blairconrad's Reviews (1.12k)

Cute! I really liked the different illustrations to express the song’s lyrics. Not as compelling a story as 3 Questions or Zen Shorts, but I strongly identified with the protagonist of the book for some reason.

I really didn’t get much out of the actual content of the book, that is the 10 or so one pagers that Mr. Spiegelman wrote about September 11 and the time following. I can see how they might have been useful and cathartic for him, but as a reader, I was left flat. The collection of comic snippets at the end were likewise almost useless, although the one that had to be rotated 180 degrees halfway through was at least novel.

A charming book, in parts. I was initially drawn to Lavinia, and enjoyed very much the interplay between her and her poet, and her own musings on the nature of her existence. LeGuin's language was often lyricall, with some very evocative imagery. Ultimately, though, there wasn't enough going on for me to remain fully interested - it was a little bursty, and in spite of the amount of war and love and jealousy and insanity, I found myself drifting away...

Not as good as everyone would have you believe. I found the characters to be almost entirely unsympathetic, and unlike Emily, I didn’t experience any emotion whatsoever while reading the book. Many of the phrases used to describe Baby’s surroundings were very nice, but that’s about the only thing that made the book worth consuming. Moreover, even those phrases were flawed, since I can’t bring myself to believe that a 12 year old girl would possibly use these beautiful phrases. You might argue that it’s not young Baby thinking those things, but rather old Baby remembering, but I don’t think the tenses were worked out well enough in the book to be able to distinguish what was Baby-then and Baby-later.

A very nicely-written novel. I very much enjoyed the narrator’s voice and the lightness with which most of the story is handled. I didn’t think the ending was as strong as the first 3/4s, though – a little bit rushed, and some of the timing was a little implausible. Still, well worth reading.

An interesting look into Brand's thoughts and feelings about our world and its current warming plight. I learned an awful lot about the merits of genetic engineering and about nuclear power (relative other "clean" alternatives). At times I felt like Brand was focusing on the positive aspects of the solutions he prefers, to the exclusion of the downsides, but he's hardly the only one to do that and he, at least, labels his book as a manifesto - we're here to get his opinions.

Some things I enjoyed about the book:
Brand occasionally refers other authors (and researchers), but without fail he treats them politely and fairly, unlike some others that I've read - it was a breath of fresh air. Also, he makes it clear which techniques he'd prefer to pursue to help fight global warming and to be "Green", but pragmatically discusses approaches (specifically planetary engineering) that may be necessary in the short term, in order to buy us the time to let the more desirable ones work. The chapter notes are at sbnotes.com, keeping me from having to flip, flip, flip between the middle and end of the book, and allowing Brand to add to and correct them at need. Oh, yeah, the proposed herds of elephants (or mammoths!) roaming across North America would be very cool, whether they have merit or not.

A good book overall, and an interesting read. Reminiscent of [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale|Margaret Atwood|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255648830s/38447.jpg|1119185], but easier to deal with. The narrator’s manner of speaking/thinking was definitely more readable than that in THT, and this was an asset, but I found that Atwood has a greater gift for visual imagery. The characters in Never Let Me Go are interesting – distinct and they develop, but their immature attitudes can grate a little, even if their attitudes fit them, coming directly from their upbringing. I’m keen to try more of these Ishiguros now.

Ultimately disappointing. Not because it's a bad book, but because it's billed as a fantastic book. I'm sure Ms. Lyons did a tremendous amount of research, but that doesn't affect the reader directly, so we have to judge what we read.
The book is good, but slightly uneven. There are sections in which we get insight into (Ms. Lyon's interpretation of) Aristotle's mind, and at first these are interesting. Likewise, nearly all of the lessons that Aristotle gives Alexander, but that's about it. The rest of the book falls a little flat - sort of boring interactions between Aristotle's contemporaries.
The prose is adequate - not terribly good, but not awful, except the profanity. I've seen others complain about the anachronism, but once we have the characters speaking English (well, written in English), I don't think modern profanity is a problem with the consistency of the book - I just don't care for it.

A very nice book combining insights into an autistic person’s mind with questions about the concept of “self”.
By setting the book in the near-future, Moon is able to present a very high-functioning autistic adult, to contrast with the not-as-functioning young protagonist of [b:The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time|1618|The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time |Mark Haddon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255690510s/1618.jpg|4259809] (which you should read). I enjoyed Moon’s prose and characterisations. Well worth a read.

Historical mythology in comic form. Yay! I’m not a big Buddha expert, so I’m enjoying this introduction (of course I don’t entirely know how accurate the representation is).
The characters seem slightly childish, but not so much that I’m annoyed yet. One bit of mixed praise and concern: I can’t imagine that it’s ever going to get better than the opening scenes with the man, bear, fox, and rabbit – that’s among the most touching things I’ve read, illustrated or not.

Oh, and unmitigated concern: my library has volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. I’ll have to do something about that.