| U2: The Rolling Stone Files by Rolling Stone editors, 323 pages Steve Gadd 09 May 1998 | Ubik by Philip K Dick, 212 pages Steven Krise 31 October 2007 I spent most of this book not being sure what was going on. After the reveal in the penultimate chapter, I was still not quite sure what was going on, which is a welcome change from the author beating you over the head with their point so you cannot avoid being sure of what's going on. The story's kind of like "The Matrix" except written 30 years before Keanu learned Kung Fu. |
Uncle Andy's Island by Anne Molloy, 243 pages Jeff Gadd 02 August 1999 |
Under Four Administrations (1922) by Oscar Straus, 430 pages James Donahue 07 August 2006 Memoir: German-Jewish emigre rises to top of class at Columbia, becomes foreign minister to Turkey in 1890s, part of TR's administrations (second Labour Secretary), then served under Wilson. Good memoir, excellent eye for detail, especially of the final days of the Ottoman Empire, even if it reads as, more or less, a series of political vignettes. |
UnderSeas Victory II 1943-1945 The Tide Turns by W.J. Holmes, 265 pages Jeff Gadd 28 November 2002 A story about America submarines against Japanese ships in WW II. |
UNDERTAKER'S WIDOW by Philip Margolin, 321 pages Jeff Gadd 28 September 2000 |
Underworld by Don DeLillo, 827 pages Erik Bauer 13 November 1999 An epoch story intertwining american culture and the affects of the cold war and modernity, mixing fictional story with a factual background, an incredible book. |
Unknown Destination by Maya Rasker, 214 pages Kristin Schrock 13 June 2003 A woman goes out to buy cigarrettes never to be seen again. Her husband tries to assemble the memories of his life and his marriage that lead up to her disapperance, touching on ideas of memory and truth. There's a creepy distance to the voice of the husband which is compelling, even though I was able to predict the ending. |
Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero by Ashley Smith, 272 pages Jennifer Dear 06 August 2006 |
Unruhige Nacht (Restless Night) by Albrecht Goes, 67 pages James Donahue 30 June 2003 A military chaplain visits a condemned man during WWII. The boy, simple and poor, is sentenced to death for miscegenational acts. Through presenting him the Word in verbal and physical form the chaplain begins to question his service. (First novel for me read all the way through auf Deutsch! Yeah!) |
Unveiling by Suzanne Wolfe, 188 pages James Donahue 19 January 2005 Wolfe writes of a recently-divorced woman in Rome working at unveiling a 16th-c triptych. While doing so she finds herself among the rituals and lived Catholicism of her environs even as she herself remains immune to religious belief. Well-written, but the short and stubby chapters never allowed me to truly immerse myself. |
Up At The Villa by W. Somerset Maugham, 95 pages James Donahue 29 November 2005 Maugham continues to probe the deepest mystery of the universe yet again, namely: why do women always prefer the lying charmer to the decent man? I must say that one of the reasons I like Maugham is because he is, especially for writers from the 1920s, so desperately uncool. |
Utopia by Thomas More, 197 pages James Donahue 21 January 2003 A traveller from the newfound Americas relates an alternative society to 16th century Englanders. More's vision is an odd amalgamation of socialism (before there was such a thing) and Christianity. Reading this book is like finding a missing link. |
Utopia by Lincoln Child, 385 pages Mike Gadd 18 June 2003 Like Michael Crichten's "Prey", this one gets lost in all the special effects and techno-speak. It takes place in a futuristic amusement park where someone is trying to steal the technology and tear the place down. Are we supposed to care about robots as characters? |