| Fade Away by Harlan Coben, 324 pages Mike Gadd 05 February 2004 Another well done story about the sports agent turned crime solver. | Faith on the Line: Dare to Make a Kingdom Difference by Charles Colson, 129 pages Brad Snyder 01 January 2007 This is the first book by Colson I have ever read, since I long ago cast him into the heap of voices that I had deemed irrelevant to modern conversations of faith. I was wrong. Colson's call to action is relevant to the evangelical church now, and will be for many years. |
False Memory by Dean Koontz, 751 pages Jeff Gadd 05 January 2002 About a woman who fears herself |
Family History 101: A Beginner's Guide to Finding Your Ancestors by Marcia Melnyk, 138 pages Steven Krise 09 July 2009 So far, this is the best, most informative and useful guide on doing family history research. |
Family History: A Novel by Dani Shapiro, 269 pages Jaqi Ross 04 April 2004 Terrible read; avoid this book at all costs, despite the hype. |
Fantasies of Witnessing: by Gary Weissmann, 266 pages James Donahue 25 January 2005 Weissmann tracks the curious phenomenon of contemporary Americans seeking to experience the Holocaust for themselves through film, museums, made-up memoirs, connections to survivors, etc. Weissmann is a clever literary critic who sometimes dwells more on big names (like Wiesal) than pop culture; I would have enjoyed more of the latter. But the phenomenon he addresses is real - and bizarre, and his treatment is very illuminating. |
Fascination by William Boyd, 288 pages Tony Pisarenkov 28 April 2007 Some of these short stories are too self-consciously writerly for my taste, though others are quite enjoyable in an off-kilter sort of way. |
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: The Fascist Style of Rule by Alexander De Grand, 94 pages James Donahue 13 November 2002 |
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, 356 pages Mike Gadd 21 August 2002 There are some serious and downright shocking problems in the food industry in this country. Too many issues to sum up here. Consider this though: Beef for school lunches is purchased on the basis of lowest price. This beef is the most likely to contain deadly pathogens, as well as pieces of spinal cord, bone, and gristle. Cattle that are diseased or already dead are also used. What''s wrong with this picture? Until 1997 livestock were fed rendered remains of cats and dogs, purchased from animal shelters. Now it''s just pigs, horses and chicken. Cows are not designed to eat meat. They are pumped up with growth hormones to compensate. Slaughterhouses are allowed to inspect their own facilities. Meat that is left hanging too long before being cleaned is sold to other companies to be used under another name. It goes on and on. Not everything I learned is gross, just the parts I''ll remember for a long time. |
Faster by James Gleick, 281 pages Steve Gadd 11 February 2004 Subtitle: "The Acceleration of Just About Everything." Feeling rushed? Gleick explains why in this wide-ranging look at all the ways we try to save time, and the multitude of distractions, obligations, and leisure activities that soak up all that banked time. He covers the elevator's (frequently disconnected) Door Close button, airline scheduling, modifications of professional sports for television broadcast, and the effects of MTV (try counting shots in a typical commercial). Food preparation provides great examples. Once upon a time you mixed flour, sugar, and baking soda to make pancakes. Then came boxed pancake mix. Now you toast frozen waffles. Or: Homemade frosting, frosting mix, frosting in a can. But no matter how much time you save, it never seems enough. There is no longer minute than the one spent waiting for the microwave. Gleick cites surveys that inventory the daily 1,440 minutes and finds that, on average, four minutes a day are spent in what Americans describe as their most enjoyable activity. The same amount of time goes to filling out government forms, according to the "Sex and Paperwork" chapter. We spend about a year of our lifetime searching for lost objects. We all know that an awful lot of time is spent in traffic, but time researchers calculate their lifetime total for time spent tying shoes and switch to velcro. |
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev, 203 pages Steve Gadd 12 December 1998 |
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! |
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson, 204 pages Steven Krise 31 May 2004 "You Samoans are all the same," I told him. "You have no faith in the essential decency of the white man's culture. Jesus, just one hour ago we were sitting over there in that stinking baiginio, stone broke and paralyzed for the weekend, when a call comes through from some total stranger in New York, telling me to got Las Vegas and expenses be damned -- and then he sends me over to some office in Beverly Hills where another total stranger gives me $300 raw cash for no reason at all...I tell you, my man, this is the American dream in action! We'd be fools not to ride this strange torpedo all the way to the end." |
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S Thompson, 505 pages Steven Krise 03 March 2008 He was reluctant to bet on the game [Super Bowl VII], even when I offered to take Miami with no points. A week earlier I'd been locked into the idea that the Redskins would win easily--but when Nixon came out for them and George Allen began televising his prayer meetings I decided any team with both God and Nixon on their side was fucked from the start. |
Fear Nothing by Dean R. Koontz, 429 pages Jeff Gadd 07 June 1999 |
Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz, 429 pages Jeff Gadd 01 January 2001 |
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, 357 pages Steven Krise 10 December 2006 Pratchett's take on the murder mystery. |
Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot, 398 pages James Donahue 07 December 2004 Oh, those tricky radicals. Not only do they stand up for justice and suffer the pangs of this world gladly and manly, but they also woo the woman away from those damned aristocrats. The final book in my George Eliot fascination. |
Feminism, Film, Fascism by Susan Linville, 170 pages James Donahue 08 August 2002 Linville explores the way in which feminist and deconstructive films have challenged common notions of the Holocaust in postwar Germany. Specifically: how they challenge the notion that Nazism is definitively over when partriachal and reactionary structures still remain intact and operative after 1945. |
Fields of the Fatherless by C. Thomas Davis, 146 pages Brad Snyder 20 September 2005 This little book is a conversational sermon about the need to reach out to the widows, orphans, naked, and hungry all around us. More than just a man preaching a sermon, Davis is living it, having adopted children into his own family. Not very deep, but an important, although sometimes forgotten, message. |
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, 199 pages Steven Krise 14 July 2008 The angels here are the Old Testament kind, legions and lieutenants, a heavenly host who works in shifts, days, swing, Graveyard. They bring you your meals on a tray with a paper cup of meds. The Valley of the Dolls playset. I've met God across his long walnut desk with his diplomas hanging on the wall behind him, and God asks me, "Why?" Why did I cause so much pain? Didn't I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness? Can't I see how we're all manifestations of love? I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God's got this all wrong. We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens. And God says, "No, that's not right." Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can't teach God anything. |
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, 224 pages Steve Gadd 28 September 2009 Lessons learned: The movie can be better than the book, when the book is written like a screenplay. There's no line so good that it can't be used three or four times. It's still possible to use four-letter words like "butt wipe" without sounding lame. |
Fine Frights Stories that Scared Me. by Story's Selected by Ramsey Campbell, 306 pages Jeff Gadd 14 July 2002 Short Scary storys selected by him as his favorites. |
Fire by Sebastian Junger, 256 pages Mike Gadd 18 January 2002 |
Fire by Sebastian Junger, 250 pages Steve Gadd 26 July 2003 A collection of excellent journalism from war zones and mountain wildfires, including eyewitness reporting on the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone, the fall of the Taliban, and the last harpoon whaler in the world. Perhaps the most interesting chapter was "Dispatches From a Dead War" in Cyprus, where the UN has its longest-lasting peacekeeping campaign. Like so many other hotspots in the world, the history and deep enmity suggest that the two sides will not come to agreement anytime soon. But in 25 years since the UN intervened, only 16 people were killed along the Green Line dividing the island, despite its being the world's most militarized country after North and South Korea. |
First Kings by God (via Unknown - Jeremiah?), 21 pages Ian Hassell 25 July 2002 Still trying to resolve the God revealed in the OT with the God of the NT. We see some fearsome attributes of God displayed when Israel disobeys. I'm really thankful for things like mercy and grace after reading this book. |
First Samuel by God (via Unknown), 25 pages Ian Hassell 30 May 2002 Some of the best-known stories of the Bible...David & Goliath, Saul annointed King, David & Jonathan. Israel becomes a monarchy (and begins to pay the price...) |
Five Patients by Michael Crichton, 228 pages Steve Gadd 05 December 2003 Meandering, dated essays on medical practice in the late 1960's, when he was working at Massachusetts General Hospital. |
Five Skies (2007) by Ron Carlson, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian 03 June 2007 Carlson constructs a novel that deals with the true depths of the human soul. Three men working on a construction project in the Idaho summer, come to grips with their pasts and with each other. Carlson writes with an accuracy and simplicity that is sorely missing from most modern fiction. The splendid descriptions of the mountain and rivers are matched only by the themes of redemption and atonement. An excellent read! |
Flanders: A Cultural History (2007) by André de Vries, 278 pages James Donahue 26 July 2007 |
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott, 82 pages Steve Gadd 04 January 1998 Fanciful story of A. Square, whose comfortable existence in two dimensions is interrupted by his encounter with a sphere. |
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. |
Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization by W. Hodding Carter, 241 pages Tony Pisarenkov 19 July 2009 Surprisingly interesting and occasionally very funny. A little heavy on the solid waste removal aspect of plumbing for my taste. |
Foch (2003) by Michael Neiburg, 117 pages James Donahue 29 January 2006 Its pretty sad when your pleasure reading is so related to your research. Right now I'm reading through the minutes of the Paris Peace Conference (1919), and I kept wondering who this petulant, overbearing, shunted aside world hero was as a person. Winner of the fields of France, not allowed near the peace tables since he kept single-mindedly pushing for an invasion of Bolshevik Russia. |
Following Christ by Joseph M. Stowell, 223 pages Ian Hassell 24 February 2002 Excellent book - turns traditional "spiritual leadership" on its head. The emphasis of our lives should be Followership, not Leadership. Great contrast to my last book. |
Fool by Christopher Moore, 311 pages Steven Krise 19 November 2009 Sort of a bawdy Pratchett-esque take on King Lear, maybe? |
Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter by Michelle Mercer, 298 pages Tony Pisarenkov 02 March 2008 The only biography I've read so far that is not only authorized by its subject, but one whose subject actively collaborated with the author. As such, it understandably leaves some things unsaid. Still, it captures both Shorter's personality and, more importantly, his musicianship, quite well, especially later in his career. My more detailed reactions are here |
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, 507 pages Steve Gadd 30 June 1998 |
Forensic Anthropology by Peggy Thomas, 210 pages Steven Krise 12 June 2004 Up to date intro to the multi-disciplinary field. Livor mortis. |
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. |
Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt, 355 pages Mike Gadd 27 March 2002 |
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, 533 pages Steven Krise 17 August 2002 Umbilicus Mundi. Fez isn't in Tunisia, and the Assassins, anyway, were in Persia, but you can't split hairs when you live in the coils of Transcendental Time. If our hypothesis is correct...They hold for certain that they are in the light. |
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, 533 pages Steven Krise 24 March 2007 Do you have the password? |
Four Archetypes - Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster by C G Jung, 173 pages Steven Krise 15 June 2003 In "The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairy Tales" we see good old Carl Gustav make reference to "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz". Those in the know understand what this means. |
Fragile Glory: A Portrait of France and the French by Richard Bernstein, 349 pages Tony Pisarenkov 03 August 2008 A now outdated, and occasionally short-sighted, but largely perceptive and nuanced evaluation of the French national character by a long-time Paris correspondent for the New York Times. Enjoyable. More comments here |
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, 162 pages Steven Krise 12 November 2003 What is it with Romantic characters, that they're such pansies? Vic could have saved himself a whole pantload of trouble if he'd just had the balls to ACT the moment he created his monstrosity and slaughtered it while it was still too disoriented to do much else than open/close its eyes and bump into things. What did he do instead? He went had himself a bit of a cry and then a good lie down. Oh, and I'm hard pressed to see what bearing this story has on any of the subsequent tales supposedly based on it. |
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, 206 pages Steve Gadd 25 February 2008 Spurned by his creator, all Frankenstein's monster wanted was a friend. Not a bad story for a 19-year-old author (and I just learned where she got her last name). The writing is as literary as you would expect from someone cooped up with master poets during the Year Without a Summer. |
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, 202 pages Kristin Schrock 09 October 2002 Holden Caulfield, I mean, Franny has a nervous breakdown and goes home. The Glass family resembles Wes Anderson's Tenenbaums (or the other way around)--they're all disaffected geniuses. Zooey tells Franny to "Snap out of it!" There's some talk about God and Jesus and shining your shoes for Jesus. The beginning is compelling, but the end just devolves into speechifying. |
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, 220 pages Tony Pisarenkov 31 May 2006 If you can get past the authors continuously congratulating themselves on their greatness, it's actually interesting stuff |
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner , 242 pages Steve Gadd 05 August 2006 A themeless collection of essays seeking to explore the statistics behind the drop in crime in the '90s, the effects of parental behavior and a child's name on future success, and the comparative risk of having a swimming pool or a gun. The most interesting section was the report from a student who spent years with Chicago crack dealers, finding their business model similar to that of McDonalds. |
Freakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner, 242 pages Steven Krise 08 October 2006 "What the link between [the legalization in 1973 of] abortion and [the sudden drop during the 1990s in] crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the oppurtunity to make her own decision about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well. If she decides she can't she often chooses the abortion." |
Freddy's Book by John Gardner, 246 pages Steven Krise 29 January 2008 |
Freedom Evolves by Daniel Dennett, 347 pages Steven Krise 12 November 2009 Dennett skirts most of the babble about free will and determinism by defining free will to be behavioral plasticity coupled to culture. As such, it has evolved over the entire course of life on Earth and seems to have culminated in modern humans who have the most plastic and culture. |
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. |
French Literary Fascism by David Campbell, 293 pages James Donahue 29 November 2002 Excellent analysis of the aesthetic commitments that were tied to fascism in the 1930s. Particularly good analysis of the recent de Man controversary. |
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. |
French Peasant Fascism by Robert Paxton, 239 pages James Donahue 29 November 2002 Militant peasants don green shirts and wage militant strikes to protest an uncaring Republic during the Depression. |
Fresh Power by Jim Cymbala, 208 pages Ian Hassell 19 April 2002 Another great book about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. |
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala, 196 pages Ian Hassell 01 January 2002 Awesome book about how the Holy Spirit worked in planting the Brooklyn Tabernacle. God is still working in miraculous ways - are we expecting Him to act in our lives? |
Freud on Women by ed. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, 375 pages James Donahue 15 February 2003 A helpful compilation and assessment of Freud's writings on women. |
Freud’s Discovery of Psychoanalysis: The Politics of Hysteria by William McGrath, 278 pages James Donahue 07 April 2003 Examines Freud's early years as a scholar and examines his formulation of psychoanalysis amidst his political and religious commitments. Informative but dry. |
Friends, Lovers, Chocolates (2005) by Alexander McCall Smith, 261 pages Jennifer Dear 09 January 2007 |
From Bondage To Liberty: Dance, Children, Dance by Jim Rayburn III, 226 pages Brad Snyder 15 January 2006 A biography of Jim Rayburn, the founder of YoungLife, written by his son. |
From Eros to Gaia by Freeman Dyson, 345 pages Steve Gadd 15 February 1996 |
From Liberalism to Fascism by Robert Passmore, 314 pages James Donahue 05 December 2002 Another book on French fascism. Sense a term paper coming up? |
From Lucy To Language by Donald Johanson & Blake Edgar, 272 pages Steven Krise 05 February 2004 More like 2 "books" in one. The first section tells the story of human evolution from Lucy to the flowering of modern human culture in the Upper Paleolithic period. The second half of the book is comprised of in-depth coverage of the most important fossils of the species discussed in the first part. The book finishes up with about a 10 page discussion of the various stages of human lithic culture. |
From Stalinism to Pluralism by Gale Stokes, 294 pages James Donahue 20 November 2003 How sad is it that this is the date that I finish reading a textbook for my own class? |
Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume, 147 pages Brad Snyder 02 July 2006 Fudge rides again in part three of the "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" series. Not nearly as funny as the first two, but the kids liked it. |
Fun With Milk & Cheese by Evan Dorkin, 96 pages Steve Gadd 05 July 2004 Dairy products gone bad! A half-gallon of milk and a wedge of cheese wreak death, mayhem, and destruction. A comic of dada ultraviolence you won't soon forget! Thanks Ray for the loan. |
Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism 1870-1925 by George Marsden, 231 pages Jonathan Misirian 30 May 2006 Marsden presents a detailed and readable account of the social/religious forces that worked to shape the movement called Fundamentalism. His analysis provides us with the foundation of the modern day ‘Religious Right.’ Marsden’s greatest contribution is in showing the complexity of the early movement; which makes me wonder why it is so narrowly defined today. |
Fundamentalism and Gender: 1875 to the Present by Margaret Bendroth, 156 pages James Donahue 08 October 2002 |
Fundmentalism and America Culture: 1870 - 1925 by George Marsden, 292 pages James Donahue 21 September 2002 The standard work which explains historically how the fundamentalists became the funny-mentalists. An essential read for anyone that wants to understand the history of their evangelical heritage. Also helps explain some of the superannuated shibboleths I experienced at Cedarville. |
Funnymen by Ted Heller, 410 pages Kristin Schrock 19 April 2006 The story of a comic pair (think Dean and Lewis) told like a documentary with interviews. I didn't think I would like the style, but I found it surprisingly engaging. |