A review by tobyyy
The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life by Andy Miller
2.0
Ok -- so I love reading books about books, reading, etc.
But this book? No. Just no.
I was about 85% through it or so and was really struggling, and then thought to myself, Hey, I'm just going to push through the last 15% because then I can write a "WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ" review!
And no joke, that's what got me through the last bit.
This is not a book about how books saved Andy's life.
Books didn't save Andy's life in any real sense of the word. I was in the last 10 pages or so and was wondering what the hell the title had to do with the wittering and waffling that went on in the book. And then I saw this:
And that's really the only thing I can see in what was chronicled throughout all 300+ agonizing pages of this book* that relates back to "saving" Andy's life. He was never in any physical danger, and honestly, the book just seemed like it could've been good but just fell flat. Really, really, really flat.
* Well, less than 300 agonizing pages, since the first 50 pages or so were enjoyable...
Also, I kind of got tired of the whole premise because I hadn't read most of the books that Andy read through this "year of saving his life" and so what he said about them was really useless, since I didn't have any context in which to place his thoughts.
The only reason The Year of Reading Dangerously got 2/5 stars instead of 1/5 was because it was a little funny at the beginning.
But then it turned into a pretentious babble that went on forever about books and book clubs and blogging failures and Andy's personal life, and I quickly tired of that.
Do not recommend. Read something that won't be such a waste of time.
But this book? No. Just no.
I was about 85% through it or so and was really struggling, and then thought to myself, Hey, I'm just going to push through the last 15% because then I can write a "WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST READ" review!
And no joke, that's what got me through the last bit.
This is not a book about how books saved Andy's life.
Books didn't save Andy's life in any real sense of the word. I was in the last 10 pages or so and was wondering what the hell the title had to do with the wittering and waffling that went on in the book. And then I saw this:
In this way, we renewed our vow to reading.
And that's really the only thing I can see in what was chronicled throughout all 300+ agonizing pages of this book* that relates back to "saving" Andy's life. He was never in any physical danger, and honestly, the book just seemed like it could've been good but just fell flat. Really, really, really flat.
* Well, less than 300 agonizing pages, since the first 50 pages or so were enjoyable...
Also, I kind of got tired of the whole premise because I hadn't read most of the books that Andy read through this "year of saving his life" and so what he said about them was really useless, since I didn't have any context in which to place his thoughts.
The only reason The Year of Reading Dangerously got 2/5 stars instead of 1/5 was because it was a little funny at the beginning.
But then it turned into a pretentious babble that went on forever about books and book clubs and blogging failures and Andy's personal life, and I quickly tired of that.
Do not recommend. Read something that won't be such a waste of time.