Oh! The perspective of the religious… intensely Christian in the south… there are snake handlers, which I’ve never heard of before. And so, this is all new to me… and its very interesting.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Oh! Um… I’m only a little bit in… like page 20. But, I’d… so far, I think its written really well and I would recommend it to people looking to learn more about places they don’t know, and parts of religions that they don’t know. And… for anyone looking for just a good book!
I was, uh… bookstore hopping, in the city. I just moved here. So, I was trying to find a favorite, and it was super esthetic, and um, so I decided to take a chance on it, and bought it. That’s it. I can’t tell you what bookstore it was! I don’t remember where it was.
So far, what perspective have you gained from it?
Um… so, its actually a collection of short stories, so there are a lot of like varying perspectives that I’m getting from it. They’re all about like… intimacy, between people, with themselves and with other people, so. I’ve read two short stories already and its just… it kind of makes me reexamine my relationships with people and how I navigate those, and the degrees of intimacy that exists within like… within everybody, especially moving to the city… like the intimacy you have with a stranger sitting on a bench with you… that’s kind of examined in this book and that’s kind of what its making me think about.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Yeah! I definitely would. I feel like, for most of my age group, it might be a little bit, um, pretentious. I’m a first year college student, so, maybe like somebody who’s beginning to navigate serious relationships. Kind of up there with The Course of Love… I feel like it really kind of helps you understand your place in relation to other human beings, so… if you like to have existential crises, I think this book is really good! I absolute would recommend it, but I think that there’s a lot of internal reflection that it spurs, so, definitely be cognizant of that. If thats not your thing, its not your thing. It also has some kind of antiquated writing. Its very like flowery prose, so um… and its not necessary modern in a convenient sense.
It was recommended to me by two of my closest friends, on tour, three years ago.
So far, what perspective have you gained from this book?
Well, what’s cool is I just finished reading another book called, “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy… and finding nuggets he gave in that book reflected in here has been really interesting. Just reading them so closely together… that’s been really cool.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Yeah! I’d recommend it. I mean, I’m not… I’m only 36, 37 pages in… uh, but so far, it’s good. It seems like anybody can read it. It’s not too challenging. And, I’ve heard only great things about, like, once you finish the book, what it does for you, so… why not everyone, yeah?
So far, what perspective have you gained from this book?
It’s amazing! Well, maybe you know it… maybe you’ve read about it. It’s set in the 1930s, Great Depression, where a lot of people in the South of the US were forced to move to the West because of the… they were losing the land, the banks were taking it away from them, and… it’s just an amazing book. I really like it. It’s very humane. It has that… from the start, it’s perspective, it has the mix of the very nice prose of the author, and the descriptions… and with the dialogues of the characters, that are very… you know, uneducated, and very popular from the sense that they talk like people in the South… it gives you the sense of the time and helps you learn about the South through language, and how they spoke and interacted during this period. So, its a very nice book to read from that point of view, and also, it helps you understand how the American society came about, to what it is today.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
I think everyone should read this book. Especially if they live in America. Or, even if they don’t, because the US is such an influential country… politics and economics, quotes… for everyone.
I came across the book a few weeks ago at… Strand Bookstore. I’m a business person… an entrepreneur… and marketing is everything… and so, I looked in the column… the row that marketing books were, and I came across this one. And one thing… one of the reasons that I picked this book, as opposed to some of the others… it’s from 2016, and so I wanted something that was fairly current, in light of social media and those types of things. So, yeah…. so I chose this one.
So far, what perspective have you gained form this book?
I think one of the main points is being authentic. In other words, if you say that… in terms of a business… if you present yourself as, or position yourself as being… you know, a person concerned with customer service, providing good customer service… than you need to do it. If you say you provide products on this day, or services on another day, or whatever… than you need to do it. You know… so that’s one of the things about being authentic… if you say you’re going to do something, than do it.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Umm… I would recommend it. I will say… to be honest… some of the stuff I knew, so it’s more so reinforcement for me, because I read this type of stuff… and I have read it for the last 20+ years. But, I would recommend it, and I would recommend it mostly to someone who’s starting out I would say… in business… because marketing is crucial and most people think it’s just about having a product or service, and that’s it… and then everybody will just flock to them because it’s such a great idea, great product or service… but it really is about how people engage or interact with your product or service, or you as a company… and it is about being true, to the brand, true to what you say the company stands for. So, I would recommend it to… uhh… mostly newbies… but anybody can learn!
This is a book my father read to me as a child… a lot of sweet memories… some of the best memories of childhood is my dad reading to me as a kid, so I thought I’d re-read this one.
So far, what perspective have you gained from this book?
It’s an adventure story… a coming of age story, and the cool thing about it is… it follows this young boy who’s serving as the shipmate on a boat, and it’s really… he’s realizing a lot the realities of a pretty harsh and broken world. But, it’s told in a really just fun, kind of, you know, child’s story; I think there’s something beautiful about it, because I read it as a child and it just seemed like an “adventure story” and a fun time, but you look back as you grow up and you realize that you’re learning things about our broken world and how we embrace them… and how we deal with them.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Yeah… I think it’s a great story; I’d recommend people to read it to their kids… yeah, I don’t know if people still do that, but it definitely is a special thing… at least in my memory. But, I think there’s something to reading simple fiction as an adult, you… if you’ve like … like, I’m finishing up studies at university… you read a lot of kind of erudite, and thick books… and there’s something about reading something simple and easy, it just gets you back to the joy of reading… you get to 110 pages in two hours, you know… it’s just nice.
I actually heard of the writer himself first from a friend of mine. He recommended to me a commencement speech from the same author called ‘This is Water’, and after reading that I decided to look at a couple of his fictional works because I prefer fiction over nonfiction. So, I read his first novel, which was ‘The Broom of the System‘, and umm… because I kind of liked his style I decided to go on to this one because it’s known as his magnum opus, and so… a lot of people sing high praises for it, but a lot of people also kind of criticize it for being so lengthy and just kind of like rambling, but I think that it will be an interesting read.
So far, what perspective have you gained from this book?
I mean the thing is… more than a perspective from the book… like from the information from within the book, I think it’s teaching me something about being a reader, and I think it’s… it’s making me realize just how, I guess… how much more I have to read, or how much more I have to experience through reading itself, because… it’s like I’m reading the book, and I’m like going right to the dictionary because I’m like, “Oh, I don’t know what this means, I don’t know what this means!”, I think that just… it’s also kind of… it’s kind of really an awe-inspiring feeling knowing that there are so many writers that are just so talented. I’m actually majoring in English so I… I’m like… perhaps looking forward to publishing something in the future, but just knowing that there are geniuses out there who can use diction so freely… and such complex symbols or analogies with… ease… it just… it really humbles the reader. So, it’s teaching me a lot about just how much work I have left to do.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Umm… I think… so, I did say that I read a previous book of his, ‘The Broom of the System‘, but I also read a series of his essays… just really recently; it’s called ‘A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again‘. What I’ve heard from people is that… because this is quite a lengthy book, unless you’re really invested, or unless you’re really curious about the author or the book itself, I think that you’ll find it really difficult to continue reading it, because I find myself sometimes struggling through a page but I’m just like, “OK, I know what to expect from the writer”, because of his previous writings, so I’m kind of looking forward to it no matter how lengthy it is. So, I think if someone were to get into this writer, I would recommend his essays first… and then I would recommend maybe reading ‘Infinite Jest‘.
Well, I’m familiar with the seriesfrom a child… like, I read most of them in school and haven’t touched them… I’m up there so… since like, junior high. So, you know, 20 years later! I was in Barnes & Noble and I was just like, “You know what? I love the series I just haven’t gone there in a while… I haven’t read them in so long”. It’s my first summer read; I read a lot of books in the summer!
So far, what perspective have you gained from this book?
Well, I really found it interesting… the author wrote it during a time period where there were so many different… I guess in terms of turn of the century here in America… he wrote in the perspective of a Virginian that grew up at the end of the Civil War, so then the conflicts that were going on were addressed… you know, people were still referred to as slaves at that time… like everyone… they were itemized into specific categories based on wealth and color and race and religion. But the character eventually travels to, which I’m familiar with, to Mars or the red planet, or whatever they’re calling it in the book, and the order of hierarchy of people is actually reversed; like the red skin person is, they’re the top because they are the top tier people… the darker skinned people are like the oldest living, or the black race is the oldest living race of people… and the white race is kind of referred to as like a monkey or like a third-level… like kind of in reverse order as it was set up at that time in our country. Yeah, it’s a very interesting perspective which I remembered from reading it before, and it’s like I wanted to re-read it and see where I’m at now and how I see it with, you know, a lot of the progress we have made and then watching a lot of the regression in the past election we’ve had, and I’m like, [bctt tweet=”Some of these things I need to revisit” username=”cityreadsnyc”], and really just get in touch with my… I grew up in the south, so get in touch with my southern roots a little bit, so. I’ve found it interesting so far.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
I would definitely recommend it for… well, first of all, it’s a classic so… but it’s a classic that reads in a fast paced modern perspective, or a relate-able perspective… so, if you’re someone that went to go see ‘Lord of the Rings’, or went to go see ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, and enjoy reading… you would actually enjoy reading this because it still is relate-able and adaptable currently. It’s not just something that’s only for a specific time period; it’s very general and you can relate to most of the characters in it.
Well it’s really famous… I mean, it’s considered one of the great american novels… so I knew about it. It’s one of my very good friend’s favorite book… and everyone kind of shits on it for being like a really liberal, douche-bag kind of book and I was just like, “OK, I should definitely read it before I judge it.”
So far, what perspective have you gained from this book?
Umm… it has a lot of really complex characters who are very… endearing; I like that. It also goes across time, so it’s a little bit confusing… but in a nice way.
Would you recommend it, and if so, to who and why?
Oh! That is a hard question! Umm… I would recommend it to people who don’t really pay attention to a book’s reputation before they read it… because if they do pay attention to the book’s reputation then what I recommend doesn’t matter because this book has a really notorious reputation. But, for someone who likes being disoriented and appreciates a… a genius… I mean, he really was a master at what he did… then yeah, I would recommend that they try it.
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