at creating Dunning-Kruger in its audience. The Author is readable and relevant and graceful and pretentious, often in the same sentence. DFW’s writing telegraphs intelligence the same way handguns telegraph strength. Buying a gun is easy. A man who buys a Glock is duped into thinking he is physically strong; a gun is the crystallization of effortless power. DFW is an accessible writer. A man who reads Infinite Jest can be fooled into thinking he is more intelligent than other people. The book, for all its virtues, is the crystallization of effortless superiority.�


One final kicker� the book’s attitudes toward gender and race are bad. I can’t be bothered to go back and trawl through the 1000+ pages to look for specific examples, but it has proto-incel vibes that I found super gross.

POSTSCRIPT: � ughhhhh I hate this book even more now.]]> 4.26 1996 Infinite Jest
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1996
rating: 1
read at: 2020/06/16
date added: 2020/12/25
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, a-slog-to-the-end, boring, covid-19-lockdown, cringe, disappointed, oh-well-not-for-me, problematic, whats-the-fuss, usa, read-ab
review:
newclothes

I’m the confused guy in the crowd, mouth agape, wondering how this book has a 4.29 ŷ rating, and near-universal acclaim. Am I the only one who can’t see the emperor’s new clothes?

I found it charmless, boring, hollow and—worst of all�loooooooooo(x1088)ng.

Because I’ve already spent way too long reading this book, and don’t want to waste another moment trying to articulate all the reasons I found it unbearable, I will instead just quote directly from :

“Whatever his gifts, DFW’s writing is preternaturally good at creating Dunning-Kruger in its audience. The Author is readable and relevant and graceful and pretentious, often in the same sentence. DFW’s writing telegraphs intelligence the same way handguns telegraph strength. Buying a gun is easy. A man who buys a Glock is duped into thinking he is physically strong; a gun is the crystallization of effortless power. DFW is an accessible writer. A man who reads Infinite Jest can be fooled into thinking he is more intelligent than other people. The book, for all its virtues, is the crystallization of effortless superiority.�


One final kicker� the book’s attitudes toward gender and race are bad. I can’t be bothered to go back and trawl through the 1000+ pages to look for specific examples, but it has proto-incel vibes that I found super gross.

POSTSCRIPT: � ughhhhh I hate this book even more now.
]]> Cat’s Cradle 135479 Told with deadpan humour and bitter irony, Kurt Vonnegut's cult tale of global destruction preys on our deepest fears of witnessing Armageddon and, worse still, surviving it ...

Dr Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding 'fathers' of the atomic bomb, has left a deadly legacy to the world. For he's the inventor of 'ice-nine', a lethal chemical capable of freezing the entire planet. The search for its whereabouts leads to Hoenikker's three ecentric children, to a crazed dictator in the Caribbean, to madness. Felix Hoenikker's Death Wish comes true when his last, fatal gift to humankind brings about the end, that for all of us, is nigh...]]> 306 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Matthew 4 Slaughterhouse-Five is one of those books, and I was—at best—hoping for a similar kind of experience with Cat's Cradle.

Turns out I underestimated Vonnegut, for Cat's Cradle is not only deeply weird and clever, it’s also an absolutely charming page-turner. The latter is something Slaughterhouse-Five definitely was not.

The first sixty drain-swirling, world-building chapters of Cat's Cradle were incredible, leaving all these tantalising threads that eventually get pulled in the final half of the book.

And what a masterpiece of fiction Bokononism is! Vonnegut had me feeling sorry for its enslaved followers one minute, only to give me whiplash a minute later by making me feel pity for the poor wretches (like me) who will never know its seemingly transcendent wisdom. I genuinely cannot stop thinking about this fictional religion: its total pointlessness and absolute necessity. I’ve had multiple crises of faith in my lifetime, and I can’t help but feel every reader � no matter where they sit on the religious spectrum � will find something in the depiction of Bokononism totally fascinating to think about.

There were so many wonderful moments in this book, but one, in particular, spoke to me and reflected back the headspace I find myself in. As one of the more forgettable characters, Horlick Minton, remembers the dead children of war, he laments “the stupidity and viciousness of all mankind�. While undeniably accurate, it’s not an especially profound statement. However, later in the same scene, Minton gives us the slightest hint of existentialism, which for Vonnegut is as close to triumph as we can expect: “As stupid and vicious as men are, this is a lovely day.�

What an exultant cherry atop this absurd and wonderful cake.]]> 4.17 1963 Cat’s Cradle
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/12
date added: 2020/12/25
shelves: lifehack-30-lifechangers, buzzfeed-32-lifechangers, covid-19-lockdown, not-what-i-was-expecting, science-fiction, usa
review:
There are all kinds of good reasons to love a book, and sometimes I love a book that I don’t really enjoy reading. Slaughterhouse-Five is one of those books, and I was—at best—hoping for a similar kind of experience with Cat's Cradle.

Turns out I underestimated Vonnegut, for Cat's Cradle is not only deeply weird and clever, it’s also an absolutely charming page-turner. The latter is something Slaughterhouse-Five definitely was not.

The first sixty drain-swirling, world-building chapters of Cat's Cradle were incredible, leaving all these tantalising threads that eventually get pulled in the final half of the book.

And what a masterpiece of fiction Bokononism is! Vonnegut had me feeling sorry for its enslaved followers one minute, only to give me whiplash a minute later by making me feel pity for the poor wretches (like me) who will never know its seemingly transcendent wisdom. I genuinely cannot stop thinking about this fictional religion: its total pointlessness and absolute necessity. I’ve had multiple crises of faith in my lifetime, and I can’t help but feel every reader � no matter where they sit on the religious spectrum � will find something in the depiction of Bokononism totally fascinating to think about.

There were so many wonderful moments in this book, but one, in particular, spoke to me and reflected back the headspace I find myself in. As one of the more forgettable characters, Horlick Minton, remembers the dead children of war, he laments “the stupidity and viciousness of all mankind�. While undeniably accurate, it’s not an especially profound statement. However, later in the same scene, Minton gives us the slightest hint of existentialism, which for Vonnegut is as close to triumph as we can expect: “As stupid and vicious as men are, this is a lovely day.�

What an exultant cherry atop this absurd and wonderful cake.
]]> The Lottery 6219656
“The Lottery� stands out as one of the most famous short stories in American literary history. Originally published in The New Yorker, the author immediately began receiving letters from readers who demanded an explanation of the story’s meaning. “The Lottery� has been adapted for stage, television, radio and film.
]]> 30 Shirley Jackson 1563127873 Matthew 4 Shirley, a largely fictional semibiographical drama about Shirley Jackson.

[As an aside, Elisabeth Moss playing Jackson is remarkable as always.]

I didn’t know anything about Shirley Jackson before watching the film, and within a few short minutes after the credits started rolling, I fell into a wiki rabbit hole that eventually led me to the full text of The Lottery available for free on .

I’ve also come to learn that The Lottery was mentioned on a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, which was surely the beginning of the Golden Age of that show and—even though I can’t remember it—I definitely must have heard that reference as I was in 10th grade and never missed an episode of that third season. I digress.



The Lottery is wonderful. Kinda like if Alice Munro wrote Stephen King stories instead of Stephen King. I love short stories, especially ones that manage to skillfully build a fully formed world. I think my 2020 brain could see where the story was headed, but I can imagine 1948 readers being totally shocked and scandalised by the ending.

I’m definitely adding The Haunting of Hill House to my reading list, and I hope that longer novel retains the Munro/King mashup I sensed in this short story.]]> 4.08 1948 The Lottery
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1948
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/02
date added: 2020/12/16
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, ebook, horror, usa
review:
I just finished the good-but-not-great 2020 film Shirley, a largely fictional semibiographical drama about Shirley Jackson.

[As an aside, Elisabeth Moss playing Jackson is remarkable as always.]

I didn’t know anything about Shirley Jackson before watching the film, and within a few short minutes after the credits started rolling, I fell into a wiki rabbit hole that eventually led me to the full text of The Lottery available for free on .

I’ve also come to learn that The Lottery was mentioned on a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, which was surely the beginning of the Golden Age of that show and—even though I can’t remember it—I definitely must have heard that reference as I was in 10th grade and never missed an episode of that third season. I digress.



The Lottery is wonderful. Kinda like if Alice Munro wrote Stephen King stories instead of Stephen King. I love short stories, especially ones that manage to skillfully build a fully formed world. I think my 2020 brain could see where the story was headed, but I can imagine 1948 readers being totally shocked and scandalised by the ending.

I’m definitely adding The Haunting of Hill House to my reading list, and I hope that longer novel retains the Munro/King mashup I sensed in this short story.
]]> Catch-22 168668
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller’s personal archive; and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.]]> 453 Joseph Heller 0684833395 Matthew 2

This is a terrible, boring, repetitive novel and I hated it.

It also managed to get inside my head and make me think all kinds of interesting (to me at least) things.

It just so happens that I was reading Catch-22 in 2020 at the same time the “Brereton Report”—the most important report in the Australian Defence Force’s history—was released. The Brereton Report is about to be picked apart and pored over by the media, the public and the officials whose job it is to bring some semblance of justice to its findings, so the only thing I’ll say here is that it’s a horrifying, sickening, deadly indictment of what happens when toxic masculinity festers with zero accountability.

I’m a naturally optimistic chap and find myself arguing quite passionately that our terrible species is getting better every year. Yes, we remain total shit. But we’re probably less shit than we were 50 years ago. And we’re definitely less shit than we were 500 years ago. And don’t even get me started on the nonsense we got up to 2000 years ago.

But it really threatens my natural optimism when I happen to be reading a 60-year-old novel about the horrifying, sickening, deadly consequences of what happens when toxic masculinity festers with zero accountability� at the same time as reading a contemporary report of exactly the same thing occurring amongst “modern� soldiers in Afghanistan.

It’s got me thinking all kinds of fantastical thoughts like:
“What would a war look like with 100% female combatants?�

And even more provocatively:
“Would we even have wars if every leader on the planet was a woman?�

Don’t get me wrong� I’m not anti-male. However, it’s not controversial to say that—with few exceptions—armies are primarily male. So when wartime atrocities are committed, in 100% male environments, with almost zero oversight, involvement or accountability from women, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable thought experiment to ask those questions.

And then I remembered another fascinating thing I read or heard a few years ago, that may be the flip side of the same coin. I’ve spent an hour trying to find the article or podcast where it was mentioned so I could reference it properly, but can’t locate it*. The idea was that during historical times of clan war, it was mathematically logical to send boys and men to fight and die while the women stayed behind. Even if 99% of the men were lost, this would have minimal impact on the ability of the clan to repopulate. The literal opposite is true if girls and women were sent to fight and die. Now comes the horrifying part� some speculate that strength, violence, brutality and ferocity were the traits most desired in soldiers and therefore the traits that were cultivated in boys to improve the chances of winning in battle and therefore the likelihood of the clan surviving intact. I’m not sure I buy this theory wholesale, but it’s terrifying to think about the consequences of this. I’ve seen someone I know tell their crying, badly hurt 4-year-old son to “man-up�, while coddling and cuddling their whimpering 3-year-old daughter. To even THINK this kind of toxic attitude stems from some ancient teachings that boys need to be strong, violent and brutal to win wars makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The implications of this—if even partially true—are unendingly fascinating.

If, for whatever reason, girls and women had been told 4000 years ago that their desired traits were strength, violence, aggressive brutality and ferocity, would we have a totally upside-down concept of masculinity and femininity? Would we have a version of Catch-22 where violent female soldiers were assaulting submissive male civilians by grabbing at their genitals?

Very little of this has much at all to do with the actual novel I read and am supposedly reviewing. The real Catch-22 was just the same few mildly interesting ideas recycled for 450+ pages. I could barely finish it and was so relieved when it was over.

* NOTE: I was certain I had heard this idea in Radiolab’s phenomenal series . However, I scoured the transcripts of each episode and couldn’t find it. Either way, I strongly recommend this podcast series. It is exceptional in every sense of the word.
]]> 3.99 1961 Catch-22
author: Joseph Heller
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1961
rating: 2
read at: 2020/12/07
date added: 2020/12/07
shelves: buzzfeed-32-lifechangers, buzzfeed-23-best-schoolbooks, time-alltime-100-novels, modern-library-10-best-novels, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, boring, covid-19-lockdown, read-ab, a-slog-to-the-end, disappointed
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

This is a terrible, boring, repetitive novel and I hated it.

It also managed to get inside my head and make me think all kinds of interesting (to me at least) things.

It just so happens that I was reading Catch-22 in 2020 at the same time the “Brereton Report”—the most important report in the Australian Defence Force’s history—was released. The Brereton Report is about to be picked apart and pored over by the media, the public and the officials whose job it is to bring some semblance of justice to its findings, so the only thing I’ll say here is that it’s a horrifying, sickening, deadly indictment of what happens when toxic masculinity festers with zero accountability.

I’m a naturally optimistic chap and find myself arguing quite passionately that our terrible species is getting better every year. Yes, we remain total shit. But we’re probably less shit than we were 50 years ago. And we’re definitely less shit than we were 500 years ago. And don’t even get me started on the nonsense we got up to 2000 years ago.

But it really threatens my natural optimism when I happen to be reading a 60-year-old novel about the horrifying, sickening, deadly consequences of what happens when toxic masculinity festers with zero accountability� at the same time as reading a contemporary report of exactly the same thing occurring amongst “modern� soldiers in Afghanistan.

It’s got me thinking all kinds of fantastical thoughts like:
“What would a war look like with 100% female combatants?�

And even more provocatively:
“Would we even have wars if every leader on the planet was a woman?�

Don’t get me wrong� I’m not anti-male. However, it’s not controversial to say that—with few exceptions—armies are primarily male. So when wartime atrocities are committed, in 100% male environments, with almost zero oversight, involvement or accountability from women, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable thought experiment to ask those questions.

And then I remembered another fascinating thing I read or heard a few years ago, that may be the flip side of the same coin. I’ve spent an hour trying to find the article or podcast where it was mentioned so I could reference it properly, but can’t locate it*. The idea was that during historical times of clan war, it was mathematically logical to send boys and men to fight and die while the women stayed behind. Even if 99% of the men were lost, this would have minimal impact on the ability of the clan to repopulate. The literal opposite is true if girls and women were sent to fight and die. Now comes the horrifying part� some speculate that strength, violence, brutality and ferocity were the traits most desired in soldiers and therefore the traits that were cultivated in boys to improve the chances of winning in battle and therefore the likelihood of the clan surviving intact. I’m not sure I buy this theory wholesale, but it’s terrifying to think about the consequences of this. I’ve seen someone I know tell their crying, badly hurt 4-year-old son to “man-up�, while coddling and cuddling their whimpering 3-year-old daughter. To even THINK this kind of toxic attitude stems from some ancient teachings that boys need to be strong, violent and brutal to win wars makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The implications of this—if even partially true—are unendingly fascinating.

If, for whatever reason, girls and women had been told 4000 years ago that their desired traits were strength, violence, aggressive brutality and ferocity, would we have a totally upside-down concept of masculinity and femininity? Would we have a version of Catch-22 where violent female soldiers were assaulting submissive male civilians by grabbing at their genitals?

Very little of this has much at all to do with the actual novel I read and am supposedly reviewing. The real Catch-22 was just the same few mildly interesting ideas recycled for 450+ pages. I could barely finish it and was so relieved when it was over.

* NOTE: I was certain I had heard this idea in Radiolab’s phenomenal series . However, I scoured the transcripts of each episode and couldn’t find it. Either way, I strongly recommend this podcast series. It is exceptional in every sense of the word.

]]> The Haunting of Hill House 89717 182 Shirley Jackson 0143039989 Matthew 0 to-read 3.85 1959 The Haunting of Hill House
author: Shirley Jackson
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1959
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World]]> 48889983 Bullshit isn't what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data.

It's increasingly difficult to know what's true. Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don't feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data.

You don't need a lot of technical expertise to call out problems with data. Are the numbers or results too good or too dramatic to be true? Is the claim comparing like with like? Is it confirming your personal bias? Drawing on a deep well of expertise in statistics and computational biology, Bergstrom and West exuberantly unpack examples of selection bias and muddled data visualization, distinguish between correlation and causation, and examine the susceptibility of science to modern bullshit.

We have always needed people who call bullshit when necessary, whether within a circle of friends, a community of scholars, or the citizenry of a nation. Now that bullshit has evolved, we need to relearn the art of skepticism.]]> 336 Carl T. Bergstrom 0525509186 Matthew 0 to-read 4.09 2020 Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
author: Carl T. Bergstrom
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Brideshead Revisited 30933 Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.]]> 351 Evelyn Waugh 0316926345 Matthew 5

Some books I find terribly difficult to review, and it’s always the ones I love the most.

I never wanted this book to end.]]> 4.01 1945 Brideshead Revisited
author: Evelyn Waugh
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1945
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/11
date added: 2020/11/11
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, brit-lit, covid-19-lockdown, faith, favorites, gives-me-itchy-feet, havent-seen-the-movie, made-me-lol, not-what-i-was-expecting, read-ab, reminds-me-of-england, wwii
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

Some books I find terribly difficult to review, and it’s always the ones I love the most.

I never wanted this book to end.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wife of Bath (Penguin Little Black Classics, #28)]]> 24874339
One of the most bawdy, entertaining and popular stories from The Canterbury Tales.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.]]> 51 Geoffrey Chaucer 0141398094 Matthew 0 to-read 3.57 1372 The Wife of Bath (Penguin Little Black Classics, #28)
author: Geoffrey Chaucer
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1372
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley, #3)]]> 19494 212 John Le Carré Matthew 4

This is not—at all—my preferred genre. Which is precisely why I’m slowly working my way through Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels, so that I can discover incredible little gems like The Spy Who Came In from the Cold.

Part of the joy of this book was enjoying the hairpin twists and turns, so I won’t say much more for fear of spoiling the ride. Most of the time I found myself thinking: “I have literally no idea how this will end�.

Such a thrilling and disorienting experience.
]]> 4.07 1963 The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley, #3)
author: John Le Carré
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/07
date added: 2020/09/07
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, covid-19-lockdown, havent-seen-the-movie, read-ab, reminds-me-of-england, cold_war
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

This is not—at all—my preferred genre. Which is precisely why I’m slowly working my way through Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels, so that I can discover incredible little gems like The Spy Who Came In from the Cold.

Part of the joy of this book was enjoying the hairpin twists and turns, so I won’t say much more for fear of spoiling the ride. Most of the time I found myself thinking: “I have literally no idea how this will end�.

Such a thrilling and disorienting experience.

]]> <![CDATA[Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall]]> 4772110
A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turning from the one certainty in his life . . . A man whose unerring taste in music is the only thing his closest friends value in him . . . A struggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failing marriage of a couple he’s only just met . . . A gifted, underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe that plastic surgery will help his career . . . A young cellist whose tutor promises to “unwrap� his talent . . .

Passion or necessity—or the often uneasy combination of the two—determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, in one way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp.

An exploration of love, need, and the ineluctable force of the past, Nocturnes reveals these individuals to us with extraordinary precision and subtlety, and with the arresting psychological and emotional detail that has marked all of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed works of fiction.]]> 221 Kazuo Ishiguro 0307397874 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown, read-ab Nocturnes adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

All five of the short stories in this book are charming, fun, occasionally very funny and easy to read.

Having said that, I confess to really struggling with the portrayal of two female characters that bothered me deeply. And I’ve spent a good number of days since closing the final page trying to grapple with these thoughts.

It’s very hard to say much more without revealing spoilers.

Where I’ve eventually landed is that Ishiguro may actually be a genius storyteller, able to poke and provoke like no other author I’ve encountered. Maybe. I hope so.

I’ve expanded on these thoughts in the spoiler section below.

[spoilers removed]]]> 3.52 2009 Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall
author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/26
date added: 2020/09/03
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab
review:
Nocturnes adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

All five of the short stories in this book are charming, fun, occasionally very funny and easy to read.

Having said that, I confess to really struggling with the portrayal of two female characters that bothered me deeply. And I’ve spent a good number of days since closing the final page trying to grapple with these thoughts.

It’s very hard to say much more without revealing spoilers.

Where I’ve eventually landed is that Ishiguro may actually be a genius storyteller, able to poke and provoke like no other author I’ve encountered. Maybe. I hope so.

I’ve expanded on these thoughts in the spoiler section below.

[spoilers removed]
]]> <![CDATA[The Year of Magical Thinking: The Play]]> 332992
In this dramatic adaptation of her award-winning, bestselling memoir (which Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times called “an indelible portrait of loss and grief . . . a haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage), Joan Didion transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter into a stunning and powerful one-woman play.

The first theatrical production of The Year of Magical Thinking opened at the Booth Theatre on March 29, 2007, starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by David Hare.


From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 62 Joan Didion 0307386414 Matthew 5 4.05 2007 The Year of Magical Thinking: The Play
author: Joan Didion
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2020/08/31
date added: 2020/08/30
shelves: autobiography, covid-19-lockdown, non-fiction, play, read-ab, usa
review:

]]> Runaway 51325570
Here are men and women of wildly different times and circumstances, their lives made vividly palpable by the nuance and empathy of Munro's writing. Runaway is about the power and betrayals of love, about lost children, lost chances. There is pain and desolation beneath the surface, like a needle in the heart, which makes these stories more powerful and compelling than anything she has written before.]]> 368 Alice Munro Matthew 4 3.65 2004 Runaway
author: Alice Munro
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/24
date added: 2020/08/24
shelves: canuck-literature, covid-19-lockdown, gives-me-itchy-feet, in-my-bookcase, read-pb
review:

]]> The Fault in Our Stars 11870085
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.]]> 313 John Green Matthew 4 like this book. The two protagonists are teenagers who—despite their relative intelligence and maturity—are teenagers. Teenagers. Who actually likes teenagers? John Green apparently, but not me. I didn’t even like myself when I was teenager.

How I imagine all teenagers:

description

But Hazel and Gus are not normal teenagers. They are a delight; the kind of kids you’d be proud to call your own. And the kind of characters I found myself thinking about as if they were real. Yes the dialogue is a bit trite, but teenagers are inherently trite.

I’m not proud of my love for this book, but I’m not going to deny it either.

Hazel and Gus disoriented me and broke my heart right in two. In the best possible way.]]> 4.13 2012 The Fault in Our Stars
author: John Green
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2014/01/30
date added: 2020/08/21
shelves: buzzfeed-32-lifechangers, yes-i-cried, usa, young-adult, read-ab, goodreads-choice-winner
review:
I loved this book. And I’m afraid all efforts to explain why will sound corny or gushy. You see� I shouldn’t even like this book. The two protagonists are teenagers who—despite their relative intelligence and maturity—are teenagers. Teenagers. Who actually likes teenagers? John Green apparently, but not me. I didn’t even like myself when I was teenager.

How I imagine all teenagers:

description

But Hazel and Gus are not normal teenagers. They are a delight; the kind of kids you’d be proud to call your own. And the kind of characters I found myself thinking about as if they were real. Yes the dialogue is a bit trite, but teenagers are inherently trite.

I’m not proud of my love for this book, but I’m not going to deny it either.

Hazel and Gus disoriented me and broke my heart right in two. In the best possible way.
]]> One Hundred Years of Solitude 22467482
One Hundred Years of Solitude is re-issued on Gabriel García Márquez 's birthday to celebrate the publication of his books as ebooks for the first time.]]> 422 Gabriel García Márquez Matthew 0 3.91 1967 One Hundred Years of Solitude
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1967
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/17
shelves: buzzfeed-32-lifechangers, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, started-but-gave-up
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)]]> 7934095
We meet her stoic husband, bound to her in a marriage both broken and strong, and a young man who aches for the mother he lost - and whom Olive comforts by her mere presence, while her own son feels overwhelmed by her complex sensitivities.

A penetrating, vibrant exploration of the human soul, the story of Olive Kitteridge will make you laugh, nod in recognition, wince in pain, and shed a tear or two.]]> 337 Elizabeth Strout 1849831556 Matthew 0 3.92 2008 Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge, #1)
author: Elizabeth Strout
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/17
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winner, in-my-bookcase
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Umbrella Academy Volume One: Apocalypse Suite Deluxe Edition (The Umbrella Academy, #1)]]> 49910281
Millionaire inventor Reginald Hargreeves adopted seven of the children; when asked why, his only explanation was, "To save the world." These children form a dysfunctional family with bizarre superpowers. Nearly a decade after their first mission, the team disbands, but when Hargreeves unexpectedly dies, the siblings reunite just in time to save the world once again.

This deluxe edition collects the complete Eisner Award-winning series, as well as the short stories ''Mon Dieu!'' and ''But the Past Ain't Through with You." It also includes a 50-page sketchbook section with art by Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá, James Jean, and designer Tony Ong. The 216-page oversized hardcover is bound in leatherette, debossed with an applique of the iconic umbrella symbol, and features foil stamping and a satin ribbon bookmark.

Also included is a lithograph featuring a unique new art piece created by Gabriel Bà exclusively for this deluxe edition! The lithograph is enclosed in a leatherette portfolio, debossed with the Umbrella Academy crest. The book and portfolio are enclosed in a beautiful slipcase featuring art by Gabriel Bà, finished with matte lamination and spot gloss UV.]]> 216 Gerard Way 1506718043 Matthew 0 to-read, in-my-bookcase 4.28 2007 The Umbrella Academy Volume One: Apocalypse Suite Deluxe Edition (The Umbrella Academy, #1)
author: Gerard Way
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/17
shelves: to-read, in-my-bookcase
review:

]]> Getting a Life 484141 An ambitious teenager vows never to settle for any of the adult lives she sees around her. Two old friends get tipsy at a small cafe and end up revealing more than they intended. In a boutique so exclusive that entrance requires a password, a frazzled careerwoman explores the anesthetizing effect of highly impractical clothing. And in the mesmerizing title story, a mother of three takes life one day at a time, while pushing the ominous question of whether she wants to firmly to one side.]]> 208 Helen Simpson 0375724974 Matthew 0 to-read 3.67 2000 Getting a Life
author: Helen Simpson
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Noise of Time 25912206 The Sense of an Ending.

In 1936, Shostakovitch, just thirty, fears for his livelihood and his life. Stalin, hitherto a distant figure, has taken a sudden interest in his work and denounced his latest opera. Now, certain he will be exiled to Siberia (or, more likely, executed on the spot), Shostakovitch reflects on his predicament, his personal history, his parents, various women and wives, his children—and all who are still alive themselves hang in the balance of his fate. And though a stroke of luck prevents him from becoming yet another casualty of the Great Terror, for decades to come he will be held fast under the thumb of despotism: made to represent Soviet values at a cultural conference in New York City, forced into joining the Party and compelled, constantly, to weigh appeasing those in power against the integrity of his music.

Barnes elegantly guides us through the trajectory of Shostakovitch's career, at the same time illuminating the tumultuous evolution of the Soviet Union. The result is both a stunning portrait of a relentlessly fascinating man and a brilliant exploration of the meaning of art and its place in society.]]> 184 Julian Barnes 1910702609 Matthew 3
I’m also not terribly interested in Stalin, soviet politics or Leninism, so Barnes really had his work cut out for him.

A of this book starts with: “It’s risky business to speak for the dead.�, and I think this captures something of my misgivings with fictionalised accounts of real people.

The risk just didn’t pay off for me.

Having said all that, my three-star rating tells you something else: Barnes at his worst is still pretty darn good.
]]> 3.72 2016 The Noise of Time
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2020/07/30
date added: 2020/08/13
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, read-ab, truth-stranger-than-fiction, soviet
review:
I wanted to like � and probably should have liked � this book much more than I did. Nothing about the story grabbed me, and I’m almost positive this is because I knew nothing about Dmitri Shostakovich before starting this book. And I’m sorry to say I know not-much-more-than-nothing about him now, after reading an entire book about him.

I’m also not terribly interested in Stalin, soviet politics or Leninism, so Barnes really had his work cut out for him.

A of this book starts with: “It’s risky business to speak for the dead.�, and I think this captures something of my misgivings with fictionalised accounts of real people.

The risk just didn’t pay off for me.

Having said all that, my three-star rating tells you something else: Barnes at his worst is still pretty darn good.

]]> <![CDATA[The Five Habits of Highly Missional People]]> 22005915 43 Michael Frost Matthew 0 to-read 4.28 2014 The Five Habits of Highly Missional People
author: Michael Frost
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Gone with the Wind 18405 1037 Margaret Mitchell 0446365386 Matthew 0 4.30 1936 Gone with the Wind
author: Margaret Mitchell
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1936
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/04
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, recommended-but-not-interested
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery]]> 7806 Pale Fire is regarded by many as Vladimir Nabokov's masterpiece. The novel has been hailed as one of the most striking early examples of postmodernism and has become a famous test case for theories about reading because of the apparent impossibility of deciding between several radically different interpretations. Does the book have two narrators, as it first appears, or one? How much is fantasy and how much is reality? Whose fantasy and whose reality are they? Brian Boyd, Nabokov's biographer and hitherto the foremost proponent of the idea that Pale Fire has one narrator, John Shade, now rejects this position and presents a new and startlingly different solution that will permanently shift the nature of critical debate on the novel. Boyd argues that the book does indeed have two narrators, Shade and Charles Kinbote, but reveals that Kinbote had some strange and highly surprising help in writing his sections. In light of this interpretation, Pale Fire now looks distinctly less postmodern--and more interesting than ever.


In presenting his arguments, Boyd shows how Nabokov designed Pale Fire for readers to make surprising discoveries on a first reading and even more surprising discoveries on subsequent readings by following carefully prepared clues within the novel. Boyd leads the reader step-by-step through the book, gradually revealing the profound relationship between Nabokov's ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and metaphysics. If Nabokov has generously planned the novel to be accessible on a first reading and yet to incorporate successive vistas of surprise, Boyd argues, it is because he thinks a deep generosity lies behind the inexhaustibility, complexity, and mystery of the world. Boyd also shows how Nabokov's interest in discovery springs in part from his work as a scientist and scholar, and draws comparisons between the processes of readerly and scientific discovery.


This is a profound, provocative, and compelling reinterpretation of one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.]]> 320 Brian Boyd 0691089574 Matthew 0 to-read 4.29 1999 Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery
author: Brian Boyd
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pale Fire 34746347 Pale Fire published in 1962 after the critical and popular success of Lolita had made him an international literary figure.

An ingeniously constructed parody of detective fiction and learned commentary, Pale Fire offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures, at the center of which is a 999-line poem written by the literary genius John Shade just before his death. Surrounding the poem is a foreword and commentary by the demented scholar Charles Kinbote, who interweaves adoring literary analysis with the fantastical tale of an assassin from the land of Zembla in pursuit of a deposed king.

Brilliantly constructed and wildly inventive, this darkly witty novel of suspense, literary one-upmanship, and political intrigue achieves that rarest of things in literature: perfect tragicomic balance.]]> 272 Vladimir Nabokov Matthew 5

My five stars seem like a pathetic and insufficient expression of my deep, deep love for this book.

Over the course of the last few months, I have allowed myself to fall deeper and deeper into the delicious and vicious rabbit hole that is Pale Fire, and have emerged obsessed* with the genius of Nabokov.

[spoilers removed]
]]> 4.15 1962 Pale Fire
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1962
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/04
date added: 2020/07/04
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, covid-19-lockdown, in-my-bookcase, read-pb, usa, favorites
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

My five stars seem like a pathetic and insufficient expression of my deep, deep love for this book.

Over the course of the last few months, I have allowed myself to fall deeper and deeper into the delicious and vicious rabbit hole that is Pale Fire, and have emerged obsessed* with the genius of Nabokov.

[spoilers removed]

]]> Flaubert's Parrot 2176 Flaubert's Parrot deals with Flaubert, parrots, bears and railways; with our sense of the past and our sense of abroad; with France and England, life and art, sex and death, George Sand and Louise Colet, aesthetics and redcurrant jam; and with its enigmatic narrator, a retired English doctor, whose life and secrets are slowly revealed.

A compelling weave of fiction and imaginatively ordered fact, Flaubert's Parrot is by turns moving and entertaining, witty and scholarly, and a tour de force of seductive originality]]> 190 Julian Barnes 0679731369 Matthew 2
I can only guess that Barnes is a Flaubert fanboy and wanted to write a Flaubert biography. But also didn’t want to write a straight bio (how passé), so jazzed it up with a fictional narrative, a fictional biographer and a bunch of self-referential layers. I get that it’s (partly) a complex critique of biographies while also functioning as a biography. I guess it’s all supposed to be very meta, but I thought it was just a mess.

That’s a lot of guessing, which is partly my point� are those burnt letters even real? Like irl real. If so, why not just present this as fact and make the point about unreliable biographies that way? And if they’re not real, why even include them at all?

Maybe one of the biggest ironies of the book is Barnes (or Braithwaite? Or Flaubert? I can’t recall, and is there even a difference at this point?) describing the consequences of “having your cake and eating it too�. That’s exactly what’s happening here.
]]> 3.67 1984 Flaubert's Parrot
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.67
book published: 1984
rating: 2
read at: 2016/05/01
date added: 2020/07/02
shelves: brit-lit, disappointed, historical-fiction, read-ab
review:
I really like Julian Barnes, and this is his fourth book I’ve read. It is also � by far � my least favourite.

I can only guess that Barnes is a Flaubert fanboy and wanted to write a Flaubert biography. But also didn’t want to write a straight bio (how passé), so jazzed it up with a fictional narrative, a fictional biographer and a bunch of self-referential layers. I get that it’s (partly) a complex critique of biographies while also functioning as a biography. I guess it’s all supposed to be very meta, but I thought it was just a mess.

That’s a lot of guessing, which is partly my point� are those burnt letters even real? Like irl real. If so, why not just present this as fact and make the point about unreliable biographies that way? And if they’re not real, why even include them at all?

Maybe one of the biggest ironies of the book is Barnes (or Braithwaite? Or Flaubert? I can’t recall, and is there even a difference at this point?) describing the consequences of “having your cake and eating it too�. That’s exactly what’s happening here.

]]> Levels of Life 17262198
"You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed..."

One of the judges who awarded him the 2011 Man Booker Prize described him as "an unparalleled magus of the heart." This book confirms that opinion.]]> 128 Julian Barnes 0385350775 Matthew 4 <blockquote>"</blockquote> 3.94 2013 Levels of Life
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/02
date added: 2020/07/02
shelves: autobiography, covid-19-lockdown, non-fiction, read-ab, reminds-me-of-england
review:
"

]]> <![CDATA[The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History]]> 29036 The Great Influenza is ultimately a tale of triumph amid tragedy, which provides us with a precise and sobering model as we confront the epidemics looming on our own horizon. John M. Barry has written a new afterword for this edition that brings us up to speed on the terrible threat of the avian flu and suggest ways in which we might head off another flu pandemic.]]> 546 John M. Barry 0143036491 Matthew 4
2020 is definitely something.

It’s so hard to review this book today without sifting every word through a COVID-19 filter. I love that the book was written in 2004. Barry can hardly be accused of framing his narrative as an indictment of Trump and his right-wing media allies, and yet ٳ󲹳’s exactly how it reads. How can it not? With the gift of hindsight, we can so clearly see the failings of the leaders in 1918, and how eerily similar some of those blunders are to the United States� response to COVID-19. As I said, it’s hard to read this book without thinking about SARS-CoV-2, and images like this:

image

� or this:

image

� or this:

image

� or this:

image

My four-star rating really says something about how enjoyable this book was to read, COVID-19 or not. It’s a real page-turner, and I looked forward to jumping back into the text every chance I got.

The closest thing to a criticism I can muster is that the title isn’t at all accurate. It really should be called “The Great Influenza: An American Perspective�. Considering how global the 1918 pandemic was, this book is comically American in its perspective. This doesn’t make the book any less absorbing or necessary or brilliantly researched. In other ways, Barry is incredibly broad in his ambitions, reaching back into the decades before 1918 to set the stage of American medicine leading up to the pandemic. That same breadth is applied to the biographies of some of the key players in American medicine at the time. But, no matter how broad the topics veer, it’s always an American perspective.

That doesn’t necessarily make the book any less fascinating. In fact, given these data, you could argue it makes the American lens of this book even more vital:

image
]]> 3.97 2004 The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History
author: John M. Barry
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/30
date added: 2020/06/30
shelves: covid-19-lockdown, non-fiction, read-ab, truth-stranger-than-fiction, usa
review:
The day I started reading this book it had reentered � for obvious reasons � the New York Times Paperback Nonfiction bestsellers list, and was sitting at the #2 position. Just two weeks later (at the time of reviewing), it’s no longer even in the top 15. Instead, thirteen books about race, civil rights, and racism are on the list. If you count the book about the effects of long-term trauma on the human body (which, I personally do), that means all but one book on the NYT Paperback Nonfiction bestsellers list is trying to grapple with racial politics in a post-George Floyd world.

2020 is definitely something.

It’s so hard to review this book today without sifting every word through a COVID-19 filter. I love that the book was written in 2004. Barry can hardly be accused of framing his narrative as an indictment of Trump and his right-wing media allies, and yet ٳ󲹳’s exactly how it reads. How can it not? With the gift of hindsight, we can so clearly see the failings of the leaders in 1918, and how eerily similar some of those blunders are to the United States� response to COVID-19. As I said, it’s hard to read this book without thinking about SARS-CoV-2, and images like this:

image

� or this:

image

� or this:

image

� or this:

image

My four-star rating really says something about how enjoyable this book was to read, COVID-19 or not. It’s a real page-turner, and I looked forward to jumping back into the text every chance I got.

The closest thing to a criticism I can muster is that the title isn’t at all accurate. It really should be called “The Great Influenza: An American Perspective�. Considering how global the 1918 pandemic was, this book is comically American in its perspective. This doesn’t make the book any less absorbing or necessary or brilliantly researched. In other ways, Barry is incredibly broad in his ambitions, reaching back into the decades before 1918 to set the stage of American medicine leading up to the pandemic. That same breadth is applied to the biographies of some of the key players in American medicine at the time. But, no matter how broad the topics veer, it’s always an American perspective.

That doesn’t necessarily make the book any less fascinating. In fact, given these data, you could argue it makes the American lens of this book even more vital:

image

]]> <![CDATA[Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina (Claudius, #2)]]> 52251 I, Claudius, Robert Graves continues the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emperor in spite of himself and his handicaps. Claudius the God reveals the splendor, vitality and decadence of the Roman Empire through the eyes of the wry and bemused Claudius who reigns as emperor for thirteen years. The crippled Claudius describes himself as the fool of the royal family, whom none of his ambitious and blood-thirsty relatives considered worth the trouble of killing. Once in the throne, however, he finds himself at last at the center of the political maelstrom.]]> 533 Robert Graves 0679725733 Matthew 5 4.22 1934 Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina (Claudius, #2)
author: Robert Graves
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at: 2020/04/21
date added: 2020/04/20
shelves: brit-lit, historical-fiction, covid-19-lockdown
review:

]]> I Capture the Castle 31122 408 Dodie Smith 0312181108 Matthew 5 "You Might Like" algorithms, and I made the purchase impulsively (and uncharacteristically) with absolutely zero research. Almost instantly I realised “Capture� was unlike any other novel I'd read before, and I was baffled by the recommendation. I'm not drawn to novels in this genre, but all I can say is that I absolutely loved every moment inside Cassandra’s journal. I even feel a small sense of loss that I won't be spending any more time with the inhabitants of Scoatney Village, who feel so incredibly alive to me now.

I've subsequently done a little research on the book, and I can see it featuring on lists like "Classics All Young Girls Should Read" etc... This makes me a little embarrassed, as I'm a middle-aged man. I suppose I can understand some dismissing this as a “charming little girls book"—it is a tad heavy on young romance, first loves, stolen kisses, exciting marriage proposals (Dear God, I'm cringing as I write). But what a pity if they did pigeon-hole it that way; it has way more to offer. It is witty, thoughtful, clever and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny at times. And the characters are so deeply drawn, I guess I didn’t mind all the accompanying histrionics.

I should say that I did live in the UK for many years, so I know my nostalgia for the English countryside enhanced my enjoyment. My favourite quote: “It came to me that Hyde Park has never belonged to London - that it has always been , in spirit, a stretch of countryside; and that it links the Londons of all periods together most magically - by remaining forever unchanged at the heart of a ever-changing town.�

Oh and—by the way—I think I’ve now realized why the algorithm recommended the book to me in the first place. I had “Cold Comfort Farm� listed as a favourite, and it’s only now that I’m starting to see the synchronicities between these two novels.]]> 3.99 1948 I Capture the Castle
author: Dodie Smith
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1948
rating: 5
read at: 2013/12/15
date added: 2020/04/17
shelves: reminds-me-of-england, read-ab, surprised-i-liked-it, made-me-lol, brit-lit, movie-was-meh
review:
Truth be told, I felt a little duped when I first started "I Capture The Castle". It had been recommended to me by one of those "You Might Like" algorithms, and I made the purchase impulsively (and uncharacteristically) with absolutely zero research. Almost instantly I realised “Capture� was unlike any other novel I'd read before, and I was baffled by the recommendation. I'm not drawn to novels in this genre, but all I can say is that I absolutely loved every moment inside Cassandra’s journal. I even feel a small sense of loss that I won't be spending any more time with the inhabitants of Scoatney Village, who feel so incredibly alive to me now.

I've subsequently done a little research on the book, and I can see it featuring on lists like "Classics All Young Girls Should Read" etc... This makes me a little embarrassed, as I'm a middle-aged man. I suppose I can understand some dismissing this as a “charming little girls book"—it is a tad heavy on young romance, first loves, stolen kisses, exciting marriage proposals (Dear God, I'm cringing as I write). But what a pity if they did pigeon-hole it that way; it has way more to offer. It is witty, thoughtful, clever and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny at times. And the characters are so deeply drawn, I guess I didn’t mind all the accompanying histrionics.

I should say that I did live in the UK for many years, so I know my nostalgia for the English countryside enhanced my enjoyment. My favourite quote: “It came to me that Hyde Park has never belonged to London - that it has always been , in spirit, a stretch of countryside; and that it links the Londons of all periods together most magically - by remaining forever unchanged at the heart of a ever-changing town.�

Oh and—by the way—I think I’ve now realized why the algorithm recommended the book to me in the first place. I had “Cold Comfort Farm� listed as a favourite, and it’s only now that I’m starting to see the synchronicities between these two novels.
]]> The Martian 18007564
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error� are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills � and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit � he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

]]> 384 Andy Weir 0804139024 Matthew 2 behind the story --- you know, how the author couldn’t get published, he self-published online, then on Amazon Kindle, then Podium Publishing picked it up, and he eventually sold the print rights to Crown for bucketloads. And the rest is history. I really do love that story, and am genuinely happy for Andy Weir.

But back to The Martian. Here is where my unpopular opinion kicks-in. Quite simply, it’s an incredible premise poorly executed. I agree that the subject is captivating and the idea is excellent and the science is fascinating; so let’s just take that as gospel.

So where did Weir go wrong?

There’s almost no narrative tension [spoilers removed]

The characters are poorly imagined silhouettes; their dialogue is so corny and stilted. There were moments I cringed so hard I laughed.

This has the makings of an excellent movie, and the recently announced cast looks like a home-run. I can’t wait to see this story brought to life onscreen, and have high hopes with Ridley Scott at the helm. If the movie ends-up being fantastic and awesome, I fear it’s going to make Weir’s writing look even more amateurish. I have this vision of a distant future, where real space-aliens discover all of earth’s artistic archives and assume that Weir’s book was a hastily written novelization of Scott’s film. It reads like a clumsy film adaptation even now, so I can only assume it will seem even more like that after the actual movie is released. ]]> 4.41 2011 The Martian
author: Andy Weir
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2015/02/08
date added: 2020/04/17
shelves: goodreads-choice-winner, almost-didnt-finish, a-slog-to-the-end, disappointed, read-ab, struggled-a-bit, usa, whats-the-fuss, not-what-i-was-expecting, movie-was-better-than-the-book
review:
Seriously? I honestly don’t get the near-universal fuss being made over this book. I love the story behind the story --- you know, how the author couldn’t get published, he self-published online, then on Amazon Kindle, then Podium Publishing picked it up, and he eventually sold the print rights to Crown for bucketloads. And the rest is history. I really do love that story, and am genuinely happy for Andy Weir.

But back to The Martian. Here is where my unpopular opinion kicks-in. Quite simply, it’s an incredible premise poorly executed. I agree that the subject is captivating and the idea is excellent and the science is fascinating; so let’s just take that as gospel.

So where did Weir go wrong?

There’s almost no narrative tension [spoilers removed]

The characters are poorly imagined silhouettes; their dialogue is so corny and stilted. There were moments I cringed so hard I laughed.

This has the makings of an excellent movie, and the recently announced cast looks like a home-run. I can’t wait to see this story brought to life onscreen, and have high hopes with Ridley Scott at the helm. If the movie ends-up being fantastic and awesome, I fear it’s going to make Weir’s writing look even more amateurish. I have this vision of a distant future, where real space-aliens discover all of earth’s artistic archives and assume that Weir’s book was a hastily written novelization of Scott’s film. It reads like a clumsy film adaptation even now, so I can only assume it will seem even more like that after the actual movie is released.
]]> <![CDATA[One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest]]> 332613 9780451163967

Tyrannical Nurse Ratched rules her ward in an Oregon State mental hospital with a strict and unbending routine, unopposed by her patients, who remain cowed by mind-numbing medication and the threat of electric shock therapy. But her regime is disrupted by the arrival of McMurphy � the swaggering, fun-loving trickster with a devilish grin who resolves to oppose her rules on behalf of his fellow inmates. His struggle is seen through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a seemingly mute half-Indian patient who understands McMurphy's heroic attempt to do battle with the powers that keep them imprisoned. Ken Kesey's extraordinary first novel is an exuberant, ribald and devastatingly honest portrayal of the boundaries between sanity and madness.]]> 325 Ken Kesey Matthew 3 4.20 1962 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
author: Ken Kesey
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1962
rating: 3
read at: 2016/12/09
date added: 2020/04/14
shelves: buzzfeed-23-best-schoolbooks, time-alltime-100-novels
review:

]]> Lord of the Flies 7624 182 William Golding 0140283331 Matthew 3

Looking for things to do with my three boys during the COVID-19 lockdown, my wife and I started a family book-club. None of my kids are big readers, and it hasn’t been easy landing on books that could satisfy their varying tastes, interests and ages (11 years to 16 years), while also being a good match for us parents too.

We settled on LOTF because we found five copies in the school library. This is one of the only books I was forced to read in school, and despite not being a fan of rereading books, I was keen to revisit this.

If I’d read this book on my own, you would now be reading a one-star review. I kinda hated it. The allegory didn’t map very neatly onto the plot, and both suffered as a result. The allegory was messy. The plot was awful, rushed, and improbable.

But the process of discussing the book with my kids was delightful and made me feel more warmly to the book as a whole� a definite grade inflation has occurred.

I’ve only read a few (of the thousands of) reviews for this book, but so far none have mentioned the one necessary plot element that held the story together: fear . Any descent into hatred, brutality and revolt must start with that most primal of human instincts. Jack’s sickening rise to power could only have been possible on the backs of a petrified mass of followers. The fact the beast was all in their minds� a nice touch.

I’m so thankful we live in a time when people would never elect an incompetent, cruel leader just because they think he could fix a set of imaginary fears that were stoked by that very leader.


]]> 3.70 1954 Lord of the Flies
author: William Golding
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1954
rating: 3
read at: 2020/04/10
date added: 2020/04/11
shelves: read-at-school, lifehack-30-lifechangers, buzzfeed-23-best-schoolbooks, read-pb, time-alltime-100-novels, covid-19-lockdown, read-twice-or-more, read-with-the-kids, brit-lit, classics, read-ab
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

Looking for things to do with my three boys during the COVID-19 lockdown, my wife and I started a family book-club. None of my kids are big readers, and it hasn’t been easy landing on books that could satisfy their varying tastes, interests and ages (11 years to 16 years), while also being a good match for us parents too.

We settled on LOTF because we found five copies in the school library. This is one of the only books I was forced to read in school, and despite not being a fan of rereading books, I was keen to revisit this.

If I’d read this book on my own, you would now be reading a one-star review. I kinda hated it. The allegory didn’t map very neatly onto the plot, and both suffered as a result. The allegory was messy. The plot was awful, rushed, and improbable.

But the process of discussing the book with my kids was delightful and made me feel more warmly to the book as a whole� a definite grade inflation has occurred.

I’ve only read a few (of the thousands of) reviews for this book, but so far none have mentioned the one necessary plot element that held the story together: fear . Any descent into hatred, brutality and revolt must start with that most primal of human instincts. Jack’s sickening rise to power could only have been possible on the backs of a petrified mass of followers. The fact the beast was all in their minds� a nice touch.

I’m so thankful we live in a time when people would never elect an incompetent, cruel leader just because they think he could fix a set of imaginary fears that were stoked by that very leader.



]]> To Kill a Mockingbird 2657 "Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel - a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film.]]> 323 Harper Lee 0060935464 Matthew 5

This is the closest thing to perfection I’ve ever read.
]]> 4.25 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird
author: Harper Lee
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at: 2015/11/13
date added: 2020/04/10
shelves: lifehack-30-lifechangers, buzzfeed-23-best-schoolbooks, time-alltime-100-novels, pulitzer-winner, classics, favorites, read-ab, southern-gothic, usa, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, movie-was-meh
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

This is the closest thing to perfection I’ve ever read.

]]> Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1) 6149 Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby.

Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe's new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.]]> 325 Toni Morrison Matthew 0 pulitzer-winner, to-read 3.96 1987 Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
author: Toni Morrison
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: pulitzer-winner, to-read
review:

]]> Frankenstein: The 1818 Text 35031085 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9780143131847.

Mary Shelley's seminal novel of the scientist whose creation becomes a monster.

This edition is the original 1818 text, which preserves the hard-hitting and politically charged aspects of Shelley's original writing, as well as her unflinching wit and strong female voice. This edition also includes a new introduction and suggestions for further reading by author and Shelley expert Charlotte Gordon, literary excerpts and reviews selected by Gordon and a chronology and essay by preeminent Shelley scholar Charles E. Robinson.]]> 260 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 0143131842 Matthew 0 4.02 1818 Frankenstein: The 1818 Text
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1818
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, to-read
review:

]]> Arthur & George 45369
As boys, George, the son of a Midlands vicar, and Arthur, living in shabby genteel Edinburgh, find themselves in a vast and complex world at the heart of the British Empire. Years later—one struggling with his identity in a world hostile to his ancestry, the other creating the world’s most famous detective while in love with a woman who is not his wife—their fates become inextricably connected.]]> 445 Julian Barnes 1400097037 Matthew 4 covid-19-lockdown 3.72 2005 Arthur & George
author: Julian Barnes
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2020/03/15
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: covid-19-lockdown
review:

]]> Watchmen 472331 Watchmen, the groundbreaking series from award-winning author Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, presents a world where the mere presence of American superheroes changed history—the U.S. won the Vietnam War, Nixon is still president, and the Cold War is in full effect.

Considered the greatest graphic novel in the history of the medium, the Hugo Award-winning story chronicles the fall from grace of a group of superheroes plagued by all-too-human failings. Along the way, the concept of the superhero is dissected as an unknown assassin stalks the erstwhile heroes.]]> 416 Alan Moore 0930289234 Matthew 3 4.38 1987 Watchmen
author: Alan Moore
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at: 2020/03/23
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: time-alltime-100-novels, graphic-novel, in-my-bookcase, read-pb, usa, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, covid-19-lockdown
review:

]]> The Call of the Wild 1852 The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London's masterpiece. Based on London's experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike.]]> 172 Jack London Matthew 0 3.89 1903 The Call of the Wild
author: Jack London
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1903
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> The Road 6288
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,� are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.]]> 241 Cormac McCarthy 0307265439 Matthew 0 3.99 2006 The Road
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winner, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action]]> 7108725 Why do you do what you do?

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. It was their natural ability to start with why that enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be lead, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with WHY never manipulate, they inspire. And the people who follow them don't do so because they have to; they follow because they want to.

Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.]]> 256 Simon Sinek 1591842808 Matthew 0 4.10 2009 Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
author: Simon Sinek
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest]]> 42389 Foreword
"We wanted those wings"; Camp Toccoa, 7-12/42
"Stand up & hook up"; Benning, Mackall, Bragg, Shanks, 12/42-9/43
"Duties of the latrine orderly"; Aldbourne, 9/43-3/44
"Look out, Hitler! Here we come!"; Slapton Sands, Uppottery, 4/1-6/5/44
"Follow me"; Normandy, 6/6/44
"Move out!"; Carentan, 6/7-7/12/44
Healing wounds & scrubbed missions; Aldbourne, 7/13-9/16/44
"Hell's highway"; Holland, 9/17-10/1/44
Island; Holland, 10/2-11/25/44
Resting, recovering & refitting: Mourmelon-le-Grand, 11/26-12/18/44
"They got us surrounded-the poor bastards"; Bastogne, 12/19-31/44
Breaking point; Bastogne, 1/1-13/45
Attack; Noville, 1/14-17/45
Patrol: Haguenau, 1/18-2/23/45
"Best feeling in the world": Mourmelon, 2/25-4/2/45
Getting to know the enemy: Germany, 4/2-30/45
Drinking Hitler's champagne; Berchtesgaden, 5/1-8/45
Soldier's dream life; Austria, 5/8-7/31/45
Postwar careers; 1945-91
Acknowledgments & Sources
Index]]> 432 Stephen E. Ambrose 0743464117 Matthew 0 4.43 1992 Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
author: Stephen E. Ambrose
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world’s great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber’s son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming “unstuck in time.�

An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut’s writing—the political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive wit—that have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it.

Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era’s uncertainties.]]> 275 Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Matthew 4

I would’ve enjoyed this more if I’d known it was meta-science-fiction. Vonnegut’s intentional misrepresentation of the text as being firsthand non-fiction really confused me for a large chunk of the beginning. Knowing zilch about a book beforehand can be good, but it definitely didn’t help with Slaughterhouse Five.

Eventually I learnt to love this strange little beast, but not without some serious misgivings. It is so f**king grim. Too bleak to read large sections at a time, I had to read this book in short spurts over many months. I could literally feel my chest tensing, and anxiety growing the more I read. Not a pleasant experience.

Being reminded of the pointlessness of life and death is draining. That’s why we try to ignore it 100% of the time. But there’s also a kind of loveliness in that dance we perform with ourselves, as we ignore death and seek meaning at every opportunity. And when Vonnegut is at his best, holding those two opposite things in tension --- one utterly devastating and the other beautiful and beguiling --- a certain magic happens.

So, despite the exhausting nihilism, Slaughterhouse definitely earned my four-stars. If for no other reason than pulling off a genre-bending wartime-slash-historical fiction-slash-scifi-slash-memoir mashup like no other. ]]> 4.10 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five
author: Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1969
rating: 4
read at: 2014/11/25
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: buzzfeed-23-best-schoolbooks, almost-didnt-finish, havent-seen-the-movie, read-ab, struggled-a-bit, usa, deep-and-profound, time-alltime-100-novels, not-what-i-was-expecting, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:
TIME MAGAZINE

I would’ve enjoyed this more if I’d known it was meta-science-fiction. Vonnegut’s intentional misrepresentation of the text as being firsthand non-fiction really confused me for a large chunk of the beginning. Knowing zilch about a book beforehand can be good, but it definitely didn’t help with Slaughterhouse Five.

Eventually I learnt to love this strange little beast, but not without some serious misgivings. It is so f**king grim. Too bleak to read large sections at a time, I had to read this book in short spurts over many months. I could literally feel my chest tensing, and anxiety growing the more I read. Not a pleasant experience.

Being reminded of the pointlessness of life and death is draining. That’s why we try to ignore it 100% of the time. But there’s also a kind of loveliness in that dance we perform with ourselves, as we ignore death and seek meaning at every opportunity. And when Vonnegut is at his best, holding those two opposite things in tension --- one utterly devastating and the other beautiful and beguiling --- a certain magic happens.

So, despite the exhausting nihilism, Slaughterhouse definitely earned my four-stars. If for no other reason than pulling off a genre-bending wartime-slash-historical fiction-slash-scifi-slash-memoir mashup like no other.
]]> The Republic of Plato, Vol. 1 9192173 479 Plato Matthew 0 3.80 1908 The Republic of Plato, Vol. 1
author: Plato
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1908
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> The Old Man and the Sea 2165 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses—specifically referred to in the citation accompanying the author's Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.]]> 96 Ernest Hemingway 0684830493 Matthew 3
During my time inside the text I couldn’t find anything in the story that captured me. It was sparse and repetitive and � I hate to say it � boring. The emotional punch doesn’t come until the very, very end. And at that moment I could barely muster any response other than relief (that it was over) and bafflement (that this is considered a classic).

But I like to allow a few days or a week before reviewing� to allow the narrative space to have its impact. I’ve found myself lingering on the mundane tragedy of the old man and the gentle broken heartedness of the young boy. And I’m ruminating on the old man’s tender acceptance of life’s harsh realities.

These post-reading thoughts are making this a terribly difficult book to review. How can I want to re-experience something I didn’t enjoy at all? So maybe ٳ󲹳’s why this qualifies as a classic?!

I will most likely reread the book, and may possibly have a different opinion after Round 2. But in the meantime, I’m giving my honest response to a first-time exposure. My three-star review is intended to represent the awful experience during, and the delayed emotional punch that came after.]]> 3.81 1952 The Old Man and the Sea
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1952
rating: 3
read at: 2013/10/21
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: read-ab, a-slog-to-the-end, animalia, pulitzer-winner, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:
This is a conflicted review to embody my conflicted experience of this book.

During my time inside the text I couldn’t find anything in the story that captured me. It was sparse and repetitive and � I hate to say it � boring. The emotional punch doesn’t come until the very, very end. And at that moment I could barely muster any response other than relief (that it was over) and bafflement (that this is considered a classic).

But I like to allow a few days or a week before reviewing� to allow the narrative space to have its impact. I’ve found myself lingering on the mundane tragedy of the old man and the gentle broken heartedness of the young boy. And I’m ruminating on the old man’s tender acceptance of life’s harsh realities.

These post-reading thoughts are making this a terribly difficult book to review. How can I want to re-experience something I didn’t enjoy at all? So maybe ٳ󲹳’s why this qualifies as a classic?!

I will most likely reread the book, and may possibly have a different opinion after Round 2. But in the meantime, I’m giving my honest response to a first-time exposure. My three-star review is intended to represent the awful experience during, and the delayed emotional punch that came after.
]]> The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway Matthew 0 3.81 1926 The Sun Also Rises
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1926
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, time-alltime-100-novels, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> Fight Club 36236124 Fight Club’s estranged narrator leaves his lackluster job when he comes under the thrall of Tyler Durden, an enigmatic young man who holds secret after-hours boxing matches in the basement of bars. There, two men fight "as long as they have to." This is a gloriously original work that exposes the darkness at the core of our modern world.]]> 224 Chuck Palahniuk 0393355942 Matthew 0 4.18 1996 Fight Club
author: Chuck Palahniuk
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, to-read
review:

]]> The Feminine Mystique 17573685 562 Betty Friedan 0393346781 Matthew 0 3.92 1963 The Feminine Mystique
author: Betty Friedan
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, to-read
review:

]]> The Count of Monte Cristo 7126 The epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translation

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas� epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.

Translated with an Introduction by Robin Buss

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here]]> 1276 Alexandre Dumas 0140449264 Matthew 0 4.29 1846 The Count of Monte Cristo
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1846
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)]]> 20518872 472 Liu Cixin Matthew 0 4.07 2006 The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)
author: Liu Cixin
name: Matthew
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: spy-com-25-every-man-should-read, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Confederacy of Dunces (Evergreen Book)]]> 310612
His mother thinks he needs to go to work. He does, in a succession of jobs. Each job rapidly escalates into a lunatic adventure, a full-blown disaster; yet each has, like Don Quixote's, its own eerie logic.

His girlfriend, Myrna Minkoff of the Bronx, thinks he needs sex.

Ignatius is an intellectual, ideologue, deadbeat, goof-off, glutton, who should repel the reader with his gargantuan bloats, his thunderous contempt, and one-man war against everybody: Freud, homosexuals, heterosexuals, Protestants, and the assorted excesses of modern times.

A tragicomedy, set in New Orleans.]]> 394 John Kennedy Toole 0802130208 Matthew 0 3.89 1980 A Confederacy of Dunces (Evergreen Book)
author: John Kennedy Toole
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, pulitzer-winner, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> Orlando 18839 Orlando 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth's England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Constantinople, awakes to find that he is now a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.]]> 336 Virginia Woolf 0141184272 Matthew 0 3.88 1928 Orlando
author: Virginia Woolf
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1928
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: to-read, in-my-bookcase, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:

]]> The Art of War 10534 170 Sun Tzu Matthew 1 Game of Thrones:

Poor Stanis

And Clash of Clans:

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And various other books, TV shows, movies etc� In other words, I’m an infinitely lucky bastard who won the jackpot in the lottery of life. Had I been born in a different time or location I may have known the horror and futile murderousness of war.

I’m both fascinated and repulsed by --- what appears to me to be --- the glorification of war in business culture. The use of phrases like “wargaming� leave me cold, but I can see the appeal to lethargic corporate drones. Similarly I can see the appeal of The Art of War in these settings. I literally (yes, literally) feel like vomiting when I read articles titled �10 Art of War Lessons Your Competitors Hope You Don’t Know�:



Admitedly I daydreamed my way through most of this short book, but I could only detect two kinds of advice from The Art of War:

Advice Type 1: Insanely specific advice for winning a war in China during 512BC. For example:


“Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver.�

Advice Type 2: Generic and obvious instruction that could be easily read through a filter of modern corporate bullsh1t. For example:


“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt;�

--- and ---


“To rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues�

So I really can see the temptation for lazy corporate consultants to sieve out all the generic advice and repackage it for dumb corporate slaves as “groundbreaking and primeval� advice. Because it ticks so many of the boxes (obvious: check --- generic: check --- war-themed: check --- ancient: check).

But for the rest of us. This book is a total snoozefest.
]]> 3.98 -500 The Art of War
author: Sun Tzu
name: Matthew
average rating: 3.98
book published: -500
rating: 1
read at: 2015/07/29
date added: 2020/04/03
shelves: boring, classics, read-ab, non-fiction, oh-well-not-for-me, translated, whats-the-fuss, snooze, spy-com-25-every-man-should-read
review:
Everything I know about war I’ve learned from Game of Thrones:

Poor Stanis

And Clash of Clans:

[image error]

And various other books, TV shows, movies etc� In other words, I’m an infinitely lucky bastard who won the jackpot in the lottery of life. Had I been born in a different time or location I may have known the horror and futile murderousness of war.

I’m both fascinated and repulsed by --- what appears to me to be --- the glorification of war in business culture. The use of phrases like “wargaming� leave me cold, but I can see the appeal to lethargic corporate drones. Similarly I can see the appeal of The Art of War in these settings. I literally (yes, literally) feel like vomiting when I read articles titled �10 Art of War Lessons Your Competitors Hope You Don’t Know�:



Admitedly I daydreamed my way through most of this short book, but I could only detect two kinds of advice from The Art of War:

Advice Type 1: Insanely specific advice for winning a war in China during 512BC. For example:


“Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver.�

Advice Type 2: Generic and obvious instruction that could be easily read through a filter of modern corporate bullsh1t. For example:


“If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt;�

--- and ---


“To rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues�

So I really can see the temptation for lazy corporate consultants to sieve out all the generic advice and repackage it for dumb corporate slaves as “groundbreaking and primeval� advice. Because it ticks so many of the boxes (obvious: check --- generic: check --- war-themed: check --- ancient: check).

But for the rest of us. This book is a total snoozefest.

]]>