Posted
by Joel Mathis
September 4, 2007 at 4 p.m.
What I'm reading
Here's what I've read in the last month:[" Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran][1]: Chandrasekaran was the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post during the first year after the invasion, and the story he tells isn't pretty - the successes he describes are generally the work of lone wolves against the bureaucracy (generally staffed by well-meaning but unknowledgeable young people chosen for their jobs based more on connections than expertise), and even then, few and far between. Along with Thomas Ricks' "Fiasco," (which I read earlier this year) this book serves as an excellent primer on how the intial appearance of victory in 2003 gave way to the still-ongoing war.[" The Rest of Her Life: A Novel" by Laura Moriarty][2]: I can't review this objectively - even in capsule form - as I know and like Laura, who lives in Lawrence. It's the story of a strained mother-daughter relationship made more strained when the daughter is at the wheel during a fatal car accident. The book explores the unknowability of others: What you see of the people around you, even the ones closest to you, is not the whole of them; similarly, there are parts of you that remain mysterious to those around you - even, sometimes, when you're trying desperately to make those parts seen.[" The Braindead Megaphone" by George Saunders][3]: Saunders won one of those "genius" grants a few years back, and it's easy to see why: I don't think there's a finer short-story writer living in America these days - his earlier collection, "Pastoralia," is one of those life-changing books. If you've read it, though, you might be under the impression that Saunders' work is fueled by cynicism of the hardest kind. "The Braindead Megaphone" is a collection of essays and reported nonfiction pieces - some of them appeared in Harper's and GQ - that reveal Saunders at his most empathetic: Going straight to people with whom he disagrees, or suspects of hucksterism, and trying to really understand them. A real pleasure.What are you reading? [1]: http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9781400044870-4 [2]: http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781401302719-5 [3]: http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781594482564-0
and 5 others
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lazz (anonymous) says…
"The Joy of Drinking," by Barbara Holland. A superb, sublime history of alcohol in human societies, by a grand old gal who writes (and, I suspect, lives) with wit, style and vigor...it recently arrived at the city library.
I received as a gift a "The New Best Recipe" by the folks at America's Test Kitchen. As a lover of cookbooks, and cooking, I can't believe these folks and their books had never before hit my radar. If you like cooking, and haven't yet read their recipes and reviews, do yourself the favor and grab one of their books or magazines. Even the simplest dishes (steel-cut oats, lentils, potatoes) benefit from their rigorous kitchen tests. The book is so well done it makes great night-table reading.
OtherJoel (anonymous) says…
On a major Coupland kick -- just finished Eleanor Rigby and JPod, probably going to read Shampoo Planet next.
bwoodard (Bill Woodard) says…
Lazz, if you like "The Joy of Drinking," I humbly suggest you check into a 1994 compilation called "Drinking, Smoking & Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times." This anthology is great fun, with selections by a diverse array of writers--Mark Twain rubbing elbows with Charles Bukowski, Dorothy Parker in the same pages as Erica Jong, Henry Miller and Vladimir Nabokov skeeving out (well, maybe THAT one isn't such a great juxtaposition)....Anyhow, it's good fun about what some folks consider sinnin' but those in know consider livin'....
Dazie (Aileen Dingus) says…
"The Civil War" by Bruce Catton
"Native Tongue" by Carl Hiassen
"How to Eat" by Nigella Lawson
I don't have any extended commentary. *lol*
manofleisure (anonymous) says…
Tres drag, you are alI reading for fun. I am reading for teaching -
to wit:
Wuthering Heights - Heart me some Heathcliffe, the saucy varlet. That Kate is cuckoo for Victorian cocoa puffs.
Primary Colors - not nearly as good as I remember. In fact at times just flat out terrible writing.
Gilgamesh - trans. by Stephen Mitchell. The first story, and damn what a good one.
On radar: New Amy Bloom novel.
On even closer radar: New Denis Johnson novel, Tree of Smoke. If you haven't read Jesus's Son, Johnson's superior short story collection, get thee to the bookstore... and fast.
On long-term radar: new William Langewiesche book about nuke trading.
Lazz: another good drinking book is called History of the World in Six Glasses.
Cheerio book dorks,
Mark
JohnB (anonymous) says…
I'm trying to get into Letters, by John Barth. Not a good choice for bedtime reading, but that's about all the time I have at the moment.
Also (for scholarly reasons): The Impure Imagination: Toward A Critical Hybridity In Latin American Writing, by Joshua Lund. I'll spare your readers a synopsis, but it's saying something when I note that this is holding my attention better than the Barth.
El_Borak (Bill Hoyt) says…
Piled on my dresser at the moment:
"The Money Panic," Martin D. Weiss
"Financial Reckoning Day," William Bonner and Addison Wiggins
"Decisive Battles of the American Revolution," Col. Joseph D. Mitchell
"Come to the Cow Pens," Christine Swager
"Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens," Lawrence E. Babits
"The Battle of Cowpens: A Documented Narrative and Troop Movement Maps," Edwin Bearss
"Benedict Arnold's Navy," James Nelson
"The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick," by too many authors to list.
Most of those are for class (can you guess which battle I have to re-create?) but the first two are to remind me to be disciplined about the current market troubles*.
I actually have about 3 dozen market books of different stripes - some telling how to get rich by borrowing, some telling how to get poor by borrowing - that I re-read when the occasion is fitting. I prefer my market books to be 20+ years old, because it's a lot easier to examine the arguments when the light of history is shining on them. Of course, they can't tell you what to do NOW, but since more than half of them will be wrong anyway, that's probably a good thing...
*Yes, when the President, the SecTreas, and the Miister of Inflation come out every day to remind us how strong the economy is, that means the opposite.
DOTDOT (anonymous) says…
"Black Rednecks and White Liberals" by Thomas Sowell
Shelby (anonymous) says…
"Dune Messiah" by Hank Frerbert
...disengage, disengage, disengage...
Mr_A (Bryan Anderson) says…
"The Ladies of Grace Adieu" by Susanna Clarke
It's like a collection of Jane Austen short stories, only with magic.
"After Dark" by Haruki Murakami
which I am just starting and comes highly recommended.
"Bloodsucking Fiends" by Christopher Moore
Which is mad funny. Hecka funny. I'll have to check out more of his stuff.
OtherJoel (anonymous) says…
Shelby -- Messiah's #2, right? I read books 1-4 back-to-back a few years back and enjoyed them, but I think I overdid it a bit and got burned out partway through #5. Too much of a good thing, perhaps. It's probably time I revisited them.
Shelby (anonymous) says…
OtherJoel -- yes, #2. I like it a lot so far.
Mr_A -- Christopher Moore wrote "Lamb", the "gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood friend."
I liked it quite a bit; a funny take on Jesus without (the presumed) pretentious Christianity bashing.
Mr_A (Bryan Anderson) says…
Shelby- I found Dune Messiah to be a little boring, and weird, but Children of Dune is much better. 4-6 get a little weird and metaphysical, but are still interesting.