Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this much more than "The Sign of Four". I like this short story format, since it doesn't drag on and seems more like many short episodes rather than one long movie. Some of the stories are better than others, obviously, but they're all quite easy and fun to follow.

I think the last two stories were probably my favorite.

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Review: A Little History of Philosophy

A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a good introduction to the history of philosophy, which then become the evolution of philosophy, from its beginnings to the present day. It is by no means exhaustive, but probably the best primer I've seen thus far for newbies like myself.

After having finished this I'm curious to read more about Epicureanism, which is pretty much the opposite of what I had assumed, due to how the expression is used now. It seems more along the lines of Hedonism nowadays.



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Review: All My Goodbyes

All My Goodbyes by Mariana Dimópulos
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I hate to say this but this reminds me why I should stay away from contemporary best sellers and stick to classics (which I seldom actually do, but still).

As others commenters have mentioned, the style is extremely jumpy, and I imagine this is supposed to be a reflection of the narrator, who is very flighty and keeps changing her job, her country and her surroundings. However, her descriptions of every place and situation sound so similar, and she keeps jumping around so much through space and time, that I can never quite tell what she's referring to.

I recognize that this might be my issue. Maybe I'm just not built for this type of novel, or maybe I just don't get some deeper meaning. Maybe if I had a different mindset I would have found it beautiful.

Paradoxically I think if I had read it in the original Spanish I would have gotten more out of it, since I would have had to read it much more slowly and with a much more discerning eye.

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Review: Mellon: An American Life

Mellon: An American Life by David Cannadine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Knowing next to nothing about Mellon before reading this, I found this book pretty interesting. It also seemed to include a history of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania's Scotch-Irish roots (more so than Nasaw's Carnegie biography), which was a big part of the Mellon's life.

Actually it seems that most of Andrew Mellon's successful endeavors were by taking his father's advice, so I'd be curious to read "Thomas Mellon and his Times". It seems that when he veered from this advice (as with his marriage) is when he got into trouble.

It was also interesting to read about Mellon's later political life, and see some of FDR's more 'gangster' side in dealing with the rich industrialists.

I didn't know he had founded Alcoa, or that he had established the National Gallery of Art in DC.

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Review: The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction

The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction by Michael Emmerich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just discovered this "City in Short Fiction" series, so I'm curious about some of the other books in the series.

Anyway, this was a collection of short stories, some better than others, as is to be expected. My favorites were:
Dad, I love you
Vortex
The Hut on the Roof (by Hiromi Kawakami)

My opinions (without spoilers)
Model T Frankenstein was odd but cool
I think Picnic was over my head, and there was probably more to it than I gathered
A House for Two weirded me out
Mummy (by Banana Yoshimoto) also weirded me out
The Owl's Estate was ok
Mambo was odd. Didn't really enjoy it frankly
An Elevator on Sunday was good. I might almost include amongst my favorites

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Review: Run Away

Run Away by Harlan Coben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: The Nakano Thrift Shop

The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the book description: "Objects for sale at the Nakano Thrift Shop appear as commonplace as the staff and customers that handle them. But like those same customers and staff, they hold many secrets."

This is obviously a metaphor for the characters of the book. To tell the truth, however, I enjoyed it precisely because of the 'commonplace' characters. I felt like I was peering into a small shop in Tokyo and into the lives of a few people there, without ever leaving my chair. Anyway, a nice little book. I look forward to reading more by this author (I think I've read most of her translated works by now, but there are a few left).


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Review: The Following Story

The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't remember why I had this book on my wishlist, but I found a used version for rather cheap, so I bought it. I was then about to give up on it around halfway through, and just stuck with it because it was rather short. I'm very glad I did. This was absolutely excellent. Around 10-15 minutes after having finished it I suddenly realized what had happened. I rarely find a book that is able to do that.

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Review: Hero: Being the Strong Father Your Children Need

Hero: Being the Strong Father Your Children Need by Meg Meeker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was interesting and I'm glad I read it. All of the stories and conclusions seem to come from anecdotal evidence and personal experience (so basically the opposite of Emily Oster), but I found it interesting nonetheless.


Some of my notes:

Kids seek dad's love more than mom's. Mom's always around, not dad, so they feel that the love needs to be earned
Kids do better when parents are together, even if unhappy, rather than divorced and happy
6 plays:
1. play with kids
2. pray with kids
3. say the truth
4. Be steady
5. Be firm (provide discipline)
6. Stay committed


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Review: Purity of Blood

Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fascinating read. At times a bit too technical for me, but it makes sense, seeing as how Brunelleschi was a genius engineer and architect of his time. I had to remind myself several times that this was before the renaissance, and they were really working with rudimentary tools, some of which hadn't changed in almost 2,000 years.

Apparently, in 1421, Brunelleschi received the world's first ever patent for an invention. And some of the inventions he created for hoisting supplies up to the dome were incredible.

And the hoax Brunelleschi played on a man he didn't like (P. 80) was excellent.


4.5 stars

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Review: Bolívar: American Liberator

Bolívar: American Liberator by Marie Arana
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm glad I read this book, since I knew next to nothing about Bolivar, and he seems to be an oddly neglected conqueror and leader. All in all this was very new and enlightening to me. I was amazed at how involved Europeans and Americans were with everything as well. And pretty much by definition this is also a history of the origins of many of South America's countries.

There were many fascinating characters, but I would especially like to know more about Boves, who seems repulsive but also oddly fascinating. I would also like to read more about Jose de San Martin.

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Review: Rutherford B. Hayes: The American Presidents Series: The 19th President, 1877-1881

Rutherford B. Hayes: The American Presidents Series: The 19th President, 1877-1881 by Hans L. Trefousse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Probably the least objectionable president thus far, in that he worked hard and diligently, seemed quite optimistic about everyone, was against slavery from the start, volunteered for the civil war and seemingly didn't even want to run for president. It might be telling that he isn't remembered at all.

I can't really tell if the author was being biased, in that there are hardly any bad points here about Hayes. Having read this author's biography of Andrew Johnson (which was excellent), I doubt he was. Although I was still disappointed in this book since it seems rather superficial and rushed compared to the book about Johnson.

One bad point mentioned about Hayes is the compromise wherein he withdrew Republican troops from the South, ending reconstruction, but then the author seems to excuse the reaction to the great railroad strike, mainly because Hayes seems to regret his actions later in life.


3 stars



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Review: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by MR James Joyce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't know how strictly autobiographical this novel is, but it's interesting to think that the thoughts, slang and occurrences narrated here actually happened. It's like a glimpse into a way of life that would otherwise be lost to history. Anyway, I admit that at time I wasn't really into it, but all in all I'm glad I read it. It was certainly unique.

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Review: The Door

The Door by Magda Szabó
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess there were a couple times while reading this book when I thought it was a bit too "in your face", and it probably was. The narrator seemed to take every single detail of the protagonist much too seriously, while the protagonist (Emerence) seemed a bit too superhuman in many ways. But in the end, the book was singular. I probably missed some parallels between the story and Hungary's history. At least that was my feeling.


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Review: Montana 1948

Montana 1948 by Larry Watson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice, quick read. I picked it up on a whim at a Dollar bookstore, and quite happy I did. I'm not sure I necessarily want to read more by the author, at least not for now. But if you want to read a short novel taking place in Montana in 1948, then this is your book.


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Review: The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In essence, this a story about what happened before Caesar, Mark Antony, Augustus, and all the Romans we've heard of before. The premise is a study of what happened to make the republic crumble and turn into a dictatorship, and see what parallels we can draw in our time and age. Well, the intro and conclusion mention the parallels, otherwise it's just the history. The history itself is fascinating. Some names that I'd just heard of, but didn't know much about (Marius, Sulla, Cinna) were explained in more detail, including how they related to everything else going on.

I wish more time had been spent with the parallels. It seemed like this conclusion (and possibly the introduction) were just rushed in order to make it more appealing to today's readers (let's face it, many, if not most, readers will be trying to draw parallels or find differences).

There were definitely some interesting points, however. The idea that all governments revert slowly to their most oppressive form, as well as how taking unprecedented steps could, in turn, lead to dangerous precedences. I also found it interesting that every time they tried to take land and hand it to the poor/soldiers/plebeians, etc. it never worked out, since they all ended up selling the land back to the nobility, even when a law explicitly outlawing the resale was added.


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Review: The Sign of Four

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can't say I enjoyed this as much as A Study in Scarlet. Half of the story was told by the villain at the end, rather than experienced throughout the book, which seemed a bit contrived. I might take a break before tackling the next book.


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