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.
Eat My Peashoot
Eat My Peashoot 
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.