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jeremychiasson's reviews
1140 reviews
Making Friends by Kristen Gudsnuk
3.0
This is a good book for a girl who is getting a little too old for Raina Telegmaier, but isn't quite ready for adult themes.
While it has an interesting premise and clever jokes, "Making Friends" isn't as good as it should be. I remember experiencing it as a bit choppy and underdeveloped at times. The narrative transitions could be a lot smoother.
It felt a bit like a very promising manuscript that needs some final touches. I would still recommend it, however!
While it has an interesting premise and clever jokes, "Making Friends" isn't as good as it should be. I remember experiencing it as a bit choppy and underdeveloped at times. The narrative transitions could be a lot smoother.
It felt a bit like a very promising manuscript that needs some final touches. I would still recommend it, however!
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy by Bill Simmons
4.0
A sprawling, indulgent, flawed, beautiful, informative, entertaining book on basketball. There are parts in this book that make me roll my eyes, and yet I always find myself opening it at random and reading until the end of the chapter. This book is very re-readable, and yet also painfully dated.
What has aged the worst: The extremely outdated pop culture references, excessive footnotes, and cringeworthy "witty" asides. Gen X writing is so referential and perishable.
Bill Simmons writes jokes with the confidence and efficiency of Westbrook shooting for 3.
What has aged the best: The questions and concepts Bill devises are fascinating to consider (Wine Cellar Team, The Pyramid, the weight of MVP trophies, etc.) Bill is an all-time sports conversationalist, even if he isn't an all-time sports writer.
I know it doesn't sound like it based on this review, but I really enjoyed the book and will continue to refer to it in the future.
What has aged the worst: The extremely outdated pop culture references, excessive footnotes, and cringeworthy "witty" asides. Gen X writing is so referential and perishable.
Bill Simmons writes jokes with the confidence and efficiency of Westbrook shooting for 3.
What has aged the best: The questions and concepts Bill devises are fascinating to consider (Wine Cellar Team, The Pyramid, the weight of MVP trophies, etc.) Bill is an all-time sports conversationalist, even if he isn't an all-time sports writer.
I know it doesn't sound like it based on this review, but I really enjoyed the book and will continue to refer to it in the future.
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
3.0
Original, clever, and fun. However it's a very difficult book to recommend to children: it's not quite teen, it's not quite middle grade. The main character is 14, there is definitely the buds of romance, but it is a bit childish and innocent for teen readers as well.
It's almost a children's book for children's librarians.
It's almost a children's book for children's librarians.
But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman
3.0
This is the first book in a long time where I was sufficiently interested to read 80 consecutive pages without thinking about my phone!
In "But What If We're Wrong", Klosterman questions everything from rock music posterity, to the very theory of gravity (but not in a crackpot, flat earther kind of way).
Basically it's about how the things humans are historically the most wrong about in our own time, are often the things we feel most certain about. Not the things we are afraid to question, but the things we don't even have enough perspective to question. And yet we sit very smugly on top of these assumptions (facts as we call them), despite knowing every generation before us has been laughably wrong about certain things.
I wasn't crazy about the second half about scientific stuff. Maybe it's the author's lack of expertise (which he acknowledges constantly) or maybe it was my own lack of interest in science, but I was definitely more into the first half of the book, which focused more on music and literature.
Even so, this was a very stimulating read!
In "But What If We're Wrong", Klosterman questions everything from rock music posterity, to the very theory of gravity (but not in a crackpot, flat earther kind of way).
Basically it's about how the things humans are historically the most wrong about in our own time, are often the things we feel most certain about. Not the things we are afraid to question, but the things we don't even have enough perspective to question. And yet we sit very smugly on top of these assumptions (facts as we call them), despite knowing every generation before us has been laughably wrong about certain things.
I wasn't crazy about the second half about scientific stuff. Maybe it's the author's lack of expertise (which he acknowledges constantly) or maybe it was my own lack of interest in science, but I was definitely more into the first half of the book, which focused more on music and literature.
Even so, this was a very stimulating read!
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
3.0
Not nearly as good as Sapiens, but still interesting. Basically Harari is speculating about the future of humanity and the bringing attention to the trends that the average person wouldn't have noticed in their day to day lives. There aren't many solutions (not that I have any myself), he is more of an informer and a generator of possibilities.
This felt more like a long article, padded out to make a book, and I swear he wrote "big data algorithm" 1000 times just to get the word count up.
This felt more like a long article, padded out to make a book, and I swear he wrote "big data algorithm" 1000 times just to get the word count up.
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Library Edition by Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino
3.0
It's nice how active DiMartino is in keeping his world alive even after both of his shows have gone off air. While most of these graphic novel stories are pretty insubstantial, Turf Wars is a solid continuation of where the show left off. It still has political intrigue, organized crime, and of course if you're invested in shipping malarkey, it has that too. The artwork looks great in the library edition, credit to them for bringing Irene Koh on board.
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
5.0
I listened to this book on Audible, and I have to imagine hearing Trevor Noah read his own story greatly enhanced the experience.
Born a Crime is such an easy read, but also fascinating, thoughtful, funny, and touching. I learned a lot about South Africa and the arbitrary nature of racism.
I would feel safe recommending this book to almost anyone (even to people who don't particularly care for reading). It's such a pleasure.
Born a Crime is such an easy read, but also fascinating, thoughtful, funny, and touching. I learned a lot about South Africa and the arbitrary nature of racism.
I would feel safe recommending this book to almost anyone (even to people who don't particularly care for reading). It's such a pleasure.