Book Reviews

I'd like to start something new on this blog. I'd like to start posting reviews of every book I read.

Obviously I've already been dabbling in this. Since I've started this blog I've already posted a lot of book reviews or book thoughts. (Tokyo Underworld , Richard Clarke, Autobiography of Malcolm X, All the President's Spin, 1984, A Tale of Two Cities, How to Think like a billionaire and Reagan's autobiography, Marx’s Political Writings, Take back the Right, Street Fighting Years and God’s Politics, Norwegian Wood, Battle Royale and 69, Emma Goldman’s Autobiography, The Trojan War and War of the Worlds, Downsize This , Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them, Slaughter House 5 .....I think that’s everything).

But up until now I've just been writing down reviews in a half-assed manner, and only if I felt there was something I wanted to say.

I think, as an intellectual exercise, it would be good for me to force myself to review everything I read. This may or may not be of any interest to anyone else, but I think it would be good for me.

I don’t have any books to review at the moment; I just wanted to announce I was going to start this project. In fact, I haven’t finished any books in a long time. I read a lot, but I have a bad habit of starting, but not finishing books. I have a lot of half finished books littering my apartment. As part of my project, I will make a greater effort to finish the books I've started.

The only book I've finished in the past month is “Rock This!” by Chris Rock. And it’s not so much a book as just a collection of his stand-up act material in print form. And as such it can’t really be reviewed. The only comment one can make is whether it is funny or not.

So, I’ll just re-type one of the pieces I thought was particularly right on. I hope I don’t get in too much trouble for this, but it just struck me as really true.

Chris Rock:
Here’s how to make your woman happy: all you have to do is say, “How was your day?”
It’s a 45-minute conversation.
You don’t have to talk. You just have to act like you’re talking.
“Uh huh.”
“Get outta here.”
“You don’t say?”
That ain't right.”
“I tol’ you that bitch crazy.”
You have to say, “I tol’ you that bitch crazy,” because every woman has another woman at work she cannot stand. And every woman exaggerates the problem and makes it into some sort of “Dynasty” bullshit.

Her: She’s trying to destroy me.
You: What do you mean, “destroy?” You wrap bags at JC Penny. What are you talking about? Is the woman ripping your paper? Come on!

Link of the Day
If that didn't make you laugh, then check out Bierma’s transcript of the Monkey’s writing Shakespeare from “The Family Guy.”The only thing funnier than that is the scene from the Simpsons when Mr. Burns hires monkey writers. “It was the best of times, it was the…Blurst of times? You stupid Monkey!”