So what’s everyone reading? I’m about halfway through David McCollough’s John Adams. I’ve been meaning to read it for years and now I can’t put it down. He is an excellent historian whose works read more like literature than studied analysis, though it has plenty of that. Vibrant and fast-paced, I cannot recommend it enough. (Duh – it only won a Pulitzer). I should finish it in the next couple of weeks but may be detoured a bit by an upcoming trial. Any recommendations for summertime reading would be appreciated, fiction or non.
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I’d like to be reading some fiction. But there’s no time right now. Nevertheless, some of what I’m currently reading might be of interest:
Aijaz Ahmad, On Communalism and Globalization: Offenses of the Far Right. Gurgoan: Three Essays Collective, 2004.
Aijaz Ahmad, et al, A World to Win: Essays on the “Communist Manifesto.” New Delhi: LeftWord Books, 1999.
Pierre Bourdieu, et al, Academic Discourse: Linguistic Misunderstanding and Professorial Power. Richard Teese, trans. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Univ. Press (orig. pub. 1994: “Rapport Pédagogique et Communication”).
Wildbilly, you might remember Pierre Bourdieu. We saw a documentary about him years ago at Facets, Sociology is a Martial Art – http://bit.ly/vQqih Remember?
I recently finished Edge by Thomas Blackthorne. Sci-Fi. Okay, not sure I would recommend it. Much more interesting was The Big Oyster: History of the Half Shell which I finished a while back but my reading it was prompted by Toronto trip so it deserves a mention here. I remember WildBillysCircusStorys friend at the oyster bar dropping all that Oyster knowledge while I was looking for a new book to read at the store. It’s actually a very informative book on the history of the oyster in New England once you can get past the fact that the author reminds you every 5 pages about how humans have destroyed the oyster beds in the New York area and much of N.E.
Andykorki, your body of knowledge is more wide-ranging than anyone I know. Man, those oysters we had at The Oyster Boy were mighty awesome, weren’t they?
Truth be told, I haven’t finished a book in a long long time. Too much internet reading and all … That said, when I got the iPad, I loaded up the Kindle App and iBooks and loaded in a couple of old faves and started through them again. Haven’t finished them yet, but working on it.
If you haven’t already read Bukowski’s novels – Ham on Rye is a great, easy read. The flow of the words as Buk tells his stories makes the book feel like it’s done in a minute. Also like Factotum quite a bit as well as the classics like Women and Post Office. Also started reading Anthony Bourdain’s first (I think) book – Kitchen Confidential. He’s a good writer (and narrator, if you watch his show on Travel channel) and there’s lots of funny stuff there.
Peashoot, I do remember the Bourdieu documentary, and I might just pick up the Ahmad books so I can start a major “discussion” the next time I see you (and discussion is defined as something that will get us kicked out of whatever bar we are patronizing) but I gotta say Korki’s recommendation on the oyster book just might do it for me. And Mersy – Bukowski has been fully consumed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go back and read it a second time.
Thanks for the tips guys.