author: Marilyn Johnson
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2011/04/04
date added: 2011/04/29
shelves: non-fiction, didnt-finish
review:
I started this during a bout of insomnia, which may have a little bit to do with why it didn’t really click for me. And of course now I can’t remember the particular things that I didn’t like. But it just seemed really superficial somehow, with the curious exception of the chapter about the librarians who sued over the Patriot Act.
This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
author: Marilyn Johnson
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2011/04/04
date added: 2011/04/29
shelves: didnt-finish, non-fiction
review:
I started this during a bout of insomnia, which may have a little bit to do with why it didn’t really click for me. And of course now I can’t remember the particular things that I didn’t like. But it just seemed really superficial somehow, with the curious exception of the chapter about the librarians who sued over the Patriot Act.
The Annotated Hobbit: The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.52
book published: 1937
rating: 4
read at: 2011/04/26
date added: 2016/08/31
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
So yeah, I’m 36 years old, have read LoTR a couple of times, seen the movies a bunch, played lots of D&D, and somehow never got around to reading The Hobbit. I did see the movie once, at the library when I was a little kid, and I think one more time in the last decade or so.
It’s a damn clever story; the locales are quite vivid, and I’m intrigued by the characters who weren’t in LoTR. (Beorn in particular.)
I do wish I hadn’t gotten the annotated version, though. Fascinating stuff, some of it, but also terribly distracting. And I’m still not so much for Tolkien’s poetry.
All in all, I’m glad I finally got around to it.
The Annotated Hobbit
author: J.R.R. Tolkien
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1989
rating: 4
read at: 2011/04/26
date added: 2011/04/29
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
So yeah, I’m 36 years old, have read LoTR a couple of times, seen the movies a bunch, played lots of D&D, and somehow never got around to reading The Hobbit. I did see the movie once, at the library when I was a little kid, and I think one more time in the last decade or so.
It’s a damn clever story; the locales are quite vivid, and I’m intrigued by the characters who weren’t in LoTR. (Beorn in particular.)
I do wish I hadn’t gotten the annotated version, though. Fascinating stuff, some of it, but also terribly distracting. And I’m still not so much for Tolkien’s poetry.
All in all, I’m glad I finally got around to it.
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
author: Tim Wu
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2011/04/06
date added: 2011/04/29
shelves: economics, history, non-fiction, politics, wishlist
review:
As with Nothing to Envy, I should have written this review right after reading the book. It was fantastic, and I’d like to read it again. Great history of the "Information Empires" of the 20th and early 21st century, the continuing tension between openness and control. The history of television seemed particularly instructive: there was no early era of openness; instead Sarnoff (RCA/NBC) manipulated everything he could to make sure that it came out under the exact same control as radio at the time. Found myself kinda wishing for some discussion of Facebook in the closing chapters, in which there was a lot of focus on Apple & Google. It seemed to me that Facebook (or its moral equivalents) are the elephant in the room in that discussion. Very highly recommended.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
author: Barbara Demick
name: Elaine
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2011/04/08
date added: 2011/04/29
shelves: biography, ebook, history, non-fiction, politics, travel
review:
Utterly fascinating/horrifying story of ordinary people living in North Korea. Wish I’d written this review earlier when the details were still vivid, but I can say that I found it almost impossible to put down. Finished it off very late at night, reading on my phone in bed.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
author: Barbara Demick
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2011/04/08
date added: 2011/04/29
shelves: biography, ebook, history, non-fiction, politics, travel
review:
Utterly fascinating/horrifying story of ordinary people living in North Korea. Wish I’d written this review earlier when the details were still vivid, but I can say that I found it almost impossible to put down. Finished it off very late at night, reading on my phone in bed.
Today’s Links 4/28/2011
- Planning an iPhone App: Where to Start » General, UX » Design Festival
applies to Android or web app, too.
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Flickr Updates for 2011-04-29
So…
The 10th anniversary of this blog (in its various forms) has come and gone, pretty much unremarked. Although I had a fun moment recently when someone returned an old book on blogging (WeBlog) and boy did that seem even older than it was.
I also took (am taking?) a haitus from Twitter, originally for a week. As it happens, I’ve kept away (mostly) for about a month now.
Nor have I been writing at The Web Generalist, or 750words, or much of anywhere else.
What to say about that? Not entirely sure. My moods have been all cattywampus lately, for one thing, which usually compels me to retreat from the world. On Twitter specifically, I’ve been struck by presentation anxiety and info overload. ZOMG TOO MANY PEOPLE. I want to say this is the first time I’ve had a fit of introversion come on online instead of (or in addition to) IRL, but I’m not sure that’s entirely correct. I may need to go back with a radically trimmed down following list.
Also, I miss having a semi-private space with my (mostly) online friends. Nowhere to hang out and gossip, let the hair down, etc, etc. Blogging in general used to be that, sorta, and for while LJ and/or Vox, and briefly Twitter itself, but I don’t really have anything now. (I actually see this as a key problem of socializing on the internet. We all need those spaces in which to be prideful or bitchy or tired, and there just aren’t any good options for that. (Don’t get me started about Facebook. No, really.)) Instead, every goddamn word has to be weighed as if it were going to be the top headline on google news or the employee newsletter. Feh.
So I start writing, wonder what’s the point, and go on to something else. Hopefully this state won’t last forever, but who the hell knows?