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This is the archive of my reading. Soon, I'll put in the subject subindexes.
| What I've been read in the past |
| Date | Author | Title |
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[Finished 29 December 2011] Ohlin almost lost me completely when in the opening paragraph of the second chapter, she wrote, “The sun was plangent and full.” Perhaps her experience has been different than mine, but I have never known the sun to be anything but silent and unemotional. It struck me as a sentiment painfully overwritten stretching a metaphor beyond the breaking point.
Fortunately, the book largely redeemed itself in the remaining pages, as the meaning of the title ramified across the pages, fully exploiting the possibilities of the meanings of the phrase “The missing person,” leaving us wondering just who it was who was missing, or whether in fact it was the personhood of the narrator herself that had vanished. The book, as is so common in many contemporary novels, faded out rather than coming do a definite conclusion, but Ohlin’s writing was worth the journey, misbegotten metaphors notwithstanding.
[Finished 27 December 2011] A compulsively readable book. Another memoir I would not have picked up without my book club, I found Joseph’s story to be can’t-put-down compelling. The writing was plain and unpretentious, but the story, well, I could see myself being a happy supporter of the Black Panthers had I been more than an infant back in the day. Joseph’s story gets a bit less interesting after the dissolution of the Panthers, but his account of his time in Leavenworth became a bit more interesting and kept me from being annoyed at the saccharine uplift of the final chapter of the book.
[Finished 16 December 2011] Taking the stories one at a time: Adichie: Ok, not a favorite.Bergman: More my style, despite the off-putting title of “Housewifely Arts”. Bissell: This was a high point of the anthology, the cultural-religious conflict of the characters and their circumstances. Egan: One of the parts of Here Comes the Goon Squad that I was unimpressed with. Englander: A study of moral relativism, sometimes I like it, sometimes not. Goodman: forgettable. Havazelet: Another one that escaped me. Horrocks: I loved this piece. I kind of would like to do the sleep myself some winter. Johnston: Another favorite from the anthology. Keegan: Not really to my tastes. Lipsyte: Amazing. I must dive into the collection of his stories I have sitting at home. Makkai: A beautiful piece, with great characters and plot. McCracken: I loved how she managed to cause everything to change meaning in the final pages of the story. Millhauser: I wanted to like this more than I did. Nuila: A writer to watch, I look forward to reading more of his work. Oates: Falls into that middle territory again. Powers: Hmm, two second-person narratives in this years’ BASS. This one does something really cool with the idea, almost a choose your own adventure type narration. Row: I felt about the same about this as I did about The Train to Lo Wu. Saunders: Wonderfully Saunders-esque with a well-drawn concept. Slouka: I loved how Slouka managed to change the meanings of things within the span of his story. Another great piece.
Overall, this was a good collection, but I think that I would rank the King and Rushdie volumes over this one.
[Finished 15 December 2011] I found the stories in this collection left me more than a little flat. Some of the longer pieces worked better, but this just wasn’t my sort of book in the end, even if the writing was first-rate.
[Finished 12 December 2011] A domestic drama with a great deal of simmering subtext (not to mention the simmering text itself). Boswell tells the story of a family struck by their son’s suicide, a daughter who became pregnant by their next door neighbor when she was fourteen, a public intellectual father-in-law facing senility and irrelevance and the husband’s desire to do right by his junior partner, a young man who turns out to be every bit the punk that everyone else believed him to be. An excellent study of character.
[Finished 11 December 2011] Since my wife and I were in the process of getting a dog (which we’ve now done), and she’s a devotee of Cesar’s from his TV show, we read this book to make sure that we were on the same page for how to train our newly adopted beast. In all, it’s a pretty good book, although it tends to be a bit short in some specifics. I would have liked to have gotten direction on how best to apply Cesar’s principles to some of the behavior modifications that we would like to train in our dog.
[Finished 1 December 2011] Seven stories linked by geography and culture, most telling the stories of Americans in Hong Kong, although the last tells of a Chinese student in New York during the sixties. I enjoyed looking at how Row structured his stories and seeing how I could incorporate some of this in my own writing, trying to get away from the single transformative event narrative which is central to so many of my short stories.
[Finished 29 November 2011] A wonderfully strange and touching book, on its surface it’s a darkly comic story about an inept weatherman/reporter who, as a boy, witnessed his cousin commit murder then watched as the cousin grew up to be the leading candidate for state attorney general. But mixed in with all of this is some delightful painting of character along with a surprising meditation on free will versus predestination. One of my favorite reads of my books by MFA instructors project.
[Finished 20 November 2011] A sprawling family saga, this is really more a collection of linked short stories than a novel per se with each lengthy chapter generally capable of standing on its own.
[Finished 20 November 2011] Largely a bit of a digression from the main twilight big bad of Season 8, here we get an odd time travel story which reveals a bit about the future of Willow, slayers and the planet earth in the distant future.
[Finished 18 November 2011] Maybe it’s just me being super-attentive to omniscient narratives, but I found this to be an especially enjoyable read. Mohr manages to play an interesting game with his narrative here, writing in a self-conscious narrative style where the narrator occasionally goes to great lengths to show his omniscience, whether it’s revealing a statement withheld at the moment of its occurrence for the benefit of the reader of whom the narrator is conscious, or spiraling into revelations of distant events taking place at the same moment as the main action of the novel.
The story itself is a wonderfully varied portrait, more an ensemble piece than an account with a single protagonist. With this palette, Mohr paints a wonderful portrait that deserves to have a bigger audience than his indie publisher is likely to provide.
[Finished 11 November 2011] Olear’s novel reads mostly like an extended riff on modern parenthood than a novel. I found the narrative voice was one that wore thin after the first chapters (which I found riotously funny). An extended digression on autism and asperger’s syndrome felt like something inserted because Olear realized his page count was lower than he wanted. And the climax and conclusion ended up feeling a bit sappy given the slightly edgy feel to the book (or at least the attempts at edginess). It wasn’t a bad book, per se, but it also wasn’t one that I really would recommend as anything other than a disposable read.
[Finished 10 November 2011] What a cool book. The conceit is that Hector de Saint-Aureole (lovely name, that) is the author of a book, When to Go Into the Water and we get glimpses of his life and how the book is received by various readers over the years following Hector’s death. Short, but beautifully written.
[Finished 8 November 2011] An amusing concept: Yorick is the last man on earth. Not the last person, just the last man. He and his pet monkey, Ampersand are apparently going to face a post-apocalyptic world where the women turn out to be willing to supply the savagery that men can no longer provide (being dead and all). I stumbled on this sitting unshelved on a table at the Chicago Public Library and decided to give it a read having a bit of time to spare.
[Finished 8 November 2011] A contemporary noir, this book felt like it was all promise and no delivery. We had an interesting atmosphere set up with the mix of contemporary and late 60s political intrigue, but the mystery at the heart of the story is both given away and unrevealed in an unsatisfactory manner. And the motivations of far too many of the players ended up being more opaque than intriguing.
[Finished 3 November 2011] An unapologetically experimental work. For some reason, my library shelved this as a “mystery,” and while I suppose with some grotesque deformation of the conception of that genre one could classify it as such, it really is more a pure work of literary fiction, sadly consigned to publication by a university press where it is unlikely to get the sort of recognition that it deserves.
Told as a series of vignettes, with the exception of the first and last pieces in the first person, we get a fragmentary account of Jesse Breedlove, a man who dug up the body of a girl he had raped and murdered from the basement of a church and then proceeded to travel around the country with her body which occasionally formed as a living being, sometimes was just a collection of singing bones, and in various ways touched the lives of the people who they encountered, or who encountered them, or who were placed in the way of the unlikely pair of Jesse and his murdered/resurrected victim.
[Finished 27 October 2011] Despite the claim on the front cover, this is not a novel, but rather a collection of linked short stories. That said, Egan is a superb short story writer, and while I’ve read two of the stories here before, I was happy to re-read them and pay close attention to the craft of what she’s doing in each story. In some cases, there’s a bit too self-conscious an affectation. “Forty-Minute Lunch”, even without its footnotes, feels like a David Foster Wallace pastiche (it feels like Egan was closely studying Brief Interviews with Hideous Men) and “Great Rock and Roll Pauses” which is written as a PowerPoint presentation came across as an attempt to be clever without enough to back it up, but much of the rest of the collection left me overwhelmed with the quality of her writing.
[Finished 24 October 2011] I went into this book thinking that much of the learning curve of Hadoop was going to be centered around programming issues and was irritated that the early programming examples employed a version of the API that was already deprecated when Lam wrote the book. But as I dug deeper, I realized that the programming side of things is ultimately the least important aspect of Hadoop; writing a Map-Reduce program is not that complicated (and Pig/Hive which are brought into discussion in later chapters really deserved more coverage simplify that even further). Most of the book focuses on management issues with Hadoop which seem to be the core of working well with Map-Reduce development
[Finished 22 October 2011] I’d never heard of Rockwell Kent before reading this, but I’m not sure that this really impacted my understanding of the book. Winter writes in a style that reminded me of Cormac McCarthy (especially his use of punctuation, or really lack thereof). There are some beautiful sentences here and the story really gets going once Kent’s pacifist views come into complex with World War I-era Newfoundland.
[Finished 21 October 2011] I picked this book up as an audition of sorts for Novakovich who is one of the fiction instructors in a low-res MFA program that I’m considering applying for. Many of the questions addressed here are somewhat lower-level than I need. This seems like it would be a good text for a college or advanced high school creative writing class (something that, in my arrogance, I’ve never actually done). Each chapter concludes with a number of writing exercises and wonderfully enough, the exercise concludes with a check that the writer can use to see whether they’ve “succeeded” in the exercise. I found reading this that Novakovich and I have similar perspectives on the writing process, so I suppose he’s passed the audition.
[Finished 11 October 2011] Usually, stories about people in the lower classes who engage in all manner of sub-optimal behaviors like stealing, drug use, etc. drive me nuts. It reminds me of what a square I am to find myself wanting the protagonist to clean up their life and get on the straight and narrow.
For some reason, I didn’t feel that way with When Thinfinger, the narrator of Ovenman. I was actually delighted by his petty larcenies and frequent blackouts.
[Finished 10 October 2011] A great picaresque firmly in the tradition of Švejk. We get an absurdist take on communist Yugoslavia, the civil war that broke the country apart and post-independence Croatia along with a wonderfully bizarre conclusion in which the protagonist either dies and becomes a ghost or is buried alive and manages to crawl out of his grave and lead a life on the far fringes of society. I loved it.
[Finished 6 October 2011] I find Marilynne Robinson’s writing intensely seductive. She writes in a way that I couldn’t begin to emulate (nor would I necessarily want to), where she manages to assemble one beautiful sentence after another while fully inhabiting her characters and telling an intriguing story. The ultimate reveal was not necessarily that exciting or important but the journey was so enjoyable I want very much to read the companion volume to the story and bask in her prose for one more volume.
[Finished 5 October 2011] After reading Remainder I was eager to read McCarthy’s second novel, which treats of the life of Serge Carrefax, beginning with his birth, with a caul on his head (shades of David Copperfield, I presume). There are some elements of some of the surrealist realism of Remainder in the book, but overall, I found the book a bit of a disappointment, falling into the all-too-common second-novel flop.
[Finished 29 September 2011] I’m not sure what made me think that I would find this an interesting read, but ultimately, it came across as some interesting observations overwhelmed by an unhealthy dose of “get off my lawn” conservatism. Unless people have the same respect for the classics that Bauerlein does, they clearly are philistines and responsible for the decline of civilization. I was more annoyed than anything else reading this book. There are some good arguments to be made along the lines of what Bauerlein wants to say, but Bauerlein’s own limited horizons cause him to fail at the task.
[Finished 28 September 2011] Moving from novellas to short stories, I found Conan Doyle’s narratives to be painfully thin here. Or maybe I’ve just overdosed on the Sherlock Holmes.
[Finished 26 September 2011] A re-read, I found myself enjoying this as a return visit with some old friends, while simultaneously paying close attention to craft. It seems to me that the opening paragraph of the book, which establishes the omniscient viewpoint was essential to the narrative tone. We begin with a sentence that was essentially third-person limited (“When the lights went off the accompanist kissed her.”), then we get some unattributed point of view (“Maybe he had been turning towards her just before it was completely dark, maybe he was lifting his hands.”) and then we finally get the omniscience: “There must have been some movement, a gesture, because every person in the living room would later remember a kiss.”
It’s hard to imagine the book beginning in any other manner than it did, although apparently Patchett originally had a prologue from the POV of Gen, the translator. I can see how that would be tempting. Gen, more than anyone else, is the protagonist of the story and it would have been possible to write this as a first person or close third staying with Gen, but that prologue would have made using the omniscient POV, which was a major goal of Patchett’s in writing the book, a dismal failure.
[Finished 23 September 2011] Breezily written, I found this a bit of a mixed bag. There were some parts that were useful, some not so much (the section going into details on MFA programs didn’t address any that I could realistically attend), but the section on workshops seemed remarkably useful to me.
[Finished 19 September 2011] I think i heard about this book from Science Friday. At the very least, I remember hearing about many of the topics covered in the book on that program. The book is written in a casual breezy style, frequently choosing anecdote as a way of introducing a subject. There was little in here that I didn’t already know, but I’ve managed to read a bit more than the typical layman on questions of neuroscience and psychology, but for the neophyte in this arena, I can see this being a valuable introduction, especially since there’s a good selection of references for deeper reading referenced to each chapter.
[Finished 14 September 2011] I’m not sure how this book ended up in my reading list, but I’m glad that it did. Sort of a nice counterpoint to all the Sherlock Holmes I’ve been reading of late, Summerscale manages to beautifully recreate the minutiae of Victorian life in her account of a mysterious murder, its investigation and the aftermath. Even better, it’s written well enough that I’ve finally been motivated to begin my collection of beautiful sentences that I’ve long meant to create. My samples:
While a murder went unsolved, everything was potentially significant, packed with secrets. The observers, like paranoiacs, saw messages everywhere. Objects could regain their innocence only when the killer was caught.and
A storybook detective starts by confronting us with a murder and ends by absolving us of it. He clears us of guilt. He relieves us of uncertainty. He removes us from the presence of death.
[Finished 11 September 2011] By now, we all know the story of Franzen and Oprah and all the brouhaha associated with that infamous incident. I never really understood Franzen’s reluctance to be part of her book club. I gathered later that it was based, at least in part, in a misunderstanding of what was entailed on Franzen’s part.
But what got me to read this book was less that incident than hearing a portion of Franzen’s next novel, Freedom read during a review on Fresh Air. It was just a paragraph or two, but I found myself thinking how incredibly well-written it was, and at that point I decided to read not only Freedom but The Corrections as well.
Franzen manages to take his beautiful prose and apply it to a study of a family in some level of decay. The patriarch is descending into senile dementia and suffering the affects of Parkinson’s. His wife lives in a state of denial enhanced by a dose of a fictional drug prescribed by a shady cruise ship doctor in international waters. Then there are the children, Chip, a disgraced former professor who lives on borrowed money while sleeping with a married woman and writing a comically bad screenplay who ends up being spirited to Lithuania to take part in a scheme to defraud American investors seeking to buy a piece of Lithuanian government. Gary, a control-freak, who, on the surface is the most stable and settled of the children but is revealed as the novel progresses to be the most broken of the children. And Denise, the chef with a taste for married men and women who manages to implode the success that she’s stumbled into by having affairs with both her boss and her boss’s wife. Throw in a dose of humor on top of the beautiful prose and a level of truth in the familial relations that is at turns familiar and painful and it truly is an amazing novel.
[Finished 7 September 2011] I had thought that I’d never read any of the Holmes novels, but after reading this one, I find myself with hints of recollection of the story. Maybe I did read this after all. Various details of plot and language kept lingering on the edges of my consciousness, telling me, “you’ve seen me before, you know this plot, you know this character, you know this scenario.”
[Finished 3 September 2011] A great bit of classic commercial fiction. Plain prose, simple descriptions, but gripping story-telling with a certain level of inevitability in the plot.
[Finished 1 September 2011] A book club selection. I found the whole thing a bit dull and not quite to my liking. It’s well-written, just not terribly interesting.
[Finished 1 September 2011] Between the BBC series and the Robert Downey Jr movies, I’ve become a bit of a Sherlock Holmes fanatic of late, so I decided to go to the source having never read the original stories. The place to begin, naturally enough, is the beginning, and so I did. The novel is divided into two parts: The first is the form that I was expecting, a first person account from the perspective of Dr Watson, with Watson standing nicely in for the reader in becoming acquainted with Holmes, but in the second part, there’s a sudden shift to an omniscient third-person narrative of events in the American west. I actually found myself wondering whether a different book had been inadvertently mixed in with the Holmes novel, the shift in tone and subject was so dramatic.
[Finished 26 August 2011] Wow, what a beautiful piece of writing. McCarthy takes the style of magical realism and applies it to the quotidian.
[Finished 24 August 2011] An amazingly diverse selection of work. While a few sections border on erotica (or are proudly part of that genre), the majority is literary fiction drawn from both short stories and novel excerpts (no poems though). Some of the novel excerpts stand alone better than others, and with a handful of exceptions, everything in the anthology was previously published elsewhere.
[Finished 21 August 2011] It seems that I’m reading a lot of multiple-narrator books lately. Stockett manages it well here, and while she admits in a note at the end of the book that she’d been wary of attempting to write in the voices of her black women characters, she acquits herself admirably. Each of her three narrators manages to keep a distinct identity, even without the tags at the beginning of each narrator’s sections.
I notice that Roxane Gay has been highly critical of both the book and the movie, and while I imagine that as a black woman she has insights that a northern white male would lack, it doesn’t change the fact that I found the book to be, if nothing else, a thought-provoking read. Are things really that different now? The help is more likely to be Latina rather than black, and the laws are now centered around illegal immigration rather than racial separation, but the class barriers still remain strong. Even without the legal and racial barriers, I suspect that the class barriers manage to provide difficult and uncomfortable terrain to manage
[Finished 18 August 2011] I had a remarkably difficult time getting into this book. I found the plethora of narrators difficult to keep up with, and having characters named Vic and Vince didn’t help with that at all. It’s interesting to finish not long after reading an article about authors not liking “great” books and a similar passage in Exit Ghost where a friend of Zuckerman ascribes his not caring for Zuckerman’s latest manuscript to his own failing. Is it my own failing that I was left cold by this book? It did, after all, win the Booker prize (I think that’s how it ended up in my reading list). Or did the book fail in its ambitions and win the prize despite this failure?
Exit Ghost by Philip Roth
[Finished 17 August 2011] The last of the Zuckerman novels. This is the Philip Roth who dragged me in when I first read American Pastoral, writing beautifully crafted sentences in a book about ideas as much as characters. I have some sympathy with Zuckerman’s view on literary biography, the attempts to find the “real life” inspirations for the characters in an author’s work. It’s pointless and voyeuristic, in a way, although at the same time, in a body of work as pointedly autobiographical as Roth’s Zuckerman novels, it’s oddly self-referential to make that critique (although I would point out that I have managed to remain blissfully ignorant of the state of Zuckerman’s prostate).
Usually, writing of the (frustated) lusts of older male narrators leaves me cold, but here, it manages to be poignant, the strong desire that Zuckerman feels for Jamie that is only—can only be—requited in the notes he makes for “He and She”, a dialogue that at times Zuckerman seems to confuse with reality, much as reality causes its own difficulties for Zuckerman in the story with his failing memory.
Machine of Death edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, David Malki
[Finished 12 August 2011] This book is one of those odd things that could only have happened in the internet era: Inspired by a webcomic, we get 34 stories by mostly unknown authors (only two have achieved the necessary level of notoriety to have articles about them on wikipedia, and one of those two has his fame from writing his own webcomic). The basic concept is simple: There’s a machine that will tell you how (but not when) you die. The catch is that the information is vague and not necessarily helpful. “Old age” could mean that one dies old, or that one is hit by a car driven by an old person.
But interesting origins aside, the question remains, is it any good? I would say that for the most part the answer is yes. There weren’t really any stories that I finished and thought, “this is awful,” although the two stories by the “known” authors were not among my favorites. There are some stories which are based around the ambiguity of the prediction, with the associated ironies attached to that, but more interesting were the stories which delved deeper into the social impacts of the existence of such a machine, whether it’s the fact that having a bad death predicted would foreclose a lot of possibilities by institutions looking to preserve their prestige (what elite prep school wants an alumnus killed in a prison knife fight?), or the fact that the entropy requires the predictions to remain vague to preserve the laws of thermodynamics.
By far, my favorite story was James Foreman’s “Heat Death of the Universe” which manages to really bring out the tragedy and doom of its central characters with an apocalyptic doom hanging over them.
Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
[Finished 11 August 2011] Many years ago, I was at a talk where a priest said that he believed that there should be a sacrament for friendship. I puzzled over this for some time afterwards, wondering what exactly a sacramental friendship would entail. After all, friends come and go, many of my best friends had already disappeared in the brevity of my lifespan to that time. But I’ve come to realize, at least in part because of reading this book, that the sacrament of friendship would not be something imposed from the outside on the friendship, some sort of ceremony involving white dresses and cake, or even pocket knives and the commingling of blood. The sacrament of friendship arises from the friendship itself.
I begin on this note, at least in part, because reading this book, I found it the most Catholic of all Patchett’s books that I’ve read so far. There’s been a sort of Catholic undercurrent that runs through her books, sometimes close to the surface (like in Run), sometimes buried deep (like in Taft), but it’s always there. But here, in her account of her friendship with Lucy Grealy, along with the parallel story of her rise to success as a writer, the Catholicism percolates her every action. It’s not the Catholicism of a tedious moralist. Patchett is able to face both Grealy’s and her own sexuality without judgment. It’s more a Catholicism of love, an understanding and living of the unconditional love of God, along with our own limitations in being able to reach those heights.
I had been hesitant to approach this book. After all, I’d managed to be ignorant of Lucy Grealy (I’m still unacquainted with any of her work) and I feared that it was not going to be a compelling read. But the closing of the Santa Monica Border’s a few years back left only a few Ann Patchett titles on the shelf and this was one of them and who can resist a 50% discount? So I bought the book and it sat unread on my shelves for a couple years until now when most of my unread books are still in boxes and this was one of only two books in English in the unread book box that I’ve opened already. And I’m glad that I did, if only to get a chance to read some of Patchett’s mature writing.
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
[Finished 10 August 2011] I knew the outline of the story from seeing the film, but this was my first time reading any of Michael Cunningham’s writing. And even though I’ve seen the film, I can’t imagine how this was made into a movie. So much of the story is internal, the private meditations of the three Missuses, Woolf, Dalloway and Brown. And somehow, three stories are tied together in a beautiful and extraordinary fashion. I can’t help but envy Cunningham’s prose, the beauty and elegance of each sentence, something that I can only grasp at in my own writing, but never quite achieve.
What a delightful coincidence that I finish reading this on Virginia Woolf’s birthday.
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson
[Finished 6 August 2011] My reading this book was a consequence of successful Facebook marketing: Because I had indicated in my Facebook profile that I liked Anne Patchett, I got a little ad on my pages suggesting that I would like this book. I decided to give it a try and I’m glad that I did. It’s not especially close to Patchett’s style, at least not the later books that I’ve really loved, but Henderson’s characters and setting were compelling and imminently readable.
Tatoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
[Finished 6 August 2011] OK, confession time: Greg Boyle could have put out two-hundred pages of “qwerty asdf” and I’d’ve bought it to support Homeboy Industries. I’ve known Father Greg since sometime in the early 90s when I met him through the Los Angeles Catholic Worker and I’ve been happy to do everything I can to support his ministry.
But that said, Tattoos on the Heart is definitely not 200 pages of gibberish. It’s more a collection of the stories of the young men and women he works with that he tells in his homilies and presentations, and a lot of what he writes here I’ve heard before, but even so, it was a delight to be able to read these again and hear Father Greg’s voice in my head. It’s a wonderfully inspiring collection along with a fun read. Definitely get this book and read it. Right now.
Suttree by Cormack McCarthy
[Finished 5 August 2011] Cormac McCarthy goes into a bar and says, “Their chattel razed whore-red wainscoting,” and the bartender goes, “That’s not even a sentence.”
I encountered that joke (courtesy of Merlin Mann) just before I dove into Suttree, an adjective-laden text much in the tone of the Cormack McCarthy joke. It seems more a collection of vignettes than a cohesive story, but it was a wonderful exploration of language and story that I wouldn’t mind re-reading.
Kraken by China Miéville
[Finished 4 August 2011] I first heard about this courtesy of Boing Boing and finally a few years later I got to reading it. I’d known that it was going to be some sort of fantasy/sci-fi type book, but the opening chapter with its quotidian realism let me forget that until things gradually increase in their surreality as the story unfolds. At times the plot ended up a bit of a mess with pointless strangeness and needless twists but even with all of that, it was a fun reading.
Indignation by Philip Roth
[Finished 3 August 2011] In my hot-cold relationship with Philip Roth’s novels, this falls into the hot category. The story of a Jewish college student in the 50s dealing with the constraints of contemporary culture, Roth adds an interesting twist by revealing a few dozen pages in that his narrator is telling his story from the formless void of the afterlife.
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
[Finished 28 July 2011] A great book. I first heard of this on Ford’s agent’s blog, and I put it on my reading list by virtue of the title alone (man, I really wish I’d come up with a title like that). At places Ford pushes his central metaphor a bit harder than I would have liked, but he manages to control the time shifts between the 40s and the 90s superbly, not letting himself fall into a neoclassical rigidity of pattern (too often writers can get sucked in by neoclassicalism’s siren call).
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
[Finished 26 July 2011] I first encountered Shteyngart in a panel at the L.A. Times Festival of Books when he was promoting Absurdistan and I was charmed enough by him that I made a note to read some of his books. I finally got to it with his latest work, and while the satirical tone began fairly light-hearted with Jeffrey Otter, the story quickly turned depressing to me. It’s not so much the vision of America as a bankrupt right wing consumerist dictatorship on the brink of collapse. I was fully conscious during the Bush II years so I’d already grown accustomed to that. It’s more the idea of a world in which reading and literature have largely disappeared, replaced by scanning texts for information and a general cultural shallowness. That was the thing that I had the hardest time dealing with while I read the book. A reader looking for something wildly comical would best look elsewhere (I think, though, I’ll still try at least one of Shteyngart’s earlier novels).
Spring Integration in Action by Mark Fisher, Jonas Partner, Marius Bogoevici,
[Finished 21 July 2011] Pretty good coverage of Spring Integration by the project lead and several committers. It does assume some familiarity with enterprise integration patterns, but not so much that it’s a handicap to read it without that background.
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
[Finished 21 July 2011] After a bit of a slow start (which, I admit, was at least partly caused by my refusal to read any jacket copy on the book), this became a gripping read of a journey to Jacksonian America by a liberal French noble and his pragmatic English servant. There are times when Carey’s characters become a bit too prescient for their own good (America will one day be ruled by an idiot being the prime example, but the overall concern of Americans about money over all else being the other), I still found this an enjoyable read.
The Dying Animal by Philip Roth
[Finished 19 July 2011] A novel almost entirely written in big voice, my copy has a “movie cover” showing Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz and leaves me wondering how this could possibly have been filmed. The story, such as it is, is entirely an interior story. I’ll find out eventually—I have it in my netflix queue.
The language of the novel is beautifully seductive and once again I find myself in awe of Philip Roth. He seems very much an author for whom I really love what he does or I find him unappealing.
Multiplex: Enjoy Your Show: Book One by Gordon McAlpin
[Finished 19 July 2011] I discovered this book at the Chicago Cultural Center and became immediately addicted to the strips (I’ve since gone and read all the strips online). Great compelling characters and a lot of humor that appeals to a movie nerd like myself.
The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
[Finished 15 July 2011] I’ve written already about the defects in Larsson’s writing: His tendency to go into great depth on irrelevant materials (a section of this book where Salander visits her accountant in Gibraltar is completely superfluous), his slow arrival at the meat of the plot, the fact that Mikael Blomqvist (and obvious stand-in for Larsson) sleeps with every single significant female character in the series (with the exception, thankfully, of his sister). But despite these flaws, the books manage to be compulsively readable. The plotting of this book is less byzantine than the second book in the series and as a consequence the story is more compelling.
Spring in Action, 3rd Edition by Craig Wallis
[Finished 15 July 2011] A great update to the previous edition of Spring in Action. As usual, the framework is presented through the context of building a web application, but the greater simplicity that comes with the annotation-based configuration in Spring 3 means that Wallis is able to cover more topics and get into greater depth in some areas without sacrificing comprehensiveness.
Make More Money Investing in Multiunits by Gregory D. Warr
[Finished 11 July 2011] A much more useful book for my needs than I have found previously, although a lot of the information is dependent on a $199 software program available from a website which seems abandoned. But there’s enough information here to really feel comfortable moving forward with some real estate investments.
EJB3 in Action by Debu Panda, Reza Rahman and Derek Lane
[Finished 11 July 2011] A good overview of EJB3 technologies, although there seems to be a bit of a defensive stance taken with respect to the growth of Spring and its lightweight framework.
Some Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory
[Finished 7 July 2011] Wonderful wonderful wonderful. This, I think, is easily going to be one of my favorite books of the year. A collection of 40 mostly short-short length stories (some fall below the flash fiction line). Everything is written almost entirely in big voice and has a wonderful magical realist fairy tale feel to it. It didn’t surprise me to find that Loory lists Richard Brautigan among his favorite authors. There’s a very Brautigan-ish feel to much of what he writes.
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
[Finished 6 July 2011]
My wife warned me that it takes the first third of the book for things to really start happening, and indeed, that is the case. The characters here don’t really feel that connected with the first book of the series, and I have to hope that there’s not the same kind of unfinished nature to the plot of book three of the series as there was to book two.
Netherland by Joseph O'Neil
[Finished 5 July 2011] This is one of those books in my library queue that I had no idea how it got there (I later realized it was at least partly because it was a book that Obama was spotted reading early in his presidency). A beautifully written book although the big reveal turned out to be more non-sequitur than anything else. It was interesting to be reading two books simultaneously which featured bodies being found in canals in their early pages.
On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers
[Finished 1 July 2011] A collection of essays rather than a comprehensive work in itself, so at times it gets repetitive, but an interesting look at the point in which psychology/psychiatry finally began to break from its Freudian pseudo-scientific roots.
Investing in Income Properties by Kenneth D. Rosen
[Finished 28 June 2011] Not at all the book that I was looking for. I’m interested in learning more about valuing a rental property, being able to invest for current income, not for capital gains, but it seems that Rosen is all about leveraged capital gain improvement and not once mentions the downside of a leveraged investment (that is, the potential cash-on-cash return is balanced by a startling downside where a 20% drop in a property’s value can wipe out an entire investment). In all, it seems like it’s a book geared towards investment naïfs and its main value is in generating a new income stream for the author rather than educating the reader.
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
[Finished 27 June 2011] I didn’t really fully appreciate Steve Martin until I saw his surprisingly intelligent films of the early 90s: L. A. Story, Roxanne and Leap of Faith, three films which made it clear that he was more than just a silly performer. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy him earlier. I had memorized a number of his early bits learned from friend’s comedy LPs and appearances on Saturday Night Live.
Here, Martin pulls back the curtain and gives a fascinating account of his life from childhood to his transition from stand-up to movie-making with The Jerk. He quotes enough of his early routines to keep the smiles coming (at times the book is laugh-out-loud funny), along with a number of great early photos. And the whole thing is exceedingly well-written. My favorite line would be, “Was she beautiful? We were all beautiful. We were in our twenties,” a sentiment both poignant, entertaining and true.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
[Finished 25 June 2011] Painfully badly written. This is a book which desperately needed editing and rewriting, but its author’s demise prevented that from happening. But even with its flaws in storytelling and characterization, it was still compulsively readable and I had to finish it even though I found it not that well written
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
[Finished 22 June 2011] I just love how DFW manages to subvert the whole structure of story telling in so many of his works. This is post-modern literature at its best.
Willing by Scott Spencer
[Finished 19 June 2011] Spencer starts with a high concept—his narrator has just broken up with his girlfriend and gets the opportunity to go on a high-end sex tour of northern Europe. But given this, the story ends up being remarkably vacant. The other men on the sex tour end up being largely faceless archetypes with little to make them seem interesting.
Spencer does have the ability to write some incredibly beautiful sentences and there’s a fair amount of the book that is quotable. His decision to omit quotation marks in his writing is presumably to slow the reader down but at times the ambiguity turns against the narrative in an unfortunate manner.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
[Finished 15 June 2011] I’m a sucker for novels that subvert my expectations of them. And boy did this novel subvert my expectations. What seemed like a fairly straightforward bit of historical crime fiction took a sharp left turn at the end of part one and then swerved again off a cliff on the first page of part two (and then rocketing to Mars as part two continues). The final part of the novel ended up being relatively prosaic and predictable, especially given the amazing jolt I had reading part two. That’s about all I want to say about the plot for fear of spoiling the experience for someone who decides to pick up the book based on this review. The writing itself is serviceable and the author manages to do a good job of writing in two distinct narrative voices without letting the two blend into a single voice.
The Walking Dead Compendium One by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, and Tony Moore
[Finished 11 June 2011] Wow, addictive and compelling. Yes, there’s not necessarily a whole lot new here. It’s easy to point out parallels between the prison of the later chapters and the mall of Day of the Dead and whole hosts of post-apocalyptic zombie tales, but even so, I was sucked into this, like I haven’t by so many zombie films. It was especially interesting to see how much the AMC series deviated from the books (in some ways much to their improvement—there was a greater depth to the characterizations and conflicts in the AMC series than in the comics). I look forward to the release of compendium two.
A Void by Georges Perec
[Finished 8 June 2011] It’s fascinating how this author can go through all his work without using a particular glyph and in translation too!. Also many unusual linguistic constructions inform his book, marking it as an uncommon thing to accomplish.
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
[Finished 3 June 2011] Wow. I picked this book up courtesy of its appearance on the 1001 books to read before you die list, and had no idea what to expect. Maybe that’s why the magical realism and fantasy elements caught me by surprise and impressed me so much. But still, there’s a great deal of depth to this novel with plays on identity and language and symbolism rife throughout the book. This will easily make it into my top books of the year list.
American Masculine by Shann Ray
[Finished 31 May 2011] Another book club selection. The existence of this short story collection as a published work is the consequence of Ray winning an award for this writing, although I have to admit a certain coldness for this style and his subject matter.
Kids' Stuff: Toys and the Changing World of American Childhood by Gary S. Cross
[Finished 27 May 2011] In an academic fashion, Cross gives us a history of American childhood and toy marketing, purchasing and consumption. Perhaps the most stunning revelations are the extent to which childhood is a twentieth-century creation and how war toys weren’t really a part of boys’ play before the 1950s (so much for the “genetic” argument justifying the purchase of toy guns since boys would turn any object into guns otherwise—this is ultimately the consequence of pervasive marketing to children).
Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences by Abraham H. Maslow
[Finished 26 May 2011] Not really what I had hoped it would be. Rather than a scientific and clinical appraisal of peak experiences, the book is largely anecdotal with a stated goal of creating a new religion with psychiatrists as its high priests and Freud as its prophet.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ichiguro
[Finished 19 May 2011] My third Ichiguro novel. It seems that the second world war haunts Ichiguro much as Napoleon haunted much of nineteenth century literature. I knew at least some of the outline of the story from having seen the film (and it was hard to envision the characters as anything other than the actors who played them in the movies).
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
[Finished 15 May 2011] A first-person account from an autistic boy’s perspective. Haddon manages to convey his narrator’s perspective on a world in which everything familiar to the rest of us is alien using the structure of a detective story (the mystery turning out to not entirely be the mystery that it would have appeared to be at first).
Skinny by Diana Spechler
[Finished 13 May 2011] A curious book, with an interesting twist conclusion. I do have to admit that I could never really picture any of the adolescent characters in the book as being in any way overweight which doubtless impacted my ability to enjoy the novel.
London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
[Finished 13 May 2011] A history of London that focuses on thematic rather than chronological organization. Ackroyd knows his subject well, although at times he depicts urban legend as fact and there was one questionable use of the word “noisome” which perhaps referred to its archaic meaning of annoying, but more likely was used where “noisy” was meant. Still, it was a fascinating look into London’s history and seems to have informed my understanding of works I’m reading later.
Taft by Ann Patchett
[Finished 6 May 2011] Patchett’s favorite of her novels, but I found myself a bit underwhelmed. The characters all felt a bit flat and unconvincing. More soap opera than literature.
Zuckerman Bound by Philip Roth
[Finished 4 May 2011] The first three “proper” Zuckerman novels, along with an unproduced teleplay of The Prague Orgy. My love for Roth begins to abate again. There are times when he can be really amazing and there are times that he can be tedious (the fallout of Carnovsky, presumably a stand-in for Roth’s own Portnoy’s Complaint rather bored me, although it did provide a catalyst for the action of the later Zuckerman novels.
What Now? by Ann Patchett
[Finished 27 April 2011] A slender volume adapted from a graduation speech, this is part memoir, part exhortation, the ultimate message being that we really need to look outside ourselves. Grim advice for an introvert like myself.
An American Demon by Jack Grisham
[Finished 26 April 2011] If you’re writing a memoir, do you really want James Frey blurbing you? Perhaps, this odd choice was an essential part of the story, in which Grisham claims to be an incarnated demon who became human after the birth of his daughter. But between not really believing Grisham about his callow evil and the rather unpleasant nature of he narrative, this was something that I could have easily skipped reading.
Emily Alone by Stewart O'Nan
[Finished 21 April 2011] My first O’Nan (oh, how that name must have led to painful teasing in junior high), and a compelling read. I can see why the Fresh Air book reviewer loves O’Nan’s writing so much and I too want to read a lot more of his books.
The Great American Novel/My Life as a Man/The Professor of Desire by Philip Roth
[Finished 18 April 2011] Three radically different novels. The Great American Novel is filled with an exuberance that reminds me a bit of the opening pages of Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters, a book which is as much about the joy of writing as the story that it tells. In My Life as a Man I get a bit more of a feel for the Roth that I feel in love with when I read American Pastoral.. Maybe it’s because of the first appearance of Nathan Zuckerman (here, a fictionalized version of Peter Tarnopol, himself a fictionalized version of Roth), but I really loved the multi-layered narrative of this novel. Finally, we have The Professor of Desire in which the protagonist of The Breast, no longer an enormous mammary, grapples with his male sexuality in a more mature manner than I’d read in earlier Roth and again, I found this to be a more appealing novel.
Drinking Closer to Home by Jessica Anya Blau
[Finished 4 April 2011] Another book from my book club. It was compulsively readable, despite the fact that the characterizations of the family were inconsistent (there were times when I was confused over which daughter was which during the first half of the book, a problem only compounded by Blau’s choice to use a third person omniscient POV, something I’m not sure that she handles as well as she could have done).
The Wall Street Journal Complete Home Owner's Guidebook by David Crook
[Finished 17 March 2011] A book focused almost entirely on the financial aspects of the guidebook and very much a compendium of the new common wisdom in the aftermath of the housing market crash. I would summarize the book in six words: “A house is not an investment.” There’s some decent number-crunching to back up a number of Crook’s points and some sobering and surprising statistics (most notably that renovations/additions/etc. as a rule pay off at under 100% in home value appreciation. A pretty good book for the financially naïve. For me, the most useful thing was the maintenance checklist near the end of the book.
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
[Finished 13 March 2011] A curious book: Combine a narrative in stream-of-consciousness format (it reminds me most of Proust) with a selection of (found) illustrations and we have a book that, while I can find books to compare it to, and already have, is still somewhat sui generis. The meditations on architecture and origins are fascinating and a delight to read.
The Girl with the Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
[Finished 5 March 2011] My first DFW experience and I found myself blown away. Wallace does an incredible job of subverting narrative conventions without being overly showy about things. From the first line of the first story I was enthralled. There’s so much to learn from this one book, and I want to read more more more more more.
West of Here by Jonathan Evison
[Finished 20 February 2011] A sort of epic parallel story between the early twenty-first century and late nineteenth century. There was a lot going on here, and some parts of the story worked better than others.
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
[Finished 11 February 2011] I had some doubts about reading this book. I knew that Pullman was an atheist and that the big bad of the “His Dark Materials” trilogy is God, but I’ve found that, at least with this first book, this is not a distracting aspect of the story. Meanwhile, the world building is brilliantly handled with little pieces of information revealed to let us see more and more how the world of the book is different from the Earth that we know so well. I have conflicting feelings about the occasional bursts into omniscient story telling, which give us some understanding of why at least some of the adults act the way that they do (as opposed to the sometimes inexplicable behavior of the adults of the Harry Potter world), but at the same time it ends up feeling a bit much like telling us rather than letting us discover these things through the story.
Man and the State by Jacques Maritain
[Finished 23 January 2011] An interesting bit of political philosophy. There are some things that I find myself feeling dubious about, and apparently Maritain is classified as a political conservative which would go a long way to understanding my discomfort.
Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass
[Finished 22 January 2011] This is definitely the book to get to learn Cocoa programming. I started this with a study group, but fell behind the group and finished it up on my own. There’s a pretty good overview of the libraries, but I would have liked more depth. I’m assuming that I need more books to cover details (or just get deeper into the Apple-supplied documentation).
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8, Vol. 3. Wolves at the Gate by Drew Goddard, Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, and Jo Chen
[Finished 21 January 2011] One last issue in my first set of Buffy comics. I’m looking forward to getting more later, but this will be it for a while.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8, Vol. 2. No Future for You by Brian K. Vaughan, Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Cliff Richards, and Jo Chen
[Finished 19 January 2011] The story advances. I’m not going to say too much on these issues as I’m behind on updating my book log a bit belatedly. I am having a hard time pacing myself and not just reading a whole volume at a single sitting.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8, Vol. 1. The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty
[Finished 15 January 2011] After hearing a friend speak highly of this series, I decided to go ahead and start buying the collected issue volumes. And I can see the joy here. We have a nicely paced, well-written set of stories. I’m glad I wasn’t going out and buying individual comic books since the wait between issues would be insufferable. The artwork is occasionally a bit dodgy with some characters verging on unrecognizable at times, especially in some of the long shots where the details are wiped out. But it’s interesting to see some familiar characters return.
Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt
[Finished 9 January 2011] Beautifully written, if a bit soap-opera-y at times. There was, of course, the usual art-house cliche of setting up expectations to pull them away in a somewhat unsettling way (and a perhaps sly wink at this in the dialogue when one character makes clear to the other what was going to happen).
The whole book uses only one simile (which I can’t remember while I write this and the book is not to hand), but it’s a striking one and its lack of peers made it all the more impactful.
What I really enjoyed, though, was the brief author’s note at the end which was an essay on writing book reviews as a novelist and reading about what she learned about writing from closely reading other writers’ books, a practice, I think, that I need to adopt, even if I’m only writing brief reviews for these pages.
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
[Finished 6 January 2011] It has been a very long time since I’ve read James. I’d forgotten how dense his prose can be, having to re-read paragraphs or even pages just to regain some sense of what I had just read, although the extra effort is worth it.
You Lost Me There by Rosecrans Baldwin
[Finished 24 December 2010] A lot of what I’ve been writing, in short fiction at least, has to do with memory, so a novel on the subject struck me as something worth reading. Alas, this book didn’t quite live up to that promise: Despite a superb premise, the book seems to lose its way in multiple directions including the visit of the protagonist’s god-daughter, the failure to really employ the narrative of the protagonist’s wife, or even the concept of memories being written on index cards, or integrating more about the protagonist’s own research into memory and Alzheimer’s disease. It was an entertaining read, but not what it could have been.
My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles by Martin Gardner
[Finished 22 December 2010] A fun collection of puzzles. They seem to be arranged, more or less, in order of increasing difficulty. Some of the earliest puzzles in this volume I was able to do in my head, while as things moved on, I needed paper or a peek in the back of the book.
An Inspired Journey: The First 100 Years of the SNPJ by Jay Sedmak
[Finished 20 December 2010] My grandfather was the longest-serving president of the SNPJ, and I’ve been a member of this fraternal insurance organization my whole life, although as the Slovene population has become diluted outside of Ohio and western Pennsylvania, it doesn’t really play any role in my life (unlike my childhood when I regularly attended meetings for Circle 26 at the SNPJ hall in Cicero as well as other events that my grandfather took me to).
So, I read this with an eye towards understanding a bit more about this organization. Sedmak’s style is a bit bland and it seemed that he was unwilling to really address the importance of pro-labor politics in the formative years of the SNPJ (although I would note that Sedmak claims that an earlier history of the SNPJ commissioned by the organization was shelved because of an alleged over-emphasis of the labor politics). What is more interesting is the tension between the Pennsylvania-Ohio faction of the SNPJ and the Chicago faction. I had been aware of this on the periphery of my consciousness since my childhood, and can remember my grandparents excoriating the members who wanted to move the SNPJ headquarters from Chicago to Pittsburgh or Cleveland. As a young adult, when I attended lodge meetings in Fontana, I can remember Joe Umeck expressing disappointment when I supported the idea of moving the headquarters (it seemed logical to me, given that the bulk of activity was happening in that part of the country), but after reading this, I can understand a bit more of the deep personal divisions that lead to the conflict.
Silence by Shusaku Endo
[Finished 15 December 2010] I don’t remember where I first heard of Endo. I imagine it was in reading something about Graham Greene (perhaps the collected letters), since the preface refers to Endo as the Japanese Graham Greene. I can totally see this. Endo is one of the rare writers who writes intelligently about the borderland between faith and doubt, for whom religion is a question of nuance and complexity, rather than merely a yes or no question which seems too much the case in contemporary discourse.
The Visiting Suit: Stories From My Prison Life by Xiaoda Xiao
[Finished 9 December 2010] I was left completely flat by this book. In general, memoir has little to appeal to me, and this book was no exception.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
[Finished 5 December 2010] I, like most people, first heard of Salman Rushdie in the controversy that followed from the publication of The Satanic Verses. Being the conceited self-important young man that I was at the time, I declared an intent to not read Rushdie’s book for some years to see whether it actually stood the test of time.
Stupid me.
Having finally dipped my toes into Rushdie’s waters, I was left with an awe at his ability to use language and imagery with such skill. It was like reading a dream: And from my own experience, I know that writing a dream is a task of near-impossibility. How many years I denied myself the beauty of Rushdie’s writing for no good reason, a fault I must remedy.
And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
[Finished 28 November 2010] A delightful book. At times the first person plural narration was a bit distracting, but in the end it was more successful than the attempts I’d read by Andrea Barrett, enough so that I’m tempted to re-read Barrett and see how I react to them now.
Stanley Morison by Nicolas Barker
[Finished 24 November 2010] A re-read. Again, I find myself fascinated by the parallels in thought between Morison and myself. How many Marxist Catholic typophiles can there be, even given the span of time in which typography, Marxism and the Catholic church have coexisted? But re-reading it, knowing more of his relationship with Beatrice Warde enabled me to read between the lines to find some traces of that particular situation. It did remind me of how much of my typographic memory has evaporated over the years, as I tried to recall the details of the various typefaces discussed in the text.
Half a Life by Darin Strauss
[Finished 17 November 2010] I’d first heard Strauss’s story told on This American Life, and if it were not a TNB pick, I doubt that I would have read the book. Fortunately or me, it was, and I did read it. It’s a short book, but it tells the story of the aftermath of Strauss’s having killed a classmate in an auto accident just before graduation his senior year of high school.
As an aside, this book, published by McSweeney’s is exquisitely designed and manufactured. I’ve always thought of Dave Eggers’ empire as being too cool for me, but given the obvious care lavished on the details of this book—something all too rare in contemporary publishing—I find myself wanting to take another look at the Eggers empire.
As an aside, this book, published by McSweeney’s is exquisitely designed and manufactured. I’ve always thought of Dave Eggers’ empire as being too cool for me, but given the obvious care lavished on the details of this book—something all too rare in contemporary publishing—I find myself wanting to take another look at the Eggers empire.
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
[Finished 14 November 2010] Not exactly a novel, but not exactly a not-novel either. My first Kundera, with great depth, especially the sense of betrayal that the left-leaning intellectuals of Czechoslovakia felt as Stalinism made its influence felt in their land. I definitely want to read more of his writing after reading this wonderful little book.
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
[Finished 4 November 2010] A curious tale of Victoriana, with some surprising twists and turns as the narrative unfolds.
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
[Finished 20 October 2010] Beautifully written from the first line. I had assumed, from previous experiences reading Ishiguro, that his prose style was always rather flat, but this time, I was left feeling that there was a great depth to things that might have otherwise seemed ordinary.
Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small by John Cook
[Finished 13 October 2010] A bonus book from the TNB book club. I’m largely ignorant of the artists of Merge Records, but even so, as a musician, I was able to appreciate this account of what’s wrong and right with both the major labels and indies.
If I had a problem with the book, it would be, to quote Billy Joel, “there’s a new band in town, but you can’t get the sound from a story in a magazine.”
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
[Finished 8 October 2010] A sequel to The Sparrow, it answers some long-standing questions from the first book, some in satisfying ways, some in ways that seemed rather redundant (we don’t always need to know everything). But still, one of those rarities, a contemporary work of fiction which is able to view questions of religion with depth and nuance.
Collaborative Intelligence In Action by Satnam Alag
[Finished 7 October 2010] A bit of a mishmash, although there’s a fair amount of useful information on algorithms and open-source solutions to collaborative intelligence problems.
Exley by Brock Clarke
[Finished 6 October 2010] Another TNB book club pick. Having previously read Clarke’s Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England, it was easy to fall into the trap of reading this book as a retelling of the former book, and as a consequence of that, I have no doubt that my enjoyment of the book was lessened as a result.
Best American Short Stories 2010 edited by Richard Russo
[Finished 2 October 2010] I was at the store on publication day to pick this up. It’s become very much my fall tradition to dig into the latest Best American anthology. This issue, I think, had a little too much of the post-global warming themed issue of McSweeney’s and overall, it seemed like the stories were drawn from a narrower range of magazines than in the past. My favorite of the lot has to be Kevin Moffett’s “Further Interpretations of Real Life Events.”
Meanings of Life by Roy F. Baumeister
[Finished 30 September 2010] A re-read. When I first read this book, I managed to find it in the interregnum between the end of the hardcover’s print run and the release of the paperback. Coming back to it a decade later, I found it interesting for perhaps different reasons than the first time around. I was particularly struck by the fact that much of what makes life—or at least work—meaningful is precisely what contemporary society is trying to pull out of the last corners of work where meaning could have been found.
The Cathedral of St Vitus by Ivo Hlobil
[Finished 19 September 2010] A slim volume sold at the bookstore of the Prague Castle. Of great assistance in researching details for my novel.
Room by Emma Donoghue
[Finished 12 September 2010] The first book from my membership in the Nervous Breakdown book club. A wonderful look into one of those horrible situations. In this instance, inspired by the stories of women held captive for years, and even bearing children to their kidnappers and rapists, we get a story told from the naive perspective of a young boy born to a kidnap victim who has lived his whole life in a backyard shed with no view of the outside other than a small skylight in the ceiling.
My big surprise came that the book quickly moves from the rhythms of captivity into the disruption of the greater world, a space that the boy finds less comfortable than the room where he had lived the first five years of his life. In retrospect, of course, it is that aspect of the story which is most interesting and if anything, I would have liked more of this, perhaps a glimpse into the boy’s life a decade or more after his entry into the world.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
[Finished 10 September 2010] Another of these books which it seems to surprise people that I’ve never read. I know the story, in broad outline, from various adaptations. The epistolary form seemed to be a bit contrived and clumsily handled, with Stoker having to go to some strange measures to make his story tellable. I wonder if it might not have been stronger had he the courage to let his narrative be more fragmentary.
I wonder whether the power of the Catholic sacraments in the face of the englishmen’s skepticism was a deliberate dig by the Irish Stoker. Certainly, the Catholicism of Van Helsing was an aspect of the story which has not survived in any of the adaptations of which I’m aware.
And a final note: I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the Buffy mythos comes out of the novel. This truly was the beginning of the modern vampire story.
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
[Finished 4 September 2010] I had some difficulty getting into this story at first. Hustvedt writes in a somewhat dense MFA style and I found myself rebelling at reading yet another New York intelligentsia novel. The extent to which New Yorkers can be full of themselves gets tiring quickly. But eventually I managed to get past that difficulty: the descriptions of Bill’s art drew me in as I found myself really wanting to see the works described, although at times it seemed I could detect some trace of the real-life inspiration for some of the works in my memory.
There’s something about art that’s irresistible to writers. Perhaps it’s the directness of it, where the writer may need a page or more to convey a concept, the visual artist can just show it. And being able to tell a story about artists and art critics gives Hustvedt a wealth of opportunities to explore this ability to do so. But the story runs deeper than this, with its emotional core centered around the two deaths along with the collapse of two marriages, albeit in different ways (in one case it’s the birth of a child which ends the marriage, in the other, the death of a child leads to a marriage held at a distance.
But I think the title holds some of the greatest profundity of the novel. To use the phrase what I loved in a story about remembering relationships says something about the narrator’s ability to relate to people and perhaps indicates that for him, in some ways it was the art which was more alive than the artists.
I Don't Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges
[Finished 29 August 2010] Frankly, a bit of a disappointment. I had expected a reasoned critique of the “new atheists”, but instead Hedges uses them as a launch pad for a critique of the neocon world view (a box I’m not entirely sure that the new atheists completely fit into). Add into it a rather didactic tone in the writing and I found myself put off from the book a good amount.
There are some good points, although a lot of these come not from Hedges so much as from his sources (his writing in the final chapter on Proust’s view of memories was especially nice, if not entirely on topic).
Selected Poems by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
[Finished 28 August 2010] English poetry before Shakespeare is dominated by the two poets of Tottel’s Miscellany, Wyatt and Surrrey. While I was an undergrad I managed to find a complete poems of Wyatt but only selected poems of Surrey, the latter of which I’ve only now gotten around to reading. I think I was interested in Surrey as a potential crypto-Catholic, although Dennis Keene who edited this selection finds that claim unlikely and provides significant evidence to the contrary.
The poems themselves vary from somewhat banal to quite nice, but what’s especially interesting is that this is Surrey working to, in effect, invent English poetry, experimenting with the sonnet form as well as writing the first narrative poetry in English using blank verse.
Money by Martin Amis
[Finished 19 August 2010] Martin Amis’s father famously threw this book across the room in disgust when he reached the point where the Martin Amis character appears in the book. I have to say that although I wasn’t aware of this anecdote when I reached that point in the story, I was tempted to join Kingsley Amis in a physical criticism of the novel.
Martin Amis manages to have a compelling narrative voice in John Self, a man who is defined by vulgarity, but he tells a story with to recommend it. A mystery introduced early in the novel has little if any meaning and the big con of the book appears as unexpectedly as the horse beneath the Old Spice guy. What’s more, there seems little justification for the character of Martin Amis being Martin Amis other than egoism. In all, a rather disappointing read. I read in an interview with Amis that he said if his father had pursued a different career, he would have pursued that same career. This book almost makes me wish that were the case.
The Complete Short Stories, Volume One by D. H. Lawrence
[Finished 18 August 2010] I remember really liking Sons and Lovers when I first read it (although it did nearly get me arrested by campus police because I happened to be reading it in a dorm lounge when a girl living in the dorm was worried about a stalker (not me) and they spent an inordinate amount of time paging through it while determining that I wasn’t a suspicious character).
But maybe it’s a change of tastes since I was twenty, but I found little of this collection of stories to interest me. Some of it is because these are early efforts by Lawrence (the back cover copy is a bit apologetic about the books), and in nearly 300 pages, only a single description of emotional pain stuck out as better than average writing.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
[Finished 4 August 2010] McCarthy does some interesting stylistic things with his prose, eschewing quotation marks and most apostrophes, but the stream-of-consciousness style manages to keep this from being distracting.
The story itself is a meditation on human nature, really, the question of what it means to be one of the good guys versus one of the bad guys, in the context of a world gone horribly bad, where humanity has been reduced to scavaging from the remains of civilization or, when that fails, cannibalism and other savagery. The plight of the old man in the story as he leads his son on a destinationless journey down the titular road is especially compelling. Was he right not to join his wife in her suicide at the end of civilization? Is there meaning to the journey if it’s only about the survival of him and his son? I feel that there is a great deal of depth in the seemingly simple story that I have only half-plumbed.
Novels 1967–1972: When She Was Good, Portnoy's Complaint, Our Gang, The Breast by Philip Roth
[Finished 3 August 2010] When She Was Good: I’m guessing that Roth was weary of being described as a “Jewish” writer, so he wrote a book about WASPs. The whole thing felt a bit misogynistic to me and the ending seemed contrived.
Portnoy’s Complaint: An incredible narrative voice but somehow Roth manages to make a book about sex feel wearying and dull. At this point, I found myself wondering whether the ardor I felt for Roth’s writing after reading American Pastoral was misplaced.
Our Gang: And this slim story didn’t help. I imagine it was hilarious 30 years ago. Now, the whole thing feels painfully dated. Most likely one of those books which remains in print primarily for the benefit of completists.
The Breast: And then my faith in Roth is restored. I’m less inclined to be a Philip Roth completist after working through these early works. I can see why Howard Junker spoke of having grown bored with Roth in one interview. But suddenly here, we manage to see the mature Roth emerge. Or at least that’s what I hope it is. With deliberate reference to Kafka and Gogol, we get the story of a man transformed into an enormous breast and the writing once again feels deft and compelling. Am I seeing the emergence of the Roth who wrote American Pastoral? Or are these just sparks in the firmament? I’ll have to read on to know for sure.
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
[Finished 30 July 2010] A novel in verse about werewolves.
Is the “in verse” a gimmick? Yep. Barlow writes with a distinctive voice, but I don’t think that removing the line breaks would really impact the experience of the book (although it would cut down on the line count and the radio interviews).
There are a number of goofs that only someone writing about Los Angeles without having any significant direct experience with the city would make (the three that stand out were a pair of errors in Spanish and leaving out the article on “the 10”).
The story was pretty compelling although the central event of the story was a bit jumbled and confused, but I loved, absolutely loved the mythology of the story.
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
[Finished 28 July 2010] A brilliant novel of ideas. I listened to this as an audio book, something which I suspect made part III a bit more intelligible since each character’s voice was distinct. I knew that it was about a castaway on a lifeboat with a tiger from the beginning, and found myself a bit impatient through the first part waiting for Pi to be on the lifeboat already. And at times, during the long detailed narration of the time on the lifeboat, I grew impatient again, but looking back over the 100 chapters, I found that even those parts that I was impatient over were essential to the whole and the wonderful combination of comparative biology and theology make for a wonderful meditation into meaning, narration and the nature of grace.
The Light of Day by Graham Swift
[Finished 24 July 2010] Nominally a detective novel, but really a novel about remembering. Since much of my own writing, I’ve come to realize, is also about remembering, I paid especial attention to his style to see how he managed the task.
An Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
[Finished 16 July 2010] The second I saw this title, I knew that this was a book that would make for an interesting read. Or at least I hoped it would. Certainly, it’s a title I wish I had come up with. Fortunately, Clarke manages to take the concept dictated by the title and turn it into something a bit special, if a bit English-major-y (but in a good way). The nominal story exists to a large extent as a framework for considering the concept of story telling and truth, and what makes a story a good story? Should it be true? Should it lead to good things on the part of the reader? There is a bit of it which dates the novel since there’s a bit of a preoccupation with the current obsession with memoir and its ascendency over the novel as a preferred form of recreational reading (something I still don’t entirely understand myself, and I suspect Clarke would agree with me on this one).
But even with the heady intellectual aspects of the narrative, there remains a delightful humor and storytelling which keeps this from veering too deeply into literary novel which only an English major could love. Clarke’s choice to leave his contemporary authors unnamed makes for a fun game of guess the writer/book as an added bonus.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levy
[Finished 14 July 2010] This book was on a list of the 100 best novels, an interesting thing since it’s not actually a novel or even a work of fiction (modulo a pair of curious interludes on lead and mercury in the middle of the book, plus the carbon chapter which closes the book), but a memoir. Levi elides his experiences in Auschwitz since he’s talked about it in great detail elsewhere and instead focuses on the time before and after that experience instead. A strange and wonderful book that makes me wish I had been more open to chemistry as an undergrad.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
[Finished 7 July 2010] When I first heard about this book, I immediately added it to my reading list (slowly spiraling out of control, of course). A book about a book restorer struck me as something that would interest me a great deal.
It’s a bit deeper than that, using the book restoration story as a frame for a series of short, mostly disconnected narratives tracing the history of the book back in time. Each of these could stand on their own and provide some fascinating looks at historic narratives taking as their launching point a seemingly insignificant detail of something captured in the book.
The framing narrative is occasionally a bit disappointing, although a final bit of suspense and crime(!) does give it some justification for existing beyond as a linkage for the stories, although I’m not entirely certain that the non-book aspects of Hannah Heath’s life really amount to that much. In all, though, a wonderful introduction to the writing of Geraldine Brooks. I’d definitely read more by her.
The Colour by Rose Tremain
[Finished 30 June 2010] One of these books that it’s difficult to make sense of. At first it seemed that it was going to be a story of a man making a hardscrabble living in 19th century New Zealand, but the book quickly transformed into being more about the women of the period, focusing initially on the wife and mother of the man I had originally assumed to be the protagonist and fanning out in a network to other women of the terrain including the former Maori nanny of the son of a wealthy couple who live near our putative protagonist’s home.
And every step of the novel suggests a path that the story might take, but then backs away from that possibility. What distinguishes the plot more than anything else is the paths that appear to be clear but then are blocked like the passage through the mountains from the east to west coast of New Zealand.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber
[Finished 25 June 2010] As someone not especially sympathetic to either capitalism or protestantism, this was an odd book to read. There seems to be a fair amount of assertions made without basis, and assumptions of good in areas where I would argue that the premise is flawed (for instance, his view that a worker who responds to a pay raise by reducing the amount of work being done is acting against his own self-interest).
I remember this book being mentioned as important reading by one of my professors in my undergrad days, but I don’t remember which professor or why they felt that it was important to read, a question that I puzzled over as I read this. I think that I had a vague notion that Weber would be writing in a more critical mode than he was, and while he makes token efforts to establish his correlation does not imply causation bona fides, they remain nothing more than tokens.
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee
[Finished 15 June 2010] An interesting book, although there is a lengthy chapter on the best Chinese restaurant in the world which is indirectly acknowledged as an attempt to pad out the size of the book and is almost completely dispensable. Lee also has a tendency towards some of the organizational flaws which are all too common in contemporary narrative non-fiction, but even so, she does some great detective work in ferreting out the origins of not only the titular fortune cooke, but also chop suey (a staple of the Chinese restaurants of my childhood which is now almost completely extinct) and General Tso’s chicken, among other things.
The Accidental by Ali Smith
[Finished 10 June 2010] An interesting book. At first, I was a bit thrown by the stream-of-consciousness narrative, but as the story developed, I fell into Smith’s rhythm and found myself enchanted by the tale she was telling. The fragmentary style, told from multiple POVs is a stylistic triumph, even if things fall apart a bit in the final section of the book.
Rosalynde, or, Euphues' Golden Legacy by Thomas Lodge
[Finished 8 June 2010] A curious volume, something I picked up in college as part of my bibliomania surrounding my undergrad thesis (I would buy anything that had the name of a Catholic author on the spine at the time).
Rosalynde is a prose romance, written, as the alternate title suggests, in imitation of Lyly’s “Euphues,” and notable primarily as being the source for the plot of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
Perhaps more interesting than the text is the fact that this is one of several editions of the work published during the first couple decades of the twentieth century (and as I recall, similar volumes were popular for other minor works which were source material for Shakespeare). If they exist in print today, it’s because they’re reprints of these earlier editions, remnants of an era when the new criticism hadn’t become the dominant mode of approaching texts.
4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon by David Kuehls
[Finished 1 June 2010] Since my brother has beaten my family marathon record and he was kind enough to give me this book for Christmas last year, I’ve read it and plan to follow its advice to set a new familial record to put him back in his place. The advice here is simple and practical and seems like it will do a good job of delivering on its promised goal. I guess the only thing to do is to check back in four months from now.
Lettering, Designing, Illustrating, Cartooning by International Library of Technology
[Finished 31 May 2010] A fascinating book, less because of its nominal content than for the glimpse it gives of vocational training and cultural attitudes near the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Locked Room by Paul Auster
[Finished 27 May 2010] The final volume of Auster’s New York Trilogy. A mention of the first two books of the trilogy in the penultimate chapter marks the first real intertextuality between the books (and perhaps identifies the anonymous narrator of the novel as Paul Auster, although not necessarily the Paul Auster(s) of the first novel in the trilogy. There are some wonderful narrative devices at play, the telling of the story of Fanshawe through the mystery of his disappearance, along with an assumption that the reader will be familiar with Fanshawe is a beautiful stylistic tic, something I wish I had come up with. While perhaps the most complete story of the trilogy, this one also left me feeling emptiest, although perhaps it was the fact that Fanshawe remained a bit of a cipher throughout the book, leaving us wondering whether he ever really existed (and the fact that he didn’t actually exist only takes things a bit further).
Drop City by T. C. Boyle
[Finished 20 May 2010] An interesting book. This is my first book I’ve read by Boyle and it seems that he is an author whose books are driven primarily by character rather than plot. The plot of this book, such as it is, is rather thin, with most of the conflicts fading away rather than being really resolved. But the characters that Boyle creates stay with the reader and kept me coming back to the book the whole way through.
Graham Greene: A Life in Letters edited by Richard Greene
[Finished 14 May 2010] When I read a collection of an author’s letters like this, I sometimes wonder what the 21st century equivalent will be. Selected e-mails perhaps? No matter, Richard Greene’s (no relation) collection gives an interesting perspective into Graham Greene’s life. We’re left with a sense of a man who strays less far from the church than the Greene of the Sherry biography, but at the same time this might be a bit of selection bias: R. Greene may have chosen his letters to support a view point, the recipients of Greene’s letters may have kept only those letters which supported their own preferred view of the man, or Greene himself may have done more to cultivate the appearance of a certain level of belief (although that level is far from full orthodoxy as well).
There’s a clear sense of Greene’s voice in these letters, and it’s easy to see just why I’ve enjoyed his writing so much over the years. There’s also a bit of support for some of my suppositions about writings by and about Greene. The origins of Ways of Escape are confirmed and the reticence of the second volume of the Sherry biography is also explained.
Data Structures & Algorithms in Java by Robert LaFore
[Finished 11 May 2010] A decent introduction to data structures. There wasn’t a whole lot in here that I didn’t already know, but I felt that it would be a good idea to plug in some of the gaps in my knowledge.
Much of the information is presented informally and readers are directed to a set of Java webapps to be able to see how the structures and algorithms work in slow-motion. For some of the more complicated structures, these are especially handy for understanding
This is the first entire book that I’ve read on the Kindle and I found the Kindle experience to be a bit underwhelming, complicated further by the fact that program listings and tables are presented as graphics because of the limitations of the Kindle format. ePub theoretically would work better, although when I looked at a programming book on a Nook while visiting Barnes & Noble, I was similarly underwhelmed by that device’s display of technical content as well.
Oil! by Upton Sinclair
[Finished 7 May 2010] A first-class bit of propaganda. It’s hard not to want to go out onto the streets singing “The Internationale” after reading this book, Sinclair does such a good job of portraying the plight of labor against the backdrop of the seemingly invincible power of moneyed interests. Even more surprising, though is how relevant the book seems to my contemporary eyes: Sinclair’s description of the drilling process seems still applicable to how it’s done today (at least as it’s described in accounts of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico). The hypocrisies of Eli Watkins and Vern Roscoe also have contemporary resonances.
The book opens with a bit of rather poetic description, something which I hadn’t expected (I think I may have paged through The Jungle in my younger days, but I doubt that I actually read it), although the poetic language faded pretty quickly on, so it’s hard to see that as central to Sinclair’s writing as his clear agenda in the writing.
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
[Finished 30 April 2010] I went into this book with two sets of expectations: The delight that I gained from reading Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo and vague memories of the story informed primarily by the animated series that was shown during the Banana Splits show, along with the film with Charlie Sheen and Oliver Platt.
So coming into this story, it starts out much as we all recall. A bit of adventure and intrigue, the hilarious triple-duel scene for d’Artagnan’s “meet cute” with the three musketeers, but then as the story proceeds, it becomes clear that the three musketeers are—well, not to put too fine point on it—dicks.
What’s more, their role in things seems a bit anti-patriotic. They seem to be helping the queen as she undermines her own country, while the “villainous” Cardinal Richelieu is actually acting in the best interests of France. The musketeers aren’t heroes, they’re anti-heroes! Imagine my surprise.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
[Finished 24 April 2010] A wonderful book, or really books, there are a series of novels, nested together like matryoshka dolls. As we begin the unnesting process, Mitchell begins to expose the philosophical underpinnings, most particularly, the question of what the real story is here. Is it the innermost nest of the lot, or are the inner stories set in progressively distant futures, just imagined audiences of one of the outer stories. Meanwhile, the nested stories raise questions of freedom and slavery, free will and the relationship among layers of society. Overall a brilliant book.
Ghosts by Paul Auster
[Finished 16 April 2010] A slender volume without chapter or section breaks. Continuing on the first volume of the New York Trilogy’s theme of surveillance and identity, we have another story of surveillance, this time of a detective named Blue hired by a man named White to watch another man named Black. The color theme carries throughout the book but it seems like this is more connective tissue than a solid novel. The fact that it appears to be out of print outside of omnibus anthologies containing all three works only bolsters that point.
City of Glass by Paul Auster
[Finished 7 April 2010] Whoa, this was brilliant. The story is ultimately a reflection on philosophy of identity. The protagonist, a writer of detective novels who identifies with his main character about whom we writes under a pseudonym, takes on the identity of Paul Auster, whom he believes to be a detective. He later discovers that Auster is a writer himself, one who is familiar with his non-pseudonymous early work. And we learn that the narrator who remains absent until near the end, is yet another unnamed character. And that’s not touching on the various Michael Phillipses, discursions on the tower of Babel and the original language, or what it really means to be alone. What a brilliant bit of writing, even more so in that the whole thing appears quite effortless.
Tinkers by Paul Harding
[Finished 5 April 2010] Really the epitome of the MFA novel. Beautiful beautiful prose and no real plot to speak of. There were some great moments and some fascinating plays on words, including the title (“tinkers” could be interpreted as a verb or a noun), but in the end, I was left feeling empty.
Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther by James A. Fischer
[Finished 5 April 2010] A rather dull set of commentaries. The text is from the New American Bible translation, but Fischer finds that translation defective in places.
A big part is a lack of targeting of the commentaries. It seems that Fischer wants to write a scholarly commentary but is constrained by a market demand to make something suitable for the Biblically naïve Catholic layperson, the result being a commentary that doesn’t fit either role and ends up feeling both condescending and inaccessible at the same time.
Catechism of the Council of Trent
[Finished 25 March 2010] An interesting book, translated from the Latin produced in the wake of the Council of Trent. The book is explicitly directed at priests in pastoral roles, addressing how matters should be approached in sermons and he confessional. At times sexist views of the times drown out the content, but it’s also amazing how contemporary some of the discussions can seem as well.
Handbook of the Christian Religion by Wilhelm Wilmers, S.J.
[Finished 5 March 2010] This was one of the first books on Catholic theology that I read. Coming back to it a couple decades later, I can see the clear influence of a second hand in the book, that of the American editor and co-translator James Conway who indicates that he felt free to expand, delete and edit many portions of the book as he saw fit. It’s hard at times to determine how much of the book is Wilmers and how much is Conway. The only clearly designated addition is the appendix which contains a list of church councils, the texts of several creeds in Latin and Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors.
It is interesting to note how little of the book is dedicated to questions of moral theology and how much to more abstract theology. There are a few passages which betray a surprising conception of space, time and causality which seem more appropriate to someone writing in the late twentieth century than the mid-nineteenth.
The Mass in Slow Motion by Ronald Knox
[Finished 19 February 2010] A chatty little book adapted from a series of catechetical sermons Knox gave to the students of a girls school evacuated to Shropshire during World War II. It’s an interesting and informal look at the details of the Tridentine mass. An interesting note is that et cum spiritu tuo, which had previously been translated into English as “and also with you,” and has been a bugbear for many liturgical traditionalists, is translated by Knox in his comments as “the same to you.”
I re-read this largely hoping to get some details on the celebration of the mass for use in my current novel, and I got some of that, although a great deal of what Knox focuses on is the inner thoughts of himself as he celebrates the mass and the thoughts he would like the members of his congregation to have as they hear the mass.
A World of My Own: A Dream Diary by Graham Greene
[Finished 16 February 2010] Greene’s epitaph to his life’s work. The preface by his last mistress, Yvonne Cloetta makes it clear that this was the last work he assembled from a lifetime’s records of dreams and it was arranged to conclude with Greene’s dream of his own death and the poem he wrote as is own obituary.
The prose takes on a poetic quality that is generally absent from Greene’s fiction, allowing Greene to manage the difficult balance between the reified and immaterial that is essential in any good account of a dream. Not an essential work, certainly, but a wonderful conclusion to Greene’s ouevre.
Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray
[Finished 12 February 2010] There’s something interesting inherent in a book which begins with Book Three and has the prologue after the beginning and epilogue before the end. Sadly, the whole thing ends up being a bit of a hash. There are really two separate narratives here, the surrealistic Lanark story and the naturalistic Thawe story, each with its own merits, but with what seems only a tenuous connection (something acknowledged by the author in the epilogue). I feel like there were two good books here, but the postmodern narrative managed to sink them both into a bit of a morass.
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
[Finished 12 February 2010] The Stephenson that I’ve read previously has all been set in the same universe of 17th and 20th Century earth, focusing on questions of cryptography and the nature of money, so coming into Anathem which is set in a distant future and alien world was a bit of a shock. Add onto that the fact that Stephenson decided to create his own vocabulary for a number of things and I found the book off-putting at first. Creating a world is difficult enough, creating a language is much harder and tends to fall flat unless the writer is someone skilled in linguistics (like Tolkien) or who takes an existing language and modifies it for his ends (like Burgess did in A Clockwork Orange). Stephenson is certainly not a linguist and while he uses some latinate vocabulary to good end in the book, his deviations from that tend to way down the narrative, especially given that he doesn’t consistently distinguish between his “Fluccish” and “Orth” words.
The story itself is an interesting one with some nice discussions of mathematical concepts (Stephenson’s forte, by far is mathematical fiction), although the conclusion ends up devolving into a bit of nonsense (but then that could be said of the other Stephenson novels that I’ve read as well). But even with the flaws, I had a hard time putting it down and I found myself flying through its nearly 1000 pages in short order.
Last Night in Montreal by Emily St John Mandel
[Finished 11 February 2010] Part of my project to read recent first novels. St. John Mandel’s prose has a glowing dreamlike poetic quality that is hard to put a finger on and makes me really really wish that my writing were like that. She manages to do a great job of unravelling her story through non-chronological storytelling, although towards the end it feels like she doesn’t really have a good sense of what to do with her characters and falls into some cliches of storytelling, but I look forward to reading her next novel.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 10: The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 9 February 2010] We’re slowly seeing the characters grow and mature and finally getting some clues as to the whole VFD/Eye mystery. It was neat to see Sunny really get a chance to shine this time around.
The Last Word and Other Stories by Graham Greene
[Finished 2 February 2010] A hodgepodge of stories from across Greene’s career including those deleted when 19 Stories became 21 Stories. There are some delightful surprises in the mix, “The Man Who Stole the Eiffel Tower,” being chief in the mix, a wonderful bit of whimsy telling precisely the story the title promises. Some bits were tedious, most notably, “Work Not in Progress,” which is more a description of a story than a story in and of itself. It’s surprising, though, to note that the story comes from the 50s and not the 80s.
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
[Finished 1 February 2010] This book is really the definition of commercial fiction: Plot-driven, difficult to put down, but not necessarily of any great depth. One of the comments that many others of my acquaintance who’ve read the book is that there’s a lot of information on cathedral building in the book. Perhaps, although I don’t feel, joking to the contrary, like I can go out and build a medieval cathedral in my back yard now that I’ve read it.
The story, as I noted, is compelling and fast-paced. The 900+ pages of the book fly by with amazing celerity. But characterizations are not necessarily very deep. There doesn’t really seem to be more than one dimension for almost every character in the book. Aliena shows the greatest depth and even she doesn’t run especially deep.
But this is commercial fiction. We read it for the story, not for the characterizations and certainly not for the prose. We get a touch of an idea of what medieval life is like and a story that makes the reader want to just read a few pages more before bed. And in that, it succeeds quite well.
The Lambs of London by Peter Ackroyd
[Finished 26 January 2010] When this book first popped to the top of my reading list, I assumed that the title used the term “lambs” metaphorically, to talk about innocents in London, and while ostensibly, the Lambs of London are in fact, Charles and Mary Lamb (of Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare), I think that there’s some merit to my original assumption, as Charles and Mary are, in a way, secondary characters in the novel, overshadowed by William Henry Ireland. I read this somewhat ignorant of the real Ireland’s history so the twist, that he was a forger and not a discoverer of lost texts, was one that caught me by surprise (it also helped that I hadn’t read the jacket flap copy). In all a delightful diversion.
Reflections by Graham Greene
[Finished 23 January 2010] I had some concerns going into this volume when I saw that it was a collection of essays from throughout Greene’s career including many which had been excluded from Collected Essays for a variety of reasons. But upon reading the collection, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the quality of the essays. A number of the early essays, speaking abstractly about film, form a sort of manifesto for what narrative arts in general (not just film) should seek to do and how it should approach the task. There are some curious bits of occasional verse included along with a concluding essay containing some notes on abandoned story and novel ideas.
Best American Short Stories 2009 edited by Alice Sebold
[Finished 14 January 2010] This volume is apparently where the Hurricane Katrina fiction made it through the pipeline into the best of anthologies. Neither of the Katrina stories really called out to me that much, though. The stories which I enjoyed the most were Alice Fulton’s “A Shadow Table,” Karl Taro Greefield’s “NowTrends,” Greg Hrbek’s “Sagittarius,” Yiyun Li’s “A Man Like Him,” Rebecca Makkai’s “The Briefcase” (the best one in the book), Richard Powers’s “Modulation,” and Alex Rose’s “Ostracon” (an interesting bit of experimental writing).
Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
[Finished 8 January 2010] A wonderful book, far better than the last Coetzee I read and a clear indication of why it was that he was named for the Nobel prize. While there is a fair amount of old man mourning his dying sexuality in the story, the stories of the stupidity of the imperial military caused a decrease in security took over. In a way there were two conflicting narratives going on: One was a bit of an allegory on the failures of empire (prescient of American overreach in Afghanistan and Iraq), the other the story of the magistrate. Oddly while I tend to find allegory tiresome, in this novel it was the more successful aspect of the novel. At times, the magistrate’s story descended into banality and boringness.
L.A. Outlaws by T. Jefferson Parker
[Finished 3 January 2010] An enjoyable crime novel. Parker does a good job of sprinkling clues without giving things away, although it felt as if the story lost its momentum in its final pages. I think, though, that I might read more Parker in the future. He has a wonderful feel for Los Angeles.
Selected Poems by Alexander Pope
[Finished 3 January 2010] I’ve been reading these poems for the past couple weeks, reading a collection I’d only dipped into when I purchased it for my 18th Century English Literature class. The Penguin edition has the odd choice to omit line numbers on the poems making the usual citation format a bit difficult (I’m still a bit disturbed to look back on the papers I wrote on Pope and see the odd-looking citations), but the poems themselves stand on their own even if I do find myself slipping into a bit of a rap rhythm while reading them.
The Master by Colm Tóibín
[Finished 30 December 2009] I have to admit I found this book to be rather dull. It’s been a long time since I’ve read any Henry James, but I think that about half the time I found myself in the same situation with James’s work so maybe it makes sense that I’d react the same way to a novel about Henry James.
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
[Finished 28 December 2009] Second novels are an interesting thing. After pouring out a life’s worth of experience on the first novel, a successful writer is often given a sizable sum of money and a deadline in which to produce a second novel, not always to the best effect. Niffenegger manages a creditable second novel with Her Fearful Symmetry, demonstrating a good handle on writing third-person omniscient (I think it might be coming back into fashion) in her take on a ghost story. At times the symmetry metaphor is handled a bit clumsily, but the writing is beautiful and the plotting is as surprising as she managed with her first novel.
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
[Finished 22 December 2009] How unpromising the title seems. A woman writer and a domestic title. And yet upon opening it, I was left feeling like this was some of the most purely beautiful prose that I’ve ever encountered, written with a hypnotic quality that leaves you feeling as if you’ve wondered into a waking dream. It’s not often that I find myself going back to the beginning of a chapter to re-read it for the pleasure of reading it one more time. I feel that my own writing has turned limp and inadequate in comparison.
Yours, Etc.: Letters to the Press 1945-1989 by Graham Greene
[Finished 19 December 2009] I picked up my copy new as a first edition out of my Greeneian completist instincts. Probably over half the text is actually explanatory prose from editor Christopher Hawtree, essential to an understanding of many of the issues which have since faded into obscurity (and even when they haven’t are often in need of clarification courtesy of the minimalist style of a letter to the editor). That said, it’s a frequently enjoyable read, especially given some of Greene’s habits as a practical joker. Having read the revelations of the later volumes of Norman Sherry’s biography of Greene since my first reading of this book, it’s interesting to wonder how much of the political writing was showmanship for Greene’s continuing espionage career.
Metamorphoses by Ovid
[Finished 18 December 2009] I can understand the temptation to take an epic work of poetry in Latin and Greek and translate it in prose as Mary Innes has done with this edition, but the end result is seldom good and this is no exception. We’re left with a rather prosaic rendering of the text and the choice to turn the Metamorphoses into prose has ended up leaving the text feeling like a dense blob of words rather than something special.
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
[Finished 13 December 2009] There is something a bit obvious in writing a book called The Plot Against America in the days following 9/11 amidst the seemingly unstoppable upsurge of the Bush-Cheney regime. Roth’s alternate history even includes a president who likes to do his own flying (although Lindbergh, unlike Bush flew solo).
But all that said, somehow I found the novel falling a bit flat. Using the perspective of a 9-year old Philip Roth to tell the story, there is a great deal of promise, but it feels as if towards the end, Roth grew tired of his premise and decided to give up on the book rather than follow it where it was leading (which would have led to a much longer book, certainly, but, in the end, I think a much better book).
True, it’s a Philip Roth book, so even as flawed as it is, it’s still hard to put down, but in the end, I was left seeing more in the book that Roth hadn’t written than in the book that he had.
A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul
[Finished 7 December 2009] I know very little about the postcolonial period in Africa, but Naipaul manages to convey the atmosphere quite well in this novel. The country that Naipaul depicts is unnamed in the novel, but this, in a way, manages to make the themes more universal: that people more knowledgeable than I can make cases for different countries as the locale for the novel tells me that the conditions in various central African nations were similar.
Perhaps most interesting is that the story is told from the perspective of an outsider, an Indian trader working in rather cultural isolation. The commentaries on the international world of the fifties and sixties were especially fascinating.
The Captain and the Enemy by Graham Greene
[Finished 4 December 2009] Greene’s last novel. There are elements of Greene’s experiences in Panama in the narrative, with characters clearly reminiscent of Omar Torrijos and Chuchu from Greene’s Getting to Know the General. There are some possibly metaphorical elements in the story, including some hints that the Captain of the title is, in some ways, a stand-in for an ambiguously good God. This was the first Greene book I was able to purchse new and at publication, which in some ways is a bit of a pity since our lives had such little overlap chronologically.
Beautiful Children by Charles Bock
[Finished 2 December 2009] I have no idea how this ended up in my reading list, but sometime between when I took it out of the library and when I started reading it, I came across a reference to it from a literary agent citing it as something he would like to see more of.
Bock does an interesting job of weaving together different characters and chronologies around the central mystery of the story, what happened to Newell Ewing. There’s a fascinating look into the worlds of the marginalized, whether it’s comic book fanatics, strippers, runaways or a father whose marriage is collapsing and has begun to seek solace from strippers and pornography. It really is a great debut novel and leaves me seeing a higher level of writing to aim for.
Bump by Diana Wagman
[Finished 30 November 2009] I first heard about this book from Barbara DeMarco-Barrett’s Writers on Writing show and upon reading it, I realized what it was that had attracted me to the book. The characters in the book are each, in their own way, touched by suicides whether it’s the cop who collects suicide notes, has a father who killed himself and spends most of the novel thinking that this will be the last day of his life before he himself commits suicide to the Beverly Hills housewife who volunteers for a suicide hotline. Wagman does a great job of managing the coincidences which tie her characters together with the exception of one character’s demise near the end of the novel which seemed just a bit too tidy for my tastes. For a novel whose unifying theme is suicide, this manages to be a rather uplifting read.
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino
[Finished 26 November 2009] A wonderfully readable post-modern novel. It’s really about reading and includes a delightfully byzantine story about foiled attempts at reading where just as the reader reaches the end of the first chapter, one of a number of problems leads to the reader being led to a new book, entirely different from the first. One of my favorite reads of the year.
Collected Plays by Graham Greene
[Finished 25 November 2009] Greene is known in US primarily as a novelist, and it’s perhaps a bit surprising that during the latter period of his life, he considered himself to be more of a playwright. The earlier plays reflect themes similar to the concerns of Greene’s novels of the period, but later plays manage to become their own entities including the delightfully farcical “The Return of A.J. Raffles”
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
[Finished 20 November 2009] I think I read Drabble’s The Waterfall in college, and if I did, my primary memory is of feeling rather disconnected from the narrative and that the story felt like I was seeing it through a gauze mask.
Coming back to Drabble to read this recent novel, I found her narrative style a bit more engaging. The story is told, for the most part, from the perspective of the deceased Korean Crown Princess Hyegyong of the title. We begin with a story of the princess told in a formal style, then move to a close third person narrative of a contemporary female academic who reads the life of the princess and finds it consuming her while simultaneously engaging in some parallel activities in her own life. We conclude with the academic meeting Margaret Drabble and Drabble writing the novel. Enjoyable, but not necessarily 5-star material to my mind.
Morte d'Urban by J. F. Powers
[Finished 15 November 2009] Powers is my people. Not merely a Catholic, but a pacifist and a writer whose first stories appeared in The Catholic Worker. This is a lightly comic tale of a worldly priest slowly coming to his own epiphany. The story is managed in such a way to avoid heavy handedness in its ultimate morality. Powers does a masterful job of letting us identify with and root for Father Urban so as he starts to feel the limitations of his world view, we do as well. I am eager to read more Powers in the future.
Social and Political Philosophy: Readings From Plato to Gandhi edited by John Somerville and Ronald Santoni
[Finished 13 November 2009] A nicely curated selection of readings from Plato to Gandhi. It was my first time reading any of Hitler’s writings and I have to admit feeling violated as a I read his racist and anti-semitic ranting. Truly disturbing. Jefferson’s comments about the political theorists of past ages not necessarily being applicable to his present time seems surprisingly applicable now. And reading Marx and Engels I was reminded that yes, I am truly a Marxist at heart.
Stripes ...and Java web development is fun again by Frederic Daoud
[Finished 10 November 2009] A nice clear and lucid introduction to the Stripes Java web framework. I found that the framework did everything that I needed it to do and did it in a generally clear way. Daoud does a good job of covering the cases where Stripes is a bit out of sorts in the way it handles things (most notably some odd corners of Spring integration). Sidebars and commentary go a long way towards adding clarity and pointing out some of the more complicated aspects of the framework.
The Zapatista Reader edited by Tom Hayden
[Finished 9 November 2009] I had decided that I needed to know a bit more about the Zapatista movement than my casual acquaintance with the facts provided (and that the wikipedia article covered), so based on a citation of this book by wikipedia, I decided to dig a bit deeper.
As might be expected in a book edited by Tom Hayden, there is a strong leftist slant in the information provided, something which left me a little dissatisfied as I found a fair amount of the writing felt more like hagiography than analysis (although there were a few token dissenting pieces, I would expect there to be a greater depth of serious critique of the Zapatista project in existence. Then again, given the intellectual bankruptcy of American conservatism, perhaps not). Most appealing were the direct interactions with Subcommandante Marcos whose intelligence, wit and charisma show in his writings and his interviews with others. I also found a wealth of background on the history and sociology of Mexico in general and Chiapas in particular.
My primary complaint about the book is that the choice of organization fails to provide a comprehensive narrative and Hayden’s introductions tended to be redundant rather than illuminating.
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
[Finished 5 November 2009] A long long book on Gary Gilmore, the first person executed after the Supreme Court ban on the death penalty was lifted in the 1970s. I have vague memories of the execution in the news (I was eight at the time, so more concerned with legos and dinosaurs than with someone being executed in a distant state), but the book does a lot to illuminate events using the non-fiction novel format to detail Gilmore’s life as well as the lives of those around him.
Mailer manages to weave the materials he had (he came onto the project after Gilmore’s death and relied on interviews with Gilmore gathered by others as well as is own interviews with principals of the events) into a compelling interview which has left Gilmore a weighty presence in my consciousness even after finishing the book.
Number Theory and its History by Oystein Ore
[Finished 30 October 2009] Written well before the modern computing age, this book has a tendency to focus a bit on computational exercises, although I have to admit that having worked through the book that the heavy computation does a lot to bring a deeper understanding of the mathematical concepts underlying the discussions. It would be a nice introduction to number theory for advanced high school students or non-specialist college students.
Programming in Scala by Martin Odersky, Lex Spoon and Bill Venners
[Finished 6 October 2009] Not only an excellent book on Scala, but an excellent book on functional programming and on programming in general. By far, this is the book which does the most to really explain what FP is all about and how programmers can take advantage of it. Scala is a language that I think that I would really like to pursue and this is a book which will remain at convenient arms’ length
Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Organizationm and Strategy in the California Farm Workers Movement by Marshall Ganz
[Finished 24 September 2009] My wife saw this book sitting on my desk while I was reading and asked whether I had been inspired by an exhibit of photographs of Chicano history we had seen a week earlier. I told her no, I needed to learn how to organize farm workers for a short story that I was writing.
And given that I had this rather prosaic goal in mind, this book did a great job of explaining what made the UFW movement so successful. Ganz was one of the early outside volunteers with the movement who later moved into an organizational position with the UFW. He provides a clear-eyed accounting of what happened, and is never afraid to talk about mistakes that were made, nor does he treat Cesar Chavez as an infallible saint (the final chapter that talks about the decline of the UFW is especially noteworthy in this respect; it’s very common for progressives to want to overlook the faults of their leaders, especially charismatic and successful leaders like Chavez. Ganz has no such illusions and while he is able to point to the successful moves of Chavez with the rest of them, he has no problem discussing Chavez’s failings and the organizational problems of the latter-day UFW).
The Tenth Man by Graham Greene
[Finished 16 September 2009] A bit of an oddity in Greene’s oeuvre, a treatment for a film that was never made (until after the treatment was published). It was part of a trove of lost writings by Greene unearthed in the early eighties.
The story is easily the most commercial of Greene’s plots, written out of the same sort of financial desperation that brought about Stamboul Train, although perhaps tinged with additional worry of middle age. The conclusion is more than a little melodramatic and Greene’s use of coincidence overbearing, but underneath it all is the distinct sense of moral ambiguity that underlies so much of Greene’s writing.
The Victorian Illustrated Book edited by Richard Maxwell
[Finished 15 September 2009] A collection of essays on the illustrated book. It was a bit illuminating (so to speak), since I hadn’t really considered the technological advances that allowed the advent of the illustrated book in the beginning of the nineteenth century or the cultural changes that resulted in the banishment of illustration from serious literature. Some of the articles were a bit over-jargoned, a failing too common in humanities writing, and there were occasional factual errors (e.g., a misidentification of the Kelmscott Chaucer type as Golden), but overall it was an interesting read, something that I’m happy to have added to my reading experience.
The Sea by John Banville
[Finished 14 September 2009] I didn’t really get into this book as much as I had hoped I might. There is some beautiful writing and exquisite use of allusion and reference in the text, but the structure of the book with its frequent shifts in time left me feeling unmoored as I read.
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel
[Finished 8 September 2009] Much of the core of the story in this book I learned from Koeppel’s interviews on NPR (he was on Fresh Air and, I think, Science Friday), but it’s still interesting to get the details filled in, to see how banana cultivation represents the ultimate monoculture, with all bananas in a given variety being genetically identical.
Koeppel makes a compelling case for the importance of GM techniques in creating a future for the banana and points out that since bananas are sterile and propagate only through cloning that many of the concerns about GM techniques in other plants are inapplicable when it comes to the banana. Given that in Africa the banana is a central part of the diet (in some areas 70% of the caloric intake comes from bananas), preserving a future for the banana makes for a critical concern on the continent.
The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge
[Finished 2 September 2009] A wonderfully strange book, it starts out as what seemed to be a bit of a domestic drama about two single young women sharing an apartment (and a bed, with a wall of pillows and books separating them). But as the central event of the book, an outing of workers at the bottle factory where both women work, comes to pass, the story takes a strange twist into a morbid comedy about dealing with the body of one of the women who dies on the outing (it’s revealed at the end that it was an accidental killing by one of the men on the outing). It’s the sort of twist that one sometimes imagines happening in a story but never actually encounters in reality (the only point of comparison I can come up with is the film From Dusk ‘til Dawn with its genre shift mid-story).
Prague Then and Now by J. M. Lau
[Finished 1 September 2009] While working on my current novel, I thought that it would be nice to get some old photographs of Prague to enable me to fill in some of the gaps in what I could imagine or infer from what currently existed. Amazingly, this book came out in the midst of the writing process and has turned out to be quite helpful for my research including some occasional filling in of some gaps of historical information (e.g., when electric trams and streetlights would have begun to appear).
If I have a complaint it would be that at times the book focused far more on the contemporary photograph than the historical photograph in its descriptive text. Worse still, as a rule, no date is given on the older photographs.
Nuns and Soldiers by Iris Murdoch
[Finished 22 August 2009] I’ve had this novel sitting on my shelves for at least a decade, probably longer. I went through a bit of an Iris Murdoch phase in college, and after reading this book, I’m thinking that I’d really like to revisit at least some of those books again now. In this instance, it’s an almost Victorian tale in some ways, complete with something approaching a Dickensian happy ending. And the language is exquisite. One thing I remember well from earlier reading of Murdoch was her skill at describing artworks, and here while there is an artist character, that skill ends up portraying the subjects of the art rather than the art itself.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
[Finished 21 August 2009] A wonderful book, with touches of magical realism amidst the world of African Americans struggling to survive in mid-twentieth century America. I can see the influence of her on August Wilson and I really look forward to reading more Morrison.
Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames by Pete Earley
[Finished 15 August 2009] It’s infrequently that I decide to read a book and then read it right away. I have nine shelves of unread books at my side right now, and I keep a list of books that I plan to check out from the library which currently has over 100 titles in it (I’d never counted until just now: I’m shocked at how long the list is). All of which means that when I come to a book, I may have no reason how I heard of it or what motivated me to read it (perhaps I should start adding notes into the library book list, at least).
This is the third Pete Earley book on spies which appeared in my library list. How I decided to read this batch of books eludes my recall, but I find myself thinking that perhaps one day I might write a spy novel. One thing that I find intriguing are the common threads in the stories that Earley tells. Is this because of Earley’s own editorial bias (unconscious or not), or because his subjects read the earlier books and imposed others’ motivations on their own stories, or possibly that’s just the way things are. For example, I notice that it seems that many of the men profiled found themselves frustrate by how much both the US and the USSR were uninterested in the intelligence that the future double agents thought was really important. When men like Ames considered intelligence to be little more than a game, there may have been a grain of truth in that.
My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex Drugs and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield
[Finished 14 August 2009] One of the central conceits of this novel, that Shakespeare was a secret Catholic, was one which I was familiar with from my undergraduate research on English recusancy and 16th century literature. For me, I found the analogy to be one of politics, trying to connect recusancy with the struggle of the poor in Latin America. In Winfield’s novel, he makes the connection (perhaps more successfully) between the actions of the pursuivants and the Reagan-era war on drugs. The story more fades away than comes to a conclusion and the attempt to bring the contemporary and Shakespearean narratives into contact was as fuzzy as the drug trip depicted, but it was still a fun read and it was nice to see some of my more esoteric interests represented in something approaching pop culture.
Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene
[Finished 12 August 2009] I first learned of this book from Dave Kostelancik. He was stopping by the high school where I was a freshman and he had just graduated and had a copy of the book with him. He described it as “Don Quixote is a priest and Sancho Panza is the communist ex-mayor of El Toboso.” I decided I had to read the book and rushed to the local public library to check out their copy.
Dave’s one-sentence summary does give a good sense of the plot and this is the most idea-centered of all Greene’s novels, even more so than A Burnt-Out Case, and represents, if Norman Sherry is to be believed, a bit of Greene’s rapprochement with Catholicism, the idea that belief and doubt were to be forever intertwined in his psyche. As I re-read this, I found myself reveling in the familiarity of the passages that I’ve read so many times and see the germination of many of my own beliefs, religious and political, in its pages.
Java Persistence with Hibernate by Christian Bauer and Gavin King
[Finished 11 August 2009] A great overview of Hibernate. There are problems of course: Some unnecessary chapters (e.g., the gratuitous chapter on SEAM); too much coverage of XML vs Annotation-driven configuration; not good enough reference organization; too little coverage of JPA. But even with these flaws, I learned a lot about how to configure entity beans with Java and manage their persistence. Definitely a book to keep within arm’s reach of my desk.
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
[Finished 8 August 2009] I read this primarily because my wife told me as we left the film that they had changed the ending (and I’ll be talking about that, so skip reading this if you’ve not read the book and/or seen the movie and care about spoilers), so I feel compelled to write about both the book and the film in this review.
The film was flawed in that, at least in the first act, and somewhat less later, it felt compelled to stick closely to the book, which meant trying to translate the multiple first-person narrations to the screen, which in turn came out as a series of gratuitous voice overs. In screenwriting, a voiceover is the cinematic equivalent of telling-not-showing in print. Very rarely is a voiceover a good thing in a film. And I’d also point out that multiple first person POVs are a deadly trap in narrative fiction. It seems like a good thing at the time, but it’s difficult to meet the challenge of writing more than two narrators, and even that is beyond most author’s skills. The fact that the book designer felt compelled to do the cutesy thing of changing the body typeface for each narrator (including some hideous choices of typeface).
As a storyteller, Picoult manages to transcend the limitations of her POV choice, though, and while I think that some of the streamlining of the story that took place in the film was worthwhile (although eliminating the Jesse-as-arsonist story turned his character into a bit of a cipher in the film), she made for a good story, the sort of thing that would spark some good book club discussions, even if she was a bit heavy-handed in bringing up the “are we responsible for others” theme.
And the ending? The film went for the Hollywood ending: Anna was filing the lawsuit because her sister wanted her to do so, because she was ready to die. And frankly, I think it was more effective than the self-conscious ending that Picoult chose for the novel, where Anna is killed in a car accident and her kidneys are transplanted to her sister, miraculously saving her life and allowing her to live well into the future. It just felt too contrived for my tastes. I suppose if Kate had died anyway, I would have felt better about it. Picoult had spent so much effort in letting us know that Kate was unlikely to survive that letting her live at the end cheapened the novel.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy by John Le Carré
[Finished 7 August 2009] I’ve not read much of the spy novel genre. Really only a couple of books by Graham Greene, and of those only The Human Factor really counts as a spy novel. So I don’t have a real point of comparison (other than watching films in the genre). That said, I found this a fun read, a great account of the psychology of deceit. What makes a good spy novel fascinating is less the spycraft side of things and more the whole psychological impact of a life style which is focused on deception.
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby
[Finished 7 August 2009] Hornby is my favorite light writer. I can feel pretty confident when I pick up a Nick Hornby book that I’m going to encounter a strong voice, an entertaining tale and a weak ending. And A Long Way Down is a solid entry in that tradition. It does feel like Hornby is pushing himself a bit beyond his abilities in attempting to establish multiple narrators in his books, something he’s been doing for the last few novels, but as he increases the number of first-person voices, the strength of the narrators weakens. Here, only Jess has a strong voice, and while Maureen is the most interesting of the characters, she has the weakest voice. Still, Hornby resists the urge to moralize in the book, while acknowledging the pressure to do so. In all, a successful book.
A Programmer's Guide to Java SCJP Certification: A Comprehensive Primer by Khalid A. Mughal and Rolf W. Rasmussen
[Finished 7 August 2009] I read the guide for Java 1.4 in the Bates and Sierra version, so I decided to try someone else’s guide in prepping for the Java 6 test. The overall material is pretty good, but I found myself frustrated by frequent errors in the review questions/answers. Numerous answers are missing from the back of the book and there were four questions in the review test where the answers in the back of the book didn’t match the questions. Those problems aside, it’s a good enough book for learning the material and diagnosing weaknesses.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
[Finished 2 August 2009] Oh my. It’s hard to overstate how good this book is. Maybe it’s partly because the people in the book are very much my people. I was someone who did research on book arts related stuff at the Newberry Library (I’m not sure if it was Audrey Niffenegger herself or one of her Columbia colleagues who, seeing the document requests that I had made at the library came to see who was researching Beatrice Warde). The bookstores and record stores mentioned in the book are places that I’ve been, that I’ve blown my hard-earned pay on books and CDs that I probably couldn’t actually afford.
There’s not a sentence in this book which doesn’t seem perfect. Granted, the overall narrative runs out of steam in the final pages, but the first 500 pages more than make up for that. The time travel acts as a way of being able to provide a brilliantly crafted non-linear narrative. We don’t really follow Henry or Clare’s lives in sequence, but instead get both out of sequence, so not only is the reader learning things in a non-linear fashion, but so are the characters of the book. There’s a small list of books that I wish I had written and this, I think, takes the position at the top of the list.
Slow Man by J. M. Coetzee
[Finished 1 August 2009] My first (but not last, courtesy of the 1001 books list) Coetzee novel. The novel begins conventionally enough, seeming like it’s going to be yet another story of post-midlife lust. And in some ways it is, but the introduction of the character of a writer, Elizabeth Costello, who says that she didn’t come to the characters in the book, but that they came to her puts the book squarely into post-modern territory. The fact that Costello is not simply an imposition of Coetzee into the narrative, but a character in her own right gives her a narrative interest that might not otherwise be possible. At times, her presence is more a distraction, and Coetzee is inconsistent in his use of this authorial character, but even the attempt at such a difficult balance in narrative is a daring choice.
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
[Finished 1 August 2009] A fascinating book about contemporary academic life and its overlapping with townie life. Smith is a bit clumsy at times with her use of the omniscient narrator. Her opening, “One may as well begin with Jerome’s e-mails to his father,” makes us aware of the presence of a narrator who disappears and reappears throughout the book. It seems as if we might have been better off if she were to let herself stay with a moving close third person narration. But as a storyteller, Smith is brilliant, using lacunae to move the story along, keeping us involved and giving us reason to read on, if only to learn what happened in the days weeks or months that passed in the blank space that separates the chapters.
The Film Club: A Memoir by David Gilmour
[Finished 28 July 2009] As a movie buff, when I first heard about this book, about a father who lets his son drop out of school and not work in exchange for watching three movies a week with him was one that I couldn’t pass up.
As a memoir, it has the usual not-quite-story-arc structure of real life, and at times Gilmour’s teenage son’s travails in his love life can get repetitive, and the film commentary which is pretty dense in the early days of the story start to fade away later in the book. But on the other hand, it’s an interesting account of hands-off parenting (eventually) turning out alright, although the route there is circuitous and leads the reader (and Gilmour) to wonder whether it’s all a big mistake.
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
[Finished 27 July 2009] A delightful novel about growing old and dying at a London hotel. We follow the titular Mrs Palfrey as she moves into the Claremont Hotel and becomes a part of the insular society of the permanent residents as well as befriending a young would-be writer. It’s a short breezy novel, an absolute delight to read.
Herzog by Saul Bellow
[Finished 24 July 2009] When I first read Bellow as a callow college student who had been pointed at Henderson the Rain King, I fell in love with the writing. Coming back to him at double the age, I found myself less enamored with him, although as I got deeper and deeper into the novel, I found it more appealing, although the letters scattered throughout varied from being distractions, to being illuminating, to being unnecessary, a view that Bellow himself may have agreed with as they almost completely disappeared from later portions of the book.
Ways of Escape by Graham Greene
[Finished 22 July 2009] I was looking to see if I had a review of this book in my archive, and it turns out that I did. AND, I had speculated that I had first read the book (almost) exactly ten years earlier. The date of that review: 23 July 1999. Apparently, for whatever reason, I come back to this book every ten years. And each time, I’m still in that hotel room outside Princeton.
I’ve read a number of biographies of Greene’s life now, so coming back into his autobiography now becomes an interesting commentary on those (or those on this). Greene’s tax troubles that led to his tax exile are elided in a few words, and he alternates from openly discussing his mistresses to discretely referring to staying in a hotel with “a friend.”
Greene’s attempts to tie his memories in with the title throughout are a bit weak and there’s one point where “athleticism” is used where “asceticism” is meant (I assume an editor is to blame--or perhaps Greene’s typist). The fact that a large portion of the book is re-purposed from introductions to the various books only makes things worse.
And yet, Greene’s life is compelling enough to let us get past these flaws and draw us in. It’s a pity that time has led to the book falling out of print.
Family of Spies: Inside the John Walker Spy Ring by Pete Earley
[Finished 18 July 2009] As much a character study of a man (John Walker) with antisocial personality disorder as an account of espionage. Earley makes some odd decisions, like not pointing out until near the end that there are some big questions about how Walker first approached the Soviets to begin his spying. Perhaps some of the pages that had been torn out of the library copy that I read would have resolved these issues I had with the book, but it was still a fast compelling read and I had a hard time putting the book down during the time I spent reading it.
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
[Finished 18 July 2009] Ah, the joys of returning to Trollope. The unconventionality of the characters made it not immediately clear whether John Grey or George Vavasor was meant to be the hero of the story, although, as in most things Victorian, this should not have been a difficult question to resolve with modest reflection. I had some doubts about whether I would want to read the Palliser novels when I first started reading this novel, but those doubts are resolved. I do.
Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World by Joe Armstrong
[Finished 11 July 2009] I’m not always confident about reading a book written by the creator of a language. Sometimes it works well (see Knuth’s TeXBook, sometimes not so much (the original ANTLR book by Terrence Parr). This book, thankfully falls into the first category. I would have liked to have had some more guided application development in the book. It’s a surprisingly thin volume, but then Erlang is at its heart a rather simple language. Armstrong does a good job of establishing the FP mindset and I find myself tempted to write some of my newest code in Erlang.
Saturday by Ian McEwan
[Finished 11 July 2009] McEwan has set an interesting challenge for himself: Tell a story that takes place entirely in one day from the perspective of a single character. The events manage to largely fold together into a consistent story, and McEwan has sufficient skill as an author to keep the reader entranced even as we go into long internal monologues. I’m still not entirely sold on McEwan, but I enjoyed this a bit more than the contrived Atonement.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
[Finished 14 June 2009] A wonderfully anarchic novel. A lot of it is disconnected, but it seems to do an excellent job of capturing the pointlessness of war.
Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word o by David Plotz
[Finished 27 May 2009] (I listened to this book as a free promotional download from audible.com.) Plotz, like many Americans, had never really read the Bible, but only knew it in bits and pieces from Hebrew school and popular culture. What he set out to do here was to provide a naïve perspective on scripture, writing about what someone who didn’t have a strong religious background or access to Biblical scholarship would make of the Bible. When I first read the Bible, I read the New Jerusalem Bible which incorporates significant commentary throughout, which meant, among other things, that I knew about the JEPD theory of the origins of the Pentateuch, and there are many times that I found myself frustrated by Plotz’s naïveté in understanding some of the text, but even so, it was an entertaining read, although Plotz’s tendency to snarkiness was more distracting than entertaining.
Plotz’s big takeaway from reading the Bible was twofold: One was that he became appreciative of how much our culture was dependent on the Bible for many of its references (although I think some of the connections he makes may be spurious), the other was how it made him really address his own Jewish heritage.
God in the White House: A History: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush by Randall Balmer
[Finished 14 May 2009] A bit disappointingly thin. I felt like there was a great deal more that could be said on the subject than Balmer does, and was left wondering why he couldn’t have written more on the topic.
For example, a single chapter covers religion and presidential politics from Alfred Smith through Kennedy, and it seemed like we were rushing through each presidency thereafter.
ESPete: Sixth Grade Sense by Arnold Rudnick
[Finished 11 May 2009] The main reason I picked up the book is that the author is my brother’s writing partner and on my brother’s last trip to town, Arnold gave me a copy of the book.
That said, this is a reasonably entertaining and well-written book, aimed at middle grades. There’s a tendency at times to write down a little to the audience, but overall it’s a fun and entertaining little book, the sort of thing that I can see really capturing a kid’s imagination. The book includes the opening chapter of the planned sequel, ESPete: Psychic Hoop Dreams.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
[Finished 9 May 2009] It’s rare that I get towards the end of a book and deliberately slow down my reading because I don’t want the book to end. But this time, I had been so captivated by Ishiguro’s narration that I couldn’t bring myself not to.
This is, I suppose, a work of literary science fiction, and from the beginning with the familiar yet unfamiliar vocabulary, I could tell that there was something a bit different about the world that Ishiguro was depicting (I knew nothing about the book when I began reading it), which is actually precisely the sort of science fiction-ish narrative that I really enjoy.
I think some of it is the almost emotionally flat narrative, something which didn’t work in the screen adaptation of Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day (I’ve not read the novel, so I can’t comment on that), but in this context serves, ironically, to heighten the emotional content of the story.
Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party by Graham Greene
[Finished 8 May 2009] This, apparently, is considered a minor work in Greene’s canon, having fallen out of print and not meriting any mention at all on Norman Sherry’s biography of Greene.
But it seems like this is a somewhat misplaced view of things. Yes, there are some clumsy characterizations in the novel, but at the same time, the philosophy of the narrator rivals Querry’s in its pessimism, the concept of a God who exists primarily to humiliate his creation, does provide a fascinating view into Greene’s state of mind at this stage of his life. It’s interesting to note that Greene’s next novel would be Monsignor Quixote.
No Star is Lost by James T. Farrell
[Finished 7 May 2009] It’s been a while since I’ve read any Farrell. I remember being absolutely captivated by Studs Lonnigan, so I was more than happy to start the Danny O’Neill pentalogy a few years back before discovering that most of Farrell’s works had fallen out of print. Now they’ve come back into print so I’m able to easily obtain copies of the books on the pentalogy that I didn’t have and I’m back into it. What’s interesting is that despite the sometimes clumsy narration (when a character is first introduced, we get a description that seems more like what you’d find in stage directions than in a novel), there’s a compelling voice here, especially in the rendering of dialogue. The plot such as it is, is a bit wandering and undirected with no real protagonist for the action to be centered on (is Danny meant to be the central character? Or Margaret? Or Mother? Or is it the family in general?), but even so, the narrative voice is enough to keep the reader propelled through the story.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
[Finished 4 May 2009] This book reads like a first draft typed out on a benzedrine high, but oh my, what an amazing first draft it is. The incredible compelling voice here grabbed me and never let me go through the whole story. The madness and energy of Dean Moriarty are addictive and it’s easy to see our narrator drawn into the adventures that Moriarty instigates as well as setting off on some of his own. Could it be a more polished narrative? Sure, but it would at the same time lose some of the energy of the book. It makes me tempted to re-read the book in the scroll edition.
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass
[Finished 30 April 2009] There are those occasional works of literature which are widely acclaimed as great, but which manage to leave some readers cold. For me, this is one of them. I can see some of the flashes of brilliance in this book, particularly, the account of the burning of the synagogue, and elements of the surrealist narration, but too much of it just seemed to drag and not be that interesting. That said, even in a book like this, I find some small inspiration for a bit of formation of future writing.
The Human Factor by Graham Greene
[Finished 17 April 2009] I remember being puzzled when I bought this book that it wasn’t a Penguin paperback like all my other Graham Greene novels. Only later did I learn that a conflict over the title of the book led Greene to change publishers with the publication of this book.
Re-reading it with a memory of the vague outline of the plot took away some of the suspense of the story, but allowed me to really enjoy how Greene unfolded character and mood. I did find the Catholic “furniture” in the story to be an odd diversion in the story, the metaphors and confession scene seemed to be completely out of place.
Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai
[Finished 16 April 2009] I’m not sure what attracted me to this book to put it in my library queue. Was it the first-person omniscient voice? The magical realism? The account of hearing loss? Perhaps some combination of them all. That said, it was a beautifully written book with a compelling voice.
Radio Replies: Third Volume by Rev. Dr Leslie Rumble, M.S.C. and Rev. Charles M. Carty
[Finished 15 April 2009] I’ve been reading this three volume set off and on again for longer than I’ve been keeping this diary. Mostly off, apparently, since I didn’t find any sign of the previous two volumes as I prepared to write this review. This is a collection of apologetic writing, in question and answer format, from a radio show in the 30s and 40s. The scope is pretty wide ranging, although there’s a fair amount of focus on critiques of the church from an Anglican perspective plus a fair amount of references, sans context, to contemporary controversies. What was especially surprising was the general openness on some topics, such as evolution, which were beyond what one might have expected from the time. Overall, a delightful and grounding read for me.
Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer by Venkat Subramaniam
[Finished 27 March 2009] A reasonably well organized book for a sometimes disorganized language. I felt like there was a lot more to the language than I got from the book, although some of the key aspects of the language which have a great deal of promise, particularly the builders. On the other hand, playing with the language I’ve found that it has a tendency to change types unexpectedly.
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel
[Finished 20 February 2009] A wonderfully written accounting of an obscure bit of history. Who knew that Galileo had children (two daughters and a son). The daughters were sent to a convent while the son turned into a bit of a ne’er-do-well. The oldest daughter, though, remained devoted to her father and while his letters to her no longer exist, hers to him have been preserved and Sobel uses the letters for the narrative hook on which she hangs her biography.
There’s a fair amount which was new to me, even having a deeper than the usual paragraph-long summary that came out of my high school history classes. Sobel manages to paint all the characters in the drama with a fair amount of nuance showing exactly what the forces were that led to Galileo’s famed trial and the consequences of the trial in Galileo’s life.
The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perotta
[Finished 13 February 2009] I have to confess that I had high expectations for this book, and that I was left a bit underwhelmed by the result. It seemed like it took Perotta an awfully long time to begin to draw the character of Tim as a three-dimensional human being, and even moreso with Tim’s wife. Instead, the Christians of the story ended up as being rather cartoony and unsatisfying, especially the character of the pastor of the tabernacle. It’s a pity because when Perotta was in good shape, it was really good, but it just didn’t seem like he had any good idea of what to do with his characters (the plot more peters out than reaches any sort of conclusion). I’m likely to try another Perotta novel, in hopes of feeling more satisfied, perhaps if he stays more within his comfort zone, the writing will be more satisfying.
Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About by Donald E. Knuth
[Finished 9 January 2009] I knew Knuth originally because of TeX and Metafont, which were in many ways my entre into computer science. This book is a collection of Knuth’s lectures centering primarily on the process that he used in writing his book, 3:16, a collection of commentaries on Bible verses.
Maven: The Definitive Guide by Sonatype
[Finished 5 January 2009] A pretty good guide to Maven, although I have some quibbles about the order in which things are presented (I’d rather have it start from the perspective of someone working in Eclipse, for example), but it covers everything that one needs to know about this build/dependency management tool.
Best American Short Stories 2008 edited by Salman Rushdie
[Finished 28 December 2008] Another wonderful collection of stories. This time around, the editor Salman Rushdie focuses on the American part of the story with an interesting essay in what exactly constitutes an “American” short story, finally settling on an especially broad definition of the term.
There’s a fair amount of skewed reality in the stories (although surprisingly, not from George Saunders’s contribution), which I found pleasant. Allegra Goodman’s “Closely Held” managed to really grasp the reality of working in the tech industry.
The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown by Hugh Agnew
[Finished 28 December 2008] I’ve read enough histories of the Czechs that a fair amount of this was familiar. This was, however a very readable account and there were a fair number of gaps in the periods I’m most interested in which were filled.
Java Tools for Extreme Programming by Richard Hightower and Nicholas Lesiecki
[Finished 18 December 2008] I found this in my wife’s library and decided to read it, but found myself frustrated by the obsolescence of large swaths of the text along with the high proportion of filler.
Jakarta Commons Cookbook by Timothy M. O'Brien
[Finished 17 December 2008] Another essential reference desk. Here the problem is that a fair amount of the Jakarta Commons is made less meaningful with Java 5. Perhaps, though, this would be a good area to contribute to the open source community: Putting together Generics-aware versions of the libraries.
Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture by Carl E. Schorske
[Finished 16 December 2008] An interesting account of the political and cultural forces in Vienna (and to a lesser extent the whole Austro-Hungarian empire) at the end of the nineteenth century. A fair amount of useful background for my novel.
Java Cookbook by Ian F. Darwin
[Finished 13 December 2008] An essential reference for any Java programmer. My one complaint is that there’s a concerted effort to ignore anything outside the Java libraries.
Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett
[Finished 1 November 2008] Looking back on this book, what I remember more than the book itself is how it inspired me to add a new chapter to my own work in progress.
The American Jitters: A Year of the Slump by Edmund Wilson
[Finished 17 October 2008] Before the Great Depression got its name, Edmund Wilson travelled the country collecting anecdotes of what life in the country was like. It’s useful preparation for the days ahead in some ways, and a startling look at what society was like before Roosevelt in others.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 9: The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 25 September 2008] I’m left with a stronger sense that we’re writing novels now instead of clever stories. Snicket has enough sense to pull back on some of the verbal games that could have grown tiresome this deep into the series.
Dvorak and His World edited by Michael Beckerman
[Finished 11 September 2008] A collection of essays I stumbled upon while looking for a biography of Dvorak. I really had no sense of critical perspectives on Dvorak before reading this, and found that there was a whole universe of which I was unaware.
The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg
[Finished 5 September 2008] An intriguing look at Bush’s background and ruling through the lens of Shakespearean tragedy. A surprisingly sympathetic yet disturbing account.
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
[Finished 31 August 2008] Having read Ann Patchett’s most recent novels, I decided to start at the beginning and read all of her works. I was a bit surprised to discover that she wasn’t using her omniscient POV in this work, but rather uses a series of three first-person narrators.
If I had any doubts about whether Patchett was a Catholic before reading this, they were dispelled when I finished
Core JavaServer Faces by David Geary and Cay S. Horstmann
[Finished 29 August 2008] We decided to avoid JSF on our project before I began this book, although after reading it, I’m wondering whether that was a mistake. It seems a great technology, although this book contains a little too much padding and off-topic material to boost its page count for my tastes.
Lord Rochester's Monkey by Graham Greene
[Finished 27 August 2008] A re-read. It’s still somewhat surprising that this was considered too scandalous to publish on its creation.
Head First Object Oriented Analysis and Design by Brett D. McLaughlin, Gary Pollice and Dave West
[Finished 22 August 2008] A bit more basic than I had originally expected. A good primer for a programmer who is not quite ready for design patterns yet, to get them thinking about how to solve programming problems.
The Plague by Albert Camus
[Finished 21 August 2008] I always expect surrealism from Camus, for some reason, but never find it.
Novels and Stories 1959-1962: Goodbye, Columbus & Five Short Stories / Letting Go by Philip Roth
[Finished 19 August 2008] Roth’s early writing is not quite as engaging as I might have hoped, although some of it is attributable to the youth of the author. When I was in college, I made a point of reading lots of first novels. They were often quite delightful, containing the author’s lifetime of pent-up creativity in their pages. I don’t see that happening with the early Roth. Instead, there’s some indication of his nascent creativity beginning to show, and with his first novel, some hints of the narrative genius that he would become.
Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
[Finished 18 August 2008] A revisiting of the characters of Mitford’s first novel, and surprisingly, just as entertaining.
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
[Finished 11 August 2008] Oh, such delicious characterization.
The High Window by Raymond Chandler
[Finished 8 August 2008] By far my favorite of the three Chandler novels which I’ve read, although in this case, most of the plot twists which Chandler assumed drove the novel were abundantly clear. Maybe that’s why I liked it.
Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War by Pete Earley
[Finished 4 August 2008] An interesting account of the life of a KGB officer who ultimately defected to the U.S. at the end of his career, not because he had ever grown disturbed by communism, but because he had become disturbed by the kleptocracy which replaced it.
Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
[Finished 3 August 2008] I’m getting a bit more accustomed to Chandler’s plotting and geography, although this is still a bit too convoluted a story for my tastes.
Core J2EE Patterns by Deepak Alur, John Crupi and Dan Malks
[Finished 1 August 2008] It seems more a book for someone writing a framework than for someone using a framework. I can see this as useful as my Java work becomes increasingly sophisticated, but at the moment, it seemed mostly a dry and uninteresting work.
Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit by James D. Scurlock
[Finished 28 July 2008] It’s hard to read this book and not get angry. So many of the contemporary problems in the economy were foreseeable and foreseen. Especially if we dig deeper, we can see that things are even worse than they seem.
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
[Finished 28 July 2008] Maybe it’s just me, but I had a hard time getting into Chandler. Although being an Angeleno, I can at least envision his geography reasonably well.
Inside Java 2 Platform Security: Architecture, API Design, and Implementation by Li Gong
[Finished 21 July 2008] A great deal of information at higher detail and lower level than I’m interested in. Perhaps someday in the future I’ll come back to this and be happy about it.
The USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos
[Finished 15 July 2008] An amazing literary experiment. The “camera eye” segments seemed to be largely failures, although failures with grand aspirations. The mini-biographies of real-life figures, however, were fascinating as was the overall plan of the book in which the protagonist was not an individual but a nation and the arc of how capital and labor interacted over the first part of the twentieth century.
Hibernate in Action by Christian Bauer and Gavin King
[Finished 12 July 2008] Argghh! For some reason Bauer and King decided to change the title of the book between editions so I inadvertently bought the old edition.
Google Web Toolkit Applications by Ryan Dewsbury
[Finished 10 July 2008] A bit of a disappointment. I had hoped for something that was a bit more about integrating GWT with Java applications, but Dewsbury’s focus is almost entirely on doing fancy stuff in the front end.
The Mad Scientists' Club by Bertrand R. Brinley
[Finished 21 June 2008] I hate to confess that it’s my fault that the Stickney-Forest View Library does not have a copy of this book. I checked it out over and over and managed at some point to lose it (costing an astronomical ten dollars of library fines as a consequence). And because the library’s copy was lost, I haven’t read these stories in some three decades. I’d forgotten the contents of almost all of them, so it was like reading them fresh when I got my own copy of the book.
Some of the plots are a bit simplistic, and there’s a fair amount of “magical” technology courtesy of small radios which can be effortlessly wired into doing any of a number of things, but it’s forgivable as children’s literature, especially given its ability to inspire a youthful imagination.
Journey to the End of Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
[Finished 13 June 2008] A book which is perhaps most amazing in its voice which manages to carry through even through the necessary mutilation of translation. There is a startling frankness and directness to Céline’s narration which sets the book apart.
Spring in Action by Craig Walls and Ryan Breidenbach
[Finished 9 June 2008] Given how much material there is to cover, this volume does an admirable job of covering it, although it really could have benefitted from frequent references to other sources on the material where there was insufficient room to cover the whole of the material. As for the framework itself, it seems an outstanding framework and I’m looking forward to working with it on our current project.
Unfashionable Observations by Friedrich Nietzsche
[Finished 6 June 2008] I acquired this book as an entry in the first Serif design competition (it won the first prize).
This is my first direct reading of Nietzsche, and what’s perhaps most striking to me in this is the strong German nationalism in the writing. A bit offputting, really.
But the strength of the writing is quite striking, not enough to overcome my middle-aged aversion to philosophy, but enough to make me think more about it.
Nickel and Dimed, On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
[Finished 4 June 2008] Reading this book really changed how I saw those around me. I checked this out of the library the day that I began a three-day business trip and finished it two days later. Understanding a bit of the lives of those toil for low wages in the face of this made me see the invisible services that took place behind the trip quite differently. Realizing that the maids who cleaned my hotel room each day faced a grueling schedule (and with a shift towards paying them by the room, rather than by the hour, they were quite possibly making less than minimum wage).
Perhaps most startling is to think about how hard Ehrenreich had making ends meet with gasoline at $2 a gallon. Now that gasoline is more than double that, small wonder that bicycle and transit use has skyrocketed.
Java Generics and Collections by Maurice Naftalin and Philip Wadler
[Finished 2 June 2008] One of the interesting features in Java 5 is the addition of the generics and collections features. To a large extent, this reminds me of the introduction of the STL in C++, and just like that opened new possibilities in C++, the generics material makes Java a more compelling language to work with.
Implementation Patterns by Kent Beck
[Finished 28 May 2008] It’s not often that a computer book is beautifully written. But this is one case where the rule is violated and the prose is exquisitely crafted.
The patterns described here are rather simple things, not quite on the level of Gang of Four patterns. They consist of such concepts as how to name methods or fields, or how to assign responsibilities to classes. A delightful book and one which seems like it would repay re-reading handsomely.
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
[Finished 27 May 2008] This is only the second Woolf I’ve ever read, the first being To the Lighthouse which I read but didn’t really get as an undergrad (that, of course, excludes countless readings of “A Room of One’s Own”). Coming back to Woolf now, I can appreciate the exquisite beauty of her prose, although I have to admit that I find that Ann Patchett is a better Woolf than Woolf herself is.
Unit Testing in Java: How Tests Drive the Code by Johannes Link
[Finished 23 May 2008] A clear, well-written book on the subject of unit testing in Java. Not a whole lot which is unfamiliar to me, courtesy of doing a lot of test-driven development in other languages, but it was nice to see my practices and beliefs validated by another developer’s suggestions. It is interesting to note that dependency injection is viewed as the solution to the mocking problem for Java, which makes sense since some of the Perl-esque solutions I’ve been using are not really possible in Java.
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
[Finished 21 May 2008] Another one of these fun brisk novels. The story is pretty straightforward and there aren’t the sorts of extreme twists and turns which seem obligatory for a modern thriller, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I’m thinking that I may definitely read more Buchan in the future
Collected Short Stories by Graham Greene
[Finished 8 May 2008] Coming back to these stories, I find many of them to be a bit lacking, feeling more like outlines for novels never undertaken rather than full-fledged examples of the short story art. In many of the stories, there is a lack of closeness that leaves the reader feeling a bit empty. Even the stories which feel more like stories, like “May We Borrow Your Husband,” come across more as a piece of a novel more than a story. I can’t help wondering whether that might have been the intent behind some of the stories.
But not every story is a failure. Greene is at the peak of his art in a story like “Under the Garden”, a story whose half-forgotten memory, mixed with the half-forgotten memories of the plot itself, have haunted me for decades since first reading it.
The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
[Finished 8 May 2008] It’s been a long time since I’ve last read D.H. Lawrence (I think not since just after the first time I dropped out of college). The reasons for this being banned seem somewhat trivial in modern society (a not terribly graphic lesbian romance), but more interesting are things like the attacks on her husband’s religion by Anna Brangwen.
Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn
[Finished 7 May 2008] A somewhat different approach to scrum than I learned from Scrum and XP From the Trenches. The most useful part, I found, was the final chapter which provided a case study of scrum in action, something which seems to be the most helpful way of really learning how it goes.
Catalyst: Accelerating Perl Web Application Development by Jonathan Rockway
[Finished 1 May 2008] An amazingly bad book. What’s really necessary for Catalyst is a single tutorial than a comprehensive overview of the features well-organized. What we get instead is a set of tutorials which don’t necessarily cover all the features of Catalyst, and no reference features to speak of at all. Wondering what the function of the method attributes in a controller are? You won’t find that information here. The index is frustratingly incomplete, the book is thin and vague and the whole thing is a bit of a waste. Would-be Catalyst developers are better off just reading the POD documentation than trying to make any use of this book
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
[Finished 29 April 2008] I picked this up thinking that it as going to be primarily a science fiction-ish accounting of a future earth without human beings. And it was to a certain extent, but even more so, it’s an interesting account of how we as a species have impacted our environment, both in the obvious ways (cities, farms) and the non-obvious (small bits of plastic entering the eco-system, invasive species, reshaping the landscape in our image). As an overall narrative, it’s not as cohesive as I would have liked, which seems to be a common shortcoming of a lot of contemporary non-fiction (I think this is a consequence of journalists writing book-length pieces). But even with its failings, this is still a fascinating book and one which provides an interesting insight into human impact on global ecology.
American Notes for General Circulation and Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens
[Finished 28 April 2008] An interesting pair of books. These are Dickens’s travel accounts of trips to America and Italy. As a detailed accounting of what life was like in each country in the first half of the nineteenth century, these are great accountings. Dickens at times comes across as one of those grumpy travelers for whom nothing abroad can be anything better than an inconvenience or a pale attempt at doing something which is done far better at home, but getting beyond that, Dickens’s humor shows through and he makes for an entertaining traveling companion.
Books from North River Press by Paul McPharlin
[Finished 27 April 2008] A curious volume. As near as I can tell from its contents, North River Press was a vanity publisher struggling for respectability. It’s not clear if the publishing company by the same name is connected, which would indicate that they managed to make the move from vanity publisher to actual publisher (although that is not clear from the current publisher’s information). The book, is reasonably well printed, albeit hurt by being set with linotype. The bulk of the book are sample pages from books published by the press, designs with little distinction in most cases. More interesting, I found, were the introductory sections which served as both advertisement and apologia for the press.
A Sort of Life by Graham Greene
[Finished 26 April 2008] I stumbled across my first edition copy of this at a book fair in Chicago some twenty years ago. Coming back to the book again I find it remarkably readable. There are parts of the book which I realize that I’ve managed to forget in such a way that I’ve incorporated them into my psyche, a sign of just how dramatically reading Greene has impacted my own personality.
Some readers have found the detachment in this first volume of memoir offputting, but the younger me found it exhilarating, while the older me finds it comfortable, a reminder of what I liked as a young man. I’ve become old enough that I no longer read writers’ autobiographies as a recipe for how to lead my own life, but instead as an insight into another mind.
Time Regained by Marcel Proust
[Finished 23 April 2008] The final book in In Search of Lost Time. I’m finally really bound up in Proust’s prose. So much so, that my thought as I finish this last volume is that I would like to re-read the whole thing, although I think that when I do, I would like to do it outside my usual context of bus rides and stolen moments.
The Truth About Managing People by Stephen P. Robbins
[Finished 16 April 2008] A somewhat helpful book. The organization is a set of very short (2-3 pages) essays on different topics of personnel management. A lot of it is focused on recruitment/interviewing, although that is a significant part of management (the other part being retention). It is definitely a useful book to keep on my desk to dip into as I need to consider special considerations, although it wasn’t quite everything that I had hoped it could have been.
Inside the Company: CIA Diary by Philip Agee
[Finished 15 April 2008] It’s not often that a book mentions in its closing passages exactly what’s wrong with it. As a book written to serve a particular agenda, in this case to expose the CIA’s efforts to undermine democracies in Latin America in the name of fighting communism.
Parts of the book are fascinating, particularly when Agee manages to give a good accounting of his own personal experiences, but large parts of it are a dump of classified information whether code names for CIA operations or listings of CIA operatives. If Agee were a better writer, it could have been a better book, but instead it ends up being little more than an attempt to harm the CIA (and this from a leftist who is fully in agreement with Agee’s beliefs).
Prague Pictures: A Portrait of the City by John Banville
[Finished 12 April 2008] A somewhat idiosyncratic look at Prague by an Irish author who describes the city partly from his own experiences in the city and partly through the lens of his researches for an historical novel about Kepler and Brahe.
I had bought the book, I think, hoping for some actual, pictures, having taken the title a bit too literally, but I found at least a few bits of description which help put me in Prague even without the illustrations.
Prototype and script.aculo.us: You Never Knew JavaScript Could Do This! by Christophe Porteneuve
[Finished 9 April 2008] I freely admit that it was the visual candy of script.aculo.us which brought me into learning this package, but the syntactical candy of prototype really impacted how I looked at writing JS code.
The book itself is a somewhat odd bird as at times it assumes familiarity with JS techniques and at other times, it assumes ignorance thereof. Overall, though it does provide pretty decent coverage of the Prototype and script.aculo.us libraries, although I would have liked a little more remedial JavaScript as part of the text.
Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene
[Finished 8 April 2008] Coming back to this book after a couple decades, I’m left amazed with the pure richness of the narrative. Sometimes the international travels seem a bit gratuitous, as if Greene had wanted to be able to justify some vacation time as a tax deduction, but it still ends up being an entertaining yarn, definitely one on my short list of the best Graham Greene novels.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
[Finished 4 April 2008] Russell’s novel manages to start on an amazingly high note, worth quoting in its entirety:
After the first exquisite songs were intercepted by radio telescope, U.N. diplomats debated long and hard whether and why human resources should be expended in an attempt to reach the world that would become known as Rakhat. In the Rome offices of the Society of Jesus, the questions were not whether or why but how soon the mission could be attempted and whom to send.The characters that Russell creates are largely well-drawn although two members of the party end up being little more than names and occupations. And the situation that she sets up is an amazingly intriguing one. The problem is that she doesn’t quite succeed in pulling off the conclusion of the story, not too difficult though since she’s trying to tackle the Job problem, how God can allow suffering and bad things to happen. Nevertheless, I’m still eager to take a look at the sequel that she wrote to see how well it works.The Jesuit scientists went to Rakhat to learn, not to proselytize. They went so that they might come to know and love God’s other children. They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the farthest frontiers of human exploration. They went for the greater glory of God.
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century E by Daniel Pool
[Finished 26 March 2008] An interesting enough book, talking about the facts of life in nineteenth century England. Pretty much it’s a collection of all the stuff that your college English professor said during discussion to provide context for what was happening in the novels you read. It’s primarily of use to readers rather than writers, but did provide some useful background to me (although some of the things which I’ve always wondered about, like clubs, is left unexplained).
Anthology of Catholic Poets edited by Joyce Kilmer
[Finished 20 March 2008] A New Critic’s dream. The poems here are identified only by title and author, with the selection listed in alphabetical order by poet’s name. No dates, no background information, only the text.
The subjects of the poem are mostly religious, although there are a handful of poems with secular topics as well. It provides a pretty good sense of what was in vogue at the opening of the twentieth century (the first edition of this book was produced in 1917). A later edition added some additional poems to the collection including a fair number by Kilmer himself.
Ten Miracle Plays edited by R. G. Thomas
[Finished 10 March 2008] One of the ancient books in my collection. I picked this up at a time when I had the idea of writing a great comprehensive paper on reinterpretations of the gospel story (intending to write about everything from medieval miracle plays to Andrew Lloyd Weber). I never did.
The book is a collection of different portions of multiple pageants, all presented in unmodernized middle English. The decision to simply provide a glossary at the back of the book rather than marginal annotations was not one that I would have made. It was interesting to see the medieval didacticism at work in the play.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
[Finished 7 March 2008] I first learned about GTD from Merlin Mann, and frankly, there’s enough from that site that the book isn’t strictly necessary, but I still found the book really wonderful and helpful. I’ve just begun really employing a GTD workflow in my work day, focusing on capture and categorization at this point, but it does make my life much easier, especially as my responsibilities at work have increased and I find that there’s much to take care of. I’m using Omnifocus as a primary organizer at the moment, although I’m finding that in some ways, the software acts as an obstacle to the workflow as much as an assistant. But regardless of my own experiences, I can see that there’s a lot to be learned here and I can see how it will make me more productive and less stressed.
The Bible: Its Criticism, Interpretation and Use in 16th and 17th Century England by Dean Freiday
[Finished 5 March 2008] Although this book is labeled as being part of the Catholic and Quaker studies series, for the most part it is concerned with the development of Biblical studies in Anglican and Puritan circles (there are, however, some Quaker and Catholic scholars discussed as well).
The Parables of Peanuts by Robert L. Short
[Finished 28 February 2008] Back in the 60s, Robert Short managed to parlay the occasional references to Christian theology into a minor publishing empire. The text itself is a pretty straightforward theological treatise, pretty much a low church Calvinist perspective. By illustrating his points with Peanuts cartoons, Short managed to get people who might not otherwise ever read theology to read his texts. It was apparently a successful gambit: My copy was bought used and has the original 1960s cover, but the book is still in print 40 years later (I imagine that his earlier book, The Gospel According to Peanuts is also still in print).
It’s an interesting approach, and while some of the cartoon references are a bit of a stretch (and he has many instances of describing a cartoon without showing it), but he does manage to provide an interesting and compelling framework for his theological exposition, even if I don’t always agree with all of his conclusions.
Perl Medic: Transforming Legacy Code by Peter J. Scott
[Finished 28 February 2008] Bleah. This is a wannabe Perl Best Practices, but without the quality or depth of Conway’s work. In fact, a fair number of the suggestions are the opposite of best practices. Don’t bother with this one, get Conway and consider yourself done.
Pro Perl Debugging by Richard Foley with Andy Lester
[Finished 23 February 2008] I opened the box from amazon and found a hardcover computer book. Imagine my surprise.
Cover aside, there’s a fair amount of good information in here, although it seems at the same time to be about half filler (I think this has been my experience with Apress books in general). There are, however, some good recipes for debugging web applications (short version, run Apache in single-user mode), and for those of us who like paper references, it’s a useful tome to have on the shelf.
Can We Be Good Without God? A Conversation About Truth, Morality, Culture, and a Few Other Things That Matter by Paul Chamberlain
[Finished 20 February 2008] When I was an undergrad, there was always that person in class who would write their essays in story form. I never did it because it seemed that it was always the worst of both worlds, as fiction, it suffered because it was being forced to conform to the requirements of an essay and as an essay it suffered for being forced to conform to the requirements of fiction.
This book is a prime example of this at work, with the added bonus of it not being a very good argument to begin with. The characters are two-dimensional with their only purpose being to represent viewpoints, and those not very well.
Chamberlain presents his Ted the Christian (as a note in how bad the fiction is, this is, in fact, how the character is described, and the others are similarly named) character as a smug know-it-all who manages to easily demolish the straw man arguments which represent the opposing viewpoints. Each person ends up being quickly convinced of the correctness of Ted’s perspective.
Alas, what this book ultimately does is unintentionally provide a good argument for the deconstructionist view of morality, that there is no way of pinning down an objective system of morals from within the system. There ends up being a choice as arbitrary as “arbol” meaning “tree” and while it may not be aesthetically pleasing, it does carry its own logic.
Practical Perforce by Debra Wingerd
[Finished 15 February 2008] For whatever reason, my current employer is using perforce for version control. Not being familiar with it (but having used RCS, CVS, SVN and even SourceSafe in the past), I figured that it would be a good idea to read the book so that I could tell what practices were dictated by the software and what were cultural (and perhaps subject to improvement).
All told, I have to say that I prefer svn’s overall methodology. It just seems a lot more agile than the perforce approach, although the final chapter on dealing with web-based projects is a bit more sensible. I’m thinking that there might be some applicable ideas in the agile version control with svn book, despite the use of the word “svn” in the title.
As a manual, the book falls a bit short. I’m thinking that there’s room for a good book that’s repository-neutral to talk about the best way to manage version control in a programming environment.
Sadhana: A Way to God: Christian Exercises in Eastern Form by Anthony de Mello
[Finished 13 February 2008] I’ve been dipping into this book a little at a time for a few years now. There are a total of 47 exercises in the book, drawing on Jesuit and eastern traditions as a means of developing spirituality. This is really the sort of book to keep on a table in your prayer space, more than one to sit down and read. There are places where it really feels like it would be helpful to have someone acting as a facilitator for the exercise (perhaps doing these in a group context would be a good idea so that a facilitator can read the instructions). As it was, some of the exercises didn’t really work as individual exercises. But overall, it seems a useful tool for one’s spiritual development.
Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen
[Finished 13 February 2008] This is the sort of book that needs to be kept on the bookshelf to be most useful. A simple read-through is helpful to get the lay of the land (and perhaps is essential), but this is really a resource collection, a set of ideas for how to structure and implement the end of a sprint retrospective (although the content is not really scrum-specific). Having read through it once, I was ready to start dipping into it in planning my next retrospective and will likely continue to do so.
Five Cries of Youth by Merton P. Strommen
[Finished 8 February 2008] An interesting book. It’s a bit dated in that much of the book is based on surveys done between the late 60s through early 80s (what’s more, it feels as if most of the book was written in the early seventies then lightly edited to reflect societal changes in the early 80s).
While the work is based on good hard data, there does seem to be a bit of an a prioristic slant to the interpretation, where the five cries were pre-determined, rather than emerged from data clusters. But even with that, it does provide an interesting framework for working with youth, and a pointer, if not a model, for how to do research in psychology of religion
Death March by Edward Yourdon
[Finished 7 February 2008] When I started my new job, this book was sitting on my desk. Fortunately, it seems that the corporate culture is not one which encourages (or, it seems, tolerates) death march projects.
So the book has little immediate applicability (my wife, on the other hand, is a different story). There are some ideas which are good general technical management practice though, and I can see being able to employ them in a non death-march context.
MySQL Database Design and Tuning by Robert D. Schneider
[Finished 5 February 2008] A decent enough book, although too much of it seemed like it was straight out of the MySQL manual, without enough supplemental information. Why would I choose InnoDB over MyISAM? How exactly do I interpret the results from EXPLAIN? There was nowhere near enough of this sort of information, which I would really have liked to have seen.
The Collected Essays by Graham Greene
[Finished 1 February 2008] As an undergraduate I started reading this collection, but I don’t think that I ever finished it. I can guess how far I got into it by where the familiar turned alien. The review of Recusant Poets that turned me onto my undergraduate thesis topic was familiar. The account of Castro and 1960s Cuba, or Pope Pius XII were unfamiliar, but fascinating.
The Captive & The Fugitive by Marcel Proust
[Finished 31 January 2008] As I come into the home stretch of In Search of Lost Time, I find myself beginning to really get Proust. I have some sense of the sprawling landscape of the novel and the long stretches of uninterrupted prose are easier to get through, I’m almost ready to try re-reading the whole thing, although that will likely be a pleasure reserved for later in my life.
Best American Short Stories 2007 edited by Stephen King
[Finished 19 January 2008] It’s probable that it’s at least partly a consequence of King’s sensibilities, but I found this volume to be far more plot-oriented than last year’s edited by Ann Patchett. King notes in his introduction that he feels that the American short story is alive but not well, largely because writers have become too focused on writing for other writers as opposed to writing for readers, a trend which tends to reinforce and be reinforced by declining circulations of literary magazines.
In this volume, my favorites were John Barth’s “Toga Party,” Lauren Groff’s “L. Debard and Alietto: A Love Story,” and Richard Russo’s “Horseman,” although unlike the 2006 volume, there really weren’t any stories that left me cold.
The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs
[Finished 15 January 2008] I love A. J. Jacobs’s books. At least in part because he engages in the sort of quixotic enterprises that I enjoy myself. He reads the Encyclopedia Brittanica, I watch the IMDB Top 250.
For his latest book, I realized that what Jacobs is doing is a more extreme version of the kind of thing that I do for my lenten sacrifice. I’m actually a bit jealous of the extent to which Jacobs was able to take things, as well as that initial journey of spiritual discovery. In his year of taking the Bible literally, he found that religion is not merely self-delusion, but does speak to something transcendent, even if the Bible is not quite the perfect guide that many claim it is.
Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas with Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt
[Finished 11 January 2008] A pretty good book which manages to thread the line between needing to be a tutorial and needing to be a reference. The big problem I see is a complete lack of coverage of any of the practical library components necessary to do any real development work. I suspect that this is part of why Rails is viewed as an almost inseparable part of Ruby.
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells
[Finished 9 January 2008] In my little H. G. Wells marathon, this was the only story that I didn’t have any previous exposure to. The closest I came was the trailer for the 1996 film.
So maybe that’s why of the three Wells novels, this was the one that made the greatest impression on this reading. I found myself thinking that it was an especially creepy story, one which left me chilled as I finished reading it. Perhaps it was also aided by a relative lack of Wells’s usual sociological moralizing.
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
[Finished 8 January 2008] I don’t know if I ever read this as a child or if my memories are based primarily on the various adaptations of the story (the old black and white film, Orson Welles’s radio broadcast, even the Spielberg film).
It’s interesting to see how Wells adapted his preference for first person narration to a story which really needed multiple points of view (by recounting the experiences of the narrator’s brother and making references to pamphlets which had been published).
But the real crux of the novel seems to be the encounter between the narrator and the artilleryman near the end of the book when the artilleryman outlines his plan for surviving until the humans are able to finally defeat the Martians. It almost seems an echo of the Morlocks from The Time Machine.
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
[Finished 4 January 2008] I had read this book at some point in my childhood, so I had a vague recollection of the Eloi and the Morlocks, along with mental images which resurfaced as I read the book.
But what I didn’t remember, and what probably eluded me on that first reading, was the social commentary which is an essential part of this book. Wells was clearly concerned about a strict separation of the classes, and more than anything else, this book seems a parable designed to warn against the dangers of the idle rich depending too heavily on the working classes and being unable to function for themselves.
The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt
[Finished 2 January 2008] What a wonderful book. As a number theory math guy, the prospect of reading a novel about Ramanujan was already appealing, but Leavitt is a skilled writer and managed to handle the story remarkably well. The focus of the story is on G.H. Hardy, including a significant amount of his personal life that I was unaware of (I hadn’t known that he was gay). The mathematics is presented in a way that manages to not frighten off the non-mathematical (or so I assume) while still providing enough information for the mathematically inclined to get the sense of what’s in there. And perhaps most deliciously, The Anecdote is saved until almost the end of the book, something which keeps those of us who know little more than the bare outlines of Ramanujan’s life on our toes waiting for it to finally appear in the narrative.
I think one test of a historical novel is whether it inspires the reader to want to learn more about the subject of the story. By that test, Leavitt has more than passed the test.
Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook by Ian Langworth and chromatic
[Finished 31 December 2007] I wanted to get a stronger sense of the testing capabilities of Perl, so, this being the sole book on the topic that I was aware of, I placed an order.
The book is fairly dense and designed more as a reference than a tutorial. It helps to have a computer handy to try the code that’s provided and do experiments, but even more so, it’s a means to be able to learn the material well.
It’s a very different approach than the Head First series which I’ve taken to much more closely, but it does seem to have a valuable place in the nerdbook ecosystem.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
[Finished 30 December 2007] Hearing an interview with Díaz on NPR, I thought that this would be a book that I would enjoy a great deal, but I found that large stretches of the book left me feeling a bit bored. The character of Oscar was compelling, but much of the rest of the book was less interesting. I can see how some of the parallels that Díaz set up were meant to work, but I don’t think that it was that successfully managed.
The Comedians by Graham Greene
[Finished 30 December 2007] In one of my English classes, the professor asked us what would be the epigraph for our lives. I had recently read the Gospel of Matthew and had quoted it a fair amount in my papers and he thought perhaps I would take my epigraph from that book, but I told him that I thought I would take it instead from Greene’s novel, writing, “I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate.”
Coming back to this novel 19 years later, I realize that I only read it the one time, so I was able to have quickly forgotten the twists of the story, only the general outlines and a handful of memorable scenes. It’s a good read, and while it’s not up to the quality of Greene’s earlier work, I enjoyed it a fair amount.
Beware of God by Shalom Auslander
[Finished 23 December 2007] After reading Auslander’s memoir, I decided to take a look at his stories. Auslander is a writer of some skill, although he seems to have a rather limited range and many of the stories are riffs on the same joke, one which also is central to Auslander’s memoir as well. Some of the stories manage to take this riff and bring it to brilliant heights of comedy, but others fall flat or, in the worst case, descend to the depths of mediocrity. There is a fair amount of potential that is lost because of Auslander’s apparent fear of really facing the full depths of his topic.
Interestingly enough, the copyright page does not include any previous publication information on any of the stories. I’m not sure whether that’s an indication that this is a collection of stories never previously published.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
[Finished 20 December 2007] Wow.
One of the concerns I’ve found myself exploring in my own writing has been language, so when I heard about this novel, I immediately had to read it.
Wow.
The story is serviceable, a story of love found and lost. But the telling of it, in the context of learning a language (and the learning of the language was the context of writing the novel), is amazingly beautiful. Guo manages to make broken English readable for 300 pages. Absolutely brilliant. The language gradually transforms as the book advances, which, although it’s not done quite as perfectly as one might hope, is still effective at conveying the development of Z’s facility with the language.
Ron Carlson Writes a Story by Ron Carlson
[Finished 18 December 2007] I’ve tended to be someone who leans away from writing books written by writers. Far more interesting and useful is the advice proffered by editors and agents, people who have a view of many many manuscripts and have some sense of what the slush pile looks like.
But that said, there is some value for knowing something about how an individual writer approaches their writing. This is a somewhat interesting take in that it takes a line-by-line approach to how Carlson was inspired to write a single short story. It’s somewhat interesting, but I found myself wishing for more of the craft than the inspiration. There’s much more to be learned from how the story was crafted than where the ideas come from. And in this case, the structure of the book, creates the unfortunate illusion that there was a single draft through in the writing process.
ABC of Leather Bookbinding by Edward R. Lhotka
[Finished 17 December 2007] A delightful little book. Not quite enough to learn leather bookbinding without an instructor, but a great reference in conjunction with actual instruction. Every other page is an illustration. Definitely worth finding a copy on the second-hand market.
Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett
[Finished 17 December 2007] I still have mixed feelings about Andrea Barrett’s writing. It seems that she misses the mark a fair amount, but partly because she’s so willing to push the fiction much farther than is safe. The short story which is clearly connected to The Air We Breathe is apparently her first effort at the first person plural narrative and it’s a bit clunkier in its first attempt.
The Linnaeus stories, though are superb and are worth the price of admission alone, as is the title novella.
Munster Village by Mary Hamilton
[Finished 16 December 2007] For some reason, I went through an eighteenth-century novel phase in my early twenties and this was one of the books that I bought that I never quite managed to pick up. Reading it now, I found it to be a somewhat tedious read.
In Search of a Character: Two African Journals by Graham Greene
[Finished 16 December 2007] Reading this, I find that the form is very similar to what my notebooks that I kept during college and the following years. I wonder now, how much I was influenced by reading this slender book.
The first part, Greene’s journal when he was preparing to write A Burnt-Out case is the more interesting part and confirms my suspicion that that work was meant to be Greene’s final novel.
The second part, notes on the journey to west Africa during World War II is rather less interesting, perhaps because it lacks the raw material of a novel.
Foreskin's Lament by Shalom Auslander
[Finished 13 December 2007] After hearing Auslander interviewed on Fresh Air, I thought that this might be an interesting book to read. Auslander has an interesting relationship with God, one which is both complex and juvenile at the same time.
I don’t always find Auslander to be a sympathetic character although he is refreshingly honest in his depictions of his struggles with responding to his sexuality and the temptations to spend the day with porn and pot instead of writing.
In all, it’s an interesting memoir of struggles with belief and the consequences thereof, good enough to suggest that his collection of short stories about God would be worth reading.
The Gnostic Scriptures by Bentley Layton
[Finished 13 December 2007] It’s interesting to note that the later editions of this book identify it as being part of the Anchor Reference Library (I have a first edition hardcover which does not do so). The style and organization is very much that of the Anchor Bible Commentary series.
Layton provides copious background and commentary on the texts he discusses, some of which only exist as fragments quoted in anti-Gnostic polemic texts or as summaries of the matter in the same. Enough intact manuscripts exist, however, to attest to the accuracy of the manuscripts.
For those who think that The Da Vinci Code presented anything like an accurate account of Gnosticism, reading this book will be a shock. The philosophical and cosmological understandings of the Gnostics come across as distinctly bizarre, albeit familiar at times to those who know their way through Plato’s dialogues (the concept of the androgynous original humans of The Symposium is fundamental to some of the concepts of Gnostic thought).
The texts themselves tend to be painfully dense and twisted and most of the time, I found that Layton’s introduction essential to being able to follow the text.
Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
[Finished 6 December 2007] While digging up the ISBN for this at Amazon, it appears that the exam has changed since I (well, my wife, actually) got the book. Looks like another purchase may be necessary, although this exam is apparently still given as well...
The text is well-presented and gives good advice on how to approach the material. I found the Bates/Sierra jokey style a bit cloying at times as I read through the book, but it didn’t detract too much from the information being presented. The practice CD is, alas, Windows-only (come on folks, right the software in Java!), which leaves the paper-only reader with fewer practice questions than I would like.
Quarantine by Jim Crace
[Finished 6 December 2007] After this was mentioned on NPR, I decided to give the book a look. It’s a rather odd look at the historical Jesus, perhaps akin to Kazantakis’s Last Temptation of Christ. Not exactly a naturalistic understanding of the events, as there is at least one, if not two, putative miracles in the story. And yet, the understanding of the events—Crace is recounting the 40 days in the desert—is not exactly orthodox either.
By focusing on the other hermits in the desert and giving us some sense of what a desert quarantine would be like in first century Palestine, we get some more insight into just what Jesus’s task would have been. Familiar biblical phrases appear, but transposed and not necessarily with the same meaning that they have in the gospels.
In all, a well-written and thought-provoking work although not quite having the impact of Kazantzakis which stands apart as the best of the modern re-imaginings of the gospel story.
Run by Ann Patchett
[Finished 30 November 2007] I’m thinking that I have a new favorite author. This is another one of those brilliant works of literature which have so many depths to them to explore. Consider the title. One short word, but one which has so much meaning. You can run on a track, or run for office, or have the run of the laboratory, or run the household, or run away (figuratively or literally), or things can run in the family or be run over by a car. Somewhere there’s an English major who’s getting 5-10 double-spaced pages on this topic for their contemporary literature professor who will remember this paper when she writes a letter of recommendation for that student’s application to a PhD program.
This is only the second Patchett novel that I’ve read, but I’m hooked on her use of language, something so skilled that I need to switch over to classical music on my iPod when I’m reading so that I don’t get distracted from her words, something I normally only need to do for poetry, she’s that good.
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
[Finished 27 November 2007] O’Neill has a compelling voice in this work and manages to capture the language and psychology of a child remarkably well in this book. Although there are occasional points where she lapses from her 12-year-old’s perspective to philosophize, these might be forgiven somewhat as a bit of reflection from a presumably older point of view.
A far bigger problem for me is the structure of the narrative. While it’s very well told, even given the rather ugly turn the narrative takes, it tends to be rather episodic, more like memoir than novel. That, plus a happy ending which felt tacked on and somewhat out of character with the rest of the narrative left me feeling like this wasn’t quite the great work of literature it could have become.
The Air We Breathe by Andrea Barrett
[Finished 25 November 2007] I caught an interview with Barrett on the Writers on Writing podcast and was intrigued by the concept of the first person plural narrative structure. It’s a fascinating conceit, and one which gives Barrett at least some of the freedoms of an omniscient narrator while retaining some of the intimacy which is characteristic of a first-person narrative. but at the same time, the conflict of the two left me feeling like the book was being narrated by some sort of disembodied consciousness: At no point were any names ascribed to the collective we, nor any actions directly connected to the narrative. There also seemed to be a fair number of cases where it didn’t make sense for the collected narrators to know some aspects of what had happened.
But even so, and with a plot which manages to be predictable and compelling at the same time, Barrett’s use of language gripped me and enabled me to ignore the POV issues (I’m beginning to think that we’re actually on the verge of breaking out of a neoclassical rigidity with respect to POV which would be quite welcome in some cases and a bit disastrous in others). I am intrigued enough that I think I may read Ship Fever to get a broader sense of Barrett’s style.
A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene
[Finished 24 November 2007] Given what I know about Greene’s life now, it’s hard to not read this book as a somewhat autobiographical statement (in fact, Greene admitted as much in a letter to Evelyn Waugh). There’s a bleakness to Greene’s psyche at this point which is stunning. And yet, despite the presence of annoyingly ernest Catholics like M. Rycker and Fr Thomas in the narrative, there is also some hope lurking in the margins of the book that perhaps God does exist. This is not the narrative of a committed atheist, but of someone who, like Querry, is a burnt-out case, who has lost hope and the ability to love.
I suspect that this was meant to be Greene’s swan-song, and only a rather bad choice of investment advisors forced Greene into having to continue writing over the remainder of his life.
The Holy Bible translated by Ronald Knox
[Finished 19 November 2007] Ronald Knox was a polymath whose path took him from the Anglican priesthood to the Catholic priesthood. This was probably what he considered his greatest work, but courtesy of changing standards of Catholic biblical scholarship has ended up a footnote. What we are presented with is a translation of the Vulgate Bible with reference to the Hebrew and Greek originals, finished just in time for the Catholic church to declare that it was no longer necessary for Catholic Bibles must be based on the Vulgate.
The New Testament translation seems to me to be superior in its use of the English language than does the Old Testament, perhaps at least partly because the latinized spellings of NT names are generally close to the anglicized spellings as opposed to the frequently bizarre spellings of the Vulgate OT (e.g., Noe for Noah or Osee for Hosea).
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
[Finished 16 November 2007] I found this a bit more developed a story than Slaughter-House Five although the book ends with more of a whimper than a bang after building to a crescendo in which all the characters are brought together.
I note that the book was made into a film. This was doubtless a grave artistic misstep as the value of the book is much less in the story (which is the core of a good film) and more in the use of language in telling the story. One of the narrative conceits which is common to the two Vonnegut novels which I’ve read at this point is the explanation of the obvious throughout the story. Unlike with the insult-your-intelligence footnotes that I’ve complained about in some other books, these explanations carry with them the unspoken belief that the reader knows damn well about what’s being explained, and it’s the sly explanation, often in a satyric vein, which makes the story worth telling.
I have to admit that in general, while Vonnegut’s voice continues to impress me, I find his story-telling itself to be a bit disappointing. He falls back too much on giving 2-paragraph summaries of Killgore Trout novels as a means of commenting on the events in the story, a trope which leaves me a bit unimpressed.
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
[Finished 15 November 2007] As I read this, I came to the realization that many of my favorite Greene novels aren’t beloved for their style, but for their plots and characterization. This is another light novel, although it does turn a bit darker as Wormold’s circle of “agents” begins to be targeted for elimination or intimidation. It’s telling that Captain Segura, the police officer with a cigarette case made from human skin, ends up being an at least partially sympathetic character after being introduced as an intimidating figure. Meanwhile, Braun and Carter end up seeming as much deus ex machina to move the plot as real character.
Sherry’s biography of Greene gives some insight into Greene’s writing practice at this stage of his life and it does provide some explanation of the weaknesses of Greene’s long-form fiction at this stage of his career.
Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Freeman with Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates
[Finished 15 November 2007] Quite simply, this is the best book for learning design patterns. Yes, it’s a bit overstuffed with some fluff and filler (and perhaps a bit too much whitespace in places, which is an uncommon complaint for contemporary computing paper brick books). By beginning with a problem to be solved then showing how a pattern fits it, the authors manage to do an outstanding job of presenting what could be a difficult and abstract problem.
The examples are presented in Java, but it should be a simple matter for any competent programmer to use this to apply patterns to her preferred language if it’s not Java.
If the rest of the Head First series is this good, then O’Reilly has a big winner on its hands here.
Jake's Thing by Kingsley Amis
[Finished 14 November 2007] I was in Claremont and planning on heading back into L.A. but had no book. Add in that it was the final day of existence for Claremont Books and Prints (although much of the inventory and the selling thereof in the space is continuing--sans the presence of Chic Goldsmith--as Second Story Books), so I spent some time digging through the selection in the fiction room for something I could read on the train. My something turned out to be Amis’s book Jake’s Thing. While there were some funny bits, for the most part it struck me as a bitter book written by a bitter man with little to redeem it. Let me leave a letter for my future self: Don’t ever write a book about how awful the sex life of a middle-aged (or, for that matter, old) man is. It’s not that interesting. Also leave out the writing about lusting over younger women as well.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
[Finished 9 November 2007] Among the authors whom I’ve never read, much to the surprise of others, is Kurt Vonnegut. Perhaps it was because in high school Dave Orland loved Vonnegut but his girlfriend Kim Bartosz found him vile (and if you found yourself at this page by googling either of them, drop me a line).
So now that I’ve read my first Vonnegut (prompted by the comic strip Frazz to read not just this one but also Breakfast of Champions), I can see a big part of the appeal of Vonnegut: he has a distinctive and infectious voice in his writing. In fact, I’m almost tempted to put aside any writing projects until I finish Breakfast of Champions just to make sure that none of this voice creeps into my own writing.
There is also a lot to say against Vonnegut as well, though. His style is the sort of thing that I would imagine many of the pretentious high school students who love him grow out of as they transform themselves from pretentious high school students into pretentious adults. And the marriage of the science fiction (or is it mental illness) and wart narratives doesn’t seem to quite work for me.
The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy
[Finished 8 November 2007] This book is an odd little backwater of Hardy’s output: A massive three-part verse drama which would not have been easily produced (if it were even possible) at the time that he wrote it. Certainly the fledgling film industry had begun to exist by this point, but it’s difficult to see Hardy anticipating the invention of the mini-series this early in the twentieth century.
As an account of the Napoleonic wars, it comes across as a bit slow and turgid. Apparently Hardy had wanted to face the subject of the Napoleonic wars for some time (The Trumpet Major which I read earlier this year being his previous work which touched on it), but was put off from writing it in novel form because of the immense shadow cast by Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Alas as a verse dramatist, I find Hardy to be a bit of a failure, and this work is justifiably consigned to the back corners of the literary world.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
[Finished 7 November 2007] Since I became a member of my current writing group, I’ve become a lot more conscious of point of view in writing. I used to simply assume that third person was the same as omniscient (and as I read closely, this seems to be the rule in a lot of older writing). So when I heard in an interview with Patchett that Bel Canto is considered to be a masterwork of writing in third-person omniscient, I decided to take a look at it.
Wow.
This is one of the best-written books I’ve read in some time. I think part of it is that unlike a lot of literary fiction, it actually is about more than the language in which it is written. There’s a story worth stopping the wedding guests for here.
And the story is told not only with style and beauty but with humor (for example, the translator who learned Swedish by watching Ingmar Bergman films and thus is best equipped to discuss dark subjects). My previous experience with Patchett had been her work as an editor on Best American Short Stories 2006 and I had feared the worst coming into this book. Instead, I found the best.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
[Finished 30 October 2007] I guess it was all the buzz about Sebold’s new novel which provoked me to finally read this book. I can remember seeing it on the tables by the entrance to Borders and found the conceit of the novel intriguing: A story told by a murdered girl from the perspective of heaven. But it never really attracted me enough to actually read the book.
Coming to it now, I wish I had read it earlier. Sebold has managed to succeed phenomenally at capturing the psyche and language of a young girl denied the chance to move into adulthood and her narrative conceit gives her a logical way to be able to look into the thoughts of any character while retaining the distinctive voice of a first-person narration.
But writing this a week after finishing the novel, I find myself feeling a bit empty about the book. There was something--I can’t quite put my finger on exactly what--lacking from the book which left me feeling that what I read was good--very good, in fact--but fell short of being great.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 8: The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 30 October 2007] The format of the books is completely broken at this point with the Baudelaires on the run at the beginning of the story. Putting aside some of the bizarre leaps of logic (although I do realize the oddity of being less concerned about a baby passing as a doctor than records about the fire which killed the Baudelaire’s parents being kept at a hospital), the story progresses although mostly in the way that seems typical of the middle movie of a trilogy. We’re being positioned for a continuation of the narrative more than telling a story worthy of standing alone.
Loser Takes All by Graham Greene
[Finished 29 October 2007] As I continue my Graham Greene re-reading project, I’m brought to the first of his “light” novels. This was, in a way, the first side of Greene that I was exposed to when I first discovered him in high school when I read Monsignor Quixote (which manages to merge the light Greene with the Catholic Greene).
As a purely entertaining book, this shows a new side of Greene, one which must have seemed alien to Greene (although if I remember correctly, he had published some mildly humorous short stories by this point as well). The change in tone must have been shocking to Greene’s readers at the time, especially coming in the wake of The End of the Affair and The Quiet American
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
[Finished 25 October 2007] An interesting book, although not quite the book promised by the title. Gilbert’s interests are primarily in cognitive psychology, particularly in the study of perception, so while we would think that this would be a book about what makes people happy, it turns out to instead be a book about how people perceive and anticipate the world and only tangentially about how this impacts happiness.
But getting beyond that, Gilbert has written a good overview of much of current research into cognitive psychology in a humorous and engaging style which I find the sort of thing which could be helpful for teachers to read to get an idea of how to make dry material engaging.
Rasselas, Poems and Selected Prose by Samuel Johnson
[Finished 24 October 2007] Samuel Johnson, I’ve come to realize, is not an author that people read for pleasure. And yes, I realize the irony of that statement. This is one of two selections of Johnson’s writing that are left over from my undergrad days and the first that I’ve undertaken to read cover to cover.
I remember being assigned Johnson as an undergrad and wondering why, precisely, we were assigned to read him. As a poet he was a decidedly minor figure and his “novel,” Rasselas pales in comparison with other prose fiction of the period. Since the curricula of an English major tends to be overwhelmingly focused on poetry, fiction and drama, the concept of dealing with essays, particularly, the sort of essays which Johnson specialized in, which are now an extinct genre, seemed especially alien.
Coming at Johnson again with a couple decades’ reading to intervene, Johnson still seems not especially worthy of reading. He occupies an odd space between philosophy and literature. His life is more interesting than his works and I find myself thinking that I would rather re-read Boswell than this volume.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
[Finished 22 October 2007] Greene’s use of the first person narration has greatly improved betwen his writing of The End of the Affair and this novel. Part of it, no doubt, was the consequence of spending more time on the novel: This was three years’ work. The narrator, again, is recognizably similar to Greene, but the plot is less close to his experiences and as a consequence he is able to put more art into what he writes.
A lot of the attention to this novel is based on the prescient account of American intervention in Vietnam, but really, that’s just decoration on the real story, the love triangle of Fowler, Pyle and Phuong. It’s interesting to note that while the first film of this novel, with Audie Murphy, grotesquely misportrayed the politics of the movie, it did a better job than the Caine-Fraser film of depicting the personal relationships which are the center of the novel.
I also find, re-reading this novel that Greene’s writing here is essentially cinematic. So much of the text is devoted to setting scenes and providing a sense of place. There’s a lot to be learned from this novel in that respect.
Brasyl by Ian McDonald
[Finished 17 October 2007] In 1986, Paul Simon released Graceland an amazing fusion of his own songwriting with the stylings of musicians from South Africa. Four years later he followed that up with The Rhythm of the Saints, an imminently forgettable attempt to redo that success by incorporating Brazilian musicians into his music.
Ian McDonald appears to be following in Simon’s footsteps by following up what I’ve heard is an outstanding science fiction novel set in future India with a science fiction novel set in future (and present and past) Brazil. Alas, like Simon’s 1990 album, I’m left with a sense of the effort being more tourism than real understanding.
That’s not to claim that my understanding of Brazil runs any deeper than a few Caetano Veloso CDs and a viewing of Cidade de Deus on DVD, but rather that my sense is that McDonald’s understanding of Brazil doesn’t run much deeper.
That said, there are some moments of brilliance, particularly the opening scene of a pilot of a reality show centered around filming car thieves stealing a car rigged with hidden cameras with the prize being the stolen car if they succeed at evading the police for the duration of the show. Had McDonald focused on this character and the social degeneracy around her television producing life, he could have had an outstanding work (or perhaps merely a poor knock-off of Series 7: The Contenders).
We’re taken through a plausible series of events centering around a quantum multiverse but the final pay off again leaves a fair amount to be desired. I think that I’ll read McDonald’s River of Gods to give him another chance, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with this book.
The Bill From My Father: A Memoir by Bernard Cooper
[Finished 12 October 2007] In a lot of ways, this book really is a shining example of how to write good literature: Write a beautiful sentence, and then write another. Cooper has a knack for being able to write beautiful sentences even when he doesn’t have that much to say. Fortunately, there’s a fair amount of interesting material here, although the titular bill doesn’t show up until fairly late in the book. I think that I might have used that as the hook to build the book from, although the bill was, in many ways, not as detailed as I might have imagined. There’s also a bit too much writing about writing the book, instead of writing the book itself, although I suppose that’s a hazard of being a memoirist: After a certain point, what you’re remembering is the act of writing itself.
But even with these weaknesses, the book is always a good read, and while I don’t feel that Cooper succeeded in revealing much about his father’s life before the events of the book took place, he does an excellent job of showing his father’s life declining into dementia and ultimately death.
Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
[Finished 10 October 2007] This was, I have little doubt, an absolutely hilarious book when it was first published. But changing tastes and social conditions leave it as more of a slow text of jokes that seem like they could almost be funny to the twenty-first century reader. I can see some roots of later satires, particularly Gulliver’s Travels but also The BFG in the book, but ultimately, I was more bored than entertained by the book.
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
[Finished 9 October 2007] I first read this eighteen years ago in the aftermath of a painful and inexplicable (to me, at least) break-up. I thought it was a work of genius, and I began writing my own story, about a character going through a break-up with a girl named Sarah that I realized on its completion was complete and utter dreck, although between the reading and writing (and perhaps also some subconscious remembrance of The French Lieutenant’s Woman), I had developed such a complete dedication to the name, that I still sometimes have a hard time convincing myself that I have, in fact, never actually dated a Sarah.
So to return to the book in a different state of mind and stage of life, I find my reaction to its pages quite different. I see further confirmation of my belief that break-up fiction makes for good therapy and lousy literature. I don’t think that I’m likely to continue citing this novel as the counterexample. There are huge problems of characterization, particularly with the narrator, Maurice Bendrix, who is meant to be an atheist, but who keeps making references to Catholic belief (so much so, that when Garrison Keillor described the book on Greene’s birthday on “The Writer’s Almanac,” he incorrectly stated that Bendrix was a devout Catholic). There are also clumsy repetitions that leave me feeling like I’m reading a barely-edited first draft, as if this were a book that Greene wanted to get out of his system as quickly as possible. I can’t help but feel that this is perhaps an almost-masterpiece, but falls far enough away from success that its status in the canon is undeserved.
The Unknown Karl Marx edited by Robert Payne
[Finished 5 October 2007] This was a less interesting collection than I had hoped. It’s a hodge-podge of materials by and about Marx which had not been previously published in English. These included Marx’s essays for graduation from gymnasium, a pair of embarrassing conspiracy theory pamphlets about how the Russians were secretly controlling Lord Palmerston, his wife’s unpublished short autobiography (with deletions, presumably, by Marx’s daughter) and some letters from Marx’s daughter to his illegitimate son). Nothing that really justified the purchase price. There was more of an intriguing look at the “unknown” Marx in the introduction to the Viking Portable Karl Marx.
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
[Finished 1 October 2007] What should I make of the fact that amazon doesn’t appear to have an in-print edition of this book? I thought that this was clearly part of The Canon and therefore immune from falling out of print.
This is yet another re-read for me as it occured to me that what I’m thinking of doing with draft three of the novel might be too close to what Fowles did here. It isn’t, although it could have come close and the re-read helped me delimit what I was going to do with the writing to avoid that problem.
I also found myself rediscovering a wonderful quote from chapter thirteen that I re-published in the Scripps College Press book, Livre des Livres (my copy of the book has the letter from Fowles granting permission to use his work with some small emendations to make the text stand better on its own).
The authorial intervention in the narrative is something that I intend to do, but it will be with some narrative purpose of its own, although I’m not quite certain just what that purpose will be. And the mock-Victorian narrative style is not something that I intend to attempt at all.
Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust
[Finished 30 September 2007] I stopped in a used bookshop in Santa Monica recently and noticed that in the edition of Proust they had on the shelves, this volume was entitled Cities of the Plain, an interesting bowdlerization of the title. I didn’t open it up to see if the text itself was similarly butchered.
I still find Proust to be a bit of a slog, I think partly because of the long uninterrupted stretches of prose (it’s especially difficult with paragraphs that run for two or more pages). But at the same time, I seem to have developed some affinity for Proust’s prose style as I didn’t feel as at sea while reading this volume as I have previously, even with the years that have passed since I’ve read the preceding volume. Only three more to go to complete the set.
The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene
[Finished 30 September 2007] This is one of the most religious of Greene’s works (if I recall correctly, this was the book which prompted one reviewer to wonder if Greene’s next book would even be understandable to a layperson). Certainly, the experiences of reading it before I became Catholic and reading it again as a Catholic were quite different.
The descriptions of Scobie’s loss of faith--if that’s even the right word for it--were especially haunting as he found himself cut off from the experience of God’s presence in his life. This is certainly in Greene’s top tier of works.
The Third Man / The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene
[Finished 21 September 2007] A novella and short story which are bound primarily by being transformed into films by Carol Reed and the need to hit a minimum page count in a published book.
The Third Man represents a first pass at the story and we’re faced with a curious situation: Most of the films of Graham Greene novels I’ve seen are pale shadows of the printed word. In this case, however, the film is a looming presence over the book. It’s difficult to read the book without imagining Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton in the central roles.
For the Fallen Idol, on the other hand, I have only a vague recollection of the film from a cable showing in the late ‘80s, so I’m able to look at the story as story. There’s an interesting thematic concern happening in the story, one which appears elsewhere in Greene’s writing, about the corruption of the child, the impinging of adult concerns and desires into the terrain which belongs rightfully to the innocence of childhood. As a story which is written for the page and not the screen, it seems to work better as a work of literature, even with the rather conventional plot that Greene uses to explore his themes.
Best American Short Stories 2006 edited by Ann Patchett
[Finished 19 September 2007] I’ve long seen this on the shelves in book stores (but with different years), and now that I’m back writing, especially writing short fiction, I figured that it was a good idea to read some of these stories. The general emphasis, in this volume, at least, seems to be on language and mood over character and plot. The one story which I absolutely loved was “The Casual Car Pool” by Katherine Bell which is a masterpiece of third person omniscient story-telling. She makes it look so easy. Others I enjoyed were “A New Gravestone for an Old Grave” by David Bezmogis, “The Conductor” by Aleksander Hemon, “Tattooizm” by Kevin Moffett, “So Much for Artemis” by Patrick Ryan and “Awaiting Orders” by Tobias Wolff. I did my best to avoid the usual writer’s reaction of “my stuff is so much better than this crap but keeps getting form rejections what’s wrong with the world,” although there were times it felt difficult. The Ann Beattie story largely confirmed what I had suspected before, that I’m not cool enough for McSweeney’s. I do want to read more of these volumes, as well as get the O’Henry Prize stories as well, so expect to see the new volumes on these pages when they appear and perhaps some working backwards through older volumes when I can turn them up.
Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx
[Finished 13 September 2007] Courtesy of MacBreak Weekly (no, really!), I keep reading show biz bios.
So next up was Harpo Marx. I always loved the Marx brothers as a kid, although I was more partial to Groucho than the others. Having read this, I’m wondering whether, in fact, Harpo was the real genius of the bunch. One of the highlights was reading about Harpo’s involvement with the Algonquin Roundtable, a rather incongruous match-up: The second-grade drop-out hanging out with some of the greatest literary wits of the time. But in reading this, it makes sense. They didn’t need another Harold Ross at the table, they needed someone to engage in juvenile antics to help relieve the pretension.
The voice of the story is wonderfully modest, with Harpo happily telling tales of his life with a sincere modesty and occasional bits of gee-whiz naivety.
I’m thinking that I want to read about George Burns or Jack Benny next after this batch.
101 Common Therapeutic Blunders by Richard C. Robertiello and Gerald Schoenewolf
[Finished 12 September 2007] I hadn’t looked too closely at this book when I picked it up at a used book store in Chicago some years back while I was studying psychology. Had I done so, I would have doubtless put it back on the shelf. This is a monstrous collection of Freudian mythology in fable form: Therapist A made mistake B with patient C because of some unresolved issue with his/her mother/father. At times, the Freudian jargon verges on the absurd. Castrating mothers, indeed! I had thought, perhaps, that reading this I might at least come up with some story ideas for fiction. Not hardly. I am happy to note that while the book was released in a paperback version, it has since gone out of print. Nevertheless, I am astonished that something like this could have been published as late as 1992. Somebody needs to make it abundantly clear to the psychodynamic people that they’re not practicing psychology, they’re practicing witchcraft. The few valid observations of Freud were much more efficiently and effectively explained by B. F. Skinner.
The Ministry of Fear by Graham Greene
[Finished 7 September 2007] Coming back to this book again, with the benefit of knowing the story, allows me to focus a bit more closely on Greene’s use of language and character. Wow. This is more than just an “entertainment” as Greene labels it. It explores the themes of sin and redemption that permeate Greene’s work in ways that sometimes seem at odds with the story being told, but ultimately, works well. This isn’t the best of Greene’s early works, but it’s an enjoyable read nonetheless.
Final Conclave by Malachi Martin
[Finished 3 September 2007] The problem with so much Pope Fiction is that there’s an overwhelming tendency to make the novel into a manifesto. This book is probably the most overwhelming example of this. The first 100+ pages of the book are Martin’s version of the history of the papacy of Paul VI (or as he, idiosyncratically writes, Paul 6). Then we get to the drawn out politicking of the selection of a successor.
There is little doubt throughout the book of where Martin’s sympathies lie although he decides to focus his attention on the actions of the liberal faction and leaves his proxies in the conclave as enigmatic sphinxes. He lays out a stark choice: Either return to a traditionalist church with liturgy in Latin or we’ll all be godless commies!
Being able to look back at the outcome of the geopolitics of the 70s with the advantage of 30 years of intervening history, Martin’s concern that Russia would come to dominate western Europe comes across as laughable.
As a piece of literature, the book is little better. The opening section has all the voice of an AP newswire, and through the use of an omniscient third person present-tense narrator, he manages to keep a journalistic tone throughout which only serves to make the book a dull slog, hardly worth the effort of opening, let alone reading.
Selected Poems by T. S. Eliot
[Finished 3 September 2007] Courtesy of Mr Caravello, my high school English teacher, I have the opening lines of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” permanently tattooed in my cerebral cortex. Curiously, throughout the entire coursework of a B.A. in English, I never revisited Eliot again.
I picked up this volume a decade and a half ago at Midnight Special Books, back when they were (a) still in existence and (2) on the Third Street Promenade (along with half a dozen other bookstores, none of which was Borders or Barnes and Noble). I only now got a chance to sit down with it and I continue to be in awe at Eliot’s abilities to make music from language. He makes it look easy, but from my own occasional efforts at poetry, I know that it’s far from easy to write a poem a fraction as good as what Eliot wrote.
At a younger age, it’s unlikely I would have fully appreciated the poems here, with the references to a mourning of lost youth and the religiosity which shows a man drawn towards Catholicism, but too timid to come any closer than high church Anglicanism. I may have to go ahead and spring for the complete poems.
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
[Finished 24 August 2007] Who’d’a thunk it? A Joseph Conrad novel which is not entirely in quotation marks.
Reading this, I can see that Conrad is somewhat less skilled at writing from an omniscient viewpoint and there are some scenes in particular which end up coming across rather poorly as he tries to tell us everything that we think that we should know, but the build up to the climax is quite gripping and it makes for an engaging read.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
[Finished 24 August 2007] Like many (most?) people coming to this story in the twenty-first century, my primary previous exposure comes from Walt Disney. Or more specifically, the Mr Toad’s Wild Ride attraction in Fantasyland (best ride in the whole damn park). So I have to say that when I got to that part of the story, I was somewhat shocked to discover that Grahame disposed of the whole affair with a scene break. Mr Toad drives off and the next we see him, he is on trial.
The story, for the most part, focuses on the character of Mole, who, one spring day decides to explore the world outside of his hole. We’re introduced to his friends Ratty, Toad, Otter and Badger, as well as an odd world in which anthropomorphic animals somehow coexist with humans, as well as sit down to an occasional plate of meat (I can picture that scene leading a young reader into vegetarianism as they begin assembling the consequences of such a scenario). In all it is a fun and gentle story which deserves a more prominent place in the canon than it currently occupies.
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
[Finished 21 August 2007] This is, I think, Graham Greene’s best-known work, and one which I’ve only read once before. Coming back to it again, and reading it close on the heels of The Lawless Roads, I can see the influence of Greene’s journey on his writing, but even more so, I see the clear influence of Greene’s consciousness of his position in the world as a Catholic. The theology of The Power and the Glory is more fully-formed than that of Brighton Rock and Greene’s attention has turned, at least briefly, from a focus on sin to a focus on grace, albeit grace as seen through the veil of sin. It is a perspective that Greene would never really regain until Monsignor Quixote, I think.
The Complete Fables by Aesop
[Finished 16 August 2007] We all think that we know Aesop’s fables, but the reality is a bit different. Reading this translation by Robert Temple really forces the reader to re-evaluate everything that they think they know. Yes, the boy who cried wolf and the fox and the grapes are there, but the “morals” which are likely later additions are set off and italicized to emphasize this. Throw in the lack of bowdlerization and the fact that many of the fables were meant more as jokes than moral lessons becomes considerably clearer.
The notes scattered through the collection vary from pedestrian and useful, to more interesting than the text which they accompany. Some notes seem to exist primarily to show off Temple’s broad knowledge, although one simultaneously demonstrates his lack of interest in religious topics when he points out that a fable occurs in the Bible, but then makes a point of his choice to not consult the Septuagint text to see whether a particular Greek word is used in that telling.
Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait edited by Henry Anatole Grunwald
[Finished 15 August 2007] A fascinating collection of essays by authors including John Updike and Joan Didion (when she was less well-known than Arthur Mizener, Alfred Kazin, Granville Hicks and Maxwell Geismar).
The essays were written in late fifties and early sixties, most between the publication in book form of Franny and Zooey and “Seymour/Raise High the Roof Beam”. It was somewhat interesting to note an account at one point of a Harry Potter-esque frenzy around the release of Franny and Zooey. And yet half a century later, no one remembers the frenzy (the book, on the other hand, is still very much with us). As the second book of criticism that I’ve read in recent months, I continue to be surprised at my receptivity to reading criticism. Again, it may be a quality issue. It was especially interesting to think about what the critics were saying about Holden Caulfield (and Huck Finn) in the context of what I need to do in writing my own novel. I somewhat wish I’d gotten around to this collection earlier in my reading.
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
[Finished 14 August 2007] I had a bit of Conrad burn-out after being assigned Heart of Darkness in three consecutive classes across my high school and college career. I returned to The Secret Agent later in College and developed an appreciation for Conrad, but coming to this work, I found myself just drowning in his narrative, not particularly grabbed by story or language. Except the key part of the story in which Jim abandons the ship. I suspect the failing is my own, but this was just not a work to hold my affections.
Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
[Finished 7 August 2007] I’ve always tended to shy away from Hemingway: The macho reputation was something rather off-putting to me. Then some years ago, I decided to read a collection of his short stories (not this one) and found, to my surprise, that I did enjoy them. And the linguistic detail in For Whom the Bell Tolls still impresses me ten years after I read it.
But then coming to this collection, I find myself face to face with all that I feared I wouldn’t like about Hemingway and discovering that my fears were, indeed, justified. I just had no interest in most of the stories of this book. They were well-written enough, I just wasn’t grabbed like the other Hemingway I’d read.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
[Finished 5 August 2007] This is one of those books which I’ve known of for most of my life, and yet never read. Would I really want to read a book about a dog? Probably not, but it’s on the Observer list, so here I am.
The book takes us from Buck’s theft from his home in California to his life as a sled dog in the northern wilderness and eventually his taking a place as the lead of a wolf pack. I found the book to be rather slight and unimpressive. I suppose that’s a large part of why I never read it earlier in life.
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
[Finished 3 August 2007] An interesting view into a past time in India’s history. The state of racial relations between the English and the Indians at the time that this novel was set, in many ways, seems completely incomprehensible to me. And at the same time, it’s not too far from the racial relations that I grew up with in suburban Chicago in the ‘70s.
The story is skillfully drawn, although at times I lost track of some of the characters, perhaps as a consequence of reading the first half of the book on a weekend trip full of sleep deprivation. The delay of the major crisis of the book until nearly the halfway point makes for some slow pacing early on, but the second part moves at a pace more amenable to contemporary sensibilities.
The Lawless Roads by Graham Greene
[Finished 2 August 2007] Re-reading this book after nearly 20 years, I have a new perspective courtesy of the time that I’ve since spent in Mexico. Cities like Las Casas, San Luis Obispo and Mexico are less abstract concepts to me now, and more places I have been to, and, in some cases, have something approaching intimacy with.
Reading this relatively close on the heals of Journey Without Maps, it’s clear that Greene has a distinct travel-writing style, on which focuses on fairly short vignettes rather than in-depth observation. It’s clear after reading this that Greene ended up a stronger Catholic as a result of the trip, but at the same time, his distaste for Mexico itself also comes across rather clearly.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowlings
[Finished 30 July 2007] I made a point on the evening of the release of Harry Potter to head over to the local Border’s. Not to buy a copy, but to see the excitement, celebration and chaos of it all. I’m pretty sure that there will never be this kind of excitement about a book again in my lifetime (although I would be more than happy to be proven wrong).
It’s also been interesting to note how common sightings of the book have been in the days since (I think there was at least one copy per row on the two flights I took the weekend before finishing the book).
But enough about the cultural phenomenon, what about the book itself?
Well, there were portions that just dragged. The action of the book doesn’t really start until nearly halfway through the book. That could have been safely condensed to half its length (although that would have denied Rowlings yet another Guiness Book of World Records entry). There was also her too-common tendency to introduce some previously unheard of aspect of the wizarding world to meet the needs of the plot. And with only two exceptions, most of the deaths came and went with too little notice for them to have any real emotional impact.
But at the same time, there was some wonderful writing here. The pensieve was used to decent effect to convey some additional back story and the scene before Harry’s face-off with Voldemort was perhaps the best bit of emotional writing that she has done in the whole series.
In all the Harry Potter series has been frequently flawed, and Rowlings has perhaps been somewhat hurt by getting such success at an early stage in her career, but she is still an excellent writer. I have little doubt that these will be books that are still read in decades to come.
Oyster by John Biguenet
[Finished 29 July 2007] I first discovered John Biguenet on the pages of Granta. I was sufficiently impressed by that first story, that I’ve kept my eyes open for his other work and have since read his collection of short stories and now this, his first novel.
I had some trepidation about starting this novel. It was the religious themes in Biguenet’s writing that first attracted me. Would a historical novel about New Orleans oystermen interest me much?
It turns out, yes, it would.
Biguenet manages to come up with a compelling narrative, although at times it does feel as if he’s stretching a bit to fill in his minimum page count. In all, though, it was the kind of read which was difficult to put down. I’ll have to remember to send him an e-mail to see what’s been published since The Torturer’s Apprentice.
The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene
[Finished 28 July 2007] As I continue on my re-reading of Graham Greene’s work, this is the first book besides the two withdrawn novels which appears to be no longer in print. I’d always assumed that Greene’s books would remain in print forever, so it was a bit of a shock digging through Amazon and not finding an in-print edition of this book. Sic transit gloria mundi, it appears. I suppose it was a good thing that I obsessively collected his work when I did.
The story is a bit thin, and as I recall, was written under the influence of Benzedrine and Joseph Conrad to fulfill a bit of financial need while Greene was also writing The Lawless Roads and preparing to begin The Power and the Glory. This stretching thin is apparent in the work. It’s an atypical bit of output, and falls short of greatness (although it isn’t difficult to imagine some small changes in the story making it a much more powerful work). I suppose there’s a reason why this particular work fell out of print.
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
[Finished 27 July 2007] A delightful satire of the insecurities of academic life. Even with the decades of change which have elapsed since this was written, the behaviors and insecurities of those in higher education remain highly recognizable. Amis succeeded here in accomplishing one of those rather difficult tasks: Writing a book very much of its time while still keeping it timeless.
Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins
[Finished 25 July 2007] I picked this up some time ago and only know have gotten around to reading it. I have to admit that I found Hopkins’ style to be a bit quaint for my tastes. There were a few nice images or turns of phrase, but for the most part I found Hopkins’ style to be affected and archaic. I remember a then-girlfriend seeing the book on my shelf some years ago and thinking that it would be good reading. Turns out she was wrong.
The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
[Finished 22 July 2007] The edition of this book that I read was labelled an illustrated children’s classic, which was an interesting take since the book was a bit of a challenging read for me, if only because of the large amount of unfamiliar naval vocabulary (among other things, I learned the phrase “coign of vantage” which my dictionary informs me I should have noticed while reading Macbeth).
The story was a bit convoluted and the inclusion of numerous maps throughout helped make some sense of the geography of the story.
The sands of the title refers to the sandbanks off the Frisian coast of Germany and Holland and the story is about how two British amateur spies managed to discover a German plot for using these sands as a launching point for a potential invasion of England via shallow-draft boats. Even from the vantage point of a century later, the story managed to effectively convey its time and place quite well to the reader.
Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith with illustrations by Wheedon Grossmith
[Finished 21 July 2007] A charming bit of suburban satirical fiction. The illustrations do add quite a bit to the book, including page count, which the book is a bit shy of (it only runs a bit over 100 pages).
44 Lectures Complete by Robert G. Ingersoll
[Finished 19 July 2007] This is one of those books that I’ve been moving around with me for twenty years without reading. It had previously belonged to my great uncle and I suspect may have had an owner before him.
Ingersoll made his fame as an advocate of atheism and the Republican party (a combination which seems essentially unthinkable today) and the lectures here are on those two topics, primarily the former.
There is a high level of repetition in the lectures as these appear to have been occasional speeches, not intended to form a comprehensive whole and I found myself skimming over portions that I had seen previously.
Ingersoll’s greatest weakness as a polemicist against religion is that he is unwilling to allow religion to define itself on its own terms and he took the most radical fundamentalists as his baseline in his attack and discounted the representativeness of anyone who took a moderate stance. In his mind, to allow for a historical-critical approach to the Bible was tantamount to denying the Bible. His interpetative approach was in many ways more fundamentalist than the fundamentalists he attacked.
His Republican speeches reflect the social progressive wing of the Republican party which was still on the ascendency in the late nineteenth century, but which gradually weakened until becoming almost entirely extinct in the era of George W. Bush. The attitudes in the democratic party that he railed against have become the province of the modern Republican party which embraced southern segregationists into its bosom in the 50s and 60s.
In all, the interest here is primarily historical, providing an interesting window into a mindset which seems to have disappeared. Ingersoll’s prediction of the imminent demise of religion in particular has failed to materialize: Today, in fact, it’s difficult to imagine the kind of large crowds described in this book gathering to hear any prominent atheist speak on the topic of atheism.
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome
[Finished 16 July 2007] My top 100 list claimed that this is one of the funniest books in the English language. I’d say that Wodehouse consistently outperforms Jerome on that front. But there are some delightfully funny parts of the book, even if the humor has been dulled by a century of exposure.
I also realized while checking this book off from my list that my list isn’t in order of excellence, but is chronological, which is why Philip Roth is so low on the list.
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
[Finished 15 July 2007] As I continue with my project of re-reading Graham Greene’s works, I come to my favorite of Greene’s novels, Brighton Rock. There is so much to learn from Greene’s pacing, plotting and characterization. At the same time as I read this, I’m realizing that this is not a novel which could be written today, at least not as a non-historical piece of fiction: The sense that Catholics once had, as a people set apart, is long gone. Perhaps this is why Greene, later in life, only addressed Catholic issues in Catholic countries.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 7: The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 13 July 2007] In preparation for the upcoming release of Harry Potter 7, I figured it was best to finish off the current Lemony Snicket book I’ve been reading in snatches at the bookstore. That I did this on Friday the thirteenth is merely a serendipitous coincidence.
The plot here remains suitably outlandish, and is, for the most part rather forgettable. I found it most interesting in what it sets up for book 8 in the series. We’ve had a bit more of an intrusion of Snicket into the plot, along with some surprising development of one of the Baudelaire children, but other then what resembles a bit more than usual of a cliffhanger ending, this one seems more like filler than anything else.
Deception by Philip Roth
[Finished 12 July 2007] This book was suggested when I was looking for books which told a story through dialogue. I was looking for more of a framing device, but in this instance I found something quite different. Roth tells his story through conversations stripped of context, even dialogue tags. It’s as much an experimental work as Begley’s Shipwreck, but in this case, I think that the experiment is more successful.
Both works treat much the same subject matter: Middle-aged lust and infidelity, writing, language. But I find that Roth is by far the more skilled writer (or at least the one whose writing fits in well with my tastes in reading). And Roth’s final chapters, rather than providing a comfortable conclusion to the story which wraps up everything in a relatively predictable fashion as did Begley’s tale, instead provides an internal justification for the format of the story, which Begley never managed to do. I didn’t love this book as much as American Pastoral, but it has confirmed me as a Philip Roth fan. He is not a writer to be checked out of the library, but one to be purchased from the bookstore, at full price, with money obtained by selling plasma to the university medical center.
Shipwreck by Louis Begley
[Finished 10 July 2007] I came across this title as a result of a request for contemporary stories told through dialogue and I had no ideas what the story might hold as I began reading it.
Begley makes an interesting choice in omitting quotation marks in the framing narrative, which forces the reader to slow down since we have a first person narrative inside a first person narrative, but in the end it seems more stylistic choice for the sake of style.
The bulk of the narrative ends up being a rather tedious account of middle-aged lust, leavened occasionally with some thoughts on self-doubt which mysteriously disappear as the novel progresses. The denouement of the novel, likewise ends up feeling cheap and not particularly satisfying. It seems as if Begley had a short story, perhaps a novella here, and did what he could to pad it out to 77,000 words.
Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor
[Finished 6 July 2007] I’m old enough now to have seen three speculative bubbles pop (junk bonds in the 80s, real estate in 1990, tech stocks in 2000) and see another one on its way to popping (real estate--again!).
Chancellor does a pretty good job of describing a history of speculative bubbles. Everybody knows the tulip mania and the 1929 stock market crash, but most of the rest of these are relatively unknown (although it’s interesting to see not one, but two works of fiction that I’ve read reflected in the pages of this book: The Way We Live Now is directly referenced and The Baroque Trilogy clearly drew upon this book for inspiration and information.
If I have any complaint, it’s in Chancellor’s reluctance to take any clear stands on the historical issues that he talks about. Only towards the end does he evince a lukewarm enthusiasm for Bretton-Woods-style currency controls as a bulwark against speculative excess, although it’s difficult to see how a return to that sort of currency control would even be possible in the hyper-globalized economy of the twenty-first century.
Two Stories of Prague by Rainer Maria Rilke
[Finished 2 July 2007] This book is almost as much Angela Esterhammer’s as it is Rilke’s. Esterhammer serves as more than just a translator, but also as a bit of a tour guide, providing some insight into the various places throughout Prague which are so central to Rilke’s narratives. For my research purposes, this is an outstanding book, providing me with a great deal of the raw material I’ve been seeking to write my story of turn-of-the-century Prague.
As for the narratives, I was more than a little distracted by my research reading, so I can’t say too much about them. Rilke’s prose styling seems rather modern, especially compared to Jan Neruda’s stories from just a decade earlier. This is clearly something that I want to return to.
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
[Finished 26 June 2007] When I started this novel, I was overwhelmed with the sheer vitality of Alex’s narration. The language with its frequent malapropisms was the sort of thing that I wouldn’t even attempt to do in my own writing.
But reading on, I found that while this was a brilliant and promising novel (wow, what kind of first novel author gets blurbed by Joyce Carol Oates?), there were flaws that ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied. The novel is essentially three narrative streams. Alex’s account of the journey to the Ukraine by the hero (named, intriguingly enough, Jonathan Safran Foer), letters from Alex to Jonathan which are commentary on the novel and a magical realist take on Jonathan’s family history from the 18th century to World War II.
The magical realist thread, left me the most unsatisfied of the three. Foer has clearly been reading García Márquez, Fuentes, and Borges. And while he’s learned a lot from them, the style doesn’t fit him, sort of like a teenager wearing his dad’s sport coat (to borrow a simile from Jonathan Gold). There are some beautiful images there, and as he develops as a writer, he will doubtless grow into his ambitions unless success stunts his growth (as has been the case with J.K. Rowlings).
The letters from Alex to Jonathan are sparse and are an interesting conceit, commenting on the novel as it unfolds. Again, Foer’s reach exceeds his grasp here, and the letters fail as much as they succeed, although the successes are of exquisite beauty.
Alex’s narrative is, I think, where Foer is at his strongest but again, he manages to hit a fatal flaw, this time with the problem of telling a story which is clichéd and predictable in the end.
As a craftsman of language, Foer is in the top tier easily. In another age, he would be a poet rather than a novelist (in fact, while looking up his bio, curious as to whether he was a product of an MFA program--he’s not--I discovered that, based on his endeavors, he’s been exploring artistic endeavors beyond the novel). As a crafter of plot, however, he has some distance to go (which is why I was curious about whether he had done the MFA).
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
[Finished 26 June 2007] This is one of those stories which has lost its impact through its familiarity. Unlike, say, Frankenstein where the core of the novel is missed somewhat in the Universal monster movie version, there isn’t the same sort of depth to this story. It’s more the novelty of the story which makes the novel noteworthy. In fact, the structure of the story is such that most of the story consists of prologue, setting up a mystery about Jekyll and Hyde that perhaps would have been more compelling if a century or so of popular culture hadn’t spoiled the great twist that made the final two chapters so compelling to the novel’s original readers.
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
[Finished 20 June 2007] Let me begin by complaining about the Barnes and Noble edition of this book which I checked out of the library. The book is a perpetrator of “insult-your-intelligence footnotes.” Do we really need a footnote telling us that a row is a disruptive argument? Worse still are the missing-the-point footnotes. If someone doesn’t know what it means to be between Scylla and Charybdis, will telling them about Scylla and Charybdis without explaining the metaphor really help them? I’m sorry, but readers should be encouraged to pick up a dictionary from time to time. Lord help us if B&N ever decides to put out an edition of anything by Anthony Burgess.
This is a surprisingly political work for Trollope. Perhaps my view of Trollope is excessively colored by my reading of the Barsetshire Chronicles, but I found this to be something almost more like what I’d expect from Dickens than from Trollope. And while it’s a surprising choice to represent Trollope for the Guardian’s top 100 (it’s number 26), I’m glad for the unorthodox choice as I might not have read this book otherwise.
Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade
[Finished 16 June 2007] A fascinating book. Wade, a science writer for the New York Times, gives a pretty good overview of what science has been able to learn from DNA sequencing. By examing things like the variations in mitochondrial DNA (revealing the matrilineal heritage) and the Y-chromosome (revealing the patrilineal heritage), it’s possible to do things like find the spread of humanity from our ancestral homeland in East Africa throughout the world. What’s more, by making inferences from the rate of mutation in the DNA, it’s also possible to date the spread of humans into each part of the world, correlating that from geological history and fossil evidence to get some sense of prehistoric anthropology that was not previously accessible.
My only complaint about the book is Wade’s willingness--eagerness even--to accept as fact theories on the edge of acceptibility. Science tends to be inherently conservative, much to the consternation of science journalists who are looking for a big story, not an incremental advance in knowledge, and while it’s not difficult to find cases where the radical theorist was correct, it’s also easy to forget about all the cases where the radical theorist was completely off base.
A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene
[Finished 16 June 2007] As part of my re-reading of Greene, there’s always the moments of re-evaluation. When I had first read A Gun for Sale I was happy to put it aside as a minor and forgettable work. Coming back to it again almost twenty years later, it’s remarkable how gripping the narrative is. Greene’s ability to conjure the paranoia of Raven’s world as the police close in on him while he closes in on Cholmondely/Davis makes the book compelling. There are still some parts of the narrative which don’t quite work for me, including the entirety of the last chapter which seems to be a fair amount of anti-climax, but I had previously marked the beginning of the mature Greene with Brighton Rock, but I think that I would move that up and claim that this was the first of Greene’s mature work.
A Smile in the Mind by Beryl McAlhone and David Stuart
[Finished 12 June 2007] A large number of design books tend to be large collections of pictures with little or no commentary. Since designers are often not particularly verbal people, this isn’t too surprising, but it also shouuldn’t be surprising when such a book ends up being used as a source of rip-offs “inspiration” by lesser designers whose work ends up looking suspiciously like the exemplars put forth in the picture collection.
This book, which treats the concept of “wit” in design manages to strike a decent balance between pictures and words. Yes, a large section of the book is a garden-variety picture collection, but the first part is an interesting essay on just what constitutes wit in the world of design (although it is perilously under-illustrated!). The last section, similarly, is a collection of interviews with designers on the topic of “how I got the idea.” Of course, designers being the non-verbal bunch that they are, this is often a bit hit or miss, with the misses outweighing the hits (although it was nice to see at least one designer open with a forthright, “beats me!”).
The examples, not surprisingly, given the nationalities of the co-authors, are overwhelmingly British, and one co-author’s design firm is perhaps a bit over-represented in its pages, but there’s also a good collection of historical examplars as well. In all, the end product is one of the better design book which I’ve encountered.
(And as an aside, it occurs to me that this is a review I could never have allowed myself to run on the pages of Serif, and it also strikes at the heart of the problem with that magazine, in that it tended to want to focus on words rather than pictures.)
Prague 1900: Poetry and Ecstasy edited by Edwin Becker, Roman Prahl and Peter Wittlich
[Finished 8 June 2007] So I’m writing a novel set in Prague in 1900 and I’m thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if there was a book about Prague in 1900.
Then I find this book.
It’s not exactly what I was looking for, with its focus primarily on the arts of the period, but there were a few historical photos and paintings worth the price of admission (which was free since I found this book at the library), and I was able to get a bit more of the cultural zeitgeist than I had previously, which is always good. And I have the names of some artistic figures whose lives and work may reveal a bit more of what I’m attempting to learn.
Journey Without Maps by Graham Greene
[Finished 6 June 2007] Having read Greene’s cousin’s account of this journey since the last time I read this book, my perspective is dramatically changed on Greene’s telling of the story. Most notably, Greene’s cousin is barely mentioned and Greene’s illness isn’t mentioned at all.
I remember being a bit bored with this when I first read it, and the impression remains that it’s not the most interesting of accounts. Most of the time in the bush is a rather monotonous account of interchangeable villages and squabbles with the carriers. Knowing that Greene was ill with fever for most of this time, explains a lot.
The most interesting parts of the story are the occasional ventures into autobiography which are mostly confined to the first part of the book. It’s this, rather than the details of the bush which make this worth reading at all.
Graham Greene: The Novelist by J. P. Kulshrestha
[Finished 30 May 2007] As an undergraduate, I had a major crisis of faith about what I was doing as an English major. It made sense to write literature. It made sense to do critical theory. But to do actual criticism seemed to me an empty and pointless act.
This is probably the most significant reason why I didn’t get a PhD in English.
Maybe it’s a consequence of a rejuvenation of my writing life over the last year, but I’m finding myself re-examining my English major years and thinking about them as something more than providing some solidarity with Garrison Keillor’s occasional jokes about being an English major.
Reading this book by Kulshrestha has actually made me come to appreciate the value of criticism. A big part of it, no doubt, is the clearly written text. As an Indian academic, he apparently feels no compunction to wrap his prose in a thick gauze of jargon. Or perhaps it’s a consequence of the clear writing style of his subject, but for the first time, I found myself really enjoying a work of criticism. And seeing how Kushrestha reads Greene, I felt more inspired in approaching my own writing. I suppose it would be possible to think of it derisively as “writing for critics,” but it’s really a case of writing for discerning readers. A good work of criticism, I think, is precisely that: A discerning act of reading set down on paper. It almost makes me want to teach a freshman rhetoric class.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
[Finished 27 May 2007] Interesting: While pulling up the ISBN for this book from Amazon, I discovered that this was an Oprah’s book club pick.
I haven’t read any other Tolstoy before I started this book, so I don’t have much point of comparison, but this translation (by Pevear and Volokhonsky) seems to have managed to convey the sheer poetry of Tolstoy’s writing (or is it that they’ve added it where it hadn’t previously been?).
There were some stretches of the book where I was a bit lost in the minutiae of nineteenth century Russian society and the footnotes provided didn’t always provide the kind of background that I wanted to have, but in all it was a wonderful read.
And as an added bonus, the book features one of the rare literary uses of my favorite word, “wertherian.”
The King of Comedy by Shawn Levy
[Finished 26 May 2007] I heard about this book while listening to MacBreak Weekly and decided to pick it up at the library and read it. This would be my first entertainment-industry book, I suppose, as I had to create new categories in the database for it.
Usually in a biography, the most interesting part is the childhood and adolescence, but in the case of Lewis’s life, I found the early years of his life to be painfully dull. It wasn’t until we got to the development of his primary character, “The Kid,” while he was partnered with Dean Martin that his life began to become fascinating and even more interesting were some of the aspects of Lewis’s personal life.
As a kid who grew up watching Lewis on the MDA telethon every Labor Day weekend along with his movies playing on weekend matinees on the local UHF stations, it was fascinating to learn more about his life. I realized after reading this that I really don’t have many strong memories of his “golden age” films, although I do remember seeing “Hardly Working” in the theatre and being quite impressed by his performance in the Scorsesi film from which this book takes its title.
England Made Me by Graham Greene
[Finished 23 May 2007] This is, to me, the first book in which we get a look at “Greeneland,” that seedy perspective on the world which is, to some readers, the distinctive mark of Greene’s writing.
The interplay between our central characters here is the essential aspect of the story made by Anthony Farrant with his habitual lies and string of casual failures in his past, none of which he attributes to his own shortcomings and his interactions with Minty, the shabby journalist living primarily on his remittances from home with dark secrets of his own in his past and a spider captured under his toothglass (that spider is perhaps one of the greatest images in the early Greene).
The characters of Kate and Krogh are less clearly drawn and some experiments in stream-of-consciousness in the early chapters show a novelist still feeling his way to his voice, but this is very much the beginning of the mature Greene.
How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead: Your Words in Print and Your Name in Lights by Ariel Gore
[Finished 18 May 2007] OK, here’s an example of why a good title makes a difference. I wouldn’t have picked up this book if it weren’t for the title.
The actual advice is largely pedestrian and some of the interviews seem more like padding than anything else. What I was most interested in was seeing what she had to say about career-building moves and guerilla marketing tactics. Some of her advice sounds good (like her emphasis on doing things like readings to get your name out there), but I’m not really buying her enthusiasm for self-publishing. The analogy to indie music is made more than once, but it’s worth noting that even those major label artists who have made some moves back into the independent world (I’m thinking of Robert Fripp in particular) tend to still release their “big” stuff on the major labels.
The anthology whore advice, on the other hand, is something that I’d not heard previously and is by far the most striking single item that I hadn’t previously considered.
The Republic by Plato
[Finished 11 May 2007] As I started reading this, I found myself wondering why I’m reading Plato at this stage of my life. I’m thinking that reading philosophy is, in a lot of ways, a game for younger people.
But to revisit Plato at a remove of more than a decade since I’d last read him and two decades since I first read him is an interesting experience. My initial impression of Plato was that he was an asshole. I strongly objected to his views on democracy and on fiction. Coming back to him older and wiser, I still object to his artistic views, but having lived through six+ years of Bush II, his ideas about democracy have a bit stronger of a resonance. I can see in his writing also some of the origins of the Catholic concept of vocation, something which has become an almost unconscious assumption in my own worldview.
That said, the Republic is a somewhat overmined source of ideas, and it didn’t necessarily seem worth spending a week on it.
This translation, though, is rather nice. The short summaries and commentaries which lead into each chapter are handy for providing a quick roadmap, and the occasional footnotes discussing some of the background in ideas or reasoning behind translation choices is also quite good. If you’re going to read the Republic, this is probably the translation to use.
The Perfect $100,000 House by Karrie Jacobs
[Finished 4 May 2007] It sounds like a great concept: An architecture writer with $100,000 in the house sets out to see what she can buy for that money somewhere in America. And the first chapter, where she goes to “architecture camp” in Vermont sets us up for something promising.
But the promise isn’t fulfilled because for a book like this which is as much travelogue as reporting requires that we have a guide that we enjoy spending the trip with, and Jacobs is that most obnoxious sort of New Yorker: No place is good enough because it just isn’t New York. The other cities in America, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, are just places to get through on the way to another rural area which will be dismissed because it’s just some remote area where there aren’t enough hip people (or too many hip people) for it to be comfortably similar to living in Manhattan.
Worse still, in a book about architecture, there is one essential ingredient which is painfully absent. PICTURES. I’m sorry Ms Jacobs, but your prose is not sufficient to convey the feel of the homes you describe without abundant illustration to accompany them. Instead we’re treated to one(!) illustration per chapter, which often isn’t even the most interesting-sounding building from the chapter.
It's a Battlefield by Graham Greene
[Finished 2 May 2007] There’s a long period of mostly forgotten novels in Graham Greene’s output during the thirties. I’ve read all of these once back when I was in college and not returned to them at all since.
The opening chapter of this book, It’s a Battlefield, is awfully slow and poorly drawn, but as the book develops, we begin to see some signs of the mature Greene, with a few beautifully-drawn interior monologues in the middle of the book. In all, it’s a weak book, but it shows the promise of what’s to come.
Will Warburton by George Gissing
[Finished 28 April 2007] Gissing is one of those pleasures that seem to be unknown to all but a select few, like Argentine films or the taco truck at Olympic and La Brea.
It’s been a while since I read Gissing, and I found myself pleasantly surprised when I picked up this book. The energy in the opening page sucked me in to the book, until I had finished it a couple days later. It’s not the best of the Gissing that I’ve read, with the plot unfolding almost as predictably as a Trollope novel, with the twist that Gissing’s version of a happy ending is a far cry from what was typical for a Victorian writer.
Stamboul Train by Graham Greene
[Finished 26 April 2007] This book marks the beginning of Greene’s mature period. At this point, Greene has abandoned historical fiction for something set contemporaneously. There are still some signs of his early idiosyncrisies in the writing and we’re still a few novels away from Greene as he would later become familiar (his trip to Mexico raised the importance of Catholicism in his writing).
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
[Finished 23 April 2007] This is, by far, one of the girliest books that I’ve ever read, and I have to admit that if it weren’t in my list of the top 100 novels of all time, I would never have picked it up.
The girliness of the book declines a bit from the opening chapter, but it pervades it still. Clearly, when Alcott set out to write a book for girls, she succeeded. In all, the book is well-written, if a bit sentimental for my tastes.
A History of the English Church in the Sixteenth Century from Henry VIII to Mary by James Gairdner
[Finished 23 April 2007] Yet more leftover research books from my undergrad thesis (you’d think that nearly two decades later, I’d have finished these). At this point, the nominal topic of the book is not especially the most interesting point to me. I’ve read enough religious histories of the period that I’m really not learning anything new about the time. Instead, what I find interesting is trying to tease out exactly what perspective the author is writing from.
At first, I imagined that it was a typically Anglo-Catholic position, asserting that the church founded by Henry VIII was the same church as existed previously in England, but as I continued reading, I was struck by the harsh stance the author took towards Henry’s innovations, and his general disdain for the protestants. At the same time, however, the book lacks the tendency to whitewash the Catholic actions of the period common to most Catholic-written histories of its time (it was first published in 1902), almost lends it the more objective tone common to the late twentieth century. In the end, I’m left with a book more fascinating as a study of the history of history-writing than as a study of the history being written about.
The New Testament for Spiritual Reading: The Epistle to the Philippians, The Epistle to the Colossians edited by John L. McKenzie
[Finished 2 April 2007] This was one of a pair of books that I was given by a friend who found them in a library book sale. I was a bit surprised to see that it’s been 12 years since I read the other book from the pair, although my overall impression is the same: They’re largely forgettable Catholic interpretations of the New Testament. There were a few bits where I found the commentary stretching a bit to be orthodox without providing sufficient justification (say citations of other biblical texts or patristic writing) to support the stretches. There were a smaller number of intriguing readings of the text, but nothing which grabbed me.
The Episcopal Church and Its Work by P. M. Dawley
[Finished 30 March 2007] A book I bought in a bout of not terribly selective research buying for my undergrad thesis. In this case, I bought something which would have been completely useless had I taken the time to read it.
It’s an interesting read, less for what it says about the contemporary Episcopal church than for its being a snapshot of a time in intellectual history. Dawley writes from a perspective of unquestioningly assuming the rightness of the Episcopalian position, something which the intellectual upheavals of the last half of the twentieth century make a more difficult position to take for most writers (only the fundamentalists of whatever stripe are still able to do this).
The snapshot of the church at the time of its writing (my copy dates from 1955) is interesting from a historical perspective, and contains a few interesting surprises, most notably that social conservatism was considered to naturally be in opposition to Christian values, something which has been lost as anti-abortion stances, social conservatism and Christian stands have managed to be conflated into a single thing in too many peoples’ minds.
Marriage as a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints by David and Mary Ford
[Finished 26 March 2007] I suppose I shouldn’t have been too surprised to find that a book with this title is written from the Orthodox perspective rather than the Catholic one. The Catholic tradition recognizes very few married saints, mostly couples who decide to live together chastely (or as this book puts it, “as brother and sister”).
Since the Orthodox tradition allows for married clergy, and clergy and religious tend to be disproportionately represented in the canon of Saints, it’s not too surprising that there would be a larger number of married people in the Orthodox canon.
The introduction to the book is perhaps the most interesting part, with a good explanation of the Orthodox understanding of the sacrament of marriage. The lives of the saints themselves, on the other hand, are somewhat less interesting. As mentioned earlier, there are a large number of those who lived together as brother and sister, along with a number of married priests of note (for example, the Russian priest who lead the evangelization efforts in Russian Alaska). A bit more disappointing are the national heroes named as saints. The erastian nature of Orthodoxy leads to such oddities as naming the founders or early defenders of various countries as saints, a decision which is difficult to defend on the basis of the lives as presented here.
Perhaps the most interesting story had a wife encouraging her husband on his way to martyrdom.
But in the end, I found that the lives of the saints did not really meet the title of the book, showing marriage as a path to holiness. There were really few if any cases where the fact that saints were married had anything to do with their holiness.
Agile Web Development with Rails by Dave Thomas and David Heinemeier Hansson
[Finished 23 March 2007] I’ve come to appreciate the value of a good framework in application development. Yes, it sometimes forces me to set things up in a way that seems a bit unnatural, but the benefits of scaffolding and MVC-architecture by far outweight that difficulty.
Ruby feels much like the programming language that I’ve been looking for, with a clean dynamically-typed object model and mostly well-conceived language structures. The big difficulty I’ve found is that there isn’t any good single resource for Ruby/Rails programming. This book provides a decent overview, but the current practice in programming books to build the bulk of the text around the construction of a sample application doesn’t really fit the way that I like to learn a language: I want to get into my own project and the needs of the sample project and my own code generally split apart pretty quickly. I’ll doubtless come to appreciate the value of this book over time, much as I grew to love the llama book, but for now, I find myself wishing that it was more of a reference than a tutorial.
And I would add that I do feel that I can trust the Pragmatic Programmers series of books for future purchases, regardless of my reservations about this volume.
Ephesians 4-6 by Markus Barth
[Finished 15 March 2007] The last of the unread volumes in my Anchor Bible collection. This one is written by a theologian, so it as much less of a focus on the minutiae of the language and is more focused on the interpreation, but Markus Barth, the son of famed theologian Karl Barth, writes from a polemical low-church Calvinist position. I think that it would have been more interesting to read what a Catholic theologian had to say on the material on ecclesiology, or, when we get to the part about women being subject to their husbands, perhaps a liberal feminist theologian. It’s an interesting read, but not especially remarkable in the corpus of works that make up the Anchor Bible.
Anglicanism and the Christian Church by Paul Avis
[Finished 4 March 2007] I picked this up as an undergrad thinking that I should counterbalance the Catholic perspectives on the English reformation that were my primary source of religious history.
Reading this (at last) I find that the arguments presented are a bit unconvincing and rather a prioristic: Avis has a motivation to justify the status quo in the Anglican church, and he does what he can to do so, trying to make the case that the post-Henrician church did not represent a break with the pre-Henrician church, all while trying to also make a case for the validity of the more protestant expressions of the church. There’s some interesting history included (including an awful lot on Coleridge’s theological writing, of which I had not previously been aware), but in the end it was not a book I found particularly interesting or useful.
Rumour at Nightfall by Graham Greene
[Finished 23 February 2007] This is Greene’s third novel, withdrawn after the first edition went out of print. I stumbled across a copy in a bookshop in Victoria, British Columbia at a ridiculously low price (I suspect the bookseller had no idea what he had).
The novel is set in Spain in the ending days of the Carlist uprising and represents Greene’s last foray into historical fiction. Familiar themes of religion and betrayal are present here, but Greene’s sense of Catholicism is still somewhat immature, especially compared to later works, and he still writes of Catholicism from the perspective of an outsider. An interesting read for the sake of seeing the origins of Greene’s work, but not worth the price that copies generally sell for in the used market these days.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
[Finished 16 February 2007] Another book in my project to read the top 100 novels of all time. It’s an interesting experiment in shifting narrators, although not as adventurous as that might seem at first glance (the shifts in narration are made too much a concern of the narration, I think). The story drags in places and certainly represents a Victorian sensibility which appealed to me much more when I was younger than it does now.
I have to admit some disappointment in the central mystery of the story. It ended up being somewhat inconsequential and was resolved in a completely unsatisfactory manner, with the narrative continuing on in a way that would seem unnecessary in modern fiction. All told, an interesting work, but one whose interest is as much for its position in literary history as for any intrinsic merits.
Pimsleur Basic Czech
[Finished 6 February 2007] My first audiobook. In this case, it’s something which really can only be presented in audiobook format: Language lessons.
And I have to admit, that I like the Pimsleur format. The pacing is generally pretty slow (although lessons six and ten were both a bit fast compared to the rest of the ten-lesson set), and plenty of repetition means that as long as you’re consistent about doing at least two lessons a week, you don’t generally need to repeat lessons to get the learning from them (although I’ve let the lessons repeat into my iTunes playlist).
I’m not sure if I’m reading things into the conversations that aren’t there, but it seems like lesson nine has our male speaker trying to hit on the female speaker and getting shot down pretty badly. I always enjoy unexpected dialogues in languge learning materials.
But I’m not going to take their offer of a $50 discount on the comprehensive Czech CD set. There are two problems with this set. The first is that the lack of printed materials is a bit disorienting for me. I’m really a visual learner and not being able to see the words has been problematic for me. But even more of a problem is that the pronounciation on the CDs is bad. The male speaker has a tendency to add syllables to the ends of words that just don’t exist (I’ve checked with my father who speaks Czech on this). So whenever the male speaker on the CD says, e.g., “dobry den” it comes out as “dobry deno.” This is completely unacceptable for an audio-learning program. There are also other places where the pronounciation is unclear so, while it was a good introduction to the language, my further studies will be using more traditional paper methods. It’s a pity because it was a nice way to spend my walk home from work.
Time and Again by Jack Finney
[Finished 4 February 2007] During an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, she mentioned this book as one of her favorite time travel novels, so I decided to give it a read. I have to say that I’m not that impressed. The illustrated novel part of things is almost nice, but it seems that the use of found artwork is rather grating pretty quickly. The frequent insistence that the narrator was drawing things in the style of the time seemed more crutch than a benefit: Why not re-draw the illustrations for the book? It would make for a huge improvement over what’s there.
The writing itself was also a bit disappointing. There were some rather transparent devices in the writing (it’s not the author being melodramatic, it’s the characters, cause that’s the way people talked back then), and the pacing was a bit off, and the differences in social mores between the 1970s and the 1880s was poorly handled. There was also a strong sense of, “I did all this research for my novel and damnit, I’m going to put it all into the book.”
But there were some nice parts too: The means by which time travel was effected, for example, was brilliantly conceived: A bit of setting up props combined with self-hypnosis and boom, you’ve walked outside into the wrong year, and the ending was a nice one (although the ambiguity was spoiled by the postscript on the sources for illustrations).
Looking at the Amazon reviews, his sequel seems to emphasize all the things that I disliked about this book with little of what I liked.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 6: The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 1 February 2007] We’re starting to see a lot more continuity here in the books, we’ve moved from episodes to a story arc. A few more hints about Lemony Snicket and Beatrice are in the narrative, and our narrator becomes more of a character. It’s a difficult feat to pull off, but one that works well here. Count Olaf’s plot is a bit more finely drawn as well, leaving me the sense that there’s much less a sense of “it’s just a children’s book” in planning out the story. The connections that are drawn are also a bit more involved, leaving me to eagerly await my start on the next book in the series.
The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman
[Finished 27 January 2007] This is another one of the blog-recommended writing books that I picked up at the library. The tone and style is very different from the first. Instead of writing in short bites (each “reason” in the Walsh book was 1-3 pages, here we’re treated to 19 in-depth chapters), and the perspective is much more geared towards what’s wrong with the stuff in the slush pile. What I read here fell a lot less into the “gee, I already knew that” category, and a lot more into “this is something that I think I’m good about, but I should look for it when I’m revising my work.”
Another nice feature is the inclusion of exercises at the end of each chapter, things to look at in your manuscript and find ways to improve the text.
Less useful, for me at least, are some of his examples of the faults at work. They felt far too contrived and it would have been nice to see actual slushpile examples rather than the obviously fake (and, I would hope, extreme) cases that show up in the book.
But all told, this is an excellent book. I read both writing books in library copies, but this one, I think I’m going to buy.
The Man Within by Graham Greene
[Finished 24 January 2007] After finishing the last volume of Norman Sherry’s bio of Graham Greene, I decided that it was time to go back and re-read all of Greene’s work (or in the case of the essays, read it for the first time). When the first volume of the Sherry biography came out, I started driving to every book store in Chicago until I had nearly all of Greene’s novels, and I read (or re-read) nearly everything Greene had written during the summer of 1989. Much of this, I haven’t looked at since.
So starting at the beginning, I’m faced with Greene’s first published novel (two earlier attempts were never published). I remember finding the work a bit opaque when I first read it, and coming back to it, I think some of that is due to the lack of any context of when the story is set. I know enough now to place it in the 19th century, marking it as historical fiction, a genre which Greene avoided in his later writing. In the preface to the Penguin edition which I read, Greene criticizes the book for its romanticism, and this is certainly a problem with the book. Re-reading it with a critical eye, I’m struck by the many failures of description which occur throughout the book, either with scenes being over-written, or Greene failing to give the reader a sense of place.
The characters of the protagonist Andrews and the father figure, Carlyon, who he portrays are well-drawn, although the relationship between Andrews and his father almost feels clichéd, and Elizabeth is little more than a cardboard cut-out of a character for Greene to hang plot points upon. Even the prostitute in Lewes is better-drawn than her.
In all, the book is primarily of historical interest in seeing the origins of one of the great writers of the twentieth century.
78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Might by Pat Walsh
[Finished 22 January 2007] On one of the literary agent blogs I’ve been reading, there was a list of recommended books on writing. Since I’ve never actually read a book on writing, not even what they passed out in junior high about grammar, I decided that maybe it’d be worth checking these out, since they did come with a personal recommendation.
This book is written by an editor at a small publisher, and covers a wide variety of sins committed by would-be authors. Only a small portion of these are about the writing itself, much of it being more a guide to etiquette and protocol in shopping one’s finished book around. I kind of feel proud of myself that there was little that I didn’t already know, courtesy of such luminaries as Miss Snark, and Jenny Rappaport, but the style is light and engaging and is a lot faster than reading agent blogs for a few months. It does encourage me to know that just by writing at a level of competence, I’m already in the 90th percentile of submissions (alas, it takes being in the 99th percentile of that group to actually get accepted).
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter
[Finished 18 January 2007] I was curious to hear what Jimmy Carter had to say about the Palestine-Israel matter, especially in the wake of the controversies which followed the publication of his newest book. Was Carter really presenting an unbalanced view of matters in Israel?
Having finished the book, I think that the answer is that he’s probably not being unfair in his assessment of the situation. I think that one could make a case for unbalanced, but unbalanced is not the same as unfair. A balanced view of global warming or evolution, for example, would not be appropriate since one side is clearly in the wrong on the matter.
In the case of Israel, there is nothing in Carter’s book that contradicts the reporting from the area that I’ve read previously. There have been some facts that I was not aware of (for example, the Israeli security fence is entirely within Palestinian territory).
The history of the conflict that Carter provides is essential reading for anyone interested in knowing the background of the situation.
The only sustainable solution to the Palestinian question has been known for almost four decades: Israel needs to withdraw to its 1967 boundaries. Israel’s claim to any foreign occupation only provides justification for continued attacks upon Israel.
The Algebraist by Iain Banks
[Finished 12 January 2007] I first spotted this book at Border’s in Santa Monica on one of the tables near the entrance. The title caught my attention since, at the time, I was an algebraist of sorts. Fast forward to the end of the year and I spotted the title in someone’s best of 2006 list, and I need to add something to an amazon order to get free shipping, but because I don’t know what might have been bought from my wishlist for Christmas, I can’t just pick something from there so I order this one.
The story starts out slow and a bit disjointed. While Banks does eventually tie everything together in the end, the first third of the book was still just not that gripping. The best parts, to me, were the descriptions of Dweller society, and I found myself wishing for 300 pages of that in preference to some of the other description which was presented. Add in a badly-written back cover blurb (which only really makes sense after you’ve read half the book) and it’s something that I might not have read otherwise. Banks does a good job of world-creating, but not so much a good job of storytelling. It’s not a bad book, but it wouldn’t make my best reads of 2006 list.
"Say Cheesy" by Darby Conley
[Finished 3 January 2007] This is one of the better collections of Get Fuzzy cartoons. The first dozen pages or so, especially, were full of laugh-out-loud moments, and unlike Blueprint for Disaster, there are no long stretches of clunker strips. Definitely a must-have Get Fuzzy collection.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
[Finished 31 December 2006] This is a classic case of changing tastes leading to a “great” work falling a bit flat. The intrusive narrator here is more annoying than entertaining, and the underlying social views (the headstrong Becky Sharp ends up being a mostly unsympathetic character while the docile Amelia Sedley is rewarded at the end). There are some great character creations, and I can see that Thackeray clearly influenced other authors (I can see elements of him in Trollope), but it hardly seems worth nearly 1000 pages of prose.
Tales of the Little Quarter by Jan Neruda
[Finished 30 December 2006] More research reading. The details of life in Prague, albeit a bit earlier than the period of which I’m writing about are invaluable, but the writing itself is wonderful as well. No wonder Pablo Neruda took his nom de plume from Jan. It’s a light touch, difficult to do well, but when it is done well, it is a beautiful thing. This is that style of writing, an intrusive narrator, done very well. Only a handful of the stories are a true first-person narrative, but “I” is present throughout.
The Life of Graham Greene, Volume III: 1955-1991 by Norman Sherry
[Finished 28 December 2006] At long last, I read the final volume of Norman Sherry’s biography of Graham Greene. I find myself a little disappointed to discover that it lacks the promised complete bibliography of Greene’s works (only the works actually mentioned in the book are included, and Sherry does not even mention two of Greene’s late novels, The Tenth Man and Doctor Fischer of Geneva.
After the depth of volume II, this volume seems a bit slight. Only the chapter on Greene’s religious beliefs near the end of his life seems to provide any insight. And even then, we’re given little insight into Greene’s opinion on the changes in the church after Vatican II (although there is some hint of his view in Monsignor Quixote. Otherwise, it seems that we are faced with an endless game of “on whom did Greene base this character?” as well as the intrusive presence of Sherry himself. My last complaint would be Sherry’s frequent abandonment of chronological narration throughout this volume. Some retrospective views are appropriate, but there are places where it appears that the pages of the manuscript had been shuffled and never returned to their original order before publication.
But reading this volume also leaves me eager to revisit Greene’s works, many of which I haven’t read since I was in college and reading the first volume of Sherry’s biography.
Cuentos de Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
[Finished 27 December 2006] Efforts to enhance my Spanish vocabulary. I still need a dictionary to get through any given story (and often any given page), but my ability to read Spanish, at least, is developing well. If only my ability to understand spoken Spanish were proceeding equally well.
Seminary Boy: A Memoir by John Cornwell
[Finished 26 December 2006] Another research book. One nice thing about Catholicism before Vatican II is that things tended to be somewhat static and unchangeable, so an account of a minor seminary in 1950s England is useful in understanding life in the minor seminary in Prague in 1900.
It was somewhat amusing to discover that their was interplay between this memoir and the biography of Graham Greene that I was reading at the same time.
From Good King Wenceslas to the Good Soldier Svejk: A Dictionary of Czech Popular Culture edited by Andrew Lawrence Roberts
[Finished 23 December 2006] I picked this up as research on my current novel, although as the author pointed out to me in an e-mail after I’d ordered it, it tells me more about how contemporary Czechs view things than providing the kind of historical background that I needed. But even so, given the conservative nature of Czech tastes (for example, the Czech diet remains largely unchanged even after the transition from Hapsburg dependency to republic to communism to the current state of affairs). Even just for some pointers on some of the names and locations of some chief landmarks, it has been invaluable. The compilation of pop culture is also, for its own sake, a significant work.
Ask the Dust by John Fante
[Finished 21 December 2006] Palm tree. Palm tree. Palm tree. This is largely held up as the great Los Angeles novel. The plot, such as it is, is not especially good, and the characters of Arturo and Camilla are too annoying to hold much sympathy, but the writing--wow! There is a film of this book, but I have to wonder what the point is (I suppose I’ll find out when it pops up to the top of my netflix queue). This is a book in which the language of the narration is everything, and the characters and plot are more there to provide a raison d’etre for the writing. But even while the characters are not sympathetic, they manage to remain compelling. I still find myself thinking about Arturo telling Camilla to abandon her huaraches for proper shoes, then regretting his command after seeing her change for him.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 5: The Austere Academy by Lemony Snickett
[Finished 17 December 2006] The schtick which sustained the first four volumes of the Series of Unfortunate Events has largely run its course, so Snickett has been forced into changing the formula a bit here. Of course, the Baudelaires have learned, the adults are of no help in dealing with the dangers of Count Olaf, so they find themselves helped instead by a pair of triplets. Most of the other characters in the book continue to be two-dimensional, but some further insights into the narrator and his beloved Beatrice are hinted at, and the series begins to transition from loosely connected discrete tales to more of a genuine story arc.
The Best Intentions: Kofi Annan and the UN in the Era of American World Power by James Traub
[Finished 4 December 2006] I first heard about this book during an interview of James Traub on Fresh Air, so I decided to request it from the library. The interview turned out to be a bit more interesting than the book, largely a consequence of Traub’s writing style: The book reads as if it is a book-length newspaper article. Traub doesn’t provide many inessential details, a failing that reveals how essential the inessentials are.
The tale that Traub tells is an interesting account of recent history, largely focusing on the last decade. What I found most striking here is the contrast between the original hopes for the U.N. (FDR viewed it as a continuation of the alliance that won World War II), and the body which seems incapable of doing anything substantive, largely because of the unwillingness of the member states to take action. The Bush years have been hard on the U.N., but they’re to a certain extent a continuation of the US’s ambivalent relationship with the U.N. As someone who was raised on idealistic internationalism (not to mention eight years of Model U.N. in High School and College), it’s a tough pill to swallow when looking at how the world community has let the U.N. turn things into such a bad situation. I almost wonder if a new body needs to be created, one which is closer to a United States of Earth model (similar to how the original articles of confederation of the US gave way to the constitution). Perhaps using economic cooperation as the bait to get states to guarantee basic rights to their citizens and to yield the necessary level of sovereignity to this global body to make it truly workable.
Sybil, or The Two Nations by Benjamin Disraeli
[Finished 24 November 2006] This is a book which was on my to-read list since it was mentioned by one of my professors in college. I was expecting a typical victorian novel of manners, an accounting of life among the upper classes. So I wasn’t expecting the sudden appearance of working class Catholics in the narrative very close to the beginning of the story. The subtitle of the novel suddenly becomes much clearer. What particularly intrigued me after reading this was to look up Disraeli’s biography and find that he was a founding member of the Conservative party in England. Apparently “Conservative” had very different meanings then than it does now.
Perl Best Practices by Damian Conway
[Finished 13 November 2006] After reading Damian Conway’s excellent Object-Oriented Perl and hearing about this book, I of course let amazon take some of my money so that I could read this one. It’s a solid book with absolutely no filler in its 500+ pages. There are some sections which could do with a bit less explication of the low level section (I’m thinking in particular the advice to use Inside Out objects, which would have been better to start with explaining how to work with Class::Std or Object::InsideOut rather than going into details about how to do by hand things which are better handled by the appropriate CPAN module). And there are some bits of advice that I disagree with entirely (for example, Conway’s deprecation of protected access to data which he might think is an idea which is best forgotten, but I find is, at least at times, a very useful way for parent and child classes to communicate). But even if you disagree with some of the practices, it provokes the programmer into contemplating that aspect of coding. No perl programmer can read this without coming out at the back a better programmer. And many of the ideas are rather language agnostic and could be applied to coding practice for other languages as well.
Czech and Slovak Short Stories edited by Jeanne Nemcova
[Finished 11 November 2006] Part of my research for my current novel, I continue to be frustrated at the difficulties in finding accounts of Prague life before World War I. Much of what I’d like to read has not been translated into English, so I read whatever I can find.
Perhaps it’s my goal-oriented reading, but I found the older stories in this collection to be the most satisfying. The only one of the post WWII stories that I loved was Josef Nesvadba’s “Mordair,” a wonderfully dark and surreal tale. On the other hand, I simply adored most of the early stories, whether it was Neruda, Herrmann, Rais, Hasek, Capek or any of countless others. I do think that I will definitely pick up some of the other Capek stuff which has been translated into English.
The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy
[Finished 5 November 2006] One of Thomas Hardy’s lesser works, but still a fun read. I continue to marvel at how long a shaadow Napoleon cast over nineteenth century literature (in fact, it seems that nearly every nineteenth century novel that I’ve read recently has made reference to Napoleon.
The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk, Book One by Jaroslav Hasek
[Finished 30 October 2006] I first heard of this book (and this translation) from an article in the Chicago Reader. Shortly afterwards I bought it from amazon, but it took a few years (and the writing of a novel set in Prague a couple decades earlier) for me to actually read it. I can’t compare it to the earlier translations of Hasek’s work, but it is a fun read and the humor comes across quite well. I eagerly await the publication of the three remaining volumes. The translation of book two is apparently complete and books three and four are near completion so we may see them soon.
Foundations of Ajax by Ryan Asleson and Nathaniel T. Schutta
[Finished 24 October 2006] Part of what attracted me to this book when I picked it up was the fact that it had screenshots of Safari and Firefox from a Mac. Great, someone writing about web development who knows that there are browsers other than Internet Explorer under Windows.
The exposition is pretty decent, although as with too many computer books (I think I’m ready to give up on Apress books already), there’s a lot more padding than content here. What’s worse, what seems to me the best approach to dealing with Ajax having finished my first project where I used it, is to have some sort of Framework, a possibility which isn’t even mentioned until the end of the book, and that in passing. The appendix on browser issues, is helpful and not something I was able to find in the web (I wish I’d finished reading the book before I started the Ajax project since I really needed that info many times). The index is woefully incomplete especially when you’re looking up information on particular Javascript properties.
In all, a decent, but not spectacular book. I think what I really want is something which is geared around the use of some Ajax framework (or perhaps more than one) and which deals with the ugly details of how to do the job in an appendix. And much shorter code snippets between explication. Four-page listings of HTML/JavaScript make my eyes glaze over. Having typographically indistinct Java code as well makes things just that much more complicated.
English Literature in the 16th Century by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 21 October 2006] The fact that this book is out of print and likely only available in libraries or select private collections (like mine) is, I think, connected to my flame out as an English major as an undergrad. This book represents the kind of comprehensive look at literature that was pushed out of fashion by the various post-modernist movements in critical thinking. Lewis is able to give us a serious critique of 16th century poetry and prose (drama was covered in a different volume in the series) because he is familiar not just with the texts which he treats, but the historical, philosophical and religious contexts. The result is a remarkably erudite look at the literature of the time, informing the reader of contemporary perspectives on magic, religion and the role of literature itself. I bought this book as part of my undergrad thesis research, but didn’t read it at the time. I wish I had because it would have given me precisely the focus that I struggled with in my own critical writing, in particular Lewis’ division (not always neatly) of the writing of the period into “drab” and “golden” stylings with occasional glimpses into the beginnings of metaphysical and augustan styles and the occasional authors who were very much sui generis.
Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design by Craig Larman
[Finished 20 October 2006] A fairly quick read, I tackled this while re-entering the programming world. Parts of it are a bit frustrating, like some vagueness about some aspects of UML and what the components are, but the structure of the book, which looks at the life-cycle of a software development project does give a pretty decent introduction to both UML and design patterns, although it’s not especially useful as a reference to either.
The Black Sheep by Honore de Balzac
[Finished 18 October 2006] I first heard of Balzac when reading some advice for would-be novelists in Writers’ Marketplace while I was in college. It was something along the lines of don’t try to be like Dickens or Balzac. Dickens I knew, but Balzac was unknown to me, so I went to the bookstore, bought a second-hand Penguin paperback of The Black Sheep and put it on my bookcase where it remained for the next 17 years.
And now it comes back as number 12 on the list of the top 100 novels of all time.
The beginning of the novel is slow in the way that nineteenth century novels had the luxury of opening, but as it progresses, it becomes a fascinating story of Napoleon-haunted France at the beginning of the 19th century. I can clearly see how Balzac was held up as a model for writers alongside Dickens after reading this.
Vicar of Christ by Walter F. Murphy
[Finished 6 October 2006] Reading this book in “writer” mode, one of my first thoughts was that this was a novel written by someone who’s more an enthusiast than a writer. At over 600 pages, for one thing, the book is just too long and could have done with some serious pruning. And the narrative conceit, that each section of the book tells a non-overlapping part of the life of Declan Walsh, soldier-turned-chief-justice-turned-Pope, is more a distraction than a benefit to the narrative.
But as a page-turner, it does its job reasonably well, telling, as is typical with novels of fictional popes, a story more about the author than the papacy. I didn’t really need to look at the short bio on the back flap to see that Murphy was a soldier in Korea or a professor of constitutional law. And the novel tells me a lot more of Murphy’s tastes in women and politics than does the bio. There are some unique touches here, like a hint that Declan Walsh’s changes to the church meet with the approval of God, if not of the CIA or the curia, but also the usual cowardice in the conclusion (since this book, like all others of its genre, concludes with the untimely death of its pope) with its hints that, despite the promise that the gates of hell will not prevail, the gates of hell do indeed prevail in the end.
The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal
[Finished 29 September 2006] As I work through the top 100 novels (this is number thirteen), I sometimes find some that I don’t really relate to. This is probably the least exciting of the lot. Part of it is doubtless that this book is strongly in violation of one of the prime rules of contemporary fiction: “Show, don’t tell.” Much of the book is long sequences of just that. I am happy to have reached the end of the book.
Apache Cookbook by Ken Coar and Rich Bowen
[Finished 13 September 2006] I had high hopes for this book, which were quickly dashed once I started actually reading it. Much of the information is sparsely and incompletely presented (the latter especially perplexing given how thin this book is). A great deal of time is expended on explaining also how to get Apache running under Windows, a foolish prospect if there ever was one: The only reason to use Windows as a server is if you want some Windows-specific functionality which in turn implies IIS. A well-informed web administrator would run a proper server OS on their webserver.
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
[Finished 11 September 2006] Continuing to read a fair amount of American history. The obvious and intriguing comparison is between Lincoln’s political history and handling of the Civil War and the current resident of the white house’s parallel circumstances. Especially since (per NPR this morning), the administration is busy trying to make the same comparison. But it’s worth noting that Lincoln’s stance was one of moderation and trying to reach out to others, as opposed to the current administrations tack of demonizing all who deviate from their viewpoint. Perhaps there is a comparison to be made, but Bush doesn’t play the role of Lincoln in that comparison.
The BFG by Roald Dahl
[Finished 27 August 2006] This is number 88 on the top 100 novels of all time. While I still would pick Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and the Giant Peach to represent Roald Dahl’s output, this gave me an opportunity to dig a bit deeper into Dahl’s writing. Since it’s been many many years since I’ve read any other of his children’s novels (I did read a collection of the “adult” short stories when I was a college student), I can’t really make a direct comparison, but it was a fun light read. The playfulness of language is especially beautiful and the playful tone doesn’t keep Dahl from the dark aspects of his story (viz, people are eaten).
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
[Finished 23 August 2006] Every so often a book comes along that can radically change the way that you lead your life. For me this is one of those books. I first heard of Michael Pollan when he was interviewed on NPR’s Science Friday (if you don’t read the book, at least listen to the interview).
My wife and I generally make an effort to eat healthy foods, and whenever possible organics, but I hadn’t considered the implications of some of what’s happening in the industrial food chain in America. The realization that local food is probably more important than organic food, for example (the food that Americans eat travels an average of 1500 miles to get to their table). Or the thought that a huge percentage of what we eat has its origins as corn grown in Iowa (not just the obvious things like corn syrup, but most of the other ingredients that don’t sound like food on the label of your processed food come from corn). Add in that most of our meat is corn-fed now, whether or not that animal is designed to eat it and we have some serious recipes for disaster. The various e. coli outbreaks in the meat supply chain are a direct consequence of feeding beef cows corn (these sorts of infections are not an issue for grass-fed cows). This leads us to such abuses of the food chain like irradiated meat and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed which leads primarily to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.
So what changes have been made? The big one is a stronger drive towards eating local foods. It’s a hard habit to break, especially when you walk into the supermarket in August and see stacks of gorgeous-looking Australian-grown oranges (although the high price should be a deterrent). Avoiding high fructose corn syrup means avoiding almost all processed foods which is a frightening prospect (take a look at the labels sometime: It’s in everything: Bread, lunch meat, soup, salad dressing...).
Living in L.A. we have access to a superabundance of farmer’s markets at least, although there seems to only be one Community Supported Agriculture farm that serves our area.
The first two sections of the book are definitely the best part. The hunter-gatherer meal, was less interesting to me, if only because I really don’t see myself willing to get so close to my food chain as to actually hunt my own wild meat (although my wife and I have contemplated the possibility that game meat might be the healthiest possible option, on second thought though, we just don’t eat that much meat to begin with).
Now to find the L.A.-area restaurants that use local foods...
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
[Finished 16 August 2006] My first exposure to The Count of Monte Cristo was through the passages in Huck Finn where Tom Sawyer refers to the book. Having read it, I can see how it could capture Tom’s imagination. This is a fun adventure story. There’s not a whole lot of depth to the story. For the most part, the bad guys are bad, the good guys are good and there is little shading in between, but the plot moves along in such a compelling way. This is the nineteenth century version of a great popcorn movie.
PHP 5 Objects, Patterns, and Practice by Matt Zandstra
[Finished 3 August 2006] Maybe it’s because I was reading this at the same time as Damian Conway’s excellent book on object-oriented Perl, but this came across as quite a bit less well-written. There’s much less information on object-orientation here, but a big part of that is the more mature object mechanism in PHP compared to the kludgy Perl5 object system.
There are a few chapters which seem to be padding as a consequence, although even as padding they do address some useful topics for good programming practice (PEAR, CVS and Phing).
Object Oriented Perl by Damian Conway
[Finished 31 July 2006] This is easily one of the best programming books that I’ve read. The tone is light but informative, and one of my favorite features of the book is that Conway ends each discussion with a reference for where to find out more: Sometimes it’s a book or article, sometimes a website, sometimes the perl documentation. The book covers, reasonably comprehensively, the ins and outs of object-oriented programming in perl. There are sections which are a bit out of date already (always a problem with a rapidly evolving language like Perl which was at 5.005 when Conway wrote the book, is 5.8.6 on my Mac, and Perl 6 is under way (one hopes with a bit more alacrity than the LaTeX 3 project).
Do I have any complaints about the book? None that I can think of. This is an essential for any perl programmer’s book shelf.
Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock
[Finished 26 July 2006] This has been one of the harder books to find in my project to read the top 100 books of all time: While the L.A. Public Library has several copies of the book, most are non-circulating, and the two circulating copies are not in the main stacks. I had to have a librarian fetch the book from the closed stacks.
And what did I get for the effort? A short, somewhat comic novella which seemed far from top 100 material to me.
The Trial by Franz Kafka
[Finished 21 July 2006] Kafka is one of those authors who suffers from being over-assigned by high school English teachers (although I managed to avoid having Kafka assigned to me for any class: The three Kafka novels I’ve read have been purely for my own enjoyment).
Unlike The Castle, The Trial manages to avoid easy allegorization. Instead it manages to be a fascinating story of disorientation and paranoia. The unfinished nature of the book, with a large appendix of deleted passages is a bit frustrating in that it forces the reader into being a bit of a textual critic on top of being a literary critic. My choice was to ignore the whole appendix as best as possible (the typographic indications of a deleted passage in the text, however, were a bit obtrusive).
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
[Finished 12 July 2006] A dangerous subject for a novel, and reading Nabokov’s afterword, it did have an impact on his attempts to find a publisher. But an incredible tour de force of novel-writing, at times reaching levels which can best be described as poetry, most notably the early description of nymphettes and later, the accounts of motels. The climax of the novel itself was somewhat less satisfying, but the whole was a masterpiece of prose.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
[Finished 7 July 2006] When Spark died earlier this year and I heard her obituary on NPR, I thought that she might be an author who would appeal greatly to me. After all, my favorite authors have been English Catholic writers (including Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh who apparently both mentored Spark). But I was left feeling a bit unsatisfied by this book: The narrative experiment is quite impressive, and, I think, successful, in creating a novel way to tell a story, but the story that she tells doesn’t seem that satisfying, nor are the characters ones that I felt much connection to. In the end, not a particularly satisfying read.
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
[Finished 30 June 2006] It’s not often that my reading material generates widespread commentary from strangers, but this book was one that did. Some of it was a consequence of the film that was made of the book, but Ellroy has a significant fan base in Los Angeles (not surprisngly).
While a long book, this was a rather quick read, with short chapters. The 50s slang made things a bit hard going at first, but I quickly adapted.
The plot is convoluted and I’m still not quite sure how everything fit together, and it makes me wish for the relative simplicity of the movie version of the story (which eliminates half the characters and sub-plots of the novel).
But even with the byzantine plotting, this is a great book and hard to put down.
Atonement by Ian McEwan
[Finished 27 June 2006] The first part of the book is brilliant, and the narrative device of the child/aspiring writer Brony Tallis is pure genius. But the second part of the book, focusing on the Battle of Dunkirk, and the latter sections of the book seem to lack the energy and vitality of the first part.
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
[Finished 21 June 2006] Part of my project to read the top 100 novels of all time (this one weighs in at #99).
One of the great lacunae in my reading is twentieth-century American authors, so it shouldn’t be surprising that I’d never read Philip Roth before. But after reading this book, I suspect that I very likely will return to Roth in the future. The narrative structure is amazing with its frequent shifts in time and non-linear sequencing. The narrator, who is a major character in the first section of the book has completely disappeared by the end of the book, which I suppose might be seen as a flaw although I find it an interesting choice on the part of the author.
Also interesting to me, more on a personal note than anything else, is that Roth is quite squarely in my parents’ generation, and parts of this book feel like they could have been written, if not by my dad, then by one of his high school classmates.
Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama by Daniel Goleman
[Finished 20 June 2006] Whatever preconceptions I had when I picked up this book and what form it would take were nowhere near what the reality was.
The book is largely a narrative of discussions between scientists and the Dalai Lama about scientific and Buddhist perspectives on destructive emotions. This part of a continuing series of meetings/books. The discussions themselves were often a bit shallow, but hinted at some tantalizing deeper ideas and discoveries.
If that was all there was to the book, it would be a disappointment indeed, but the final section, offered just what I hoped it would: Some pointers to the research that had come out of the meeting and even better, there’s a website which presumably includes some live updates on the material.
It almost makes me wish I were a psychology or neuroscience graduate student (or better still, PhD).
A Series of Unfortunate Events 4: The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snickett
[Finished 18 June 2006] I’ve now moved past the end of the material covered in the film, so I no longer have the cognitive interference from it to distract me from reading the book as book alone. I don’t think that this alone accounts for the rather dramatic change of pace in this book, The orphans’ new guardian has moved from cluelessness to nearly malicious viewpoints. And Klaus and Violet find themselves reversing their usual roles in the resolution of the story. In all, not a bad way to spend an hour or so.
Job by Marvin H. Pope
[Finished 2 June 2006] I began collecting and reading volumes of the Anchor Bible some 15 years ago. But it’s only recently that I’ve realized the key difference between my favorite volumes and those that I’m not that crazy about: The interesting ones are written by theologians, the dull ones by linguists.
The theologian-written volumes tend to follow a format of text-commentary-notes on each section of the text. Since I’m usually not that interested in the hairy details of the translation, I skip the notes unless something really odd is happening in the text.
On the other hand, the linguist-written volumes tend to be text-notes for each section. What little commentary is offered (and it’s usually minimal) is intermixed with a detailed description of textual issues.
Job is a linguist-written volume.
That said, there’s still some very interesting detail here. I do intend to read the bible in Hebrew at some point although this comentary makes reading Job seem a rather daunting prospect.
Also interesting here is the survey of other near-eastern texts which may have served as inspiration for, if not sources of, the story of Job. And the translation itself is very clearand well-formed.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
[Finished 27 May 2006] I’m sure I’ve said this somewhere else in the log, but it bears repeating: For someone as well-read as I am, I’m surprisinly poorly-read.
Case in point: Frankenstein. Wasn’t everyone assigned this book in high school English class? Or if not then, sometime in college?
Not me. Not sure how I missed it, but there it is.
What to say about the book itself? A gripping read, although I found myself periodically flipping back wondering if I’d missed something (Victor’s father’s death slipped past me). Doubtless my own failing, rather than Shelley’s.
Language, Culture, Type: International Type Design in the Age of Unicode edited by John D. Berry
[Finished 25 May 2006] An intriguing volume from 2002. The first part is a collection of essays lead off by Robert Bringhurst and consisting of a mix of history, philosophy, practical type design and occasional self-promotion. The second half is a collection of the winning selections from the bukva:raz! international type competition.
Of the essays, some are outstanding, some have at least some interest and a few are of nearly no merit.
The type specimens are full page showings of the character set with a sample setting on the facing page, the kind of generosity in exposition one wishes would be seen more often in type specimens. The bottom of these facing pages include a short biography of the designer and a blurb about the background of the typeface.
Ulysses by James Joyce
[Finished 25 May 2006] When I was beginning my freshman year of college, a friend talked about having read Finnegan’s Wake on a family vacation and (I think) getting a T-shirt which read “I survived Finnegan’s Wake” I remember being not terribly impressed by this, but having (finally) finished reading Ulysses, I appreciate his accomplishment.
This is the third Joyce book that I’ve read (the others being Dubliners and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man), and I’m left thinking that reading Joyce isn’t really a terribly pleasurable experience for me, at least not in sustained readings. Early on, I found that one secret was to read the novel as if I was reading a poem. I was able to appreciate the language of Joyce’s writing, but as it continued, I just wasn’t able to sustain that kind of close careful reading. When I reached the famed 45 page run-on sentence (not really, more just a final section devoid of punctuation), it was more with a sense of relief than regret that I came to the end of the novel.
Against the Grain by Terry Eagleton
[Finished 21 May 2006] There was a time in my life that critical theory was something of great importance to me, and Terry Eagleton was very much the center of that universe. Now I come back and read some of the last unread Eagleton on my shelves and I find myself wondering how I’ve changed so much. There are bits of the essays which still strike me as containing some interesting ideas, but most of it comes across as dry and pretentious rather than appealing.
Six Comedies by W. Somerset Maugham
[Finished 19 May 2006] In his introduction, Maugham effectively dismisses the plays in this volume as being of little literary significance, meant only for entertainment, but most of these seem to fall short of even that aspiration. Perhaps its because of the sameness of most of plays’ themes, or the short shelf-life of humor, or even the loss of impact from reading a play rather than seeing it, but I was left disappointed by most of the plays. Only Home and Beauty and The Breadwinner left me happy to have read them. The former for its wonderfully silly plot, the latter for its hints at some of the themes that would recur in The Moon and Sixpence amd The Razor’s Edge. I’m thinking that it’s beginning to become time to re-read the short stories.
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
[Finished 1 May 2006] Usually autobiographies peter out about the time that the protagonist begins his life’s work. In Henry Adams’ case, it’s not entirely clear that this ever really happens, so the story remains fascinating, although at times, his choice of poetic language leaves the reader feeling a bit at sea as to what’s going on in Adams’ life (for example, his marriage and subsequent death of his wife are elided over in the text), the overall vision of the development of America, from an 18th century country’s last vestiges to the beginning of the 20th century’s transformation of the nation forms a compelling backdrop to Adams’ story, told using his “education” as a unifying theme.
The System of the World by Neal Stephenson
[Finished 27 April 2006] It’s been a long road to get here: Nearly 3000 pages read in spurts spread out over 2 years, but I’ve reached the end of Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle. I think that the time in some ways helped enhance my enjoyment of the book, in that I didn’t make connections between minor appearances of characters in volume one and their recurrence in later volumes.
Unlike The Cryptonomicon, Stephenson has managed to actually write a satisfying ending to his story (albeit one which is at times a bit Dickensian in its wrapping up of loose ends).
The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way
[Finished 12 April 2006] I first learned of this book, like (I assume) most Americans, from J. D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. The first of those two stories does a pretty good idea of conveying the gist of the book’s message and long before I read it, I’d been employing the Jesus prayer as a means of devotion.
The text, in some ways, is more interesting as a document of life in Tsarist Russia than as a spiritual document. Perhaps it was because of reading Franny and Zooey, but I was not really captivated in quite the same way that Franny was by the book. Instead, I found myself imagining the Russian landscapes of Doctor Zhivago (anachronistic, I know), and periodically finding myself employing the Jesus prayer as I learned it from Salinger.
Stations of the Cross: A Latin American Pilgrimage by Dorothee Soelle
[Finished 27 March 2006] It startles me to think how much the concerns of the late 80s and early 90s have melted away. Which is not to say that the underlying problems have disappeared, but rather that they no longer demand our attention in the same way that they did 10-20 years ago.
Reading this book was a reminder of this sort of shift in attention. When I bought this (1992 or 1993, I think), Latin America was a big issue for me. Now, I rarely think about it, unless Hugo Chavez is mentioned in the news (which seems reasonably frequently), it having been pushed out of the forefront of my consciousness by such horrors as the current war in Iraq, or the problems of Africa. This is not to say that the problems are gone away, however, and this book is a good reminder of just what was and is at stake in Latin America.
The book provides a good ground-level view of the issues facing the poor of South and Central America, and while Soelle falls into the bad habit of glamorizing the pre-Columbian native American lifestyle, a fault which conservative critics would likely use as ammunition to attempt to discredit the whole of her work, it’s a compelling read. It’s a pity that it’s fallen out of print, showing that I’m not the only one whose attention has been diverted from Latin America.
English Poetry of the Seventeenth Century by George Parfitt
[Finished 18 December 2005] A dry accounting of different strains in poetry during the 17th century.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 3: The Wide Window by Lemony Snickett
[Finished 17 December 2005] I’m at roughly the end of what was in the movie now and I’m a bit more into the rhythm of the books. The running jokes and dry humor are a hoot.
The Know-It-All : One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs
[Finished 16 December 2005] I’d heard about this book before I picked it up after the buy 2 get 1 free table at Border’s. The author is also a contributor to NPR and I’d heard him interviewed on ATC or Morning Edition. I remembered thinking that reading the encyclopedia seemed like it would be fun, although I have yet to make the endeavor myself.
The organization of the book, which is a sort of autobiography mixed with some philosophy and nuggets of knowledge from the pages of The Encyclopaedia Brittanica is an entertaining and quick read. Plus anytime I felt self-congratulatory because I knew, for example, just why the Brittanica seems to say so much about type designers (Stanley Morrison, who had been publicity director of Monotype during their golden age of the 20s and early 30s was later on the editorial board of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica), I only had to note that this is Jacobs’ fourth published book. I have yet to make it to number one.
The Confusion by Neal Stephenson
[Finished 22 November 2005] It’s become my custom to employ my educator discount at Border’s to buy yet another thick Neal Stephenson novel. In this second volume of the Baroque cycle, we’re treated to some of what had come before made explicit (in particular, the curious longevity of Enoch Root, although the story of the mysterious eater of rotten fish is not handled in a satisfying way. The mathematical content here is a bit thinner than in previous Stephenson works, but the economics is a bit more fully fleshed out. I’m eagerly awaiting the next educator appreciation weekend when I’ll buy the final volume of the series.
Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D. by Robert Peters
[Finished 14 November 2005] A great book on how to get into (and out of) graduate school. The book is quite a bit longer than I expected it to be (some 400 pages), and portions of it are a bit dated (most particularly anything related to technology), and I frequently wished that he’d not lump all disciplines together.
The section on job-hunting is painfully flawed, however, as it doesn’t deal with the academic job search in any way at all, but this is offset by excellent advice for getting into graduate school and getting the degree in the most efficient way.
My Freshman Year by Rebekah Nathan
[Finished 15 October 2005] A fascinating account of an anthropology professor’s study of college students. Rebekah Nathan (a pseudonym), took a year off of teaching, and entered the university where she taught as a freshman using only her high school transcripts for placement. She moved into the dorms for the year and took classes with the students.
There are some things that I read and my thought was, “duh, of course,” but much that I didn’t. The experience of attending a large state school is quite different than my own undergraduate experience of nearly twenty years ago at a small private college, and this is helps me get some insight into what my own students are going through. (It’s worth noting that my community college students have a different experience than do my Cal State students).
There are some insights here which I doubt that I would have ever found on my own, like the role of ethnic societies on campuses (non-majority students primarily interact with people who are not like them. This gives them a chance to spend time with people like them), and a handful of ideas which directly will impact my teaching, although much less of that than I had hoped.
How to Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff
[Finished 7 October 2005] Even though it’s half a century old, this is still a great overview of understanding what statistics mean. I’ve assigned this as reading to my math for liberal arts majors students after I became frustrated with the standard approach of teaching the material which only focuses on how to calculate the statistics. Frankly. there’s no reason to memorize formulas for finding a correlation coefficient, for example, but students had really better understand what margin of error and confidence level mean if they want to be able to function in today’s society. This book is a pretty good start along that road.
The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope
[Finished 25 September 2005] For the first time since I started reading this series, I’ve read two Barsetshire Chronicles back-to-back. Mostly I was motivated to find out what happened to the saga of Johnny Eames and Lily Dale which had been left unresolved at the end of the previous volume, a hope which ended up being somewhat dashed in this one. I found that the passage of years had left neither character especially sympathetic. Johnny had turned into a bit of a boor while Lily had turned into a self-pitying parody of herself.
But the remainder of the story did provide some motivation to read the nearly 900 pages of Trollopian prose, and Johnny and Lily notwithstanding, the story was the typically comfortably predictable story which I usually expect from Trollope. But having finished this novel, I’m more than ready for a bit of a break from Trollope.
Red Hat by Ralph McInerny
[Finished 5 August 2005] What a depressing read. McInerny is a conservative in the “the world is going to hell in a handbasket” mode and I feel like the election of Bush and Benedict probably has him feeling awfully triumphant. There’s an amazing amount of wishful thinking here (e.g., the miraculous disappearance of AIDS from Africa while the disease ravages Gay America, close to the opposite of real life), and a needlessly complicated plot. It does provide further grist for my conception that papal novels are really all about wish fulfillment for the author.
The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
[Finished 31 July 2005] I first started reading the Barsetshire novels while I was in college. Maybe one every three or four years. There’s always a comfort in reading Trollope but in this case things don’t completely turn out as expected. So for the first time in my reading of the series since I read the first two books back-to-back as an undergraduate, I’m diving immediately into the successor novel.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
[Finished 20 July 2005] This, I think, is the best book in the series. The shock of the second chapter was only exceeded by the shock of the penultimate chapter.
There’s a lot to be said for the argument that there’s still a lot of filler here, but it seems to me that Rowling has, at last, gotten some of the editing that she so desparately needed.
It’s hard to say much about the book without spoilers though. I will say that I didn’t really expect any of the last couple chapters at all, but perhaps I’m just a bit dense. At the least, I’m not quite so obsessive as to compile spreadsheets of information from the book in order to connect the dots. I’m looking forward to book 7 to see how it all ends up.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 2: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 13 July 2005] In the second book, I’m getting a bit more into the flow of the writing and able to put aside my memories of the movie a bit more easily now. The various asides about the meanings of words and phrases are one of the highlights of this series and at this point we have occasional characters explaining what words mean as the story progresses for a bit of entertainment value.
There might be some who would object to a homicide in the book, but given that the first volume opened with the deaths of both Baudelaire parents, we’re actually at a lower body count than has previously been the case.
The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
[Finished 11 July 2005] A bit of light reading as a break. This is the first of Baum’s sequels in the Oz series. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the Wizard of Oz, and I suspect that my perspective has been colored a bit more by the movie than the book, but it seems to me that Baum has played fast and loose with his characterizations in this follow-up. That plus some seemingly arbitrary plot points which don’t appear to have any purpose other than to pad out the length of the book. But it has its enjoyable moments and there are some amazingly funny scenes, like the translation difficulties sequence when the pumpkin head meets the scarecrow.
There is also a fair amount to be said about the role of gender in this book, but there’s a part of me that feels that a proper treatment of the subject requires a more thorough understanding of Baum himself and his relation to the political movements of his time. A new critical approach to the topic would be a disservice to the text.
The Erotic Poems by Ovid
[Finished 1 July 2005] The introduction to this volume, by translator Peter Green, is a fascinating overview of Ovid’s life and the context of his poems. This was almost worth the price of admission alone.
However, the translation of the poems left me feeling that it was somewhat suspect. Green frequently uses anachronistic colloquialisms in his translation. I can understand the motivation: A literal translation of a first century colloquialism might not convey the informal nature of the text, but his choices leave me feeling like I’m reading a paraphrase rather than a translation.
Thankfully, Green didn’t feel the need to shoehorn Ovid’s poems into an English verse form, further deforming them.
A Series of Unfortunate Events 1: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
[Finished 25 June 2005] Is it bad form to begin a book review by mentioning the film, let alone comparing to the film? Then so be it. It was the film which inspired me to pick up the book.
The Series of Unfortunate Events books, unlike the other contemporary children’s best-seller series consists of much shorter, more manageable books. I was able to read this one at a single sitting while waiting for my wife at the mall. Having seen the film previously, I found myself waiting for some of the better jokes from the book to make their appearance and was somewhat disappointed when they didn’t. But the spirit of the writing is still quite entertaining and the didactic elements of the book are quite entertaining with the occasional interposed vocabulary lessons. I suppose I’ll keep at the series until I catch up. And one hopes that once I get past the source material for the film, I’ll be able to more directly appreciate the storytelling.
A Theology Primer by Robert Cummings Neville
[Finished 20 June 2005] My first real look at systematic theology, at least formally. After reading this book, my sense is that systematic theology is a sort of meta-catechism: A way of organizing theology around central questions (and determining just what those central questions are).
In this book, Neville’s outline isn’t terribly different from that of the assorted Catholic Catechisms which I have read, which follow the creed as an outline (although generally following that up with the Our Father, perhaps Hail Mary and the list of Sacraments).
Neville’s presentation is (protestant) Christian in its orientation, but not exclusively so, and he considers perspectives from Judaism, Islam, Confucianism and Buddhism along the way, although not in any great depth.
Each chapter ends in a list of suggested readings which allows the reader to consider the questions even more deeply: I can see this book being used for a year-long graduate introduction to systematic theology (and were I younger, I would have gone out and obtained the referenced works in order to read it as intended).
A subtle humor pervades much of the book, providing some relief to the heavy subject matter.
Reading this, I do get a sense that part of what Neville was aiming for (and perhaps failed to reach), was a sort of axiomatics of theology. I suspect his lack of rigorous training in mathematical logic is both what resulted in his grasping for the goal and also his ultimate failture to reach it.
Books of Hours
[Finished 6 May 2005] A beautiful miniature book from Phaidon Press which provides a nice selection of pages from miniature books of hours reproduced as closely as possible to the original size. The texts are often illegible because of the attack of time, but the images remain brilliant and beautiful.
An Animated Alphabet by Marie Angel
[Finished 5 May 2005] A collection of alphabet-based miniature paintings of animals. Some interesting choices along the way (Z is not for Zebra). A beautiful little book, with the illustrations reproduced here for the first time in color (an earlier edition of the book was black and white).
The lettering is also exquisite, demonstrating the wide-ranging talent of Angel
The Very Persistent Gappers of Fripp by George Saunders
[Finished 3 May 2005] Saunders is best known as a writer of surrealistic short stories for adults. In this instance, he tackles instead a surrealistic short story for children.
It’s wonderful.
This is a book that I will read to my children in hopes that they too will grow up to be somewhat strange and offbeat.
The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
[Finished 17 April 2005] Reading this book, one name kept leaping to my mind: Erik Von Daniken.Von Daniken had posited that various ancient monuments (and passages from the bible) could be explained by the presence and intervention of space aliens.
Jaynes makes his case a bit more down to earth (so to speak), but engages in many of the same sorts of logical errors: His evidence frequently seems rather a prioristic to me. Looking at what he finds in literature, it seems that the difficulty in explaining the lack of internal monologue in the earliest available writing could just as easily be explained by the development of langugage: It took a millenium or so to be able to speak linguistically about interior life.
Perhaps most disturbing to me is that Jaynes’s thesis seems to rest on some sort of Lamarckan evolution of the brain. Although he doesn’t go so far to claim this explicitly, he leaves the reader little other choice to explain the kinds of development in the brain necessary to justify his theory.
Another thing to consider is that some of Jaynes’s theses could be more easily tested now than when he wrote the book. At that point, he makes a passing reference to EEG scans of hallucinating schizophrenics. More modern technology, such as PET scans could offer a bit more indication as to whether the hemispheric thesis that he puts forth is valid.
In all, Jaynes’s book makes for good mythology, but as science, it seems a bit lacking for me. More the pity because the opening chapters on consciousness and the closing chapter on science have something real to offer. Even the mythology does a good job of bringing to the fore interesting questions. It’s just that there are simpler answers than the one that Jaynes puts forth.
The Prodigal Project Book 3: Numbers by Ken Abrahams and Daniel Hart
[Finished 10 April 2005] Hmm, let’s see what’s happening now: We’re introduced to a wacky angel (his name is Stan! he likes Jell-O! He drives a Cadillac!), we learn that Azul Dante is the Anti-Christ, all those night people are probably not the same as Izbek Noir but are apparently demons or devils or whatever they would be in the cosmology of this series, and that some how Izbek Noir (who, presumably, is Satan), is perhaps at odds with Azul Dante or perhaps subtly linked with him. It’s all quite a mess really.
One reviewer on Amazon has called this series, “Left Behind for mature adults.” I hate to imagine how bad Left Behind would be.
And am I the only one who’s reading this and thinking that the theology is pretty problematic? Not just the whole idea of the rapture, but the way God acts in this book is a bit off.
The English Catholics in the Reign of Elizabeth: A Study of their Politics, Civil Life and Government 1558-1580 by John Hungerford Pollen, S. J.
[Finished 29 March 2005] Published just after the first world war, this is apparently the first of two (planned?) volumes as it ends just after the arrival of the Jesuits Persons and Campion in England. Having as read as much as I have about the English Counter-reformation, there was little in here that was new. It was more like reading a review of familiar facts. The tone of the book is distinctly apologetic as the emancipation of Catholics in England was still relatively new and there was a strong need to defend the actions of the Catholic missionaries in England during the reformation.
Blueprint for Disaster by Darby Conley
[Finished 18 March 2005] A quick break from heavier reading. This is one of the last laugh-out-load comic strips around. It’s not always at its best (a long series of rejected character strips in this collection, for example, represents the strip at its lower reaches), but it’s always beautifully drawn and fun to read.
Fun fact of the day: Bucky has a Slytherin poster in his room while Satchel has Hufflepuff. Such wonderful attention to detail!
Anchor Bible, Vol. 27: Mark by C. S. Mann
[Finished 16 March 2005] I tend to think that the Anchor Bible gets most interesting when the translator-commentators take risks in what they do, and Mann certainly fills that bill here. Some of it is a bit jarring, like his translation of “The Son of Man” as “The Man” (I keep imagining the apostles saying, “You The Man, J-Dawg” whenever I read that). Perhaps more interesting is Mann’s argument for the idea that Mark is not the earliest gospel, but rather is a digest of Matthew and Luke with some additional detail added from eyewitness reminiscences (which Mann attributes largely to Peter).
The lengthy introduction makes for an interesting summary of the theories about the sources and order of writing of the synoptic Gospels.
It’s worth noting that apparently later editions of the Anchor Bible have replaced this volume with a 2-volume commentary by Joel Marcus
On Atheistic Communism by Pope Pius XI
[Finished 16 March 2005] Written in 1937, Pius’ primary concern is the anti-Catholic activities of the Communists in Russia, Spain and Mexico. And certainly from this perspective a harsh perspective on communism is well-granted, but I question the doctrinal foundations of a Christian right to private property. Perhaps more interestingly, though, the politics of this letter seem to be pretty much aligned with American liberalism (which is not to be confused with Liberalism as it is referred to in the book, which in many cases, is not what a contemporary reader would recognize as liberalism at all). Pius goes to great lengths to speak of the importance of workers receiving a just wage and fair conditions, and ultimately that the most important Good is spiritual and not materialistic.
At Risk by Stella Rimington
[Finished 27 February 2005] A decent first novel by the former head of MI5. There’s some personal story from the protagonist which mysteriously vanishes in the second half of the book, leaving the reader wondering why it was in the book in the first place, and Rimington has some difficulty making her characters distinct (which left me a bit confused at times who the various people in the book were), but as it proceeds to the climax, the narrative narrows its focus and Rimington’s potential becomes much more evident.
The novel gets a lot of press for being a novel about a female spy, but far more interesting (and evident), I think is the interplay between the two British spy agencies, MI5 and MI6 which is, by far, the most fascinating part of the book.
Reason for Faith: Nine Sermons by John Henry Newman
[Finished 25 February 2005] The first epigram I ever put on a paper in college was a paraphrase from Fielding’s Joseph Andrews, “The age is so wicked that no one reads sermons any more.” Certainly, I really hadn’t prior to this volume (unless you count the catechetical sermons by Ronald Knox which were converted into a book on the mass). It’s been a delightful way to begin Lent, especially as I managed to time things so that I read the first and second Sunday of Lent sermons close to the first and second Sundays of Lent.
Newman’s style is clear and lucid and he tends to write in an almost mathematical style: Each statement leads inexorably to the next to create the sense that his conclusions are inevitable.
A History of Pi by Petr Beckmann
[Finished 11 February 2005] A curious book. The mathematical history is generall pretty good, but as he himself notes, Pi tends to attract crackpots and he himself tends to slip into that category quite frequently. The book is frequently marred by somewhat bizarre diatribes against religion (especially Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular), Latin culture, communism, liberalism and nearly anything else that strikes Beckmann’s fancy. I’m guessing that a big part of this is his own personal history: He came to the US from Soviet-dominated Czechoslovakia in the 60s and apparently decided that Goldwater conservatism was for him (although his strong anti-religion stance would make him somewhat alienated in the contemporary Republican party).
Some of the mathematical presentations are needlessly difficult to follow, and he has a tendency to skim over material that would bear more careful explication, but the mathematical history outside of the diatribes is worth reading. That is, if you can find your way past the diatribes.
What Is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins, Revised by Ian Stewart
[Finished 4 February 2005] Sort of the rigorous version of The Art of the Infinite, this book covers, at a fairly quick rate, a wide smattering of mathematical thought including a lot of byways that aren’t taught a whole lot anymore (projective geometry, anyone?). Perhaps some of the more interesting parts come down to asides about axiomatics towards the ends of the book.
It’s hard to tell who the book is aimed at. It purports to be something that a college freshman could understand, but at the same time it also assumes some familiarity with most if not all of its topics.
At times, the coverage is remarkably thin, giving only the vaguest sense of what a topic is about (for example, while knot theory is mentioned along with the Alexander, Jones and HOMFLY polynomials, no indication of how those polynomials are derived is given).
That said, it was stil an enjoyable read. I’m thinking that this would be best read as a culmination of an undergraduate math major or perhaps as a prolegemenon to graduate studies in mathematics.
The Prodigal Project Book Two: Exodus by Ken Abrahams and Daniel Hart
[Finished 12 January 2005] Well the mystery of Daniel Hart is revealed. As near as I can tell, he’s the person who’s come up with the broad outline of the story while Abrahams does the actual writing. I’m guessing that this is Abrahams’ modus operandi: He gets some collaborator who wants to write a novel without actually doing the writing.
As for the book itself, it’s more of the same and then some: Of course we throw in some mild anti-Semitism to go with the anti-Islamic slant (it’s interesting to note that other than a brief passage in the first book, the Catholic Church is completely absent from the book). There’s some sort of goofy mystery about “seven” which is left unresolved (or maybe it is, I didn’t count the number of people who are asked about “seven” but the obvious Satan stand-in. Still worse, we get interior monologue from the assorted characters that I assume are Satan, all of which comes across as rather ham-handed and poorly managed.
And then there’s the lost opportunity. The first book, with its subtitle Genesis provides a framework of sort for the book: It’s about the beginnings of the whole thing. The second, presumably should be something about travelling, perhaps with the characters gathered in a central location, but alas, the possibility of symbolism is lost.
And there are still too damn many characters. I’m really hoping that the shooting in chapter ten will result in a death in the beginning of the next book since that way there will at least be one less character in the narration.
Return to Eden by Harry Harrison
[Finished 11 January 2005] The story of the Yilane in South America, introduced in the second volume reaches its fulfillment here, albeit not entirely satisfyingly. Perhaps less satisfying is the resolution (or really, lack thereof) of the conflict between the humans and dinosaurs. But I’ve also come to realize that it’s really not the story which is the most interesting part of this as the descriptions of societies in change. Here, the South America subplot really shines as the dinosaurs find a way to structure a society around their new philosophy. Similarly, the human society, on the verge of a change in its way of living, also creates some interesting elements, although at times the whole thing seems a bit rushed. I wouldn’t mind seeing a fourth book in the trilogy.
My Name is Aram by William Saroyan
[Finished 5 January 2005] I wanted a bit of light reading to start out the year so looking over my libri legendi shelves, I spotted this volume of short stories by William Saroyan. I had previously read Saroyan’s The Human Comedy and had enjoyed the gentle humor of the book, so I figured that this would be similar. It was. Nothing dark or challenging here at all, just recollections of a childhood in the San Joaquin valley filled with wonder and poetry and love.
Winter In Eden by Harry Harrison
[Finished 17 December 2004] Clearly a middle book. The narrative gets fragmented as we follow an assortment of characters introduced in the first book of the trilogy. The issues of suspension of disbelief are lessened in this volume, I suppose because I made it through one volume already with Harrison’s bizarre concepts. But this is clearly a set-up for the final volume of the trilogy and a bit unsatisfying still. But I’ll doubtless continue on.
The Prodigal Project: Book One-Genesis by Ken Abraham and Daniel Hart
[Finished 9 December 2004] I started reading this book when my wife and I stopped at Vroman’s in Pasadena to rest a bit after a strenuous hike in the mountains. I’d been toying with reading the Left Behind series in bookstores (no real interest in actually owning these books), and figured this looked, at the least, to be shorter.
Except, “Book One-Genesis”? Does that mean 65 more books to come? (Apparently not: Book Four brings things up to Kings).
Anyway, I read the first three chapters that day and still hadn’t finished with character introductions (or had an introduced character return, for that matter). I finished it off at Borders today and I’m left thinking that this is pretty much a me-too book. Let’s see, only Christians are good, Muslims come out as largely off-screen and unmitigatedly evil (curiously, although the book was first published in 2003, the events of September 11th seem not to be referenced in any way, despite an obvious opening). Less suspense (and more predictability) than even a Dan Brown novel.
The most fascinating thing to me was the fact that the brief author bio didn’t mention Abraham’s co-author. I’m not sure that I’ll bother with the other three books. Or maybe I will. They are, at least, fast reads. Next time I’ll bring a CD player with me so that I can listen to something other than piped-in Christmas Carols while I read.
How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method by G. Polya
[Finished 25 November 2004] At times, this book seems a bit quaint, clearly written in a different age. And the examples make it unclear exactly who the book is written for, high school teachers, presumably. It was a bit repetitive at times, but ultimately rewarding despite its flaws.
The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan
[Finished 10 November 2004] You’d think that there’s not enough material about zero to make a book, and you’d be right. This was nowhere near as successful a book as Kaplan’s later The Art of the Infinite. The first half, detailing the spread of zero, was frequently boring and the mathematical section was painfully short (although the history of limits and Napier’s contribution was quite interesting). Better to skip this one and stick with The Art of the Infinite.
Q. E. D. Beauty in Mathematical Proof by Burkard Polster
[Finished 26 October 2004] A fairly short (58pp) book, which seeks to give a quick overview of some attractive proofs in elementary mathematics (primarily Euclidean and solid geometry, but with some excursions into algebra and elementary number theory). The main focus is on showing the beauty of the proofs, and by including one short page of text facing one page of woodcut-style illustrations the book does a pretty good job of accomplishing its modest goal.
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
[Finished 20 October 2004] I came at this with some trepidation as some reviews I read had been a bit less than positive. But I’ve found it to be a very interesting read indeed. My knowledge of European history has assorted lacunae, one of which is the late 17th and early 18th centuries, which is precisely the time period covered in Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, so I’ve been learning quite a bit in the process of reading this (although sorting out the historical from the fictional is occasionally a bit of a challenge). But like the best historical fiction, this book leaves me inspired to delve deeper into the period.
I’m looking forward to the paperback releases of volumes 2 and 3 of the Baroque Cycle.
Deus lo Volt! Chronicle of the Crusades by Evan S. Connell
[Finished 14 October 2004] A very odd book. The bulk of it is a history of the crusades written from the perspective of a medieval noble, which provides an interesting perspective on the topic, and forces the reader to be aware of the narrator’s credulity (although bits of modern sensibility creep in at times). This part was interesting although at times a bit tedious (I felt like it would have been helpful to have a timeline perhaps, and maybe a dramatis personae to keep track of all that was going on).
Towards the end of the book, the tone suddenly changes as our narrator participates in one of the final crusades lead by the French. Oddly, while this is the closest to a traditional novel that the story gets, it’s also the least successful part of the novel. In the end, I was left wondering why I read the book at all, although I do confess to having more understanding of the crusades than previously. I just think that a straight history would have been a more productive way to have learned what I learned.
The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong
[Finished 14 October 2004] An outstanding book, one that I wish I’d gotten more than a week before the beginning of classes. While some parts of the book are geared towards K-8 education, it’s relatively minimal and there’s a great deal here for the secondary teacher as well. There’s also plenty for the experienced teacher as well as the new teacher. It’s not necessarily enough in itself to make you a great teacher, but it will help an awful lot
Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul by Tony Hendra
[Finished 1 October 2004] The first half of this book is probably one of the best spiritual autobiographies of late years. Tony Hendra does an outstanding job of recreating the process of falling in and out of love with God as a youth. I’m almost thinking forget the late years part.
As the narrative moves into Hendra’s adult life, however, the glamor of sin really doesn’t carry much luster. I think that it’s the curse of the autobiography: Once a person becomes an adult, his life story loses its appeal. The final sections where Hendra turns back to the church brings back some of the interest of the story, with a truly devastating conversation between Fr Joe and Hendra.
Understand This by Jervey Tervalon
[Finished 17 September 2004] When I was researching Locke High School when I was offered a job there (which I ultimately did not accept), I encountered references to this book which fictionalizes the school as Bolt, and I decided to pick it up as part of my decision-making process. I ultimately ended up teaching at a different school, but I did find the novel to be a very compelling read. The day-to-day lives of the students at the school are chronicled in honest detail (Tervalon had been both a student and teacher at Locke). At times his change of narrator with each chapter seemed a bit gimmicky, but it ultimately served the tale quite well.
To Kill the Pope: An Ecclesiastical Thriller by Tad Szulc
[Finished 12 August 2004] One of the better Pope novels I’ve read in the past few years, Szulc’s book reads a lot more like biography than a novel, which makes sense if only because Szulc is primarily known as a biographer.
In this novel, his Gregory XVII stands in for John Paul II, with the plot centering around the unconfirmable story that Szulc found when he investigated John Paul’s attempted assassination. The fictional characters behind the plot can be easily connected to the real characters, allowing Szulc to get his version of the story out while at the same time providing a rather entertaining history of the Catholic Church in France and the church’s relationship with Islam since the Crusades.
I recommend this one without hesitation, regardless of the veracity of Szulc’s story (on which I have no firm opinion, although I’m willing to believe Szulc)
In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien
[Finished 9 August 2004] I came across this novel mentioned on a writing professor’s website as key reading for the students in his writing class, so I decided to take a look at it.
Having read it, I have to agree that it’s a beautifully crafted story, with an amazing repertoire of technical tricks used to advance the ideas of the novel. Definitely worth reading. I won’t say anything about the plot details for I think that it pays to read this novel, “blind” knowing nothing about what the novel is about.
Looking Closer 3: Classic Writings on Graphic Design edited by Michael Bierut, Jessica Helfand, Steven Heller and Rick Poynor
[Finished 9 August 2004] I picked up a couple volumes in the Looking Closer series a few years ago when I was contemplating seeing if I might synthesize something resembling a critical theory around graphic design. I started reading this book back then, but apparently it fell behind a desk half-read or somesuch as I found it, with a bookmark about halfway through while unpacking after my latest move. I don’t really remember too much of the earliest portion of the book, but the later essays were rather interesting. Perhaps I may return to that project at some point in the future.
Robert Browning's Poetry: Authoritative Texts, Criticism (Norton Critical Edition) by Robert Browning
[Finished 5 August 2004] I guess it’s been too long since I’ve read poetry, especially difficult poetry. It took me most of the book to finally begin to get Browning, and then it was too late. And given the heft of this volume, going back just seemed to be too much.
Of the critical essays which conclude the book, the historical essays seemed to be an alternating series of vituperation and reverence while the modern ones were a bit more compelling. The interpretative essays in particular were well worth the read, particularly the essay, “Blougram’s Apologetics” which provided a novel, but persuasive interpretation of “Bishop Blougram’s Apology”.
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
[Finished 25 July 2004] It’s been a while since I’ve read any Dickens and this was rather slow going at first, but as I read further, my mind began reacquainting itself with Victorian diction and it became a much easier read.
It’s a bit interesting in that there seems to be a lot in common with 18th century novels in this book, particularly the periodic digressions into implanted short stories which is something that I tend to associate more with Fielding than Dickens, but perhaps given that this is Dickens’ first novel and bears many of the marks of his influences (especially Fielding), that shouldn’t be a big surprise.
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
[Finished 8 July 2004] Very hard to put down, Larson intertwines the story of the 1893 Columbian World’s Fair with the story of Dr H. H. Holmes, one of America’s first serial killers. I had had some familiarity with Holmes’ story already from the book Chicago by Gaslight, so this wasn’t completely new to me, but Larson’s ability to reconstruct the events in what he terms in his notes as “a plausible recreation” made the story that much more compelling.
At times the interweaving of the stories (along with the events leading to the assassination of Chicago mayor Carter H. Harrison) seemed a bit forced--I’m not entirely certain that the World’s Fair and Holmes were so closely intertwined--but it remains a compelling read. I understand the movie rights have been bought. It will be interesting to see how it turns into a film.
My one complaint is that there is a severe paucity of pictures: Certainly the World’s Fair itself merits a few pages of photos, and there is at least one photo of Holmes’ building in Englewood in existence which I’d seen in Chicago by Gaslight.
Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time by Brian Aldiss
[Finished 2 July 2004] I picked this up in the wake of seeing the brilliant, if flawed, film, AI. Having now read the stories that inspired the film, I’m left a bit disappointed: I think that the film realization of the concept was far superior to the original.
The other stories in the collection were also largely empty. I don’t particularly think that Aldiss met his goals as stated in the introduction very well, or, in many cases, at all. There were a handful of good stories and a lot of what felt like filler.
Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Future of America by Thomas Fleming
[Finished 15 June 2004] I’ve been reading history a fair amount, it seems, and finding it quite fascinating. There’s an awful lot about the early days of the U.S. that I wasn’t aware of and the standard hagiography finds inconvenient to relate.
The primary focus of this book is the biographies of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, with Thomas Jefferson playing a major role, if one largely on the sidelines. It was somewhat fascinating to see what an inept president Jefferson was, at least in Fleming’s eyes. A Fleming biography of Jefferson would be a fascinating, if controversial read.
But as it is, this is a book that I found rather difficult to put down and one which would reward re-reading.
Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics by John Derbyshire
[Finished 17 May 2004] One of the more compelling books I’ve read about mathematics. There were times when Derbyshire’s attempts to make the math easier to digest frustrated me (I kept thinking, “just give me the formula already!”), but for the most part it was pretty easy to follow. This would be a good introduction to analytic number theory for just about anyone and were I teaching an advanced number theory course at the university level, I think that I would assign this as reading over the break to all my students.
Made in America: Immigrant Students in our Public Schools by Laurie Olsen
[Finished 9 May 2004] A thought-provoking case study of the socialization of immigrant students in a northern California high school.
Olsen’s writing begins with a sense that we’re going to get a rather ideologically driven work, but thankfully, reality intervenes and her ideology is not a driving force in the work.
Few if any solutions are offered. Primarily this is a book about raising questions, designed to make teachers and administrators (and presumably also students and parents) think about questions of race, class and culture in American schools. I don’t see this as a book that will give me solutions for dealing with immigrant students in my classroom, but it is a book that will make me aware of the questions relating to their presence in the classroom.
West of Eden by Harry Harrison
[Finished 16 April 2004] An engaging fantasy. I had a hard time suspending disbelief for the dinosaur civilization and the subplot about the daughters of death ended up having no real consequence, but I still had a hard time putting the book down. I’ll definitely pick up the sequels.
5 Novels by Daniel Pinkwater
[Finished 14 April 2004] I picked up this omnibus out of a desire to re-read one of my favorte novels from my childhood, Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars. The book was still as entertaining as it was when I first read it over 20 years ago. The others in the collection were a bit of a mixed bag. Slaves of Spiegel didn’t particularly do much for me other than remind me of Pinkwater’s weight problem and become more conscious of the omnipresence of food in Pinkwater’s writing. The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death had a good start but seemed to rush to its conclusion. On the other hand, The Last Guru and Young Adult Novel were both works of genius. All of the books reveled in the joys of nonconformity and creativity, and for that alone, I think that all young people should read these books.
Fraud: Essays by David Rakoff
[Finished 9 April 2004] Some of these essays I’d heard versions of previously on NPR (mostly This American Life, but I seem to remember one or two popping up on All Things Considered. They seemed to work a lot better as radio pieces, and after the first essay I kind of lost interest for a lot of the book. The essay on Austrian teachers in New York was interesting, but didn’t go into those aspects of the teachers’ lives that I was most interested in. Oh well.
Pastoralia by George Saunders
[Finished 1 April 2004] I really enjoy Saunders’ writing voice. This collection was a bit more conventional in setting for many of the stories than was Bad Decline in CivilWarLand, but it still had the compelling voice. One thing that I’ve found that I really enjoy with reading Saunders’ work is the gradual sense of becoming oriented to the universe of the story. You’re never certain what “normal” is until the story has been read most of the way through. It’s a great example of what the deconstructionists meant about the transformation of meaning as the text progresses. And even if you’re not into literary theory, they’re still fun stories to read.
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
[Finished 11 March 2004] A fascinating tale. Historical reconstructions like this are always a bit of a challenge to make interesting, but Winchester is up to the task in this book. He manages to convey an interesting mix of information about the creation of the greatest English dictionary, Victorian England, the treatment of mental illness in the 19th century and more. A great companion to Chasing the Sun which approaches the question of dictionary-making from a more global perspective
Making Minutes Count Even More: A Sequel to Every Minute Counts by David R. Johnson
[Finished 8 March 2004] Sequels are never as good as the originals, and alas, this volume falls into that same category. There’s an awful lot of the book dedicated to what seems a bit like filler: multipage letters to parents, detailed classroom expectations, etc. I think perhaps about half of it seems particularly useful, and none of it is essential. Get Every Minute Counts and skip this one.
Every Minute Counts: Making Your Math Class Work by David R. Johnson
[Finished 28 February 2004] Johnson is a Wisconsin math teacher who’s managed to come up with a classroom procedure which works quite well for him and for others. His suggestions are often difficult to implement, if only because they require breaking student and teacher habits (for example, when questions are asked of the class, the teacher is to ask the question, pause give all students a chance to think about the question, then ask a particular student to respond). I’ve been working on trying to incorporate his ideas into my teaching, and I’ve found that they do in fact work quite well, it’s just that modifying habits thing which is difficult. I look forward to next fall when I can attempt the process with a clean slate with my students
The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern by Carol Strickland, Ph.D.
[Finished 16 February 2004] A good enough overview of art history, I suppose. I was exposed to a fair amount which I was not familiar with. The work largely restricts itself to Western European and American artists and while Japanese paintings were mentioned as inspiration for the impressionists, none are shown, nor is that tradition discussed beyond brief mentions. It’s hard to fault the book for this, though because it still covers an awful lot of art history in just under 200 pages.
I found the frequent lack of illustration frustrating. There were artists mentioned without a single illustration of their work (often the artists who sounded most intriguing), or major works discussed without illustration. Other illustrations were marred by being presented in black and white rather than color.
The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 24 January 2004] Well that’s the end of the Chronicles of Narnia. Again, I found this a more compelling read than some of the earlier volumes. The portrayals of religious hypocrisy and false prophets struck me as particularly interesting. The conclusion of the book also had me caught quite by surprise.
I would say, at this point also that perhaps publication order is the best order to read the books rather than chronological. I really think that The Magician’s Nephew would work much better after The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
I think also that some of my reservations about the series are largely a result of my general distaste for allegory. Once I can get past that, the books become more enjoyable (and interestingly, the books that are least allegorical are the ones that I enjoyed the most.
The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 20 January 2004] Is it that the books are getting better in the series or am I getting more accustomed to Lewis’ writing? My personal favorite passage from the book:
After that the Head’s friends saw to it that she was no longer a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found out she wasn’t much good even at that, they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 18 January 2004] The most satisfying, in literary terms, of the Narnia series thusfar. Aslan is largely offstage which helps a fair amount. This feels much closer to a classical picaresque than to a Christian allegory which also seems to help, although this is the first book in which Lewis directly hints that Aslan=Jesus.
Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 15 January 2004] Continuing with the Chronicles ol Narnia. I’m realizing the two things that bother me about this series: The first is how problems are almost always solved through violence. This wouldn’t seem to really jibe with Christianity in many ways. The other is that Aslan as a character just doesn’t work, but then God has never made a good literary character. I’m reminded of how in Paradise Lost, despite Milton’s best efforts, Satan ended up seeming the hero of the piece.
The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 13 January 2004] I continue to be bothered by the extent to which Aslan is a deus ex machina in this series. This could have easily been a much longer book than it was. I’m not sure that I really like the Chronicles of Narnia series. There are some good moments in the books, some brilliant imagery, but Lewis’s plots seem to leave a lot to be desired.
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 12 January 2004] This book felt a bit less juvenile to me than did The Magician’s Nephew. The character of Edmund in particular struck me as being a rather interesting choice for a children’s novel, although Lewis tended to shy away from too much complexity in the characterization and to make Aslan a bit too much of a Deus ex machina for the plot.
The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 5 January 2004] The first (in chronological order) of the Chronicles of Narnia. I managed to somehow never read these books when I was younger, so having received the full set as a Christmas gift this year, I’ve decided to take the plunge. The narrative tone is at times a bit grating, but the story moves along nicely and makes for a good read. Certainly, I had a hard time putting the book down.
Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
[Finished 1 January 2004] A sometimes interesting, sometimes perplexing, sometimes maddeningly dense collection of essays. Dewey is very much the prime influence in contemporary educational thought and if you’ve not read Dewey, then you really aren’t likelyto know much about how education is thought about. However, I think that much that’s useful with these essays somewhat requires a bit of a guide, whether in the form of a helpful professor, or some other supplementary work. In isolation, Dewey can be difficult to digest.
2061: Odyssey Three by Arthur C. Clarke
[Finished 23 December 2003] An entertaining enough read. There were plenty of unresolved threads and pointless diversions (like the celebrities on the flight to Halley’s comet), but since I don’t read that much genre fiction, it was easy to overlook the shortcomings while I read through the book.
The Art of the Infinite: The Pleasures of Mathematics by Robert Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan
[Finished 18 December 2003] A wonderful wonderful book, covering a wide spectrum of mathematics. The heavy lifting is largely relegated to an appendix leaving the body of the textbook accessible to mathematically inclined high school students as well as those with more mathematical experience. At times, the ventures into poetry seem a bit forced, but the biographical details add some color for the casual reader and the ability to connect widely varying areas of mathematics is just plain delightful.All high school math teachers should read this book. All prospective math teachers should read this book. This should be required reading for all math majors. Can you tell that I love this book?
The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman
[Finished 17 December 2003] A disturbing look at what’s happening in America today. I was only able to read this a few columns at a time. More than that and the despair got to be too much.
One of the startling things is just how far to the right the Republican leadership has taken the country. The Bush crowd are still worse as they aren’t even driven by ideology so much as the sheer desire for power regardless of the consequences. I hate to imagine what will be left of this country should Bush be elected in 2004.
The Excellent Teacher's Handbook by Jerome C. Yanoff
[Finished 11 November 2003] A thin little book, but remarkably useful. It consists of a series of 60 multiple-choice questions followed by brief essays. This is a book to be dipped into periodically to instigate thought about different aspects of being a teaching professional. I don’t always agree with the answers that Yanoff provides for some of his questions, but he provides sufficient reasoning behind his answers for me to consider why I disagree and whether I should agree.
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson,
[Finished 6 November 2003] It turns out that the title story was the least interesting of the lot. I was most intrigued by the glimpses of a much simpler life lead by the main characters. Minimal possessions, simple abodes... and the heart-rending relationships. The recurring character of James Harris left me especially intrigued and I wonder if he appears in othe Jackson writing.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
[Finished October 2003] An enjoyable read, with some significant mathematical content. This was one of the best explanations of Gödel’s incompleteness theorem that I’ve encountered.
In general I enjoyed the Lawrence Waterhouse passages the most. Stephenson has a knack for creating good “genius” characters. Other sections fell a bit flatter, and Stephenson’s tendency to wait a hundred pages to fill in a lacuna was a bit disconcerting at times.
The conclusion of the book was rather disappointing. It felt like Stephenson decided that he’d written 900 pages so he’d better end the book sooner ratherthan later.
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
[Finished October 2003] A painfully predictable read. I figured out the identity of the Teacher fairly quickly, solved all the riddles almost immediately (except in cases where key information was withheld), I knew the 10 digit account number well before the characters found it, realized immediately where the grail was, who sophia was, etc.
Then there’s the “history” which is full of so many absurd fabrications and instances of anti-Catholic bigotry that I found the whole thing more annoying than entertaining
The Moral Life of Schools by Phillip W. Jackson, Robert E. Boostrum and David T. Hansen
[Finished October 2003] Really a book about interpretting case studies more than anything else. Ignore the title and use this as a sourcebook for thinking about how to interpret classroom observations.
Moral Principles in Education by John Dewey
[Finished 10 September 2003] Way overpriced for a brief public domain text. There are some good ideas here, but this should not be a $15 book. If it’s a class assignment, get together with some friends and split the photocopying costs.
My First Year as a Teacher by Pearl Rock Kane
[Finished 9 September 2003] A captivating account of a variety of teachers’ first year experiences. If there’s any flaw, there’s not a lot about teachers who failed miserably. There was one teacher who was so successful, I found him to be just plain annoying.
Lilith by George MacDonald
[Finished 19 August 2003] An intriguing proto-fantasy novel. At times the allegory and metaphysics become a bit too victorian for my tastes, but it was a worthwhile endeavor.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
[Finished 5 August 2003] I found this entry in the Harry Potter series a bit disappointing. The all-is-well ending was rather unsatisfying. It’s a series of books, not a sitcom. It’s really not that important that each book end with the characters in similar places as the previous books.
That said, the book does reflect a more mature Harry Potter and an interview with Rowling which I read earlier this year in which I read that she had intended the books to be read one a year while the reader was the same age as Harry and his pals actually made the books make a bit more sense in some ways.
Players by Don DeLillo
[Finished 5 August 2003] Despite good reviews elsewhere, I found this novel to be a bit empty. Perhaps I missed something
Millenium Pope: A Novel of Spiritual Journey by Frederick J. Luhmann
[Finished 1 August 2003] My annual “Pope” novel. This one is another American liberal Catholic fantasy following the usual pattern. It confirms my belief that Pope novels tend to be more about the author than religion.
Strange Deaths: More than 375 Freakish Fatalities by Ian Simmons
[Finished 24 July 2003] A Barnes and Noble publication given to me by my fiancée, this is a News of the Weird-style collection of odd deaths. Some I’d heard about, some were new to me. An entertaining way to spend a plane trip.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of the Fire by J. K. Rowling
[Finished 23 July 2003] The high point of the series. Rowling has hit a high point in her writing and pushed the plot to an interesting breaking point.
Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education by Daniel P. Hallahan and James M. Kauffman
[Finished 14 July 2003] A pretty good survey text. I like the case studies and sidebars.
Uncommon Fathers: Reflections on Raising a Child With a Disability edited by Donald J. Meyer
[Finished 3 July 2003] A selection of narratives about raising special needs children from the perspective of the fathers. There are a wide range of disabilities, ages and experiences reflected, from the actively involved father to the father who guiltily relates the institutionalization of his child. A nice supplement to the more academic treatments of the subject.
Illegal Harmonies: Music in the 20th Century by Andrew Ford
[Finished 7 June 2003] A good history of how music developed in the twentieth century. It’s written for non-musicians so the details on the music are often absent, but it does give a good big picture sense of the relationships between different composers (and also brings in jazz and rock as key elements of the development of serious music).
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
[Finished 27 May 2003] I’d been meaning to read Bonhoeffer for some time but the confluence of a couple events finally got me to read this book. The first was a song that I was writing, “Salvation at a Discount,” which I’d been stuck on the lyrics for a while. Then at a mass at Holy Name Cathedral, the priest mentioned Bonhoeffer and The Cost of Discipleship and talked about Bonhoeffer’s idea of “cheap grace”. Then not too much longer I started dating Nalleli and noticed that she had the book on her shelves. On a recent trip to visit her in Tucson, I borrowed the book and read it on the plane ride back.
Of course I’m writing this two years later, I no longer live in Chicago, Nalleli no longer lives in Tucson, we’re married and I don’t remember the book well enough to write something inciteful. Click on the link and read the reviews at amazon instead.
Adolescent Diversity in Ethnic, Economic and Cultural Contexts edited by Raymond Montemayor, Gerald Adams and Thomas P. Gulotta
[Finished 26 May 2003] A rather dense academic treatise on how non-prosperous, non-white kids do in school and other contexts
The Talented Mr Ripley; Ripley Underground; Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith
[Finished 25 May 2003] An omnibus collection of the first three Ripley novels. I decided to read this after seeing the film with Jude Law and Matt Damon (which, by the way, was quite excellent). The books left me a bit disappointed. The clever plotting in the film was in many ways a creation of the screenwriter with the novel being a bit less carefully conceived. I don’t think that I’ll read the last two Ripley novels. Or at least not buy them.
Selected Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant
[Finished 19 May 2003] I first picked this up after I had discovered W. Somerset Maugham and read that he considered Maupassant to be one of his key influences. A couple early starts at reading the stories left me having a hard time getting going, but this time around they flowed like good wine. I’m thinking I should learn French so that I can read the originals.
The Gospel According to Peanuts by Robert L. Short
[Finished 18 May 2003] An amusing and interesting little book, taking the religious themes in Peanuts (which is a remarkably religious comic strip, but not obsequiously so) and using them as a starting point for a discussion about theology.
The Acoustic Guitar Answer Book by Sharon Isbin
[Finished 17 May 2003] One to avoid. I had hoped for some good insights into acoustic guitar playing from one of the masters of the craft. Instead I got a disjoint collection of magazine articles she’d written. Some interesting, some dull, and not worth the price of admission as a whole
Inside Rikers by Jennifer Wynn
[Finished 16 May 2003] More reading about prisons. In this case Wynn looks at what happens inside the Rikers Island penal colony and how it affects those who pass through it.
Evelyn Waugh: The Later Years 1939-1966 by Martin Stannard
[Finished 15 May 2003] Most peoples’ lives are less interesting in the second half of their lives, and Waugh is largely no exception.
Popular Culture, Educational Discourse, and Mathematics by Peter M. Appelbaum
[Finished 13 May 2003] Interesting, but not terribly compelling. I picked this up when it was recommended by someone on a math ed mailing list that I used to subscribe to, but it didn’t strike me as something that I felt compelled to read again, or remember after I read it.
The Elements of Social Scientific Thinking by Kenneth R. Hoover
[Finished 6 May 2003] A fairly non-descript textbook introducing social science majors to the methods used in social science research.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
[Finished 5 May 2003] Dickens in heavy-duty social commentary mode.
Fuzzy Logic by Darby Conley
[Finished 2 May 2003] The second volume of Get Fuzzy cartoons. It hurts to read at times because I laugh so much.
Teaching Secondary Mathematics: Techniques and Enrichment Units by Alfred S. Posamentier and Jay Stepelman
[Finished 7 March 2003] An outstanding book. Portions of the body are a bit poorly conceived (e.g., the difference between pre- and post-standards lesson planning is not well presented), but overall this book provides a great resource for the teacher of mathematics.
Double Cross : The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America by Sam and Chuck Giancana
[Finished 18 February 2003] The genre of true crime can be a fascinating one, if the stories are told well and in this case, a biography of Sam Giancana written by Giancana’s brother and nephew is quite well told indeed. There are some claims in the book that are a bit dubious (e.g., that the outfit was responsible for the assassination of JFK), but even then, it’s well worth reading. And you’ll never call it the Mafia again.
The Torturer's Apprentice by John Biguenet
[Finished 20 January 2003] Ever since I first discovered John Biguenet in the pages of Granta, I’ve been waiting for this. He’s got a great voice and is potentially the successor to Graham Greene as a great Catholic writer. Not all of the stories are winners, but enough are that this is a must-read collection.
Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of our most Primal Fear by Jan Bondeson
[Finished 20 January 2003] I have no recollection of how I came across this book, but what a strange, bizarre and wonderful book it is.
Bondeson debunks the myth that live burials were ever really a serious issue, and while he’s not really able to get to why the fear should be so great (other than recurrence of the motif in fiction), he does provide some interesting history of the steps that were taken to avoid live burial.
Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher
[Finished 6 January 2003] A rather frightening account of how social pressures constraing the potential roles of girls in our American society. After reading this, I’m terrified at the prospect of raising a daughter.
Theories of Adolescence by Rolf E. Muuss
[Finished 6 January 2003] A survey of theories of adolescent development, beginning with the ancient Greeks and working through contemporary developmental psychologists. Some of the historical material could be profitably omitted or skipped, but it’s a nice overview of the field.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
[Finished 27 December 2002] The first really good book in the series. Rowling still needs an editor, but she’s got a better idea of how to construct a plot now. I imagine part of it comes down to her conceiving of the series as books which should be read at the same age as Harry is. Certainly the subject matter is becoming a fair bit more mature.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
[Finished 22 December 2002] An improvement on the first book, but still somewhat inferior to the film, which manages to tighten up the plotting quite a bit. Somebody get this woman an editor. At least the ending is a bit better conceived than in the first book.
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J. K. Rowling
[Finished 21 December 2002] Being a bit sick while visiting my cousin’s family, I decided to read this book while in bed. I had hoped that the conclusion was somewhat better than that of the film, but was disturbed to see how faithful the film was to the book. In general, I think the film was actually superior to the book because it caused some forced editing to take place. Overall, the writing is pretty good, though, and I ended up getting hooked on the series.
American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley, His Battle for Chicago and the Nation by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor
[Finished 16 December 2002] An outstanding biography of the King of Chicago.
Existentialism in Education: What it Means by Van Cleve Morris
[Finished 4 December 2002] More a case for nihilism in education at times. There are times that Morris has some good ideas about educational philosophy, but his unwillingness to establish his starting point for his philosophy means that he has no starting point. Ruling out reason as a guiding point was something I found particularly troubling.
One of the lessons of Deconstructionism (and also mathematical axiomatic theory) is that the choice of one’s foundations is somewhat arbitrary. That said, it doesn’t mean that those starting points do not still need to be selected!
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
[Finished 28 November 2002] Read on Thanksgiving break afternoon while my cousin was visiting (it’s his book). Breezy and fun. I really should read the first book in the series, but this seems very much the sort of thing that I would have enjoyed as a child and I do enjoy it as an adult.
The Horned Dinosaurs by Peter Dodson
[Finished 4 November 2002] Like most kids, I was fascinated by dinosaurs, especially the ceratopsians, courtesy of Oliver Butterworth’s The Enormous Egg, so when I spotted this book in a theatre book sale, I grabbed it. It turned out to be well worth reading. I’ve learned far more about the ceratopsians than I’d imagined possible, and I find myself wanting to read more paleontology for adults.
Adolescents Worlds: Negotiating Family, Peers, and School by Patricia Phelan, Anne Locke Davidson and Hanh Cau Yu
[Finished 4 November 2002] A selection of case studies of high school students along with some commentary on their relationships to family, peers and school from a educational psychologist’s perspective.
The Aims of Education and Other Essays by Alfred North Whitehead
[Finished 4 November 2002] Better known as a mathematician, Whitehead also gave a fair amount to educational practice.
The Chicago River: A Natural and Unnatural History by Libbie Hill
[Finished 27 September 2002] Growing up in the Chicago area, I was taught early on the tragic-heroic outline of the history of the river. Its foolish use as a sewer (the river emptied into the lake which was the primary source of drinking water), its reversal so that the sewage went to the Gulf of Mexico instead.
But the details were often lost and this book provides a good explanation of the hows and whys of the river, but naturally and artificially. Especially fascinating to me were the historic maps overlayed with contemporary street grids. Who knew about the forks of the south branch that no longer flow? Mud Lake I did know (I grew up in its bed), but it’s all a great read.
McKeachie's Teaching Tips by Wilbert J. McKeachie
[Finished 14 September 2002] Geared towards the college professor, this is a good compilation of pedagogical guidelines. Definitely worth a re-read.
In Code: A Young Woman's Mathematical Journey by Sarah Flannery with David Flannery
[Finished 7 September 2002] An interesting exploration of basic number theory and encryption concepts written by a talented high school student whose father is a professor of mathematics. It provides an easy way to approach the topic and the discussion is more than a little accessible.
The really hard mathematics is stashed into an appendix so that the casual reader can follow the story of how the author came up with an encryption scheme (which turned out, later, to be rather insecure) as a high school student.
Experience and Education by John Dewey
[Finished 3 September 2002] A slender paperback which pretty well encompasses most of what Dewey has to say.
Teaching Mathematics in Colleges and Universities: Case Studies for Today's Classroom by Solomon Friedberg et al
[Finished 27 August 2002] A collection of scenarios for new university teachers covering pedagogical technique, diagnosing misconceptions in students and awarding partial credit while grading.
I found it a little thought-provoking at first, but quickly outgrew it.
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce
[Finished 25 August 2002] My edition (not the one linked) was apparently abridged, but given that it was a $.99 Dover edition I don’t feel too cheated. It was just the right length to read straight through, which would have been unpleasant for a longer version.
Ayres and Observations by Thomas Campion
[Finished 16 August 2002] 16th century lyric poetry. The introduction includes a bit of music with lute tabulature.
Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley
[Finished 15 August 2002] Buckley (the son of William F.) Has a fun light touch in his satiric writing which makes his writing always a pleasure to read. In this case, we’re told the story of a P.R. man who ends up being used. The Nick Naylor short I read was similar in character and Buckley has a gift for writing entertaining fiction.
The Reckoning by Thomas Monteleone
[Finished 13 August 2002] My annual “Pope” novel and a really awful one at that. It reads like a Jack Chick tract re-written by Jerry Bruckheimer. But I always try to finish the books that I start and I slogged through it, all the time wondering, “why? why would anyone write this? or more to the point, why would anyone publish it?”
Escalante: The Best Teacher in America by Jay Mathews
[Finished 4 August 2002] An outstanding biography of Jaime Escalante, the inspiration for the film Stand and Deliver.
Unlike the film, you get a very real idea of what Escalante’s challenges and struggles with teaching his students were and you learn that he didn’t immediately transform a group of students struggling with fractions into a group of calculus superstars.
The cheating controversy is addressed (it’s likely that there was cheating by the students), but it’s really one of the least interesting aspects of the story.
It’s well worth tracking down a copy of this (out-of-print) book.
King Richard the Second by William Shakespeare
[Finished 2 August 2002] A slender, sparsely-commented volume (not the edition linked to at amazon!), this is the first of Shakespeare’s 8-play history cycle, a sequence of plays well worth returning to.
Man and Superman by Bernard Shaw
[Finished 31 July 2002] I remember reading or hearing somewhere that the theatre was about Ideas with a capital I, and certainly, Shaw’s theatre is very much so. I don’t know why I don’t read more Shaw more often. I always enjoy it.
The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design by Jan Tschichold
[Finished 27 July 2002] A collection of essays on book design by one of the twentieth century’s most masterful (and controversial) book designers. The time span of the essays is rather broad, and covers Tschichold’s young radical days along with his later traditionalism.
Versification: A Short Introduction by James McAuley
[Finished 21 July 2002] It probably would have been better to have read this when it was assigned reading rather than nearly 15 years later. It’s a pretty good overview of poetic meter, but a bit below my level nowadays.
The Captives, or The Lost Recovered by Thomas Heywood
[Finished 19 July 2002] I’m trying to remember this book nearly three years later as I fill in the gaps in the book list, but I’m stumped. Pretend there’s something profound here.
The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope by Andrew Delbanco
[Finished 16 July 2002] Writing this two years after the fact, sadly, I just can’t remember this book. At all. I don’t remember buying it, I don’t remember reading it. I don’t remember owning it.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
[Finished 15 July 2002] A classic gothic tale, complete with mysterious goings on, rooms that are not to be entered and a handsome yet tragic love interest for the heroine. A fun fast read.
Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi
[Finished 10 July 2002] This is one of those books which was furtively passed around in my childhood, but as an upright youth, I never partook back then. I did now as a warped adult instead.
I knew a little about the Manson family from assorted news accounts (the usual three paragraph summary whenever Manson’s parole comes up), but this book does a pretty good job at attempting to reconstruct the actions and motives of the Manson family. There’s a limit to which one can explain such horrific acts, but this is about as good as you can hope for.
Alone in the Universe by Walker Percy
[Finished 7 July 2002] Sort of a parody of 70s self-help books, but with a serious agenda as well.
Optical Letter Spacing for New Printing Systems by David Kindersley and Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley
[Finished 7 July 2002] A slim paperback published hoping to get Kindersely’s ideas more “out there” into the world of typography.
Exemplary Novels by Miguel de Cervantes
[Finished 3 July 2002] More a collection of stories than novels, my copy is a limited edition (although long enough print run to make that description a bit odd). Nothing to quite measure up to Don Quijote.
Waugh in Africa by Evelyn Waugh
[Finished 3 July 2002] Evelyn Waugh’s writings from his trip to Ethiopia before World War II reflect the prejudices of his time perhaps more than the realities of African life. But even Waugh’s prejudices make for interesting reading.
The Funhouse Mirror: Reflections on Prison by Robert Ellis Gordon
[Finished 28 June 2002] The title of this book plays with the meaning of reflection: This is not merely a reflection on what prisons are about, but also a look at how prisons reflect society. And while the funhouse mirror might not reflect ourselves as we think we look, it still reveals something about who we are. Prisons in the U.S. in particular reflect just how messed up we are as a society, how willing to throw away the lives of people without any real concern for what will become of them when they, inevitibly, are released back into society. But as long as our society is built around vengeance rather than justice, I suppose it shall always be that way.
A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-violent Conflict by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall
[Finished 26 June 2002] It’s kind of funny when we have a president who claims Jesus as his favorite philosopher but doesn’t seem to understand any of Jesus’ teachings. There’s nothing exclusively Christian in non-violence, but there’s nothing authentically Christian in violence.
A combination of philosophy and history, this book looks at why non-violence works and considers a number of case studies (including a number of cases where the non-violent protestors ultimately failed in their aims, which gives this a much more authoritative vantage point than approaches to non-violence which point to India and say look, it worked there without addressing the whys of other non-violent causes.
And perhaps the most striking thing comes from the early chapters where we learn that no one can be governed without their consent, and therein is where the true power of non-violence lies: In being willing to say no.
Return Flight: Community Development Through Reneighboring Our Cities by Robert Lupton
[Finished 21 June 2002] A stunning tract: Lupton proposes that the solution to the ills of the inner city is to have the middle class move in, reversing the trend of white flight. There’s a lot to be said for this: If no one in the neighborhood has a job it’s difficult to get the concept that having a job is a normal thing to do. This is one of the big causes of the failure of public housing in the late twentieth century (in Chicago, this is partly the consequence of changes in rent policies which eliminated any sort of economic diversity in the projects).
Lupton has, in fact, put his money (or more accurately, his family) where his mouth is, and has actually moved into the inner city with his family and the stories here come from his own experiences.
The big failure that I can see here, however, is that Lupton doesn’t really address questions of gentrification. In many cities, there is a movement of the middle class back into the city center, but rather than helping raise up the poor who live in that area, they are instead being pushed out.
Graham Greene on Film by Graham Greene
[Finished 20 June 2002] The sort of book that one buys and reads because of completist tendencies, which as a Greene afficianado, I freely admit to. I’ve seen only a handful of the films reviewed in the book, and many of them have disappeared into the collective amnesia.
The Debate on the English Reformation by Rosemary O'Day
[Finished 18 June 2002] A sort of meta-history, O’Day focuses not so much on the English reformation as on how it’s been interpretted historically.
Many Dimensions by Charles W. Williams
[Finished 16 June 2002] Continuing my explorations of the inklings, I decided to try this kind of science-fictiony adventure yarn. Similar in spirit to War in Heaven, although a bit more enjoyable and better conceived. Certainly a world away from Tolkien.
A Millenium of the Book edited by Robin Myers and Michael Harris
[Finished 14 June 2002] A collection of essays on the history of the book.
Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution by Che Guevara
[Finished 12 June 2002] A fascinating collection of essays and speeches by Che Guevara, arranged in chronological order, they provide some insight into the development of the Cuban revolution. Some of the most fascinating, to me, are the speeches from the 60s where we learn how the Cubans were struggling with transitioning to a strictly sugar-based economy to one where they began producing some of the goods which previously had to be imported, in particular soda and toothpaste, both of which provided unique challenges to the nascent industial sector.
And through it all, Che’s idealism remains, which is perhaps the most interesting part of all.
Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer
[Finished 9 June 2002] I don’t remember how I first encountered this book (perhaps amazon recommendations), but it was a breezy and fun read, especially in the wake of having recently read Stephen J, Gould’s Dinosaur in a Haystack. I would definitely seek out more Sawyer in the future.
Four Plays by Eugene Ionesco
[Finished 4 June 2002] I first encountered Ionesco when I saw the film of Rhinocerous on PBS while a child home with chicken pox. I loved it enough that when I saw the play in the Marshall Field’s bookstore nearly ten years later, I grabbed it. Wanting to read a bit more Ionesco, I found this at a used book sale. I guess he had more to say to fourth grade me than adult me.
Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose
[Finished 3 June 2002] Let’s see:
- There’s not enough money in the world to get me to live in Texas. Man, that place is messed up.
- This is the guy who’s running the U.S.? Things are worse than I thought.
Written before the election, but still very much relevant.
Complete Tales and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe
[Finished 2 June 2002] I figure being the sort of geek that I am, that I really should read the bits of Poe that I hadn’t or knew primarily by reputation (thank you Ray Bradbury). Nice haunting stuff, which holds up pretty well after nearly 200 years.I especially enjoy his detective fiction.
The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust
[Finished 24 May 2002] Maybe it’s the long stretches without so much as a blank line between paragraphs, but Proust really more tires than entertains me. Every so often I’ll spot a vignette which appeared on stage in a Proust production I saw a few years back and I’ll enjoy the spot of recognition, but most of the time, I’m kind of bored if I might admit it.
How to be Good by Nick Hornby
[Finished 16 May 2002] Nick Hornby tries writing a novel with a female narrator and largely succeeds. As usual, he doesn’t really have a good idea of how to end his novel, but that’s not really why I read Nick Hornby anyway. I’m curious to see the inevitible film of the book (which will doubtless be in theatres when the paperback of his next novel is published).
The Third Woman: The Secret Passion Which Inspired the End of the Affair by William Cash
[Finished 6 May 2002] An intriguing story of Graham Greene’s affair with Catherine Walston. It provides a compelling supplement to Norman Sherry’s biography of Greene, going into greater detail and giving a rather fascinating mix of sexuality, religious fervor and artistic genius which motivated Greene at this point in his life
Harmony and Voice Leading by Edward Aldwell and Carl Schachter
[Finished 27 April 2002] If you only read one book on harmony, this is the one. Written from the perspective of providing the information that the composer needs to know to be able to fully employ the harmonic tools at her disposal, I found this book enormously helpful in understanding concepts which had previously remianed a bit elusive. I haven’t seen the workbook, but I assume it is equally helpful.
Introduction to Literature: Poems by Lynn Altenbernd and Leslie Lewis
[Finished 7 April 2002] A New Critic’s dream anthology. Minimal commentary and the editorial intervention is largely constrained to a roughly chronological ordering with some excerpting of larger works.
Liberation Theology at the Crossroads by Paul Sigmund
[Finished 6 April 2002] An overview of the history of Liberation Theology followed by an outlook of where it’s going. I’ve kind of lost touch with what’s happening in Latin American Liberation Theology, so I’m not sure how accurate Sigmund’s prognoses are.
Night by Elie Wiesel
[Finished 5 April 2002] The current One Book One Chicago selection. I’d actually meant to read some Wiesel for a while after hearing an interview with him on NPR. It’s a haunting read based on Wiesel’s own experiences during the holocaust.
Apologetics and Catholic Doctrine by Michael Sheehan
[Finished 21 March 2002] The edition I’ve read is an older unrevised edition, but still a fascinating account of Catholic doctrine, written from the somewhat defensive stance of the apologist for the faith rather than as a strict catechesis. But this, perhaps, makes for a stronger presentation. Certainly, I’ve always prefered apologetics to catechesis.
Jesus in Latin America by Jon Sobino
[Finished 10 March 2002] A great account of contemporary Christology in the context of Latin American Liberation Theology.
Vatican Council II: More Post-conciliar Documents edited by Austin Flannery, O. P.
[Finished 5 March 2002] An interesting collection of documents promulgated by the church in the wake of Vatican II. I’m kicking myself for not having purchased the first volume of Vatican II documents while it was still in print.
The Eucharist Yesterday and Today by M. Basil Pennington
[Finished 21 February 2002] A rather amazing book. Written in the early days after Vatican II, Pennington attempts to get to the core of the Eucharistic liturgy and provides a fascinating transcription of a Eucharistic liturgy from India. It’s not a big surprise that I saw this book on the shelves of a lot of Catholics of my acquaintance.
The Footprints of the Jesuits
[Finished 17 February 2002] A distressingly anti-Catholic history of the Jesuits.
Fictions of Sappho, 1546-1937 by Joan DeJean
[Finished 9 February 2002] When I was in college, rather under the influence of J. D. Salinger, I had a bit of a whirlwind love affair with Sappho. This is one of the loose ends that remained as time passed on.
As someone whose biogrpahy is known only in fragments, Sappho tends to have a great deal projected upon her and this book is an attempt at untangling some of these threads to see not so much who Sappho was, but rather how perspectives on her reflected the times and culture from which they originate. An interesting, albeit sometimes dry book.
Counterpoint by Walter Piston
[Finished 22 January 2002] Deciding to take amazon’s advice, I picked up another book on Counterpoint (beyond the Jeppeson). It was definitely a more lucid discussion of the topic although I’m not sure how much of that to credit to the fact that this was the second book I’ve read on counterpoint and how much credit belogs to Piston himself.
The Paradise of Dainty Devices edited by H. E. Rollins
[Finished 17 January 2002] An early anthology of flowers, in this instance dating back to the sixteenth century. This edition is a lightly edited version of the original edition, with poems from later editions added to the end of the book.
Dream Catcher: A Memoir by Margaret Salinger
[Finished 15 January 2002] One of these books that I’ve read largely because of the dearth of biography of J.D. Salinger. It’s an interesting inside view of Salinger’s life written by his daughter and not surprisingly, when her life veers from her father’s, the story becomes less interesting, but it’s still a vital read for the Salingerphile.
Art of Double Bass Playing by Warren A. Benfield and James Seay Dean, Jr.
[Finished 8 January 2002] An odd mix of materials, some seemingly geared towards the person considering playing the bass, and others towards the advanced student. Inspirational, and worth keeping near the music stand, but not all that practical in the end.
War in Heaven by Charles Williams
[Finished 29 December 2001] After re-reading The Lord of the Rings I decided to explore some of the other inklings. Wright’s tale transpants the grail story to 20th century England. It’s occasionally comic and doesn’t really have much of a conclusion but does make for an interesting read. I really should find some more of his novels.
Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle
[Finished 26 December 2001] Quite a lot different from either of the films of the same name, we have a frame which helps provide some new twists on the theme with the cautionary tale taken in a different direction (closer to the second film than the first). There’s quite a bit of minutiae in the narrative which makes for a better novel than film
The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
[Finished 8 December 2001] And the saga comes to a close. There were a few more parts here that seemed familiar than in The Two Towers but a fair amount which seemed out of reach. I hope that I haven’t ruined my enjoyment of the films by going back to the books right before the movies begin.
The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
[Finished 25 November 2001] Unlike The Fellowship of the Ring there was quite a lot of this volume that didn’t come back to my memory which makes me wonder whether I actually finished reading the book or, perhaps, if I had just skimmed over the last two volumes looking for fodder for my expanding universe of Dungeons and Dragons characters and adventures (sadly never played because of a lack of fellow hardcore nerds).
The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
[Finished 18 November 2001] It’s been almost 20 years since I read this. Parts are still familiar, others had escaped my memory entirely. I have to admit that I don’t see the Catholic allegory that everyone claims is there (I suppose one could make a case for a Christian allegory, but specifically Catholic? I think not). It’s a bit startling how slowly the story starts off and how abruptly it comes to a conclusion at the end of the volume, something that I remember deeply upset me when I first read this book as a high school freshman
Civilwarland in Bad Decline: Stories and a Novella by George Saunders
[Finished 10 November 2001] What makes these stories work is the voice. There is a clear authorial voice here, one which remains familiar without becoming grating. Occasionally the stories miss the mark (“The Wavemaker Falters”) but mostly they’re dead on. Saunders manages to convey a sense of melancholy and decay that’s just perfect.
If you came to buy this collection after hearing “Offloading for Mrs Schwartz” on This American Life, hesitate no longer. Buy the book.
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
[Finished 30 October 2001] A re-read in honor of the upcoming films of The Lord of the Rings. I’m a bit startled to see how childish the tone is in this volume. I’d quite forgotten that. But it does also make it a much easier read than I recall the later books being.
Poetry and Life edited by F. J. Sheed
[Finished 24 October 2001] Despite the innocuous title, this is actually a rather specialized anthology, focusing exclusively on Catholic poets. Not much beyond that to really recommend it. I bought this when I was on a bibliomanic buying rampage for all things relating to Catholic poetry.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
[Finished 14 October 2001] A re-read, and one that’s well earned these days. It’s been a long time since I’ve read this, and with it being a One Book One Chicago selection, it seemed about right to pull it out again. How delicious are the details and how wonderful is Atticus Finch. This is what I aspire to be as far short of the mark as I often fall.
I can see why Harper Lee never published another book. How could you meet the expectations that this book set.
The Dog is not a Toy: House Rule #4 by Darby Conley
[Finished 14 October 2001] I’m not sure why, but Get Fuzzy has become my favorite comic strip. Part of it is the painstakingly drawn artwork (equalled only by Doonesbury and The Boondocks), with subtle details in the background (it’s always fun to look at the books being read or the tapes in Rob’s video collection). Then there are the wonderful cultural references, the great continuity (when Bucky put Nair in Rob’s shampoo, it took a couple of months for Rob’s hair to grow back in) or the characters themselves. It’s just fantastic. This is the first set of comics in the series.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
[Finished 7 October 2001] An amusing enough yarn, although I seem to recall having enjoyed Swiss Family Robinson a bit more. It’s a bit startling to realize how blithely Defoe has his protagonist spending decades stranded on his island.
Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust
[Finished 30 September 2001] The second volume of Remembrance of Things Past is a bit easier going than the first, but still left me feeling a bit lost at sea. I think a big part of this is the bulk not only of the whole book, but of the individual parts of the book as well.
Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by Robert Venturi
[Finished 24 September 2001] The beginnings of my reading on contemporary design criticism as I started to contemplate a theory of design criticism.
Documents Illustrative of English Church History edited by Henry Gee and W. J. Hardy
[Finished 17 September 2001] A collection of documents beginning well before the reformation and continuing through the 19th century that attempts to provide an outline of English church history through primary source material.
Complete Poetry and Prose by William Blake
[Finished 9 September 2001] There’s something about reading poems written by a man with such a psychotic imagination which can’t help but capture the fancy of the reader. There are the familiar lines (“tiger tiger burning bright”) and the unfamiliar, all of which provide a strange and unusual trip into pure fantasy.
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
[Finished 6 September 2001] Two accounts of a trip made by Samuel Johnson and his biographer. At times a bit ponderous and dull, but generally rather interesting
Dinosaur in a Haystack by Stephen J. Gould
[Finished 21 August 2001] This is my first experience reading Gould’s writing and it’s been quite a pleasure.
Gould is largely concerned with evolutionary science and does a good job of explaining how we are able to know the things that we know. At times the defensiveness against the creationists gets a bit wearying, but I imagine that from where he sits, it seems all to current of an issue to ignore.
The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White
[Finished 17 August 2001] WIth all the attention focused on his assassination, it’s easy to overlook the bitterly contested and controversial election of John F Kennedy in 1960. This book was san early example of the “instant” book, compiled shortly after the election.
For me this was an eye-opener: It was fascinating to get a snap-shot of the realignment of American politics that began with Roosevelt’s election in 1932 and reached its culmination with Nixon’s “Southern Strategy”. Definitely worth reading, especially in the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election.
Streetwise Chicago by Don Hayner and Tom McNamee
[Finished 15 August 2001] An accounting of the origins of the names of streets in Chicago along with occasional bits of history (although this latter is a bit thin and disappointing).
America's First by Charles Edwards
[Finished 13 August 2001] A missed opportunity. Edwards, setting out to write a novel about the first black president of the United States, ends up with a mishmahs of mafia themes, behind the scenes manouvres of his central character’s party, and even Saddam Hussein. All of which adds up to little of consequence. Not worth bothering with in the end.
Interpretation in Teaching by I. A. Richardson
[Finished 8 August 2001] An intriguing book, discussing how questions of interpretation shape the teaching of English, although in the end, I don’t feel that the book really provided what I hoped it would. Had I read this when I bought it, it might well have only exacerbated my existential crisis about the role of criticism.
The Accidental Pope by Raymond Flynn and Robin Moore
[Finished 4 August 2001] This year’s Pope novel. Hmm, why is the American ambassador to the Vatican such a central character? It turns out Flynn was the ambassador to the Vatican during the Clinton years. Well, that explains a lot. Yet another formulaic Pope novel with little to recommend it.
A Flowering Tree: And Other Oral Tales from India by A. K. Ramanujan
[Finished 6 July 2001] A fascinating collection of orally-transmitted folk tales from India. It is made a bit perplexing by the incorporation of some scholastic apparatus including a nomenclature for classifying tales according to some sort of rather mechanical system. I felt at times like I’d missed most of a semester of class. But the tales are great.
Walter Benjamin and the Bible by Brian Britt
[Finished 2 July 2001] Not entirely sure why I bought this. I guess it’s because of the Terry Eagleton-Walter Benjamin connection, but having not actually read any Benjamin, this came across as amazingly opaque.
Chasing the Sun: Dictionary-Makers and the Dictionaries They Made by Jonathon Green
[Finished 1 July 2001] This is one of those subjects that seems to fascinate me but few others. I knew a very small amount about dictionary making before I read this book, largely courtesy of reading about Samuel Johnson. This provided a rather interesting history of the genre (which is relatively young). It’s interesting to note, for example, that the idea of arranging words alphabetically was not self-evident (after all, if you know a word and want to know what it means, it works well, but if you want to know what the word is for, say, the knee of a horse, a standard dictionary is little help at all). In all a fascinating work.
God First Loved Us: The Challenge of Accepting Unconditional Love by Antony F. Campbell, S.J.
[Finished 1 July 2001] Campbell is a frequent visiting priest at my old parish in Claremont, and he wrote this book apparently while spending the New Zealand summer in California which made it a favorite among the parishioners and eventually a present for me.
In this short book, Campbell explores just how radical the concept of being unconditionally loved is, and just what it demands of us as the ones being so loved. Thought-provoking and inspiring.
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin
[Finished 22 June 2001] Like most people educated in the US, history classes generally managed to stay pretty detailed until roughly the civil war, then as the spring arrives, we ended up rushing through the 20th century not getting a whole lot of the details.
So it’s been with some delight that I’ve been reading this book, filling in the details. Focusing primarily on the lead-up to Roosevelt’s third term through his death, Kearns manages to provide enough detail and background to keep the reader informed and engaged throughout.
It is, though somewhat disturbing while reading this to realize how far to the right the US as tacked in the last 60 years.
The Quest for Graham Greene by W. J. West
[Finished 21 June 2001] One of the weaknesses of Sherry’s biography of Graham Greene is the additional information which has come to light since he began writing. This, in part, explains the fact that between the publication of the first and second volumes, the size of the work had expanded to three volumes with the second volume being far more detailed than the first.
In writing this work, West has come at it with the view that his readers would likely be familiar with the other biographies and makes frequent reference to them (including scathing rebuttals to claims made in Shelden’s travesty of a biography). This ends up creating a work which helps fill in the gaps that were unavoidable in Sherry volume 1 and makes this an essential companion to Sherry’s work for the serious Graham Greene scholar (or fan).
Say I Am You: Poetry Interspersed With Stories of Rumi and Shams by Jalal Al-Din Rumi
[Finished 15 June 2001] I stumbled upon the Sufi mystic and poet looking over the shoulder of a girl I sat next to on the bus one morning heading in to work. We both got off at the same stop, she went right to art school, I went left to my computer job. Something significant there.
The poems come from the Sufic mystic tradition of Islam, although I find that mysticism tends to be fairly uniform regardless of the underlying theology. A great read and one that I’ll doubtless return to.
Reformation in England by Frederick Powicke
[Finished 12 June 2001] A not particularly memorable accounting of the English reformation
On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism After Structuralism by Jonathan Culler
[Finished 29 May 2001] Some leftover reading from college. I kind of wish I’d actually read it when I took the class. This was a highly readable and quite interesting introduction to post-structuralist criticism. Certainly a lot easier to follow than some of the other work that I did read all those years ago.
The Stranger by Albert Camus
[Finished 28 May 2001] One of those books that most of my peers read in high school but I managed to miss (that’s what I get for writing a novel in place of senior English, I guess). The sense of alienation throughout the novel is something which will haunt me for years to come, I suppose.
Letterletter: An Inconsistent Collection of Tentative Theories That Do Not Claim Any Other Authority Than That of Common by Gerrit Noordzij
[Finished 27 May 2001] A collection of essays by Dutch type designer Gerrit Noordzij. I’ll probably publish a full review in Serif.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
[Finished 14 May 2001] A pleasant read, in a series of vignettes. This was a One Book One Chicago selection when I read it.
Chicago by Gaslight: A History of Chicago's Netherworld, 1880-1920 by Richard Lindberg
[Finished 13 May 2001] An enthralling account of the dark side of Chicago at the turn of the last century. It was fascinating to read about the assorted vice criminals, murderers and corrupt politicians of the era (not to mention connecting some of the addresses mentioned to what’s there today).
Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty by Roy F. Baumeister
[Finished 12 May 2001] Baumeister is fast becoming one of my favorite non-fiction writers. His journal articles are especially fascinating. In this book, Baumeister turns to the question of evil. He makes a conscious point of avoiding literary depictions of evil and instead tries to apply social scientific tools to the question. What he found is that people tend to prefer not being evil in general and attempts to identify some of the root causes (one that stands out is that “evil” behavior is not generally rooted in a lack of self-esteem, but in fact the opposite: It’s generally a consequence of a surfeit of esteem.
I attempted once to replicate one of his studies in which he found that submissives outnumbered dominators in the alternative newspaper classifieds. In the issue of the Reader that I looked at, the opposite was quite the case.
Orchestration by Cecil Forsyth
[Finished 25 April 2001] The first practical book I’ve read on orchestration. It’s a bit outdated in places and at times charmingly un-PC, but a handy guide regardless. While it doesn’t talk as much about combinations of instruments as Rimsky-Korsakoff’s book, it provides detailed and practical information on each of the instruments it covers.
Chicanos, Catholicsm And Political Ideology by Lawrence J. Mosqueda
[Finished 14 April 2001] Heavy number crunching looking at the patterns of religiosity and political belief among Mexican immigrants in the American southwest. Much of what the mainstream media seems to find surprising (they’re not all Catholics and they’re not all democrats) is quite clearly outlined here.
Typee by Herman Melville
[Finished 14 April 2001] I spotted this at a book sale and picked it up having enjoyed other Melville that I’d read. Divorced from any context it was a bit perplexing: Was I to take at face value the manuscript’s claim to be true. Obviously not. On the other hand, I also missed out on the ways in which this was a truly shocking story: From the perspective of a 21st Century American, the sexuality, cannibalism etc. aren’t that outrageous.
Catholics in England 1559-1829: A Social History by M. D. R. Leys
[Finished 3 April 2001] A pretty good history of English Catholics under the penal laws.
Life is Worth Living by Fulton J. Sheen
[Finished 18 March 2001] A collection of essays adapted from Sheen’s television program of the same name. Pleasant reflections on spiritual living.
A Catholic Reader edited by Charles A. Brady
[Finished 12 March 2001] A delightful compendium of Catholic writings from throughout English history. Some of the short stories are particularly delightful
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
[Finished 16 February 2001] I had my doubts about this book as I started reading it. How interesting can a novel about a pre-adolescent be? As it turned out, it was actually quite good, perhaps better, even, then the Barrytown trilogy.
Beyond Freedom and Dignity by B. F. Skinner
[Finished 9 February 2001] Skinner’s controversial work in which he argues for using behavioralist techniques to shape society. But ultimately, it’s much less controversial than the title would imply. Perhaps it’s just that I’m sympathetic to the behavioralist viewpoint (although not necessarily to the extremes that Skinner sometimes espoused, although I’m not sure that Skinner himself believed in those extremes--rather he was just being provocative to get his ideas debated), but much of Skinner’s arguments seemed eminently sensible.
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
[Finished 3 February 2001] The book that got me into early American history. History as it’s taught in American schools reduces the subject to a rather dull series of events. The detail behind it is quite another matter.
Ellis’s primary subjects are Jefferson and Adams, although most of the founders of the republic get a fair amount of play here.
Amazing Conversions: Why Some Turn to Faith & Others Abandon Religion by Bob Altemeyer and Bruce Hunsberger
[Finished 28 January 2001] I’m always happy to read books which try to scientifically study religious phenomenon. In this particular case, Altemeyer and Hunsberger attempt to address the question of what the factors are which lead some young adults to turn to religion while their peers abandon their childhood faiths. It’s a difficult question to address because it’s looking at the outliers on the question of religious belief (the vast majority of young adults don’t go through any change in religious belief either towards or away). Definitely worth a read for those interested in the topic.
Decadence and Catholicism by Ellis Hanson
[Finished 26 January 2001] When I saw the title, I was intrigued enough to want to read it so I picked it up at Border’s (using my discount card). By “decadence” Hanson is referring particularly to a late 19th-century literary and artistic movement which was fascinated by decay. And what better source for decay than the Catholic church in England, finally coming out from under the weight of severe penal laws prohibiting Catholicism and divested of much of its historical wealth? Yet the reading remained relatively dry, even with Oscar Wilde as a central figure in the book. I suppose it would have been far more interesting to me as a college student.
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
[Finished 21 January 2001] A great premise with fun and interesting characters. But of course, as seems to be perpetually the problem with Nick Hornby, he is unable to provide an ending to his story. The film of the book helped a bit on that front, but here the book just sort of peters out. On the other hand, the path there is sufficiently fun that really it’s hard to begrudge Hornby his inability to end a novel.
Samuel Johnson by W. Jackson Bate
[Finished 18 January 2001] A captivating biography of Johnson, surprising in its detail. This is the second Johnson bio that I’ve read (the first being, of course, Boswell), and I’ve found that it gave me a remarkably good perspective on Johnson the man, and his accomplishments in his life.
Programming Applications with the Wireless Application Protocol by Steve Mann
[Finished 13 January 2001] A fair introduction to a technology which became obsolete almost immediately upon release. By the time I finished reading this, WAP was one of those technologies that had fallen into the technological dust bin
Granta 70: Australia, the New New World
[Finished 4 January 2001] Once again, Granta manages to put together a stunning collection, although it felt like some of the fiction could have used some footnotes for those of us unfamiliar with the finer points of Australian life.
Twentieth-Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice by Vincent Persichetti
[Finished December 2000] Both a manifesto and a textbook, the opening sentence sets the tone:
Any tone can succeed any other tone, any tone can sound simultaneously with any other tone or tones, and any group of tones can be followed by any other group of tones.I love this book, and I love Persichetti’s compositions. Clearly an essential work for students of music theory.
Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Style of the Sixteenth Century by Knud Jeppesen
[Finished November 2000] As part of my program of musical autodidacticism, I decided that I needed to learn about counterpoint (partly because I found myself wanting to write a piece in the style of classical counterpoint). A bit of research revealed this to be the generally acclaimed best book on the subject, and I found that it did suit my needs quite well, although less so than actually performing Palestrina pieces with the Holy Name Choir.
The South Side: The Racial Transformation of an American Neighborhood by Louis Rosen
[Finished November 2000] Chicago is a remarkably segregated city, and Rosen, in this book, decided to do a case study of his own neighborhood on the far south side of Chicago to see the processes that led to his neighborhood turning from a predominantly white neighborhood to a predominantly black neighborhood.
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
[Finished October 2000] A re-read. I first read this as an undergrad, and after lending my copy to a friend who never returned it, I decided to buy a new copy (this edition which includes the Postscript). This is clearly a book which rewards rereading, with its layered meaning in the detective story. I’m thinking that I’d like to read it one more time paying a bit more attention to the historical background in the book as well for still more meaning waiting to be unwrapped
What You Can Change... And What You Can't by Martin E.P. Seligman
[Finished September 2000] Seligman is, I think, one of the greatest psychologists of the late twentieth century, and this book, one of his works for the general populace, is a good overview of what psychological research can tell us about the things that matter most to us: Everyday problems like phobias, weight loss, addiction, depression, anxiety, etc. If only more people would read Seligman and fewer would read John Grey’s claptrap
Eminence by Morris West
[Finished August 2000] Another annual “Pope” novel. I’m back to Morris West who’s probably the king of the genre. Once again, West manages to do a good job of using fiction to reveal the state of the church
Understanding ActiveX and OLE by David Chappell
[Finished August 2000] This got good reviews at amazon. I, personally, didn’t care too much for it, as it gave me a conceptual understanding, but didn’t allow me to do any actual development. Not in any way what I needed from the book
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
[Finished July 2000] Inspired by the “Summarizing Proust” skit on Monty Python, I’ve long meant to read Rememberence of Things Past, so I finally decided to begin. It’s a long, often difficult journey, with chapters which run for unbelievably long stretches, which is largely incompatible with my somewhat addled reading habits.
The Feeling of What Happens by Antonio Damasio
[Finished June 2000] An interesting attempt to look scientifically at what consciousness means.
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
[Finished June 2000] Great fun. Yes, parts of it seem to be gratuitous filler, but it’s still an awful lot of fun to read. Even bits of the filler have stuck with me as a source of amusement some years after reading it.
And if you’ve ever played Illuminati, this is almost a must-read.
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
[Finished May 2000] A mixed variety of short stories set in Germany between the world wars. It’s been a while since I read these, but I remember enjoying many of them.
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell
[Finished May 2000] An interesting look into the American class system. Definitely something that I should track down and re-read.
Structures of the Church by Hans Küng
[Finished April 2000] A fascinating look at church hierarchy and its relationship to the laity. Küng argues for a greater role for the laity in the church, a call which was only partly heeded by the second Vatican council.
In the Heart of the Seas by S. Y. Agnon
[Finished March 2000] A very curious narrative. It’s written in an eighteenth century style,
but seems to be a contemporary piece. I believe I got this from a list
of top 100 spiritual books of the twentieth century.
The Mass of the Roman Rite by Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J.
[Finished March 2000] A massive tome detailing the history of the Roman mass. Written on the eve of Vatican II, it was an essential background for those working to revise the liturgy for the modern era.
The Cardinal Sins by Andrew Greeley
[Finished 20 February 2000] Better than White Smoke although Greeley still doesn’t do
too much for me as a novelist. If you’re looking for a compelling
Catholic novelist, try Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh or Morris West.
Paul Renner: The Art of Typography by Christopher Burke
[Finished 13 February 2000] Review pending for Serif.
The Undiscovered Mind: How the Human Brain Defies Replication, Medication and Explanation by John Horgan
[Finished 4 February 2000] When I first flipped through this after I got it for Christmas, I
formed a (mistaken) impression that Horgan was Freudian. However, upon
reading the book, the truth is that Horgan is an extreme positivist,
who despairs that any psychological theory will be productive
for anything.
Granta 69: The Assassin
[Finished February 2000] Another fascinating collection from Granta.
Graham Greene: On the Frontier by Maria Coutos
[Finished February 2000] Not terribly insightful, I thought.
J'Accuse: The Dark Side of Nice by Graham Greene
[Finished February 2000] I doubt that this would be notable if not for its author. Actually,
I’m not sure it’s notable even with its author.
Kinds of Minds by Daniel Dennet
[Finished 30 January 2000] An intriguing inquiry into how consciousness works, by a philosopher
with a scientific bent.
The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
[Finished 21 January 2000] Not one of Maugham’s best novels, but still an interesting (and short)
read.
Evelyn Waugh: The Early Years 1903-1939 by Martin Stannard
[Finished 18 January 2000] An outstanding and intriguing examination of Waugh’s life and
opinions.
Granta 68: Love Stories
[Finished 16 January 2000] The Cheever left me cold, but as usual, some nice stories and
articles.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert Pirsig
[Finished 15 January 2000] Required reading by the more pretentious students at nerd school, I
managed to miss this during my stint there. Good thing, since I think
that I appreciate it more as an older reader than I would have as
nerdboy.
Harmony by Walter Piston
[Finished 5 January 2000] An excellent introduction to harmonic analysis. Some sections were a
bit unclear, but a large part of that was more because I read 2/3 of
it away from a keyboard so I was relying on my musical imagination to
tell me what the examples sounded like. Reading it has certainly done
a lot to broaden my own compositional skills. Reviews at Amazon.com
indicate that the current edition is not as good as the older edition
which I read. Pity.
My Life by Leon Trotsky
[Finished 11 December 1999] Perhaps it’s because I read this immediately after Newman’s
autobiography (below), but I saw a lot of parallels between the two
works. Both use the autobiography form as a means of justifying their
opinions and actions in the face of the attacks of an opponent (Stalin
in the case of Trotsky, Kingsley for Newman). Trotsky’s autobiography
is less rhetorically sophisticated than Newman’s but ultimately is a
more interesting read, because of that very trait.
Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Cardinal Newman
[Finished 28 November 1999] I selected this particular edition to link to because it’s the one
that I read and it includes some vital context for understanding
Newman’s autobiography. Should you actually read it for yourself, I
would encourage you to read the exchange between Newman and Kingsley
at the end of the book before reading the main text. The critical
essays can largely be skipped unless you really enjoy that sort of
thing (and perhaps even if you do).
Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and Work in Her Own Words
[Finished 23 November 1999] I picked this book up at an anti-war rally back in ‘91, but never
got around to reading it. Frankly it struck me as being unlikely to be
interesting (why I got in the first place escapes me). But it finally
percolated to the top of my reading list and it’s been quite a
surprise. Much of what Peace Pilgrim says could be my own
words and her life is one that I have aspired to. I find some of her
spiritual perspectives to be a bit odd, but her life, truly in the
spirit of St Francis, is quite astonishing.
Principles of Orchestration with Musical Examples Drawn from his own Work in Two Volumes Bound as One by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
[Finished 16 November 1999] A bit frustrating as many of the principles are still left
unillustrated even with the copious score extracts, and much is left
unexplained. The introduction explains how the text came to be
(compiled from fragments of a planned work left unfinished at
Rimsky-Korsakov’s death), but fails to explain why the work was
published in its present state. It has influenced me somewhat in my
playing and arranging, but was of little direct use to me.
Guerilla P.R. by Michael Levine
[Finished 12 November 1999] Frankly, not all that groundbreaking or innovative. Or maybe I just
have good P.R. instincts, but there didn’t really seem to be anything
to what Levine offers that I didn’t already know.
The Flute and Flute Playing in Acoustical, Technical and Artistic Aspects by Theobald Boehm
[Finished 9 November 1999] When I started teaching myself the flute, I put this book aside as
being a bit impractical for my interests. I was right to do so, but as
I progressed, I decided to pick it up again and see if it was
interesting. Very much so. It was occasionally confusing as some of
Boehm’s terminology clashed with my own (e.g., what he called the C#
key, I called the C key, his reasoning being that the hole beneath the
key sounded C# while mine was that closing the key caused the flute to
sound C), but it was fascinating reading the description of how the
modern flute came to be. I’ve read some autobiographies of flute techs
who said that they used this book to disassemble and reassemble a
flute for the first time. Maybe so, I don’t see that, but still worth
the few bucks it’d cost any flute player to pick this one up.
Birdy by William Wharton
[Finished 4 November 1999] A re-read. I first read this in college when I borrowed the copy my
roommate had for one of his classes and later bought a copy for
myself. I still love the intertwining narratives and timeframes.
Autobiography by John Stuart Mill
[Finished 13 October 1999] As one of my college professors observed, really only the account of
Mill’s childhood education is interesting, although that comes in as
very interesting.
Poems for the People by Carl Sandburg
[Finished 11 October 1999] Mostly lesser poems, there’s one really nice one describing a gypsy
girl sitting across from Sandburg on the L which was the whole reason
I bought this.
The Prey of the Priest Catchers: The Lives of the Forty Martyrs by Leon Knowles
[Finished 24 September 1999] A popularized history, but nice outline of the English saints.
Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
[Finished 22 September 1999] Not as funny as some reviewers have led me to believe, but certainly
the lightest Russian literature I’ve ever encountered.
Granta 67: Women and Children First
[Finished 15 September 1999] An interesting look at the places where social niceties seem to break
down or stand up.
Markings by Dag Hamerskjold
[Finished 8 September 1999] One of the most impressive accountings of the inner life, if not the
most impressive accounting. This book by far deserves its place in the
recently published list of the 100 top spiritual books of the century.
Life and Poems of Nicholas Grimald by L. R. Merrill
[Finished 2 September 1999] The archipropheta is especially interesting as are the many
contradictions of Grimald’s life. This is part of my collection on
Catholics in Elizabethan England.
Shakespeare's English Kings by Peter Saccio
[Finished 27 August 1999] A nice companion to the historical plays. It provides some much needed
background.
Sir Thomas Browne: A Doctor's Life of Science & Faith by Jeremiah S. Finch
[Finished 16 August 1999] A highly readable biography.
Special Edition Using FoxPro 5 by Michael Antonovich
[Finished 4 August 1999] Occasionally good, occasionally bad. It gets higher marks just because
so many FoxPro books I’ve encountered have been so uniformly bad.
Papabile: The Man Who Would Be Pope by Michael J. Farrell
[Finished 3 August 1999] Not quite the book it could have been.
Modern Political Analysis by Robert A. Dahl
[Finished 31 July 1999] Not particularly remarkable. Some leftover unread stuff from college.
Ways of Escape by Graham Greene
[Finished 23 July 1999] A re-read. Interestingly as I was reading this, I found myself
transported to the hotel room in New Jersey and its environs where I
read this book initially in 1989 (in fact it’s entirely possible that
I read this exactly one decade earlier).
The French Impressionists and their Century by Diane Kelder
[Finished 19 July 1999] A nicely illustrated examination of the development of impressionism
in France.
The Golden Book of Catholic Poetry edited by Alfred Noyes
[Finished 15 July 1999] A fair anthology of poems which stretches beyond the breaking point
the definition of “Catholic Poetry.”
A Sentimental Journey with The Journal to Eliza and a Political Romance by Laurence Stern
[Finished 25 June 1999] Not quite as great of a read as Tristram Shandy was.
Beyond the Bass Clef: The Life and Art of Bass Playing by Tony Levin
[Finished 21 June 1999] Perhaps the only book that has inspired me to be a better musician.
Shyness: What It Is, What to Do About It by Philip G. Zimbardo
[Finished 11 June 1999] A nice examination of research and its applications to social phobias.
Granta 66: Truth and Lies
[Finished 24 May 1999] As usual, a great outing from Granta
The Satyricon by Petronius
[Finished 19 May 1999] Frustrating with its frequent lacunae, an amusing and bawdy work.
The Portable Karl Marx edited by Eugene Kamenka
[Finished 6 May 1999] A nice collection of writings by and about Marx. I especially love the
story early on where Marx “swopped knives” with a youth who had no
idea to whom he was making his request.
Integral Humanism by Jacques Maritain
[Finished 30 April 1999] A bit of philosophy that occasionally reached beyond me, but an
engaging read on the meaning of being human.
Fundamentals of Cognitive Psychology by R. Reed Hunt and Henry C. Ellis
[Finished 20 April 1999] Cognitive psychology is usually a dry subject but it doesn’t have to
be that way. Unfortunately, Reed and Ellis don’t seem to know that.
What Gunpowder Plot Was by Samuel Rawson Gardiner
[Finished 15 April 1999] A charmingly biased (towards the protestant side) accounting. It was
written in response to another book which I’ve not read which makes it
frequently opaque.
Chicago '68 by David Farber
[Finished 14 April 1999] Primarily an account from the yippie perspective of the events leading
up to and surrounding the 1968 Democratic convention.
The Undertaking: Life Stories from the Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch
[Finished 9 April 1999] A great collection of essays from an accomplished writer who happens
to also run a funeral home.
Cognitive Therapy of Depression by Aaron T. Beck, Gary Emery and Brian F. Shaw
[Finished 8 April 1999] Generally interesting, but incomplete. For example, the Beck inventory
and a few other diagnostic tools are included, but no instructions on
how to score them is given.
Granta 65: London--The Lives of the City
[Finished 7 April 1999] Another outstanding collection of fiction and essays.
On the Dignity and Vocation of Women by John Paul II
[Finished 1 April 1999] An intriguing mix of progressive and conservative ideas. The Catholic
position on women is far more nuanced than its critics and supporters
sometimes see.
On Social Concern by John Paul II
[Finished 31 March 1999] Even more progressive than “On the Hundredth Anniversary” which came
later.
On the Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum by John Paul II
[Finished 30 March 1999] Given JP2’s conservative reputation, surprisingly progressive.
Pacem in Terris by John XXIIII
[Finished 27 March 1999] While it’s primarily about peace matters, this encyclical is an
important work in the corpus of Catholic teaching on social justice.
The Story of the English Cardinals by Charles Isaacson
[Finished 26 March 1999] A surprisingly readable book. Isaacson’s dilemma over figures like
Newman is rather entertaining.
A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez
[Finished 24 March 1999] I wasn’t prepared for the rigorous philosophical bent of this book,
but can see the value of it as it provides a solid grounding for the
various liberation theologies which followed this work.
Who will Teach Me? A Handbook for Parents by Joseph Girzone
[Finished 18 March 1999] A handy book. Girzone is a mostly liberal Catholic, although in some
areas he’s surprisingly conservative.
The Respectable Murderers: Social Evil and Christian Conscience by Paul Hanley Furfey
[Finished 17 March 1999] An interesting, but dated book, arguing that Christians must
take a stand against social injustice, despite (or even because of)
the personal cost of doing so.
Wellsprings: A Book of Spiritual Exercises by Anthony De Mello
[Finished 15 March 1999] A delightful book, although best dipped into than read. One could use
it as a sort of sorties, I suppose.
Way of the Cross: The Passion of Christ in the Americas edited by Virgil Elizondo
[Finished 8 March 1999] Somewhat uneven collection of essays linking the Passion of Christ to
opression of native Latin Americans. When it’s good, it’s excellent,
but when it’d bad, it’s awful.
The Mass and the English Reformers by C. W. Ducmore
[Finished 4 March 1999] Another book typical of the era in which it was written (interbellum
England). Ducmore works to claim that the Anglican liturgy is in fact
part of an unbroken tradition, but ultimately fails.
The Oberagammau Passion Play 1970 by J. A. Daisenberger
[Finished 3 March 1999] Rather pedestrian. The dialog added to flesh out the story is
incredibly banal. The portrayal of Judas was somewhat sympathetic,
which seems to be characteristic of just about any dramatic treatment
of this material.
English Catholic Worship: Liturgical Renewal in England since 1900 by J. D. Crichton, H. E. Winstone and J. R. Ainslie
[Finished 1 March 1999] I have to admit that before I read this book, I’d not put a lot of
thought into the origins of contemporary Catholic liturgical
practice. Actually, it’s very amazing indeed. It’s also interesting to
note the fairly sizable chasm between English and American liturgical
practices, which makes some other books that I’ve read a bit more
lucid.
Priest of the Plague: Henry Moore, S. J. by Philip Caraman
[Finished 27 February 1999] Caraman was a writer of some skill who wrote, translated or edited a
large number of the books that I’ve read on the Catholic mission to
England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He has a good
touch and writes very readable works. I may well hunt down some of his
other books on other topics.
English Monks and the Supression of the Monasteries by Geoffrey Baskerville
[Finished 25 February 1999] More illuminating about the state of religion in the 1920s than in the
early sixteenth century.
Defence of English Catholics by William Cardinal Allen
[Finished 20 February 1999] A rather dreary bit of 16th century prose. Of minor historical
interest; I suppose I’ve read too much material on the Elizabethan
Catholics, because this seemed all old hat and more than a little
dull.
Catholic and Christian: An Explanation of Commonly Misunderstood Catholic Beliefs by Alan Schreck
[Finished 18 February 1999] Out of the “if you really understood it, you’d have nothing to argue
about” school of apologetics. Schreck downplays the fact that many
Catholics don’t get some beliefs and that many folk practices
are in conflict with official orthodoxy. However, as it goes, it’s a
good book, although I prefer Karl Keating’s Catholicism and
Fundamentalism.
Viper's Tangle by François Mauriac
[Finished 15 February 1999] An intriguing and provocative novel. A nice treatment of spiritual
matters without descending into becoming maudlin.
The Short Stories of James T. Farrell by James T. Farrell
[Finished 12 February 1999] When I first read Farrell’s Studs Lonigan I ended up
losing a lot of sleep reading my way through the book. The other
Farrell I’ve read has often failed to measure up to that masterpiece,
although some of the stories here come close. It’s a shame that nearly
everything Farrell has written has fallen out of print.
Instant SQL Programming by Joe Celko
[Finished 11 February 1999] A consensus recommendation from the internet, I found this book to be
a bit of a disappointment. The useful content could have been
condensed into a much shorter work and information on more
sophisticated SQL programming added in its place.
Religion and Contemporary Western Culture edited by Edward Cell
[Finished 3 February 1999] I’ve been puzzling through the meaning of modernity for the past
decade or so and this fills in a few more pieces while opening up
other questions at the same time. Some context would have been helpful
with some of the essays whose time frame spans about forty years, from
the twenties to the sixties. The optimism about being able to address
religion and culture is kind of stunning really coming at it from the
perspective of someone educated at the end of the twentieth century
when the whole concept of meaning is under question.
Memories, Dreams, Reflections by C. G. Jung
[Finished 24 January 1999] Let me be on record as saying that Jung was very weird. Very, very weird.
Male Homosexual Behavior and the Effects of AIDS Education: A Study of Behavior and Safer Sex in New Zealand and S Austr by B. R. Simon Rosser
[Finished 19 January 1999] Rosser does a good job presenting the results of a series of related studies and discussing the implications of their findings, especially in their broader context.
Heterosexism: An Ethical Challenge by Patricia Beattie Jung and Ralph F. Smith
[Finished 15 January 1999] While some of their arguments fail to persuade me, valuable if only for its taxonomy of religious views of homosexuality.
Gay and Lesbian Mental Health: A Sourcebook for Practitioners edited by Christopher J. Alexander
[Finished 12 January 1999] The chapter on eating disorders was especially fascinating, and while
some portions were a bit more psychodynamic than is in accord with my
tastes, still a good read.
Motivation and Personality by Abraham Maslow
[Finished 11 January 1999] The summaries of Maslow’s theory that I’ve read elsewhere haven’t
really done justice to what Maslow himself has to say. amazon.com has
a comment from Maslow written January 1999, while Maslow was
mouldering in his grave. Interesting.
Spirituality and Religion in Psychotherapy: Diversity in Theory and Practice by Eugene W. Kelly, Jr.
[Finished 8 January 1999] A practical examination of how and why to bring spiritual issues into counseling practice.
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm
[Finished 19 December 1998] Provocative and interesting. I think that in some ways Fromm’s ideas
are less historically determined than he thinks, with the form of the
escape from freedom changing on the basis of the sociocultural moment,
but the underlying concept remaining constant.
Readings in Moral Theology No. 8: Dialogue about Catholic Sexual Teaching edited by Charles E. Curran and Richard McCormick, S. J.
[Finished 18 December 1998] Outstanding. Curran and McCormick come from the progressive side of
the theological spectrum, but manage to still provide a creditable
selection of conservative voices (the Siker book, below, seemed to
have more straw-man type conservative voices, which does credit to
neither side). I especially liked Curran’s essay comparing Catholic
social and sexual teaching.
Granta 64: Russia
[Finished 6 December 1998] Possibly the best Granta yet. The first one with multiple
authors that I’ll be seeking out more of their writing.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
[Finished 30 November 1998] Stuffy Victorians? Posh and nonsense. They were heavy drug users
apparently.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott
[Finished 28 November 1998] Classic nerd fiction. Some of the allegory is a bit forced and frankly
it gets a bit dull at times. Back when I thought four-dimensional
geometry was the coolest thing on earth though, this would have been
my favorite book.
Homosexuality in the Church: Both Sides of the Debate edited by Jeffrey S. Siker
[Finished 25 November 1998] A very interesting collection of essays, surprisingly well-balanced
and essential reading for anyone interested in religious implications
of homosexuality.
The MMPI: A Practical Guide by John Graham
[Finished 23 November 1998] A decent enough guide except that (a) it’s now the MMPI-2 and
(b) it’s overly invested in psychodynamic theories.
The Jesuits 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from its Foundation to the Present Time by Thomas J. Campbell
[Finished 18 November 1998] A bit cheerleader-ish and occasionally racist. Notable primarily
because it was the first history of the Jesuits written in English by
a Jesuit.
English Catholicism 1558-1642 by Alan Dures
[Finished 2 November 1998] A great introduction to the subject. Unfortunately, I learned most of
this years ago when I first began reading about 16th C. English Catholics.
The Power and Secret of the Jesuits by René Fülöp-Miller
[Finished 30 October 1998] A rather curious book. Fülöp-Miller feels compelled to
grant a sort of grudging respect to the accomplishments of the Jesuits
despite what seems to be his desired tendency to deride them as
morally suspect. Lack of time context in some passages was unfortunate
(e.g., when were the Jesuits teaching the Copernican system to the
Chinese?) but overall, it’s a good an interesting read (even if
Fülöp-Miller does believe that the Copernican system
is merely the most plausible hypothesis of the solar system).
Body, Sex and Pleasure by Christine Gudorf
[Finished 29 October 1998] When I first started reading this book, I though Gudorf was way off
base on a number of her conclusions. I still think that she is, but
she does a much better job of explaining why she’s reached her
conclusions than other theologians have and is much less likely to
argue by handwaving.
Personality Theories: Development Growth and Diversity by Bem P. Allen
[Finished 27 October 1998] This book is a bit confused as to whether it wants to be a personality
theories book, be a history and systems text or be a counseling and
psychotherapy text. More than any psychology text that I’ve
encountered, this is one that I would write radically differently if
it were up to me.
Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States by Rita Nakashima Brock and Susan Thistlethwaite
[Finished 1 October 1998] Rather a jumbled mess. Prostitution, at least at the surface, presents
a bit of a paradoxical situation for feminist thinkers (more
problematic, even, than pornography, I think) and Brock and
Thistlethwaite do a poor job of approaching the problem. A further
problem is the insistence on linking prostitution with militarism
(which may be the case in some contexts but is certainly not
universal) and which was apparently done in an effort to enlist the
support of people in the peace and justice community in addressing the
prostitution problem.
Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse
[Finished 20 September 1998] I liked it; an interesting exploration of the meaning of life from a
Jungian perspective.
Lord Rochester's Monkey: Being the Life of John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester by Graham Greene
[Finished 18 September 1998] This is the second time I’ve read this book. Both times I’ve found it
horribly dry and wondered where the “obscenity” was that lead to its
failure to be published when it was originally written. Perhaps the
real reason it failed to find a publisher was because it was so dull.
Granta 63: Beasts
[Finished 17 September 1998] This is why I love this publication. Usually there’s a clunker or two
in any given Granta, but this one is perfect. Wow.
Meanings of Life by Roy F. Baumeister
[Finished 17 September 1998] A systematic exploration of where people derive the meanings in their
life from a primarily social psychological standpoint. Baumeister
tends to be rather dismissive of religion in general and Christianity
in particular and occasionally dramatically demonstrates his lack of
knowledge in the subject area (“Damn it Jim, I’m a psychologist, not a
theologian!”), but still manages to provide a well-written, thoughtful
exploration. His defining meaningfulness in terms of its objects
rather than its loci is especially interesting to me.
A Sense of Sexuality: Chrstian Love and Intimacy by Evelyn Eaton Whitehead and James D. Whitehead
[Finished 10 September 1998] The Whiteheads provide a generally thoughtful analysis of sexuality
(from a primarily Catholic Christian standpoint) supported by
anecdotes. They’re a bit too dismissive of certain classical concepts,
such as original sin, and I question their rather dismissive portrayal
of St Augustine (if nothing else, they should have been willing to dig
a little deeper than they did), but still not too bad of a book.
Motif Programming: The Essentials... and More by Marshall Brain
[Finished 3 September 1998] Excuse me for a moment, I just have a mental image of the author in
junior high: “Mr Brain will you keep your hands to
yourself!”
OK, the book itself is a bit thin on details. You won’t really be able to call yourself a Motif programmer just by reading this book (and doing the exercises), but it is a good way of getting one’s feet wet before diving into the O’Reilly books.
Love Does No Harm: Sexual Ethics for the Rest of Us by Marie M. Fortune
[Finished 1 September 1998] I believe that Fortune may see sexual violence as more pervasive than
it is (probably as a result of her work with women who are victims of
sexual violence). Certainly, her world bears little resemblance to the
one in which I live.
Anthony Trollope by James Pope Hennesy
[Finished 28 August 1998] Fortunately Trollope’s life is fairly fascinating because this book is
a bit of a mess.
Autobiography by Eric Gill
[Finished 25 August 1998] An odd mix of philosophy and details of Gill’s life. I’d’ve liked more
philosophy, less recollection.
I am Mary Dunne by Brian Moore
[Finished 24 August 1998] Not one of Moore’s best. I found Mary Dunne a fairly unconvincing
creation, but the exploration of memory and identity was promising. I
wonder if Moore ever attempted to return to that theme.
The Imitation of Christ
[Finished 22 August 1998] The contrast between mediaeval spirituality and its denial-of-self
center and contemporary spirituality and its service-of-others center
is quite striking. I have to admit that I found the mediaeval
spirituality to really be rather self-centered, despite (or perhaps
because of) its denial-of-self center.
Trout Fishing in America; The Pill vs The Springhill Mine Disaster; and In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
[Finished 17 August 1998] Three books in one. I had a feeling of being on a really bizarre acid
trip with Trout Fishing in America, felt the poems were
largely disposable and the lyric beauty of In Watermelon
Sugar absolutely captivated me. I may have to dig up some more
Brautigans.
The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum
[Finished 15 August 1998] A bit of brain candy. Too much of this book made no sense and seemed
like it was there just to incorporate another death in another
country. But I still couldn’t put it down. I hate that.
White Smoke: A Novel About the Next Papal Conclave by Andrew M. Greeley
[Finished 10 August 1998] My first Greeley novel. Quite a disappointment. It seems that Greeley
is incapable of creating characters who aren’t Andrew M. Greeley
himself. The central characters in the novel are all
interchangeable. There is barely a thing that one says that couldn’t
come out of the mouth of another. And the characters who aren’t Andrew
M. Greeley are so 2-dimensional as to be laughable. I’ve got a few
others on my list that were mentioned in other books that I’ve read,
and I’ll still read those, but it’s unlikely that I’ll add more to my
list if this is par for the course.
Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence by Rosemary Curb and Nancy Manahan
[Finished 7 August 1998] The thing that struck me the most was the sameness of so many of these
stories. It seemed like a large portion of the women who were
interviewed followed exactly the same path: They realized that they
had no desire to get married, entered the convent (frequently to the
objections of their families), had an affair or two with other
sisters, maybe were disillusioned by the changes with Vatican II, then
left the convent and then left the church. Not always, but that’s a
capsule summary of most of the stories. The church bears some
culpability for this in its treatment of homosexuals, but so do the
women for blaming the church for their own naivete.
It’s kind of interesting to note that, while this book was published originally in the late 70s (or early 80s?), there doesn’t seem to have been a lot of follow-up writing on the issue of lesbian nuns. That says something, I’m not sure what.
A Challenge to Love: Gay and Lesbian Catholics in the Church edited by Robert Nugent
[Finished 3 August 1998] An interesting collection of essays with a surprisingly diverse set of
viewpoints (usually given a hot-botton issue like this, we’ll only get
one side of the argument). The essays were all over the place and I
found Matthew Fox’s contribution to be unreadable, but well worth the
time spent.
Helplessness: On Development, Depression & Death by Martin E. P. Seligman
[Finished 2 August 1998] A fascinating explication of theory. I wish that Seligman had been a
bit more thorough in some of his empirical descriptions, but he does
make his case quite well. I would assume that this book has been a
wellspring for further research.
The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach by Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Bernard Spilka, Bruce Hunsberger and Richard Gorsuch
[Finished 24 July 1998] Absolutely fascinating. This book has already sparked some other
reading. Which brings up my lone complaint: It’s hard to use this as a
starting point for further reading because of the use of footnotes to
get to APA-style citations which must then be located in the
bibliography. In-text citations and perhaps a further reading section
at the end of each chapter--or at least a chapter bibliography--would have been welcome.
Research Methods in Psychology by John J. Shaugnessy and Eugene B. Zechmeister
[Finished 24 July 1998] A bit dry and the information on statistical analysis comes across as
a bit opaque, but I suppose it’s about as good as it gets on the
subject.
Gay Priests by James G. Wolf
[Finished 14 July 1998] Wolf’s empirical study was unfortunately too flawed to be scientific,
a fact which he at least readily admits, but the results are still
interesting. The response biases in the results can be readily seen
(using a network sample to find gay priests will naturally lead to a
sample which is more sexually and socially active than a true random
sample would find). The personal statements that make up the second
part of the book are also interesting. I have some ideas about
replicating the study in a way that should eliminate the response
biases that occurred the first time around which I may see if I can
put into action.
The ABCs of Typography by Sandra Ernst Moriarty
[Finished 7 July 1998] Another in a long line of books minimally updated for the digital
era. Either don’t bother with the update, or rewrite completely. The
half-way version is really quite pointless.
In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development by Carol Gilligan
[Finished 6 July 1998] Interesting theories, but I wonder where the empirical basis is?
Granta 62: What Young Men Do
[Finished 3 July 1998] Delightful. One of the best Grantas yet. I especially liked the long
article on Indonesian headhunters.
The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath
[Finished 29 June 1998] What I didn’t know when I started reading this: Ted Hughes, who edited
this volume, was Sylvia Plath’s husband. A friend who is a big Sylvia
Plath fan told me this. What was interesting is that I, unfamiliar
with much more than the most basic biographical facts (poems, oven,
dead) was able to come up with a description of Hughes that matched
his view based on reading every scrap about Plath that’s ever been
published: In short Hughes is a bit of an egomaniacal bastard. He
talks about the meticulous care that Plath put into arranging her
poems for publication than proceeds to disregard this in this
collection and instead publish everything in chronological order.
Fortunately, the strength of the poems comes through. Great stuff, although I personally didn’t find it as depressing as my friend did. There’s a sort of quiet sadness that pervades many of the poems, but also a great beauty in that sadness.
A Renaissance Alphabet: Il Perfetto Scrittore, Parte Secunda by Gioban Francesco Cresci with an intro by Donald M. Anderson
[Finished 20 June 1998] Cresci’s second alphabet, now available as a digital typeface from
LetterPerfect, is, I think inferior to his first model alphabet.
Calligraphy by Arthur Baker
[Finished 20 June 1998] A selection of calligraphic works, meant for reproduction before the
days of desktop publishing and EPS clipart. I really wish that it
would have been more than just a simple display of calligraphic work,
masterful as it is. I kept wondering as I looked through it, “how’d he
do that?”
Type Foundries of America and their Catalogs by Maurice Annenberg with Stephen O. Saxe
[Finished 20 June 1998] A pleasantly non-academic look at typographic history.
The Principles of Learning and Behavior by Michael Domjan
[Finished 16 June 1998] Dry and some of the examples are a bit off (for example, examples of
inhibitory classical conditioning seem more like instrumental
conditioning to me).
Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type by Isabel Briggs Myers with Peter B. Myers
[Finished 6 June 1998] A surprisingly scientific book, given how much “this sounds good” type
writing there is surrounding the MBTI. It’s perhaps a bit too
psychodynamically oriented in places, but much of it is based on sound
statistical analysis showing that the MBTI does have some pretty good
statistical validity.
The Life of Eric Gill by Robert Speaight
[Finished 5 June 1998] Focused largely on the religious side of Gill’s life, Speaight does
not complete whitewash Gill’s sexuality, although it’s easier to catch
the references if you know about Gill’s proclivities before you read
the book.
Naked Masks: Five Plays by Luigi Pirandello
[Finished 30 May 1998] Some leftovers from college (the only assigned play in the book was
Six Characters in Search of an Author). In cases
Pirandello seems a bit too facile in his philosophical explorations,
although I think It is so! (if you think it is) is rather
successful indeed.
Letterproeven van Nederlaandse gieterijen/Dutch typefounders' Specimens by John A. Lane and Mathieu Lommen
[Finished 27 May 1998] A pure catalog of specimens would be uncompromisingly
dull. Fortunately, this goes beyond and precedes each foundry’s
specimen list with a brief history. Some of it is a bit cursory, but
all of it is quite scholarly, especially compared with the American
counterpart I’m reading at the moment (a review of both will appear in
Serif.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
[Finished 22 May 1998] As a pretentious high school student, I read this book and completely
missed out on what it’s about. Coming back to it again, I find myself
shocked by how kind Raskolnikov is at times. The treacley
ending is a bit hard to swallow, but it’s truly a brilliant novel.
Last and First Men and Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
[Finished 15 May 1998] Histories of the future form an interesting genre. As prediction they
generally fail miserably, but as a philosophical exercise they are
quite interesting indeed. Stapledon was a philosopher and his two
novels (the first is a history of the future, the second an
exploration of other worlds) betray his philosophical concerns: He saw
humanity in the twentieth century as being in crisis, and on the verge
of self-destruction. He saw the solution as finding a balance between
individualism and communitarianism. Writing in the thirties, he is
clearly influenced by his times and the racism, sexism and
anti-Semitism (this latter, I think, only possible in persons like
Stapledon in the years before Hitler’s atrocities were revealed)
sometimes make the text hard to digest. Only when he gets some
distance away from contemporary humanity do these views manage to evaporate.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare with the Famous Temple Notes by William Shakespeare
[Finished 15 May 1998] Frankly, the Temple notes aren’t all that impressive. Also, it’s much
easier to watch Shakespeare than to read him. The more obscure plays
are leaving me quite in the dust (the typography of this edition is
also quite awful, which doesn’t help much). My big surprise was how
much I enjoyed the history plays. [Note the amazon.com link is to a
different edition. I can’t vouch for its typography or editorial
content.]
Fundamental Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences by Robert B. McCall
[Finished 5 May 1998] Generally fairly lucid, although the ANOVA section lost me pretty
badly as did the beginning section on inferential statistics.
Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy by Gerald Corey
[Finished 2 April 1998] A bit dated--the book was written in the late 70s, but still rather
interesting. I would have liked to have seen some more concrete
examples of the different styles of therapy though. [Note: The
amazon.com link appears to be to a more recent edition.]
Granta 61: The Sea
[Finished 23 March 1998] A few gems and a bit of dreck, but as usual a good collection of
writing.
Abnormal Psychology by David Holmes
[Finished 11 March 1998] A truly outstanding textbook. The use of illustrative case studies is
great and the organization is pretty good although I wish that
different understandings of abnormal behaviors weren’t presented as
orthogonal choices.
Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Jorge Luis Borges
[Finished 10 March 1998] Delightful. I’d never read any Borges before this, but I will
definitely read Borges again. I think that I’ll keep my eyes open for
the fiction in Spanish.
The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, translated by Richard Crawley
[Finished 3 March 1998] A long dry account of a long dry war between Athens and Sparta. I have
to rank this as a book that I’d rather have read than read.
Thinking in PostScript by Glenn C. Reid
[Finished 23 February 1998] Reid was kind enough, after Addison-Wesley let his book fall out of
print, to put it up on the web in PDF format. Unfortunately, having
read it I’m left thinking that A-W had good reasons not to order a
second printing. If you want to learn PostScript, read the Adobe
“color books” (Reid wrote one of them). They’re worth the
money. [Note: The link is to the PDF version of the book, not amazon.com.]
Talking Back to Prozac: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Today's Most Controversial Drug by Peter Breggin
[Finished 21 February 1998] There may be some good arguments against the safety of Prozac, but
Breggin does a poor job of presenting them. He demonstrates a poor
understanding of statistics and a strong prejudice against psychiatric
medication. One telling moment in the book happened when Breggin
talked about how it was widely agreed that X was true (I forget what X
was) and then cited himself as the authority for that
statement. Sorry, it don’t work that way.
And Breggin’s title and his continued use of the phrase “talking back to Prozac” betrays either that he didn’t read Kramer’s book or if he did, he didn’t comprehend it.
The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery by Janwillem van de Wetering
[Finished 17 February 1998] An often humorous account of life in a Zen Monastery. Well worth the
time it takes to read.
The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford
[Finished 12 February 1998] Surprise: The Loved One was not as much of an
exaggeration as you might have thought.
I heard Mitford on the radio a couple years ago. It’s all still true. The death industry in America is coldly calculated to separate you from as much of your money as possible.
Teach Yourself Perl 5 for Windows NT In 21 Days by Tony Zhang and David Till
[Finished 30 January 1998] Personally I prefer Randall Schwartz’ style of Perl teaching more,
but this is a surprisingly good book for the paper brick genre.
At Home in the Loop: How Clout and Community Built Chicago's Dearborn Park by Lois Wille
[Finished 26 January 1998] How a book about real estate development in Chicago can omit all
mention of Charlie Swibel I’ll never know. It’s the sort of omission
that leads me to look at the rest of the book with a somewhat jaded
eye (the curious mention of the then-unknown John Kass also struck me
as odd). Nevertheless it’s still an interesting read and if read in
conjunction with Ross Miller’s Here’s the Deal about
block 39 a pretty good history of what’s involved in Chicago real
estate development can be had.
Language Translation Using PCCTS and C++: A Reference Guide by Terence John Parr
[Finished 25 January 1998] Donald Knuth felt that the creator of a software system should write
the manual. This book is the reason why he was wrong.
Trademarks of the '60s & '70s by Tyler Blik
[Finished 30 December 1997] A poorly categorized showing of trademarks and little else. They don’t
even identify the designers of the marks.
Visual C++ Unleashed by Viktor Toth
[Finished 29 December 1997] I got suckered in by the promise of great software on the CD. But it’s
all crippleware demos and not the real stuff. The book itself is
passable, although the author is still largely stuck in C-mode. Sigh.
Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic by Terry Jones
[Finished 26 December 1997] If like me you’re puzzling over what “Douglas Adams’s Starship
Titanic A Novel by Terry Jones” could possibly mean, the answer
is revealed in the introduction. The Starship Titanic was a passing
reference in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which
was recently made into a CD-ROM game under the direction of
Adams. Adams then asked Jones to write the novelization, and this book
does read an awful lot like a novelization of a CD-ROM game: An awful
lot of looking for lost artifacts and solving puzzles. At least Jones
doesn’t fall into some the facile linguistic games that Adams is so
fond of.
Granta 60: Unbelievable
[Finished 20 December 1997] A bit of a mixed bag, really. I could have lived without the Princess
Diana thing, although at least it was the “minority” view. The article
on Emma, though was spellbinding.
Visual FoxPro 5.0 for Windows: Developing an Application Framework by Nelson King
[Finished 29 November 1997] Somebody please find me a book that will allow me to learn FoxPro
programming already. I’m beginning whether the people writing the
books know how to program FoxPro. Surely someone somewhere does, but
they don’t seem to be writing the books.
Nice Work by David Lodge
[Finished 27 November 1997] Lodge created a delightful satire of the world of academia, especially
the literature departments. Add in a near-perfect portrait of 80s
society and the fundamental philosophical question of meaning in life
and literature and we’re left with a fine book indeed. I haven’t
decided if the Dickensian ending spoils the book or is the only
possible postmodernist conclusion to the story.
From Image to Likeness: A Jungian Path in the Gospel Journey by W. Harold Grant, Magdala Thompson and Thomas E. Clarke
[Finished 20 November 1997] Perhaps it’s a lack of background, but I found myself frequently
thinking as I read this book that I didn’ buy some of their basic
premises. The developmental stuff, especially didn’t ring true to me
although it is an interesting idea.
The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy
[Finished 15 November 1997] Although it predates the drug and the book, this is in many ways a
good companion to Kramer’s Listening to Prozac
(below). As a work of fiction---I don’t know it struck me as being a
bit Crying of Lot 49 at times. Perhaps I’ll read some
other Percy and see if this is typical of his work.
Visual J++ Bible by Richard C. Leinecker and Tom Archer
[Finished 14 November 1997] A decent coverage of the language although the authors appear to be
severely challenged in the aesthetics department. Many of their later
examples also leave much to be desired.
Listening to Prozac: A Psychiatrist Explores Antidepressant Drugs and the Remaking of the Self by Peter D. Kramer
[Finished 3 November 1997] Kramer, a psychiatrist, is generally positive about the benefits of
Prozac, a stand which I find myself shrinking from more from instinct
rather than any definable rationale. There’s a wealth of psychological
information included in this book which makes it quite
interesting. Kramer’s kindling model of depression, for example is
rather intriguing and leaves us wondering whether it might also be the
basis for a psychotherapy-based treatment for depression. The
possibility that it might is really only addressed in a footnote which
mentions that cognitive behavioral therapy has caused similar changes
in brain chemistry to those caused by Prozac. Presumably, these would
be more permanent than the Prozac effect which disappears almost
immediately when the pharmacological treatment is ended.
There’s a lot to this book and much more than I can (or am disposed to) write about in this small space.
Personality Type and Religious Leadership by Roy M. Oswald and Otto Kroeger
[Finished 2 November 1997] Despite being rather painfully dependent on the work of others, this
is a relatively useful book insofar as it presents a new presentation
of the ideas underlying the MBTI as regards religious issues. The book
is a bit too focused on clergy and too little on lay leadership and
seems to often fall trap to a conception that all religious leadership
is in the hands of protestant parish clergy (even though the authors
clearly recognize that this is not the case in reality).
Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application by Dennis Coon
[Finished 29 October 1997] A popular psychology text book, its size perhaps makes it a bit
daunting but it is reasonably comprehensive (and includes surprisingly
contemporary examples throughout). Some of the author’s attempts at
humor fall flat but Coon does a good job of keeping the text readable
throughout. One assumes that it’s filthy lucre behind the decision to
include such poor study aids in the text itself (they’re instead
provided in a study guide which of course costs extra).
The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
[Finished 28 October 1997] After a rather slow start, the book picked up themes that were really
much better developed in the Winter of Our
Discontents. Some of the descriptions struck me as being a bit
clumsy as well.
The Castle by Franz Kafka
[Finished 23 October 1997] I first discovered Kafka through the comic strip “Kudzu” which had a
sequence in which Mr T was guest-hosting a Masterpiece Theatre
production of Metamorphosis. That was (yikes) fourteen
years ago. I haven’t been back to Kafka since that first reading of
Metamorphosis and really only have some general memories
of plot to work from for reference. The Castle is an
unfinished work and certainly that colors my perception of the
work. The underlying religious metaphor is a bit clumsy since it’s
difficult to conceive of the book as being anything but a religious
metaphor. It does seem, though, from the notes on omissions and
surviving fragments that the finished product would have been quite a
bit better indeed.
Windows NT in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference for System Administrators by Eric Pearce
[Finished 16 October 1997] Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I expected something a
little bit more in depth than this book. Pearce, for example, fails to
discuss the environment variables that affect the operation of some
shell commands (although some of these are apparently undocumented
outside of Microsoft).
Granta 59: France--The Outsider
[Finished 16 October 1997] Not one of the better Grantas, I’m afraid. The “France”
content made up only about half of the book and it was a bit confusing
to find oneself out of France at that point. What’s more, the
non-French bits were some of the better ones.
I understand the French think that Jerry Lewis is a cinematic genius.
Object Orientation in Visual Foxpro by Savannah Brentnall
[Finished 14 October 1997] Theoretical books have been pushed out of the marketplace by big
bricks of paper. I’m uncertain as to whether this is a good thing. In
some cases, a theoretical approach can be useful, but Brentnall’s
discussion of Foxpro’s object orientation in this book left precious
little standing room to really have a concrete grounding. The only
clearly good thing that I got from the book was a realization that
what Fox calls a container class is not what I would think of as a
container class.
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
[Finished 7 October 1997] An interesting book, marred by the surprisingly strong prejudices of
turn-of-the-century liberal protestantism. I can see why it’s not
universally assigned reading in psychology of religion courses.
The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
[Finished 6 October 1997] Sometimes it takes an outsider to really see. Norris, a married
protestant poet has a better idea of what celibate monastic life is about than
most Catholics that I know. At times it gets a bit rambly, at times a
bit academic, but it’s worth working through that to get to the
amazing insights into Benedictine spirituality. The chapter on
celibacy is the best writing I’ve read on the subject.
Letter Forms by Stanley Morison
[Finished 19 September 1997] A reprint of a Typophiles chapbook, it consists primarily of two
essays by Stanley Morison, both intended to be prefatory material for
larger works. Only the second esay stands on its own well. The first
essay cries out for illustration but does not get the illos it so
desparately needs. It’s also a work, that robbed of its original
context (and perhaps even in its original context) could desperately
use some editing. As a publisher friend once commented, “It’s nice
working with dead authors--they never complain.”
Building Visual FoxPro 5 Applications by Barrie Sosinsky
[Finished 18 September 1997] DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. Despite claims that this is a step-by-step
account of how to put together a FoxPro application, it’s a rambling
acccount of contracting, software development processes and only a
modicum of usable FoxPro knowledge. I hope I can get my money back.
Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newmand with David Isay
[Finished 13 September 1997] Begun as a radio segment for NPR, this book is very much a sequel of
sorts to There are No Children Here (below). Jones and
Newman conducted a series of interviews over a six year span with
their friends and neighbors in and around the Ida B. Wells housing
project on the south side of Chicago. You may recall the name as the
place where 5-year old Eric Morse was dropped to his death from a
fourteenth-floor window. We’re exposed to the brutality and despair of
the neighborhood although there’s some hope as well. Perhaps most
striking is the outcome of Jones and Newman. As the book closes, Jones
is preparing to begin college. Newman has been held back a year for
discipline problems. Both are intelligent and articulate boys, in the
same environment.
There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz
[Finished 9 September 1997] The west side has long been familiar to me, whether driving down
Washington or taking the “L”. Still, much of the space between Cicero
and Racine is terra incognita to me. This book is a personal account
of a couple years in the lives of two young boys growing up in the
Henry Horner homes. I’ve seen these buildings many times and have
spent a long time in their shadows. Still, the lives of their
residents have been largely unknown to me (in Chicago, even if your
social relations break racial barriers as do mine, crossing class
barriers is still quite difficult). The neglect of the projects and
the people who live in them is criminal and yet there are still
glimmers of hope. This book is one of those few that everyone should
read.
Fine Printing in Georgia, 1950s-1990: Six Prize-Winning Private Presses by Martha Jane K. Zachert
[Finished 3 September 1997] Zachert is at her best when she is able to actually interact with the
proprietors of the presses. In those accounts, we get a strong sense
of the motivations and ideals that drive people into that archaism
referred to as the private press. When she is unable to speak with the
press’s proprietor, her accounting becomes much more sterile.
The book would have greatly benefited from more illustration, but the decision to print the volume letterpress and its short run length no doubt contributed to the failure in that department.
Deco Type: Stylish Alphabets of the '20s & '30s by Steven Heller and Louise Fili
[Finished 26 August 1997] A generally good survey of the moderne tradition in typography. The
commentary runs a bit thin at times, but the illustrations are
excellent.
Boss by Mike Royko
[Finished 17 August 1997] Easily Royko’s best writing, this biography is as much about Chicago
as it is about Daley. A great complement to all the Chicago-related
reading I’ve been doing lately.
Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice by James D. Foley, Andries van Dam, Steven K. Feiner and John F. Hughes
[Finished 13 August 1997] A somewhat disorganized conglomeration of just about every imaginable
topic on computer graphics. It’s really more useful as a reference
than a tutorial and even then, I find myself wondering.
They All Fall Down: Richard Nickel's Struggle to Save America's Architecture by Richard Cahan
[Finished 9 August 1997] I’m fascinated by architecture, as was Nickel. Nickel entered the
world of architecture through photography and became the foremost
expert on Louis Sullivan, eventually dieing while doing scavenging
work while the Chicago Stock Exchange building was undergoing
demolition. This was a fascinating work and was greatly plundered by
the architecture walking tour program that gets shown on WTTW during
pledge drives.
Please Understand Me: Character & Temperament Types by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates
[Finished 7 August 1997] Much of the contents of this book have been condensed, paraphrased and
plagiarized by the Myers-Briggs groupies on the internet, so I was
left with a strong sense of Deja Vu as I read this. On the plus side,
it’s nice to get a lot of this without the mediation of Joe Butt and
there are some bits that are not on the internet. I’m certainly
interested in learning more about personality theory.
The Van by Roddy Doyle
[Finished 14 July 1997] The last of the Barrytown trilogy. Doyle is clearly a playwriter in
his prose styling, but the end result is quite excellent.
The Fleuron 4 edited by Oliver Simon
[Finished 11 July 1997] The last of the Simon Fleurons. I don’t really remember too much of
it, I’ve fallen so far behind on this record.
Harlequin by Morris West
[Finished 10 July 1997] West is probably the best of the Catholic novelists writing
today. This was the first of the non-overtly religious novels which
I’ve read and was pleasantly surprised to see the intelligent
discussion of religious questions carried into a secular narrative (as
it should be).
The Snapper by Roddy Doyle
[Finished 8 July 1997] My favorite of the Barrytown trilogy and the only one for which I have
not seen the film. I wonder if that’s just coincidence?
Elements of Typographic Style (Second Edition) by Robert Bringhurst
[Finished 2 July 1997] An updated and improved version of the already excellent first
edition. Watch for the review in Serif.
Mouthful of Rocks by Christian Jennings
[Finished 27 June 1997] This is why I’m not going to join the French Foreign Legion.
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
[Finished 24 June 1997] A much better accounting of the interpersonal dynamics than was
present in the movie (but the movie sounded much better).
The Gospel According to the Son by Norman Mailer
[Finished 17 June 1997] Mailer manages to recast the gospels in a first-person psychological
novel form and avoid providing any new insights into the Gospel. He
doesn’t even come up with any facile blasphemies. This is
Norman Mailer? I’d never read any of his books before, but I’d
expected something a little more solid.
If you want to read a good novel about Jesus, pick up Kazantakis’ Last Temptation of Christ instead.
Granta 58: Ambition
[Finished 16 June 1997] When I renew my subscription, I’m buying two years. John Biguenet is
an American Catholic writer to watch for. I’m also going to keep my
eyes open for Paul Auster’s memoirs.
Here's the Deal: The Buying and Selling of an American City by Ross Miller
[Finished 14 June 1997] Further proof of the value of editors. There’s a good book here and I
could find it just by rearranging paragraphs. Interesting stuff, but
completely disorganized. Why would the historical background be in the
penultimate chapter?
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
[Finished 13 June 1997] One of four or five Dostoyevsky novels I picked up with the last of my
store credits at Huntley Bookstore before leaving Los Angeles. I
continue to be intrigued by the philosophical-intellectual situation
in late 19th c. Russia, but I have to admit to being somewhat baffled
by it still. It’s quite an alien culture, I think. And I’d like to
have a reference guide to help keep the characters straight in
Dostoyevsky.
Interviews with Spanish Writers by Marie-Lise Gazarian Gautier
[Finished 29 May 1997] You’d think maybe Gazarian Gautier’s interviewing skills would have
improved for the second volume in the series. You’d think wrong.
Interviews with Latin American Writers by Marie-Lise Gazarian Gautier
[Finished 28 May 1997] A present from a friend who was aware of my interest in Mexican
literature. The book is saved by the writers interviewed by Gazarian
Gautier. She herself is not really much of an interview and misses the
obvious follow-up questions.
Granta 17: While Waiting for a War
[Finished 23 May 1997] I bought this back issue expecting a bit more Graham Greene content
than I found. The remainder of the volume was a bit less coherent than
the first Granta that I read. I especially enjoyed the
pieces by Alice Munro and Marianne Wiggins. The “name” pieces were
uniformly weak.
Counterpunch: Making Type by Fred Smeijers
[Finished 20 May 1997] The best book out of Robin Kinross’ Hyphen Press so far. The details
on physical punchmaking were a bit thinner than I would have liked,
but the discussion of the philosophy of type design is the best I’ve
seen so far. I’ll do a full review for Serif.
Designing Books by Jost Hochuli
[Finished 19 May 1997] A generally pretty good short book on book design. Well-illustrated
with good backing commentary. Not the best thing out of Hyphen Press
(see above), but quite good. I’ll do a full review for
Serif.
Marks of Excellence: The Function and Variety of Trademarks by Per Mollerup
[Finished 16 May 1997] A survey of the approaches to trademark design. Many of the books of
this genre tend to be little more than picture books with a weak
commentary, but I found this one to be a genuinely delightful
discussion of the subject.
(Note: The book was retitled in its latest edition)
Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi and Jeffery D. Ullman
[Finished 15 May 1997] The famed dragon book. I really only understood about half of it, but
it was still very fascinating and leaves me wanting to write a
compiler of my very own.
The Dilbert Principle by Scott Adams
[Finished 8 May 1997] A lot of cartoons, amusing observations on the business world and a
sensible management philosophy thrown in as a bonus. Unfortunately,
the business world seems to insist on things like denying voice mail
to departments that don’t have a secretary to answer phone calls.
Fleuron 5 edited by Stanley Morison
[Finished 2 May 1997] Perhaps one of the most important editions in the seven volume run of
The Fleuron, this number includes Morison’s article on an
ideal italic and Beatrice Warde’s Garamond article.
Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg
[Finished 29 April 1997] An incredibly jargon-laden work. Sadly, many of the contributors
really have nothing to say and spend a long time not saying it. On a
few occasions, however, some of the contributions really shine and
remind one that not all of academia is populated by mediocrity.
Greek Letters: From Tablets to Pixels edited by Michael S. Macrakis
[Finished 23 April 1997] A delightful collection from a variety of perspectives on the
questions relevant to the production of Greek typefaces. It’s
interesting in that the Greek printing community is seemingly
unconcerned about the production of quality Greek typefaces, leaving
the task to be done largely by Western designers.
Notes from Underground; White Nights; The Dream of a Ridiculous Man; and Selections from the House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
[Finished 18 April 1997] I’ve been reading a fair amount of Dostoyevsky (favorite of pretentious high
school students everywhere) lately and this particular collection is
especially nice as it shows quite clearly a progression in Dostoyevsky’s
thought. To what extent the progression has been manipulated by the editor, I
don’t know, but it is certainly quite revelatory.
Typographers on Type edited by Ruari McLean
[Finished 16 April 1997] An excellent collection of articles on typography. Some of the essays are of
only historical interest, but many are of practical use to the practicing
typographer. Watch for the review in Serif.
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
[Finished 11 April 1997] There’s nothing to make one feel settled like a nice long Victorian
novel. And Eliot can be counted on to not only provide the novel, but
to include some subtle subversions in it as well. Daniel Deronda
doesn’t fail to satisfy on this front and is largely an interesting novel,
although some of the “Jewish bits” do seem forced.
Beware Wet Paint: Designs by Alan Fletcher edited by Jeremy Myerson
[Finished 31 March 1997] A rather fascinating look at the work of designer Alan Fletcher. There
were a few illustrations that I would have liked to have seen that
were left out, but otherwise, it was quite an interesting read/look.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
[Finished 27 March 1997] My admiration for twentieth-century Latin American fiction continues
unabated. Garcia Marquez creates an interesting work on the
circularity of narrative with the theme reasserting itself in all
manner of subtle and fascinating ways.
Granta 57: India
[Finished 24 March 1997] I’m hooked. Granta will be filling the void left in my
reading material after Tina Brown ruined I mean took over The
New Yorker. (Damn it, I liked the four part articles
on zinc!)
My only complaint would be that there was too much short material in the magazine. I would rather have had fewer longer pieces.
The Jesuits: 1534-1921: A History of the Society of Jesus from Its Foundation to the Present Time by Thomas Campbell S. J.
[Finished 21 March 1997] A highly sympathetic portrayal of the society. There was an
interesting discussion of Irish slaves in the British West Indies
which was something that I’d never heard of before.
Also rather disturbing was the racist and anti-Semitic tone that Campbell often took. The anti-Semitism was never curbed and the racism at best became mere paternalism.
The Jesuits: History & Legend of the Society of Jesus by Manfred Barthes
[Finished 14 March 1997] When I was young I used to get Luther and Lucifer confused since the
two names were generally spoken in the same tone of voice in the
highly Catholic neighborhood where I grew up. I get the sense that
Barthes, a German Lutheran, has much the same attitude towards
Catholics despite a promising forward. A subtle anti-Catholic
prejudice (fueled by a corresponding anti-Lutheran prejudice on the
part of his Catholic neighbors) pervades the book which is a largely
negative view of the Jesuit order although not quite at the paranoid
fantasy level of a Jack Chick publication.
English Morality Plays and Moral Interludes edited by Edgar T. Schell and J. D. Schuchter
[Finished 13 March 1997] Morality plays which were the dominant form of drama until the
Elizabethan era are an under-studied area of English literature. I
became fascinated with the whole concept when I read Bangert’s history
of the Jesuits which gave some considerable attention to the
continental forms of this type of drama and only now am I getting
around to this anthology which I managed to find (along with another
collection of Mediaeval religious dramas) shortly after reading
Bangert some five years ago. Unfortunately, I found the plays
themselves to be generally rather dull and uninteresting.
The Works of Saint John of the Cross by Saint John of the Cross
[Finished 6 March 1997] Great stuff. It’s a rather different perspective on the world than is
typical for contemporary society, but one that I find rather compelling.
The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch
[Finished 13 February 1997] This is the second historical novel in recent history that covered a
period of European history with which I have an inadequate
acquaintance. As a device for getting me interested in the period
leading up to Irish independence, it succeeded. As a novel, not so
much.
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
[Finished 10 February 1997] I knew I had picked the right book to read at the beginning of my
(now-ended) stay in the community of the Catholic Worker when I
discovered that every other member of the community had read the book.
This is quite possibly Dostoyevsky’s best novel, an interesting
examination of the role of religion in society.
Antología de Cuentos Mexicanos I edited by Carmen Millan
[Finished 9 February 1997] Frequent visitors to this page (if such persons exist)
will know that I read volume 2 in 1995. Again, I find myself very
impressed with contemporary Mexican literature and interested in
pursuing it even further than I have in the past. I’ll definitely
re-read this.
Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies
[Finished 4 February 1997] Very much a failed narrative experiment. Davies was trying to do
something interesting here, I think, but he didn’t succeed.
The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies
[Finished 3 February 1997] I find myself wondering when I read a book like this, how much of it
the author is just making up, working on the assumption that his
readers will not know enough about the subject matter to realize that
it’s all bullshit.
What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies
[Finished 1 February 1997] Actually the best of the Cornish trilogy, I think, although that’s not
saying too much. The closing of the novel seemed a bit rushed, as if
Davies had realized that he already had his usual page count totalled
and he should wrap things up quickly. It’s a pity, because the novel
could have been much much more.
Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
[Finished 28 January 1997] Very much what I would expect from Robertson Davies after reading the
Deptford Trilogy. The dual narrators, however, are poorly managed and
only a few too-rare moments reveal the full potential of the device.
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
[Finished 26 January 1997] This is, I think, the best of all Greene’s novels. It’s been a long
time since I’d read the book and my attempts to view the film in a
revival house in London failed because I was too jet-lagged to remain
awake in a dark room for the requisite 99 minutes. So I return to the
book. Rereading a book is a very different experience from reading a
book. It’s much like revisiting one’s home town as compared to being a
tourist, the terrain is familiar and one can focus on the details of
the landscape and discover the delightful things that were missed in
the broad view.
Type Sense: Making Sense of Type on the Computer by Susan G. Wheeler and Gary S. Wheeler
[Finished 24 January 1997] Three words: Awful, bloody awful. The premise of the book is a good
one: That in this era of increasingly common interaction with type
people need to develop “type sense” much as they have common sense.
The problem: All the evidence is that the two Wheelers have no type
sense. The book is filled with incorrect information and headings are
set in attrociously poorly spaced capitals (and not just at say,
Monotype Perpetua Titling out of the box bad, we’re talking really
cheap clone type without even Fontographer auto-kern level spacing
corrections. Unbelievable).
A Liar's Autobiography, Volume VI by Graham Chapman
[Finished 24 January 1997] I look back and I’m not entirely certain why I bought this book
originally. I guess I was looking for something funny and Chapman’s
book is sometimes funny (after all it was written by Graham Chapman
with assistance from Doug Adams, among others). And sometimes it’s
absolutely unreadable. At other times it’s a rather fascinating view
into Chapman’s character. The mix is not always good and I can see why
it was on the shelves of a used bookshop priced cheaply, but I suppose
the fun and interesting parts were worth slogging through the
unreadable bits and paying whatever I paid for this book.
Graham Greene: The Enemy Within by Michael Shelden
[Finished 20 January 1997] One of my authors asked me recently about whether I wanted footnotes
in a piece that he was writing. I told him that if he was making any
claims that people might dispute, he should footnote the hell out of
it. Michael Shelden doesn’t do this. His biography is full of
controversial claims but his critical apparatus is very weak. In fact,
one of his claims, that a gardener at an uncle’s home was a central
figure in his life, doesn’t seem to have any documented source at all.
If the claims were restricted to gardeners, this would not be an important detail, but Shelden makes an assortment of claims, identifying Greene as a homosexual, an antisemite, a closet fascist, and even insinuates that Greene was a murderer as well. Of all of these claims, only the antisemitism claim seems to have any merit and what merit there exists is for a weaker antisemitism than Shelden claims. The claim of homosexuality doesn’t jibe with Shelden’s own account of Greene’s life.
Perhaps most amusing is that while Shelden is eager to point out Greene’s fondness for deception, he doesn’t seem to acknowledge the possibility that he himself was being deceived.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
[Finished 14 January 1997] People tend to get hung up on the macho aspects of Hemingway. The
hunting, the bullfights, the sex, the dynamite, the war, etc. But what
they miss with this approach to Hemingway is the exquisite use he
makes of language. I think he is perhaps somewhat superior to Anthony
Burgess, even, in that his experiments with language are much more
subtle than Burgess’. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, we get
the feel in the dialogue that we’re listening to the dialogue of
people whose language we’re not entirely comfortable with. Not just in
the qué va’s and thee’s and thou’s but in the idioms
(“How are thou called?”) that the characters use. And Hemingway does
an almost perfect job of dropping in and out of this as appropriate to
the context of the language. Wow.
Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope
[Finished 7 January 1997] So I’m reading this book and then, on page 481, disaster. It’s not
there! The binder screwed up and inserted the wrong signature at this
point. Fortunately, they had a replacement copy at the local B&N
(and didn’t even ask me if I had bought it there--I hadn’t) so I was
able to finish it without too much discomfort.
Graham Greene wrote in his introduction to The Lawless Roads about the pleasures of reading Trollope. I have to agree, it’s a comfortable world where things always work out well in the end and the journey along the way is pleasant enough.
Stanley Morison by Nicolas Barker
[Finished 13 December 1996] I’ve begun working on a biography of the typographic writer Beatrice
Warde & decided to read Barker’s biography of Stanley Morison as an
introitus to the project. It’s a very entertaining read and there are
little bits of intriguing information hidden behind seemingly innocent
passages as well as a frequent infuriating vagueness in some of the
accounting.
Grace in Action by Richard Rohr and Others
[Finished 3 December 1996] Radical Grace is the name of the newspaper published by
the Center for Action and Contemplation, an institute established by
Rohr in New Mexico. The essays in this collection are taken from that
newspaper and are of varying interest. Rohr’s contributions in general
stand head and shoulders above the rest of the offerings in the book
although there are a couple of moments of inspiration from the laity.
Dimensional Typography by J. Abbott Miller
[Finished 28 October 1996] A slim volume (I read it between meals on a transatlantic flight)
covering the idea of three-dimensional typography from the earliest
shaded types to the rather extravagant computer-generated
three-dimensional forms of contemporary designers. The body of the
examples are printed on a translucent paper which helps to add yet
another dimension to the images, presented as they are in two
dimensions on paper.
C++ Database Programming by Al Stevens
[Finished 24 October 1996] An interesting book, although at the end, I was left wondering where
the query library is. The separation of commentary from source code in
the example programs is also unfortunate.
Christian Counseling: A Comprehensive Guide by Gary R. Collins
[Finished 22 October 1996] Generally a very good book. The theological orientation is a bit “low
church” (a perception doubtless colored by my own Catholicism) and the
chapter on homosexuality is of dubious validity in its claims of
the origins of homosexuality (its perspectives are determined more by
wishful thinking than by clinical research). Still, it’s an
interesting overview of issues in pastoral counseling. Not for those
without at least some training in counseling issues, but for those who
feel that counseling has an imperative to have a spiritual basis, this
is a good resource.
Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms by James O. Coplien
[Finished 13 October 1996] Just as the title indicates. Some of it was a bit too esoteric for me,
I must admit.
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
[Finished 10 October 1996] Hardy can always be counted on to tell a good story. The Mayor
of Casterbridge is no exception on this front, but there are
some problems with the structure of the novel. There’s almost a
Job-like plague upon Michael Henchard where once things seem like they
might finally be settling down, something else pops up.
Making All Things New by Henri Nouwen
[Finished 30 September 1996] A short guide to living the spiritual life, a life that doesn’t
require withdrawing from the world, but rather reevaluating one’s
priorities.
Lazarus by Morris West
[Finished 29 September 1996] The last of the books in West’s Papal “Trilogy.” I think that trying
to make a trilogy out of The Shoes of the Fisherman,
The Clowns of God and this book was a mistake. The
Clowns of God was really not written as a sequel to The
Shoes of the Fisherman and certainly doesn’t lend itself well
to a sequel such as this one. I think it might have been better to
have eliminated the gratuitous references to the two earlier novels
and to just let this novel stand on its own. That said, each of the
three novels is a remarkable portrait of the papacy in the times of
the writing of each novel (The Shoes of the Fisherman was
written ca 1960, The Clowns of God ca 1980 and
Lazarus ca 1990).
The Clowns of God by Morris West
[Finished 24 September 1996] A dull evening lead me to Borders and thence to a night spent reading.
This was the book that I bought and read. I’ve enjoyed West’s writing
and this was a fairly entertaining and moving book, although I think
that West was a bit out of his element with the apocalyptic dimension.
A C++ Programmer's Guide to STL by Mark Nelson
[Finished 23 August 1996] This book has taught me more about general C++ programming than any
other that I’ve picked up. And its coverage of STL is fantastic.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
[Finished 21 August 1996] I think that part of the reason why many people are disappointed in
this work is that their expectations are raised much too high by the
preface. The book itself is really quite well crafted and really quite
funny although from much of the comments lavished upon it, I suspect
readers go into it expecting Douglas Adams, which of course, they
won’t get.
I wonder if Karol Wojtla has ever read this book.
The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
[Finished 19 August 1996] Wow. This is a really amazing work. Not perfect, but awfully close.
I’ve long been interested in telling a story from multiple
perspectives and in the trilogy Davies does a very good job of
accomplishing this task. This is the first Davies I’ve read and I’m
looking forward to reading more.
A World I Never Made by James T. Farrell
[Finished 13 August 1996] When I read Studs Lonnigan back in 1991, I remember being
so impressed with Farrell that I ran out and bought every one of his
books that I could find. Reading this book, I’m still impressed with
his ability to manage the technicalities of literature, but I find
that his story is less compelling.
The Shoes of the Fisherman by Morris West
[Finished 8 August 1996] It seems that every year about this time I read another “Pope” novel.
In this case, West was remarkably prescient about coming changes to
the Catholic church and the papacy. In these days of the continuously
travelling John Paul II, it’s difficult to see the dramatic
impact of a single papal visit to France or of proposing that African
clergy might be exempted from learning Latin, yet even still, West
manages to convey the mood quite well.
From a Burning House: Writing from the AIDS Project Los Angeles Writers Workshop edited by Irene Borger
[Finished 3 August 1996] This book puts the lie to the first sentence of the next commentary.
(Fun part about reverse chronological order, eh?) I picked up this
book, also from a radio interview, in this case a local NPR interview
with Irene Borger who is the editor of the collection as well as the
leader of the APLA workshop. My interest in the book was twofold: First
to see what the individuals who were in the work shop would write and
second, I find works-in-progress (of which much of the work in this
collection could be classed) to be fascinating. On both counts the
book was successful. The contributions by Christopher Gorman and Ezra
Litwak were easily among my favorites and the beginning of the
unfinished novel, The Headless Boy on its own
demonstrates the great tragedy of AIDS---I would love to have had the
opportunity to read the rest of this work. Perhaps when I die...
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
[Finished 2 August 1996] It’s not often that I’m persuaded to read a book from a radio
interview but Hornsby’s interview with Terri Gross on Fresh
Air had me intrigued and I decided that I’d pick this up next
time I was in a bookstore. (That I was buying a new book was also an
unusual event).
The book itself was frequently laugh-out-loud funny and also insightful. It gets a bit soppy and juvenile (in a bad way) towards the end which is a pity, but it was well worth the time it took to read.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Finished 28 July 1996] Like most Americans I read The Great Gatsby. Correction:
I was assigned to read The Great Gatsby. After
reading this over the course of a weekend, I am certain that I never
actually read it when it was assigned.
Reading assigned to kids too immature to understand the works assigned is doubtless responsible for how little reading happens these days. The fact of the matter is that The Great Gatsby is a great book with wonderful characterization and some passages whose language is, well, perfectly crafted. I found myself wishing, on more than one occasion, that I had written some of this.
Great Dialogues of Plato (translated by W. H. D. Rouse) by Plato
[Finished 13 July 1996] A collection of as many of Plato’s dialogues as Rouse managed to
translate before he died. It’s a bloody awful translation and the
additions that were added to the book after his death only accentuate
how bad a translation it is.
On the other hand, it’s Plato, and much of this material was unfamiliar to me before I read this book. The Republic seemed to be almost perpetually required reading throughout my formal education (along with Conrad’s Heart of Darkness) but the rest of it was fresh and new. I find interesting the remarkable parallels between many of Plato’s ideas and Paul’s teaching in the New Testament epistles. I’m curious to examine the possible connection here, especially since the received idea of the connection between Platonism and Christianity is that it entered Christianity via St Augustine and his cronies from Plotinus. But if Paul knew Platonic philosophy (which would not seem unlikely) it would be more a case of Augustine and friends rediscovering an early influence on the church.
A Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin by Carl Darling Buck
[Finished 25 June 1996] A rather heady linguistic work. At times I find myself drowning in a
jargon which I don’t speak, but at other times, I find myself seeing
linguistic connections that I was never aware of (or not a conscious
level). Some of the patterns enumerated are ones that have entered my
intuitive understandings of language, but seeing them explicitly
defined helps me understand why they work the way that they do. I find
myself interested in learning Sanskrit after reading through this
book. I’ll have to look into auditing something at CGS when I get the
chance.
Love Among the Ruins by Evelyn Waugh
[Finished 18 June 1996] There are two contemporary English authors who I’ve read and collected
extensively: Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. My views of the world are
probably closest to Greene, but my own story is closer to Waugh’s.
What that means, if anything, I wouldn’t care to guess.
This book is perhaps the most explicitly political of Waugh’s fiction. He comes across, really, as nearly Newt Gingrich. He posits a world in the new future in which the State has been elevated to Godhood (in fact, his characters use interjections of clichés with the word “God” substituted with “State”, e.g., “State be with you.” It’s not really a surprise that this is not one of the novels available in a Little Brown paperback edition. Politics aside, it’s not a very good novel (although in reality it’s not much more than a long short story).
A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch
[Finished 16 June 1996] For some reason, I had found myself wanting to get this book many
years ago when I use to buy books with the fervor of a hypomanic, but
I was never certain why. In all, I have to admit that I found the book
to be entertaining, but slight. Not quite up to the level of some of
my favorite Murdoch work (I’d have to say that I liked Henry and
Cato the best).
Fergus by Brian Moore
[Finished 13 June 1996] I had tired of the “hard” reading I’ve been tied up with of late, so I
took a quick novel break, reading this brief work by Brian Moore
nearly straight through. In a way, it’s a work similar to John Fowles’
Mantissa (see the archive), although in many ways it’s a
more successful book. It does lack an ending, but the process of
discovery in the novel is still quite pleasant.
Writing & Illuminating & Lettering by Edward Johnston
[Finished 26 May 1996] A classic on lettering and calligraphy. Not something that one can dip
into and out of, though. It was written at a time when an author could
expect his audience to patiently read the entire text before hoping to
use it as a reference. Frequent identification of items by price is
another odd feature of the book which makes its use a little more
difficult.
Design with Type by Carl Dair
[Finished 2 May 1996] For some reason Canada seems to produce spectacular typographic
writers. I’d never read this book before, but encountering it for
CDN5.00 last week, I figured I may as well pick it up. Good decision.
It’s a very well-written book indeed.
A Sor Juana Anthology edited by Alexander S. Trueblood
[Finished 29 April 1996]
Sor Juana was a seventeenth century Mexican nun who was also a notable
poet. Unfortunately, this particular translation (by Trueblood) is
quite execrable. Translating poetry is dicey business at best and is
perhaps best handled with a literal translation and occasional
footnotes. Trueblood imposed rhymes where there were none in the
original and a rather jangling rhythm more appropriate for
twentieth-century Madison Avenue than seventeenth-century Mexico City.
His introduction also seems to distort some of Sor Juana’s attitudes
to meet his own ideology. Thankfully, the book also includes the poems in the original Spanish.
Words, Things and Celebrations by Wendell Stacey Johnson
[Finished 25 April 1996] A rather basic book on ideas about language. It was on my shelves, I
read it. The target audience is probably junior high or high school
students, so it’s a bit basic, but it also presents a rather novel
approach to the subject, giving “games” rather than exercises at the
end of each lesson.
Fontographer: Type by Design by Stephen Moye
[Finished 20 April 1996] I’ll print a proper review in Serif.
Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown
[Finished 14 April 1996] A surprisingly interesting biography of St Augustine. It was a book I
got for free when I bought my BHS in Boston six years ago. My shelves
are full of books like this which I had bought at some date in the
past thinking they might be interesting and only later do I get around
to reading them. Especially interesting is Brown’s characterization of
the actual circumstances and issues behind the Pelagian-Augustinian
controversy, which is almost directly opposed to the conception one
would have gotten from the characterization of the issues given by
Anthony Burgess in The Wanting Seed.
Sefer Otiyot: The Book of Letters--A Mystical Alef-Bait by Lawrence Kushner
[Finished 14 April 1996] This is the sort of playful look at language and religion that I
really enjoy, and one of the most wonderful things about the Jewish
tradition since this sort of play is not a modern invention but can be
found even in the early midrashim. The calligraphic content is a bit
lower than one might have liked but it’s a very fun book nevertheless.
The Catholic Reformation by Pierre Janelle
[Finished 1 April 1996] Janelle provides a rather ultramontanist (typical of French
Catholicism of the first part of this century) view of the events
around the counter-reformation. An interesting counterpoint to the
typical histories of the time which are clearly biased towards a
protestant viewpoint.
A Piece of My Mind (On Just About Everything) by Andrew Greeley
[Finished 24 March 1996] Greeley is a fascinating author. Thusfar, I’ve only read his
sociology. This is a collection of his columns for syndication in
which he attempts (with varying success) to be an ordained Mike Royko.
It’s tough to tell exactly what Greeley thinks on a lot of subjects because his writing tends towards self-contradiction, sometimes even in the same column. In general, though, it seems that he espouses the sort of comfortable suburban Catholicism that I’ve come to reject myself (it was only in reading this book, the first Greeley I’ve read in two years, that I realized how radically my views have changed in that time and to what extent I continue down my path towards a much more radical form of Catholicism than even what I hold now).
Counseling in Catholic life and Education by Charles Curran
[Finished 20 March 1996] Curran is both a psychologist and a theologian. This work focuses
primarily on the counseling side of life and less on the theological,
although the implicit connections are really quite profound. The
premise of Curran’s counseling is quite the opposite of the stereotype
of the counseling process as portrayed, say, on Frasier. Rather
than being an interventional presence in the life of the person being
counseled, the counselor’s role is to be an objective mirror to help
the person see what they should do more clearly on their own.
Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
[Finished 16 March 1996] I think nearly any person’s account of their childhood could be
interesting, assuming that it’s well written. Lewis’ is no exception.
I have to admit, though, that I didn’t find it a particularly
spiritually compelling work.
A Harsh and Dreadful Love: Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement by William D. Miller
[Finished 14 March 1996] I first learned about the Catholic Worker when I stumbled across a
copy of the newspaper in a dorm lounge while I was still in college.
The front page included a story about St Julian of Norwich and how she
was one of the first mystics to view God as both Father and Mother. I
don’t remember if this was before or after I had made the decision to
become Catholic, but it stuck with me.
The Catholic Worker has managed to continue to haunt my life. The priest who welcomed me into the church was/is deeply involved with the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, although I found my way there independently of his influence--in fact the first time I met him there was a bit of a surprise. My first visit to the LACW also turned up a friend from college, surprisingly enough.
The Catholic Worker differed from other liberal Christian movements in that for them, religion was not merely something on which to hang a liberal doctrine. Rather, there doctrine flowed out of the spring of religion, and has a depth that other groups which I have worked with lacked.
This book gives an accounting of the history of the movement from its founding by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day until the early seventies. Always a fascinating story, this accounting is a bit drier than the others since it places a bit of distance between itself and its subject (as opposed to Rosalie Troester’s Voices from the Catholic Worker which is as close to the subject as can be accomplished). Still, as a comprehensive account, it does a lot to help establish the broader contexts of many of the events in the history of the Catholic Worker.
An interesting note for the hagiographers: The parallels between the development of the Catholic Worker and the early years of the Franciscans are astounding.
Journal of a Soul by Pope John XXIII
[Finished 13 March 1996] Selections from the journals of John XXIII, it looks to be a
fascinating read. The development of religious thought from the
overpious youth at the beginning of the book to the much wiser old man
is fascinating. It’s almost entirely reflections from retreats, which
is a bit of a disappointment since I was hoping for some ordinary
day-to-day reflections, but still, a wonderful book. The spirituality
seems, at times, out of touch with today’s life, but there’s still
much to be learnt. The frequent attempts at self-mortification through
even small things like avoiding the use of the first person in
conversation really intrigue me.
Catholicism by Richard P. McBrien
[Finished 9 March 1996] A comprehensive accounting of Catholic thought, giving a historical
background and a synthesis of the various perspectives on each
doctrinal point. A very interesting synthesis of liberal and
conservative religious thought. McBrien tends to take a very
ecumenical view towards many issues and is a bit too liberal on some
issues relating to the sacraments than I care for, but it’s still a
wonderful compilation of Catholic teaching with a much broader base
than the Universal Catechism put out last year (although this latter
does effectively provide the definitive state of the magisterium on
many issues).
The Little Flowers, Legends and Lauds of Saint Francis of Assisi by St Francis of Assisi
[Finished 5 March 1996] A compilation of writings by and about the saint. It’s a reprint of a
volume originally published in 1947 and is especially interesting in
that it seems to be the beginnings of a historico-critical approach to
religious matters in the Catholic church. St Francis is a reasonable
starting point for such a thing since he’s both fairly central to the
concept of the church without being a point of dogma.
Little by Little: Selected Writings by Dorothy Day
[Finished 25 February 1996] A collection of Day’s writing, it’s a fascinating read, and one would hope a call to conversion for those who fail to see Christ in all around them, especially in the poor. Remember, we are told not to judge and to give freely to all who ask. Think about that the next time you’re approached by a panhandler.
Note that the title was changed somewhat when it was re-released by Orbis
Cecilia by Fanny Burney
[Finished 18 February 1996] It’s been a long time since I read Evelina and all I
remember was not much caring for that novel. Cecilia has
me thinking about picking it up again and giving it another spin.
Burney has hit upon the same vein as Chekhov did with Uncle
Vanya and it certainly is one to appeal to this reader.
Autobiography of a Saint by St Thèrése of Lisieux
[Finished 13 February 1996] Perhaps more meaningful to the Catholic than the non-Catholic, but the
appeal of this saint becomes increasingly apparent as one reads this
book. While some reviewers are appalled by her simplicity, I think
that it points correctly down the path to true spirituality.
The amazon.com link is to a different translation as the Knox translation is out of print.
Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
[Finished 5 February 1996] An amazing little book. Eco chooses not to explain what he wrote
(consistent with his views on literary theory) but rather why he
wrote, an all too rare occurence. Occasional author’s autobiographies
move into this territory, but too infrequently, I think. Eco is one of
the more accessible of the contemporary theoreticians, and this is
certainly one of the more accessible of his works, not a bad introitus
to literary theory. I would, however recommend that students not use
this as Cliff’s notes when writing papers on The Name of the
Rose your professor will almost certainly know who you’re
cribbing from and judge you accordingly.
Aventuras de don Quijote by Miguel Cervantes
[Finished 4 February 1996] In Spanish, but in a condensed & heavily illustrated (one picture per
sentence, roughly) form. Not bad for someone like me whose Spanish is
good enough to read, but not good enough to read the original
(yet--it is on the libri legendi shelves). At times the editing is a
bit choppy---it seems that the intent of the editor had been to simply
condense the book, but to avoid any rewriting, but it’s still not a
bad effort. I may do a similar job on Tom Sawyer which I
feel is the American Don Quixote.
A Wood-cut Manual by J. J. Lankes
[Finished 25 January 1996] This is a great little book, with rather good information on wood
engraving interspersed with philosophical and sociological reflections
in the same sort of artisan-based socialism of which Gill and Morris
were both proponents.
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
[Finished 24 January 1996] I first encountered this novel in the office of John Peavoy, a
literature prof at Scripps College. It was the largest Penguin
paperback I’d ever seen, roughly the size of the Chicago Metro Yellow
Pages. A few years later, I saw it in a Cambridge bookshop and bought
it for later reading. It’s finally come to the top of the stack,
nearly five years after I bought it and seven or eight after I first
saw it. I have a vague notion that this might be the longest novel in
the English language.
Samuel Johnson once said that anyone who read Clarissa for the plot would hang himself. This is true. It’s a remarkably slow-moving book, although it does have its rewards. After the first five- or six-hundred pages things pick up a bit and in the last five-hundred pages it’s hard to put down. The unfolding of plot is predictable, but still compelling. I’ll probably have to pick up Terry Eagleton’s The Rape of Clarissa now and read that.
Fit or fat? by Covert Bailey
[Finished 7 January 1996] A classic of general fitness. One of the first stages in my getting my
weight down to 200 pounds by year’s end.
Little Wilson and Big God by Anthony Burgess
[Finished 2 January 1996] It’s rare that I encounter a book in English that I need to read with
a dictionary handy. Anthony Burgess’ autobiography is the first book
which has forced this in quite a while. The life itself was rather
fascinating, covering primarily that portion of Burgess’ life before
he became a writer. This is the point in a writer’s life which is
interesting. After they settle into the task of actually writing,
their lives tend to become dull as dirt.
Mantissa by John Fowles
[Finished 25 December 1995] A novel about writing, nominally, although Fowles has perhaps gotten
to wrapped up in the eroticism of his nominal tale so while it has
it’s moments, this is largely a rather unsatisfying book on all
counts.
Logotype & Letterforms: Handlettered Logotypes and Typographic Considerations by Doyald Young
[Finished 24 December 1995] In an era in which the computer reigns supreme in graphic design, a
book about handlettering logo types may seem a bit anachronistic, but
there is much to be learnt from the work of a designer such as Young,
especially in comparing specimens of typefaces from which he drew
inspiration and the final result which often only slightly resembles
the original type.
Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
[Finished December 1995] The third book in the Barsetshire series, it, like most Trollope, is a
fun, light read. The ending is evident about one fifth of the way
through the book (Trollope tells us), but that’s not the fun of
Trollope anyway.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
[Finished 18 November 1995] The first chapter of this book, was clearly written separately from
the remainder. The characterizations, especially of Owen Meany, the
narrator and the narrator’s grandmother all don’t really seem to be
the same characters as those persons by the same names we encounter in
the remainder of the book. As a humorist, Irving is outstanding and
this certainly is a funny book. The conclusion helps compensate for
some of the deficiencies of the text, but in all it’s a rather
imperfect novel, certainly not up to the level of Garp.
Alphabet and Image 1 edited by Robert Harling
[Finished 15 November 1995] A collection of the first half of the run of this postwar periodical
of typography and graphic arts. The subject matter is wide-ranging,
and perhaps most surprising is the selection of books reviewed which
included in one instance a work on what would now be called literary
theory. It is difficult to imagine a review of something by Derrida in
Print.
One disappointment is that after the type review appearing in the first number, no additional type reviews appeared. The volume which I have only represents the first year of publication. If memory serves, the publication ran to eight numbers and it would certainly be nice to locate numbers 5-8 for further reading.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
[Finished 10 November 1995] With a cover in Penguin’s own brand of Pantone 804 (although not a
Penguin), this book grabbed my eye at the library book sale. This
edition concludes with an embarrassingly shallow essay, which one
assumes was only included because of its provision of a Nadsat
glossary. I’m told that Burgess opposed this (most likely both for the
glossary and for the poor essay which is its companion).
Reading A Clockwork Orange was an experience much like reading the Mexican short stories of Antología de cuentos Mexicanos (see below), in that one is somewhat distanced from the text by not knowing what all the words mean, and occasionally misunderstanding the text itself. Should you, O my brother, find yourself reading this book for the first time, I urge you to eschew the glossary and just experience the text itself.
Getting past the superficialities of language itself, the novel, like the other Burgess that I’ve read (The Wanting Seed) is effectively an examination of a dilemma of Christian philosophy, in this one the matter of free will. In that, I think Burgess succeeded quite well where he had been somewhat clumsy in execution in The Wanting Seed.
This Side of Paris by F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Finished 6 November 1995] First novels have a certain quality that can never be regained no
matter how hard the author tries. The first novel encompasses a
lifetime’s experience in a way that can never be repeated, much as
one’s innocence can never be restored. This Side of
Paradise has all the autobiographical qualities one expects in
a first novel and it’s easy to see the promise of the young Fitzgerald
in its pages. The book concludes a bit too weakly and Amory Blaine’s
impromptu speech on socialism in the last chapter leaves much to be
desired, but in all, this was quite a satisfying read.
The Inheritors by William Golding
[Finished 4 November 1995] An intriguing experiment in expressing perspectives, I found. Golding
does an effective job of putting one in the head of neanderthal man,
and presenting the known (canoes, bow and arrow, etc.) as unknown. As
a story, I must admit that I preferred Lord of the Flies
and Darkness Visible.
Antología de Cuentos Mexicanos II edited by Carmen Millan
[Finished 1 November 1995] Yes, in Spanish. I must say
that I find twentieth century Mexican literature fascinating. I bought
this book in the spring of ‘92 while I was in the D.F. Unfortunately,
I’ve never managed to track down volume I. But then my library is
filled with many incomplete sets like this.
Reading an anthology of this sort when one is developing one’s language skills is incredible. One never quite becomes conscious of individual vocabularies until one reads an anthology of multiple authors whilst on the boundaries of literacy.
Of the authors I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed Sergio Galindo’s “Querido Jim” and I hope to be able to find some of his other works. Carlos Fuentes has been a big challenge and easily the densest of the writers. I may stick to reading Fuentes in translation (there’s no way in hell I’d’ve been able to read Christopher Unborn in Spanish). José Emilio Pacheco was another favorite. What looked like it might be difficult going turned out to be really rather compelling and an interesting read.
I’m putting this book back on the libri legendi shelves guaranteeing that I’ll reread it. Certainly my Spanish is much stronger now and I hope that after reading other works in Spanish, I’ll be in excellant shape to return to these stories.
The Art of Typography by Martin Solomon
[Finished 1 November 1995] Really a rather poor text. I don’t recommend it. A review appears in
Serif 4.
The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck
[Finished November 1995] Steinbeck is at his best when he avoids his tendency to allegorize
(e.g., Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men.
Alas, too many unimaginative high school English teachers have turned
off too many better-than-that high school students by sticking to the
allegory and skipping the good stuff. This is a particularly
fascinating novel with some of Steinbeck’s most inventive experiments
with narrative structures.
The Devil's Advocate by Morris West
[Finished November 1995] An interesting story about a priest’s journey into rural Italy to
investigate a reputed saint. Having read Woodward’s The Making
of Saints helped a bit in supplying background details, but it
wasn’t essential. West is easily one of the better writers dealing
with Catholic issues.
The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
[Finished November 1995] It’s interesting when one gets a sort of synchronicity of themes in
one’s reading, especially if one, like myself, has a somewhat
arbitrary method for selecting the next book to be read. In this
instance, I find myself hitting the same theme, approached in
radically different ways, in three consecutive books. In the end it
all comes down to Thoreau’s challenge: Simplify! Simplify! Which of
course is really just Jesus’ a man cannot serve two masters put in a
forceful American way. Materialism. It’s killing us all. I’m not much
better than most. I just have different household gods. Books, mostly.
The American Senator by Anthony Trollope
[Finished 19 October 1995] Trollope is one of the great underrated writers of the nineteenth
century. This particular novel, which from its title sounds as if it
might be a satire of American manners (a la the American scenes from
Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit), is in fact very little about
the title character and instead turns around two intertwined marriage
plots. The story reminds me the most, perhaps, of Trollope’s
Kept in the Dark. In any event, The American
Senator is pure Victorian potboiler and a good read.
Graham Greene: An Intimate Portrait by His Closest Friend and Confidant by Leopoldo Durán
[Finished 6 October 1995] Are there no editors anymore? After I’d sat down with the book for less than half an hour I found numerous items that any competent editor would have found, errors that are reminiscent of what happens if I write something at three in the morning and don’t check it again after getting a good nights’ sleep. I found similar problems in the Sherry bio. There is an interesting book here, but the final product lacks the touch that a good editor could have lent the work.
The Cambridge Book of Lesser Poets edited by J. C. Squire
[Finished 3 October 1995] A friend majoring in English attempted to slip a course plan past her advisor which did not include any course in Shakespeare (her plan was rejected). Perhaps this anthology would appeal to her. The basic plan is to begin by excluding the best known poets of the English language along with anyone still living (then again, perhaps she wouldn’t like the anthology) and collect what’s left.
The Life of Graham Greene, Volume II: 1939-1955 by Norman Sherry
[Finished 24 September 1995] I’ve spotted on bookstore shelves recently three Graham Greene bios
(and of course have purchased each). The Sherry biography is perhaps
the most “respectable” of the three, being the authorized biography.
Despite the authorized label, however, it’s far from a whitewash,
particularly in this second volume. One wonders to what extent the
death of Greene in the interim between the publication of volumes I
and II is part of this. It was a fascinating read, taking me just
about a week to finish. There are a few places where it feels like
Sherry’s editor was lax and the organization is sometimes confusing in
the jumping about in the chronology.
Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type by Geoffrey Dowding
[Finished 24 September 1995] A fascinating book, despite the rather dry title. My review appears in
Serif 4.
The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier by Bruce Sterling
[Finished September 1995] Most prose on the internet is, quite frankly, crap. Anything
book-length tends to fall into one of two categories: Poorly HTMLized
texts in the public domain and works too bad to find a “real”
publisher.
The discovery of this book on the internet (and it’s available on paper as well), then was quite delightful and sucked several hours of my precious time while I read it. Since most of my non-fiction reading tends to not be of the mainstream variety, I often forget how captivating it can be (and ought to remind myself to bring some of this energy into my own writing). Definitely a gripping yarn, and while it will appeal to the computer geek, is not mired in technobabble. A definitely recommended read.
Hadrian VII by Frederick Rolfe (aka Baron Corvo)
[Finished August 1995] I first encountered this story in a radio drama on KCRW and decided to
start tracking down books by the author, a rather difficult process to
say the least. As the radio drama made more clear by calling the main
character Rolfe rather than Rose, this is a bit of self-fantasy about
the author’s being “rightfully” given his ordination as a priest and
later being named pope. If one can get past the rather dull
turn-of-the-century geopolitical diatribes, there’s an amazingly
prescient view of where the church did end up going half a century
later.
Graham Greene by John Spurling
[Finished August 1995] A rather cursory treatment of Greene’s work I find. I’ve not found
any Greene criticism which I particularly enjoyed. Whether the problem
is with Greene, contemporary criticism or myself, I don’t know.
Twentieth Century Type Designers by Sebastian Carter
[Finished July 1995] As the editor of Serif,
I frequently receive review copies of books. These make up a big part
of my libri legendi pile next to the bed. I’ve read the original and
the review will likely compare the two volumes (the new edition,
incidentally is much thicker). I’ll let you read the real review in
the magazine.
The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management: Proven Strategies for Increased Productivity and Inner Peace by Hyrum W. Smith
[Finished July 1995] I’m generally skeptical of books with titles like this and I certainly
wouldn’t have bought this. Instead, I was given a Franklin organizer
recently and this book came with it. It’s a quick read, and the ideas
seem sound. I’m working on putting them in practice and I’ll see what
comes of it.
Analytical Marxism edited by John Roemer
[Finished July 1995] An interesting book, taking, as its title suggests, an analytical
approach to Marxist ideas. Since there is no sense of
Landmarks in Christian History by Henry K. Rowe
[Finished June 1995] When I started buying books for my thesis research back in 1989, I decided that I needed a protestant account of the reformation. This is what I found in a second-hand bookshop in St Louis. As it turns out, the scope is somewhat broader and attempts to be a history of Christianity from Jesus’ ministry up to the time of its writing at the beginning of the twentieth century. While reading this book, I found myself continually trying to figure out what the author believed. He was vehemently anti-Catholic, but otherwise rather liberal. While there was general praise of John Calvin and an association with the Calvinists, the author’s view point tended more towards a strong concern towards social justice I tend not to associate with Calvinists.
The New Testament for Spiritual Reading: The Epistle to Titus, The Epistle to Philemon edited by John L. McKenzie
[Finished June 1995] McKenzie was a Jesuit who lived his last years in the parish to which I belong. He died not too long after I arrived and I never had the opportunity to meet him, but his reputation survived him. I was given this volume and one other as a gift from a friend who’s now working at Southern Illinois University. He found these two volumes in a library book sale for a quarter each.
As for the text itself, it tends to be a relatively mainline Catholic interpretation of the two named epistles by a pair of German theologians. I must say that I found little of memorable interest.
Learning Perl by Randall Schwartz
[Finished May 1995] OK, so I can be a computer geek at times. I figured it was about time to learn this language so I could do my own CGI scripts, or at least
understand the ones I get from other people. As for the book? Well,
the humor was really more distracting than it should have been and I
found the organization really quite awful. There’s also a dearth of
good examples of things and the discussion of vital things like eq
appears somewhere nonintuitive. Perhaps if I had done the exercises as
I went along it might have helped. Still, there’s plenty of room for a
better mousetrap here.
Anchor Bible, vol. 4: Numbers 1-20 by Baruch Levine
[Finished May 1995] Part of the Anchor Bible series, a collection of translations and commentaries on individual books of the Bible by Jewish, Protestant and Catholic scholars. The quality and approach of the volumes vary widely. This particular book is written from a rather secular world view: Levine makes an attempt to demythologize the text wherever possible. I’m not certain I like that approach. I have yet to find anything gained from the demythologization process. People need myths.