C by Tom McCarthy

By the same author as Remainder – I didn’t let the use of “Pynchonian” in a few reviews scare me either…

Currently Reading: Occupied City by David Peace

After the first hundred pages or so I’m liking this book *a lot* more that it’s predecessor, Tokyo Year Zero. Peace uses repetition for stylistic effect, so far in this book he manages it better than in TYZ. With TYZ I thought if I read “I itch and I scratch. Gari-gari.” one more time I was going to go crazy (or at very least hurl the book at a wall).

Later: This book was really very good – maybe even great. Really masterful, especially in comparison with the previous book. I look forward to the third in the trilogy, due out this year.

One review.
More reviews.

It Is Right to Draw Their Fur: Animal Renderings by Dave Eggers

I came across this book of prints in a store recently on sale. It’s really a cardboard portfolio case (pictured above) that contains small booklet and 26 loose prints in 3 sizes. The smallest are approximately 8 x 12 inches, the largest 24 x 30 inches. On heavy paper stock, suitable for taping or pinning to walls.

They’re everything you’d expect from a McSweeney’s publication – lofi and ironic. Still I found the packaging a delight – and I was able to walk down the street casing a portfolio case for the first time in – a very long time.

A couple of example prints from the internet:

“It’s very irritating to work with irritating people.”

And speaking of irritating – this book’s written in the first-person-plural… The Virgin Suicides is the only other book I can recall that’s written in this narrative style – and I almost gave up on it.

I’ve had the book since it came out last year, only I wanted to finish reading his earlier books first… If this book weren’t by DM the description alone would likely not have been enough to get my attention. We shall see.

Later: A really good book – interesting story and extremely well written. Mitchell uses a lot of trademark narrative techniques, though in a more subtle way than in his earlier books. I do love how he manages to weave the supernatural into his stories.

A few recent books – that I can recall and am willing to admin having read…

Clockwise from the top left: Hidden River by Adrian McKinty; Just Kids by Patti Smith; Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart; Fingersmiths by Sarah Waters; Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace; Lost Weekends and One Night Stands by Lawrence Block.

Tokyo Year Zero was the biggest disappointment – likely because it was the one I had most anticipated. Stylistically it’s James Ellroy meets William Burroughs – although that combination sounds more promising than the reality of TYZ.

Currently Reading: Usability of iPad Apps and Websites
by Raluca Budiu and Jakob Nielsen

This is interesting in that it’s some early insight into iPad apps and website usabilty. It’s interesting where the best practices for the iPad differs to those for the iPhone – though it seems that they share a lot of the same issues.

It’s kindly offered up as a free download: Usability of iPad Apps and Websites

Currently Reading: Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior.
by Indi Young

This is a book from a series from Rosenfeld Media. The series includes Design is the Problem:The Future of Design must be Sustainable, Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide and Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks.

What I’m enjoying most about this book is the practical advice for integrating UCD into less formal design processes. I’m only part way through, and there’s a lot of “real” information.

4D Software Process, taken from “How Do You Design? A Compendium of Models” by Hugh Dubberly.