What a fun book about our national embarassments! I've seen Lithgow promoting the two previous books in this series, but they were highly particular to the last presidency's time period. I went ahead and got this one because it covers a wider range of governmental criminals. Lithgow's word choices were great with an expansive vocabulary. And who doesn't love reading history to a Seussian cadence?? Most of these characters I already knew, but still an enjoyable new way to read about them in short verse. The last long poem about January 6 really ended the slim volume strongly, though!
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August 2026
I've loved the movie "A League of their Own" and is one of the (relatively) few movies I will re-watch without hesitation. A new generation is going to take a swing at a tv series version of the AAGPBL this month, so while digging around for a book to read I found this one and decided to read it. It turned out to be just a novelization of the movie, but it's great how indelibly the actors' performances are that I could picture every scene, every way the dialogue was played from reading this book. The movie really was pretty perfectly cast. I can't say enough about Penny Marshall's greatness, too. The dialogue and scene descriptions differed a little here and there, but considering the book was released on the same day as the movie, that's probably from slight editor/director changes that weren't going to make the novelization. Definitely not in 1992 anyway. As always, I recommend this story, in any format.<br/><br/>Sidenote: I've apparently had this book forever as it's stamped from the South Bend, IN public library where I've not been in for decades. Hopefully I bought it and didn't accidentally keep it!
The idea that choosing someone at the end of their human life intrigued me. In a culture where youth is king, someone writing about senior citizens being valued for their life experience and melding it with science fiction was a refreshing change. The story was well-written without any dull moments and a good mix of scifi, humor, and touching moments. I'm moving on to the next book in the series and hope it's just as good.
This book covers just about everything I usually rant about the cult/homogenization of "girliness." It makes me want to do a compilation of girls through time and find where suddenly every damn kid was dressed head to toe in identical Pepto-Bismol pink, day in and day out. It makes a lot good points on finding the fine line between being feminine and limiting females only to what is stereotyped feminine (and, of course, by extension the excessive policing of males as male).
Interesting. What would be the fallout if every animal on the planet with a Y chromosome suddenly died all at the same time?
This took me about 2 weeks to get through and most of it was because of the first entire half of the book. I'm not sure why the author did this, but it was very distracting that the tenses and point of view kept constantly changing. In addition, I don't recall the author saying she would do this, but I also don't know why she insists to the very end to not append "BC" or "BCE" or at least "AD" to the years in which events occurred. Although she did do SOME jumping around in chronology, it took me a while to finally realize what she was doing. Why?? I wasn't sure of the exact time in which these figures lived, so I had to double-check that indeed Cleopatra VII lived from around 69BCE to 30 BCE.<br/><br/>In relation to the changing of tenses and POV, I'm going to guess the author was having to fill a lot of holes in the historical record early in Cleopatra's life due to little to no records before she became heavily involved with the Romans. However, the way she wrote it seems like she couldn't figure out whether to write it straight as biographical non-fiction or go full-on Philippa Gregory "historical" fiction. The second half greatly improved and probably because primary sources for that time period do as well. That's when the story really picked up and really became interesting as Cleopatra matured as a person and a ruler.<br/><br/>As for the figure herself, anything written about her, as even Schiff admits, is suspect. Her story is primarily written by the Romans, her conquerors and men who for one reason or another all seemed to have some sort of axe to grind. Not that an autocrat of any sort is above reproach by their very nature, but it seems all those who had something to write about her railed at her for doing all of the things they themselves and many another male autocrat had done before and certainly have done since. The apparent reason for which she was finally taken down seems to be summarized as not that she actually had any designs on taking over the Roman Empire as she was accused, but just the fact that she controlled such a large swath of land and its riches/resources and, I guess, showed them up for how well she managed them (even!) for them.<br/><br/>Overall, I gave this three stars because I split the difference. If I hadn't soldiered on through that first half I would've given it a 2 and the second half I think is worth a 3 or 4.
A few of these essays are worth 4 stars, in particular the titular one "Zombie, Spaceship, Wasteland." For the most part I appreciate Oswalt's dense writing and excellent vocabulary and the way he has of detailing down to the smallest, bitter tidbit. There were a handful of stories that I could've done without, in particular the ones in the middle involving the (it seems) greetings cards that should've been. Other than "Zombie..." I liked the story about his mentally ill uncle. The personal and poignant quality to it made it great.
Amazing what little things others are willing to kill someone over and also amazing that people are willing to do them to show how oppressive and crazy those same other people are. A collection of short stories, I think this book is a good starting point for learning about history and horrific events in other countries. Also, some of our own. The book is an easy read, at least as far as style. Some of the events, not so much. Recommended for history and politics buffs.
I read this book in a one-day marathon session and having read some opinions around the internet, I think I got something different from it. I haven't decided if it's one of the better ones of the series, but I will say I think I see what Harris intended with this book. It's my understanding that this series will only go 2 more books and I feel this was a clearing of the decks before the final lead-up. One of the criticisms I saw was that Harris wasn't true to the character. I don't think that's true. If anything, I think she's returning Sookie to where she began. Once she got heavily involved with all of the supernatural beings, she became more and more like them and less like a human (even though she isn't completely one herself). I won't spoil how she returns closer to her roots, but I think she just might and I think this could be a good thing even though, yes, I'm disappointed with what it might take to accomplish that, one of the reasons people might be most pissed off. (Can I get more vague? lol) In a way I think Harris might be smart in that she may be avoiding going the way of authors and series characters like those of Laurell K Hamilton and leaning more towards Jim Butcher who did some deck clearing of his own with his last book, "Changes." A good book, I think, although it would've been nice to see more of mouthy/sarcastic Pam, but that was understandable. I can't wait to see how this series ends!
I liked this book, but wanted to really like it. The book is written in a vignette/short story style and at first it took concentration to keep the various characters straight. I think my main disappointment is that I felt a lot more could've been done with the premise of a machine becoming sentient and deciding humanity is the scourge of the earth. I keep feeling like the narrative was almost there if only it got a little more of a nudge. Maybe it's because the result of the "New War" is stated from the beginning that was the problem? Sure, you know what happens, but the path there could've been more exciting. The final stand, if you will, was kind of short and kind of anticlimatic. All in all, not a bad story, but it needed something more.
I worked in psych research labs for 5+ years, so I found this very interesting. I think it really impresses the fact that there's a lot in the psychology/psychiatry fields that are completely subjective. There's also a lot which is completely absurd to the point that people who would be considered mad run around free while people who are actually normal (or at least borderline normal) are locked up and/or medicated into submission. I think the part where he discusses how many professionals are now using an arbitrarily/chaotically-created checklist and wielding powerful/dangerous medications on 'inconvenient' behaviors, especially in children, angered me most. A 3 year old being diagnosed with bipolar disorder??? And made to take 10 pills a day? No wonder the child ended up dead by parents giving them to her like candy! In the quest to make everyone "normal," too many medicated zombies are being created (from the cradle!) and we will someday suffer severely for it.
I am FINALLY finished with this tome! And oh my god am I ever glad I didn't have to wait the years others have for the next book! Granted, it took me forever to get through it because two-thirds or maybe even three-quarters of the book seemed to be nothing but flipping weddings! Good grief. I was so bored I kept putting the book down. Then suddenly GRRM realized he was probably boring the audience to tears and/or he'd sufficiently lulled the reader into complete complacency and BAM! suddenly people were dying and running all over the place again. I was pretty shocked for a bit there, but the cliffhanger of an ending proved partially that I wasn't in denial about where the story MUST go. Now it gets more interesting. If only Dany would drown from getting pushed off a boat or something, I would be SO happy. I reach her chapters and once again I want to drop the book off somewhere high. At least there wasn't any more of that "Hodor! Hodor!" nonsense. Ugh. So in the end the book redeemed itself, but I swear GRRM was trying to thin the herd of non-True Believers! Onward to Book 4!
I decided to not read more. Her humor doesn't translate to the page and not a real fan of writing in short form (essays, novellas, poetry, etc). I'll try Patton Oswalt instead since he crams so much in, it doesn't feel like an essay.
Starting up an audiobook version read by Tina Fey which was the first version that came available through the library. Those waitlists were horrendous, but my audiobook line was shorter than Shane's hardback line. :)
I believe I first read about this book through NPR and was intrigued at the social experiment of donning "black face" in 1950s South. The more I read of it, the more it seemed to me that things never change and, at least at this moment if not always since, much of the beginnings of social turmoil were exactly the same as today. When speaking to a black man about educated black people he sadly told about all the young people who were in college or finished college and yet still ended up in the same menial jobs as if they'd never gone. Many not wanting to bother, defeated by the idea that it was all a huge waste of time, a commonly sung tune these days among OWS people.<br/><br/>I was repulsed and a little surprised at the amount of people Griffin found to be kind to black people, especially hitchhikers, under the assumption that they'd get some sort of juice, "dirty" thrill of off-the-wall sexual mores and practices among black people. Seriously? Picking up people just to get their pervert on with the stupid bias based on skin color?? Insane. Also, the lengths to which so many bigots went to keep black people out of jobs and, more practically, places like restrooms, to the point of making them so uncomfortable that towns were "Sunset" towns, if not always lily-white.<br/><br/>Griffin was apparently a rather devout Roman Catholic/Christian, so at the time of the publication, he did his best to not talk about religion or criticize it, but it seems he later regretted that. The fact that religious people who are supposed to help others no matter who or what they are allowed the treatment of black people to go on in those ways and in fact in many cases used as a justification for treating blacks those ways was unpardonable. This is another parallel, I think, with today's churches who follow the concept of "prosperity theology" where you're rich or poor because you deserve it.<br/><br/>Griffin was one of many people who placed their lives at great risk for righting many civil rights wrongs. He and many others feared for their lives for a long time after the publication of his book and going on lecture circuits and getting out the vote, etc. When you have to constantly move around changing schedules and not allowing ANYONE you don't know to even give you a ride, that's an amazing sacrifice. All in all, I'm glad to have read this book and gained much first-hand insight into those days.
A fast and easy read that's probably mostly fiction, but interesting nonetheless. The usual royalty intrigue of ascending a throne and power struggles. My interest flagged in the middle when it became a race to see who gets pregnant first, but thankfully once that sussed itself out, Moran mostly stopped talking about the kids and went back to the interesting war and politics stuff that didn't include heirs.
Scalzi spins a good yarn with humor and interesting twists. The title of this plays off a Philip K Dick title, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Considering how the story twists and turns, the title is so appropriate. It was nice to have a male and female couple as protoganists and not waste time on romantic entanglement. Overall, a fun scifi thriller story. When I have a chance I'll track down more Scalzi novels.
A spin-off from The Weather Warden series, I want to say that I found this a refreshing change. Actually, I think I like the main character, Cassiel, a lot more than Joanne Baldwin from the other. The bad guy was left a mystery until the very end and it wasn't all about how much better she is than everyone or how bad ass she is, which has gotten particularly grating 9 books in with Joanne Baldwin. I'll have to get the next book (and the next!) soon. Or maybe someone will get them for me for Christmas. ;)