Category: Writing

author: Julie Powell
name: Elaine
average rating: 2.33
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/07/09
date added: 2010/07/12
shelves: autobiography, non-fiction
review:
Like the rating says, I really liked this book. Dropped a star because sometimes the slangy-ness was a bit much for me. I saw the Julie & Julia movie, but hadn’t read the book, when I spotted this on the new books shelf at the library and grabbed it on an impulse.

I’m trying to encapsulate what I liked about this book, and it’s honestly a bit difficult to express. As far as the narrative technique, the switching back and forth between the technical butchery bits and the personal story really worked for me. Otherwise? I’m just going to leave it at: I really liked it.

author: Julie Powell
name: Elaine
average rating: 2.32
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2010/07/09
date added: 2010/07/12
shelves: autobiography, non-fiction
review:
Like the rating says, I really liked this book. Dropped a star because sometimes the slangy-ness was a bit much for me. I saw the Julie & Julia movie, but hadn’t read the book, when I spotted this on the new books shelf at the library and grabbed it on an impulse.

I’m trying to encapsulate what I liked about this book, and it’s honestly a bit difficult to express. As far as the narrative technique, the switching back and forth between the technical butchery bits and the personal story really worked for me. Otherwise? I’m just going to leave it at: I really liked it.

author: Scott Belsky
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2010/07/08
date added: 2010/07/12
shelves: business, non-fiction, psychology, self-help
review:
I’ve been torn between giving this 1 or 2 stars, or 4 stars, so 3 it is. The good parts are fascinating, and I think potentially very useful to me in work and at home. Some smart techniques and interesting quotes. I may even recommend it to my colleagues.

On the other hand…it’s hard for me to take seriously a book that uses "thought leader" non-ironically. And so it has a lot of that sort of thing going on: oh, look, there’s Chris Anderson! Malcolm Gladwell! IDEO! etc., etc. And plenty of eye-rolling material for sure.

So if you can get past the eye-rolling, it’s probably worth reading. Thankfully, it’s pretty short. (I read it in an afternoon while sitting in the park.)

author: Scott Belsky
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2010/07/08
date added: 2010/07/12
shelves: business, non-fiction, psychology, self-help
review:
I’ve been torn between giving this 1 or 2 stars, or 4 stars, so 3 it is. The good parts are fascinating, and I think potentially very useful to me in work and at home. Some smart techniques and interesting quotes. I may even recommend it to my colleagues.

On the other hand…it’s hard for me to take seriously a book that uses "thought leader" non-ironically. And so it has a lot of that sort of thing going on: oh, look, there’s Chris Anderson! Malcolm Gladwell! IDEO! etc., etc. And plenty of eye-rolling material for sure.

So if you can get past the eye-rolling, it’s probably worth reading. Thankfully, it’s pretty short. (I read it in an afternoon while sitting in the park.)

author: Jane Lindskold
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2010/07/07
date added: 2010/07/12
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
I definitely need to read all the books in a row again, because although I was mostly able to pick up the plot threads & characters, I definitely felt like I was missing something. Great book, though, deeply engaging. Love the consistency and imaginativeness of her invented magic worlds & systems.

author: Jane Lindskold
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2010/07/07
date added: 2010/07/12
shelves: fantasy, fiction
review:
I definitely need to read all the books in a row again, because although I was mostly able to pick up the plot threads & characters, I definitely felt like I was missing something. Great book, though, deeply engaging. Love the consistency and imaginativeness of her invented magic worlds & systems.

author: Taras Grescoe
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2010/06/28
date added: 2010/06/29
shelves: cookbook, economics, environmentalism, health, history, non-fiction, politics, travel
review:
Amazing, if discouraging. A tour of fishing around the world, with each chapter focusing on a specific food and location. So: sardines in the Mediterranean, shrimp in India, salmon in BC, bluefin tuna in Japan, etc. He treats his subjects, both fish and human, with sensitivity. Great descriptive language of both the horrible and the sublime.

There’s a useful appendix about fishing methods (good, bad, ugly), and specific fish (never, sometimes, always) — shrimp and tuna in particular come off very poorly.

Very highly recommended!

author: Taras Grescoe
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2010/06/28
date added: 2010/06/29
shelves: environmentalism, economics, cookbook, history, health, non-fiction, politics, travel
review:
Amazing, if discouraging. A tour of fishing around the world, with each chapter focusing on a specific food and location. So: sardines in the Mediterranean, shrimp in India, salmon in BC, bluefin tuna in Japan, etc. He treats his subjects, both fish and human, with sensitivity. Great descriptive language of both the horrible and the sublime.

There’s a useful appendix about fishing methods (good, bad, ugly), and specific fish (never, sometimes, always) — shrimp and tuna in particular come off very poorly.

Very highly recommended!

author: Douglas A. Blackmon
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2010/06/19
date added: 2010/06/29
shelves: economics, history, non-fiction
review:
The author makes a pretty good case that slavery in the southern US didn’t really end until WWII…in lots of gruesome detail about the laws and practices that came into place as Reconstruction fell apart. In short, the practice of fines being paid through labor, followed by the chain gang, in which white sheriffs and judges convicted (mostly) men on tiny/ludicrous charges, then made money by essentially selling them to plantation and mine owners.

He even makes the argument that post-Civil War slavery was more brutal, because the workers were disposable.

It’s loosely structured around the generations of a family of central Alabama, which lends a much-needed narrative focus. Otherwise, it’s too easy for it to be simply a catalog of horror, which it’s got plenty of that as well.

The implication, I think, is that slavery isn’t something "so long ago" that it can be dismissed as irrelevant. Secondly, that tension between black communities and law enforcement comes from a deep historical place.

Only three stars because it’s so freaking long, but if you’ve got the time and the stamina I definitely recommend it.

author: Douglas A. Blackmon
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2010/06/19
date added: 2010/06/29
shelves: economics, history, non-fiction
review:
The author makes a pretty good case that slavery in the southern US didn’t really end until WWII…in lots of gruesome detail about the laws and practices that came into place as Reconstruction fell apart. In short, the practice of fines being paid through labor, followed by the chain gang, in which white sheriffs and judges convicted (mostly) men on tiny/ludicrous charges, then made money by essentially selling them to plantation and mine owners.

He even makes the argument that post-Civil War slavery was more brutal, because the workers were disposable.

It’s loosely structured around the generations of a family of central Alabama, which lends a much-needed narrative focus. Otherwise, it’s too easy for it to be simply a catalog of horror, which it’s got plenty of that as well.

The implication, I think, is that slavery isn’t something "so long ago" that it can be dismissed as irrelevant. Secondly, that tension between black communities and law enforcement comes from a deep historical place.

Only three stars because it’s so freaking long, but if you’ve got the time and the stamina I definitely recommend it.