These I have read recently and liked unless otherwise noted.
Sometimes stars are given instead of, or in addition to, any annotation.
Most recent are at top of list:
Moby Dick or The Whale, by Herman Melville. (5/08) ***
Divine and human and other stories, by Leo Tolstoy. New translations by Peter Sekirin. (4/08) ***
Hershey by Michael D'Antonio. Biography of Milton S. Hershey, the benevolent and quirky industrialist
who, after a number of unsuccessful ventures, succeeded with Hershey's Chocolate and founded the company town of
Hershey, PA along utopian lines. (2/08) ***+
Amish grace. How forgiveness transcended tragedy,
by Donald Kraybill et al. The recent Nickel Mines tragedy in Pennsylvania, and the Amish community's response of forgiveness
to the gunman's surviving family. (1/08)
Angelica, a novel by Arthur Phillips. A Victorian couple's domestic difficulties and the appearance of supernatural
spectres ***+ (01/08)
Board and table games from many civilizations by R.C. Bell. A thorough and interesting survey and classification of many
board games ancient through modern. Games are classified into families (eg. "circle race games"). Includes board layouts,
play instructions, and hints on crafting game equipment. (12/07)
Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. Well written, entertaining and interesting exotic subject matter..
best to set aside several months and don't push yourself to rush thru it. I was a little dismayed
upon encountering "insets" (chapters containing self-contained stories that are apparently unrelated
to the main thread or its characters) at around page 800. (11/07)
Around the world in eleven years by Patience, Richard, and John Abbe. Random selection from the shelf
of old books up at camp. A freelance photographer's family lives for several years at a time in 30's France, Russia,
Germany, New York, and Wyoming, and this is told from a child's perspective in a childlike way. Some interesting parts.
(9/07)
The overcoat and other stories by Nikolai Gogol (7/07) ****
First love and other stories by Ivan Turgenev (6/07) ****
Best American Short Stories: 1951 (anthology) (5/07) ****
Torrents of spring by Ivan Turgenev (4/07) ****+
Jude the obscure by Thomas Hardy (3/07) ****
The moon and sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham (2/07) ***+
Then and now by W. Somerset Maugham. Somewhat interesting insights to early 1500's Italian city states, dukes,
romantic intrigue etc. but bailed with 30% to go.
Middlemarch by George Eliot. Amazing, especially as everything comes together during book's last 1/3.
A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson. A pretty funny account of two flabby middle-aged
guys deciding to hike the Appalachian Trail.
The plot against America by Philip Roth. Plausible and thought-provoking premise
but kind of falls apart in the latter portions.
A burnt-out case by Grahem Greene. ****
The heart of the matter by Grahem Greene. ****
The mother tongue. English and how it got that way by Bill Bryson. Fascinating.
The quiet American by Graham Greene. ****
Out of America by Keith Richburg. A black American reporter for the Washington Post on assignment at
the Africa desk in Nairobi. The many terrible things he witnesses, as well as the conclusions he reaches, are tragic.
Le Grand Meaulnes by Henri Alain-Fournier. ****
The treasure of pleasant valley by Frank Yerby. A random pick from the shelves of old forgotten novels
at the camp up the lake. Pre-political-correctness, not bad, enjoyable if formulaic '49ers gold rush tale. (9/06)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Not my favorite style of writing and "icky" in places, but
he did have some interesting things to say.
Of human bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. Excellent, gave me that nice "Buddenbrooks" feeling.
Lady Chatterley's lover by D. H. Lawrence. *****
The lobster gangs of Maine by James M. Acheson. Fascinating study written in mid 1980's
of the Maine lobster industry.
Wal-Mart. The face of twenty-first century capitalism. Edited by Nelson Lichtenstein.
The ruthless side of free market economies.
Gone tomorrow. The hidden life of garbage by Heather Rogers. The dark, toxic underbelly of
comsumerist culture, and guess what, recycling isn't really helping that much.
The Beatles: the biography by Bob Spitz. A comprehensive, interesting treatment of their
spectacular rise, the opportunists and vultures that surrounded them, their various individual excursions
off the deep end, and their eventual falling apart.
Only the strong survive: the odyssey of Allen Iverson by Larry Platt.
Allen is able to convert frustration and heartache into excellence on the court--
the worse things get for him, the better he plays.
Four short stories:
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. Claustrophobic but has its moments. There must be a profound
message locked in here somewhere, trying to get out.
Paris to the moon by Adam Gopnik.
Liked the Parisian cultural insights; skipped some of the side-discussions.
The brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Rich, intricate, portions are uplifting and profound,
others sad and dismal.
The battle of Brazil by Jack Mathews. The making of Terry Gilliam's film "Brazil", one of my favorites.
Watching the film is more fun than this book.. and the layout/typeface is hard on the eyes.
The short stories of Anton Tchekov (Modern Library). ****
Ivan Ilyitch and other stories by Leo Tolstoi (1887, Dole tr.) *****
The darling by Russell Banks. Darkly fascinating but sometimes implausible yarn set mostly in the
hellish chaos of Liberia, West Africa over recent years. Underdeveloped ending.
Moutains beyond mountains by Tracy Kidder. Paul Farmer, poverty, and community health.
Set in Haiti, the Andes, and the Russian prison system (battling TB). Inspiring
but quite daunting once you realize the day-to-day decisions that have to be made, and the scope of
what he's taking on.
Don't think of an elephant by G Lakoff. An entertaining and illuminating analysis of the
American right wing and the battle to frame current issues in a skewed way.
Ralph Stanley: tales of a Maine boatbuilder by CS Milner and Ralph Stanley. Downeasters who built
wooden vessels "by feel".. true artists. A few still do. Ralph lives near us and is a presence in the community here.
Death in venice and 7 other stories by Thomas Mann. The featured story is interesting and haunting.
Some of the other stories more laborous to get through.
Death in the afternoon by E Hemmingway. Nonfiction look at bullfighting in Spain
was generally fun to read.
Ragtime by EL Docterow. Liked it.
Rudin by IS Turgenev. Liked it.
Wired: the short life and fast times of John Belushi by Bob Woodward. The rise and fall
of a self-centered guy who got sudden fame and riches.
Crime and punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Engaging, dark.
Tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. I like the Russians better.
Dead souls by Nikolai Gogol. Fascinating, quite old, sort of unfinished.
Billy Bathgate by E.L. Docterow.
Celebrated well-written yarn of a rough and ready boy takes up
with gangsters in early 20th c. New York City. Or am I getting this mixed up with "Ragtime"?
Lobster chronicles by Linda Greenlaw. Interesting observations of a professional female Maine lobsterman.
Gas station by Joseph Torra. Grabbed this one off the 50c book table.. different.
A consumers' republic: the politics of mass consumption in postwar America by Lizabeth Cohen
Angle of repose by Wallace Stegner. The title is an actual mining/engineering term meaning
the maximum steepness that an embankment or dirt pile can have and still hold together.
Against the machine: the hidden Luddite tradition in literature art and individual lives by Nicols Fox
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi *****
Shopgirl a novella by Steve Martin. Liked it.
Poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Liked it.
Shotoku teahouse by Richard Mumford. A Delaware man goes overseas in the service during the 1950s,
meets, courts, marries, and brings home a Japanese woman, in spite of a lot of cross-cultural confusion and prejudice.
Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann. Excellent epic of a family in old Germany over several generations, gradually dissipating.
A suitable boy, by Vikram Seth. Follows several well-to-do Indian clans over a couple of generations. Hated when
it ended.
Death comes for the archbishop, by Willa Cather. Warm glow. Want to revisit this one.
The magic mountain (Lowe-Porter translation), by Thomas Mann.
Brilliant- may have missed a lot on first reading - want to revisit. Escaping the cold, weary world at
a TB sanitarium in the Swiss Alps, where one is well taken care of. At the romantic climax (borrowing the pencil)
it suddenly switches into French for several pages. Skimmed some of the philosophical discourses
in the second half. Took a peak at a more modern translation and didn't like it as much.
American pastoral by Phillip Roth. Newark history, crazy terrorism, and glove manufacturing.
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