11.06.2009

Reading: Autumn 2009

Wow...it has been a long time since I've updated this beast. But, recently inspired by Nick Hornby, I thought I might attempt another entry. I have been trying to read more books. I have finished several in the last couple months and perhaps a few deserve mention.

Books I've Read
  • When Jesus Came to Harvard (Harvey Cox) - An excellent read by a Harvard Theology Professor who put together a course called "Jesus and the Moral Life." The course examined contemporary ethical dilemmas and was so wildly popular that it was eventually moved into Sanders Hall - the only place large enough to hold symphony and rock concerts on campus.
  • The Pawprints of History: Dogs and the Course of Human Events (Stanley Coren) - The title says it all.
  • The Student Conductor (Robert Ford) - A novel about a young conductor who goes to Germany to study from a master. The book was haunting - set around the time that the Berlin Wall fell - and for a debut novel was spectacular.

  • The Secret Supper (Javier Sierra) and The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece (Jonathon Harr) - Both of these books' plots are centered around a painting and the art world....I am a sucker for these types of books.
  • Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (Diablo Cody) - Great read. She is an excellent writer...I don't understand the hate for her in the online world.
  • Dead After Dark & Living Dead in Dallas (Charlaine Harris) and Guilty Pleasures (Laurell Hamilton) - The first two books are from a series called the Sookie Stackhouse books and are what the television show True Blood is based on. The third book is the first in the series of Anita Blake novels. Again, I've always been a sucker for the vampire novels....Thank you Anne Rice!
  • The Supreme Court (William H. Rehnquist) and The Genesis of Justice: Ten Stories of Biblical Injustice that Led to the Ten Commandments and Modern law (Alan M. Dershowitz) - The former is a re-read, while the latter was not. I really do love constitutional law.
  • Appetite for Destruction: The Days of Guns N' Roses (Danny Sugerman) - Sugerman managed the Doors, was a heroin addict and married Fawn Hall (Iran-Contra Conflict). He wrote this biography in 1991 and drew on the philosophies of Nietzche, Jung and many others. Probably the only book in which W. Axl Rose, Dionysus, William Blake, Motley Crue and Percy Shelley are all mentioned in the same book. If that doesn't intrigue you, the promotional excerpts on the cover include Ray Manzarek (The Doors), Timothy Leary and Oliver Stone.

Books I've Got in My Queue (I am Currently Reading)
  • Housekeeping vs. The Dirt (Nick Hornby) - The follow-up to the Polysyllabic Spree, is a collection of fourteen months of Nick's column "Stuff I've Been Reading"
  • The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein) - The novel is narrated by a dog, Enzo, on the last evening of his life. A wonderful book so far...but, I know I will cry at the end.
  • Interred With Their Bones (Jennifer Carrell) - Imagine the DaVinci Code meets Shakespeare...not awesome, but interesting...
  • Vampire Hunter D (Hideyuki Kikuchi) - The author is renowned in Japan for his horror work, and the book was published by Dark Horse (they did 300, Sin City - Note to Greg. It is good no matter what you say. - and Hellboy just to name a few).

Books I Recently Ordered
In the spirit of increasing our library and reading interesting books, I recently ordered several books through Abebooks, including: Lost in Music; Midnight in the Garden of Evel Knievel; Motley Crue - The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band; Introductory Probability and Statistical Inference (the two-volume 1957 work that came out from the Commission on Mathematics); and Computing in Statistical Science Through APL (Thank you George for this recommendation).