Much books

My last books review was in July. Just like that, wha-bam, and half a year’s gone!

The bitcoin posts were getting monotonous…hope this helps :)

If you’re going to pick one from the bunch, make it 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques [Kindle]. Unfortunately there is no ebook version, but I can lend you my paperback.

100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marques — AWESOME!! his genre-birthing style (dubbed ‘magical realism’) is worth experiencing…certain sections left a tingling sensation in my brain, like I’m stuck in a maze and suddenly the walls start to undulate and I can see around corners and through dead-ends…

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway — essays written during his Europe years. When I think of Hemingway, I think of this Murakami quote:

I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next day’s work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. – Murakami

It’s interesting what time and success do to peoples’ reputations. dead-Noble-Prize-winning-Hemingway is untouchable, but while alive he cheated on his wife, wrote anti-Semitic personal letters, was an extreme narcissist…

Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko — some are good, some are wacky

Good: It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.

Wacky: The one thing a man should not have is a wife. No matter who the woman may be, you would grow to hate her if you lived with her and saw her day in day out, and the woman must become dissatisfied too.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons — the In N’ Out burger of sci-fi…maximum enjoyment:guilt ratio for eating a cheeseburger/reading a sci-fi book

My Struggle by Karl Ove Knaussgard — a literary sensation in his native Norway; something like 1 in 10 Norwegians bought a copy! If you read it, you’ll understand what a masochistic writing process he went through…like dragging yourself naked across a dirty wet floor with your family watching

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro — my first Ishiguro book; looking forward to more; the butler’s refined sensibilities and attention to detail and respect for tradition…the restrained and complex relationship with Miss Kenton…it’s the Japanese version of Downton Abbey. The ending was pitch-perfect

Waking Up by Sam Harris — began as a sprint, but finished as a slog; he asks an important question: how can we toss the religious bathwater while keeping the spiritual baby? Alain de Botton asks the same question, but where Sam Harris appeals to the left brain (the rational, systematic), ADB appeals to the right (the emotional, empathetic)

What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly — here’s the cheatsheet

Wind, Sand, Stars by Antoine de St. Exupery — (nerding out in 3…2…1…) what Lord Elrond did to forge the great sword Anduril, which he gave to Aragorn in LOTR, is what St. Exupery does to the written word…he’s a pure craftsman, every sentence is like a song lyric

Tragic yet fitting that he disappeared flying his beloved plane on a postal mission. This book is a travelogue of those adventures.

Technology Matters by Dan Nye — here’s the cheatsheet

I also re-read some favorites, for the same reason devout Christians read the Bible daily. I’m a devout book-nut.

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing — best of its kind for business psychology and marketing practices

Daily Rituals by Mason Currey — here’s the cheatsheet

So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport — here’s the cheatsheet

The Book of Tao — like static stretching for the brain…pleasant and painful at the same time