The Useless Critic 2.0

I know it's been a while. Life and such. On George W. Bush's book, Decision Points: If you can make it through 3/4 of this book, you will have a new understanding of the political mind, and you’ll have done awfully well considering how boring the last two chapters are. No one can really make it through a whole chapter on the Freedom Agenda or the financial crisis. I would suggest trying to read as much as possible (or at least not discourage it). It’s not a book you just sit down and enjoy reading. In fact, it took me more than two months to get through the whole thing. It’s not written in a way that I could grab a venti and lose myself all afternoon. Nevertheless, read it. You just might gain a new understanding of the mind of W. On Quitting: I think we all know W used to drink, and I believe it’s possible W was never an alcoholic. On some level it’s plausible that W acted foolishly when he drank but never drank excessively or alone. Having rather ineloquently over-ex...

I think All He Ever Wanted was not my first encounter with Miss Shreve . I think, back in the day (as in two months ago) I picked up another book by her and was bored to the point of near-tears. I was like why the cock am I reading this shit? I have never read anything by Hunter S. Thompson. I've only read paragraphs by Edith Wharton and I've realized I don't like her. I don't like most writers from the 1800s. I can't stand that period literature omg . give me Austen over that anyday . like, Henry James? OH MY GOD RIP MY EYEBALLS OUT THAN READ THAT SHIT. All He Ever Wanted was written a few years ago but it's set in the late 1800s/early 1900s. not really though. the dude is on a train going to his sister's funeral reflecting on his fucked up marriage with some bitch named Erma or Etna or Edna or Sue or Shaniqua or something like that. she might not even had a name. it might have just been "Vagina With Legs." They met in this hotel fire when he s...

I do not read romance novels. Well, okay, that's a lie. I don't read romances intentionally . I don't go out and buy a book just because it's a romance. Often a book will have some sort of romance develop. Sometimes books will be located in the Horror or Fantasy sections of the bookstore and will include more sex than plot. (Laurell K. Hamilton, I'm looking at you.) One of my college roommates had a somewhat disturbing obsession with the genre, and I would go in and borrow one (of hundreds) when I had nothing else to read. But beyond that, I don't read 'em. Here's an exception: 2009 is Harlequin's 60th anniversary of publishing cheap and tawdry romances. To celebrate, they're releasing 16 free ebooks (in various formats, including PDF files) on the website Harlequin Celebrates . It's free, people! And it's 16 books! It takes me about a week to read that many. How could I possibly pass up something like that? How could you ? My point is, i...