I Suck
A book a week? Big freaking deal. Try a book a day. Our Towns – For Nina Sankovitch, a Book a Day, Every Day In a time-deprived world, where book reading is increasingly squeezed off the page, it is hard to know what’s most striking about Ms. Sankovitch’s quest, now on Day 350, to read a book every day for…
Reader’s Notebook – June 2009
Books completed: Road Work – Mark Bowden Redemption Song: The Ballad Of Joe Strummer – Chris Salewicz Eleanor Rigby – Douglas Coupland Books in progress: Best Music Writing 2008 09-9 – Road Work – Mark Bowden. Mark Bowden is one of the best long-form journalists we have right now. He is most famous for Black Hawk Down, his book upon…
A Toy I Won’t Buy
My long time readers know there are a few subjects that are always sure to interest me. When you combine two of those, like say peanut butter and chocolate, watch out. So why don’t I own a Kindle? It’s a cool tech toy, and I do love me some tech toys.* And it’s for reading, which I need to do…
Reader’s Notebook
In between geeking out with the new iTunes software while waiting for the new iPhone software, I put together a little something about my two most recent books. 22 – <i>Three Bags Full</i> – Leonie Swann. I was searching for a book to take on my Kansas City trip and was torn between a international thriller-type novel and a more…
Reader’s Notebook
My on-going quest to read everything ever printed. 18 – <i>Open Line</i> – Ellen Hawley. This is a fun little novel about a lark run amok. Annette Majoris is a late-night radio host in Minneapolis who dreams of making it big in a real city, specifically New York, not some sleepy Midwestern town. One night, after being bored to death…
Reader’s Notebook
Burmese Days – George Orwell. I read this book primarily because I saw an interesting looking travel book at Borders that is about following Orwell’s trail in modern Burma. I figured I needed the background before I could justify buying it. This is no where near as good as Orwell’s more famous works – 1984, Animal Farm – but still…
Little Reader
As an addendum to my Reader’s Notebook entry, a funny update on what C. is up to these days. My wee girl loves her some books! We’ve got books scattered all over the house, and one of her favorite tricks to to round them up and bring them to me, one-by-one. She’ll dig through them, looking for one that grabs…
Reader’s Notebook
9 – Not On Our Watch – Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. A book, and I know this will surprise you, about Darfur and activism, written by two of the most notable and active members of the movement. Don Cheadle you should all know. Actor in Boogie Nights, the Oceans movies, and Hotel Rwanda. Prendergast has worked in the White…
Reader’s Notebook
Books, books, and more books. 5 – The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama. I have a problem with books written by politicians, even those politicians I like. I can’t stop thinking about how they’re angling, positioning, and posturing. It’s hard for me to separate the words on the page from the next office they will seek. This book was…
2004 Reading List
I’m not a big New Year’s Resolution guy, but I do normally write down a few goals for the coming year. One of my entries this time last year was to read 24-30 books in 2004. I passed the lower end of that threshold in May and was sitting at 36 books the day M. was born. Not a bad year,…