| Kaddish for a Child Not Born by Imre Kertesz, 95 pages Tony Pisarenkov 25 July 2005 This stream-of-consciousness philosophical treatise cum memoir masquearding as a novella tells the story of a writer, a professional, social and romantic failure, who explains, through the general prism of his Jewishness, how his experience at Auschwitz made him unable to bring another being into this world. Heavy stuff, a bit self-absorbed at times, but intellectually and emotionally intense. | Kant and the Fate of Autonomy by Karl Americks, 351 pages James Donahue 22 August 2002 Americks aptly relates the misreadings and outright disagreements that Kant's successors had with Kant himself. Focuses on Fichte, Reinhold, and Hegel. Dense but worth it. |
Karl Barth by Eberhard Busch, 500 pages James Donahue 17 July 2005 The standard bibliography for over thirty years, written by Barth's last secretary and based upon Barth's notes for his autobiography, but also written from inside a theological, European community whose references and names may only mean something to the historian. |
Karl Barth: Against Hegemony by Timothy Gorringe, 289 pages James Donahue 03 July 2003 A new and brief summary of Barth's life and work placed within his historical and intellectual context. Decent summary, but devolves too easily into scholastic quarrels that only those within the field can understand. |
Karl Marx: His Life and Environment by Isiah Berlin, 267 pages James Donahue 04 February 2003 The always readable Berlin presents an engaging biography of Marx which focuses on his rise to power within the socialist movement. |
Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg, 384 pages Julie Gephart 19 December 2003 Katharine Hepburn is what you’d have to call “a character,” mostly because it sounds a lot better than “a mean old lady.” Once I adjusted to her style, there were plenty of lines that made me laugh out loud, and the story of when Michael Jackson came to her house for dinner was priceless. |
Keeping the Republic: Ideology and Early American Diplomacy by Robert W. Smith, 142 pages James Donahue 08 December 2005 A published dissertation, this book succintly describes the foreign policies of Washington/Hamiliton, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison against the backdrop of their differing views of republicanism, revolution, civil society, and virtue. Suprisingly relevant to our current foreign policy dilemmas. |
Killing Bono by Neil McCormick, 358 pages Jonathan Misirian 28 January 2005 McCormick and Bono were friends in the same high school. McCormick's goal was to be in a band that changed the world. This book is an account of the failure of his dream, and the success of his friends, U2. |
Killing Floor by Lee Child, 407 pages Jeff Gadd 30 January 2002 Jack Reacher in the first book from L.C. Really great and suspenseful. |
Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a true story (2005) by Chuck Klosterman, 245 pages Jonathan Misirian 06 April 2007 Spin asked their writer to travel across the country and write a series of articles on locations where famous rock stars died. From these essays, derived this memorable account of this 16 day journey. Note: one must be love esoteric music references to understand all the ironic situations the author finds himself in. A good writer, working with average material. |
Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story (2005) by Chuck Klosterman, 245 pages Brad Snyder 08 July 2007 Klosterman set out on a road trip across the USA to visit all the spots where rock stars have died: the New York hotel where Sid Vicious allegedly killed his girlfriend Nancy to the greenhouse in Seattle where Kurt Cobain shot himself. What he ended up writing about instead was all the girls he's loved before. |
King Henry (2007) by Douglas Galbraith, 409 pages James Donahue 25 May 2009 A fictional reenactment of an event too crazy to have really happened. In 1915 Henry Ford decided he could stop the war, hooked up with a zealous Hungarian suffragette, hired a cruise ship, packed it full of wide-eyed students and cynical journalists, and sailed off to Europe to stop the war on Christmas day. Oh, the things that wealth can and cannot buy. |
Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome secrets of a star-crossed child in the final days of the American Century by Hunter S Thompson, 351 pages Steven Krise 04 February 2008 "Brilliant, provocative, outrageous, and brazen, Hunter S. Thompson's infamous rule breaking -- in his journalism, in his life, and under the law -- changed the shape of American letters, and the face of American icons...." |
Kisscut by MS. Karin Slaughter, 359 pages Mike Gadd 06 February 2003 Everybody duck, this book is flying out the window. Ptooey, blech and ugh. What a pile of detritus. The first book by this author was tight, fast-paced, and a nice read. This book goes so far beyond the sophomore slump, it basically killed the series for me. Hopefully this will be the worst book I read this year. |
Knitting under the influence by Claire Lazebnik, 397 pages Micaela Larkin 08 November 2006 Stupid chic-lit; wouldn't recommend |
Kofi Annan (2007) by Stanley Meisler, 319 pages James Donahue 01 July 2007 Meisler's biography of the U.N. sec-gen is partly a defense of Annan against his American neo-con critics and the general, uninformed public view of the UN over the past few years. But book is best when it rests on Meisler's personal anecdotes as a reporter at the UN over the past decade. |
Kokoro and other essays by Natsume Soseki, 322 pages James Donahue 06 February 2004 A very impressive and impressionistic story about the relationship between a student without focus and his "sensai" without hope. Couldn't put it down. |
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester, 390 pages Steve Gadd 29 December 2004 The eruption/explosion of this volcanic island is well known as the loudest sound in recorded history, heard thousands of miles away. Winchester tells the interesting tale of colonization in the Dutch East Indies, throws in a lesson in plate tectonics, and then gives an account of the 1883 disaster that became the first international news story carried by undersea telegraph cable. Published last year, the book ominously predicted that Krakatoa would "play it tricks on the world once again, and before very much longer." |
Krakatoa by Simon Winchester, 393 pages Jonathan Misirian 04 July 2005 Winchester's account of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa extends far beyond the volcanic ash and tsunamis. He chronicles every aspect of life in Indonesia, and employing the same skill that brought his, The Professor and the Madman, such success; writes a beautifully written piece of bio-investigative journalism. |