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Microserfs
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland Published: 1995 Length: 371 pages This one took me ages and ages to get through. It’s a good example of the sort of book I need to learn to put down and come back to later – not a bad book, but one I just wasn’t feeling it at that moment. Instead I did my usual, suffered through, and essentially stopped reading. Maybe one of these days I’ll learn, but most likely not. This is the story of a group of Microsoft programmers in the early 90s who leave the company to form a start-up in Silicon Valley. It’s written as journal entries on the protagonist’s…
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Back, Sack & Crack (& Brain)
Back, Sack & Crack (& Brain): A Rather Graphic Novel About Living With Embarrassing Health Problems by Robert Wells Format: Original Graphic Novel Illustrated by: Robert Wells Publisher: Robinson Published: 2017 Length: 224 pages We came across this in Forbidden Planet while we were browsing nerdy things this summer in London, and I was excited to see what it was all about. In this graphic novel, Robert Wells details his long-term struggle with various health issues, namely stomach problems and chronic, intermittently crippling, groin and back pain. He writes about how these symptoms first presented themselves, his difficulty in trying to get a diagnosis, and how these problems have affected…
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The Dinner
The Dinner by Herman Koch Published: 2009 Narrated by: Clive Mantle Translated By: Sam Garrett (from Dutch in 2012) Length: 08:55 (292 pages) I’ve stated before that I enjoy unlikable curmudgeons for protagonists. Not in every book I read, but when I come across one I do consider it a treat. There’s something exciting about reading a character who completely personifies your worst Monday morning attitude, and this is one area where The Dinner succeeds. Two couples meet at an expensive restaurant. The husbands are brothers, one was a school teacher and the other is a politician months away from an inevitable win. Over the course of the dinner, a…
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Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens
Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard Published: 2017 Narrated by: Eddie Izzard Length: 14:37 (368 pages) I’ve always been a fan of Eddie Izzard, so I was excited when I saw he had written a memoir and narrated it himself. I love self-narrated comedian memoirs. The book spends quite a bit of time on his young life, revolving around the early lose of his mother, and then continues on with his decade-long struggle to launch his comedy career – from street performing to live sketch comedy, and eventually to stand-up. During this period, he was also coming to terms with being transgender. Coming…
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October in Review
Books Acquired: The Happy Numbers of Julius Miles by Jim Keeble The Amateur Emigrant/The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci I Am the Wolf: Lyrics and Writings by Mark Lanegan If We All Spat at Once They’d Drown: Drawings About Class by Sam Wallman Dear Writer Revisited by Carmel Bird Law School: Sex and Relationship Advice by Benjamin Law, Jenny Phang Pickled: Pickles, Vinegars, Kimchi and More by Freddie Janssen Appetite by Nigel Slater #takedown by David Blumenstein Books Read: Mortality by Christopher Hitchens Nod by Adrian Barnes The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark I always have big plans to read on vacation, but…
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Ninefox Gambit
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee Published: 2016 Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller Series: The Machineries of Empire #1 Length: 10:52 (384 pages) Captain Kel Cheris is a brilliant captain in a very strictly run army and finds herself disgraced by running unapproved formations while trying to keep her soldiers alive, but she is given one chance to redeem herself. To do so, she must take back a lost fortress with the help of a master tactician from the past. He has never lost a battle, but he’s also a murderous traitor. The first chapter of this was so confusing, with so much unexplained terminology, that I nearly gave up.…
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Good Bones and Simple Murders
Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood Published: 1994 Length: 165 pages This is a collection of short stories and essays covering a wide variety of topics. I was never a huge fan of collections like this, and while I have warmed up to them over the last couple of years, I still had a hard time with this little book. A lot of these felt like writing exercises to me, the sort of thing that can be more fun to write than to read. I like the idea of short, experimental fiction, but a lot of the pieces here felt very by the number. The topics were varied…
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September in Review
Books Acquired: None Books Read: The Dinner by Herman Koch Microserfs by Douglas Coupland Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K. Jerome Small Gods: A Discworld Graphic Novel by Terry Pratchett, Ray Friesen The reading slump! It continues! September was a bit of an unfocused month for me, but I did finally finish Microserfs, which I actually did enjoy despite not being able to read more than a few pages of it each night. It’s an incredibly quick read too, but I think I was just a bit scattered these last couple of months. I also need to learn to put down a book if it isn’t working out,…
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August in Review
Books Acquired: The Blue Guitar by John Banville The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham The Chrysalids by John Wyndham Small Gods: A Discworld Graphic Novel by Terry Pratchett Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb Back, Sack & Crack (& Brain) by Robert Wells The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark The Girls Of Slender Means by Muriel Spark The Sellout by Paul Beatty Tetris: The Games People Play by Box Brown Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene The Paintings That Revolutionized Art by Claudia Stauble The Innocence and…
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Get Jiro!
Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose Illustrated by: Langdon Foss Series: Get Jiro #1 Publisher: Vertigo Published: 2012 Length: 160 pages I was very excited when this comic was announced, being a fan of everything Bourdain does, but I remember reading quite a few bad reviews for it. Comics are expensive, so I do like to be selective, but having read it now, it was actually much better than I thought it would be. He didn’t reinvent the medium or anything, but for a first time comic writer, it was an enjoyable story. This takes place in a future L.A. where the city is now ruled by chefs,…