Brian Davison
Very convenient. There's nothing quite so exillerating as using long chunks of dialogue to beat your point to death. Ayn Rand would be proud.
Though not quite rivalling the nostaligc value of catching this star-studded film (http://imdb.com/title/tt0112040/) on late night TV -and staying up until 2:30 in the morning with my mom because, dammit, we invested 3 hours already, and we're going to finish watching it- the book is frightening enough to make me like traveling by air even less. Though my chief fear in the realm of non-ground transport will still be sitting next to a particularly large and/or smelly individual, flying through aurora borealis and inadvertantly landing in Yesterday, just before it get's eaten by creatures resembling Mario's chain-chomps is certainly the #2 fear now.
For a story which dwells so centrally on pain and suffering, it manages to inspire and exude hope.
Classic. Well. Sorta. More of a bastardasation of a bunch of classics, but in a hilarious way.
If you ever happen to be feeling down on your luck, I highly suggest reading the first of these plays, Oedipus the King and comparing yourself to him.
Not quite as good as Kite Runner, but that may be because they are of a similar nature and I read Kite Runner first. The old Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead effect.
At any rate, certainy worth reading.
I really wanted to like this. Aspects of it are very fun, but every time our main character Kin reveals to someone that time travel exists, they accept it so easily that it loses any impact and then I spend the rest of the time wondering why, for the average person in this novel, learning time travel exists is less mind blowing than listening to a particularly insightful TED talk or something. Imagine Peter Parker is revealing himself to be Spiderman to Mary Jane, and she replies “Cool. Was it tough to make the suit? Should we get Chinese for dinner?”
Sci-fi that even people who don't read sci-fi will enjoy. Any story where a computer becomes a sentient being is pretty great in my book.
This book starts slower that most of Tan's other stuff, but once you get going, it's enthralling. The main characters are well drawn and likeable, similar to her characters from 100 Secret Senses. One warning, the characters that you are supposed to dislike are very dislikeable...I frequently got angry reading this book.
A fun enough read except for the part in the middle that felt like a chapter-long Tesla commercial. That, and when the book spends the first 80% teasing a big reveal and the reveal turns out to be an uninspired let down, you begin to wonder if you really liked the first 80%.
The closest comparison I can come to the absurdity of the plot is probably Douglas Adams... that's not to say the writing is as good or the absurdity is as entertaining, but in a pinch, when you've read Hitchiker's Guide 5 times already, try this.
A fun new take on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which is fantastic to start out with.
I would find literally opening the mythical land of Atlantis easier than opening the pages of this book again.
Highly entertaining collection of essays regarding pop-culture and the like. A good book to read when you can only read for 10 minutes at a time.
Nothing special, but it's still a fast-paced interesting book. The equivalent of brain candy.
Ever wonder what a novel made exclusively out of YouTube comments would look like? I've got good news...
I would have given this book three starts but the fact the story managed to keep me interested through 700 pages, at least 200 of which were characters spouting off Rand's philosophy's thinly veiled as monologues or what would generously be called lopsided dialogue. That said, it still is quite interesting and if nothing else, it resurrected my 5th grade dream of being an architect. You could probably read this or [book: Atlas Shrugged] and not need to read the other.
Possibly the only book in the humor genre to tackle the fire-bombing of Dresden, Germany. Points for that alone.
What a poorly written mess. Even once you get past the fact that the author doesn't know the difference between “must've” and “must of,” it doesn't get better. Every character other than our hero serves simply to praise the hero for every action he takes, no matter how ridiculous. And the repetition. The ceaseless repetition of information we already know. Three times in four pages the character “smiled” because a situation reminded him of ancient kings negotiating. Twice to himself, and then he announced it to the group. This book sorely needed a capable editor. If you want a book about America after technology stops working, do yourself a favor and read “Dies the Fire” instead.