| Calibre by Ken Bruen, 182 pages Jonathan Misirian 13 August 2007 Crime noir writer Bruen writes in a manner that makes you feel like you’ve been punched in the gut. His characters develop and speak in sparse, yet rich dialogue. This new series is set in a London police station, where the difference between the right and wrong is mostly absent. For those that like a quick read, an out-loud laugh or two, Bruen’s novels are for you. | Calico Palace by Gwen Bristow, 589 pages A Bennett 25 March 2002 'The roof--the roof--the roof is on FI-re!' A pyromaniac's dream, there are strong drinks all around for shaken women, kittens rescued from buring edifices, gambling, redheads, and San Francisco burning to the ground five times in less than a year. Oh, and the first half teaches us not only about the gold rush first-hand, but also about the dangers of both scurvy and marrying men named Ted Parks, who have, as they say, "no guts." |
Call Each River Jordan by Owen Parry, 321 pages Mike Gadd 11 September 2002 I love the way this guy writes. It's almost as good as Charles Frazier's 'Cold Mountain'. I could find pleasure in reading this guy's grocery list. This is the 3rd story in the series about Abel Jones. Abel is a soldier under the direct employment of President Lincoln. He's in charge of solving some of the more difficult mysteries the union army doesn't have time for. The story is secondary to the style. If you fall in the group that loved 'Cold Mountain' then this author is well worth a look. If you didn't, well, you have bigger problems than I can help you with. |
Calvin: A Biography by Bernard Cottret, 296 pages James Donahue 26 August 2005 Still gearing up for Geneva. |
Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport : Making Connections in Today's World by Richard J. Mouw, 144 pages Brad Snyder 06 January 2006 When I first fully embraced my latent Presbyterianism in its fullness about three years ago, I was immediately confronted with questions from friends and family about the particulars of my Calvinist-tinted faith. In researching for more eloquent answers, I found most Calvinists to be a bit on the gruff side. In contrast, this book is refreshing. It was written to offer a softer explanation of Calvinism for both the uninitiated and fully convinced. Mouw is conversational, generous, compassionate, and even funny. There were a few weak moments, but the wheat definitely outweighs the chaff. |
Cambridge History of Japan: Nineteenth-Century by ed. Marius Jansen, 841 pages James Donahue 12 April 2004 Boning up for comps |
Cameron's Closet by Gary Brandner, 314 pages Jeff Gadd 22 October 2002 A kid's imaginary playmate comes to real but is not very friendly to people. |
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, 123 pages Tony Pisarenkov 19 June 2006 Observation of the mundane taken to the level of high art. Amazing how enjoyable a book about nothing in particular can be. |
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. |
Car Talk by Tom and Ray Magliozzi, 206 pages Steve Gadd 17 January 1998 Paper version of the radio program. Just as enjoyable, and with plenty of helpful information about buying and keeping a car. "The cheapskate pays the most!" |
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros, 439 pages Jaqi Ross 04 April 2004 Fun read; didn't care for the ending. |
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. |
Caro's Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker by Mike Caro, 158 pages Steven Krise 14 July 2009 A sort of book length PowerPoint presentation of Caro's tips for maximizing your profit playing poker. There are general tips on poker strategy, tournament play, gauging starting hands and positional advantage as well as specific tips for Draw Poker, Stud, Razz, Hold 'Em. |
Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash, 320 pages Brad Snyder 07 November 2005 Cash is one of the most fascinating figures in modern music. He's a man that fought many demons, winning some battles and confessing his inability to win others. He battled drugs several times, only to face them again. His memories of his home life growing up, anecdotes about fellow musicians and movie stars, politicians, and Billy Graham are lucid and reveal much about Cash and those featured in the stories. Truly a complex man, and a great read. |
Cat And Mouse by James Patterson, 396 pages Jeff Gadd 02 July 2000 |
Catherine Beecher: A Study in American Domesticity by Kathryn Sklar, 330 pages James Donahue 09 March 2004 A biography of Harriet' sister. Keeping it within the family. Beecher was America's first Martha Stewart as well as the one who singlehandedly made teaching and nursing womens' first occupations. Good scholarship here, but more concerned with Catherine's womanhood than her personality. |
Catholic Politics in Europe, 1914-1945 by Martin Conway, 105 pages James Donahue 02 December 2003 This book is good but not all that remarkable. So let me take this chance to say thanks for another year of comments and books. Its always a blast to see what people are reading and what they think of it. Have a merry X-mas. (I'm not a heathen, just a comic book fan.) |
Catholic Revival in the Age of the Baroque by Marc Forster, 244 pages James Donahue 23 July 2004 |
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, 287 pages Kristin Schrock 17 December 2002 I love Kurt Vonnegut, and it's not just because he's from Indianapolis. This is an absurdist doomsday book. It's funny and quick without the poignance of Breakfast of Champions (my favorite) or Slaughterhouse-5. Vonnegut is amazing because he has written a great deal using himself as the narrator--what's even more amazing is that I don't mind. |
Celia Garth by Gwen Bristow, 406 pages A Bennett 02 April 2002 Quarting redcoats is no good, but, sweet Gaea, we'd have enough towels. Assertion: Women want to find someone/something to live for; Men, someone or something to die for. During the occupation and ensuing battle for Charleston, SC during the Revolution, that thing was Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox. A man who perfectly illustrates that theory, as well as the startling realization that some people are made to excel at war--and wither in anonymity during peacetime. |
Celia Garth (1959) by Gwen Bristow, 406 pages A Bennett 08 January 2004 I wish I could duplicate for you in print the wildly spooked look in Schrock's eyes last night when she asked me, almost confrontationally, if I had finished a book. Heh. The wicked things gaddzbOOkz! does to a relationship. This book is an old favorite, while sick I picked it up as a form of familiar, entertaining comfort. It just about perfectly combines a fictional story with the seige (and subsequent taking) of Charleston by the British during the Revolutionary War, and the subsequent derring-do of the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion. Heavy on history both political and social, I can't help but feel a little sad that if someone were to write (or film) this story today, Celia would have to know kung-fu and eschew dressmaking, rather than just be who she is: a character thrown into the world of 18th-century espionage who finds she is well-suited to it, without ever possessing a weapon, taking a life, or incurring a dark past. |
Centrifuge by J.C. Pollock, 297 pages Jeff Gadd 30 November 2002 Interesting how people become spies for other countries. A Veitnam soldiers find themselves being attack for something they saw in Veitnam. Who wants them dead and why? Its up to two soldiers to find out why. |
CERTAIN PREY by John Sandford, 368 pages Jeff Gadd 04 October 2000 |
Cesar's Way by Cesar Milan, 294 pages G Cruz 21 September 2006 Insightful approach to the basics of dog psychology vs appling human psychology, which is usually counterproductive, to our canine companions. |
Champlain's Dream: The European Founding of North America (2008) by David Hackett Fischer, 531 pages James Donahue 28 December 2008 Fischer ties together many things I had often wondered about: the comparative Native American policies of Spain, Britain and France; the connection between the French Wars of Religion and French settlements in the New World; and, finally, why the French appeared so lackadaisical about the New World. Fischer's writing is a good combination of scholarly and popular history, with good attention paid to archeology as well as the written sources. Only warning: Fischer is perhaps a bit too enamored with his subject. Did Champlain really represent a more moral road-not-taken for the European population of North America? |
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, 178 pages A Bennett 11 August 2005 Simply delightful. And with pictures. |
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, 155 pages James Donahue 13 August 2005 Simply with pictures. And a delight! |
Charlie Mike by Leonard B. Scott, 412 pages Jeff Gadd 19 October 2001 |
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks, 497 pages A Bennett 18 August 2003 Possibly one of the most disappointing books I may have ever read. And second only to Breakfast at Tiffany's under the header: 'novel most-changed from book form to screenplay'. Something happened between Charlotte and her father when she was a child, something horrible and devastating that changed "everything" and powered her jump into WWII espionage. Of course we never find out with any certainty what this was. Easily fifteen seperate points of view exist in this work, with new ones being introduced as late as page 370. Why name a book Charlotte Gray if the first sentence is going to begin (and for a long time stay in) the mind of 'Peter Gregory'? I selected this book because I wanted to learn about women spying in WWII, about a regular person doing an extraordinary thing, only to find out that that was nowhere near the story the author wanted to tell. In favor of moodiness and overly-precious writing, Faulks throws over any hope of an exciting narrative, though surely there was one here somewhere, in some draft before he excised it almost but entirely. Also, a lot of Petain-bashing. Necessary vocabulary: Boch, frisson. Necessary reading list: Proust. Necessary pre-requisite courses: Socialism 101, French politics 1860-1945, Vichy Geography 202, Verdun and the Gaul Imagination 407. |
Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth by Suzanne Selinger, 206 pages James Donahue 08 April 2002 An interesting study of the famous theologian and his secretary/soulmate. Paints a vivid picture of an unusual and often scandelous relationship. Best when it points out how their love influenced Barth's theology, particularly on the topics of women pastors, the I-Thou calling, and the imago Dei. |
Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron, 252 pages Jonathan Misirian 11 January 2007 Cron presents a fictional account of a pastor’s discontent with his church, and his successive search for vocational meaning… St. Francis of Assisi is convincingly presented as the antidote for modern day pastoral malaise. |
Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly, 372 pages Mike Gadd 07 November 2002 I've read 11 Connelly books up to now and I've enjoyed them all. Some were better than others but they were all worth reading. Until now. What a dud. It's as if he lent his name out to some high school kid and let him right a story. This book introduced a new main character and I wish he had been killed off at the end. I hope we don't see any more with this guy. In April another book comes out with the previous character and we can get back on track. |
Chasing The Dime by Michael Connelly, 436 pages Steven Krise 14 October 2003 Another LA crime drama from the author of Blood Work. Set in the intersection of a cutting edge nanotech computer and an online prostitution ring. |
Checkpoint by Nicholson Baker, 115 pages Steve Gadd 30 September 2006 A pretty weak effort that managed to get the author in hot water with the Secret Service but otherwise doesn't have much going for it. |
Chicago Blues: A New Collection of Crime Stories About the Real Windy City (2007) by Edited by Libby Fischer Hellman, 456 pages Jonathan Misirian 06 June 2008 Excellent collection of 21 short stories. These Chicago writers infuse elements of the Blues in with their stories of deception, gangsters, corruption, betrayal, and greed. |
Chicano: A Novel by Richard Vasquez, 464 pages Micaela Larkin 26 April 2006 Vasquez's classic has been reprinted after thirty five years. Think Grapes of Wrath without the moral hope at the end. Drawing on his tenure as a journalist, Vasquez takes readers through the trials and disentegration of a Mexican American family from 1910 to the late 1960s. |
Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier, 528 pages Julie Gephart 28 May 2002 Give me some ancient Celtic lore and I'm happy every time. Third book in a trilogy. |
Child of the Revolution by Wolfgang Leonhard, 432 pages James Donahue 12 June 2002 In counterpoint to Eggers, a fascinating memoir of a life worthy of reading about. Leonhard fled at thirteen to the USSR to flee Hitler, after which his mother was 'purged', he was drafted into the Comintern educational system, and then trained to reenter Germany after the war to institute a Soviet satellite state in Berlin. In the end, his love for Marxism led him to reject Stalinism, and flee to Yugoslavia in 1949 in order to participate in Tito's anti-Soviet state. A fascinating and rare look into Stalin's Russia and the workings of totalitarian education. |
Chocolat by Joanne Harris, 320 pages Kristin Schrock 06 December 2002 I did not see the movie, but from the previews it seemed like "Juliette Binoche turns everyone into sex crazed chocolate fiends". Not that that's a bad thing. But the book isn't like that at all. In fact, hardly anyone gets some. Here's the gist: the Church is bad. Chocolate is good. Thus endeth the lesson. |
Chocolat by Joanne Harris, 306 pages Steve Gadd 26 December 2002 A small French town is transformed by the arrival of Vianne Rocher and her chocolate shop. Opposed by the local priest and his minions, she eventually prevails, armed with her tasty morsels. Now what's this about Juliette Binoche? |
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, 293 pages Steven Krise 08 June 2008 The point was, it's not the sex part of pornography that hooked the stupid little boy. It was the confidence. The courage. The complete lack of shame. The comfort and genuine honesty. The up-front-ness of being able to just stand there and tell the world: Yeah, this is how I chose to spend a free afternoon. Posing here with a monkey putting chestnuts up my ass. And I don't really care how I look. Or what you think. So deal with it. He was assaulting the world by assaulting himself. |
Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity (2004) by Anthony D. Smith, 325 pages James Donahue 20 February 2008 |
Christa Wolf by Gail Finney, 133 pages James Donahue 26 March 2003 Should be subtitled The Quest for Christa Wolf. Biographical background. Better than Drees. |
Christabel Pankhurst: Fundamentalism and Feminism in Coalition (2004) by Timothy Larsen, 142 pages James Donahue 31 March 2006 |
Christianity and Revolutionary Europe (1750-1830) by Nigel Aston, 348 pages James Donahue 12 August 2003 This volume is one of a series entitled "New Approaches to European History." I'm not sure why an approach which takes the overwhelming influence of Christian thought, practice, and conviction seriously is "new." Yet the book does just that for the French Revolutionary period. An excellent study, even if a bit dry and text-bookish. |
Christianity in the West, 1400-1700 by John Bossy, 172 pages James Donahue 12 August 2003 A really excellent history of the Reformation from a historian with both Catholic and sociological sensibilities. Broadening for this Prot mind. |
Christianity Made In Japan by Mark Mullins, 323 pages James Donahue 06 April 2004 A survey of indigeneous church movements in Japan that have deliberately cast themselves off from the West. Covers from Uchimura on. Mullins, a sociologist by training, writes and thinks wonderfully well. Some bizarre and intriguing melanges out there. |
Christy by Catherine Marshall, 447 pages Julie Gephart 20 October 2002 Idealistic young woman goes to poor moutain village to teach at the mission, yada yada. There is some magic in this book that makes me forget at regular intervals that I don't like it, causing me to read it again. And dislike it again. And the cycle continues. |
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, 120 pages Steve Gadd 14 October 1996 |
Chronicles of Prydain I: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, 219 pages A Bennett 05 March 2002 The first book in a series about Prydain. Alexander, like most fantasy authors gives readers names upon names that make you pause for too long wondering how they are supposed to be pronounced. |
Chronicles of Prydain II: The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander, 220 pages A Bennett 08 March 2002 In book one Eilonwy (the best character) was said to have red-gold hair, in this book it's blonde. Magic, or poor continuity? You decide. |
Chronicles of Prydain III: The Castle of Llyr by Lloyd Alexander, 206 pages A Bennett 13 March 2002 Being a tertiary hero ain't so bad, as long as you get to hang out with Gwydion, Prince of Don. |
Chronicles of Prydain IV: Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander, 272 pages A Bennett 18 March 2002 Dear Taran, formerly "Assistant Pig-Keeper," now "Wanderer": Beware shepherds claiming your parentage. Signed, your friend, Oedipus P.S. Say 'hi' for me to Eilonwy when you see her in the next book. |
Chronicles of Prydain V: The High King by Lloyd Alexander, 286 pages A Bennett 29 April 2002 Series capper. Excellently paced denoument. You know you've grown to care about characters when you're sitting at the Wendy's shedding tears quietly into your fries over the death of Llonio the Lucky. Necessary Vocabulary: hummock, gulled. |
Chronicles of Prydain: The Foundling and other Tales of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, 122 pages A Bennett 30 December 2002 A slight, though pleasant-enough collection of short stories elaborating on (and relaying the foundation of) the series of books I loved me so well. |
Chuck Klosterman IV by Chuck Klosterman, 356 pages Steve Gadd 04 October 2007 Interviews with celebrities, ruminations on robots, basketball, and music videos, and a bit of forgettable fiction make for a respectable and entertaining collection of pop culture analysis. |
Chuck Klosterman IV: a decade of curious people and dangerous ideas (2006) by Chuck Klosterman, 374 pages Jonathan Misirian 04 April 2007 Klosterman, a free-lance writer for Spin and Esquire packs a 1-2 punch better then most of today’s contemporary pop-culture writers. There’s only a few authors that I’d consider buying after reading, one being Maryilynne Robinson’s Gilead, and the other, this collection of essays and stories that Klosterman penned over the past few years. His writing lacks pretension, and is packed with razor sharp insights about humanity and our entertainment culture. For those who enjoy reading about pop-culture… Klosterman IV is a must-read. |
Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (2006) by Chuck Klosterman, 374 pages Brad Snyder 20 May 2007 If you told me a few years ago that there was a book that begins with Britney Spears and includes thoughts about stealing Hitler's wallet before closing with a story of a woman falling from the sky, I would have said that it must be good. This book proves the fact. |
Ciao, America by Beppe Severgnini, 242 pages Tony Pisarenkov 10 February 2006 A mostly insightful, marvellously self-deprecating, but alas, only marginally funny memoir of an Italian who spent a year living in Washington, DC. Thank you, Steve, for the gift, and apologies for having taken so long to read it. |
Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding by Cele C Otnes and Elizabeth Pleck, 280 pages Micaela Larkin 29 June 2007 |
Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton, 336 pages Julie Gephart 18 January 2004 “He looked hurt. I guess most people aren’t used to being suspected of wrongdoing before they’ve actually done anything wrong. ‘All right, you drive.’ He looked very pleased. Heartwarming. Besides, I was carrying two knives, three crosses, and a gun.” Ah Anita, you haven’t let me down yet. Third in series and still going strong. |
Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy, 292 pages Steve Gadd 20 June 1998 Required reading for anyone who read All the Pretty Horses, part one of the Border Trilogy. |
Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy, 292 pages Steve Gadd 04 September 2000 Wrapping up the trilogy with hearty portions of bleakness and beauty, with a helping of Borges for dessert. |
Citizen More and his Utopia by Richard Ames, 218 pages James Donahue 21 January 2003 Good historical exegsis of More. |
City of Bones by Michael Connelly, 394 pages Mike Gadd 25 May 2002 Another in the series of Harry Bosch crime solvers. There must be at least 7 by now. This one falls in the middle of the pack. It's a 25 year old murder case that strikes close to Harry's childhood. It didn't have the suspense of a current case where he's out there chasing the bad guy. His personal life never catches a break either. Still worth reading and I look forward to the next one. |
City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple, 339 pages Tony Pisarenkov 12 June 2005 An account of the author's year-long residence in Delhi, this is a fascinating and occasionally disturbing travelogue and cultural survey richly layered with Indian history from the Mughals to the Partition. An all-around great read. |
City of Quartz by Mike Davis, 440 pages Tony Pisarenkov 10 May 2003 Billed as a discussion of historical forces that made Los Angeles and its surroundings unique, the book is an extremely detailed but selective study of a variety of of social and economic trends and events at play in Southern California in the last 150 years. It reveals a lot of fascinating and frequently disturbing information, but ultimately fails to synthesize it all into a coherent whole or prove that L.A. is indeed unique among American or world cities. The last chapter, on the history of Fontana and Kaiser Steel, while a very interesting and genuinely sad story, has virtually no relation to the rest of the book. |
City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles by Mike Davis, 435 pages Micaela Larkin 01 February 2006 Part noir, part history, part utopia, part hell.... solid non-fiction for the armchair urban historian |
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende, 406 pages A Bennett 30 April 2004 A disparate team of anthropologists, military and drug lords journey deep into the Amazon in search of discovery. Allende seems to believe (or at least put forth in the narrative) that the indigenous peoples of the rainforest are innocent; which to her seems to mean both 'without a sense of right and wrong (and therefore unable to do wrong)', and better than anyone from civilization. Well, that makes things simpler, don't it. At times awkwardly translated, as when a character is said to be lost in the 'entrails' of a mountain rather than in its 'bowels'. But maybe that's just my oppressively civilized sense of right and wrong popping up again. Curse my fork-wielding ancestors! |
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel, 495 pages Steven Krise 04 October 2003 Recent research on mtDNA recovered from Neandertal bones suggests that Durc and Ura were an impossibility. However, that does little to diminsh the verisimilitude of Auel's world. |
Clare Boothe Luce by Wilfrid Sheed, 176 pages Micaela Larkin 07 May 2007 |
Clausewitz's On War (2007) by Hew Strachan, 190 pages James Donahue 18 August 2007 A survey of the book and its origins. Unfortunately its a bit difficult to understand without some background knowledge of Prussian military life. The part I found the most interesting was his discussion of how Colin Powell and the neocons have taken to Clausewitz's book, especially a new translation which words the text a little differently from the editions beloved by Hitler and Ludendorff. |
Clear Thinking by Hy Ruchlis, 271 pages Steven Krise 28 April 2002 With a forward by the inimitable Carl Sagan, this isn't a bad read. It's geared more for a younger audience than the introduction to formal logic I expected. Should have paid more attention in MOMM, I guess. |
Cleopatra's Nose: Essays on the Unexpected by Daniel Boorstin, 202 pages James Donahue 29 April 2002 |
Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales by Valerie Paradiñ, 195 pages James Donahue 27 June 2005 Paradiñ relates well the biographies of the Grimm brothers and the women who helped them collect the folk tales and old women’s stories. The Grimms undertook this scholarly activity in order to preserve German Volkkultur from the Napoleonic hordes threatening to overwash the Rhineland in the wake of the dissolution of the First Reich. Even after reading the book, I’m unsure of the motivations of their feminine counterparts. Which is a shame, since Paradiñ’s intent is to write a feminist re-reading of the tales’ birth. Yet all she can point to is the fact they were ‘robbed’ (even though she relies on modern standards of scholarship and citation to do so). In the end, the women come across as victims, not historical agents, to me, and Paradiñ comes off as someone who missed a great story by returning to a preachy point. |
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. |
Closing Time by Joseph Heller, 468 pages Steven Krise 03 March 2003 I think it's supposed to be absurd and pointless so my characterization of it as luke-warm owl droppings may be a bit naive. |
Cobra Event by Richard Preston, 420 pages Jeff Gadd 04 April 2001 |
Codebreakers by F. H. Hinsley, Alan Stripp, eds., 310 pages Steve Gadd 07 February 2002 Accounts by the participants at Bletchley Park of their work cracking the Enigma code. |
Coding Techniques For Microsoft Visual Basic .NET by John Connell, 633 pages Steven Krise 19 April 2004 Still trying to bone up on this new technology. Unfortunately, the author left out "For Dummies" in the title. This is an intro level text (where intro means "never programmed before"). The only highlight was the author's 2 chapter discussion on ADO.NET. If I had a dollar for everytime I read the phrase "does the heavy lifting", the book would have paid for itself. It certainly didn't pay for itself in any other way. |
Coffee: The Epic of a Commodity by H.E. Jacob, 283 pages Tony Pisarenkov 07 June 2003 Reportedly very popular when it was first published in 1935, this book claims to be the first to examine a food as a social and economic force. One learns much, most of it very interesting and occasionally even fascinating, but the stilted and contrived writing style further exacerbated by the old-fashioned translation takes quite a bit away from the reading enjoyment. |
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, 356 pages Steve Gadd 31 August 1997 |
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, 356 pages Mike Gadd 26 November 2003 Still the best book ever. Frazier is the master of quality metaphors and similes. There's at least 2 on each page. I wanted to read it one more time before the movie come out later this month. |
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, 356 pages Kristin Schrock 16 January 2005 It took awhile to get in the groove of the language which seemed old fashioned in its imagery and pace. And then I had to get over my annoyance at the character of Inman--he's a bit flat. His part in the novel is to journey back to Cold Mountain. But he does not change as a character, or really learn anything that he doesn't know at the start of the book. Ada's storyline interested me, as she must learn to live off the land. It didn't even bother me that Nicole Kidman played her in the movie. |
Cold Mountain [audio] by Charles Frazier, 0 pages Steve Gadd 02 January 2000 Inman's journey home from a Civil War hospital is even more captivating in this reading by the author. |
Cold Pursuit by T. Jefferson Parker, 416 pages Mike Gadd 18 February 2005 |
Collected Stories by Graham Greene, 562 pages Steve Gadd 10 June 1995 |
Colonising Subjects: Metropole and Colony in the English Imagination by Catherine Hall, 513 pages James Donahue 15 August 2004 An intriguing look at Baptists, power politics, emancipation, racism, and empire all swirled together in the founding of Jamaica. Hall is one of the best living historians of empire, and her take on conservative Baptistry is quite insightful. |
Come Rack! Come Rope! by Robert Hugh Benson, 377 pages Micaela Larkin 02 July 2007 DJ: "Edmund Campion's defiant cry, "Come Rack! Come Rope!" was taken up as the rallying cry of the hunted priests in Elizabethean England. The story of these priests and of the people who surrounded and helped them has never been told more graphically..." |
Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem by Craig Atwood, 227 pages James Donahue 05 July 2004 The Moravians were German emigrants who founded utopian communities (such as New Harmony, Indiana) centered around a graphic adoration of the wounds that rivalled Mel Gibson. Atwood does a good job of explaining a tradition that -- like the Australian gene pool -- morphed quickly in insular New World communities into unique phenomena. |
Company Commander by Charles B. Macdonald, 370 pages Jeff Gadd 24 May 2002 The author of this book was a captain in WWII when he turn 20. |
Complete Guide to Guys by Dave Barry, 184 pages Steve Gadd 27 August 1995 |
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. |
Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (2006) by Mark Driscoll, 208 pages Brad Snyder 23 August 2007 Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the man featured in Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" as "Mark the cussing pastor". This book chronicles the joys and struggles that faced Driscoll and his church as they grew from a church of three families to over 4000. Mixing humor, frankness, and downright earthiness, Driscoll displays an earnestness for Scripture and theology and beats the drum for the purity of the Church and its mission to reach the world with the Gospel of Christ. |
Connections by James Burke, 295 pages Steve Gadd 04 April 1996 |
Consciousness and Society by H. Stuart Hughes, 431 pages James Donahue 12 May 2003 An excellent intellectual history of the generation of 1890s-1910s. Hughes organizes the book around the theme of intellectuals extending Enlightenment rationality into the irrational arenas, thereby undercutting modernity. Main figures: Freud, Weber, Pareto, Croce, Bergson, Mann, and Sorel. |
Consciousness Explained by Daniel C Dennett, 511 pages Steven Krise 05 December 2004 Despite the pretentious title, the author did fairly well meeting his goal. "The phenomena of human consciousness have been explained in the preceding chapters in terms of the operations of a "virtual machine," a sort of evolved (and evolving) computer program that shapes the activities of the brain. There is no Cartesian Theater; there are just Multiple Drafts composed by processes of content fixation playing various semi-independent roles in the brain's larger economy of cntrolling a human body's journey through life. The astonishingly persistent conviction that there is a Cartesian Theater is the result of a variety of cognitive illusions that have now been exposed and explained. "Qualia" have been replaced by complex dispositional states of the brain, and the self (otherwise known as the Audience in the Cartesian Theater, the Central Meaner, or the Witness) turns out to be a valuable abstraction, a theorist's fiction rather than an internal observer or boss." |
Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill, 270 pages James Donahue 19 February 2003 |
Consumed: How markets corrupt children, infantilize adults, and swallow citizens whole (2007) by Benjamin Barber, 402 pages Jonathan Misirian 18 June 2007 Barber’s tour de force is a critique of the way unbridled capitalism works to foment a puerile mindset among consumers. Barber reviews everything from politics to sports to Christian music, and connects the threads which show how our economic system manipulates those who are caught up in capitalism’s ebb. |
Contested Christianity by Timothy Larsen, 193 pages James Donahue 29 December 2005 First off - CONGRATULATIONS ALICIA!!!!This book is a compendium of essays covering the cultural history of Victorian Dissenters, ranging from scandels in Jamaica, the first Bible-tourist agencies offering trips to the Holy Land for the bourgeoisie, what happens when Baptist churches lose all their male members, and the reception of German biblical criticism. Larsen is very readable, an admirable historian and a fresh thinker - but, given his extensive use of a Dissenting vocabulary - I often missed enough of the (unexplained) references to feel like an outsider looking in. |
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.” |
Corporal Si Klegg and His Pard by Wilbur F. Hinman, 740 pages Brad Snyder 22 December 2005 This story, the beginning of which was originally published as part of a Union veterans' periodical in 1885, is thought to have inspired Stephan Crane to write "The Red Badge of Courage". Hinman created fictional characters to recount his own experiences during the Civil War. Mixed in with the story are several asides where he explains every aspect of military life. Many of his observations still resonate today, even as this nation finds itself embroiled in yet another "just" war. |
Cosmopolitan: A Bartender's Life by Toby Cecchini, 238 pages Tony Pisarenkov 24 December 2005 For once, the blurb on the cover is spot-on: what Bourdain did for chefs, Cecchini did for bartenders. A surprisingly well-written, frequently poetic, yet at the same time brutally realistic first-hand account of bartending and bar owenrship that will make you run to your nearest watering hole while recoiling in horror from any ambition you may be harboring of working behind the bar. |
Count Zero by William Gibson, 246 pages Steve Gadd 19 May 2006 When it comes to creating vibrant images of a near-future dystopia, Gibson has few peers. Plotting is another matter. I found this sequel to Neuromancer frequently putdownable, and it even had a Villain Speech toward the end. |
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"... |
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. |
Cradle of Life by J William Schopf, 367 pages Steven Krise 17 April 2009 A survey of Precambrian paleontology and its search for fossil microbes and evidence for how life began told from the perspective of the author over the 30 or so years he's been involved in the field. A thoroughly fascinating read. |
Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason by Jessica Warner, 267 pages Tony Pisarenkov 20 February 2008 Warner documents the rise of distilled spirits consumption in England in the middle of the XVIII century and the government's backlash against it. Fairly interesting, though I was hoping for more on the early spirits' manufacture, flavor and the rituals of consumption, and less on parliamentary politics of the day. |
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 532 pages Steve Gadd 09 December 1998 |
Critical Chain by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, 246 pages Erik Bauer 13 August 2000 A follow on to "The Goal." This book is pure program management and has some great ideas, but the practical implementation of these ideas is where I get lost. I might find this useful when when I grow up and get a real job. |
Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith (2008) by Joe Eszterhas, 256 pages Brad Snyder 26 May 2009 Eszterhas brought us such movies as "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls." Then, after smoking every day for 45 years, he came down with throat cancer. Then, the man who spent his life mocking God turned to him. Now a faithful follower of Christ, he talks about how his life has changed. This is the best such testimony I have ever read. His faith is infectious, his presentation is raw, and his story is encouraging. |
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. |
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, 1139 pages Steve Gadd 07 August 2003 A sprawling, thrilling opus full of WWII adventure, codebreaking, treasure hunting, and hacking. A ripping good yarn! |
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, 918 pages Steven Krise 13 December 2004 "How do you know they're Germans? Maybe it's Otto." "The engines sound like diesels. Huns love diesels." |
CSI: Double Dealer by Max Allan Collins, 310 pages Steven Krise 27 August 2003 Man, it's been slow here lately. Barely half a dozen books in two weeks. This was a fun, quick, easy crime drama read based on the CBS series. Noteworthy item, the author also wrote "Road to Perdition". |
Cuba Strait by Carsten Stroud, 610 pages Mike Gadd 06 April 2005 This will probably be the best book I read this year. Action movie pacing with a fun story. |
Cujo by Stephen King, 301 pages Jeff Gadd 16 July 2002 A scary book about a boys dog who gets infected with rabies. |
Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by Clive James, 876 pages Tony Pisarenkov 05 September 2007 Required reading for anyone who even remotely cares about the predicament that our society has got itself into over the course of the last hundred or so years, and how those of us with a gift of one kind or another have confronted it. |
Culture Shock! Germany by Richard Lord, 287 pages Erik Bauer 05 March 2002 How to understand why Germans can be so weird. |