drplantwrench's reviews
129 reviews

Full disclosure, I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I was in high school, so my love it may be in part to due to its formative part of my development. In fact, I used to re-read it every summer. The philosophy intertwine with father connecting with his son is exactly what a 14 year old version of me was looking for as a freshman in high school. I loved the mix of philosophy and narrative, as it is the perfect sugar-coated introduction to philosophy.

Now all that said, I saw a bunch of other reviews lambasting this book, an looking at what I wrote, I'm not sure that either of us is wrong. One might come into this book expecting the heightening of the form, achieving new things never done before, and be disappointed. On the other hand, I will always love this book, and think it has much to offer if your expectations are more attuned to it.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a short book that I read in a single day. It's a fun, breezy read of the now-cliche story of a unique teacher who wins respect of her students by being authentic. The twist in the book is also super interesting and I think makes the book worth it.

That said, it is maybe a too breezy. It is not a book that has stayed with me since I read, and I do not find myself thinking about the implications of the plot at all, like I do with my other favorite books. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but there's only so much good with it. Given that it is a short book, there's not a huge investment cost, so would recommend (though I won't lose my hat over it).

Books like this really make me wish that Goodreads had a half-star mechanism, because I would rate this at 4.5 and a 4 seems a bit harsh.

When I first started, I could not be more hyped. I saw many people compare the start to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I thought the exact same thing. Top tier British humor in a wacky, end of the world scenario, simply loved it. And though I may be coming to an inflection point here, the rest of the book is really enjoyable and funny. Though I haven't seen it, I am not surprised they made a TV show out of this, there's a lot of gold to mine here. But (here's that inflection point I promised), it never really lives up to the insanely high hype that I started to expect, with my own comparisons to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the authors' pedigree. It is still a great book that I highly recommend, but a shoulder below classic humor books like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

This book is a lot like jet fuel - it is incredibly explosive, but may have some trouble with sustaining its velocity. That said, the first half of the book, in my opinion, is a perfect thriller. The next half is also pretty good but it does drag a bit here and there. It's probably a hundred pages too long, but still I really enjoyed it - I was really addicted for the majority of the book. There are some downsides, for sure (e.g. the plot does get a little soap opera-y, the payoff though enjoyable, is maybe not what all the buildup was for, etc.), but if you don't mind the length, I would definitely recommend! This another one of those books I would give 4.5/5, but the maddening rush of the first half made me round up.