(Dragon reading to a small boy.)
Image from Reading Dragon Graphics by Xxanthe

To Be Read List

I've finally started keeping this written down. At least, the portions that I can take time to write down are going to be written down ...

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
I read the Reader's Digest Condensed Version (an excerpt) and was impressed. Tim Harris caught me and chewed me out. He says I have to read the full novel, but he won't loan me his because I'll get chocolate on it. I hope someone gives me a copy of my own for Christmas.
 
I have just discovered that there are three Christopher Moore books I haven't read:

Actually in my physical TBR stack:
 
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom
which My Wesley has just finished reading. There are a handful of books that Wes reads in their entirety. I gotta read this one. If I follow my lifelong habit and go on to read related and possibly dissenting books, I will probably read Mortimer Adler, Reforming Education : The Opening of the American Mind. I may even end up reading William Buckley, Jr. Beyond Cheering and Bashing : New Perspectives on the Closing of the American Mind.

The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media by Norman Solomon
"Decoding Spin and Lies in Mainstream Media" sounds useful. Look for a review on this in the next book issue of Real Change.

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
which sounds like an SF novel dealing with mental health issues and feminism, nicely left-wing radical. (I'm working on it! I'm working on it! See comments on He, She and It)


Moved from ToBeRead to Read:

Wizard and Glass by Stephen King
My favorite Stephen King novels were the Gunslinger series, and a fellow Book Barn reader gave this a thumbs up, especially mentioning "attention to detail". It bore out all my fondest expectations. Stephen King himself regards this as his "meta-story," and I am looking forward to the next installment.

He, She and It by Marge Piercy.
I noticed this book in the library and it looked like my sort of thing. Recently, the subject of golems came up on one of my book discussion lists and a fellow member commented on my posting of the story of Rabbi Loew and the Golem of Prague that that was much like the sub-plot of Marge Piercy's novel. So I was hooked. I did enjoy the book, although I became impatient with it at times. Marge Piercy's poetry is sparse and clean; her prose resembles the broad, rich, slow expanse of a great river delta. It's worth reading, but probably not if you like action novels.
Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
I have now read all of Christopher Moore's books in print in the U.S.:
I have just discovered, however, that there are two Christopher Moore novels available only in the U.K.:
...and one non-fiction history book, available also in the U.S.: Trench Fever
"Exasperated with the emphasis most war literature places on the officers and political leaders, Moore set out to trace the wartime experiences of one man - one personal history among the 6,000,000 voiceless ranks of Britons in uniform. He chose Private Walter Butterworth, 5th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment, an obscure infantryman in a disparaged outfit of amateurs that somehow managed to win one of the greatest battles of history - who also happened to be Moore's grandfather."
The Science of Discworld
The link is to amazon.co.uk, which has many more Terry Pratchett books.
Also read:
The Path of Daggers; and the Wheel of Time reference companion to the series by Robert Jordan
 

My Wish List

 


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