Bryan

A guilty pleasure. But a pleasure nonetheless. A bit dated but a fun read.

A strangely relatable tale about our present moment but written 30 years ago. Great characters. Solid story. Very bleak and dark bit with hints of hope.

I admit I am a bit biased because I know Tom personally but this is a tight, clever story that plays on childhood fears in a very effective way. It has its creepy, scary moments but also its sweet, heartwarming ones.

On the one hand, this was a fun read. I enjoyed it. It would make a great TV series.

On the other hand, I'm not the type for long series. The book lacks resolution. I realize this is by design as there are many more books in the DCC universe, but I mean, it really lacks resolution. It felt more like the first chapters of a longer novel. In any event, it was fun and I was happy to read it, but I'm not sure I was sucked in enough to keep going.

Scalzi at his best. Maybe this is scalzis best. A fun read with a human heart buried in the over-the-top action.

not bad. Not great. Starts slow but picks up speed. It was fun but the writing didn’t really impress me. That said the story is well constructed and eventually thrilling.

a bit slow to get going but a thrill ride for the second half.

It would be impossible not to appreciate this collection of essays as a Texan and reader of Texas Monthly. A pleasure to read and I learned a few things too.

A good primer on racism in America. The first 2/3s was somewhat introductory and would be really good in a class or group setting for people who really want to better understand how racism functions and what they can do about it. The last third was, in my view, more thoughtful and leveraged more sophisticated analysis, as well as offered a more personal perspective. The personal perspective is used throughout, but seemed more authentic to me at the end.

Overall, a good read, if not exactly a page turner. More of a classroom on racism.

Not a terrible book, but it felt more like an extended essay to me. Would have been a fine magazine article but as a book it just didn't have enough gas to go the distance. While the ideas are appropriate to the moment we are in, they aren't the most revolutionary or original. Still worth a quick read.

I admit a rather odd interest in cannibalism. This book only made me more curious about the disturbing practice.

Rather than focus on the eccentric cannibal killer who occupies a unique place in our consciousness, both as a news-worthy reality and a fictional fascination, this book instead looks at cannibalism as a natural phenomenon, occurring in some form in almost every branch of the animal kingdom. Insects, salamanders, fish, sharks, apes and humans all take part in cannibalistic practices that are distinctive, surprising and, for this reader, endlessly fascinating.

The punch line, however, is that, since under the right conditions we find cannibalism practiced throughout the animal kingdom, given the right conditions, we might see cannibalism emerge again as a human activity. Describing one society where cannibalism was practiced in modern times, the author outlines the consequences - kuru, a mysterious brain disease similar to Mad Cow disease (and with similar origin). Could a future earth, plunged into scarcity due to environmental changes, see the rise of cannibalism in desperate communities looking to survive? Could an outbreak of kuru result, spreading a little-understood brain disease with no cure?

Maybe. Maybe not. But what this book does convincingly argue is that cannibalism happens under natural circumstances that can be defined and predicted. That's way scarier than any serial cannibal killer.

A wonderful book. Reads like an adventure novel, with surreal elements blended in beautifully, yet feels very grounded in the hard truths of American slave history. Not an easy book to read, given its painful rendering of slave life. But a thrilling book to read, as notions of heroism, freedom and justice are all challenged, questioned and rearranged.

Granted, I love Guy Clark.

But this book makes him come to life in new ways. A great read about an unusual and extraordinary life. I regret that I only saw him live in concert once - but I'm grateful that I caught him that one time. I wish I could have seen him in his prime.

The book is at once insightful and personal - not detached and objective, but a passionate, affectionate telling of a life. That said, the book doesn't paint over Guy's many rough spots. All in all, a great book I enjoyed reading a lit.

This is a good book and a real pleasure to read.

But it is not a great book.

I liked it, but I felt it relied too heavily on cliches - Ove is a grumpy old man with a painful past, a brusk facade, but a heart of gold. He finds salvation in his odd, ragtag neighbors, despite his prejudices and preferences for a past that seems simpler and more human. There's the fat guy, the hormonal pregnant woman, the gay with a judgmental father and the love sick teen - all in need of Ove's help in one way or another.....

I appreciated the simple, clear writing style - it is a fast read with few wasted words. But I also felt it was overly set up and too tightly drawn to be as satisfying as I hoped.

Junger writes with clarity and purpose, a skill that is most clearly exhibited when he narrates his experiences in war-torn settings. His stories are often poignant and touching, while also conveying the horror of war and the realities of violence.

In this book, however, Junger attempts to make a grand argument about the failings of modern, wealthy, technological, western societies. While I felt that he had some interesting insights, untimely his argument is unsatisfying. He can't help but romanticize “tribal” cultures, typified by the American Indian, and he glosses over the myriad traumas of modern poverty in his arguments for social cohesion and community building in the face of adversity.

Within this text there is an interesting idea that deserves more exploring. What exactly is going on at the intersections of modern society, masculinity, community, war? I hope someone takes up those questions and produces an accessible book that is more convincing that this one.

Wonderfully written, though sometimes wonderfully over-written. Clever conceit, but also a new perspective on the so-called “Vietnam War.”

Not his best, but in the end a fascinating look inside of an unusual academic partnership. The first half of this book felt like a long, hard slog to me - but later chapters paid off with more interesting material. Just keep in mind that this is a book about the intimate inner workings of two academics in the field of psychology. Not exactly baseball or Wall Street in terms of inherent excitement. But, Lewis does his best to make this matter and relevant, and I think, in the end, he succeeds....but at first, not so much.

I enjoyed this book - it is an amazingly well-crafted tale of life beyond the end of civilization. I cared for the characters and wanted a happy ending, which I more or less got.

The one thing I didn't really like is the depiction of religion in this book. So far as I could tell, religion in the post-apocalyptic world is reserved for deranged crack-pots who simply eliminate alternate perspectives and those who hold them. No one in this post-apocalyptic vision found solace or hope in religion, nor did they seek to build a better world after being inspired by a religious text or teaching.

Given the state of religion in our world today, it's no surprise that it is held in such low esteem. Nevertheless, it seems a worthy thing to think about how people might have crafted a religious answer to the plight they faced in Station Eleven. The comic book answers didn't do it for me.

A surprising and fun read, but I felt it lost some of its energy by the end.

I found this book to be a powerful effort at disclosing an intimate journey of spiritual awakening, while at the same time honestly grappling with most of the major pitfalls we face as “modern” minds. The book is not perfect. At times my mind wandered (maybe that was my fault) and at times I found the content repetitive. But it is the best thing on spirituality I have read that has been published in recent history. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested.

Egger's prose is clear, concise, simple. But he wrestles thoughtfully with contemporary themes. Granted, a middle-aged white American male might relate to this book more than others, it is still a simply told but sophisticated story that is worth a read.

I don't get it. I never will.

A secret is slowly revealed that disturbs an old man who has lived a privileged life with many advantages. I just couldn't bring myself to really care. He wrote a nasty letter when his best friend hooked up with his ex and somehow that makes him responsible when his friend commits suicide. Didn't get that either. I need a book about people with real problems.

On the plus side it's well written with many carefully crafted sections that are worth reading for their own sake. The end is surprising but I just didnt care.

Eh.

For all those who violate the boundaries, push through the taboos and cross the line. A fun meditation on liminal space and the strange powers that regulate, authenticate and enforce border crossings of all sorts. Add to that a classic murder mystery in the noir tradition and you have this book.

This a fun book to read, with a wonderful setting (much of the book takes place aboard a circus train) and a clever twist in the plot (the book begins with the description of a murder - the full nature of which isn't revealed until the end of the book). The prose is simply to read and makes the pages turn quickly, but the book is not simple. There is a nice subtext that mirrors the Biblical story of Jacob. Picking up on that subtext isn't necessary to enjoy the book, but it does enrich the experience (and adds a star for this reviewer). Not a literary masterpiece, but a great read on vacation or for pleasure.