Ross McCammon’s "Works Well With Others": Things I Liked, Disliked, and Wondered About

Things I Liked About Ross McCammon’s Works Well With Others: An Outsider’s Guide to Shaking Hands, Shutting Up, Handling Jerks, and Other Crucial Skills in Business That No One Ever Teaches You:

1.       Chapter 2: Should You Keep Reading This Book established that I was well within my rights to skip around in the book. And so I did.

2.       Chapter 4: Classic Interview Rules, Plus One More is a good nutshell list. 

3.       Chapter 8: Ways in Which you Must Screw Up Early On: A Handy Checklist.  It made me feel good to read about someone even more horrible at First Day Jitters at a job than I [hope that I] am.

4.       “You cannot be an interesting conversationalist if you are faking interest in something.”

5.       I was so happy to have my “It’s a little earlier than I want to leave this party, so I’d better leave” philosophy validated. 

Play-By-Play Reactions: A Review of Haruki Murakami's "The Strange Library"

An unnamed, unaged, undescribed boy character goes to a library in his new shoes to return his books. He has to be home by 6:00 or else his mother will worry; not long ago he was attacked by a Big Black Dog and ever since then he has never been the same and his mother has always expected him to get home in a timely fashion. The librarian at the checkout counter is a stranger to him.  Checking in the returned items, she asks if there is anything else. The boy says yes, he’d like some books.

Me: Really?  Well from now on, unnamed boy of indeterminate age, I shall refer to you in my blog as Captain Obvious.

Agatha Christie's "Endless Night" - A Review

It’s hard to describe Agatha Christie’s Endless Night without worrying about slipping up and spoiling the ending.  So I am not going to even try. 

 So, um, if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read this.