Steampunk
I had never heard of Steampunk until I read about it in the NY Times.
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What I'm Reading
Kate Chopin: The Awakening: And Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)
- Paul Johnson: A history of the English people
Thomas F. Schaller: Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South
Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
Robert A. Caro: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, (Vintage)
Volume 3Taylor Branch: Parting the Waters : America in the King Years 1954-63 (America in the King Years)
William Shakespeare: Shakespeare's Sonnets (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)
Michael R. Gordon: Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
Edith Wharton: Edith Wharton : Novels : The House of Mirth (Library of America)
What I've Read Recently
Louis Auchincloss: Theodore Roosevelt: (The American Presidents Series)
Too short to really do justice to this larger-than-life president. (***)C. S. Lewis: The Magician's Nephew (Narnia)
This is the first volume in the set according to the newly revised reading order recommended by Lewis himself. I think it's my favorite of the Narnia novels. (****)Bill Cosby: Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors
Bill Cosby has the right idea, encouraging black youth to remember the civil rights struggle of the 60s and to build on it rather than to turn their back on education, marriage, and hard work. But the book wanders around and doesn't make its point as well as Juan Williams' book about Cosby's campaign. (**)- J. I. M. Stewart: The Gaudy
The narrator returns to his Oxford college for homecoming, which brings to mind many parts of his past that he had forgotten. Excellent. (****) David Frum: Dead Right
A great disappointment after Frum's Comeback, which was excellent and could be read with pleasure by the political right or left equally. This book also suffers from being dated as it was published in 1994 and much has changed since then in American politics. (**)Robin Lee Hatcher: Veterans Way (Harts Crossing, Book 2)
The second volume in Robin Lee Hatcher's series of religious romances about a small town in Idaho. (***)Robin Lee Hatcher: Legacy Lane (Harts Crossing, Book 1)
A short and sweet religious romance that is a cut above the usual. (***)Robert A. Caro: Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2)
The second volume of Caro's superb biography. (*****)Honore de Balzac: Adieu Farewell
Another less than great Balzac novella. (**)Honore de Balzac: Sarrasine
An extended short story that is definitely not Balzac at his best. (**)Honoré de Balzac: Père Goriot (Oxford World's Classics)
A French classic that is even better than I remembered it. (*****)Joe Klein: Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You're Stupid
Excellent overview of mostly presidential politics in the last 30 years and how consultants and pollsters have dragged down the level of discussion. (*****)Diana Birchall: Mrs. Darcys Dilemma
A pastiche, and I love pastiche. This one is above ordinary in language and characters. The plot is a little overdone. (****)Anthony Powell: A Buyer's Market
The second novels in A Dance to the Music of Time. (****)Mark Steyn: America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
Outrageous but fundamentally correct. Based on fact and not opinion. (*****)Robin Wright: Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East
Superficial (**)Cal Thomas: Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America
Nothing new. (**)Stewart O'Nan: Last Night at the Lobster
A very sad novel. A novel of manners about the New England working class. (***)David Frum: Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again
A surprisingly non-vituperative political analysis. (*****)William Poundstone: Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do About It)
Recommendations for changing the way we vote in the US so third party candidates don't skew election results. (***)James Moore: Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential
Pretty good political analysis but somewhat invested in conspiracy theories. (**)Maurice Thompson: Alice of Old Vincennes
Adventure in revolutionary times. (***)Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution
A superb book for reading or even cooking. (*****)Naomi Klein: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
One of the worst, most ridiculously paranoid books I've ever read. (*)David Mendell: Obama: From Promise to Power
Good basic political biography. (***)William Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Folger Shakespeare Library)
Early Shakespeare and surprisingly bereft of quotable bits.Winifred Watson: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Persephone Classics)
A perfect delight. The movie was excellent also. (*****)Stephen Marks: Confessions of a Political Hitman: My Secret Life of Scandal, Corruption, Hypocrisy and Dirty Attacks That Decide Who Gets Elected (and Who Doesn't)
Fairly interesting but plodding. (**)Richard Thompson Ford: The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse
A really honest book about race in America is still unwritten. (***)Robert D. Novak: The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington
Novak has reported politics for many decades and he knows more about politics than most politicians. (***)
What Wilhelm Is Reading
What Wilhelm Has Read Recently
- Paul Levine: To Speak for the Dead
(***) Paul Levine: The Deep Blue Alibi: A Solomon vs. Lord Novel
(***)Donna Leon: Death at La Fenice: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery
Tim Dorsey: The Big Bamboo: A Novel
Another weird romp with Dorsey's anti-hero Serge Storms. (***)H.W. Brands: Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times
One of the best biographies I've ever read. (*****)Carl Hiaasen: Basket Case
An amusing newsroom mystery. (***)Bob Morris: Bahamarama
A nice little bit of fratirical literature. (***)Steve Coll: Ghost Wars
Very interesting book. Ghost Wars is vital reading for anyone wishing to know more about the background to the current situation in Afghanistan. (****)Donald Westlake: Watch Your Back!
Amusing but not up to the high quality of Westlake's best work. (**)John F. Wasik: The Merchant of Power: Sam Insull, Thomas Edison, And the Creation of the Modern Metropolis
Good book but workmanlike prose. Solid biography of a largely forgotten figure who did much to make modern cities what they are. (***)Michael Kazin: A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan
A scholarly look at Bryan that dispels popular misconceptions. (****)Candice Millard: River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
(****)
We're listening to . . .
Steve Tyrell: Songs of Sinatra
(*****)
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How on earth could the NYT do this story without mentioning Robert Conrad's classic late 1960s TV show "The Wild Wild West"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Wild_West
Posted by: Wilhelm | Friday, May 09, 2008 at 05:56 AM
Mary, a couple of years ago I compiled a list of historical novels set in the Victorian age--not making such good progress on that reading, I'm afraid. But one of the authors mentioned in the article you linked, Wlliam Gibson, wrote (along with Bruce Sterling) _The Difference Engine_, which my notes refer to as
a steampunk sci-fi novel influenced by Disraeli's _Sybil_!
Posted by: Fay Sheco | Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 07:05 AM