Bookstacks's reviews from LibraryThing

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:21:34 -0400

Bookstacks's review: "Review by Lludmilla Mirrikh Larson has used the Simon Winchester trick of starting with the very end of the story and then suddenly starting over. Okay, maybe other people use that, I just associate it with Winchester. He chooses to tell two stories, one of the creation of the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago and the serial-killer-next-door (inevitably bringing to mind <i>The Professor and the Madman</i>). Both narratives, I suppose, could be called stories of obsession. The building of the White City is tacitly compared with the building of the serial killer's dreamhouse-of-death, also making the comparison between Burnham and Holmes. Both stories are engrossing and II rate this pretty highly considering how much I complain about it. Holmes's part of the story reads more like fiction. I have made, consequently, more notes on the notes themselves than for the narrative. How can we know what Holmes was thinking? And if he wrote a memoir or confession (which of course he did), how can we trust the word of a psychopath? How can we know the details of how one of his victims died and his reaction? I take issue with this. Oh, it's evocative and thrilling and all, but can it be called non-fiction? In the notes, Larson gives his excuses, which I still find thin. He makes speculations based on other people's speculations or "improves" on other people's speculations. I would also complain about the ghoulishness of writing about this, but I can't because I read Caleb Carr ... and then scoff that characters like that don't exist in real life. Guess I can't do that anymore. I recommend this book to peope who like Caleb Carr's thrillers/mysteries and Simon Winchester's non-fiction."
Vintage (2004), Paperback, 447 pages

Brave New World (P.S.) by Aldous Huxley

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:57:06 -0400

Bookstacks's review: "Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Review by Misia Tigerpaw I first read this soft sci-fi book in the 11th grade and right then and there it became my favorite book of all time. Written in 1932, this book explores a future of utopia where we have a social hierarchy built on a caste system. From the highest branch (Alphas) to the lowest worker branch (Epsilons). The story employs use of media to implant a thinking process using sleep learning to teach workers to think a certain way, a drug to raise your mood on the dot and genetic engineering to turn procreation into strictly recreational sex. "Everybody belongs to everyone else" goes the motto. Sound a bit familiar? BNW was written as satire on a dystopia future that could be. Like Huxley's contemporary, 1984 author George Orwell, the future turned out to be more close to our reality than Huxley probably imagined. The book is science fiction and philosophy and could fall into the realm of horror based on how scary this "perfect" future is. Many papers have been written comparing this world to ours including the use of computers and science to rule our lives. And this was written in the 30s! I would classify this book as one you MUST read sometime in your lifetime. There are so many intricate layers to uncover as you follow the characters thought their life changing journeys. Not to mention those cool character names. Brave New World is a classic to add to your keeper shelf!"
Harper Perennial Modern Classics (2006), Paperback, 288 pages

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:55:53 -0400

Bookstacks's review: "Your brain works all on its own and doesn't need you to tell it what to do...is what the sub title SHOULD be. Scary stuff from the author of 'The Tipping Point', another scary book. Malcolm Gladwell presents a complicated and baffling subject in an easy to read manner, like a favorite professor he makes sure there are no 'HUH?' moments. But you will find it hard to believe that all this goes on in your own brain. You will also find yourself reading large portions of the book out to friends, family and workmates, exclaiming out loud: 'No Way!!' and sitting with your jaw hanging open for long periods of time."
Back Bay Books (2007), Paperback, 320 pages

Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World by Simon Garfield

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:48:53 -0400

Bookstacks's review: "Surprisingly beautiful book. Not the run of the mill history or science book, but a fascinating story, researched beautifully. Mauve is the true story of William Perkins, a chemist who invented the colour Mauve, sort of, well the first synthetic dye of the colour. Do not think this is a dry science story, I actually hesitated in putting in any description because it might put you off. Don't let it. You will learn alot though if you read this book."
W. W. Norton & Company (2002), Paperback, 242 pages

MIDDLESEX by JEFFREY EUGENIDES

Sat, 31 May 2008 06:18:11 -0400

Bookstacks's review: "Middlesex is narrated by Cal. Born an Hermaphrodite and raised as girl, he grew up as Calliope in a Greek-American family. He tells how his family got to America and how the unusual circumstances around his Grandparents relationship affects his life from before he is born. The story is as atmospheric and evocative as The Virgin Suicides, Jefffrey Eugenides 1st novel, but more grown up. He writes female characters very well and portrays relationships beautifully. This is a joy of a story I loved every word of."
BLOOMSBURY (2003), Edition: Export Ed, Paperback, 544 pages

A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) by Ursula K. Le Guin

Sat, 31 May 2008 05:58:17 -0400

Bookstacks's review: ""What is death?" "For a word to be spoken there must be silence both before and after""
Spectra (2004), Paperback, 192 pages

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Wed, 28 May 2008 04:32:14 -0400

Bookstacks's review: "The Time Traveller’s Wife By Audrey Niffenegger I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Not only is it an extraordinary story, it is also beautifully written and well paced. It is the love story between a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to jump through time randomly and a girl he meets at various stages in her life. It is hard to put into a genre; if I had been given the impression it’s a romance I probably wouldn’t have read it, if I thought it was sci-fi that may have coloured the story too much looking for the ‘science’, for answers. It does deal with the problems that arise with time travel, the paradoxes etc but not to a distracting degree, just enough to be fascinating. I started the book barely knowing a thing about it and cried when it ended simply because I didn’t want it too. I envy anyone who hasn’t read it yet because they get to read it for the first time. And you know what else? I’ve only just ‘got’ the cover. Fantastic."
Harvest Books (2004), Paperback, 560 pages