What’s the Book Buzz?
A few days ago, when I was belly aching about maintaining this blog while working full-time, I got incredible responses from people.
Most of you suggested the posts don’t need to be long or involved. One of you advised I periodically toss out a question, and see what kind of discussion evolves/erupts.
Here’s an easy one: What book are you reading at this very moment, and can you/would you recommend it to others? Why? If you are reading several books simultaneously (one of my bad habits, as I tend not to finish one before moving on to another), choose the best and tell us about it.
One brief paragraph should do it.
Not a new idea, this virtual book club notion. Yet who could resist biting on it? Particularly the readers of mullentown, who are the wisest and most literate bunch I know!
I’ll start. Still high from my India binge, I plucked Ted’s aged copy of “The City of Joy” from his office bookshelf this past weekend and set to reading it. It’s a 1985 novelization of French author and journalist Dominique Lapierre’s experience living among the wretchedly poor in Kolkata (Calcutta). Lapierre based his book on a polish priest he met in West Bengal, India. The priest is living in a slum and trying to minister to the poor and sick in a slum called Anandnagar (City of Joy).
I’m not very far along, but the premise is that human beings who by all rights should be miserable and achingly pessimistic about life in this pitiful slum somehow manage their existence quite well, even celebrate it.
I’m not sure how I missed this book or the 1992 film of the same name, starring Patrick Swayze.
I’m hoping “City of Joy” provides me with a deeper understanding of how the beggars, the orphans, the totally disenfranchised of India survive with what they have. I am not looking to somehow “happy face” abject poverty, or to gloss over a government so mired in bureaucracy it barely tends to the needs of its suffering masses. But there is an intriguing human survival skill at work in that country. I want to know it better.
And now, what are you reading and why should I want to read it? Or anyone else?
April 24th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Don’t let O’s endorsement of it nor the recent Pulitzer prize put you off, it is a dark, brooding, dangerous, violent and thoroughly engrossing book. It reminds me of his earlier books like the Orchard….McCarthy is the finest American writer since Faulkner, same images but with a dark underbelly and blind eyes.
You can borrow my copy…..
April 24th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
The Hobbit by Tolkien. Just reread it after a 30-year gap. A fantasy adventure for sure, but I loved its themes of becoming more than you think you are, of the effect of ’small’ people on large events, persevering to overcome frightening odds, the powerful impact of choosing the good, and disparate groups working together to succeed at a common goal.
April 24th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I like the very fine character details she creates. In this novel, one of the main characters once tied for 13th in an Olympic cycling event, but because of a clerical error, his achievement was never recorded. The only proof he was there is the occasional letter he receives from the man with whom he tied, a German named Horst Ibelgaufts. Sometimes I don’t know if I’m more entranced by Smith’s stories or just by the amazingly granular depths of her imagination.
April 24th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
I’ve read it several dozen times, but Personal History by Katharine Graham is what’s on my table now. A good one for you, Holly, you newswoman you (though I bet you’ve already read it). She was just an inspirational and honest woman. Also have Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser (I tend to read more than one book at once) - it’s the book Sofia Coppola based her movie on starring Kirsten Dunst, though it goes through the Queen’s whole life, not just the first. She was a fascinating person as well.
April 24th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I tend to follow the model outlined by Holly and read 2-3 books simultaneously (or at least make the attempt). I’m fascinated by Walter Isaacson’s new book, Einstein. What I find so interesting is that Einstein was late to begin talking. Late enough that his concerned parents actually took him to a doctor. Einstein himself attributes his famous theories to his visual development proceeding much sooner and more thoroughly than his verbal skills. Einstein solved many problems and developed theories based on his ability to “imagine” the problem in his head. This is a large book, but one that looks to be a lot of fun to read. The other book I’m reading is a management/leadership book. Most people, when asked, would point to books by Drucker, Deming, or Gladwell as some of the best management books ever written. However, I’m reading John Wooden’s book (yes, the John Wooden of UCLA basketball fame), Wooden on Management. The book is very easy to read and full of helpful advice. You will find yourself underlining passages of this book.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I’m re-reading “The Scions of Shanara”. I first read this sometime in the early 90s while I was going through a fanatasy phase. I just felt like reading something for escape purposes since I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately.
I’d recommend it if you are into the fantasy genre — but I’m finding myself getting a little irritated over details this time around. For example: the adventuring characters always come across people who can feed them elaborate meals which would require a garden or a nearby market and or several hours baking bread for example — and yet this food can sometimes be found in remote places, like Morgan Leah’s hunting lodge which is located in a remote area and reached by the owner by walking which just happens to have fruit and vegetables and bread in the cold locker several days after the main characters arrive.
It’s obvious the book was written by a man of an earlier generation who hasn’t had to think too much about how his meals arrive at the table.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
vconrad
Is the management book “Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization”? You’ve got me interested in pursuing it, but I can’t find the title you mention. Thanks!
April 25th, 2007 at 6:56 am
`Dark Star Safari` by Paul Theroux. Traveling from Cairo to Cape Town via boat,car,minibus and train (no flights).Sort of a bargain-basement Lonely Planet trip that might not appeal to many. Helps that Mr.Theroux is fluent in both Chichewa and Swahili,also has friends like Apolo Nsibambi & Nadine Gordimer (President of Uganda and Nobel laureate).
Mr.Theroux taught school in the early 60s for the Peace Corp.Nyasaland (Malawi)and Kampala. The book makes the point that Africa has regressed…miserable governments,more and poorer people. NGOs that cause more harm than good.
Anyway, a good read.
A very different Africa is one my neighbors visited “on safari”. They spent $1500/per day to ride around in a Land Rover taking photos of bored wildlife and staying in tented luxury…having a Kikuyu wait on them and dining with other snobs (”Nigel,please pass the wine”).I made the mistake of mentioning my dislike of Hemingway and his machismo b.s. That ended the show and tell.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:26 am
as a PS to the above, Theroux came back to Boston and promptly checked into a university hospital. He became exhibit “A” for the tropical medicine docs. Took months to clear out the parasites & bugs. I keep thinking of this when you write about bathing and drinking from the Ganges.
Also,our beloved VP has an open invitation from Botswana to come shoot a zebra (horse) and Cape buffalo (cow).To avoid the fate of Francis Macomber I hope the guides stand well behind him (like out of range).
April 25th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I listen to audiobooks on my Ipod since I have some difficulty reading due to “floaters” in my vitreous humor. My wife and I listened to “Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick while driving from California to Utah and back earlier this month. My wife teaches American History and reported that it was quite accurate historically and that she learned a lot about the period from 1620 to 1677 (King Philip’s War)in New England. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revisionist_history
I suggest you spend some time familiarizing yourself with what is called revisionist history and not assume just from the word that you know what it means. Wikipedia is a good place to start.
We finished this book somewhere around Vegas on the way home and then listened to the Iraq Study Group Report. Fascinating but discouraging in the light of how Bush has almost totally ignored their 79 recommendations.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I’m currently reading Savannah Breeze, by Mary Kay Andrews. A funny and quick read. I’ve also read her other books, Savannah Blues, Little Bitty Lies and Hissy Fit. Mary Kay Andrews is a former journalist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Being a transplant from SLC & San Diego, the Southern aspects of her writing are great.
On a more serious note, the other book that I will read next, is The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama. My husband brought home this signed copy of his book, after he spoke here in Louisville.
For dog lovers, I would tell anyone to read Marley and Me, by John Grogan. It is a laugh out loud, and cry out loud book, but well worth it.
Another great quick read for women, is I Feel Bad About by Neck, by Nora Ephron.
Love Mullentown Holly!
April 25th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
msteele
I bought the Wooden book used on Amazon. The title is “Wooden on Leadership”, by John Wooden and Steve Jamison. Published by McGraw-Hill in 2005. ISBN # 0-07-145339-3 (hardcover)
April 30th, 2007 at 5:55 am
I’m a little late to the game, but I can’t resist a good book recommend! I just finished Jonathan Franzen’s “You Don’t Love Me Yet,” a simple but incredibly dead-on story about a group of Silver Lake indie rockers, the lead singer who kidnaps a depressed kangaroo and the bassist who falls in love with an older gentleman based on the lyrical nature of his “complaints.” Franzen has an incredible knack for describing music and band culture while maintaining his imaginative edge. Now I’m diving into Zadie Smith’s “On Beauty,” another intricate tale about contemporary culture and the ties that bind.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:57 am
OK, so I’m a little slow(er) than others… and first time posting here, too. :)
I’ve just finished “The Last Days of Dogtown” by Anita Diamant. Fabulous; highly recommended. About the demise of a (real) village (now ghost town) on Cape Ann, in the 1850s.
In the process of “Elizabeth I” by Anne Somerset; I’ve read pretty much every book I can find on her! Also reading “It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff” by Peter Marsh (of TLC’s Clean Sweep fame). Unlike many “get organized” books, thank goodness.
Next is a book about the Lost Boys.
April 30th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
just finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishigiro. Transcends genre and it wasn’t what I expected. THe kind of book you think about days afterward…
if India is on the brain, check out The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. It’s her only book, but the essayist/activist portrays the cultural mishmash and contricts of life in Southern India in a touching (and disturbing) way. I’m a fan of Indian-American writers like Jhumpa Lahiri as well.