Here it is the end of August, and I'm thinking about what I was reading back in March. Perhaps I'll be able to use this weekend to catch up to the present. In the meantime, I was doing a lot of reading, in pretty diverse categories, during the Month of March.
Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes.
Guided Tours of Hell, by Francine Prose.
Lush Life, by Richard Price.
Eternal Frontier, by James H. Schmitz. Edited by Eric Flint and Guy Gordon.
Home, by Marilynne Robinson.
Independence Day, by Richard Ford.
The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields.
Blue Angel, by Francine Prose.
That Distant Land, by Wendell Berry.
Access 2003 Bible, by Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon.
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, by Stephen Few.
Germinal, par Emile Zola.
The World in 2012, by The Economist.
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward R. Tufte.
Buried Prey, by John Sandford.
Whose Body?, by Dorothy Sayers.
Two Treatises of Government, by John Locke.
The Secret Servant, by Daniel Silva.
Glenn A Knight
In my study
Friday, August 31, 2012
A Day Off
August 31 is the anniversary of the date I started work for my current employer. Well, actually, I started work for another company altogether, but, in the fullness of time, and with some intervening mergers and a bankruptcy, I'm still employed, and they count my service from this date twenty years ago. I decided to take the day off, and here I am.
It's going to be another hot, dry day, and I got out around 9:00 am to mow the back yard. It was really getting overgrown. I haven't quite finished the job, but I'll do more after this break.
We just went online and bought tickets to tonight's baseball game. The Sky Sox will be hosting the Las Vegas 51s at Security Service Field. There will be fireworks after the game. And two of the Rockies's star players, Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki, are on rehab assignments with the Sky Sox.
I finished reading a crime novel by Jo Nesbo, the Norwegian author, this morning. The Snowman was apparently published in Norwegian in 2007, and it came out in English translation last year. Nesbo is pretty good, and this was a good book, as thrillers and crime novels go.
After I finished The Snowman I picked up Germinal, and I'll see if I can finish a chapter or two of that today. I have been reading Germinal for a number of years. My French is good enough to understand the novel, and to get the flavor of the events, but I think it's just a little tiring to read very much in a language other than English. So I keep putting the book down and picking it up. I'm rather near the end now; I'm at page 357 of 473.
It's going to be another hot, dry day, and I got out around 9:00 am to mow the back yard. It was really getting overgrown. I haven't quite finished the job, but I'll do more after this break.
We just went online and bought tickets to tonight's baseball game. The Sky Sox will be hosting the Las Vegas 51s at Security Service Field. There will be fireworks after the game. And two of the Rockies's star players, Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki, are on rehab assignments with the Sky Sox.
I finished reading a crime novel by Jo Nesbo, the Norwegian author, this morning. The Snowman was apparently published in Norwegian in 2007, and it came out in English translation last year. Nesbo is pretty good, and this was a good book, as thrillers and crime novels go.
After I finished The Snowman I picked up Germinal, and I'll see if I can finish a chapter or two of that today. I have been reading Germinal for a number of years. My French is good enough to understand the novel, and to get the flavor of the events, but I think it's just a little tiring to read very much in a language other than English. So I keep putting the book down and picking it up. I'm rather near the end now; I'm at page 357 of 473.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Commencement Speeches
Here are links to two original and excellent commencement speeches - a genre in which originality is generally shunned, and excellence is regarded as showing off.
David A. McCullough at Wellesley High School:
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11903.aspx
Michael Lewis at Princeton University:
http://www.openculture.com/2012/06/michael_lewis_princeton_graduation_speech.html
Enjoy!
David A. McCullough at Wellesley High School:
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11903.aspx
Michael Lewis at Princeton University:
http://www.openculture.com/2012/06/michael_lewis_princeton_graduation_speech.html
Enjoy!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Reading List: February 2012
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard.
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewis.
Access 2003 Bible, by Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon.
Lush Life, by Richard Price.
Independence Day, by Richard Ford.
Mohawk, by Richard Russo.
Citizen Vince, by Jess Walter.
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson.
The Kill Artist, by Daniel Silva.
Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, by Thomas Hobbes.
A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, par Marcel Proust.
Guided Tours of Hell, by Francine Prose.
A World Lost, by Wendell Berry.
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, by Stephen Few.
Home, by Marilynne Robinson.
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewis.
Access 2003 Bible, by Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon.
Lush Life, by Richard Price.
Independence Day, by Richard Ford.
Mohawk, by Richard Russo.
Citizen Vince, by Jess Walter.
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson.
The Kill Artist, by Daniel Silva.
Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, by Thomas Hobbes.
A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs, par Marcel Proust.
Guided Tours of Hell, by Francine Prose.
A World Lost, by Wendell Berry.
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data, by Stephen Few.
Home, by Marilynne Robinson.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Reading List: January 2012
In alphabetical order by author:
Berry, Wendell. Jayber Crow.
Child, Lee. The Affair.
Drake, David. Out of the Waters.
Harvey, Greg. Excel 2003 for Dummies.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil.
Kaufeld, John. Access 2002 for Dummies.
Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President.
Prague, Cary, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon. Access 2003 Bible.
Price, Richard. Lush Life.
Prose, Francine. My New American Life.
Proust, Marcel. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs.
Sjowall, Maj, and Per Wahloo. The Laughing Policeman.
Walter, Jess. Citizen Vince.
Zola, Emile. Germinal.
Fifteen books, nine of them novels. Three of them technical works. One work of history, one of journalism, and one of political philosophy.
The earliest of these books was published in the 17th century, the most recent in 2011. Two of them are in French, and one was written in Swedish before being translated into English. (The Laughing Policeman is the only book whose original language was not English ever to win an Edgar Award.)
A number of these books are well-written. Undoubtedly the best-written of them all is Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry, a Kentucky author. The least satisfactory is Lush Life, by Richard Price, a novel I feel did not live up to its advance notices.
Berry, Wendell. Jayber Crow.
Child, Lee. The Affair.
Drake, David. Out of the Waters.
Harvey, Greg. Excel 2003 for Dummies.
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil.
Kaufeld, John. Access 2002 for Dummies.
Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine.
Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President.
Prague, Cary, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon. Access 2003 Bible.
Price, Richard. Lush Life.
Prose, Francine. My New American Life.
Proust, Marcel. A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs.
Sjowall, Maj, and Per Wahloo. The Laughing Policeman.
Walter, Jess. Citizen Vince.
Zola, Emile. Germinal.
Fifteen books, nine of them novels. Three of them technical works. One work of history, one of journalism, and one of political philosophy.
The earliest of these books was published in the 17th century, the most recent in 2011. Two of them are in French, and one was written in Swedish before being translated into English. (The Laughing Policeman is the only book whose original language was not English ever to win an Edgar Award.)
A number of these books are well-written. Undoubtedly the best-written of them all is Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry, a Kentucky author. The least satisfactory is Lush Life, by Richard Price, a novel I feel did not live up to its advance notices.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Reading List: December 2011
The New Testament of the Bible ends with a lot of short books, plus the lengthy book of Revelation. I finished both versions of the Bible that I was reading through 2011 by the end of the year.
The Holy Bible, New International Version
The Koran, translated by N.J. Dawood (1966). I finished this on December 2, reading pages 390-431 on the first and second of December. Those pages include the following suras:
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett.
Some Days You Get the Bear, by Lawrence Block.
Access 2002 for Dummies, by John Kaufeld.
Access 2003 Bible, by Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon.
Excel 2003 for Dummies, by Greg Harvey.
My New American Life, by Francine Prose.
Resistance, by Barry Lopez.
Beyond Black, by Hilary Mantel.
Germinal, par Emile Zola.
Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry.
The Holy Bible, New International Version
- The New Testament
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Hebrews
- James
- 1 Peter
- 2 Peter
- 1 John
- 2 John
- 3 John
- Jude
- Revelation
- The New Testament
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
- 1 Timothy
- 2 Timothy
- Titus
- Philemon
- Hebrews
- James
- 1 Peter
- 2 Peter
- 1 John
- 2 John
- 3 John
- Jude
- Revelation
The Koran, translated by N.J. Dawood (1966). I finished this on December 2, reading pages 390-431 on the first and second of December. Those pages include the following suras:
- The Unbelievers
- Help
- Pilgrimage
- The Imrans
- Cattle
- Prohibition
- Women
- Divorce
- The Table
- The Unbelievers
- Help
- Pilgrimage
- The Imrans
- Cattle
- Prohibition
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by Constance Garnett.
Some Days You Get the Bear, by Lawrence Block.
Access 2002 for Dummies, by John Kaufeld.
Access 2003 Bible, by Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon.
Excel 2003 for Dummies, by Greg Harvey.
My New American Life, by Francine Prose.
Resistance, by Barry Lopez.
Beyond Black, by Hilary Mantel.
Germinal, par Emile Zola.
Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Reading List: November 2011
The Holy Bible, New International Version
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoesvsky.
The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Germinal, par Emile Zola.
Bad Blood, by John Sandford.
The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly.
Moonlight Mile, by Dennis LeHane.
Beyond Black, by Hilary Mantel.
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.
The Assassins' Gate, by George Packer.
The Koran, translated by N.J. Dawood (1966).
Some Days You Get the Bear, by Lawrence Block.
The Man on the Balcony, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo were a husband and wife team. She was a poet and he was a journalist, before they wrote ten mystery novels in the 1970s. These novels inspired the Maoist (and otherwise left radical) Scandinavian mystery writers. Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo, and a number of others have followed the path of using the mystery as a mechanism for exploring the faults of society. Not too far, in some ways, from the path of Dashiell Hammett.
- Luke
- John
- Acts
- Romans
- Luke
- John
- Acts
- Romans
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoesvsky.
The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Germinal, par Emile Zola.
Bad Blood, by John Sandford.
The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly.
Moonlight Mile, by Dennis LeHane.
Beyond Black, by Hilary Mantel.
The Man Who Went Up in Smoke, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.
The Assassins' Gate, by George Packer.
The Koran, translated by N.J. Dawood (1966).
Some Days You Get the Bear, by Lawrence Block.
The Man on the Balcony, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo.
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo were a husband and wife team. She was a poet and he was a journalist, before they wrote ten mystery novels in the 1970s. These novels inspired the Maoist (and otherwise left radical) Scandinavian mystery writers. Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo, and a number of others have followed the path of using the mystery as a mechanism for exploring the faults of society. Not too far, in some ways, from the path of Dashiell Hammett.
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