Book Reviews | Better World Books

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Better World Book Club: Ella Minnow Pea

Posted by Dana on 05.28.2009 at 10:54 am

Don’t forget to sign up for the Better World Book Club Newsletter. Our monthly book club email includes a synopsis of the book, discussion questions and even a great recipe. You can sign up by going to manage subscriptions now.

You can also catch the selections AND discuss the book here on the blog.

Our Latest Pick

ELLA MINNOW PEA by Mark Dunn

I actually read Mark Dunn’s Ella Minnow Pea several years ago for a book club I was part of and it stuck with me, so now I want to share it with you. While clearly a literary exercise (as letters fall off a statue – they are removed from the written and spoken vocabulary of an island community by its totalitarian government), it is also a really good story and a thought provoking political statement.

I have read other books that felt like literary exercises to me. Some work and some don’t. The one that pops into my mind first is Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. The book was very highly acclaimed but I found myself distracted by some of his literary devices, and for me that took something away for the book. I felt like it was a project for a graduate level writing class. It would get an A for sure, but I want to feel the emotion and discover the plot rather than be cleverly deviced to death.

2 Comments » | Tagged Better World Book Club, Author Mark Dunn, Book Club Pick, book reviews, dana barrett, Ella Minnow Pea, Everything is Illuminated, jonathan safran foer, literary devices, literary works, Mark Dunn

Book Review: MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL

Posted by admin on 05.13.2009 at 8:11 am

Before a recent trip to Savannah, Georgia, I was asked the same question each time I mentioned the city: “Have you read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil?” I wondered why so many people found this book to be synonymous with Savannah and decided I’d better check it out.

The author, John Berendt, explains how he came to Savannah on a whim in the 1980s and became fascinated with the city and people he met. He recounts the decade-long murder trial of wealthy antique dealer Jim Williams, weaving the lives of his circle of friends and enemies into the storyline. It’s easy to forget that the book is based on actual events as the eccentric characters blend with a suspenseful murder mystery and make it read like fiction.

5 Comments » | Tagged Author Podcast, Book Reviews, book reviews, John Berendt, Kathryn Gosaynie, Mercer House, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Savannah

The Classic American Road Trip

Posted by Geoff on 10.16.2008 at 10:25 am

This book piqued my interest not because of the obvious timeliness of the release with the election, but because Dave Eggers contributed the writing for Illinois. I don’t recognize any of the other authors, but What is the What and A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius were both great reads.

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, anthony bourdain, book reviews, Dave Eggers, road trip, state by state

Book Review: The Almost Moon

Posted by Dana on 10.13.2008 at 12:26 pm

I have to admit, I didn’t read the highly acclaimed and hugely bestselling The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold mostly because the idea of reading about a dead teenager turned me off. But I heard it was amazing. My own teenager really liked it, in fact.

I don’t know why I thought I would do better with the topic of The Almost Moon. It’s a tough one to swallow, too. I’m not giving anything away by telling you that on page one we learn that the main character has killed her aging mother.
Read more…

2 Comments » | Tagged Book Reviews, alice sebold, book reviews, dana barrett, the almost moon, the lovely bones

Poll Wednesday: Book Reviews?

Posted by admin on 09.18.2008 at 11:56 am

Have your say » | Tagged Poll Wednesday, book reviews, Poll Wednesday

Book Review: The Cult of the Amateur

Posted by Jack on 09.17.2008 at 6:04 pm

Over at Speak Media Blog, a great resource for all things social web, there’s a great article about Andrew Keen’s “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture.”

To give you an idea of why his book is particularly boring, try this quote on for size: “[Web 2.0] worships the creative amateur: the self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone — even the most poorly educated and inarticulate amongst us — can and should use digital media to express and realize themselves. Web 2.0 ‘empowers’ our creativity, it ‘democratizes’ media, it ‘levels the playing field’ between experts and amateurs. The enemy of Web 2.0 is ‘elitist’ traditional media.” Oh heavens no! Next thing you know people with degrees in History and Poli Sci will be writing books about the internet! Come, help me scoff at the so-called “art” of the proletariat.

For that matter, isn’t that the best part of the internet? I love being able to see and hear the creative output of thousands of people with no budget, who would never be signed by a major label and never would have Payola to get them on the radio, people who would never get a book deal selling tons and filmmakers with a whole new canvas to go with their liberation. Not everyone can afford NYU film school, talent or not. The Web provides us with an unbelievable view, not into the uber-educated necessarily (although those people are certainly represented online as well). I wonder how someone like Keen can be so displeased with the collective editing of information when the past has been riddled by books in classrooms dominated by serious biases of the authors (hence the wild popularity of A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn). Really, he’s just an opportunist: it’s always sexier to disagree with the populous on something-to criticize the great work of art-to try and make a name for yourself than it is to agree and try to innovate.

His elitist, aristocracy loving, democracy hating pandering can be read here I would get busy eviscerating the tedious, pedantic tripe that is this text, but Speak Media did a great job. Enjoy! (and notice the reviews of the book, 198 reviews, 2.5 out of 5 stars).

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, andrew keen, book reviews, lame books, outlinks

Writing, from Professional Author and Professional Reader

Posted by Jack on 09.08.2008 at 3:11 pm

Perusing June’s copy of “Believer” I found myself reading an article (actually a lecture) written by Zadie Smith about James Wood’s How Fiction Works. Smith, a pro author (most notable for the excellent White Teeth but also has written 2 other books) mentions how she loves Wood’s book as a reader, but as a writer loathes it. Wood, one of the most respected literary critics, tackles fiction as a whole in his book, taking swipes at the mass with a freakishly erudite approach in which he culls from any work imaginable (if you want a better explanation go back to Walter Kirn’s review on the cover of August 17’s NYT Book Review). on the craft of writing (That Crafty Feeling) that mentioned James Wood’s latest tome,

In any event, this level of connectedness is not to be ignored, and therefore let me suggest that you both pick up the excellent article by Smith, if you enjoy writing, and the solid, if at times dusty, work of Wood.

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, believer, book reviews, james wood, on writing, zadie smith

Reading the OED (?!)

Posted by Jack on 09.04.2008 at 11:07 am

We all have things that we do to pass the time or wind down after work. Some of us play sports or workout, others watch TV and others read. Ammon Shea does something that would test the mental fortitude of any of those practices: reading the OED.

For those of you not in the know, the OED (or Oxford English Dictionary) is the bible for our language. Have a question about a word? Check the dictionary. Having an argument with a Ph.D or need an etymology? Check the OED.

Personally, I only have used it online, but apparently for those of you who are stonger than I, there is a print version. To give you an idea of how intense this really is, the subtitle of the book is “One Man, One Year, 21,730 pages.” YIKES! This task sounds David Blaine-esque, but I like it.

Haven’t read it but sounds by all accounts to be really interesting/funny as it doesn’t pick apart the words so much as the words and task pick apart the author. The OED I’m sure is fascinating, but I’ll stick to light reading, CSI or ping pong…

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, book reviews, OED

Pronouns and Amateur Efforts

Posted by Jack on 09.02.2008 at 1:33 pm

Sometime this summer I saw an article about the inherent egotism of the “i” in so many products (how over saturated is this world going to get, honestly?) such as the iPod, iHome, etc… The article stipulated that this focus on the “I” was causing a further sense of me vs. the world and less community focused feelings. One particular reader argued that “YouTube” and the double entedre “Wii” were counters to her claim, but fundamentally the story remained the same. (I can’t figure out where I saw this artile either, anyone?)

I’m not going to weigh in on the societal effects created by product names, it’s not what I’m good at. What I am good at, however, is finding books for you to check out if this kind of thing interests you.

It’s a little bit of a heady book at times, and don’t let it’s small stature fool you, it’s a bear, but “I and Thou” is also a fantastic philosophical look into the way our own language and understanding of it changes our feeling or tinges it. Martin Buber navigates claustrophically narrow nuances of language and blows them into vast expanses of thought. Whether it’s the difference between saying “I’m sorry” where you just free yourself or asking someone “forgive me” and putting the power to them to free you, this book endeavors to show that sometimes the Thesaurus is not more factual that a bad English translation.

Currently we have none in stock but we do have this excellent analysis:

Have your say » | Tagged Book Reviews, book reviews, martin buber, new york times, philosophy

Sarah Palin and Joe Biden

Posted by admin on 08.29.2008 at 12:25 pm

We’ve talked about the presidential candidates before here and I’ve told you where to pick up some literature about them, but it’s time to dig deeper: the Vices you can live with. If the president were to see his untimely end this person would be the “leader of the free world” as the position is known, so better get to know ‘em.

On the left we’ve got Delaware Senator Joe Biden as the Vice Presidential candidate. From him we’ve got last year’s effort: Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics. (Note, this has a 4.5 rating averaged from 41 reviews… whoa. That’s quite high for a political book…)

For the right side meet your offering, the 44 year-old Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Unless your name is Rudy Giuliani there’s not much of a chance that you’re below Washington level politics and have written a book, so we can’t see any of Palin’s scribing, but we can go to old faithful, Wikipedia for some info.

When more (book related) info comes out, you’ll be the first to hear it.