well-read

I have an hour commute to work back and forth everyday. Most people would complain about the fact, but I'm fortunate enough to have 45 minutes of that commute on public transit, leaving me with time to put on my headphones, daydream, have a real dream (by falling asleep), or what I have been doing lately, by reading a book.

Book reviews are nothing original as anyone's blog topic, but as my life has fallen back into a stable routine (oh the humanity!) and as you could probably tell from my blog in the past few weeks, I've been lacking subjects worth writing about.

That all said, consider this my version of everything you'd expect from Reading Rainbow: short book summaries, even shorter book critiques, some pictures...
...but no Lavar Burton. Sorry.


The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom
Straight to the point summary: Eddie, an aged maintenance worker, has had his whole life revolve around Ruby Pier, a beach boardwalk-esque amusement park. So it only makes sense that it's where he loses his life, right? But that's not the focus of the book. In heaven, Eddie meets 5 people (who would've thought) who have had some sort of impact on his life, whether he knew it or not. And I think there's supposed to be some sort of touching lesson you're supposed to get from this.
Favorite Line: "But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."


"Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk
Straight to the point summary: The story revolves around Victor Mancini, a guy with serious abandonment issues thanks to his mother...yet here in his mid 20s, he's dropped out of med school so he could take care of her as she is ailing. Trouble is that he works at a colonial re-enactment amusement park, not nearly enough to pay the bills. So how does he manage? He goes to fancy restaurants and fakes a choking fit in order to get in the good graces of good samaritans, who would send charity his way in the future. This book is written by the same guy who wrote Fight Club, so you can imagine what kind of writing and story to expect...or do you?
Favorite Line: "Just keep asking yourself: 'What would Jesus NOT do?'"


1984 by George Orwell
Straight to the point summary: Oh come on, who doesn't know the story of 1984? Raise your hands if you don't. Oh..wait, that's alot more than I thought. Okay. So in a nutshell, 1984 is the story of a dystopian future in which society is ruled by a collectivist government where life consists of perpetual war, public mind control, pervasive government surveillance, and the loss of human rights. The story centers around Winston Smith, a man who is one of the few left who remember what life was like before the "Party" had taken over society and changed it to what it was today (or, back in 1984, at least). In his disallusioned dissidence, he seeks to rebel against "Big Brother" and its iron fist, a venture that puts his life, his well being, and even his very own existence at risk.
Favorite Line: "The command of the old despotisms was Thou shalt not. The command of the totalitarians was Thou shalt. Our command is Thou art."


Animal Farm by George Orwell
Straight to the point summary: In my honest opinion, consider this to be "1984 Lite." Meaning that if the book was about 200 pages shorter and instead of humans the main characters were animals. And if the book was more centered on the way the government. Consider it a direct satire of the historical outcomes of the Russian Revolution, where Lenin and Trotsky were pigs and not humans!
Favorite Line: "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey"


Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld
Straight to the point summary: Jerry Seinfeld talks for 2 pages about what inspired him to get into comedy, then the rest of the book is transcripts from his own stand-ups, many of which appeared on his show
Favorite Line: "Have you ever been there watching TV and you’re drinking the same exact product that they’re advertising right there on TV? And they’re spiking volleyballs, jet skiing, girls in bikinis. And you’re sitting there, “Maybe I’m putting too much ice in mine. I’m not getting that effect."


Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Straight to the point summary: Pi Patel is the son of a zookeeper, who suddenly decides to sell the family business and move the family from India to Canada. Unfortunately, their ship gets wrecked along the way, and Pi is the lone survivor on the only lifeboat that made it off the sinking ship. That is, him and a 500 pound Bengalian tiger. The tale centers around the hope and power of survival, especially when you're sharing a small, cramped raft with a large carnivorous cat. The book claims it will get you to believe in God, but I've read it through and I haven't been convinced.
Favorite Line: "Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science."

And currently reading:


The Simpsons and Philosophy
Straight to the point summary: This book consists of a collection of essays by members of the philosophical elite as they attempt to answer such questions as whether Homer really exhibits Aristotelian virtues or if Bart is the kind if individual Nietzsche was trying to warn us about. The essays go further into detail and look at the show from a critical light, going into depth about irony and the meaning of life according to the show's characters, the elusiveness of happiness of Mr. Burns, and the politics of the nuclear family on an animated prime time sitcom.

However, this book was written in the early part of this decade, well before the Simpsons not only jumped the shark, but also killed the shark, ate the shark, shit the shark in the ocean, and then jumped the shit. And as such, the mediocre and controversial turn the show has made is unfortunately, not addressed or criticized.
Favorite Line (thus far): "I would like to comment on this show, but it is scheduled at the same time as The Simpsons and I have never seen it"

"we gotta send it to a neutral party like, scarlett johanson. gave her my virginity and she kept it well"
-DLC