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I can't add to the praise this book has justly received, laughing out loud frequently and reading the entire novel in a sitting, all the while thinking of who I could lend it to...
The Boy. He's probably, almost-not-quite ready but he really should read this.
And unlike "Absurdistan" it has depth and resonance. Undoubtedly you've heard of it, probably you've already read it (and I'm dying to give spoilers, like how the attorney is the best depiction of a lawyer I've seen since Barry Zuckerman in "Arrested Development" or quote from the novel...), but if you haven't pick it up. A light but rewarding read.
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Highly amusing, but light. Very light. Some of the observations - about "Golly Burton" (Halliburton) are doubtless both damning and true, as are numerous of the observations about Post-Communist Russia and it's various splinter states. But somehow - well, somehow I felt that it lacked an enduring quality. Not a keeper, not one to put on the shelf and reread again at a later date, straight to the bookstore for credit.
I find it hard to believe that it was a "Book of the Year" nominee, but maybe it was a light year.
You can read more about it (spoilers, be warned) at the Wiki here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdistan_%28novel%29
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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101 Most Influential People who never lived
It's purpose "to provoke debate and discussion."
It's real purpose is to fill what the authors perceived as a publishing niche with things like "academic" discussions of the importance of such characters as Kermit the Frog, Charlie Brown and Tom Sawyer. Absolute rubbish, best read on the toilet; probably, in fact, written with that in mind. A shame, there is a market for a dictionary or guidebook to fictional characters in literature. This isn't it. Note to publisher: Print next edition on Toilet Paper.
Travelers' Tales Tibet
There's something about Tibet that spurs the imagination. That used to spur the imagination, I'm only half through this book yet I'm beginning to feel that I've had one too many Yak-Butter Teas, and I've never been. The multiplicity of points of view are homogeneous, most of the writers going out of the way to get off the beaten track, record their adventures, and yet somehow there's a dull repetition in it that accords badly with their mission. What was I looking for? I don't know. Tales of levitation, of enlightened monks and hidden monasteries and esoteric manuscripts and teachings, not another soul-searching trekker, mountain biker or land-roverer talk about how bloody cold it was and how it's not how it used to be and how bad China is to have taken them over. I wondered about this - I mean, how can you write a boring travel article about Tibet - and then it dawned on me. There are no Tibetans in the book. I mean, there are the stock descriptions - the "Color" that serves as a background to the western searcher's spiritual awakening, but there are no Tibetan characters.There are some good writers - Heinrich Harrer, Wade Davis, yet it just doesn't come together in a way that makes for a great or riveting read. And the format of the book, with the little inset quotes and blurbs (designed to look like a travel guide, presenting you with factoids and other author's opinions, always as boring as the author your currently reading...). Give it a miss. There are much better travel books out there. And if you're going to Tibet I'd request that when you're done you please don't write about it. Or if you absolutely have to I challenge you to see if you can do it in an intelligent way that doesn't make the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan cause the backdrop of your spiritual journey, I challenge you to do it without talking about Yak-Butter Tea or how cold it is or how badly you're feeling the effects of altitude sickness. It's all been done, we know.
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Quite enjoyed it, amazed at the breadth of Eco's learning (or did he just make that all up...?). And how brilliantly he puts us into the mind of his characters, arguing - and convincingly (the research, I suppose), that the sun must go about the earth and that to go across the dateline is to go back into time ... I would suggest it's a brilliant recreation of the 17th Century Mind...
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"Waking up I noticed the smell in the hut was violent, from being shut up I suppose, and it had an unmistakable organic origin. Knocking the ash end off the smoldering bush-light that lay burning on the floor, I investigated, and tracked it to those bags, so I took down the biggest one, and carefully noted exactly how the tie-tie had been put around its mouth, for these things are important and often mean a lot. I then shook its contents out in my hat, for fear of losing anything of value. They were a human hand, three big toes, four eyes, two ears, and other portions of the human frame. The hand was fresh, the others only so so, and shriveled.
Replacing them I tied the bag up, and hung it up again.I subsequently learned that although the Fans will eat their fellow friendly tribesfolk, yet they like to keep a little something belonging to them as a memento. This touching train in their character I learned from Wiki; ...."
Mary Kingsley - an excerpt from her notes "Travels in West Africa" - documenting her travels through the dark content from 1893 - 1895. A little light in tone for my tastes, she was nonetheless remarkable, not only in that she was one of the first female explorers of Africa, but in that she insisted upon doing it in full Victorian dress. Worthwhile, file next to Speke's "The Discovery of the Source of the Nile".