A Book Review with Ryan Pettibone
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- This book is awesome. In one scene, little kids throw rocks at each other. Then one of them bites another one. Then they talk about Jesus. Seriously, though, this is a badass book, on a level with The Grapes of Wrath.
Chocolate, Mort Something
- This book is not awesome. For roughly two months I was obsessed with chocolate, and so I got this book. I read it. And then I was not obsessed with chocolate anymore. But I did learn about a professional chocolate taster named Chloe who eats seventeen pounds per day. And she's skinny. And everyone who makes chocolate thinks it's probably the most important thing that's ever happened to anything, anywhere.
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- While this book is certainly awesome, it is not as awesome as The Brothers K. Foo! They use Foo! a lot, and I wonder what kind of a translation that is. And Ach! Would you know how to say Ach! in Spanish?
The Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, by EAP
- Some of the chase scenes in Poe's early hack-journalistic works are so jam-packed that he couldn't have possibly fit more sex and violence between each verb. Narrative of ... Pym is an excellent story with interesting racial tones.
- This book is awesome. In one scene, little kids throw rocks at each other. Then one of them bites another one. Then they talk about Jesus. Seriously, though, this is a badass book, on a level with The Grapes of Wrath.
Chocolate, Mort Something
- This book is not awesome. For roughly two months I was obsessed with chocolate, and so I got this book. I read it. And then I was not obsessed with chocolate anymore. But I did learn about a professional chocolate taster named Chloe who eats seventeen pounds per day. And she's skinny. And everyone who makes chocolate thinks it's probably the most important thing that's ever happened to anything, anywhere.
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- While this book is certainly awesome, it is not as awesome as The Brothers K. Foo! They use Foo! a lot, and I wonder what kind of a translation that is. And Ach! Would you know how to say Ach! in Spanish?
The Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, by EAP
- Some of the chase scenes in Poe's early hack-journalistic works are so jam-packed that he couldn't have possibly fit more sex and violence between each verb. Narrative of ... Pym is an excellent story with interesting racial tones.
posted by Ryan at 14:24
4 Comments:
I only ever read an excerpt from Karamozov, namely the scene with the Grand Inquisitor. I sure liked that one though. It was in a book called something like Existentialism from (somebody) to Dostoyevsky, which also included Kafka's story "In the Penal Colony", which I think was my introduction to non-"Metamorphosis" Kafka, and which is similarly great.
The Grand Inquisitor is an outstanding chapter from The Brothers K. I would almost go so far as to say it's a famous chapter, which is saying something, because I doubt you can name a lot of famous chapters from books, as opposed to, say, famous scenes from movies. This is probably because people don't read.
Jeez, I am wrong on two or more counts. I hang my head in shame: the book was A Casebook on Existentialism (ed. William Spanos), not Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre (ed. Walter Kaufman). And the introduction to non-"Metamorphosis" Kafka contained therein is the awesome "A Country Doctor", not "In the Penal Colony". the Kaufman book also contains (obviously, noting the title) Dostoyevsky ("Notes from Underground") and Kafka (three stories). Enny buddy got the goods on whether Fyodor's last name should be spelt with a "y" between the "o" and "e"?
I recommend the Casebook very highly if you're interested in existentialism and (like me) not up to tackling massive tomes of philosophy. The Kaufman book I have read but don't remember very well, except obviously I remember its title better than that of the Casebook.
(In case you have not read it: A Country Doctor.)
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