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

We   by Eugene Zamiatin, 218 pages Steve Gadd   20 September 1995

Deadly Waters   by Christopher H. Meehan, 238 pages Steve Gadd   26 September 1995

Infinite In All Directions   by Freeman Dyson, 299 pages Steve Gadd   05 October 1995

What Do You Care What Other People Think?   by Richard Feynman, 248 pages Steve Gadd   25 October 1995

Disturbing the Universe   by Freeman Dyson, 261 pages Steve Gadd   15 November 1995

Neuromancer   by William Gibson, 271 pages Steve Gadd   28 November 1995

Sarajevo: A War Journal   by Zlatko Dizdarevic, 200 pages Steve Gadd   07 January 1996

Adrift   by Steven Callahan, 234 pages Steve Gadd   24 January 1996

Still Life With Woodpecker   by Tom Robbins, 277 pages Steve Gadd   28 January 1996

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

Connections   by James Burke, 295 pages Steve Gadd   04 April 1996

Painted Desert   by Frederick Barthelme, 243 pages Steve Gadd   06 April 1996

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

Howards End   by E. M. Forster, 271 pages Steve Gadd   01 December 1996 Not "Howard's End"

Monsignor Quixote   by Graham Greene, 221 pages Steve Gadd   07 February 1997

Silence   by Shusaku Endo, 201 pages Steve Gadd   01 March 1997

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

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.

Car Talk   by Tom and Ray Magliozzi, 206 pages Steve Gadd   17 January 1998 Paper version of the radio program. Just as enjoyable, and with plenty of helpful information about buying and keeping a car. "The cheapskate pays the most!"

Richard Feynman: A Life in Science   by John and Mary Gribbin, 284 pages Steve Gadd   14 February 1998 The least worthy of all the Feynman material. They pad out the same information found in the better written Genius (by James Gleick) with tabloid revelations from personal letters.

Painted Desert   by Frederick Barthelme, 243 pages Steve Gadd   06 April 1998 Hilarious story with great cover art.

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.

Cities of the Plain   by Cormac McCarthy, 292 pages Steve Gadd   20 June 1998 Required reading for anyone who read All the Pretty Horses, part one of the Border Trilogy.

Galapagos   by Kurt Vonnegut, 295 pages Steve Gadd   30 July 1998 After hearing about him for so long, I was not so impressed by my first exposure to this author. Have to try again later.

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.

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 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.

Fathers and Sons   by Ivan Turgenev, 203 pages Steve Gadd   12 December 1998

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.

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

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.

Johnny Got His Gun   by Dalton Trumbo, 243 pages Steve Gadd   18 January 1999 The absolutely unforgettable horror story of a disfigured veteran.

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.

Endurance   by Alfred Lansing, 282 pages Steve Gadd   11 April 1999 Inspiring, absolutely incredible account of a disasterous attempt to cross the south pole on foot.

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.

Uncle Andy's Island   by Anne Molloy, 243 pages Jeff Gadd   02 August 1999

A Moveable Feast   by Ernest Hemingway, 208 pages Steve Gadd   30 August 1999 Papa reminisces about being "very poor and very happy" in Paris.

Notes From Underground and other stories   by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 239 pages Steve Gadd   10 October 1999 A classic short work by the classic author. 'White Nights' another favorite.

Mary Reilly   by Valerie Martin, 244 pages Jeff Gadd   15 November 1999

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.

Last Chance To See   by Douglas Adams, 218 pages Steve Gadd   30 March 2000 Yes, that Douglas Adams, travelling with a zoologist to exotic corners of the world looking for the most endangered species. Highly entertaining and not too preachy.

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 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.

J. Robert Oppenheimer   by Peter Goodchild, 288 pages Steve Gadd   04 June 2000 A long-sought biography of the man behind the atomic bomb project. This book, part of a BBC production, is richly illustrated and very readable.

Endurance   by Alfred Lansing, 282 pages Jeff Gadd   15 June 2000

Imagined Worlds   by Freeman Dyson, 208 pages Steve Gadd   12 July 2000 An imaginative and sensitive scientist looks deep into the future and imagines what might become of the human race. Other essays contrast Napoleonic and Tolstoyan modes of doing science.

Critical Chain   by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, 246 pages Erik Bauer   13 August 2000 A follow on to "The Goal." This book is pure program management and has some great ideas, but the practical implementation of these ideas is where I get lost. I might find this useful when when I grow up and get a real job.

Cities of the Plain   by Cormac McCarthy, 292 pages Steve Gadd   04 September 2000 Wrapping up the trilogy with hearty portions of bleakness and beauty, with a helping of Borges for dessert.

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

Shattered   by Dean Koontz, 212 pages Jeff Gadd   19 September 2000

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

A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories   by Flannery O'Connor, 251 pages Erik Bauer   10 October 2000 I realized rather quickly that I'm not a big fan of southern culture, but I finished the book anyway. I suppose I need to give Faulkner a try just to be fair.

Words and Rules   by Steven Pinker, 287 pages Steve Gadd   27 November 2000 This study in linguistics, focusing on regular and irregular verbs, is a bit more tedious than The Language Instinct, but still has some rewarding insights.

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

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.

French Or Foe?: Getting the Most Out of Visiting, Living and Working in France   by Polly Platt, 272 pages Erik Bauer   20 June 2001 A must read for anyone moving to France, travelling to France or wondering what's up with the French.

Night Judgement At Sinos   by Jack Higgins, 289 pages Jeff Gadd   29 June 2001

Day of Reckoning   by Jack Higgins, 288 pages Jeff Gadd   06 July 2001

In The Hour Before Midnight   by Jack Higgins, 276 pages Jeff Gadd   16 July 2001

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 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.

Event 1000   by David Lavallee, 258 pages Jeff Gadd   22 December 2001 Interesting book about sailors trapped in a sinking submarine.

Raptor Red   by Robert T. Bakker, 256 pages Jeff Gadd   27 December 2001 Great dino book makes a interesting read for a book.

Everthing We Had   by Al Santoli, 260 pages Jeff Gadd   29 December 2001 A great book about 33 American soldiers who fought in Vietnam.

Jackaroo I: Jackaroo   by Cynthia Voigt, 291 pages A Bennett   05 January 2002 Action/Adventure, set in The Kingdom, with a masked hero.

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

Jackaroo II: On Fortune's Wheel   by Cynthia Voigt, 289 pages A Bennett   15 January 2002 Beriel leaves The Kingdom unwittingly and falls into love and into slavery. The Narrative pulls punches.

Fire   by Sebastian Junger, 256 pages Mike Gadd   18 January 2002

Eraser   by Robert Tine, 228 pages Jeff Gadd   19 January 2002 If u like the movie u will like the book too.

Jackaroo IV: Elske   by Cynthia Voigt, 245 pages A Bennett   25 January 2002 Wolfer-born Elske is not the first in the series to end up in The Kingdom, rewarded, but she is my favorite. Excellent series capper, Tough grrl.

Jackaroo   by Cynthia Voigt, 291 pages Julie Gephart   26 January 2002 A cape, a horse, a servant girl taking up the mask of an ancient Zorro character - it sounds much better than it was.

Behind Enemy Lines   by James Dean Sanderson, 248 pages Jeff Gadd   26 January 2002 Great short storys of war missions in WWII very interesting.

On Fortune's Wheel   by Cynthia Voigt, 289 pages Julie Gephart   27 January 2002 The Wheel goes up, the Wheel comes down, but nothing really bad ever happens if you're a girl.

Aliens III   by Alan Dean Foster, 218 pages Jeff Gadd   07 February 2002 Aliens they just keep going and going and going!!!

12 Monkeys   by Eizabeth Hand, 210 pages Jeff Gadd   08 February 2002 A weird book and movie but interesting enough.

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

Gladiator--A Hero Will Rise   by David Franzoni, 229 pages Jeff Gadd   12 February 2002 The Romans are interesting to read about, but scary in their inventions of games they played.

Elske   by Cynthia Voigt, 245 pages Julie Gephart   16 February 2002 Voigt heartily reverses her earlier policy that nothing really bad happens to girls - she clarifies here that if you are a girl, your life totally sucks no matter where you live.

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage   by Alfred Lansing, 280 pages Kristin Schrock   21 February 2002 Shackleton, Shackleton he's our man!

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.

Following Christ   by Joseph M. Stowell, 223 pages Ian Hassell   24 February 2002 Excellent book - turns traditional "spiritual leadership" on its head. The emphasis of our lives should be Followership, not Leadership. Great contrast to my last book.

In the Heart of the Sea   by Nathaniel Philbrick, 278 pages Steve Gadd   25 February 2002 The tale of the Essex, a Nantucket-based whaleship that was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale, forcing its crew to sail for South America in three small boats. The inspiration for Moby-Dick.

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

Bone in the Throat   by Anthony Bourdain, 290 pages Mike Gadd   28 February 2002

Culture Shock! Germany   by Richard Lord, 287 pages Erik Bauer   05 March 2002 How to understand why Germans can be so weird.

Chronicles of Prydain I: The Book of Three   by Lloyd Alexander, 219 pages A Bennett   05 March 2002 The first book in a series about Prydain. Alexander, like most fantasy authors gives readers names upon names that make you pause for too long wondering how they are supposed to be pronounced.

Chronicles of Prydain II: The Black Cauldron   by Lloyd Alexander, 220 pages A Bennett   08 March 2002 In book one Eilonwy (the best character) was said to have red-gold hair, in this book it's blonde. Magic, or poor continuity? You decide.

Prophecy of Darkness   by Stella Howard, 215 pages Jeff Gadd   09 March 2002

Chronicles of Prydain III: The Castle of Llyr   by Lloyd Alexander, 206 pages A Bennett   13 March 2002 Being a tertiary hero ain't so bad, as long as you get to hang out with Gwydion, Prince of Don.

Chronicles of Prydain IV: Taran Wanderer   by Lloyd Alexander, 272 pages A Bennett   18 March 2002 Dear Taran, formerly "Assistant Pig-Keeper," now "Wanderer": Beware shepherds claiming your parentage. Signed, your friend, Oedipus P.S. Say 'hi' for me to Eilonwy when you see her in the next book.

Over Sea, Under Stone   by Susan Cooper, 243 pages Julie Gephart   31 March 2002 First in a fantasy series that had better get better. Ordinary people who encounter ancient evil forces should really be deeply affected in some way. I'm just saying.

H.M.S. ULYSSES   by Alistair MaClean, 276 pages Jeff Gadd   05 April 2002 Great book but sad, Out of 36 ships only 5 get to the destination.

Dark Horse   by Mary H. Herbert, 267 pages Julie Gephart   07 April 2002 This is that rare breed of fantasy novel in which the heroine actually bleeds and sweats and struggles to become a warrior. Of course, magic still rules in the end, but yay for swordplay!

Wilderness Tips (short stories)   by Margaret Atwood, 284 pages Kristin Schrock   08 April 2002 One of the great things about reading Maggie Atwood (or Mags as I like to call her) is that invariably the Mounties show up. And, usually, there's some mention of the war of 1812. I love Canada.

Charlotte von Kirschbaum and Karl Barth   by Suzanne Selinger, 206 pages James Donahue   08 April 2002 An interesting study of the famous theologian and his secretary/soulmate. Paints a vivid picture of an unusual and often scandelous relationship. Best when it points out how their love influenced Barth's theology, particularly on the topics of women pastors, the I-Thou calling, and the imago Dei.

BraveHeart   by Randall Wallace, 277 pages Jeff Gadd   08 April 2002 Great book,Great movie too. One word FREEEEE--DOMMMMMM

Girl In Hyacinth Blue   by Susan Vreeland, 257 pages James Donahue   10 April 2002 Good historical fiction. It really gives one a feel for early modern Holland, particularly with such lush descriptions of the landscape. The plot traces the history of a Vermeer painting of a girl in blue from now back to it conception through its succession of owners, paying particular attention to what each owner cherished about the painting.

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 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 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.

Early Autumn   by Robert B. Parker, 221 pages Mike Gadd   18 April 2002

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!

Angel: The Summoned   by Cameron Dokey, 294 pages A Bennett   18 April 2002 Can Man sidestep the Death for which he is inevitably marked? Set during the immolation spree of an erratic serial killer in and around LA, the police are powerless to find the answers needed to stop the killings, but one PI believes he can thwart fate, expose a cult, and surmount the curse of his own Mark. Necessary vocabulary: fern bar, incunabula.

Fresh Power   by Jim Cymbala, 208 pages Ian Hassell   19 April 2002 Another great book about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.

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.

SeaWitch   by Alistair MaClean, 279 pages Jeff Gadd   23 April 2002 About a famous oil Billionaire who enemys what to stop him by destroying his oil Rig SeaWitch.

Lightning's Daughter   by Mary H. Herbert, 259 pages Julie Gephart   26 April 2002 Much less compelling sequel to the enjoyable "Dark Horse." Still, you can't go all the way wrong with a breed of huge, noble, telepathic horses. I mean, they whisper wise advice in your head and everything.

Clear Thinking   by Hy Ruchlis, 271 pages Steven Krise   28 April 2002 With a forward by the inimitable Carl Sagan, this isn't a bad read. It's geared more for a younger audience than the introduction to formal logic I expected. Should have paid more attention in MOMM, I guess.

Cleopatra's Nose: Essays on the Unexpected   by Daniel Boorstin, 202 pages James Donahue   29 April 2002

Chronicles of Prydain V: The High King   by Lloyd Alexander, 286 pages A Bennett   29 April 2002 Series capper. Excellently paced denoument. You know you've grown to care about characters when you're sitting at the Wendy's shedding tears quietly into your fries over the death of Llonio the Lucky. Necessary Vocabulary: hummock, gulled.

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.

Decisive Battles of the Civil War   by Lt Col Joseph B Mitchell, 207 pages Steven Krise   11 May 2002 Broad, if not in-depth, overview of the Civil War. Interesting feature is that troop movements are outlined on modern day road maps.

Roots of Romanticism   by Isaiah Berlin, 247 pages James Donahue   13 May 2002 A brief series of lectures on the roots of the international movement in a handful of German thinkers. Berlin always really knows his stuff, but his conservative bias always seems at odds with his interest with "anti-Enlightenment" figures. (And this time I spelled "Isaiah" correctly).

Westmark Trilogy II: The Kestrel   by Lloyd Alexander, 244 pages A Bennett   21 May 2002 Holy Revolution, Cabbarus lives! Hot-headed rebels demanding a writ of inalienable rights, queens commanding armies, ex-printer's devils ambushing enemy supply trains in the Domitian Mountains? And Florian? Aristocracy? ...will Westmark endure, or fall prey to Regian betrayal? Necessary vocabulary: curvetting, fieldpiece, limber, breech [cannon], saber, chivvied.

Buffy Return to Chaos   by Craig Shaw Gardner, 293 pages Jeff Gadd   22 May 2002

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 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.

Buffy Obsidian Fate   by Diana G. Gallagher, 294 pages Jeff Gadd   05 June 2002

Westmark Trilogy III: The Beggar Queen   by Lloyd Alexander, 237 pages A Bennett   05 June 2002 Revolution breaks out in Marianstat, but who has time to worry very much about that when gephart has stabbed you in the back over vacation by pretending to need time to dress in her room--all the while reading like a madman? Necessary vocabulary: dicing dens, duckboard, midden heaps, abdicate.

Angel Not Forgotten   by Nancy Holder, 243 pages Jeff Gadd   14 June 2002

In Country   by Bobbie Ann Mason, 245 pages Kristin Schrock   15 June 2002 This is the second book in a row to feature an egret. This one takes place in 1984 and Sam, our spunky heroine, is trying to find out what Vietnam was like. But when she finds out, she realizes she didn't really want to know. Isn't that always the way? It begins with dialogue, and I'm just never going to be a fan of that.

Disappointment With God   by Phillip Yancey, 258 pages Steven Krise   20 June 2002 A gift from my father-in-law. A theodicy addressed to those who still want to believe. The book made a few novel points along the way, but to keep from failing in its mission of giving sound reasons for remaining a theist in the absence of any subjective experience of god's presence, it needed to support the use of the Bible as an authority and explain the virtue of faith over empirical rationality. Most ludicrous statement is that the Old Testament is a story of God's continued condescension.

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.

Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier   by Joanna L. Stratton, 267 pages Julie Gephart   28 June 2002 Recollections by women who settled in Kansas during the 19th century. For the most part, far more fascinating than I had anticipated, but the end got less interesting as it veered into politics and war.

Language and Species   by Derek Bickerton, 297 pages Steven Krise   02 July 2002 An intriguing thesis that language originally evolved as a representational system by modeling the primary representational system (i.e., the sensorium) and was then exapted for communicative use. It's hypothesized there exists 2 distinct linguistic modes in humans, protolanguage (pidgins and speech of children under 2) and language (normal adult speech). Protolanguage evolved early in the hominid line (around the time of H. erectus, 1.5 mya) and that the transition from protolanguage to language occurred 'suddenly' with the emergence of H sapiens. Goes on to show how syntax (language's main distinction from protolanguage) is the currency of thought (by providing linguistic 'tokens' to manipulate) and provides the underpinning to our unique sense of consciousness. It's the kind of thesis that is probably wrong in many details but invaluable for the questions it poses. 'The question is, are there things that exist *only* in the secondary representational system, you see.'

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.

Death in the Afternoon   by Ernest Hemingway, 278 pages Steve Gadd   09 July 2002 Papa's textbook on bullfighting. Plenty of goring and an occasional anecdote liven up the story.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man   by James Joyce, 253 pages Steven Krise   13 July 2002 Inspired by Percesepe's article here http://www.mississippireview.com/PublicScrutiny/Content/ps0104-percesepe.html I decided to read something from his list of authors I'd never read before. The style was disorienting at first, but worth the while to work through. Words I learned: soutane, athwart

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.

Pride, Prejudice and Jasmin Field   by Melissa Nathan, 279 pages Kristin Schrock   15 July 2002 Recommended to me by someone at the library when I said that I loved Pride and Prejudice. That, of course, didn't mean that I needed to read the same book by a different author. It's about a bunch of people putting on Pride and Prejudice as a play and what do you know! People start acting like their characters! Quel Surprise! Fun with typos: at the beginning of the book it says that Elizabeth and Darcy will share a song at the end. So I'm expecting them to bust out with, 'Look at us, aren't we a pair!' . No song. They share a SNOG. 'cuz it's British and all. Egret count=0

Eichmann in Jersualem: A Report on the Banality of Evil   by Hannah Arendt, 264 pages James Donahue   21 July 2002 Arendt's controversial thesis that the true horror of the Holocaust was not in its mendacity but in its banality. Worse: its happening again in Israel in the 1960s. Thought-provoking, fascinating

Lack of the Irish   by Ralph McInerey, 210 pages James Donahue   24 July 2002 A murder occurs right before Notre Dame's big game against Baylor on Reformation Day. The suspects include a anti-Catholic woman preacher ('still protesting'), the Baptist quarterback of the Irish, and an obsessive husband. Only the philosophy professor Phillip Knight can solve this one. Satirically written with a love for ND.

Birds of America: Short Stories   by Lorrie Moore, 291 pages Kristin Schrock   25 July 2002 Wonderfully sad, depressing stories. Not quite as many puns, but still very good. Interesting factoid: the city of Vicksburg, which surrendered to Grant on the 4th of July, refused to celebrate Independence Day until 1971.

Old English and Its Closest Relatives   by Orrin W. Robinson, 290 pages Steven Krise   27 July 2002 Survey of the 7 earliest Germanic languages. What drew me to it is first that it covers the whole spectrum of Germanic languages with an eye toward their genetic relationships and second that it gives readings for each of the languages, forcing the reader to grapple with the language on its own terms. Highlights include the discussion of Germanic alliterative verse in the Old Saxon chapter and the evolution of governing/word order among the Germanic languages in the Old English chapter.

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

German National Identity after the Holocaust   by Mary Fulbrook, 248 pages James Donahue   31 July 2002 A magisterial survey of how public and collective memories diverged in the Eastern and Western halves of Germany. An excellent book for people interested in how the Holocaust has been dealt with in its cradle-land, or how national identities are formed and developed through public discourse.

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 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?

Marine Sniper   by Charles Henderson, 283 pages Jeff Gadd   04 August 2002 A great true story about a Vietnam sniper there ever is. He has the most confermed kill in all sniper's at 93.

Emerald Aisle   by Ralph McInery, 226 pages James Donahue   05 August 2002 More murder at Notre Dame. A sophmore couple in love books a reservation at Sacred Heart six years in advance, and soon break up. When the boy finds love again years later, he attempts to cash in on his previous reservation only to find that his previous girlfriend has preempted his deviousness. When he tracks her down to Minnesota to try and win back the reservation, mischief arises involving some missing Cardinal Newman documents and a estranged wive's murder. Sounds like a case fo Roger Knight philosophy professor.

Murder in Our Midst: The Holocaust, Industrial Killing, and Representation   by Omer Bartov, 251 pages James Donahue   07 August 2002 Bartov discusses the ultimate meaninglessness of mass killing, its relation to modernity, and postwar attempts to both suffuse the Holocaust with purpose and make an ineffable, foundational event. Excellent analysis.

Representing the Holocaust: History, Theory, Trauma   by Dominick LaCapra, 230 pages James Donahue   10 August 2002 With a heavy emphasis on critical theory and deconstruction, LaCapra promotes a self-reflexive Holocaust historiography that goes beyond political polemic and posturing.

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.

Highlander: White Silence   by Ginjer Buchanan, 229 pages A Bennett   13 August 2002 I posted this sometime ago and then the site ate it. I think I wrote about the trauma of people dying--repeatedly, because that's the basic premise--in the snow and the cold and of starvation and all because of heading to the gold fields without Marnie of Calico Palace, and to the Klondike this time. Necessary Vocabulary: cheekacho, argonaut.

Hegel: An Intellectual Biography   by Horst Althaus, 292 pages James Donahue   15 August 2002 The book focuses mainly on the development of his writings and interactions with other thinkers of his time. Little is said or know of the man behind the philosopher. An editorial choice, or a concession to Hegel''s enigmatic personality?

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.

All Quiet on the Western Front   by Erich Maria Remarque, 249 pages Jeff Gadd   19 August 2002 A book about what it was like for the Germans in WW 1.

Irish Tenure   by Ralph McInery, 246 pages James Donahue   20 August 2002 Nothing is bloodier than tenure at Notre Dame. Thus, given the controversial style of philosophy candidate Amanda Pick, it is no surprise when she turns up dead. Throw in a missing GK Chesterton story and all hell breaks loose. Thank goodness that Professor Roger Knight continues to solve crimes in his spare time.

In The Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made   by Norman Cantor, 245 pages Jennifer Dear   22 August 2002 An interesting and somewhat entertaining look at the Middle Ages and the plague. However, surprisingly biased against the Church.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories   by Annie Proulx, 283 pages Kristin Schrock   28 August 2002 Proulx's stories are always dark. These are dark, hard, unforgiving stories about cowboys and ranches. It's all about being maimed, dead, or lonely. My favorite kind of stories.

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.

Beowulf - The Donaldson Translation, Backgrounds, & Sources Criticism   by Joseph F Tuso (Ed.), 205 pages Steven Krise   02 September 2002 The Donaldson Translation is a more literal translation of the OE Beowulf manuscript and is interesting in that you get to see the kennings and metaphors of OE right before your eyes. Followed by a number of essays and essay excerpts advancing the myriad (and often contradictory) interpretations and analyses of the longest of Old English poems.

SwitchBack   by David Alexander, 247 pages Jeff Gadd   03 September 2002 A FBI agent's son kidnapped by a serial killer and it's cat and mouse to find the killer and son.

A Feast of Creatures, Anglo-Saxon Riddle-Songs   by Craig Williamson, 230 pages Steven Krise   04 September 2002 A book in 3 parts. Zen-like Walt Whitman-influenced intro to riddles as means of enlightenment followed by translations of the 91 Old English riddles of the Exeter Book. Finishes with short commentary on each of the poems. Worthwhile for the first two parts. Includes an index of proposed solutions to the riddles.

Pere Goriot   by Honore Balzac, 244 pages James Donahue   11 September 2002 Two parvenu daughters take advantage of their bourgeois father while a law student attempts to make the Parisian scene. Fairly melodramatic, but worth it just to be able to say 'I'm reading Balzac.'

Young Mussolini and the Intellectual Origins of Fascism   by A James Gregor, 260 pages James Donahue   14 September 2002 An excellent monograph which describes Mussolini's transformation from the leading Socialist intellectual in Italy to the founder of the Fascist party in about six years. Gregor always does a great job of showing the logic and rationality behind Fascist thought rather than just reducing Fascism to meglomania, blind hatred, insanity, and venerial disease.

Breakfast of Champions   by Kurt Vonnegut, 295 pages Steve Gadd   17 September 2002 This book is just dumb. The story is dumb, the writing is dumb, and the author's drawings are dumb. Here are the three most clever things in the book: 1) The author inserts himself as a character. 2) He calls mirrors 'leaks.' 3) He describes some commonplace things in a super-literal fashion. This last gimmick is actually amusing a few of the hundreds of times he uses it. Really, there's nothing here that would surprise you coming from a slightly precocious fourteen-year-old. Why is this guy such a favorite?

Mouse Under Glass   by David Koenig, 270 pages Mike Gadd   18 September 2002 This book isn't the one I thought it would be. There's one out there that talks about the dark underbelly of Disney and it's parks. It talks about stuff like the work crew who jumps to action when there is an accident on one of the rides. They wisk the injured party into a private meeting room, treat the injured, hose off the ride, and arrive at a settlement. The people still in line see nothing more than a 5 minute delay in getting on the ride. That's the book I wanted. This book just goes through the Disney movies talking about the story that inspired it, how many revisions it went through, plot holes and bloopers. It talks a little about the hidden images people have claimed to see and basically says that they are there. Sometimes the animators get bored or feel like goofing off and they slip stuff into the film to see who catches it. Some stuff didn't get caught. Most of it is innocent enough, although there have been recalls after someone found something.

WWII Infantry Soldier   by W.Y.Boyd, 248 pages Jeff Gadd   20 September 2002 The author of the book was in WWII and fought through the campains of Alsace,Siegfried Line,Wurzburg,Schweinfurt,Nuremburg,Danube, and Munich and never got wounded. Pretty empressive.

Fundmentalism and America Culture: 1870 - 1925   by George Marsden, 292 pages James Donahue   21 September 2002 The standard work which explains historically how the fundamentalists became the funny-mentalists. An essential read for anyone that wants to understand the history of their evangelical heritage. Also helps explain some of the superannuated shibboleths I experienced at Cedarville.

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.

Representing Belief: Religion, Art, and Society in 19th-century France   by Michael Driskel, 279 pages James Donahue   22 September 2002 Examines the religious art of the period. Argues that avant-gardist art of the 1910s was not unique, but predicated upon the previous art of Catholicism. Themes: Byzantine influence, anti-Romanticism, tensions between Catholicism and Republicanism in France. Could have used some color photos, but too damn expensive.

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 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 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.

Missionary of Moderation: Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and the Lutheran Church in English America   by Leonard Riforgiato, 237 pages James Donahue   03 October 2002 A biography of an amazing man. Muhlenberg came to the colonies in 1742 and by the force of his pastoral leadership organized the disparate Lutheran churches into a synod, all the while staying clear of evangelical revivalism and staid seventeenth-century orthodoxy. A remarkable testimony.

Revolutionary France   by Malcolm Crook, ed., 237 pages James Donahue   06 October 2002 Standard textbook on 19th-century France that includes separate chapters on often-overlooked subjects, such as religion, nationalism, the pays, and gender. A bit scattered if not accompanying a class.

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.

Franny and Zooey   by J.D. Salinger, 202 pages Kristin Schrock   09 October 2002 Holden Caulfield, I mean, Franny has a nervous breakdown and goes home. The Glass family resembles Wes Anderson's Tenenbaums (or the other way around)--they're all disaffected geniuses. Zooey tells Franny to "Snap out of it!" There's some talk about God and Jesus and shining your shoes for Jesus. The beginning is compelling, but the end just devolves into speechifying.

Blood Secrets   by Karen E. Taylor, 283 pages Jeff Gadd   09 October 2002 Deirdre Griffin a vampire has to find a vampire killing people she knows.

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.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers   by Jack Finney, 212 pages Jeff Gadd   15 October 2002 Big outerspace seed pods,Which are parasites take over people in Mill Valley.

Seducing the French   by Richard Kuisel, 285 pages James Donahue   22 October 2002 A brief history of French ambivalency towards America. Some great snippets in here that both amuse and illuminate.

Little House in the Highlands   by Melissa Wiley, 271 pages Julie Gephart   26 October 2002 Aye, it's the old Scottish highlands, where the wee bairns play a game of Picts and Scots on the hillside and we all enjoy a fine haggis on Hogmanay.

American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving   by Christian Smith, 287 pages James Donahue   31 October 2002 A sociological survey of Christians to determine the relative strength, perceptions of, common worldviews, and weaknesses of evangelicalism. The book has some very serious flaws: a poor definition of the categories, weighted questions in Chapter 2 and 3, and ignoring the margin of error while making some strong claims. Yet the book provides some interesting numbers, and the analysis in the last two chapters is quite good. Smith claims that evangelicalism thrives off of modernity and pluralism, creating an effective subculture dependent on individualism that is its greatest weakness and greatest strength. Good, in that it keeps a coherent religious view; bad, in that it renders them impotent within the larger culture.

Girl with a Pearl Earring   by Tracy Chevalier, 233 pages Kristin Schrock   04 November 2002 This was recommended to me by a co-worker (and I think someone on the list read it as well). It is the fictionalized story of the aforementioned girl. It's a quick and enjoyable read. Sometimes I was annoyed by the simple sentences--she is, after all, a maid--and all of the similes: like bees, like dice, like snow. It's not like, it IS.

Buffy Blooded   by Christopher Golden & Nancy Holder, 276 pages Jeff Gadd   04 November 2002

Buffy Crossings   by Mel Odom, 243 pages Jeff Gadd   04 November 2002

God's Long Summer   by Charles Marsh, 258 pages James Donahue   09 November 2002 An excellent examination of Christians and theological stances on both sides of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. How much repentence the American church needs for this time period. The book is very readable for a history, and is in many ways a continuing reflection on the author's original bboks on Bonhoeffer.

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.

Jim the Boy   by Tony Earley, 227 pages Julie Gephart   17 November 2002 Scenes from the life of a ten year old boy being raised by his mother and three uncles in depression-era North Carolina.

History of the Independent Loudoun Rangers   by Briscoe Goodhart, 243 pages Steven Krise   27 November 2002 A history of the only military unit from Virginia to fight for the Union during the Civil War (mustered almost entirely from the German Settlement (Lovettsville, Waterford, Wheatland, Short Hill, and Neersville) and the Quaker settlement (parts of Waterford and Hamilton). By extension the book is a detailed account of the various skirmishes in Loudoun County and a few of the major battles fought in the area, including Antietam, Gettysburg, Monocacy, and Sheridan's Valley Campaign. The book concludes by recounting the author's grim experiences in a southern POW camp. Should be of interest to Civil War buffs, especially those familiar with Loudoun County.

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.

French Peasant Fascism   by Robert Paxton, 239 pages James Donahue   29 November 2002 Militant peasants don green shirts and wage militant strikes to protest an uncaring Republic during the Depression.

French Literary Fascism   by David Campbell, 293 pages James Donahue   29 November 2002 Excellent analysis of the aesthetic commitments that were tied to fascism in the 1930s. Particularly good analysis of the recent de Man controversary.

Centrifuge   by J.C. Pollock, 297 pages Jeff Gadd   30 November 2002 Interesting how people become spies for other countries. A Veitnam soldiers find themselves being attack for something they saw in Veitnam. Who wants them dead and why? Its up to two soldiers to find out why.

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.

Living in the Shadow   by Timothy Weber, 210 pages James Donahue   04 December 2002 A helpful exposition of dispensationalism from its genesis in the 1840s through WWII.

How to Be Alone (Essays)   by Jonathan Franzen, 278 pages Tony Pisarenkov   04 December 2002 A collection of essays on a variety of topics, loosely centered around the theme of conflict between today's hyper-technological society and the art of fiction writing. Although reactionary and whiny at times, this book will have a profound impact on how you define yourself and your role in society, assuming you define it in any way at all.

Descartes' Error   by Antonio R. Damasio, 267 pages Steve Gadd   09 December 2002 A neurologist argues for the importance of emotions and physical sensations to thought. Much of the text is conjecture, but his analysis of case studies adds some color. The most interesting of these is Phineas Gage, who in 1848 amazingly survived an accident in which an iron rod was shot through his head. His mental abilities appeared normal afterwards, but he became cold emotionally and lost the ability to plan for his future. Thanks to Steven Krise for the gift.

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.

Cat's Cradle   by Kurt Vonnegut, 287 pages Kristin Schrock   17 December 2002 I love Kurt Vonnegut, and it's not just because he's from Indianapolis. This is an absurdist doomsday book. It's funny and quick without the poignance of Breakfast of Champions (my favorite) or Slaughterhouse-5. Vonnegut is amazing because he has written a great deal using himself as the narrator--what's even more amazing is that I don't mind.

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.

Artemis Fowl   by Eoin Colfer, 279 pages Kristin Schrock   30 December 2002 I read about this book in an article about Harry Potter: if you liked Harry Potter, you'll like this. Plus, it has darkness. I am all about the darkness. Artemis is a 12 year old criminal mastermind who is scheming to get his family fortune back. The scheme involves stealing some fairy gold. Artemis is a cool character, but we spend too much time with other annoying characters--which is probably so that at least one character will appeal to the young kids reading it. I don't think I won the race for fifth. Next year, Steves, next year. And, Juliette Binoche was in the movie Chocolat--which I didn't see but was innondated with previews.

A Likeness in Stone   by Julia Wallis Martin, 280 pages Mike Gadd   30 December 2002 This story went a different direction from what I was expecting. You don't get too deep with the characters but the story is strong. I liked where it ended up.

Ishmael   by Daniel Quinn, 263 pages Julie Gephart   01 January 2003 One of those award-winner books that I never would have read had I not received it as a gift. A "novel of spiritual adventure" examining man's relationship to the rest of the natural world.

How Much Land Does A Man Need; and other stories   by Leo Tolstoi, 242 pages James Donahue   04 January 2003 An odd collection of stories which groups together some of his earlier stories of swashbuckling in the Crimean War with some of his later religious parables.

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.

All Tomorrow's Parties   by William Gibson, 277 pages Steve Gadd   11 January 2003 Gibson still has the ability to create vivid portrait of the near-future, though he relies on a couple of images a bit much (dirty ice, tires on wet pavement). He has recycled the best characters from earlier novels: Rent-a-cop Rydell, his bike-messenger girlfriend, and Fontaine, who embodies the eBay wristwatch habit Gibson wrote about for Wired. The story is good enough, but the ending is kind of flat and left me with the feeling that Gibson is still coasting on Neuromancer fame. I guess that explains why I got the book for a dollar from the library with a "Removed From Circulation: Low Demand" stamp.

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

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.

How to Be Alone   by Jonathan Franzen, 288 pages Steve Gadd   18 January 2003 It seems that about half the essays in this collection amount to an indictment of the dulling effects of pop culture and technology, especially in the way they have affected reading. Other essays cover on a variety of topics -- government at work in the post office and supermax prisons, his father's struggle with Alzheimer's, and his amusing encounter with Oprah. Thanks Tony for the gift.

Citizen More and his Utopia   by Richard Ames, 218 pages James Donahue   21 January 2003 Good historical exegsis of More.

Ride With the Devil   by Daniel Woodrell, 242 pages Kristin Schrock   23 January 2003 I enjoyed the movie so much (even with Jewel--I know!), that I had hoped that the novel would elaborate on some of the gaps. But, no, trust Ang Lee to be very faithful. The back of the book said this is a coming of age story--so the story ends when Jake learns some stuff, but I didn't read the back until I was finished with it, so I'm still left wanting. I'm not sure how much I would've enjoyed this book if I hadn't had Tobey McGuire narrating with a guest appearance by Simon Baker, but still an interesting perspective on the Civil War (not so much from the viewpoint of the South, but from the middle west states like Kansas and Missouri.) What Jake does learn is how far men will go for loyalty--even when losing sight of the Cause. This books get props for this sentence: "Oh, everything happens."

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.

Schlomo Avineri   by Hegel's Theory of the Modern State, 241 pages James Donahue   29 January 2003 Avineri provides an excellent historical study of Hegel's politics and philosophy, defending him against reductionistic arguments that contend banally that Hegel absolutized the state, was an ardent nationalist, and the forefather of totalitarianism.

Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation   by Eric Nisenson, 213 pages Tony Pisarenkov   29 January 2003 For those that like Rollins's music but don't know much about his life and career, this is not a bad place to start, but ultimately the book disappoints. It suffers from the same problems as Nisenson's other work: a tone of extreme adoration and insufficient criticism of the subject, too much basic jazz history aimed at neophytes, an ineffective attempt to discuss race relations, and, above all, the fact that Nisenson is simply not a very good writer.

Waltzing the Cat (short stories)   by Pam Houston, 288 pages Kristin Schrock   31 January 2003 Houston is the poor man's Lorrie Moore. Which I thought was going to be enough with an excellent first story. But it went down hill from there, and I became increasingly annoyed with the stories, especially when the title would work its way into the text. So I'd be, "Ladies and Gentleman, we have a title!" The collection ends with an epilogue (I HATE those) that completely unravels any complexity that the previous stories had tried (and for the most part failed) to achieve. Blah.

Karl Marx: His Life and Environment   by Isiah Berlin, 267 pages James Donahue   04 February 2003 The always readable Berlin presents an engaging biography of Marx which focuses on his rise to power within the socialist movement.

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.

German Women For Empire, 1885-1945   by Lore Wildenthal, 202 pages James Donahue   07 February 2003 Examines the various women's groups and their activities -- nursing, bride matching, independent farming -- in the colonies. Concludes that German women used race as a concept more frequently than German men as a means to justify their inclusion in a male space.

Considerations on Representative Government   by John Stuart Mill, 270 pages James Donahue   19 February 2003

Grimm's Fairy Tales   by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, 246 pages Jeff Gadd   23 February 2003 Small fairy tales that I didn't get their points very well. Also books with missing pages should be banned from society.

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.

Billy Bathgate   by E. L. Doctorow, 244 pages Tony Pisarenkov   25 February 2003 A novel about a boy who joins an infamous New York gang in the waning days of its influence. Quite simply a great book -- good story, compelling characters and beautiful writing.

Marxism and Revolution: Kautsky and the Russian Marxists   by Moira Donald, 289 pages James Donahue   25 February 2003 Details Kautsky's relations with both the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks, providing critical background to Kautsky's fallout with Lenin and the dissolution of the Second International infavor of the Third. Extensive archival work but a bit tedious.

Much to be Done   by Frances Hoffman, 245 pages Julie Gephart   28 February 2003 "Private Life in Ontario from Victorian Diaries." Not as pioneer-oriented as I had been led to believe, but there were still some interesting bits.

What Now, Little Man?   by Denis Showalter, 286 pages James Donahue   01 March 2003 A good thematic history of Der Sturmer during the Weimar years.

Blood and Milk: short stories   by Sharon Solwitz, 236 pages Kristin Schrock   01 March 2003 Alas, this book will not secure my place in the Gadd-o-sphere. It was nice, even for a short time. For the most part, these stories are unremarkable. Women with husbands and children, usually feeling out of place, unhappy. And I don't think that just because the author once stole my pen.

Rahel Levin Varnhagen   by Heidi Tewarson, 253 pages James Donahue   03 March 2003 Varnhagen was a gifted salonaire and letter-writer during Prussia's golden years at the beginning of the nineteenth-century. Tewarson lovingly reconstructs her life and concerns here, even if she is somewhat hampered by her feminist lenses.

Women at the Gates: Gender and Industry in Stalin's Russia   by Wendy Goldman, 286 pages James Donahue   04 March 2003

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.

A Walk in the Woods   by Bill Bryson, 276 pages Mike Gadd   13 March 2003 After only 2 books this guy has become one of my favorite reads. Reading this was like enjoying my own pint of Ben and Jerry's. His 'walk in the woods' was an attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. The people he met, his buddy he hiked with, the strange noises outside his tent... all meshed into a delightful account. If only he had taken pictures.

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 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.

GIs and Frauleins   by Maria Hohn, 295 pages James Donahue   31 March 2003 Good discussion of the Americanization of West Germany in the 1950s through examining the relations between American soldiers and German girls.

An Anthropologist on Mars   by Oliver Sacks, 296 pages Steve Gadd   04 April 2003 An artist loses his color vision after a car accident, a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome shows no symptoms while he works, a man blind from birth regains sight after cataract surgery but has no comprehension of vision. Seven case studies presented in detail by the Awakenings doctor.

Freud’s Discovery of Psychoanalysis: The Politics of Hysteria   by William McGrath, 278 pages James Donahue   07 April 2003 Examines Freud's early years as a scholar and examines his formulation of psychoanalysis amidst his political and religious commitments. Informative but dry.

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 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.

Elementary German Series - Books 1 to 5   by Peter Hagboldt, 286 pages Steven Krise   13 April 2003 A pleasant surprise gift from S Gadd many years ago. An (apparently) innovative graded reader. I was pleased to discovery I would be competent to converse freely with a 4 year old auf Deutsch.

Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex   by Judith Butler, 284 pages James Donahue   19 April 2003 Its the day before Easter, a beautiful day, and I am sitting here in my office reading about the politics of drag, the limits of the Lacanian real, and the subversiveness inherent in the (re)iterability of performative gender-naming. How did it come to this? Thank God my semester is almost over and that vacation is almost here. Perhaps then I will not be cluttering up this board so much.

Naked   by David Sedaris, 291 pages Kristin Schrock   24 April 2003 I thought this was going to be a LAFF RIOT, something I could breeze through as I make my way up the booklist. A million years later, I'm finally done. Maybe it's because these are essays instead of stories. Or maybe they just didn't grab me. I'm just glad to put this one back on the shelf.

Vico & Herder: Two Studies in the History of Ideas   by Isaiah Berlin, 216 pages James Donahue   25 April 2003 I'm sure we are all tired of my name on the post board, especially myself. Thus I skip usual comments and simply report that this the last book for my semester. In the words of the immortial Homer: WHOO-HOO!

Dirty Jokes and Beer   by Drew Carey, 277 pages Steven Krise   03 May 2003 Um, yeah, the title says it all. The chapter with 101 big dick jokes was hilarious, but the final third, "Stories of the Unrefined" (aka Drew tries his hand at writing short stories) can be safely skipped.

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.

Portnoy's Complaint   by Philip Roth, 274 pages Tony Pisarenkov   26 May 2003 Disturbing for all the right reasons. The sort of book that is unpleasant while you are reading it, but remarkably eye-opening once you put it down and think about what you've just read. If there is a man that cannot relate to at least something here, I have yet to meet him. It all gets just a bit too much by the end, but still, essential stuff.

Archimedes' Revenge   by Paul Hoffman, 260 pages Steve Gadd   27 May 2003 An eclectic collection of essays in various mathematical fields: number theory, cryptography, topology, artificial intelligence, and game theory. The title refers to a cattle-counting problem posed by Archimedes that stood unsolved until the age of computers. The survey of other classic problems is interesting, as is the game theory demonstration that a truly democratic election is impossible. The chapters on artificial intelligence computer chess players are dated, however, and the book reads like notes for a lecture on the whole.

Holes   by Louis Sachar, 240 pages Mike Gadd   01 June 2003 Good little story. I read it to see if it would be appropriate for my fifth grader. An easy movie to make as well.

Coffee: The Epic of a Commodity   by H.E. Jacob, 283 pages Tony Pisarenkov   07 June 2003 Reportedly very popular when it was first published in 1935, this book claims to be the first to examine a food as a social and economic force. One learns much, most of it very interesting and occasionally even fascinating, but the stilted and contrived writing style further exacerbated by the old-fashioned translation takes quite a bit away from the reading enjoyment.

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.

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.

Mrs. Miniver (1941)   by Jan Struther, 288 pages A Bennett   17 June 2003 Printed in 1941, a series of Modern, impressionistic articles originally written for the London Times. Only at the very end do they enter the year 1939, and conclude on the very cusp of war. Such an introspective look at one woman’s life in London--addresses everything from problems with servants to issues of rising Socialism and the cultural shifts from post-WWI to pre-WWII. It is quite possible that I am in love with the Mrs. in the title (don’t tell Mr. Miniver!). A nice companion to the film (just what I was looking for) which was directly adapted from this. My only regret is that I have yet been unable to find a sequel that addresses the war years.

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

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 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.

Karl Barth: Against Hegemony   by Timothy Gorringe, 289 pages James Donahue   03 July 2003 A new and brief summary of Barth's life and work placed within his historical and intellectual context. Decent summary, but devolves too easily into scholastic quarrels that only those within the field can understand.

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.

Murder on the Orient Express   by Agatha Christie, 256 pages Steve Gadd   13 July 2003 A murder mystery with a surprising twist! That probably describes most of Agatha Christie's novels; this one was interesting for its locations: Baghdad, Kirkuk, Stamboul, and especially the Orient Express train itself. Hercule Poirot is not quite as charming as Father Brown, rather smug actually, but convincingly clever.

Fire   by Sebastian Junger, 250 pages Steve Gadd   26 July 2003 A collection of excellent journalism from war zones and mountain wildfires, including eyewitness reporting on the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone, the fall of the Taliban, and the last harpoon whaler in the world. Perhaps the most interesting chapter was "Dispatches From a Dead War" in Cyprus, where the UN has its longest-lasting peacekeeping campaign. Like so many other hotspots in the world, the history and deep enmity suggest that the two sides will not come to agreement anytime soon. But in 25 years since the UN intervened, only 16 people were killed along the Green Line dividing the island, despite its being the world's most militarized country after North and South Korea.

Ghost Killer   by Scott Chandler, 277 pages Jeff Gadd   01 August 2003 A strange book about something that gets kill in a man by a detective,that comes back in a female.

What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam   by John L Esposito, 204 pages Steven Krise   18 August 2003 Book-length FAQ on Islam. It was hard to avoid hearing the bagpipes in the discussions about terrorists, but overall an informative read.

Yanomamo: The Fierce People   by Napoleon A. Chagnon, 214 pages Steve Gadd   27 August 2003 Another perspective-broadening volume in the Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology. The Yanomamo are a tribe living in the jungles between Brazil and Venezuela, subsisting mainly on cultivated plantains. The groups of 50 to 200 individuals are mistrustful of their neighbors and warfare is a major feature of the culture, resulting in about one in four adult males dying of violence. Interesting also for the detailed look at the inevitable process of Westernization and cultural influence from outside.

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.

Why God Won't Go Away: Brain science and the biology of belief   by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, and Vince Rause, 226 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2003 Purports to be a survey of the neurological underpinnings of mystical experiences. However, the book disappoints when the authors stray away from neurophysiology (which despite the title is quite often after Ch. 3) into baseless speculation and idle philosophizing. They somehow conclude (in the vein of "insert miracle here") by saying their research shows that there is a real mystical transcendent reality which is the fundamental ground of objective reality and subjective experience.

1984   by George Orwell, 267 pages Steven Krise   19 September 2003 War is peace.

Who's on First?   by William F. Buckley, 278 pages Jeff Gadd   20 September 2003 A book about how the Russians beat us in sending a satellite into space.

Jonathan Sperber   by Popular Catholicism in the Nineteenth-Century, 267 pages James Donahue   22 September 2003 Sperber paints a portrait of how Catholicism underwent a huge revival in the 1840s-50s and then consolidated that support into a counter-cultural political and religious enclave in the midst of the new German state. Good analysis, but so many statistics.

Impossible Victories   by Bryan Perrett, 215 pages Steve Gadd   07 October 2003 Disappointing collection of battle stories. Despite the maps, I had a hard time following the action and learned very little about battlefield tactics or military history. The chronological format (from the 1811 Peninsular War to 1967 Vietnam) does give a vivid feel for the the improvements in the brutal efficiency of warfare.

Monsignor Quixote   by Graham Greene, 256 pages Steven Krise   08 October 2003 Started reading the book on the plane from New Orleans while flying through the outer edges of Isabelle. Having left the book on the plane, I had to buy another one to finish (plus it was Shannon's book). Anyway, how can you not love the two main characters?

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.

Savage Girl   by Alex Shakar, 275 pages Kristin Schrock   27 October 2003 I've sadly slipped out of the Gadd-o-sphere. Must read faster. It would help if I didn't choose books that are a slog to get through. This one wants to say some profound things about consumerism and advertising and a post-irony age. And I was ready to listen. Sadly, the writing lacked style, zip, and was full of pretention. Except for one line which I liked: "James Couch and James Couch's irony sat down at the barstool beside me."

Battlestar Galactica: Resurrection   by Richard Hatch and Stan Timmons, 278 pages A Bennett   04 November 2003 "There are those who believe that life *here* began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who, even now, fight to survive, somewhere beyond the heavens..." And then there are those who, like me, believe that this novel--poorly written for even a fanfiction--is not worth the paper it's printed on, much less the webspace it would have occupied had its putrescence been posted (as all fanfiction should be) free, online.

Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization   by Thomas Smith, 270 pages James Donahue   05 November 2003

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.

Loving   by Henry Green, 204 pages Tony Pisarenkov   13 November 2003 Very English and, quite frankly, very boring. Nuances that would have been meaningful to a mid-century British reader are completely lost on a contemporary American one.

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.

Getting Over Jack Wagner   by Elise Juska, 286 pages Kristin Schrock   18 November 2003 All I need is just a little more time, to be sure, what I feel, isn't all in my mind, because it seems so hard to believe, that you're all I need.

From Stalinism to Pluralism   by Gale Stokes, 294 pages James Donahue   20 November 2003 How sad is it that this is the date that I finish reading a textbook for my own class?

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 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.

How To Speak Dog   by Stanley Coren, 274 pages Steven Krise   04 December 2003 The guy takes liberties with the definition of 'language', but this is a good informative good, on the whole.

Five Patients   by Michael Crichton, 228 pages Steve Gadd   05 December 2003 Meandering, dated essays on medical practice in the late 1960's, when he was working at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Guilty Pleasures   by Laurell K. Hamilton, 272 pages Julie Gephart   06 December 2003 “There was one place I could go that might have the answers - Dead Dave’s, a nice bar that served a mean hamburger. The proprietor was an ex-cop who had been kicked off the force for being dead.” The Supreme Court has granted equal civil rights to vampires, and most people regard them as a thrillingly scary tourist attraction. Not so for Anita Blake, who serves up death warrants for the police when vampires run afoul of the law (I guess they don’t put vamps in jail, cuz, you know, you don’t need a bunch of vampires guzzling government blood rations and sitting around watching Oprah all day). It’s a very interesting set-up, and I’m glad, because I already have the next two books in the series.

A Beginner's Guide to the World Economy   by Randy Charles Epping, 232 pages Tony Pisarenkov   10 December 2003 Truly a beginner's guide, so much so that any semi-regular reader of the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal will have little, if anything, to learn from it. I had hoped that it would discuss the social implications of globalization at greater length, but in fact the entire book is dedicated to defining basic concepts. The most useful section is the glossary of terms in the back.

Golden Dreams   by Gwen Bristow, 238 pages A Bennett   15 December 2003 No one who has read, "Calico Palace", "Jubilee Trail", or "Tomorrow Is Forever" can doubt author Gwen Bristow's enduring fascination with California, no matter the time period of history in question. In this engagingly written non-fiction, Bristow takes readers from the arrival of the first pioneers (significantly accompained by the first woman--and child) to cross from Missouri to California breaking the 'Old Trail', through the 49ers of the Gold Rush (and their predecessors) on to California's long and arduous fight for statehood amid the wake of the Missouri Compromise and the pre-Civil War pressure cooker that was Congress. Rarely anything but a good--even dramatic--read, she highlights female contributions to her adopted home without crossing the line into feminist revisionism.

Death from the Woods   by MS. Brigitte Aubert, 279 pages Mike Gadd   24 December 2003 The main character is a deaf, mute, parapalegic and she solves the mystery. Major points for originality even though the ending was a little over the top.

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 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.

Anthills of the Savannah   by Chinua Achebe, 216 pages Jaqi Ross   01 January 2004 Describes power politics in an imaginary West African country, Kangan, where a military coup has brought to prominence a Sandhurst-trained officer ill-prepared for political leadership.

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 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.

In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd   by Ana Menendez, 229 pages Jaqi Ross   15 January 2004 This delightfully rich collection of interrelated short stories focuses on Cuban immigrants in Miami.

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 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 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 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.

Lingua Ex Machina   by William H Calvin & Derek Bickerton, 298 pages Steven Krise   01 February 2004 Set up as a dialog between the two authors, this book hashes out the first draft of a theory about how language evolved in the hominid line. It seemed to lack coherence (ironic given the amount of dicussion of corticocortical coherence) due to the format, but I get the definite impression that the authors are onto something. Bickerton says: "Now all that's left of the mountains of innate knowledge the old system presupposed are a few bare principles. And these principles are merely a metaphorical way of looking at what actually happens. The brain acts as if it obeyed such principles, but what it's actually doing is simply executing algorithms for putting sentences together and understanding them once they've been put together. And what this book's all about is how these algorithms came to be."

God's Man for the Gilded Age   by Bruce Evensen, 227 pages James Donahue   03 February 2004 What seems to be a biography of D.L. Moody is really a one-dimensional account of how Moody massaged the muckracking press into a symbiotic account in order to become the first "celebrity evangelist." An interesting account of the birth of the glam faith that haunts our current landscape. (Not that I have an opinion on the matter.)

Song of the Lioness I: Alanna - the first adventure (1983)   by Tamora Pierce, 216 pages A Bennett   04 February 2004 Interesting to read her first book (adequately, but clunkily written--sometimes breaking with P.O.V) on the heels of her most-recent.

Song of the Lioness II: In the Hand of the Goddess (1984)   by Tamora Pierce, 209 pages A Bennett   05 February 2004 Many scenes are underwritten (as they must be, to cram four years into two-hundred pages). Still, not bad stuff, though the titles and the cover art cause me to cringe whenever I get a book in this series out in public.

From Lucy To Language   by Donald Johanson & Blake Edgar, 272 pages Steven Krise   05 February 2004 More like 2 "books" in one. The first section tells the story of human evolution from Lucy to the flowering of modern human culture in the Upper Paleolithic period. The second half of the book is comprised of in-depth coverage of the most important fossils of the species discussed in the first part. The book finishes up with about a 10 page discussion of the various stages of human lithic culture.

Song of the Lioness III: The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (1986)   by Tamora Pierce, 228 pages A Bennett   09 February 2004 If not for the crafty Schrock sneaking home unexpectedly last night, I would have finished this a day earlier.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America   by Barbara Ehrenreich, 221 pages Jaqi Ross   11 February 2004 "Valuable and illuminating... We have Barbara Ehrenreich to thank for bringing us the news of America's working poor so clearly and directly, and conveying with it a deep moral outrage... She is our premier reporter of the underside of capitalism." -The New York Times Book Review

Faster   by James Gleick, 281 pages Steve Gadd   11 February 2004 Subtitle: "The Acceleration of Just About Everything." Feeling rushed? Gleick explains why in this wide-ranging look at all the ways we try to save time, and the multitude of distractions, obligations, and leisure activities that soak up all that banked time. He covers the elevator's (frequently disconnected) Door Close button, airline scheduling, modifications of professional sports for television broadcast, and the effects of MTV (try counting shots in a typical commercial). Food preparation provides great examples. Once upon a time you mixed flour, sugar, and baking soda to make pancakes. Then came boxed pancake mix. Now you toast frozen waffles. Or: Homemade frosting, frosting mix, frosting in a can. But no matter how much time you save, it never seems enough. There is no longer minute than the one spent waiting for the microwave. Gleick cites surveys that inventory the daily 1,440 minutes and finds that, on average, four minutes a day are spent in what Americans describe as their most enjoyable activity. The same amount of time goes to filling out government forms, according to the "Sex and Paperwork" chapter. We spend about a year of our lifetime searching for lost objects. We all know that an awful lot of time is spent in traffic, but time researchers calculate their lifetime total for time spent tying shoes and switch to velcro.

I'm With Stupid   by Gene Weingarten and Gina Barreca, 240 pages Steve Gadd   15 February 2004 "10,000 years of misunderstanding between the sexes cleared right up." The authors acknowledge that the differences between men and women is the most hackneyed, overdone subject in the history of publishing. They aim to stand out from the Venus-Mars canon as the first book cowritten by a man and a woman. In this case, the fact that both authors are hilarious writers makes all the difference.

Jane Fairfax (1990)   by Joan Aiken, 252 pages A Bennett   24 February 2004 Literary sequel to Austen's 'Emma', it, by its very nature, must present a case for a minor character of Austen's to become the protagonist and titular heroine of her own story. Not comparable to Austen by any means (there's not enough uncaged wit and vigor in the text for that), but an interesting exercise--even if, to pull of its central mission, Austen's heroine Emma, must, in contrast to the newly-imagined Jane, be portrayed in a less favorable light than even her (critical) creator chose for her.

You Are Here: A Memoir of Arrival   by Wesley Gibson, 224 pages Jaqi Ross   26 February 2004 Not recommended; this book tries to be too many things at once.

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.

Peasant Uprisings in Japan   by Anne Walthall, 257 pages James Donahue   01 March 2004

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.

Gates of Eden   by Ethan Coen, 261 pages Mike Gadd   07 March 2004 Here's an example of how reading the book jacket would have come in handy. I was about 100 pages in and the story just wasn't making any sense. I'm all for bringing in new story lines along the way and then pulling them all together in a big finish, but this was getting out of hand. When I finally read the back cover I learned that this was a book of short stories. Duh. It didn't help that I was still in my drug induced fog trying to recover from the plague.

Deference and Defiance in Nineteenth-Century Japan   by William Kelly, 291 pages James Donahue   13 March 2004 Dry social history of three peasant revolts in a small Japanese province from 1841-1873.

Wolf Whistle   by Lewis Nordan, 290 pages Jaqi Ross   16 March 2004 The murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy lynched for whistling at a white woman, is at the center of this ALA notable book that also won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.

Half a Life: A Novel   by V.S. Naipaul, 211 pages Jaqi Ross   17 March 2004 Half a Life finds the veteran Booker and Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul on familiar territory, blending autobiography and fiction in an exploration of the "half lives" of individuals brought up in the English colonies and educated in metropolitan cities. A perfect gift from a thoughtful friend.

Words in Time   by Geoffrey Hughes, 270 pages Steven Krise   18 March 2004 Hughes outlines how social change has impacted semantic change throughout the history of English. In the conclusion he throws several none to subtle darts at the role post-modern linguists, sociologists, and advertisers have played in bringing about verbicide and a general reduction in semantic precision. Fissiparous.

A Child's Book of True Crime   by MS. Chloe Hooper, 238 pages Mike Gadd   26 March 2004 This book was lousy. It had potential, but when a parallel storyline kicked in on alternate chapters with talking animals it lost me. Next time leave Kitty Koala and Terence Tiger at home.

A Short Life of Soren Kierkegaard   by Walter Lowrie, 260 pages James Donahue   27 March 2004 If you love Kierkegaard, you'll love this biography. Its written in the same meandering, maddening, charming fashion that relys on parables to make its point. Some have questioned, as they should, Lowrie's intense desire to reduce Kierkegaard's works to his life -- a roman a clef of one, so to speak. Yet if one uses Lowries analysis in reverse -- to see how Kierkegaard's life affected his work -- one will not be disappointed. (More 'serious' lovers of Kierkegaard should stick to Hanney's bio.)

Dancing Girls and Other Stories   by Margaret Atwood, 240 pages Kristin Schrock   27 March 2004 Oh, Mags, how I love thee. This is a solid collection of short stories with a prevalence of dead babies and crazy women. Also contained this helpful sentence, "It is easier to love a daemon than a man, though less heroic."

A Yankee in Meiji Japan   by James Huffman, 278 pages James Donahue   31 March 2004 Biography of Ned House: first American journalist in Tokyo, intimate of Mark Twain, Nippophile, and all-around scamp.

Family History: A Novel   by Dani Shapiro, 269 pages Jaqi Ross   04 April 2004 Terrible read; avoid this book at all costs, despite the hype.

Sidney Gulick and the Search for Peace with Japan   by Sandra Taylor, 254 pages James Donahue   10 April 2004 Rough book that winds and repeats itself. Biography of one of the main opponents of the treatment of Japanese-Americans from 1900-1945. Missionary. Confusing figure.

Irwin Scheiner   by Christian Converts and Social Protest in Meiji Jap, 243 pages James Donahue   14 April 2004 Scheiner shows how Japanese samurai, recently declassed and set adrift after the Restoration, transmogrified their samurai culture into Christian belief and Christian social commitments.

Autobiography of a Face   by Lucy Grealy, 236 pages Jaqi Ross   14 April 2004 Quick read - gotta love a memoir.

Ambulance Girl   by Jane Stern, 228 pages Jaqi Ross   16 April 2004 I didn't even realize it was the Jane Stern who contributes to NPR. Interesting read, but not fabulous.

Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan   by Takashi Fujitani, 282 pages James Donahue   21 April 2004 Wonderful analysis of the nationalistic invention of Japanese court ritual in the late nineteenth-century, Very illustrative on the symbolic aspects of rule.

State and Intellectual in Modern Japan   by Andrew Barshay, 250 pages James Donahue   24 April 2004

Looking for Trouble   by Leslie Cockburn, 273 pages Steve Gadd   02 May 2004 Memoirs of a fearless news correspondent who traveled to hotspots around the world interviewing leaders and covering conflict. Includes encounters with the Hussein brothers, drug lords, and other bad guys from Afghanistan to Cambodia. In a notable interview, we learn that Iranian vice-president Mohajirani admires Salman Rushdie, comparing him to García Márquez and James Joyce, his favorite writer.

My Cousin Rachel   by Daphne du Maurier, 288 pages A Bennett   14 May 2004 Rachel sends one husband to his death in a duel, another she poisons. Second husband's cousin/heir (and our narrator) very nearly becomes her third victim. Readers are given no motive for her actions (at least none solid and verified by her) and little proof of her guilt. She miscarried at four months once, and herself was raised by profligate parents. She spent too much money and incurred debt and slept with whom she pleased. This, we are led to believe, was the result of the influence of her Italian mother's genetic material, taking over that of her (perceived) stauncher Cornish father's. I remain vaguely fascinated by du Maurier's ability to write, seemingly effortlessly, in the mid-20th century about the 18th. Necessary vocabulary: pother, tisana, pernickety (not persnickety).

Molding Japanese Minds   by Sheldon Garon, 243 pages James Donahue   24 May 2004

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas   by Hunter S Thompson, 204 pages Steven Krise   31 May 2004 "You Samoans are all the same," I told him. "You have no faith in the essential decency of the white man's culture. Jesus, just one hour ago we were sitting over there in that stinking baiginio, stone broke and paralyzed for the weekend, when a call comes through from some total stranger in New York, telling me to got Las Vegas and expenses be damned -- and then he sends me over to some office in Beverly Hills where another total stranger gives me $300 raw cash for no reason at all...I tell you, my man, this is the American dream in action! We'd be fools not to ride this strange torpedo all the way to the end."

Elske: A Novel of the Kingdom (1999)   by Cynthia Voigt, 245 pages A Bennett   02 June 2004 Never less than good, at moments excellent. I have found myself deciding to read certain things as I come across them as I pack boxes, so this is a technical 're-read'. Necessary vocabulary: demesne.

Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) getting by in America   by Barbara Ehrenreich, 221 pages Kristin Schrock   02 June 2004 Writer goes undercover as a low-wage worker to discover that (surprise!) you can't really live on $7/hour. Tell me something I don't know. Although there's not much new here (I've worked as a waittress and in retail), it was interesting to read about her experience working for the evil, evil Wal-Mart. Also, as I was writing this, when I wrote "evil, evil Wal-Mart" the first time, the site suddenly closed down. Be gone ghost of Sam Walton!

Pietism and the Making of Prussia   by Richard Gawthorp, 284 pages James Donahue   06 June 2004

German Pietism During the 18th Century   by F Ernst Stoeffler, 265 pages James Donahue   10 June 2004 Very capable summary

Forensic Anthropology   by Peggy Thomas, 210 pages Steven Krise   12 June 2004 Up to date intro to the multi-disciplinary field. Livor mortis.

Elizabeth Costello   by J.M. Coetzee, 246 pages James Donahue   22 June 2004 An astounding novel centered around an aging novelist and eight public lectures. The embeddedness of Coetzee's thought within a body of language makes this book about more than ideas.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window: Book the Third (2000)   by Lemony Snicket, 217 pages A Bennett   23 June 2004 An event containing flesh-eating leeches, hurricanes, a doll named Pretty Penny, and naturally the most severly nefarious non-magical villain about which I've ever read, Count Olaf.

Pietism as a Factor in the Rise of German Nationalism   by Koppel Pinson, 207 pages James Donahue   27 June 2004

Barmaid's Brain: And Other Strange Tales from Science   by Jay Ingram , 276 pages Jaqi Ross   28 June 2004 This hugely entertaining collection of popular-science essays is sure to appeal to fans of Oliver Sacks, Stephen Jay Gould, and Lewis Thomas. Like those best-selling authors, Ingram, a veteran science writer and television host (he anchors the world's first daily, science-based television show), combines snappy writing with interesting and unusual science.

Disgrace   by J. M. Coetzee , 220 pages Jaqi Ross   28 June 2004 David Lurie is hardly the hero of his own life, or anyone else's. At 52, the protagonist of Disgrace is at the end of his professional and romantic game, and seems to be deliberately courting disaster. Long a professor of modern languages at Cape Town University College, he has recently been relegated to adjunct professor of communications at the same institution, now pointedly renamed Cape Technical University:

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year   by Anne Lammott, 272 pages Jaqi Ross   29 June 2004 Magazine columnist and novelist Lamott ( All New People ) captures both the poignancy and comedy of her first year as a single mother in this wonderfully candid diary. Her quirky humor steadily draws the reader into her unconventional world as she describes her friends and neighbors in northern California, her participation in a local church, her experiences as a recovering alcoholic and--best of all--her infant son, Sam, born in 1989. She covers maternal emotions from rapturous bliss to bare fury ("In the middle of the colic death marches, I end up looking at the baby with those hooded eyes that were in the old ads for The Boston Strangler "). Throughout, she airs her strong political and religious beliefs. And when her best friend, Pammy, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Lamott conveys her anguish with the same depth of feeling and sense of the absurd that characterize her observations about her son, God, recovery, writing, Republicans, men and life as usual. Even non-parents will enjoy this glowing work.

Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem   by Craig Atwood, 227 pages James Donahue   05 July 2004 The Moravians were German emigrants who founded utopian communities (such as New Harmony, Indiana) centered around a graphic adoration of the wounds that rivalled Mel Gibson. Atwood does a good job of explaining a tradition that -- like the Australian gene pool -- morphed quickly in insular New World communities into unique phenomena.

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.

So You Want to Be a Wizard   by Diane Duane, 226 pages Julie Gephart   17 July 2004 “Classic” from 1983, which doesn’t make me feel old at all. Two nerdy kids discover this peculiar volume in a series of career advice books.

Sock   by Penn Jillette, 208 pages Ray Hunley   19 July 2004 Suck.

Catholic Revival in the Age of the Baroque   by Marc Forster, 244 pages James Donahue   23 July 2004

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.

Diary: A Novel   by Chuck Palahniuk, 261 pages Jaqi Ross   25 July 2004 DIARY takes the form of a "coma diary" kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband, Peter, lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once Misty was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after her marriage and return to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she is just a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been scrawling vile messages all over the walls of hidden rooms in houses he has been remodeling—an old habit of builders but dramatically overdone in Peter's case. Angry homeowners are suing left and right, and Misty's dreams of artistic greatness are reduced to ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. The canvases are taken away by her mother-in-law and her doctor, who seem to have a plan for Misty—and for all those annoying tourists. . . .

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.

Ocean of Words   by Ha Jin, 205 pages Jaqi Ross   26 July 2004 Set on China's bleak northern border in the 1970s, when Russia and China were close to war, these short stories describe the life of soldiers, professional officers, and raw recruits, living in constant proximity. In this hierarchical and politically charged world, there is even less privacy than normal in China, highlighting a fundamental difference between Chinese and Western societies. The book provides an unusually brilliant insight into the Chinese psyche, with its preoccupations with food, family, and political standing, and its ambivalent attitudes toward women and animals.

Revivalism in Ireland and Britain, 1857-1910   by Janice Holmes, 234 pages James Donahue   28 July 2004

So Far From God   by Ana Castillo, 252 pages Jaqi Ross   29 July 2004 Castillo's ( Sapogonia ) inventive but not entirely cohesive novel about the fortunes of a contemporary Chicana family in the village of Tome, N.M., reveals its main concerns at once. Sofi's three-year-old daughter dies in a horrifying epileptic fit but is resurrected (and even levitates) at her own funeral, reporting firsthand acquaintance with hell, purgatory and heaven. Magic and divine intervention in varying ways touch each of Sofi's three other daughters: the eldest, mainstreamed yuppie Esperanza; Caridad, whose path leads toward folk mysticism; and the more mundane Fe, who--seized with a screaming convulsion when her fiance jilts her--is brought to silence only months later through the intercession of the resurrected youngest sister, "Loca." Castillo takes a page from the magical realist school of Latin American fiction, but one senses the North American component of this Chicana voice: in her work, occult phenomena are literal, not symbolic; life is traumatic and brutal--as are men--but death is merely tentative.

Homegrown Democrat   by Garrison Keiller, 238 pages James Donahue   07 August 2004 Finally a political book that can speak to my viewpoint. Keiller states passionately and humorously the commitment to the public that is at the bedrock of the Democratic Party (hopefully still the case) and the American Dream. Well worth reading.

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.

Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business   by Harold Livesay, 202 pages James Donahue   03 September 2004 From this gilded age to another.

When I was Puerto Rican   by Esmeralda Santiago, 274 pages Jaqi Ross   07 September 2004 Santiago's memoir recounts her childhood in rural Puerto Rico and her teenage years in New York City.

Bringing up Boys   by James Dobson, 284 pages Mike Gadd   08 September 2004

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family   by Patricia Volk, 239 pages Jaqi Ross   15 September 2004 More than I expected - a good read. This funny and charming memoir tells about a bigger-than-life New York family that owned fourteen restaurants, including Morgen’s in the garment district. Sharing life and good food for three generations, the family exhibited a voracious appetite for life.

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.

Stolypin, Nationalism, and the Politics of the Russian Imperial State   by Alexandra Korros, 243 pages James Donahue   17 September 2004

Holidays in Hell   by P.J. O'Rourke, 257 pages Steve Gadd   18 September 2004 It's a fun formula: send a journalist into the most rotten, war-torn corners of the world to fill us in on what life is like without Starbucks and good roads. O'Rourke fancies himself a modern Mark Twain, an Innocent Abroad, but he reads more like Dave Barry. He does deserve credit for cracking jokes in some genuinely inhospitable places.

Intercultural Marriage - Promises and Pitfalls   by Dugan Romano, 226 pages Erik Bauer   19 September 2004 A "reality check" for anyone already in or contemplating an intercultural marriage. I had to read this for a class, otherwise I would have never picked it up. It basically spells out typical pitfalls in intercultural marriages, which, as it turns out, are very similar pitfalls to intracultural marriages. The saving grace of the book is the countless real world examples of some 30 different couples of interesting combinations (i.e. French-Kuwaiti, Iranian-Cuban, and Israeli-Brazilian)

Nicholas II: Twilight of the Empire   by Dominic Lieven, 269 pages James Donahue   22 September 2004

Goat: A Memoir   by Brad Land, 224 pages Jaqi Ross   25 September 2004 Terrible terrible terrible book about a typical college Greek and his loser friends.

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.

As I Lay Dying   by William Faulkner, 243 pages Tony Pisarenkov   17 October 2004 Not quite what I expected from Faulkner and, frankly, not all that satisfying, although it is entirely possible, likely even, that many of the subtleties were lost on me.

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

Hey, Nostradamus!   by Douglas Coupland, 244 pages Kristin Schrock   06 November 2004 Clearly inspired by the Columbine shootings and the martyrdom of the one student--I can't remember her name, but her parents wrote a book called, "She Said Yes"--, Coupland tells the story of the aftermath of a school shootings. It's told by the point of view of the girl who is killed, her high school boyfriend, the woman he falls in love years later, and his father. Not the stinging bite that I'd come to expect from Coupland, but interesting enough. Plus, bonus points for putting an exclamation point in the title.

Small Things Considered   by Henry Petroski, 244 pages Steve Gadd   12 November 2004 I can't get enough of this author, despite his flaws: less than compelling prose, and a habit of methodically repeating his chosen theme. In this case it is spelled out clearly enough in the subtitle: "Why There Is No Perfect Design." The author did some legwork and wrote some insightful histories of objects like the paper cup, office chair, and toothbrush. These stories are a treat and make up for the dull ramblings on restaurant service and home remodeling.

A Severed Head   by Iris Murdoch, 205 pages Kristin Schrock   20 November 2004 A bizarre love hexagon: Martin, who is married to Antonia, is having an affair with Georgie. Antonia confesses an affair with Palmer. Martin subsequently falls in love with Honor, Palmer's sister. Georgie has an affair with Martin's brother, Alexander (who may or may not be having an affair with Antonia). The novel opened with dialogue (so I didn't have high expectations) and even with all the Melrosian affairs, it was a bit dull until it took a much needed twisted turn towards the end. Recommended vocabulary: pusillanimity, sybarite, insuperably.

A Drink Before the War   by Dennis Lehane, 286 pages Mike Gadd   20 November 2004 I thought I'd give some of Mr. Lehane's early work a spin. This certainly had more humor than Mystic River did.

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.

Syrup   by Maxx Barry, 294 pages Kristin Schrock   15 December 2004 Not as biting as Jennifer Government, but still a sharp look at corporate politics. His observations of marketing techniques are eerily accurate.

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.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy: Book the Fifth (2000)   by Lemony Snicket, 221 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator: Book the Sixth (2001)   by Lemony Snicket, 259 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village: Book the Seventh (2001)   by Lemony Snicket, 256 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital: Book the Eighth (2001)   by Lemony Snicket, 255 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival: Book the Ninth (2002)   by Lemony Snicket, 286 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

Artemis Fowl (2001)   by Eoin Colfer, 279 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography (2002)   by Lemony Snicket, 212 pages A Bennett   31 December 2004

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

Bridget Jone's Diary   by Helen Fielding, 271 pages Steven Krise   16 January 2005 v. g.

I'm the King of the Castle   by Susan Hill, 223 pages Steven Krise   22 January 2005 Another novel from a British author about a pathetic character I'm supposed to feel sorry for because of his inability to act.

America (the book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction   by Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, David Javerbaum, 227 pages Kristin Schrock   23 January 2005 Astute and funny primer on the U.S. Government. It successfully combines the respect for the system in place and the frustration of the system gone awry. I laughed and I learned some stuff--which, really, is not a bad way to spend your time.

Fantasies of Witnessing:   by Gary Weissmann, 266 pages James Donahue   25 January 2005 Weissmann tracks the curious phenomenon of contemporary Americans seeking to experience the Holocaust for themselves through film, museums, made-up memoirs, connections to survivors, etc. Weissmann is a clever literary critic who sometimes dwells more on big names (like Wiesal) than pop culture; I would have enjoyed more of the latter. But the phenomenon he addresses is real - and bizarre, and his treatment is very illuminating.

Jonathan Franzen   by How To Be Alone, 278 pages Jonathan Misirian   28 January 2005 A collection of articles by the author of the compelling, The Corrections.

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.

Disgrace   by J.M. Coetzee, 220 pages James Donahue   01 February 2005 I was really enwrapped in this story of South Africa. Coetzee writes so well of morally-laden issues without being moralist. Well deserving of the Booker.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America   by Barbara Ehrenreich, 221 pages Jonathan Misirian   02 February 2005 Ehrenreich leaves her Blue State life, and takes up temporary residence working in what we would consider are menial jobs. At times poignant, biting, and revealing, the author shows us what it is like to work along the shadows of society. This comes as a great shock to her, but not to those of us who live and work along these margins.

Beam Me Up, Scotty   by Michael Guinzburg, 243 pages Mike Gadd   02 February 2005

Syrup: A Novel (1999)   by Maxx Barry, 294 pages A Bennett   03 February 2005 Probably a little more surprising if you haven't first read Jennifer Government. While I still find Barry's style breezy and entertaining, his twice transplanted revenge stories and similar female characterizations that were quite fresh the first time around, do give me pause on a second helping. But that's faint criticism when we live in a world where light entertainment of quality is no easy thing to find. (A-)

Dead Folks Blues   by Steven Womack, 259 pages Mike Gadd   10 February 2005

Gilead   by Marilynne Robinson, 247 pages Jonathan Misirian   21 February 2005 Fiction writing at its best. Gilead is the account of an elderly man writing to his young son. Gilead struck me as an American version of Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. Robinsons writes with a depth that is sadly missing from other novels.

Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathamatics   by William Dunham, 286 pages Steve Gadd   26 February 2005 The maths may not be for everyone, but if you have ever appreciated the beauty of Euclid's ingenious proof of the infinitude of primes, a survey of mathematical history can be very rewarding. This book focuses on twelve theorems, much in the way an art history showcases great masterpieces presented with historical context. The theorems and proofs are selected both for their significance and their accessibility. Beginning with the ancient Greeks, the author describes the groundbreaking work of Hippocrates, Euclid, and Archimedes, whose derivations of volumes and surface areas would not be expanded upon until the arrival of the calculus two thousand years later. The ancient texts were tended in Alexandria and Baghdad for centuries, eventually sparking a resurgence of European development during the Renaissance. Here Newton makes his grand entrance, setting science on a new course with his development of the binomial theorem, the calculus, a theory of colors, and his famous work in gravitation. All this, incredibly, occurred during two years of intense work at Cambridge. Laplace would later describe Newton as "the greatest genius that ever existed, and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish." Many other famous mathematicians made their mark in the coming years, including Fermat, whose famous Last Theorem was but one of many he posited without proof, most of which were later proved (and some disproved) by the prolific Euler. Dunham does not omit the back story, describing the bitter rivalries and quirky personalities that add human color to science. Johann Bolyai was one of several co-discovers of non-Euclidean geometry, despite having been implored by his father that "You must not attempt this approach to parallels. I know this way to its very end. I have traversed this bottomless night, which extinguished all light and joy of my life.... I entreat you, leave the science of parallels alone."

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 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 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.

Shampoo Planet   by Douglas Coupland, 299 pages Kristin Schrock   15 May 2005 The guy at the bookstore was very excited that I was buying this book. After reading it, I'm not sure why. It had moments where I thought--this guy is really good--but overall the book was unsatisfying.

Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations   by Stephen Schlesinger, 287 pages James Donahue   19 May 2005 Despite the jacket's promise of a story about 'superpowers' and 'secret agents,' Schlesinger's book is still a pretty convential story about the diplomatic negotiations of the 1945 San Francisco Conference that produced the final version of the U.N. Charter. A good read by a current UN insider, but falls too often into a narrow focus on the American delegation.

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.

Love's Executioner   by Irvin D. Yalom, 270 pages Steve Gadd   24 May 2005 Thelma cannot function because of her ardent love for Matthew, though she hasn't seen him in eight years. Saul quakes with fear over three letters that he hasn't opened, certain that they will reveal that his entire career has been a fraud. Penny can't relate to her sons after losing a daughter to cancer. Marvin, a boring, shallow accountant nearing retirement, seeks help for his migraines, but he has little faith in therapy and no inclination toward introspection -- meanwhile his amazingly rich and suggestive dreams show that he is paralyzed with fear of death. These are among the ten tales of psychotherapy which provide an absorbing look at what goes on in the room with the couch. Judging from his success in these stories, Dr. Yalom is an adept, existentialist practitioner of the "talking cure." He doesn't put much store in textbook diagnoses and feels that productive work only comes from the development of a meaningful relationship between the patient and therapist. He likes to quote Nietzsche and lists four factors as particularly relevant to his work: "the inevitability of death for each of us and for those we love; the freedom to make our lives as we will; our ultimate aloneness; and, finally, the absence of any obvious meaning or sense to life."

No Certain Rest   by Jim Lehrer, 222 pages Steven Krise   26 May 2005 I think this is probably the absolute worst book I have ever read. The characters are flat, uninteresting, and unbelievable. The plot is ragged and threadbare without any unifying theme. The writing is amateurish, melodramatic and woefully unoriginal. Proof that hosts of lame Sunday morning news chat shows shouldn't attempt to write "Civil War archeological detective story as prototype for modern day strife" novels.

Our Gang   by Philip Roth, 201 pages Tony Pisarenkov   27 May 2005 One long send-up of Richard Nixon. Dated, but in places still hilarious.

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!

Mimi & Toutou's Big Adventure   by Giles Foden, 241 pages James Donahue   12 June 2005 True story of the bizarre portage of two war-speedboats across Africa into Lake Tanganyika to battle a German warboat in the Great War. The British captain was insane, the Scots dour, the Germans just plain unlucky. Like a combination of Gilligan's Island and the Heart of Darkness. Foden is a smooth writer (i.e., not a professional historian) with a writer's eye for the unnecessary connection and a good yarn.

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.

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality   by Donald Miller, 242 pages Jonathan Misirian   27 June 2005 Miller's an excellent writer, who lives outside of the mainstream. He writes with an authenticity that is rare and refreshing. As he explores Christian Spirituality, he gently guides the reader into his life and heart.

Waking the Dead   by John Eldredge, 243 pages Jonathan Misirian   27 June 2005 Eldredge, author of Wild at Heart, returns to his similar theme of reclaiming the heart for Christ. Not as compelling as his WaH.

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.

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.

Anne's House of Dreams (1922)   by L.M. Montgomery, 227 pages A Bennett   24 July 2005 As I remembered it, but many readings in my younger years seem to make me now read over-quickly to get to my favorite parts, which never seem to last long enough. And the quick-read means the book and the experience of it is consumed before I know it.

Outside is America: U2 in the U.S.   by Carter Alan, 248 pages Jonathan Misirian   09 August 2005 Alan chronicles the rise of U2 within the U.S., from 1980-1992. Numerous first person interviews are combined with many published stories on the band -all of which provide insight into the earliest days when U2 moved threw 80 seat bars and clubs to selling out 20,000 seat arenas.

In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran   by Christopher de Bellaigue, 279 pages Jonathan Misirian   18 August 2005 de Bellaigue presents a first person account of modern Iran. As a young British reporter who lives in Tehran and married at Iranian, de Bellaigue portrays Iran in all of its hypocrisy and beauty. A stunning narrative of life, revolution and the tumult of modern Islam.

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality   by Donald Miller, 256 pages Brad Snyder   20 August 2005 The "Mere Christianity" for this generation. Miller's writing style is conversational, humorous, and approachable. A must read.

In His Steps   by Charles M. Sheldon, 251 pages Brad Snyder   22 August 2005 The book that started the bracelets! This fictional work was originally prepared as a series of sermons. By the end of the story, Sheldon was preaching to extremely large crowds. The story follows the lives of several people that decide to make every single decision based on what they think Jesus would do. Some find happiness in obedience, some lose everything. It would be interesting to see the faithful try it out. What a different world it would be...

Calvin: A Biography   by Bernard Cottret, 296 pages James Donahue   26 August 2005 Still gearing up for Geneva.

An Unquiet Mind   by Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, 225 pages Jonathan Misirian   26 August 2005 An Unquiet Mind traces the path of manic-depressive illness in the author's life. Currently a professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, this personal account provides rich and lucid insights into the course of this illness. Dr. Jamison writes with tremendous clarity and grace.

Age of Propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion   by Anthony Pratkanis, 277 pages Jonathan Misirian   31 August 2005 Pratkanis provides a thorough overview of the history and modern use of persuasion. Advertising receives the brunt of the author’s work, but politics and religion also play significant roles. I found especially interesting the explanation of the granfalloon technique and how this helps to shape consumer behavior.

Dry Heat   by Jon Talton, 224 pages Micaela Larkin   08 September 2005 The main character is a cop turned academic historian turned cold case detective in his native hometown of Phoenix. The author is the only insightful columnist in the local paper, and his books provide a nice overview of the nation's largest unknown city. :)

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

Getting the Love You Want   by Harville Hendrix, 298 pages Tony Pisarenkov   22 September 2005 Though a self-help book for the "lay" reader, this synthesis of relevant ideas from every imaginable psychotherapy orientation into a method designed to help couples re-evaluating their relationship is far deeper and more analytical than most of its competitors. Certain parts made me nod my head in agreement vigorously while others provoked a loud "what the..." -- as a good psychology book should.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter   by Jeff Lindsay, 288 pages Mike Gadd   28 September 2005 A rather unique turn on the serial killer theme. In this case the killer works as a blood specialist at the police lab. He only kills 'bad people'. He is shocked and impressed to some degree to find a crime scene that mimics one of his own. He's not sure if someone is on to him or maybe he's having blackout episodes where he unknowingly is committing the crimes.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers   by Mary Roach, 294 pages Tony Pisarenkov   29 September 2005 So, what would you like to have happen to your body after you die? Dissection? Used for crash testing? Made into dumplings?

Blink   by Malcolm Gladwell, 288 pages Jonathan Misirian   04 October 2005 Gladwell’s latest is in the same vein as his The Tipping Point, an insightful look into the world of social psychology. Blink reveals that through training our brains can make effective rapid decisions. Gladwell combines a wide variety of experiences to validate his theory of how our brains function.

Last Breath   by Peter Stark, 292 pages Steve Gadd   12 October 2005 This was not the anthology of outdoor adventure/disaster stories I was expecting. Instead, it was a collection of fictional exploits, each illustrating one of the dangers that adventurers face. Much like Dr. Nuland's book How We Die but focusing on hypothermia, drowning, avalanche, scurvy, heatstroke, predators and thirst rather than more common killers. The fiction is not great, but I found the background information interesting, and reading about how the body reacts to threats is always amazing. The history of scurvey and the amazing lifecycle of the malaria bug make great conversation starters.

Blue Like Jazz   by Donald Miller, 242 pages Steve Gadd   18 October 2005 Not a theology book by any stretch, but a sort of autobiographical apology for the author's faith, written with a sense of humor and honesty. Thanks Jonathan for the gift.

Gods in Alabama   by Joshilyn Jackson , 275 pages Mike Gadd   24 October 2005 This was the book I thought 'Secret Life of Bees' was going to be. Touching and humorous, it also wrapped up well.

Rethinking Life and Death: the collapse of our traditional ethics   by Dr. Peter Singer, 219 pages Jonathan Misirian   25 October 2005 Singer adeptly shows how modern technology forces societies to come to grips with the grey areas of life and death. Singer wrestles with challenging questions such as: When does life begin? Why is human life of greater worth then animal life? Singer’s most radical claim, that human life should only have a right to life, somewhere after the 28th day –after birth-, is one that draws the most criticism, and is also the one theme that he inadequately supports.

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

War Reporting for Cowards   by Chris Ayers, 280 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 November 2005 Ayers, a 28 year old, self-described ‘war virgin’ went from being The London Times’ Hollywood reporter - to being embedded on the front lines of the US Military’s assault of Baghdad in 2003. This humorous and gritty account in the overwrought genre of war-reporting, stands out as Ayers shows the reader his spinelessness for all things manly and military.

Ancient-Future Evangelism: Making Your Church a Faith-Forming Community   by Robert E. Webber, 224 pages Brad Snyder   07 December 2005 Webber draws a connection between the pluralism in which we currently find ourselves culturally, and that of the first century church. He proposes adopting into our own worship and Christian lives some of the language, styles, and liturgy employed by the early church.

See No Evil   by Robert Baer, 274 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 December 2005 Published a few months after 9/11, Baer’s first hand account of his career in the CIA reads both like Allen Dulles and Inspector Clueso. While, See No Evil would have benefited from a better editor, Baer’s story reveals the faults w/n the American Intelligence System, while offering slight hope for an improved future.

Shaming the Devil   by Alan Jacobs, 218 pages James Donahue   22 December 2005 This collection of essays is delightful. Most are literary criticism (Jacobs is a professor of English at Wheaton College), dealing with his teacher's pets: Camus, Auden, Rebecca West, Wole Soynika, Iris Murdoch. Some deal with writers he finds uncomfortable: bioethicist Leon Kass, the lesbian poet Anne Carson, sci-fi prodigy Philip Pullman. But what these essays really sing is not just Jacobs' eyes, but rather his hand. Jacobs can really write, and this is best seen when he abandons criticism to write some original essays on Rousseau (vs Voltaire), his struggles to escape the control of the MAN by learning Linux, and the crucial importance of centering our aesthetic lives around the reality of grace.

Mostly Harmless   by Douglas Adams, 219 pages Steven Krise   23 December 2005 A sort of "many worlds interpretation"-y action adventure thingy that cleverly concludes the 5-part HH trilogy right where it started.

Cosmopolitan: A Bartender's Life   by Toby Cecchini, 238 pages Tony Pisarenkov   24 December 2005 For once, the blurb on the cover is spot-on: what Bourdain did for chefs, Cecchini did for bartenders. A surprisingly well-written, frequently poetic, yet at the same time brutally realistic first-hand account of bartending and bar owenrship that will make you run to your nearest watering hole while recoiling in horror from any ambition you may be harboring of working behind the bar.

Lipstick Jihad: A memior of growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran   by Azadeh Moaveni, 249 pages Jonathan Misirian   25 December 2005 My third book on Iran this year. Moaveni, part of the Diaspora in America, returns to Iran as a reporter for US news outlets. Her personal experiences and insights into Iran, shows the duplicity of the ruling Mullah’s, the yearning for freedom by the youth, and the shortcomings of American foreign policy. Great read for those interested in an on-the-ground look at life in modern Iran.

Hungry for Heaven: Rock 'n' Roll & the Search for Redemption   by Steve Turner, 240 pages Brad Snyder   27 December 2005 Turner wrote the biography of Johnny Cash that I reviewed a few weeks ago. In that book, he related the fact that Cash had read and commented favorably on this book, so I wanted to read it myself. It is a very good analysis of the role that spirituality plays in rock 'n' roll. Not just Christianity, but Islam, New Age, Rastfarianism, Eastern Mysticism, etc. Much like the book on Cash, Turner interviewed several of the people he talks about in the book: Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Sting, Al Green, Ozzy Osbourne, etc. Besides these sources, he cites several magazine articles, books, and album jackets, all of which are listed in the fine bibliography. The problem is that he doesn't give proper citations in the text, so it's difficult to match which conversation matches to what source. And while he weaves an interesting thread through the history of popular music, he doesn't have any kind of concluding chapter to tie it all together. This would have made the book much more compelling.

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.

Walk On: The Spiritual Journey Of U2   by Steve Stockman, 250 pages Brad Snyder   02 January 2006 Something Jonathan said to me years ago resonates with me: the music of U2 is a spiritual thing. Stockman has made an honest effort at bringing the spirituality of the group to light, but I wonder if this is a necessary undertaking for those of us that have already bought into this aspect of the band. While I enjoyed a good part of the book, at times Stockman comes across as little more than an apologist with a desire for everyone to recognize this side of the band and this tainted the book a bit for me.

Couplehood   by Paul Reiser, 203 pages Brad Snyder   10 January 2006 I read "Babyhood" several years ago and laughed so hard that my wife gave me "that" look. I laughed harder with this one. It's hard to believe that this is the guy that portrayed the antagonist in "Aliens". Now I just wish that I could forget "My Two Dads"...

From Bondage To Liberty: Dance, Children, Dance   by Jim Rayburn III, 226 pages Brad Snyder   15 January 2006 A biography of Jim Rayburn, the founder of YoungLife, written by his son.

Payton   by Connie Payton, 237 pages Jonathan Misirian   16 January 2006 This collector’s book commemorating the life of Walter Payton is fulfilling both visually and emotionally. Lush photographs and a behind the scenes look at this great running back’s life, along with a commemorative DVD.

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

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.

Schnitzler's Century: The Making of Middle Class Culture, 1815-1914   by Peter Gay, 289 pages Tony Pisarenkov   24 January 2006 An informative and mostly well-argued work of cultural history that attempts to show, convincingly for the most part, that Victorian-era bourgeois were not as prissy as we tend to assume. In other words, they were much like us, with a possible exception of the author, who is more obsessed with sex than either his subjects or -- harder to believe -- his readers.

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 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.

Ciao, America   by Beppe Severgnini, 242 pages Tony Pisarenkov   10 February 2006 A mostly insightful, marvellously self-deprecating, but alas, only marginally funny memoir of an Italian who spent a year living in Washington, DC. Thank you, Steve, for the gift, and apologies for having taken so long to read it.

Maude Royden: A Life (1989)   by Sheila Fletcher, 289 pages James Donahue   19 February 2006 Royden was England's first woman preacher of note. This biography sheds light primarily on her suffragist and pacifist activism. But Fletcher also does a good job revealing the chaotic ecclesial debates that followed her throughout the Anglo-American world.

Saturday   by Ian McEwan, 289 pages Jonathan Misirian   23 February 2006 A day in the life of a British neurosurgeon. In one 24 hour span he observes a fiery plane land at Heathrow, has sex with his wife, get caught up in an anti-war protest, is assaulted, plays squash, finds out his unmarried daughter is expecting, has his family terrorized, performs neurosurgery on the familial assailant, showers and has sex again with his wife.

Carl Peters: A Political Biography (2004)   by Arne Perris, 259 pages James Donahue   04 March 2006 Peters was the main German colonizer, running somewhat ahead of the government in his murderous annexing marches, much of which were done drunk while indiscriminatory flexing his martial muscles. Brought down in 1896 when he hung a series of Africans for violating his captured harem. I wish I were joking about this.

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.

New Rules   by Bill Maher, 228 pages Jonathan Misirian   10 March 2006 Maher's acerbic wit is on display in this brief collection of thoughts. A few laugh out loud comments are interspersed among his musings on everything from CNN to Michael Jackson.

"What Do You Care What Other People Think?"   by Richard P. Feynman, 248 pages Steve Gadd   21 March 2006 Early anecdotes, some travel stories, and the Challenger investigation.

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.

Pearls Before Swine   by Stephan Pastis, 250 pages Jonathan Misirian   29 March 2006 Few comics deal with death as humorously as does Pearls… Bitter, existentialist ranting combined with minimalist comic strip art.

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

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.

Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing your Soul   by David L. Goetz, 204 pages Micaela Larkin   14 April 2006 This memoir-cultural critique-advice book is a winner. The author dissects the spiritual malaise of the evangelical suburbanite, and offers timeless solutions. Of course, he finds most of his inspiration in early modern French Catholicism. :)

Vipers' Tangle   by Francois Mauriac, 281 pages Micaela Larkin   16 April 2006 Novel dissecting the interior life of middle-class french lawyer.... Catholic Classic Best line:"Our thoughts, our desires, our actions struck no root in the faith to which we paid lip service. All our strength was employed in keeping our eyes fixed on material things."

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

Rumors of Another World : What on Earth Are We Missing?   by Philip Yancey, 272 pages Brad Snyder   07 May 2006 Yancey explores the world we can see in contrast to that world we can't, or rather, don't see regardless of the clues, or "rumors" of its existence all around us.

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.

A Meal Observed   by Andrew Todhunter, 228 pages Tony Pisarenkov   14 May 2006 Part commentary on French gastronomy (and, by extension, national character), part memoir, told through the prism of a single meal at Taillevent, one of the most respected Parisian restaurants. If you are going to read only one book about French gastronomy, this is probably not it, but very entertaining and enjoyable if you're into that sort of thing.

Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man   by Tim Allen, 210 pages Brad Snyder   16 May 2006 This is basically an extension of the TV show "Home Improvement", only with his real-life circumstances thrown in. It's my love for the TV show that made me interested in reading the book, and while it was funny at points, I found it needlessly crass at others.

Captain Alatriste (1996, trans. 2006)   by Arturo Perez-Reverte, 248 pages James Donahue   17 May 2006 Swashbuckling tale about a hard-up Spanish soldier hired to kill two British gentlemen by the Grand Inquisitor. I found it quite a page-turner, but I'm still not entirely sure what happened.

Count Zero   by William Gibson, 246 pages Steve Gadd   19 May 2006 When it comes to creating vibrant images of a near-future dystopia, Gibson has few peers. Plotting is another matter. I found this sequel to Neuromancer frequently putdownable, and it even had a Villain Speech toward the end.

Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel’s Deadly Response   by Aaron J. Klein, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian   24 May 2006 Klein provides a nationalistic explanation of political assignation by detailing the Mossad’s methodical killings of high profile Palestinians. Revenge, deterrence and prevention are mentioned as the holy trinity of justification for these killings, leaving the reader to assume that maybe deterrence and prevention are just added to make the true motive more palatable.

Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism 1870-1925   by George Marsden, 231 pages Jonathan Misirian   30 May 2006 Marsden presents a detailed and readable account of the social/religious forces that worked to shape the movement called Fundamentalism. His analysis provides us with the foundation of the modern day ‘Religious Right.’ Marsden’s greatest contribution is in showing the complexity of the early movement; which makes me wonder why it is so narrowly defined today.

Freakonomics   by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, 220 pages Tony Pisarenkov   31 May 2006 If you can get past the authors continuously congratulating themselves on their greatness, it's actually interesting stuff

Ancient Future Faith: rethinking evangelicalism for a postmodern world   by Robert Weber, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian   01 June 2006 Weber’s premesis is this: the church today is faced with a post-mdoern culture. The way to effectively combat postmodernity is to return to our ecclestiacal roots. Weber explores the ancient rites and practices of the church showing their relevance and promise for today.

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.

One Step Closer: Why U2 matters to those seeking God   by Christian Scharen, 208 pages Jonathan Misirian   07 June 2006 In the growing field of books exploring U2’s religious convictions, One Step Closer, stands above the rest. Scharen’s take is unique, in that each chapter is about evenly divided between a biblical overview of a particular theme such as Love (not power), Prophecy as Judgment and Hope, Psalms as Thanksgiving and Lament, and Singing the Cross; and then a detailed exploration of the songs as well as quotes from the massive U2 discography. Scharen’s cogent overview reveals the heart that beats U2’s soul.

Here Is Where We Meet (2005)   by John Berger, 237 pages James Donahue   12 June 2006 Berger, having passed eighty, writes of visiting various European cities where the dead come out to meet him. A chapter on Geneva is the reason I picked up this book, but I remained entranced since this is how I often feel about European cities, that they are so crowded with the dead.

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!

Good Boys and Dead Girls-- And Other Essays   by Mary Gordon, 272 pages Micaela Larkin   23 June 2006 Raiding the Donahue's book shelf. Interesting!

Barbara Goldsmith   by Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie, 236 pages Micaela Larkin   29 June 2006 Superb. Romance, Chemistry, and Modern Science!!! This short tome is a part of the tiny biography series that you can pick up at half-price books.

Yarn Harlot   by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, 219 pages Jennifer Dear   29 June 2006 Hilarious.

Smart Girls: A New Pyschology of Girls, Women, and Giftedness   by Barbara Kerr, 262 pages Micaela Larkin   29 June 2006 I was trying to balance out my Jung/Gordon reading for next week with a more "scientific" perspective.

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 (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.')

A Handful of Dust   by Evelyn Waugh, 225 pages Tony Pisarenkov   05 July 2006 Brideshead Revisited did more for me, and I agree that the connection between the first and second parts of the book is strained at best (the alternate ending provided free of charge does no better), but Waugh's mastery at creating what are quite possibly the most vapid and despicable characters in all of XX-century literature with a mere flick of his pen comes through loud and clear.

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

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

A New Generation: Catholic and American   by Michael Novak, 205 pages Micaela Larkin   16 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.

Sex and Virtue: An Introduction to Sexual Ethics   by John Grabowski, 224 pages Micaela Larkin   16 July 2006 Virtue ethics meets theology of the body. Interesting read. It makes some telling points about the legalistic attitudes of the pro-contraception Catholic crowd.

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

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

Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock   by Andrew Beaujon, 276 pages Jonathan Misirian   27 July 2006 Billed as the first non-Christian in-depth look at Christian Rock, BPSML is a solid piece of writing. Beaujon sees both the camp and the soul of Christian Rock, providing the reader with ammunition against Christianity as well as hope because of it.

Lancelot   by Walker Percy, 272 pages Micaela Larkin   28 July 2006 continuing my descent into diagnostic Catholic reading.... Nice pairing with L&R, Walker Percy illustrates the utilitarian world that JPII critiques.

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.

Morality for Beautiful Girls   by Alexander McCall Smith, 227 pages Jennifer Dear   29 July 2006

Double Fudge   by Judy Blume, 213 pages Brad Snyder   30 July 2006 More out-loud reading to my kids. This is the final book in the "Tales Fourth Grade Nothing" series. Better than the last one.

Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock   by Andrew Beaujon, 276 pages Brad Snyder   31 July 2006 A very concise, well-researched, accurate, and fair critique and explanation of Christian music and the evangelical subculture, written from the perspective of a non-Christian. You've gotta love any book that opens with quotes from Martin Luther and Hank Hill on the same page. Excellent.

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.

No Way To Treat a First Lady   by Christopher Buckley, 286 pages Jonathan Misirian   05 August 2006 Buckley serves up the political humor novel with the best of them. The President dies after schlepping a Hollywood movie star, and the First Lady is on trial for his death. Buckley leaves me laughing with his erudite word selection. A quick read for those looking to enjoy laughing and politics.

Freakonomics   by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner , 242 pages Steve Gadd   05 August 2006 A themeless collection of essays seeking to explore the statistics behind the drop in crime in the '90s, the effects of parental behavior and a child's name on future success, and the comparative risk of having a swimming pool or a gun. The most interesting section was the report from a student who spent years with Chicago crack dealers, finding their business model similar to that of McDonalds.

Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero   by Ashley Smith, 272 pages Jennifer Dear   06 August 2006

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.

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.

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens   by Neil Cole, 237 pages Jonathan Misirian   21 August 2006 Cole presents a series of principles collected from his experience as a non-traditional church planter. Cole looks at the church as a collection of individuals, not brick and mortar; and starts churches in parking lots, coffee houses and on the beach. Well written while avoiding popular models for church growth.

Mussolini's Intellectuals (2005)   by A. James Gregor, 262 pages James Donahue   27 August 2006 The ever-kranky Gregor has spent forty years making one statement: that Fascism had an intellectual foundation and was not the product of brainwashing/psycho-sexual repression/ irrationalist amour-propre/etc. This is his final statement of that case. I've assigned this for my class and I'm hoping they'll understand it.

Whose Bible Is It? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages   by Jaroslav Pelikan, 288 pages Brad Snyder   28 August 2006 Before his death in May, Pelikan served as a history professor at Yale. This book is an excellent and thorough history of the Bible and Tanakh as well as the relation between the two traditions that are defined by each.

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.

Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith   by Rob Bell, 208 pages Brad Snyder   08 September 2006 Another post-modern take on Christianity written in that hipster style I'm becoming so accustomed to. I'm starting to wonder what this movement is going to look like in ten or twenty years when the children of the po-mos grow up to reject the churches their parents took them to, calling them unhip and monolithic just as the current po-mos have done with the corporately-modeled churches they attended as children. Bell makes some nice observations (I especially like the attention he pays to the Jewishness of Christianity), but overall I found his theological musings too vague for a book format: they would be better discussed over a beer.

Privilege: Harvard and Educating the Ruling Class   by Ross Douthat, 288 pages Micaela Larkin   15 September 2006

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.

Cesar's Way   by Cesar Milan, 294 pages G Cruz   21 September 2006 Insightful approach to the basics of dog psychology vs appling human psychology, which is usually counterproductive, to our canine companions.

Petain: How the Hero of France Became a Convicted Traitor and Changed the Course of History (2005)   by Charles Williams, 289 pages James Donahue   24 September 2006 The latest biography of Petain defends him at every turn. Petain was the French general who won the bloody Battle of Verdun, stood loyally by the government in the 1920s, then stepped up to the plate to form the pro-fascist Vichy France after defeat to the Germans in WWII. Most see Petain as an opportunist, a Catholic monarchist, a sell-out of French honor. Williams sees instead an old man out of his political depth, fooled by younger ambitious scoundrels, and a womanizing secular uninterested in political and religious restoration.

Nickel and Dimed   by Barbara Ehrenreich, 221 pages Steve Gadd   24 September 2006 A courageous bit of journalism, as the author takes minimum-wage jobs and tries to make ends meet. She doesn't let you forget that she's really a writer though -- required vocabulary: tchotchke, encomium, aphasic, intercalation, hortatory.

Morality for Beautiful Girls (2001)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 227 pages James Donahue   01 October 2006 Another beautiful, pastoral tale from Botswana. Really weak on the mystery side of things; these books are misshelved at Borders, in my opinion. But these are still really charming and elegant stories.

Freakonomics   by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner, 242 pages Steven Krise   08 October 2006 "What the link between [the legalization in 1973 of] abortion and [the sudden drop during the 1990s in] crime does say is this: when the government gives a woman the oppurtunity to make her own decision about abortion, she generally does a good job of figuring out if she is in a position to raise the baby well. If she decides she can't she often chooses the abortion."

Parliament of Whores   by P. J. O'Rourke, 233 pages Steve Gadd   28 October 2006 O'Rourke applies his acid tongue to excesses of American government, a pretty easy target. His conclusion: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat. "God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. ... He has little apparent concern for the material well-being of the disadvangtaged.... Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's nonthreatening. He's always cheerful.... He gives everyone everything they want without a thought of a quid pro quo.... Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus."

Pop Goes Religion: Faith in Popular Culture   by Terry Mattingly, 211 pages Brad Snyder   31 October 2006 The Catholic Archbishop of Denver, a journalist, and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top are standing in the elevator lobby of a Denver hotel...sound like the beginning of a joke? No, it's the amusing true tale that Mattingly uses to illustrate the theme of his book. Mattingly writes the syndicated "On Religion" column for the Scripps Howard News Service. This book is an accumulation of those articles, divided into chapters by topic. His articles don't tell you what to think, but leave you thinking. The chapter about movies was nauseatingly Lord of the Rings-, Star Wars-, and Matrix-centric, but the rest of the book is a gem.

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 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 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 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 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.

Imperial Germany and the Great War (2002)   by Roger Chickering, 211 pages James Donahue   14 November 2006

Becoming Latina in 10 Easy Steps   by Lara Rios, 284 pages Micaela Larkin   17 November 2006 Chicana Chic Lit

At First Sight   by Nicholas Sparks, 277 pages Micaela Larkin   26 November 2006 ND's most famous writer after Edwin O'Connor and old Ralph takes on love and pathos in the South.

Excellent Women   by Barbara Pym, 272 pages Micaela Larkin   27 November 2006 Awesome

Eichmann In Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963)   by Hannah Arendt, 298 pages James Donahue   29 November 2006

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.

My Fundamentalist Education: A Memoir of a Divine Girlhood   by Christine Rosen, 229 pages Micaela Larkin   05 December 2006

Border-Line Personalities   by Michele Herrera Mulligan and Robyn Moreno, 299 pages Micaela Larkin   06 December 2006

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??

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (2004)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 233 pages Jennifer Dear   10 December 2006

Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense   by N.T. Wright, 256 pages Brad Snyder   11 December 2006 This is the best book I have read all year. Regardless of what your spiritual background, Bishop Wright has offered a common sense approach to Christianity that will surely eclipse other similar works.

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.

My Fundamentalist Education: A Memoir of a Divine Girlhood   by Christine Rosen, 231 pages Brad Snyder   16 December 2006 "This was a world far removed from the mild Methodist devotion of my infant baptism, but I conformed to it quickly." This quote couldn't be more true for me. The difference between the author and myself is that I embraced fundamentalism at age 18 when I went away to college rather than when I was in Kindergarten like the author. I wanted to know God and to escape the demons that I knew from life to that point. Perhaps being an adult when I embraced fundamentalism made it easier to turn away from it while still in college (philosophically anyway). In any case, I learned that fundamentalism isn't God, and I never left my newfound faith in Christ. Rosen's portrait is free from animosity and often humorous. She supplies a "where are they now" chapter at the end where she offers fond updates on her friends and teachers that are featured in the book, and tells a little of her now fully secular life. Still, she makes it clear that she respects and even appreciates the education she received as a child and credits fundamentalism with her forays into intellectual pursuits later in life. Recommended for anyone who wallowed in the fundy culture for any period of time.

Dostoievsky (1924)   by Nicholas Berdyaev, 227 pages James Donahue   19 December 2006 Berdyaev was a Christian philsopher censured by the Orthodox church for his anti-erastianism and then caught up on the fringes of the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1917 he became head of philosophy at University of Moscow under the new regime, but was exiled in 1922 for his religious commitment. From Paris he became one of the most influential Christian thinkers in Europe for the 1920s and 1930s. This book contains some of his earliest lectures in the West on his favorite writer. He muses on the Russian Muse but in reality he is thinking about the revolution, for he sees in Dost's thought on freedom, faith, and evil/sensuality/power the keys to understanding why the Bolshevik regime fails the humanity it claims to serve. Dost was, to Berdyaev, a true revolutionary of the spirit, and, "in general, revolution of the spirirt opposes the spirit of revolution as revolution." An excerpt: "Christianity has always been reproved by atheistic socialis for not having made men happy and given them rest and fed them, and by preaching the religion of earthly bread socialism has attracted millions and millions of followers. But, if Christianity has not made men happy or given them rest or fed them, it is because it has not wished to violate the freedom of the human spirit, because it appeals to human freedom and awaits therefrom the fulfilling of the word of Christ. The terrible problem of liberty simply does not exist for socialis; it expects to solve and achieve the liberation of man through a materialist and planned-out organization of life; its object is to overthrow freedom and get rid of the irrational element of life in the name of happiness, sufficiency, and leisure. Men [quoting Grand Inquisitor here] 'will become free when they renounce freedom'. . . .Christianity is not to blame that namkind has not willed the accomplishment of God's Word and has betrayed it; the fault lies with man, not with the God-man."

A History of the World in 6 Glasses (2005)   by Tom Standage, 274 pages James Donahue   20 December 2006 The six glasses: Beer (Fertile Crescent), Wine (Greece and Rome), Rum/Brandy/Whiskey (American Colonies), Coffee (Enlightenment), Tea (China in 19th-century), and Coca-Cola (20th-century America). Very Anglophoniccentric, but very entertaining with great trivia on our favorite beverages.

Equal Rites   by Terry Pratchett, 237 pages Steven Krise   20 December 2006 Eskarina is the 8th son of an 8th son, destining her for a long career as a powerful wizard. There's only one problem (to the world, not to Esk). She's a girl.

Murder in Amsterdam: The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance (2006)   by Ian Buruma, 264 pages James Donahue   24 December 2006 On 2 November, a young Morroccan immigrant, juiced up on Islamism, tracked down Theo Van Gogh, great-grandnephew of the artist and the artistic version of a 'shock jock', and shot him at midday on his bike in downtown Amsterdam. Buruma is from this neighborhood. In this book he goes home and interviews people associated with the event: the youth's friends and iman, a Somali politician and friend of Van Gogh who despises her 'backward' upbringing, Dutch people who feel trapped between their resentment at the browning of their capital city and their Dutch pride in their progressivism. Buruma is even-handed in this exploration of Europe's most pressing problem. In this country Islamism is a foreign threat and a foreign war; in Europe Islamism is a quarter of the country, wrapped up in guilty feelings about the Holocaust and imperialism, more political because so much of European society is based upon nationality.

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.

Mort   by Terry Pratchett, 243 pages Steven Krise   01 January 2007 Death takes an apprentice, goes on a vacation, and then kicks ass after chaos ensues.

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

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

Friends, Lovers, Chocolates (2005)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 261 pages Jennifer Dear   09 January 2007

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

Chasing Francis   by Ian Morgan Cron, 252 pages Jonathan Misirian   11 January 2007 Cron presents a fictional account of a pastor’s discontent with his church, and his successive search for vocational meaning… St. Francis of Assisi is convincingly presented as the antidote for modern day pastoral malaise.

Blind Faith   by Richard Sloan, 295 pages Jonathan Misirian   11 January 2007 Sloan attempts to show the disastrous results when Faith and Medicine collide. Sadly, the weaknesses of the book outweigh the strengths… Sloan refers to the same two or three studies that back his point, and relies too heavily on anecdotal accounts for his main thesis.

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.

Searching for God Knows What   by Donald Miller, 256 pages Brad Snyder   17 January 2007 While different than his magnum opus "Blue Like Jazz", Miller is no less insightful in this theological statement.

Blue Shoes and Happiness (2006)   by Alexander McCall Smith, 227 pages Jennifer Dear   27 January 2007

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 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.

Arnold J. Toynbee: A Life   by William McNeill, 288 pages James Donahue   08 February 2007

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game   by Michael Lewis, 288 pages Micaela Larkin   13 February 2007

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 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.)

Brew like a Monk   by Stan Hieronymus, 272 pages Steven Krise   24 February 2007 Discussion of Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian ales and how to brew them.

14-18: Understanding the Great War (2000)   by Annette Becker and Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau, 237 pages James Donahue   05 March 2007 A reflection on the stereotypes and traditional blinders that people have about the Great War (e.g., trenches filled with with new pacifists and atheists, trenches everywhere, soldiers as victims: "always killed, never killing"), and the supposed nihilism and meaningless of the combat. As if millions died in an accident that noone supported. Good essays on war memorials, civilian atrocities, mourning, wartime Judeo-Christianity, the relationship between WWI and totalitarianism, and the conceptual reinterpretations of the Great War in the 1920s and 1930s. Becker is one my favorite historians and this short book is a crystallization of her best reflections over the past few decades.

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.

Alchemy of Fire (2004)   by Gillian Bradshaw, 247 pages Jennifer Dear   07 March 2007 Bookcover says: "A rich historical romance and a journey of self-discovery." Jen says: "Not that bad. But not her best."

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.

American Skin (2006)   by Ken Bruen, 280 pages Jonathan Misirian   09 March 2007 Bruen’s back, perfecting his craft of writing sparse, literate, and violent crime noir. The genre is unique; in that for what it lacks in character development is made up in fast pace, lucid and taut writing. American Skin is Bruen’s attempt at moving the setting to the US, hence the adopting of Springsteen’s song as the title for the book. Murder, betrayal, love lost, and hard drinking...its all here.

A Brief History of the Dead (2006)   by Kevin Brockmeier, 252 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 March 2007 Brockmeier’s novel is set in two realities… one is the near future of those living, the other reality is the netherworld where recently deceased people ‘live’ for as long as they are remembered by those not yet dead. Brockmeier resurrects the Greek mythological Lethe, and makes the interplay between the two realities a source of rich insight

Philip Dru: Administrator (1920)   by Edward House, 299 pages James Donahue   15 March 2007 Lying feverishly, recovering from a bout of appendicitus, Raully reads an old utopian novel about a settlement house worker who learns of a big-business conspiracy to seize the government by stacking the elections and the Supreme Court, and who then rallies the virile youth of the West and the South to rebel against the government, then installs himself as Administrator and painstakingly rewrites the laws to create a just republic, before marrying his gal Gloria and sailing around the world. This book would just be a bad novel, a combination of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the Jesus Film, and Braveheart, if not for its historical interest. Shortly after writing this expose of his fantasies, the author, Colonel House, met Woodrow Wilson and became his right hand through the most turbulent, centralizing, and aggressive presidency in U.S. history.

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.

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.

Billions & Billions   by Carl Sagan, 230 pages Steve Gadd   04 April 2007 Dr. Sagan used his last book to deny ever saying the phrase by which he is remembered. Some of the chapters in this diverse collection are interesting and informative, and his farewell chapter is unflinching and touching. The majority of the book is taken up by sermonizing on the environmental crisis. As seems typical, these sections are annoying for calls to action based on facts asserted without reference to any supporting data (no endnotes, four pages of largely general-interest references), worst-case scenarios, and illogic.

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

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a true story (2005)   by Chuck Klosterman, 245 pages Jonathan Misirian   06 April 2007 Spin asked their writer to travel across the country and write a series of articles on locations where famous rock stars died. From these essays, derived this memorable account of this 16 day journey. Note: one must be love esoteric music references to understand all the ironic situations the author finds himself in. A good writer, working with average material.

Summer at Tiffany   by Marjorie Hart, 258 pages Micaela Larkin   18 April 2007 Do you remember the best summer of your life? This is the story of two Iowa girls who spend the summer of 1945 working at TIFFANYS.

Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense (2006)   by N.T. Wright, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian   20 April 2007 Wright is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and has that rare gift of being a top flight writer and a profound thinker. Simply Christian is his apologetic of Christianity. It is gripping, erudite, accessible, and engages the soul unlike most other apologetic books.

A Cook's Tour: In Search of a Perfect Meal   by Anthony Bourdain, 288 pages Tony Pisarenkov   20 April 2007 Less foodie-ish than Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and a surprisingly decent bit of travel writing. Entertaining and enjoyable all around.

Fascination   by William Boyd, 288 pages Tony Pisarenkov   28 April 2007 Some of these short stories are too self-consciously writerly for my taste, though others are quite enjoyable in an off-kilter sort of way.

Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality   by Dean Radin, 298 pages Micaela Larkin   02 May 2007 Psychics & Quantum Physics

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…

Myself & I   by Norma Johnston, 210 pages Micaela Larkin   07 May 2007

Purity of Blood (2006)   by Arturo Perez-Reverte, 267 pages James Donahue   11 May 2007 One of the best pageturner authors out there. And this one comes with a moral: Never trust anyone who only reads one book! (Read at nights in Glen's apartment in Wannsee)

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.

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 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.

Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity (2006)   by Edward Gilbreath, 207 pages Brad Snyder   21 May 2007 Serving as an intern at a multi-racial church has allowed me to work alongside people of different races and denominational backgrounds. With the blessings, though, comes the need for understanding. Gilbreath attempts to help this by outlining an historic and socially-conscious view of the American evangelical church--one whose culture is more lily white and xenophobic than us crackers tend to understand because this same culture also nurtures our ignorance of these facts.

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

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

Five Skies (2007)   by Ron Carlson, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian   03 June 2007 Carlson constructs a novel that deals with the true depths of the human soul. Three men working on a construction project in the Idaho summer, come to grips with their pasts and with each other. Carlson writes with an accuracy and simplicity that is sorely missing from most modern fiction. The splendid descriptions of the mountain and rivers are matched only by the themes of redemption and atonement. An excellent read!

Monsignor Quixote   by Graham Greene, 256 pages Steven Krise   07 June 2007 The oddest couple in Spain.

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 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 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.

England Made Me (1935)   by Graham Greene, 207 pages James Donahue   13 June 2007 I had never read an early Greene novel before, nor realized how much he borrowed from other interwar Catholic pessimists, such as Waugh or Belloc. In this book nihilism prevails among the devolving British upper crust while Depression ravages the working man. (Read in Invermere, my ideal town.)

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.

Housekeeping (1980)   by Marilynne Robinson, 219 pages James Donahue   17 June 2007 Simply one of the most beautiful books I have ever read with that most rare of all quality in modern lit: completely original prose. "And here again a foreshadowing - the world will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one's hair is all but to feel it. Whatever we may lose, very craving gives it back to us again."

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).

Brighton Rock   by Graham Greene, 247 pages Steven Krise   26 June 2007

Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding   by Cele C Otnes and Elizabeth Pleck, 280 pages Micaela Larkin   29 June 2007

Monsignor Quixote   by Graham Greene, 221 pages Steve Gadd   05 July 2007 "When one has to jump, it's so much safer to jump into deep water."

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story (2005)   by Chuck Klosterman, 245 pages Brad Snyder   08 July 2007 Klosterman set out on a road trip across the USA to visit all the spots where rock stars have died: the New York hotel where Sid Vicious allegedly killed his girlfriend Nancy to the greenhouse in Seattle where Kurt Cobain shot himself. What he ended up writing about instead was all the girls he's loved before.

Decline and Fall (1928)   by Evelyn Waugh, 293 pages James Donahue   09 July 2007 Fresh off his conversion, Waugh wrote his first novel to savage the literate 'chatocracy' among whom he had spent his 20s. Brilliant satire: See Pennyfeather mix and mingle with Lady Circumference (and her son Lord Tangent), the underworld of Capt. Grimes and Philbrick, and finally meet his end in a reformed penitentiary after he runs afoul of the League of Nations.

Irrationality   by Stuart Sutherland, 238 pages Steve Gadd   16 July 2007 This book tries to inventory a variety of ways in which people make bad decisions, such as sitting through a bad movie because the tickets were expensive (the sunk costs error), favoring evidence that confirms one's beliefs and discounting contrary evidence, and fundamental misunderstanding of statistics. Sutherland himself seems to be less than rigorous in his presentation at times, ignoring the rational behavior in a study, or citing the "availability error" as the reason for just about everything.

It’s Not News, It’s Fark: how mass media tries to pass off crap as news (2007)   by Drew Curtis, 268 pages Jonathan Misirian   18 July 2007 Curtis founded Fark.com as a hub where users can post junk news and then comment on it. This book is a combination of first-class media humor (jammed, with real life examples ), and slashing insight into how mediocre ‘news’ is force fed to us. For those who are sick of the slick.

Religious Literacy: What every American needs to know and doesn’t. (2007)   by Stephen Prothero, 294 pages Jonathan Misirian   23 July 2007 The author of 2003’s award winning American Jesus, comes back with a book assailing American’s lack religious knowledge. I found Prothero’s argument, for mandatory religious education, compelling, especially b/c it didn’t come from the far right camp of Christianity. The book is divided roughly in half beginning with his argument for greater religious education, and concludes with an alphabetical list of religious terms and their descriptions.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto (2004)   by Chuck Klosterman, 253 pages Brad Snyder   23 July 2007 I enjoyed "Klosterman IV" and "Killing Yourself to Live" more, but this still has its high points, mostly in the first few chapters of the book. Interesting observations about the Sims and "Left Behind" series.

Flanders: A Cultural History (2007)   by André de Vries, 278 pages James Donahue   26 July 2007

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.

Black Mischief (1932)   by Evelyn Waugh, 240 pages James Donahue   30 July 2007

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.

Letters to a young evangelical (2006)   by Tony Campolo, 280 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 August 2007 As America's Evanglicalism's gadfly, Campolo continues in his famous against-the-grain mode with the writing of this book. Using the conceit of writing to two young Christians, the author gives his 2 cents on every issue from Abortion to Islam.

Vixen (2003)   by Ken Bruen, 200 pages Jonathan Misirian   14 August 2007 Renegade London cops track down a ruthless killer, in this the second in Bruen’s Detective Brant series. Think The Shield, set in modern London

Brighton Rock (1938)   by Graham Greene, 247 pages James Donahue   14 August 2007 One of the most compelling examinations of depravity (and its mirror image: grace) I have ever read. "'I mean - a Catholic is more capable of evil than anyone. I think perhaps - because we believe in Him - we are more in touch with other people.'" For even He believes. . .and shudders.

Inner Workings (2007)   by J. M. Coetzee, 291 pages James Donahue   16 August 2007 A collection of Coetzee's book reviews over the past eight years, including short insightful essays for the NYTimes Book Review on Greene, Naipaul, Bellow, Musil, Roth, etc. Given his bent for biographical survey, its excellent crib notes for authors I haven't read. But for those authors I have read, the analysis falls flat. (I always end up saying: "Well any reader already knows that.") But then again, the purpose of the NYTimes Book Review is not to give insight to readers of books, but to the socialites who like to cite books they haven't read. Coetzee fulfills this aim perfectly.

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.

Scoop (1938)   by Evelyn Waugh, 254 pages James Donahue   21 August 2007 Whenever career-driven journalists descend on a rumor-filled Third World nation and have to justify their extravagent expense reports even while they have no real grasp of the country they are in, news will be made. Or at least: "news" will be reported. Here Waugh mocks a group of journalists in the fictional African nation of "Ishmaelia" as they generate the news that they need for the folks back home. Waugh again uses the journey of a straight man (here: Mr. Boot, someone who goes only so he can keep his comfy job writing the "Rural Life" column for the Megalopolitan) to wickedly satire everyone around him. Loosely based on Waugh's experience in 1935 as a foreign correspondent covering the Italo-Abyssian War.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church (2006)   by Mark Driscoll, 208 pages Brad Snyder   23 August 2007 Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the man featured in Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" as "Mark the cussing pastor". This book chronicles the joys and struggles that faced Driscoll and his church as they grew from a church of three families to over 4000. Mixing humor, frankness, and downright earthiness, Driscoll displays an earnestness for Scripture and theology and beats the drum for the purity of the Church and its mission to reach the world with the Gospel of Christ.

Put Out More Flags (1942)   by Evelyn Waugh, 254 pages James Donahue   23 August 2007 After two years of slugging it out in the Mediterrean with the British Army, Waugh sat down to write a satiric update of his comic characters from previous books. The book is interesting, but seems to fall pretty flat for several reasons. First, the antics of the Bright Young Things are more sinister than comic in a time of war. But more importantly Waugh just cannot write lite anymore. A moral edge is there in the satire that wasn't before. The stories mean something now. Which means: I hope Waugh's next book is something different. Waugh has changed, and his narrative voice needs to change: from satire of the glitterati to ???

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

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!

Helena (1950)   by Evelyn Waugh, 247 pages James Donahue   07 September 2007 Waugh abandons his previous styles and writes a fictional account of the life of St. Helena, mother of Constantine and discoverer of the True Cross. Waugh manages to write as one of the Faithful without devolving into melodrama or hagiography. I admire the effort, but somehow I did not quite enjoy it. (And I'm sure that Waugh caught much grief for his newfound open faith, perhaps like Anne Rice or Orson Scott Card is catching right now.) This inability to enjoy this book puzzles me. Did Waugh fail when he left his satiric side? Did writing "Brideshead" or living through WWII or just getting older and more religious ruin his edge? Or: Perhaps I am too Protestant, although I'm not sure what that has to do with it. Hmmmm.

On Chesil Beach (2007)   by Ian McEwan, 203 pages James Donahue   10 September 2007 MeEwan relates a honeymoon gone extremely wrong (think: premature excitement, bride running and screaming from the room) in the prelapsarian early 1960s when people (gasp!) waited for marriage and lacked any fundamental sex education. The tone is nostalgic for such lost innocence, yet plainly those days could only have failed. The bride and groom here are remnants of a lost culture, fit for novelistic elegy but not for the real modern world.

Blitz, or Brant hits the blues   by Ken Bruen, 268 pages Jonathan Misirian   13 September 2007 Literary crack.

A Walk in the Woods   by Bill Bryson, 274 pages Steve Gadd   16 September 2007 "Now here's a thought to consider. Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week."

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (1998)   by Bill Bryson, 274 pages Brad Snyder   20 September 2007 A fun book made all the more enjoyable by the fact that I have been in many of the same places Bryson visited in this book (most recently, the dreadful towns of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, TN). I too hiked small portions of the Appalachian Trail in my youth and now foster a strange desire to visit again sometime soon. Steve, thanks for the recommendation.

How We Are Hungry: Stories (2004)   by Dave Eggers, 224 pages Brad Snyder   23 September 2007 A collection of short stories mostly speaking to the selfish nature and shortsightedness of mankind.

Honeymoon with My Brother: A Memoir (2005)   by Franz Wisner, 274 pages Brad Snyder   29 September 2007 A guy gets jilted after a ten year relationship only five days before his wedding. What to do? Since everything is paid for, why not still have the party with all of your friends? But what of the honeymoon? Not wanting to waste all that money he spent to go to Costa Rica. Wisner invited his brother. They enjoyed the adventure so much that they sold their belongings and made a two year journey around the world out of it. Good story, witty and observant, even if it drags in places.

Richistan: A Journey through the American wealth boom and the lives of the new rich (2007)   by Robert Frank, 276 pages Jonathan Misirian   09 October 2007 I read the other day that 30% of the wealth is controlled by 1% of the people. This book details the lives of the 1%. Frank, the wealth reporter for the Wall Street Journal, takes the readers on a tour of the lives of the American Wealthy. We see their kids cringing at a $10m inheritance, 200ft Yacht owners leering in jealously at larger boats, and a couple not knowing how many people their homes employ (105).

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

Helena (1950)   by Evelyn Waugh, 247 pages Jennifer Dear   10 October 2007

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".

Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion (2007)   by David Gelernter, 230 pages Jonathan Misirian   25 October 2007 This book was recommended to me as a 21st Century Swiftian- A Modest Proposal. The conceit: showing the hypocrisy of America –the idea- by comparing it to Jewish Zionism. Either Gelernter is rabidly on the far right, or he is brilliantly on the left. At times I didn’t know whether to chuckle or shake my head in disgust. Read for yourself and see if the author is mad or a genius.

A Wrinkle in Time (1962)   by Madeleine L'Engle, 211 pages Jennifer Dear   25 October 2007

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.

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.

A Scanner Darkly   by Philip K Dick, 278 pages Steven Krise   11 November 2007 How does a scanner see?

Into the Wild   by Jon Krakauer, 207 pages Steve Gadd   13 November 2007

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 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.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself   by Bill Bryson, 288 pages Steve Gadd   24 November 2007 This collection of weekly columns for a British newspaper following Bryson's return to the U.S. after 20 years draws comparisons to Dave Barry. Each makes light of some aspect of American lifestyle and ends with a weak zinger.

Violence Unveiled (1999)   by Gil Bailie, 276 pages James Donahue   11 December 2007 Rene Girard's work on sacrificial culture, Christian theology, and modern theory remains for me the most compelling work of the past decades. Apparently the same can be said of Gil Bailie, a Christian theologian who heads his own California institute. This book is an extended reflection (and restatement) of Girard's importance for modern evangelicals. Worth reading, but perhaps the casual reader would do better to go straight to Girard himself. (Read on the train ride back home.)

Dr. Livingstone, I Presume? (2007)   by Clare Pettitt, 210 pages James Donahue   18 December 2007 Everyone knows the punch line. Here Pettitt uncovers the story behind the line, the meeting between the Scottish missionary Livingstone and the Welsh-born, American journalist Stanley. The strength of the book however lies in the webs surrounding the story that Pettitt unravels: the connection between the story and the Anglo-Saxonism surrounding the Alabama arbitration; the African workers that accompanied Livingstone's body back to England, "faithful until the end"; Stanley's later involvement in romanticized boy scouting and the Belgian genocide in the Congo; the competing African and English, Christian and imperialist, appropriations of Livingstone, a diehard Scot and hapless, difficult missionary who rode his wife to an early grave, failed to convert even his trusted valet, and lived in an uneasy truce with the home missions societies.

Ishi In Two Worlds (1961)   by Theodora Kroeber, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian   19 December 2007 In 1910, a native American wandered out of the northern California wilderness, hungry and near death. Fate brought him to the University of Berkley and two young anthropology professors, who recognized him as the last Indian and the last vestige of a world nearly extinct. For the next 4 years Ishi lived at the museum and provided an invaluable ethno-linguistic resource of the Yana Indians. Written by the wife of one of the professors, this book contains a wealth of information about the closing of the frontier and the effects upon all those who lived there.

Restoring the Reformation: British Evangelicalism and the Francophone Réveil, 1816-1849 (2006)   by Kenneth J. Stewart, 254 pages James Donahue   29 December 2007 Very impressive church history on an understudied topic. Too many Protestants are unaware of the Continental roots of their faith. But I should caution that this is a former dissertation that has the blocky composition required by the profession. (The title alone is a good example of this.) Still: Its worth the effort to wade through the academic style, especially if you (like me) hail from a Pietistic and European-Reformed background.

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said   by Philip K Dick, 231 pages Steven Krise   07 January 2008 This one was Dick's Hugo Award winner. It definitely had the Dick flavor, but the epilogue seemed oddly out of place.

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.

Freddy's Book   by John Gardner, 246 pages Steven Krise   29 January 2008

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!

Max Weber: Politics and the Spirit of Tragedy (1997)   by John Patrick Diggins, 268 pages James Donahue   15 February 2008 Diggins knows a lot about Weber and sociology, but unfortunately he knows less about German intellectual history (except for the highlights) and extremely little (perhaps nothing) about Protestantism (or its supposed "ethic"). Because Diggins places Weber solely in a left-of-center intellectual canon, I think he misses quite a bit of Weber. Its a good book, but perhaps better for sociologists than for historians.

Hey Rube - Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness   by Hunter S Thompson, 246 pages Steven Krise   16 February 2008 Collection of HST's articles from the ESPN column of the same name.

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.)

Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason   by Jessica Warner, 267 pages Tony Pisarenkov   20 February 2008 Warner documents the rise of distilled spirits consumption in England in the middle of the XVIII century and the government's backlash against it. Fairly interesting, though I was hoping for more on the early spirits' manufacture, flavor and the rituals of consumption, and less on parliamentary politics of the day.

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie   by Jordan Sonnenblick, 273 pages Brad Snyder   23 February 2008 A book my daughter loved and recommended. An eighth-grade boy comes of age through his brother's battle with leukemia.

Frankenstein   by Mary Shelly, 206 pages Steve Gadd   25 February 2008 Spurned by his creator, all Frankenstein's monster wanted was a friend. Not a bad story for a 19-year-old author (and I just learned where she got her last name). The writing is as literary as you would expect from someone cooped up with master poets during the Year Without a Summer.

Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter   by Michelle Mercer, 298 pages Tony Pisarenkov   02 March 2008 The only biography I've read so far that is not only authorized by its subject, but one whose subject actively collaborated with the author. As such, it understandably leaves some things unsaid. Still, it captures both Shorter's personality and, more importantly, his musicianship, quite well, especially later in his career. My more detailed reactions are here

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.

A Walk In The Woods   by Bill Bryson, 276 pages Steven Krise   15 March 2008 Once, aeons ago, the Appalachians were of a scale and majesty to rival the Himalayas....That the Appalachian Mountains present so much more modest an aspect today is because they have had so much time in which to wear away. The Appalachians are immensely old--older than the oceans and continents (at least in their present configurations), far, far older than almost all other landscape features on earth. When simple plants colonized the land and the first creatures crawled gasping from the sea, the Appalachians were there to greet them.

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West (2008)   by Benazir Bhutto, 247 pages James Donahue   20 March 2008 Can one wholeheartedly agree with a book that one finds somewhat unconvincing?

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

Welcome to the Terrordome: The pain, politics and promise of sports (2007)   by Dave Zirin, 258 pages Jonathan Misirian   08 April 2008 Excellent book, documenting the intersection between sports and biting social commentary. Zirin shows the unique connection between these two realms and doesn’t hold back his criticism of our consumerist culture. Great read for all of those who love sports and who also keep their ears to the ground for sharp cultural analysis.

Into the Wild (1996)   by John Krackauer, 208 pages Jonathan Misirian   08 April 2008 Krackauer’s novel became a movie directed by Sean Penn. The author traces the steps of the young Christopher McCandless who leaves his well to do suburban family and hitch hikes across the country, ending up in Alaska, where he ultimately meets his demise. McCandless becomes a cult hero of sorts, the kind of wandering existentialist philosopher who embodies the freedom and spirit of adventure.

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 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 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.

Give War a Chance   by P.J. O'Rourke, 256 pages Steve Gadd   13 April 2008 Political commentary soaked with scorn and sarcasm serves as a good antidote to CNN earnestness.

Deep Ancestry - Inside the Genographic Project   by Spencer Wells, 247 pages Steven Krise   17 April 2008 The human race began 60,000 years ago with a single family in an African valley. Today we have carried our genes to the very ends of the Earth--and the DNA in each of us encodes a fascinating encapsulated history of our species and its travels over the ages. Dedicated to uncovering the secrets of deep ancestry, the Genographic Project is an ambitious scientific venture of unparalleled scope and profound implication.

Your Inner Fish   by Neil Shubin, 229 pages Steven Krise   19 April 2008 "There is a fundamental design in the skeleton of all animals. Frogs, bats, humans, and lizards are all just variations on a theme. That theme, to [Sir Richard] Owen, was the plan of the Creator. Shortly after Owen announced this observation in his classic monograph On the Nature of Limbs, Charles Darwin supplied an elegant explanation for it....There is a major difference between Owen's theory and that of Darwin: Darwin's theory allows us to make very precise predictions.

Y - The Descent of Men   by Steve Jones, 252 pages Steven Krise   29 April 2008

Bishop Stephen Neill: From Edinburgh to South India (2007)   by Dyron B. Daughrity, 287 pages James Donahue   01 May 2008 Neill was the Anglican bishop in southern India in the 1930s and 1940s, the declining years of the Raj. Daughrity's academic biography unveils this "life in the middle," uncovering some salacious details along the way, but without really questioning the inherent "middle" position of all Western missionaries.

Measuring the World (2006)   by Daniel Kehlmann, 259 pages James Donahue   03 May 2008 Historical fiction that covers the Enlightenment projects of Alexander von Humboldt (world explorer and geographical legend) and Carl Friedrich Gauss (mathematician and astronomer). One spends his life bringing German science to bear on the world, the other explores the "inner world" without ever leaving Prussia and Hanover. The plot sounds gimmicky. Yet Kehlmann's prose makes it work. It breathes life into these difficult characters, these Wissenshaftsmenschen, while reflecting on modernity's semi-pathological compulsion to discover the mathematical precision of the world. (It occurs to me when reading back through this review that it will not entice anyone to read this book. Damn my writing! Read the book anyway!!!)

Searching for God Knows What (2004)   by Donald Miller, 256 pages Jonathan Misirian   03 May 2008 Miller, the celebrated author of Blue Like Jazz, follows up with more ruminations on what it means to follow Christ. His strength is his relaxed writing style –you feel like you are having a conversation with a friend. His adept insights provide the reader with plenty to ponder, underline and internalize… excellent read.

How To Play In Traffic   by Penn and Teller, 226 pages Steven Krise   04 May 2008 Fun tricks and gags to do on the road.

What If Our World Is Their Heaven? The Final Conversations of Philip K Dick   by Gwen Lee and Doris Elaine Sauter (Eds.), 204 pages Steven Krise   08 May 2008 Taped on three different days, these conversations between PK Dick and Gwen Lee give an intimate look into the mind and writing process of this literary master.

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 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

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."

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.

Solar Lottery   by Philip K Dick, 200 pages Steven Krise   01 June 2008 In a strange feudal future society governed by Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and game theory, a disenchanted mid-level worker gets his chance to make a revolutionary change.

Choke   by Chuck Palahniuk, 293 pages Steven Krise   08 June 2008 The point was, it's not the sex part of pornography that hooked the stupid little boy. It was the confidence. The courage. The complete lack of shame. The comfort and genuine honesty. The up-front-ness of being able to just stand there and tell the world: Yeah, this is how I chose to spend a free afternoon. Posing here with a monkey putting chestnuts up my ass. And I don't really care how I look. Or what you think. So deal with it. He was assaulting the world by assaulting himself.

A Brief History of the Mind   by William H Calvin, 219 pages Steven Krise   14 June 2008 Rather disappointing - read like someone's lecture notes padded out to book length.

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.

Starbucked: a double tall tale of caffeine, commerce and culture (2007)   by Taylor Clark, 294 pages Jonathan Misirian   27 June 2008 Rare is the book that wants you to send a note of thanks to the author, and for me, Starbucked is one of those books. For a first book, Clark writes with a sharp wit and a with a style that is truly a delight to read. Not a screed, nor an add for the company; but rather a well balanced look at this American and now international company.

God: The Failed Hypothesis   by Victor J Stenger, 294 pages Steven Krise   07 July 2008 Starting with the hypothesis that there is a god who created the universe and life, imbued humans with an immortal soul, and taught us our moral values, Stenger reviews current scientific facts to test the hypothesis. Aside from giving away the outcome in the title, this is an engaging, delightful, easy read. Highly recommended for theists and atheists alike.

God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible (2003)   by Adam Nicolson, 243 pages James Donahue   16 July 2008 Nicolson pays tribute to the forgotten centerpiece of the English language, using the royal committee's fractured production of the KJV as a window into Jacobean England: "If you think of the King James Bible as the greatest creation of seventeenth-century England, a culture drenched in the word rather than the image, it is easy to see it as England's equivalent of the great baroque cathedral it never built, an enormous and magnificent verbal artifice, its huge structures embracing all 4 million Englishmen, its orderliness and richness a kind of national shrine built only of words."

Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time (2007)   by Rob Sheffield, 240 pages Brad Snyder   19 July 2008 Sheffield uses the medium of mix tapes to chronicle his marriage that was cut short by his wife's sudden death. Sweet story, but disjointed at times.

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?   by George Carlin, 295 pages Steven Krise   28 July 2008 Reads like a bookified blog with George rapping about idiots and their use of language.

Napoleon's Pyramids (2007)   by William Dietrich, 284 pages James Donahue   30 July 2008 Ethan Gage is a lazy ex-protege of Benjamin Franklin, bouncing around Revolutionary Paris until he wins an Egyptian medallion in a poker game, gets framed for murder, and runs away with Napoleon's army on its quest to invade Egypt, cut the British off from India, and harness the ancient's world's secrets. The adventure story of this novel is excellent, though little more than a well-honed rendition of the Indiana Jones-type exotic-orientalist adventures, except this time with Masons instead of Turkish secret societies and Napoleon instead of Nazis. The real enjoyment of this book for me lay in the historical fiction aspect of the book. The bizarre invasion of Egypt in 1798 opened up the Ottoman world to Westerners for the first time since the Crusades. The author liberally laces his novel with real characters that seem so far-fetched they could only be from the French Revolution. Great vacation read for those us who hate the insipidity of most vacation reads.

Patriotic Pacifism: Waging War on War in Europe, 1815-1914 (1991)   by Sandi. E. Cooper, 210 pages James Donahue   30 July 2008 The best general survey of the nineteenth-century Continental peace movement available. For those who've heard of the Interparliamentary Union, Alfred Nobel, the women's peace movement, international arbitration, or the Hague Conferences but have not yet found a good synthetic work on these subjects, this is the best alternative for you.

Notes from the Underground   by Fedor Dostoyevsky, 220 pages Tony Pisarenkov   05 August 2008

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 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.

Napalm & Silly Putty   by George Carlin, 269 pages Steven Krise   11 August 2008 If you've read any one of Carlin's books and any two of his HBO comedy specials, you've seen or heard all the material in this book.

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.

Short Rations (1917)   by Madeleine Zabriskie Doty, 274 pages James Donahue   25 August 2008 A book of Doty's firsthand experiences while traveling back and forth between Britain and Germany from 1914 - 1916 as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Remember when memoirs didn't have to be made up to become a bestseller?

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.

William Ewart Gladstone (1993)   by David Bebbington, 221 pages James Donahue   14 September 2008

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

Becoming Human   by Ian Tattersall, 258 pages Steven Krise   21 September 2008 Gets a little scattered and speculative in the last chapter (on human consciousness and the future of our species), but overall a good survey of hominid evolution with a focus on how our unique brand of brain/mind evolved.

Beautiful Evidence   by Edward Tufte, 213 pages Steven Krise   05 October 2008 I couldn't discern the line connecting some of the chapters to the overall theme of the book, but it is forgivable. His statements about sparklines and multimodal presentation of data are consciousness-expanding and his excoriation of PowerPoint is deep, thorough, and interesting.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter   by Jeffry Lindsay, 288 pages Steven Krise   26 October 2008 A break from this 500 page opus I've been moving through for 4 months.

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

Dearly Devoted Dexter   by Jeffry Lindsay, 292 pages Steven Krise   02 December 2008 Sort of like Dexter's "Wrath of Khan".

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

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man   by James Joyce, 253 pages Steve Gadd   20 December 2008 Not as compelling as I remembered it, though the extensive lecture on hell is still harrowing. Probably the only place you'll find fart jokes in Latin, or the tidbit that "bollocks" is "the only English dual number."

Downtown Owl: A Novel (2008)   by Chuck Klosterman, 288 pages Brad Snyder   24 December 2008 If this had been written by Jerry Seinfeld, it would have been funnier, but it's definitely the novel about nothin'.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007)   by Jeff Kinney, 226 pages Brad Snyder   25 December 2008 Fun book written from the perspective of a sixth grader and the social pressures he faces. I laughed a lot.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2008)   by Jeff Kinney, 216 pages Brad Snyder   25 December 2008 Same premise as before, only the kid's in seventh grade, and his older brother, Rodrick, has a secret he holds over his younger brother's head. Not as funny as the first, but still amusing.

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast   by Lewis Wolpert, 243 pages Tony Pisarenkov   29 December 2008 I was misled by the subtitle ("The Evolutionary Origins of Belief"), and once I discovered what the book was really about, it proved to be a disappointment. A few more comments here.

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.

Death with Interruptions (2008)   by José Saramago, 238 pages James Donahue   02 January 2009 A beautiful novel that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Slouching Towards Kalamazoo (1983)   by Peter De Vries, 246 pages James Donahue   05 January 2009

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto   by Michael Pollan, 244 pages Tony Pisarenkov   06 January 2009 Though it lacks the adventure of Pollan's best-seller "The Omnivore's Dilemma," and comes off as far more polemical, I still found it informative and, dare I say, inspirational. You could say I drank the Kool-Aid, though as a processed food with artificial ingredients, it wouldn't qualify.

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.

Jim and Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians (2007)   by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper, 208 pages Brad Snyder   26 January 2009 Jim (Henderson), a Christian, and (Matt) Casper, an atheist, go on a road trip to see several major evangelical churches and record Casper's impressions. The list of churches is a veritable Who's Who of evangelicalism: Saddleback, Willow Creek, Mars Hill, and even that Osteen church. Casper shares his likes and dislikes with Jim, who urges the Christians reading the book to take heed and make changes so that atheists will want to come to church. It sounded intriguing at first, but it wore on me. I found the whole premise that atheists have an interest in going to church absurd.

Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)   by Kurt Vonnegut, 215 pages Brad Snyder   02 February 2009 Vonnegut's anti-war/science fiction/account of the firebombing of Dresden.

Life at the Bottom   by Theodore Dalrymple, 261 pages Tony Pisarenkov   03 February 2009 Dalrymple, a doctor in the slums and a prison in Birmingham, gives a chilling account of the moral and cultural decrepitude of the British underclass and traces it to the welfare state's overwhelming culture of victimhood and a complete refusal on society's part to hold people responsible for their choices, fostered by liberal intellectuals. A must-read for anyone raising or planning to raise children, at the very least. Either affirming or controversial for the rest. A few more comments here.

On fortune's wheel   by cynthia voigt, 289 pages nicole   13 February 2009

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

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 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.

Me Talk Pretty One Day   by David Sedaris, 272 pages Steve Gadd   04 March 2009 A tolerable collection of amusing stories, perhaps a bit above the level of Dave Barry, and with regular F-bombs and social criticism to remind you that you're reading hipster counterculture and not mainstream drivel. In case those two are mutually exclusive.

Art Blakey: Jazz Messenger   by Leslie Gourse, 209 pages Tony Pisarenkov   06 March 2009 A brief and very mediocre biography of the great jazz drummer Art Blakey. Does give you some appreciation of his role as a mentor to young musicians, but otherwise fairly worthless.

Radio Free Albemuth   by Philip K Dick, 214 pages Steven Krise   14 March 2009 A self-indulgent exposition of Dick's Gnostic theology as a science fiction novel set in an alternate history USA of the late 60s and early 70s. Dick shows up in the novel (I think) as two of the characters: Nick Brady who is being beamed messages by a hyper-intelligent alien named VALIS via an ancient satellite orbiting earth, and his skeptical, yet supportive friend Phil. VALIS's goal is to work with his chosen people (a shadowy subversive organization called Aramchek) to overthrow the tyrannical presidency of Ferris Fremont (clearly based on Nixon).

Gullible's Travels   by Cash Peters, 276 pages Tony Pisarenkov   15 March 2009 Only occasionally funny.

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

Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000)   by David Sedaris, 272 pages Brad Snyder   01 April 2009 I saw that Steve read this and I remembered that it was on my mental reading list. Hilarious.

Poker Night - Winning At Home, At the Casino, and Beyond   by John Vorhaus, 275 pages Steven Krise   05 April 2009 Suggestions, guidelines, and ideas about setting up and hosting your own poker home game. Includes discussion of poker variants, tournaments, and how to alter your strategy as you step out from the home game to public poker venues.

Surrender on Demand   by Varian Fry, 272 pages Tony Pisarenkov   18 April 2009 Fry, as the representative of the Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseille from August 1940 until September 1941, is credited with saving over 1,000 refugees from Nazi-occupied France, most of them clandestinely. It is a shame he is not better known. This is his fascinating and occasionally chilling memoir. Highly recommended.

Homebrew Favorites   by Karl F Lutzen & Mark Stevens, 250 pages Steven Krise   02 May 2009 A collection of recipes compiled mostly during the period of 1988 to 1992 (book was published in 1994). So, the book offers a good snapshot at common homebrew practice at the beginning of the homebrew renaissance of the 1990s.

Life on a Young Planet   by Andrew H Knoll, 277 pages Steven Krise   20 May 2009 An informative overview of "the first three billion years of evolution on earth", starting with biogenesis up to just before the so called Cambrian Explosion. It ties together the topics of a couple other books I've read recently which were more focused in scope.

Indignation (2008)   by Philip Roth, 233 pages Brad Snyder   21 May 2009 Inane and stupid.

Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith (2008)   by Joe Eszterhas, 256 pages Brad Snyder   26 May 2009 Eszterhas brought us such movies as "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls." Then, after smoking every day for 45 years, he came down with throat cancer. Then, the man who spent his life mocking God turned to him. Now a faithful follower of Christ, he talks about how his life has changed. This is the best such testimony I have ever read. His faith is infectious, his presentation is raw, and his story is encouraging.

Discover Your Roots   by Paul Blake and Maggie Loughran, 237 pages Steven Krise   28 May 2009 Written in the "52 Ideas" style where there are 52 chapters, each one focused on a particular theme or idea. The more astute will note that this means each chapter is slightly more than 4.5 pages long meaning each great idea is either commonsense or discussed too shallowly to offer any real insight. On the whole, useless.

I Love You, Beth Cooper   by Larry Doyle, 272 pages Brad Snyder   26 June 2009 Read like a movie script for one of those teen coming of age movies. Halfway through, I did a search. Due in theaters July 10, 2009. Don't waste your time.

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

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.

Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization   by W. Hodding Carter, 241 pages Tony Pisarenkov   19 July 2009 Surprisingly interesting and occasionally very funny. A little heavy on the solid waste removal aspect of plumbing for my taste.

Poker Face   by Judi James, 256 pages Steven Krise   24 July 2009 Sort of like "Lie to Me" meets "Poker After Dark". The key is to practicing studying people's behavior so you can learn to compare the performed gestures with the unconscious leakage and microexpressions to see if the two classes of behaviours are congruent. Incongruent signals = bluffing.

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 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.

Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology   by David Darling, 206 pages Steven Krise   18 August 2009 A comprehensive and lucid introduction to the new science of astrobiology.

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

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.

I Am America (And So Can You!) (2007)   by Stephen Colbert, 240 pages Brad Snyder   30 August 2009 So funny.

Snowball Earth   by Gabrielle Walker, 269 pages Steven Krise   03 September 2009 Tells the story of the Snowball Earth hypothesis while telling the story (primarily) of Paul Hoffman, its chief proponent.

Beyond UFOs: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our Future   by Jeffrey Bennett, 211 pages Steven Krise   10 September 2009 The author is a professor and textbox author, so he's spent a little too much time dumbing down his prose for creationist college students (shudder) that end up in his Intro to Astrobiology class, which was annoying. However, the book was a serviceable overview of the topic.

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 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.

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).

Fight Club   by Chuck Palahniuk, 224 pages Steve Gadd   28 September 2009 Lessons learned: The movie can be better than the book, when the book is written like a screenplay. There's no line so good that it can't be used three or four times. It's still possible to use four-letter words like "butt wipe" without sounding lame.

Escape from the Deep   by Alex Kershaw, 288 pages Steve Gadd   09 October 2009

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

Right Ho, Jeeves   by P. G. Wodehouse, 224 pages Steve Gadd   19 October 2009

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.

Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life   by Peter Ward, 292 pages Steven Krise   29 October 2009 Ward challenges the Darwinian "orthodoxy" with his startling thesis that life on other planets may (or may not) use different chemistry from Earth life.

Great Mambo Chicken And The Transhuman Condition   by Ed Regis, 289 pages Steve Gadd   10 November 2009

Our Man In Havana   by Graham Greene, 220 pages Steven Krise   11 November 2009 http://www.google.com/#q=synopsis+"graham+greene"+"our+man+in+havana"

Maus   by Art Spiegelman, 296 pages Steve Gadd   16 November 2009