I keep forgetting to review the books I've read, so here are a couple of recent ones:
The Psychopath Test - Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson is an investigative journalist that some of you may know from 'The Men Who Stare At Goats' and the time he followed a bunch of extremists around (David Icke, Ian Paisley etc). This book sees him investigate psychopaths - the people themselves, the people who diagnose them, and the people that try to cure them. Along the way he encounters a man locked up in Broadmoor who faked madness in order to get off lightly with a GBH charge (and now can't get out because he was so convincing - every time he demonstrates that he is actually sane the medical staff use it as proof that prison is helping him); a 'corporate psychopath' who seems to really, really enjoy firing people; Robert Hare, developer of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) that is used to diagnose psychopaths; and a mental health pioneer from the 70's who tried to cure a bunch of psychopaths by giving them heroic doses of LSD (spoiler: it didn't work).
Not only is it an interesting subject matter, but it is an incredibly easy read - it's funny, quick, wonderfully observed and you'll find yourself breezing through it in no time. Downside is that, like the author, you may find yourself mentally diagnosing people as psychopaths after you read it.
Getting laid ability: Good but risky - you might be able to pick out the nut job girls (great in bed), but that's not a great long term plan.
A Visit From the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
This book caught my eye because I liked the title and it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. However, even pedigree dogs can bite you in the bollocks.
The plot follows a woman with kleptomania who works in the music industry, and her music executive boss who likes to put flakes of gold in his coffee. The latter detail bugged me instantly, and I found it very difficult to warm to any of the character because they were just so dickish. Not even big time, Patrick Bateman-style dickish - just hipster dickish. About 70 pages or so near the back are also reserved for various graphs and charts about absolute bollocks. It's probably supposed to be clever, but again it just adds to the smug shitness of it all.
Getting laid ability: High, but with the trade off that it would only be with hipsters
Faceless Killers - Henning Mankell
First of the Wallander series of books that became famous in this country after Kenneth Branagh did an English version of the TV series (also starring Tom 'Loki' Hiddleston). Never saw the show but it got good reviews, and I'd not read a crime book for a while so I looked this up.
It's pretty standard police procedural fare really. Tired, cynical detective with a failed marriage, he eats poorly and drinks too much. A crime happens, red herrings are tracked down (that end up solving an entirely unrelated case), but in the end the bad guys are caught. If you liked the 'Touch of Frost' it's very similar to them. Except Swedish.
Getting laid ability: You'd be better off sticking to the TV series and telling women how good an actor you think Tom Hiddleston is.
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
A story of segregation in the 1960's US south, told from the viewpoint of several characters. Turned into a film recently but I've not seen that (tempted though as it stars Bryce Dallas Howard who is bloody gorgeous).
I found this quite difficult to get into a first as the opening chapters are told from the viewpoint of one of the black maids, and it written almost entirely in a "Lawds I is gonna be gettin me brush an sweepin this here rug! Thomas!" style. Then just as you've gotten use to it, the character switches to a Daisy Duke white girl. Once you get into though it's quite an entertaining book. At times it can be a little "How white people ended segregation", but overall it's very enjoyable. Still, I prefer 'To Kill a Mockingbird' for a story highlighting the injustices of how black people were treated.
Getting laid ability: Similar to the last one you're probably better off with the film as it sounds like it could be a good "chick flick". Plus you get to watch Bryce Dallas Howard.
Various novels from 'The Dresden Files' - Jim Butcher
Harry Dresden is a wizard who helps out the Chicago PD when a crime of supernatural nature occur. Imagine Clint Eastwood as Philip Marlowe with magical powers and you're pretty much there. I've only read a few of the books so far (I know Joose read them too), but they're very enjoyable, pulp magic popcorn books. Not taxing, just a good read - very good holiday books.
Getting laid ability: He's a dark, mysterious, hard bitten wizard with a smart mouth - bitches love dark, mysterious, hard bitten wizards with a smart mouth.
