Books I've Read Recently
"A book is a dream you hold in your hands."
- Neil Gaiman
I consider myself to be a pretty avid reader. I've enjoyed reading since I was a child, and no matter how busy I have been, I've always found the time to find something to read. Here are a few of the books I've read within the past few months that have stood out.
1. "2018 A.D. or The King Kong Blues" by Sam J. Lundwall (1975)
I picked up this book at a used book store on a whim. It was written by a Swedish science fiction author and translator back in the 1970s. Since it's now the year 2018, I decided to see how this man's vision of the future held up.
The book doesn't really have a protagonist per see, but has more of an ensemble cast. The characters include Anniki, the first girl born in the year 2000, a man working in advertising named Eric Lenning who is trying to find her to use in a cosmetics ad, his horrible boss, two men who run a Middle Eastern country, and more. The book mostly takes place in a dystopian Sweden, although a lot of the action takes place in an oil rich Middle Eastern country along with a few other places. A lot has gone wrong in this vision of 2018; poverty is super rampant, a lot of power has gone to corporations, oil is running low, and so on.
I'm not sure if I could wholeheartedly recommend this book (I thought the characters and plot structure could have been a little bit better) I did find it interesting. While the world may not be quite as horrible as depicted in this novel, a lot of the topics discussed, such as economics and environmentalism and media consumption, are still very, very much relevant. The author actually included a bibliography he used for his research at the end of the book.
2. "Boy on a Unicycle: Confessions of a Young Man Trained to be a Winner" by Dan McCall (2017)
Dan McCall grew up in the middle of the 20th century, during which time he participated in a multitude of speech contests and earned a ton of scholarship money. While the author has great fortune with his triumphs, the book describes his many trials and tribulations, dealing with high expectations from his family, growing up awkward and unpopular, and trying to figure out who he is in life and what he's supposed to do.
The author grew up to be a writer and a professor, and one of his books, "Jake the Bear," became a film featuring Danny DeVito.
3. "American Venus: The Extraordinary Life of Audrey Munson, Model and Muse" by Diane Rozas and Anita Bourne (1999)
You may have never heard of the name Audrey Munson before, but have probably seen her likeness and work inspired by it. She was an artist's model; many statues in New York City were modeled after her by a multitude of famous artists, and she even posed as Lady Liberty for the silver dollar. Audrey was a major celebrity at the time and gained both a lot of praise and criticism. Unfortunately through a major scandal and other events she was shunned and eventually found herself spending the rest of her days in a mental institution. She was even shunned by own family, until one of her younger relatives found out about her and met her later in her life.
This is a relatively short book filled with many photographs of both the model and the work she inspired, and I think Audrey's story needs to be more well known; despite the tragedy of her life she inspired a ton of art in a relatively short period of time.
4. "The Starship and the Canoe" by Kenneth Brower (1978)
Relationships between fathers and sons can be complicated. This book describes the lives and relationships between Freeman Dyson and his son George. Freeman Dyson was and is a physicist and professor who has many accomplishments, including his theoretical designs for starships and other futuristic possibilities; he once worked on a program called Project Orion, which was attempting to use nuclear power to launch giant ships into space. His son George on the other hand was living in a treehouse in the Canadian woods and built a giant canoe called the baidarka. The book compares and contrasts both their lives and personalities, and in the end after not seeing each other for a long time, they meet again.
- Neil Gaiman
I consider myself to be a pretty avid reader. I've enjoyed reading since I was a child, and no matter how busy I have been, I've always found the time to find something to read. Here are a few of the books I've read within the past few months that have stood out.
1. "2018 A.D. or The King Kong Blues" by Sam J. Lundwall (1975)
I picked up this book at a used book store on a whim. It was written by a Swedish science fiction author and translator back in the 1970s. Since it's now the year 2018, I decided to see how this man's vision of the future held up.
The book doesn't really have a protagonist per see, but has more of an ensemble cast. The characters include Anniki, the first girl born in the year 2000, a man working in advertising named Eric Lenning who is trying to find her to use in a cosmetics ad, his horrible boss, two men who run a Middle Eastern country, and more. The book mostly takes place in a dystopian Sweden, although a lot of the action takes place in an oil rich Middle Eastern country along with a few other places. A lot has gone wrong in this vision of 2018; poverty is super rampant, a lot of power has gone to corporations, oil is running low, and so on.
I'm not sure if I could wholeheartedly recommend this book (I thought the characters and plot structure could have been a little bit better) I did find it interesting. While the world may not be quite as horrible as depicted in this novel, a lot of the topics discussed, such as economics and environmentalism and media consumption, are still very, very much relevant. The author actually included a bibliography he used for his research at the end of the book.
2. "Boy on a Unicycle: Confessions of a Young Man Trained to be a Winner" by Dan McCall (2017)
Dan McCall grew up in the middle of the 20th century, during which time he participated in a multitude of speech contests and earned a ton of scholarship money. While the author has great fortune with his triumphs, the book describes his many trials and tribulations, dealing with high expectations from his family, growing up awkward and unpopular, and trying to figure out who he is in life and what he's supposed to do.
The author grew up to be a writer and a professor, and one of his books, "Jake the Bear," became a film featuring Danny DeVito.
3. "American Venus: The Extraordinary Life of Audrey Munson, Model and Muse" by Diane Rozas and Anita Bourne (1999)
You may have never heard of the name Audrey Munson before, but have probably seen her likeness and work inspired by it. She was an artist's model; many statues in New York City were modeled after her by a multitude of famous artists, and she even posed as Lady Liberty for the silver dollar. Audrey was a major celebrity at the time and gained both a lot of praise and criticism. Unfortunately through a major scandal and other events she was shunned and eventually found herself spending the rest of her days in a mental institution. She was even shunned by own family, until one of her younger relatives found out about her and met her later in her life.
This is a relatively short book filled with many photographs of both the model and the work she inspired, and I think Audrey's story needs to be more well known; despite the tragedy of her life she inspired a ton of art in a relatively short period of time.
4. "The Starship and the Canoe" by Kenneth Brower (1978)
Relationships between fathers and sons can be complicated. This book describes the lives and relationships between Freeman Dyson and his son George. Freeman Dyson was and is a physicist and professor who has many accomplishments, including his theoretical designs for starships and other futuristic possibilities; he once worked on a program called Project Orion, which was attempting to use nuclear power to launch giant ships into space. His son George on the other hand was living in a treehouse in the Canadian woods and built a giant canoe called the baidarka. The book compares and contrasts both their lives and personalities, and in the end after not seeing each other for a long time, they meet again.
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