| Young Mussolini and the Intellectual Origins of Fascism by A James Gregor, 260 pages James Donahue 14 September 2002 An excellent monograph which describes Mussolini's transformation from the leading Socialist intellectual in Italy to the founder of the Fascist party in about six years. Gregor always does a great job of showing the logic and rationality behind Fascist thought rather than just reducing Fascism to meglomania, blind hatred, insanity, and venerial disease. | Papa Hemingway by A. E. Hotchner, 335 pages Steve Gadd 06 November 2002 The last 15 years of Hemingway's life, as chronicled by one of his closest companions. Hemingway planned both his work and his leisure with military rigor, counting both as essential parts of a good life. The result is an impressive itinerary: spring in Paris at the racetrack, summer following bullfighters in Spain, fall hunting in Ketchum, and winter entertaining celebrities at the Cuban finca. "Hotch" freely admits his admiration for Papa, but is also quite frank in describing the sad descent into paranoia leading to the author's suicide in 1961. |
The War Lords (1976) by A. J. P. Taylor, 186 pages James Donahue 21 November 2006 Taylor rambles on the BBC; someone writes it down for a bestseller. Oh, to be that famous historian at the end of a long run. Reading it for snappy stories for my class. |
Mussolini's Intellectuals (2005) by A. James Gregor, 262 pages James Donahue 27 August 2006 The ever-kranky Gregor has spent forty years making one statement: that Fascism had an intellectual foundation and was not the product of brainwashing/psycho-sexual repression/ irrationalist amour-propre/etc. This is his final statement of that case. I've assigned this for my class and I'm hoping they'll understand it. |
Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg, 384 pages Julie Gephart 19 December 2003 Katharine Hepburn is what you’d have to call “a character,” mostly because it sounds a lot better than “a mean old lady.” Once I adjusted to her style, there were plenty of lines that made me laugh out loud, and the story of when Michael Jackson came to her house for dinner was priceless. |
Meiji Protestantism in History and Historiography by Aaluv Sande, 141 pages James Donahue 14 April 2004 |
X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (1998) by Aaron Allston, 403 pages James Donahue 01 June 2007 Sludging onward in the series. After the last book bottomed out, a new author decided to blow up the character list and start over. Here Wedge Antilles assembles a group of no-goodnik pilots on their last chance into the most formidible fighting sqaud in the galaxy. Think of the Dirty Dozen in space. . .except without credibiility or sustained plot. |
X-Wing: Iron Fist (1998) by Aaron Allston, 310 pages James Donahue 02 August 2007 The series gets back on track. . . .but is it too late??? |
X-Wing: Solo Command (1999) by Aaron Allston, 341 pages James Donahue 06 August 2007 Another solid (though not spectacular) installment to this series, which seems to have righted itself after jettisoning its first author. |
Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Deadly Response by Aaron J. Klein, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian 24 May 2006 Klein provides a nationalistic explanation of political assignation by detailing the Mossad’s methodical killings of high profile Palestinians. Revenge, deterrence and prevention are mentioned as the holy trinity of justification for these killings, leaving the reader to assume that maybe deterrence and prevention are just added to make the true motive more palatable. |
Data Structures Using Pascal by Aaron Tenebaum and Moshe Augenstein, 545 pages Steven Krise 20 April 2006 Revelation that data structures aren't so much about how data is physically stored but rather how it is accessed and manipulated. All the complex structures discussed in this book can use one or more arrays as the to physically store the data objects. |
Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik, 338 pages James Donahue 19 September 2002 A really delightful series of essays by an American writer who moves to Paris with wife and kid in order to live the un-American life. (At one point, he cites his strone desire to raise a child without Barney around.) Each sentence is a gem, written with an eye to the same detail that makes all the difference. The essays cover a span of about four years, and it wonderful to see his development into an emigree. Having spent some time in Paris, the best damn city on earth, I loved the way he focuses on the small epicurean delights of the city: the views, the food, the joie de vivre, the cheese, the small hidden agoras. Gopnik also does an excellent job of making the French seem rational to Americans; he explains the French love of strikes, hatred of sports, and history of culinary pursuits. A great book that at least Gareth must read. (Seeing as how he's only read 'two' books this year; what's up with that Garf-man?) |
God's Secretaries by Adam Nicolson, 304 pages Jonathan Misirian 19 September 2005 English Historian Nicolson, provides a thorough understanding of the cultural trends that were in play, which helped to shape what has become known as the King James Bible. An interesting irony from the book: The King James Bible was written -in part-to dispel the Puritan cause in England and yet it was adopted by these same Puritans as their text when they came to America. |
God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible (2003) by Adam Nicolson, 243 pages James Donahue 16 July 2008 Nicolson pays tribute to the forgotten centerpiece of the English language, using the royal committee's fractured production of the KJV as a window into Jacobean England: "If you think of the King James Bible as the greatest creation of seventeenth-century England, a culture drenched in the word rather than the image, it is easy to see it as England's equivalent of the great baroque cathedral it never built, an enormous and magnificent verbal artifice, its huge structures embracing all 4 million Englishmen, its orderliness and richness a kind of national shrine built only of words." |
Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (2007) by Adam Zamoyski, 569 pages James Donahue 27 October 2007 "Perhaps the most striking aspect of the great charade known as the Congress of Vienna is the continuous interplay between the serious and the frivolous, an almost parasitical co-existence of activities which might appear to be mutually exclusive. The rattling of sabres and talk of blood mingled with the strains of the waltz and court gossip, and the most ridiculously trivial pursuits went hand in hand with impressive work." |
I Remember Nothing More by Adina Blady Szwajger, 181 pages James Donahue 27 March 2003 The most haunting Holocaust memoir I have ever read. Period. Szwajger was a Jewish pediatrician in Warsaw and saw the worst of the worst. Her account is unforgettable. |
The Construction of Nationhood (1997) by Adrian Hastings, 209 pages James Donahue 30 January 2008 Finally I found a book about nationalism that is able to speak about Christian nationalism with insight! |
The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie, 167 pages Julie Gephart 19 January 2003 Being new to Christie, I felt smug yet disappointed when the shocking twist at the end revealed the murderer to be the person I suspected from the beginning. But oh, she wasn't done with me yet - after the whole case wrapped up and the police went home, she revealed a whole different murderer on the very last page and left me with a happier feeling. |
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, 256 pages Steve Gadd 13 July 2003 A murder mystery with a surprising twist! That probably describes most of Agatha Christie's novels; this one was interesting for its locations: Baghdad, Kirkuk, Stamboul, and especially the Orient Express train itself. Hercule Poirot is not quite as charming as Father Brown, rather smug actually, but convincingly clever. |
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, 328 pages Jonathan Misirian 28 August 2006 Is this a Gore-reinvention or a Gore-redemption? The author presents a detailed and honest appraisal of the global climate crisis.. the facts are indisputable as well as the photographic evidence. What isn’t answered is: ‘Is our current situation part of a consistent downward trend or is it part of a larger cyclical movement of changing climate patterns.’ |
Everthing We Had by Al Santoli, 260 pages Jeff Gadd 29 December 2001 A great book about 33 American soldiers who fought in Vietnam. |
Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil by Alain Badiou, 184 pages James Donahue 11 March 2003 Badiou is a contemporary French philosopher with intriguing, original, and provocative stances. In this essay he stands opposed to rights-ethics and alterity-ethics, claiming that both are innately conservative programmes of abstraction that refuse to situate ethics in concrete human relationships. Certainly his arguments -- written in 1994 -- are compelling in such troubled times when we bomb people out of 'humanitarian' concerns. Badiou ends up arguing for an ethics based upon universal (though not transcendent) truth, fidelity to our relationship to truth, and our humility before the truth. Evil is posited as perversions of the Good. (Did I mention he is profoundly influenced by Pauline Marxism?) Evil is thus the opposite of ethical action: being content with opinions and simulcrums, betrayal of what animates us, and the imposition of truth through terror and absolutizing. |
Saint Paul: The Foundations of Universalism by Alain Badiou, 111 pages James Donahue 12 July 2003 Badiou is ever-dense and ever-provocative. Here he argues that any absolute truth must be founded in event, not reason. As a springbroad, he utilizes Paul and his belief in the resurrection of Christ. Considering Badiou's allegiance to atheism and Maoism, this makes for a schizophrenic and delightful read. |
Metapolitics (2006) by Alain Badiou, 152 pages James Donahue 08 February 2006 Badiou continues to perplex and challenge me. |
The Art of Travel (2002) by Alain de Botton, 249 pages James Donahue 21 February 2007 A great collection of essays on travel to places (Barbados, Madrid, Holland, home) with past thinkers (de Maistre, van Gogh, Flaubert, von Humboldt). De Bottom describes the traveler's mindset as one of "receptivity": "We pproach new places with humility. We carry with us no ridig ideas about what is or is not interesting. . . .We are alive to the layers of history beneath the present and take notes and photographs." That is to say, travel lets us be the opposite of our stay-at-home, staid, unreceptive daily selves. Which is what makes travel to tempting and still so DAUNTING! (Read over a series of dog walks in deep snow, almost up to my waist, through the neighborhood here in South Bend.) |
Aliens III by Alan Dean Foster, 218 pages Jeff Gadd 07 February 2002 Aliens they just keep going and going and going!!! |
Style and the Man by Alan Flusser, 122 pages Tony Pisarenkov 15 April 2004 Neither a primer on basic style (matching colors and patterns, etc.) nor a guide to dressing appropriately for various business a social occasions, this book is rather an aid for those who wish to know exactly how to recognize whether an item of clothing fits properly, how to choose designs flattering to one's face and body shape, and how to recognize quality and fine workmanship when selecting clothes. The large section on high-end clothing stores and tailor shops around the world (skimmed, and therefore not reflected in the page count), although admittedly useless to most of us, occasionally reads as a travelogue. |
Dark Star (1991) by Alan Furst, 418 pages James Donahue 02 September 2006 Dark spy story about a Jewish Soviet agent working his sources in Nazi Germany leading up to the war. I especially liked how Furst resists giving us the omniscient-narrator-revelations so common in spy mysteries. Here the intelligence is messy, confusing, yet still penetrable. |
Shaming the Devil by Alan Jacobs, 218 pages James Donahue 22 December 2005 This collection of essays is delightful. Most are literary criticism (Jacobs is a professor of English at Wheaton College), dealing with his teacher's pets: Camus, Auden, Rebecca West, Wole Soynika, Iris Murdoch. Some deal with writers he finds uncomfortable: bioethicist Leon Kass, the lesbian poet Anne Carson, sci-fi prodigy Philip Pullman. But what these essays really sing is not just Jacobs' eyes, but rather his hand. Jacobs can really write, and this is best seen when he abandons criticism to write some original essays on Rousseau (vs Voltaire), his struggles to escape the control of the MAN by learning Linux, and the crucial importance of centering our aesthetic lives around the reality of grace. |
The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis (2005) by Alan Jacobs, 314 pages James Donahue 29 May 2007 Jacobs - who is the best evangelical critic out there right now - takes on the evangelical Maestro. His book is a rare combination of a critic who is religiously literate but still not prone to the obsequious hagiography that follows Lewis around, the Christian equivalent to groupie-ism. Jacobs is much more interested in the religious possibilities of story and myth than in Lewis (who was after all a distastefully stuffy don with a taste for sadism before his conversion and a Christian jack-of-all-trades after his birth, churning out books faster than Irish 'virgins' can churn our children). And that is just I would prefer: the stories matter more than the man. |
A Theology of Reading: The Hermeneutics of Love (2001) by Alan Jacobs, 172 pages James Donahue 18 November 2008 |
Watchmen by Alan Moore, 413 pages Steve Gadd 24 July 2006 The graphic novel that revolutionized a genre, ushering in an era of mature, adult-oriented comics. Its multilayered plot, rich symbolism, and vivid imagery make it a very immersive read. |
ABSOLUTE WATCHMEN by Alan Moore, 446 pages Jonathan Misirian 07 August 2006 Moore’s the genius behind many of contemporary comics most insightful and introspective publications. This is a collection of a series of DC Comics from the mid 80’s. Multi-layered stories, existentialist angst, stunning graphics… all work together to make this collection a compelling read. |
Cry The Beloved Country [audio] by Alan Paton, 0 pages Steve Gadd 15 February 1999 The touching story of a priest who travels to South Africa in search of his son. |
The Kill by Alan Ryan, 299 pages Jeff Gadd 25 March 2003 Something you can't see is killing people, and sometimes eating part of them. |
Water and Sky by Alan S. Kesselheim, 374 pages Lee W. Randall 27 January 2004 I had trouble putting down this first person account of a two year canoe trip taken by Kesselheim and his wife, Marypat. It reads like a good novel. My fascination with the North country drew me to the book, and it left me no less fascinated. P.S. Steve, call me ASAP I've lost your phone numbers and email--LEE |
The World Without Us (audio) by Alan Weisman, 432 pages Steve Gadd 14 July 2009 This extended thought experiment is quite interesting in many parts, with visits to people-free zones in Cyprus and the Korean peninsula, and informed speculation as to what will become of bridges and other landmarks. A good deal of print (or breath, in the recorded version) is spent less engagingly rehashing fears about ecology and overpopulation. |
A Happy Death by Albert Camus, 167 pages Steve Gadd 14 September 1995 |
The Stranger by Albert Camus, 154 pages Steve Gadd 24 July 2002 Monsieur Meursault's brush with the law leads to his recognition of the 'benign indifference of the universe.' |
The Stranger by Albert Camus, 154 pages Kristin Schrock 01 December 2003 This is a book designed for a class discussion. I know it's supposed to be chock full of extistential meaning, but it eludes me. Something about the nature of life, our inevitable death, fate, and hope. Dude kills an Arab just to watch him die. |
Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein, 188 pages Tony Pisarenkov 13 April 2008 This version was subtitled "A clear explanation that anyone can understand." In that aim, it succeeded, but it failed to change my outlook on life in a fundamental way. More comments here |
Slave Religion: The 'Invisible Institution' in the Antebellum South by Albert Raboteau, 373 pages James Donahue 11 September 2002 |
The Conformist by Alberto Moravia, 376 pages Tony Pisarenkov 01 November 2009 Though I've seen the movie twice, reading the book reminded me how much I didn't remember about it. I initially had some misgivings about Moravia's style, but in the end it worked. |
Unruhige Nacht (Restless Night) by Albrecht Goes, 67 pages James Donahue 30 June 2003 A military chaplain visits a condemned man during WWII. The boy, simple and poor, is sentenced to death for miscegenational acts. Through presenting him the Word in verbal and physical form the chaplain begins to question his service. (First novel for me read all the way through auf Deutsch! Yeah!) |
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 181 pages James Donahue 15 February 2004 Preparing to teach this on Weds to a group of Notre Dame students. We've been going over the purges and the gulag in class for a few weeks, and I am stunned at their unwillingness to accept the suffering as real. They believe it exaggerated or propaganidistic. (This while they accept economic and diplomatic reports by the Soviet government at face value.) Hopefully this will knock the spoon out of their mouth, or at least dislodge it enough so that they can start eating some real food. |
Escape from the Deep by Alex Kershaw, 288 pages Steve Gadd 09 October 2009 |
Savage Girl by Alex Shakar, 275 pages Kristin Schrock 27 October 2003 I've sadly slipped out of the Gadd-o-sphere. Must read faster. It would help if I didn't choose books that are a slog to get through. This one wants to say some profound things about consumerism and advertising and a post-irony age. And I was ready to listen. Sadly, the writing lacked style, zip, and was full of pretention. Except for one line which I liked: "James Couch and James Couch's irony sat down at the barstool beside me." |
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: The Fascist Style of Rule by Alexander De Grand, 94 pages James Donahue 13 November 2002 |
Grand Deception by Alexander Klein, 382 pages Jonathan Misirian 21 May 2005 Tepid overview of hoaxes, spies, fake statues, and gullible people. |
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998) by Alexander McCall Smith, 235 pages James Donahue 10 March 2006 What can I say? Charming. And a welcome break from my self-inflicted regimen of biography. |
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, 234 pages Jennifer Dear 20 July 2006 |
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith, 215 pages Jennifer Dear 23 July 2006 |
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith, 227 pages Jennifer Dear 29 July 2006 |
The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith, 191 pages Jennifer Dear 14 August 2006 |
The Full Cupboard of Life (2003) by Alexander McCall Smith, 198 pages Jennifer Dear 11 September 2006 |
Tears of a Giraffe (2000) by Alexander McCall Smith, 215 pages James Donahue 19 September 2006 Mma Ramotswe again solves mysteries with her easy-going, sagacious, folksy wisdom. Smith again paints a portrait of Botswana that makes it look better than Camelot. |
Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001) by Alexander McCall Smith, 227 pages James Donahue 01 October 2006 Another beautiful, pastoral tale from Botswana. Really weak on the mystery side of things; these books are misshelved at Borders, in my opinion. But these are still really charming and elegant stories. |
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (2004) by Alexander McCall Smith, 233 pages Jennifer Dear 10 December 2006 |
The Sunday Philosophy Club (2004) by Alexander McCall Smith, 247 pages Jennifer Dear 05 January 2007 |
Friends, Lovers, Chocolates (2005) by Alexander McCall Smith, 261 pages Jennifer Dear 09 January 2007 |
Blue Shoes and Happiness (2006) by Alexander McCall Smith, 227 pages Jennifer Dear 27 January 2007 |
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (2007) by Alexander McCall Smith, 213 pages Jennifer Dear 24 August 2007 |
The Future of the Past by Alexander Stille, 339 pages James Donahue 12 January 2003 In a truly fascinating book, Stille examines the future fate of things from the past. Chapters are grouped around one vestige and can be read separately; topics include spoken Latin, Chinese artifacts, the library of Alexandria (or at least its concept), the Vatican library, the forests of Madagascar, and the disintegrating Sphinx. Stille ends with a profound essay on the challenges posed to historicity in a postmodern and digital age. |
Stolypin, Nationalism, and the Politics of the Russian Imperial State by Alexandra Korros, 243 pages James Donahue 17 September 2004 |
Faust's Metropolis: A History of Berlin (1998) by Alexandra Richie, 891 pages James Donahue 03 February 2007 Background trip for a trip to one of my least favorite cities next week. This book is riveting, despite its length. Richie is a great storyteller. The book focuses on Berlin's many manifestations (medieval stomping ground for invaders, enlightened showpiece of Frederick the Great, Hohzenzollern training ground, centerpiece of Imperial pomposity before its utter collapse in 1918, capital of beleagured Weimar and early center of cabaret and film, bureaucratic hub of the Holocaust, site of Hiter's last stand, ground zero of the Cold War, and, finally, uncertain capital of united Germany. A zigzag path, to say the least, with more than its share of devastations. What other city can claim Hitler, Marlene Dietrich, Isherwood, Bismarck, and U2 among its brief citizens? Achtung Baby! |
Endurance by Alfred Lansing, 282 pages Steve Gadd 11 April 1999 Inspiring, absolutely incredible account of a disasterous attempt to cross the south pole on foot. |
Endurance by Alfred Lansing, 282 pages Jeff Gadd 15 June 2000 |
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, 280 pages Kristin Schrock 21 February 2002 Shackleton, Shackleton he's our man! |
The Dragon Queen by Alice Borchardt, 473 pages Julie Gephart 28 April 2002 "Hello, Ms. Borchardt? This is my friend Segue. I don't believe you two have met." The premise is interesting, casting Guinevere as a powerful warrior of the ancient Celts, but this book was so full of unexplained setting jumps and free-ranging pronouns that I kept finding myself leafing back to look for missing pages. |
The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro, 340 pages Jaqi Ross 25 August 2004 In eight new stories, a master of the form extends and magnifies her great themes--the vagaries of love, the passion that leads down unexpected paths, the chaos hovering just under the surface of things, and the strange, often comical desires of the human heart. Munro is always amazing. |
Runaway by Alice Munro, 335 pages Jonathan Misirian 23 February 2005 Listed as one of the NYTimes Top 10 books of '04. Munro lets us know that the Canadians are as messed up as Americans. |
The Color Purple by Alice Walker, 295 pages Julie Gephart 28 May 2002 Aside from the African missionary stories, I heartily enjoy this book with each reading. |
Playing with Boys by Alisa Valdes Rodriguez, 368 pages Micaela Larkin 27 November 2006 Awful sophomore chic lit |
Play Winning Poker...In No Time by Alison Pendergast, 183 pages Steven Krise 15 June 2009 If you've played any kind of poker - winning or otherwise then this isn't the book for you. A shallow, uninteresting intro to poker that covers the topics you expect, giving advice you've already heard. |
H.M.S. ULYSSES by Alistair MaClean, 276 pages Jeff Gadd 05 April 2002 Great book but sad, Out of 36 ships only 5 get to the destination. |
SeaWitch by Alistair MaClean, 279 pages Jeff Gadd 23 April 2002 About a famous oil Billionaire who enemys what to stop him by destroying his oil Rig SeaWitch. |
Freeing God's Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights by Allen Hertzke, 347 pages James Donahue 31 December 2005 Hertzke traces the recent surge within American evangelicalism and Judaism to support human rights, focusing on the recent Religious Rights Bill, the lobbying of the (ever-reluctant) Bush administration to negotiate a ceasefire in the Sudanese genocide, and the efforts to curb human traffic. Hertzke is not only a political scientist, but a committed activist, lobbying evangelicals toward greater participation in the movement. Fascinating reading that shows the difficult relationship between a religious community just coming into political adolescence and a Republican party focused on politics. |
The Unthinkable (audio) by Amanda Ripley, 288 pages Steve Gadd 28 August 2009 [audio] |
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, 288 pages Steve Gadd 25 July 1995 |
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, 403 pages Jaqi Ross 25 September 2004 Mediocre read about a Chinese family in three generations. Typical Amy Tan. |
The Weight of It: A Story of Two Sisters by Amy Wilensky, 203 pages Jaqi Ross 21 August 2004 The story of two sisters (one year apart) from earliest memory into adulthood. The younger sister has a gastic bypass surgery, the older writes about it (not very movingly)... not recommended. |
So Far From God by Ana Castillo, 252 pages Jaqi Ross 29 July 2004 Castillo's ( Sapogonia ) inventive but not entirely cohesive novel about the fortunes of a contemporary Chicana family in the village of Tome, N.M., reveals its main concerns at once. Sofi's three-year-old daughter dies in a horrifying epileptic fit but is resurrected (and even levitates) at her own funeral, reporting firsthand acquaintance with hell, purgatory and heaven. Magic and divine intervention in varying ways touch each of Sofi's three other daughters: the eldest, mainstreamed yuppie Esperanza; Caridad, whose path leads toward folk mysticism; and the more mundane Fe, who--seized with a screaming convulsion when her fiance jilts her--is brought to silence only months later through the intercession of the resurrected youngest sister, "Loca." Castillo takes a page from the magical realist school of Latin American fiction, but one senses the North American component of this Chicana voice: in her work, occult phenomena are literal, not symbolic; life is traumatic and brutal--as are men--but death is merely tentative. |
In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd by Ana Menendez, 229 pages Jaqi Ross 15 January 2004 This delightfully rich collection of interrelated short stories focuses on Cuban immigrants in Miami. |
The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, 297 pages Steve Gadd 11 November 2006 Boukreev was a villain in Jon Krakauer's bestselling account of the 1996 Everest disaster. He was described as irresponsibly climbing without supplemental oxygen, and descending from the summit ahead of clients, "extremely questionable behavior for a guide." Boukreev here defends his behavior, providing a riveting account of the tragedy from his point of view. |
Flanders: A Cultural History (2007) by André de Vries, 278 pages James Donahue 26 July 2007 |
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, 365 pages Mike Gadd 05 January 2005 A good read but not for the easily depressed. As you move through the story you try to put together an ending where everything works out. It gets harder and harder as the book goes on. Nothing prepares you for how it finally finishes. |
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus, III, 365 pages Kristin Schrock 10 February 2005 Mike Gadd's review prepared me, so I was able to enjoy how the tragedy unfolds--and if you're a literature geek, like me, you get excited about such things. The characters had clear choices--but the ending had a sense of inevitability about it--which is masterful. Good stuff. Bonus points for a shout-out to Law & Order and the ending which was an homage to Othello. Excellent read. |
Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon (2008) by Andrea di Robilant, 341 pages James Donahue 24 April 2008 |
State and Intellectual in Modern Japan by Andrew Barshay, 250 pages James Donahue 24 April 2004 |
Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock by Andrew Beaujon, 276 pages Jonathan Misirian 27 July 2006 Billed as the first non-Christian in-depth look at Christian Rock, BPSML is a solid piece of writing. Beaujon sees both the camp and the soul of Christian Rock, providing the reader with ammunition against Christianity as well as hope because of it. |
Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock by Andrew Beaujon, 276 pages Brad Snyder 31 July 2006 A very concise, well-researched, accurate, and fair critique and explanation of Christian music and the evangelical subculture, written from the perspective of a non-Christian. You've gotta love any book that opens with quotes from Martin Luther and Hank Hill on the same page. Excellent. |
Life on a Young Planet by Andrew H Knoll, 277 pages Steven Krise 20 May 2009 An informative overview of "the first three billion years of evolution on earth", starting with biogenesis up to just before the so called Cambrian Explosion. It ties together the topics of a couple other books I've read recently which were more focused in scope. |
Why God Won't Go Away: Brain science and the biology of belief by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, and Vince Rause, 226 pages Steven Krise 19 September 2003 Purports to be a survey of the neurological underpinnings of mystical experiences. However, the book disappoints when the authors stray away from neurophysiology (which despite the title is quite often after Ch. 3) into baseless speculation and idle philosophizing. They somehow conclude (in the vein of "insert miracle here") by saying their research shows that there is a real mystical transcendent reality which is the fundamental ground of objective reality and subjective experience. |
A Meal Observed by Andrew Todhunter, 228 pages Tony Pisarenkov 14 May 2006 Part commentary on French gastronomy (and, by extension, national character), part memoir, told through the prism of a single meal at Taillevent, one of the most respected Parisian restaurants. If you are going to read only one book about French gastronomy, this is probably not it, but very entertaining and enjoyable if you're into that sort of thing. |
The Ottomans by Andrew Wheatcroft, 239 pages Steve Gadd 16 April 2002 Beginning with the conquest of Constantinople, this book vividly describes some historic battles. The rest of the survey of Ottoman history is kind of disjointed, often focusing more on the image of the Ottomans as seen by Westerners. I did enjoy seeing the word 'yataghan' in print for the first time. |
Marxism and the Leap to the Kingdom of Freedom by Andrzej Walicki, 635 pages James Donahue 24 October 2002 A real masterpiece of intellectual history tracing the roots of totalitarianism from Marx to Kruschchev. Especially excellent analysis of the early Soviet period. |
Complete Warrior - A Player's Guide to Combat for All Classes by Andy Collins, David Noonan, Ed Stark, 159 pages Steven Krise 17 January 2004 Yeah, I'm a geek. This AD&D accessory collates fighter related information that used to be scattered over a number of sources and updates it for the 3.5 rules. |
How Good is Good Enough? (2003) by Andy Stanley, 94 pages Brad Snyder 10 June 2007 A concise little work that challenges the commonly held notion that "good people go to heaven". |
The Broke Diaries by Angela Nissel, 212 pages Julie Gephart 30 November 2003 Very funny journal-style book about the life of a truly broke college student. I can never again complain about having no money in college. |
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner, 184 pages James Donahue 06 September 2005 A sleepy, beautiful prose style kept my attention sharp even if the plot -- middle-aged single woman stranded on Lac Leman, forced to meet a crossroads in her life between respectability and authenticity -- was somewhat staid. Best line: "[Switzerland] was a land of prudently harvested plenty, a land which had conquered human accidents, leaving only the weather distressingly beyond control." |
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, 321 pages Mike Gadd 17 June 2002 This is the fictional story of the real person Dinah from the Old Testament. She was the only sister of Joseph (with his colorful coat) and only gets a brief mention in Genesis. The story puts you in her shoes and you get an entirely different perspective of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Even though it's entirely fictionalized, it adds dimension to these people you grew up hearing stories about. This book came highly recommended and it held up to expectations. |
Emily Ever After by Ann Dayton and May Vanderbilt, 307 pages Micaela Larkin 22 January 2007 The story of an evangelical girl taking on NYC and the Sex in the City publishing world. Okay read for Evangelicachick lit, but at the end of the day it is still evangelicachick lit... |
The Feminization of American Culture by Ann Douglas, 403 pages James Donahue 16 April 2002 This book relates how both literature and religion became captive to female sensibilities, attributes, and control during the antebellum period. Specific topics include disestablishment, the birth of rural cemetaries and undertakers, ladies' magazines overpowering theological journals, the rise of hymns, and the absence of any sort of American Romantic movement. Provocative and enlightening; a must for anyone wondering why American Christianity is so unique in the world. |
The First Human - the race to discover our earliest ancestors by Ann Gibbons, 306 pages Steven Krise 19 June 2008 "This book is not a comprehensive history. It is my perception of the quest for the earliest ancestors during th past fifteen years, as I covered the science of human origins for /Science/. I have focused on the leaders of four teams that found the earliest known members of the human family....I found it impossible, however, to separate the human story of the quest from the scientific results; science is a social endeavor and the personal politics influence not only who gets access to data,...but even how researchers interpret the fossils and formulate hypotheses." |
GULAG: A History by Anne Appelbaum, 677 pages Tony Pisarenkov 03 October 2009 Let's face it: most of us will never have the fortitude to get through Solzhenitsyn's opus. This book is the best substitute. |
Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum, 586 pages James Donahue 08 October 2004 I can see why this book won a Pulitzer. No other historian has done so much to put in inside of the famed gulags (except for Solzhenitsyn). A remarkable (lack of) achievement given the literary profligency that surrounds its genocidal cousins. Applebaum begins and ends the book with a history of the camps' developments, but the real meat is in the middle: chapters that walk one through the Gulag process step by painful step |
Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler's Angel by Anne De Courcy, 353 pages James Donahue 15 December 2005 At age 23, Diana divorced the heir to the Guiness empire to marry the young, dashing, older leader of the British Fascist Party. Her path led her through public revilement, imprisonment, and eventual exile. Although she never regretted it. Its an odd choice for a bio, as she is most interesting because of those whom she knew and whom she entertained - Churchill, Lord Halifax, Hitler et al, Mosley, her novelist sister Nancy Mitford - not for herself. (Compare with Mme de Stael or Rachel Varnhagen, other hostesses who also managed to be personalities.) This seems to be a biography of a mirror, enlightening only via reflection. |
The Killjoy by Anne Fine, 189 pages Steve Gadd 01 October 1997 |
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lammott, 272 pages Jaqi Ross 29 June 2004 Magazine columnist and novelist Lamott ( All New People ) captures both the poignancy and comedy of her first year as a single mother in this wonderfully candid diary. Her quirky humor steadily draws the reader into her unconventional world as she describes her friends and neighbors in northern California, her participation in a local church, her experiences as a recovering alcoholic and--best of all--her infant son, Sam, born in 1989. She covers maternal emotions from rapturous bliss to bare fury ("In the middle of the colic death marches, I end up looking at the baby with those hooded eyes that were in the old ads for The Boston Strangler "). Throughout, she airs her strong political and religious beliefs. And when her best friend, Pammy, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Lamott conveys her anguish with the same depth of feeling and sense of the absurd that characterize her observations about her son, God, recovery, writing, Republicans, men and life as usual. Even non-parents will enjoy this glowing work. |
Plan B: further thoughts on faith by Anne Lamott, 320 pages Jonathan Misirian 06 April 2005 Lamott writes from the fringes of Christianity. Lucid writing and revealing prose mark her work. Lamott expertly summarizes her faith in a way that is accessible to so many who feel disenfranchised by organized religion |
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott, 275 pages Brad Snyder 25 April 2006 An honest, albeit earthy, look at faith. |
The Cave by Anne McLean Matthews, 311 pages Jeff Gadd 01 November 2002 A woman terrifying experience with a diabolical killer,who waits in a cabin she rented and plays cat and mouse with her to the end. |
Uncle Andy's Island by Anne Molloy, 243 pages Jeff Gadd 02 August 1999 |
Half Moon Street (Audio) by Anne Perry, 0 pages Julie Gephart 13 September 2002 Absolute worst book in recent memory. Disguised as a Victorian murder mystery, it's really just an excuse to sermonize about the evils of pornography and the inherent wickedness of attempting to act on your own beliefs when this might cause upset to your small-minded family. I was shocked to go to Amazon today and discover Perry is apparently a famous author. Bleck. |
The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry, 345 pages Steven Krise 28 August 2004 The "surprise twist" was clearly telegraphed in Chapter 2 but the reader gets the oppurtunity to muddle through an additional 10 chapters with the amnesiac detective until he stumbles onto it himself. Of course, the good Mr Monk regains his memory on page 323 just in time for a tidy ending devoid of any tragedy for the protagonist. |
The Witching Hour (audio, abridged) by Anne Rice, 0 pages Julie Gephart 19 March 2004 At first I thought that word “abridged” was going to be my key to enjoying Anne Rice – I’d still get the imaginative story without so many droning side trips into Crazyville. However, I am sad to report that a man died at the end and went to hell, and… well, hell was a Mardi Gras parade. Then I knew it could never really work between Anne and me. |
Peasant Uprisings in Japan by Anne Walthall, 257 pages James Donahue 01 March 2004 |
War and Faith: The Religious Imagination in France, 1914 - 1930 by Annette Becker, 182 pages James Donahue 14 November 2002 A brief look at how republicanism and Catholicism unexpectedly merged under the banner of nationalism during WWI. Becker attempts to portray the images and practices of the common soldier or mourner and displays a wide breadth of sources. Particularly troubling given our current fusions of nationalism and religion. |
14-18: Understanding the Great War (2000) by Annette Becker and Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, 237 pages James Donahue 05 March 2007 A reflection on the stereotypes and traditional blinders that people have about the Great War (e.g., trenches filled with with new pacifists and atheists, trenches everywhere, soldiers as victims: "always killed, never killing"), and the supposed nihilism and meaningless of the combat. As if millions died in an accident that noone supported. Good essays on war memorials, civilian atrocities, mourning, wartime Judeo-Christianity, the relationship between WWI and totalitarianism, and the conceptual reinterpretations of the Great War in the 1920s and 1930s. Becker is one my favorite historians and this short book is a crystallization of her best reflections over the past few decades. |
Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx, 283 pages Kristin Schrock 28 August 2002 Proulx's stories are always dark. These are dark, hard, unforgiving stories about cowboys and ranches. It's all about being maimed, dead, or lonely. My favorite kind of stories. |
That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx, 359 pages Kristin Schrock 06 September 2004 Annie Proulx, for me, ranks right up there with Maggie Atwood. But, I suppose to write beautifully you have to write a clunker every once in awhile. This one was it. Only through sheer force of will did I finish this one. Recommended Vocabulary: pabulum, strabismus, porsiflage, tapirs, rachitic, niobium, adit, caliche (which was used nearly every chapter), blinko. |
Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-3 by Anthony Beevor, 431 pages James Donahue 16 November 2004 This book pulls out the day-to-day details of the most important battle of WWII between the Soviets and the Nazis. Grisly conditions and brutal defeat for Hitler, after which he never recovered. Beevor does a good job making military history accessible to the general reader. |
Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain, 290 pages Mike Gadd 28 February 2002 |
A Cook's Tour: In Search of a Perfect Meal by Anthony Bourdain, 288 pages Tony Pisarenkov 20 April 2007 Less foodie-ish than Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and a surprisingly decent bit of travel writing. Entertaining and enjoyable all around. |
The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain, 288 pages Tony Pisarenkov 19 May 2007 A few entertaining pieces, but mostly covers the same ground as his previous (and better) books. |
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 185 pages Steve Gadd 31 January 1996 |
Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity (2004) by Anthony D. Smith, 325 pages James Donahue 20 February 2008 |
Age of Propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion by Anthony Pratkanis, 277 pages Jonathan Misirian 31 August 2005 Pratkanis provides a thorough overview of the history and modern use of persuasion. Advertising receives the brunt of the author’s work, but politics and religion also play significant roles. I found especially interesting the explanation of the granfalloon technique and how this helps to shape consumer behavior. |
The Fiancée and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov, 232 pages Steve Gadd 21 September 2000 Some favorite and some more forgettable short stories. |
Descartes' Error by Antonio R. Damasio, 267 pages Steve Gadd 09 December 2002 A neurologist argues for the importance of emotions and physical sensations to thought. Much of the text is conjecture, but his analysis of case studies adds some color. The most interesting of these is Phineas Gage, who in 1848 amazingly survived an accident in which an iron rod was shot through his head. His mental abilities appeared normal afterwards, but he became cold emotionally and lost the ability to plan for his future. Thanks to Steven Krise for the gift. |
Avalon (1965) by Anya Seton, 440 pages A Bennett 02 November 2005 It was an older hardcover. Don't know exactly how it came to be on my shelf, but it was delightfully free of blurbs or jacket writing that told me what the plot would be and where it would go. Unfortunately, rather than discovering a gem, I found myself saddled with a Viking tale of conquest and post-Arthurian dreaminess that traveled from Cornwall to London to Dublin to Iceland and even our own Merrimac River and kept threatening to go to Greenland. It never did, and no one found Avalon. A damaged man became a monk, the woman he might have loved was kidnapped and wed to a Viking after being nearly-raped by her own father. They found each other again just in time for him to die and for them both to still not say they might care for each other. On the last page he lets her know that during the intervening years he was praying for her soul. I don't feel angry toward this book (as I did The King's General), but I do feel sad. For as much as happened, there should have been some excitement. Apparently, the weak reigns of England's King Edward and Ethelred had none to offer, and I should have skipped reading this book about them and gone straight to post-1066 and Charlemagne. |
The Gorbachev Factor by Archie Brown, 318 pages James Donahue 20 December 2004 Not a spinoff of the O'Reilly Factor. Rather the first historical work on Gorby's central role in the collapse of the USSR. Very sympathetic and thorough treatment. |
In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent, 342 pages Tony Pisarenkov 27 July 2009 An absolutely fascinating and very well-written account of artificial languages throughout history, their inventors' frequently outsized personalities, and the motivation behind their quixotic undertakings. Heartily recommended. |
Carl Peters: A Political Biography (2004) by Arne Perris, 259 pages James Donahue 04 March 2006 Peters was the main German colonizer, running somewhat ahead of the government in his murderous annexing marches, much of which were done drunk while indiscriminatory flexing his martial muscles. Brought down in 1896 when he hung a series of Africans for violating his captured harem. I wish I were joking about this. |
Maus by Art Spiegelman, 296 pages Steve Gadd 16 November 2009 |
STALAG LUFT III by Arthur A. Durand, 392 pages Jeff Gadd 16 August 2002 If you like the Great Escape movie you will like this book. |
Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter, 337 pages Julie Gephart 31 May 2004 The authors took an interesting premise, about the earth being suddenly shattered into different times from human history, and spent far too much of the book playing a self-indulgent fantasy game of Risk with the armies of Alexander and Genghis Khan. Then it just ended abruptly in a way I didn’t understand. I don’t know if that was intentional because this is the first book in a series, in which case I hate them, or if it was supposed to be so deeply meaningful as to purposely elude readers, in which case I hate them. |
Wilson: The Road to the White House (1947) by Arthur Link, 528 pages James Donahue 05 March 2007 First part of a looong biography of Woodrow Wilson. Well written, but I now know more about New Jersey politics than I ever really wanted to know. |
Wilson: The New Freedom (1956) by Arthur Link, 471 pages James Donahue 11 March 2007 Link's epic covers the first two years of Wilson's presidency. Here we see WW face off against Mexican revolutionaries, be pushed into progressive legislation, create the Federal Reserve, resegregate the federal government, and fight the big, bad tariff. Remember when presidents used to do things like this? |
Wilson: The Struggle for Neutrality, 1915-1916 (1960) by Arthur Link, 693 pages James Donahue 20 March 2007 This was the least interesting of the books to me. Link was able to go to British archives, which transformed his book into an excellent study of diplomatic history - but somewhere Wilson as a person got lost. |
Wilson: Confusions and Crises, 1915 - 1916 (1964) by Arthur Link, 362 pages James Donahue 23 March 2007 |
Wilson: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace, 1916-1917 (1965) by Arthur Link, 431 pages James Donahue 26 March 2007 Not as good as its predecessors. Too wrapped up in foreign affairs. Wilson and his entourage are lost in the melee, not really even there. It is as if Link was in a hurry to finish the grand project he set out for himself fifteen years ago. |
Apocalypse Then: Prophecy and the Making of the Modern World (2008) by Arthur Williamson, 534 pages James Donahue 12 September 2008 |
Captain Alatriste (1996, trans. 2006) by Arturo Perez-Reverte, 248 pages James Donahue 17 May 2006 Swashbuckling tale about a hard-up Spanish soldier hired to kill two British gentlemen by the Grand Inquisitor. I found it quite a page-turner, but I'm still not entirely sure what happened. |
Purity of Blood (2006) by Arturo Perez-Reverte, 267 pages James Donahue 11 May 2007 One of the best pageturner authors out there. And this one comes with a moral: Never trust anyone who only reads one book! (Read at nights in Glen's apartment in Wannsee) |
Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero by Ashley Smith, 272 pages Jennifer Dear 06 August 2006 |
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, 518 pages Julie Gephart 05 March 2004 Very interesting story told in a style that is very grating to me, which I can only classify as “modern literature.” Henry has a chrono-displacement disorder that causes him to involuntarily slip short distances through time and space. He seems to be subconsciously drawn to meaningful people or places from his life, but he has no real control, arriving naked and confused, never knowing how long it will be before he’s pulled back to his own time. In a loop that would make Star Trek proud, he is the one who teaches his younger self the finer points of stealing and fighting, essential survival skills for someone who turns up naked. He relives the scene of his mother’s fatal car accident over and over, watching from every vantage point but never able to change anything. When he and Claire first meet real-time in their 20s, he has never seen her before, but she’s known him all her life. Once they fall in love, his older self will be a frequent visitor throughout her life, starting when she was a small child. Claire was pretty much a selfish whiny loser, although I don’t think the author felt that way. |
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, 736 pages Steve Gadd 30 December 1999 Meet Howard Roark: architect, protagonist, and ideal man of the author's Objectivist philosophy. A readable fable with the ambitious goal of attacking altruism as a virtue. |
Lipstick Jihad: A memior of growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni, 249 pages Jonathan Misirian 25 December 2005 My third book on Iran this year. Moaveni, part of the Diaspora in America, returns to Iran as a reporter for US news outlets. Her personal experiences and insights into Iran, shows the duplicity of the ruling Mullah’s, the yearning for freedom by the youth, and the shortcomings of American foreign policy. Great read for those interested in an on-the-ground look at life in modern Iran. |
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, 343 pages James Donahue 23 December 2004 This book is one of the few memoirs worthy of being read. Nafisi taught English in Iran as a woman from before the Revolution through 1997. What brings the book together -- through revolution, Islamism, brutality, donning the veil, suffering armed bands, losing the Iraqi war, fleeing the country -- is her ability to show us the regime through the eyes of her students, mostly women, as they read novels and reflect on their lives. Sections of the book are devoted to her students' devotion to James, Fitzgerald, Austin, and Nabakov. Nafisi writes with such precision and emotion that it is impossible not to get swept up into her world. One finds oneself absorbing knowledge about Iran without even being aware of it. Highly recommended. |
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, 358 pages Jonathan Misirian 28 January 2005 Fascinating account of life in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Nafisi weaves great literature in between discussion of the oppression that she endured. |