writesdave's reviews
356 reviews

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

For a "classic" of literature, this left me lacking, and I'll acknowledge that I probably am not smart enough to truly grasp it. In fact, I'll use the same overall line that I used in my review of "Gatsby": I just don't get it. The prose is beautiful and the story compelling, but... I don't know, it didn't live up to the hype. And don't get me started on an entire chapter of a sermon about what happens when you *don't* walk the straight and narrow hand-in-hand with one certain religion, even if that chapter offered context for why our protagonist strayed from the flock. Overrated. Maybe I'll read it again sometime.

A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I honestly didn’t know what to make of a “fictional memoir,” because I didn’t want to label Exley a loser on the level of the narrator. Oh well. Mediocre white dude muddles through life, pissing away every opportunity to set things right, alienating everyone who loves him, and descending into copious quantities of alcoholism and madness—just like a writer. I give it 3.5 stars with the mathematically sound roundup.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What an odyssey. What a tale.

Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa by Haruki Murakami

adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

Listening to two geniuses discuss the craft of one of them brings a certain pleasure, especially when one of the greatest musicians of all time insists he has never discussed or thought about his craft in this way, while the other just asks questions and lets the recorder run.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

What a brutal, amazing, beautiful, awful read. Add this to the canon of war novels that serve as cautionary tales, to put it mildly.

Creative Quest by Questlove

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

A nearly definitive manual for creativity, ?uestlove has the wide-ranging chops and rolodex to give even boring MFs like me a road map for the creative life. Mandatory for artists of all kinds.

The Diary of a Man of Fifty by Henry James

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Eventide by Kent Haruf

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Kent Haruf's spare and simple prose, his ear for the clipped Midwestern dialect of Colorado's eastern plains, and his keen eye for the setting that reflects the dialect and prose carry this second installment of the Plainsong series. This book brings forward a couple of the main characters from the first book and adds a couple interesting folks. But everything I mentioned at the outset carries the book, because the plot just... lacked... something. It's still a compelling study of rural America facing problems you think only affect the inner city, and people just living their day-to-day. Beautiful writing, as I said.

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.75

3 by Flannery O'Connor: The Violent Bear It Away / Everything That Rises Must Converge / Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

“You’re a reader, you live in the South, you need to read Flannery O’Connor.” Okay, box checked. She introduced me to some of the most fucked up characters in the history of American literature. On the other hand, a fucked-up reaction to a fucked-up situation doesn’t necessarily make someone fucked-up. Nonetheless, O’Connor’s beautiful prose requires a strong mind and soul.