The year is a little more than half over and it’s time to review my reading habits from the first half of the year. As a whole, I did not read as much as I would have liked and the reading I did was too dense. I will try to correct both in the second half of the year.
Here is my, non-exhaustive list, of what I read this year with a one or two sentence review:
- People’s History of the Supreme Court–Too much time spent on the first 25 years after the Revolution. Does not stray much from what Howard Zinn would write. (Dense)
- God Bless you, Dr. Kevorkian (reread)–Short, easy, and Vonnegut.
- A History of the World in 6 Glasses–More entertaining than interesting. I’d recommend to anyone that wants to get into history reading.
- Going After Cacciato–Tim O’Brien deserves the acclaim he deserves. Mostly male cast, he is best when writing for 30-50 year-old-men.
- Lust, Violence, Sin Magic: Sixty Years of Esquire Fiction (Excerpts)–Some good, some bad.
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (reread)–Brilliant. Hard to imagine that it was only text, I remember it as a movie. No, not Blade Runner.
- JOB: A Comedy of Justice–I’d recommend other Heinlein first, but good in general.
- Mariel of Redwall (reread)– The writing in this series holds up considerably better than the writing of other popular books for the same demographic (except for A Series of Unfortunate Events).
- Lessons in Excellence from Charlie Trotter–Strikingly out of touch.
- The New History and the Old–A dense and angry review of changes facing the teaching of history.
- The Greek Myths–Interesting, but the most dense thing I’ve read this year.
- Shogun–Highly recommend to all. Lends itself incredibly well to a miniseries with current political overtones. Suited well for a strong, diverse cast.
This year I experienced a bookstore that might suppliant the Frugal Muse as my new favorite. Powell’s in Portland, OR. Although the staff did not warmly greet readers and the bookstore was too large to foster relationships between patrons, the selection is immense and the recommendations excellent.
Over the next six months, I plan to re-read more books directed toward adolescents, finish a culinary book, read two or three light novels, and work through a French or coding book. At the end of the year, I’ll write part 2.
Polly Wanna Math 