No MessagesNo Chucks SentNo Chucks ReceivedNo Quiz RankNo Tags
Jay's reviews
| My Reviews - Page 1 of 3 |
 |
Jay posted a review at 2011-08-10 06:57:43 for Twenty Years After (Oxford World's Classics).
(Language: English)
 
Okay, so not as good as Three Musketeers but still great. A bit slower paced and a bit more plot but still definitely worth reading.
|
Yes (0) 
No (0)
 |
Jay posted a review at 2011-04-28 09:59:37 for Bartleby, the Scrivener - A Story of Wall-Street.
(Language: English)
Rather impressed, supposedly a book that Camus had read and enjoyed and I could see how this might be inspiring to him as to the themes he employed in his writing. Very quick read, and a memorable story.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-11-23 07:01:07 for My Antonia (Oxford World's Classics).
(Language: English)
I think I purchased the book on a lark and picked it up one day to read with the same feeling. I had no idea I would have ended up liking it this much, it definitely describes an era that isn't existent set in Nebraska in the late 1800s. Tells the story of a young boy growing up and coming of age in Nebraska and Antonia a Bohemian immigrant a little older than he.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-11-02 07:46:44 for Secret History (Vintage Contemporaries).
(Language: English)
I was rather impressed with this story although I had never heard of the author prior to reading this novel. She is friends with Bret Ellis (one of my favorite authors) and I initially hoped it would be more in the style of his writing. Although it wasn't quite what I expected it was still worth reading.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-10-25 01:33:59 for The People Of The Mist.
(Language: English)
Okay, so it's not always believable throughout but neither is the chain of events in The Three Musketeers on how everyone ends up in random places at the same time. With no real experience with Haggard before I bought this on a lark, it's great. In the vein of a Treasure Island or Dumas novels.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-10-19 01:01:56 for The Virginian.
(Language: English)
One of the best I've read in the past couple of years, the story did seem a bit overly contrived at times but I enjoyed the descriptions of Wyoming.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-10-10 09:02:36 for The Forever War.
(Language: English)
Easy read and went quickly, not the best sci fi book I've read but not bad either.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-10-08 09:01:25 for The Door Into Summer.
(Language: English)
Enjoyable, easy read. Not as good as Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, or Starship Troopers, but still worth reading...
|
|
|
Jay posted a review at 2010-10-08 05:55:23 for The Silmarillion.
(Language: English)
It's not Lord of the Rings, or even close to The Hobbit for that matter.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-08-12 09:53:32 for Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.
(Language: English)
While I won't begin to compare this to Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum (my favorite of the two), I thought it was pretty good. More of a rambling through the character's life and a rediscovery of how he became what he is. A lot of pop culture references, and if one notices what I felt was a nice antiwar statement and inferences about governments manipulating citizens (regardless of the nation).
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-08-10 06:25:06 for Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book).
(Language: English)
Very impressed with the book, it runs long but there is a large amount of information to cover. Authors use data from the NLSY to argue about the role of IQ in personal outcomes and the implication for society at large. The implications of what they discuss are nationwide and couldn't really be of more importance, and although it was published 15 years ago I'd say the trends are still in place.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-08-02 07:42:27 for Imperial Bedrooms.
(Language: English)
While no Rules of Attraction or The Informers, it was certainly better than Lunar Park.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-07-06 09:13:22 for Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.
(Language: English)
Don't know that I'll make a barefoot runner but it was a really good story. As someone who tries to run, but doesn't always manage the best it gives me some added ambition to keep trying. Highly recommend for runners or almost anyone really...
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-06-09 09:57:47 for Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right.
(Language: English)
I'll admit, I like Ayn Rand's books so I'd wanted to read this for a while. It seems as if personally I may not have been as big a fan, but I knew some of the things included in the book before I read it. How she insulated herself with acolytes and was uninterested in opposing views. If interested in learning more about her life and the books, I think it's a good options of the books that are out there.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-05-20 08:35:54 for The Grapes of Wrath.
(Language: English)
Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, and shamefully this is the last of his major works I hadn't read. I really enjoyed the book, but in this more than his other books his politics got in the way at times. There were underlying themes which he skirted over (government subsidies for agriculture) which also contributed to some of the wrongs he was discussing that weren't mentioned. He didn't claim to be an economist though, so I suppose that can be overlooked. Favorite by him is still Tortilla Flat, with Cannery Row and The Wayward Bus close runners up...
|
|
|
Jay posted a review at 2010-05-20 08:32:21.
(Language: English)
A book much like We Who Dared Say No To War that really changed the way I view American foreign interventions. This should be included in history classes as a companion to what is 'officially' stated to be the facts...
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-03-29 08:45:01 for ALAS, BABYLON.
(Language: English)
I was very impressed with this book although had never heard of it until approximately a couple of weeks ago and the idea intrigued me. Although the threat of nuclear war may have lessened, some thought of what we as individuals would need to do to survive if there were something that interrupted the normal flow of goods is likely as important as ever.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-03-23 12:58:53 for Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah's Book Club).
(Language: English)
Was very impressed with the book. I thought it read quickly and was drawn in to the story within a few pages. Not the best book I've read in the past couple of years, but definitely one of the better ones...
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-03-13 06:50:19 for The Political Economy of U.S. Militarism.
(Language: English)
I was pretty disappointed in the book. He occasionally stumbled around and found some truths, but if one is interested more in anti-war or books to better understand the military establishment there are vastly better books. The points were badly proven, and the writing was sketchy in that he kept referring you backward and forward in the text. This is a one star or less had he not cited some decent authors. Recommended in place of: We Who Dared Say No To War or Blowback by Johnson.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-02-27 11:57:51 for Economical Writing, Second Edition.
(Language: English)
Succinct and to the point. Very good book if you are interested in becoming a better writer, and not necessarily only in economics.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-02-15 09:55:39 for Lanague Chronicles.
(Language: English)
From looking at the cover I was unsure, but I don't know the last time I read a book I liked this well. It incorporated a good theme about freedom with a very good plot. I'm almost certainly going to try another F. Paul Wilson book now.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-02-07 12:53:06 for The Theory of the Leisure Class.
(Language: English)
The first couple of chapters were ok while he was talking about conspicuous consumption and he has a point but it was overall not that good. The text dragged along slowly with Veblen using vocabulary which was unnecessarily difficult to wade through. Had wanted to read it for a long time, was disappointed...
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2010-01-09 08:24:06 for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series).
(Language: English)
I had never been exposed to any literature about urban planning prior to reading this, and I'd heard of the book online in some news story. While reading the book, I found myself thinking of how it applied to my own city and why different portions had been successful and thrived versus falling into disrepair and 'slumming' as she used in the book. Not sure if I'll get into urban planning more, but did find this very interesting...
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2009-11-24 11:10:27 for The Children of Men.
(Language: English)
Different from the movie, don't go assuming that it will follow that completely. Worth reading.
|
 |
Jay posted a review at 2009-11-04 11:12:03 for Company K (Library Alabama Classics).
(Language: English)
Likely as good a book about war as I have read. Up there with Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Told a in a series of short snippets from various soldiers' point of view it moves quickly. It attempts to give a vivid description of a soldier in action's daily life, and is something many individuals should read prior to believing the commercials that the armed forces air on television. Although about WWI, still timely today. March also wrote The Bad Seed later in life, his most famous book...
|
| My Reviews - Page 1 of 3 |