Kafka must be read (or heard)
Book title: The Trial
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
I recently completed the audio book of The Trial. Other reviewers have spoken at length about the dream-like nature of Kafka's prose and the incredibly way by which he captures the absurdity of daily decisions. The Trial offers us much food for thought, seeming to foreshadow the rise of totalitarian governments, yet remaining maddeningly unclear about K's agency in his own life.I'd like to offer a plug for listening to this book on tape. The audio version offers excellent narration by Geoffrey Howard. Howard's range of voices is excellent, and he truly does justice to Kafka's long Germanic sentences. Listening to the book was a pleasure - and made me look forward to my commute (always the sign of a good audio book).My one quibble with the audio version is that some of the fragments, played at the end, could have been interwoven with the text, which itself is unfinished.
EAN: 9780330244688
Pages: 254
Publisher: Picador
Authors:
Franz Kafka
It got to the heart of my very own soul
Book title: I Know This Much Is True
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
I haven't read a book in years. You know...just too busy. Seems I couldn't find time for more than a magazine article. I just felt I had to read this book when I heard Oprah and Wally Lamb talking about it on her show. I found the book to be absolutely the most fascinating thing I have ever read. It caused me much pain in thinking about my own life and my own family. The author has an incredible way of getting to the heart of the matter.I am very thankful that this is the book I chose to get back into the world of the 'reading'.
EAN: 9780006513230
Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd
Authors:
Wally Lamb
Scholarly yet accessible acct of a fantastic composer
Book title: Lou Harrison: Composing a World
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
This is a delightful book, scholarly yet fully accessible to the layman. It deals with a contemporary American composer, Lou Harrison, who is finally getting the critical recognition he deserves as the creator of one of the richest, most melodic, most wide-ranging and eclectic musical canons of our time. This is the first significant critical work on Harrison and is important just for that. But it will also appeal to those interested in the interplay between politics and music in the 20th century, especially pacificism and the arts, and to those interested in the gay rights movement and the key role of gay artists in contemporary music. Though co-authored, the book is written in a seamless, graceful style, and it is organized for easy skimming and sampling. Nevertheless, it is fully documented and full of ideas and directions for further scholarship and research. The wonderful accompanying CD enriches the book enormously and makes the whole package a bargain.
EAN: 9780195110227
Pages: 385
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Authors:
Leta E. Miller
Fredric Lieberman
Delightful and Wicked
Book title: The Nanny Diaries: A Novel
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
I read this book over two days as I was stuck in bed with a cold. The medicine I was on did not help me feel better, but this book did. What a terrific read. It goes fast, but hits all the right notes. Nanny is wonderful character--a welcome change from many of the current novels about young single women in the city, she is not like Ally McBeal or Bridget Jones. Sure, she has a few flaws...but accepts them. She is caring and delightful woman. Mrs. X is an accurate look at a special kind of woman (and the same is true of Mr.X) that you only find in New York. The tone is pitch perfect. I found myself thinking of Sherman McCoy a bit. If Bonfire of the Vanities had taken a different turn, the McCoys might have hired Nanny. A rare book that captures the zeitgeist perfectly. It is well worth all the hype.
EAN: 9780312291631
Pages: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Authors:
Emma McLaughlin
Nicola Kraus
Magnificant.
Book title: The Catcher in the Rye
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
This book was recommended to me by a random book store woman in Las Vegas who just came up to me and said, 'I really do think you'll enjoy this book. You seem like you would. I loved it when I was younger.' I was very excited to be recommended such a famous book, and to be told that I seemed like I'd enjoy it. Let me tell you-it isn't worded like any Establishmentarian, but even so, it is still extremely well written. J.D. Salinger really delivers this novel. He tells you straight out how the character feels. No super-fancy wording to describe it. This book is somewhat metaphoric at parts. It seems to make you think-which is good! I highly recommend this book from ages 9 and above. If you don't understand it while you're young, read again later when you're sixteen, and it may make more sense.
EAN: 9780316769488
Pages: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Authors:
J.D. Salinger
If you don't love ACC basketball now...
Book title: A March to Madness : A View from the Floor in the Atlantic Coast Conference
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
you will after reading this book. I read the "Madness" in my first year of college at UVA- the year after it was published- and a love affair began. Whereas I used to not care less about basketball, this book signed over my life to the ACC. The soap opera-like stories, play-by-play excitement, and obvious love for the game captured me, and ever since I have been a virtual hermit during March. The biases are there, but that's part of the charm. In the ACC you love your team, but you love the game even more.
EAN: 9780316277129
Pages: 512
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Authors:
John Feinstein
Well-told history of a maddening time
Book title: Smoke and Mirrors : The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Paperback
I first heard the author describing how he conducted his research for this book: he went and talked to the actual people who designed and implemented the various policies that make up the WoD. It sounded like a relatively balanced view of how we got here. Well, it is. I just find the conceptions and motivations of the drug warriors incredibly frustrating (and evil). Then only negative about the book is that its span ended in 93-94ish, leaving out some the egregious violations of our civil liberties. Read the book, and become active in the fight for sanity and freedom!
EAN: 9780316084468
Pages: 416
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Authors:
Dan Baum
inspirational
Book title: Winning by Losing : Drop the Weight, Change Your Life
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
I attended Jillian's lecture in Hazlet, New Jersey on Sept. 6 and she was very inspiring. I was with my sister; whom convinced me and a few other ladies in our circle to go. I have around 80lbs to lose and have been struggling with weight issues my entire life. Jillian was nothing like I expected. I was even a little intimidated going there thinking she would be so strict and acting above us all when in fact she was the opposite! Warm, understanding, funny, self-deprecating and she made "me" feel like a million bucks. She stayed after the lecture to speak to each of us individually and had kind encouraging words for all of us. I wish I lived closer to her - I'd recruit her as my trainer. p.s. they showed her fat photo on season one of the biggest loser - she still looked very pretty anyway in my opinion.
EAN: 9780060845469
Pages: 272
Publisher: Collins
Authors:
Jillian Michaels
A wonderful addition to the ER4YT program...
Book title: Cook Right for Your Type : The Practical Kitchen Companion to Eat Right 4 Your Type, Including More Than 200 Original Recipes...
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Hardcover
This book is an excellent companion to the original "Eat Right 4 Your Type" book by D'Adamo (see my review on that book here on Amazon.) It contains a review of some of the material from the original book, and then branches out to include a ton of recipes. Each recipe specifies whether it is beneficial, neutral, or to be avoided by each blood type, making it easy to plan meals for one or more types. The book has a whole range of recipes, from breads to main dishes, sauces to desserts, salads to beverages. There are 30 day menu plans for each blood type, with suggested meals and snacks. There's even a list in the back of mail order sources for various foods some people may have trouble finding in their areas. All in all this book is a great adjunct to the previous book, and well worth buying for those who follow this health plan. If you're using the first book, don't hesitate to buy this book!
EAN: 9780399144370
Pages: 450
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
Authors:
Peter J. D'Adamo
Better than any study of humanity available in in classroom!
Book title: Chapterhouse Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 6)
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
More than your basic sci-fi romp, Frank Herbert's commentary on what makes up and binds society (and also tears the same apart) gave me food for thought to nourish the well-balanced dogma I call my own...thank you Frank for making me a better person! "Fear is the mindkiller. It is the little death that brings on total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will allow fear to pass through me and to pass around me. When fear is gone by I shall turn to see fear's path. Only I will remain."....Benegeserit Litany Against Fear NOW BE A GOOD STUDENT AND READ THE BOOKS!!!!
EAN: 9780441102679
Pages: 435
Publisher: ACE Charter
Authors:
Frank Herbert
