Just Not That Into You

The last couple of posts have been about some of the great books I’ve read lately. This post is a little different. I’ve also run into a couple of duds this month (or even last month and I’m just getting around to talking about them).

First up is a classic -- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I found the science fiction type ideas in this book entertaining. The things like women no longer getting pregnant, instead babies are grown in bottles and fed surrogate blood. They are not born, they are decanted. By modifying the conditions inside the bottle, the World State controls the intellect and physical features producing specific castes within the society. I liked these parts. But the societal part I found silly (and, yes, I understand that this was the point - I just didn’t like it. It was annoying to read.)

Now to the other end of the spectrum:

Didn’t really care for Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen either. The humor struck me as boy-humor. You know, the kind like in the movies Dumb and Dumber or Spaceballs? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind an occasional stupid movie but I don’t really want to spend more than two hours with that kind of humor. I do have to say, though, that I did read the whole thing, so something made me keep picking it up.

And last but not least:

Now based on some other book blogger’s reviews, I should have liked Echo Maker by Richard Powers. But I got to about page 75 and it still wasn’t grabbing me. Honestly...not enough time for this...too many books on my shelves. So I gave up. Possibly I just wasn’t in the mood. Maybe I’ll get back to it one day. Maybe not... For now, I’m going to have to find another award winner to replace this one for my Book Awards II Challenge.

Luckily, the book I picked up after this one for the Book Award Challenge is great! I’m in the middle of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Fantastic so far. Should be finished with it in the next day or so.