Crazy Talk

Being unemployed would be a lot more difficult if it weren't cold outside.  Most days, I feel a very strong urge to go outside and make something of myself, but then I open the door and feel how cold it is. I have no idea how people in Greenland accomplish anything.

That would be a good research project to conduct in my "time off."

Here are some book reviews.

Damned
By Chuck Palahniuk

This is the seventh book I've read by ol' Chuck. At this point, I may just be reading them out of habit--a yearly antidote against Fox News and Christmas time car commercials. If, like me, you have ever read anything by him, you already know that this book is not exactly PG. If you have eyeballs, you also probably judged that from the cover.  The beauty of Chuck Palahniuk is that, while his books can be aggravatingly childish and will occasionally make your face bleed with the Brett-Easton-Ellison-level of depravity described within, he's not writing filth just for the sake of filth. Damned, like many of his other novels, offers a heavy critique of modern culture with a lot of satire, irony, and dark humor smeared on top. Don't read it if you can't define the word "glib." It's about the teenage daughter of a Hollywood power couple, who finds herself in Hell after dying of... a Marijuana overdose. Palahniuk's hell is both totally different from, and exactly what you would expect it to be.

I would recommend this book to: Kristin and anyone who hated The English Patient, so, not you Dad. :/

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
By Mindy Kaling
(Audio Book)

Like Bossypants, by Tina Fey, the audio version of Mindy Kaling's book has the distinct drawback that you can't see the pictures and you can't really lend it immediately to all of your friends. However, the benefit of the audio version is that you come to feel like Mindy is your bff and the only thing stopping her from texting you is pretty much the fact that she doesn't have your number... yet.

Mindy not only plays Kelly Kapoor on The Office, but is also the only female writer on the staff. This in itself is enough to make me want to read the book (Is Rainn Wilson really as insane as he looks?). But the book also has essays about other hard-hitting topics like cupcakes(!) and karaoke and being chubby. Yes, obviously, I want to know what hilariously funny people my age think about everything. The chapter "Why Do Men Put on Their Shoes So Slowly?" is not only hilarious, but probably worthy of serious scientific investigation. I seriously want to know, why do men put on their shoes so incredibly slowly?

I would recommend this book to: Kacie, Jessica L., Jared (I know you already read it, Boo.)

The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You
By Eli Pariser
(Audio book)

Do not buy the audio book version of this book. It is an excellent, well-researched book that requires at least minimum focus and concentration to comprehend and absorb what Pariser is trying to tell us, which is--I think--that the internet is a powerful tool for building communities and expanding our capabilities, but that the current course of search and social network technology is severely limiting the way we experience not only the internet, but the whole world, in a detrimental way. Got that? Whew.

It will be easier to explain if you just want to watch this amazing TED talk (which is basically the introduction to the book, BTW).



If you've ever felt like something about Google and Facebook (their targeted ads and seeming mind-reading abilities, for example) are just a little bit skeevy, but you can't put your finger on what, this book explains what's going on in language that is easy to understand and far from conspiracy theory crazy talk.

I would recommend this book to: my Auntie T-Bone, and um, others who use Facebook

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
By Stieg Larsson

I know, it took me like a hundred years. I don't think I have to convince anyone to read this.

I'll just say that it's easy to see why this book is the thriller for the new Millennium, pun maybe intended. Thrillers and detective novels of the past were founded on the principle that the most dangerous people in society were always outsiders: homosexuals, women, people with disabilities, anyone of a different race. Think of Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon. Could there be anyone more threatening to a white male than this effeminate man with an untraceable accent? And then there's the Femme Fatale, the woman who will seduce you and then kill you the minute you turn your back.

That so many people have enjoyed this book speaks in part to the fact that it's a gripping story, but it also has to do, I think, with a new attitude towards who can be "in" and who can be "out." It's amazing how far Stieg Larsson goes, with Lisbeth Salander, to shout in our faces that times have changed, are changing. And when you look at the types of crimes committed in this novel and the treatment of their perpetrators, there can be no mistaking this novel as a novel of the 21st century. The writing style may be simplistic but there is a lot going on.


I'm seriously not even going to bother recommending this. Sweden doesn't need my help.