A Modest Construct

¶ Spanking the Donkey

Spanking the Donkey by Matt Taibbi: Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Year: 2006; Pages: 368

I am aware of Matt Taibbi for two reasons: the first is I was recently made aware of his (new?) blog on TrueSlant, and I like his writing; the second is he was instrumental in founding The Buffalo Beast, whose “Fifty Most Loathesome People” column ends up being the highlight of my year.

Spanking the Donkey is more or less a collection of Taibbi’s coverage of the 2004 election cycle, taken from his articles in The Beast, New York Press, and Rolling Stone. I imagine that in 2006, when this book first came out, it must have seemed especially poignant to defeated liberals spending a lot of time in contemplative navel-gazing—or maybe not. When it comes down to it, Spanking the Donkey says less about the 2004 election and a little bit more about the election cycle generically.

§3943 · July 30, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, David Foster Wallace, nonfiction, politics, reviews

¶ Snoop

Snoop by Sam Gosling: Publisher: Basic Books; Year: 2008; Pages: 272

I have a weakness for popular science books, even though that sometimes steers me dangerously close to quacks or shallow popsci frauds (think pretty much all of Oprah’s guests….). I picked up Snoop on the strength of its review on Amazon.

Some of you may be familiar with Room Raiders, a sickly sort of reality television show airing on MTV since 2003. In it, three young men or women have their rooms “raided”—that is, inspected—by a member of the opposite sex; at the end, the inspector’s room is summarily raided by the contestants. Any pictures of the people are covered up: the goal is to surmise as much about the person as possible based on the state, condition, and content of his or her room. It’s actually an interesting premise—as we shall see—ruined in this case by the fact that its stars are about keg stand away from being mentally retarded.

§3941 · July 27, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, nonfiction, pop culture, psychology, reviews, science

¶ And the Ass Saw the Angel

And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave: Publisher: 2.13.61; Year: 1989/2003; Pages: 320

Nick Cave is much better known as a musician than as a writer; few even realize that he wrote the screenplay for the fabulous movie The Proposition, especially since so much attention is payed to his equally-wonderful work on its soundtrack.

But long, long ago (OK, only 1989), Cave penned his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, whose content will not surprise you if you are familiar with Cave’s lyrics.

§3931 · July 22, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, fiction, religion, reviews

¶ The Meaning of Everything

The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester: Publisher: Oxford University Press; Year: 2004; Pages: 288

Several years ago, a professor recommended The Professor and the Madman to me, which detailed one of the Oxford English Dictionary’s most prolific contributers—a schizophrenic surgeon writing from a psychiatric hospital. When I recently decided to look the book up, I found that while the library didn’t have that particular book, it did have an earlier book by the same author which proposed to detail the OED’s construction more generally. A linguist and bibliophile, I couldn’t pass it up.

§3927 · July 21, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, linguistics, nonfiction, reviews

¶ Atmospheric Disturbances

Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen: Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Year: 2008; Pages: 256

This post may contain spoilers; most of the data it will disclose are easily predictable within the first quarter of the book, and as such I consider them fair game. If you genuinely do not want to know the book’s plot, please do not read this review.

I don’t remember exactly how I came across Atmospheric Disturbances; it was likely an Amazon recommendation, and I can’t say for sure what inspired me to pick it up other than I found it at the library and it’s premise—namely that a man suddenly decides that his wife has been replaced by an identical imposter—piqued that curiosity which is aroused by such things

§3921 · July 14, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Book Reviews, books, fiction, psychology, reviews