Mike Roam's Books Page

Note: these pages were created as an exercise: I've written the programs that convert a database into validated xhtml interlinked webpages that are sorted by different fields (date, title, author), and that in one case (date) have internal links to the various dates. 2007: I'm starting to investigate LibraryThing.com. --Mike

Books Read, by Author.

; 1961 METAI, KURIAIS TU GIMEI: KAS Š.VYKO. KAIP RENGŠSI. ... Nonfiction; (acv edicions, Barcelona, Spain; © ACV, Afers de Comunicacio Visual, SA; ISBN#:978-84-96738-31-7) {read:2007 aug 25} (History of what happened in Lithuania in 1961.) Apparently Krushchev was pushing the planting of corn in Lithuania in 1961, the same year that Amnesty International (AI usa) was founded.
; Big Red(?) Nonfiction; {read:1975 or before} that dog that helps hunt wolves
; Bold Fisherman, The Fiction; {read:1968}
(+ Edited by Paul Trynka, Foreword by Keith Richards.); Electric Guitar, The: An Illustrated History Nonfiction; (2002 Virgin Books Ltd (originally pub 1993); © 1993, 2002 The Design Museum And Virgin Publishing Ltd; ISBN#:0-7535-0653-X) {read:2005 Jun} In-depth history and essays about the most pivotal and unusual electric guitars.
; Fun in Story Fiction; {read:1968}
; Grandmother and I Fiction; {read:1968}
; I Know People Nonfiction; {read:1968}
; In the Big City Nonfiction; {read:1968}
; Lodge Stories Fiction; {read:1968}
; Round About Fiction; {read:1968}
; Spring in Noisy Village Fiction; {read:1968}
; We Live with Other Fiction; {read:1968}
?, ? ; Everything House Buying Book, The Nonfiction; {read:2001}
?, ? ; Hooked on Java Nonfiction; {read:1996}
?, ? ; House Buying for Dummies Nonfiction; {read:2001}
?, ? ; Java Sourcebook, The Nonfiction; {read:1996}
?, ? ; Keys to Loft/Condo/Coop Purchases Nonfiction; {read:2001}
?, ? ; Mac OS X Server Nonfiction; {read:2002}
?, ? ; Mac OS X Server 2.2 Manual Nonfiction; {read:2002}
?, ? ; Practical Algorithms Nonfiction; {read:2002}
?, ? ; Practical C++ Nonfiction; (O'Reilly & Associates, Sebastopol, California; ) {read:1996} (note: also at ora.com)
?, ? ; Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Quick Start Manual Nonfiction; (Aspyr/Firaxis/2K; © 2005; ) {read:2007 Dec} My rating: 5 (fr.0-10).
Achebe, Chinua ; Things Fall Apart Fiction; {read:1990-93}
Adams, Douglas ; Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Fiction; (Pocket Books, New York. 1979; ) {read:1983-4} Funny, light-hearted, absurd.
Adams, Douglas ; Life, the Universe and Everything Fiction; (Pocket Books, New York. 1979; ) {read:1983-4} Funny, light-hearted, absurd.
Adams, Douglas ; Restaurant at the End of the Universe, The Fiction; (Pocket Books, New York. 1979; ) {read:1983-4} Funny, light-hearted, absurd.
Adams, Richard ; Watership Down Fiction; (Avon; ISBN#:0380002930) {read:1978 & before} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). I've never forgotten the discussion with the captive/passive rabbits, in which the traveler tries to convince them that their peaceful life will be over when the farmer comes to cut them up for supper.
Aeschylus, ? (+ Translated by Richmond Lattimore.); Oresteia Fiction; (In "Aeschylus I", University of Chicago Press. 1953; ) {read:1979-82}
Aldrin, Buzz (+ John Barnes); The Return Fiction; (New York : Tor, 2001, c2000.; ISBN#:0-812-57060-X) {read:2008 mar 22} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). action-packed space/politics thriller, from real astronaut
Ambrose, Stephen ; Band of Brothers Nonfiction; {read:2001} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). History of American paratroopers in WWII as they train for D-Day, then fight through France and Germany. Another "can't put it down" true story, with plenty of food for thought for pacifists and non.
Ambrose, Stephen ; Citizen Soldiers (?) Nonfiction; {read:2001}
Amery, Colin ; Wren's London Nonfiction; (Leonard Publishing; © Colin Amery 1988; ISBN#:1-85291-009-7) {read:2006 Jul} After finishing reading Stephenson's "Baroque Cycle", mostly set in London with architect (and astronomy professor and friend of the founders of the Royal Society) Christopher Wren as an incidental character, I discovered this photo album of his work on that city's churches and cathedrals. (Stephenson's characters, especially Daniel Waterhouse, are constantly using St.Paul's cathedral as a landmark, and after seeing this book I realize why: it is a dominant (huge!) bulk in the city skyline, surrounded by the many steeples put up by Wren after the great fire of 1666.)
Amis, Martin ; Information, The: A Novel Fiction; (Harmony Books, a division of Crown Publishers, NY; © 1995 Martin Amis; ISBN#:0-517-58516-2) {read:2006 nov 22} My rating: 5 (fr.0-10). Although I liked it, I have to agree with my friends who felt it was a waste of the author's talent. It is non-stop full of amazingly clever writing: constant wordplay and shift of narrative stance, engrossing story—but the characters are tediously self-destructive and unlikeable.
Amis, Martin ; Time's Arrow Fiction; (Vintage; ) {read:2001}
Aristophanes, ? (+ Translated by Douglass Parker.); Lysistrata Fiction; (Mentor Book, New American Library, New York. 1964, 1970; ) {read:1979-82}
Asbury, Herbert ; Gangs of New York Nonfiction; (Book Softcover; 384 pages; Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press; March, 2002; ) {read:2002}
Asimov, Isaac (+ with Robert Silverberg); Positronic Man, The Fiction; (Doubleday, 1993; ) {read:1990-93} A bit lame.
Atwood, Margaret ; HandMaid's Tale, The Fiction; {read:1985-87} If all the fundamentalists and fascists joined forces HERE, not just in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Burma...
Austen, Jane ; Northanger Abbey Fiction; (The Modern Library, New York; © 2002 Modern Library Paperback Edition; ISBN#:0-375-75917-4 (pbk)) {read:2005 Nov 21} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Very first impression: Jane's funny! "..so pure and uncoquettish were her feelings, that, though they overtook and passed the two offending young men in Milsom-street, she was so far from seeking to attract their notice, that she looked back at them only three times." (chapter VII) "the advantages of natural folly in a beautiful girl have been already set forth ... Catherine did not know own advantages&emdash;did not know that a good-looking girl, with an affectionate heart and a very ignorant mind, cannot fail of atracting a clever young man, unless circumstances are partiularly untoward." (chapter XIV) Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Babbitt, Bob ; 25 Years of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship Nonfiction; (Meyer & Meyer Sport, 2003.; ) {read:2003 nov} more info at www.ironmanlive.com and www.ironman25.com
Baldwin, James ; Another Country Fiction; (A Laurel book, pub. by Dell, NY; © 1960, 1962 James Baldwin; ISBN#:0-440-30200-5) {read:2007 nov 25} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Things I like included the human relations (tension when people don't trust each other at the start of a romantic relationship, in particular) and issues of hate and racism, and the struggle to create significant works of art. One character watches strangers out a window and pictures one of them bringing home a new lover who will try to act out love moves as seen in movies. Truthtelling is thought to lead to redemption for artists. Whites beat up blacks and vice versa. French logic: we are French, so whatever we do is right. Policeman are potential assailants, but one is seen patrolling with a mix of suspicion and fear. "Maybe there's something in everybody that likes to be debased, but I don't think life's that simple. I don't trust all these formulas." There's a strange moment when Baldwin's voice changes into that of a movie critic for a page or two.
Bantock, Nick ; Griffin & Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence Fiction; (Chronicle Books, San Francisco; © 1991 Nick Bantock; ISBN#:0-87701-788-3) {read:2007 sep 08} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Beautifully illustrated with intriguing "soulmates at a distance" story.
Barry, Dave ; Big Trouble Fiction; (Berkley Books, NY ( a division of Penguin Books); © 1999 Dave Barry; ISBN#:0-428-17810-2) {read:2005 Jun 26} I recommend! A goofball light novel: hilarious, in the "Bunch of South Florida Wackos" genre shared by Carl Hiassen.
Barry, Dave ; Dave Barry is From Mars and Venus Nonfiction; (Ballantine Books (imprint of Random House); © 1997 Dave Barry; ISBN#:0-345-42578-2) {read:2006 Apr 18} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). More laugh-out-loud hilariousness
Barry, Dave ; Dave Barry is not taking this sitting down! Nonfiction; (Crown Publishers, New York; © 2000 Dave Barry; ISBN#:0-609-60067-2) {read:2008 may 01} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). laugh out loud
Barry, Dave ; Dave Barry's Guide to Guys Nonfiction; {read:1995} Slapstick writing, the funniest thing I've ever read!
Barry, Dave ; Tricky Business Fiction; (Berkley Books, NY ( a division of Penguin Books); © 2002 Dave Barry; ISBN#:0-425-19274-1) {read:2005 Jun 25} I recommend! "Another actual novel..." with some hilarious parts: I read it in two days and then went to the store the same day to get his first novel. I want to give copies to my nephews, but I'm troubled by the parts in which the bad guys are VERY bad: they don't play well with others. A goofball story: hilarious, in the "Bunch of South Florida Wackos" genre shared by Carl Hiassen.
Beckett, Samuel ; Waiting for Godot Fiction; {read:1988-89}
Berendt, John ; City of Falling Angels, The Nonfiction; (Penguin Group, New York 2005; © High Water, Inc 2005; ISBN#:1-59420-058-0) {read:2006 Feb 08} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
Bergner, Daniel ; God of the Rodeo: The search for hope, faith, and a six-second ride in Louisiana's Angola Prison Nonfiction; (Crown Publishing, Random House, New York; © 1998, Daniel Bergner; ISBN#:0-609-60105-9) {read:2005 May} I recommend! Unforgettable visit inside a maximum security prison. It reads like a novel, with an inside-the-walls rodeo that draws crowds of "freemen", with a warden who asks for bribes, with life-term prisoners (convicted of brutal crimes) who are now looking for some reason to hope and some way to improve themselves.
Black, Cara ; Murder in the Marais: An Aimée Leduc Investigation Fiction; (Soho Press, NY; © 1999, Cara Black; ISBN#:1-56947-212-2) {read:2006 apr 19} My rating: 5 (fr.0-10).
Blankley, Tony ; West's Last Chance, The: Will We Win The Clash of Civilizations Nonfiction; (Washington, DC : Regnery Pub. ; c2005.; ISBN#:0-89526-015-8) {read:2008 jan 15} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10).
Bloom, Matthew ; Edit Raw Daniel Fiction; (unpublished manuscript; ) {read:2004 Dec}
Boukreev, Anatoli (+ co-author G. Weston DeWalt); Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest, The Nonfiction; (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1997.; ) {read:1998} Breathtaking account of the May 96 climbing tragedy on Everest, differs with Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air in some interpretations.
Bowen, Elenore Smith ; Return to Laughter Nonfiction; (Harper and Brothers: 1954; Natural History Library, Anchor Books, Doubleday, New York: 1964.; ) {read:1979-82} (Author's real name is Laura Bohannon).
Bowles, Paul ; Sheltering Sky, The Fiction; (The Ecco Press, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers,; © 1949 Paul Bowles, renewed 1977; ISBN#:0-88001-582-9) {read:2005 Mar} Favorite moments in the book include the description of Kit's sensitivity to omens: (including the possibility of misleading omens which she suspects are trying to lull her into relaxing her guard)--I felt that this description gave me an understanding of a personality that I'd never understood before. Another moment for me is the "dancer" in the tent's story of the women who want to drink tea in the sahara, and who get there by running off with a camel train as Kit does later. The mother & son were deliciously awful, as was Kit's attempt to find Tunner tolerable.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer ; Bloody Sun, The Fiction; (Ace Science Fiction, New York: 1964, 1983; ) {read:1985-87}
Bradley, Marion Zimmer ; Darkover Landfall Fiction; (Daw Books, New York: 1972; ) {read:1985-87}
Bradley, Marion Zimmer ; Mists of Avalon Fiction; (A Del Rey Book, Ballantine Books, New York. 1982; ) {read:1985-87} Nice re-telling of the Arthurian legend from point of view of (some of) the women.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer ; Sharra's Exile Fiction; (Daw Books, New York: 1981; ) {read:1985-87}
Bradley, Marion Zimmer ; Spell Sword, The Fiction; (Daw Books, New York: 1974; ) {read:1985-87}
Bradley, Marion Zimmer ; Thendara House Fiction; (Daw Books, New York: 1983; ) {read:1985-87}
Brockman, John (+ introduction by Ian McEwan); What We Believe but Cannot Prove : Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty Nonfiction; (Harper Perennial; © 2006 John Brockman; ISBN#:978-0-06-084181-2) {read:2008 may 20} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Page-long essays of cutting-edge speculation regarding the universe, string theory, human nature, energy crisis... you name it. Read one a day, they're tasty.
Brooks, Jr., Fred P. ; Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering Nonfiction; (Addison-Wesley Publishing Co, Reading Mass. 1975, 1982; ) {read:1990-93} Great book! Beware, programming teams: as number of team members rises, communication paths rise exponentially, as does possibility of screwing up under-specified interfaces.
Brown, Dan ; Angels & Demons Fiction; {read:2003} can't put it down! Freemasons, codes, clues, horrible violence, race against time, CERN (and its invention of the world wide web by Tim Berners-Lee, who used nextstep software to invent html and http).
Brown, Dan ; Da Vinci Code, The Fiction; (Doubleday, NY 2003; ) {read:2003} I'm crazy about this book's references to Leonardo Da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, and Alexander Pope. A chase in which knowledge, perspective, intuition, problem-solving, and character all matter. Manages to include Catholic and anti-catholic views, feminist thought, actual secret societies (including "Priory of Sion" which was supposedly led by Sandro Botticelli, Da Vinci, Newton, Debussy, Victor Hugo, Robert Boyle, and Jean Cocteau), Crusaders, etc.
Brown, Dan ; Deception Point Fiction; {read:2004 jun} more action and excitement, with a struggle over NASA's role: secret technology edge for national security vs. free-market commercialized vs. open non-commercial govt. agency
Brown, Rita Mae ; RubyFruit Jungle Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Browning, Christopher R. ; Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Nonfiction; (Harper Perennial, a division of HarperCollins publishers, 1998; ) {read:1999} --(non-fiction) War crimes trials after WWII obtained chilling testimony from "Ordinary Men" (non-combatant policemen) who participated the mass murder of civilian Jews and Poles. The men are initially given opportunities to opt out, and their self-serving testimony is treated with proper skepticism, as are their claims of coercion (the courts found no evidence of any soldier being persecuted for refusing to participate). A tightly-reasoned appendix suggests that Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners" book is sometimes illogical and overstated.
Burns Florey, Kitty ; Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog Nonfiction; (Melville House; ISBN#:978-1-933633-10-7) {read:2008 mar 03}
Burrough, Bryan ; Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis About Mir Nonfiction; (Harper Collins publishers, NY 1998; ) {read:1999}
Burroughs, Edgar Rice ; Tarzan Fiction; {read:1978 & before}
Byatt, A.S. ; Possession Fiction; {read:1996} Exciting historical literate novel. Great debunking of a fraud psychic. Delightful love story.
Caldwell, Ian (+ Dustin Thomason); Rule of Four, The Fiction; (Dial Press, a division of Random House, New York NY; © 2004, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason; ISBN#:0-385-33711-6) {read:2005 Mar} Regarding Francesco Colonna's book, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, published in 1527. I found useful links at www.victoria.tc.ca/~mattison/ficarch/rulefour.htm, including a map of the Princeton Campus, the official Rule of Four site www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/theruleoffour/, Amazon's info (including the 1999 English translation of) Hypnerotomachia, and directory of library copies of Hypnerotomachia.
Calvino, Italo ; Baron in the Trees, The Fiction; {read:2000} I am grateful for this graceful, bittersweet, quasi-fable: thankful for the author's imagination, the character's nobility of spirit, and the deftly handled considerations of how to be a good person (no didactic sledgehammers here).
Calvino, Italo (+ Translated from the Italian by William Weaver.); If On A Winter's Night A Traveler Fiction; (Everyman's Library, Knopf, New York.; © 1979 Giulio Einaudi editore s.p.a., Torino; ISBN#:0-679-42025-8) {read:2006 Mar 20} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). Best book I read all year: fantastic interweaving of stories with deep, dark characters. Stories with spies, war, love, professors, farmers, readers, writers. The writing is surprising and playful and (how can I say this?) somehow charming and friendly without at all being cute.
Calvino, Italo ; Invisible Cities Fiction; {read:1990-93}
Calvino, Italo (+ translated from the Italian by William Weaver;); Marcovaldo, or The seasons in the city Fiction; (a Harvest Book, A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book, Harcourt Brace & Co., New York; English translation copyright 1983 by Harcourt Brace & Co; © 1963 by Giulio Einaudi Editore, S.p.A.; ISBN#:0-15-657204-4 (pbk)) {read:2005 Apr} I recommend! Subtle and charming short stories, reading like parables with magic and slapstick combined in the adventures of a poor but often optimistic man and his family in Italy.
Camus, Albert ; Plague, The Fiction; {read:1990-93} Breathtaking.
Card, Orson Scott ; Ender's Game Fiction; {read:2002}
Caro, Robert ; Power Broker, The: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Nonfiction; (Vintage Books Edition, Sept.1975 (A Division of Random House); © 1974 by Robert A. Caro; ) {read:2002} A true story and I can't put it down: almost every road and park that I've ever heard of around New York City (and State) was built under the rather tyrannical control of Robert Moses, who started as a young idealist but became powerful and politically savvy and vengeful. Jones Beach, BQE, LIE, West Side Highway, Verazzano Bridge: yanked into existence through some amazing political shenanigans by the man who "Got Things Done." Some of his work was for the good and some of it... well, he deliberately built the overpass bridges low on the Long Island parkways so that buses couldn't go to his beaches. This book let me know about the public visible structure of the city AND some of the action behind the scenes. (It reminds me of, and could be read in conjuction with, "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo, which is another exciting story--kind of a guilty pleasure quick read-- that let me feel like I was peeking behind the scenes, finding out about combinations of arrogant dignity and hidden nasty powers.)
Carroll, Jonathan ; White Apples Fiction; (A TOR book, published by Tom Doherty Associates, 175 Fifth Ave., New York; © 2002 Jonathan Carroll,; ) {read:2003}
Cathcart, Thomas (+ Daniel Klein); Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Nonfiction; (Abrams Image; © July 2007; ISBN#:978-0-8109-1493-3) {read:2008 jan 13} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Broad ranging, fascinating, informative and quick-paced: I've already started loaning my copy to high school students.
Chang?, Jung ; Wild Swans Nonfiction; {read:1994} The incredible (true) life stories of 3 generations of Chinese women, from a time of warlords up to the Cultural Revolution. Much of what they went through was awful!
Cheever, John ; Bullet Park Fiction; (Vintage International, a division of Random House; © 1967; ) {read:2003 Nov}
Chelminski, Rudolph ; Perfectionist, The: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine Nonfiction; (Gotham Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.; © 2005 Rudolph Chelminski; ISBN#:1-592-401047-4) {read:2005 Sep 15} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). This is the fascinating and substantial biography of Chef Bernard Loiseau, the Michelin 3-Star chef who took his own life in 2003, while at the top of his career. I'm not especially interested in cooking and cuisine, so I was surprised how interesting his story is, and was engaged by the writing while being introduced to a different world. See Chelminski Info (and ChanterelleNYC, the incredible "Best Restaurant in the Nation" where our book club discussion was hosted by owners Karen and (Chef) David Waltuck with a supper that was probably the best I've had in my life).
Chomsky, Noam ; Secrets, Lies, and Democracy Nonfiction; (Odonian Press (Box 32375, Tucson AZ 85751; (602) 296-4056; Distribution through "Publishers Group West", Box 8843, Emeryville CA 94662; (800) 788-3123;; © 1994 David Barsamian; ) {read:2005 Jun 19} I recommend! A quick, lively, and provocative read, disagreeing with standard media take on most subjects of power, wealth, and freedom. For instance: what does democracy matter if corporations have all the power?
Christie, Agatha ; And Then There Were None Fiction; (Washington Square Press, Pocket Books, A Division of Simon & Schuster; © 1939, 1970 Agatha Christie Mallowan; ISBN#:671-46606-2) {read:2005 Jul 08} I recommend!
Chute, Carolyn ; LeTorneau's Used Auto Parts Fiction; (Ticknor & Fields, New York: 1988; ) {read:1990-93} Poor folks in Maine, self-destructive, scraping by. Fascinating.
Clancy, Tom ; Clear and Present Danger Fiction; {read:1994} Smart action;
Clancy, Tom ; Patriot Games Fiction; {read:1996} Thriller!
Clarke, Richard A. ; Breakpoint: a novel Fiction; (G.P.Putnam's Sons, a member of Penguin Group, USA; © 2007 RAC Enterprises; ISBN#:978-0-399-15378-5) {read:2007 feb 09} My rating: 5 (fr.0-10). Near future science "fiction" thriller, with direct references to TransHumanism (technological fixes of humans) and Ray Kurzweil's "singularity" concept of cascading breakthroughs in nanotechnology, genomics, artificial intelligence, etc. International foreigh policy hardball, religious conservatives, surprises, action... pretty engaging and broad-ranging and thoughtful, but not to be mistaken for fine literature with character development. Clarke was national coordinator and presidential advisor on security, counter-terrorism, cyberspace security, and critical infrastructure until 2003.
Clarke, Arthur C. ; Rendezvous with Rama Fiction; {read:1978 & Before}
Clavell, James ; children's story, the Fiction; (An Eleanor Friede book (in association with Michaela Clavell Crisman), Delacorte Press; © 1963, 1981 James Clavell; ISBN#:0-440-01242-2) {read:2007 feb} My rating: 4 (fr.0-10). A spooky parable of elementary schools being taken over by re-education groups after a political revolution.
Clavell, James ; Gai Jin Fiction; (Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, New York; © James Clavell 1993; ) {read:2003} Part of an epic, brutal and thought-provoking. The stories occur in the following order {date written follows} (1) Shogun {1975} ;(2) Tai Pan {1966} ;(3) Gai Jin {1993} ;(4) King Rat {1962} ; (5) Noble House {1981} ;(6) Whirlwind {1986}.
Clavell, James ; King Rat Fiction; (Dell Publishing, a division of Random House, Inc., NY NY.; © 1962 James Clavell.; ) {read:2003} Part of an epic, brutal and thought-provoking. The stories occur in the following order {date written follows} (1) Shogun {1975} ;(2) Tai Pan {1966} ;(3) Gai Jin {1993} ;(4) King Rat {1962} ; (5) Noble House {1981} ;(6) Whirlwind {1986}.
Clavell, James ; Noble House Fiction; (Delacorte Press, New York; © 1981 James Clavell.; ) {read:2003} Part of an epic, brutal and thought-provoking. The stories occur in the following order {date written follows} (1) Shogun {1975} ;(2) Tai Pan {1966} ;(3) Gai Jin {1993} ;(4) King Rat {1962} ; (5) Noble House {1981} ;(6) Whirlwind {1986}.
Clavell, James ; Shogun Fiction; (Dell, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell; 666 Fifth Ave, NY; © 1975 James Clavell.; ) {read:2003} Part of an epic, brutal and thought-provoking. The stories occur in the following order {date written follows} (1) Shogun {1975} ;(2) Tai Pan {1966} ;(3) Gai Jin {1993} ;(4) King Rat {1962} ; (5) Noble House {1981} ;(6) Whirlwind {1986}.
Clavell, James ; Tai Pan Fiction; (Dell Publishing, Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell; New York; © 1966 James Clavell.; ) {read:2003} Part of an epic, brutal and thought-provoking. The stories occur in the following order {date written follows} (1) Shogun {1975} ;(2) Tai Pan {1966} ;(3) Gai Jin {1993} ;(4) King Rat {1962} ; (5) Noble House {1981} ;(6) Whirlwind {1986}.
Clavell, James ; Whirlwind Fiction; {read:2003} Desperate race against time in the confusion of Iran during the aftermath of the collapse of the Shah's regime, with opportunists and fanatics and people of good will scratching at each other and at the rubble. Part of an epic, brutal and thought-provoking. The stories occur in the following order {date written follows} (1) Shogun {1975} ;(2) Tai Pan {1966} ;(3) Gai Jin {1993} ;(4) King Rat {1962} ; (5) Noble House {1981} ;(6) Whirlwind {1986}.
Coburn, Broughton ; Everest: Mountain Without Mercy Nonfiction; (MacGillivray Freeman Films, composition by National Geographic Society Book Division; © 1997; ) {read:1999}
Cockell, Charles S. ; Space on Earth: Saving Our World by Seeking Others Nonfiction; (MacMillan, New York; © 2007 Charles S. Cockell; ISBN#:978-0-230-00752-9) {read:2007 Jul 01} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Space missions and space stations can only survive if they learn to be more "green" (recycling, sustainable), so they have a lot to learn from environmentalists: even about adapting ways of keeping space free of junk, so that space craft aren't damaged and so that non-Earth life can really be detected, among other reasons. Likewise, environmentalists have much to learn from space missions, and have already gained from the earth-watching data provided by satellites that study tornadoes, ozone, plate tectonics, volcanoes, forest fires, dust storms, hurricanes, etc. The author is Chair of the "Earth and Space Foundation" which has the vision of "The Earth as an Oasis, cared for by a space-faring civilization."
Coetzee, J. M. ; Disgrace Fiction; (Penguin Books (first published in Great Britain by Martin Secker & Warburg 1999); © 1999 J. M. Coetzee; ISBN#:0 14 02.9640 9) {read:2007 jul 10} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). An addictive gem, Booker Prize winner. Life in South Africa starts looking bad when a professor gets too involved with one of his students. Things get better, worse, and even deeper when he moves in with his estranged daughter, out on an isolated ranch.
Coetzee, J. M. ; Master of Petersburg, The Fiction; (Viking, New York; © 1994; ISBN#:9780670855872) {read:2007 aug 20} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). A poignant trip back 100 years: Russia in ferment, with idealists, revolutionaries, realists, spies, and the sad taste of tragedy. It starts with a father looking for his missing teenage son, and thereby stumbling onto secrets he might have been better off not knowing.
Coetzee, J. M. ; Slow Man Fiction; (Viking, New York.; © 2005 J. M. Coetzee; ISBN#:9780670034598) {read:2007 aug 15} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
Coetzee, J. M. ; Waiting for the Barbarians Fiction; (Penguin Books, New York; © 1980 J. M. Coetzee; ISBN#:01402.83358) {read:2005 Oct 29} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Nobel prize in Literature winner Coetzee tells a fascinating and morally disturbing story of life on the frontier of an empire. Desert country and salty lake are ominous enough and then the town is visited by a visitor from the castle who brings torture tools and fears of barbarian invasion.
Cohen, Michael ; Mac Xcode 2 Book, The Nonfiction; (Wiley Publishing, Inc. Hoboken, NJ.; © 2005 Wiley Publishing Inc.; ISBN#:978-0-7645-8411-4) {read:2006 Apr 01} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Light hearted and wonderfully readable introduction to the Macintosh programming tools. wiley.com
Coin Marshall, Sheri ; One Can Do It: A How-To Guide for the Physically Handicapped Nonfiction; (Rainbow Books, Inc.; ISBN#:1-56825-002-9) {read:2001} one-armed woman pilot (who among other adventures after losing her arm as a child, survived plane crash with Bob Solie, our neighbor from Billings)
Coll, Steve ; Ghost Wars Nonfiction; (The Penguin Press, New York, 2004; ) {read:2004 sep}
Collins, Eamon (+ Mick McGovern); Killing Rage Nonfiction; (Granta Books, London: 1998; ) {read:1999} read in Ireland, 1998 or 99...
Connelly, Michael ; Last Coyote, The Fiction; (St. Martin's Paperbacks; ) {read:2001}
Conroy, Pat ; Prince of Tides, The Fiction; (Houghton Mifflin 1986, Bantam 1987.; ) {read:1998} The author and his characters are fluent story-tellers, with grim twists that disturbed my sleep and anecdotes that made me laugh out loud. If people are damaged, then how can they get repaired?
Cornwell, Bernard ; Archer, The Fiction; (HarperTorch, an imprint of HarperCollins, NY; © 2001 Bernard Cornwell; ISBN#:0-06-050525-7) {read:2005 Aug 30} More wonderful storytelling: historical and bloody fiction in 14th c. Europe, with English archers, French knights, sieges, pillaging, and Grail quest. (Inquisition wasn't allowed to shed blood, so they used fire, rack, and press. Good God.) Thomas toys with feelings of "it only matters that you believe" versus in-grained skepticism, both inherited from his priest father.
Cornwell, Bernard ; Copperhead: Starbuck Chronicle, Volume 2 Fiction; (Harper Paperbacks, a division of Harper Collins, NY; © 1994 Bernard Cornwell; ISBN#:0-06-109187-1) {read:2005 Aug 20} I recommend! I'm fascinated by the torn loyalties (God, friends, moral stance on slavery, family, rebellion) and military techniques and battle mayhem. Well-written page-turner.
Cornwell, Bernard ; Gallows Thief Fiction; (Harper Torch, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, NY; 2003; © 2002 Bernard Cornwell; ISBN#:0-06-051628-3) {read:2005 Jul 28} I recommend! Another "can't put it down" action story, set in "Regency" era England (1817), with focus on the frequent public hangings for crimes including minor theft. A former soldier, down on his luck, takes an "easy" job in which he is supposed to merely confirm the guilt of a sentenced prisoner: suspicious circumstances, doubts, and powerful people with nasty secrets immediately appear.
Cornwell, Bernard ; Sharpe's Fortress: India 1803 Fiction; (Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2002.; © 1999 Bernard Cornwell; ISBN#:0-06-109863-9 pbk) {read:2005 Jul 13} A cover blurb (from "The Economist") rightfully calls Cornwell "the direct heir to Patrick O'Brian". This is “can't put it down” action reading, focused on violent military maneuvering by Britain's army in India, 1803.
Cornwell, Bernard ; Sharpe's Rifles: Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809 Fiction; (Viking Penguin,; © 1988 Rifleman Productions Ltd.; ISBN#:0 14 02.9429 5) {read:2005 Jul} Rash action with tastes of love, religion vs. reason, miracles (made or experienced).
Cornwell, Bernard ; Sharpe's Tiger: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799 Fiction; (Harper Collins Publishers, London; © 1997; ISBN#:0-00-649035-2) {read:2005 Dec 12} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10).
Cornwell, Patricia ; Trace: A Scarpetta Novel Fiction; (Berkley Books, NY; published by the Penguin Group. (Was G.P. Putnam when in hardcover.); © 2004, Cornwell Enterprises, Inc.; ISBN#:0-425-20420-0) {read:2005 Aug 06} Forensic criminal investigation with psycho stalker: couldn't put it down, intriguingly emotional characters, bit quick at coming to an ending though.
Cornwell, Bernard ; Vagabond Fiction; (HarperTorch, an imprint of HarperCollins, NY; © 2002 Bernard Cornwell; ISBN#:0-06-053268-8) {read:2005 Sep 02} I recommend! More wonderful storytelling: historical and bloody fiction in 14th c. Europe, sequel to "the Archer", with English archers, French knight, Grail quest, and Dominican inquisitors. (Inquisition wasn't allowed to shed blood, so they used fire, rack, and press. Good God.) Thomas toys with feelings of "it only matters that you believe" versus in-grained skepticism, both inherited from his priest father.
Cornwell, Neil ; Vladimir Nabokov Nonfiction; (Northcote House; ) {read:2001}
Corson, Hazel W. (+ pictures by William Marsh;); Peter and the Unlucky Rocket Fiction; (Benefic Press; © 1959; ) {read:1968}
Crichton, Michael ; Jurassic Park Fiction; {read:1994} Big ideas, pedestrian writing.
Crosby, Alfred W. ; Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy Nonfiction; (W.W.Norton & Company, New York; © 2006 Alfred W. Crosby; ISBN#:0-393-05935-9) {read:2007 Dec} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Was recommended to me by Bill Everdell: it reads quickly, giving a powerful history of humanity's use of energy, from cave-dweller cooking to space-age solar cells. Fighting for oil is just one of the themes. What about nuclear power? The future? This book looks at the "Big Picture!"
Daly, Mary ; Gyn/Ecology Nonfiction; {read:1983-4} Rant. "Womyn good, men evil. All wimmin oppressed by all men all the time, even if the wimmin don't know it, even if the men don't know it." Uh-oh, here I go oppressing Mary again. It is supposed to be poetically or theoretically significant that "therapist" can be spelled "the-rapist".
Darby, Gene ; What is a Frog Nonfiction; (Benefic Press, Chicago; © 1957; ) {read:1968}
Davies, Robertson ; Deptford Trilogy, The Fiction; {read:1996} Warm, wise, wonderful, and captivating. Moral growth, myth, pivotal moments, intelligent and thoughtful characters. I am grateful to Robertson Davies for giving us these rich stories with their amazing adventures and introspective, loving, good-hearted narrators struggling to make sense of life. As strong as Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety. John Irving must wish that A Prayer for Owen Meany could have been this good.
Delillo, Don ; Underworld Fiction; {read:2002} This is another, book, like "The Power Broker" by Caro and "The Godfather" by Puzo, that is full of interlocking stories and that takes me behind the scenes of city life. Delillo's novel touches on nostalgia, the sixties, atomic bombs, protest movements, garbage disposal, artists, AIDS, and B-52's, and manages to tie all of them together (even garbage: especially garbage).
Delillo, Don ; White Noise Fiction; {read:2004 Jul} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Derbyshire, John ; Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Nonfiction; (A Plume book, published by Penguin 2004, NY NY; © John Derbyshire 2003; ) {read:2004 jul} As John F. Nash (1994 Nobel Prize winner) says on the front cover: "A remarkable book."
Dexter, Pete ; Paperboy, The Fiction; (A Delta Book, Published by Dell Publishing, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, New York; © 1995 Pete Dexter; ISBN#:0-385-31572-4) {read:2007 mar} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). A novel about ambitious young journalists who while researching a story about tough backcountry people run into some jealousy and secrets of their own. One reporter doesn't know when to stop, another doesn't bother to tell the truth, and the righteousness of their work becomes questionable when other journalists start investigating the investigators.
Dick, Philip K. ; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Fiction; (A Del Rey (r) book, published by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, New York. First published in "Philip K Dick: Electric Shepherd" by Norstrilla Press. Originally published by Doubleday, 1968.; © 1968 Philip K. Dick; ) {read:2003 Sep}
Dickens, Charles ; Nicholas Nickleby Fiction; (Bantam Books, New York, 1983; ) {read:1988-89} Wonderful melodrama!
Dickens, Charles ; Oliver Twist Fiction; {read:1988-89} Wonderful melodrama!
Dobyns, Stephen ; Church of Dead Girls Fiction; {read:1998}
Doig, Ivan ; Bucking the Sun Fiction; (Simon & Schuster, NY 1996; ) {read:1997} This novel absolutely fascinated me. I especially liked the bits about Rosellen becoming an author, the leftist labor movement, the romantic rivalries, and the technical details of the dam-building. The ending seemed kind of unrealistic or out-of-the-blue or unsatisfactorily explained, but I suppose stranger things have happened in real life! Now I want to go back and re-read looking for more subtle clues.
Doig, Ivan ; Dancing at the Rascal Fair Fiction; {read:1990-93} Novel about the Scottish settlers of Montana, with heartbreak and adventure without a drop of soap opera. Excellent!
Dolch, Edward W. and Marguerite P. (+ illustrated by Robert S Kerr); Pueblo Stories Fiction; (Garrard Press, Champaign, Ill.; © 1956; ) {read:1968}
Dolch, Edward W and Marguerite P (+ illustrated by Robert S Kerr); Wigwam Stories Fiction; (Garrard Press, Champaign, Ill.; © 1956; ) {read:1968}
Dostoeyevsky, Fyodor ; Brothers Karamazov Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Dostoeyevsky, Fyodor ; Notes from Underground Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Doyle, Arthur Conan ; Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Fiction; {read:1975 or before}
DuCharme, Robert ; XML: The Annotated Specification Nonfiction; (ISBN#:978-0130826763) {read:1997}
Echenoz, Jean ; I'm Gone Fiction; {read:2004 Dec} My rating: 4 (fr.0-10).
Eckel, Bruce ; Thinking In Java Nonfiction; {read:1999}
Eco, Umberto (+ Translated from Italian by William Weaver.); Baudolino Fiction; (A Harvest Book / Harcourt, Inc; NY. 2003; © 2000 RCS Libri S.p.A; ISBN#:0-15-100690-3) {read:2005 Aug 03} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). It's wonderful that one pivotal scene, answering years of suspicion, is resolved through Baudolino, the great liar/storyteller, being shown how gullible he has been. Eco's characters also make a mockery of the faith-based "reasoning" of the middle ages, which sometimes relies on only the quotes of elders and sages while disregarding physical evidence and rigorous logic. (Eco's The Name of the Rose and Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle discuss this same point.) The novel's characters have great experience and debate with questions of reality, truth, heresy, love, and occasional humor. ("The one time in my life I told the truth and only the truth, they stoned me.") Unfortunately I found the story to lag in the middle and had to push my way through to the end.
Eco, Umberto ; Name Of The Rose, The Fiction; {read:2005 Jan} This is a magnificent novel, exciting and rewarding and subtle. A murder investigation in the middle ages is set inside a monastery and its labyrinth library. Intricate and passionate arguments flare up about faith, reason, and power; characters toy with poison and sneak through hallways while armies mass nearby.
Eisley, Loren ; Immense Journey, The Nonfiction; (Random House: Vintage Books, New York, 1946-1959; ) {read:1990-93}
Eliot, George (+ (George Eliot is the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, 1819-1880)); Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe Fiction; (First published in 1861 by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London; this edition by Dover Publications, Inc, Mineola, NY; © 1996 Dover Publications; ISBN#:0-486-29246-0) {read:2007 sep 18} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Emerson, Kim (+ Marcus Antebi); Skydiver's Survival Guide, The: 2nd Edition Nonfiction; (Pier Media, New York NY (212) 481-0031; © 2004, Marcus Antebi; ISBN#:0-9715980-9-6) {read:2005 Mar} Kim Emerson taught my AFF (Accellerated FreeFall training) course and was jumpmaster with Carol Sternberg for my first AFF jump. He (Kim) was for many years the S&TA (Safety and Training Advisor) at my home Dropzone, "the Ranch," where I've ridden up to altitude with Marcus.
Euripides, ? (+ Translated by Paul Roche.); Alcestis Fiction; (W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. New York. 1974; ) {read:1979-82}
Evans, Nicholas ; Smoke Jumper, The Fiction; ("A Dell Book" Dell Publishing, division of Random House, NY NY; © 2001; ) {read:2004 aug} A bit soap-opera-ish (felt like pop psychology) but I was intrigued by the smoke jumpers, counsellors to troubled teens, and the war photographers.
Farrell, James G. ; Singapore Grip, The Fiction; (New York Review Books classics; 1755 B'way NY NY 10019;; © 1978 James. G. Farrell; ISBN#:1-59017-136-5) {read:2005 Jun 29} I recommend! I really enjoyed every word: the mix of tragic and comic, characters wondering about their own reality, characters arguing about whether colonialization had brought more good or harm to the mix of natives and refugees and and transplants, and even the way the author leaves some things unsaid (river of "gold", the doctor's fetish for some pricey treat, the Major's lost love in Ireland). I've been to 5 bookstores looking for his other books already.
Faulkner, William ; As I Lay Dying Fiction; {read:2004 feb} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Feynman, Richard P. ; Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher Nonfiction; (Helix Books, Addison Wesley Publishing Company; © Calif. Inst. of Tech 1965, 1989, 1995; ) {read:2004 sep}
Feynman, Richard P. ; Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman Nonfiction; (W.W.Norton, NY 1985, republished as paperback 1997; © Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton; ) {read:2004 mar}
Feynman, Richard P. (+ as told to Ralph Leighton); What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character Nonfiction; (Bantam Books, NY 1989 (published by arrangement with original publisher W.W.Norton And Company, 1988);; © Gweneth Feynman and Ralph Leighton.; ) {read:2004 jun} Very enjoyable reading, with long report on the investigation of the explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger", with anecdotes of early age loss of religious faith and late age insistence that people protect the pro-scientific anti-authoritarian virtues of skepticism, investigation, development, and uncertainty.
Finder, Joseph ; Paranoia Fiction; (St. Martin's Press, New York;; © 2004 Joseph Finder; ISBN#:0-312-31914-2) {read:2005 Feb} Intriguing industrial espionage and double-crossing, but the characters are neither likable nor deep. I'm curious to see more of the author's (non-fiction) books about espionage...
Fitzgerald, F. Scott ; Great Gatsby, The Fiction; {read:1990-93} I was entranced, sympathetic, warned about the unreliable narrator, and disturbed the "rowing toward the receding light" passage at the end. (In a rowboat or a crew shell, unlike a canoe, you can't see where you're going, nor do you think that what you see is your destination. Fitzgerald has the oars beating, which is not what happens in a canoe.)
Fitzgerald, F. Scott ; This Side of Paradise Fiction; (Charles Scribner's Sons: 1920; reprint ?; ) {read:1979-82}
Flanagan, David ; Java in a Nutshell Nonfiction; (O'Reilly & Associates, 1996, Sebastopol, California; ) {read:1997} Couldn't live without it! (note: also at ora.com)
Fleming, Ian ; On His Majesty's Secret Service Fiction; {read:1971}
Flynn, Tom ; Bikeman Nonfiction; (© 2008; ) {read:2007 Nov} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Genius at work: epic poem about 9-11, to be published in 2008.
Fonseca, Isabel ; Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey Nonfiction; (Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York; © 1995 Isabel Fonseca; ISBN#:978-0-679-73743-8) {read:2007 jun 18} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). I found the book fascinating, full of things I didn't know. For example, in the 1200's it was an offense punishable by hanging to be a gypsy, to be one of the traveling people whose language overlaps with one from India. In the 1980's in Eastern Europe, the gypsies—whose wagons and horses had been confiscated earlier in the century (under the communists)—were undergoing arson attacks: non-gypsy groups were assembling in churches and marching out to burn entire gypsy villages. Meanwhile, some gypsies see attempts to organize themselves as comparable to a bucket full of crabs, all pulling each other back down. The author spent more than a year living with different groups of self-proclaimed gypsies, and really knows how to tell a story.
Fowles, John ; French Lieutenant's Woman Fiction; (Signet (New American Library), New York, 1970; ) {read:1979-82}
Frankl, Viktor E. ; Man's Search for Meaning Nonfiction; (ISBN#:0671023373) {read:1978 & before} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Remarkable and moving essay on ethics, and the psychology of personal morality: I've never forgotten his assertion (in light of world war II's horror's) that the "Normal" emotional response to abnormal events is abnormality (pain, confusion) itself.
Franzen, Jonathan ; Corrections, The Fiction; (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 19 Union Square West, New York 10003; © 2001 by Jonathan Franzen; ) {read:2003 Jul}
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flash for Freedom: (III: England, West Africa, U.S.A. 1848-49) Fiction; (A Plume Book, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Books USA.; © 1971 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26089-2) {read:2006 May 05} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Even more wicked fun and wild adventures. Flashman gets tangled up in both the slave trade and the abolitionists. (Book 3 in order of writing, Book 5 in chronological order). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman: (I: From the Flashman Papers 1839-42) Fiction; (A Plume Book, published by the Penguin Group, NY; © 1969 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-25588-0) {read:2006 apr 22} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). I want to read more of these books now! Today! I've read the first four books of the addictive Flashman series, and I've already got the next 3 lined up at home. Harry Flashman is a ne'er-do-well reminiscing over his adventures as a cowardly soldier and daring romancer in the 1840's and 1850's. At one moment he's in the legendary charge of the Light Brigade, at another he's in a sauna with his jailer's sister, and later he is helping tribesmen attack Russian ships while under the influence of special (secretly spiked) dessert. One day he's helping transport slaves, another he is helping them escape. Don't even ask about the tangles he gets into in Afghanistan. The "appallingly appealing" Flashman really gets around, and even suffers fleeting moments of courage and sentiment while giving a "you are there" feeling of history. (Book 1) More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman and the Angel of the Lord: (X: 1858-9, USA) Fiction; (Plume, published by the Penguin Group, New York.; © 1994 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-27440-0) {read:2007 Jan} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). One of the best Flashman stories yet. We're there with John Brown and his tiny band at Harper's Ferry, and Flashman convinces me to feel sorry for that antislavery fanatic who is both well-intentioned and ready for blood. More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman and the Dragon: (VIII: China 1860) Fiction; (A Plume Book, Penguin Group, NY.; © 1985 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26191-0) {read:2007 Jan 01} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Flashman ends up betrayed, seduced(?), captured, you name it, during the bloody religious "Taiping" uprising in China and then on the march into Beijing. Topics range from religious madness to Elgin's burning of the "Summer Palace." (Book 8 in order of writing, with two main stories (1849 and 1876) which are out of chronological order). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman and the Mountain of Light: (IX: 1845-6, India) Fiction; (Plume, published by the Penguin Group, New York.; © 1990 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26784-4) {read:2007 Jan 04} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). "A word first, though. You'll have heard it said that the British empire was acquired in fit of absence of mind—one of those smart Oscarish squibs that sounds well but is thoroughly fat-headed. Presence of mind, if you like—and countless other things, such as greed and Christianity, decency and villainy, policy and lunacy, deep design and blind chance, pride and triade, blunder and ciriosity, passion, ignorance, chivalry and expediency, honest pursuit of right, and determination to keep the bloody Frogs out. And often as not, such things came tumbling together, and when the dust had settled, there we were, and who else was going to set things straight and feed the folk and guard the gate and dig the drains—oh, aye, and take the profit, by all means." More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George ; Flashman and the Redskins: (VII: Flashman's West, 1849 & 1876) Fiction; (A Plume Book, Penguin Group, NY.; © 1982 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26487-1) {read:2006 Dec} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). I'm from Montana so I'm motivated to know a bit more about Western US history, and this book is the most enjoyable way to "learn" that I've found. It of course includes more narrow escapes for Flashman, more fun for the reader, in Kansas, Nevada, a brothel, and with Custer at (where else?) the Little Big Horn. Topics range from scalping to skepticism about the nobility of some of the Native Americans and the "civilization" that moved onto their land. (Book 7 in order of writing, with two main stories (1849 and 1876) which are out of chronological order). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman and the Tiger: (XI: 1878, 1883-4, 1890-1, 1879, 1894) Fiction; (Borzoi book, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York; © 1999 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-375-41024-4) {read:2007 Jan} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Several loosely related and engaging incidents, including a plot to assassinate the Austrian Emperor, Franz Josef, and an encounter with a master sleuth. More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman at the Charge: (IV: South-west Russia and Central Asia 1854-55) Fiction; (A Plume Book, published by the Penguin Group, Penguin Books USA, NY; © 1973 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26413-8) {read:2006 May 29} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Now he's in the legendary charge of the Light Brigade, now he's in a sauna with his jailer's sister, now he's attacking Russian ships. The "appallingly appealing" Flashman really gets around, and even suffers (fleeting) moments of courage and sentiment. (Book 4 in order of writing, Book 6 in chronological order). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman in the Great Game: (V: From the Flashman Papers 1856-1858) Fiction; (A Plume Book, New American Library, A division of Penguin Books USA Inc., New York; © 1975 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26303-4) {read:2006 Jul} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). More narrow escapes for Flashman, more fun for the reader, during the Indian army mutiny. Topics ranging from religion (wait until you see how a Hindhu translates the story of the Prodigal Son) to the benefits of English schooling (in which boys learn how to tolerate boredom and how to escape quick and terrifying events). There is some musing about the luxury of kings of India and the horrible treatment of their poor, and those poor still prefer Indian rule to English. (Book 5 in order of writing, Book 8 in chronological order). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman on the March: (XII: 1867-8, Abyssinia) Fiction; (Anchor Books, A Division of Random House, Inc, New York; © 2005 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:1-4000-9646-4) {read:2007 feb 16} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Dangling over cliffs, swimming towards waterfalls, from fires into frying pans: Flashman is an unwilling spy, and is almost sympathetic with the crazed king whom the British plan to punish.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Flashman's Lady: (VI: England, Borneo and Madagascar 1842-5) Fiction; (Plume, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Books USA, part of the Penguin Group; © 1977 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-26489-8) {read:2006 Aug 05} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). More narrow escapes for Flashman, more fun for the reader, in Indonesia and Madagascar and the cricket field. Topics ranging from piracy to do-good-ism to psycho-pathology (the queen of Madagascar is nuts). (Book 6 in order of writing, Book 3 in chronological order). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Fraser, George MacDonald ; Royal Flash: (II: from the Flashman Papers, 1842-3 and 1847-8) Fiction; (Alfred A. Knopf, NY; © 1970 George MacDonald Fraser; ISBN#:0-452-25676-3) {read:2006 Apr 27} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). More wild swashbuckling fun (book 2). More info at http://www.michaelroam.com/wasao/FSotUK/FLASHMAN/ and the official web site: www.harryflashman.org.uk.
Frazier, Charles ; Cold Mountain Fiction; (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997; ) {read:1998} Enthralling tragic journey.
Friedan, Betty ; Feminine Mystique Nonfiction; (Laurel Book, Dell Publishing Co. New York: 1963, 1974; ) {read:1983-4}
Friedman, Thomas L. ; World is Flat, The: A Brief history of the Twenty-First Century Nonfiction; (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; © 2005 Thomas L. Friedman; ISBN#:978-0-374-29288-1 [isbn10= 0-374-29288-4]) {read:2006 Apr 30} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). An amazing book that had me doing something I rarely do: inserting little bookmarks (at least 15) to mark highlights and topics that I want to re-read and re-think. Highlights include the plausible assertion that there is an economic race to the top, NOT to the bottom, with an increasing ability for the participation of the poor and ambitious and creative people all over the world. "Outsourcing" can create more jobs here as well as abroad! It was recommended by my artist/businessman/consultant brother, Dan, and I'm glad I read it.
Fuller, Buckminster ; Critical Path Nonfiction; {read:1985-87} Buckminster Fuller packed every page with enough inspiration and brain food for a week. More information at the Buckminster Fuller Institute (bfi.org).
Fuller, Buckminster ; Education Automation Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} Buckminster Fuller combines depth of vision, compassion, and intellectual excitement. More information at the Buckminster Fuller Institute (bfi.org).
Furst, Alan ; Blood of Victory Fiction; (2003, Random House Trade Paperbacks (originally Random House, 2001); © 2002 Alan Furst; ISBN#:0-8129-6872-7) {read:2005 Apr} I recommend! More stories of inadvertant inexperienced spies, and this one is beautifully written and has some suprisingly funny sections.
Furst, Alan ; Dark Star Fiction; {read:2005 Feb}
Furst, Alan ; Dark Voyage Fiction; (Random House, New York; © 2004 Alan Furst; ISBN#:0-7394-5187-1) {read:2005 May} I recommend!
Furst, Alan ; Foreign Correspondent, The: A Novel Fiction; (Random House, New York; © 2006 Alan Furst; ISBN#:1-4000-6019-2) {read:2006 Jul} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Another fascinating trip into the land of reluctant/hesitant spies during the years preceding World War II. N.Y.Times book review by Alex Berenson is too unkind, though I agree that this isn't absolutely the most gripping of Furst's novels. As I did with this one, I'll be running out to buy his next the week it comes out (yes, in hard cover).
Furst, Alan ; Kingdom of Shadows Fiction; (Random House Trade Paperbacks, New York, NY; © 2000 Alan Furst; ISBN#:0-375-75826-7) {read:2005 Mar} Brilliant. (Count Polanyi's nephew.)
Furst, Alan ; Night Soldiers Fiction; {read:2005 Jan}
Furst, Alan ; Polish Officer, The Fiction; (© 1995 Alan Furst; ISBN#:0-375-75827-5) {read:2005 Jan} Fantastic, enthralling: in the week after reading it I saw the New York Times obituary (24 Jan 2005) for a real-life "Polish Officer," Jan Nowak-Jezioranski. It was a Reuters article from Warsaw, which starts "Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, a Polish hero of World War II who spent his life fighing for an independent democratic Poland, died Thursday. He was 91. ... revered by his countrymen as a symbol of Polish patriotism ... He assumed the name Jan Nowak after joining the undergournd during World War II and took part in the failed 1944 Warsaw Uprising ... His most famous achievement was as the "Courier from Warsaw," making death-defying trips to London from Warsaw to bring news of the Polish resistance's activities to the government in exile and to the Allies..."
Furst, Alan ; Red Gold Fiction; (Random House Trade Paperbacks, New York, NY; © 1999 Alan Furst; ISBN#:0-375-75859-3) {read:2005 Mar} Brilliant. (The former film-maker, again.)
Furst, Alan ; World At Night, The Fiction; {read:2004 Dec}
Gaarder, Jostein ; Sophie's World: a novel about the history of philosophy Fiction; (Berkley, 1996; ISBN#:0425152251) {read:2002} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Gentle intro to the fascinating world of philosophy, following one thinker after another, woven into an intriguing story. Here's a short criticism of some of the book's political tendencies and oversights: www.levity.com/rubric/sophie
Gaines, Donna ; Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids Nonfiction; (HarperPerennial (Harper Collins, NY) 1991; ) {read:1990-93} Field trip among stoners, metal heads, and apathetic(?), disaffected, self-destructive dropouts.
Gaitskill, Mary ; Veronica: A novel Fiction; (Vintage Contemporaries, Vintage Books, a division of Random House, New York.; © 2005 Mary Gaitskill; ISBN#:0-375-72785-X [978-0-375-72785-6]) {read:2007 Jan 06} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). With poetic depth and allusions, it wanders through the 80's with AIDS, fashion models, and temporary employment.
García Márquez, Gabriel (+ Translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman); Love in the Time of Cholera Fiction; (Alfred A. Knopf, NY; © 1988 Gabriel García Márquez; ISBN#:0-394-57108-8; and 0-394-56161-9) {read:2006 Apr 15} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Almost a catalog of love stories, including a long-term marriage with some compromises while another man, who had loved the wife as a teenager, spends 50 years pining for her while chasing other skirts.
García Márquez, Gabriel ; One Hundred Years of Solitude Fiction; (Bard, published by Avon Books, with Harper & Row, New York, 1971; ) {read:1979-82} Lush, gripping, magical, sometimes horrible.
Garner, James Finn ; Once Upon a More Enlightened Time Fiction; (Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995; ) {read:1997} Humorous, entertaining stories that, through their earnest progressive-speak, poke sly fun at PC extremes.
Garner, James Finn ; Politically Correct Bedtime Stories Fiction; (Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995; ) {read:1997} Humorous, entertaining stories that, through their earnest progressive-speak, poke sly fun at PC extremes.
Gerstein, Mordicai ; Man Who Walked Between The Towers, The Nonfiction; (Roaring Brook Press, Brookfield, Connecticut; © 2003 Mordicai Gerstein; ISBN#:978-0761317913) {read:2007 sep 08} Winner of the Caldecott Medal, this children's book tells the amazing story of Philippe Petit's bandit highwire walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. In August 1974, during the construction of the towers, Petit and friends (disguised as workmen) used elevators and then stairs to smuggle almost 500 pounds of equipment to the top of the towers. Working at night, they used a crossbow to send across an arrow with fishing line that was then used to pull heavier and heavier lines across the gap between the buildings, pulling them tight with winches (after almost losing the whole heavy cable when it started to pull away from them while sagging between the buildings). By daybreak (7 Aug '74) they were ready, and Philippe took his 26-foot balance pole and walked out between the buildings, 1340 feet about ground level. Eventually people noticed, police arrived, and Petit spent almost more than an hour out between the towers (even laying down on the wire) before surrendering to the "octupus of hands" of the waiting police. His punishment was to do a free show in Central Park. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Petit and Petit's book To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers for pictures and more information.
Gibson, Melissa James ; [Sic] Fiction; (New York : Faber and Faber, 2002.; © 2002 Melissa James Gibson; ISBN#:0-571-21167-4) {read:2008 May 04} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Our own Melissa Gibson's play was a success off Broadway, and is tremendously interesting to read. There is music in the call and response of dialogue, with missed signals and overlapping lines, while seemingly bizarre statements are suddenly revealed to be very clear after all.
Gibson, William ; Burning Chrome Fiction; (Ace Books, published by the Berkley Publishing Group, NY; © 1986 William Gibson; ISBN#:0-441-08934-8) {read:2007 Jul 23} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Amazing intense "cyber-punk" short stories—imaginative, cynical, outrageous. Outlaws hide in techno-jungles of rusty metal, astronauts battle boredom and government supervision (think "big brother" in a space ship), characters get involved in schemes that bring them up against ruthless high-tech gangs, etc. Brilliant.
Gibson, William ; Idoru Fiction; (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 1996; ) {read:1997} Dark thriller of techno future.
Gibson, William ; Mona Lisa Overdrive Fiction; {read:1988-89} Mind-bogglingly great!
Gibson, William ; Neuromancer Fiction; (Ace Books, Berkley Publishing Group, New York, 1984; ) {read:1988-89} Mind-bogglingly great!
Gibson, William ; Pattern Recognition Fiction; (published by G.P.Putnam's Sons, New York; © 2003 by William Gibson; ) {read:2003} personalized autograph, from Boulder CO book reading
Gibson, William ; Virtual Light Fiction; {read:1988-89} Mind-bogglingly great!
Gleick, James ; Chaos Nonfiction; {read:1990-93} Wahoo!
Gleick, James ; Genius Nonfiction; (Vintage Books, Division of Random House, 1993; © 1992; ) {read:2004 jun} fascinating biography of nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Feynman
Gleick, James ; What Just Happened Nonfiction; {read:2004 Dec}
Golding, William ; Lord of the Flies, The Fiction; {read:1978 & Before}
Goodall, Jane ; In the Shadow of Man Nonfiction; {read:1975 or Before} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
Goodman, Paul ; Growing Up Absurd: Problems of Youth in the Organized Society Nonfiction; (Vintage Books, Random House, New York:1956-60; ) {read:1983-4}
Gordon, Mary ; Men and Angels Fiction; {read:1994} Felt more like a writing exercise than a novel, and left me cold.
Graham, Ian ; Space Travel: DK online (e.guide) Nonfiction; (DK Publishing, NY; © 2004, 2005 Dorling Kindersley Limited; ISBN#:978-0-75662-227-5) {read:2007 aug 02} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). A children/teens book with accompanying web site (www.spacetravel.dkonline.com) from google and dk.com.
Green, Gerald ; Holocaust Nonfiction; {read:1978 & Before} Amazon.com says "Basis of the acclaimed 1979 television mini-series weaving the odyssey of Holocaust victims, taking the reader (and then the viewer) with documentary force through the darkest and most terrible events of the century."
Greene, Graham ; Heart of the Matter, The Fiction; (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition; The Penguin Group, New York.; © 1948 Graham Greene, renewed 1976.; ISBN#:0-14-24-3799 9) {read:2005 Dec 29} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). (I really enjoyed spending time with this author's character and setting. I particularly had to stop and muse after the part (pg.111) in which Scobie was thinking about a house in which a child, after surviving a torpedoing and 40 days in a lifeboat, lies dying:) "Outside the rest-house he stopped again. The lights inside would have given an extraordinary impression of peace if one hadn't known, just as the stars on this clear night gave also an impression of remoteness, security, freedom. If one knew, he wondered, the facts, would one have to feel pity even for the planets? if one reached what they called the heart of the matter?"
Grey, Spaulding ; Sex and Death to Age Fourteen Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} Fantastic.
Grey, Spaulding ; Swimming to Cambodia Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} Fantastic.
Grisham, Robert ; Client, The Fiction; {read:1994} Lightweight lawyer thriller;
Gruen, Sara ; Water for Elephants Fiction; (Algonquin Books; ISBN#:978-1-56512-560-5) {read:2008 Jan 09} My rating: 5 (fr.0-10). Page turner but a little amateur: I never felt like I knew the narrator, the mood swings felt like paint by number, and the physical action was sometimes implausible. (Person A can stop B's fist an inch from C's face? I don't think so. A non-gymnast can improvise a double front-flip into a side aerial--with stand up landing--from a tent pole? Again, no chance.)
Guareschi, Giovanni ; Little World of Don Camillo Fiction; (© 1948; ) {read:1970} See wikipedia's Don_Camillo entry for more information about the charming stories of the rivalry and grudging admiration between two hard-headed characters (catholic priest vs. communist mayor) in a small Italian village just after World War 2. I was suprised recently to see that a friend of mine has old Lithuanian translations of some of these books: I was less suprised when I saw that the translations came from the Lithuanian community abroad, not from (then Soviet-occupied) Lithuania.
Guthrie, A.B. ; Big Sky, The Fiction; {read:1978 & before} about Mountain Men in Montana, from the Author of "The Big It" collection of short stories
Haddon, Mark ; A Spot Of Bother Fiction; (Vintage Books, London; © Mark Haddon 2006; ISBN#:9780099506928) {read:2007 aug 29} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Like poetry in noticing subtle changes of mood. Themes include love/hate with family, fear of death, doubts about love partner, madness, community. Compulsively readable.
Haddon, Mark ; the curious incident of the dog in the night-time Fiction; (First Vintage Contemporaries Edition, May 2004. Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc. New York.; © 2003 Mark Haddon; ISBN#:1-4000-3271-7) {read:2004 Nov} This book puts you in the mind of an autistic (or perhaps Asperger's (sp?)) teen and made me understand how too many people or too much stimulus could overwhelm an otherwise thoughtful and rational person. See www.readinggroupcenter.com.
Hajdu, David ; Positively 4th Street: The Lives And Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña Nonfiction; (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2001; ) {read:2004 jul}
Halberstam, David ; Best and the Brightest, The Nonfiction; (Fawcett Crest, New York, 1972; ) {read:1985-87} Fascinating story of America's hubris and good(?) intentions in Vietnam...
Haley, Alex ; Roots Fiction; (1974; ) {read:1978 & before} While looking for online links to Haley, (including www.kintehaley.org) I found articles at www.martinLutherKing.org/roots.html and www.papillonsartpalace.com/alex.htm asserting that Haley paid ($650,000 in?) fines for plagiarizing parts (much? or just three words?) of this supposed "true family history." (I'm told that MartinLutherKing.org is run by a white supremacist group, but New York Times articles mention Haley settling a plagiarism case regarding Roots.)
Hardy, Thomas ; Jude the Obscure Fiction; {read:1979-82} Delicious and sad.
Harley Eber, Dorothy (+ Prologue: R.Buckminster Fuller); Genius At Work: Images of Alexander Graham Bell Nonfiction; (Nimbus Publishing, 1991, Halifax, NS, Canada.; ) {read:2003 Sep}
Harris, Thomas ; Black Sunday Fiction; {read:2003 Sep} settings include Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, LICH
Harris, Thomas ; Silence of the Lambs, The Fiction; {read:2000 ,1998, 1990-93} I was sure glad when my housemate got home, since I'd been left frightened of every noise in the house.
Hawkes, Judith ; Julian's House Fiction; {read:1990-93} Fantastic, frightening, horribly compelling.
Hawkes, Judith ; My Soul to Keep Fiction; (1996; ) {read:1996} Wonderful, frightening.
Hawkins, Jeff (+ Sandra Blakeslee); On Intelligence: How a new understanding of the brain wil lead to the creation of truly intelligent machines. Nonfiction; (Owl Books, Henry Holt & Co.; © 2004 Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee; ISBN#:0-8050-7853-3) {read:2006 nov 29} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Truly fascinating and well-written introduction (for a "lay audience") to a theory of cortex function with implications for the design of artificial intelligence systems. It suggests that most previous AI work (including neural networks) would have made more progress if they'd had Hawkins's overview theory of how feedback and feedforward complement each other with memory and prediction. His company to develop these new kind of artificial brains is numenta.com, and the book's supporting pages are at onIntelligence.com. See his 20 minute talk at the T.E.D. (Technology/Entertainment/Design) conference 2003.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel ; Scarlet Letter, The Fiction; (Penguin Classics. First published in the USA by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields 1850.; © 1962 Ohio State University Press; ISBN#:0-14-03.90197) {read:2007 feb} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10).
Hayslip, Le Ly ; When Heaven and Earth Changed Places Nonfiction; {read:1994} Autobiography of vietnamese woman who grew up in a small village that experienced occupation by French, Viet Cong, Americans, hatred, fear, and betrayal. Was made into a movie by Oliver Stone.
Heggen, Thomas ; Mister Roberts Nonfiction; {read:1975 or before} "what's 'clap'?"
Heinlein, Robert A. ; For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs Fiction; (Scribner, NY; © 2004 (written 1939, unpublished, lost, re-found); ) {read:2004 jul}
Helprin, Mark ; Winter's Tale Fiction; {read:1990-93} Some amazing visual images and startling synchronicities and fantasies.
Hemingway, Ernest ; To Have and Have Not Fiction; (A Scribner Classic, published 1987 by Collier Books, MacMillan Publishing NY; © 1937 Ernest Hemingway (renewed 1965 by Mary Hemingway); ISBN#:0-02-051880-3) {read:2006 May 28} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). An adventure story that hooked me from the first paragraph with both its action and dry tone of voice. I particularly enjoyed his mockery of authors, though I grew tired of all the drinking. A scholar tells me Hemingway tried to avoid words with Greek and Latin roots, preferring Anglo-Saxon.
Heppenheimer, T.A. (+ Introduction by Ray Bradbury.); Colonies in Space: Take an expedition to dream cities in the stars! Nonfiction; (Warner Books, A Warner Communications Company, New York. "Not associated with Warner Press, Inc., of Indiana."; © 1974 T.A.Heppenheimer; ISBN#:0-446-81-581-0) {read:2007 Feb 01} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
If some of that limitless solar energy in outer space could be safely beamed down to Earth, we wouldn't be so hungry for oil, nor so polluted by cars and coal-burning power plants. This could be a tremendous boost for health, environment, prosperity, you name it. After reading this engaging, thoughtful, and exciting book I'm inspired to read more recent books, and am designing a high school course about space colonies, space-based solar collectors, microwave energy transmission links (spacefuture.com project 2000 and 1992 article), Buckminster Fuller, Stella (Systems Analysis software), and the Civilization IV game (fanatics) with its "manage a country" role-playing, and ecological modeling (as was attempted by Biosphere). Princeton professor Gerard K. O'Neill did early space colony analysis, and his Space Studies Institute has links to a wonderful FAQ and links page. A little googling has shown me that there are annual space colony (NASA) and settlement (spaceset.org) design contests for high school students.

More: NASA, spacefuture.com, space.com, marsSociety.org.
Herbert, Frank ; Dune Fiction; {read:1995}
Herr, Michael ; Dispatches Nonfiction; (Discus Books, Avon Books, New York. 1980; ) {read:1983-4} More stories of the disaster of war, from Vietnam.
Herriot, James ; All Creatures Great and Small Fiction; (1972; ISBN#:0312965788) {read:1975 or before} www.jamesherriot.org has info about the great Yorkshire writer and veterinarian James Alfred Wight (who wrote under the pen name "James Herriot").
Hesse, Herman ; Magister Ludi: (The Glass Bead Game) Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Hesse, Herman ; Siddhartha Fiction; {read:1979-82} Rich, thought-provoking, but also cold emotionally.
Hiassen, Carl ; Sick Puppy Fiction; (Alfred A Knopf, New York, 2000;; © 1999 Carl Hiassen; ISBN#:0-679-45445-4) {read:2005 Feb} An amusing tangle of criminals, real-estate developers, gangly dogs, ecologists, and goofballs in the Florida everglades.
Hiassen, Carl ; Skinny Dip Fiction; {read:2004 jul} www.powells.com/tnr/review/2004_11_11
Hilton, Dominic ; Guitar World Presents The Bonehead's Guide to Amps Nonfiction; (Hal Leonard Corporation (in cooperation with Harris Publications Inc and Guitar World Magazine), Milwaukee WI; © 1999 Hal Leonard Corp.; ISBN#:0-7935-9800-1) {read:2007 Jul 14} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). informative!
Hinton, S. E. ; Outsiders, The Fiction; (© 1967; ) {read:1975 or before} I remember being shocked at finding this story of frightening life for poor and unpopular students. See sehinton.com (official web site). This story is being done as a workshop/play by the teenage performers in the (New York City-based) Wooster Group's "Summer Institute" in 2006.
Hinton, S. E. ; That Was Then, This Is Now Fiction; (© 1971; ) {read:1975 or before} I remember being shocked at finding this story of frightening life for poor and unpopular students. See sehinton.com (official web site).
Hoff, Syd ; Little Chief Nonfiction; (Harper, New York; © 1961; ) {read:1968}
Hogeland, William ; Whiskey Rebellion, The: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels who challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty Nonfiction; (A Lisa Drew Book, Scribner; © 2006 William Hogeland; ISBN#:9780743254908) {read:2007 oct 20} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). True-story thriller from American history, with economics playing a major part (surprise) in deciding who gets to take what from whom, while politicians and patriots scramble to keep the young country together. There's even a young lawyer who is in way over his head, trying to please the rebels AND the army that is marching out to smash them. Meanwhile, George Washington is warning his troops not to mistreat the citizens, but who knows whether the soldiers will listen to their commanders.
Holmes, Jim ; Build a Compiler in C++ Nonfiction; {read:1996}
Homer, ? (+ Translated by Richmond Lattimore); Iliad Fiction; (University of Chicago Press. 1951, 1961; ) {read:1979-82}
Hopkins, Jerry (+ Danny Sugerman); No One Here Gets Out Alive Nonfiction; (Warner Books, 1980; ) {read:1983-4} Biography of Jim Morrison, very interesting!
Horwood, Harold (+ Ed Butts); Bandits and Privateers: Canada in the Age of Gunpowder Nonfiction; (published in hardcover 1987 by Doubleday of Canada; in paper by Goodread Biographies, 1998, Formac Publishing Co. LTD, 5359 Inglis St, Halifax NS Canada.; ) {read:2003 Aug} Cover blurb "True stories of the colourful rogues and scoundrels who bring Canadian history to life."
Hosseini, Khaled ; Kite Runner, The Fiction; (© 2003 Khaled Hosseini; ISBN#:1-57322-245-3) {read:2005 Feb} Answered some of my hunger to know a little more about Afghanistan.
Houston, Pam ; Cowboys Have Always Been My Weakness Nonfiction; {read:1990-93} Disappointing. A bunch of "I love them but they leave/ignore/hurt me and I don't learn."
Howarth, David (+ Time-Life Editors); Men-Of-War, The Nonfiction; (1978: Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA; ) {read:2000} (vol.5 of "The Seafarers) about Anglo-Dutch wars of 17th c.
Huggan, Isabel ; Elizabeth Stories Fiction; (Viking Penguin, New York, 1987; ) {read:1985-87}
Hughes, Robert ; Culture of Complaint Nonfiction; {read:1994} Yes, enough with the whining and finger pointing already!
Huxley, Elspeth ; Flame Trees of Thika, The Fiction; {read:1990-93} Articulate memoir of a young English girl growing up in remote Africa.
Huxley, Elspeth ; Mottled Lizard, The Fiction; (Chatto and Windus, 1962; Penguin Books 1985; ) {read:1990-93}
Irving, John ; Prayer for Owen Meany, A Fiction; {read:1996} Gripping, but contrived in parts. (And why does a miracle of precognition and timing cause the narrator to become a Christian? Not explained.)
Irving, John ; World According to Garp, The Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Irwin, Robert ; How to Buy a Home for a Reasonable Price Nonfiction; (McGraw-Hill Book Co., USA; © 1979; ISBN#:0-07-032060-8) {read:2001}
Ishiguro, Kazuo ; Remains of the Day, The Fiction; (Vintage International (Random House): New York, 1988, 1993; ) {read:1995} Heart-breaking nostalgia, gentle writing...
Jacobson, Sid (+ Ernie Colón); 9/11 Report, The: A Graphic Adaptation Nonfiction; (Hill and Wang, A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux; © 2006 Castlebridge Enterprises, Inc.; ISBN#:978-0-8090-5739-9) {read:2007 Jun} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Believe it or not, this is a "Graphic Adaption" (also known as comic book) of the report from the 9/11 commission, including history of the major participants, and analysis of future threats and things to be learned. With a compelling foreword by the Chair and Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission, Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton. They're right: everybody should read (look at) this book.
James, Henry ; The Portrait of a Lady Fiction; (Random House "The Modern Library", New York; © 1881 Henry James Jr.; ) {read:2005 Oct 15} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Intensely subtle and knowing, with focus on the internal mental life of hope and reserve and inspiration.
Jin, Ha ; Crazed, The Fiction; (Vintage International, a trademark of Random House, Inc; © 2002 Ha Jin; ISBN#:0-375-71411-1) {read:2004 Mar ?}
Jones, Edward ; Known World, The Fiction; (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; © 2003 Edward P. Jones; ISBN#:0-06-055754-0) {read:2007 Feb 02} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). A wonderfully written, engrossing novel of life among slaves and slave-owners before the Civil War. I felt I was there and would have to shake off a spell to come back to Brooklyn. Complex characters facing nasty difficult situations with all the grace they can find.
Joyce, James ; Dubliners Fiction; {read:1995} Depressing.
Joyce, James ; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A Fiction; (Penguin Popular Classics; ) {read:2001} Lietuva
Junger, Sebastian ; Perfect Storm, The Nonfiction; (HarperPaperbacks, a division of HarperCollins publishers, NY: 1998; ) {read:1998}
Just, Ward ; American Ambassador, The: A Novel Fiction; (Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin, New York; © 1987 Ward Just; ISBN#:0-39-42694-4 [0-618-34078-5 pbk.]) {read:2007 Jan} I recommend! Intense, fascinating: psychological and political novel with arguments about father/son rivalry, justification of imperialism, justification of anti-establishment violence... I'm eager to read more of his books. www.nytimes.com/books/99/05/02/specials/just.html
Just, Ward ; Forgetfulness Fiction; (A Mariner Book, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York; © 2006 Ward Just; ISBN#:9780618918492) {read:2007 nov 08} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Lovely and intense novel: ethics for spies, interrogators. Just when you think you can retire to a life of painting in the country, things start happening around you.
Just, Ward ; Lowell Limpett and Two Stories Fiction; (PublicAffairs, New York; © 2001 Ward Just; ISBN#:1-58648-087-1) {read:2008 may 07} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Kehlmann, Daniel ; Measuring the World: a novel Fiction; (Vintage; ISBN#:978-0-307-27739-8) {read:2008 Jan 27} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
Kernighan, Brian (+ Dennis Ritchie); C Programming Language, The Nonfiction; (Prentice Hall, Inc., 1988. ISBN 0-13-110370-9 (hardback).; © 1988; ISBN#:0-13-110362-8) {read:1992} Also see Ritchie.
Kerouac, Jack ; On The Road Nonfiction; (Signet/New American Library, New York 1957; ) {read:1994} Stream of consciousness ("that's not writing, that's typing!"), usually interesting as an anthropological report on witless rebels.
Kesey, Ken ; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Fiction; {read:1978 & before}
Kidd, Sue Monk ; Mermaid Chair, The Fiction; (Viking, Penguin Group, New York, NY; © Sue Monk Kidd Ltd., 2005; ISBN#:0-670-03394-4) {read:2005 May} I was particularly intrigued by section on art and spirituality, suggest/thinking that perhaps God (whatever that is) is everywhere and visible in the beauty of the world, and in the demands (desires) of one's soul and (or) heart. Over all, though, the writing (and story) struck me as simple and amateur.
King, Dennis ; Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism Nonfiction; (Doubleday, New York; 1989; ) {read:1997} Uh-oh!
Kirn, Walter ; Up in the Air Fiction; (Anchor Books, Doubleday (a division of) Random House, NY.; © 2001 Walter Kirn; ISBN#:0-385-72237-0) {read:2006 Dec} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Author is a college classmate and New York times book reviewer: he writes an engaging and intriguing story of a traveling consultant who is not only facing identity theft but the imminent achievement of one million frequent flyer miles with the attendant opportunity to change his (increasingly chaotic) life.
Koch, Christopher J. ; Year of Living Dangerously, The Fiction; (ISBN#:0140065350) {read:1988-89} A book (and then a movie) about a western reporter's brush with the rebellion, conspiracy, racism, slaughter and tragedy in indonesia in 1965.
Kooser, Ted ; Winter Morning Walks: one hundred postcards to Jim Harrison Nonfiction; (Carnegie Mellon University Press, Pittsburgh PA 2000; © 2000 Ted Kooser; ISBN#:0-88748-336-4) {read:2006 mar 20} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). America's poet laureate, gentle but suprising haiku-like poems. See public radio NPR Interview with him.
Kozol, Jonathan ; Savage Inequalities Nonfiction; {read:1990-93} How, in many school systems, the rich get more and the poor get too little.
Krakauer, Jon ; Eiger Dreams: Ventures among Men and Mountains Nonfiction; (Anchor Books, Doubleday: New York, 1997.; ) {read:1998} Exciting adventures, fluent writing, interesting people struggling with the mountains.
Krakauer, Jon ; Into the Wild Nonfiction; (Anchor Books, Doubleday: New York, 1996; ) {read:1998} Fascinating page-turner about the tragedy of an earnest young idealist who is overcome by some mistakes in the Alaska wilderness.
Krakauer, Jon ; Into Thin Air Nonfiction; {read:1997} Fascinating true-life thriller, disaster on Everest. One sees nobility, adventure, extremism (and miserable climbers: shivering, gasping for air, with headaches from sleep deprivation and altitude sickness).
Kranz, Gene ; Failure is not an Option Nonfiction; {read:2008 apr} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
Krauss, Nicole ; The History of Love: a novel Fiction; (W.W.Norton & Company; © 2005 Nicole Krauss; ISBN#:0-393-32862-7) {read:2007 may 27} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). Magnificent, utterly enchanting; with a mystery, stories within stories, survivors who veer from cranky to loving, young goofballs, widows, long-lost loves, and stray splashes of optimism.
Kundera, Milan ; Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Fiction; {read:1988-89} Yes!
Kundera, Milan ; Immortality Fiction; {read:1990-93} What if you were given another life and the choice of whether to bring your current love along with you, and you weren't sure that you wanted to ask them to come along with you...
Kundera, Milan ; Joke, The Fiction; {read:1988-89} Early Kundera, not as sophisticated as later work but moving! Some Kundera links at http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/Kundera__Milan/
Kundera, Milan ; Life is Elsewhere Fiction; {read:1988-89} Yes! Some Kundera links are at http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/Kundera__Milan/.
Kundera, Milan ; Slowness Fiction; (Harper Collins; ) {read:1997} I love his skeptical reading of the self-important and pretentious.
Kundera, Milan ; Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Fiction; {read:1988-89} Yes! Some Kundera links are at http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/Kundera__Milan/.
Kuwahara, Yasuo (+ Gordon T. Allred); Kamikaze Nonfiction; (Ballantine Books; © 1957; ) {read:1975 or before} I'll answer the obvious question by explaining that the author was on his final two-day leave before his would-be-suicide mission when he was injured in the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast. I read this when I was a 5th or 6th grader, with hair-on-end fascination and horror. See the descriptive essay about the book at wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/.
L'Engle, Madeline ; Wrinkle in Time, A Fiction; {read:1995} A cold-war allegory against communism, or against conformity in general? Beloved eccentrics!
Laclos, Choderlos de ; Dangerous Liaisons Fiction; {read:1988-89} I loved this book!
Lansing, Alfred ; Endurance Nonfiction; {read:1996} Possibly the most exciting and incredible adventure I've ever read. This is the true story of an Antarctic expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1914. Their ship was trapped in the ice and finally crushed, leaving them stranded and struggling through ice, nasty oceans, and desolate islands for almost two years before reaching a remote whaling station. You won't believe it! I'm told that sailors still revere Shackleton for saving so many of his crew.
Lawrence, D. H. (+ edited by Julian Moynahan); Sons and lovers Fiction; (New York : Penguin, repr.1977, c1968.; ISBN#:0-14-015504-X) {read:2008 Feb 18} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10).
le Carré, John ; Tailor of Panama, The Fiction; (Ballantine Books, New York; © 1996 David Cornwell; ISBN#:0-345-42043-8) {read:2006 oct 09} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Lee, Harper ; To Kill a Mockingbird Fiction; {read:1975 or before} Atticus Finch, Boo Bradley (which is/was the name of a pub in near NYU in Greenwich Village), the drinker with his "drink", the rabid dog, fear and righteousness..
LeGuin, Ursula ; Left Hand of Darkness Fiction; {read:1985-87}
Lem, Stanislaw (+ (translated by Michael Kandel, father of my bandmate)); Futurological Congress, The Fiction; {read:2003 Sep} speedy read of deeply intriguing visions of a disturbing future
Leonard, Elmore ; Stay Cool Fiction; {read:2002}
Lethem, Jonathan ; Motherless Brooklyn Fiction; {read:2002}
Lewin, Lauri ; Naked is the Best Disguise Nonfiction; {read:1990-93} My rating: 4 (fr.0-10). Coed turns stripper to pay the bills, writes a sociological/psychological "study" afterwards. The strippers risk rip offs from club owners and molestation from patrons (suprise!). I don't know how I even got hold of this book: garage sale, freebie? There's another book with the same title that is about Sherlock Holmes.
Lewis, Bernard ; What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response Nonfiction; (Oxford University Press, 2002; ) {read:2002}
Lewycka, Marina ; Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, A: a novel Fiction; (Penguin Books, Penguin Group, New York; © 2005 Marina Lewycka; ISBN#:0-14-30.3674-2) {read:2006 Jul} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). A delightful and outrageous story of delightful and outrageous behavior. The front cover features the first sentences: "Two years after my mother died, my father fell in love with a glamorous blond Ukrainian divorcée. He was eighty-four and she was thirty-six. She exploded into our lives like a fluffy pink grenade..."
Liddy, G. Gordon ; Will Nonfiction; {read:1990-93} Strange and interesting guy, over the top.
Lindqvist, Sven (+ Translated from the Swedish by Linda Haverty Rugg.); History of Bombing, A Nonfiction; (The New Press, New York.; © 2000 Sven Lindqvist; ISBN#:1-56584-625-7) {read:2007 apr 24} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
I've long been interested in the multiple horribly fascinating topics that Lindqvist touches on. I spent several years growing up on air force bases, building model planes, and resolving to be a pacifist (for the most part). A college course on the history of the arms race included a guest lecture by Freeman Dyson himself, and included reading Sherwin's "A World Destroyed" which Lindqvist cites for his argument that the Japanese were trying to (conditionally) surrender before the atom bombs were dropped. My Dad was in Strategic Air Command for four years (1967-'71) and spent one of those years in Vietnam, and furthermore I went through high school in Montana, round about the time it (Montana) became major nuclear missile launchpad, sprinkled with missile silos as well as grain silos. (Our 'joke' in the 1980's was that Montana would have the world's third largest nuclear army if it seceded.)

Mom and Dad both became flight instructors in Montana, and one day Dad was zooming along a few hundred feet above the ground (well, "puttering along" is more accurate) following the train tracks, when he realized that the train ahead on the tracks below him was all white, with machine guns mounted on it. It was evidently one of the nuclear warhead transport trains (which always varied their schedules so saboteurs, thieves, and protesters couldn't intercept them) and it was time to make a quick turn or risk being shot down.

Dad's story would seem unlikely (he's willing to bend the truth for dramatic purposes) except I know he likes to fly low (his Montana pilot friends used to say, "Let's go out and scare the snakes!"), and I'd heard about the "white trains" from antinuke groups in college, and the railroad track does lead directly from Billings (our home) to Hardin, site of the flying school (and of the Little Big Horn/Custer battlefield).

The page-jumping in Lindqvist's book made me feel as if I were an airplane, taking off from one page and landing on another. Because the overall structure was chronologically organized, I liked seeing the many ways that Lindqvist's essays linked events from different eras. I was bothered that there was no index, and little mention of suicide/car bombs, but glad that he seemed somewhat evenhanded about criticizing many of the major powers. (I was instantly suspicious of his propagandism when his first essay claimed that he and his boyhood friends ONLY played war games: all the boys I've ever seen --or heard of-- play many other games as well as war, but Lindqvist won me back with the depth of his research.) I wish he had given more of an explanation of why the apocalyptic fantasy stories were significant: saying that some novelists created characters who wanted to destroy Asians or Africans is a long way from saying that this was the policy (or dream) of major leaders.
Liss, David ; Coffee Trader, The: a novel Fiction; (A Ballantine Books, published by the Random House Publishing Group; © 2003 David Liss; ISBN#:0-375-76090-3) {read:2007 May 22} My rating: 4 (fr.0-10). The author has done his homework about Amsterdam in the 1600's and its bustling speculative markets. His characters have personality traits that ought to make for an interesting story but I never got into it: reading the book felt like doing homework. Lots of exposition but no fireworks, no poetry.
London, Jack ; Call of the Wild, The Nonfiction; {read:1975 or before}
London, Jack ; White Fang Nonfiction; {read:1975 or before}
Long, Dustin ; Icelander Fiction; (McSweeney's Books, San Francisco; © 2006 Dustin Long; ISBN#:1-932416-51-X) {read:2007 Jul 16} My rating: 3 (fr.0-10). A little disappointing, though it had promise from the start: already on page 11 there were the "Itallo" (Lolita) and "Ripe Leaf" (Pale Fire) anagrams, as well as the "Dora or Dara" (Ada or Ardor) on page 166. The constant shifting of narrative point of view is Nabokovian, as is the hiding of "don't know they matter at the time" secrets (the rusty candelabra is mentioned in the footnote on page 17, in a short passage (of text) 130 pages before its next pivotal appearance). I didn't much care for the characters, but I enjoyed the way that the last sentence of every narrator's writing shared a word or thought with the first paragraph of the next narrator's words, and I was amused by the idea of Prescott resenting the Heroine's intellectual catharsis with another man, and I could relate to Nathan (in the sacred lake) sounding like an idiot while trying to describe what he liked about the master writer, and felt that the novel lived up to Shirley's idea of having the action happen between the words or in implications.
Lord, Walter ; Night to Remember, A Nonfiction; (Bantam Books, 1955, 1997.; ) {read:1998} Another gripper, fluent: you feel as though you're there as the Titanic goes to the bottom of the sea.
Lowry, Martin ; Under the Volcano Fiction; (1984 Harper & Row (orig. 1947 J.B.Lippincott); © 1947 Peter Matson;; ISBN#:0-06-095522-8) {read:2005 Apr} I find some of the story telling incredibly engaging, (especially Hugh's conscience pangs about the Republicans in Spain, and his youthful guitar/ship adventures) but then I lose heart when the sentences get unforgivably long and tangled, or when the Consul's drunkenness takes over. There are "I know exactly what he means" beautiful descriptions of mood swings and stormy skies,with some Woolf/Joyce/Tolstoy/Nabokov psychological stream of consciousness that feels astute, but all in all... I'd only recommend parts of it to my serious-reader friends.
Lukacs, John ; Five Days in London: May 1940 Nonfiction; (Yale "Nota Bene" Yale University Press, New Haven and London; © John Lukacs 1999; ) {read:2004 nov}
Machiavelli, ? ; Prince, the Nonfiction; (Crofts Classic , AHM Publishing Corp., Illinois. 1947; ) {read:1979-82} ? is this publisher for prince or for little prince?
MacLean, Harry ; In Broad Daylight Nonfiction; (ISBN#:9780060158767) {read:1988-89} True crime with analysis and strong characters--nobody will admit to seeing anything when the local bully/thief is shot in the middle of town in broad daylight.
Maclean, Norman ; River Runs Through It, A Fiction; (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1976.; ISBN#:9780226500577) {read:1990-93} I loved this bittersweet novel, and the accompanying short stories. Life in the Montana outdoors, early in this century.
Maclean, Norman (+ Norman Maclean); Young Men and Fire Nonfiction; (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c1992.; © 1992; ISBN#:9780226500621) {read:1994} It is essentially an essay that is poetic, rigorous, thoughtful, and gripping. Maclean's book is a report on a (true-life) forest fire tragedy in Montana that leads him to question not only his own art of story-telling, but also the mysteries of nature, death, and optimism. Every page has ideas that make me stop to think.
Maher, Bill ; When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden Nonfiction; (New Millennium Press, Beverly Hills CA, 2002.; ) {read:2003} articulate and right on, clever and wry and smart
Mailer, Norman ; Naked and the Dead, The Fiction; {read:1988-89} War is hell, and the writing is wonderful.
Malraux, Andre ; Man's Fate Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Marsh, Dave ; Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980's Nonfiction; (Pantheon Books, New York: 1987; ) {read:1988-89} thoughtful
McCarthy, Cormac ; All the Pretty Horses Fiction; (Vintage International (division of Random House Inc), New York, 1992.; ) {read:1998 , 1995} Wow! Philosophers on dusty streets and on horseback in harsh landscapes. Things turn horrible, sometimes. More Cormac McCarthy Links are at www.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/McCarthy__Cormac/ . Link to translations of the Spanish phrases (and more) at www.CormacMcCarthy.com/Resources.htm#Translations.
McCarthy, Cormac ; Cities of the Plain Fiction; (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1998. (Distributed by Random House.); ) {read:1998} Wonderful, worth the wait--I'm going to read it again. (I prepared for this reading by re-reading "All the Pretty Horses" and "The Crossing.") More Cormac McCarthy Links at http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/McCarthy__Cormac/ .
McCarthy, Cormac ; Crossing, The Fiction; (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1994. (Distributed by Random House.); ) {read:1998 , 1995} Wow! Philosophers on dusty streets and on horseback in harsh landscapes. I've read parts of this out loud at a friend's party. Cormac McCarthy Links at http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/McCarthy__Cormac/ . Spanish phrases translated (and more) at www.CormacMcCarthy.com/Resources.htm#Translations.
McCarthy, Cormac ; No Country for Old Men Fiction; (Vintage International, a division of Random House; © 2005 M-71, Ltd; ISBN#:0-375-70667-4) {read:2007 Dec} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). Cormac McCarthy's writing and story is so intense and driving that there's no way to put this book back down. Not for the squeamish.
McCarthy, Cormac ; Road, The Fiction; (Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc.; © 2006 M-71, Ltd.; ISBN#:978-0-307-27732-3) {read:2007 May 25} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). Mesmerizing: a small light of innocence and love stumbles through a post apocalyptic landscape of horror [and a tiny bit of love/hope]. I read most of it standing up because I couldn't be bothered to sit down whenever I had a minute to grab a few pages (moving to a chair would distract and take too long).
McCarthy, Cormac ; Suttree Fiction; (1979; ) {read:1996} Absolutely fascinating: Life among the bums and alcoholics, on garbage-littered backlots beside a river. It's rare for me to be provoked to laughing out loud while reading, but Cormac McCarthy has done it again (as he did in All the Pretty Horses, Cities of the Plains, and The Crossing). I was horrified and fascinated by the characters's self-destruction and dissipation. The book's challenging vocabulary kept sending me back to my dictionary, but it was worth it!
McCourt, Frank ; Angela's Ashes Nonfiction; (1996; ) {read:1997} Disarmingly gentle and deceptively "simple." The author has a gift for story telling, optimism, and empathy while surrounded by poverty and disappointment.
McCourt, Frank ; Teacher Man: A Memoir Nonfiction; (Scribner, New York; © 2005 Green Peril Corp.; ISBN#:978-0-7432-4377-3; [isbn10= 0-7432-4377-3]) {read:2005 Nov 27} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Reads quickly and engagingly, with dead-on portraits of student-teacher give and take. I appreciated his candor, mood-swings, critique of the beat-them-into-conformity education he received, and enjoyed the cameo appearances of my "not shy" colleague Maureen.
McCullers, Carson ; Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Fiction; (Bantam, Houghton Mifflin, 1940, 1964; ) {read:1988-89} I was drawn into the world of the young girl.
McCullough, Colleen ; Thorn Birds, The Fiction; (Avon Books (May, 1978); ISBN#:0380563908) {read:1979-82}
McDermott, Alice ; Charming Billy Fiction; (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/New York: 1998; ) {read:1998} Wonderful book, stories within stories, old lies and loyalties, friends who love each other.
McGrath, Patrick ; Asylum: A Novel Fiction; (Random House, New York; © 1997 Patrick McGrath; ISBN#:0-679-45228-1) {read:2006 May 10} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Most interesting thing was the unreliable (lovelorn and subjective) narration. The movie is beautiful to look at, and their passion-lust is palpable, but both story and book seem to drift along with Stella's depression. The voice of narrator kept me turning the pages, and I was worried about what Edgar might do, but something left me not believing Stella's passion nor caring about her depression. The author described some scenes with such nuance that I felt "Oh! I know exactly what you mean!" but I'm not putting this one on the summer reading list for school. (I rented the movie, in which Ian McKellen is amazing while the rest is just okay.)
McMurtry, Larry ; Lonesome Dove Fiction; {read:2001} My childhood path went from Texas (1st grade) to Nebraska (3rd gr.) to Colorado (5th) and finally to Montana for high school, so I was especially interested in this story of a cattle drive making the same journey, except on horseback and one hundred years before.
McMurtry, Larry ; Streets of Laredo Fiction; {read:2001} Sequel to lonesome dove.
McPherson, James M. ; Drawn With the Sword Nonfiction; (Oxford University Press, New York, 1996.; ) {read:2003 nov} A highly readable, intelligent, compelling and substantive analysis of the "big picture" issues of the American Civil War. Why did the South Lose? Was the South significantly different from (than) the North? Race and Class, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was it about slavery, etc. Gets some fun out of disagreeing with other scholars on some points, and convinced me that the Southern Cause wasn't just "States Rights" and the war was started by the South-- (A) the South was happy to infringe on the "rights" of Northern states with the Fugitive Slave Act (allowing retrieval of escaped human slave "property" from the Northern states, though those states didn't allow slavery). --(B) the South seceded and fired on Federal troops mainly because they saw their "sacred" tradition and "right" of slavery threatened by the addition of more non-slavery states to the union. --(C) Though disgusted by slavery and hoping to move the U.S. closer to the ideals of equality and liberty (professed in the Declaration of Liberty), Lincoln felt bound by Federal (Constitutional) law allowing slavery at the start of the war, and only later moved to emancipating SOME of the slaves. --(D) The South had 2 or 3 times the rate of illiteracy of the North, and a much more military culture of honor and "tradition" and lack of industrial inventiveness. The author is a Princeton professor and won the Pulitzer Prize for his "Battle Cry of Freedom", also about the civil war.
Means, Russel ; Sweet Hereafter, The Fiction; (Harper, New York; ) {read:1998} If the accident is supposed to tear the town apart, then why don't we see any of the conflict? I liked the movie better, though it has the same lack.
Messud, Claire ; Emperor's Children, The Fiction; (Alfred A. Knopf; © 2006 Claire Messud; ISBN#:0-307-26419-x) {read:2007 oct 16} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Well-written fascinating magnificent comic tragedy of life in NYC in 2000's with characters of all kinds: literate, gay, rich, struggling, writers, scheming, depressed, cheating, ambitious, etc.
Michener, James ; Centennial Fiction; {read:1978 & before}
Michener, James ; Poland Fiction; {read:2002 Jul}
Michener, James ; Source, The Fiction; {read:1995} History and moral arguments.
Michener, James ; South Pacific (Tales of the?) Fiction; {read:1978 & before}
Michener, James A. ; Space Fiction; (New York, N.Y. : Random House, 1982.; ISBN#:0-449-20379-4) {read:2008 mar 05} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
Miller, Arthur ; Death of a Salesman Fiction; {read:1988-89} Memorable
Minarik, Else Holmelund (+ illustrated by Maurice Sendak); Father Bear Comes Home Fiction; (Harper, New York; © 1959; ) {read:1968}
Moaveni, Azadeh ; Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran Nonfiction; (PublicAffairs (tm), a division of Perseus Books Group, New York; © 2005 Azadeh Moaveni; ISBN#:978-1-58648-193-3) {read:2006 Oct 01} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Every page had intriguing observations about day-to-day life in Iran as seen by an Iranian-born reporter who spent her childhood in the US and then moved back.
Montagu, Ashley ; Elephant Man, The: A Study in Human Dignity Nonfiction; (E.P. Dutton, New York. 1971, 1979; ) {read:1979-82} Beautiful true story. Montagu makes the strong argument that John Merrick ("the Elephant Man") had had a loving mother for the significant early years in order to have the kindness and decency that he had later.
Montagu, Ashley ; Growing Young Nonfiction; {read:1979-82} Inspiring work on the the value of youthful joy and creativity, combined with adult maturity and love.
Montagu, Ashley ; Life Before Birth Nonfiction; (Signet Book, New American Library, New York. 1961, 1977; ) {read:1979-82} Reasons to be sparing with technological interventions and separation of mother and infant.
Montagu, Ashley ; Natural Superiority of Women, The Nonfiction; (Collier Books, New York. 1952, 1974; ) {read:1983-4}
Montagu, Ashley ; On Being Human Nonfiction; (Hawthorn Books (Elsevier-Dutton); New York: 1950, 1966; ) {read:1983-4}
Moore, Michael ; Dude, Where's My Country? Nonfiction; {read:2003} feels poorly reasoned, more demagoguery than thought
Morrison, Toni ; Beloved Fiction; {read:1983-4}
Morrison, Toni ; Song of Solomon Fiction; {read:1983-4}
Murakami, Haruki ; Norwegian Wood Fiction; (Vintage International; © 1987; 2000; ) {read:2004 Jan}
Nabakov, Vladimir ; Ada Fiction; {read:1994} Intellectual, passionate, beautiful, challenging. An intricate, lush novel with a moving love story, by an author who delights in playing with language and philosophy. Smart, and full of suprises.
Nabakov, Vladimir (+ Ed. by Edward Appel, Jr.); Annotated Lolita, The Fiction; (First Vintage Books, (Random House, New York): 1970, 1991; ) {read:1998 ,1994} Intricate word play, deep passion, fascinating stories. I had read "Lolita" two or three times before, so I knew that it was a fantastic, intricate book lush with allusion and subtlety (as well as a comic/tragic cry for quality and subtlety), but Appel's annotations gave me a deeper appreciation of the complex dramatic architecture, the literary references, the interwoven complementary story lines. I kept re-checking this out of the Saint Ann's library so that I could, (detective like), finish following all the footnotes and untangle the narrative threads.
Nabakov, Vladimir ; Invitation to a Beheading Fiction; {read:1995} Imagine your head on the chopping block, imagine waiting for the day of chopping...
Nabakov, Vladimir ; Lolita Fiction; {read:1994} Intricate word play, deep passion, fascinating stories.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Bend Sinister Fiction; (Vintage; ) {read:2001} A philosophy professor watches a childhood classmate known as the "toad" become the supreme dictator of their sad country. In this novel, as in the others by Nabokov, every whisper matters, and a narrator winks out from behind many of the rocks, dreams, and spies. There are even government agents dressed as organ-grinders, not knowing how to play. Worth reading and re-reading.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Defense, The Fiction; {read:2001} Now a movie in theaters, (as "Lhuzin Defense"), this novel follows the moves of a chess grandmaster feeling besieged by mysterious forces (including love). Nabokov's characters see the beauty in sun spots rippling under trees, and revel in intellectual challenges touched by that beauty. Keep alert for the chess board hints of stained glass and tile.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Eye, The Fiction; (First Vintage Internation Edition; © 1965 Vladimir Nabokov; ) {read:2000}
(pg. 27) “It is silly to seek a basic law, even sillier to find it. Some mean-spirited little man decides that the whole course of humanity can be explained in terms of insidiously revolving signs of the zodiac or as the struggle between an empty and a stuffed belly; he hires a punctilious Philistine to act as Clio's clerk, and begins a wholesale trade in epochs and masses; and then woe to the private individuum, with his two poor u's, hallooing hopelessly amid the dense growth of economic causes. Luckily no such laws exist: a toothache will cost a battle, a drizzle cancel an insurrection. Everything is fluid, everything depends on chance, and all in vain were the efforts of that crabbed bourgeois in Victorian checkered trousers, author of Das Kapital, the fruit of insomnia and migraine. There is titillating pleasure in looking back at the past and asking oneself, "What would have happened if . . ." and subsitituting one chance occurrence for another, observing how, from a gray, barren, humdrum moment in one's life, there grows forth a marvelous rosy event that in reality had failed to flower. A mysterious thing, this branching structure of life: one senses in every past instant a parting of ways, a "thus" and and "otherwise," with innumerable dazzling zigzags bifurcating and trifurcating against the dark background of the past.

“All these simple thoughts about the wavering nature of life come to mind when I think how easily I might never have happened to rent a room in the house at 5 Peacock Street, or meet Vanya and her sister, or Roman Bogdanovich, or many other people whom I suddenly found, who started to live all at once, so unexpectedly and unwontedly, around me. And again, had I settled in a different house after my spectral exit from the hospital, perhaps an unimaginable happiness would have become my familiar interlocutor . . . who knows, who knows . . .”

recurring elements: a gun, (a shooting), intercepted letters, people & cars in mirrors & windows, the "what else might have been", Edgar Allen Poe, Sherlock (Holmes), scenes that reveal they were "just" dreams,
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Gift, The Fiction; {read:2002 ?}
Nabokov, Vladimir ; King, Queen, Knave Fiction; ("Slovo" 1928, McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1968.; ) {read:1998} Delightful, luscious, richly visual and evocative.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Mary Fiction; (Vintage; ) {read:2001}
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Pale Fire Fiction; (G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1962; ) {read:1997} Fantastic, intricate, compelling! I loved this book and its self-absorbed narrator, its nostalgia, its analysis of poetry, and its insistence that we read between the lines. Passionate, graceful, and challenging.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Pnin Fiction; (First Vintage International Edition, 1989, original copyright 1953; ) {read:1997} So rich, so sad: I love re-reading and untangling the multiple unreliable narrations and the jabs at psychotherapy.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Secret Life of Sebastian Knight Fiction; {read:2000} He writes with passion, is able to paint beautiful scenes, and has imperfect but knowing (and articulate) narrators who have high standards, who avoid and criticize cliche. This novel is structured craftily, like a puzzle with hints and interwoven threads: it deserves and rewards re-reading. There is wonderful discussion of the art of story-telling, and aching nostalgia. Of similar quality and substance--every page touched by narrative craft and full of characters with soul--are Nabokov's novels The Eye, Despair, and Glory. They have fantastic dream sequences, punctured arrogance, poetic writing, mysteries of memory, and characters trying to live with honesty and artistry.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Speak, Memory Fiction; {read:1998} From the first images of life as a sparkling burst between two infinite darknesses, I was captured by this richly literate autobiography. Nabokov (he tells us that it rhymes with "the croak of") had a life that brought him thought-provoking and nostalgia-inspiring events. The writing is smart, beautiful, sentimental. Exquisite images, gentle delights of memory and thought. Makes me want to look more clearly at the world, and learn how to describe it.
Nabokov, Vladimir ; Strong Opinions Nonfiction; (Vintage International (Random House): 1990, 1973; ) {read:1997} Transcripts of interviews with Nabokov. Articulate, inspiring: both enthusiastic and curmudgeonly.
Nafisi, Azar ; Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books Nonfiction; (Random House Trade Paperback Division 2004; © 2003 Azar Nafisi; ) {read:2004 aug} (I have autographed copy.)
Naipaul, V.S. ; Bend in the River, A Fiction; (Penguin Books, Great Britain: 1979; ) {read:1990-93} The government troubles in the African country include great scenes: a "money for the people" program puts illiterates in charge of businesses that they don't understand.
Naipaul, V.S. ; Beyond Belief Nonfiction; (Vintage; ) {read:2001} Interviews with people involved in fundamentalist Islamist movements in Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia. Their idealistic dreams of countries run by religious law haven't always worked out so well. I'm taken aback by schools in which there is only one book, and the boys spend years learning it by rote.
Nathan, John ; Mishima: A Biography Nonfiction; (ISBN#:030680977X) {read:1990-93} Biography of the intense (Japanese, Nobel-Prize-Contender) author Yukio Mishima, who ended his life with a somewhat public seppuku suicide after attempting to start a Japanese revolution.
Nelson, Ted ; Computer Lib/Dream Machines Nonfiction; {read:1985-87} Outrageously cool! Like Critical Path, every page has enough inspiration and brain food for a week. This guy has a wild active imagination!
Ngor, Haing ; Cambodian Oddysey, A Nonfiction; (Warner Books, New York, 1987; ) {read:1988-89} It turns out that the man who played Dith Pran in the "Killing Fields" movie had an even worse time of it under the khmer rouge than did Dith Pran.
Nicolson-Lord, David ; Planet Earth: The Making of an Epic Series Nonfiction; (BBC Books; ISBN#:978-0-563-49358-7) {read:2008 mar 29} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Norman, Donald ; Design of Everyday Things Nonfiction; {read:1994} Brilliant plea for better design of tools for people: ovens, vcr's, computers. Delightful!
Norman, Donald A. ; Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things Nonfiction; (Basic Books ("A Member of the Perseus Books Group"), New York; © 2004; ISBN#:0-465-05135-9) {read:2005 Mar} Another book from the author of The Design of Everyday Things for anyone interested in product and software and web design, hoping to combine aesthetics and novelty and joy in things that people use. The author starts by noticing how many people love some devices (hand-held music players, certain shoes, etc.) and places, and tries to look for ways to plan all kinds of things so that they're useful and enjoyable. I especially like his section about education, acknowledging the role of engagement, focus, and passionate drive. "Robot tutors have great potential for changing the way we teach. Today's model is far too often that of a pendant lecturing at the front of the classroom, forcing students to listen to material they have no interest in, that appears irrelevant to their daily lives. Lectures and textbooks are the easiest way to teach from the point of view of the teacher, but the least effective for the learner. The most powerful learning takes place when well-motivated students get excited by a topic and then struggle with the the concepts, learning how to apply them to issues they care about. Yes, struggle: learning is an active, dynamic process, and struggle is a part of it. But when students care about something the struggle is enjoyable. This is how athletes learn. This is the essence of the attraction of video games, except that in games, what students learn is of little practical value. These methods are well known in the learning sciences, where they are called problem-base, inquiry-learning, or constructivist." "Here is where emotion plays its part. Students learn best when motivated, when they care. They need to be emotionally involved, to be drawn to the excitement of the topic. This is why examples, diagrams and illustrations, videos and animated illustrations are so powerful. Learning need not be a dull and dreary exercise, not even learning about what are normally considered dull and dreary topics: every topic can be made exciting, every topic excites the emotions of someone, so why not excite everyone? It is time for lessons to become alive, for history to be seen as a human struggle, for students to understand and appreciate the structure of art, music, science, and mathematics. How can these topics be made exciting? By making them relevant to the lives of each individual student. This is often most effective by having students put their skills to immediate application. Developing exciting, emotionally engaging, and intellectually effective learning experiences is truly a design challenge worthy of the best talent in the world." (pp 205-6)
North, Sterling ; Rascal Nonfiction; {read:1978 & before}
O'Brian, Patrick ; aubrey maturin series Fiction; {read:1998} Series of novels set in the British Navy in the early 19th century. The whole series (twenty books) is so marvelous that reading the final ten last summer and fall meant that I always had something to look forward to. Any of the books is a historically accurate, intelligent, thoughtful, literate, adventure story that can be read by itself. (They're even more fun in series, though the first isn't the very best of the group.) Some of my favorites include Master and Commander (#1)"; "Far Side of the World (#10), The"; "Reverse of the Medal (#11)"; "Letter of Marque, The (#12)" (W.W.Norton & Co., London & NY). --The "Aubrey and Maturin" novels about English navy action on "Man of War" ships during 1790 to 1810 are wonderful: literate, evocative, thoughtful, moving, and exciting. (The reviewers claim that they are also fanatically accurate.) They are not mere "stories for boys" (Nabokov's scoff about Hemingway). The characters feel alive to me, subtle, with plausible philosophical questions, imperfections, and bursts of heroism. Any book from the series can stand alone.
O'Brian, Patrick ; Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey Fiction; (Harper Collins; © 2004 The Estate of Patrick O'Brian; ISBN#:0 00 719470 6) {read:2005 Aug 21} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Posthumous publication of 65 page untitled and unfinished manuscript, left at his death in Jan 2000. Moving and funny, but his handwriting is impossible (he had fortunately typed all but the last half dozen pages).
O'Casey, Sean ; Plough and the Stars, The Fiction; (1926; Saint Martin's Press, 1957; ) {read:1996} Thank you, Sean, for showing the blundering that happens on all sides of conflicts.
O'Neill, Eugene ; Hairy Ape, The Fiction; {read:1997} Delightful in light of the scenes of the stokers in "Titanic". My friend Nancy lives in the apartment that O'Neill lived in and wrote this play in.
O'Neill, Gerard K. ; High Frontier, The: Human Colonies in Space Nonfiction; (3rd Edition by Apogee Books, an Imprint of Collector's Guide Publishing Inc., Burlington, Ontario, Canada.; © 2000 Space Studies Institute; ISBN#:1-896522-67-X) {read:2007 jun 11} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Expanded third edition, published in 2000, includes introduction by Freeman Dyson, CD with interviews, and is available from Apogee Space Books. This amazing book dares to dream that people could live in space stations with lush farmland, low gravity sports, and more solar energy than you could dream of. This book provided the core of the Space Colonies Seminar that I taught in 2007-8 and will be teaching again in 2008-9.
Olson, Steven Douglas ; Ajax on Java: The Essentials of XMLHttpRequest and XML Programming with Java Nonfiction; (O'Reilly, Sebastopol, CA; © 2007 O'Reilly Media, Inc.; ISBN#:978-0-596-10187-9) {read:2007 Jul 08} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Wonderful, including information about the Google GWT, with detailed instructions on setting up the html, javascript, ant build files, and server side Java Servlets to make everything run. See O'Reilly's java.oreilly.com and onJava.com.
Ondaatje, Michael ; English Patient, The Fiction; (1992, Random House; ) {read:1996} Not as good as I'd expected, but still pretty fine.
Orwell, George ; 1984 Fiction; {read:1978 & before}
Pagels, Elaine ; Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas Nonfiction; (Random House, New York.; © 2003 Elaine Pagels; ) {read:2004 nov} Focus on how Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon in the 2nd century AD, attempted to unite early Christianity by selecting the four (now) canonical gospels (Luke,Matthew, Mark, and especially John) while declaring other gospels heretical. (Though his declarations of heresy were divisive, he seems to have thought that the other "gospels" (and their supporters) were more (and dangerously) divisive because they allowed for more creation of new interpretations. Improvisation, if you will. Interesting that the gospel by "John" differs from the other three canonical gospels in very significant ways: especially in uniquely declaring that Jesus is actually God* (pg.150). (Unlike the other 3 gospels, John also says Jesus is arrested Thursday night instead of Friday (pg.118); the "last supper" is not told in John and couldn't have been Passover (which would have been on Friday night); and expulsion of moneylenders is early in Jesus's life rather than late (pg.118).) Origen, an Egyptian "father of the church" says in regard to such contradictions that although "John does not always tell the truth literally, he always tells the truth spiritually."(pg.118) Of course for me this calls further into question the credibility of the "literal bible" claims. (And don't some of the gospels offer different family tree lineages of Jesus, with Matthew tracing his line back to King David?) *{Pagels, Beyond Belief, pg.50: "And why did he [Irenaeus] place John not, as Christians did later, as the fourth gospel but instead as the first and foremost pillar of "the church's gopel"? Irenaeus says that the gospel deserves this exalted position because John--and John alone--proclaims Christ's divine origin, that is his "original, powerful and glorious generation from the Father, thus declaring, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was withGod,and the word was God [John 1:1-2]." Also, "all things were made through him [the word] and without him nothing was made [John 1:3]." {Irenaeus, 3.11.8-9, Libros Quinque Adversus Haereses, ed. W.W.Harvey (Cambridge, 1851)}
Pagels, Heinz ; Dreams of Reason Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} Mind-stretching, with discussion of an emerging third branch of science (computer simulations) that blends the other two (theory and experiment).
Pagels, Elaine ; Gnostic Gospels, The Nonfiction; (Vintage Books, a division of Random House, New York NY; © 1979 Elaine Pagels; ISBN#:0-679-72453-2) {read:2005 Mar} A remarkable, wonderful and substantial book. It's great that the "heretical" Nag Hammadi scrolls weren't found a thousand years ago when they no doubt would have been destroyed. I've recently read "The Name of the Rose" and "The Rule of Four", in which Middle Ages book salvation and destruction are big topics.
Pamuk, Orhan (+ Translated from the Turkish by Victoria Holbrook.); White Castle, The Fiction; (Vintage International, a division of Random House, Inc, New York. Originally published in Turkish as Beyaz Kale.; © 1985 Can Yayiin Lari Ltd; ISBN#:0-375-70161-3) {read:2007 apr} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). A mysterious, gentle, enchanting, story from a Nobel prize winner. It is about a slave who becomes something of a scientist hundreds of years ago, and feels like a fable or a meditation, with twists and self-doubt.
Paterniti, Michael ; Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain Nonfiction; (Dial Press; ) {read:2001}
Paul, Jim ; Catapult: Harry and I build a siege weapon Nonfiction; (1991; ) {read:1996} Guys will be guys, having fun and providing some historical/artistic rationalizations.
Peet, Bill ; Farewell to Shady Glade Fiction; (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA; © 1966; ) {read:1968}
Pelevin, Victor (+ Translated from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield.); Omon Ra Fiction; (Farrar, Straus and Giroux.; ) {read:1998} Fascinating, wicked Swiftean satire of the Russian space program. Absurd human behavior, crumbling society. Reminds me of "A Clockwork Orange".
Perutz, Max ; I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier: Essays on Science, Scientists, and Humanity Nonfiction; (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor NY; © 2003 Vivien & Robin Perutz; ISBN#:0-87969-674-5) {read:2007 Dec} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Nobel-prize-winner Max Perutz (2) presents an exciting collection of essays and book reviews which speed through biographies and ethics (including a horrifying portrait of Fritz Haber, who not only invented a method of making fertilizer but also willingly provided the scientific leadership of Germany's use of poison gas in world war 1, which may have had something to do with his first wife's suicide). In short essays that I gobbled up like candy from a dish, he also talks about the joy of discovery, and describes the kindness of some of the scientists he knew. He sounds like Nabokov in his amusing dismissal of both Freudianism and Marxism as untestable "theories" that claim to explain everything while having an excuse for the opposition they find as well as any of their own mispredictions. The book's title is based on a comment by an advisor: Max resumed his study of the structure of hemoglobin after getting mad that somebody else had discovered something that Max should have thought of himself. (The angry work resulted in Perutz's Nobel prize.)
Pessl, Marisha ; Special Topics in Calamity Physics: a novel... Fiction; (Viking, Published by the Penguin Group; © 2006 Marisha Pessl; ISBN#:978-0-7394-7713-7) {read:2007 mar 28} My rating: 9.3 (fr.0-10). Exuberant, ecstatic, incandescent... every sentence shines and matters. A wordy, funny, bookish young woman starts her senior year at a new high school, is drawn into a clique of stylish people, stumbles across two mysterious deaths, and idealizes her widowed father who is a charismatic professor of revolution. My favorite book of the year. (How can you not love a book in which a character talks about the "delirious" thrill of having a secret, and tells you the names of the book that she is hurling at her favorite person?) Read it twice: it's even better when you're in on the secrets, knowing that some of the apparent strangers actually have a long entwined secret history together. The author loves Nabokov and it shows in the quality, excitement, and craft.
Pfeiffer, Jules ; Elliot Loves Fiction; {read:1994 , (?)}
Piccard, Bertrand (+ Brian Jones); Around the World in 20 Days Nonfiction; (John Wiley & Sons, Inc (First published as "The Greatest Adventure: The Round-the-World Balloon Voyage of the Breitling Orbiter 3" in U.K. by Headline Book Publishing); © 199; ) {read:2003 Dec} fast reading, heart-pounding true adventure with good self-knowledge, analysis of problems and challenges, and with kind intentions toward the people of the earth (their prize money went to a children's charity).
Pierce, Ambrose ; Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, An Fiction; (Penguin, 1995; ) {read:1996} Gothic melodramas that seem a little aged and staged.
Pinker, Steven ; Language Instinct, The Nonfiction; {read:1995} Yes, we can have concepts for which we don't have words yet: (part of what poetry and prose are all about--finding ways to describe the unlabelled concepts)!
Plath, Sylvia ; Bell Jar, The Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} Gives some sympathy for mental problems.
Postman, Neil ; Technopoly Nonfiction; {read:1994} Thought-provoking, worth arguing with. A reasonable warning against headlong acceptance of "progress."
Poundstone, William ; Prisoner's Dilemma Nonfiction; (Anchor Books, Doubleday (New York): 1992; ) {read:1998} Well organized, captivating account of Jon Von Neumann, game theory, brinksmanship, and the nuclear arms race. Clear, thought-provoking. It let me think that it's not just a flaw of human nature to distrust strangers: we don't know their style, goals, or accountability. It made me think that arms races need desperate attention. It reminded me to pick up the bottle I saw at the bottom of subway stairs where somebody was bound to trip over it. It led me (in the same day) to call the police about someone one threatening to stab a shopkeeper (and me), and it led me to ring the doorbell to tell a college student that it was stupid to throw water balloons out his own window onto his neighbors.
Pran, Dith ; Killing Fields, The Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} Horrifying/fascinating. Can we learn?
Prejean, Sister Helen ; Dead Man Walking Nonfiction; {read:1996} The noble story of a volunteer who offers spiritual support to death row inmates. She knows that they have done horrible things, but she also shows us that they are trapped in cages waiting to be killed. She makes a passionate argument for the abolition of the death penalty, claiming that it satisfies only a cruel desire for revenge while dehumanizing those people who carry it out.
Puig, Manuel ; Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Fiction; {read:1985-87} Wonderful!
Pullman, Philip ; Golden Compass: (His Dark Materials, Book 1) Fiction; (Knopf Books for Young Readers; ISBN#:0679879242) {read:2002} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Sci fi thriller, with gratuitous and charming pokes at religion, not to mention polar bear warriors!
Pushkin, Aleksandr (+ translated by Vladimir Nabokov); Eugene Onegin Fiction; (Princeton University Press 1990; © 1964 Bollingen Foundation, 1975 Princeton U. Press]; ) {read:2003 nov} Get the Nabokov translation! Nabokov loves Russian, loves Pushkin, and is a perfectionist in matters of style, drama, wording. I don't read Russian, but Nabokov's essays (not suprisingly) assert that all the previous translations failed, mangling the text in order to try to live up to Pushkin's rhyme scheme. I read another translation to compare and it didn't come close to the subtlety of Nabokov's work, which makes the story all the more moving and alive and gripping.
Pushkin, Aleksandr (+ translated by Walter Arndt); Eugene Onegin Fiction; {read:2003 nov}
Puzo, Mario (+ Carol Gino); Family, The Fiction; (Avon Books, an imprint of HarpCollins Publishers, New York; © 2001 by the estate of Mario Puzo and Carol Gino.; ) {read:2003}
Puzo, Mario ; Godfather Fiction; {read:2002}
Rand, Ayn ; Atlas Shrugged Fiction; {read:1979-82} Wait a minute, not so fast: are you justifying ALL kinds of selfishness and caprice? This doesn't sound like such a great idea. And what's with the brutal "love" and scorn for "do-gooders"?
Rand, Ayn ; Fountainhead, The Fiction; {read:1979-82} Wait a minute, not so fast: are you justifying ALL kinds of selfishness and caprice? This doesn't sound like such a great idea. And what's with the brutal "love" and scorn for "do-gooders"?
Rendell, Ruth ; Babes in the Wood, The: A Chief Inspector Wexford Mystery Fiction; (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard; Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc, New York; © 2002 Kingsmarkham Enterprises, Ltd; ISBN#:1-4000-3419-1) {read:2005 Nov} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Really well done mystery with sharp but human investigators.
Ridgeway, Rick (+ Dick Bass and Frank Wells); Seven Summits Nonfiction; (1986. Warner Books, Inc, NY NY.; ) {read:1998} Exciting adventures on the highest peaks of every continent: making dreams come true while staggering through the snow. Nicely written: observant and thoughtful.
Roam, Dan ; Back of the Napkin, The: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures Nonfiction; (Portfolio, the business book imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.; © 2008; ISBN#:9781591841999) {read:2007 oct 29} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). Plug for a great book by my brother Dan. (I've read every word of a proof print, prior to its Mar 2008 release date.) Aimed at business consultants, the book shows how anybody can use simple drawings (no artistic skill needed) to convey complex multi-dimensional ideas while thinking and talking out loud. Full of tricks and techniques and amazingly clear ideas (with hand-drawn pictures, naturally).
Roam, Daniel ; Star City Fiction; {read:2002} Unpublished screenplay about the soviet space program, based on Dan's interviews with surviving cosmonauts and lightly fictionalized.
Robinson, Helen M ; Fun Wherever We Are Nonfiction; (Scott, Foresman, Glenview, Ill.; © 1965; ) {read:1968}
Roth, Joseph (+ Translated from the German by Joachim Neugroschel, 1995. Introduction by Nadine Gordimer, 1991.); Radetzky March, The Fiction; (The Overlook Press, Woodstock, New York; © 1932 Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin.; ) {read:2004 apr}
Rulfo, Juan (+ translated by Margaret Sayers Peden); Pedro Páramo Fiction; (Grove Press, NY; ) {read:2001}
Rushdie, Salman ; Moor's Last Sigh, The Fiction; (Vintage International (Random House) 1995; ) {read:1997} Moving, wonderful, a feast of fantasy, history, wild characters, cultures, romance and regret.
Sa, Shan ; The Girl Who Played Go : A Novel Fiction; (Vintage; ISBN#:1-4000-3228-8) {read:2008 Feb 26} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Like Cormac McCarthy, this author is simultaneously a joy to read and willing to torment readers with horrible violence. The subtle characters in this book include a teenage girl, slightly rebellious against her parents, and a young soldier who is beginning to doubt the glories of his military tradition. They are often trapped by the war going on around them.
Sacks, Oliver ; Seeing Voices Nonfiction; {read:1990-93} Why sign language is a complete language, not just a pidgin.
Safran Foer, Jonathan ; Everything is Illuminated Fiction; (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston & New York, 2002.; ) {read:2003 sep} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). It's rare for me to laugh out loud while reading, but this book got me with its intricate, detailed, and mood-swingy story. I felt like I was swimming in a sea with sparkling fish, ancient creatures, surprising structures, and sudden flashing bursts humor mixed with deep sorrows. More JSF links are at http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors/Literary_Fiction/Foer__Jonathan_Safran/ and www.geocities.com/SoHo/Nook/1082/jonathan_safran_foer_page.html and www.theprojectmuseum.com.
Sagan, Carl ; Contact Fiction; (Simon & Schuster, New York. 1985; ) {read:1997} Scientifically thrilling novel with good natured discussions about faith and the universe and the creator(s).
Sagan, Carl ; Dragons of Eden Nonfiction; {read:1978 & before}
Saint-Exupérys, Antoine de ; Little Prince, the Fiction; {read:1996 ?} A beloved story, but some of the allegories and satires are heavy-handed and one-sided.
Salinger, J.D. ; Franny and Zooey Fiction; (Bantam Books and Little & Brown, 1962; ) {read:1996}
Salter, James ; Solo Faces Fiction; (North Point Press--Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, NY. 1995; © 1979; ) {read:1997} A beautiful work, a wonderful example of weaving together the threads of adventure sport, self-discovery, and flawed heroes.
Samalavicius, Stasys ; Outline of Lithuanian History, An Nonfiction; (Diemedis Leidykla, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1995; ) {read:1996} Interesting to see modern myths in light of this historical account: poor little Lithuania was once a major conqueror of Europe! Russian (and Germany) have since then run rough-shod over it during the current and previous century. And Gediminas's wolf-dream telling him to build a city (where Vilnius now is) came after there were already people and even a temple there. (The archaeological finds are now being excavated out from under the current Cathedral).
Saporta, Lionel René ; Hole In the Water, A Fiction; (iUniverse, Lincoln Nebraska; © 2005 Lionel René Saporta; ISBN#:978-0-595-37389-5 [isbn10 = 0-595-37389-5]) {read:2006 Feb} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). Combines a legal thriller with a substantial contemplative search for self, against a backdrop of secret family history and mysterious heritage. (Print-on-demand book can be ordered from online bookstores.)
Saramago, José (+ Translated from the Portugese by Giovanni Pontiero.); Blindness Fiction; (A Harvest Book, Harcourt Inc., New York. First published in English in Great Britain by the Harvill Press, 1997; © José Saramago and Editorial Caminho, 1995. English Translation copyright Professor Juan Sager, 1977.; ISBN#:0-15-600775-4) {read:2006 Sep 10} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). The tragic and the tender: members of my book club were overwhelmed with things to talk about.
Sartre, Jean-Paul ; No Exit Fiction; (Stuart Gilbert: 1946, Alfred A. Knopf : 1949; ) {read:1979-82}
Schell, Jonathan ; Fate of the Earth, The Nonfiction; (Avon and Alfred A. Knopf, New York: 1982; ) {read:1983-4}
Schell, Jonathan ; Unconquerable World, The: Power, Nonviolence and the Will of the People Nonfiction; (A Metropolitan/Owl book, Henry Holt & Company, New York; © 2003 Jonathan Schell; ISBN#:978-0-8050-4457-7) {read:2007 Apr} I recommend! Starting with an overview of theories of military "power," Schell shows how nonviolence is also powerful, playing a serious role in several revolutions and independence movements. In a world in which nuclear war is both possible and unthinkable, there is more need than ever for the kinds of international and transnational ideas that Schell describes in the final part of the book.
Schiff, Stacy ; Vera: Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov Nonfiction; (The Modern Library; ) {read:2001 july} spectacular biography of pistol-packing Vera Nabokov
Schlosser, Eric ; Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal Nonfiction; (Harper Perennial; © 2002; ISBN#:0060938455) {read:2004 Aug} Right, right, here's the "dirty underside" of agribusiness, but it feels like a cheap and simple-minded polemic: for Schlosser the businessmen are always wrong, the organic farmers are always right, and that's all there is to it.
Schmitt, Harrison H. (+ Foreword by Neil Armstrong.); Return to the Moon: Exploration, Enterprise, and Energy in the Human Settlement of Space Nonfiction; (Copernicus Books, an imprint of Springer Science-Business Media, in association with Praxis Publishing, LTD.; © 2006 Praxis Publishing Ltd.; ISBN#:978-0-387-24285-9) {read:2007 sep 07} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Fantastic: a hard-boiled and clear-eyed analysis of how to make space settlement happen soon, in a way that pays for itself AND serves the world by mining the moon's Helium3 isotope to fuel the (probably) cleanest possible kind of fusion reactors. It's as if the moon is lightly coated with gold, and setting up (partly robotic) mines might not cost much more than what is being spent to build the new Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey. Schmitt is not only a scientist and adjunct professor working with fusion energy researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison Fusion Technology Institute, not only a former US senator (New Mexico, 1976-82), but also a geologist (PhD from Harvard) who worked on the moon as an Apollo 17 astronaut. In this book he lays out business plans, analyses of international space law, descriptions of fusion reactors, risks of human space travel, and offers encouragement that this movement out of our Earthly nest is not only dream-worthy but economically viable even in the short term.
Schumacher, E.F. ; Small is Beautiful Nonfiction; {read:1979-82} Hmm, worth considering.
Scroggins, Deborah ; Emma's War Nonfiction; (First Vintage Books Edition, Feb 2004 (Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc, New York); © 2002 by Deborah Scroggins; ISBN#:0-375-70377-2 [original pantheon edn ISBN 0-375-40397-3].) {read:2004 Nov} British aid-worker marries Sudanese rebel commander in true story of famine-stricken South Sudan in 1980's and 90's. What a quandary: much of the aid food is stolen (especially from the poorest of the non-local displaced tribes) by the soldiers, who keep starving groups around so that foreignors will keep sending aid money.
Segal, Erich ; Love Story Nonfiction; {read:1975 or before}
Seth, Vikram ; An Equal Music Fiction; (Vintage International, a division of Random House Inc., New York; © 1999 Vikram Seth; ISBN#:0-375-70924-X) {read:2005 Aug 15} I recommend! I've got to find more by this author: I was craving to find out what comes next in this novel about classical (chamber) musicians.
Shaara, Michael ; Killer Angels, The Nonfiction; {read:1996} A fascinating telling of the horrible battle of Gettysburg. It left me tasting the dust, hearing the cannons, and second-guessing the commanders. Imagine defending your home, having no choice but to march across fields into gunfire, imagine relishing the battle, imagine trying to find cover behind rocks as an army marches toward you shooting!
Shakespeare, William ; Midsummer Night's Dream, A Fiction; {read:1990-93}
Shakespeare, William ; Much Ado About Nothing Fiction; {read:1995} Love finds a way..
Shakespeare, William ; Taming of the Shrew, The Fiction; {read:2000} Not quite as full of sparkling asides of poetry and philosophy as his later works.
Shakespeare, William ; Tempest, The Fiction; (Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington Square Press, Simon & Schuster 1994; ) {read:1995}
Shakespeare, William ; Twelfth Night Fiction; {read:1990-93 ,2005}
Shawcross, William ; Sideshow Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} A clear condemnation of Kissinger and Nixon's part in the secret bombing and destruction of Cambodia.
Shea, Robert (+ Robert Anton Wilson); Illuminatus!: The Eye in the Pyramid Fiction; (Dell Publishing Co, New York. 1975; ) {read:1979-82}
Shepherd, Jean ; Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters Fiction; (1976 Dolphin Books, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York; © 1971 Jean Shepherd; ) {read:1978 & before}
Silbert, Leslie ; Intelligencer, The Fiction; {read:2005 Jun 20} I recommend! Exciting spy stories in parallel: 1695 and now. Pretty good, but not quite literature. Characters wonder about some big questions and make some subtle observations, but some of the mechanism shows through.
Sileika, Antanas ; Woman in Bronze Fiction; (Random House Canada Ltd (printed in the USA), www.randomhouse.ca; © 2004 Antanas Sileika; ISBN#:0-679-31142-4) {read:2005 Jun 10} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Engrossing, enjoyable, subtle story of a Lithuanian who wants to be a sculptor and flees some tragedies (and some comedy) at the family farm to become a starving artist: first in the forest and then in 1920's Paris.
Sillitoe, Alan ; Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Fiction; (A Plume Book, published by Penguin 1992; © 1959 by Alan Sillitoe; ) {read:2004 aug ?} made me think and feel
Sizer, Theodore R. ; Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School Nonfiction; (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 1992; ) {read:1990-93} In pursuit of good teaching, proposing schools that inspire, delight, and challenge.
Skvorecki, Anton? ; Swell Season, The Fiction; {read:1988-89} Making the best of life under repressive governments.
Smith, Zadie ; White Teeth Fiction; (Vintage Internation, A division of Random House, New York; © 2000 Zadie Smith; ) {read:2004 nov}
Sobel, Dava ; Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Nonfiction; (Penguin reprinted by permission of Walker & Co.,; © 1995 Dava Sobel; ISBN#:0-14-025879-5) {read:2006 dec also 1997} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Tight, quick reading history that reminds me how brave and limited the early ship captains were making their world travels without knowing where they were in relation to the obstacles that were marked on their few maps. Isaac Newton and other astronomers and physicists play a role, as they did in Neal Stephenson's fictional "Baroque Cycle."
Sobel, Dava ; Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time Nonfiction; (1995, Walker & Co.; ) {read:1997} Well written adventure in science.
Sommers, Christina Hoff ; Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women Nonfiction; (Simon & Schuster, New York. 1994; ) {read:1996} Alright, Christina Hoff Sommers! Yes, let's shoot down some sacred pc flying cows in our search for truth!
Sophocles, ? (+ Translated by John Moore.); Ajax Fiction; (In "Sophocles II", University of Chicago Press. 1957; ) {read:1979-82}
Sophocles, (+ Translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff); Antigone Fiction; (In "Sophocles I", University of Chicago Press. 1954; ) {read:1979-82}
Sophocles, ? (+ Translated by Dave Grene); Oedipus the King Fiction; (In "Sophocles I", University of Chicago Press. 1942, 1954; ) {read:1979-82}
Spiegelman, Art ; Maus Nonfiction; (Pantheon Books, 1991; ) {read:1990-93} Illustrated history of a man's survival of the Holocaust. Breathtaking, sarcastic, frightening, wonderful: luck and betrayal and brutality and survival.
Spiegelman, Art ; Maus II Nonfiction; (Pantheon Books, 1991; ) {read:1990-93} Illustrated history of a man's survival of the Holocaust. Breathtaking, sarcastic, frightening, wonderful: luck and betrayal and brutality and survival.
Stanton, Paul ; Duckboy Way or Quack in the Saddle Again, The: Photos and Yarns: The Best from Duckboy Cards and Calendars Nonfiction; (Duckboy Cards, Milltown Montana, (800) 761-5741 and Falcon Press, Helena MT, (800) 582-2665; © 1997 by Paul Stanton; ISBN#:1-883364-09-4) {read:2005 Mar} I first saw these crazy duckboy postcards in Montana last summer, with standouts including "Trolling for Mountain Lions" (walking with a poodle on a leash) and "Where Beef Jerky Comes From" (peeling flattened snakes off the highway).
Stegner, Wallace ; Angle of Repose Fiction; {read:1995} Quality work. Examining life in retrospect.
Stegner, Wallace ; Crossing to Safety Fiction; {read:1995} Quality work. Examining life in retrospect.
Steinbeck, John ; Of Mice and Men Fiction; {read:1978 & Before}
Steinbeck, John ; Pearl, The Fiction; {read:1978 & Before}
Stendahl (Beyle), Marie-Henri ; Charterhouse of Parma, The Fiction; (Signet Classic "New American Library" New York;; ) {read:2004 apr} Now this is a novel: page-turning action plus intelligent and sensitive word-paintings of history and power, in a light-handed almost-parody. Various characters have personalities with wild mixes of cleverly calculated political behavior and impulsive but sincere passionate love, making this something like an inside-out version of Laclos's "Dangerous Liaisons." {There was 6-part production on Public Television's "Great Performances" series}
Stephenson, Neal ; Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller Fiction; (1988, Bantam; ) {read:1997} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). A funny adventure in toxic waste dumps and Boston Harbor.
Stephenson, Neal ; Big U, The Fiction; {read:2001} My rating: 6 (fr.0-10). He dismisses it as an early work, but it has a galloping energy as it tells the story of a massive American university with out-of-control fraternities, nuclear accellerators, and monsters from outer space.
Stephenson, Neal ; Confusion, The: Volume Two of the Baroque Cycle Fiction; (William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.; © 2004 Neal Stephenson; ISBN#:0-06-052386-7) {read:2006 Jun} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Very good, some intense story telling set in 1660-1715: this episode includes fantastic huge heists, capers, schemes, journeys, battles... and of course more fascinating philosophy and history. See Quicksilver Wiki (FAQ)!, wikipedia entry, as well as encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/The Baroque Cycle.
Stephenson, Neal ; Cryptonomicon Fiction; {read:2001} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). An exciting adventure/war/computer-hacker/world-traveler story and "think piece" with parallel world war 2 and modern day dot.com threads connected by ciphers and gold.
Stephenson, Neal ; Diamond Age, The Fiction; {read:1996} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). How much fun to imagine education that matters, massive social movements, spies and thieves and organic computers!
Stephenson, Neal ; In the Beginning was the Command Line Nonfiction; {read:2004 Sep} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). somewhat wrong headed but so exciting and "look at the big picture"-ish.
Stephenson, Neal ; Quicksilver: (Volume 1 of the Baroque Cycle) Fiction; (William Morrow, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; © 2003; ISBN#:0-380-97742-7) {read:2004 aug} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Very good, some intense story telling set in 1660-1715, in which Newton's discovery of the principles of gravity, among other things, comes as an amazing revelation. It is even better on the second reading (2006 Jun): as Nabokov says, great writing rewards re-reading. Among the wonderful parts: Daniel's idea that the growth of science and industry he has seen are like building a ship from scraps while bobbing on the sea during a storm. (Which conflicts with the view, shared by Newton and others, that the world has been going down hill since the time of the glory and wisdom of Solomon.) See Quicksilver Wiki (FAQ)!, wikipedia entry, as well as encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/The Baroque Cycle.
Stephenson, Neal ; Snow Crash Fiction; (1993, Bantam Spectra; ) {read:1997} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Wow! Smart thrillers from a talented author who has a sense of humor and a wide range of interests (sword-fighting, virtual reality, education, spread of language & culture, all kinds of viruses, ecology, armies, and religions). (See also Zodiac: The Eco-Thriller, and The Diamond Age by the same author.) The books leave me with the impression that education matters, and that Stephenson would be a great guy to hang out with.
Stephenson, Neal ; System of the World, The: Volume Three of the Baroque Cycle Fiction; (First Harper Perennial Edition, HarperCollins Publishers; © 2004 Neal Stephenson; ISBN#:0-06-052387-5) {read:2006 Jul} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Very good, some intense story telling set in 1660-1715: this concluding episode includes even more capers, battles... and of course more fascinating philosophy and history. I was carrying this with me on vacation in Vermont when Steve Maleski, the astronomer/meteorologist at the Fairbanks planetarium and science museum in St.Johnsbury, saw it and raved about the book and Stephenson to the whole audience of the planetarium show, remarking on Stephenson's ability to clarify the complicated. See Quicksilver Wiki (FAQ)!, wikipedia entry, as well as encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/The Baroque Cycle.
Stoll, Clifford ; Cuckoo's Egg, The Nonfiction; {read:2004 aug} I recommend!
Stoppard, Tom ; Arcadia Fiction; {read:1995} Wonderful mix of waltzing, pudding, fire, chaos, and impertinence.
Stroustroup, Bjarne ; C++ Nonfiction; {read:1993}
Strunk, William (+ E.B. White); Elements of Style, The Nonfiction; (Third Edition. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc, New York.; © 1979 Macmillan Publishing; ) {read:1979-82}
Swift, Jonathan ; Gulliver's Travels: The Voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag Fiction; (American Book Company, New York; © 1914 American Book Company; ) {read:2007 jun 23} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). marvelously engaging and thoughtful
Szymborska, Wislawa (+ translated by Stanislaw Baran n'czak & Clare Cavanagh); view with a grain of sand: selected poems Nonfiction; (Harvest, Harcourt Brace & Co., New York, NY, 1995; ) {read:1999} My rating: 9 (fr.0-10). --A book of delicate, mischievous poems that grip and shine: almost conversational, sometimes troubling, with a flavor of love and hope. Her 1996 Nobel Prize brought her to my attention, but then every poem won my heart. "My apologies to chance for calling it necessity. / My apologies to necessity if I'm mistaken after all. /... / Forgive me, distant wars, for bringing flowers home." and "On Death, without Exaggeration: / It can't take a joke/ find a star, make a bridge./ It knows nothing about weaving, mining, farming."
Tan, Amy ; Joy Luck Club, The Fiction; {read:1994} Disappointing;
Terkel, Studs ; Working Nonfiction; {read:1978 & before}
Terry, Wallace ; Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War Nonfiction; (Ballantine Books; © 1984; ISBN#:0345311973) {read:1988-89} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). First-person accounts from blacks who served in Vietnam. It wasn't pretty there. (Aside: I'm bothered to see that at least one website (academon.com) is selling term papers, including one about this site. I hope our plagiarism sniffer account has copies of all of academon's papers.)
Thayer, Jane (+ illustrated by Meg Wohlberg); Rockets Don't Go to Chicago, Andy Fiction; (William Morrow and Company; © 1967; ) {read:1968} saw on ebay auction 2007 "tells the tale of a curious boy named Andy, and his imaginative adventures with rockets."
Thomas, Lewis ; Lives of a Cell, The: Notes of a Biology Watcher Nonfiction; (A Bantam New Age Book, published by arrangement with the Viking Press, New York; © 1974 Lewis Thomas; ) {read:1979-82}
Tisdall, James ; Beginning Perl for BioInformatics Nonfiction; (O'Reilly; © 2001; ISBN#:0-596-00080-4) {read:2002 Sep} Another immensely useful O'Reilly book!
Tolkien, ? ; Hobbit, The Fiction; {read:1978 & before}
Tolstoy, Leo ; Anna Karenina Fiction; {read:1994} Wow!
Tolstoy, Leo ; War and Peace Fiction; {read:1994} Yes! And (especially in the last chapters) the best discussion of free-will and determinism and forces-of-history that I've ever seen. Lush stories, one after another, all fascinating.
Townsend, Sue ; Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4, The Fiction; (© 1982 Sue Townsend; ) {read:1983-4}
Tresselt, Alvin R (+ Leonard Weisgard); Rain Drop Splash Nonfiction; (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., New York; © 1946; ) {read:1968}
Tuchman, Barbara ; March of Folly, The: From Troy to Vietnam Nonfiction; (Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1984; ) {read:1985-87} A reminder that stupidity and miscalculation have much to do with political decisions!
Tufte, Edward ; Envisioning Information Nonfiction; (Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut, 1990; ) {read:1998} Beautiful books for anyone who loves maps, logic, and art of building charts that are simultaneously meaningful, dense, accurate, and intuitive. Three cheers for clarity of information and high data-density!
Tufte, Edward ; Visual Display of Quantitative Information Nonfiction; (Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut; ) {read:1996} Beautiful books for anyone who loves maps, logic, and art of building charts that are simultaneously meaningful, dense, accurate, and intuitive. Three cheers for clarity of information and high data-density!
Tufte, Edward ; Visual Explanations: Images & Quantities Nonfiction; (Graphics Press, Cheshire, Connecticut; ) {read:1997} Beautiful books for anyone who loves maps, logic, and art of building charts that are simultaneously meaningful, dense, accurate, and intuitive. Three cheers for clarity of information and high data-density!
Turoff, Mike (+ Dan Poynter); Parachuting: The Skydiver's Handbook Nonfiction; (7th revised edition, Para Publishing, Santa Barbara, California; © 1998; ) {read:1998} I raced through it, swimming through great info and well-reasoned descriptions. See ParaPublishing.com and their collection of related URLs at www.parapublishing.com/parachute/leaps.html.
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) ; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Fiction; (Penguin Classics, Penguin Books USA; © 1884 Samuel L. Clemens; ISBN#:0 14 03. 9046 4) {read:2006 aug 15} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). This reads like blazes, like a house afire, and I love Huck's naive approach while he's commenting on rascals, friends, kings, and Truth, Right vs. Wrong, and Knowledge. One crazy adventure after another, too! Mark Twain starts off lightly by warning readers not to look for a plot, moral, nor motive.
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) ; Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A Fiction; {read:1975 or before}
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) ; Prince and the Pauper, The Fiction; {read:1975 or before}
Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) ; Tom Sawyer Fiction; {read:1975 or before}
Tyler, Anne ; Earthly Possessions Fiction; (Berkeley Books, NY, 1984, published by arrangement with Alfred A.Knopf, Inc; © 1977 Anne Tyler Modarressi; ISBN#:0-425-10167-+) {read:2006 dec 02} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Wow: this caught me from the first sentence, which tells us that the main character was planning on running away from her marriage when she stumbles into a bank robbery and hostage situation.
Tóibín, Colm ; Master, The Fiction; (Scribner, New York; © 2004 Colm Tóibín; ISBN#:0-7432-5040-0) {read:2005 May} I recommend! A fantastic book, living inside the observant mind and subtle emotions of the author Henry James. I know a half dozen people who have read it and all seemed to love it, as did I. Friendships, (accusations of) betrayals, brilliant lively friends, and pregnant silences; drama sometimes arising through a look or through what isn't said.
Voinovich, Vladimir (+ translation by David Lapeza, 1977); Ivankiad, The Nonfiction; (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; New York 1976 ; ) {read:1983-4} A taste of real-life soviet power shoving and apartment grubbing in a writer's union housing complex. In the intro the author explains: "I tried to maintain my composure, but I wasn't always able to. What saved me was that at a certain point I decided that one must look at everything with a sense of humor, since all knowledge is a blessing. I calmed down; my hatred gave way to curiosity, which was satisfied by my adversary, who revealed himself as if in a striptease. I I was no longer struggling. I was gathering material for this work, and my adversary and his pals actively helped me, outlining this terrific plot, making a series of moves which you would not be able to think up over the dinner table. This plot is not merely fascinating; it explains, I think, certain phenomena in our country which are not always understood, either here or abroad."
Wade, Wyn Craig ; Titanic: End of a Dream, The Nonfiction; (Penguin Books, 1979, 1986.; ) {read:1998} Clear, fascinating account of the Titanic disaster by way of the congressional inquiries in the immediate aftermath. Congressman Smith comes across as a hero, while the villains include the captain of the nearby ship that did not respond to emergency flares.
Waldrop, M. Mitchell ; Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos Nonfiction; (A Touchstone Book; Simon & Schuster, NY, NY, 1992; ISBN#:9780671767891) {read:1994} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10). Linking the micro and the macro--but can we predict anything now that we see the similarities?
Waldrop, Mitch ; Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos Nonfiction; (Simon and Schuster; ISBN#:0671872346) {read:1994} Linking the micro and the macro--but can we predict anything now that we see the similarities?
Walker, Alice ; Color Purple, The Fiction; {read:1979-82}
Wallace, David Foster ; Infinite Jest Fiction; (1996; ) {read:1997} Intricate architecture and wild imagination, painting an emotionally cold world of characters I didn't care about (and could barely keep track of).
Wambaugh, Joseph ; New Centurions, The Nonfiction; (1971; ) {read:1975 or before}
Ward, Geoffrey C. ; Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson Nonfiction; (New York : A.A. Knopf, 2004.; ISBN#:978-0375415326) {read:2008 mar}
Wassermann, Selma and Jack ; Sailor Jack and Bluebell's Dive Fiction; (Benefic Press, Chicago; © 1961; ) {read:1968}
Weatherford, Jack ; Genghis Khan: and the Making of the Modern World Nonfiction; (Three Rivers Press (a division of Random House), New York 2004; © 2004, Jack Weatherford; ISBN#:0-609-80964-4) {read:2006 Jan} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10).
West, Cornel ; Race Matters Nonfiction; {read:1994} Essays (on American race relations) that are simultaneously thoughtful, iconoclastic, inspiring, cynical, and hopeful. Learned, and more deep than sentimental.
Wharton, Thomas ; Icefields Fiction; (Edmonton, Alta. : NeWest, c1995.; ISBN#:978-0-920897-87-4) {read:2008 feb 27} My rating: 7 (fr.0-10).
Wheildon, Colin ; Type & Layout: How typography and design can get your message across—or get in the way Nonfiction; (Strathmoor Press, Berkeley, California;; © 1984, 1990, 1995, 1996 by Colin Wheildon; ISBN#:0-9624891-5-8) {read:2002} This wonderful book uses (somewhat ad hoc but totally reasonable) research to prove what should be so obvious: serif fonts, as black letters on white, make words easier to read and remember. Web designers take note! Here's praise for the book aherncomm.com/training/favorite_books_CONTAINER.htm, while here's an art director who disputes Wheildon's common sense arguments, while sounding a tad defensive: www.eeicommunications.com/eye/wheildon.html .
White, T. H. ; Once and Future King, The Fiction; (A Berkley Medallion Book, Published by G. P. Putnam's sons,; © 1939, 1940, 1958 T. H. White; ) {read:1979-82}
Wick, Walter ; Drop of Water, A: A book of Science and Wonder Nonfiction; (Scholastic Press, NY; © 1977 Walter Wick; ISBN#:0-590-22197-3) {read:2005 Jun} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). beautiful photographs of water and its behavior (drops, mists, surface tension, evaporation)
Willig, George ; Going It Alone Nonfiction; {read:2002} guy who climbed the exterior of the world trade center tower, with his own custom-built ascender
Wolfe, Tom ; Bonfire of the Vanities Fiction; (Bantam Books: New York. 1987; ) {read:1994} Entertaining, a bit light.
Wolfe, Linda ; Professor and the Prostitute, The Nonfiction; {read:1988-89} True-crime story of "love" gone wrong.
Wolfe, Tom ; Right Stuff, The Nonfiction; (Farrar-Straus-Giroux, New York 1979; ) {read:1995}
Wolfram, Stephen ; New Kind Of Science, A Nonfiction; (Wolfram Research, Inc.; ) {read:2002 Aug} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Absolutely engrossing and brilliant: as only an amateur mathematician I'm barely qualified to judge, but I feel the same excitement about Wolfram's work that I feel about Newton's work as described in Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. Simplified synopsis: some (more than expected) complex systems are intractible for calculus type analysis. Models of them have to be followed step by step, with no shortcut for finding the outcomes.
Woolf, Virginia ; Mrs. Dalloway Fiction; (Harvest/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; New York, 1925, 1953; ) {read:1983-4} Intricate, challenging.
Woolf, Virginia ; Three Guineas Fiction; (Harcourt Brace and World, 1938, 1966.; ) {read:1983-4}
Woolf, Virginia ; To The Lighthouse Fiction; (Harvest/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; New York, 1927, 1955; ) {read:1983-4} Challenging, rewarding, amazing.
Works, Madden Travis "Pat" ; Parachuting: The Art of Freefall Relative Work Nonfiction; (Aerographics, Deland Florida. 1975, 1988.; ) {read:1997} Great! See a sample of his writing that I saved once: Madden Travis "Pat" Works.
Xingjian, Gao (+ Translated from the Chinese by Mabel Lee); Soul Mountain Fiction; (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.; © 2000 Gao Xingjian; ISBN#:0-06-621082-8) {read:2008 may 06} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). A deep, moving, and constantly readable novel from Gao Xingjian, recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, a Chinese writer who lives in exile in France. The characters are wandering the Chinese countryside, remembering early life, finding love, telling stories of princes and warriors and pandas, talking at cross purposes, trying to know what is real and personal and true.
Zakaria, Fareed ; Future of Freedom, The: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad Nonfiction; (W. W. Norton & Co., NY; © 2004 Fareed Zakaria; ISBN#:0-393-32487-7 pbk) {read:2005 jul 22} My rating: 8 (fr.0-10). Does an astounding job asking how you can have democracy with civil rights, without grid-locked government, without mob-rule. Like the Federalist papers, a cry for Republic style democracy with stability, civility, and an eye on the long-term good of everybody. Not a call for "strong-man" iron rule, this includes warnings about the hate-filled policies of fascist mobs-and-leaders. Warns that "government by referendum" (public voting on too many things) gives power to those with the money to buy advertising. He also notices an unintended consequence of the "sunshine laws" (public airing of every committee meeting) that not only protect against secret deals and corruption but unfortunately also mean that every move by politicians is exposed to lobbyists and clamor and sound-bite rhetoric.
Zappa, Frank (+ with Petere Occhiogrosso); Real Frank Zappa Book, The Nonfiction; (Poseidon Press, NY 1989; ) {read:1988-89} What a great guy! Wacky, smart, articulate, skeptical, funny, creative. A hero for his responses to rock censorship and Tipper Gore.
Zinn, Howard ; People's History of the United States, A Nonfiction; (Harper Colophon, New York: 1980; ) {read:1985-87} Why didn't we hear these tales of underdogs before?
Zuyev, Alexander (+ written with Malcolm McConnell); Fulcrum: A Top Gun Pilot's Escape from the Soviet Empire Nonfiction; (Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10020; © 1992 Strategic Advantages, Inc. and Malcolm McConnell; ISBN#:0-446-51648-1) {read:2002}

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Modified Saturday, June 7, 2008 2:48 AM Mike Roam