Thursday, March 31, 2005
March Retrospective
As far as reading books goes, March was a dismal month. I got stuck in The Fellowship of the ring and then in the Two Towers. This isn't to say that they are bad, just...gooey I guess. I didn't have a taste for the Limoney Snicket books so I've given those a rest (also my library is missing the Ersatz Elevator and I hate reading series out of order.) But, I did finish up a paper that was hanging over my head. As for favorites, I don't think there is really enough for comparison so I'm going to roll them into April.
24. Changing Planes
By Ursula K. Le Guin (pp 246)
This is a re read and perhaps one of my favorite Le Guin books. It's a collection of short stories on a theme. This theme being plane travel. Planes as in different planes of reality. I always enjoy reading it in airports.
This is a re read and perhaps one of my favorite Le Guin books. It's a collection of short stories on a theme. This theme being plane travel. Planes as in different planes of reality. I always enjoy reading it in airports.
Monday, March 21, 2005
23. Sensational Trials of the 20th Century (NF 5)
by Betsy Harvey Kraft (New York: Scholastic 1998. pgs. 216)
This was lent to me by a friend. Hence being popped up the list a bit. This briefly narrates eight of the most infamous trials in the last century.
1. The Saco-Vanzetti Trial
Did two Italian immigrants commit armed robbery? Or did someone get executed wrongfully. It seems pretty safe to say that the author believes at least one of the men convicted might have been innocent. Regardless, it seems that more than being on trial for robbery, Saco and Vanzetti were on trial for being immigrants.
2. The Scopes "Monkey" Trial
This is why the book got lent to me. The trial came up in a Trivial pursuit game and I'd never heard of it before. There is an air of the grotesque in this one and I was reminded of the movie 'Chicago'
3. The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Trial
This is one of the ones you first hear about in 8th grade social studies. Unfortunately it didn't make much of a dent the first time around. This time it did. The whole thing seemed like something out of a soap opera. But rather I think the soap opera writers are getting their material from this sort of thing.
4. The Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Spy Trial
Another one I was first exposed to in Jr. High. I rather suspect that the school's text book wasn't as frank about it as this book was. The whole thing just proves to me that even people who are none too bright are capable of being very clever.
5. Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka
This one, of course, changed education in America. I was glad to learn something about it rather than just know it had an affect.
6. The Watergate Trials
'Changing the way news is reported' should be the name of this one. Nixon seems such a pitiable person in this...and stupid to boot. One wonders if he weren't certifiable paranoid.
7. The John Hinkley Jr. Trial
One of the one's I've heard about but didn't really know anything of. I think Hinkley must be the source of, "But he seemed like such a good boy."
8. The O.J. Simpson Trial
This is the only one of the eight that I was alive and cognizant for. At the time I was just sick to death of it. Reading about it though I realize why people got so caught up in it.
This was lent to me by a friend. Hence being popped up the list a bit. This briefly narrates eight of the most infamous trials in the last century.
1. The Saco-Vanzetti Trial
Did two Italian immigrants commit armed robbery? Or did someone get executed wrongfully. It seems pretty safe to say that the author believes at least one of the men convicted might have been innocent. Regardless, it seems that more than being on trial for robbery, Saco and Vanzetti were on trial for being immigrants.
2. The Scopes "Monkey" Trial
This is why the book got lent to me. The trial came up in a Trivial pursuit game and I'd never heard of it before. There is an air of the grotesque in this one and I was reminded of the movie 'Chicago'
3. The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Trial
This is one of the ones you first hear about in 8th grade social studies. Unfortunately it didn't make much of a dent the first time around. This time it did. The whole thing seemed like something out of a soap opera. But rather I think the soap opera writers are getting their material from this sort of thing.
4. The Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Spy Trial
Another one I was first exposed to in Jr. High. I rather suspect that the school's text book wasn't as frank about it as this book was. The whole thing just proves to me that even people who are none too bright are capable of being very clever.
5. Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka
This one, of course, changed education in America. I was glad to learn something about it rather than just know it had an affect.
6. The Watergate Trials
'Changing the way news is reported' should be the name of this one. Nixon seems such a pitiable person in this...and stupid to boot. One wonders if he weren't certifiable paranoid.
7. The John Hinkley Jr. Trial
One of the one's I've heard about but didn't really know anything of. I think Hinkley must be the source of, "But he seemed like such a good boy."
8. The O.J. Simpson Trial
This is the only one of the eight that I was alive and cognizant for. At the time I was just sick to death of it. Reading about it though I realize why people got so caught up in it.
22. Fellowship of the Ring
by J.R.R. Tolkien (pp 21-398)
This is a re-reading. The first time I read this I was about 12. My initial estimation that it was a great story poorly written. While I still have some of the problems with it now that I did then, my estimation is somewhat more mild. Tolkien is given to a dryness that makes his fiction more like an essay in comparitive liguistics, than a novel. This isn't to say he's bad but I'm still skeptical when someone tells me he's the greatest fantasy writer of our language.
In anycase, this covers the formation of the fellowship to the splitting. It's a good read but I still think the Hobbit is better.
This is a re-reading. The first time I read this I was about 12. My initial estimation that it was a great story poorly written. While I still have some of the problems with it now that I did then, my estimation is somewhat more mild. Tolkien is given to a dryness that makes his fiction more like an essay in comparitive liguistics, than a novel. This isn't to say he's bad but I'm still skeptical when someone tells me he's the greatest fantasy writer of our language.
In anycase, this covers the formation of the fellowship to the splitting. It's a good read but I still think the Hobbit is better.
Monday, March 14, 2005
21. One More For the Road
by Ray Bradbury (289 pgs. Copyright 2002 First Edition)
This is a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury's fiction is, as always, fantastic, wonderful, stupendous, and amazing. But I gush. There are 26 stories and I couldn't tell you which was my favorite. Among the top would be 'Well, What do You have to Say for Yourself?' 'Diane de Foret,' 'Laurel and Hardy Alpha Centauri Farewell Tour,' and 'The Dragon Danced at Midnight.'
It's a beautiful and varied collection of Bradbury's work and something I would recommend to a first time Bradbury reader.
This is a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. Bradbury's fiction is, as always, fantastic, wonderful, stupendous, and amazing. But I gush. There are 26 stories and I couldn't tell you which was my favorite. Among the top would be 'Well, What do You have to Say for Yourself?' 'Diane de Foret,' 'Laurel and Hardy Alpha Centauri Farewell Tour,' and 'The Dragon Danced at Midnight.'
It's a beautiful and varied collection of Bradbury's work and something I would recommend to a first time Bradbury reader.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
20. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (NF 4)
by David Sedaris (257 pgs first edition, Little Brown and Company 2004)
When I originally put this on the list, I rather expected that it would be fiction. It reads like fiction but what it really is, is a collection of auto-biographical essays. I really almost feel bad calling it Non-Fiction because I enjoyed it in much the same way as I would a collection of short stories. That being said, I didn't find it funny, the way most people seem to think it should be. I have a friend who assures me that some of his earlier collections are funnier.
Somehow, I see the humor, I enjoy the humor, but I don't think I will be laughing at Sedaris' humor. This is not a dig or disparaging...it just doesn't hit my giggle reflex.
When I originally put this on the list, I rather expected that it would be fiction. It reads like fiction but what it really is, is a collection of auto-biographical essays. I really almost feel bad calling it Non-Fiction because I enjoyed it in much the same way as I would a collection of short stories. That being said, I didn't find it funny, the way most people seem to think it should be. I have a friend who assures me that some of his earlier collections are funnier.
Somehow, I see the humor, I enjoy the humor, but I don't think I will be laughing at Sedaris' humor. This is not a dig or disparaging...it just doesn't hit my giggle reflex.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
March List
Well I didn't quite meet quota last month so now the monthly total is a solid 18 books. On the other hand, I did quite a bit better than January. I've devised a new list. Whether I read them all in order or, indeed, at all is up in there air. I find there are so many books that I'd like to read that it's very difficult to stick to the list exactly.
1. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien
3. Moorish Spain by Fletcher (NF)
4. Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Hostile Hospitol by Lemony Snickett
6. One More For the Road by Bradbury
7. The Vile Village by Lemony Snickett
8. The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien
9. Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem
10. Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. LeGuin
11. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
12. Islam by Karen Armstrong (NF)
13. A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick
14. The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain by Bernard Reilly (NF)
15. The Lathe of Heave by Ursula K. LeGuin
16. The Art of Medieval Spain by Metropolitan Museum of Art (NF)
17. Game-Players of Titan by Philip K. Dick
18. Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Spain by Mireille Mentre (NF)
and insanity books are
19. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
20. Victors and the Vanquished by Brian Catlos (NF)
Obviously I've created an overly non-fiction heavy month but I'm taking advice from a friend and trying to read 10 or so books in fields I might want to get a grad degree in. So we'll see how it goes.
1. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
2. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien
3. Moorish Spain by Fletcher (NF)
4. Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Hostile Hospitol by Lemony Snickett
6. One More For the Road by Bradbury
7. The Vile Village by Lemony Snickett
8. The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien
9. Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem
10. Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. LeGuin
11. Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce
12. Islam by Karen Armstrong (NF)
13. A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick
14. The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain by Bernard Reilly (NF)
15. The Lathe of Heave by Ursula K. LeGuin
16. The Art of Medieval Spain by Metropolitan Museum of Art (NF)
17. Game-Players of Titan by Philip K. Dick
18. Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Spain by Mireille Mentre (NF)
and insanity books are
19. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
20. Victors and the Vanquished by Brian Catlos (NF)
Obviously I've created an overly non-fiction heavy month but I'm taking advice from a friend and trying to read 10 or so books in fields I might want to get a grad degree in. So we'll see how it goes.
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