BANGKOK, THAILAND
Books I've read in the past three weeks:
Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms: Essays on Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould: A (mostly) interesting collection of essays about science, or more accurately, scientists and their various discoveries, with an emphasis on the prejudices that shaped their views. Gould delights in dismantling well-held myths about these famous figures (DaVinci, Darwin, etc.) and their revelations, but sometimes comes across as a nitpicker who's trying a little too hard to prove his points.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: A fantastic (and short!) novel narrated by an autistic-savant English teen who sets out to solve the mystery of his neighbor's dog's murder. It won the 2003 Whitbread "Book of the Year" prize, and rightly so.
Cradle by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee: Okay, this one isn't one of his best. Clarke was obviously trying to write a "fast-paced modern thriller," rather than his usual high-concept sci-fi novel, and it comes off like an old episode of Miami Vice, complete with '80s cliches and cheesy dialogue. Actually, the one interesting thing about this book for me is that it's set in South Florida, so there are all kinds of familiar references (including a minor character who plays football for the Gators. Go Gators!).
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner: Faulkner is an American genius, and a brilliant writer. And there's some really great stuff in this collection of short stories. That being said, sometimes I wanted to throw this book into the Gulf of Thailand, because his prose can be virtually impenetrable at times. (Then again, maybe I'm just a little slow.) Also, it would have been really helpful if he included a family tree of all the characters, since there's a lot of them, they're all related, and the book spans a good hundred or so years!
Books I've read in the past three weeks:
Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms: Essays on Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould: A (mostly) interesting collection of essays about science, or more accurately, scientists and their various discoveries, with an emphasis on the prejudices that shaped their views. Gould delights in dismantling well-held myths about these famous figures (DaVinci, Darwin, etc.) and their revelations, but sometimes comes across as a nitpicker who's trying a little too hard to prove his points.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: A fantastic (and short!) novel narrated by an autistic-savant English teen who sets out to solve the mystery of his neighbor's dog's murder. It won the 2003 Whitbread "Book of the Year" prize, and rightly so.
Cradle by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee: Okay, this one isn't one of his best. Clarke was obviously trying to write a "fast-paced modern thriller," rather than his usual high-concept sci-fi novel, and it comes off like an old episode of Miami Vice, complete with '80s cliches and cheesy dialogue. Actually, the one interesting thing about this book for me is that it's set in South Florida, so there are all kinds of familiar references (including a minor character who plays football for the Gators. Go Gators!).
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner: Faulkner is an American genius, and a brilliant writer. And there's some really great stuff in this collection of short stories. That being said, sometimes I wanted to throw this book into the Gulf of Thailand, because his prose can be virtually impenetrable at times. (Then again, maybe I'm just a little slow.) Also, it would have been really helpful if he included a family tree of all the characters, since there's a lot of them, they're all related, and the book spans a good hundred or so years!
posted by John Kuge at 4:56 PM
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