Title: The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti
Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Dates: 2/23/09 - 2/25/09
Notes: I picked up this book when searching for similar books to "The Raw Shark Texts", which I read several months ago. I was searching for modern fiction that is sort on the edge of genres, to help in understanding which style I myself want to write in. This was a relatively new author, who seems to have developed a bit of a following.
I didn't notice until typing this that it is the "Trial" and not "Trail".
To be continued...
Rating:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+long+trail+of+nolan+dugatti&x=9&y=25
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Old Man and the Sea
Title: The Old Man and the Sea
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Dates: From 2/20/09 - 2/21/09
Notes:
A quick read (a novella), but still a great story. This book is a tale of an old Cuban fisherman who has had bad luck over the past few months, but soon goes out on a skiff and lands a huge Marlin. The story is the struggle of his luck and defeat with this fish, when it is the biggest fish ever seen but eaten by sharks on his near-death struggle to get it back in.
The importance of this book for me is the simplicity and shortness in which it is written. There is no excessively figurative/descriptive language; the sentences are brief and to the point. However, the story is so engaging and vivid, you forget the simplicity of the writing style. Many writers seem to try to define their style through certain tones or figurative ways that are somewhat unique. This writer does none of that; he has a story to tell, and he tells it well.
A great reference on writing a story, and a great example on how to put the emphasis on the story instead of a unique writing style.
Rating: 9.0
http://www.amazon.com/Old-Man-Sea-E-Hemingway/dp/B000RC9Z5W/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235504759&sr=1-15
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Dates: From 2/20/09 - 2/21/09
Notes:
A quick read (a novella), but still a great story. This book is a tale of an old Cuban fisherman who has had bad luck over the past few months, but soon goes out on a skiff and lands a huge Marlin. The story is the struggle of his luck and defeat with this fish, when it is the biggest fish ever seen but eaten by sharks on his near-death struggle to get it back in.
The importance of this book for me is the simplicity and shortness in which it is written. There is no excessively figurative/descriptive language; the sentences are brief and to the point. However, the story is so engaging and vivid, you forget the simplicity of the writing style. Many writers seem to try to define their style through certain tones or figurative ways that are somewhat unique. This writer does none of that; he has a story to tell, and he tells it well.
A great reference on writing a story, and a great example on how to put the emphasis on the story instead of a unique writing style.
Rating: 9.0
http://www.amazon.com/Old-Man-Sea-E-Hemingway/dp/B000RC9Z5W/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235504759&sr=1-15
Becoming Enlightened
Title:
Author: Dalai Lama and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins
Dates: From 2/1/09 to 2/19/09
Notes:
This book was a great into and outline to Buddhist Philosophy. It is written by the Dalai Lama himself, and translated by the author. This is a definite plus, because I have read other reviews of books regarding the Dalai Lama, to find that they were an interview or something with him and the author used a little bit of the Lama's input, plus a whole lot of his own opinion, and seemingly put something together to sell. Not the case with this book.
As I got this book I was also starting a six week course on Buddhism and Meditation, so the two went hand in hand, and this book gave me some questions to ask in the class. The Dalai Lama lays the book out well, and breaks it into three levels of understanding, with subsections in each level. Additionally, each subsection concludes with a summary outline of points to contemplate, which summarise and in some cases also elaborate upon the material in that subsection. Also, at the end, there is a full collection of all the end-of-section contemplation outlines, for a full review.
The book provides examples of each idea; however, at times the examples did not go into enough depth and left me with some questions in my mind. However, they are good discussion points for my classes still. Due to the instructional nature of this book, I plan to read it again sometime in the near future as a reference for my studies of meditation.
Rating: 8.5
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Enlightened-Holiness-Dalai-Lama/dp/1416565833
Author: Dalai Lama and translated by Jeffrey Hopkins
Dates: From 2/1/09 to 2/19/09
Notes:
This book was a great into and outline to Buddhist Philosophy. It is written by the Dalai Lama himself, and translated by the author. This is a definite plus, because I have read other reviews of books regarding the Dalai Lama, to find that they were an interview or something with him and the author used a little bit of the Lama's input, plus a whole lot of his own opinion, and seemingly put something together to sell. Not the case with this book.
As I got this book I was also starting a six week course on Buddhism and Meditation, so the two went hand in hand, and this book gave me some questions to ask in the class. The Dalai Lama lays the book out well, and breaks it into three levels of understanding, with subsections in each level. Additionally, each subsection concludes with a summary outline of points to contemplate, which summarise and in some cases also elaborate upon the material in that subsection. Also, at the end, there is a full collection of all the end-of-section contemplation outlines, for a full review.
The book provides examples of each idea; however, at times the examples did not go into enough depth and left me with some questions in my mind. However, they are good discussion points for my classes still. Due to the instructional nature of this book, I plan to read it again sometime in the near future as a reference for my studies of meditation.
Rating: 8.5
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Enlightened-Holiness-Dalai-Lama/dp/1416565833
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