All Old Users

I started The Casual Vacancy with eyes wide open to the fact that this was no Harry Potter novel–and yet, even though I wasn’t offended by the much more adult tone (and content!) that Rowling establishes right out of the gate, I was a little surprised by it. No matter how prepared you are, it’s just weird to hear the f-bomb dropped by one of Hermione Granger’s literary cousins. What didn’t surprise me at all, though, having read and loved multiple analyses of them, was Rowling’s masterful plotting and the literary alchemy she weaves to engage the reader and drive the story. Indeed, that is what merited my 4 stars for the book.

Pagford is a small town that seems idyllic on the surface, but underneath the veneer of folksy charm the place is roiling with class warfare, sexual tension, violence, back-stabbing and duplicity. Rowling’s characters are broken, wounded, cynical, crass, self-centered, petty, and strangely sympathetic. The reader gets a first-person perspective from everyone as each maneuvers around the other, reading (and often misreading) the circumstances from a unique and limited vantage point–to hilarious but often tragic effects.

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Fascinating. I started with only a pop-cultural familiarity with the Glock line, mostly from movies.

The narratives I found particularly interesting involved the humble beginnings of Gaston Glock, his unlikely entry into the gun industry, and his company’s ingenious (and often simply lucky) marketing techniques in the US during the 80s and 90s.

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This was an incredible, riveting biography. Isaacson does a phenomenal job bringing the story of Steve Jobs to life. For me there was a natural division in the story.

The “old history”–events prior to my own experience–was great fun to read, because I learned a lot about the tech world of software and hardware that was emerging in the 70s and 80s. The inception and early development of Apple, and the fact that Jobs was kicked out of his own company (and then brought back!), was fascinating.

The “contemporary history” began with events that I know personally. The trigger for that was Jobs’ involvement with Pixar, and culminating in Apple’s introduction of revolutionary portable devices (iPods, iPhones and iPads) and the major disruption of multiple industries (music, cell phones, the creation of a market for tablets out of thin air).

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What goes on inside us can be very complicated. This book by Metro-Atlanta pastor, Andy Stanley, works to untangle and uncomplicate what goes on by breaking down the dangerous emotions that we have going on into 4 basic emotions: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. In each of these areas, he talks about why they are so dangerous and gives easily spelled-out solutions to overcoming these emotions.

If you are familiar with Andy Stanley’s preaching and writing style, then you already know that he is extremely good at making complicated or lofty ideas more accessible. The simplicity that he gives to our inner emotions is definitely the major strength of the book. We can (or at least I can), at times, be overwhelmed by everything going on inside and feel like there is nothing that can be done. Stanley states that excepting things the way they are is very dangerous as it effects not only ourselves but our families and others around us. So, he gives clear instructions that start with meditation and end with an action that is usually carried internally but sometimes externally.

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