Book Review - At Home: A Short History of Private Life

It's another book review!  I rented At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson, digitally from the Boston Public Library.  Bill Bryson is one of my favorite authors generally, and probably one of my top two favorite non-fiction writers.  What sets Bryson apart from other non-fiction writers is his sense of humor.  Although his books are not usually laugh-out-loud funny (although, they can be), a tremendous amount of information is always provided through a steady stream of wit, and At Home is no exception.  Bryson, an American living in a 19th century English rectory, goes through his home, room by room, detailing the history of each room and each room's place in history.  This might sound boring to some, but it really was absolutely fascinating.  Our conception of history is so often split between the rote names/dates/places approach of high school textbooks and the (often) laughably inaccurate portrayal of the past in period films, that it was incredibly refreshing to read about how real people actually lived throughout history.

Book Review Time: A Vision of Fire

It's book review time! I received a copy of A Vision of Fire, by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin, through the GoodReads First Reads program.  A Vision of Fire is a sci-fi thriller about a child psychologist named Caitlin O'Hara who has been called in to (discreetly) help a UN ambassador's daughter. The daughter, Maanik, witnessed an assassination attempt on her father and broke down shortly afterwards. The strange nature of Maanik's illness and the emergence of similar cases around the world, however, lead Caitlin to believe that this is more than just PTSD. There are some spoilers ahead, although I try to stay away from anything too big.  Just to be on the safe side: Read at your own risk.  Also, I felt a free book deserved a detailed review (i.e. - it’s pretty lengthy), so...read at your own risk?

Recap: Boston Book Festival 2013

As I mentioned before, this weekend was the 5th annual Boston Book Festival, run by the Boston Public Library and hosted in various places around Copley Square.  This was my first year at the BBF, so I scheduled a whole day of events and exploring.  My review for the program?  It was absolutely fantastic, and I would encourage everyone to go next year.

Most of the events were held on Saturday (10/19), but there were some ticketed events on the Thursday and Friday before.  I didn't end up going to those because 1) they costed money (not a lot, but more than I had available to spend) and 2) because they were sold out a long time ago.  So, unfortunately, I don't have much to say about the Salman Rushdie or Writing Terror talks.  My only advice would be to get your tickets early if you want to go to the ticketed events next year.  Anyway, without further ado, here is a review of the three talks I attended and the exhibitor booths that I visited.

Brave New World: If John the Savage Were Alive Today, He Would Be Wearing a Fedora

While waiting for the events of the Boston Book Fest to commence, I thought I'd write a little something about the book I just finished: Brave New World.  I never read it in high school, and I was sick of it being one of the few "classics" I had not read on the Most Banned/Challenged lists.  So, in a belated attempted to celebrate Banned Books Week, I gave it a shot.

I’m sure reams of paper have been used to discuss and analyze the “civilization” in Brave New World, and I doubt that you’ll find many proponents of dousing fetuses in alcohol, so I’m going to skip that part and cut to the chase: I freaking hated John. So much effort is spent looking at the obvious dystopian future of “civilization” that people assume that the opposite (John and his ilk) must be the “right” future. I disagree. There is no “right” future in this world. Also, John sucks.

Boston Book Festival 2013

It's a testament to how unconnected I am with the world: there is a yearly Boston Book Festival, and I had no idea.  It's put on by my favorite place ever (the Boston Public Library) and takes place primarily in the Copley Square area.  I know I'm a little late on the uptake, but the Festival starts on October 17 (tomorrow) and goes until the 19th (Saturday).  The Festival is full of panels, talks, and exhibits and would be the perfect event for anyone with any sort of interest in books (whether reading or writing them, whether fiction or non).