Welcome to my book blog

So I'm starting a book blog. This is part New Years resolution, part desire to write about books I've read, and part challenge to myself to push myself to read more books and less internet junk. In this blog I will:

-most likely write in complete sentences
-tone down the "snark-factor" a few notches
-write thoughtful but probably brief reviews of books I have read
-attempt to sound smarter than I have in the past few months

Here's the first two books I've read in 2009:

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

This is the new book by the same guy who wrote Blink and The Tipping Point. It's basically a study of what social, ancestral, and cultural elements cultivate successful people. I've always loved Gladwell's very layperson-y way of talking about complex sociological issues in an endearingly narrative fashion. In other words, he lets real life stories pave the way for his theory, as well as dictate the overall rhythm of his book.

He gives good examples of how luck and circumstances have so much to do with why some people are so extraordinarily successful, while also outlining how those who have obvious innate talent can miss opportunity. It's pretty fascinating thinking that if Bill Gates hadn't had a large sequence of events occur in his life, he probably would have ended up a very different person.

I would definitely recommend this book if you want to let your brain do some big thinkin'. I'm totally into it because I was a Sociology major, but it's so engaging and well-told that anyone can get into it without to many thought hurdles.

Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck

I recently picked this up because I had read the State by State book, which takes the 50 states and has an author, usually from the region or at least associated with it, write about it. It was based on the WPA project started by the FDR administration, wherein many of the great writers of that era struck out into the country to document each of the states.

Travels With Charley is like a companion to these books, in the sense that Steinbeck does a tour around the US with his dog, Charley, and tries to find a unifying theory for what makes us American. While that sounds a bit cheesy, Steinbeck injects a pretty good narrative thread and pace throughout the book, detailing events and areas that stood out the most to him.

I really liked it because 1) it inspired a sense of freedom and wanderlust in me and 2) Steinbeck is a pretty keenly observant person and seems to note a lot of stuff that is still prevalent in American culture, without being too overtly judgmental or nostalgic about it.

Good read for when you get tired of being rooted in one place and want to have someone take you on a whirlwind tour.