Synopsis: The late entrepreneur historian Stephen Ambrose recounts the WWII experiences of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from domestic training to the seizure of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. A very American history book.
My Take: I found “Band of Brothers” to be a deeply frustrating book to read. On the one hand, the story of Easy [...]
Entries Tagged as 'American'
“Band of Brothers”, Stephen Ambrose
November 26th, 2009 · No Comments · American, History, Non-Fiction, War
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“Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes
November 23rd, 2009 · No Comments · American, Fiction, Sci-Fi
Synopsis: Intellectually impaired factory cleaner undergoes experimental surgery to triple his IQ, dramatically changing his inner-life, his relationships and his outlook on the world. “Of Mice and Men” meets “Frankenstein”.
My Take: You know you’ve written a story that has really had an impact on popular culture when it forms the basis of not one, but [...]
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“The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”, Junot Diaz
November 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment · American, Fiction, Japanese
Synopsis: Overweight Dominican uber-nerd battles a ‘fuku’, a Caribbean curse that has beleaguered his family across two countries and over three generations, in his quest for love and the fame of becoming “The Dominican JRR Tolkien”.
My Take: Strangely enough for a recent Pulitzer Prize winner, I only heard about Junot Diaz’s “The Brief and Wondrous [...]
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“The Dice Man”, Luke Rhinehart (George Cockcroft)
August 29th, 2009 · 1 Comment · American, Fiction, Nihilist, Over-Rated
Synopsis: Bored New York psychiatrist begins living his life according to the roll of a dice in order to escape the constraints of his personality. Unpredictable, but ultimately boring.
My Take: There’s promise in the premise of this book. I first heard of “The Dice Man” gimmick via the highly entertaining Discovery Channel travel series of [...]
Tags:Luke Rhinehart
“Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966-2004″, Hendrick Hertzberg
August 19th, 2009 · No Comments · American, History, Non-Fiction, Politics
Synopsis: A thematically arranged collection of Hendrik Hertzberg’s political essays for the New Yorker and the New Republic stretching from the mid-1960s to the end of the Bush Era. Reading political journalism with the benefit of hindsight is fun!
My Take: Hendrik Hertzberg is like an over-sized red-velvet armchair in the corner of The New Yorker’s [...]
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“Gone With the Wind”, Margaret Mitchell
August 18th, 2009 · No Comments · American, Fiction, History, Trash
Synopsis: The world of Scarlet O’Hara, an intemperate, ruthless and self-centred plantation owner’s daughter is turned upside down by the US Civil War and further, by that scoundrel, Rhett Butler. It’s a hell of a story apparently – 30 million people can’t be wrong.
My Take: The things we do for those we love. When my [...]
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“The Know It All; One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Man in the World”, AJ Jacobs
August 17th, 2009 · No Comments · American, Non-Fiction, Trash
Synopsis: Socially maladjusted US nerd consumes all 44 million words in the Encyclopaedia Britannica then provides an alphabetical cliff’s notes of the experience. The sum of the parts is less than the whole.
My Take: I am a bit of a sucker for condensed knowledge. It’s a deeply shallow (if that’s possible) way of learning, [...]
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“Lincoln”, Gore Vidal
August 8th, 2009 · No Comments · American, History, Literature
Synopsis: The second instalment of Gore Vidal’s Narratives of Empire historical fiction series follows the travails of the United States during the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. From the ballot to the bullet as it were.
My Take: It took me a while to give Gore Vidal a try. As regular [...]
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“The Sun Also Rises”, Ernest Hemingway
July 23rd, 2009 · 4 Comments · American, Fiction, History
Synopsis: A group of American dilettantes living in post WW1 Europe travel from France to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The men in the group (as well as many of the locals they encounter) covet and vigorously pursue the beautiful and promiscuous Brett Ashley, but the narrator, war veteran Jake Barnes, is [...]
Tags:Ernest Hemmingway