Reading List: August 2012

I was reading the following books during August, 2012.

Alexander, Michael, and John Walkenbach. Excel Dashboards and Reports. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2010. xviii + 434 pages. Index. ISBN 978-0-470-62012-0. $35.99. Read 9 August - 3 October 2012.
For those of us who use Microsoft Office Excel every day at work, this book is essential. If you just want to produce some nice looking reports with cool graphs and interesting analytic features, it would be a joy.

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.

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 20 August at page 131.
Language instruction with compact disks.

Nesbo, Jo. The Snowman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 384 pages. ISBN 978-0-307-59586-7. $25.95. Read 19-31 August 2012.
Norwegian author pens another crime novel starring Harry Hole of the Oslo police. Suspenseful, thrilling, with a fair share of hairpin turns in the plot.

Proust, Marcel. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs. Paris: Gallimard, 1988 [1919]. xxviii + 568 pages. Started on 1 July 2004. As of 13 July 2012 I was on page 174.
This is the second volume of A la recherche des temps perdu, known in English as Remembrance of Things Past.

Schmuller, Joseph, Ph.D. Statistical Analysis with Excel for Dummies, second edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2009. xx + 480 pages. Index. ISBN 978-0-470-45406-0. $29.99. Begun on 23 August, 2012. As of 27 August 2012 I was at page 30.

Sjowall, Maj, and Per Wahloo. The Fire Engine that Disappeared. New York: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, 2007 [1969]. x + 213 pages. ISBN 978-0-307-39092-9. $14.00. Read 3 - 12 August 2012.
Another gem in the remarkable Swedish crime novel series.

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.