March 2013
1 post
Steve Jobs
Innovator, mogul, genius, madman, revolutionary, pioneer and pirate; all monikers that follow around the man whom invented the Mac and revolutionized the computer industry, Steve Jobs. Walter Issacson delves into the curious enigma that captivated the technology world in his literary portrait of the inventor of the IPod and Mac book. One in a million Steve Job was and the author sets the...
December 2012
1 post
The F*** Up
Subway rat races, foraging for food, reading the Village Voice, all part of a native New Yorkers daily routine; however there is the occasional individual that despite their best efforts everything seems to end up going south for them, enter the Fuck-Up. The foremost character in this novella cannot make a decision that benefits himself or others throughout the whole duration of the glimpse into...
October 2012
2 posts
The Virgin Suicides
What is the price of life according to adolescents on the precipice of becoming an adult in an oppressive household in American suburbia? The answer is obvious to the Lisbon girls, suicide. A means to a situation that seemingly had no alternative and created a mysterious aura that surround the familial unit for a year until all that remained of the kin was a shell of a mother and father. Loss of...
September 2012
2 posts
July 2012
4 posts
A Confederacy of Dunces
Jambalaya Recipe:
½ a cup of Communism
1 cup of colloquial language and Southern phrases
1 tablespoon of ambiguous morals amongst the principal characters
1 lb of flannel shirts
A smattering of New Orleans flavor
A pinch of French Quarter seasoning
1 bowl of a large loveable “village idiot” or genius (depending on perspective)
1 small dysfunctional family; preferably two zany...
June 2012
2 posts
Black Swan Green
Surrounded on all sides, both geographically and in his life so far, Jason Taylor attempts to navigate the most trying year in his young life, stutter and all, during Cold War England in the neon clad, feather donned 1982-1983 era. Undertaking the transformation from childhood to adolescence is intricate and full of mishaps, David Mitchell navigates the reader through the troubled waters of Jason...
May 2012
2 posts
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1972, Rolling Stone Magazine, a suitcase full of potent drugs, a red convertible, the willingness to journey into the American Dream unrelentlessly and the complete disregard for an authoritative power , mix together in a dark basement and cook over an open flame ; the ending result is the autobiographical novel authored by the notorious drug user Hunter S. Thompson. The novel is sporadic,...
April 2012
5 posts
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope...”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald (via seersuckerandmagnolias)
Care to Make Love In That Gross Little Space...
Sarcasm run amok in this collection of misconstrued “Dear ________” letters answered by leading comedic identities, peppered with mundane questions and irrelevant answers this is a lighthearted read that is a beach bound. Filled with stagnant humor and one too many tongue-in-cheek jokes this edition to the Believer magazines repertoire of books lacks the pizzazz the first one had; this...
The Hunger Games
A vile tyrannical dictator ruling over 12 districts that reap the land for sheer survival and in return the “beloved” capitol reaps each district ever year for one female and male to fight to death in an arena for entertainment/a reminder about the uprising that split the country almost a hundred years ago. Enter an obstinate female Katniss, who along with her male counterparts Peeta, Gale,...
March 2012
3 posts
May Day
Picturesque background, ball gowns, liquor bottles strewn across the floor, men in uniform, crushing socialites and socialists, add together and stir with a the historical truth of the May Day Riots of 1919 and in about 100 pages you have the novella penned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This novella is a thematic mash up of stagnation of a nation and a polarized society that precedes the “Jazz Age” of...
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture...
Cereal, cigarettes, slight pillow talk, a VHS of the Real World and Lisa Loeb’s cat glasses lying on the bedside table next to a picture of Zack Morris, the ideal setting for a satirical portrayal of a society run by the cultural components that dictate what is important and what is not. A collection of essays ranging in various topics is at the heart of the novel depicting a brief time in...
Girl, Interrupted
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest depicts the life of a mental institution from the perspective of a man albeit fiction but nonetheless the only depiction until the groundbreaking memoir from Susanna Kaysen; this seminal memoir relaying actual occurrences of a mental health facility in the 1960s gave the masses a view of the harrowing world clouded with the stigma of mental illness from the...
February 2012
2 posts
Room
Sanctuary, prison, magical, full of heartache, wonderment, feeling like a caged animal, having zero sense of what life is like outside of a cork covered wall, chain link material and the sounds of a keyboard that terrify you in the night hours; this place is what Jack and Ma have called “home” for five years. What if “home” was a shed in which you could never escape and was the only thing you...
The White Tiger
Modern day India, a driver filled with corruption, greed and an ambiguous sense of morality learned from his master, navigates not only the streets of India but also the politics of an India under a tyrannical rule; a tale of an entrepreneur and of one man’s rise to power through unconventional ways. Aravind Adiga narrates his debut novel through the voice of one Balram, monikered the “White...
January 2012
3 posts
Maus
Start with a memoir, add some historic content and a splash of artistic talent and put them together and you have created the graphic novel that is Maus. It is not only pictorial beautiful but the memoir is heartbreaking and filled with the human spirit as the tale of a man surviving through the hallow Holocaust and the tale of a strained relationship between a father and son. The people in the...
Blindness
Medical advances have proven to save millions of lives in just only the past century with the discoveries of vaccines and medications, yet humanity has still no cure for the abhorrent disease that runs rampant throughout countries, crosses cultural boundaries, knows no color line, socio-economics play no part in selecting its victims and attacks at random seemingly without rhyme or reason;...
November 2011
1 post
“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension,...”
– Anais Nin (via jonubian)
September 2011
9 posts
1 tag
Kokoro
Loneliness. The singular meaning of loneliness seems to be a continuous thematic trail that is weaved throughout the novel; its impact on a person and what true loneliness really is. The journey of one individual’s soul through life and the depths that this entity holds/hide, is a theme the author discusses at length. The ideal of karma is also discussed at length in this novel. The all...
Sorry I'm Not Sorry
Mix in a couple shots of Α,Β,Δ,Κ,Λ,Σ,Τ,Φ,Ψ,Ω, vodka, jungle juice, then combine all ingredients into a Rubbermaid tub, mix together and pour in a red solo cup; take a sip and you have the concoction that is Sorry I’m Not Sorry. Written by the popularized Twitter moniker @ Sorority Problem, this novella lets the audience into the world of one Alexa Black and all her mishaps in dealing with life...
7 tags
Sarah's Key
Grabbing a baguette, a bouquet of flowers, a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from a stroll down the narrow Parisian streets, perhaps a quick cup of coffee from that darling little café on the corner a typical Parisian sultry summer day add a pinch of French Jews being rounded up by the policemen and you have the perfect ingredients to create those horrific days in July 1942 when 13,152...
The Sunflower
“Forgiveness is the final form of love.”- Reinhold Niebhur. The Sunflower ask the eternal, “what would I have done?”;in a situation as dire as the Holocaust, a dying Nazi SS officer calls for a Jew to ask for forgiveness, harkening toward Simon Wiesenthal’s final question of faith and forgiveness.
The audience is introduced to Simon, Arthur, and Josek; three Polish, Jewish young men, imprisoned...
The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Superheroes, love, lust, growing up, becoming a man, homosexuality, the Holocaust and countless other themes are bound in this marvelous novel. Michael Chabon manages to captivate his audience from the get-go with this intriguing novel; the main protagonists are polar opposites and work/clash with each other with the elegance of a well choreographed ballet. It is within the pages of the...
The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud
Death before life; beginning anew after a tragic accident can occur at any age and only after a true realization of what really lies ahead for yourself can an individual move forward. One must learn to accept the coincidences in life as they come, how that individual reacts to these defines the remainder of their life and the impact that they can have on other people. The theme of second...
The Brooklyn Follies
Life is a mosaic of memories and Paul Auster definitely uses this adage to tell a unique story. This is the story of a man who through the unwillingness to want to live found a new breath of life and a better understanding of coincidences and believed in the world again. The story is a contemporary and takes place in the early 2000s and encapsulates people from many walks of life and differing...
August 2011
9 posts
The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract...
“Richard is both fascinating and as frightening as your worst nightmare. He represents the worst of who we are - yet, he is absolutely fascinating to listen to.” - Sheila Nevins, HBO producer.
The mafia was a force to be reckoned with but every crime family is only as strong as the appendages that it uses to keep them in power, enter Richard Kuklinski; a man who kills without remorse,...
The Help
Armed with nothing but a pen and a “radical” idea Skeeter Phelan, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson and other domestic workers ban together to stir the pot and gave a voice to voiceless people in Jackson, Mississippi during the tumultuous 1960s. The Help is a fantastic read and keeps the reader riveted to the page with character development, changing point of views, seamless integration of historical...
Something Borrowed
“The language of friendship is not words but meanings”-Henry David Thoreau, this is the sentimentality that lurks below the surface in the central friendship that is depicted in the novel, Something Borrowed. What is the true meaning of the word friendship and can people truly have a lifelong friend? This novel discusses the aforementioned ideas and how the works into the existence of people...
Roshōmon
Minimalistic, simplistic storytelling, which is the way of the Japanese author Akutagawa. On the surface the plot may seem simple and easily digestible for the laymen to read but if the reader begins to hone in on the themes of the story; it seems to grow and grow in the more the reader delves into the content that the story brings about. The themes that are highlighted in the story are the...
July 2011
1 post
Adventure Over the Atlantic
To my followers and others who read this, apologies for not posting a new review in a while, one is in the hopper. I decided to leave the arm chair for a week and head to Europe to experience some others cultures. My travel plans took me to Amsterdam and Paris. I stopped by Oscar Wilde to say hello, as I was in his town and also to seek the poetry that Jim Morrison inspires in people and too of...
June 2011
13 posts
I Heard You Paint Houses
An extremely good read, especially if you like history. I was pleasantly surprised by it to be honest because it was suggested to me from an individual who doesn’t read very much. This book was exactly like the aforementioned individual said it was it was engaging and historically accurate. Definitely a must read if you are the type of person into reading about unsolved mysterious and the...
Tales of Belkin
A glass of vodka, a warm fire, a welcoming inn keeper riddled with tales from the provincial reaches of the vastness that is Russia are comforting items that a lonely traveler seeks on a trek from the far reaches of the global. The Tales of Belkin is a textual version of the aforementioned scene; Alexander Pushkin becomes a weaver of folkloric tales in this novella, combining the tales from...
