FICTION
Agenda 21 by Glenn Beck and Harriet Parke - On indefinite hold
The project that inspired the site, postponed to death by personal obligations. Join blank slate self-insert protagonist Emmeline on a tour through a right-wing mirror universe version of The Handmaid's Tale, supplemented by the paranoia of the notorious weepy crank who stole it and plastered his name on the cover. You'll never look at squirrels the same way again.
The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver- In progress
Whiny literary hack and Ayn Rand imitator Lionel Shriver leads us on a journey through the Most Realistic Dystopian Novel Ever. Follow an obnoxious clan of upper-middle class twits as they endure the bowel-voiding one-two punch of inflation and Mexicans. Remember, this is real art - if you don't care for the speeches and lack of a plot, then it's your fault for not appreciating it.
NON-FICTION
The Upside of Down by Megan McArdle- Completed
When you have enough money and connections, "failure" is just another word for growth! That's what we learn in this book by real life Veruca Salt Megan McArdle, a book that is absolutely not a rationalization for her entire unearned career. Using the bleeding edge in David Brooksian pop-psychology, McArdle proves that some people need to be allowed to get away with everything (probably not you, though).
The Road to Character by David Brooks - Completed
The reigning king of the Sensible Centrist hacks returns with his most ambitious work to date. David Brooks has seen a growing crisis of character in stats that he totally didn't make up, and he's ready to address this looming darkness through extensive plagiarism and college freshman-level essays on popular biographies. Don't have time to skim the latest bios yourself? Want your friends to think you're profound? This is the book for you!
Hi Andrew!
ReplyDeleteI don't do twitter, but I clicked on your account and noticed a tweet that said you'd heard that Brooks's new young wife had written a book, but you did not know much about it. I don't know if you subsequently found out more, but here it is:
The Boy Who Loved Too Much: A True Story of Pathological Friendliness
by Jennifer Latson (Simon Schuster 2017)
It's a non-fiction book about a boy with Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder. I read it because I wanted to know more about the disorder. I didn't realize she was married to Brooks until I read her acknowledgments at the end of the book. Sorry, Jennifer, but I said "Eww".
The book held my attention and provided some good information, but I thought the title was stupid and I had issues with the structure. Here is part of my review:
"...There is lots of good information in this book, but I'm giving it three stars because of the format. The author "embedded" with the family (mom, Williams boy, and grandma - the father left the family early on) and most of the book is told by the mom in third person. The mom, Gayle, is very determined to learn as much as she can about the syndrome and how she can make a better life for her son Eli, which indicates to me that much of the medical and scientific information presented could very well have been unearthed and explained by Gayle herself. Essentially this makes the book more of an "as told to" story. The author is completely invisible, and this mars the story for me.
"The author reports having "shadowed" the family for three years, but we never see her [the author], we never get any understanding of how her presence affects the family dynamics, and honestly, in a story about a Williams child, this would seem pertinent. How did they relate? How did the boy react when she first arrived? When her project was done, was the departure hard for the boy? "Gayle" and "Eli" are pseudonyms, but it still seems to me this book would more appropriately have acknowledged Gayle as a co-author..."
I guess that is more than my two cents worth...
Maggie
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32620368-the-boy-who-loved-too-much?ac=1&from_search=true