Monday, August 22, 2011

Further Thoughts on Retromania

The book spurred so much thinking that a separate post is needed. I didn’t want to clutter the review with my own load of “cool story, sis”, so here you go!

Book Review 14 of 24 (In Which We Learn the Internet is A DeLorean)

Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past
By Simon Reynolds
Barnes & Noble link

(I dedicate the Doctor Who references in the beginning paragraph to my Amy Pond-cosplaying, Dalek-hugging little sister. Keep on shining with your Sonic Screwdriver.)


I shall never doubt the contents of the introduction ever again. When I cracked open Reynolds’ latest offering in music criticism/history, the introduction led me to believe that all the arguments were going to be a big load of “cool story, bro” and at worst, pathetic. By the fourth chapter, I was thunderstruck. Yep, seems like society jumped into a TARDIS and went back without warning the rest of us. And we left the Good Doctor behind.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge 2011: Book Review 2 of 5

after the quake
By Haruki Murakami
Barnes & Noble link

*Note: this is the second of five reviews for the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge*

Short stories are a strange animal. You are telling the story of people, places, and things; and yet you only have a limited amount of time. All there is time for is the important stuff, the "greatest hits" of it, if you would. It takes a different set of skills to reach shortened-literary perfection. Even novelists are daunted by them. Haruki Murakami remained, as usual, undaunted by a challenge. While he's done it before, he achieved his finest hour in after the quake.