Category: Books

My last visit to the Linwood Library was a few days before President’s Weekend. So I figured it’d be natural to try reading a book that was somewhat presidential (may’ve just made something up there).

So I walked down the stairs to peruse the biographies. The first one that caught my eye was Colonel Roosevelt. I recalled seeing it on shelves recently, and Teddy Roosevelt has always been one of my favorite President’s so it was an easy decision.

The book details Teddy’s life after his presidency, as we was then known as Colonel Roosevelt (hence the title). It started off with his African expedition. That alone would have been enough to write about any one person.

However, upon reading more I do believe that he truly lead the life of the world’s most interesting man. I feel very lazy and unaccomplished after reading of all this guy did after he was no longer President.

His journey deep within the Amazon exploring the River of Doubt was insane. Much crazier than my overnight camping in the Pine Barrens a few months back (that was much fun and will be done again). Again, his life was like a movie with a ton of special effects.

Even though I obviously knew that he would eventually have to die at the end, it was still tough to read of it. I found myself hoping and almost expecting that he would somehow escape death, being that he just seemed superhuman.

The only thing that I really didn’t like about the book was that it got dull to me in the middle. I think it’s just that I’m so no into politics and the middle detailed his failed presidential run leading the Bull Moose party (still and amazing name for a party). However, I was very glad that I stuck with it, as this did pick up my interest towards the end.

A great biography of a very interesting guy. It didn’t seem too biased to a certain point of view. It was very interesting to learn more about Teddy.

The last 100 or so pages of this book were probably the most exciting I’ve read. I literally couldn’t put it down at the end and read straight through to the finish.

This is the third book in the The Strain trilogy. I hadn’t read the first two, so at the very beginning I was a bit lost. But once I got  up to speed, I had a hard time putting this one down.

It’s vampires, but not the pretty glittery happy vampires that you see so often today. These guys are mean, gross, and not human at all. They’re cold blooded killers who rule the world and herd people like cattle for their consumption.

Very dark and somber times for the humans. The ending was great too, very realistic given the situation. I especially like how the whole vampire plot ties into actual history. The archangel’s tale, etc. were all extremely well done. They really add a sense of realism to the story.

Excellent book, I’ll have to check out the previous installments.

I’m trying to recall how I went about choosing to read Good as Gold when I was last at the library, but to save my life I can’t. I really think that it was a yellow colored book. I just suppose I wanted to read a book with a yellow cover this time.

As it turns out, this was a pretty interesting book. While I can’t relate directly to growing up Jewish in America, there was far too many similarities to the main characters family and my own. The crazy and dysfunctional family who was obsessed with food was all too familiar to me.

This was not at all what I was expecting it to be, and I was glad that was so. Very humorous and disturbingly dark. The author clearly wasn’t a fan of Kissinger (then again, who really was).

Sadly though this is fiction, I’ve seen way too many instances of complete fools advancing far in life. Very humorous to read it in action.

Check out the new releases a the library and I was stumped. Nothing was really jumping out to me that day. I did notice Over-Diagnosed, and being how I feel about the medical system at times figured that might be an interesting read.

The overwhelming theme of the book was very interesting. To me it pretty much just backed up with evidence, how over-diagnosing in the medical industry can at times hurt more people than it helps.

The author, a doctor always backs up his ideas with plenty of facts and studies, which is great whenever debating any topic. Some of the findings really do open up your eyes a bit.

While the idea and theme of the book were very interesting to me, I didn’t finish reading the entire thing. I think it was a bit too “medically” written, it that makes any sense. I had a hard time getting through chapters at points.

I’d of personally been just as happen reading a few pages and viewing a sample of the charts to get an understanding of what the author wanted to share. But the point is an important one and I would recommend to always investigate what are the best options for one’s own medical care and not just operate out of fear (I know it’s easier said then done at times).

Didn’t really have anything specific in mind as I visited the library last. Nothing in the new releases section caught my eye, so I just figured I’d wander into the fiction section.

I recalled NGM telling me that there was a really great fantasy series by Robert Jordan. So I figured I’d see if they had the first book in the series. I’m not sure if they did or not (pretty sure not), but did see The Conan Chronicles by Robert Jordan.

My brothers and I loved the Conan movies when we were little kids, and the comics were pretty cool too. So why not give some Conan a shot?

This book was a compilation of 3 separate stories. I read the first 2 and they were not too bad. It wasn’t great, and the formula seemed a bit predictable at times (Conan against an evil magician), but overall they were entertaining.

As usually I found my most enjoyable character a sidekick, the one eyed Hordo. Typically he’s “too old” for all this stuff, but goes along for the good fight.

A bit predictable at times, but still nice to get back to some old school violence of good against evil that I grew up with.