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Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

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present shoc

Present Shock

May 17, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Human beings have stopped looking to the future and are, instead, attempting to capture the now.  We’re checking emails and Twitter to make sure we’re constantly up-to-date, rushing to complete seventeen things at once, and becoming continually distracted: we’re suffering from present shock.  Rushkoff examines the burgeoning phenomenon and presents a few ideas as to how we can take back some control of how we experience time. The Review: I feel like Mr. Rushkoff’s book is, in many ways, […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: 6, Douglas Rushkoff, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Present Shock, Public Forum, Technology

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griftopia

Griftopia

April 12, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone reporter and closest thing we have to a gonzo journalist these days, famously called Goldman Sachs “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity” in an RS article called “The Great American Bubble Machine”.  In Griftopia, he expands on that article, looking into the causes and fallout of not just the 2008 crash but really just how f*cked our (humanity’s, that is) financial system is today, at home and abroad. The Review: I am […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: Bankers, BookClub, Finance, financial crisis, Grifters, Griftopia, Journalism, lloyd blankfein is the devil, Matt Taibbi, Non-Fiction, Politics, Rolling Stone, Scams, vampire squid

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person be

How Should A Person Be?

February 11, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Sheila Heti, a playwright in Toronto, is struggling with authenticity and what it means to be.  It’s all very late-twentysomething angst, as she learns, well, how to be a person through various trials and tribulations. The Review: I’m not sure if I hated this book or if I just felt meh about it.  I guess I ought to get that off my chest right away – feels better now! I made a comment in my review of Ivyland that Miles […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction • Tags: Art, Fiction, How Should A Person Be?, Literature, Narrative Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Philosophy, Sheila Heti, The Tournament of Books 2013, Theater

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Book-Review-How-Shake_Mill

How Shakespeare Changed Everything

December 26, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: OMG, Shakespeare is, like, the most important writer of all time ever.  Whether it be politics or nature or sexy times or race relations or really just about anything, it’s all about Shakespeare!  He changed EVERYTHING, dude! The Review: What is it about Shakespeare that drives people to the very brink of madness?  I’m not excluding myself – I love Shakespeare, sometimes to the point of distraction – but I find that, more than any other writer, […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: How Shakespeare Changed Everything, Non-Fiction, Shakespeare, Stephen Marche

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hereisnewyork

Here is New York

December 18, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: E.B. White’s classic stroll through New York City at the end of the 1940s, reflecting on this marvelous metropolis. The Review: What is there to say about this essay that hasn’t already been said?  What is there to say about this magnificent city that hasn’t already been said?  I’m not sure that there’s anything – and yet we all keep writing and we read this essay and we keep coming to this city, so clearly there’s still more […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: BookClub, E. B. White, Essay, Here is New York, New York City, Non-Fiction, Travel

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books they gave

The Books They Gave Me

December 2, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Drawn from the remarkably successful Tumblr of the same name, Jen Adams here curates stories of books given and received.  All of the stories are anonymous and tell of loves and friendships somehow, in some way, defined by the gift of a book.  They range from funny to heartbreaking – each of them, remarkably poignant. The Review: I am a book-giver.  I think it started when, as a heartbroken senior in high school, I was watching the first […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: Andrew Broussard, Jen Adams, Non-Fiction, Short Stories, The Books They Gave Me, Tumblr

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bullshit suck

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City

November 4, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Nick Flynn never really knew his father Jonathan – had only met him once or twice – until he showed up at the Boston homeless shelter where Nick was working.  This is a biography of both men and the circumstances, somewhat, that led them to that shelter together. The Review: Zoinks – that’s two stinkers in a row.  Sorry, I know I shouldn’t be saying anything too outright before my BookClub meets to discuss this book… but it […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Autobiography, Biography, Memoir, Narrative Non-Fiction, Nick Flynn, Non-Fiction

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ghost light

Ghost Light

September 17, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Frank Rich, former New York Times theater critic and current New York Magazine political commentator, reflects on his childhood and how he came to the theater as a young man.  It’s equal doses of the ups and downs of growing up in the 50s & 60s and how the theater used to be – and why those of us who love it, love it so. The Review: It’s funny, I don’t know Frank Rich as a theater person.  Long […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: Frank Rich, Ghost Light, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Theater

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tropic of cancer

Tropic of Cancer

August 22, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Henry Miller details, in what was then quite shocking language, the life of a young ex-pat in Paris in the 30s.  There’s a lot of sex, a lot of cursing, a lot of drinking, a lot of rambling thought, and a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. NOTE: I’m hiding the rest of the review below a break as a courtesy to my bookclub.  Will remove the break once they’ve all read it.  Also, bound to be some foul language […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction • Tags: Autobiography, Fiction, Henry Miller, Literature, Narrative Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction, Tropic of Cancer

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running

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

August 11, 2012 by Drew

The Short Version: Part memoir, part essay collection, part set of reflections, acclaimed novelist Haruki Murakami turns his attention to the other dominant ‘thing’ in his life – running.  Over the course of two or so years, he reflects on what it means to run, to write, and to grow older. The Review: So I wasn’t supposed to read this next.  I was stymied as to what would be my next book off of my seemingly unshrinking to-read shelf and so […]

Categories: Non-Fiction • Tags: Essays, Haruki Murakami, Memoir, Non-Fiction, Running, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

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  • Starting to see lists of what books will be on tap at the BEA... I didn't know it was possible to be more excited than I already am. 10 hours ago
  • .@charles_yu's "Sorry Please Thank You" is a perfect entry-level dose of his beautifully melancholic sci-fi. wp.me/pGVzJ-Ir 16 hours ago
  • .@rushkoff's "Present Shock" is, hands down, the most important book about our present moment I've read. Required… wp.me/pGVzJ-In 3 days ago
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