book review

MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A rating of 3 is generous. More of a 2.5 or 2.25.

I had much higher hopes for the book and I blame that 100% on the fact that I grew up watching the TV show while it was in first run and then in constant re-runs. I was even a bit disappointed by the movie.

Things I liked:
*actually seeing the characters how their creator envisioned them.
* each chapter was like it's own short story - which made stopping and starting the book easier.
*reading chapters that were almost direct scripts for some of the show's episodes - down to even the same dialog.

Things I didn't like:
*realizing how much the characters were different than the ones I grew up with. In the TV show, Hawkeye is an ass. In the book - well I would need to employ strong language to really describe what I thought of him. The Movie was much closer to the true character than the TV show.
*I was disappointed to not have the suicide scene in the book that was in the movie.
*very little of Trapper in the book, though he was the third main character.
*I actually hated the writing style of the author. There were points where I had to fight my way through and skimmed a lot because his choice of language and grammar just bugged me.

I am glad I read it as it is a popculture icon. However, I am never going to read it again and have no intention of finding any other books in the series. I will stick to my happy nostalgia of the TV show.



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book review

Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A good, solid memoir/accounting of a man's drive to become an astronaut, achieve that dream and go on to become the record holder of the American to spend the most accumulated time in outer space.

Overall I enjoyed the book, learned something, and found myself wishing the United States got back on track with it's aeronautics agencies. I loved sitting in front of the TV watching the Space Shuttles go up and return.

If I had any criticism of this book was that I did the audio, read by Mr. Kelly and he kept pronouncing a name that I assume is Sergei and he kept pronouncing it as Sir Gay. I could hear the space and let me say the visual I had for that person was probably no-where near what the real man is like.



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