The Book Munkie

hersforthereading:

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

(Source: moncheriiee)

Finished “Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know” on the train this morning. This was such a wealth of information. I figured that this would focus on just illegal drugs, but the book covers alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, and anabolic steroids. 

I especially enjoyed learning about the different ways that taxing drugs could hurt and help our economy and the fascinating supply and demand market.

I’d definitely recommend reading this if you’re interested in the politics behind our current drug policy. It was also full of fascinating statistics about the global market, prison terms, and addiction. I also found the information incredibly easy to digest since the text is in a question and answer format.

I’d give this a solid A.

49/50

Up next: “Never Let Me Go” or “Y: The Last Man” depending on whether the Boo can part with the iPad for long enough to let me read through the series. 

zolabooks:

Actress Reese Witherspoon recently optioned bestsellers Gone Girl and Wild. Check out our list of 15 book-based movies in which she’s appeared.

Hmmm, not so sure about Reese playing Amy. Definitely looks the part, but I just don’t know if I could see her being so dark. What do you guys think?

Finally finished “Fortress of Solitude” by Jonathan Lethem this morning. Even though this was fiction, I had a bit of a hard time getting through this. While I enjoyed the book, and the story, I felt no connection to Dylan. I didn’t pity or hate him, but I just found him to be an incredibly frustrating protagonist. 

It was a good story, and I have a lot of respect for the actual writing aspect of the novel, but something about the story just didn’t click for me. This was a selection for my club through work, and I’m looking forward to discussing it with friends to see what they thought of Dylan and Mingus.

I’m glad that I finished it, normally I have a tendency to just stop reading books like this in the middle.

Overall I give this a B, the writing style outweighs some of my personal hang ups. 

42/50

Up next: “Magic for Beginners” by Kelly Link (one of my Humble Bundle purchases)

[ cloud overview ]
[ get your own cloud ]

This is a Tumblr Cloud I generated from my blog posts between Dec 2011 and Oct 2012 containing my top 20 used words.

Top 5 blogs I reblogged the most:

• psychsquirrel
• question
• nerdjosh42
• surviveawholelife
• gabekarl

Finished “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum on the train this morning. It really shouldn’t have taken me as long to finish the book since it is less than 200 pages, but I wanted it all to sink in a bit more so I’m ready for the 2013 film. 

I remember reading this as a child, but it was a Great Illustrated Classic version. As a child, I loved this story. It was one of my first introductions to fanciful lands, and for that I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for it. But reading through it as an adult, I found the writing style incredibly frustrating, and wanted to see more detail and characters from the land of Oz. 

If I was just reading this book without any nostalgia or fondness for the many spinoffs it has created, I would give this book a D+. But due to the spot it has carved out as a literary classic, I’ll give it a C+ instead.

40/50

Up next: “Fortress of Solitude” by Jonathan Letham 

Finished “The Boy in the Suitcase” by Lena Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis this morning on the train. 

While I wasn’t immediately drawn into the story, the mystery behind why a naked three year old boy was found in a suitcase plagued me and I had to finish.

Perhaps it is because there are two authors, but I found the writing to be a little jumpy, but overall it was a good mystery. The violence wasn’t overly graphic, and like most Scandinavian mysteries I enjoy learning more about the general thoughts of Eastern Europe through stories. I found a line about Lithuania particularly interesting, as I have no concept as to what other European countries think of one another in regard to prejudices. 

I think this would make a good book club book, as the female characters have a lot of strengths and flaws to lend well to a conversation. 

Overall, I’d give this a B-. Towards the end there was some information provided that felt like it was just added as an afterthought and didn’t flow well with the rest of the ending.

39/50

Up next: “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum (saw a preview for Oz yesterday, and felt the need to brush up)