It’s a month late but that’s just because I’m a month behind in reading. But fear not, the sun is setting earlier each day and its getting colder and colder each day. That means that I’ll be reading more and more each day! I’m over the hump, 37 books down and 15 (only 15!) to go if you’re keeping track at home.
Without further ado, lets look at what I read in August.
This is written by Herman Hesse, the same guy who wrote Steppenwolf (the book, not the band), which I also read. He’s kinda far out there. His stories tend to revolve around religion/spirituality and the purpose of life.
Siddhartha is a story of an Indian man who goes in search of his purpose in life. He becomes a monk, he follows Buddha, he becomes ‘one with nature’ and then he becomes a rich man living in sin. He experiences all sides of life both good and bad, learning from each of his experiences. In the end, his life comes full circle, living again as a spiritual man, knowing no more about life than he did as a youth.
Siddhartha is an interesting book and if you’re looking for something different and maybe off the beaten path, this wouldn’t be the worst thing you could pick up. It may not however be the most exciting thing you read this year. Instead, you might consider a more modern version of this story in The Celestine Prophecy
Frankenstein is a classic. It’s constantly referenced. It shows up without fail every Halloween and yet, I don’t think I’d ever actually read it. Maybe, I’d read bits and pieces maybe but never the whole thing. I’m glad I did though because its a great book.
This has been on my list for a long time. The premise is cool and kinda funny in a very smart-ass kinda way. So it’s been on my kinda-want-to-read list for over a year and well, that’s what the book a week challenge is all about. Right? So I read it…and it was great.
It’s a great mix of American history and vampire folklore. The story does a great job of bring up points throughout history and interspersing vampires into the story. It works well and it’s lots of fun.
This is a great book from Chris Guillebeau. It is full of inspiration. If you’re looking to start your own business or just looking for some creative inspiration, it’s well worth your time.
The book reads like a list of case studies and examples of people who have done some amazing things. Not Microsoft or Facebook type behemoths but strong businesses that allow people to live comfortably working for themselves. Some of the businesses featured in this book make several million dollars a year, others are intentionally kept small by the owners. The point of all of these businesses is that whatever your interest or passion, if you work hard, you can make a business out of it. You may not be the next Mark Zuckerberg but you can get out of your 9-5 (if you want) and work for yourself.
Chris is a fascinating guy with a really good blog. Take some time and check it out.
This is my guilty pleasure, it’s like a guys version of a romance novel. It’s fun to read but there aren’t many redeeming qualities about these books. They are easy to read and more or less the same general story recycled with each book but I’ll be damned if Child isn’t good at recycling his own material.
This one is more of a back story about what led of to Reacher leaving the military. It’s a good, quick read and if you pick it up, you’ll more than likely enjoy it mildly or enthusiastically. The book aside, shouldn’t we be talking about why in the world Tom Cruise is playing Jack Reacher in the upcoming movie, Jack Reacher (which is based on the novel One Shot, which again, is good and you won’t regret it if you read). Jack Reacher is described over and over in each book as being 6’5, 250. A lumbering guy who is admittedly not quick, not fast, but he is effective. That’s the main premise of the entire series, he’s a big guy who get stuff done. It’s never pretty but it’s always effective. That is essentially, Lee Child’s thesis statement for the Reacher series….and they pick Tom Cruise to play him? Cruise is the absolute antithesis of who Reacher is supposed to be. Cruise is short, nimble and for lack of better term, sexy. Reacher is none of those. He is a wandering lug of a man who rarely shaves, cuts his hair or changes clothes. <sigh> I’ll probably still watch it and I’ll probably enjoy it and just like the books, not regret watching it.
