Take a photo of a barcode or cover
wampusreynolds's reviews
486 reviews
Fooling Houdini: Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks & the Hidden Powers of the Mind by Alex Stone
4.0
Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser
3.0
A reviewer named Greg said the narrator of this book "like a German Holden Caulfield, but way more European." And that's a great summation. But instead of encountering squares, he deals with people crazier than him. The lack of action and the monotony of his obsessions were a bit wearing, but some great hilarious moments in there.
Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him by David Henry
3.0
I might bump this up to four stars just for the research and unflinching look at this genius with a dark, dark side. However, the italicized discursions into attempted literature and mixed metaphors in the first part of this book really dragged it down. I still highly recommend it for any serious fan of comedy. He really was the best.
Oklahoma Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff by P.J. Lassek
4.0
While lacking a lot of entries and some regions seem to be favored over others, Lassek does a great job at providing history and context and fitting these odd destinations into a bigger picture of the weird frustrating world I call my home state. Check it out!
Post Office by Charles Bukowski
4.0
More 3.5. Great economical prose and some hilarious encounters. I read Hollywood before and the style was just the same.
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt
3.0
A satire of business logic and business speak that just can't sustain the conceit as many pages. The commitment to the outrageous extrapolation of a man's misogynist fantasy (and yes, the isolation of women's body parts is objectification) is fun to follow, but it just drags at the end and does not satisfy in how far the satire goes. After reading the back story of this novel, I may check out the author's other novel, but this one just had too many drawbacks to recommend to others.
One to Count Cadence by James Crumley
4.0
Four stars for its perceptive and exuberant descriptions of the camaraderie of an Army unit in an absurd and tragic situations. Crumley has written some of my favorite sentences. Also, the treatment of sexual orientation is very ambiguous. But you can see the foibles of every Crumley book here- the hero beating people's faces in nauseating description, the woman as whore or mother, the copious amounts of alcohol worn as a badge of elitism. And plus a sickening cynical view of the civil rights struggle that can't be explained away.