This Week in Books: #5
Nov. 13th, 2006 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanI'm now studying like a mad thing for the GRE. (And to think I would have been in grad school already if I hadn't decided to change my area of study.) This means that there will probably be far fewer books next week, so enjoy it while you can.
1) All The President's Spin - Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer, & Brendan Nyhan
Written by the Spinsanity.com (RIP) editors, this book tears apart the lies and prevarications told by the Bush administration during the 2000 election campaign and its first term in office. I got the book when it was published in 2004, and it's been interesting to go through it again. (The book finishes with the early stages of the '04 campaign, long before the days of Swiftboating.) You won't find a more non-partisan dissection of Bush's manipulations than you will here; ironically, that is the book's greatest strength as well as its greatest weakness. You almost want some op ed passages to help provide color to the parade of cold hard facts. But if you're after an analysis of Bush's spin machine, it doesn't get any better than this.
2) Public Enemy #2 - Aaron McGruder
Reading this book is what got me started wondering when I'd see some new strips. The Boondocks are an awesome stealth weapon; McGruder consistently skewers politics and pop culture in three panels more deftly than a host of polibloggers do in thousands of words. Public Enemy is only 1/3 the size of its predecessor A Right To Be Hostile, which is a shame, because it's where he'd finally found his voice.
3) I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight - Margaret Cho
Mmm, I loves me some Margaret Cho. I've seen her live and she was awesome, but this is the book that will make you realise just how articulate she truly is. It isn't as humorous as her stand-up, which some might view as a negative, but I appreciate it; the more serious tone is better suited to the book format. I definitely recommend the sections on race, feminism, and religion.
4) Last Exit To Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr.
Talk about a book that will make you want to take a shotgun blast to the face. Last Exit is a series of novellas about working class and poverty-level residents of NYC in the mid-1950s. And it is unflinchingly rough in its depiction of alienation, domestic violence, rape, drug and alcohol abuse, and socio-economic discrimination. The novel is also famous for the stylistic liberties Selby took with the English language, and the rough spelling, and lack of punctuation and grammar make it seem that much more real.
That will be all.
1) All The President's Spin - Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer, & Brendan Nyhan
Written by the Spinsanity.com (RIP) editors, this book tears apart the lies and prevarications told by the Bush administration during the 2000 election campaign and its first term in office. I got the book when it was published in 2004, and it's been interesting to go through it again. (The book finishes with the early stages of the '04 campaign, long before the days of Swiftboating.) You won't find a more non-partisan dissection of Bush's manipulations than you will here; ironically, that is the book's greatest strength as well as its greatest weakness. You almost want some op ed passages to help provide color to the parade of cold hard facts. But if you're after an analysis of Bush's spin machine, it doesn't get any better than this.
2) Public Enemy #2 - Aaron McGruder
Reading this book is what got me started wondering when I'd see some new strips. The Boondocks are an awesome stealth weapon; McGruder consistently skewers politics and pop culture in three panels more deftly than a host of polibloggers do in thousands of words. Public Enemy is only 1/3 the size of its predecessor A Right To Be Hostile, which is a shame, because it's where he'd finally found his voice.
3) I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight - Margaret Cho
Mmm, I loves me some Margaret Cho. I've seen her live and she was awesome, but this is the book that will make you realise just how articulate she truly is. It isn't as humorous as her stand-up, which some might view as a negative, but I appreciate it; the more serious tone is better suited to the book format. I definitely recommend the sections on race, feminism, and religion.
4) Last Exit To Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr.
Talk about a book that will make you want to take a shotgun blast to the face. Last Exit is a series of novellas about working class and poverty-level residents of NYC in the mid-1950s. And it is unflinchingly rough in its depiction of alienation, domestic violence, rape, drug and alcohol abuse, and socio-economic discrimination. The novel is also famous for the stylistic liberties Selby took with the English language, and the rough spelling, and lack of punctuation and grammar make it seem that much more real.
That will be all.
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no subject
on 2006-11-13 10:30 am (UTC)I remember GREs... Glad that taking those suckers once is good enough. Took them my 4th year in college. Did pretty well, not that it helped me get into grad school with my otherwise pathetic apps. Hopefully next year I'll fare better...but it'll be next year, cuz I'm too wimpy and unprepared to try this year.
good luck!
no subject
on 2006-11-13 04:41 pm (UTC)The thing with the GREs is that I've got about two months to apply for the programs I want (which don't have any spring admissions--ack!) and I want to take them before the format change next year after which they become two hours longer. What are you looking to study next year, btw?
no subject
on 2006-11-13 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-11-13 04:43 pm (UTC)