Reading List: July 2012

During the month of July, 2012, the books I was reading included the following.

Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. xiv + 320 pages. Acknowledgments. Notes. Index. ISBN 1-4000-4031-0. Read July 29 - August 20, 2012.
This is a very good short biography of Washington, based largely on the release of a new edition of his letters. I found particularly interesting Washington's struggles with the economics of slavery at Mount Vernon and his other farms.

Furst, Alan. Dark Star. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002. [1995]. 446 pages. ISBN 978-0-375-75999.4. $14.95. Read 13 - 24 July 2012.
If you liked Eric Ambler, say, or if you're interested in the German-occupied areas of Europe during World War II, or if you just like terrific, atmospheric reads, there's Alan Furst.

Gibbs, Nancy, and Michael Duffy. The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012. 641 pages. Acknowledgments. Notes. Bibliography. Index. ISBN 978-1-4391-2770-4. $32.50. Read 28 July - 3 September 2012.
Someone did a biography of Woodrow Wilson entitled When the Cheering Stopped. This is an interesting and entertaining book about life after leaving the White House, and how ex-presidents can help out the current occupant. Sometimes it seems as if Richard Nixon had his coffin in the White House basement, where the bowling alley used to be, and he rose up out of it at night to give advice to the current occupant.

Living Language. Complete Italian: The Basics. New York: Living Language, 2008. xxviii + 308 pages. ISBN 978-1-4000-2415-5. $10.95. Started on 12 July 2012. As if 28 July at page 61.
Language instruction with compact disks.

Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. A Critical Edition with an Introduction and Apparatus Criticus by Peter Laslett. Revised edition. New York and Scarborough, Ont.: New American Library, 1963. A Mentor Book. xiv + 576 pages. Bibliography. Index. $1.95. Started 30 March and finished 6 July 2012.
One of the great books of the Western World, and a must read as an antidote to the nonsense said about the ideas upon which the United States was founded. Yes, "was founded," not "were founded."

Proust, Marcel. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs. Paris: Gallimard, 1988 [1919]. xxviii + 568 pages. Started on 1 July 2004. As of 8 June 2012 I was on page 172.
This is the second volume of A la recherche des temps perdu, known in English as Remembrance of Things Past.

Zola, Emile. Germinal. Paris: Bookking International, 2993. Phidal pour le Canada, 1995. Original publication 1885. 473 pages. ISBN 2-89393-465-X. Started 1 July 2004 and finished 28 September 2012.
I probably made my life unnecessarily difficult by choosing to read Germinal in French, but it's been an interesting experience.