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What I'm Reading
E. J. Hobsbawm: Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day (Economic Hist of Britain)
Anthony Trollope: The Last Chronicle of Barset (Penguin Classics)
I'm re-reading this with my online Trollope group. (*****)Marcel Proust: The Guermantes Way (In Search of Lost Time, Volume 3)
I'm re-reading my way through In Search of Lost Time using the new translations. (*****)- William Dean Howells: Venetian Days
Published in about 1965, his observations about the city to which he was posted as consul are surprisingly apt still today. I'm reading this book on my Kindle. - Muriel Spark: The Comforter
Spark's first novel, published in 1957. Taylor Branch: Parting the Waters : America in the King Years 1954-63 (America in the King Years)
The first in the trilogy of the history of Civil Rights Era. I'm re-reading this book on my Kindle. (*****)
What I've Read Recently
Daphne Du Maurier: Rebecca
(****)Niall Ferguson: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
Money and the lack of it has changed history. (****)Mark Harris: Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
If you love the movies, and you like to watch the extra features on DVDs, this book will please you as much as it pleased me. It's the story of the making of five movies released in 1967, the contenders for the Best Picture Academy Award. Did the best movie win? (****)John Bayley: Elegy for Iris
A controversiall remembrance of Bayley's years with his wife, Iris Murdoch, who had been overcome with Alzheimer's at the time he wrote the book. We should be grateful the book was published because it led to the movie, Iris, which was splendid. (**)Faust Drew Gilpin: This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
Excellent if somewhat specialized. I wouldn't recommend reading it unless you already have a fairly substantial grasp of the Civil War. (***)Inger Ash Wolfe: The Calling
(*****)Donna Andrews: The Penguin Who Knew Too Much (Meg Langslow Mysteries)
(****)Ori Brafman: Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
(****)Richard H. Thaler: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
(****)Laurie Viera Rigler: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
(****)Mary Ann Shaffer: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
(****)Deborah Crombie: Leave the Grave Green (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels)
(****)James Wood: How Fiction Works
(*****)Dick Morris: Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It
Morris is an astute observer of the political and economic scene. He's a bit conservative and strident for many. (****)Thomas Sowell: Economic Facts and Fallacies
Sowell is one of the finest economists we have. (*****)Ann Granger: The Companion (Lizzie Martin Mysteries)
First book in a new series. (****)Jerrold M. Packard: American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow
Good book. I'd like to give it three and a half stars. (****)Deborah Crombie: All Shall Be Well (Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James Novels)
Crombie can always be relied upon to deliver a mystery worth reading. (****)Robert L. Park: Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
Excellent examination of the occasional attempts by various people (including some in Congress) to repeal the laws of physics. (****)Jeanine Basinger: The Star Machine
Brilliant study of the study system by examining the lives (real and manufactured) of a dozen famous stars. (*****)Clea Simon: Mew is for Murder (Theda Krakow Mysteries, No. 1)
A cat-based mystery. (****)- Robert L. Selig: Time and Anthony Powell: A Critical Study
Dry and academic. (***) Anthony Trollope: The Belton Estate
A lesser-know Trollope novel. (*****)Anthony Trollope: The Small House at Allington
Another Trollope classic. (*****)Anthony Trollope: Orley Farm (Oxford World's Classics)
One of Trollope's Best (*****)
What Wilhelm Is Reading
What Wilhelm Has Read Recently
Craig Johnson: Kindness Goes Unpunished: A Walt Longmire Mystery
- 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
(****)
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Vive la France, Mary!
Bon soir....
Posted by: Karen | Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 05:57 PM