16/64: Lunar Park

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, 3/5 Stars
Entertained Me: Med, Made Me Think: Low

Cover of Lunar ParkAfter finishing American Psycho, someone mentioned a preference for Lunar Park. Since I happened through the library later that day, I grabbed it off the shelf. Lunar Park is a very different kind of Ellis book--much more Dean Koontz than it is the Easton Ellis of yore--a departure from the grim characters living in an uncaring society to a story about a man that is trying to find answers; to move from death back into life. Conversations in this book have more meaning than in previous books. That is to say, speaking about material things in previous books was objectively important, but I'd lump all conversations into that one category, seemingly repetitive. In this book, each conversation was more its own unique entity and purpose.

Lunar Park is touted as a semi-fictional autobiography, which made it interesting. Before I knew this, I actually looked up the actress Jayne Dennis to see who she was. As much as I love/hate Ellis' work, I was disappointed that his style had changed. Instead of a bold statement cut from a slice of someone's life and recorded in words, this was practically a complete story from beginning to end. I wasn't fond of his foray into the world of fantasy, but I did like how he wove characters and plot into this novel from his previous books. Enjoyable read, but not thought provoking.

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Book #15 = Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, 5/5 Stars
Book #14 = This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper, 4/5 Stars
Book #13 = After Dark by Haruki Murakami, 1.5/5 Stars
Book #12 = Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster, 3.5/5 Stars
Book #11 = Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster, 1/5 Stars
Book #10 = American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, 3/5 Stars
Book #09 = Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen, 4.5/5 Stars
Book #08 = The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson, 3/5 Stars
Book #07 = The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, 5/5 Stars
Book #06 = What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami, 4/5 Stars
Book #05 = Existentialism by Steven Earnshaw, 1/5 Stars
Book #04 = The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, 1/5 Stars
Book #03 = The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, 5/5 Stars
Book #02 = The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Kabani, 2/5 Stars
Book #01 = Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, 3/5 Stars

See 2010's list of 40 books...
See 2009's list of 53 books...

10/64: American Psycho

Cover of American Psycho10/64: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, 3/5 Stars
Entertained Me: Low, Made Me Think: High
Ellis and I have such a love-hate relationship. Love: his ability to say what the rest of us shy away from saying. In writing conversations, he is a master. Hate: the superfluous drone when he takes a tangent, even though he does so with purpose and with frequency. There were times when I simply had to put this book down. And, there were times when I threw a fist in the air and said, "BRILLIANT!" That's the relationship I have with Ellis... and, isn't that the relationship that we have with life, too? Yes, it is. The emotional (limbic) brain loves and hates, minute-by-minute. The cortex, which remembers the rules, spends the day controlling the limbic. And, this is exactly what irks me about Ellis--he writes with no cortex. There is no beginning, no end, simply a slice out of the life of a character who also has a submissive cortex. So, at the end of every book, I say, "What the fuck was that?" but I'm always eager to pick up the next.

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Book #09 = Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen, 4.5/5 Stars
Book #08 = The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson, 3/5 Stars
Book #07 = The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, 5/5 Stars
Book #06 = What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami, 4/5 Stars
Book #05 = Existentialism by Steven Earnshaw, 1/5 Stars
Book #04 = The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, 1/5 Stars
Book #03 = The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, 5/5 Stars
Book #02 = The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Kabani, 2/5 Stars
Book #01 = Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, 3/5 Stars

See 2010's list of 40 books...
See 2009's list of 53 books...

4/52: The Rules of Attraction

This is the second year that I've engaged in my resolution to read 52 books in 52 weeks...

4/52: The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, 2/5 Stars

I find it very strange to read a stream of consciousness style, from multiple characters, that really amounts to nothing more than lost generation drivel, yet find myself unable to put the damn book down.

This book includes Clay, a character from Less Than Zero, but his role is minimal; he only pops in once in awhile. I keep waiting for something to happen... and nothing happens... aside from the abandonment of all responsibility. In fact, the book even ends in a sentence fragment, and I'm sure that I would have kept on and on 'til the break of dawn if Ellis would have kept writing. Like I said, strange.

Book #04 = The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis, 2/5 Stars
Book #03 = Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour, 3/5 Stars
Book #02 = The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson, 3/5 Stars
Book #01 = Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, 3/5 Stars

See last year's list of 53 books...

1/52: Less Than Zero

Off and running, year two of the 52 books in 52 weeks resolution!

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, 3/5 Stars

"Less Than Zero" is a manifesto of what's wrong, and though it was written more than twenty years ago, you can see the similarities in today's youth: the vices, the hypocrisy, the fashion (or lack thereof), the aimlessness, purposelessness, and no hint of contribution or care. They lose themselves in the importance of unimportant things, like a medication that's intended to mute the heart. Because they are swimming in it, they can't see the way out of it, so they keep treading water, looking at each other, wondering which one is going down next or which one is going to lead them to shore, but none go... anywhere... ever. "I want to see the bottom," Clay thought. If our parents had no parenting, there is no reason to expect that we'll know how to parent... and so, kids lost in the wealth of a 20th Century LA were only a precursor to a lost generation.

TURN OFF THE DAMN TV & READ MORE!

Book #01 = Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, 3/5 Stars

See last year's list of 53 books...