Monday, November 13, 2017

Duped and Loving It!

Shutter IslandShutter Island by Dennis Lehane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good lord, I was not expecting that! Heck of a good read, in my book!

Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island started off well for me and my tastes. Federal Marshals going into an insane asylum/prison on an inescapable island in Massachusetts during post-WWII to find a missing crazy woman, who apparently escaped. Love the setting, the characters, everything!

From here on out this review contains all kinds of spoilers, so you just stop right here, Miss I-Haven't-Read-This-But-Plan-To.

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The set-up story roped me in. It took me far too long to figure out what was going on. I caught the signs Lehane shoved my why, but I willfully ignored them. Yes, looking back on them, I ignored them like a step-child.

Though the anagrams, the numbers, and then the very obvious prophetic dreams all stuck in the back of my head and told me that thins weren't as they seemed, I ignored them all in favor of trying to figure out Rachel Solando's impossible escape.

In my defense, I didn't know a thing about the book before reading it. I know people loved it, so I intentionally avoided spoilers. Glad I did!

It felt inventive to me. Maybe others weren't so fooled, but I was and I'm okay with that. I was taken in and frankly, I love it! I'm glad a book can still dupe me like that. Probably if I read more psychological thrillers I wouldn't be so impressed. But I am. 5 Stars!

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The Flattening of the Earth

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first CenturyThe World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Fucking flat-earthers...Oh wait, that's not what he means? All right, maybe I'll read it."

That was me about five or so years ago when friends kept insisting I read The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Finally, when my wife recently bought tickets to a local Friedman talk, I resolved to read the damn thing.

I'm glad I did. It's really good. I'm not saying it's prefect (I'll get to that in a minute), but this is a must read at least for a certain few people with their heads in the clouds. For one, it's a great book for folks who don't understand what has happened since the advent of the internet. Give this as a gift to your dad or gramps. If they don't use it as a doorstop, they'll get a hell of an education on the modern ways of business and sociability.

The other group of people that need to read this, or really any book like this, are those cretins who troll, lurk and spew upon the comment section of "news" articles online. Everybody seems to have an indisputable, unshakable opinion that they take for fact and which they feel the need to spray all over the internet. They are the modern version of every family's uncle from the good ol' days who would show up at family events and holidays seemingly for the sole purpose of annoying everyone else while starting an argument with another alpha male about politics, religion, economics and any other myriad of topics that most sane people know is off-limits around family and friends you wish to retain as such. The real crime in all this is that they don't usually know what the fuck they're talking about. They have one biased, uninformed talking point on whatever the subject is they'll let you hear it.

So yes, I do feel like a book like this is helpful for a segment of the population, especially in these particularly stupid days in the American dark ages. The problem is, at 600+ pages, this book is 300 pages longer than it needs to be.

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The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is not brief. That's because it's written as a journalist would write a book. This is a book-length feature article. Friedman makes a statement, maybe backs it up with data, and then gives an example via a full-blown biography on a business or entrepreneur. It's all good stuff. Some of it's even enjoyable. But it's more than necessary for what's actually being said. He could've done more with less. I honestly doubt I would've gotten through this if I hadn't gone with the audiobook version and had a cubic buttload of yard work to do.

Now, that's not to say didn't enjoy this or that I didn't get something out of it. I did. I am getting old and so some of these whippersnappers with their new fangled gadgets befuddle me. However, I did grow up in the age when personal computers were first coming into the home. I even had a Commodore 64, baby! So I'm not at a total loss in the computer age. On the other hand, I am a bit of a recluse and I'm not big into global politics and the economy, so sadly I am having to catch up on that and a book like this taught me a thing or two. So, let's call it a good stepping stone for the uninitiated.




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