HOME | BOOKS | MOVIES | GRID | SEARCH | NEWS
Browse Books by Title
" & 1 2 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Browse Books by Author
& A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps: How the NFL became the most successful sports league in History (2006)   by Mark Yost, 250 pages Jonathan Misirian   12 May 2007 Yost, a sports writer, uses mostly-secondary sources for this unoriginal exploration into the fascinating world of the NFL. The NFL’s rise in revenue, market share, and viewership is truly a remarkable story; yet Yost falls victim to familiar techniques for 1st time writers: rehashing material already known, rehashing familiar interviews, and rehashing the same personalities that we are already aware of.

Taipan   by James Clavell, 789 pages James Donahue   17 June 2004 Set in 1848 Hong Kong (i.e., before there was a Hong Kong), Clavell presents us here with another East-meets-West-both-culturally-and-sexually- where-one-culture-transcending-white-male-falls- in-love-only-to-see-his-metaphorical-and-literal- love-lie-shattered-in-a-dead-asian-women's-body- spellbinder. I always enjoy these escapes into historical fiction even if the postcolonialist lit-critic makes me feel a tad guilty about it

Take These Letters: Follow the Mail Deliverer to the Seven Churches   by E. Alan Roberts, 160 pages Brad Snyder   31 March 2006 This is the strangest commentary I've ever read. It was written in the first person from the perspective of the servant delivering the letters of Revelation 2 and 3 to the appropriate churches. I didn't find it incredibly helpful in my study, but it is an interesting approach.

Takedown   by Tsutomu Shimomura, 494 pages Steve Gadd   01 June 2003 The computer security expert who tracked down notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick really milks his 15 minutes with this tell-all. It's too long by half, with constant updates on the author's irrelevant love life and an overlong autobiography at the beginning. The insider's view of computer crime and security tactics is interesting, but not enough to redeem the clumsy prose. It appears that the New York Times reporter/ghost writer practically transcribed the recorded interviews of the parts of the story he didn't witness.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing   by Judy Blume, 120 pages Brad Snyder   12 June 2006 You know you're getting old when you go to the library with your kids and check out a book that you just "know they'll love" because you loved it when you were their age. I presented it to them in the same way my fourth-grade teacher at Gaithersburg Elementary did to me, by reading it out loud. They loved it.

Talk of the Devil   by Riccardo Orizio, 199 pages Steve Gadd   26 December 2003 Interviews with seven of the world's most notorious one-time dictators. The common thread among them is a complete lack of remorse and a variety of excuses for mass death and suffering. An interesting Where Are They Now for the rich and infamous.

Tandia   by Bryce Courtenay, 905 pages Mike Gadd   15 February 2002

Tao Te Ching   by Lao Tzu, 90 pages Steven Krise   29 March 2002 I have to concur with the author of the Preface, it is one of the wisest book I've ever read. However, I have a hard time getting past the idea that it's a bit of a waste of time to take 90 pages to talk about something everyone agrees at the outset can't be ascertained that way. I suppose that's mysticism for you. Richly dense, wise book, regardless.

Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days   by Jesse Liberty, 756 pages Steven Krise   30 April 2005 There's about zero chance of me ever programming in C++, but it's good to keep one's self sharp.

Teaching to Change Lives   by Howard Hendricks, 152 pages Jonathan Misirian   05 April 2006 Hendricks is the dean of American Evangelical Seminarians, having taught and influenced many of today’s pastors and ministry leaders. This book is a compendium of his thoughts on the subject of teaching in the classroom.

Tears of a Giraffe (2000)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 215 pages James Donahue   19 September 2006 Mma Ramotswe again solves mysteries with her easy-going, sagacious, folksy wisdom. Smith again paints a portrait of Botswana that makes it look better than Camelot.

Tears of the Giraffe   by Alexander McCall Smith, 215 pages Jennifer Dear   23 July 2006

Tell No One   by Harlen Coben, 370 pages Mike Gadd   16 July 2003 A story about a doctor whose wife was murdered 8 years ago trying to get on with his life. He gets a strange email that links him to a web cam where he sees his wife face the camera and say "I'm sorry". Strange things happen and he ends up falsely accused and on the run. The story pretzeled up a little too much by the time it ended.

Tender Is The Night   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 320 pages Erik Bauer   02 March 2001 I liked this book a lot more than "The Great Gatsby." It is beautiful, sometimes a bit boring, but beautiful.

Tender Is the Night   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 315 pages Kristin Schrock   19 September 2002 The story of the disintegrating marriage of Dr. Dick Diver and his crazy wife Nicole (read: Fitzgerald and his crazy wife Zelda). It captures the poignancy, but the novel lacks structure and meanders.

Tender is the Night   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 349 pages Tony Pisarenkov   09 November 2008 Not entirely sure what to make of it. Reads like a book that has been written in chunks over a period of many years. A few passages hit close to home. Others, however, made no sense at all.

Term Limits   by Vince Flynn, 656 pages Mike Gadd   08 October 2004

Terror and Liberalism   by Paul Berman, 220 pages Tony Pisarenkov   14 June 2007 A surprisingly good analysis of philosophical and theological foundations of extremist Islam, followed by a more diffuse but still basically sound commentary on the West's response so far and the reasons for its inadequacy, concluded with a recommendation of an idealistic foreign policy. Very measured and level-headed for a man whose origins lie in a political extreme.

Terrorism and Communism   by Karl Kautsky, 234 pages James Donahue   24 February 2003 The famous Marxist-humanist takes on Lenin and the Bolsheviks in 1921. Kautsky scorns the impatience and dictatorial pretensions of the Soviets, arguing that proletariat revolution can only can about through popular and democratic means and not back-door tribunals and coup d'etats.

Terrorist   by John Updike, 320 pages Jonathan Misirian   28 September 2006 Updike revels in the different shades of grey that exist in our post 9/11 morally relevant society. His novel unites the lives and themes of radical Islamic cleric’s and their followers, the department of Homeland Security, a struggling painter, and an ethically bankrupt school guidance counselor… all of which leaves the reader to wonder if Updike’s didactic purpose goes too far.

Tete a Tete: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sarte   by Hazel Rowley, 95 pages Micaela Larkin   15 April 2006 I think I deserve credit for making it through the first 95 pages. I felt like I was reading people magazine (european edition) after their initial meeting. If anyone makes it through the whole book maybe they can give a better review.

That Old Ace in the Hole   by Annie Proulx, 359 pages Kristin Schrock   06 September 2004 Annie Proulx, for me, ranks right up there with Maggie Atwood. But, I suppose to write beautifully you have to write a clunker every once in awhile. This one was it. Only through sheer force of will did I finish this one. Recommended Vocabulary: pabulum, strabismus, porsiflage, tapirs, rachitic, niobium, adit, caliche (which was used nearly every chapter), blinko.

The Big Bad Wolf Tells All   by Donna Kauffman, 329 pages Kristin Schrock   25 November 2004 I thought this was going to be a fun re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood. Instead, fluffy and predictable. Bleh.

The 12th Card   by Jeffery Deaver, 395 pages Steven Krise   21 June 2005 bad guys, obligatory plot twist, Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs, good guys win.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership   by John C. Maxwell, 233 pages Ian Hassell   24 February 2002 Good leadership principles from a very Western-Christian perspective. Left me wondering where God was in the leadership process.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People   by Stephen Covey, 358 pages Erik Bauer   14 March 2002 This book needs to be read again; I think I grasped some of the ideas, but I'm not sure. One habit should be "comprehension of complicated processes."

The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey through the Wine World   by Lawrence Osbourne, 272 pages Tony Pisarenkov   18 May 2008 A book not so much about wine as it is about winemakers. A couple of the stories are mildly interesting, and Osbourne does have a knack for a good turn of phrase now and then, but after a while it all starts to sound the same. More detailed comments here

The Adventures of Augie March   by Saul Bellow, 536 pages Tony Pisarenkov   29 March 2007 A sprawling bildungsroman full of great characters and some amazing prose. A major undertaking to be sure, but well worth it.

The Afghan Campaign: A Novel (2006)   by Steven Pressfield, 368 pages Brad Snyder   15 March 2009 Matthias is a soldier of Alexander's army. He and his brothers in arms are stationed in Afghanistan, facing a resourceful and brutal enemy. Clunky storytelling and weak plot lines.

The Age of Innocence   by Edith Wharton, 364 pages James Donahue   06 May 2002

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay   by Michael Chabon, 636 pages Kristin Schrock   03 September 2003 I picked this one up mainly because of the pretty-pretty cover. The fact that it was a pulitzer winner was secondary. I was pleasantly surprised. The tale of two cousin comic book creators during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Featured World War 2, Antarctica, super heroes, and a whole bunch of angst. What's not to love. Recommended Vocabulary: acromegaly, gelid, chorine, faience, paturition, aetataureate, tergiversations, opprobrium.

The Ambient Century (From Mahler to Trance: the Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age)   by Mark Prendergast, 473 pages Tony Pisarenkov   20 March 2005 An expansive survey of ambient and electronic musical styles and the musicians who made it, as well as other styles and influences that can in be connected with the larger idea of sonic ambience. Not particularly well-written, with a few (although not many) glaring omissions, rarely truly fascinating, but never less than interesting and a very useful resource for any fan of modern music, however you define "modern."

The Americans: The National Experience [audio]   by Daniel J. Boorstin, 0 pages Steve Gadd   16 April 1999 It took two months to get through, but this second part of the trilogy offered several fascinating side stories from the first century of United States history.

The AmityVille Horror   by Jay Anson, 269 pages Jeff Gadd   14 July 2002 A True Story of A Haunted House. Read this book and be scared out of your socks. Keep lights on and doors locked tight. If book doesn't scare you call 911 to check your pulse.

The Anatomy of Fascism (2004)   by Robert Paxton, 249 pages James Donahue   06 June 2006 Paxton is at the end of a long career as the primary American expert on French fascism. This is his take on the general phenomenon, with an incredible amount of wisdom on the subject, but also perhaps forgetting how to talk to people outside of the field. More historiographical than historical, but still maintains that difficult balance between provocative and considered.

The Anglican Understanding of the Church   by Paul Avis, 90 pages James Donahue   19 August 2002 Brief and solid.

The Ape That Spoke - Language and the Evolution of the Human Mind   by John McCrone, 288 pages Steven Krise   24 January 2004 A discussion of how self-consciousness, higher emotions, and willful memory scans were built upon the foundations of the animal mind. McCrone believes language played the key role in providing the new organization for these structures, but it isn't clear if he thinks language evolved first for structure and then communication (like Bickerton) or vice versa. Either way uses an illuminating analogy of "nets" to describe brain function.

The Aquitaine Progression   by Robert Ludlum, 644 pages Jeff Gadd   12 September 1999

The Areas of My Expertise (2005)   by John Hodgman, 240 pages Brad Snyder   17 January 2009 Hodgman is best known as PC from the Mac commercials. This is a book of facts. Facts completely made up by Hodgman. He has a curious wit, one that grows on you as you read. Knowing what his voice sounds like added to the experience, making some passages much more funny.

The Arkadians   by Lloyd Alexander, 273 pages A Bennett   12 April 2003 A slanted version of Greece--including familiar yet not-quite-right versions of myths such as the Trojan Horse, woven into the story.

The Art of Fiction   by John Gardner, 224 pages Steven Krise   13 January 2008 Great fiction can make us laugh or cry, in much the way that life can, and it gives us at least the powerful illusion that when we do so we're doing pretty much the same things we do when we laugh at Uncle Herman's jokes, or cry at funerals. Somehow the endlessly recombining elements that make up works of fiction have their roots hooked, it seems, into the universe, or at lesat into the hearts of human beings. Somehow the fictional dream persuades us that it's a clear, sharp, edited version of the dream all around us. Whatever our doubts, we pick up books at train stations, or withdraw into our studies and write them; and the world--or so we imagine--comes alive.

The Art of Living and Other Stories   by John Gardner, 310 pages Steven Krise   13 May 2008 Gardner somehow always manages to get me to care about his characters.

The Art of Travel (2002)   by Alain de Botton, 249 pages James Donahue   21 February 2007 A great collection of essays on travel to places (Barbados, Madrid, Holland, home) with past thinkers (de Maistre, van Gogh, Flaubert, von Humboldt). De Bottom describes the traveler's mindset as one of "receptivity": "We pproach new places with humility. We carry with us no ridig ideas about what is or is not interesting. . . .We are alive to the layers of history beneath the present and take notes and photographs." That is to say, travel lets us be the opposite of our stay-at-home, staid, unreceptive daily selves. Which is what makes travel to tempting and still so DAUNTING! (Read over a series of dog walks in deep snow, almost up to my waist, through the neighborhood here in South Bend.)

The Associate (Audio)   by Philip Margolin, 0 pages Kristin Schrock   20 January 2002 It starts off well, but then it just spirals into a mediocre (and predictable) thriller. Still not a bad way to pass the commute.

The Atomic Bazaar (2007)   by William Langewiesche, 179 pages James Donahue   13 July 2007 Langewiesche continues to be the best writer on contemporary politics with this book about nuclear proliferation after the Cold War. Not only can he write sentences like these: "Diplomacy may help to slow the spread, but it can no more stop the process than it can reverse the progression of time. The nuclearization of the world has become the human condition, and it cannot be changed. Fear of it becomes dangerous when it detracts from realisitic assessments of the terrain." But I believe him. The usual excellent combination here of travelogue/first-hand-anecdote, grasp of the relevant history, layman's science, and political acuity.

The Authentic Adam Smith (2006)   by James Buchan, 145 pages James Donahue   22 January 2007 Annoyed at the ahistorical historiography that too often surrounds the patron saint of capitalism, Buchan reconstructs the original Smith within his Scottish milieu and as an Enlightenment figure more concerned with liberalism and moral philosophy, and not economics or industrialization. (Buchan himself comes from a distinguished Scottish literary family.) Trivia Point: Smith only uses the 'invisible hand' only twice in his entire ouerve.

The Authentic Adam Smith (2007)   by James Buchan, 160 pages James Donahue   18 March 2008 Short, informative, too the point. He didn't even take the diversions I was hoping for.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X   by Malcolm X, 460 pages Steve Gadd   20 March 1996

The Bachman Books   by Stephen King, 923 pages Jeff Gadd   20 December 2002 4 stories from Stephen King in his early years in high school and college. All pretty good. Rage, The Long Walk,Roadwork,and The Running Man. Not as creepy as his later books.

The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1) (1999)   by Lemony Snicket, 162 pages Brad Snyder   30 August 2009 Reading this out loud to my youngest daughter. I'm enjoyed the book, but loved the time with her.

The Bad Place   by Dean R. Koontz, 417 pages Jeff Gadd   30 April 1999

The Ball and the Cross   by G.K. Chesterton, 178 pages James Donahue   25 January 2003 The placid indifference of modern England towards religion is threatened when a Catholic Scotsman and an atheist journalist decide to fight a duel over the honor of the Virgin Mary. Wonderful writing; each sentence is a jewel. Yet the overly allegorical subtitlies were over my head, despite a helpful introduction by Gardner.

The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within   by Erwin Raphael McManus, 160 pages Brad Snyder   11 December 2006 A 160 page stream of conscious-type sermon about painting outside the lines in the faith. It ranks one great big yawn.

The Barbarism of Berlin (1914)   by G. K. Chesterton, 94 pages James Donahue   22 March 2006 which is more surprising? That G. K. was one of the first British intellects to write a jingoistic, one-sided blast against Germany to support the war effort, or that in this book (as always with G. K.) there is a touch of truth in his bombastic acerbity.

The Beatles : The Biography   by Bob Spitz, 992 pages Brad Snyder   26 March 2006 Any true fan of rock 'n' roll must acknowledge the influence and legend of the Beatles--the band that was turned down by every record label at the time, and then recorded at first only as an audition. Sometimes, though, it's best to leave legends alone. This book, while mostly interesting, is very depressing. It's all here, from the mundane Lennon family history, through the ultimate drug-, financial-, and ego-induced decline. Unfortunately, there is no redemption in this story. The individual members were never able tap into the greatness they enjoyed as a group, leaving us with Paul's Wings, John's forays into the avante-garde, George's collaborations as a back-up artist, and Ringo playing the role of "Mr. Conductor" on Thomas the Tank Engine.

The Beautiful and Damned   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 449 pages Kristin Schrock   06 January 2004 Finally. The story of an idle, affluent couple who find that they are living outside of their means. They were beautiful and apparently damned. There's some drinking and lamenting of one's fate. Recommended vocabulary: raillery, bilphism, retogravure, maxixe, brummagem, pusillanimous, sempiternal, umbrageousness (side note: don't think I didn't notice, Ms. Gephart, how you sidled in and took fourth place. I thought I was firmly entrenched. I'll be watching you.)

The Best American Comics (2006)   by Harvey Pekar (ed), 273 pages James Donahue   11 December 2006 No superheroes, no 1950s humor. Think satire, firmly rooted in anti-Bushism and mall-ternative culture. I enjoyed much of this collection, but in the end would have appreciated a bit more diversity. Pekar seems a bit too interested in making comics a "real art form" to give the topic the lack of seriousness that it needed.

The Best of Granta Travel   by various, 408 pages Steve Gadd   20 October 2002 Paul Theroux's homage to the New York City subway, Salman Rushdie eats the "eggs of love" in Nicaragua, Nicholas Shakespeare searches for the reclusive leader of the Shining Path in Peru, Ryszard Kapuscinski helps carry a dead miner home for burial in Poland. A bit heavier fare than most travel writing I've read, so I learned some things as well as hearing about some good adventures.

The Best of Outside   by Outside Magazine, 416 pages Steve Gadd   15 October 2006 This magazine published the articles which later became the bestsellers "The Perfect Storm" and "Into Thin Air." This collection includes those articles and a few other hits, but overall it was a disappointment.

The Bird Yard   by Julia Wallis Martin, 340 pages Mike Gadd   09 October 2002 What a treat it is to get a book that's this good when you're not expecting much of anything. Rather creepy and extremely British. I almost needed an english/american dictionary to figure out what they were talking about.

The Birth Book (1994)   by William Sears, M.D. & Martha Sears, R.N., 269 pages A Bennett   28 January 2006 Much less textbookish reading here. Though the book is written by avowed hippie/Green pushers of home, midwife-directed & unmedicated births, it's got a lot of information to offer, as well as insight and knowledge. However, one would not expect to find that in a book that so frequently cites scientific studies/research and encourages parents to question doctors and common hospital practices (how would you feel going up against an MD over whether your partner should or should not have a C-Section, an IV--or, any labor intervention?), discouragingly, the book, written in 1994 and in its 20th printing, has NOT ONCE been revised (only repackaged) in the last 11 years. Ergo, I think it is a good book with sound principles and well-documented opinion/thought and science, yet, that same Science tells me 11 years is a long time ago.

The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914 (2003)   by C. E. Bayly, 536 pages James Donahue   12 February 2008 A very thought-provoking global history of the "long" nineteenth century, even perhaps worthy of toppling Hobsbawm's masterpiece. Two of the best aspects for me: making causal connections between Asia and North America, often with Europe moving back and forth between them; and his theory of "empires of religion" has sparked new lines of thought about the my own investigations into the internationalist and ecumenical movement. I need to think through this some more.

The Blind Side   by Michael Lewis, 288 pages Micaela Larkin   15 January 2007 This book chronicles the personal story of Michael Oher and a engaging account of the rise of the position of left tackle. I loved it.

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game   by Michael Lewis, 299 pages Jonathan Misirian   30 November 2006 Lewis weaves two intersecting stories: the rise in prominence and worth of the NFL’s Left Offensive Tackle and the rise of the most heralded high school player to play left tackle Michael Oher. Oher’s story is inspiring, for very few have survived the depths that were his life. An excellent read.

The Blind Watchmaker   by Richard Dawkins, 453 pages Steve Gadd   28 November 2007 Dawkins' answer to William Paley's argument that complexity in nature requires the existence of a designer begins by making a stronger case than Paley. He describes the intricately fine-tuned echolocation used by bats, employing sophisticated techniques developed for sonar and radar. How could such a wonderful system appear by chance? The answer, of course, is by degrees. Chance plays an essential but minor role; selection is the primary force. To the classical objection of a complex organ like the eye having to appear all at once to be useful, he presents a parade of animals -- single-celled organism, worm, mollusk, squid -- that in fact do have eyes of progressing levels of complexity and acuity. He tends to belabor his points, often writing a whole paragraph where a "vice versa" would do, but many examples of plants and animals keep the writing colorful.

The Blue Flower   by Penelope Fitzgerald, 226 pages James Donahue   13 March 2003 Historical fiction which covers the youth of the Romantic poet Novalis (whose "Hymns to the Night" rank among my favorite poems). The drama centers upon his devotion to a young girl who dies of tb at sixteen. Novalis is an intriguing enough figure to hold my interest, yet unfortunately the book wanders away from him to the diseased affianced. With that wandering went my attention span.

The Blue Hour   by T. Jefferson Parker, 480 pages Mike Gadd   13 March 2004 A good, creepy story. Nice pace with good characters.

The Blue Nowhere   by Jeffery Deaver, 505 pages Steven Krise   10 January 2004 Psychopathic cracker, Phate, is using his revolutionary backdoor software, Trapdoor, to gain access to his victim's lives in his Real World version of a deadly MUD game. Who the hell is Shawn, you'll wonder.

The Blue Religion: New stories about cops, criminals and the chase (2008)   by Edited by Michael Connelly, 374 pages Jonathan Misirian   23 May 2008 Last time I read a short story, probably high school. This collection of police short stories is a great introduction to the genre. 16 different authors assist the anthology in provide the reader with sharp writing, witty dialogue, and serviceable plots.

The Blue Sword   by Robin McKinley, 272 pages A Bennett   30 December 2003 A time-worn favorite, victim of many reads and re-reads. This book reads like a list of ingredients for (nearly) everything I want from a novel. Adventure and 'the great superhero reveal' not the least among them. Why don't the men on this list read anything written by women? Is it some sort of taboo? Why not, in 2004, a new resolution/challenge? At least three books by women authors? We, the XX contingent of gaddsbookz!, often enough read cross-genderedly; male authors and protagonists.

The Bone Collector   by Jeffery Deaver, 410 pages Jeff Gadd   11 September 2001

The Bone Collector   by Jeffrey Deaver, 427 pages Steven Krise   05 July 2002 A New York crime drama. The most interesting thing about it was the emphasis and detail spent on forensic procedures. I guess there was a twist or two at the end, too, but one expects that from this genre. The twist would be not having a twist.

The Bonesetter's Daughter   by Amy Tan, 403 pages Jaqi Ross   25 September 2004 Mediocre read about a Chinese family in three generations. Typical Amy Tan.

The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics   by Susan Harding, 312 pages James Donahue   06 November 2002

The Book of Kills   by Ralph McInery, 275 pages James Donahue   29 August 2002 I'm not sure if I liked this latest installment in the series, as a ND history student is killed.

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting   by Milan Kundera, 237 pages Steve Gadd   04 October 1997

The Book on the Bookshelf   by Henry Petroski, 252 pages Steve Gadd   14 January 2004 The bookshelf would seem a mundane object of a design history, even for an author who has written readable accounts of the pencil and paper clip. While not as awe-inspiring as the history of bridge building, this book manages to weave in the technological development of the book, as well as touching on library history. This may sound even more dull, but readers of The Name of the Rose will recall the conflict between preserving old books and making them available. Books in medieval libraries were actually chained to the bookshelf. Touching on shelving practices, Petroski shows that books used to be shelved with the spines to the back. Books came to be printed with an extra title page which could be removed and attached to the outside as an identifier, a tradition maintained today with the "fly-title" page. Thanks to Tony for the gift.

The Bourne Identity   by Robert Ludlum, 535 pages Steven Krise   03 May 2003 Despite the paucity of similarities between this book and the movie of the same name, I couldn't help picturing "Jason Bourne" as Matt Damon...good thing it wasn't Carrot Top that got the part for the movie.

The Box Man   by Kobo Abe, 178 pages Jaqi Ross   25 July 2004 The nature of identity itself is the ostensible subject of this bizarrely fascinating existential novel from the great Japanese fiction writer and dramatist Kobo Abe. In the story, a man decides to give up the self that he has been all his life to attain a state of blissful anonymity. He leaves his world behind and moves onto the streets of Tokyo. He puts a large box over his head, cuts a hole for his eyes. It is as strange as it sounds, and it's also a terrible read. NOT recommended.

The Brethren   by John Grisham, 366 pages Steven Krise   12 February 2002 A good enough book about politics, extortion, and government intrigue. Why do all of Grisham's books begin with an article, usually 'The'?

The Brethren   by John Grisham, 440 pages Steve Gadd   07 May 2004 Say what you will about John "The" Grisham, he's reliable for a quick read. Just compare the numbers on my last two entries: eye-opening, memorable travelogue/exposé, 6.5 pages per day; page-turning, forgettable, made-for-movies dirty lawyer conspiracy story, 88 pages per day.

The Bridges of Madison County   by Robert James Waller, 171 pages Steve Gadd   02 March 1997

The Broke Diaries   by Angela Nissel, 212 pages Julie Gephart   30 November 2003 Very funny journal-style book about the life of a truly broke college student. I can never again complain about having no money in college.

The Broken Window   by Jeffery Deaver, 415 pages Steven Krise   06 July 2008 Rhyme and Sachs catch a bad guy who uses "identity theft" to frame and murder people.

The Brother’s Karamazov   by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 912 pages Jonathan Misirian   17 December 2007 One of my perennial favorites by FD. Every year at the advent of the first frost, I pick up a Dostoyevsky novel. I had wanted to read The Brothers last year, but the parallels to my life, were too striking (3 brothers –one in ministry, one in business –and the other in law enforcement- a recently deceased father, and wounds too fresh), and so prevented me from completing this masterpiece.

The Brothers Karamazov   by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 940 pages Steve Gadd   29 December 1997

The Brothers Karamazov   by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 940 pages Steve Gadd   08 December 2006

The Brothers Karamazov (1880)   by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 940 pages James Donahue   31 December 2006 Thanks to Steve for reviving my interest in an old Christmas habit from college!

The Bush Tragedy (2008)   by Jacob Weisberg, 272 pages Jonathan Misirian   08 April 2008 Excellent read. What separates this book from the numerous others that focus on the failure of Bush is that the author isn’t just putting forth a well-worn screed against the president. Weisberg covered Bush as a news reporter and has a great amount of respect for the man. That being said, this book delves into his psyche and really shows how little there is to be found. Bush, as we all know, isn’t an ideologue in any area, but rather is shown to be the result of familial forces, a brash will, and a center that is vaguely defined. Strongly recommended.

The Buzz On Beer   by Paul Love and John Craddock III, 219 pages Steven Krise   28 July 2009 A book on beer written, as far as I can tell, for 12 year old boys - judging from the juvenile humour, the goofy fonts, and the pictures on every page (yes, there were pictures on every single fucking page). I actually feel like I know less about beer for having read this book.

The Cabinet of Curiosities   by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, 466 pages Mike Gadd   04 January 2003 Contrary to brother Steve’s opinion these guys know how to write a great book. They’ve done three of my all-time favorites. This one took a little longer to develop but by the time it reached the big finish I was fully engaged. No predictable plot twists or lame story lines, just strong characters and a thrilling finish.

The Cabinet of Curiosities   by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, 626 pages Jeff Gadd   19 August 2003 A very great plot with the most part the same characters in the book Relic. A very creepy killer with a strange way to prolong his life, by using something from his victim's body,while their still alive. Made my skin crawl.

The Camel Club   by David Baldacci, 593 pages Steve Gadd   29 April 2007 A serviceable spy thriller, in which loose ends were avoided with increasingly implausible plot turns.

The Cannibal Galaxy   by Cynthia Ozick, 161 pages Jaqi Ross   28 June 2004 The main character, Joseph, is a Jewish-Frenchman living in the middle of America. He had faced many hardships during the first decades of his life. When he finally is able to overcome them and enjoy the blessings of his emancipation, he cannot let go of his own sense of failure. The relationships he has in the latter part of his life are not fufilling because he focuses on the lack in these people, not thier ability. Joseph fails to value people as individuals. As a result, he is destined to be ordinary and unhappy instead of trying to be extraordinary. At the end of the novel he is given a chance to change his outlook on life. This novel was an easy read and full of beautiful, descriptive imagery.

The Captains Brotherhood of War Book II   by W. E. B. Griffin, 406 pages Jeff Gadd   03 October 2003 About Captains in the Korean War and their using of tanks that they commanded in War.

The Captive Mind   by Czeslaw Milosz, 251 pages James Donahue   03 July 2003 Searing book which examines why some collaborated with the criminal regimes of the Eastern Bloc while Milosz fell into exile status. Sympathetic and challenging given my own flaws in this area.

The Castle   by Franz Kafka, 417 pages Steve Gadd   29 January 1999 A sprawling, disorienting, and unfinished opus. Camus has an enlightening essay on Kafka's work in the collection The Myth of Sisyphus.

The Catcher In The Rye   by J.D. Salinger, 214 pages Erik Bauer   10 April 2001 A Cynical Masterpiece. I'm not sure that it deserves all the controversy that surrounds it, but it certainly has a vivid description of a young punk that needs a good kick in the butt.

The Catcher in the Rye   by J. D. Salinger, 214 pages Steve Gadd   14 December 2004 My name is Holden Caulfield and I am a famous literary character. That kills me. If you want to hear about the madman stuff that made me famous you can read this book. I am sure you will get a bang out of it. Certainly you will. The critics sure seem to love it, but they are all a bunch of phonies. There is nothing I hate more than those goddam phony hot-shots.

The Catcher in the Rye   by J D Salinger, 192 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2007 That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose.

The Catholic Marriage Manual (1958)   by Rev. George A. Kelley, 223 pages Micaela Larkin   28 May 2007 prior to his battles for the Church

The Cave   by Anne McLean Matthews, 311 pages Jeff Gadd   01 November 2002 A woman terrifying experience with a diabolical killer,who waits in a cabin she rented and plays cat and mouse with her to the end.

The Chamber   by John Grisham, 676 pages Jeff Gadd   24 March 1999

The Charterhouse of Parma   by Stendhal, 488 pages James Donahue   24 June 2003 Stendhal writes a novel in which the hero is passive to the intriguings and politics of a counter-revolutionary age; never has a hero done so little and been less responsible for his fate. Stendhal writes a novel that bitterly satrizies the Holy Alliance with all of the fervor of his liberalist heart. Stendhal writes a novel which sets the standard for 'realism' in the novel. Stendhal writes a ponderous, plodding novel.

The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956)   by C. S. Lewis, 1583 pages James Donahue   05 April 2007 This is the end result of five months' worth of bedtime stories. I've never read the Chronicles before. In fact, growing up, I never even heard of them or knew anyone who read them. (Probably one of the top ten signs that you were not raised evangelical.) They were better than I thought, even if overly-allegorical and downright racist at times. The kids loved them - really touched their imaginations and made bedtime reading of "grown-up books" a must for all of us.

The Church and the Secular Order in Reformation Thought   by John Tonkin, 219 pages James Donahue   17 August 2002 An excellent summary on Reformation ecclesiology. Tonkin is especially interested in questions of corporativity/individualism and formalism/anti-institutionalism. The bulk of the analysis centers on Luther, Calvin, and Simons.

The Church in Africa   by Bengt Sundkler, 1040 pages James Donahue   03 August 2005 A very impressive capstone to a career devoted to the subject.

The Clan of the Cave Bear   by Jean M. Auel, 468 pages Julie Gephart   24 November 2002 By the time I was reading the last page, I was already walking toward the computer to order the rest of the series. Good stuff, about the early society of hunter-gatherer cave dwellers.

The Climb   by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, 297 pages Steve Gadd   11 November 2006 Boukreev was a villain in Jon Krakauer's bestselling account of the 1996 Everest disaster. He was described as irresponsibly climbing without supplemental oxygen, and descending from the summit ahead of clients, "extremely questionable behavior for a guide." Boukreev here defends his behavior, providing a riveting account of the tragedy from his point of view.

The Closers   by Michael Connelly, 416 pages Mike Gadd   20 August 2005 Harry Bosch is back at the police force working 'open/unsolved' cases. He finally makes it through a whole book without his life falling apart in the process.

THE COFFIN DANCER   by Jeffery Deaver, 529 pages Jeff Gadd   24 October 2000

The Coffin Dancer   by Jeffery Deaver, 532 pages Steven Krise   25 May 2004 Rhyme and Sachs catch the bad guy. I think I may have finally read too much Deaver since I can pick out which characters are going to be part of the twist almost as soon as they're introduced. It's always an enjoyable read regardless.

The Cold Moon   by Jeffery Deaver, 370 pages Steven Krise   01 August 2006 I think the old boy has gone daffy trying to fit in the twists.

The Collector   by John Fowles, 288 pages Steve Gadd   08 February 1999 An unsettling narrative by the author of the more interesting The French Lieutenant's Woman.

The Collector   by John Fowles, 255 pages Steven Krise   16 February 2009 Very disturbing.

The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother   by James McBride, 291 pages Julie Gephart   28 September 2002 Excellent biography of an orthodox Jewish girl who married a black man in 1942. Perspective alternates between her miserable childhood with an abusive father and the author's childhood as his mother raised 12 children on her own after the death of her husband, living unflinchingly as the only white person in their neighborhood through the height of Civil Rights and Black Power.

The Color Purple   by Alice Walker, 295 pages Julie Gephart   28 May 2002 Aside from the African missionary stories, I heartily enjoy this book with each reading.

The Comedians (1966)   by Graham Greene, 287 pages James Donahue   18 May 2007 A disturbing novel about a group of whites in Haiti during Papa Doc;s revolution. (Think a Carribbean "The Quiet American.") Despite the hardened cyncism of the author, others on the island have more heroic, less detached reactions to the island;s fate. But which is in the end better? Because Greene himself cannot decide, its hard to tell.

The Complete Father Brown   by G.K. Chesterton, 704 pages James Donahue   19 March 2003 Many mysteries all solved by the clever parson. Vivre la spring break.

The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing   by Dave Miller, 248 pages Steven Krise   07 January 2003 There's not really too much new to be covered in an introductory handbook of homebrewing that I haven't come across yet. Miller's anal, detail oriented focus, pathological hatred of hazy beer, and denigration of malt extract brewing and dry yeast is a sharp contrast to Papazian's happier-go-lucky "relax, don't worry, have a homebrew" attitude. Miller seemed to insist on making homebrewing more difficult than it need be. However, I think this is largely a product of the times the book was written (1988). The discussion of malting, fermentation and beer judging benefitted from his unique style. Not a bad read. Papazian is still the homebrew god, in my opinion, though.

The Complete Stories   by Franz Kafka, 460 pages Steve Gadd   14 December 1999 As good as existential dystopian literature gets.

The Complete Stories   by Flannery O'Connor, 572 pages Brad Snyder   14 June 2006 O'Connor's stories are captivating snapshots of real people, with all their haughtiness and conceit on full display. The endings are often sudden and violent, and yet there are also glimpses of redemption. Hauntingly beautiful.

The Conformist   by Alberto Moravia, 376 pages Tony Pisarenkov   01 November 2009 Though I've seen the movie twice, reading the book reminded me how much I didn't remember about it. I initially had some misgivings about Moravia's style, but in the end it worked.

The Connecting Church   by Randy Frazie, 248 pages Jonathan Misirian   29 March 2006 Presenting evidence from anthropology along with a pop-sociological bashing of suburbia, Frazie shows how the Church, through intentional small groups, can change the isolating trends affecting many today.

The Constant Princess   by Phillipa Gregory, 390 pages Micaela Larkin   14 September 2006

The Construction of Nationhood (1997)   by Adrian Hastings, 209 pages James Donahue   30 January 2008 Finally I found a book about nationalism that is able to speak about Christian nationalism with insight!

The Convert   by Margaret Culkin Banning, 313 pages Micaela Larkin   08 August 2006 catholic fiction of the fifties-- I'm not sure it would convert me to the one holy true Church as Colbert would say!

The Corrections   by Jonathan Franzen, 568 pages Tony Pisarenkov   17 February 2005 Postmodern dysfunctional family novel par excellence, and so much more. Franzen is a brilliant social observer, and leaves no corner of our existence unturned. So emotinally vivid that it's difficult to read at times, but on balance, very powerful and well worth the effort. Thank you, Steve, for the gift.

The Corrections   by Jonathan Franzen, 566 pages Steve Gadd   16 March 2005 A powerful novel that manages to live up to its considerable hype. Franzen's knack for prose makes the character-driven story engrossing without needing much of a plot engine.

The Corrections   by Jonathan Franzen, 568 pages Kristin Schrock   24 August 2005 Boo, Jonathan Franzen for your bloated novel and for your pretentious back flap photo. It's a multi-P.O.V. novel--but only two of the four are interesting--and even then we're distracted by seemingly non-sequitir plot interruptions (Lithuania and stocks?). And doesn't help that the book is riddled with sentences like this: "....did the extent of the correction she was undergoing reveal itself."--we have a title! Amazon.com Stats: 8th grade reading level, the word "corrections" is used 293 times (that's about once every two pages)! Back to the shelf, Franzen!

The Cossacks   by Leo Tolstoy, 159 pages Steve Gadd   23 May 2000 It took a while to find this novelette, but the enjoyable story and touching portrait of these people made it worth the search.

The Courtship of Princess Leia (1994)   by Dave Wolverton, 403 pages James Donahue   30 October 2007 Did you know that Leia almost married Prince Isolder instead of Han Solo? (Read with Duncan during a long ride on the Empire Builder.)

The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation   by Richard Fletcher, 183 pages Tony Pisarenkov   18 July 2007 Informative, but not very well written.

The Crossing   by Cormac McCarthy, 426 pages Steve Gadd   22 July 1997

The Crossing   by Cormac McCarthy, 426 pages Steve Gadd   09 August 2000 The introspective and tragic sequel. Another young cowboy experiences the merciless world of unforseen consequences.

The Crying of Lot 49   by Thomas Pynchon, 138 pages Kristin Schrock   18 July 2002 Yeah, I have no idea. I understand the basic plot--but then there's all this MEANINGFUL stuff that just goes way over my head. Something about conspiracies and revelations and the post office. Oh, and, of course, the legacy of America. Anybody read this one? Want to give me a few hints? Lots of big words, too: hierophany, nerdigrised, stelliferous, harquebus, philatelist

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time   by Mark Haddon, 226 pages Mike Gadd   30 January 2004 A superb little story written from the point of view of an autistic 15 year old boy. He finds the neighbor's dog has been killed in the front yard and he decides to write a mystery story where he solves the crime. He doesn't understand jokes or emotions and he's not capable of lying. When he gets stressed he counts to 50 while cubing each number in his head. You get a really good feel for what it's like to be autistic.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time   by Mark Haddon, 226 pages Steve Gadd   09 October 2007

The Curse of Chalion   by Lois McMaster Bujold, 502 pages Julie Gephart   05 July 2003 This book was foisted upon me by a co-worker, but it wasn’t too bad. A physically handicapped tutor finds himself in the middle of court politics and intrigue.

The Da Vinci Code   by Dan Brown, 454 pages Mike Gadd   07 July 2004 There aren't many author's that I read that do as much research as Mr. Brown. It's hard to find the line where true history crosses over into the story he created. Not as good as 'Angels and Demons', but at least the ending didn't involve any serious eye-rolling.

The Da Vinci Code   by Dan Brown, 454 pages Steve Gadd   08 July 2004 Umberto Eco on speed. The story is so gripping, you blow right past the clunkers of prose and unlikely plot devices. A novel of esoterica, mystery, and conspiracy for the MTV generation.

The Da Vinci Code   by Dan Brown, 454 pages Jaqi Ross   11 October 2004 A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. I'm not into murder mysteries, but the research that went into this historically accurate (at times) book made it an entertaining and quick read.

The Da Vinci Code   by Dan Brown, 454 pages Jonathan Misirian   31 January 2005 I admit it, I came to this book with great skepticism, and immediately was drawn into the simple linear plot. An intriguing read.

The Dark Bride: A Novel   by Laura Restrepo, 368 pages Jaqi Ross   01 November 2003 Using a series of subtly textured interviews, Restrepo’s journalist protagonist mines a rich trove of characters—fortune hunters, guerrilla chiefs, refinery workers, and prostitutes—who, together with the narrator, attempt to decipher the impulsive and mysterious life of the young Sayonara, the unlikely heroine of The Dark Bride.

The Dark Side of the Island   by Jack Higgins, 151 pages Jeff Gadd   15 September 2001

The Darker Side Generations of Horror   by John Pelan, 386 pages Jeff Gadd   16 September 2002

The Darwin Awards 4: Intelligent Design (2006)   by Wendy Northcutt, 336 pages Brad Snyder   16 May 2009 After years of getting "Darwin Awards" spam in my inbox, this book didn't make me so much as giggle.

The Day of the Jackal   by Frederick Forsyth, 495 pages Jeff Gadd   27 January 2003 The Jackal a very clever assassin, gets caught by a very clever detective. Very interesting and greatly writting by the author. The Jackal's target is President Charles de Gaulle of France,hired by the SAO.

The Dead   by James Joyce, 59 pages Steve Gadd   05 October 2008 A cunning format for a story: dry, dinner party dialog for the first half making the reflective, melancholic second half all the more effective. "She was walking on before him so lightly and so erect that he longed to run after her noiselessly, catch her by the shoulders and say something foolish and affectionate into her ear. She seemed to him so frail that he longed to defend her against something and then to be alone with her. Moments of their secret life together burst like stars upon his memory. A heliotrope envelope was lying beside his breakfast-cup and he was caressing it with his hand. Birds were twittering in the ivy and the sunny web of the curtain was shimmering along the floor: he could not eat for happiness. They were standing on the crowded platform and he was placing a ticket inside the warm palm of her glove. He was standing with her in the cold, looking in through a grated window at a man making bottles in a roaring furnace."

The Death and Life of Bobby Z   by Don Winslow, 308 pages Mike Gadd   03 April 2004 Slow start, decent finish. Not one of his better stories.

The Death of Sybil Bolton   by Dennis McAuliffe, Jr., 307 pages Micaela Larkin   05 April 2006 Washington post writer with a penchant for alcohol explores the murder of his Osage Indian grandmother in 1925. The memoir part is a little much, but the author does a nice job exposing the rise and fall of the Osage Nation in the early twentieth century and the systematic killing of oil "rich" Indians.

The Death of Vishnu   by Manil Suri, 304 pages Jaqi Ross   01 October 2003 Started as a short story in 1995. Inspired by the death of an actual man named Vishnu who had lived (and died) on the steps of the Bombay apartment building in Suri grew up.

The Deception of the Emerald Ring (2006)   by Lauren Willig, 386 pages Jennifer Dear   16 April 2007

The Deep Blue Alibi   by Paul Levine, 467 pages Kristin Schrock   07 March 2006 Enjoyable airplane book--he's a semi-sleazy lawyer, she's a blue-blood. Can they join forces to solve a murder? Well, of course.

The Deep End of the Ocean   by MS. Jacquelyn Mitchard, 434 pages Mike Gadd   02 June 2005 I only read this because it was supposed to be the most favorite book of a friend of mine. She wanted me to read the story of the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy squished her but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I caved on this one. I can happily give it back. Part 2 of this book was better than part one, but not by much. The first half dealt with a family whose 3 year old simply disappears while they are in a hotel lobby. I really don't need to see the depths and levels of depression they all go through. I'll pass on the movie, too.

The Democratization of American Christianity   by Nathan Hatch, 304 pages James Donahue   28 August 2002 A classic text in its field. Explores how revolutionary politics changed American Protestantism into something quite unique on the world stage. Specific topics: how love for the common man spurred anti-intellectualism, anti-clericalism, and anti-denominationalism; how revivalism and the disestablishment of religion led to endless fracturing and cults of personality; the ties between Jeffersonian politics and Baptist policies. Shows that fundamentalism, charismaticism, and non-denominationalism are not new in America, but have centuries-old roots. I was surprised that many voices from the 18th century could have spoken in Cedarville last weekend.

The Descent   by Jeff Long, 450 pages Jeff Gadd   20 July 2001

The Desire of the Nations (1996)   by Oliver O'Donovan, 288 pages James Donahue   15 November 2007 The best theology book I've read in years. O'Donovan re-presents here the grand tradition of Protestant political thought in coherent and persuasive form. Highly recommended.

The Devil   by Leo Tolstoy, 52 pages Jonathan Misirian   13 May 2005 Tolstoy's short stories are worth reading over and over again. The Devil is a study in the psychological affects of lust.

The Devil in the White City   by Erik Larson, 390 pages James Donahue   08 June 2005 Read this gem while on vacation in the Smokies. Larson tells two stories: one about the gleaming success of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and another about a mass murderer who lived on its borders and preyed on newly-deracinated girls in the big city. I preferred the former, but Jen preferred the latter. Worthwhile read.

The Devil of Nanking   by Mo Hayder, 363 pages Mike Gadd   06 May 2005 The author of some of the most disturbing material I have ever read takes on a subject matter that doesn't need embellishing to make it horrible. We get a two-sided story here with both present day Japan and historical China represented. The writer weaves a couple of characters through her rendition of this tragic event.

The Devil's Advocate   by Morris West, 430 pages Micaela Larkin   26 April 2006

The Devil's TearDrop   by Jeffery Deaver, 451 pages Jeff Gadd   18 November 2002 Just when you think they caught the bad guys,their are more twist to the game. A man using a Uzi with a silencer,leaving no clues behind,is killing a lot of people.Interesting how the police stopped them at the end.

The Devil's Teardrop   by Jeffery Deaver, 451 pages Steven Krise   28 June 2004 Parker and Jackie/Margaret catch the bad guy...eventually. Lincoln Rhyme only makes a cameo in this one.

The Diamond Age   by Neal Stephenson, 499 pages Steve Gadd   14 September 2003 Stephenson paints a rich portrait of the nanotech future. The big scheme of the story was disorganized, especially toward the end. Whose side is the Mouse Army on, anyway?

The Diamond in the Window   by Jane Langton, 242 pages Julie Gephart   22 September 2002 Book for young readers starring a boy and a girl. Girl spends the whole book being afraid, worried, and dreaming of romantic stories, while she relies on her YOUNGER brother to be brave, resourceful, and able to read maps. Plus, the 'plot' was only a love song to the old Concord transcendentalists.

The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels (1939-1945)   by Joseph Goebbels, 1489 pages James Donahue   28 July 2003 Goebbels was third in command of the Third Reich, and in control of all media and film. (Also the subject of my next research paper for school.) These diaries are exquisitely detailed, giving one an excellent window into Hitler's regime. Three bizarre facts: 1) Goebbels had a severely clubbed foot, yet never mentions it even once in his diaries, although he does discount several other people as "genetically inferior" for being handicapped; 2) He loved and admired the movie "Gone With the Wind"; 3) This quote: "The greatest propaganda of any state is the news; this is always the case no matter what state."

The Dictionary of Failed Relationships: 26 Tales of Love Gone Wrong   by Meredith Broussard, Editor, 296 pages Jaqi Ross   25 July 2004 Broussard got the inspiration for this collection from having her heart trampled on. The result of that break-up (which she describes in the introduction) is this collection of 26 stories, an A-Z primer on heartbreak by a group of talented young women writers. The focus is on young authors, and unfortunately, their talent doesn't exactly shine. Not recommended.

The Divine Invasion   by Philip K Dick, 238 pages Steven Krise   12 September 2008 Yahweh was forced off the earth into hiding under a mountain on a distant planet where he messes with Herb Asher's audio recordings. He also infects Rybys Rommey with MS and then impregnates her - all in an attempt to get smuggled back onto earth in utero so he can battle his arch-nemesis Belial. Yeah.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly   by Jean-Dominique Bauby, 132 pages Steve Gadd   29 August 1999 Written by a man who, following a stroke, could only communicate by blinking one eye.

The Dobe !Kung   by Richard B. Lee, 157 pages Steve Gadd   30 August 1998 Guess what: the hunter-gatherer people of the Kalahari desert have more free time than we do in the 'developed' world. This fascinating anthropology study is an easy read, and a good temporary escape from industrialized life.

The Dominion of the Dead   by Robert Pogue Harrison, 159 pages James Donahue   15 July 2004 Harrison is a fascinating writer interested in the cultural archeology of words and concepts. In this book he examines the way in which the dead shape us, have claims on us (both psychologically and culturally) and how culture drifts awry when it has no room for its dead, when it separates the living from the dead, and when the dead can no longer speak through us. Highly recommended.

The Door to December   by Dean R. Koontz, 498 pages Jeff Gadd   30 December 1999

The Downsizing of America   by The New York Times, 236 pages Steve Gadd   14 November 2002 As much as I enjoy the newspaper, this "Special Report" left me wanting. It was little more than a touchy-feely portrait of folks who have been adversely affected by America's modern layoff culture. The authors mention economists who describe layoffs as part of an efficient economic system, but do nothing to develop or refute that view. By now most of us can probably look in the mirror to see the face of the layoff economy, leaving no need for this book.

The Dragon Queen   by Alice Borchardt, 473 pages Julie Gephart   28 April 2002 "Hello, Ms. Borchardt? This is my friend Segue. I don't believe you two have met." The premise is interesting, casting Guinevere as a powerful warrior of the ancient Celts, but this book was so full of unexplained setting jumps and free-ranging pronouns that I kept finding myself leafing back to look for missing pages.

the Dramatist   by Ken Bruen, 242 pages Jonathan Misirian   11 August 2006 The fourth installment in the Jack Taylor detective series, by crime-noir writer Ken Bruen. Somewhat disappointed by the now too-formulaic narrative development, yet Bruen’s style continues to impress. Sparse and acerbic, Bruen heroically brings the surprisingly sympathetic character of Jack Taylor to life.

The Dream Drugstore   by J Allan Hobson, 333 pages Steven Krise   18 August 2003 "In this extraordinary volume, Hobson links the mental changes that are common to dreaming, psychosis, and the actions of psychedelic drugs..." using his 3-dimensional AIM model. A truly interesting book in that Hobson actually addresses how changes in brain state link to changes in the *experience* of consciousness. Highly recommended to any interested in mind-brain studies.

The Eagle and the Raven   by Pauline Gedge, 744 pages Julie Gephart   23 December 2003 “Three hours after the governor took all hope away with him, just as the sun touched the horizon with fiery fingers, a woman dropped her bundle and pointed north, screaming. A dark, low mass that was not an evening mist filled all the fields, and the last of the light flickered on swords as they were drawn. Boudicca, and death, had come.” Sadly, there were very few triumphant moments in this 30 year saga of Rome crushing Britannia.

The Early History of God   by Mark S Smith, 197 pages Steven Krise   08 July 2003 Circa 1100 BCE, Israelite and Caananite culture are indistinguishable in terms of language and material culture. Smith traces the differentiation of Israelite religion and culture from its Caananite source culminating in the development of Israelite monotheism during the post-exilic period.

The Eaters of the Dead   by Michael Crichton, 211 pages Steven Krise   27 July 2002 Crichton''s ''re-telling'' of Beowulf. Working on the premise that led to the discovery of Troy and the Hittites (namely that many myths have some historical event grounding them), Crichton uses a 10th century Arabic text about an encounter an emissary from the Caliph of Baghdad had with Vikings in Russia to construct the 'factual' events that may have been the foundation for ''Beowulf''. Read through to the end for an intriguing hypothesis on who Grendel really was. Should be a treat for any Beowulf fans.

The Edge of Justice   by Clinton McKinzie, 420 pages Mike Gadd   27 August 2003 The cop in this story likes to rockclimb on the side. We are treated to some authentic sounding climbing techniques amid the story.

The Edge of Sadness   by Edwin O'Connor, 328 pages Micaela Larkin   08 September 2005

The Edible Woman   by Margaret Atwood, 312 pages Kristin Schrock   09 June 2003 All the Atwoodisms are here: intelligent woman, satirical socio-economic observations, profound metaphors. The problem? It's incredibly, incredibly boring. I kept thinking, Mags, what's the haps? I was relieved to discover that this was her first novel. So she got better. Maybe I'll bring it up when I SEE her in Canada: So, Mags, your first book, not so hot. What happened?

The Edifice Complex: How the rich and powerful shape the world   by Deyan Sudjic, 384 pages Jonathan Misirian   06 May 2006 Sudjic, an European architectural writer, displays his skills in this inviting and intriguing overview of the role that architecture plays in our culture and society. A mixture of architectural biography as well as a behind the scenes look at famous design competitions, Sudjic’s acerbic wit is evident in this engaging book

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test   by Tom Wolfe, 414 pages Steven Krise   07 September 2005 That was fuckin' trippy...hehe.

The Elegant Universe   by Brian Greene, 448 pages Steven Krise   13 October 2002 Starting with a chapter long overview of Special Relativity, General Relativity, and Quantum Mechanics, the author goes on to explore the details, implications, and possible future of the cutting edge of theoretical physics, superstring/M-theory, which purports to unify these disparate branches of modern physics into a single grandly elegant theoretical framework. Greene uses an easy to read style and simple profound analogies to help the reader get a grasp of the current best candidate for that holy grail of modern physics, the theory of everything.

The Elixir of Youth   by Gillian Bradshaw, 220 pages Micaela Larkin   08 November 2006 limits of science... in a contemporary mystery by a classical historian

The Elsewhere Community   by Hugh Kenner, 155 pages Tony Pisarenkov   24 February 2004 A collection of essays, originally created as lectures for Canadian Radio, loosely centered around the idea of self-imposed exile and its importance to the work of poets. Some entertaining anecdotes of the author's meetings with famous poets (Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliott, William Carols Williams), but little really enlightening beyond that (although the parallels and references he draws between Homer, Dante and modern poets did make me go "a-ha!" now and then). I also wish he didn't feel compelled to comment, vacuously, on the phenomenon of the Internet.

The Emigrants   by W.G. Sebald, 234 pages Tony Pisarenkov   19 September 2008 Unusual book. Detailed comments here

The Emperor's General   by James Webb, 464 pages Jeff Gadd   25 September 2003 A true story about Gen. McDouglas and Japanese leaders who fought against each other and their plans for Japan through the eyes of Gen. Mcouglas' second hand aide.

The Emperor's New Clothes   by Hans Christian Anderson, 85 pages Steve Gadd   07 June 2006 The title story was the least interesting of the six in this collection, maybe because it was so familiar. The rest offered a nice taste of whimsy and Grimm-style morbidity.

The Emperors of Chocolate   by Joël Glenn Brenner, 324 pages Steve Gadd   28 January 2002 The author takes full advantage of her unique invitation to see Planet Mars from the inside. A fascinating history of the chocolate business in America.

The Empty Chair   by Jeffery Deaver, 476 pages Jeff Gadd   29 September 2001

The Empty Chair   by Jeffery Deaver, 479 pages Steven Krise   20 February 2004 To quote 'The Critic', "It stinks!"

The Empty Throne   by Ru Emerson, 231 pages Jeff Gadd   27 February 2002

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason   by Sam Harris, 320 pages Jonathan Misirian   13 February 2006 The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason Harris’ premise is that all religion is destructive and that people of any faith are at fault. Ask Pol Pot or Edie Amin how this approached worked for them.

The End of the Affair   by Graham Greene, 240 pages Steven Krise   15 September 2004 A week ago I had only to say to her, "Do you remember that first time together and how I hadn't got a shilling for the meter?" and the scene would be there for both of us. Now it was there for me only. She had lost all our memories forever, and it was as though by dying she had robbed me of part of myself.

The End of the Affair   by Graham Greene, 240 pages Kristin Schrock   20 January 2006 The narrator and God are rivals for the love and devotion of Sarah. God wins. This is a beautiful and poignant exploration of love and hatred and jealousy and a reminder that the House always wins.

The Enemy   by Lee Child, 464 pages Mike Gadd   13 May 2005 Number 8 in the series takes us back to the beginning for a look into what made Jack Reacher who he is.

The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin   by Kris Lundgaard, 157 pages Brad Snyder   10 March 2006 Puritan John Owen wrote extensively on sin and sanctification over three hundred years ago. Lundgaard has written a brief synopsis of Owen's work in which he challenges us to recognize sin as the destructive force in our lives that it really is.

The Enlightenment Bible   by Jonathan Sheehan, 260 pages James Donahue   14 July 2005 An excellent history of the Bible as a translation project, a object of reverance, a weapon against theology, and a builder of moral virtue. Sheehan is primarily interested in how the Bible came to be seen as a fount of Western culture, and roots his analysis in both the English and the German traditions. Excellent read; very interesting.

The Eve of 1914 (1936)   by Theodor Wolff, 636 pages James Donahue   02 December 2008 Wolff was the longtime editor of the Berliner Tageblatt. Here he reconstructs the events leading up to WWI, relying not only on research but from his personal interaction with the German elite. If you can suffer through his long-winded, Wilhelmine style, the book reveals lots of quirkly tidbits about a fascinating range of personalities.

The Everything Family Tree Book   by Kimberly Powell, 305 pages Steven Krise   24 May 2009 A complete introduction and overview to the process and sources of genealogical research.

The Everything Knots Book   by Randy Penn, 273 pages Steven Krise   22 October 2009 A fairly standard introduction to knots. It tries to go beyond just having diagrams showing you how to tie knots by having chapters on rope management, teaching knot tying, your continuing knot journey, but the author didn't really have enough material to support these additional chapters. So +5 for the idea, but -7 for the implementation.

The Everything Learning German Book   by Edward Swick, 305 pages Steven Krise   05 June 2009 A thorough but not overwhelming overview of German syntax and grammar.

The Everything Poker Strategy Book   by John Wenzel, 289 pages Steven Krise   06 April 2008

The Everything Texas Hold 'Em Book: Tips And Tricks You Need to Take the Pot   by John Wenzel, 271 pages Steven Krise   30 March 2009

The Evolution of Useful Things   by Henry Petroski, 250 pages Steve Gadd   23 April 2002 There are quite interesting stories behind such commonplace items as the fork, zipper, paper clip, soda can, hammer, and Post-It note. Petroski does a great job telling these, but really hammers on his pet idea that 'form follows failure' -- the mother of invention is really a dissatisfaction with current ways of doing things.

The Exceptional Presenter (2007)   by Timothy Koegel, 188 pages Jonathan Misirian   25 October 2007 Another recommendation, an excellent college level overview of speaking and presentation skills.

The Exorcist   by William Peter Blatty, 400 pages Jeff Gadd   23 July 2002 A very creepy book not for the less in faith people.

The Eye Of The Hunter   by Dennis L McKiernan, 601 pages Steven Krise   01 January 2004 Shannon says this is a cheap Tolkein rip-off. I wouldn't know anything about that, but it is an overwrought pile of mokk. I've tried to read this book at least half a dozen times (usually around Christmas) in the past 10 years and have just now succeeded (thanks to this book list).

The Eye of the Tiger   by Wilbur Smith, 390 pages Jeff Gadd   14 May 2001

The Eye of the World   by Robert Jordan, 702 pages Julie Gephart   01 December 2002 First in the much-lauded Wheel of Time series. I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. Classic fantasy, three young men on a journey, grand scope of Good vs Evil, the usual - but still a good read, and I'll continue the series.

The Eyes of Darkness   by Dean Koontz, 366 pages Jeff Gadd   01 February 2001

The Eyre Affair   by Jasper Fforde, 376 pages Kristin Schrock   19 September 2003 A criminal mastermind is kidnapping characters from novels and holding them for ransom--and now he's after Jane Eyre! The middle and ending aren't as groovy as the beginning, but there's a scene wherein Richard III is performed like Rocky Horror Picture show. It would probably only appeal to lit geeks, but fun enough that I might check out the second in the series.

The Face In the Mirror   by Julian Paul Keenan, 278 pages Steven Krise   11 March 2008 Thus, based on these numerous intriguing studies, we can reasonable argue that the right hemisphere, once thought to be the "minor" hemisphere, may be a key player in self-awareness and mental state attribution. Our original definition of consciousness, we remember, invalved awareness of one's own thoughts as well as an awareness of another individual's thoughts. Thus, by means of a significant number of studies, the right hemisphere appears to be quite important for the formulation of higher-order consciousness.

The Face of a Stranger   by Anne Perry, 345 pages Steven Krise   28 August 2004 The "surprise twist" was clearly telegraphed in Chapter 2 but the reader gets the oppurtunity to muddle through an additional 10 chapters with the amnesiac detective until he stumbles onto it himself. Of course, the good Mr Monk regains his memory on page 323 just in time for a tidy ending devoid of any tragedy for the protagonist.

The Family Romance of the French Revolution   by Lynn Hunt, 204 pages James Donahue   24 January 2003 Hunt examines the French Revolution through the prints, plays, and paintings of the time which obsess over the death or absence of fathers. Hunt makes the point that the French comprehended the political revolution in very familial terms. Provocative historiography.

The Far Side of the Loch   by Melissa Wiley, 250 pages Julie Gephart   22 November 2003 When you’re getting too many beetles in your food, just remember that the solution is as simple as having a live hedgehog come to live in your kitchen.

The Feminine Face of the People of God   by Giberto Baril, 247 pages James Donahue   31 July 2002 This books examines the foundational feminine analogies of God's chosen in both the OT and NT. Things focused upon include: Israel in Hosea, the barrenness and fertility of the patriach-wives, the daughter of Zion figure, Mary, and the Church as the bride of Christ. Fascinating survey that really recaptures the feminine as a constituent of the Christian life, corporative and individual.

The Feminization of American Culture   by Ann Douglas, 403 pages James Donahue   16 April 2002 This book relates how both literature and religion became captive to female sensibilities, attributes, and control during the antebellum period. Specific topics include disestablishment, the birth of rural cemetaries and undertakers, ladies' magazines overpowering theological journals, the rise of hymns, and the absence of any sort of American Romantic movement. Provocative and enlightening; a must for anyone wondering why American Christianity is so unique in the world.

The Fermata   by Nicholson Baker, 303 pages Steve Gadd   13 March 2003 The dust jacket spells it out: "Arno Strine likes to stop time and take women's clothes off. He is hard at work on his autobiography." Perhaps you have wondered what you would do if you could stop time and move around the frozen world. Baker answers the question, assuming the time-stopper is a friendly, lonely man with raging hormones. The titillating conversation that worked in Vox just doesn't come off when the character is actually misbehaving and not just fantasizing about it. Baker seems to realize this and frames the explicit scenes in recordings, fictions within the fiction, and an entire chapter written with conditional verbs. Except for the overindulgence in puns, the writing is still good. It just reads too much like a test to see how much the author could get away with in a Random House book.

The Fiancée and Other Stories   by Anton Chekhov, 232 pages Steve Gadd   21 September 2000 Some favorite and some more forgettable short stories.

The Final Detail   by Harlan Coben, 372 pages Mike Gadd   02 April 2003 Despite starting this series six books in I quite enjoyed this story. High levels of sarcasm and dry wit kept the story flowing nicely.

The Firm   by John Grisham, 501 pages Jeff Gadd   26 June 1999

The First Four Years   by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 134 pages Julie Gephart   03 August 2002 A detailed account of how it sucks and sucks and then continues to suck to be a farmer. When you think it can't get worse, throw in a dead baby and a burned-down house for good measure.

The First Human - the race to discover our earliest ancestors   by Ann Gibbons, 306 pages Steven Krise   19 June 2008 "This book is not a comprehensive history. It is my perception of the quest for the earliest ancestors during th past fifteen years, as I covered the science of human origins for /Science/. I have focused on the leaders of four teams that found the earliest known members of the human family....I found it impossible, however, to separate the human story of the quest from the scientific results; science is a social endeavor and the personal politics influence not only who gets access to data,...but even how researchers interpret the fossils and formulate hypotheses."

The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved From Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humans   by Stanley I Greenspan, M.D. & Stuart G Shanker, D Ph, 504 pages Steven Krise   09 December 2008 The authors put forth a rather far reaching theory stating that higher cognitive functions (such as symbolic and abstract thought, language, theory of mind, and human cultural universals) are the products of a nurturing emotional developmental process called functional/emotional development. The substrate supporting this process has been evolving for several millions of years in social primates and ancient hominids to its apex in modern humans today. Since this process is basically a technology transmitted culturally, it is able to evolve more rapidly than strictly biological processes. "In other words, the fundamental dynamic operating in human history is neither biological nor material: It is the cultural transmission of caregiving practices that support the development of higher reflective capacities in individuals and in groups. Precisely because this is a cultural phenomenon, it is not predetermined and is highly vulnerable to regression." The latter half of the book is spent applying this theory to disorders such as autism, to group dynamics, sociology, economics, and history.

The First Word - The Search for the Origins of Language   by Christine Kenneally, 357 pages Steven Krise   01 August 2008 A survey of the burgeoning field of language evolution. One of the goals of the book is to show that a lot of the confusion about how language evolved was caused by the faulty assumption that it is a monolithic thing that is unique to humans rather than an accreted grab bag of features, most of which have homologs and precursors in other animals.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002)   by Patrick Lencioni, 230 pages Jonathan Misirian   17 March 2007 An extended parable about a team leader and the steps she took to bring her corporate team from chaos to cohesiveness. One really only needs to read the book’s final 30 or so pages, in which the author summarizes the five dysfunctions and provides steps to overcome them.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven   by Mitch Albom, 198 pages Mike Gadd   04 December 2003 An interesting concept brought together rather nicely. Joe Regular dies in a work related accident and is surprised to find heaven isn't what he expected. He is introduced to 5 people he impacted during his lifetime who explain to him the meaning and purpose of his life.

The Flight of Peter Fromm   by Martin Gardner, 280 pages Steve Gadd   10 April 1996

The Flight of the Falcon (1965)   by Daphne du Maurier, 311 pages A Bennett   16 July 2003 Twenty years after his brother is reported killed in WWII, the narrator sees him, back in his hometown. Thus begins a long, convoluted, ultimately unrewarding tale that culminates in murder, suicide, betrayal, and an historical pageant designed to kill as many villagers as did the original Renaissance occurrence it exists to celebrate. *Never a good sign, when half-way through a novel you want to finish just so you can read something else. Necessary vocabulary: Cinzano, Ruffanesi, vespa (which it took me about 1/4th of the way through to define and make sense of).

The Flying Inn   by G.K. Chesterton, 320 pages James Donahue   02 June 2003 In a novel antithetical to Rushdie's novels of identity-melange, Chesterton protests against the encrouchment of Islamic ideas and culture on Christendom. The plot revolves around an act of Prohibition passed by Parliament that first confiscates tavern signs and then makes it illegal to serve drink without such a sign. Our two heroes steal a sign and travel through the countryside serving rum and cheese, singing songs and satirizing aristocrats; hence "the flying inn." Part of the humor of the book, for me, stems from the denunciation of temperate Evangelicalism as "Chrislam." And the book certainly is relevant once again in the current, to copy a buzzphrase, "clash of cultures." Yet the book left me wondering: am I too PC to truly enjoy such goodhearted and boistrous defence of Western culture?

The Fog   by James Herbert, 275 pages Jeff Gadd   13 January 2002 Very Creepy! Hope no goverment makes this virus for real!

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1933)   by Franz Werfel, 817 pages James Donahue   06 July 2007 In 1915 seven towns of Armenians took to the mountain of Musa Dagh to resist the Ottoman genocide. They were rescued by a French cruiser after months of resistance. This books novelizes their experience while encrusting it in Biblical allusions: Musa Dagh is akin Ararat, Armenians to Israel, the holdout lasts forty days, etc. It is an original take on genocide, devoid of the by-now-cliche liberal musings on the Holocaust that populate bookshelves. Because the author is a conservative Catholic Austrian from before the age of Hitler. Thus, he musings on how genocide makes one feel one's blood, one roots; his refreshing postshots at the modernizing Arab leadership, and his theological/literary convictions on what it means to serves the "God of the nationS." Highly recommended.

The Fountainhead   by Ayn Rand, 736 pages Steve Gadd   30 December 1999 Meet Howard Roark: architect, protagonist, and ideal man of the author's Objectivist philosophy. A readable fable with the ambitious goal of attacking altruism as a virtue.

The French Lieutenant's Woman   by John Fowles, 366 pages Steve Gadd   09 September 1995

The French Lieutenant's Woman   by John Fowles, 366 pages Steven Krise   29 May 2003 I don't think the author really flipped a coin.

The French Lieutenant's Woman   by John Fowles, 366 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2005 I still don't think he flipped a coin. And I still can't decide if the means by which the author inserted himself into the narrative (both as a character and as the overly self-aware narrator) is clever or not. Is this the first time we see the device of winding back a watch as the means to introducing the second of multiple "possible" endings?

The Fugitive   by David Twohy, 259 pages Jeff Gadd   12 February 2002 Great book, Great movie.

The Full Cupboard of Life (2003)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 198 pages Jennifer Dear   11 September 2006

The FunHouse   by Dean R. Koontz, 333 pages Jeff Gadd   09 March 1999

The Funny Thing Is...   by Ellen DeGeneres, 177 pages Julie Gephart   28 January 2004 A few good laughs, but mostly I think she doesn't translate to print very well.

The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue (2008)   by James Turner and Mark Noll , 137 pages James Donahue   03 August 2008

The Future of the Past   by Alexander Stille, 339 pages James Donahue   12 January 2003 In a truly fascinating book, Stille examines the future fate of things from the past. Chapters are grouped around one vestige and can be read separately; topics include spoken Latin, Chinese artifacts, the library of Alexandria (or at least its concept), the Vatican library, the forests of Madagascar, and the disintegrating Sphinx. Stille ends with a profound essay on the challenges posed to historicity in a postmodern and digital age.

The Ganymede Takeover   by Philip K Dick and Ray Nelson, 215 pages Steven Krise   23 November 2007 How had Balkani claimed that individuality was established? By selective awareness. I am Paul Rivers, he realized, because I am unaware of the sensations being experienced by someone else, say by Joan Hiashi. Ordinarily my own direct sensations would drown out anything I might pick up from her. But now, when I have no sensations, even faint impressions that she may be undergoing will be infinitely stronger than my own. He began by imagining himself to be a woman.

The Garden of Beasts   by Jeffery Deaver, 402 pages Steven Krise   15 January 2005 An American bad guy (who's really a good guy) is sent to 1936 Berlin to kill a Nazi bad guy (who seems to be a good guy). Intrigue ensues and the American is pursued by a wiley Kripo Inspector who is a good guy.

The Garden of Ediacara   by Mark A S McMenamin, 295 pages Steven Krise   31 December 2008 For the longest time the Cambrian explosion was fossil evidence of goddiditlettherbelightanditwasgood until we started finding Pre-Cambrian fossils (oh noes). Some of the most perplexing and intriguing Pre-Cambrian fossils are those of the Ediacarans, which are trying their damnedest to defy explication and classification. Dr Mark has cracked the puzzle of the Ediacarans, though, and he shares it in chapter "The Penultimate One" - 12 I think.

The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination   by Gary Anderson, 231 pages James Donahue   08 June 2003 I highly recommend this. Anderson traces through theological and iconographic history the significance of Adam and Eve for out forebears. Chapters deal specfically with: sex in Eden, Eve's culpability, the foreshadowing of Christ and Mary, the penance of Gen 3, etc. Anderson writes simply for the amateur, which I admire and need. In the back he includes copys of several Christian aprochryphal works from the first five centuries on Adam and Eve, including the Gospel of Nicodemus; helpful and interesting to have some original text laid out in full.

The Gentle Civilizer of Nations (2001)   by Martti Koskenniemi, 517 pages James Donahue   24 October 2007 An excellent history of international law.

The Gentleman From Indiana (1899)   by Booth Tarkington, 384 pages James Donahue   20 June 2008 I picked up a Tarkington novel because of my sojourn here in Indiana. I began with his first publication - from 1899. I can only assume he got better before his Pulitzers. This book is cheesy, with little depth of character, overly-florid pastoral descriptions (of Indiana, no less!!), and an insipid resolution in which the good peasantry adore their gentlemanly protector. This is Progressivism at its worst: elitist, idealistic, and looking to the völkische Hinterland for political and moral regeneration.

The Geography of Bliss (2008)   by Eric Weiner, 352 pages James Donahue   10 March 2008 After surveying the current state of the science of happiness (blissology, if you must know), Weiner (sounds like Whiner) sets off on a tour of the world's happiest nations: Switz, Iceland, Thailand, Ashville NC, Bhutan (which measures its Gross Domestic Happiness, not its GDP). With some oddballs thrown in: India (to study with a guru), Qatar (does sudden wealth create happiness), and Moldova (one of the unhappiest places on earth). Entertaining, thought-provoking: travel-lit meets critical treatment of self-help world. Now why wasn't South Bend, Indiana on that list? Oh yeah - we suck!

The Geography of Nowhere   by James H. Kunstler, 303 pages Tony Pisarenkov   17 September 2004 Having become a minor classic since its publication roughly a decade and a half ago, this book cronicles the demise of our society's attention to the public realm and the quality of places we build for ourselves to live and work in all its chilling reality. Fascinating to see some of the phenomena the author predicted already beginning to take place. Certainly the worthiest successor to Jane Jacobs' "Death and Life of Great American Cities" available today.

The German Education of Philip Schaff (2002)   by Klaus Penzel, 157 pages James Donahue   16 June 2007

The Gilded Chamber (2004)   by Rebecca Kohn, 353 pages Jennifer Dear   10 March 2007 Book jacket says: "A must-read for fans of the Red Tent"; Jen says: "I got nothing to say."

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing   by Melissa Banks, 274 pages Kristin Schrock   08 November 2003 A surprisingly solid collection of stories with the exception of the title story. This one was a take on the "Rules" on how to get a man. And, what do you know, the main character realizes that the "Rules" don't work, and to land a man she should just really be herself. Quel Surprise! But, of course, she didn't get the ring, so maybe that's not the lesson that we were supposed to learn.

The Goal: A Process Of Ongoing Improvement   by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, 337 pages Erik Bauer   27 January 2000 I got this book when I took a production manager position thinking it would be a help to my new job but it actually changed the way I look at traffic jams and long lines at supermarkets and has probably increased my overall stress level.

The God Delusion   by Richard Dawkins, 406 pages Steven Krise   10 March 2008 Fundamentalist religion is hell-bent on ruining the scientific education of countless thousands of innocent, well-meaning, eager young minds. Non-fundamentalist, 'sensible' religion may not be doing that. But it is making the world safe for fundamentalism by teaching children, from their earliest years, that unquestioning faith is a virtue.

The Godwulf Manuscript   by Robert B. Parker, 188 pages Mike Gadd   11 March 2002

The Gold Coast   by Nelson DeMille, 626 pages Mike Gadd   27 November 2002 The Great Gatsby meets The Godfather. Very entertaining read, just took awhile to get through it.

The Golden Compass (1995)   by Philip Pullman, 400 pages Jonathan Misirian   10 November 2007 Pullman writes in the style of Lewis and Tolkien, however would abhor the connection to these two English writers. The author creates a mythological world, in which children are being captured by evil forces within The Church. In interviews given in the U.S., Pullman makes it clear that his desire is to use his books to destroy Christianity.

The Good Earth   by Pearl Buck, 340 pages Jonathan Misirian   09 January 2006 Buck became the first American woman to win a Nobel prize and a Pulitzer prize for literature. The Good Earth is the tale of the rise of a rural peasant family. Set in pre-revolutinary China, The Good Earth contains it all, love, loss, scandal and redemption.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (2007)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 213 pages Jennifer Dear   24 August 2007

The Gorbachev Factor   by Archie Brown, 318 pages James Donahue   20 December 2004 Not a spinoff of the O'Reilly Factor. Rather the first historical work on Gorby's central role in the collapse of the USSR. Very sympathetic and thorough treatment.

The Gospel According to America: a meditation on a God-blessed, Christ haunted idea   by David Dark, 166 pages Jonathan Misirian   07 November 2005 Dark desired to look at the ways that America is viewed as Christian and point out the inconsistencies that he sees. An easy task, but one that is blunted by a writing style that impedes the job.

The Gospel According to Hollywood (2007)   by Greg Garrett, 174 pages Jonathan Misirian   23 May 2008 Garrett’s expansive range of movies is only matched by his insightful ability to connect deep spiritual truths, to the best and worst that Hollywood has to offer. A true fan of Film, the author brings out the Christian themes that inhabit so much of what Hollywood creates.

The Gospel According to the Simpsons   by Mark Pinsky, 164 pages Jonathan Misirian   05 April 2006 Pinsky delivers a compelling study of the spiritual themes that dominate The Simpsons. His commentary is astute and refreshingly honest. A must read for all serious fans of the show.

The Grapes Of Wrath   by John Steinbeck, 440 pages Erik Bauer   23 August 1999 The story of an Oklahoma family migrating to California in the 1930's. I read it when I moved from Ohio to California, I was more fortunate than the Joads.

The Grasshopper King   by Jordan Ellenberg, 200 pages Micaela Larkin   08 September 2005

The Great Awakening (2008)   by Jim Wallis, 320 pages Jonathan Misirian   08 April 2008 Seemed like a rehash of Walli’s God’s Politics. Little new ground broken in this mostly disappointing book.

The Great Gatsby   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 200 pages Steve Gadd   08 May 2000 Another classic we were forced to read in high school, actually quite enjoyable when read at leisure.

The Great Gatsby   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 172 pages Tony Pisarenkov   07 September 2008 Though I had read Gatsby many years ago, I remembered virtually nothing, so it was just like reading it for the first time, and just as enjoyable.

The Great Hunt   by Robert Jordan, 577 pages Julie Gephart   13 April 2003 Free at last! I started this book at Christmas, and right now the only opinion I can muster is an overwhelming relief at finally being rid of it.

The Great Santini   by Pat Conroy, 440 pages Mike Gadd   09 July 2002 Meet Bull Meecham, 'The Great Santini', Marine fighter pilot, husband, and father of four. He rules with an iron fist and refers to his family as 'sportsfans' or 'hogs'. His children hate him but must learn to play by his rules. The story is as much about his oldest son, Ben, as it is about him. Ben suffers the wrath of Santini more than any other, as his mom is trying to raise a gentleman and his dad wants to make a Marine out of him. Pat Conroy tells a very colorful tale as the characters remind you of people you actually know. I might actually try to find the movie that was made of the book.

The Great Santini   by Pat Conroy, 536 pages Kathleen   22 June 2008 Another great by legend Pat Conroy.

The Great War: American Front (1998)   by Henry Turtledove, 562 pages James Donahue   18 December 2006 Turtledove remains my favorite paperback writer. This book contemplates what WWI would look like for a U.S. that had lost the Civil War. The South sides with France and Britain (who helped the CSA in the 1860s); the North sides with Germany. Trenches are dug in Virginia; poison gas is unveiled at Cincinnati; Canada can't afford to send troops to the Queen overseas. I never realized how rooted Wilson's thought was in the South until reading this book. As always, nicely done.

The Great War: Breakthroughs (2000)   by Harry Turtledove, 584 pages James Donahue   18 February 2007 Turtledove's trilogy grinds down to a halt.

The Great War: Walk In Hell (1999)   by Harry Turtledove, 606 pages James Donahue   21 January 2007 In this alt-history sequel, WWI still plays out between the Confederates and the North. I love Turtledove's use of real history to flesh out his alternative universe. This episode we get to see southern slaves reading Marx, primitive tanks moving on the Roanoke, French Canadians with double reason to resist the Yankee Hun, Pres. Wilson (from Virginia) debating about whether to conscript African-Americans, and Mormons using the war to seize more local control over Utah.

The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina   by Frank Rich, 335 pages Jonathan Misirian   09 April 2007 Rich, a columnist for the NYTimes, describes the innumerable missteps of the Bush Administration, clearly making the point that the Administration’s drive to create their own reality surpassed their need for honesty. The bungling of the reasons for entering the Iraq War has been well documented in other books… For far too long Bush has chosen to be the national cheerleader, urging America forward in the fight against Terrorism, w/o bothering to ask questions like, ‘Is this the right fight?’ and, ‘How do we know when we’ve won?’ Sadly the cost of this mismanagement of the Iraq War is the lives of over 3100 American troops, and over 50,000 Iraqi civilians.

The Greatest Story Ever Told   by Fulton Oursler, 299 pages Jeff Gadd   27 September 2002 The story of the Life of Jesus Christ on Earth.

The GREEN MILE   by Stephen King, 533 pages Jeff Gadd   21 June 2001

The Group   by Mary McCarthy, 397 pages Micaela Larkin   18 May 2006 This 1963 book follows the lives of Vassar graduates through the 1930s-1940s. While the characters humanity in the text is inconstant, the well describe characters illuminate the intellectual and social milieu of the day. I think the best part of the book is the inner monologue of one character on why she can't share her visit to be fitted for a birth control device with her mother (who had ardently fought for such devices in a previous era as a clubwoman), and a later scene when she reveals her loss of virginity to her mother. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/23/home/mccarthy-group.html

The Guards   by Ken Bruen, 291 pages Jonathan Misirian   19 July 2006 My first dip into the crime-noir genre was a delightful swim. Bruen’s sparse style accentuates his word selection, making you feel as if you are reading a script to a 1940’s Bogart movie.

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1) (1982)   by Stephen King, 213 pages Brad Snyder   06 July 2009 I had only read about three chapters of any of King's works prior to this. But a cryptic post on Facebook suddenly gained clarity two days later as the cover of this book stared at me from its shelf at the public library. It's a strange tale, one that mixes settings, times, and folklore, but one that is strangely interesting. The gunslinger, a knight from some futuristic kingdom, in his quest for the man in black. But for what? It looks like I must read the next book to find out.

The Gutter: Where Life is Meant to be Lived   by Craig Gross, 156 pages Brad Snyder   11 December 2005 Written by the co-founder of XXXChurch.com, a fantastic ministry to those enslaved by pornography, Gross challenges Christians to find the gutter in which they should minister and then go and do it. Be it porn stars (as he does), transvestite prostitutes in San Francisco, starting a Hooters Outreach (I hear the wings are delicious), or weekly visits to a lonely little old lady in a nursing home, our comfort zones should be no obstacle to loving others for Jesus.

The Halo Effect   by M.J. Rose, 371 pages Mike Gadd   03 October 2005 Lousy story; horrible writing. One of the coworkers who I screen books for said her daughter highly recommended this book to her. I had to read it first to see if it's worthy. It took about 5 pages to determine that it wasn't. High school level quality at best.

The Handmaid's Tale   by Margaret Atwood, 395 pages Steve Gadd   21 April 1996

The Haunt   by J.N.Williamson, 356 pages Jeff Gadd   05 November 2002 The Kidd's house seems normal,but something that does not live or is dead haunts the family in their house. The thing hates them and cause them misery alot.

The Hearse You Came In On   by Tim Cockey, 412 pages Mike Gadd   29 August 2002 Lighthearted 'who done it' with an undertaker as the main character. I have a friend in this line of work and it was fun picturing him running around in the book.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter   by Carson McCullers, 359 pages Kristin Schrock   11 February 2002 Lonely characters mill around a small, lonely southern town being all lonely. But in a good way.

The Heartless Stone   by Tom Zoellner, 270 pages Micaela Larkin   08 November 2006 Diamonds are a girl's best friend, NOT!!! The real story of how diamond's change cultures.

The Heartreader   by MS. Terri Blackstone, 144 pages Mike Gadd   17 May 2004 Simple but effective story about a lukewarm Christian who is given the ability to 'hear' the unspoken needs and feelings of the people around him. He uses what he hears to share his faith with the people he meets.

The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoi's View of History   by Isiah Berlin, 81 pages James Donahue   06 May 2002 Explians that confusing postscript from War and Peace; long comparison of Tolstoi and de Maistre.

The Hill   by Leonard B. Scott, 410 pages Jeff Gadd   05 November 1998

The Hill   by Leonard B. Scott, 341 pages Jeff Gadd   15 January 2002 a Vietnam book about two brothers in the war.

The Hipster Handbook (2002)   by Robert Lanham, 176 pages Brad Snyder   25 June 2007 It's deck to be fin.

The Historian (2005)   by Elizabeth Kostova, 642 pages James Donahue   17 January 2006 Page-turning thriller, as a family of historians track Dracula through Ottoman manuscripts, Balkan monasteries, and Orthodox folk rituals.

The Historian (2005)   by Elizabeth Kostova, 647 pages Jennifer Dear   05 March 2007

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy   by Douglas Adams, 159 pages Steve Gadd   06 January 1998 The classic. Look for the book-on-tape version, recorded by the author. It is pure delight.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy   by Douglas Adams, 215 pages Kristin Schrock   19 May 2005 A refresher read in preparation for the movie. It was not as enjoyable the second time around--probably because I'm older now. But the charactars are still enjoyable, even in my crotchety old age.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (audio)   by Douglas Adams, 0 pages Steve Gadd   10 April 2008 This has got to be one of the best "read by the author" readings, but it is still not quite as great as the BBC version.

The Hobbit   by J.R.R. Tolkien, 333 pages Mike Gadd   16 July 2002 What can I say about 'The Hobbit'? I'm probably one of the last to read it. Of the people I talk to about it it seems the ones who had to read it in school liked it less than those who chose to read it. It's not a bad story, all in all. I have a copy of 'The Lord of the Rings' at home but it's over 1000 pages and the type is half the size. I don't want to spend the next two months reading it- Jeff's too far ahead as it is. I'm hearing so many good things about the movie that just came out I may read it just to see how close it comes to the story.

The Holmes-Dracula File   by Fred Saberhagen, 249 pages Jeff Gadd   09 March 2003 A little book of Sherlock Holme and his quest to solve a murder by Count Dracula.

The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919 - 1945   by Richard Steigmann-Gall, 267 pages James Donahue   27 June 2003

The Homebrewer's Companion   by Charlie Papazian, 446 pages Steven Krise   01 May 2002 More in-depth follow-up to NCJHB. Start reading at page 380 to get a feel for who Papazian is.

The Homebrewers' Companion   by Charlie Papazian, 443 pages Steven Krise   14 February 2006 My annual "pilgrimmage" to sit at the feet of the master homebrewer hisself.

The Honor of the Queen   by David Weber, 422 pages Julie Gephart   20 July 2002 Does the author really believe that I, average Joe Reader, will be spellbound by his descriptions of the pretend physics he has invented to propel pretend spaceships? No! NO! Shut up! Go away with your stupid impeller wedges and Warshawski sails, and let's get on with the story. (Second book in the Honor Harrington series)

The Horned Man   by James Lasdun, 194 pages Tony Pisarenkov   11 September 2003 A novel about a college professor becoming a victim of what seems like an elaborate conspiracy but really a victim of his own spinelessness, culminating in a truly bizzarre, surreal, and highly symbolic denouement. An enormous amount of symbolism and an equally large variety of themes densely packed into a slim volume, propelled along by language that is surprisingly direct and unadorned for a book of this breadth and depth but ultimately highly effective. One of the best contemporary novels I've come across in quite some time. Highly recommended.

The Hot Zone   by Richard Preston, 422 pages Steve Gadd   17 November 2002 Remember the Ebola scare? A mysterious new breed of virus -- deadlier than AIDS, possibly as contagious as influenza -- has been ravaging towns in central Africa. Then one day it appears in a group of lab monkeys just outside Washington, D.C. The gripping story reads like science fiction, but hits close to home. The "monkey house" was less than two miles from my house.

The Hour I First Believed: A Novel (2008)   by Wally Lamb, 752 pages Brad Snyder   30 April 2009 Messed up guy and his messed up wife get caught up in the Columbine shootings. This causes a search for sanity and meaning as he learns about his family history and finds, like so many of us, that they come from a long line of messed up people.

The House of Thunder   by Dean R. Koontz, 357 pages Jeff Gadd   29 July 1999

The House on Dream Street: Memoir of an American Woman in Vietnam   by Dana Sachs , 364 pages Jaqi Ross   28 June 2004 Part memoir and part travelogue, The House on Dream Street offers a compelling glimpse into Vietnam more than 20 years after the war. Author Dana Sachs foregoes the history lesson and instead takes us into the day-to-day lives of working-class people attempting to succeed in a fledgling capitalist economy. Captivated by the once-forbidden country during a visit in 1989, Sachs returned two years later, took a room with a young family, and set out to immerse herself in the culture.

The Human Factor   by Graham Greene, 302 pages Steven Krise   20 November 2008 "Probably the best espionage novel ever written." - Well, certainly better than 'Red Rabbit' not that that is hard to do.

The Human Odyssey - Four Million Years of Human Evolution   by Ian Tattersall, 191 pages Steven Krise   18 January 2004 "Based on the acclaimed new hall of Human Biology and Evolution at the American Museum of Natrual History". This overview starts discussing the details of cells and DNA and the general principles of evolution before moving through mammalian evolution. The focus, not surprisingly, settles on primate evolution and heads down the hominid branch. Finishes up with an impressive review of the Solutrean and Magdelenian cave art typified by that appearing in Lascaux.

The Hummingbird's Daughter   by Luis Albert Urrea, 495 pages Micaela Larkin   19 April 2006 Novel trying to capture the life of real life mystic Teresa Urrea who helped promote Indian revolts in turn of the century Sonora, Mexico. I was dissappointed in the book. The author's strength lies more in his award winning non-fiction on immigration and his memoirs of growing up Mexican in Southern California.

The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life. And Death.   by Gene Weingarten, 197 pages Steve Gadd   20 August 2003 Dave Barry meets Dr. Sherwin "How We Die" Nuland in this funny inventory of mostly terminal illnesses and the sometimes innocuous symptoms that herald them. Includes handy self-diagnostic tests to help the reader get into the hypochondriac spirit. "When your uvula throbs in time with your heartbeat it is called Mueller's sign, and it can indicate heart disease! You could die!"

The Idiot   by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 597 pages Steve Gadd   25 June 1995

The Image of Man   by George Mosse, 226 pages James Donahue   16 January 2003 An excellent and brief history of modern masculinity. Mosse traces it back to Winckelmann's rediscovery of the Greeks, and does a nice job of distinguishing this new form of male-hood from its chivalric, aristocratic predecessor. He traces this ideal through the 1960s when it began to dissolve. Throughout Mosse also pays attention to the male counterparts: the female and the homosexual (or unmanly man). As a sidenote I appreciate that Mosse includes fascism's quest for a 'new man' within a broader history of European culture.

The Image: A guide to pseudo-events in America (1992)   by Daniel Boorstin, 335 pages Jonathan Misirian   30 June 2007 This reissued classic originally appeared in the late 60’s and is the definitive work on the rise of celebrity, the celebrity culture, and the reasons for the ‘image takes precedence over wisdom’ mentality that pervades all aspects of our current society. Boorstin’s eloquence drives this book, sadly his vision of the future is here, is entrenched and has spawned even more pseudo-events.

The Imitation of Christ   by Thomas À Kempis, 217 pages Steve Gadd   06 December 1999 A classic meditation on devotion and the ascetic life -- How To Be a Monk.

The InDwelling   by Tim Lahaue J,B. Jenkins, 388 pages Jeff Gadd   07 October 2002 The seventh of the series of Left Behind and I still like them all.

The Information   by Martin Amis, 376 pages Steve Gadd   01 March 1996

The Innocence of Father Brown   by G. K. Chesterton, 248 pages Steve Gadd   29 July 2002 Twelve mysteries, all solved by the clever parson.

The Innocent Man: murder and injustice in a small town (2006)   by John Grisham, 368 pages Jonathan Misirian   10 July 2007 John ‘The’ Grisham’s first work of non-fiction, examines what happens in small town America, when the police, DA, and the local judge all collude to conceal evidence, intimidate witnesses, and rush to make a conviction. The result, two innocent men find themselves locked up on death row. Grisham examines the entire story, painting a picture of corruption, hopelessness, and innocence behind bars. After spending over a decade behind bars, the men are freed primarily through the work of the Innocence Project. Gripping and sickening all at the same time, The Innocent Man reveals the injustices of our judicial system in a very compelling manner.

The Innocents Abroad   by Mark Twain, 651 pages Steve Gadd   19 August 1997

The Interrogation   by Thomas H. Cook, 288 pages Mike Gadd   08 April 2003 Decent enough premise... Cops have 12 hours to question their murder suspect before they must let him go for lack of evidence.

The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward- A New Approach   by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, Co-chairs, 160 pages Jonathan Misirian   16 July 2007 Bush first rejected the formation of this bi-partisan group, then relented when political pressure came to bear on him. The ISG’s assessment of the current situation in Iraq is damning at best, and now that the report is over a year old, its themes and warnings continue to come to light. The American people, congress, top military generals in the field, and the international community have all expressed the need for a new approach, while our president continues ‘staying the course.’

The Iron Ring   by Lloyd Alexander, 283 pages A Bennett   19 December 2002 At this point, would I read Lloyd Alexander's laundry list? Yes, quite probably. For all that, this book doesn't have the spark that made The Chronicles of Prydain and Westmark great.

The Iron Tiger   by Jack Higgins, 176 pages Jeff Gadd   27 September 2001

The Irony of American History (1952)   by Reinhold Niebuhr, 174 pages James Donahue   15 November 2008 "Our moral perils are not those of conscious malice or the explicit lust for power. They are the perils which can be understood only if we realize the ironic tendency of virtues to turn into vices when too complacently relied upon; and of power to become vexatious if the wisdom which directs it is trusted too confidently. The ironic element in American history can be overcome, in short, only if American idealism comes to terms with the limits of all human striving, the fragmentatiness of all human wisdom, the precariousness of all historic configurations of power, and the mixture of good and evil in all human virtue. America's moral and spiritual success in relating itself creatively to a world community requires, not so much a guard against the gross vices, about which the idealists warn us, as a reorientation of the whole structure of our idealism. . . .[That idealism] is too certain that there is a straight path to power toward the goal of human happiness; too confident of the wisdom and idealism which prompt men and nations toward that goal; and too blind to the curious compounds of good and evil in which the actions of the best men and nations abound." (133)

The Irresistible Revolution (2006)   by Shane Claiborne, 367 pages Jonathan Misirian   27 March 2007 Claiborne is hard to pin down. He is unapologetically Christian and rejects most of the cultural trappings of the American church. His commitment to follow Jesus means that he makes his own clothes and shoes, lives in community with the homeless, and practices non-violence where-ever possible. Fascinating life: from living with Mother Theresa to doing an internship at Willow Creek, to traveling to Iraq. Excellent read for those dissatisfied with cultural Christianity.

The Island of the Day Before   by Umberto Eco, 513 pages Steve Gadd   01 February 1997

The Jazz Tradition   by Martin Williams, 301 pages Tony Pisarenkov   09 April 2007 Advertised as an attempt at a synthesis of history and criticism, this book is much heavier on the latter. Occasionally insightful, though Williams spends most of his time ignoring Duke Ellington prinicple that "if it sounds good, it is good." Thank you, Steve, for the present.

The Joke   by Milan Kundera, 317 pages Steve Gadd   08 October 1997

The Joy Luck Club   by Amy Tan, 288 pages Steve Gadd   25 July 1995

The Kalahari Typing School for Men   by Alexander McCall Smith, 191 pages Jennifer Dear   14 August 2006

The Key to Midnight   by Dean R. Koontz, 416 pages Jeff Gadd   31 May 1999

The Kill   by Alan Ryan, 299 pages Jeff Gadd   25 March 2003 Something you can't see is killing people, and sometimes eating part of them.

The Killer Angels   by Michael Shaara, 360 pages Jeff Gadd   12 September 2002 A book about the famous Gettysburg fight and how both sides saw it at the end.

The Killing Kind   by John Connelly, 388 pages Mike Gadd   11 June 2002 Part 3 of the Charlie 'Bird' Parker detective series. He see's dead people. He shoots bad guys. He lost his family in episode 1 and has spent his time trying to ease the suffering of innocent people. The bad guy in this book uses spiders to do his dirty work. This one is good enough to continue with number 4.

The Killing of the Tinkers   by Ken Bruen, 244 pages Jonathan Misirian   29 July 2006 Irish crime-noir writer Bruen’s second book in his Jack Taylor series. Taylor’s a down-and-out former policeman, who battles the bottle, his past, and memories of dead friends. Bruen’s sparse yet literate style of writing is like a Guinness: soft to the eyes and a hammer to your gut.

The Killing Zone A True Story   by Frederick Downs, 267 pages Jeff Gadd   04 December 2002 Lt. Downs tells his story about how it was to lead soldiers in Vietnam and what it was like for him. In battle he lost a arm from a Bouncing Betty,a mine that when stepped on blowns up about waist high.

The Killjoy   by Anne Fine, 189 pages Steve Gadd   01 October 1997

The Kingdom is Always but Coming: A Life of Walter Rauschenbusch (2008)   by Christopher H. Evans, 347 pages James Donahue   20 June 2008

The King's General (1946)   by Daphne du Maurier, 371 pages A Bennett   10 March 2004 The events in Cornwall leading up to the year 1653. Puritans, Cromwell, the titular Sir Richard Grenvile, the failed Rising. It's difficult to discern if my feelings of dread and ambivalence toward this novel have more to do with its own merits or the fact that I began reading it the unhappy time before Christmas last year when I fell quite sick, and used it to get through the hours of illness during which I couldn't sleep, and therefore associate it with physical discomfort and mental frustration. I can say I am glad to be done with it. Beyond that, perhaps all it has taught me/solidified in my mind is that I do not care for first-person book-length narratives.

The King's Indian   by John Gardner, 354 pages Steven Krise   25 February 2005 Three collections of short stories arranged into 3 "books". Author injects himself into the final story 8 pages from the end, apparently, to confirm that the book is mostly filled with nonsense.

The Kite Runner   by Khaled Hosseini, 371 pages Steve Gadd   05 July 2005 Reading this story, you get a bit of a feel for what Afghanistan has been through over the last thirty years. Mostly the author pulls out all the stops trying to break your heart with an overly tragic story.

The Kite Runner   by Khaled Hosseini, 371 pages Brad Snyder   31 August 2006 Every Afghan I have ever known is incredibly charming, funny, and hospitable, not at all like the pictures of the country of their origin we are so accustomed to seeing on the nightly news. I think of Dorr, proprietor of the Bamyan Restaurant in Herndon, VA. What great food and what a wonderful human being. It's hard to believe his home country was once so lovely, as it is in this story: for a while anyway. But even as the author paints a picture of beauty and plenty, he crafts characters that remind us all that even in a lush and beautiful place, the reality of the Fall effects us all. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. This is a story of friendship, betrayal, and redemption, with a new twist of sadness in every chapter.

The Lady and the Unicorn   by Tracy Chevalier, 248 pages James Donahue   15 June 2005 Chevalier's book is a fictional reconstruction of the creation of the tapestries of the same name hanging at the Musee de Cluny on the Left Bank. My wife recommened me the book, although I suspect it was solely out of love for the tapestries which fascinated her since she first saw them. I thus began this book in skepticism. The first few chapters almost fulfilled my expectations, especially the salacious devolutions that read more like Playboy letters than literature. (My objection is not one of prudishness, but one that prefers at least a two-dimensional woman in casual sex scenes.) But, to my surprise, the novel really picked up steam. In the end I could not put it down. It turns out that Chevalier can develop characters once they are slightly stained with love.

The Land of Laughs   by Jonathan Carroll, 253 pages Julie Gephart   27 December 2003 A loaner from my brother, so you know it was more Literary than my usual selections. Biographer researches the life of a cherished childhood author and finds out just how powerful the author’s writing really was. After moving to the (deceased) author’s home town, biographer eventually comes to realize that the entire town is populated by characters that the author literally wrote into existence. Everyone has the book that tells the whole story of each person’s life and death, and everybody feels that is a fine and grand way to live.

The Landscape of History (2002)   by John Lewis Gaddis, 151 pages James Donahue   12 August 2008

The Language Instinct   by Steven Pinker, 430 pages Steve Gadd   13 May 1997

The Language Instinct   by Steven Pinker, 430 pages Steve Gadd   10 May 2009 Pinker makes the case for an innate ability to use language, pointing out that human languages have more similarities than differences, and a child's skill at learning to speak demonstrates that there is more than simple imitation at work.

The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Belief   by Francis Collins, 295 pages Jonathan Misirian   31 August 2006 As the head of the Human Genome Project, Collins writes with the authority of a respected scientist. The Language of God follows philosophers like Wolterstorff and Nash, yet is written for a more general crowd. Part personal spiritual discovery, part defense of theistic evolution; The Language of God shines light on the intersection of faith and reason.

The Last Battle (1956)   by C. S. Lewis, 228 pages Jennifer Dear   05 April 2007

The Last Command (1999)   by Timothy Zahn, 340 pages James Donahue   15 February 2008 Did you know that Leia has credence on some worlds because she is "spawn of Vader"?

The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards   by Whit Stillman, 339 pages Micaela Larkin   01 January 2006 Brilliant movie-man Whit Stillman novelizes his own last days of disco, and succeeds. Perfect for any UHB (Urban Haute Bourgeoisie) or Austen lover.

The Last Days of Europe: Epitaph for an Old Continent (2007)   by Walter Lacquer, 226 pages James Donahue   01 September 2007 As pessimistic a forecast as one can get. As Europe's economy sags, it role as "moral superpower" goes unheeded, and its populations becomes Islamized, Lacquer foresees a future for Europe as "a museum of world history snd civilization preaching the importance of morality in world affairs to a nonexistent audience." At least tourist dollars are way up!

The Last Knight: The Twilight of the Middle Ages and the Birth of the Modern Era (2004)   by Norman F. Cantor, 250 pages Jonathan Misirian   11 June 2007 Cantor’s brilliance lies in his passion for this time period. The retired Yale professor writes with a fluidity and mastery of the subject, that reading his work requires little effort of the reader. Cantor uses John of Gaunt as his foil to explain the transitional period of 14th century England. Most fascinating was Cantor’s discussion of historiography in the final chapter.

The Last Templar   by Raymond Khoury, 532 pages Steven Krise   08 January 2009 Starting with a dramatic robbery of a Templar rotary encoder from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, our heroes pursue the villains and eventually uncover the secret of the Templars - a Gnostic manuscript written in Aramaic by Jeshua of Nazareth, which "proves" that Jesus was just a man, not god. The hard-nosed agnostic archaeologist and the devout Catholic FBI agent eventually throw the manuscript into the ocean because they don't want to topple the Church or disillusion millions of Christians. The book had pleasant enough action sequences but the premise is so absurd I had a hard time enjoying it. There's already plenty of evidence available that Jesus, if he existed, was just a man and yet the Church and Christians continue believing without a problem. One more manuscript would not have any devastating effects.

The Laughing Corpse   by Laurell K. Hamilton, 320 pages Julie Gephart   14 December 2003 “She was gazing at him with a look I had seen in other women. Adoration, love. I’d even experienced it myself for a brief time in college. You get over it.” Second in the Anita Blake series. Still good. I love the fact that even though Anita collects powerful friends, she still gets out of every situation on her own, bullet wounds and all.

The Legacy   by John Coyne, 246 pages Jeff Gadd   09 October 2002 Six peole come to inherity this castle,But they start to die,who will survive or die to gain inheritancy of the castle.

The Legacy of Heorot   by Larry Niven and two other dudes, 367 pages Steven Krise   05 March 2005 A tale (loosely modeled on Beowulf) of 200 interstellar human colonists upsetting the ecosystem on another planet. The story was mostly lame, but that seems to be par for the course with most sci-fi literature.

The Life and Thought of Kanzo Uchimura   by Hiyoshi Miuro, 131 pages James Donahue   03 April 2004 Uchimura was one of the first Christian converts in Japan after its legalization in 1873. Led to Christ by an American agricultural advisor, he quickly turned against American missionaires and their ethnocentrism. He founded his own church 'gone native, and propagated a gospel uniquely suited to Japanese culture and their Confucian values.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir (2006)   by Bill Bryson, 288 pages Brad Snyder   21 May 2008 This collection of memories describing growing up in Des Moines in the fifties is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. Excellent.

The Life of David (2005)   by Robert Pinsky, 209 pages James Donahue   26 March 2006 Pinsky, one of my favorite poets, has written an eye-opening, wonderful literary analysis of the life of the David. Never has the most fallible of the patriarchs seemed more human.

The Life of Pi   by Yann Martel, 326 pages James Donahue   22 December 2004 Just when you thought every plot had been done, along comes a book about a shipwrecked religious wunderkind and his pet tiger. An amazing read; literally could not put the book down, but am very unsure of its meaning. Suggestions?

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe   by C.S. Lewis, 186 pages Kristin Schrock   11 December 2005 I actually don't remember what I thought about this book when I first read it as a young lass. I do remember, though, that our class project was the Trials of Narnia wherein I was the defense attorney for the White Witch. I fear I have become a crotchety adult with a cold black heart because I found nothing magical or special about this book. In fact, I found it to be a little annoying (especially when reminded that the girls are not to fight in the battle "because battles are ugly when women fight.") I just kept wondering why more people don't know about the Lloyd Alexander Prydain books which I like to read every few years or so because they are just that good.

The Log from the Sea of Cortez   by John Steinbeck, 288 pages Erik Bauer   17 August 2001 I wanted to read this before I took a trip down the peninsula of Baja California with my friend Joe, but alas, I ended up finishing the book after the trip. Regardless, the book was still great and is a unique blend of science, philosophy, and social commentary that is pure Steinbeck. I've read half of his books, and it was nice to read something more personal and humorous.

The Long Loneliness: An Autobiography (1952)   by Dorothy Day, 284 pages Jonathan Misirian   20 August 2007 Day founded the Catholic Worker Movement which was an attempt to bring physical healing -to labor conditions which ensnared many, and to bring spiritual healing –to those laboring without hope. Day’s unpretentious prose alerts us to a heroine who’s conversion transformed her very soul.

The Long Winter   by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 334 pages Julie Gephart   05 March 2002 Pa's resume: Twisting hay into hard sticks for fuel, forecasting weather from muskrat dens

The Long, Dark Tea Time of the Soul   by Douglas Adams, 307 pages Steven Krise   06 December 2005 Thor gets pissed and accidentally saves the day.

The Lord of the Rings   by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1346 pages Mike Gadd   12 August 2002 Phew! Finally done. What a great story though. I can''t imagine being tested on it for school. The index for people and place names was 18 pages long. No wonder people hated it who were forced to read it. The story itself rolls along quite merrily- full of all the ups and downs of a good adventure. Time to go watch the movie.

The Lord of the Rings, Part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring   by J.R.R. Tolkien, 458 pages Brad Snyder   15 July 2006 I read this out loud to my son, using voices for all the characters, an activity I greatly enjoyed. I'm looking forward to watching the movie again, now that I understand the story more.

The Lord of the Rings, Part 2: The Two Towers   by J.R.R. Tolkien, 398 pages Brad Snyder   27 May 2007 I'm still doing the voices and still enjoying the time with my son. However, at the risk of causing a whole lot of people to question my sanity and taste, I really don't understand why everyone thinks this book is so great. It contains at least 100 pages of the most boring prose written since "The Scarlet Letter" as he describes the (lame) journey of Frodo and Sam. The movie is better.

The Love of a Good Woman   by Alice Munro, 340 pages Jaqi Ross   25 August 2004 In eight new stories, a master of the form extends and magnifies her great themes--the vagaries of love, the passion that leads down unexpected paths, the chaos hovering just under the surface of things, and the strange, often comical desires of the human heart. Munro is always amazing.

The Loved One (1948)   by Evelyn Waugh, 164 pages James Donahue   30 August 2007 Waugh returns to satire again, after his brief foray into "lit-era-toor," but moves his aim from the British upper class to their cross-Atlantic successors after WWII. In this short novel a British vagabond falls in love with an embalmer in southern California named Aimée Thanatogenos (named after the evangelist) and gets to see the bizarre American world of death.

The Lunatic Cafe   by Laurell K. Hamilton, 250 pages Julie Gephart   24 July 2004 “For future reference, so there will never be another misunderstanding between us, I never bluff.” “So you said.” “But you didn’t believe me.” He watched the blood spread across the floor. “I believe you now.” Fourth Anita Blake book, and she’s still the toughest woman on paper. This one spent too much time veering into romance for my taste, and I fear it will only get worse.

The Machinery of Freedom   by David Friedman, 235 pages Steve Gadd   13 August 2002 A primer on libertarianism. In fact, the author describes his ideal system as anarcho-capitalism, but it is a far cry from the Mad Max lawlessness I was expecting. Friedman advocates the privatization of every institution now provided by government. He admits that providing for national defense without a national government is difficult, and the private money systems he proposed seemed untenable. But otherwise, he does a fine job of arguing the practical possibilities of market-based services such as security, courts, transportation, and education. Thanks Ray for the loan.

The Magdalen Martyrs   by Ken Bruen, 274 pages Jonathan Misirian   03 August 2006 Readers long for the mystical moment when the novel you are reading transcends into ‘literature.’ This occurs but once every dozen or so books and happily for me, did with The Magdalen Martyrs. Bruen’s style isn’t for all, reflecting the harsh conditions of the protagonist’s life. Death, street justice, drugs and death, all find there way into yet another compelling story.

The Making of a Poker Player   by Matt Matros, 286 pages Steven Krise   30 August 2009 Matt leads you through his path to a WPT final table-ist, using his experience as a guide to the beginning or novice player.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb   by Richard Rhodes, 928 pages Steve Gadd   29 July 2006 With its epic sweep and extensive quotes from the characters involved, this sweeping history is not only fascinating for the technical details but also for the human drama. Side stories added color: the sabotage of a Norwegian heavy water plant, the parallel research into atomic secrets in Germany, Russia, and Japan, and the clash of personalities on the Manhattan Project. Fittingly awarded with the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Mammoth Hunters   by Jean M. Auel, 645 pages Julie Gephart   27 December 2002 Third book in Earth's Children series, a series that continues to slide downhill. Still an interesting look at daily life in an ice-age culture, but this one veers too far into romantic entanglements for my taste. Also, it would appear that the main character of these books invented and discovered every single thing that was invented or discovered during the ice age.

The Man Called Cash : The Life, Love, and Faith of an American Legend   by Steve Turner, 320 pages Brad Snyder   10 December 2005 Turner was supposed to have written this with Cash himself. This is a nice companion to Cash's own autobiography, based largely on interviews with people that knew the man throughout his life: childhood friends, Air Force buddies, fellow musicians, producers, and family members. His faith is a consistent theme, but not the entire focus of the book. Recommended for any music fan.

The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash   by Dave Urbanski, 240 pages Brad Snyder   03 February 2006 Not as good as Turner's biography of Cash, but it offers stories not covered there or in Cash's autobiography. His writing style is a bit clunky and he relies more on other people's observations rather than adding his own critical eye to the subject matter, but it's not a bad read overall.

the man of my dreams   by curtis sittenfield, 269 pages Micaela Larkin   08 November 2006 While she keeps the same self-obssessive inner eye on her main character, this sophomore attempt is much better fare than her original book of the month, prep.

The Man Who Ate Everything   by Jeffrey Steingarten, 494 pages Tony Pisarenkov   26 December 2004 A collection of magazine pieces on every imaginable aspect of food, cooking and eating. Entertaining, irreverent and insightful; recommended to anyone who has even a passing interest in food.

The Man who Loved China   by Simon Winchester, 352 pages Steve Gadd   13 August 2009 [audio]

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers   by Paul Hoffman, 268 pages Steve Gadd   21 March 2005 Paul Erdös was the most prolific mathematician of the twentieth century, surpassed historically only by Euler's seventy volumes of collected work. For most of his life, Erdös was an itinerant workaholic, often unable to go home to Hungary for political reasons. He would arrive at the doorstep of a colleague unannounced and work 19-hour days, fueled by amphetamines, then move on to the next host. His extensive collaboration has made him the Kevin Bacon of the math world -- mathematicians calculate their Erdös Number based on paper co-authorship, and almost all published mathematicians are within eight links. His genius seemed to come at the expense of any practical knowledge, and he would even ask for help tying his shoes. Thanks to Tony for this memorable biography.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat   by Oliver Sacks, 233 pages Steve Gadd   15 December 2002 Best book I read this year. The most interesting clinical tales from the 'Awakenings' neurologist. Read about the woman who, following a stroke, cannot see or perceive the idea of 'left.' She makes up the right half of her face, and eats the right half of her dinner. If she is still hungry, she must turn to the right in a circle until she finds the half-portion, and she eats half of that. Amnesiacs and hypermnesiacs. And the amazing twins, who couldn't do basic math, but entertained each other by calling out large primes. What keeps the book from becoming a freak show is the extremely literate and sensitive writing of the author, whose fascination for mental abberations is balanced by his compassion for the people who suffer (or in some unusual cases, benefit) from them.

The Man Who Walked Through Time   by Colin Fletcher, 239 pages Steve Gadd   29 May 1998 He was the first person to walk the length of the Grand Canyon nonstop. A stirring and reflective story.

The Man Who Was Thursday   by G. K. Chesterton, 122 pages Steve Gadd   12 January 1997

The Man Who Was Thursday   by G.K. Chesterton, 120 pages James Donahue   26 May 2003 A policeman finally inflitrates the notorious Anarchist Council only to find out that each of the council members is an undercover policeman. Again, brilliant satire, yet the flowery theological ending confused me. (Might add that these Chesterton books are very remniscent to me of Lewis.)

The Manchurian Candidate   by Richard Condon, 358 pages Kristin Schrock   24 October 2004 The distant narrator--presented like a history--elevate the suspense and creepiness of this 1960's thriller. An enjoyable read that often led to scary dreams--which is a good, I think. Recommended vocabulary: caparisoned, luctic, lyssophobia, lanugo.

The Mandalorian Armor (1998)   by K. W. Jeter, 387 pages James Donahue   08 January 2007 Did you know Boba Fett survived the Sarlaac Pit?

The Map That Changed The World   by Simon Winchester, 320 pages Jonathan Misirian   27 September 2005 The content didn't live up to the title. Winchester, author of the sublime, The Professor and the Madman, unearthed the story of William Smith, an 19th century geologist, who’s work on sedimentary stratification helped to initiate a non-theistic world view of the creation of the world.

The Mark   by Tim Lahaue J,B. Jenkins, 325 pages Jeff Gadd   27 October 2002 The 8th of the series and the beast of the world want's to leave his mark literally.

The Mask   by Dean Koontz, 305 pages Jeff Gadd   29 November 2000

The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003)   by Louise Erdrich, 389 pages James Donahue   10 June 2006 Erdrich captures the lonely but interdependent world of North Dakota between the wars by focusing on the German and Native American families living side by side (and sometimes in the same bed.) A good read, but languidly written. Example: "It was a song he'd sung with Johannes, drunk, in forgetfulness which he could not now forget, as the wheels turned them forward and forward, far from Germany, onto the wideness of plains of America where the wars were not between the same old enemies he was used to, but were over before he'd got there, the great dying finished, and the blood already soaked into the ground."

The Matarese Circle   by Robert Ludlum, 590 pages Jeff Gadd   04 August 1999

The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans watch Baseball, Football and Basketball, and what they see when they do (2004)   by Michael Mandelbaum, 332 pages Jonathan Misirian   01 March 2007 Professor of American foreign policy at John Hopkins University, and an avid sports enthusiast, Michael Mandelbaum follows Toffler’s overview of the three waves of civilization and identifies how our American sports leagues lines up with the agrarian, industrial, and now informational paradigms of society. A great report of the intersection of society and sports.

The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views (1977)   by George Eldon Ladd (Ed.), 223 pages Brad Snyder   10 June 2007 Four contributors, each representing one of the four eschatological views, present the case for the view they hold. Each view is then followed by a critique by the other three. Jolly good fun. My favorite quote, by editor George Eldon Ladd, in reference to the dominant (in the US) Premillenial view: "...the tendency to identify God's cause with Zionism and the nation of Israel can lend support to policies which do not make for peace on earth. The United States could well be drawn into war in the Middle East and many evangelicals might be responsible for the attitudes that can lead to that conflict."

The Messiah of Stockholm: A Novel   by Cynthia Ozick, 160 pages Jaqi Ross   28 June 2004 Lars Andeming, perhaps overly intellectual and certainly eccentric, is the Monday book reviewer for a Stockholm daily. He is also the self-proclaimed son of Bruno Schulz, a Polish writer who was executed by the Nazis before his last novel, The Messiah, could be published.

The Mezzanine   by Nicholson Baker, 135 pages Steve Gadd   19 March 2006 A guy goes up an escalator. Brilliant.

The Midas Touch   by Walter Winward, 276 pages Jeff Gadd   12 October 2003 Hitler's trap for American B-17 bombers as the Nazis were holding two important people near the factories that the Americans were going to bomb. So the Americans send two men in Germany to rescue them. Very interesting.

The Mill on the Floss   by George Eliot, 657 pages James Donahue   01 June 2004 After a couple of insomnial nights camping, I cleaned through Eliot by flashlight. Before this year I bore a deep antipathy for all things Victorian, but Eliot has bent me in this regard. Her prose -- so satirical, formal, intentionally composed, metaphorically rich -- keeps me hooked even as the stories dabble overmuch in romance.

The Mind of the Catholic Layman   by Daniel Callahan, 208 pages Micaela Larkin   16 July 2006

The Mind's I   by Douglas R. Hofstadter, 482 pages Steve Gadd   28 July 1995

The Mind's I   by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett (Eds.), 501 pages Steven Krise   07 January 2005 Collection of excerpts, essays, and philosophical circlejerks relating to the topics of the mind-brain interface, consciousness, subjectivity, AI, and personal identity. Highlights were the "Reflections" by DRH and DCD at the end of each selection and the stories by Stanislaw Lem and Robert Smullyan.

The Ministry of Fear (1943)   by Graham Greene, 221 pages James Donahue   10 June 2007 While bombs fall on London, someone is murdering people in a convulated spying scheme. The main hero accidently buys the wrong cake at a church fair (with real eggs in it!) and enters a tragicomic world that he does not understand.

The Mists of Avalon   by Marion Zimmer Bradley, 876 pages Julie Gephart   14 March 2004 Fantasy meets religious philosophy, and fantasy loses.

The Mole People   by Jennifer Toth, 256 pages Steve Gadd   20 September 2000 Seven stories below the streets of New York City, in the extensive disused subway tunnels and abandoned stations, live literally thousands of people down on their luck. Toth tells their stories.

The Monkey in the Mirror   by Ian Tattersall, 205 pages Steven Krise   29 May 2002 From this eminent paleoanthropologist (only 2 degress separated from the late, great SJ Gould (via Niles Eldridge)) comes a collection of essays on hominid evolution united by the theme (punk eq) that innovations in the hominid line (that's us) were sporadic and not at all the "refinements" (Neo-Darwinian gradualism) that one so often hears about. It'll be weeks before I get the twisted tune of that lame early 90s Michael Jackson tune out of my head, but otherwise a worthwhile read.

The Moon Is Down   by John Steinbeck, 118 pages Erik Bauer   18 November 2001 WW2 propaganda book like no other. Steinbeck's examination of the effects of war on both the aggressor and the occupied is possibly the best example of his understanding of human nature.

The Moral Imagination (2006)   by Gertrude Himmelfarb, 253 pages James Donahue   29 December 2006 An interesting set of essays on moral thought in the Victorian era.

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher   by Debby Applegate, 544 pages Micaela Larkin   12 December 2006 I enjoyed this biography of the most famous Beecher brother....

The Mountains of Mourning   by Lois McMaster Bujold, 112 pages Julie Gephart   03 November 2002 This is part of a larger science fiction series that I stumbled into with my standard excuse that I found it published free online and therefore had nothing to lose. A young ruler with severe birth defects has to judge a case where locals kill children who are born imperfect.

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (2006)   by Umberto Eco, 449 pages James Donahue   26 May 2007 Eco continues his musing on popular culture and semiotics in this story where a man loses all his individual memory after an accident, but retains his public memory (i.e., anything he ever read in a book.) In other words, he can recite poems and discourse on Napoleon, but has no idea about who his daughter is. So he spends most of the book launching a historical investigation into himself, going through old notes and books, schooltime essays written during the Fascist era, and trying to unravel who he really is. Good, but somehow the books loses itself along the way. Perhaps a better idea than an actual book. (Read overnight in one long evening sitting outside on a warm spring's night on the curb outside the Berlin airport, locked out, waiting for them to let me board my early morning flight.)

The Mystery of the Black Tulip   by Lauren Willig, 403 pages Micaela Larkin   17 April 2007

The Mystery of the Black Tulip (2006)   by Lauren Willig, 403 pages Jennifer Dear   14 April 2007

The Mystery of the Child (2007)   by Martin Marty, 246 pages James Donahue   12 May 2008 Marty has been the premier Lutheran historian in the U.S. for decades. Now that he's emeritus, he can about whatever he wants. Hence this intelligent, unscientific, and extraordinarily helpful book on the Christian approach to parenthood. Avoid control, he advises, stop worrying about his future or what the books tell you is the perfect recipe for a 'good child.' Instead sit back and wonder. Let the child unveil himself, and then let the child expose the playful, trusting, awe-ful person in you. Learn from children how to wonder. (Part of me is sad that the modern academic rat race penalizes those of us with children - so much so, that Marty's welcome combination of theological reflection and grandfatherly joy reads to me like something from an age that is no more.)

The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the quest for political power is destroying the church (2006)   by Gregory Boyd, 210 pages Jonathan Misirian   05 May 2007 The title betrays the book, in that this book is not a historical overview of American historical roots. In reality this book is a discussion the Kingdom of God and how this always counters the Kingdom of the World. A more in-depth treatment of these two competing motifs would help to strengthen this work, but regardless, it is a good first step at looking at the implications of using power and politics to advance God’s Kingdom. Boyd challenges the Christian to avoid the myths that tempt American Christians: the myth that we are a Christian nation, the myth of redemptive violence, the myth that might makes right, the myth that the end justifies the means, etc…

The Naked and the Dead   by Norman Mailer, 559 pages Tony Pisarenkov   27 April 2008 The mother of all war novels. Well worth the considerable effort.

The Name of the Rose   by Umberto Eco, 611 pages Steven Krise   25 March 2002 That classic 14th murder mystery. It's not who you think...or is it? Anyway, I need to brush up on my Latin before reading it again. I have to admit, I think this is the first time I ever actually read it all the way to the end (no I didn't finish it when reading it for Persecepe).

The Name of the Rose   by Umberto Eco, 611 pages Steve Gadd   02 September 2002 Certainly one of the more esoteric murder mysteries out there. I benefitted from the notes at this site: http://www.csuohio.edu/english/earl/nr0index.html

The Napoleon of Notting Hill   by G.K. Chesterton, 179 pages James Donahue   21 May 2003 A wonderful farce about the mysticism of nationalism in a futuristic civilized world. Chesterton is at his best when he is satirical, one of the highest of Christian trait..

The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis (2005)   by Alan Jacobs, 314 pages James Donahue   29 May 2007 Jacobs - who is the best evangelical critic out there right now - takes on the evangelical Maestro. His book is a rare combination of a critic who is religiously literate but still not prone to the obsequious hagiography that follows Lewis around, the Christian equivalent to groupie-ism. Jacobs is much more interested in the religious possibilities of story and myth than in Lewis (who was after all a distastefully stuffy don with a taste for sadism before his conversion and a Christian jack-of-all-trades after his birth, churning out books faster than Irish 'virgins' can churn our children). And that is just I would prefer: the stories matter more than the man.

The Narrows   by Michael Connelly, 405 pages Mike Gadd   09 June 2004 Back on track with Harry Bosch. Now we're pulling in characters from past novels that weren't related before. It was fun seeing these characters complain about the roles they played in the 'Bloodwork' movie.

The Nasty Bits   by Anthony Bourdain, 288 pages Tony Pisarenkov   19 May 2007 A few entertaining pieces, but mostly covers the same ground as his previous (and better) books.

The Natures of John and William Bartram   by Thomas Slaughter, 292 pages James Donahue   28 January 2004 The best biography I've ever read. Hands down. The Bartrams were a father-son botanist team in colonial America with vastly different personalities and stories. The book tells their lives through their troubled relationship and expertly makes one see the forest and untrammeled nature of 18th-century America. But what the makes the book really soar is Slaughter's sympathetic and probing narrative style, written on the heels of his own father's death.

The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives on Interpretation   by Ian Kershaw, 225 pages James Donahue   15 October 2002 Kershaw examines the often rancorous historiographic debates surronding Nazism. Specific issue include: the relative responsibility of non-Nazis for the Holocaust, Hitler's personal role and power over the regime, the restrictions that overt moralism places on historical research, and the conflicting accounts between Germans and Jews. The book is meant for the non-specialist and is a good introduction to the historiography; Kershaw also presents sound and fair evaluations of the issues.

The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing   by Charlie Papazian, 398 pages Steven Krise   20 April 2002 The definitive how-to guide for the beginning brewer. Worth the price just for the recipes.

The New Faithful: Why Young Adults are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy   by Colleen Carroll, 320 pages James Donahue   26 December 2002 The book is a bit sloppy and meandering; some of her language-use is imprecise (especially about postmodernism) and some of the chapters repeat information previously said. All that being said, this is a wonderfully provocative book. I never have considered myself to be a member of a movement or of my generation, yet I clearly saw myself reflected in the people documented in this book. Carroll explores the recent phenomenon of people our age converting to more liturgical, more conservative, and more traditional faith, and by so doing rediscovering the classical themes and emotions of historical Christianity. I recommend this read to anyone interested in this phenomenon and to anyone who's always been intrigued by the possibility of converting to a more orthodox (by which I mean: traditional)faith.

The New Machiavelli (1911)   by H. G. Wells, 378 pages James Donahue   10 March 2008 An autobiographical novel, the Bildungsroman as self-defense. Wells defends his politics - rational world state run by a new elite capable of steering human evolution towards happiness - and his new mistress - stupid old Victorians left us no sexual education capable of preparing us for real life. My offhand comment: Its nice to see the roots of fascism in our own culture.

The New Science of Strong Materials   by J. E. Gordon, 279 pages Steve Gadd   11 July 2004 Most materials exhibit only a fraction of their theoretical strength. Stress accumulates around microscopic cracks, enlarging them and leading to fracture. (A glazier exploits this by etching a scratch in a pane of glass to make a clean break.) The most successful light materials, like wood and fiberglass, incorporate weak layers that trap the point of cracks, dulling and stopping them. Iron is not very strong, but metallurgists over the centuries found ways to treat it to create steels with a strong crystalline structure. Gordon explains why traditional methods, such as quenching a sword in urine, are effective. His style is very readable, and what sounds like a sleep-inducing chapter on "Glue and Plywood" becomes a fascinating history of wooden warplanes in World War II. Thanks to Brian Chandler for the recommendation.

The Night Is Large   by Martin Gardner, 565 pages Steve Gadd   05 August 1999 This collection of essays written from 1938 to 1995 demonstrates the versatility of this author, perhaps best known as a purveyor of puzzles.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency   by Alexander McCall Smith, 234 pages Jennifer Dear   20 July 2006

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 235 pages James Donahue   10 March 2006 What can I say? Charming. And a welcome break from my self-inflicted regimen of biography.

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge   by Rainer Maria Rilke, 260 pages gareth   18 April 2002 plus proustian que le proust!

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge   by Rainer Maria Rilke, 260 pages gareth   18 April 2002 plus proustian que le proust!

The Old Man And the Sea   by Ernest Hemingway, 118 pages Jeff Gadd   11 May 2002 Great Story.

The old man and the sea   by Ernest Hemingway, 92 pages Jonathan Misirian   09 October 2005 Hemingway's short masterpiece is an existentialist's dream. Forcing the reader to identify with the lonely fisherman and the absurdity of his life makes this novella an intriguing read. Sparse word choices and minimal dialogue show Hemingway’s skill at constructing a textured story.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A natural history of Four Meals   by Michael Pollan, 410 pages Jonathan Misirian   16 July 2006 Pollan writes masterfully. He traces the genesis of corn, beef, boar and chicken from the field to the kitchen table. His chapter on Animal Rights is truly exceptional. For those who love to read lucid writing and who enjoy eating a sumptuous meal.

The Omnivore's Dilemma   by Michael Pollan, 464 pages Micaela Larkin   29 June 2007 A++++++ Corn is in everything we eat!

The Omnivore's Dilemma   by Michael Pollan, 415 pages Steve Gadd   05 February 2008 It's no surprise that corn finds its way into everything we eat, but the story of how corn became dominant is pretty interesting. Pollan also gives a mercifully brief look at industrial meat processing and makes vegetarianism sound pretty appealing. But a chapter later he has you ready to pick up a gun and go hunting. An engaging look at where modern food comes from. Thanks to Tony for the gift.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History in Four Meals   by Michael Pollan, 450 pages Tony Pisarenkov   04 November 2007 This book has generated a healthy amount of heated debate, so it's not really my place to offer any sort of critique here. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed it tremendously and heartily recommend it to everyone.

The Orchestra: Origins and Transformations   by Joan Peyser, ed., 646 pages Tony Pisarenkov   27 January 2008 A collection of essays on the various aspects of the symphony orchestra -- its development, history, social and commercial roles, its impact on the evolution of composition and conducting, etc. The quality of the essays varies greatly, but the best ones are quite good.

The O'Reilly Factor   by Bill O'Reilly, 224 pages Erik Bauer   07 October 2001 A quick afternoon read, it was like a giant op-ed piece. Lots of opinion, some good, some bad, nothing earth shattering.

The Origin of Language   by Merrit Ruhlen, 239 pages Steven Krise   17 November 2003 By offering exercises for the reader to complete, makes a case for linguistic monogenesis. Employs general taxonomic principles known since Darwin and in common practice among the biological sciences, but which (if the author is to be believed) modern linguists are largely unaware. Culminates with a discussion of Renfrew's "Emerging Synthesis", showing how recent genetic studies by Cavalli-Sforza are consistent with Greenberg's classfications in Eurasia, Africa, and the New World.

The Origin of Satan   by Elaine Pagels, 214 pages Steven Krise   08 July 2003 Starting with the satan being a role played out by angels or gods in Yahweh's court we see how the concept of the intimate enemy is expanded through Jewish and early Christian thought as the faithful confront opposition. The concept finds its fullest expression in the anti-Semitism of the later Gospels and the demonization of the so-called heretics by Irenaeus.

The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State   by Frederick Engels, 267 pages James Donahue   16 January 2003

The Origins of Life and the Universe   by Paul F Lurquin, 217 pages Steven Krise   31 July 2009 From the back cover because I can't think of anything to say: "'The Origins of Life and the Universe' is the culmination of a university science professor's search for understanding and is based on his experiences teaching the fundamental issues of physics, chemistry, and biology in the classroom. What is life? Where did it come from? These are questions that have occupied us all. This is a book, then, about the beginning of things--of the universe, matter, stars, and planetary systems, and finally, of life itself--topics of profound interest that are rarely considered together.

The Origins of Totalitarianism   by Hannah Arendt, 507 pages James Donahue   07 September 2002 A masterpiece which put the very word into our vocabulary.

The Osterman Weekend   by Robert Ludlum, 336 pages Steve Gadd   05 April 2006 A weak early effort by the author of the Bourne trilogy.

The Ottomans   by Andrew Wheatcroft, 239 pages Steve Gadd   16 April 2002 Beginning with the conquest of Constantinople, this book vividly describes some historic battles. The rest of the survey of Ottoman history is kind of disjointed, often focusing more on the image of the Ottomans as seen by Westerners. I did enjoy seeing the word 'yataghan' in print for the first time.

The Outlaw Sea   by William Langweische, 239 pages Tony Pisarenkov   12 November 2006 Journalistic expose at its best -- keeps you turning the pages with edge-of-your-seat tales of spectacular shipwrecks and brazen modern-day piracy while shedding light on the obscure but fascinating topic of the inherent anarchy of the world of international commercial shipping and its political enablers.

The Outlaw Sea   by William Langewiesche, 239 pages Steve Gadd   19 February 2007 A great collection of Atlantic articles on modern piracy, oceangoing disasters, and shipbreaking.

The Outlaw Sea (2004)   by William Langewiesche, 239 pages Jonathan Misirian   06 February 2007 Talking with some friends about great authors sent me searching for another Langewiesche book. He narrates with superb precision and crisp writing, drawing the reader into the subject matter. The Outlaw Sea depicts the ¾ of the world as a vast, lawless, under-regulated and violent world that is foreign to so many.

The Outlaw Years: The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace   by Robert M. Coates, 308 pages Brad Snyder   24 January 2006 My father gave me this book a few years ago. I'm not sure where he got it, but this copy was published in 1930, which added to the charm. The book has that flair of language and tone common to most good stories of the West from that bygone era. The book centers on the Natchez Trace wilderness trail that started in what is now Natchez, Mississippi and wrapped on through to Nashville, Tennessee. It even mentions points north--even Yellow Springs, Ohio gets a paragraph's-worth of mention! But, the real strength of the book is the story. It isn't written like most books of history, and the author spared no detail, which kept me thoroughly intrigued. And, it's about pirates to boot! Well, they're technically highwaymen, but who's gonna quibble with that?

The Oxford Conspirators: A History of the Oxford Movement   by Marvin O'Connell, 456 pages James Donahue   24 April 2003 Whenever you ask a professor for a book recommendation he will inevitably recommend his own book on the subject. Having learnt this lesson I picked up Prof O'Connell's book on the subject which is magisterial in scope (read: too much detail.) Still an interesting subject for me. In 1833 a group of Oxford Anglicans centered around John Henry Newman hoped to revive the church through returning to first-century Christianity. Unfortunately they had little idea that the first-century was so darn Catholic and completely unlike their Protestant fantasies. Two decades most had converted to Catholicism and re-established the Church in England. I too often identify with these men, for I also have a passion for historical theology and am also too often stuck with Protestants who believe they are living an ancient faith that is entirely invented. Like Newman I feel the pull.

The Painted Veil   by W. Somerset Maugham, 238 pages James Donahue   01 November 2005

The Panda's Thumb   by Steven J Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   15 May 2002 From the most often misquoted paleontologist comes this collection of essays loosely connected by the theme that it is nature's imperfections that clinch the case for evolution. Highlights: page 41's discussion of the proliferation of geometric perfection in the absence of intelligent guidance and chapter 10's revelation of Teilhard de Chardin's role in the Piltdown hoax. And, of course, there's puncuated equilibrium. They're all puncuated equilibrium, you see.

The Panda's Thumb   by S J Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   01 August 2005 Natura non facit saltum.

The Panda's Thumb   by S J Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   29 June 2006 He said radial sesamoid...huhuh.

The Panda's Thumb   by Stephen Jay Gould, 343 pages Steven Krise   15 July 2007 More reflections in natural history.

The Parsifal Mosaic   by Robert Ludlum, 596 pages Jeff Gadd   24 July 1999

The Partly Cloudy Patriot   by Sarah Vowell, 196 pages Micaela Larkin   17 June 2006

The Partly Cloudy Patriot (2002)   by Sarah Vowell, 196 pages James Donahue   04 October 2006 Hilarious outtakes from an historically-obsessed ex-Montana nerd - - - who is not moi!

The Partner   by John Grisham, 468 pages Jeff Gadd   16 August 2001

The Patriot   by Stephen Molstad, 294 pages Jeff Gadd   13 September 2000

The Peace Ship: Henry Ford's Pacifist Adventure in the First World War (1978)   by Barbara S. Kraft, 297 pages James Donahue   24 November 2008 In 1915 Henry Ford becomes instantly converted to pacifism and hires a ship to convey a delegation of pacifists to go to Europe and stop the war by appealing to everyone's humanity. Hijinks ensue.

The People’s Act of Love (2007)   by James Meek, 390 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 September 2007 The People’s Act of Love is set in Siberia during the waning days of WWI. An escaped convict, a religious sect of castrates, a rouge Czech military unit, and a Communist battle group all form the central characters of this compelling novel. Reviewers scrambled over themselves to compare this work with Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

The Perfect Storm   by Sebastian Junger, 301 pages Steve Gadd   04 April 2000 The reader follows the last days of a fishing boat doomed to vanish in the North Atlantic's "storm of the century."

The Perfect Storm   by Sebastian Junger, 301 pages Jeff Gadd   24 June 2000

The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine   by Rudolph Chelminski, 344 pages Tony Pisarenkov   26 October 2005 A thoroughly engaging biography of Bernard Loiseau, a three-star French chef who committed suicde while at the height of his success in 2003. On the surface, this is a subject that might not warrant an entire book, but Chelminski not only paints an extremely compelling portrait of this loveable, generous but deeply flawed man, but also gives us a fascinating look into the history and inner workings of French gastronomy. Highly recommended.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999)   by Stephen Chbosky, 224 pages Brad Snyder   06 August 2008 An awkward but incredibly intelligent kid learns social graces from the colorful characters with whom he surrounds himself. Apparently written for a younger audience, I still enjoyed the story, written in the form of several letters written over the course of a year to an anonymous person.

The Phenomenology of Spirit   by G.W.F. Hegel, 592 pages James Donahue   16 December 2002 Been working all semester on this one. An entire class devoted to one book, and we didn't get all the way through it. Finished it up over Finals week.

The Physiology of Taste   by J.A. Brillat-Savarin, 443 pages Tony Pisarenkov   06 June 2004 Originally published in 1825, this is purportedly the first book to discuss cooking and eating as an art form. Although tedious in spots, it is mostly highly enetertaining, and fascinating because it illustrates both how much we already knew about the functioning of the human organism and how ignorant we were of what today would be considered common knowledge and even common sense. Commentary by M.F.K. Fisher (the translator) adds an entire new dimension to the text.

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank   by Thad Carhart, 271 pages Steve Gadd   09 January 2002 An American writer in Paris enters a circle of friends who share a common interest in the piano. Thanks Tony for the gift.

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank   by Thad Carhart, 271 pages Erik Bauer   07 July 2002 An American writer in Paris enters a circle of friends who share a common interest in the piano. I take my piano playing more seriously after having read it. Thanks Steve for the borrow.

The Pity of War (1999)   by Niall Ferguson, 462 pages James Donahue   23 April 2007 Polished Oxford Don examines the myths surrounding the Great War, exposing a reluctant peace-loving population, a preventable tragedy if Germany had only had been more militarist, and wartime trends that could have resulted in a Central victory and a Kaiser-dominated European Union.

The Plains of Passage   by Jean M. Auel, 760 pages Julie Gephart   09 March 2003 (4th in series) Much better than the last book, but none have measured up to the joy that was the first book. In this, two people spend a year journeying across what is now Europe in the time just before the Ice Age.

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out   by Richard Feynman, 257 pages Steve Gadd   11 May 2000 This collection of essays and lectures includes much material found elsewhere with some additional material.

The Plot Against America   by Philip Roth, 391 pages Jonathan Misirian   01 March 2005 I suspect that this book was praised, not because of its content, but because of the potential similarity to today's political situation. A 'what if' historical account of Lindbergh ascending to the presidency in 1940, and the fear his anti-semitism brought to America.

The Plot Against America   by Philip Roth, 391 pages James Donahue   26 December 2005 Of course I'm really into this subject - international fascism - and was quite excited to read Roth's counterfactual story that has the fascists Lindburgh and Henry Ford winning the 1940 election over FDR. Yet I ended up being nothing but disappointed with this book, which does seem - as Misirian suggests - more about Bush than 1940s America. Given the prevalence of anti-Semitism, isolationism, and socialistic-conservatism in reality (e.g., Burton Wheeler from my home state is a much more complicated Progressive figure than displayed here), why make up things that don't make sense (especially in the final sections that wrap everything up in a manner that would seem incredible even in a Tom Clancy novel?) Roth's fantasies speak more to his paranoia about "brutal American Christian conservatives" (actual phrase!) than to any prewar reality!! Let's keep in mind that back then American Christian conservatives - such as John Foster Dulles and Cordell Hull - spearheaded the bipartisan American push for a United Nations beginning in 1938; and that American church leaders such as Carl Henry, Samuel McCrea Cavert, Harry Emerson Fosdick, and the Rockefeller family led the charge against the persecution of the Jews, and the Christian Right hav ever since championed Jewish rights, as seen most visibly when Reagan and Bush I unilaterally pushed the Soviet Union to cease their anti-Semitic campaigns in the 1980s. True, Jews in 1940s America didn't get to join the country clubs and had to watch out for drunken bands of Italian and Irish youths, but its hard to picture concentration camps for Jewish-Americans. True racist brutality in this country, which did indeed peak in the 1930s, has not been directed towards Jewish-Americans, but instead to Native Americans, African-Americans, and Japanese-Americans -- none of whom, strikingly, make a single appearance in Roth's narrative.

The Political Culture of the American Whigs   by Daniel Walker Howe, 381 pages James Donahue   12 February 2004 Do you really want to know?

The Portable Nietzsche   by Friedrich Nietzsche, 687 pages Steve Gadd   06 June 2003 "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a book -- what everyone else does *not* say in a book." While lugging this fat old Viking paperback around since January, I found that Nietzsche did compress his most remarkable, provocative, and memorable ideas into brilliant maxims and paragraphs. On the other hand, he also created ponderous, plodding tomes: Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, and the interminable Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Walter Kaufmann, the translator, explains in helpful introductions that Nietzsche did not bother much with editing, in one case beginning a new work the same day he finished the last. His philosophy, destined to be distorted by Nietzsche's sister after his death, remains less accessable as a result.

The Post-American World (2008)   by Fareed Zakaria, 260 pages James Donahue   17 August 2008 An excellent survey of the U.S. options since the recent "rise of the West." Best points: good on multipolarity of power politics. Worst points: Zakaria (who is from India) focuses on Asia to the total exclusion of South America and Africa.

The Poverty of Philosophy   by Karl Marx, 209 pages James Donahue   04 February 2003 Marx's quarrel with Proudhon over the (im)mutability of economic categories.

The Power Of Babel   by John McWhorther, 327 pages Steven Krise   22 December 2003 A treatise on language evolution exploring the myriad ways languages morph and change over time. Spent an inordinate amount of time beating the "dialects are all there is" dead horse. Interestingly, in the epilogue McWhorther addresses the improbability of Ruhlen's proto-World ursprache and echoes Bickerton's sentiment about creoles being the most accurate picture we'll ever get of what "Adam and Eve" spoke. It's weird to have your books converse with one another.

The Power of Logical Thinking   by MS. Marilyn Vos Savant, 203 pages Mike Gadd   15 May 2003 Not a bad find for a buck at the Dollar Tree store. "Ask Marilyn" covers some of my favorite topics including puzzles and paradoxes and how numbers and statistics can mislead. She includes 2 classic brain teasers I've enjoyed since brother Steve gave them to me years ago. One involves a game show with three curtains, the other one has 3 travelers stopping at a hotel and splitting the cost of a room. The game show puzzle sparked a yearlong and worldwide controversy as college professors, mathematicians, and statisticians refused to accept the answer. Half the book reveals how easy it is to get numbers and statistics to lie. This is especially popular within the political landscape.

The Power of One   by Bryce Courtenay, 629 pages Mike Gadd   28 January 2002

The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973)   by Paolo E. Coletta, 266 pages James Donahue   05 December 2008

The Priest   by Ralph McInerny, 563 pages Micaela Larkin   28 May 2007 1968 religious melodrama

The Prince   by Niccolo Machiavelli, 151 pages Erik Bauer   15 January 2000 A survival guide to working in an office environment.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee: A Novel (2008)   by Rebecca Miller, 239 pages Brad Snyder   23 February 2009 I read about a movie based on this book. I wish I had never read it. I will definitely not watch the movie.

The Professor and the Madman   by Simon Winchester, 242 pages Steve Gadd   11 February 2002 Dr. William C. Minor, a mentally unstable American army doctor, murdered a London man in a fit of paranoia. Confined to an institution for most of the rest of his life, he became one of the most prolific contributors to the Oxford English Dictionary.

The Progress of Redemption   by Willem VanGemeren, 474 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 July 2005 VanGemeren delivers a masterful overview of the biblical themes of Salvation and Redemption. He traces these themes throughout each book of the Bible, providing a complete and unified look at the work of Christ.

The Prophet   by Kahlil Gibran, 96 pages Steve Gadd   12 January 1996

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism   by Max Weber, 292 pages James Donahue   13 April 2002 The classic account that traces the origin of modern deracinated capitalism to the Calvinist need to prove one's election and calling. Thanks for reminding me of this one Gareth.

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-1905)   by Max Weber, 234 pages James Donahue   17 February 2008 I like this book not because it is correct (I don't think it, but is is fecund in being wrong), but because every time I come back to it (this is my what? eighth? twelfth? time) I discover something new. It is an incredibly ambitious and subtle work: a tough combination to pull off. (Don't you love the blissfully unnecessary and rambling things people put into their parenthesis, as if the rules of grammar, logic, and/or taste do not apply within the sanctuary of these blessed half-circles, he said rhapsodically.)

The Protestant Evangelical Awakening   by W.R. Ward, 355 pages James Donahue   09 June 2004

The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desparate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967   by Hunter S Thompson, 683 pages Steven Krise   25 December 2008 Collected personal letters of HST for the time period mentioned in the title (odd, that). Gems include a lot of 'em, but it's been a long sick-filled week since I finished the book and I don't remember any of the page numbers I had previously "committed" to memory for to pull out quotes for the BandML.

The Proud Young Thing (1952)   by Helen Topping Miller, 252 pages A Bennett   08 June 2005 A novel about pre-Revolutionary War Charleston (Charles Town at the time) so badly written it makes me wonder how in the name of all things holy Ms. Topping Miller EVER got it published. Cliched, rife with bigotry and defamation of her own gender. Just _amazing_ in its awfulness. Great Jehoshephat, this woman taught Modern Fiction Writing! (http://library.cn.edu/speccoll/miller.html), and apparently birthed at least 400 other affronteries on the English reading population of the world!

The Purpose-Driven Church   by Rick Warren, 400 pages Brad Snyder   27 February 2006 This is a classic example of my judging a book by its cover... I was encouraged to read this book several years ago, but was recently forced to do so for a course I'm taking. I must admit that my protests before reading it were based solely on caricature rather than substance, and I was totally wrong in my assumptions. This is a thought-provoking book, even if I think Warren goes a little overboard in some places. There are many things in it that I would be excited to see implemented at my own quiet, traditional, Presbyterian church that would probably open the doors to more encounters with the changing demographics of our neighborhood.

The Quest for Christa T.   by Christa Wolf, 185 pages James Donahue   26 March 2003 Published in 1968 in East Germany, Wolf's swirling novel of memory and subjectivity broke decisively away from the mandated socialist realism of the Communist Bloc. It signified the shift in Wolf from critically acclaimed writer to disgruntled critic. The book moves in and out of the third person as Wolf seeks herself through a long-lost friend.

The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out (2004)   by Mark Driscoll, 204 pages Brad Snyder   24 October 2007 Driscoll lays out his philosophy of ministry, which he calls "reformission".

The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Tale of a Boy and his Backyard Nuclear Reactor   by Ken Silverstein, 240 pages Jaqi Ross   28 September 2004 In the summer of 1995, a teenager in a Detroit suburb, a mediocre student with a relentless scientific curiosity, managed to build a rudimentary nuclear breeder reactor in a shed behind his mother's house, using radioactive elements obtained from items as ordinary as smoke detectors. He got so far along in his efforts that when the Feds finally caught up with him, the EPA used Superfund money (usually spent on the worst hazardous waste sites) to clean up the shed. Building on a Harper's article, Silverstein, an investigative reporter for the L.A. Times, fleshes out David Hahn's atomic escapades, and though it takes a while for the story to kick into gear, readers will be sucked in not just by how Hahn did it but how he was able to get away with it. His "pathologically oblivious" father comes in for the sharpest criticism, but Silverstein takes note of the teachers who failed to pick up on Hahn's cues (his friends called him "glow boy") and the Department of Energy official who offered crucial tips on creating a neutron gun. Silverstein also examines the pronuclear ideology Hahn picked up in the Boy Scouts (where he had earned an atomic energy merit badge) and dated government publications that touted nuclear power while glossing over setbacks in the troubled breeder reactor program. And though there's little mention of how easily terrorists could duplicate Hahn's feat, perhaps the accomplishment of one obsessed teen is scary enough in its own right.

The Raft   by Robert Trumbull, 128 pages Steve Gadd   02 February 1996

The Ragamuffin Gospel   by Brennan Manning, 240 pages Brad Snyder   31 December 2005 Manning challenges us to truly come to Jesus just as we are: without pretensions, moral rectitude, or religious language that always manage to trip us up on our journey to Him.

The RainMaker   by John Grisham, 598 pages Jeff Gadd   10 June 1999

The Razor's Edge   by W. Somerset Maugham, 314 pages Kristin Schrock   19 November 2002 Part of my "It's Good to Read Good Books" Program. I'm not sure how good it is. This one involves a lot of speechifying about how to live a fulfilling life: being a part of society, marrying well, or dedicating your life to enlightenment. Remarkable for one paragraph in which the author says, "You can skip this next part if you want. It has nothing to with the plot, but is the reason I wrote the book." (or something like that). He was right. That part was very long and very dull.

The Razor's Edge (1944)   by W. Somerset Maugham, 331 pages James Donahue   16 April 2006 Maugham, the missing link between Balzac and Hemingway, writes in this, his last novel, of an American obsessed with finding wisdom in mysticism after the Great War. He leaves his friends in Chicago, busy making money and babies in the roaring twenties, to travel and experience life. The book is good overall, but not for Maugham. There is too much distance between the writer and the Americans, yet Maugham's own opinions, viewpoints, and experiences are the Americans', not the narrator. Which makes the strongest characters the most detached.

The Real Toy Story: inside the rutless battle for America's youngest consumers (2007)   by Eric Clark, 255 pages Jonathan Misirian   06 March 2007 The Real Toy Story, failed to live up to its hype. I had thought that this would be a great expose of the toy business, and instead it consisted of average reporting without any real mention of the 'ruthless battle' for children. No surprise to anyone that the toy industry has money as its number 1 goal. The chapters on Barbie don't provide anything more then what we already know.. icon, alien proportions, strict licensing agreements, and a lot of feminist critics....yawn.

The Reckoning   by Jeff Long, 384 pages Mike Gadd   18 October 2005 The Descent is Jeff Long's best work and in my top 10. This one doesn’t reach near that level, but was still entertaining. He's one of the best descriptive writers I'm familiar with. This story has several quality scenes in it, but the ending was empty. I just didn't get it. That doesn't settle well with my need for closure.

The Reckoning: A Thriller   by Jeff Long, 384 pages Micaela Larkin   08 September 2005 This engaging thriller is part historical mystery, part Michael Chrichton, and part magical realism.

The Red Dragon   by Thomas Harris, 434 pages Steven Krise   31 January 2002 Like it says on the cover, meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time.

The Red Tent   by Anita Diamant, 321 pages Mike Gadd   17 June 2002 This is the fictional story of the real person Dinah from the Old Testament. She was the only sister of Joseph (with his colorful coat) and only gets a brief mention in Genesis. The story puts you in her shoes and you get an entirely different perspective of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Even though it's entirely fictionalized, it adds dimension to these people you grew up hearing stories about. This book came highly recommended and it held up to expectations.

The Reflecting Eye   by John Connolly, 102 pages Mike Gadd   01 August 2005 A short story to continue the adventure of Charlie Parker. I don't like shorts as a rule. They are too limiting. I like to sink my teeth into the story and ride it out. I don't mind a 800 page book as long as it can carry you through.

The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen   by Lloyd Alexander, 273 pages A Bennett   15 January 2003 Once again, an excellent start to the New Year. Alexander understands sorrow and fear, and never fails me. Even when I think, for the first few chapters, the book's gonna stink. Necessary vocabulary: yaman, cangue

The Remnant   by Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins, 405 pages Mike Gadd   09 September 2003 Book 10 down and still moving forward. Slowly. The plot keeps thinning out and I find that I don't care about some of the characters anymore.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe   by Douglas Adams, 250 pages Steve Gadd   13 January 1998 Part Two of the so-called trilogy. My attempt to read through all my books in order was foiled when I accidently returned my copy of Life, the Universe, and Everything to the library.

The Resurrection   by John Gardner, 244 pages Steven Krise   15 September 2009 Gardner crafts a poignant story about the death of a man in his prime as a means of showing us his aesthetic theory.

The Return of History and the End of Dreams (2008)   by Robert Kagan, 105 pages James Donahue   28 May 2008 Everything you wanted to know about geopolitics in forty-five minutes. (ahem)

The Return of the Native   by Thomas Hardy, 468 pages Steve Gadd   22 July 2002 Eustacia Vye, a beautiful, cultured woman, dreams of the passionate lover who will take her away from the desolate landscape of Egdon Heath. But her poetic longing is no match for the cruelness of fate. Bonfires, burial mounds, secret meetings under the eclipsed moon, Eustacia standing on a barrow at twilight, scanning the horizon with her grandfather's spyglass -- memorable images of this gothic tragedy.

The Return of the Native   by Thomas Hardy, 468 pages Steve Gadd   27 October 2009

The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of American Democracy   by Christopher Lasch, 256 pages Micaela Larkin   12 July 2006 Awesome!

The Rhymer and the Ravens   by Jodie Forrest, 333 pages Julie Gephart   17 August 2002 Novelization of the ancient Celtic legend of Tomas the Rhymer. This novel also adds some Norse mythology when Tomas is sent to steal Thought and Memory, twin ravens belonging to Odin.

The Right Kind of War   by John McCormick, 333 pages Jeff Gadd   20 November 1998

The Rites of Spring   by Modris Eksteins, 362 pages James Donahue   03 June 2003 Simply the best general history of WWI that I've read. Eksteins examines the cultural and intellectual impact of the mass, mechanized devastation of the Great War, seamlessly weaving together pre- and post-war events such as the Russian Ballet, Lindburgh, the Nazi phenomenon, and the Charleston craze.

The Road   by Cormac McCarthy, 287 pages Steve Gadd   21 June 2008 An extremely bleak and utterly absorbing tale of a father and son's road trip through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

The Road   by Cormac McCarthy, 287 pages Steven Krise   09 August 2008 By then all stores of food had given out and murder was everywhere upon the land. The world soon to be largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes and the cities themselves held by cores of blackened looters who tunneled among the ruins and crawled from the rubble white of tooth and eye carrying charred and anonymous tins of food in nylon nets like shoppers in the commissaries of hell.

The Road (2006)   by Cormac McCarthy, 241 pages Brad Snyder   28 July 2007 When the world ends because of a nuclear war (?), all will be barren. Humanity will remain as scavengers of a barren, lifeless world. And apostrophes and quotation marks will cease to exist.

The Road Home   by Jim Harrison, 446 pages Kristin Schrock   06 July 2005 Jim Harrison can tell a story. This one continues the story from his previous novel, Dalva. Epic and wonderful. Excellent read.

The Rossetti Letter   by Christi Phillips, 383 pages Micaela Larkin   25 March 2007 Ph.D student visits Venice to attend conference solve historical mystery about seventeenth-century Venitian courtesan.

The Ruby in the Smoke (1985)   by Philip Pullman, 231 pages A Bennett   11 January 2004 It isn't often that one can dub a plotline 'nearly Castorbridgian' in its scope and ultimate reveal, but then again there aren't that many times you run across dissolute men who will agree to sell their child (and oftentimes wife) for a one-time payout, only to discover decades later that such an action continues to haunt them. At least I hope there aren't that many times one may run across such a story. Set in Victorian England, and showcasing both heroin and opium trades and habits. Why are characters in fiction so cavalier about throwing out jewels and other valuable stones such as the ruby in the title?

The Rule of Four   by Ian Caldwell, 384 pages Mike Gadd   11 November 2004

The Runaway Jury   by John Grisham, 550 pages Jeff Gadd   21 May 1999

The Russia House   by John Le Carré, 431 pages Steve Gadd   15 April 2007 From the back cover: "An exciting spy story, which is at the same time a lively international comedy ... A well-informed, up-to-the-minute political parable, incisive and instructive ... rich ... poignant ... fascinating." --The New York Times Book Review. My excerpts from that same review would be different: "Portentous ... rather wooden ... Mr. le Carré is less good at portraying ... professional spies ... A sham and a mess ... distressing ... horse manure ... inherently pointless."

The Russian Revolution   by Sheila Fitzpatrick, 181 pages James Donahue   04 September 2002 A standard in the field that explodes a lot of popular (ie propaganda from Cold War) misconceptions.

The Russian Revolution   by Sheila Fitzpatrick, 211 pages James Donahue   18 October 2004

The Salmon of Doubt   by Douglas Adams, 298 pages Steven Krise   04 November 2007 Worth the price of admission just for the essay entitled "Artificial God". The additional essays, bits and pieces of prose, and skeletal form of the 3rd Dirk Gently novel are just bonuses.

The Satanic Verses   by Salman Rushdie, 561 pages Tony Pisarenkov   23 April 2006 The famous novel, sprawling (perhaps a little too much so) and wonderfully cinematic. One of the very few books that I really wish someone would adapt to the screen, but in today's social and geo-political climate, what are the chances? Someone with a greater knowledge of both the Quaran and Indian culture would no doubt get many of the references and allegories that were lost on me.

The Scandal of Evangelical Politics (2008)   by Ronald J. Sider, 275 pages Jonathan Misirian   08 April 2008 Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, wrote this treaty in light of the crumbling of the religious right’s old guard. The strength of ‘Scandal’ is its first half, where he convincingly lays out a political philosophy that is grounded in scripture, but is absent from most of the current Christian political discourse.

The Scarlet Threat   by Francine Rivers , 401 pages Micaela Larkin   21 June 2007 My attempt to read evangelical historical fiction. Well written but.....

The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America   by Colin Calloway, 225 pages Jonathan Misirian   13 May 2006 Calloway presents a sociological overview of the effects of the Treaty of Paris upon North America. This book wasn’t concerned with the diplomatic history and the events that led to the Seven Year’s War. Rather, Calloway presents to the reader a fresh look at how this treaty brought significant change to the New World.

The search for the perfect language   by Umberto Eco, 385 pages Steven Krise   17 August 2004 Here he is cranking away at the Lullian wheels, seemingly unaware of the difference between the real omnipotence of God and the potential omnipotence of a human combinatory language.

The Sebastopol Sketches; The Kreutzer Sonata, and other stories   by Leo Tolstoi, 459 pages James Donahue   29 July 2002 Contains Tolstoi's shorter works. Such an eye for detail. Incredibly 'fundamentalist' in his older days.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation   by Lauren Willig, 428 pages Micaela Larkin   15 April 2007

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (2005)   by Lauren Willig, 428 pages Jennifer Dear   09 April 2007

The Secret Life of Bees   by MS. Sue Monk Kidd, 316 pages Mike Gadd   29 February 2004 Not the magical story I had been told. Touching story about an teenage girl who runs away from an abusive dad in the deep south during the 60's. Not for those looking for a pick-me-up.

The Secret Life of Laszlo Almasy: The Real English Patient : The Real English Patient (Hardcover)   by John Bierman, 304 pages Micaela Larkin   08 September 2005 The author surveys the truth and myth surrounding Laszlo Almasy, the subject of the novel The English Patient. Bierman proves that life is stranger than fiction in this decent account of a doomed desert lover.

The Secret Sharer and Heart of Darkness   by Joseph Conrad, 158 pages Steven Krise   17 March 2005 Conrad plays around a lot with the concept of duality. Interesting to see the little tidbits that made it verbatim into "Apocalypse Now".

The Seekers   by Daniel J. Boorstin, 259 pages Steve Gadd   18 November 1998 Much shorter than The Discoverers or The Creators, this reads more like a survey, but very informative nonetheless.

The Selected Writings of E.H. Norman   by E.H. Norman, 464 pages James Donahue   20 March 2004 Norman was the first professional scholar of Japan in the West, crucial to the success of the 1945 Occupation, and hounded into suicide by Joseph MacCarthy. This edition celebrates the 50th anniversary of his most noted book.

The Servants of Twilight   by Dean R. Koontz, 415 pages Jeff Gadd   19 February 1999

The Seven Daughters of Eve   by Bryan Sykes, 306 pages Steven Krise   07 August 2008 A Discovery Channel-esque narrative of the author's work on mitochondrial DNA, culminating in his identification of the 7 "clans" of Europe - implying 7 mothers of these clans. Closes with a brief chapter for each mother iterating a possible life story for her.

The Shadow of the Wind (2005)   by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, 487 pages Brad Snyder   09 February 2009 This outstanding book grabbed me in the first few pages and didn't let me go. It's about a boy that finds and reads a book written by an author whose works are being destroyed by a mysterious phantom-like figure. His quest to find out why leads us on a story of lost love and betrayal.

The Shining   by Stephen King, 444 pages Jeff Gadd   25 June 2002 A boy about 5 who can read peoples mind's and his family goes to take care of the Hotel Overlook which has a evil history.

The Silence of the Lambs   by Thomas Harris, 367 pages Jeff Gadd   20 February 2002 Hello! Clarice!

The Silent Gondoliers (1983)   by S. Morgenstern, 110 pages A Bennett   19 May 2004 "We are gondoliers, and we make our own decisions: explanations are not part of our vocabulary." - George of the Gritti (If you can find this book, please read it. It will make both you and me happy.)

The Silver Chair (1953)   by C. S. Lewis, 268 pages Jennifer Dear   09 March 2007 A great bed-time story, although the female character was a bit weak.

The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel (2008)   by Matthew Quick, 304 pages Brad Snyder   28 February 2009 A man begins to recover from his mental illness with the help of friends, family, and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins Of Music, Language, Mind, And Body   by Steven Mithen, 374 pages Steven Krise   27 May 2008 "With equal parts scientific rigor and charm, [Mithen] marshals current evidence about social organization, tool and weapon technologies, hunting and scavenging strategies, habits and brain capacity of all our hominid ancestors from australopithecines to Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Neanderthals to Homo sapiens--and comes up with a scenario for a shared musical and linguistic heritage. Along the way he weaves a tapestry of cognitive and expressive worlds--alive with vocalized sound, communal mimicry, sexual display, and rhythmic movement--of various species. The result is a fascinating work--and a succinct riposte to those, like Steven Pinker, who have dismissed music as a functionless evolutionary byproduct."

The Size of the World   by Jeff Greenwald, 420 pages Steve Gadd   27 November 1999 Having seen more of the world than Magellan or Marco Polo but feeling less accomplished than they, this travel writer decided to attempt to circle the world without ever boarding a plane.

The Size of Thoughts: Essays and Other Lumber   by Nicholson Baker, 255 pages Steve Gadd   25 November 1998 Highly original and entertaining collection of essays on such diverse topics as movie projectors, nail clips, and an exhaustive search for arcane uses of the word 'lumber.' Really, it's much better than it sounds.

The Skull Mantra   by Eliot Pattison, 403 pages Mike Gadd   05 June 2002 Not a bad book, but difficult to read. My ignorance of the plight of the Tibetan monk was what slowed me down. I now have a better understanding of the type of issues that give Richard Gere fits. The story boils down to a murder of a Chinese official near a Tibetan prison camp. The prison warden learns one of the prisoners is a former investigator. He wants the prisoner to write up the paperwork in a quick and tidy fashion to keep the higher ups off his back. Stuff turns up and suspense ensues.

The Sleeping Doll   by Jeffery Deaver, 428 pages Steven Krise   14 August 2007 A Kathryn Dance novel.

The Soccer War   by Ryszard Kapuscinski, 234 pages Steve Gadd   10 September 2000 Great travel writing and war reportage. Kapuscinski went where few foreigners dared, into the tumult of Africa and into Central America. The title refers to a full-scale conflict between El Salvador and Honduras sparked by a World Cup qualifying match.

The Soul of a Bishop (1917)   by H. G. Wells, 341 pages James Donahue   17 July 2006 You've heard of sci-fi. This is reli-fi. Wells takes time out from the war to describe a bishop's mystical transcending of stuffy church-religion to embrace the spiritual Kingdom-of-God-of-the-future.

The Space Trilogy   by CS Lewis, 762 pages James Donahue   09 December 2002

The Spirit Level (2001)   by Seamus Heaney, 80 pages James Donahue   23 June 2007

The Stone Monkey   by Jeffrey Deaver, 424 pages Steven Krise   26 December 2003 Another Lincoln Rhyme novel. This time Rhyme and Sachs are tracking down a notorious Chinese snakehead (human smuggler) with connections high in the Chinese and United States governments.

The Stranger   by Albert Camus, 154 pages Steve Gadd   24 July 2002 Monsieur Meursault's brush with the law leads to his recognition of the 'benign indifference of the universe.'

The Stranger   by Albert Camus, 154 pages Kristin Schrock   01 December 2003 This is a book designed for a class discussion. I know it's supposed to be chock full of extistential meaning, but it eludes me. Something about the nature of life, our inevitable death, fate, and hope. Dude kills an Arab just to watch him die.

The Sufferings of Young Werther   by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 160 pages Steve Gadd   26 April 1999 A moving and expertly written epistolary novel that created a sensation in its day.

The Summons   by John Grisham, 341 pages Steve Gadd   02 March 2002 Another good story from John 'The' Grisham. For the record, the Also By page shows 13 titles, 10 of which begin with 'The.'

The Sun Also Rises   by Ernest Hemingway, 251 pages Steve Gadd   01 August 2007 When I read Hemingway, I hear the voice of Wolfram Kandinsky, who recorded this and several other of Papa's works for Books on Tape.

The Sunday Philosophy Club (2004)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 247 pages Jennifer Dear   05 January 2007

The Sunlight Dialogues   by John Gardner, 746 pages Steven Krise   28 May 2007 "I'm boring you," Hodge said. And he knew it was true, or ought to be -- Millie, at any rate, would be bored, and rightly, rightly. So would a reader if this were all a novel.

The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House   by John F. Harris, 504 pages Jonathan Misirian   03 March 2006 The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House Harris pulls together an insightful look into the character and personality that shaped Clinton’s 8 years in office. Both a sympathetic and unflattering Clinton emerges from the pages, which is probably the most accurate portrait of the man… His potential is only rivaled by his ability to self-destruct. A great read.

The Sword of Shannara   by Terry Brooks, 726 pages Julie Gephart   30 December 2003 Christmas gift from a co-worker, first in an apparently popular series. Centuries after humans nearly obliterated themselves and the earth, life continues in small villages. An oral history has been passed down of lost technical information after the last books crumbled, but nobody remembers what it means or how to use it. Now another war is brewing involving races humans didn’t even realize existed until their own population had dwindled (elves, dwarves, the usual suspects), and legend tells of a special sword that will be the key to victory.

The Talented Mr. Ripley   by Patricia Highsmith, 290 pages Kristin Schrock   02 October 2002 Alicia and I tried to slog through the movie. We were both saved due to a broken DVD. The book, thankfully, is much more interesting with a very compelling, unreliable Mr. Ripley.

The Tattooed Girl   by Joyce Carol Oates, 307 pages Jaqi Ross   16 August 2004 A disappointing read by one of my favorite authors. "Alma," the main character, is evasive and unsympathetic, while her Jewish/non-Jewish employer is equally unlikeable. Not a recommended read, despite my love of Oates.

The Teacher's Funeral : A Comedy in Three Parts (2004)   by Richard Peck, 190 pages Brad Snyder   30 September 2007 My son read this book based on his teacher's recommendation and devoured it in three days--not bad for a fifth grader. I found it to be charming, too. Told from the perspective of a 15 year-old in 1904 in rural Indiana, it's the story of what happens when the teacher of the one-room school dies and is replaced by his older sister and how that changes his life.

The Temperamet God Gave You   by Bennett, 288 pages Micaela Larkin   05 January 2007

The Tenth Man (1985)   by Graham Greene, 144 pages James Donahue   10 June 2007 When the Germans condemn three random French POWs to die in WWII, chosen by lots, the wealthy lawyer Chavel gives everything he has to a fellow prisoner to accept his short straw. After the war Chavel cannot help but wander back, broke and ashamed, to his former manor, now inhabited by the dead man's mother and sister, fully regretting his trade.

The Thaw Generation   by Ludmilla Alexeyeva, 321 pages James Donahue   08 March 2004 An engaging memoir of one of the primary dissidents in 1960s-1970s Soviet Union. Reading this memoir gives me a good sense of both the strengths and real weaknesses in a freedom movement that bizarrely fell one of the greatest empires in history. (But now what?)

The Theory of Everything   by Stephen Hawking, 136 pages Steven Krise   19 April 2009 "The idea that space and time may form a closed surface without boundary also has profound implications for the role of God in the affairs of the universe. With the success of scientific theories in describing events, most people have come to believe that God allows the universe to evolve according to a set laws. He does not seem to intervene in the universe to break these laws. However, the laws do not tell us what the universe should have looked like when it started. It would still be up to God to wind up the clockwork and choose how to start it off. So long as the universe had a beginning that was a singularity, one could suppose that it was created by an outside agency. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would be neither created nor destroyed. It would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?"

The Thin Man   by Dashiell Hammett, 201 pages A Bennett   09 May 2002 Misogyny abounds (though others have tried to dissuade me that it's really misanthropy) in this seminal 1930s noir. A lengthy cannibalism passage put me off my feed for days. I really cannot make a career of reading mysteries. I feel too compelled to keep CLUE-like notations somewhere in the book to try to crack the case before the final reveal. Necessary vocabulary: cuspidors, erysipelas, speak (as in speakeasy), drink, Asta.

The Thing at the Door   by Henry Slesar, 181 pages Jeff Gadd   15 October 2002 A six year old girl loses her mother and fauther and sees something coming in her doorway at night and still is hauted by it,when she is twenty-four.

The Third Option   by Vince Flynn, 432 pages Mike Gadd   14 September 2005 I let too much time go by between this book and the two that proceeded it. I had trouble connecting some of the pieces. I was a little disappointed with this effort. The lack of a real finish didn't help.

The Third Rumpole Omnibus (1997)   by John Mortimer, 739 pages James Donahue   04 July 2006 Ah. . . .Rumpole.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch   by Philip K Dick, 278 pages Steven Krise   28 February 2009 I experienced a stack overflow trying to keep track of the nested hallucinatory worlds.

The Thrill of the Chaste: Keeping Your Clothes On...   by Dawn Eden, 224 pages Micaela Larkin   09 January 2007 Argument for chastity from a rock journalist turned semi-chaset evangelist turned thrilled Catholic

The Tiger Claw (2004)   by Shauna Singh Baldwin, 567 pages Jennifer Dear   13 July 2007 The dust jacket says: "An extraordinary story of love and suspense." Jen says: "Books about the Holocaust always depress me a little."

The Tiger in the Well (1990)   by Philip Pullman, 407 pages A Bennett   17 January 2004 As an American, born, bred and schooled, quite a shock to find out what I had thought to be a mystery novel not only turned out to be an entirely undisguised treatise on socialism, but also that same socialism proved to be the book's protagonist. A true head-scratcher. Necessary vocabulary: pogrom, two bob, peruke, shtetl.

The Tiger of France: Conversations with Clemenceau (1949)   by Wythe Williams, 303 pages James Donahue   04 December 2006 Williams was the Times journalist in Paris from 1911-1935. This is part-biography, part-love-affair with Clemenceau, aka the Tiger, the dodgy and fiery premier of France during WWI. Colorful; but accurate??

The Time Traveler’s Wife   by Audrey Niffenegger, 518 pages Julie Gephart   05 March 2004 Very interesting story told in a style that is very grating to me, which I can only classify as “modern literature.” Henry has a chrono-displacement disorder that causes him to involuntarily slip short distances through time and space. He seems to be subconsciously drawn to meaningful people or places from his life, but he has no real control, arriving naked and confused, never knowing how long it will be before he’s pulled back to his own time. In a loop that would make Star Trek proud, he is the one who teaches his younger self the finer points of stealing and fighting, essential survival skills for someone who turns up naked. He relives the scene of his mother’s fatal car accident over and over, watching from every vantage point but never able to change anything. When he and Claire first meet real-time in their 20s, he has never seen her before, but she’s known him all her life. Once they fall in love, his older self will be a frequent visitor throughout her life, starting when she was a small child. Claire was pretty much a selfish whiny loser, although I don’t think the author felt that way.

The Tipping Point   by Malcom Gladwell, 304 pages Micaela Larkin   01 February 2007

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre   by B. Traven, 313 pages Jeff Gadd   04 February 2002 Great Story. Great movie too.

The Treatment   by Mo Hayder, 390 pages Mike Gadd   04 March 2002

The Trench   by Steve Alten, 425 pages Jeff Gadd   30 July 2000

The Trench   by Steve Alten, 425 pages Jeff Gadd   15 July 2003 A story about Dark Angel, a Megalodon, a man named Jonas captures, gets loose in the ocean, and he has to capture it again a second time. Even though he allmost dies from the first time.

The Trial   by Franz Kafka, 286 pages Steve Gadd   15 January 1999 The dizzying origin of the adjective 'kafkaesque.' Not as poignant as the short stories, though the parable ('Before The Law') toward the end is quite potent.

The Triggerman's Dance   by T. Jefferson Parker, 540 pages Mike Gadd   03 November 2005 Very slow to develop, but eventually pays off. Parker's books tend not to disappoint.

The Truce At Bakura (1994)   by Kathy Tyers, 311 pages James Donahue   29 January 2007 After the destruction of the Death Star, the Alliance and Empire team to battle invading aliens. Not the best book I've ever read.

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements   by Eric Hoffer, 177 pages Tony Pisarenkov   04 September 2008 The title says it all. Not quite what I was hoping for (I was looking for something more directly dealing with religious cults). Heavy on generalities, very short on examples, colored by the state of the world at the time it was written (1951), but at times still thought-provoking.

The Trumpeter of Krakow (1928)   by Eric P. Kelly, 0 pages A Bennett   26 June 2003 Covering 13th-15th century Cracovian history, largely focussing on the reign of Kasimir IV, Cossack and Tartar unrest in Ukraine, and chiefly how it affected the cities of Krakow and then-neighboring Kasimirez. The novel's exploits follow the travels of the Great Tarnov Crystal, culminating in the Great Fire of 1462, and its subsequent loss in the Vistula. Never let a historian write a novel- -unless he agrees to drink a lot whilst doing so. Else the product of his work will likely be drier than the straw that Pan Kreutz used to indirectly conflagrate Krakow of olde--much as the material is here. The plot's only saving grace was, perhaps, that it stirred in me a further interest in the work and writings of Jan Kanty. But even that is currently in doubt.

The Trunk Murderess   by Jana Bommersbach, 270 pages Micaela Larkin   01 February 2007 True life mystery regarding Arizona's most famous murder trial in the 1930s... engaging!

The Turk   by Tom Standage, 247 pages Steve Gadd   30 January 2004 In 1770, Wolfgang von Kempelen produced a life-size mechanical man capable of beating all comers at chess. Even in an age when clockwork marvels were drawing crowds throughout Europe, the Turk (named for its oriental costume) created a huge sensation. Managed by one showman after another, the automaton toured Europe and America, beating Napoleon, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Babbage, and most of the greatest chess players of the day, while pamphleteers and journalists debated the secret of its mechanism. A great read.

The Ultimate Resource 2   by Julian Simon, 616 pages Steve Gadd   19 September 2005 In this relentlessly optimistic book, economist Julian Simon presents a wide body of data supporting the idea that practically all measures of human quality of life are improving. This includes health, environment, natural resources, energy, farmland, and waste disposal. The theory he presents to explain these historical trends should continue to apply in the future: rising incomes increase demand, causing temporary scarcity and price rises. Inventors and entrepreneurs search for solutions to these problems. Some fail and lose, but in a free society solutions are found that leave us better off than if the problem had not occurred. While Simon has been criticized as a "cornucopian" for describing a rosy future of ever-cheaper resources, his presentation of historical data is compelling and a nice antidote to popular doom and gloom prognosticators.

The Ultra Secret   by F. W. Winterbotham, 191 pages Steve Gadd   16 January 2002 A convincing account of how the cracking of the German Enigma code played a decisive role in World War II.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being   by Milan Kundera, 314 pages Steve Gadd   28 June 1995

The Unexpected Guest   by Agatha Christie, 167 pages Julie Gephart   19 January 2003 Being new to Christie, I felt smug yet disappointed when the shocking twist at the end revealed the murderer to be the person I suspected from the beginning. But oh, she wasn't done with me yet - after the whole case wrapped up and the police went home, she revealed a whole different murderer on the very last page and left me with a happier feeling.

The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation   by David Kamp, 392 pages Tony Pisarenkov   16 September 2007 An informative synthesis of events and personalities responsible for the foodie subculture in the US, but compared to the stalwarts of the genre like Bourdain and Steingarten, the quality of the writing is mediocre.

The Unmasterable Past: History, Holocaust, and German National Identity   by Charles Maier, 226 pages James Donahue   03 August 2002 A blow-by-blow account of the Historikerstreit ('historians' debate') in late-1980s Germany between Habermas and Nolte. At issue: is it time to 'normalize' the history of the Holocaust, making it less than metahistory? Can we compare the Holocaust to other mass murders? Can this be a purely historical topic, or must it be also a polticial and moral issue? Will unification mean the 'forgetting' of didacticism of the Holocaust and a return to a 19th-century German geist?

The Unthinkable (audio)   by Amanda Ripley, 288 pages Steve Gadd   28 August 2009 [audio]

The Valley of Horses   by Jean M. Auel, 502 pages Julie Gephart   20 December 2002 Second in Earth's Children series, and the fascination of the first book has been slightly dimmed. Early human woman is tossed out of her adopted Neanderthal clan and lives on her own for a few years with animal companions.

The Vanished Man   by Jeffery Deaver, 399 pages Steven Krise   08 February 2004 Rhyme and Sachs are tracking down a maniacally devious illusionist turned mercenary/murderer. Little is what it seems to be.

The Vanishing Point   by Mary Sharratt, 364 pages Micaela Larkin   13 September 2006

The VAX DCL Programmers' Reference, VMS 5.0   by K M Leisner and D B Cook, 297 pages Steven Krise   11 September 2009 Exactly as the title says: a programmer's reference to VAX DCL, so don't expect in-depth coverage on the topics.

The Virgin   by ErikBarmack, 244 pages Kristin Schrock   02 April 2005 I was swayed by the cover blurbs which proclaimed this to be like Nick Hornsby and Bret Ellison. Pshaw! The story of a reality show contestant on a show called "the virgin". Pedestrian and predictable--although there's a shout-out to TWoP. Blah.

The Virgin Suicides   by Jeffrey Eugenides, 249 pages Mike Gadd   20 March 2005 Since I enjoyed Ms. Coppola's 'Lost in Translation' so much I thought I'd give her another shot. I prefer to read the book version first whenever there is a movie to follow. This book was well written despite the subject matter. I don't recommend bookending this one with The House of Sand and Fog. I also can't remember a story told in the first person where you don't really know who the 'first person' is. He's just one of the guys, but you never even get his name.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information   by Edward R. Tufte, 191 pages Steve Gadd   02 October 2007

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information   by Edward R. Tufte, 191 pages Steve Gadd   17 August 2008 A classic of design, and a minor masterpiece of publishing in its own right.

The Voice of the Night   by Dean R. Koontz, 336 pages Jeff Gadd   10 March 1999

The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Japan and Germany   by Ian Buruma, 309 pages James Donahue   27 May 2004

The Walk West   by Peter and Barbara Jenkins, 431 pages Steve Gadd   05 April 1999 Peter and his new bride honeymoon with a hike to the Pacific. More great encounters with everyday Americans.

The War Lords (1976)   by A. J. P. Taylor, 186 pages James Donahue   21 November 2006 Taylor rambles on the BBC; someone writes it down for a bestseller. Oh, to be that famous historian at the end of a long run. Reading it for snappy stories for my class.

The Warslayer   by Rosemary Edghill, 312 pages Julie Gephart   08 September 2002 A delightful romp in the vein of Galaxy Quest meets Xena: Warrior Princess. A third-rate Aussie actress is spirited away to a world in desperate need of a hero.

The Water-Method Man   by John Irving, 272 pages Kristin Schrock   15 April 2002 Midway through the novel, the main character becomes the subject of a documentary called F***ing Up. In ways that I don't want to think about too long, I could really identify with him.

The Watsons (unpublished)   by Jane Austen, 49 pages A Bennett   05 January 2006 It's very disheartening when one of your favorite authors is dead, and their novel output stands complete, over. It requires great restraint in a reader of Austen (unlike a reader of, say, Clancy) to attempt to space out "new" material, however paltry it may be, so that they have SOMETHING of hers to look forward to as the decades pass. In "It's a Wonderful Life", Clarence mentions Mark Twain has started a new novel in heaven. If Twain did, indeed, find his way to heaven, may Austen have to, and may she have some new and complete work ready for me when I arrive...

The Watsons go to Birmingham – 1963 (1995)   by Christopher Paul Curtis, 210 pages Jonathan Misirian   11 April 2008 Curtis wrote the draft for this, his first book, while working the automotive line at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint Michigan. In between shifts he put pen to paper and in the end won a Newbery and a Coretta Scott King award for excellent children’s literature. Set in Flint and Birmingham in the summer of 1963, this delightful story is about a family’s journey South, and their experience with racism. My son read this at school, then went on a class field trip to see this play performed at a local children’s theatre; and he recommended it to me. Wonderful.

The Way of All Women   by M. Esther Harding, 301 pages Micaela Larkin   21 June 2006

The Way of Lao Tzu   by Wing-Tsit Chan, 285 pages Steven Krise   02 July 2003 Annotated "Tao Te Ching" with a lengthy introduction covering the history of Taoist thought, the debate about who Lao Tzu is and when the book was written. Trivia: Wang Chung was an ancient Taoist scholar.

The Weight of It: A Story of Two Sisters   by Amy Wilensky, 203 pages Jaqi Ross   21 August 2004 The story of two sisters (one year apart) from earliest memory into adulthood. The younger sister has a gastic bypass surgery, the older writes about it (not very movingly)... not recommended.

The White Castle   by Orhan Pamuk, 161 pages Steve Gadd   15 December 2000 A short novel about two lives so intertwined as to become exchanged, it is no substitute for the Kafka or Borges to which it is compared.

The White Road   by John Connolly, 408 pages Mike Gadd   02 November 2004 Nicely done story #4 featuring the haunted Charley Parker.

The Whole Gospel for the Whole World   by Rick Nutt, 351 pages James Donahue   08 February 2004 Sherwood Eddy (this is his biography) was a YMCA head and Asian missionary from the 1890s to the 1950s. Fascinating travel and life that became increasingly radical and disillusioned with "American fascism" (his word to describe the racism and McCarthyism of 1950s America) as he got older. The book is defensive about Eddy's religious liberalism and attempts to defend him from charges from fundamentalists. Hence the grandiose title. Nutt is only partially sucessful here. Eddy was one of the most radical, but he was also one of the most successful missionaries of all time and deserves a larger place in the religious consciousness of America, even if as a conundrum.

The Whole Truth   by Nancy Pickard, 339 pages Mike Gadd   18 January 2002

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle   by Haruki Murakami, 611 pages Jaqi Ross   05 August 2004 Fabulous read! If it were possible to isolate one theme, it would be responsibility. The atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China keep rising to the surface like a repressed memory, and Toru Okada himself is compelled by events to take responsibility for his actions and struggle with his essentially passive nature.

The Wings of a Falcon   by Cynthia Voigt, 467 pages Julie Gephart   03 February 2002 If this hero were a little taller, he'd be Xena. My favorite of the Jackaroo series.

The Wire in the Blood   by Val McDermid, 496 pages Mike Gadd   04 September 2002 This book finished better than it started. Criminal profiling has been a popular subject of late for stories, but it gets old when every book has the best guy there ever was. They're always tormented with straying too close to the deviant mind, letting themselves 'become' like the bad guy in order to catch him but not so close so that they become him. This version improved with the sudden death of one of the main characters, and we see who the bad guy is. It becomes a game to try to catch him. Based in London, I enjoyed the local idioms and slang usage.

The Wisdom of the Body   by Sherwin B. Nuland, 369 pages Steve Gadd   16 May 1999 Not quite as interesting as his How We Die (this book was retitled How We Live, appropriately), the general surgeon takes the reader on a tour of the amazing systems of the body.

The Witching Hour (audio, abridged)   by Anne Rice, 0 pages Julie Gephart   19 March 2004 At first I thought that word “abridged” was going to be my key to enjoying Anne Rice – I’d still get the imaginative story without so many droning side trips into Crazyville. However, I am sad to report that a man died at the end and went to hell, and… well, hell was a Mardi Gras parade. Then I knew it could never really work between Anne and me.

The Women   by Clare Boothe Luce, 215 pages Micaela Larkin   28 May 2007 A+++

The Words   by Jean-Paul Sartre, 255 pages Steve Gadd   12 February 1996

The Wordy Shipmates (2008)   by Sarah Vowell, 272 pages James Donahue   01 December 2008

The World According to Garp   by John Irving, 609 pages Kristin Schrock   15 June 2003 Thanks to U.S. Airways and their faulty airplanes, I was able to finish this very entertaining, often poignant novel (despite Robin Williams on the cover). The more I read of Irving, the more I like him (his earlier stuff doesn't deal so much with incest). He's somehow able to combine humor and sadness in a way that makes me envy him. This one probably could've been cut back at least fifty pages, but he's a wonderful storyteller, so I'll let it slide this time.

The World of the Shining Prince   by Ivan Morris, 289 pages James Donahue   02 March 2004 A history of the unique, effete, and creative imperial court of 10th-century Japan which produced two of the first novels in history.

The World of Yesterday (1941)   by Stefan Zweig, 440 pages James Donahue   01 October 2007 Zweig was one of the most praised writers and critics of his time with eyes always turned towards the next great writer and a nose primed for the center of the art scenes of the 1910s and 1920s. Zweig was Viennese, but the Nazi government forced him to be a Jew - and a refugee at that. He wrote this memoir in the States and Brazil during the Holocaust. Yet this book is not really a memoir. Zweig is barely in it at all (much less his wife!). It is a loving remembrance about the friends he loved and the Austria he loved even more. After completing the book and sending it to the publishers, he and his wife took their own life in the forests of Brazil.

The World Without Us (audio)   by Alan Weisman, 432 pages Steve Gadd   14 July 2009 This extended thought experiment is quite interesting in many parts, with visits to people-free zones in Cyprus and the Korean peninsula, and informed speculation as to what will become of bridges and other landmarks. A good deal of print (or breath, in the recorded version) is spent less engagingly rehashing fears about ecology and overpopulation.

The World's Parliament of Religions: The East/West Encounter in Chicago, 1893   by Richard Hughes Seager, 198 pages James Donahue   21 August 2004

The World's Strangest Aircraft   by Michael Taylor, 112 pages Tony Pisarenkov   23 October 2008 Mostly pictures, but if people can get away with Edward Tufte, I can claim credit for this :)

The Worst Person in the World and 202 Strong Contenders (2006)   by Keith Olbermann, 267 pages James Donahue   02 January 2007 My favorite: Neil Cavuto's ridiculous headlines during his news show, which have always angered me (and, yes, gotten my attention in airports, etc.): Examples: "Civil War in Iraq: Made up by the media?", followed by "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could it be a good thing?"

The Worst-case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel   by Piven and Borgenicht, 191 pages Steve Gadd   07 September 2007 I picked this up expressly to pad my page count. The only thing it's likely to save anyone from is boredom, but it's pretty good at that.

The Wreckage of Agathon   by John Gardner, 279 pages Steven Krise   01 February 2005 I think there might something more going on underneath the story of a political dissident coming to grips with his mortality and the consequent "coming of age" of his disciple, but I'm not sure what it might be. Be sure to have your OED handy - dianoetic, canescence, pulchritude, brume.

The Wyrd Sisters   by Terry Pratchett, 265 pages Steven Krise   21 January 2006 Sort of Pratchett's take on Macbeth.

The X-file Skin   by Ben Mezrich, 261 pages Jeff Gadd   15 January 2001

The Year of Magical Thinking (2005)   by Joan Didion, 227 pages James Donahue   23 January 2006 Jen and I have read this at nights since my father has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Tough to get through, because it is so beautifully on the mark about grief.

Their Eyes Were Watching God   by Zora Neale Hurston, 193 pages Kristin Schrock   04 March 2002 The dialect is hard to plow through, but the prose is lovely and powerful.

Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason   by John Milbank, 443 pages James Donahue   03 April 2002 THE theological book of the last decade. Milbank shows the erudition, attention to theological tradition, awareness of contemporary philosophy and critical thought (particularly postmodernism), detailed argumentation, and a fresh practicality that I wish other contemporary theolgians possessed. A must-read.

Theology, Sociology and Politics: The German Protestant Social Conscience 1890-1933 (1979)   by W. R. Ward, 243 pages James Donahue   19 August 2006 An excellent survey of Christian engagement with socialism from one of my favorite historians.

Therapy   by David Lodge, 321 pages Steve Gadd   27 July 1996

These Happy Golden Years   by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 289 pages Julie Gephart   22 June 2002 Reason #564 it sucks to live in a shanty: You sigh with relief when the temperature is twenty below zero, because the "cold snap" is over.

Thief of Time   by Terry Pratchett, 378 pages Steven Krise   21 November 2006 Perfect clock traps time and kaos ensues.

Things Fall Apart   by Chinua Achebe, 209 pages Steve Gadd   25 December 1998 Unhappy, but memorable and well-crafted story set in a Nigeria struggling with modern influences.

Things My Girlfriend and I Argue About   by Mil Millington, 373 pages Kristin Schrock   24 April 2004 A groovy title that, unfortunately, did not make for a groovy novel. In fact, the arguing is secondary with the plot mostly concerned with an absurd (in sort of a good way) "work sucks" mystery.

Thirteen   by T. Pines, 330 pages Jeff Gadd   29 July 2002 Thirteen short horror stories this guy like from other author's .

Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)   by John Buchan, 113 pages James Donahue   15 November 2007

This Is Not A Pipe   by Michel Foucault, 66 pages Steven Krise   01 January 2004 As Foucault says, "Magritte knits verbal signs and plastic elements together, but without referring them to a prior isotopism. He skirts the base of affirmative discourse on which resemblence calmly reposes, and he brings pure similitudes and nonaffirmative verbal statements into play within the instability of a disoriented volume and an unmapped space." Yeah, what he said.

Thomas More   by Richard Marius, 543 pages James Donahue   20 January 2003 A biography of a saint which aims to steer clear of hagiography and anti-hagiography. Well done. Highly readable.

Three Guineas   by Virginia Woolf, 188 pages James Donahue   19 February 2003 Woolf's rich and ironic response to a request for support for a pacifist cause in 1938.

Three Tales   by Gustave Flaubert, 124 pages Tony Pisarenkov   13 June 2003 These were written very late in Flaubert's career, years after "Madame Bovary" and "Sentimental Education." Of the three, "A Simple Heart" is by far the best and the only one I'd recommend. It is sad and touching while remaining exceptionally simple in language, structure and plot. The other two are are dismissible to this reader. "St. Julian Hospitator" was apparetly insipred by a legend depicted in a series of stained glass windows in a church, and is no more than a curiosity. "Herodias" dramatizes some of the political events in Palestine around the time Jesus was just beginning to attain notoriety, but it failed to capture and hold my interest.

Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road   by Donald Miller, 256 pages Brad Snyder   15 March 2007 Miller tells the story of the road trip from Houston, TX to Portland, OR he took in a rickety '71 Volkswagon Van with a buddy and not much money. It is not his normal socio-theological fare, but is still classic Miller: witty and entertaining.

Thumbs, Toes, and Tears: And Other Traits That Make Us Human   by Chip Walter, 256 pages Steven Krise   20 May 2008 "He points out that we give our big toe little thought until we stub it, but its evolution allowed Homo erectus to stand upright millions of years ago and led to other helpful evolutionary features, like the pharynx—which in turn made speech possible. Readers also learn why we tousle our children's hair, why kissing is so much fun and what may lie ahead as we near the end of our current evolutionary reel."

ThunderHead   by D.P. & Lincoln Child, 533 pages Jeff Gadd   04 July 2000

Thus Spoke Zarathustra   by Friedrich Nietszche, 343 pages Steven Krise   11 August 2003 F so obviously left it wide open for a sequel by ending his opus at the dawn before the Great Noontide. I hear Arnold Schwarzenegger is thinking about starring in the movie version of the second book, "Also Sprach Zarathustra - Ich komme wieder".

Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament (2006)   by Randall Balmer, 300 pages Jennifer Dear   04 December 2006 An outrageous look at the Religious Right and what makes them tick. While I'm apt to believe him, he seemed to mischaracterize George Marsden, for one, and this makes me a little skeptical. I recommend this to anyone who wonders why the current administration continues to enjoy the seemingly unquestioning support of many Evangelicals.

Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament (2006)   by Randall Balmer, 206 pages James Donahue   09 December 2006 An excellent primer for thinking through some the bizarre alliances between the Republican Party and evangelicalism. Less good when it comes to any helpful suggestions; Balmer, like most evangelicals, finds he is most right when he is a prophet cursing both houses, unallied with any institutions, ready for a good fight more than anything else. The book is pugnacious and takes no quarter. Its hits its target and then takes a few more swings (even against some evangelicals who don't deserve to be targeted in a polemic on Republicanism, such as George Marsden or Wheaton College). I've given the book to some of my Republican friends and it has challenged them (which is good), but it has also infuriated them with its occassionally-over-the-top spin. Balmer will never be blamed for not having said something about the coercion of the Religious Right in some immoral politics. He has saved his own soul; the question is: will he take anyone with him??

TickTock   by Dean Koontz, 338 pages Jeff Gadd   06 December 2001

Till We Have Faces   by C.S. Lewis, 313 pages Erik Bauer   07 July 2003 Lewis reshapes the tale of Cupid and Psyche and manages to dig some deep allegory.

Time and Tide : A Walk Through Nantucket   by Frank Conroy, 144 pages Jaqi Ross   29 June 2004 Frank Conroy first visited Nantucket with a gang of college friends in 1955. They came on a whim, and for Conroy it was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with this "small, relaxed oasis in the ocean." This book, part travel diary, part memoir, is a hauntingly evocative and personal journey through Nantucket: its sweeping dunes, rugged moors, remote beaches, secret fishing spots, and hidden forests and cranberry bogs. Admirers of Conroy?s classic and acclaimed memoir Stop-Time will again delight in what James Atlas, writing in the New York Times, called his "genius for close observation."

Timeline   by Michael Crichton, 444 pages Steve Gadd   17 June 2000 An imaginative and well-paced take on the time travel theme. The detailled and engrossing scenes of medieval life and combat reflect a good deal of research on the author's part.

Timeline   by Michael Crichton, 440 pages Jeff Gadd   13 July 2000

Time's Arrow   by Martin Amis, 165 pages Steve Gadd   19 February 1996

Time's Arrow   by Martin Amis, 165 pages Steven Krise   21 October 2003 Sort of like "Memento" in book form, but not really. I believe this another of SGadd's many books I have in my possession.

Time's Arrow   by Martin Amis, 165 pages Steven Krise   25 January 2007 Here there is no why. The world is going to start making sense...now.

Time's Eye   by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter, 337 pages Julie Gephart   31 May 2004 The authors took an interesting premise, about the earth being suddenly shattered into different times from human history, and spent far too much of the book playing a self-indulgent fantasy game of Risk with the armies of Alexander and Genghis Khan. Then it just ended abruptly in a way I didn’t understand. I don’t know if that was intentional because this is the first book in a series, in which case I hate them, or if it was supposed to be so deeply meaningful as to purposely elude readers, in which case I hate them.

To Be Free!   by Ron Martin, 212 pages Jeff Gadd   09 January 1999

To Begin Again: Stories and Memoirs, 1908-1929   by M.F.K. Fisher, 179 pages Tony Pisarenkov   29 February 2004 I wish this collection of reminiscences by one of the doyennes of American gastronomy was more about food and less about her childhood which, although remarkable in its own way, does not really deserve a memoir.

To Begin Where I Am   by Czeslaw Milosz, 454 pages James Donahue   18 June 2003 This book is a collection of essays throughout Milosz's career separated into three categories: criticism, biographical, and reflective. His prose is as good as ever (Milosz is, to my mind, a master of the English language despite his Polish roots) The subject material is also fascinating, although any future readers should be forewarned that Milosz expects the reader to be conversant in Polish and European literary history. But then these essays were primarily written with one reader in mind: Milosz himself.

To Build a Fire and Other Stories   by Jack London, 84 pages Jeff Gadd   01 February 2003 Some short stories from J.L. that are very well writting, Let all of them have sad endings.

To Build a Fire and Other Stories   by Jack London, 84 pages Steve Gadd   08 October 2008 "Love of Life" (here) is better than the more famous story in this collection -- at least it had a protagonist you could root for.

To Engineer Is Human   by Henry Petroski, 232 pages Steve Gadd   09 May 1999 Case-by-case analysis demonstrating that engineers often learn more from failure than from success.

To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife   by Caitlin Flanagan, 239 pages Jennifer Dear   04 July 2006

To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife   by Caitliyn Flanagan, 239 pages Micaela Larkin   16 July 2006 Loved it! I borrowed my cousin's copy while house-sitting. I'm a big fan of the elegant bride chapter.

To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife (2006)   by Caitlin Flanagan, 239 pages James Donahue   04 July 2006 Although Flanagan catches a lot of hate for her anti-feminism, these people miss the point. Flanagan is not a political columnist, but a satirist and confessionalist. Her hero is Erma Bombeck, not Betty Friedan or Phyllis Schafley. I love Flanagan. Jen and I read this book to one another while driving out to Montana, wondering how Flanagan writes what we so often feel but have not yet reflected on. (Even if Jen thinks she was too hard with her critical reading of 'Real Simple.')

Today's Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic?   by Walter J. Chantry, 92 pages Brad Snyder   14 November 2005 This book uses the story of the rich young ruler in Mark 10 to examine the message of salvation as preached by Christ. More than that, though, it is a critique of the message as it's preached in modern times. Unfortunately, his observations are based largely upon caricature. He doesn't cite more than a few references to support the straw man he creates, so he comes off a bit like a cantankerous old man yelling about "the kids' loud music" (or "folk rock" as he calls it in the book). Still, if you can weed through his somewhat exaggerated statements, many of his observations of Mark 10 are valuable.

Tokugawa Religion   by Robert Bellah, 197 pages James Donahue   30 September 2003 Bellah has found the functional equivalent of the Protestant work ethic in medieval Japan. So this explains why Japan is so advanced as a society and as an economy -- due to a religion of collectivism, duty, and selflessness. (Obviously this book is a little dated.)

Tomato Red   by Daniel Woodrell, 225 pages Kristin Schrock   15 December 2004 From the author of Ride with the Devil--also it was $1-- the story of a family from the wrong side of town--they sort of adopt the unreliable narrator, Sammy, a petty thief and thug. It was an interesting read (I think), because I had no idea where the plot was going, but the end really seemed inevitable. Not an easy trick to pull off.

Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy   by Carl Friedrich, 421 pages James Donahue   16 September 2002 Attempts to define totalitarianism by the methods of political science. Very influenced by Arendt. Pretty outdated in its evidentary claims.

Touching the Void   by Joe Simpson, 218 pages Mike Gadd   19 July 2005 Very similar to 'Into Thin Air' in it's compelling real-life drama. The writer tried his best to put his torturous experience into words without it becoming too cartoon-like. Very well done. Complete with good pix and a map for the cartographically inclined.

Touching the Void   by Joe Simpson, 215 pages Steve Gadd   01 July 2009

Tower of Beowulf   by Parke Godwin, 246 pages Steven Krise   27 February 2004 Recasting of the classic epic poem into the form of a novel. Godwin did an interesting job filling in the details left out in the poem such as Grendel's origins and what happened during the years between the battle with Grendel and the dragon.

TR: Preacher of Righteousness (2008)   by Joshua David Hadley, 320 pages James Donahue   22 August 2008 Hawley's justification for writing yet another biography of TR is that he intends to look behind his celebrity-style persona and his rough rider image and examine the intellectual foundations of his life. He treats TR more as a political philosopher (sometimes exposing rather painful conceptions and placing them in the context of Edwardian America) than as a political actor. When Hawley does do this, his biography is second to none. When he laspes instead into TR's political slugfests and the socio-economic characteristics of the Gilded Age, the biography loses its zip and becomes a bit more rote. Still, I think it is the most useful biography of TR for the scholar, or for anyone interested in religious ideas translated into political action, but at times it may not be the most interesting one.

TR: The Last Romantic (1997)   by H. W. Brands, 817 pages James Donahue   19 July 2007 Brands sees TR as a romantic figure living in an imaginary world, out of touch with reality, constantly pushing (and, even more tragically) those around him to live the 'streneous life.' All well and good for an academic who pushed the book out in a few years, has never hunted, and has safely modern political views? But, if TR was so caught up in unreality, then why did he resonate with so many people? I suppose I am over-tough here. The book is thoroughly enjoyable - but I suspect this is more because of its enjoyable protagonist, and not its (pseudo)smug author.

Transfer of Power   by Vince Flynn, 592 pages Mike Gadd   19 April 2005 Another nicely written political thriller.

Transforming Discipleship: making disciples a few at a time (2003)   by Greg Ogden, 180 pages Jonathan Misirian   08 April 2008 Good overview of various methods of teaching others about what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Transgressions   by Jeffery Deaver, 339 pages Steven Krise   02 January 2007 Deaver and another author each wrote a novella. The other guy seemed to get the knack of it better.

Transitioning   by Dan Southerland, 240 pages Jonathan Misirian   29 March 2006 A decent read for those who have done no reading in the leadership field. Southerland lays out steps to help facilitate church growth

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith   by Anne Lamott, 275 pages Brad Snyder   25 April 2006 An honest, albeit earthy, look at faith.

Travels   by Michael Crichton, 416 pages Steve Gadd   29 November 2003 Turns out the guy behind "Jurassic Park" and "ER" is a hardcore globetrotter. He starts off with stories about his days in medical school, when he wrote thrillers to pay school bills. After moving to California and finding success in Hollywood, he began travelling to exotic places in search of new experiences. He climbed Kilimanjaro, dived with sharks, sat around with African gorillas, and sought out jungle headhunters. Meanwhile, he explored the nutty fads of California -- psychics, spoon bending, meditation, auras. His training in science makes these passages interesting. He is open to anything, but remains skeptical even as he has experiences he can't explain.

Travels with Charley in Search of America   by John Steinbeck, 224 pages Steve Gadd   18 October 2009

Travels With My Aunt (1969)   by Graham Greene, 265 pages James Donahue   17 June 2007 Plot: A retired bank manager, regular and boring in every respect, meets his swinging, smuggling aunt who exposes him to a 'walk on the wild side.' Her advice is at turns salacious ("His fun had been in the secret, and he left us both only so that somewhere he could find a new secret. Not love. Just a secret"), quirky ("Switzerland is only bearable covered in snow"), and practical ("People who love quotations love meaningless generalizations"). A few years I would have regarded this book as a satirical, semi-serious take on the 60s by a member of the most radical generation of them all (the 1920s crowd), but since my time in Switzerland I can only see as the truest realism of all. (Read on the train back from Montana).

Treasure Island (1883)   by Robert Louis Stevenson, 202 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

Trial by Ice and Fire   by Clinton Mckenzie , 400 pages Mike Gadd   12 October 2005 The third in the series and the best one so far. A good mix of mountain climbing and forest fire drama.

Tribulation Force   by Tim Lahaue J,B. Jenkins, 450 pages Jeff Gadd   15 November 2000

Trickster's Choice   by Tamora Pierce, 423 pages Julie Gephart   02 July 2004 Finally, a girl who is clever and resourceful and determined and unafraid, all while still being a regular person.

Trickster's Choice (2003)   by Tamora Pierce, 423 pages A Bennett   26 January 2004 Utterly charming. My only criticism is that it seems to be the beginning of a series (not everything is resolved, and the Amazing Superhero Reveal is deferred), and as a new release, any follow-ups are, at present, nowhere to be found.

Trickster's Queen (2004)   by Tamora Pierce, 470 pages A Bennett   18 April 2005 So far less than Trickster's Choice that one is left to wonder what on earth could have created such a dearth of interest and quality.

Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution   by Richard Fortey, 284 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2009 Fortey tells the vast story of what we know about trilobites and how we've come to know it and through that story shows how the minutiae about trilobites has informed all manner larger topics (including shedding light on rates of evolution, the nature of speciation, and reconstructing the Ordovician globe).

TripWire   by Lee Child, 401 pages Jeff Gadd   01 February 2002 Third book just as great as the first two. A great ending too the book.

Tropic of Capricorn   by Henry Miller, 346 pages Tony Pisarenkov   25 October 2003 Advertised as a sequel of sorts to "Tropic of Cancer," and sometimes described as Miller's take on his life in New York the same way the earlier novel related his life in Paris, "Tropic of Capricorn" is in fact nothing of the sort. Expansively auto-biographical, it is written in an even more stream-of-consciousness fashion than the earlier work, so much so sometimes that I could not help concluding that Miller was on some fairly heavy drugs when writing certain passages. Still, his extreme nihilism and misanthropy come through readily, frequently in amounts that could be too much for some, and that is what makes the book powerful in the end. You have to admire his ability to deliver such an amazing lack of anything even remotely positive.

Tropical Classical   by Pico Iyer, 314 pages Steve Gadd   20 September 1999 Travel essays, profiles, book reviews.

Trumpet   by Jackie Kay, 278 pages Jaqi Ross   01 September 2003 Inspired by the story of American jazz pianist Billy Tipton, who was discovered to be a woman upon his death.

Tuesdays with Morrie   by Mitch Albom, 192 pages Mike Gadd   16 March 2004 Very touching account of the author's visits with an old college professor suffering from ALS.

Tulipomania: The Story of the World's Most Coveted Flower and the Extraordinary Passions It Aroused   by Mike Dash, 220 pages Jennifer Dear   20 June 2006 Imagine spending a fortune on ONE tulip bulb!

Tuva Or Bust   by Ralph Leighton, 245 pages Steve Gadd   20 September 1998 The saga of Richard Feynman and friends trying to visit a remote Soviet territory, basically because they have cool postage stamps and a capital named Kyzyl.

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) (2006)   by Stephenie Meyer, 544 pages Brad Snyder   26 July 2008 Another recommendation from my daughter. While it is obviously intended for an adolescent and female audience, I found the story entertaining. Basic premise: Girl meets boy. Boy is a vampire. While obviously making dating complicated, since the boy wants to suck the girl’s blood, girl and vampire fall in love anyway, cool with their differences. Vampire and girl meet another coven of vampires who really want to suck the girl's blood. Adventure follows.

Twilight Eyes   by Dean R. Koontz, 449 pages Jeff Gadd   05 November 1998

Twisted   by Jeffery Deaver, 383 pages Steven Krise   04 January 2004 It's the collected short stories of Jeffery Deaver, all featuring his distinctive plot/character twists. With them all collected in one tome, the gimmick began to wear thin after a while, but still a number of good stories. Sorry, still no female authors, but this one had a number of female "protagonists".