| Are You My Mother? by P D Eastman, 64 pages Steven Krise 20 December 2004 A confused if precocial avian of unspecified species searches for its mother in a variety of unlikely locales, interrogating those it meets with a refrain that lends its form to the book's title. These chance meetings with diverse inhabitants of the bird's environs have a hint of humor (due to the young fowl's naivety) however, the fun is tinged with a vague sense of dread derived from the inherent stress of losing one's primary caregiver and the imminent threat of predation that implies. Not to worry, though, it all ends well for our little feathered friend when a helpful frontend loader lifts it back into its nest just as the matron returns from her foraging expedition. | Seeker's Mask by P. C. Hodgell, 526 pages Julie Gephart 08 October 2002 Fantasy book with a great setting and heroine but overly-complex plot. Lots of references to things from previous books in the series, which I haven't read. |
Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse, 224 pages Steve Gadd 19 October 2009 |
Parliament of Whores by P. J. O'Rourke, 233 pages Steve Gadd 28 October 2006 O'Rourke applies his acid tongue to excesses of American government, a pretty easy target. His conclusion: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat. "God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. ... He has little apparent concern for the material well-being of the disadvangtaged.... Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's nonthreatening. He's always cheerful.... He gives everyone everything they want without a thought of a quid pro quo.... Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus." |
Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke, 257 pages Steve Gadd 18 September 2004 It's a fun formula: send a journalist into the most rotten, war-torn corners of the world to fill us in on what life is like without Starbucks and good roads. O'Rourke fancies himself a modern Mark Twain, an Innocent Abroad, but he reads more like Dave Barry. He does deserve credit for cracking jokes in some genuinely inhospitable places. |
Peace Kills by P.J. O'Rourke, 197 pages Steve Gadd 20 July 2007 O'Rourke on Kosovo, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, and Iwo Jima. Reads like Dave Barry but with bombs and policy instead of boogers and poop. |
Give War a Chance by P.J. O'Rourke, 256 pages Steve Gadd 13 April 2008 Political commentary soaked with scorn and sarcasm serves as a good antidote to CNN earnestness. |
Cowboys are My Weakness: short stories by Pam Houston, 171 pages Kristin Schrock 16 August 2002 Pinched Patty hated this title because she said it gave too much away. Obviously PP never read it. Houston is a poor woman's Lorrie Moore, and, although almost all the stories deal with a woman involved with the 'wrong' man, they are an entertaining read. |
Waltzing the Cat (short stories) by Pam Houston, 288 pages Kristin Schrock 31 January 2003 Houston is the poor man's Lorrie Moore. Which I thought was going to be enough with an excellent first story. But it went down hill from there, and I became increasingly annoyed with the stories, especially when the title would work its way into the text. So I'd be, "Ladies and Gentleman, we have a title!" The collection ends with an epilogue (I HATE those) that completely unravels any complexity that the previous stories had tried (and for the most part failed) to achieve. Blah. |
Why Girls are Weird by Pamela Ribon, 312 pages Julie Gephart 27 June 2003 One of my favorite internet writers goes offline to write this loosely autobiographical novel about a humor writer whose personal life is decidedly less than humorous. There was a little less fun and a little more father-dying angst than I was prepared for. |
Suburbanistas by Pamela Satran, 352 pages Micaela Larkin 22 April 2006 Run far away! I'm a bit embarrased to admit that I checked this out of the library. It did have a cool cover. That said, this tale of movie star returning home to stop the gentrification of her old commuter New England town falls under the category of pretty lame and one should only read it if execptionally bored and too cheap to pay 9 dollars to attend an afternoon movie. |
The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973) by Paolo E. Coletta, 266 pages James Donahue 05 December 2008 |
Tower of Beowulf by Parke Godwin, 246 pages Steven Krise 27 February 2004 Recasting of the classic epic poem into the form of a novel. Godwin did an interesting job filling in the details left out in the poem such as Grendel's origins and what happened during the years between the battle with Grendel and the dragon. |
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy, 440 pages Mike Gadd 09 July 2002 Meet Bull Meecham, 'The Great Santini', Marine fighter pilot, husband, and father of four. He rules with an iron fist and refers to his family as 'sportsfans' or 'hogs'. His children hate him but must learn to play by his rules. The story is as much about his oldest son, Ben, as it is about him. Ben suffers the wrath of Santini more than any other, as his mom is trying to raise a gentleman and his dad wants to make a Marine out of him. Pat Conroy tells a very colorful tale as the characters remind you of people you actually know. I might actually try to find the movie that was made of the book. |
Beach House by Pat Conroy, 800 pages Mike Gadd 31 October 2003 It hasn't taken me this long to read a book in years. Not at all disappointing though. Incredible depth and feeling, even harrowing at times. A story about a man who flees from South Carolina to Rome with his young daughter after his wife commits suicide. He's running from his past and everything his family represents. He eventually comes full circle to the point where he realizes he needs his family and friends to find out who he is. |
Beach Music by Pat Conroy, 816 pages Micaela Larkin 01 January 2006 Forgotten gem! Conroy manages to construct an intriguing story that connects Rome, the Holocaust, the South, and Vietnam in a bittersweet emotionally wrought tale of a man coming to grips with the past. |
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, 576 pages Micaela Larkin 01 January 2006 Decent read! |
The Great Santini by Pat Conroy, 536 pages Kathleen 22 June 2008 Another great by legend Pat Conroy. |
Point of Origin by Patricia Cornwell, 397 pages Jeff Gadd 31 August 2001 |
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, 290 pages Kristin Schrock 02 October 2002 Alicia and I tried to slog through the movie. We were both saved due to a broken DVD. The book, thankfully, is much more interesting with a very compelling, unreliable Mr. Ripley. |
Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk, 239 pages Jaqi Ross 15 September 2004 More than I expected - a good read. This funny and charming memoir tells about a bigger-than-life New York family that owned fourteen restaurants, including Morgen’s in the garment district. Sharing life and good food for three generations, the family exhibited a voracious appetite for life. |
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002) by Patrick Lencioni, 230 pages Jonathan Misirian 17 March 2007 An extended parable about a team leader and the steps she took to bring her corporate team from chaos to cohesiveness. One really only needs to read the book’s final 30 or so pages, in which the author summarizes the five dysfunctions and provides steps to overcome them. |
Something Dangerous by Patrick Redmond, 415 pages Mike Gadd 14 March 2003 Mediocre story at best about a boy's school in England in the 50's. Just about everyone dies at the end when all the skeletons come out of the closet. Real uplifting. At least it read quick. |
The Anglican Understanding of the Church by Paul Avis, 90 pages James Donahue 19 August 2002 Brief and solid. |
Terror and Liberalism by Paul Berman, 220 pages Tony Pisarenkov 14 June 2007 A surprisingly good analysis of philosophical and theological foundations of extremist Islam, followed by a more diffuse but still basically sound commentary on the West's response so far and the reasons for its inadequacy, concluded with a recommendation of an idealistic foreign policy. Very measured and level-headed for a man whose origins lie in a political extreme. |
Discover Your Roots by Paul Blake and Maggie Loughran, 237 pages Steven Krise 28 May 2009 Written in the "52 Ideas" style where there are 52 chapters, each one focused on a particular theme or idea. The more astute will note that this means each chapter is slightly more than 4.5 pages long meaning each great idea is either commonsense or discussed too shallowly to offer any real insight. On the whole, useless. |
Writing Real Programs in DCL by Paul C Anagnostopoulos, 409 pages Steven Krise 13 June 2008 From the VAX Users Series. I wish I had had this book 8 years ago when I was actually writing real programs in DCL. |
The Origins of Life and the Universe by Paul F Lurquin, 217 pages Steven Krise 31 July 2009 From the back cover because I can't think of anything to say: "'The Origins of Life and the Universe' is the culmination of a university science professor's search for understanding and is based on his experiences teaching the fundamental issues of physics, chemistry, and biology in the classroom. What is life? Where did it come from? These are questions that have occupied us all. This is a book, then, about the beginning of things--of the universe, matter, stars, and planetary systems, and finally, of life itself--topics of profound interest that are rarely considered together. |
Archimedes' Revenge by Paul Hoffman, 260 pages Steve Gadd 27 May 2003 An eclectic collection of essays in various mathematical fields: number theory, cryptography, topology, artificial intelligence, and game theory. The title refers to a cattle-counting problem posed by Archimedes that stood unsolved until the age of computers. The survey of other classic problems is interesting, as is the game theory demonstration that a truly democratic election is impossible. The chapters on artificial intelligence computer chess players are dated, however, and the book reads like notes for a lecture on the whole. |
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman, 268 pages Steve Gadd 21 March 2005 Paul Erdös was the most prolific mathematician of the twentieth century, surpassed historically only by Euler's seventy volumes of collected work. For most of his life, Erdös was an itinerant workaholic, often unable to go home to Hungary for political reasons. He would arrive at the doorstep of a colleague unannounced and work 19-hour days, fueled by amphetamines, then move on to the next host. His extensive collaboration has made him the Kevin Bacon of the math world -- mathematicians calculate their Erdös Number based on paper co-authorship, and almost all published mathematicians are within eight links. His genius seemed to come at the expense of any practical knowledge, and he would even ask for help tying his shoes. Thanks to Tony for this memorable biography. |
The Deep Blue Alibi by Paul Levine, 467 pages Kristin Schrock 07 March 2006 Enjoyable airplane book--he's a semi-sleazy lawyer, she's a blue-blood. Can they join forces to solve a murder? Well, of course. |
The Buzz On Beer by Paul Love and John Craddock III, 219 pages Steven Krise 28 July 2009 A book on beer written, as far as I can tell, for 12 year old boys - judging from the juvenile humour, the goofy fonts, and the pictures on every page (yes, there were pictures on every single fucking page). I actually feel like I know less about beer for having read this book. |
Couplehood by Paul Reiser, 203 pages Brad Snyder 10 January 2006 I read "Babyhood" several years ago and laughed so hard that my wife gave me "that" look. I laughed harder with this one. It's hard to believe that this is the guy that portrayed the antagonist in "Aliens". Now I just wish that I could forget "My Two Dads"... |
Conversations with Tom Petty (2006) by Paul Zollo, 330 pages Brad Snyder 09 September 2007 The first part of this interview-styled biography is great, reading Petty's stories of starting out in rock 'n' roll, recording, touring, and goofing off with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and others. As a casual listener of Tom Petty's music, I found this to be interesting and fun. But the second part of this book, consisting of a way too technical album by album, song by song analysis, is for Tom Petty aficionados only (obviously Zollo is). Consider some actual questions and answers, and you pretty much get the gist: Zollo: “That’s in E major—do you think that’s the best guitar key?” Petty: “Oh, there are many of them.” or Zollo: “’Waiting for Tonight’ is in F# minor, and has such a good feel.” Petty: “Yeah. I learned that from listening to Buddy Holly.” |
The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge, 744 pages Julie Gephart 23 December 2003 “Three hours after the governor took all hope away with him, just as the sun touched the horizon with fiery fingers, a woman dropped her bundle and pointed north, screaming. A dark, low mass that was not an evening mist filled all the fields, and the last of the light flickered on swords as they were drawn. Boudicca, and death, had come.” Sadly, there were very few triumphant moments in this 30 year saga of Rome crushing Britannia. |
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, 340 pages Jonathan Misirian 09 January 2006 Buck became the first American woman to win a Nobel prize and a Pulitzer prize for literature. The Good Earth is the tale of the rise of a rural peasant family. Set in pre-revolutinary China, The Good Earth contains it all, love, loss, scandal and redemption. |
Forensic Anthropology by Peggy Thomas, 210 pages Steven Krise 12 June 2004 Up to date intro to the multi-disciplinary field. Livor mortis. |
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald, 226 pages James Donahue 13 March 2003 Historical fiction which covers the youth of the Romantic poet Novalis (whose "Hymns to the Night" rank among my favorite poems). The drama centers upon his devotion to a young girl who dies of tb at sixteen. Novalis is an intriguing enough figure to hold my interest, yet unfortunately the book wanders away from him to the diseased affianced. With that wandering went my attention span. |
How To Play In Traffic by Penn and Teller, 226 pages Steven Krise 04 May 2008 Fun tricks and gags to do on the road. |
Sock by Penn Jillette, 208 pages Ray Hunley 19 July 2004 Suck. |
The Walk West by Peter and Barbara Jenkins, 431 pages Steve Gadd 05 April 1999 Peter and his new bride honeymoon with a hike to the Pacific. More great encounters with everyday Americans. |
Human Evolution - An Illustrated Guide by Peter Andrews & Chris Stringer, 47 pages Steven Krise 14 January 2004 Illustrated by Maurice Wilson (whose drawings are described in the Foreward as "generally ethereal"), this little book details hominoid and hominid evolution starting with Aegyptopithecus in the Oligocene period. Interestingly, the authors come down decidely on the "Neandertals aren't ancestral to H. sapiens" side of the debate. Good little book that is packed with a fair amount of detail for its pithiness. |
Yankees in the Land of the Gods by Peter Booth Wiley, 542 pages James Donahue 26 February 2004 Really well-written history of the Oerry expedition that forcibly opened Japan to international trade. Wiley goes blow by blow with exquisite (and sometimes excruciating) detail through the story. Best part though is use of Jpse and Am sources so that you see both sides to every event. (First book read for comps; get ready for some Nippon-omania!) |
Augustine of Hippo by Peter Brown, 520 pages James Donahue 31 December 2003 This is the standard biography of Augie despite its age of over thirty years. Brown nicely goes through all the evidence in a masterpiece of biography, even if he's bit Anglican towards Augie's gruffer sides. |
Spectacular Happiness by Peter D. Kramer, 313 pages Tony Pisarenkov 10 July 2003 A novel about an aging sixties' radical turned latter-day terrorist who blows up Cape Cod mansions as a sign of protest against private propery and excesses of wealth. A few secondary themes resonate quite well, and there are a few compelling characters, but the story turns more than faintly ridiculous at the end, and there is an obvious sense of the author's own Marxism oozing out of his characters' actions. I got a distinct impression that he really wanted his readers to agree that the way of renouncing material wealth for social good was morally superior, but the actual statement the book made, to me at least, was "damed if you do, damned if you don't." |
Slouching Towards Kalamazoo (1983) by Peter De Vries, 246 pages James Donahue 05 January 2009 |
Schnitzler's Century: The Making of Middle Class Culture, 1815-1914 by Peter Gay, 289 pages Tony Pisarenkov 24 January 2006 An informative and mostly well-argued work of cultural history that attempts to show, convincingly for the most part, that Victorian-era bourgeois were not as prissy as we tend to assume. In other words, they were much like us, with a possible exception of the author, who is more obsessed with sex than either his subjects or -- harder to believe -- his readers. |
J. Robert Oppenheimer by Peter Goodchild, 288 pages Steve Gadd 04 June 2000 A long-sought biography of the man behind the atomic bomb project. This book, part of a BBC production, is richly illustrated and very readable. |
Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles by Peter Grose, 566 pages James Donahue 24 June 2005 Dulles, brother of the more famous John Foster, ran U.S. intelligence in occupied Europe during the second world war, and then launched the C.I.A. on its path towards meddling coups, high-tech spy planes, LSD experiments, and the infamous Bay of Pigs during the 1950s. The life is fascinating and the biography well-written, if you have the interest, but can too often dwell in the bureaucracy of ‘intelligence’ (always in quotes) for others. Not many social occasions or family giving a veneer of human interest for this lone soul. |
Searching for Robert Johnson by Peter Guralnick, 83 pages Steven Krise 16 February 2005 Short essay based largely on the work of Mack McCormick in the 70s that seeks to fix nuggets of fact in the complex matrix of myth, anecdote, and recollection that is the story of RL's life. Has an excellent list of recommended albums in the back, both in terms of RL's influences and people he influenced. |
Elementary German Series - Books 1 to 5 by Peter Hagboldt, 286 pages Steven Krise 13 April 2003 A pleasant surprise gift from S Gadd many years ago. An (apparently) innovative graded reader. I was pleased to discovery I would be competent to converse freely with a 4 year old auf Deutsch. |
Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg, 499 pages A Bennett 02 November 2002 This is not a book I can recommend. It took me one move, one job, and five months to finish. It's more complicated than that. But I, I really fell in love with Smilla, and through her I came to care about everything she did--the ice, Greenland, her father, Isaiah. One character sums it up best when speaking about her; "I found out a lot from that phone call. No normal woman, no normal human being would have picked up that phone." A cocktail of geology, physics, Euclid, noir, and politics. In all those months, I never lost where I was in the story or had to backtrack. Yet, this novel has no easy answers--and in the end, no answers at all. |
A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, 320 pages Steve Gadd 14 March 1999 New York to New Orleans on foot. Pretty impressive. |
At Play in Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen, 373 pages Kristin Schrock 24 June 2002 Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! The missionary from the west meets the mercenary from the east in a battle to the death in the jungles of Africa. Another book to feature an egret. |
Lloyd George (1975) by Peter Rowland, 804 pages James Donahue 16 October 2006 L-G brought Conservatives and Liberals together in Britain to win the first World War. Then he permanently scuttled the party by abandoning all the distinctiveness of Liberalism while waging war on 'unpatriotic' Liberals after the war. Lessons from history: Never elect a rabblerouser or a Welshman. |
Forest Rites: The War of the Demoiselles in Nineteenth-Century France by Peter Sahlins, 157 pages James Donahue 09 September 2002 In 1827 in southern France, peasants dressed like women and harassed forest guards trying to enact the Forest Civil Code of 1826. This bizarre tale is the the window through which the author pursues an investigation of peasant life after the Revolution. |
Last Breath by Peter Stark, 292 pages Steve Gadd 12 October 2005 This was not the anthology of outdoor adventure/disaster stories I was expecting. Instead, it was a collection of fictional exploits, each illustrating one of the dangers that adventurers face. Much like Dr. Nuland's book How We Die but focusing on hypothermia, drowning, avalanche, scurvy, heatstroke, predators and thirst rather than more common killers. The fiction is not great, but I found the background information interesting, and reading about how the body reacts to threats is always amazing. The history of scurvey and the amazing lifecycle of the malaria bug make great conversation starters. |
Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life by Peter Ward, 292 pages Steven Krise 29 October 2009 Ward challenges the Darwinian "orthodoxy" with his startling thesis that life on other planets may (or may not) use different chemistry from Earth life. |
A History of Germany (2005) by Peter Wende, 185 pages James Donahue 08 January 2006 |
Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth, 394 pages Steven Krise 09 July 2009 Phil gives us his advice on reading players (with his famous "4 animals" categorization) and then in-depth strategy on all the most popular poker games - Hold 'Em, Omaha 8 or Better, Stud, Razz, and Stud 8 or better. Includes the obligatory last chapter on internet gaming. |
A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo, 328 pages Jeff Gadd 03 September 2002 A young lieutenant in the Vietnam war and his experience there. |
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch, 356 pages Brad Snyder 08 November 2005 Gourevitch has presented a study of the genocide in Rwanda from a historical, political, and cultural point of view. This book is not gratuitous, although, considering the subject matter, it well could have been. Long story short, the US government refused to use the the word "genocide" because it would obligate them (by law) to get involved, the French supplied weapons to the Hutus, and the UN treated the perpetrators as the victims. 800,000 dead in three months while the world sat on its hands. And why? I'll let the book speak for itself... "(A Rwandan Minister of Commerce) explained the lack of foreign help as a consequence of Rwanda's lack of investment opportunities. 'You cannot count on the international community unless you're rich, and we are not,' he said. 'We don't have oil, so it doesn't matter that we have blood, or that we are human beings.'" |
England's Lost Eden: Adventures in a Victorian Utopia (2005) by Philip Hoare, 468 pages James Donahue 24 April 2006 Picture this: semi-pretentious British author digs into the religious past of his rural city to find Shakers, would-be Messiahs, a brooding John Ruskin, spiritualists and seances, and one large tower built as a 'modern church.' If this sort of thing catches your interest, its a fascinating read. If not, then this book won't retain you for a reader. |
Ubik by Philip K Dick, 212 pages Steven Krise 31 October 2007 I spent most of this book not being sure what was going on. After the reveal in the penultimate chapter, I was still not quite sure what was going on, which is a welcome change from the author beating you over the head with their point so you cannot avoid being sure of what's going on. The story's kind of like "The Matrix" except written 30 years before Keanu learned Kung Fu. |
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick, 278 pages Steven Krise 11 November 2007 How does a scanner see? |
Selected Stories of Philip K Dick by Philip K Dick, 476 pages Steven Krise 28 December 2007 Her name, she told him, was Mary Lorne. She was, he decided, pretty, wistful, afraid, and putting up a good front. Together they joined the other new students for a showing of a recent Herbie the Hyena cartoon which Bibleman had seen; it was the episode in which Herbie attempted to assassinate the Russian monk Rasputin. In his usual fashion, Herbie the Hyena poised his victim, shot him, blew him up six times, stabbed him, tied him up with chains and sank him in the Volga, tore him apart with wild horses, and finally shot him to the moon strapped to a rocket. The cartoon bored Bibleman. |
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K Dick, 231 pages Steven Krise 07 January 2008 This one was Dick's Hugo Award winner. It definitely had the Dick flavor, but the epilogue seemed oddly out of place. |
Solar Lottery by Philip K Dick, 200 pages Steven Krise 01 June 2008 In a strange feudal future society governed by Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and game theory, a disenchanted mid-level worker gets his chance to make a revolutionary change. |
The Divine Invasion by Philip K Dick, 238 pages Steven Krise 12 September 2008 Yahweh was forced off the earth into hiding under a mountain on a distant planet where he messes with Herb Asher's audio recordings. He also infects Rybys Rommey with MS and then impregnates her - all in an attempt to get smuggled back onto earth in utero so he can battle his arch-nemesis Belial. Yeah. |
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K Dick, 278 pages Steven Krise 28 February 2009 I experienced a stack overflow trying to keep track of the nested hallucinatory worlds. |
Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K Dick, 214 pages Steven Krise 14 March 2009 A self-indulgent exposition of Dick's Gnostic theology as a science fiction novel set in an alternate history USA of the late 60s and early 70s. Dick shows up in the novel (I think) as two of the characters: Nick Brady who is being beamed messages by a hyper-intelligent alien named VALIS via an ancient satellite orbiting earth, and his skeptical, yet supportive friend Phil. VALIS's goal is to work with his chosen people (a shadowy subversive organization called Aramchek) to overthrow the tyrannical presidency of Ferris Fremont (clearly based on Nixon). |
The Ganymede Takeover by Philip K Dick and Ray Nelson, 215 pages Steven Krise 23 November 2007 How had Balkani claimed that individuality was established? By selective awareness. I am Paul Rivers, he realized, because I am unaware of the sensations being experienced by someone else, say by Joan Hiashi. Ordinarily my own direct sensations would drown out anything I might pick up from her. But now, when I have no sensations, even faint impressions that she may be undergoing will be infinitely stronger than my own. He began by imagining himself to be a woman. |
UNDERTAKER'S WIDOW by Philip Margolin, 321 pages Jeff Gadd 28 September 2000 |
The Associate (Audio) by Philip Margolin, 0 pages Kristin Schrock 20 January 2002 It starts off well, but then it just spirals into a mediocre (and predictable) thriller. Still not a bad way to pass the commute. |
The Ruby in the Smoke (1985) by Philip Pullman, 231 pages A Bennett 11 January 2004 It isn't often that one can dub a plotline 'nearly Castorbridgian' in its scope and ultimate reveal, but then again there aren't that many times you run across dissolute men who will agree to sell their child (and oftentimes wife) for a one-time payout, only to discover decades later that such an action continues to haunt them. At least I hope there aren't that many times one may run across such a story. Set in Victorian England, and showcasing both heroin and opium trades and habits. Why are characters in fiction so cavalier about throwing out jewels and other valuable stones such as the ruby in the title? |
Shadow in the North (1986) by Philip Pullman, 331 pages A Bennett 14 January 2004 Yet another dissolute father sells his daughter (it's like some sort of epidemic)--into marriage this time--in order to reclaim his reputation both financially and socially. Never mind that she's already married. READER BEWARE WARNING: Pet death on page 225, bringing an unexpected tear to the eye of this hardened heart. Necessary vocabulary: variety of archaic Cockney swear words, handfasting, various photographic chemical processes in use during the 1870s, a knowledge of arms and the mechanics of steam engines is also helpful. |
The Tiger in the Well (1990) by Philip Pullman, 407 pages A Bennett 17 January 2004 As an American, born, bred and schooled, quite a shock to find out what I had thought to be a mystery novel not only turned out to be an entirely undisguised treatise on socialism, but also that same socialism proved to be the book's protagonist. A true head-scratcher. Necessary vocabulary: pogrom, two bob, peruke, shtetl. |
The Golden Compass (1995) by Philip Pullman, 400 pages Jonathan Misirian 10 November 2007 Pullman writes in the style of Lewis and Tolkien, however would abhor the connection to these two English writers. The author creates a mythological world, in which children are being captured by evil forces within The Church. In interviews given in the U.S., Pullman makes it clear that his desire is to use his books to destroy Christianity. |
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth, 274 pages Tony Pisarenkov 26 May 2003 Disturbing for all the right reasons. The sort of book that is unpleasant while you are reading it, but remarkably eye-opening once you put it down and think about what you've just read. If there is a man that cannot relate to at least something here, I have yet to meet him. It all gets just a bit too much by the end, but still, essential stuff. |
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, 391 pages Jonathan Misirian 01 March 2005 I suspect that this book was praised, not because of its content, but because of the potential similarity to today's political situation. A 'what if' historical account of Lindbergh ascending to the presidency in 1940, and the fear his anti-semitism brought to America. |
Our Gang by Philip Roth, 201 pages Tony Pisarenkov 27 May 2005 One long send-up of Richard Nixon. Dated, but in places still hilarious. |
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, 391 pages James Donahue 26 December 2005 Of course I'm really into this subject - international fascism - and was quite excited to read Roth's counterfactual story that has the fascists Lindburgh and Henry Ford winning the 1940 election over FDR. Yet I ended up being nothing but disappointed with this book, which does seem - as Misirian suggests - more about Bush than 1940s America. Given the prevalence of anti-Semitism, isolationism, and socialistic-conservatism in reality (e.g., Burton Wheeler from my home state is a much more complicated Progressive figure than displayed here), why make up things that don't make sense (especially in the final sections that wrap everything up in a manner that would seem incredible even in a Tom Clancy novel?) Roth's fantasies speak more to his paranoia about "brutal American Christian conservatives" (actual phrase!) than to any prewar reality!! Let's keep in mind that back then American Christian conservatives - such as John Foster Dulles and Cordell Hull - spearheaded the bipartisan American push for a United Nations beginning in 1938; and that American church leaders such as Carl Henry, Samuel McCrea Cavert, Harry Emerson Fosdick, and the Rockefeller family led the charge against the persecution of the Jews, and the Christian Right hav ever since championed Jewish rights, as seen most visibly when Reagan and Bush I unilaterally pushed the Soviet Union to cease their anti-Semitic campaigns in the 1980s. True, Jews in 1940s America didn't get to join the country clubs and had to watch out for drunken bands of Italian and Irish youths, but its hard to picture concentration camps for Jewish-Americans. True racist brutality in this country, which did indeed peak in the 1930s, has not been directed towards Jewish-Americans, but instead to Native Americans, African-Americans, and Japanese-Americans -- none of whom, strikingly, make a single appearance in Roth's narrative. |
Indignation (2008) by Philip Roth, 233 pages Brad Snyder 21 May 2009 Inane and stupid. |
Rumors of Another World : What on Earth Are We Missing? by Philip Yancey, 272 pages Brad Snyder 07 May 2006 Yancey explores the world we can see in contrast to that world we can't, or rather, don't see regardless of the clues, or "rumors" of its existence all around us. |
What's So Amazing About Grace? (1997) by Philip Yancey, 304 pages Brad Snyder 24 December 2007 Yancey has the ability to take a topic and look at it from every conceivable angle. In this book, he uses his vast experiences and wealth of knowledge to explore the concept of grace. Wow. |
In A Place Dark and Secret by Phillip Finch, 313 pages Jeff Gadd 25 March 2003 A man named Joseph Sherk loss of a daughter from a house fire, but after awhile he thinks his daughter is still alive, and goes looking for her. |
After Dark (audio) by Phillip Margolin, 0 pages Kristin Schrock 20 March 2002 Dating Tip for Ugly Lawyers: Frame the object of your affection--who is, of course, beautiful--for murder. Defend that person. Fabricate evidence. It's okay, as long as it's all for love. |
Disappointment With God by Phillip Yancey, 258 pages Steven Krise 20 June 2002 A gift from my father-in-law. A theodicy addressed to those who still want to believe. The book made a few novel points along the way, but to keep from failing in its mission of giving sound reasons for remaining a theist in the absence of any subjective experience of god's presence, it needed to support the use of the Bible as an authority and explain the virtue of faith over empirical rationality. Most ludicrous statement is that the Old Testament is a story of God's continued condescension. |
The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory, 390 pages Micaela Larkin 14 September 2006 |
Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker in Her Time by Phyllis Rose, 321 pages Tony Pisarenkov 24 March 2009 A lot about her time, which is interesting, but less than one might expect about Baker herself. Informative, but didn't really draw me in. |
Tropical Classical by Pico Iyer, 314 pages Steve Gadd 20 September 1999 Travel essays, profiles, book reviews. |
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read, 318 pages Steve Gadd 10 May 1998 Unbelievable true story of a soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes. Find out all the frightful details the movie left out. |
The Worst-case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel by Piven and Borgenicht, 191 pages Steve Gadd 07 September 2007 I picked this up expressly to pad my page count. The only thing it's likely to save anyone from is boredom, but it's pretty good at that. |
French Or Foe?: Getting the Most Out of Visiting, Living and Working in France by Polly Platt, 272 pages Erik Bauer 20 June 2001 A must read for anyone moving to France, travelling to France or wondering what's up with the French. |
Jonathan Sperber by Popular Catholicism in the Nineteenth-Century, 267 pages James Donahue 22 September 2003 Sperber paints a portrait of how Catholicism underwent a huge revival in the 1840s-50s and then consolidated that support into a counter-cultural political and religious enclave in the midst of the new German state. Good analysis, but so many statistics. |