Review: The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich

The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich by David Bach
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another personal financial planning / retirement savings parable. One of many, nothing very outstanding here.

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Review: Oh William!

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this as an audiobook and I very much enjoyed it. I've seen some not so positive reviews of this on Goodreads, and I wonder if what I liked, the pacing, the shared emotion (or lack of emotion at times), and the way the sentences sounded was as much a function of the narration as the writing. Perhaps so.

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Review: Suder: A Novel

Suder: A Novel by Percival Everett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Caused me to listen to a particular Charlie Parker album I hadn't listened to before. Very odd happenings, but put together realistically. I look forward to seeing what the author can do without leaning heavily on the bizarre.

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Review: Going Zero

Going Zero by Anthony McCarten
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A friend read this and thought I would really enjoy it. I can understand her thinking -- the surveillance we all face from the use of technology is something I can worry about. But the problem with books like this is that the author suggests that technology exists that seems far fetched, and then makes that technology a key part of the plot. It happened a couple of times, and while I'm willing to suspend disbelief when reading such books, this one went to the well too many times for me. So I liked the concept and the story and the non-technology related twists, but the tech side was a bridge too far. This did feel very much like a screenplay, and i can see someone like Amazon picking this up for filming.

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Review: The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century

The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century by Jim Kaplan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had recently finished Bob Gibson's "Pitch by Pitch", his recounting of the details of a single game in the 60s that he believe memorable. It was. And I found his book to be quite well done, showing Gibson's thinking about the situations of almost every pitch, as well as his take on his opponent's pitching decisions. You learned a lot and were entertained. I expected the same with this book. Instead, this was more of a two pitcher biography, with lots of back (and post-) story on these player's careers. The game itself was not covered in the depth that Gibson wrote, and I suppose that's no surprise given the author is a reporter and not one of the pitchers. I did find i learned a lot about these players, but not so much about a single game, but about their careers.

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Review: This is It: And Other Essays on Zen & Spiritual Experience

This is It: And Other Essays on Zen & Spiritual Experience by Alan W. Watts
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Having read the many positive reviews here, I suspect that my listening to the audiobook, without the benefits of reading and reflecting as I would with a physical book, was not a good thing. I found a lot of long-winded sentences that were difficult to follow on audio. With a book you could easily re-read. While driving and listening, no way. I will possibly try another...

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Review: A World Lost: A Novel

A World Lost: A Novel by Wendell Berry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Follows a boy who loses a beloved, freewheeling uncle to murder through his life before and after the murder, and years later when he starts to question to find out what actually happened. You are in the boys head all throughout the short book, and you see how he thinks as he learns that some stories and some storytellers can't be trusted. It all happens in the bucolic country, and slowly as a typical Southern story.

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