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Author Topic: Rate the last book you read.  (Read 194361 times)

Clovis8

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #930 on: February 27, 2012, 07:48:09 PM »
I loved it too 'noff. The technical stuff even when it was over my head was interesting.

Jared

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #931 on: March 02, 2012, 12:41:39 PM »
Down & Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind

I liked Biskind's "sequel" to Easy Riders and Raging Bulls a lot better than the original. I think the main reason is the focus is quite a bit more pointed, as 75% of the roads in the book lead to Harvey Weinstein, a pretty fascinating character responsible for the rise and/or fall of a lot of household names, and probably the best award season manipulator ever.
In addition to this there's a lot of talk about Sundance and Redford (not as interesting) and Bingham Ray's journey (excellent stuff).
Through that main plot and the two subplots the book covers Soderbergh, Tarantino, Ben & Matt, Kevin Smith, Russell, Haynes, Solondz, Payne, Jonze, Thorton, Leigh, Paltrow and plenty of other interesting personalities in the business.
A good read. Debating whether to read his 50s book, so if anyones read that one lemme know what you think. Amazon reviews have me a bit skeptical.

Bondo

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #932 on: March 02, 2012, 02:03:31 PM »
The New New Rules by Bill Maher

Christmas Gift.

Anyway, I love Bill Maher's TV show, but not really for his humor but rather because he has good guests and some of the better political discussion on TV. So what happens when you take the last five minutes of his show over the course of about 5 years and jam it (at very low density) over 350 pages? Well, at least the book was a very fast read.

2/5

Oh, and before that I read:

Human Resources, Martinis and Other Bad Things by Vesta Vayne

A $.99 e-book. Easy to read and pretty enjoyable in a early-30s feminine angst sort of way. There will be girl drama.

4/5

pixote

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #933 on: March 02, 2012, 03:34:46 PM »
That and Robert Graves' Good-Bye to All That.

Wait, the same Robert Graves of I, CLAUDIUS fame? Is it historical fiction, too?

Same author, but it's an autobiography.

pixote
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verbALs

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #934 on: March 04, 2012, 08:21:08 AM »
Hard Times

Absolutely, not what I was expecting, which explains why the book stared at me for so long, practically daring me to put down the noir and get some culture. It looks exactly like it is going to preach at you, in that self-righteous crusading manner, that the Victorians became so rightly laughed at for. The benevolence and altruism of the cultured Englishman telling the heathens around the world what was good for them.

Dickens disrobes the educated upper classes and the upstart self-made men of industry, equally. He writes, in metaphor, about their baseless superiority and new found "scientific" method, for improving the lives of others. This is a very acidic satire. The word, satire, is more apt because it reads like a Monty Python sketch half the time. The monstrous Bounderby, brought up in an egg box by a grandmother; the most evil woman in the world, is the fool that launched a thousand sketches. The teachers, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild, damned in the naming; filling the children with facts is a brilliant and hilarious opener. It bites subtly. Dickens, in fact, is very direct in how he condemns. He doesn't leave it to the reader to decide. He starts referring to one wretched character, very early on as "The Whelp". This books is marvellous for the characterisation of dozens of people. It reminded me of I Know Where I'm Going and how people represent factories or other institutions. He boils the hypocrites in oil by the end. Nobody in our cynical modern world does it better.

The melodrama and pathos lay thick like Coketown chimney smoke. For Dickens this is a very light read, with enough plot to keep the fires stoked. An entertainer of a writer, disguising his vilification of a world turned to iron and coal, in funny story-telling.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

oldkid

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #935 on: March 04, 2012, 11:57:36 AM »
Mangaman

An interesting experiment of a mix of Japanese and Western-style comics.  In the end, it's a fun idea, but with no depth.  The comic Zot did a much better job of this kind of idea, with real characters.  Still, it had some interesting ideas.  It was worth the half hour it took to read it.  3/5
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Lobby

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #936 on: March 04, 2012, 02:06:44 PM »
Just revisited A Princess of Mars as a preparation for watching John Carter. It's been 26 years since last time I read it.

I think Burroughs imagination is pretty charming. There's no shortage of different sorts of creature! And I love his space travel. Just think of a place and you'll end up there. :)

Still I really wonder if this will make any good picture... Well I suppose I'll find out soon!

It's a bit hard to rate this. It's got high scores for charm, but of course the gender perspective is what it is...

If grades are necessary... 3/5 perhaps?
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Bondo

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #937 on: March 04, 2012, 03:48:53 PM »
If grades are necessary

Welcome to the forum  ;)

Everything must be rated and ranked.

oneaprilday

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #938 on: March 05, 2012, 10:10:45 PM »
Hard Times

Absolutely, not what I was expecting, which explains why the book stared at me for so long, practically daring me to put down the noir and get some culture. It looks exactly like it is going to preach at you, in that self-righteous crusading manner, that the Victorians became so rightly laughed at for. The benevolence and altruism of the cultured Englishman telling the heathens around the world what was good for them.

Dickens disrobes the educated upper classes and the upstart self-made men of industry, equally. He writes, in metaphor, about their baseless superiority and new found "scientific" method, for improving the lives of others. This is a very acidic satire. The word, satire, is more apt because it reads like a Monty Python sketch half the time. The monstrous Bounderby, brought up in an egg box by a grandmother; the most evil woman in the world, is the fool that launched a thousand sketches. The teachers, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild, damned in the naming; filling the children with facts is a brilliant and hilarious opener. It bites subtly. Dickens, in fact, is very direct in how he condemns. He doesn't leave it to the reader to decide. He starts referring to one wretched character, very early on as "The Whelp". This books is marvellous for the characterisation of dozens of people. It reminded me of I Know Where I'm Going and how people represent factories or other institutions. He boils the hypocrites in oil by the end. Nobody in our cynical modern world does it better.

The melodrama and pathos lay thick like Coketown chimney smoke. For Dickens this is a very light read, with enough plot to keep the fires stoked. An entertainer of a writer, disguising his vilification of a world turned to iron and coal, in funny story-telling.

Hurrah!!  Wonderful write-up! You nail exactly why I love Dickens, the over-the-top, hilarious, scathing satire, and the thick pathos and melodrama.  And I hadn't thought of the Python comparison, but I love that - it's perfect.  It strikes me all the more so since I've been watching the doc mini-series Monty Python: Almost the Truth - Lawyer's Cut (currently on Netflix Instant!) lately and thinking again about their brilliant comedy.

Bondo

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Re: Rate the last book you read.
« Reply #939 on: March 06, 2012, 10:58:54 PM »
The Conservative Nanny State by Dean Baker

Last year's documentary Hot Coffee explored how legislation on civil courts and related torts and contract law had basically been set up to advantage corporations (the wealthy) over plaintiffs (the poor). Dean Baker's book The Conservative Nanny State includes this same message as part of a much broader system of policies that increase inequality.

The opening premise is that there is this myth that inequality is the result of the free market, the rich are rich mostly because they are smarter and worked harder and thus it is wrong to tax them heavily to support the poor. Baker presents the case that a lot of policies exist that are actually distorting the market to actively benefit the wealthy, and that these policies ultimately involve far larger amounts of money than the sum of all the governmental programs to help out the poor.

Baker discusses a broad range of policies in a fairly (mercifully) brief book, including:
  • Occupational Licensing, Trade and Immigration Policy (Decreasing labor competition for high-skill workers and increasing it for low-skill workers)
  • Monetary Policy (Low inflation means higher unemployment and heavier debt burden)
  • Corporate Regulation (CEOs exert control over their own pay)
  • Patent/Copyright (Government created monopoly profits)
  • Creditor-Debitor Balance of Power (Removing responsibility from lenders)
  • Torts and Takings (Demanding compensation for negative policy externalities without paying for positive policy externalities)
  • Small Business Supports (Excepted from many labor protections)
  • Tax Evasion (Limited enforcement on the wealthy means cheating)
  • Public Options (Government does things more efficiently, yet isn't allowed to compete in many areas that would benefit people)
The point is, he covers a lot of territory and he does so very reasonably, though I'm generally disposed toward the type of arguments he makes. It is firmly entrenched in mainstream economic thinking, but one of liberal values. A related topic is covered in another e-book I'm likely to read in the near future called The Rent Is Too Damn High by Matthew Yglesias that discusses how zoning policies in big urban areas prevents the level of population density that the market would tend to demand, making housing more expensive (great if you are already bought in), generally reducing economic production and also increasing energy usage.

All of this is a very important line of discussion to shift the narrative. Though we probably do need more substantial safety net programs, simply taking the finger off the scales to stop benefiting the wealthy through ill-conceived policy would do a great deal to boost the economy and move toward a more sustainable level of equality. Never let someone tell you that the wealthy "earned" it.

4/5 and available for free.