| La vuelta al mundo en ochenta días by Jules Verne, 326 pages Steve Gadd 01 October 2008 Cuando dije que apuesto- respondió Stuart : es en formalidad. Aceptado -dijo Fogg: y luego, volviéndose hacia sus compañeros, añadió : Tengo veinte mil libras depositadas en casa de Baring hermanos. De buena gana las arriesgaría. ¡Veinte mil libras!- Exclamó John Suilivan-. ¡Veinte mil libras, que cualquier tardanza imprevista os puede hacer perder! No existe lo imprevisto- respondió sencillamente Phileas Fogg. ¡Pero, Míster Fogg, ese transcurso de ochenta días sólo está calculado como mínimo! Un mínimo bien empleado basta para todo. ¡Pero a fin de- aprovecharlo, es necesario saltar matemáticamente de los ferrocarriles a los vapores y de los vapores a los ferrocarriles! Saltaré matemáticamente. | Labyrinth (2005) by Kate Mosse, 508 pages Jennifer Dear 28 May 2007 |
Lack of the Irish by Ralph McInerey, 210 pages James Donahue 24 July 2002 A murder occurs right before Notre Dame's big game against Baylor on Reformation Day. The suspects include a anti-Catholic woman preacher ('still protesting'), the Baptist quarterback of the Irish, and an obsessive husband. Only the philosophy professor Phillip Knight can solve this one. Satirically written with a love for ND. |
Lady of Sherwood by Jennifer Roberson, 373 pages A Bennett 11 April 2002 The author's name is "Rober-son," as in she "robbed" me of both my time and my innocence in putting this book into my hands to read. If my own mother had written this dreckish, stand-still narrative of Robin Hood and the Crown in 1199 after the death of Richard Plantagenant, I'd have to hate her, too. Necessary vocabulary: tonsure, garderobe. |
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood, 346 pages Kristin Schrock 08 November 2005 An early novel from one of my favorite authors. A woman tries to start a new life but she can't quite escape the ghosts of her past--isn't that always the way. Atwood revisits similar themes in Cat's Eye with greater success. But it's Margaret Atwood, so it's still pretty good. Also, the Mounties show up and characters sit on chesterfields. |
Lafayette in Two Worlds by Lloyd Kramer, 352 pages James Donahue 31 August 2002 A biographical account of the adult Lafayette, with particular attention to his symbolic/political role in the two 18th-century revolutions. |
Lancelot by Walker Percy, 272 pages Micaela Larkin 28 July 2006 continuing my descent into diagnostic Catholic reading.... Nice pairing with L&R, Walker Percy illustrates the utilitarian world that JPII critiques. |
Language and Species by Derek Bickerton, 297 pages Steven Krise 02 July 2002 An intriguing thesis that language originally evolved as a representational system by modeling the primary representational system (i.e., the sensorium) and was then exapted for communicative use. It's hypothesized there exists 2 distinct linguistic modes in humans, protolanguage (pidgins and speech of children under 2) and language (normal adult speech). Protolanguage evolved early in the hominid line (around the time of H. erectus, 1.5 mya) and that the transition from protolanguage to language occurred 'suddenly' with the emergence of H sapiens. Goes on to show how syntax (language's main distinction from protolanguage) is the currency of thought (by providing linguistic 'tokens' to manipulate) and provides the underpinning to our unique sense of consciousness. It's the kind of thesis that is probably wrong in many details but invaluable for the questions it poses. 'The question is, are there things that exist *only* in the secondary representational system, you see.' |
Lara Croft Tomb Raider by Dave Stern, 343 pages Jeff Gadd 12 March 2002 Interesting the illuminati. And the All-Seeing Eye! |
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. |
Last Chance To See by Douglas Adams, 218 pages Steve Gadd 30 March 2000 Yes, that Douglas Adams, travelling with a zoologist to exotic corners of the world looking for the most endangered species. Highly entertaining and not too preachy. |
Last Night at the Lobster (2007) by Stewart O’Nan, 146 pages Jonathan Misirian 08 April 2008 Hailed as a modern story of our postmodern life, O’Nan’s gift lies in his simplicity and in his efforts to paint an accurate portrait of our way of life. A glorified short story, O’Nan follows the manager of a Red Lobster during the last shift before the store is closed. |
Lauren Willig by The Deception of the Emerald Ring, 386 pages Micaela Larkin 16 April 2007 |
Le Ton beau de Marot by Douglas R. Hofstadter, 598 pages Steve Gadd 21 May 1998 Another giant, sprawling masterpiece by the author of Gödel, Escher, Bach, this one focusing on the subtlties of translation. |
Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women by Ricky Jay, 313 pages Steve Gadd 23 November 2003 Ricky Jay, an accomplished sleight-of-hand artist and card thrower, describes in fascinating detail a variety of sideshow attractions and show business oddities. Arthur Lloyd carried thousands of cards and documents in his pockets and could present any document an audience member requested instantly. Performers with every variety of missing limbs entertained with their musical and acrobatic skills. Others ate stones and poisons, baked themselves in ovens, or dove from great heights into shallow pools. The book ends with the story of Joseph Pujol, a fartiste known as Le Pétomane whose act consisted of breaking wind with the sound of animals or musical numbers. |
Left Bank by Herbert Lottman, 319 pages Tony Pisarenkov 07 April 2009 An enjoyable history of a fairly narrow subject: political involvement and allegiances on the part of intellectuals, particularly writers, in France between 1930 and 1950. Recommended if you care about that sort of thing, and want to get an impression of how pervasive Communism was in France before De Gaulle. |
Left Behind by Tim Lahaue J,B. Jenkins, 468 pages Jeff Gadd 21 September 2000 |
Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (2002) by Lemony Snicket, 212 pages A Bennett 31 December 2004 |
Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick, 542 pages James Donahue 24 March 2004 This wonderful account is written from the first-hand experience and incredible access of the Post reporter in Moscow from 1988-1992. Remnick, who is now editor of the New Yorker and was once the flirtatous boy in my advisor's college class, writes with an enviable touch for flair and poetic significance. Highly enjoyable |
Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick, 588 pages Tony Pisarenkov 26 February 2009 An excellent account of the glasnost era and the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union, including, crucially, a very good analysis of the history of the regime and the political and social forces that formed (and failed to form) modern Russia. Highly recommended. Thank you, Steve, for the present. More comments here |
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, 1232 pages James Donahue 02 May 2005 While cramming at the last minute and taking my final exams, I slipped away for brief escapes into Hugo's attempt to capture the entire 19th-c in one Parisian book. Perfect because its so bombastic; who doesn't love the mega-read? Three comments: 1) I don't get why this is one of Eric Phillips' favorite book - on moral or stylistic grounds; 2) the definition of Hugo-esque = to not delete any thought, any sentence (the antonym of Kundera-esque); 3) not that I've seen it, but how in hell did this become transfored into an Andrew Lloyd Weber 'opera'? |
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, 96 pages Steven Krise 06 May 2009 I was warned this was a ridiculous rant by a fool, but as far as I can tell it is just obvious statements about the absurdity of religious fundamentalism by an unashamed atheist. It is a very quick read (easily finished in an hour or two), that feels like a condensed "God Is Not Great" by Hitchens. Not a bad overview if you need to get your atheist card re-stamped, but if you have more time just read Hitchens. |
Letter to His Father by Franz Kafka, 63 pages Steve Gadd 26 December 2001 Revealing glimpse into the troubled relationship that fueled Kafka's nightmares. |
Letters to a young evangelical (2006) by Tony Campolo, 280 pages Jonathan Misirian 14 August 2007 As America's Evanglicalism's gadfly, Campolo continues in his famous against-the-grain mode with the writing of this book. Using the conceit of writing to two young Christians, the author gives his 2 cents on every issue from Abortion to Islam. |
Leviticus by God (via Moses' hand), 24 pages Ian Hassell 13 February 2002 God establishes man's need for Christ. No man could possibly live up to the requirements of Leviticus - enter Christ. Factoid: Lev. contains the most direct quotes from God of any Biblical book. |
Liberal Government and Politics, 1905-1915 (2006) by Ian Packer, 180 pages James Donahue 30 October 2006 To quote Pink Floyd: "Is there anybody out there? Just nod if you can hear me." |
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. |
Life at the Bottom by Theodore Dalrymple, 261 pages Tony Pisarenkov 03 February 2009 Dalrymple, a doctor in the slums and a prison in Birmingham, gives a chilling account of the moral and cultural decrepitude of the British underclass and traces it to the welfare state's overwhelming culture of victimhood and a complete refusal on society's part to hold people responsible for their choices, fostered by liberal intellectuals. A must-read for anyone raising or planning to raise children, at the very least. Either affirming or controversial for the rest. A few more comments here. |
Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology by David Darling, 206 pages Steven Krise 18 August 2009 A comprehensive and lucid introduction to the new science of astrobiology. |
Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 326 pages Mike Gadd 14 November 2003 Top 10 all time. What a wonderful story. My only complaint was that it was too short. Even better when you don't read the back jacket beforehand. |
Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 336 pages Steve Gadd 29 January 2007 I had the rare pleasure of diving into this book without knowing anything about it, without even glancing at the back cover, though the front cover art was a bit of a spoiler. While survivor stories are among my favorites, the fact that this one was fictional made it less compelling, the magical bits coming off more as implausible than dreamily fantastic. |
Life on a Young Planet by Andrew H Knoll, 277 pages Steven Krise 20 May 2009 An informative overview of "the first three billion years of evolution on earth", starting with biogenesis up to just before the so called Cambrian Explosion. It ties together the topics of a couple other books I've read recently which were more focused in scope. |
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 122 pages James Donahue 14 November 2002 Third time through the book, and each time it gets even more life-changing. How few books there are which can distill the gospel so clearly. |
Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard Fortey, 344 pages Steven Krise 23 June 2009 A biography of sorts of life on earth, starting with biogenesis and finishing up (predictably) with Homo sapiens. The greatest amount of detail was given to the 3 billion years from biogenesis to the Cambrian "explosion". |
Light in August by William Faulkner, 480 pages Tony Pisarenkov 08 January 2003 Faulkner's classic that starts out as a slowish period piece with no resonance to our time and experience, and ends as a bone-chilling work or profound pathos which makes you alternately throw it down in digust and keep turning the pages to find out just what else these so-called people are capable of. I am glad I read it now instead of having it spoon-fed to me in a class years ago. |
Lightning, Face of Fear, the Vision by Dean R. Koontz, 683 pages Jeff Gadd 16 January 1999 |
Lightning's Daughter by Mary H. Herbert, 259 pages Julie Gephart 26 April 2002 Much less compelling sequel to the enjoyable "Dark Horse." Still, you can't go all the way wrong with a breed of huge, noble, telepathic horses. I mean, they whisper wise advice in your head and everything. |
Like Water for Chocolate [audio] by Laura Esquivel, 0 pages Steve Gadd 19 March 2000 A romantic family epic in the magical-realism style following Tita, who by family tradition is bound to remain single and care for her mother until she dies. |
Lingua Ex Machina by William H Calvin & Derek Bickerton, 298 pages Steven Krise 01 February 2004 Set up as a dialog between the two authors, this book hashes out the first draft of a theory about how language evolved in the hominid line. It seemed to lack coherence (ironic given the amount of dicussion of corticocortical coherence) due to the format, but I get the definite impression that the authors are onto something. Bickerton says: "Now all that's left of the mountains of innate knowledge the old system presupposed are a few bare principles. And these principles are merely a metaphorical way of looking at what actually happens. The brain acts as if it obeyed such principles, but what it's actually doing is simply executing algorithms for putting sentences together and understanding them once they've been put together. And what this book's all about is how these algorithms came to be." |
Lipstick Jihad: A memior of growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni, 249 pages Jonathan Misirian 25 December 2005 My third book on Iran this year. Moaveni, part of the Diaspora in America, returns to Iran as a reporter for US news outlets. Her personal experiences and insights into Iran, shows the duplicity of the ruling Mullah’s, the yearning for freedom by the youth, and the shortcomings of American foreign policy. Great read for those interested in an on-the-ground look at life in modern Iran. |
Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley, 300 pages Jonathan Misirian 29 June 2006 Buckley, the satirical political novelist, and author of the critically acclaimed -though box office dud- Thank You For Smoking, uses his sharp wit to skewer Washington. Premise: a top-secret government agency behind cattle mutilations and ‘alien abductions’ is uncovered by a Tim Russert foil. |
Little House by Boston Bay by Melissa Wiley, 195 pages Julie Gephart 01 September 2002 Heaven preserve me, who knew there were more Little House books? This one, about Laura's grandmother, didn't have quite the same charm, but it was still chock-full-o delightful details of how to sand a floor and make pounded cheese. |
Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley, 271 pages Julie Gephart 26 October 2002 Aye, it's the old Scottish highlands, where the wee bairns play a game of Picts and Scots on the hillside and we all enjoy a fine haggis on Hogmanay. |
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 309 pages Julie Gephart 10 March 2002 Pa's resume: "Spelling down" the entire town, getting hair chewed off by mice then putting up with Ma's warning not to be vain |
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, 504 pages Steve Gadd 09 March 1998 Great book. A short-lived attempt to continue my goal of eliminating unread books from my shelf, bogged down by Northanger Abbey. |
Live Bait by Ms. PJ Tracy, 394 pages Mike Gadd 25 April 2005 Enjoyable sequel to Monkeewrench. Not as fast-paced but at least you know you enjoy the characters. |
Living in the Shadow by Timothy Weber, 210 pages James Donahue 04 December 2002 A helpful exposition of dispensationalism from its genesis in the 1840s through WWII. |
Lizardskin by Carsten Stroud, 374 pages Mike Gadd 07 August 2003 Another decent book in search of a better title. Not nearly as good as 'Black Water Transit'. |
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. |
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, 309 pages Kristin Schrock 29 October 2002 This, as you can imagine, is a difficult book to read. Humbert is both repulsive and sympathetic which makes for an interesting, complex, unreliable narrator. On the cover, Vanity Fair proclaims that this is the most believable love story of the 20th century? That can't possibly be true, right? What does that say about the 20th century? |
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, 0 pages Steve Gadd 19 August 2008 Odd that I would have qualms about picking up this book, while happily reading novels about murder and war. I suppose I feared the book was well-known for its subject rather than its quality. Thanks to Tony for pointing out that Nabokov, to say the very least, knows how to turn a phrase. He turns them so well in this polyglot ballet of words that the reader forgets to despise the wretched narrator. Audio version read lovingly by Jeremy Irons. |
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, 335 pages Tony Pisarenkov 28 August 2008 I can't believe it took me so many years to get around to reading this book. |
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, 335 pages Steven Krise 11 September 2008 From the Afterword, by VN: "Certain techniques in the beginning of 'Lolita' (Humbert's Journal, for example) misled some of my first readers into assuming that this was going to be a lewd book. They expected the rising succession of erotic scenes; when these stopped, the readers stopped, too, and felt bored and let down. This, I suspect, is one of the reasons why not all the four firms read the typescript to the end. Whether they found it pornographic or not did not interest me. Their refusal to buy the book was based not on my treatment of the theme but on the theme itself, for there are at least three themes which are utterly taboo as far as most American publishers are concerned. The two others are: a Negro-White marriage which is a complete and glorious success resulting in lots of children and grandchildren; and the total atheist who lives a happy and useful life, and dies in his sleep at the age of 106." |
London Fields by Martin Amis, 407 pages Kristin Schrock 16 January 2002 A strange story of a murder with a twist: the murder is orchestrated by the murderee. |
Looking for Trouble by Leslie Cockburn, 273 pages Steve Gadd 02 May 2004 Memoirs of a fearless news correspondent who traveled to hotspots around the world interviewing leaders and covering conflict. Includes encounters with the Hussein brothers, drug lords, and other bad guys from Afghanistan to Cambodia. In a notable interview, we learn that Iranian vice-president Mohajirani admires Salman Rushdie, comparing him to García Márquez and James Joyce, his favorite writer. |
Lord of the World (1906) by Robert Hugh Benson, 338 pages Micaela Larkin 21 June 2007 Catholic apocalyptic fiction at its best (according to Fulton Sheen). You judge: "He had talked to him of inner life again and again, in which verities are seen to be true, and acts of faith are ratified; he had urgent prayer and humility till he was almost weary of the naes; and had been met by the retort that this was to advise sheer self-hyptonism; and he ahd despaired of making clear to one who did not see it for himself that while love and Faith may be called self-hypnotism from one angle, yet from another they are as much realities as, for example, artistic faculties, and need similar cultivation; that they produce a conviction that they are convictions, that they handle and taste things which when handled and tasted are overwhelmingly more real and objective than the things of sense. Evidences seemed to mean nothing to this man. |
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, 576 pages Micaela Larkin 01 January 2006 Decent read! |
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde, 399 pages Kristin Schrock 05 June 2005 The second in the Tuesday Next, literary detective series. Quick and entertaining, but a little too pleased with itself in places. But I'm too much of a literary geek to resist the literature in-jokes, so I'll probably read the next one, too. |
Lost Light by Michael Connelly, 360 pages Mike Gadd 04 June 2003 Harry Bosch is back. Thank goodness. The last Connelly book was so incredibly awful I'm choosing to forget that he wrote it. This book had a wonderful ending that had nothing to do with the main story. |
Louisa: A Novel by Simone Zelitch, 377 pages Micaela Larkin 10 April 2006 Decent read. Hungarian Jewish survivor accompanied by her German daughter in law move to Palestine in 1949. Flows back and forth across space and time... |
Lourdes: Body and Mind in the Secular Age by Ruth Harris, 431 pages James Donahue 01 October 2002 A compelling account of the miraculous grotto in southern France. As a historian Harris does an excellent job combining respect for the site with a critical eye. She traces the story of the grotte from Mary''s appearance to Ste. Bernadette through the current pilgrimages and healing. Compelling reading that requires no background knowledge of French or Church history. |
Love Among the Ruins (Novel) by Robert Clarkin, 333 pages Micaela Larkin 28 May 2007 |
Love and Responsibility by Karol W, 319 pages Micaela Larkin 28 July 2006 In my newest holy roller phase, I decided to take on Pope JPII's first foray into Catholic marriage, and in some ways it provides a practical foray (psych/bio/philo) look into his later developed theology of the body. Good reading! It also is useful for assessing one's own descent into utilitarianism in one's personal life. Or the hefty book can be thrown at people who need to wake up! |
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, 348 pages Steve Gadd 27 July 1995 |
Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time (2007) by Rob Sheffield, 240 pages Brad Snyder 19 July 2008 Sheffield uses the medium of mix tapes to chronicle his marriage that was cut short by his wife's sudden death. Sweet story, but disjointed at times. |
Love Stories of World War II by Larry King, 325 pages Micaela Larkin 24 March 2007 |
Love's Executioner by Irvin D. Yalom, 270 pages Steve Gadd 24 May 2005 Thelma cannot function because of her ardent love for Matthew, though she hasn't seen him in eight years. Saul quakes with fear over three letters that he hasn't opened, certain that they will reveal that his entire career has been a fraud. Penny can't relate to her sons after losing a daughter to cancer. Marvin, a boring, shallow accountant nearing retirement, seeks help for his migraines, but he has little faith in therapy and no inclination toward introspection -- meanwhile his amazingly rich and suggestive dreams show that he is paralyzed with fear of death. These are among the ten tales of psychotherapy which provide an absorbing look at what goes on in the room with the couch. Judging from his success in these stories, Dr. Yalom is an adept, existentialist practitioner of the "talking cure." He doesn't put much store in textbook diagnoses and feels that productive work only comes from the development of a meaningful relationship between the patient and therapist. He likes to quote Nietzsche and lists four factors as particularly relevant to his work: "the inevitability of death for each of us and for those we love; the freedom to make our lives as we will; our ultimate aloneness; and, finally, the absence of any obvious meaning or sense to life." |
Loving by Henry Green, 204 pages Tony Pisarenkov 13 November 2003 Very English and, quite frankly, very boring. Nuances that would have been meaningful to a mid-century British reader are completely lost on a contemporary American one. |
Loving Homosexuals As Jesus Would: A Fresh Christian Approach by Chad W. Thompson, 183 pages Brad Snyder 19 January 2006 Thompson was a guest of a radio show in Charlotte shortly after this book was first published. I found him intriguing, but he faced criticisms from many callers: most of them from Christians who called in to criticize his message (and who never read his book). He points out in the book that Christians are good at "hating the sin", but fall short when it comes to "loving the sinner." Having homosexual friends, neighbors, and coworkers, I thought I had a good understanding of the mindset of homosexuals, but this book opened my eyes to many things I couldn't have understood outside of someone telling me. This book is immensely practical, and, as an ex-gay (his term), he faces criticisms from both Christians (as I heard on the radio) and homosexual activists. The book is part testimonial, part psychology, and part guidebook, and calls Christians to account for their failures to properly understand and love homosexuals the way we should. |
Loving in Flow: How the Happiest Couples Get and Stay That Way by Susan K. Perry, 329 pages Tony Pisarenkov 04 August 2004 Mostly very insightful and informative, although some issues are covered in much greater detail than others. Recommended not only to couples who are reevaluating their relationship, but also to those who feel that things are going well for them. Unfortunately, the topic that was of particular interest to this reader gets short thrift, but that does not detract from the book's general usefulness. |
Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon (2008) by Andrea di Robilant, 341 pages James Donahue 24 April 2008 |
Lugard: The Years of Adventure, 1858-1898 (1956) by Margery Perham, 713 pages James Donahue 31 January 2006 Disgruntled evangelical suffers through British school system, joins the army only to serve in Afghanistan, then goes renegade warrior in Africa, teaming up with abolitionist missionaries to force British power into the center of Africa in a race against the Germans. To say his biography is Kipling-esque is to confuse cause and effect. |
Lugard: The Years of Authority, 1898-1945 (1960) by Margery Perham, 711 pages James Donahue 14 February 2006 Second half from below. From disillusioned adventurer, Lugard becomes a signature British governor of Nigeria and Hong Kong. Fascinating personal portrait of the ambivalencies of the 'white man's burden.' |
Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, 308 pages Steven Krise 13 July 2009 Fictional characters from Bret's previous works come to life as an all to real "metaphor" of Bret's need to come to terms with his past, including his father's death and the son he never wanted...until now. |
Lust For Life by Irving Stone, 453 pages Steve Gadd 29 November 1998 Fictionalized biography of van Gogh. Hard to tell what's made up; I think I would prefer Dear Theo, the letters of the artist to his brother, collected by this author. |