July/08: What are we reading?

Based on several recommendations from LTers, I'm reading Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman.

I'm reading Beautiful Boy:A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction by David Sheff.. I'm also listening to About Alice by Calvin Trillin. Both seem good so far. I also have Sheff's son's book Tweak waiting for once I get the dad's book finished.

I'm two-thirds or so through The First Elizabeth.

Edited because the first time it showed up blank. And yes, I had text here.

johnbol, Tweak is pretty intense. I haven't read his father's book - maybe I should have read that first.

I'm in the middle of some things I picked up at BEA - right now I'm in the middle of Reading the OED about a guy who reads the entire Oxford English Dictionary. It's pretty light and fun, although I keep thinking that A. J. Jacobs' book about reading Britannica is funnier and I almost want to put this one down.

I gave up on The Importance of Music to Girls after reading a couple of reviews that echoed what I was thinking...I was feeling guilty about not finishing it, since I bought it, but I feel relieved now.

Still finishing Foucault's The Order Of Things. Next up: Who Wrote the Book of Life? by Lily E. Kay.

Just started Books and readers in ancient Greece and Rome by F. G. Kenyon.

Just about to start Tom Kenneally's 'Searching for Schindler', his non-fiction follow up to his "faction" work "Schindler's Ark" from some years ago.

Just starting "Canoeing with the Cree" by Eric Sevareid.

Back in the 30s, just as he was graduating high school, Sevareid and his best friend decided to canoe up the Minnesota River to Hudson Bay. I'll add an edit later to let you know how this small book fairs.

I've just started The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America by Maury Klein. The publisher was kind enough to send me a review copy.

Just starting The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. It's been sitting on my shelf for several months now. This is the book Nicolas Cage's character attempted to turn into a screenplay in the movie Adaptation.

Well, I finished Frank Frisch: the Fordham Flash last night, the autobiography of this Hall of Fame infielder and manager. Lots of great stories and lots of great observations about baseball in the 20s, 30s and 40s. A great read, highly recommended for baseball fans if you can find it.

I'm about halfway through The Monster of Florence. The most interesting thing to me about the whole story is the connection to Thomas Harris. Apparently he based major pieces of Hannibal on these true murders and the subsequent screwed up investigations by the Italian police.

In celebration of Canada Day, I'm reading Intent for a Nation: What is Canada For? A relentlessly optimistic manifesto for Canada's role in the world by Michael Byers. I wanted something to contradict the negativity of Andrew Cohen's Unfinished Canadian.

#12, I just finished The Monster of Florence! My review is here:

http://skrishnasbooks.blogspot.com/2008/07/monster-of-florence-douglas-preston-a...

Last night I finished The Bible According to Mark Twain and The Wraparound Universe, and resumed Man is Not Alone. Exactly how fictional or non-fictional any of those are remains to be discussed.

Robert

#2 johnbol ~ Ages ago I read a couple of books by Calvin Trillin and found them just wonderful! One was Let's Eat, Alice; I don't remember the name of the other one. I'd love to hear how you enjoyed About Alice when you finish ~ I'm thinking it may be time to read another Trillin (though I guess About Alice won't be as humorous as the others I read).

Currently about 3/4 done with Bayou Farewell and have started Mayflower as well. Next up are:
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Blood Diamonds
The Gulag Archipelago

... And at some point getting around to finishing
Alexander Hamilton
Mao: The Unknown Story
The Adventure of English
The world without us
A Peace to end all peace
The role of scientific revolutions

Finished Books and readers in ancient Greece and Rome, now reading through Orientalism.

I'm reading Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity? by David Wenham right now. Good stuff.

Voyage of the Beagle for book club later this month. Quite good-considerably better than I feared it might be. Amazing to think this man basically spent 5 years traveling by ship even though he was sea sick all the time. Believe me, I'd have found another day job.

Canoeing with the Cree by Eric Sevareid.

This simple was book written the summer Sevareid graduated high school. He and his friend Walt paddled from Minnesota to the Hudson Bay!

I just finished My Cat Spit McGee and Emergency Sex and other desperate measures by Kenneth Cain. Both are highly recommended--the first for any lover of dogs or cats or animals in general, the other for anyone who wants to know more about the UN's work in the 90s and humanitarian aid in war zones. Now, I'm reading Miracle at St. Anna--based on true events....not as well written as the others, but enjoyable nontheless.

PS. Reviews are up of the first two--I'll have one posted for Miracle by tomorrow.

I'm reading The Linguist and the Emperor during lunch hours at work. Can't say I'm liking it much. Just started Dreaming Up America by Russell Banks and must soon get to The Lizard King, which I got as an ARC from a non-LT source.

Finished reading The First Elizabeth last night. Just started Alexander Hamilton, American.

Nearly finished with Dervla Murphy's excellent On A Shoestring to Coorg which is a delightful tale of her journey around Southern India with her then 5 year old daughter.

Finished Bayou Farewell, I liked it -- really prescient given the subsequent occurrances of Katrina, Rita and others.

Halfway through Mayflower

Finishing up The world without us

Started Eco-Economy

Finished Bayou Farewell, I liked it -- really prescient given the subsequent occurrances of Katrina, Rita and others.

Halfway through Mayflower

Finishing up The world without us

Started Eco-Economy

Books and readers in ancient Greece and Rome sounds fascinating.

I'm still plowing through Progressive Muslims : On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism and re-reading Peace Begins Here, and have also added Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue, which is quite interesting thus far.

My bedtime reading is The Intellectual Devotional. I'm enjoying it, however, I'm also really frustrated that so few women are included.

The other book I've been reading, a little bit at a time, is The Stone of Heaven: the Secret History of Imperial Green Jade. Fascinating. Also appalling--the actions of Chinese and Burmese rulers, and the devastation wrought by the
British during their era of empire.

Midway thru: This Land Is Their Land by Barbara Ehrenreich

Just completed: The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby

Next up:The Summer of 1787 by David Stewart

@ Essa (message 28): The title of the book may sound fascinating, actually it was a boring and not so informative book. I've been studying the ancient Greeks for almost two years now, and didn't find much new information. Furthermore, the book was from 1930-something, so it is very much outdated.

Still reading: Orientalism - Edward Said.

I started Doubt Truth to be a Liar last night. I can't recapitulate his review of Aristotle on non-contradiction, but I can follow closely enough not to feel left out.

Robert

I am reading Bradley K. Martin's book Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, The Collapse of the Common Good by Philip K. Howard and Touched by the Dragon by Frank L. Grzyb.

In the middle of The shock doctrine by Naomi Klein. And yes, it is shocking. Maybe not for the present generation but I was raised on the idea that we were the best government of the best people on earth and could do no wrong and God was on our side and all the other people in the world wanted to live in our country and enjoy our precious American way of life.
Actually, I have been disillusioned for a number of years. It began Nov. 22, 1963 & things have gone downhill ever since.

#33 - LamSon

I looked at Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader and found myself completely intimidated by it's length. How are you finding it?

I'm on to The Short LIfe and Long Times of Mrs Beeton which is good so far - well researched and written and with a host of detail.

Just finished Searching for Schindler and would recommend it to anyone who read Schindler's List (Ark), or who saw the movie. Fascinating background of how Thomas Keneally came across the story, how the novel developed, and how the film came about.

I'm reading Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein. It's an eye opening analysis of Milton Friedman's economic theories as applied to nations from Argentina to Iraq.

msg 35
I have found it to be a very interesting book. It's hard to believe some of the events that have taken place in North Korea since the the 1950s. The Q and A interviews are particularly interesting.
Loving Care is a hefty book, but I recommend taking the plunge.

I'm reading a biography of William C. Van Horn called From Telegrapher to Titan by Valerie Knowles.

I've diverted for a moment into A Natural History of Latin. It is too lightweight, but I will finish it.

Robert

Reading "Simplexity" by Jeffrey Kluger (but interspersed with Pratchett's Nation which just arrived :)

ReadinThree Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter for my Memoir Book Group...it is a YA title from Simon and Schuster but it a great cross over book for adults. She has written a great memoir of her life in the fostor child system.

I'm almost finished reading No Two Alike by Judith Rich Harris

Last night I finished A Natural History of Latin without studying the word lists; most people will want something more substantial. Then I took on a chapter of Doubt Truth to be a Liar which analyzed various accounts of truth for compatibility with dialethism (I hope).

Robert

Today I'm going to dig into John Paul Jones: Father of the American Navy by Valentine Thomson. The book has a copyright date of 1939 but the Forum Books (the World Publishing Company) edition I have was printed in 1942. This book was a recent anniversary gift from my wonderful wife, who knows how much I enjoy reading older history books (as well as new ones). Last year I read a great biography of Admiral Nelson, so this will make a good companion read to that, I think.

The Day Freedom Died, the story of a mass murder of blacks by white supremicists in 1873 Louisiana. It's been a bit weird for me, since I'm from the area where the events happened. I keep running across places I'm familiar with, and yet I had no idea any of this happened until I ran across this book. I can't put it down, but given its subject matter, I can't really say I'm enjoying it. Well worth the time, though.

I have been plugging away at the post american world by Fareed ZakariaIt is a good explanation for the changing world.

Doubt Truth to be a Liar has proven so far over my head that I diverted last night into Bound to Please by Michael Dirda.

Robert

The Long Emergency: Surviving The Converging Catastrophes Of The Twenty-First Century - James Howard Kunstler

A timely read, revealing how our industrialized world - and the comforts and conveniences it affords - has been built on cheap energy derived from petroleum, a resource that is being rapidly depleted and for which adequate alternatives do not currently exist.

I am currently reading a biography of John Dillinger. It is extremely well written.

I will end up reading about 10 books this month for my non-fiction book review website http://www.lettersonpages.com

Today, I finished 2 nonfictions.

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin, a look at the evolution and development of a variety of structures in the human body from earlier life forms, such as fish. Provides a fascinating explanation of how scientists use both genetics and fossils, among other disciplines, to determine (for example) that our arms and legs are derived from fish fins.

Divine Wind: the History and Science of Hurricanes by Kerry Emanuel. This book gives a very balanced explanation of the hows and whys of hurricane and tropical cyclones (as they're known in the Pacific and Indian Oceans) together with descriptions of a series of impressive storms throughout history. I posted a review of this book, but found it enjoyable on several levels.

In the North Pacific cyclonic systems with high wind speeds are known as hurricanes east of the international date line and as typhoons west of the international date line.

They are known in the South Pacific as cyclones and perhaps in all of the Indian Ocean although I have heard only of the southern hemisphere thing.

Robert

PS Come to think of it, it was a cyclone that hit Burma.

R

#53: You're right - there was a handy dandy chart early in the book which described all these synonymous terms. Mea culpa. It was late last evening, and I was so excited to have finished both these books that I didn't verify my statements before making them. The greatest majority of the examples in the book relate to Atlantic storms (hurricanes), and two of the last three storm stories were cyclones (Darwin, Australia 1974 and East Pakistan 1970). Rdurick, perhaps you can answer a question for me that the book's author didn't: Why are there no hurricanes in the South Atlantic?

Am currently reading The World Without Us. I'm gleaning a few new things here and there, but much of the info is not new for me since I've read a fair amount of environmental books.

Just started Conquering Gotham. The first half-dozen pages are good. ;)

After hearing about it many times I finally got Edmund Morris' two biographies of Theodore Roosevelt. Finished the first yesterday (the best biography I ever read) and started the second today.

I'm on a T. Roosevelt binge. I read River of Doubt by Candice Millard (post-presidency), then Mornings on Horseback by David McCulloch (pre-presidency) and now, I've just started Edmund Morris' Theodore Rex (presidency).

I would like to recommend you two keep on your TR binge and include Alice re: his flamboyant daughter. I can`t remember the author, but she is a prof at Monmouth College.

>59 kerrlm: kerrim

Please check your touchstone - it is going to a modern adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

You are right! I don`t know why the touchstone is incorrect. Author of Alice is Stacy A. Cordery It is a new book, but not THAT new. Ha! The author spoke recently at our Friends of the Library event. Unfortunately for me, I had to miss the talk but did get the book right away. My granddaughter is a student at Monmouth College.

>57 Hanno: Hanno
I agree that Edmund Morris's Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is one of the best biographies I have *ever* read. Unfortunately, I didn't feel that his Theodore Rex measured up to the high standard he set with Rise... It's not a bad biography; I was just expecting more.

If you don't want to wait for Morris to come out with a post-presidency volume for TR, check out Patricia O'Toole's When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt after the White House.

Thanks Hanno, I will check out When Trumpets Call. I'm also looking for books on Bamie, TR's powerhouse sister. Any recommendations?

I'm reading a Harvard research project on The State of Native Nations. It will be interesting to compare with the Canadian situtation.

I'm halfway through The Lodger:Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl which I'm racing through. The scholarship and research is worn lightly and I feel I'm in the midst of this little enclave in Jacobean London along with Will.

I finally finished 1491. It was an excellent read! Now I will finish my novel..

Started Sounds of the River.

On Monday I read and finished The Last Lecture by Professor Randy Pausch.

Next up is While They Were Sleeping: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family by Kathryn Harrison. This will be the first nonfiction piece of hers that I will read that does not deal with her life so I anticipate an interesting read.

After that will be my new Early Reviewer book that just arrived today, Stalking Irish Madness by Patrick Tracey.

Wow, I just noticed that I'm on a nonfiction roll right now after having read much fiction.

Just started The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale. I read the reviews posted and see that they are mixed, so I am hopeful that I will enjoy it - the topic sounds interesting and I love reading mystery fiction, so I'm optimistic.

I should finish Process Theology by John B. Cobb and David Ray Griffin tonight; I started reading the bibliography last night. I have missed enough that I shall have to reread this and look in other resources.

I am still working on Doubt Truth to be a Liar. More and more I am understanding less and less.

I have for at least one novel to lapse into fiction. My church's book group will discuss A Thread of Grace in a week, and I have been putting it off after the first few chapters.

Robert

Although it is barely still July, I started an ARC of Superdove today, about the evolutionary and social history of pigeons. So far I'm enjoying it, it will be released in a couple of weeks.

I just started reading The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner. I'm intrigued, so far.

Well, in my time zone there aren't many hours of July left. But just yesterday, I read Unchosen: the Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels, by Hella Winston. Pretty interesting stuff, albeit a much slimmer volume than I would have liked, to be honest. I'm still reading Last Days in Babylon: the Story of a Family, the History of a Nation by Marina Benjamin, about the Jews of Iraq during WWI and II. But I doubt I will finish that before August overtakes us. :)

Last night after I finished Process Theology and read a chapter of Doubt Truth to be a Liar, rather than turn to fiction, I started The Buddhist Handbook by John Snelling. I made some pretty good headway.

Robert

# 74 Essa

Thank you for last Days in Babylon, I just ordered it.

Yesterday (when it was July), I started Self-Made Man by Norah Vincent.

The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson. Was at first somewhat turned off by the apocalyptic title and cover images, but finding it to be a compelling and well-structured read.